Chapter 697: Selling Out Old Prince Fu

Hearing Zhang Yu's words, the Joseon king turned to look at Zheng Xuhong.

This decision was not an easy one; he needed Zheng Xuhong's support, needed Zheng Xuhong's counsel.

Seeing the Joseon king look at Zheng Xuhong, Zhang Yu also looked at Zheng Xuhong.

Zheng Xuhong felt enormous pressure weighing on his heart.

He knew what the Great Ming wanted him to do, but having already taken one step forward, there was basically no road back now.

The king had already forgiven him, and he was secure now—but still, there was no retreat. If he were to turn his coat now, he feared Kim Jeong-min's fate would be his own.

Zheng Xuhong did not know who had killed Kim Jeong-min. But he understood one thing clearly: the Great Ming's people were absolutely involved in it. Relying on Grand Prince Bongnim alone, it simply would not have been possible.

Zheng Xuhong stepped forward and said slowly, "Your Majesty, your servant believes that what Lord Zhang said makes sense."

The Joseon king watched Zheng Xuhong's resolute attitude and nodded lightly, saying, "Then shall we proceed with this matter? What do you think—where should we begin?"

Zheng Xuhong thought for a moment and said, "Rebellion has a leader. Once we seize the leader, the matter will settle itself."

"Seize Grand Prince Bongnim?" The Joseon king was still hesitant.

After all, he was his own son. If his son were branded with the charge of rebellion, then he would truly be finished. The key point was that in the Joseon king's heart, he still could not quite believe that his son had done so many things behind his back. How could that be possible?

He still harbored some doubt in his heart, and for a moment he hesitated.

Zheng Xuhong paused briefly, then stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, why not summon Grand Prince Bongnim to the palace?"

There was no need to hide it any longer. Zheng Xuhong gave this suggestion directly, looking at the Joseon king and saying, "As long as we summon Grand Prince Bongnim to the palace, then everything will become clear."

"We can ask him whether he truly did these things. If he has been wronged, and it was merely others who wanted to do these things, then we can deal with those others at our leisure. Otherwise, if those people act in Grand Prince Bongnim's name, the matter will be hard to handle."

In fact, Zheng Xuhong's words carried another meaning: telling the Joseon king—even if your son truly did these things, if you want to spare his life, that is not impossible either. Just push the blame onto the men beneath him; there is no need to mind such unimportant details.

After hearing these words, the Joseon king's expression improved considerably.

If they truly did it this way, then indeed they could advance or retreat with ease.

The Joseon king nodded and said, "Then do as you have said."

"In that case, nothing could be better." Zheng Xuhong nodded and said, "For this matter, your servant will personally lead the men."

"My loyal minister." The Joseon king nodded.

Zhang Yu glanced at the Joseon king, then at Zheng Xuhong, and said, "Then your servant will also take his leave and return to make preparations. If anything unexpected happens, your servant can be of help from his side."

The Joseon king actually very much wanted to keep Zhang Yu in the palace. He hesitated somewhat.

Zheng Xuhong spoke up from the side: "It is somewhat dangerous outside right now. If things stir up, who knows what might happen. Why not have Lord Zhang remain in the palace? I dare not speak for other matters, but at least the palace is safe."

Zhang Yu understood in his heart that these two did not want him to leave.

After thinking it over, Zhang Yu said, "Your servant still wishes to return and make arrangements. However, Prince Fu's safety is of great importance. If possible, your servant would like to have Prince Fu brought into the palace."

This had something of a hostage flavor to it—Zhang Yu was directly selling out Prince Fu.

He was the current Emperor's uncle, higher in status than himself; Zhang Yu was confident the Joseon king would certainly agree.

The main thing was that Zhang Yu felt he could not stay here. If anything happened outside, he needed to return to take command. If some emergency arose and he was not there to hold things down, the men below would likely not handle it well.

As for Prince Fu, he had nothing to do anyway; there was nothing wrong with him staying in the kingdom of Joseon. If anything truly did happen, then his dying by accident would just be an accident.

At that point, Joseon would owe the Great Ming an apology. If the Great Ming did something excessive, no one would say anything—they would instead think it only natural.

As for Prince Fu's life or death, Zhang Yu simply did not care.

The Joseonese did not understand Prince Fu's standing, but Zhang Yu knew it very well in his heart. How His Majesty had dragged Prince Fu back from Henan back then—Zhang Yu knew every detail.

