The stupid son of Chongba

Chapter 152 The tragedy of the Yang family! Zhu Ju is better than Zhu Biao in that he can train ministers!
Inside the Yang Mansion, an overwhelming stench filled the air.

There were several coroners in the palace handling corpses. When they heard the voice of "Your Majesty has arrived", they were all panicked. Their hands were still stained with blood, and they didn't know where to wipe it, so they just knelt on the side of the road.

"Long live my emperor, long live my emperor!"

The coroners kowtowed in fear and trepidation.

"Keep doing your thing."

Zhu Yuanzhang waved his hand and said to the coroner in front of him,

"Have you found anything? How did they die?"

"From the looks of it, it looks like poisoning?"

At this time, a group of civil and military officials also walked in. When they saw the corpses lying all over the place in Yang's mansion with hideous and terrifying looks, some of them were so scared that they shouted and dared not come in!

Even those generals who were used to seeing dead bodies frowned at this moment, with looks of disgust on their faces.

The pile of dead bodies on the battlefield is nothing like this!
"Your Majesty, it does look a bit like poisoning, but judging by the condition of his intestines, it doesn't seem like it."

The coroner said honestly,
"Normally, poisoning should cause the intestines to rot, but these people's intestines are intact, with no signs of poisoning."

"The little ones will carefully dissect the body and conduct a detailed examination..."

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded slightly.

"Where is Yang Xian?"

Liang Fu came up and said hesitantly:

"Your Majesty, Yang Xian is in his study... However, his death was really tragic and weird. Would you like to... not go and see it?"

When Zhu Yuanzhang heard this, he sneered.

"Do you think I was brought up by fear? What kind of situations have we not seen?"

He waved his hand and said,
"Come on, take us there!"

As he spoke, he glanced behind him again and ordered:
"Those who are timid can stay here. We won't force you. Those who are brave can follow us to see what's going on!"

Hearing this, all the ministers looked stern.

At a time like this, anyone who acts like a coward will be laughed at by his colleagues for the rest of his life!
Not to mention the military generals, even the civil officials gritted their teeth and followed Zhu Yuanzhang.

The group walked through the front hall, turned two corners, and arrived in front of the study.

Liang Fu's work was indeed done well. He had sealed the study room and did not allow anyone to approach.

"Open."

Zhu Yuanzhang gave an order.

Two imperial guards stepped forward, tore off the seal, and pushed open the door.

There was a squeak, and a foul smell came out of the house. Zhu Yuanzhang's face changed and he quickly covered his mouth and nose!

"What stinks so bad!"

"Ugh! Could this be the stench of Yang Xian's corpse? It's only been less than a day! How could it stink so bad?!"

"I...I'd better stay away..."

"..."

The ministers were all complaining at this moment.

This taste is too strong!
Zhu Yuanzhang covered his mouth and nose, walked to the door of the study with a sullen face, and Zhu Ju followed closely behind him.

Military generals such as Xu Da and Tang He also followed suit, and among the civil officials, the most active was Hu Weiyong, who also quickly stepped forward and followed Zhu Yuanzhang.

Then, when everyone looked into the study, their faces changed!

There was a stiff corpse sitting in front of the desk. His face was no longer visible because at this moment, dense black worms were covering his face and were frantically eating the corpse!
Under the zombie's feet was a pool of black water, and the foul smell was obviously coming from there.

At the rate these bugs are biting, it won’t be long before this zombie collapses and turns into a pile of bones!
"What...what the hell is going on?!"

Zhu Yuanzhang looked a little shocked and couldn't help but ask,

"Why are there so many disgusting bugs?"

"Who did it?!"

Then, no one responded to this questioning.

At this moment, even Zhu Ju took a breath and was completely stunned!
This is too cruel!

Although he knew that his father's methods were powerful, it was really eye-opening to him to see him kill people in such a weird and disgusting way!
To be honest...my scalp is tingling!
"Is that person... Yang Xian?"

"Who will go up and verify the identity?!"

Zhu Yuanzhang asked again.

After this question, no one dared to respond.

That black worm looks extremely disgusting. Who would want to deal with it?

What if I get a little bit infected and it eats me up too?

"Your Majesty, that is Yang Xian, there is no doubt about it."

