Gou was a member of the imperial family in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 936 Human Spirit
Just as Zhu Shenzhui was thinking this, Wen Tiren coughed softly and said, "Your Majesty, I think it's up to Your Majesty to decide how to deal with the four vassal states, but I also think it's inappropriate for Your Majesty to deal with this matter directly."

"What do you mean, Mr. Wen?" Zhu Shenzhu asked with interest.

Wen Tiren said seriously, "Your Majesty summoned me to discuss this matter today, which shows that Your Majesty wants to let the Four Feudatories go. Otherwise, any punishment would not be excessive for what they did. Your Majesty is not only the emperor, but also the chief of the Imperial Clan. According to the law, Your Majesty can discuss this matter at court and directly hand it over to the Three Judicial Departments for handling. But Your Majesty asked for our opinions today. I guess Your Majesty has no intention of severely punishing them."

"Is this guy crazy?"

"Wen Tiren has Alzheimer's disease?"

When Wen Tihen said this, many people present looked at each other in surprise, especially Yang Sichang and Qian Qianyi, whose eyes widened.

Both of them fought fiercely with Wen Tihen in the past, but it was Wen Tihen who had the last laugh in the end. Yang Sichang was kicked out of the cabinet, Qian Qianyi's cabinet dream was shattered, but Wen Tihen stepped on the two of them and directly sat on the position of prime minister of the cabinet.

This shows the ability of Wen Tiren. Although Wen Tiren has many flaws and is greedy for power, he is also a very smart person. Zhu Shenzhui's purpose of asking them to come today is very obvious, and everyone knows this. The matter of the Four Feudatories is big or small. After all, it has not caused any bad consequences, and their identities are different. In this case, it is normal not to go through the Three Law Departments. Zhu Shenzhui, as the emperor and the Grand Master of the Imperial Clan, can directly order the disposal. The reason why he summoned them to discuss today is just to add the consent of the court departments including the cabinet in this regard to ensure legitimacy.

But now Wen Tiren insisted that it was inappropriate for the emperor to do so. Could it be that Wen Tiren was planning to let the three judicial departments make the final decision on this matter? If so, then there was indeed no problem with the procedure, but the consequences were unpredictable. More importantly, this was not the result the emperor wanted. Wasn't he afraid of angering the emperor?
This was completely different from Wen Tiren's usual behavior. How could a smart person like Wen Tiren say such words? But everyone heard clearly that these words did come from Wen Tiren's mouth.

Just as everyone was surprised, Wen Tiren continued to speak righteously: "As the saying goes, a country has its own laws, and a family has its own rules. When Emperor Taizu founded the country and promulgated the Great Ming Law, and passed it down as the Imperial Ming Ancestor's Instructions, could it be that Emperor Taizu did not foresee these things? Otherwise, why did he specifically explain them in the Great Ming Law and the Imperial Ming Ancestor's Instructions?"

Looking around, Wen Tiren continued, "Of course not! Emperor Taizu had thought of this a long time ago, which is why he wrote it down in the Great Ming Law and the Imperial Ming Ancestor's Instructions, so that future emperors and ministers like me can follow the law!"

"Therefore, in my opinion, the four vassals should be convicted by the three judicial officials, not dealt with by the royal family. According to the law, they should be sentenced to death. If the crime of treason is not investigated, then what will the other royal family members think? What will the people of the world think? If someone in the royal family has a different mind, what will happen?"

"As for the bloodlines of the various royal families belonging to the four fiefdoms, they should also be strictly investigated. If they are implicated, they can be stripped of their titles or even demoted to commoners. If they are indeed not involved and had no knowledge of the matter beforehand, they can be dealt with at the discretion of the court and should be demoted..."

"Demotion? Why? Since the Prime Minister said he was not involved and knew nothing about it, shouldn't he be let off the hook and not be punished?" Zhang Ruitu asked back when he heard this.

Wen Tiren smiled and said, "Master Zhang, I want to ask you, if the crime of treason is committed by an ordinary person or an official, what should be done according to the law?"

“This…” Zhang Ruitu was speechless for a moment.

