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

Chapter 552 Zhu Houzhao's Wedding

After the development of commerce, evil forces among the people gradually emerged, colluding with local government officials and colluding between officials and businessmen, especially in industries such as construction, gambling houses, and brothels.

If the capital is like this, what about the rest of the country?
After Wang Youjia was arrested, his final fate was self-evident. Zhu Houzhao had never been a good man. Don't look at him laughing in front of Chen Ce, but to outsiders he was still a descendant of the Zhu family, and he would kill people without blinking an eye.

Wang Youjia also accused the Tongpan of Shuntian Prefecture. The Censorate immediately sent an inspector to investigate, and found out that the amount of corruption was shocking.

More and more corrupt officials in the capital were implicated by Shuntian Prefecture. Emperor Hongzhi was furious and immediately began to mobilize the three judicial departments to jointly investigate the case. He did not care who the other party was or whether his reputation was damaged. He would arrest them and punish them.

By February, fifteen officials above the seventh rank and six above the fifth rank were executed in the entire capital, and hundreds of thousands of taels of silver worth of embezzled funds were seized.

As for businessmen who colluded with officials, they were basically killed without mercy after being arrested, and those with serious crimes would even have their entire families exterminated.

For a time, the capital was in a panic!

Emperor Hongzhi did not give up and sent the censor to investigate the local area.

This abnormal and desperate behavior made all the officials in the capital feel somewhat unfamiliar with Emperor Hongzhi. Many people wrote to the emperor, hoping that he would not start a massacre, fearing that it would cause the officialdom to be paranoid and cause suffering to the people.

Emperor Hongzhi didn't listen at all. Those who should be killed were still killed, and those who should be dealt with were still dealt with. As for what the officials would say about him, he didn't care.

He is now arrogant and no longer timid as he was in the first half of his life in power. As he is about to die, he is willing to bear any infamy in order to leave Zhu Houzhao a peaceful and prosperous country!
The Zhang brothers secretly found Chen Ce and said with a smile: "Chen Ce, I heard that a few days ago, you helped the prince win more than 30,000 taels of silver in the casino, right?"

Chen Ce nodded and said, "Yes."

He thought that the Zhang brothers would take this as a warning. After all, the whole country is now strictly investigating and banning casinos.

"Okay! Okay!"

"How did you win? Can you teach us? We will learn from you."

Chen Ce: “???”

"What are you going to do?"

Zhang Yanling said: "Isn't that nonsense? Of course we went to win money. This time we won 30,000 taels. If we win in ten days, it will be 300,000 taels. If we win in a hundred days, it will be 300,000 taels."

You... are a real math genius! Your calculations are so precise. I admire you!
Chen Ce said speechlessly: "Now all places are strictly investigating casinos and gamblers, do you still dare to gamble?"

Zhang Heling said shamelessly: "It is precisely because of this that those gambling houses must find a way to make the last profit!"

"We have to take advantage of their psychology and win the money before they close the casino!"

Chen Ce was speechless for a moment. He was silent for a moment and said, "I have a better idea. You might as well give it a try. It will definitely make more money faster than gambling."

The Zhang brothers said excitedly, "Okay, okay! Chen Ce, tell me quickly, how do you make so much money?"

Chen Ce said: "There are so many money houses all over the country, go and rob them, the money in those money houses is much more than that in the gambling houses."

"How about it? Think about it?"

Zhang brothers: "..."

"Let's not think about this for now. How about you teach us how to gamble?"

Chen Ce said: "I can't."

"Nonsense! You clearly won more than 30,000 taels of silver."

Chen Ce said helplessly: "That's luck... Well, if you really want to know the method, it's actually very simple. Observe the opponent's actions and play psychological games." "That's it?"

"that's it."

The Zhang brothers nodded calmly, and Chen Ce said, "But I still advise you not to gamble. If you get caught, the consequences will be disastrous."

"Haha!" Zhang Heling said, "We are just asking this. Do you think we will really go and gamble?"

"That's good!"

Chen Ce sent the Zhang brothers away, and then... the next day, the two brothers were arrested by the Ministry of Justice.

The two brothers went to the gambling house that night and lost thousands of taels of silver. They were so angry that they smashed the casino. Then the Ministry of Justice intervened and they were finally arrested and taken to the Ministry of Justice.

When Emperor Hongzhi heard the news, he really wanted to kill these two bastards immediately. He had just banned casinos across the country, and then his brother-in-law went to gamble. This was tantamount to a slap in the face for Emperor Hongzhi!

If it weren't for Empress Zhang's repeated pleadings, Emperor Hongzhi would never have let these two bastards leave the Ministry of Justice prison!
……

In the seventeenth year of Hongzhi’s reign, it was February.

Preparations for Zhu Houzhao's wedding also officially began. The Xia family, who lived far away in Nanzhi, came to the capital early, and the wedding was officially scheduled for the third day of February.

Chen Ce also prepared a big gift for Zhu Houzhao. Of course, these gifts were prepared by Madam Wu. They were decent and generous, so Chen Ce didn't need to worry about them.

The third day of the second month of spring, the East Palace.

Chen Ce attended the Crown Prince's wedding banquet. Looking at Zhu Houzhao's high-spirited look, Chen Ce smiled with relief.

Emperor Hongzhi personally presided over the wedding of Zhu Houzhao, and Empress Zhang and the Zhang brothers were busy joining in... Although they didn't need to do anything, it was her precious son's wedding after all, so as a mother, of course she had to come forward to preside over it.

Chen Ce and Emperor Hongzhi stood in the central hall. The bustle outside seemed to be incompatible with them. It was clearly a happy day, but both of them were tacitly sad.

Emperor Hongzhi said with emotion: "Chunjian, I finally understand why you always urge me to quickly hold a wedding for Houzhao."

Chen Ce: “…”

"I really don't mean that."

Emperor Hongzhi smiled bitterly and said, "What I mean is that you did the right thing and helped me. If it was two years later, I might not have been able to see my son get married."

"I just hope that I can see my grandson before I leave."

Chen Ce nodded in agreement. He certainly hoped to see Zhu Houzhao get married and have children, but he couldn't help feeling a little worried. After all, Zhu Houzhao had no offspring in history, otherwise he would not have been taken advantage of by Jiajing.

"I am not as good as you." Emperor Hongzhi sighed, "When facing life and death, I am still so reluctant, so worried and afraid."

"I have been advising you to take life and death indifferently. You don't need my advice. You are much stronger than me."

"I can't bear to leave this vast country, my wife, and my children!"

Chen Ce didn't know how to comfort Emperor Hongzhi, so he just said, "Your Majesty, don't be sad. Maybe there is still a chance...right?"

Emperor Hongzhi smiled and said, "Yes."

He concealed his sad face, because Zhu Houzhao was carrying the wedding dress, trotting over excitedly, pulling Emperor Hongzhi and saying, "Father, little brother, the wedding banquet is about to begin, what are you doing standing here? Go and preside over the wedding for me! The Ministry of Rites is going crazy looking for you!"

(End of this chapter)