Ming Dynasty: I risked my life to teach the prince, the emperor begged me not to die

Chapter 362: Emperor Hongzhi's Revenge

Zhao Zhongping and Han Douyin hesitated for a moment in front of the hall, then hurried into the hall, bowed and said, "I am Zhao Zhongping, the Prince's Groom of the Imperial Household, and Han Douyin, the Secretary of the Imperial Library, and I pay my respects to His Majesty, Long Live the Emperor."

Chen Ce was stunned for a moment. The Emperor? He raised his eyes slightly and glanced at Emperor Hongzhi standing beside him. He suddenly realized what was happening, then stood up and bowed, saying, "Chen Ce, the proofreader of the Imperial Library, greets His Majesty, long live the Emperor."

He is actually the emperor?
Isn’t he an official from the Ministry of Justice?
Chen Ce had always had a preconceived notion. The first time he killed Lin Mianzhi, Emperor Hongzhi came to interrogate him. At that time, Chen Ce firmly believed that this must be a high-ranking official in the Ministry of Justice.

Later, this idea was always confirmed in Chen Ce's mind, and he no longer doubted the identity of Emperor Hongzhi.

In fact, he should have known it long ago. Emperor Hongzhi understood his every move, especially the last time at the Shuntian Prefecture Project Investment Promotion Conference. When he heard Emperor Hongzhi's voice, he always felt it was so familiar.

Chen Ce didn't think much about it at that time, but looking back now, all the clues point to the person in front of him being Emperor Hongzhi.

Emperor Hongzhi smiled. There was no need for him to conceal his identity now. Chen Ce would know it sooner or later. He waved his hand to Zhao Zhongping and Han Douyin and said, "Go down. I will have a private talk with Schoolmaster Chen."

What the hell!

Zhao Zhongping and Han Douyin lost control of their facial expressions and almost cried out in surprise.

The emperor and Lord Chen are chatting about private matters. How familiar are they? It turns out that you are a hidden boss! No wonder Yang Tinghe doesn't take you seriously.

If this were given to anyone, who would take Yang Ting and that trash seriously? They have been acting recklessly and domineeringly for a long time, okay?

There is no one as low-key and humble as Chen Ce. Fortunately, they did not do anything excessive to Chen Ce, otherwise they would be finished now.

The two of them hurriedly bowed and left.

Emperor Hongzhi stared at Chen Ce with a half-smile on his face. Chen Ce looked embarrassed. He had been hunting geese for years, but today he was pecked in the eye by a sparrow.

Who knew that the person in front of me was actually Emperor Hongzhi.

He said awkwardly: "Your Majesty, please take a seat."

Emperor Hongzhi uttered an "oh", sat on the armchair, squinted at Chen Ce and said, "Don't be so polite. Weren't you quite arrogant in front of me before?"

"You can sit down too."

Chen Ce thought to himself, how can I be arrogant? Oh, it’s just that I looked down on you a little when I first met you.

He was not too afraid of Emperor Hongzhi and sat down with confidence. He was going to die soon anyway, so there was nothing to be afraid of.

"You have taught the prince well these days. I should be grateful to you."

It turned out that Emperor Hongzhi knew everything, but this was also within Chen Ce's expectations. After all, he was the emperor. Maybe he could hide it from Emperor Hongzhi at the beginning, but it would not be so easy to hide it later.

Emperor Hongzhi's face changed and he snorted, "Chen Chunjian!"

Chen Ce: “???”

Why did he feel that Emperor Hongzhi was a little bit crazy? He was so kind one moment and his face changed the next.

"I want to settle accounts with you!"

"Let me first think about where to start."

Chen Ce: “…”

After a moment of silence, Emperor Hongzhi said, "Let's talk about Lin Mianzhi first. Did you use the two uncles to kill him?"

Chen Ce nodded: "Yes."

There is nothing to hide. Since Emperor Hongzhi asked this question, he should already know the result and the answer.