Moreover, the current Emperor held no fondness for this uncle of his. When Prince Fu was in the Great Ming, he was nothing but a burden. His Majesty sending the man off to Joseon was not necessarily without the meaning of "out of sight, out of mind."

If Prince Fu could not return from Joseon, His Majesty would certainly give him a grand funeral, and might even be furious enough to avenge him. But as for whether he would be truly grieved—that was not so certain.

So Zhang Yu decisively sold out Prince Fu.

The Joseon king nodded and said, "That is good as well. Prince Fu's status is noble; not a single mistake can be allowed."

For the Joseon king, having a hostage was enough—someone to keep the Great Ming from turning hostile at a critical moment.

Zhang Yu's status was high, but compared to Prince Fu, it was still not enough. If he was willing to hand over Prince Fu, then nothing could be better.

"In that case, your servant will return and make arrangements." Zhang Yu nodded.

"I will see Lord Zhang out." Zheng Xuhong said from the side, then turned to the Joseon king and said, "Your servant will go to Grand Prince Bongnim's residence at once and summon him here."

"Excellent." The Joseon king nodded.

The two men left the Joseon royal palace one after the other, and from start to finish neither spoke—each went off to attend to his own affairs.

On Zhang Yu's side, he sent men to fetch Prince Fu and deliver him into the Joseon royal palace. As for going to see Prince Fu himself—that was something Zhang Yu could not possibly do.

First, the situation was urgent; second, even if he saw Prince Fu, he would not know what to say. Moreover, all of Prince Fu's attendants were female spies. Having come this far, absolutely no mistake could be allowed.

After returning to the Great Ming embassy, Zhang Yu saw Song Xiang.

"You're back." Seeing Zhang Yu, Song Xiang's face immediately lit up with joy.

She truly had not expected it.

She had originally thought Zhang Yu would not be able to return—surely the Joseon king would find some way to keep him. But she had not expected him back so quickly. This really was good news.

Zhang Yu nodded and said, "I sent Prince Fu into the palace, so I came back."

Song Xiang thought of Prince Fu, still kept in the dark, and immediately broke into a smile, unable to stop herself from laughing louder and louder.

She laughed as she looked at Zhang Yu, saying nothing for a long while.

Zhang Yu's face was full of helplessness. He pulled a long face and said, "Stop laughing."

"At this point, we have no way back either. Are all our people ready? We absolutely cannot afford any mistake at this moment."

"They're ready." Song Xiang nodded. "We were just waiting for you to come back and give the orders."

"Excellent." Zhang Yu nodded. "In a moment, Zheng Xuhong will send men to summon Grand Prince Bongnim to the palace. Is everything arranged on Lin Dechang's side?"

"Already arranged." Song Xiang nodded.

"Then have Lin Dechang go persuade Grand Prince Bongnim. If Grand Prince Bongnim does as we have arranged, that is best. If he does not do as we have arranged, then make a move and kill Zheng Xuhong."

"As for everyone who went with Zheng Xuhong—leave not one alive. No, better to leave a few. Bring them before Grand Prince Bongnim, let him know the Joseon king is about to move against him, and force him to the point where he has no choice but to rebel."

"I understand." Song Xiang said, "Are we not keeping Zheng Xuhong either?"

"This man cannot be kept. When Zheng Xuhong goes to meet Grand Prince Bongnim, have Lin Dechang drop some hints on the side, saying that Zheng Xuhong still supports the King of Joseon, and let them act directly. If direct action doesn't work, we'll handle it from behind."

"I understand." Song Xiang nodded and said.

At the same time, inside Grand Prince Bongnim's garden.

The atmosphere was very grave.

"Is what you said true?" Grand Prince Bongnim stared at Lin Dechang and asked directly.

"Your Highness, of course it's true. I…" Lin Dechang said with a mournful face, "I never imagined that Zheng Xuhong would betray Your Highness at a time like this. Not only did he betray Your Highness, he also dumped all the dirty water onto Your Highness."

"Zheng Xuhong said that Your Highness colluded with lawless merchants from the Ming, keeping the Crown Prince in the Ming; said that Your Highness, in order to seize the King's position, killed Park Jeong-yang and Zhang Fu.

"Zheng Xuhong also said that Your Highness sent people to bribe him, making promises that as long as he supported Your Highness, Your Highness could smooth over all his affairs, and could also persuade the Ming people. And at the time, Your Highness had also gone to the royal palace, which happened to serve his purposes."