Liang Fu said in shock,
"But... when I saw him this morning, he was still normal! Even though he was dead and his face was purple and black, there was no such bug at all!"

“I don’t know where this bug came from!”

"This this……"

Not only Zhu Ju's scalp was numbing, his scalp was numbing too!
This Yang Xian's death was so weird!
"His Majesty!"

At this moment, a voice was heard, and a royal guard came forward to report.

"Your Majesty, a well was discovered in Yang Xian's home, and the water in the well has turned pitch black!"

"We have already brought up a bucket of black water. After testing, we found that the animals died immediately after drinking it, and their bodies turned purple!"

"I have initially concluded that there is something wrong with the water! Everyone in Yang Xian's family must have died after drinking this well water!"

Zhu Yuanzhang's face darkened.

"That's not right! Why would he drink the well water if he saw something strange?"

"This black water looks problematic at first glance!"

He raised the question.

"Unless... the well water was normal before they drank it, but then it suddenly became poisonous and killed all of them?"

Li Shanchang frowned and said,

"This is really strange. The coroner just said that they didn't have any rotten intestines..."

All the ministers looked solemn.

"Yang Xian, did he do something that angered the gods and the people, so he was killed by some gods or ghosts using evil magic?"

"My goodness, dozens of people in the family died in an accident! This is so cruel!"

"Yang Xian may have offended someone... The person he offended was definitely not an ordinary person, or someone who was proficient in evil magic killed his entire family! I heard that there is a kind of curse in Tibet that can kill people directly after it is cast!"

"Ah? So scary? Don't scare me!"

Surprising!

There's something evil about this matter!

Once something evil happens, it is inevitable that all kinds of weird speculations will emerge...

"not good!"

Hu Weiyong suddenly shouted,

"Your Majesty, this is an ominous place!"

"We still don't know what happened in Yang Xian's house, but what is certain is that it must be very dangerous here! The well water can become poisonous and kill people without being seen, so what about other things?"

"For safety's sake, Your Majesty, let's evacuate this place first!"

When these words were spoken, everyone was horrified!

Yes!

This place is really evil, and the smell is so bad...

After just a short while, I already felt uncomfortable all over! If I stayed any longer, who knows what would happen!
That black worm is disgusting to look at!
If it crawls onto your feet, you will be so sick that you won't be able to eat for three days!
"Let's go, escort His Majesty!"

Xu Da made a prompt decision and waved his hand, ordering:

"Liang Fu, this place is in your hands. Seal it off again and don't let anyone get close!"

Liang Fu's expression changed.

It is really difficult to be the governor of Yingtian Prefecture!
"……Yes!"

As difficult as it was, at this moment, he had no choice but to take the job.

Boom boom boom!
The group escorted Zhu Yuanzhang and hurriedly left Yang's mansion.

No matter they were civil officials or military generals, they were running faster than rabbits at this moment, for fear of being contaminated by something unlucky!
Only when they reached the outside of Yang's Mansion and closed the door did everyone breathe a sigh of relief.

"It was so suffocating... I couldn't even breathe in there."

"Yeah! The smell makes me feel itchy all over. If I stay here any longer, I'll probably get sick!"

"What do you think is going on? Yang Xian's entire family died suddenly overnight?"

"People say that punishment from heaven is being struck by lightning, but a poisonous spring suddenly appeared in his house. Could it be a punishment from the earth?"

"Who knows? It's hard to say... Logically speaking, Yang Xian isn't a very evil person..."

"..."

The officials had different opinions. They were frightened, but they also loved to talk about it.

This is human nature.

"We must get to the bottom of Yang Xian's affairs! He can't just die in such a confused state!"

Zhu Yuanzhang gave an order to Liang Fu:
"If it's man-made, we must find out who the murderer is! Investigate carefully to see if he has any enemies."

"If it's something else, we must find out the reason! Especially the well that's emitting black water. Is it connected to an underground river? If so, will it endanger the drinking water of the people and even the drinking water of the entire Yingtian?"

"Liang Fu, you must investigate this matter diligently and conscientiously! This is your duty!"

Liang Fu groaned in his heart, but in front of Zhu Yuanzhang, he could only nod repeatedly.

"The minister obeys the order!"

"Even if I don't eat or drink for the next few days, I will get to the bottom of this matter!"