Emperor Hongzhi snorted and said, "Lin Mianzhi really deserves to die. I will not pursue this matter with you." "Where is Wang Yue?"

Chen Ce glanced at the corner of his mouth and said with a dim look in his eyes: "Your Majesty knows much more about how Wang Yue died than I do."

The corner of Emperor Hongzhi's mouth twitched, and he said, "I know that you have a good relationship with Wang Yue. You have always believed that I forced Wang Yue to death. Let me tell you, with his temper, no matter who becomes emperor, he will die!"

"What I want to ask you is, who killed the former Minister of Personnel Tu Yu, the Director of the Censorate Lu Zhong, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of War, the Deputy Minister of the Ministry of War, and others? Who was responsible for the bloodshed on New Year's Day in the twelfth year of the Hongzhi reign?"

Chen Ce was shocked. He really didn't expect that Emperor Hongzhi would find out this? !

"What's wrong? Are you mute? You look sick and weak, but you are very thoughtful and ruthless! I have to look at you with new eyes!"

"If I wanted to investigate further, would you still be alive today?"

Chen Ce was shocked again. It turned out that Emperor Hongzhi knew everything, but he deliberately did not pursue the matter.

"Did you include me in your calculations regarding the affairs of the royal family and vassal states? You first deliberately sent Wang Shouren to the southwest to win a victory, and then forced me to transfer the royal family and vassal states to the southwest to develop the country, forcing them to give up their salaries and put me in an unjust situation?"

Chen Ce was silent for a moment, then asked, "Your Majesty, you know better than me the harm of the royal family. If I don't force you to do this, do you really want to leave such a big financial hole to your son to clean up the mess?"

Emperor Hongzhi was speechless, and said with a straight face: "Then you can plot against me?"

Chen Ce shook his head and said, "I dare not."

"How dare you! Didn't you do it?"

Chen Ce said helplessly: "Well, I did it. I will let the emperor punish me."

Emperor Hongzhi was furious, "If I really wanted to punish you, would you still be alive today?"

"You were the one who solved the problems in Kaizhong and Yanyin. Let's just say your merits and demerits offset each other. Otherwise... humph!"

Although Emperor Hongzhi was settling old scores, he had no intention of making things difficult for Chen Ce.

It was more like a summary of Chen Ce's past contributions to the Ming Dynasty. Perhaps the truth would never come to light, and no one would know what Chen Ce had done, but Emperor Hongzhi now told Chen Ce clearly that even though the world did not know about your contributions, I had always kept them in my heart.

"There's one thing I don't understand. Why did you invent the loom?"

"The southeast is in chaos right now, and it is inextricably linked to the textile machinery. Are you planning any new deployments targeting the southeast?"

Chen Ce said hurriedly: "That's not the case."

Emperor Hongzhi sneered, "You are not a good person. Although your appearance can deceive many people, it cannot deceive me. You are more vicious than anyone else!"

"You would be so kind as to invent a loom, but do such a boring thing that does no good to yourself?"

Chen Ce said: "The invention of the textile machine was to make money. At that time, the cost of express delivery was not enough, so people wanted to make some money temporarily to make up for the shortfall of express delivery."

"Really?" Emperor Hongzhi was skeptical.

Chen Ce shrugged and said, "Yes, if the emperor doesn't believe it, you can just ban the textile machines. Anyway, I can't make any money now."

Emperor Hongzhi: “…”

How to ban textile machines? How many people in the southeast of Jiangnan rely on textile machines to make a living? Once textile machines are banned, how many people will lose their jobs? At that time, the mess in the southeast will be even bigger. You keep talking nonsense!
"Come with me to the East Palace." Emperor Hongzhi changed the subject.

Chen Ce: "Ah? Why?"

Emperor Hongzhi said angrily: "Why do you say that?! Tell Yang Tinghe to stop harassing you! Why else?!!"

(End of this chapter)