"I don't know how Zheng Xuhong bewitched the King, but the King just sent people to arrest me. As long as I fall into Zheng Xuhong's hands, that would be solid evidence of collusion between Your Highness and the Ming people—and even the matter of Kim Jeong-min would likely be pinned on Your Highness as well."

"In my view, Kim Jeong-min very likely died at Zheng Xuhong's hands. After all, Kim Jeong-min was the one driving this whole affair. If Kim Jeong-min were alive, Zheng Xuhong might die—Zhang Fu is his cautionary tale. That's why Zheng Xuhong would take such a desperate risk. As long as he shifts all the blame onto Your Highness, he'll be safe."

Grand Prince Bongnim's face was as black as the bottom of a pot, and he said furiously, "How dare he? How dare he do such a thing?"

Zhao Chenqi stood to one side, his expression also very ugly.

Ever since Kim Jeong-min died, Zhao Chenqi had felt that something was off about the situation, as if some people were desperately trying to intensify the conflict. Now hearing Lin Dechang say this, that person was very likely Zheng Xuhong—by blowing the matter up, he would gain room to maneuver.

"At a time like this, we cannot afford to be careless." Zhao Chenqi stepped forward and said, "One slight misstep, and we'll be in irredeemable ruin."

As he spoke, Zhao Chenqi also glanced at Lin Dechang. But that glance was very subtle, avoiding Lin Dechang's gaze.

Grand Prince Bongnim understood instantly.

Zhao Chenqi was telling him that if things could not be done, then this Lin Dechang should be silenced—after all, he knew far too much.

Although Lin Dechang didn't see the two exchanging glances, he also understood his own position. Placing his hopes on the moral standards of these two men was simply impossible.

If it came to a critical moment, these two would very likely throw him out to save themselves. But at this time, how could he let himself be thrown out by them?

Neither of the two spoke, and Lin Dechang began to have a bad premonition.

Lin Dechang stepped forward and said, "I also found another piece of information, concerning the Ming side. The King has already met with the Ming envoy and inquired about matters regarding the Crown Prince."

"Lord Zhang said that someone has indeed been active in the Ming, spending a great sum of money to keep the Crown Prince in the Ming. Zheng Xuhong has already told the King about this matter, saying the most likely culprit is Your Highness. The Ming envoy has also made his stance clear—they will uphold righteousness and support the King."

Grand Prince Bongnim's expression instantly turned even uglier.

This was a very bad piece of news. If things really were like this, it would become very troublesome, and everything he had schemed would no longer count. Moreover, throwing Lin Dechang out might not be so easy anymore.

Lin Dechang continued, "Your Highness can rest assured—we are not without the strength to fight."

Hearing this, Grand Prince Bongnim suddenly raised his head, his eyes filled with disbelief, and his voice even trembled slightly, "What do you mean by that?"

"Your Highness, rest assured, we do have capital. These years I haven't been idle outside—I've done a great deal of smuggling business with the Ming side, smuggling in many weapons from Liaodong. All of them are the finest, even better than those the Ming brought over—they're what the Liaodong border troops are equipped with."

"Back then, the Ming used these very weapons to fight against the Jurchen—all fine goods. If the cannons weren't so heavy, I would have wanted to buy some of those too. I've also gathered quite a number of men, and these people are willing to die for Your Highness."

Grand Prince Bongnim's eyes instantly turned red. Staring hard at Lin Dechang, he strode up to him and said, "Why have you never told me any of this?"

Now he finally understood—all of this was Lin Dechang's doing.

Why would Zheng Xuhong dare to say he was plotting rebellion? The reason was simple—if you were already privately smuggling weapons and building your own private army, wasn't that rebellion?

Moreover, Grand Prince Bongnim also suspected another thing—that the Crown Prince's failure to return was very likely the doing of this very man before him. He had originally followed Park Jeong-yang, but he also wanted to rise to prominence. If he advanced step by step, how could that ever work?

So he prepared to make things big, sowing discord and getting Park Jeong-yang killed. All of it should have been Lin Dechang's doing. After Park Jeong-yang died, he escaped unscathed and gained his own trust, which gave him an opportunity to advance even further.

If not for this incident, and he truly became King, he would certainly reward Lin Dechang heavily, and Lin Dechang would gain even more benefits—perhaps even surpassing Park Jeong-yang in achievement.

Thinking of this, Grand Prince Bongnim's sweat began to pour.

A chill shot straight from his heels to the crown of his head.

What kind of mess was this?

He had been set up!

And set up badly!