Upon hearing this, Zhu Yuanzhang nodded slightly.

He looked towards the gate of Yang Mansion and sighed:

"Yang Xian... is a capable official! He is efficient and has a noble character. He can be said to be a role model for officials!"

"We originally placed our hopes on him and wanted him to shoulder the heavy burden of the Secretariat, but who knew... something like this would happen!"

"Alas! God is so jealous of talented people!"

Old Zhu sighed, beat his chest and stamped his feet, sighing and lamenting, as if he was extremely sad about Yang Xian's bizarre death.

"Your Majesty, if you say Yang Xian is capable, I have no objection, but if you say he has a high moral character and is a model for officials, I do not agree."

Suddenly, a voice came from the crowd.

I saw an imperial censor in blue official uniform came out and said in a deep voice:

"In fact, I originally planned to impeach Yang Xian at the court meeting today, but because of this sudden situation, I did not take out the impeachment memorial."

As soon as these words were spoken, all the civil and military officials looked over.

This censor is interesting. He died suddenly, and you still want to impeach him?

Impeachment for what?

"Oh?"

Zhu Yuanzhang frowned and said,

"You want to impeach Yang Xian? What's your name, and what are you impeaching him for?"

"tell me the story."

The censor lowered his head and said respectfully:
"Your Majesty, my name is Zhang Zheng, and I am an Imperial Censor in the Imperial Censorate."

"Originally, Yang Xian has already died, and I did not want to bring out this impeachment memorial, but after hearing Your Majesty praise him so much, I feel that I must stand up and expose Yang Xian's true face!"

"If not, he, a bad official with many illegal deeds and bad records, would become a role model in the eyes of your majesty and all officials! Isn't this ridiculous?"

Zhu Yuanzhang was slightly startled.

"According to what you said, Yang Xian really did something bad and kept us in the dark?"

He raised his hand and said,

"Okay, you say it!"

"Although Yang Xian is dead, if he really did something bad, we will not forgive him even if he dies!"

Zhang Zheng nodded, took out a memorial from his arms and handed it over.

"Your Majesty, it is well known that Yang Xian was arrogant and domineering in the Secretariat. Many ministers in the court can testify to this. I will not elaborate on this. I will only mention his three crimes of deceiving the emperor and five crimes of usurping the throne!"

He said loudly,

"Also, I have found out that the harvest he reported during his administration of Yangzhou was false!"

"Other officials reported less in order to get tax reductions, but he did the opposite and deliberately reported more! His purpose was to create the illusion that there was a good harvest after just one year of land reclamation, so as to cause the court to misjudge him and think that he was an excellent official!"

"In fact, Yangzhou's harvest that year was only half of what he reported! In other words, he significantly increased the taxes on the people just to make his political achievements look better!"

Hearing this, everyone's face changed!
This is definitely deceiving the emperor!
"This Yang Xian is really a talent! He has made great achievements in this way!"

"Yeah... Isn't he doing this just to get a high evaluation in the Ministry of Personnel's assessment? This man is really scheming!"

"Your Majesty! Yang Xian is deceiving the emperor! Not only that, he is also oppressing the people! You should know that Yangzhou was in ruins at that time, and the people were already overwhelmed. He actually ignored the lives of the people for the sake of political achievements!"

"..."

All of a sudden, all the civil and military officials started talking at once.

Some people even started to complain directly!
"Your Majesty, Yang Xian is extremely arrogant. Not only does he treat his colleagues badly, he also manipulates the selection of officials!"

"Your Majesty, Yang Xian secretly kept the memorials, presented the memorials that suited your Majesty, and kept all those that were unfavorable to him, in order to deceive your Majesty and exercise arbitrary power!"

"Your Majesty, I will also report Yang Xian!"

"His Majesty……"

Voices of impeachment and complaints were heard one after another, especially from the civil and military officials of Huaixi, who at this moment sounded the clarion call for a counterattack. After all, the dead cannot speak, so why not they say whatever they want?
Zhu Yuanzhang's expression turned ugly. "Silence!"

"You guys want to make my father die! You are just yelling like a shrew in the street!"

Zhu Ju roared,

"If you want to impeach or file a complaint, just follow the procedure and write a petition first!"

His temper was no less than Zhu Biao's. With a roar, he immediately shocked these noisy guys.

Wow.