Wen Tiren said, "Lord Fan has said before that those who plot rebellion should be executed, and their entire family should be exterminated. The women and men under the age of sixteen in their family should be sent to the Jiaofangsi or become slaves, and all their property should be confiscated. This is what the law stipulates. Although the royal family can be exempted from the punishment, it should be understood that this is a favor from the emperor, not the law. Since these royal family members are affiliated with the four feudal lords and have close contacts with them on a daily basis, even if there is no evidence, they are just implicated. Do they have no joint responsibility? If this is the case, then the Ming Dynasty law has become a decoration?"

At this point, Wen Tiren bowed to Zhu Shenzhui and said, "Since the three judicial officials have convicted you, no one in the world can blame your majesty, and this should also serve as a warning to other royal families in the world. Therefore, I believe that the mastermind should be executed, and those implicated should be stripped of their titles or demoted to commoners, and those implicated should be demoted to lowered titles, and all their property should be confiscated to uphold the law!"

"In addition, whether the four feudal lords will continue to be enfeoffed can also be decided according to the law. Even if Your Majesty shows mercy and selects a small clan to continue the feudal lordship, you cannot let them go easily. You can reduce their fiefdoms and only keep their titles of kings. Move them to the capital and resettle them. Change their real titles to nominal titles to severely punish them!"

"Good fellow!" Everyone just realized that Wen Tiren's ultimate goal was actually here? Everyone present was smart. What they had just said to Wen Tiren was unexpectedly true, but now as Wen Tiren said the following few words, everyone immediately understood Wen Tiren's intention.

At the same time, they also thought of Prince An who was present. Although Prince An had his title restored and had become a prince of the Ming Dynasty again from a demoted commoner, the problem was that Zhu Shencui did not give him any actual fiefdom. It was only a nominal title, and he specially granted Prince An a house in the capital for him to live in. Before, everyone thought that Zhu Shencui made such arrangements because someone had already continued the title of Prince of Tang, and it was not appropriate to confer the title on Prince An again.

Moreover, Prince An had been demoted to a commoner before, but now he was not only set free, but also given the privilege of a prince, which was already a great privilege for Prince An. Both Prince An himself and other members of the royal family were grateful and admired the emperor, and they would not blame the emperor for not having a real title.

But no one expected the deep meaning of Zhu Shencui's nominal title of Prince An. You know, Prince An was the first nominally titled prince since the founding of the Ming Dynasty. No one had thought deeply about what this meant before, but now Wen Tihen's words made them think of the matter of Prince An, and they suddenly understood.

Wen Tiren, ah Wen Tiren, this guy is really an old ghost, he understands the emperor's thoughts better than the worms in the emperor's stomach. According to Wen Tiren, the life and death of the four vassal states is not important, and the treatment of the implicated members of the four vassal states is not important either. What is important is how to change the four vassal states from real vassal states to virtual vassal states, which is the fundamental point.

Moreover, it would be inappropriate for Zhu Shenzhu to do this directly, nor would it be appropriate for the Imperial Clan Court to do it. Instead, Wen Tiren's suggestion that the Three Judicial Departments take the lead would be the most appropriate. As long as the Three Judicial Departments dealt with the case severely, or even proposed to directly remove the feudal lords and deprive them of their titles for treason, then the survival of the Four Feudatories would depend on the emperor's decision.

At that time, if Zhu Shenzhui wanted to eliminate the feudal lords, he could do so. If he wanted to keep the four feudal lords, he could keep them. The emperor naturally had such privileges and only needed to make the final decision. Moreover, there was a great benefit in doing so. Once the rumor of eliminating the feudal lords spread, everyone in the royal family would be terrified. If Zhu Shenzhui expressed his attitude of retaining the titles of the four feudal lords and selecting other people to continue the feudal lords, the royal family would not resent the emperor, but would be extremely grateful.

In this way, even if the real vassal state is changed to a virtual vassal state, no one can find fault with it. This is what Wen Tiren thought. And Wen Tiren's consideration is not wrong at all, which is exactly the result of Zhu Shenzhu's consideration. These words directly touched Zhu Shenzhu's heart.

"Let the three judicial departments deal with it according to the law..." Zhu Shenzhui concentrated and thought silently, with a look of hesitation. He glanced at Wen Tiren, then at the other ministers, and finally shook his head and said in embarrassment: "I am the emperor and a member of the royal family. This is a royal family matter. If I hand it over to the three judicial departments, it seems a little inappropriate."

