Chapter 207

"Your subject is incompetent."

"Ru Taisu."

"Your subject is incompetent."

"Zhan Hui."

"Your subject is incompetent."

This was not these ministers lying.

It was that they truly had no way.

Since ancient times, it has always been this way; at the beginning of every dynasty, almost everyone's goal was to get things done properly.

Because right now, there is no so-called cake anywhere.

It is nothing more than you snatching a pot today, him owing some money.

Thus, when a dynasty is first established, it is mostly ministers who are pragmatic and get things done.

There are very few ministers skilled in intrigue and maneuvering within the court.

Zhu Yuanzhang stared fixedly at the crowd of ministers before him and growled,

"Are you not even as good as that bunch of treacherous flatterers from later generations?!"

The tea cup in Zhu Yuanzhang's hand smashed into pieces with a "Crack!" beneath the Fengtian Sect.

Huang Zicheng, kneeling before Zhu Yuanzhang, almost trembled as he bowed to the ground and said,

"Your Majesty!"

"Your subject, your subject implores Your Majesty, do not again trust the words of alchemists; our Great Ming..."

Zhu Yuanzhang stared fixedly at Huang Zicheng and scolded angrily,

"These are not the words of alchemists!"

"Do you think we sent Lan Yu to fight where?!"

"We sent Lan Yu to save the descendants of our Great Ming from later generations!"

Zhu Yuanzhang, almost possessed, rose from the dragon throne.

Pointing at Huang Zicheng, he questioned,

"Huang Zicheng, do you think we do not know what sort of person you are?"

"As soon as we die, you will force our Zhu Yunwen to reduce the fiefs! From weak to strong, forcing our son to commit suicide! We know, we know it all!"

"So we summoned our son to the capital!"

As soon as Old Zhu spoke these words, the entire court of civil and military officials was instantly shocked in place.

Huang Zicheng and Watching Qi Tai both had fine beads of sweat inevitably seeping from their foreheads.

From weak to strong.

This was the grand plan for reducing the fiefs that he and Watching Qi Tai had devised in the secret chamber!

There is no way Zhu Yuanzhang could possibly know!

And at this moment, Zhu Yuanzhang could no longer pretend; looking at Zhu Di standing aside,

he spoke in a low voice with a somewhat trembling tone,

"And the fourth one."

"What that Yao Guangxiao in your mansion told you, we are equally clear about!"

"We can ignore all these things."

"But as Emperor, you have done quite well."

"We know, even if your eldest brother were still alive, he would have done exactly what you did."

From Zhu Youjian's hands, Zhu Yuanzhang had already read through almost the entire Ming Veritable Records.

The evaluations of people from later generations, Old Zhu understood clearly; even if Zhu Biao were alive, he would undoubtedly have chosen the same strategy of reducing the fiefs as Zhu Di, using the method of boiling a frog in warm water to slowly take the military power of the border princes back to the Ministry of War.

It is just that Zhu Biao, relying on his prestige, would face less resistance than Zhu Di.

But it would absolutely not be small by any means.

Huang Zicheng, Zhu Di, Zhu Yunwen, and others all stood stunned in place.

Prince of Yan Zhu Di looked at Zhu Yuanzhang and asked in confusion,

"Father, but why must we open the sea?"

Zhu Yuanzhang looked at Zhu Di, gritted his teeth, and spoke in a low voice,

"Because two hundred years later, our Zhu family truly had over two hundred thousand descendants who died on the battlefield!"

Since entering the chat group.

When first entering the chat group, Zhu Yuanzhang only regarded Zhu Youjian as an unfilial descendant.

Especially after Zhu Yuanzhang discovered that whatever he did would not affect Zhu Youjian.

Zhu Yuanzhang even looked at Zhu Youjian with an eye level with his own.

But Old Zhu's mindset underwent a earth-shattering change after the Battle of Xingshan.

Old Zhu witnessed with his own eyes the magnificent scene in the Chongzhen era, where hundreds of thousands of the imperial clan gathered in the capital.

Every single one of his sons, any descendant who could crawl, appeared densely packed before Old Zhu's eyes.

Next came the Battle of Xingshan, with corpses littering the fields.

Until that moment, Old Zhu finally realized.

That bloodline is truly capable of crossing the long river of time, making one feel others' pain as their own.

Old Zhu's hair was disheveled; he slowly pulled a booklet from his hand.

He climbed up from the dragon throne and came before Zhu Di and Zhu Gang.

"Third, Fourth, look, we have remembered all these names."

"Your Prince of Jin's manor has nearly twenty thousand descendants."

"There are over three thousand names here; when the state collapsed, they went to the battlefield:"

"If this sea is not opened, our Zhu family's future generations will have to die all over again by the time of Chongzhen's reign!"

Ever since the Battle of Xingshan, whenever Zhu Yuanzhang had free time, he would take out such a register, having obtained a copy of the list of Zhu family members who died in battle at Xingshan from Zhu Youjian.

Every time he saw this list before him.

Zhu Yuanzhang could feel what it meant to be heart-wrenchingly pained.

It was only when seeing the out-of-control Zhu Yuanzhang.

That Zhu Yunwen finally understood.

He realized why Zhu Yuanzhang had never killed Su Qiao.

Because although Su Qiao's words were indeed harsh.

Su Qiao had truly saved the Great Ming, which was on the brink of destruction, time and time again!

Zhu Di and the other emperors in the chat group could not help but fall silent.

This was the first time since joining the chat group that Zhu Yuanzhang had lost his composure so severely.

The reason was this small matter of opening the sea.

In the eyes of Zhu Qi and Zhu Youjian, opening the sea was far less significant than Yexian and Hong Taiji outside the pass.

But Zhu Di, Zhu Yuanzhang, and Zhu Houcong knew.

This was the most dangerous signal.

It indicated that within the empire, a massive vested interest group had already emerged.

This was something that had happened in every dynasty.

The external relatives of the two Han dynasties, the aristocratic families of the Sui and Tang.

Once such a vested interest group appears, it means the empire is rotting from the root.

How could Zhu Yuanzhang not be anxious?

If this tumor is not removed, it means the Zhu family members who died in the Battle of Xingshan died in vain.

Even if Zhu Youjian can survive this crisis now.

When Zhu Youjian passes the throne to the next Son of Heaven, this tumor will still erupt!

And opening the sea is the key to solving this tumor!

Reaching this conclusion.

Was not because of Su Qiao's mouth.

But because this matter had escalated to such an extent during the Jiajing reign.