Zhu Yuanzhang flipped through the impeachment memorial in his hand and said with a gloomy face:

"Three crimes of deceiving the emperor, five crimes of usurping power, and this shocking crime of Yangzhou!"

"Zhang Zheng, you have collected a very detailed account! As long as you report any of the charges here, especially the one about Yangzhou, and if the evidence is solid, we will immediately prosecute Yang Xianfa!"

"But why did you wait until now to report it? Wait until Yang Xian is dead before impeaching him?!"

"If he had not died, but had stood in the court openly, would you still have brought out this impeachment memorial?"

"Do you dare?"

Pfft!
This question frightened Zhang Zheng so much that he fell to his knees!
"Weichen, Weichen..."

With cold sweat on his forehead, he said tremblingly,
"I do want to impeach Yang Xian today. The reason why I listed so many charges is because, because..."

boom!
Zhu Yuanzhang stamped his foot on the ground and ordered:
"Because of what?"

"Say!"

Zhang Zheng lowered his head and whispered:
"It's because Yang Xian is favored by the emperor and is in charge of the Secretariat. I'm afraid... I'm afraid that the few charges I have won't bring him down. Instead, it will..."

Hearing these words, Zhu Yuanzhang did not get angry but laughed instead.

"Haha, hahahaha...it will only bring disaster to yourself and put your official position at risk, right?"

He asked with a sneer.

Zhang Zheng knelt on the ground, not daring to speak.

"Answer us!"

Zhu Yuanzhang raised his voice in an instant.

"……Yes."

Zhang Zheng nodded obediently, looking a little ashamed.

"Hahaha, look, look... this is the Imperial Censor of our Ming Dynasty, this is the Imperial Censor of our Ming Dynasty!"

Zhu Yuanzhang pointed at Zhang Zheng who was kneeling on the ground with a sarcastic look on his face and sneered,

"Why do we set up censors? Huh? We set up censors so that you can report things based on hearsay! Even if there is no solid evidence, but only a little clue, you can directly submit a memorial to impeach us! We gave you this power!"

"I gave it to you, but you don't dare to use it! You are still timid and hesitant! Today you are afraid of this official's power, tomorrow you are afraid of that official's cruelty, and you dare not offend anyone!"

"Then what do we need you bastards for? Just to eat dry food?!"

"I think it's time for you guys to be taught a lesson! Whoever is in charge of the Censorate, stand up!"

In the crowd, Liu Bowen was shocked, and under Zhu Yuanzhang's gaze, he could only walk out slowly.

"Your Majesty, I am now in charge of the Imperial Censorate..."

he whispered.

"It's you, Liu Ji!"

Zhu Yuanzhang sneered,

"Look at how you manage things! Your Censorate has produced only these spineless, cowardly, good-for-nothings?!"

"It's rotten, it's completely rotten!"

"No wonder there is peace and prosperity, no wonder the world is peaceful! If it is not reported, no one will impeach, and everyone covers their mouths and eyes, then it will naturally be peaceful and happy! Do you think this kind of whitewashed peace is what we want?"

"Answer us!"

Liu Bowen's face turned bitter.

"Your Majesty, the atmosphere in the Censorate is bad. This is my fault."

At the moment, he could only admit his mistake first, and then said,

"I will definitely learn from my mistakes and rectify the Censorate, change the bad habits, and remove the bad people!"

Upon hearing this, Zhu Yuanzhang snorted coldly.

"That's easy to say. I don't know if your mind is still in the court."

He said,

"Seeing you, I suddenly remembered that Yang Xian was your student, right? It was you who recommended him to govern Yangzhou."

"As a result, this kind of thing happened...Are you also responsible for not knowing the person well?"

What is bound to come will eventually come, and you can’t avoid it.

Liu Bowen knelt down slowly, clasped his hands and said:
"Your Majesty, I am indeed guilty of negligence."

"Yang Xian hid his true colors so well that I didn't see any problems with him back then. It was only recently that I saw that he had bad conduct and bad intentions!"

"After I discovered it, I immediately reported it to Your Majesty and did not dare to hide anything."

Zhu Yuanzhang waved his hand and snorted:

"I remember this, you don't need to remind me."

"You, Liu Bowen, are so eager to tell us about Yang Xian's situation. I'm afraid you might get into trouble and be implicated!"

