Chapter 205

"Oh? The crux? Where lies the crux?"

Hai Rui declared with absolute certainty.

"The fault lies with the court! The root of this case is that the court should not have banned the sea! Had the court not banned the sea, how could there be a place for rogues like Wang Zhi to rise to fame!"

"We two have already decided to petition the court to open the sea!"

Hu Zongxian nodded slightly.

"Open the sea, hmm...!?"

Hu Zongxian's eyeballs nearly hit the ground.

Did the Son of Heaven send you two brothers to petition to open the sea?

If this were truly something that could be settled with one or two memorials.

Would I still need to lead troops fighting in the southeast for ten years?!

"No, my lord Hai..."

Seeing Hu Zongxian, Hai Rui immediately clasped his hands and said.

"My lord Hu, there is no need for more words. You have been stationed in the southeast for so many years; you should have gone down below long ago to see how the common people truly live."

"Where are the Japanese pirates? They are merely common people forced into rebellion by the sea ban!"

Wang Bengu, standing nearby, also nodded repeatedly.

"Yes, thinking about it now, I, your humble servant, regret not killing that Wang Zhi back then!"

Hu Zongxian stared fixedly at Wang Bengu.

He wished he could draw his blade and strike someone down immediately.

Now you remember you shouldn't have killed Wang Zhi?

What were you doing all this time?

If you hadn't killed Wang Zhi, could there be so many troubles today?!

A pig hit a tree.

You hit the pig, didn't you?!

Hu Zongxian didn't need to think.

Once this memorial from Hai Rui and Wang Bengu was submitted to the court.

It would immediately cause a huge uproar.

The pure-minded officials in the court could still use ancestral precedents to attack this proposal.

Before Hu Zongxian could even come to his senses, Hai Rui and Wang Bengu had already written the memorial and affixed their official seals.

Under Hu Zongxian's gaze, it was sent to the capital.

Watching the courier's receding figure in the distance, Hu Zongxian knew.

Jiajing's blood pressure was probably about to rise again.

A few days later.

As usual, Chen Hong walked up to Jiajing carrying a stack of memorials.

Before Chen Hong could even speak.

Jiajing asked.

"Has any memorial from the southeast been sent up?"

Chen Hong whispered.

"Reporting to my master, yes, the memorials from Wang Bengu and Hai Rui have arrived."

Having said this, Chen Hong carefully retrieved the memorial jointly submitted by Hai Rui and Wang Bengu.

Jiajing took the memorial Chen Hong handed over.

He merely glanced at it once.

Immediately, he felt all his blood rushing wildly to his brain.

Even his temples began to throb involuntarily.

"Good, good!"

"These great families of the southeast truly have excellent methods!"

"Does the Great Ming Dynasty still have any sharp swords?!"

"Rebellion, rebellion..."

Jiajing, as if all strength had been drained from his body, slumped onto the reed mat.

These great families of the southeast saw it very clearly.

All they needed to do was make Hai Rui unwilling to continue the investigation.

Why Hai Rui was unwilling to continue the investigation.

Was not important at all!

Hai Rui could continue to immerse himself in his self-satisfaction.

The great families and Hai Rui each got what they wanted.

As long as this case did not continue to be investigated.

They had won!

Everything would return to the starting point!

In the court, the world would only see a Hai Rui who died for righteousness, submitting a memorial to open the sea on behalf of the people of Liangzhe and Min.

And the hundred officials in the court could, using the pretext of the Great Ming's ancestral system, reject Hai Rui's memorial to open the seas!

The seas still will not be opened.

The common people of the southeast remain constrained by the maritime ban.

What is it to move a thousand pounds with four ounces?

This is moving a thousand pounds with four ounces!

Looking back on the entire Jiajing reign, it was never only Jiajing who was a master of Taiji.

Any one of the civil and military officials filling the court, any one of the scholarly clans across the realm, picked at random.

All were masters of Taiji who looked down upon the dynasties of history!

Inside the study, Jiajing gazed at Hai Rui's memorial to the throne.

In a trance.

He saw only one sentence.

Your Majesty, why do you plot rebellion?

……

……

Inside the chat group, Jiajing unusually sent out a message.

Emperor Shizong Su:

"Reporting to the Great Ming's ancestral emperors and empresses, my son's art of control has reached its limit."

Seeing Jiajing's message.

Zhu Yuanzhang immediately felt half his heart grow cold.

Emperor Taizu Gao:

"@Emperor Shizong Su, even your methods could not open the seas?"

Emperor Shizong Su:

"Yes, this is the memorial sent back by the minister my son dispatched."

The emperors within the chat group, looking at Hai Rui's memorial requesting the opening of the seas.

Immediately fell into silence.

Only Zhu Qi, with a face full of confusion, asked:

"Great-Grandfather, is this not a good thing? The imperial envoy minister requests the opening of the seas..."

The emperors all were too lazy to pay attention to Zhu Qi.

Clearly, looking back on the entire Ming dynasty, no emperor inherited a situation better than Zhu Qi's.