"Your Majesty!" Prince An, who had been silent, finally spoke. He said to Zhu Shenzhui in a serious tone, "Your Majesty, of course, understands that we protect the royal family, but Your Majesty should also know that the royal family is a mixed bag. For the royal family like the Four Princes, it is fine that they have received the grace of the country for generations but have no intention of repaying it. But they actually dared to do such a thing. They should be severely punished!"

"Your Majesty, do not worry too much about the internal affairs of the imperial clan. I am the assistant minister of the Imperial Clan Bureau and I agree with the Prime Minister's suggestion. As for the imperial clan members, they will definitely not object, let alone blame Your Majesty. In my opinion, the imperial clan members will only applaud Your Majesty's move, so please rest assured."

"This..." Zhu Shenzui hesitated and looked at everyone. If everyone didn't understand at this time, they would be fools. He quickly expressed his attitude and agreed with what Wen Tihen and Prince An said. Seeing that everyone had the same attitude, Zhu Shenzui was also "helpless" and could only sigh and agree to hand the matter over to the Three Law Courts for handling.

After everyone said goodbye and left, Zhu Shenzui, who had been frowning before, instantly became energetic. With a smile on his face, he picked up the tea beside him and began to sip it with relish.

"Dad, you were so fake just now. I was trying so hard to hold it in that I almost laughed out loud." Prince Zhu Minlan couldn't help but speak up at this time.

"What's wrong? Does your father look pretentious?" Zhu Shenzhui asked with a cheerful smile.

Zhu Minlan curled his lips and said with disdain: "Are you still pretending? Just now you were blowing your beard, glaring, and looking surprised, and you also acted like you were really helpless. This expression is too fake. I ask you why you are doing this? Aren't you tired of going around in circles?"

"Hahaha!" Zhu Shenzhui laughed loudly, then put away his smile after a moment, and said to Zhu Minlan in a serious tone, "Let your father teach you a lesson today. Do you really think these officials can't see that your father is pretending? Wrong! These people are all shrewd people, the smartest people in the world. If they can't even understand these, how can they be such high officials?"

“Then Dad, you…?” Zhu Minlan asked doubtfully.

Zhu Shenzhui sighed, "Do you think Dad wants to do this? Isn't it tiring to go around in circles? But Dad has to do this. Although your father is the emperor, and the emperor is the supreme ruler, he cannot do whatever he wants. Especially since this matter involves the royal family, it is a serious matter. If it is not handled properly, the royal family will be alienated, which will be a great harm to the imperial power."

"We must be extremely cautious in dealing with the royal family, and we must consider the consequences of this matter. Moreover, changing the real title to a virtual title is not a trivial matter. If we only remove the fiefdom on the grounds of treason, there is the previous example of Prince Ning. Even so, this matter will be difficult to do. Once there is dissatisfaction within the royal family, your father will not be afraid of them, but it will still be a troublesome matter, so we must do it in a way that no one can find fault with it, and push the responsibility directly away."

Zhu Minlan concentrated on these words, his eyes gradually brightened: "I understand, Dad, you used the three judicial officials as a raft, first the court came forward to severely punish, then Dad pardoned a few people in the name of the emperor, and finally lifted them up and put them down lightly, and at the same time changed the real into the fake, so that people can't say anything?"

"Haha, you are quite smart." Zhu Shenzhui nodded and said with a smile, "This Wen Tiren is also a man of tact. Your father and I pretended to be serious and he came to his senses immediately. These officials are best at guessing the emperor's intentions and flattering the superiors. If your father and I pretended too much, what if they guessed wrong? Aren't these arrangements in vain?"

"Originally, I planned to let your uncle or Prince An speak if it really didn't work, but their identities are different, so it's not appropriate for them to express their opinions. On the contrary, Wen Tiren is the most suitable candidate as the Prime Minister. Now that Wen Tiren understands your father's thoughts, he can go with the flow and come up with a reason to convict according to the law. In this way, no one in the world can find fault with it, and your father and I will also have the opportunity to deal with it later. Why not do it?"

Zhu Minlan was impressed by these words. He didn't expect there were so many twists and turns. In comparison, he thought it was too simple. Today, he learned another trick from his father. It really benefited him a lot. This emperor is really not something that an ordinary person can do. The court is full of old foxes, that is, Zhu Shenzhu. If someone else were to be the emperor, he might be manipulated by the ministers, just like the original Emperor Chongzhen.

(End of this chapter)