"We know what you're thinking. Don't you just want to retire peacefully? We can tell you clearly now that if you don't rectify the Censorate and restore the Ming Dynasty's administration to a clean and honest state, you won't be able to retire!"

"Since you have this talent, you should work for the Ming Dynasty and the welfare of the people of the world! Instead of hiding away and living a carefree life like a rich man!"

Liu Bowen nodded and said yes.

The emperor's words in front of so many people meant that his retirement plan was completely ruined.

In fact, does he really not want to contribute to the Ming Dynasty?
No.

The truth is that there are too many constraints in the court. You are scheming against me, I am scheming against you, and there are conflicts back and forth. In addition, the emperor is unstable and moody... Working in such a court is really tiring!
Once Yang Xian fell from power this time, he was sure that many people would make a fuss about his teacher-student relationship with Yang Xian, and even launch an investigation against him!
"Father is right. Since Master Liu has talent, don't think about retiring. Instead, work harder for the country."

Zhu Ju suddenly said,
"The matter of Yang Xian has nothing to do with you, Master Liu. You are innocent!"

"Besides, there is no teacher-student relationship between you two. Yang Xian just shamelessly calls you his mentor. I know that you have always kept your distance from him! And you have never accepted any gifts from him. So even if Yang Xian's crimes are exposed this time, they cannot be thrown on your head!"

Hearing these words, all the ministers were shocked.

Your Highness the King of Wu, you must do your utmost to protect Liu Bowen!

"Your Highness!"

Liu Bowen suddenly raised his head, bowed to Zhu Ju, and said with a moved look on his face,
"The one who knows me is Your Highness!"

Zhu Ju's words really touched his heart!
Zhu Ju nodded slightly, glanced at all the ministers, and said in a deep voice:
"In fact, I have also observed the various chaos in the court for a long time. Since my father asked me to accompany him today, I would like to say a few words to you officials about Yang Xian's matter!"

"Father, can I speak?"

He looked at Zhu Yuanzhang.

"Of course you can. You are a prince, so I will give you the power to discipline the ministers."

Zhu Yuanzhang said, "No problem." He waved his hand and said,
"Don't even mention saying a few words, you can even scold them if you want!"

He was a little tired of scolding alone.

Previously, Zhu Biao was a relatively kind person and would never do anything like scolding a minister.

Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang was not disgusted by Zhu Ju's behavior, but was quite surprised.

Hey!
I now have a son who can fight alongside me!

"What I want to say is... Yang Xian is a typical example! He relied on superb deception to deceive everyone, even his father. They thought he was a promising talent and wanted to entrust him with important tasks, but what was the result? When you peel off his skin, you will find that he is rotten inside!"

Zhu Ju said loudly,
"No matter how he died today, whether it was punishment from heaven or revenge from his enemies! He is already dead, and it is time to make a final judgment! Now all his misdeeds have been exposed at once, for everyone to see! Those lies and deceptions have been torn apart in an instant!"

"What does this mean? In one sentence - you can deceive everyone for a short period of time, and you can deceive some people forever, but you can't deceive everyone forever!"

"So, I would like to advise everyone here to be a good person and a good official! Focus on building the Ming Dynasty instead of deceiving your superiors and subordinates and using despicable tricks to get to the top! If you do this, you may be able to gain glory for a while! But there will definitely be a day in the future when the truth is revealed! When that day comes, you may die even more miserably than Yang Xian!"

"I'm done!"

After saying this, he returned to Zhu Yuanzhang.

"it is good!"

Zhu Yuanzhang took the lead in applauding and said with great satisfaction,

"That's so well said!"

"You can't hide it from everyone forever! God is watching what you do, and we are watching too!"

"Be a down-to-earth person and an honest official, then you can maintain your wealth and glory forever. If you want to have evil thoughts, you must think carefully about whether you can bear the consequences of being exposed in the future!"

Zhu Ju's words really touched the heart of Old Zhu!

What is the essence of Yang Xian’s case?
The essence is deception! He is a daring liar!

What Zhu Yuanzhang hated most in his life was liars! He hadn't pointed this out yet, but Zhu Ju had!

At this moment, there was a sense of tacit understanding between the father and son! The cooperation between the two was perfect!

"I will follow the instructions of His Majesty the King of Wu and His Majesty's teachings!"

All the ministers had sparkling expressions and bowed respectfully.

The phrase 'You can't always keep the secret from everyone' does have a certain deterrent effect on some of the ministers present!
Especially now, the emperor is not only trying to crack down on the Censorate, but is also vigorously developing the Imperial Guards...

"You'd better listen to it instead of just talking about it."

Zhu Yuanzhang waved his hand and said,
"Let's go back to the palace and do whatever we need to do."

"Before the results of the investigation into Yang Xian's matter come out, we don't want to hear any rumors, especially those about supernatural powers!"

……

On the dragon chariot.

When the father and son sat down, Zhu Yuanzhang smiled and said approvingly:
"You can do it today, little brat!"

"What you said today was really good! It's more profound than what we said ourselves!"

"Your words are likely to shock quite a few people! Hehe... To be honest, if it were your eldest brother, he really wouldn't be able to say such a thing! He's too kind, and his temperament is more like your mother, while you are more like me!"

Zhu Ju scratched his head.

"Really? Hehe... Actually, I just said whatever came to my mind."

He was usually scolded by his father, but now that he was praised, he felt a little embarrassed.

"I just think that if we want to develop Ming Dynasty well, reducing internal friction is the most important thing!"

"At first glance, they are all talented people. If they can shine in their positions, they will surely make the country more powerful. But people are like this. They are unwilling to be content with the status quo. They either want to deceive their superiors and subordinates to seize power, or they want to fight against me and I will frame you, stepping on others to get to the top."

"If this continues, the country will be mired in internal strife. How can it develop and progress?"

"Internal fighting is often accompanied by slander and deception. They use all kinds of false information to confuse the emperor and achieve their goals! So what I said is also a warning! I use the Yang Xian incident to warn them that deception may make them feel good for a while, but they will be punished in the crematorium when the time comes!"

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded repeatedly.

"Yes, yes! Your idea is very good! It is more profound than we thought!"

He clapped his hands and laughed.

"Great! I didn't expect you to have such talent! You have ideas and eloquence, which is rare!"

"It seems that it was the right decision for us to train you now! If jade is not polished, it will not become a useful thing. Look at you now, you are much more useful than before! Before, you only knew how to be naughty and make me angry!"

Zhu Ju rolled his eyes.

"It's as if you trained me."

He raised his head and said,

"I don't need to be carved, I can become a useful person!"

Zhu Yuanzhang immediately rolled his eyes.

"I can't praise you if I can."

He said angrily,

"The fox's tail is up again!"

"You said I didn't train you, right? There will be a training session next. I have put a lot of effort into it. I have also told your father-in-law about it. I plan to have a good discussion with him and come up with a set of rules. The purpose is to train all of you brothers!"

Zhu Ju was slightly startled when he heard this.

"What kind of training?"

He inexplicably felt that... this was definitely not a good thing, because his father's expression was obviously a little strange, as if he had some... ill intentions.

"Haha, you will know when the time comes."

Zhu Yuanzhang smiled and said mysteriously,

"Just enjoy your peaceful life for a few more days."

"Oh, by the way, take good care of yourself these few days and don't overwork yourself, otherwise you might not be able to handle it."

After saying that, he closed his eyes and dozed off.

"What the hell is this..."

Zhu Ju muttered,

"You're definitely not holding back on anything good."

……

Yang Xian's death undoubtedly brought tremendous pressure to Liang Fu, but after several days and nights of investigation, he still could not find any clues.

The only good news was that the well in the Yang Mansion that was emitting black water did not pollute the underground river, and even the drinking water of the surrounding neighbors was normal. For a time, the bizarre death of Zuo Cheng Yang Xian became an unsolved case.

Where did the black water come from?

If it was really poisonous, why didn't his intestines rot, but instead he was bleeding from all his orifices?

Is it man-made or is it related to supernatural powers?

These questions cannot be answered, and it can be said that there is no clue at all!
Fortunately, the emperor did not seem to push hard for this unsolved case. Perhaps it was because Yang Xian's nine major crimes were confirmed one by one, making him a negative example that the emperor hated, and he went from being a powerful and high-ranking Zhongshu Zuocheng to a person who was guilty of heinous crimes and deserved to die!

(End of this chapter)