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

Chapter 589 Struggle
Emperor Hongzhi was no longer in the mood to wash his feet. He never expected that such a big thing would happen in Datong Prefecture of the Nine Borders.

Who would have thought that the Ming Dynasty had deployed the highest level of defense in Xuanfu. Among the nine borders, Datong and Xuanfu were the least likely to be in trouble, and Datong and Xuanfu were also the places where trouble could least happen, because they were too close to the capital.

But who could have imagined that the nine-border defense system built at great expense by the Ming Dynasty was full of loopholes. Hundreds of civilians and merchants died in Datong. This was undoubtedly the most serious damage to the Ming Dynasty's prestige.

Throughout the Hongzhi reign, Emperor Hongzhi had always strictly guarded the northern border, and there had not been any war disputes during this period. Who would have thought that such a major political event would occur at this time.

Emperor Hongzhi was furious: "Datong, Datong! Are the officials in Datong shit eaters... cough cough cough!"

Zhu Houzhao quickly stood up and patted Emperor Hongzhi on the back, saying, "Father, don't get excited. Don't get excited. I will go and find out the situation."

Emperor Hongzhi waved his hand and said, "No need, Liu Jin, go and call Fei Hong to me, right now!"

It can be seen that Emperor Hongzhi was really angry this time. With so many people dead, how could he possibly let Zhu Houzhao handle it?

I thought he had retired and handed over the prosperous country to Zhu Houzhao, but who would have known that such a big thing would happen in Datong!
……

The cold wind was howling outside the Qianqing Palace. When it was time to light the lamps, Fei Hong did not leave the cabinet. He was waiting for Emperor Hongzhi to call him.

When Liu Jin came over, Fei Hong had already packed up and followed Liu Jin hurriedly towards the warm room.

After arriving at the warm room, Fei Hong was stunned to see Emperor Hongzhi sitting on the dragon throne himself. He then knew how much Emperor Hongzhi valued Datong.

Fei Hong bowed and said, "Your humble servant pays respect to His Majesty."

Emperor Hongzhi shouted, "Tell me! Why was Datong attacked? Why did so many people die?!"

Fei Hong had already organized his words in his mind. He said to Emperor Hongzhi: "Your Majesty, two days ago I received a letter from Fu Yuan, the deputy commander of the Liaodong Internal Factory. Fu Yuan informed me of the situation in Datong."

"When Fu Yuan found out that the little prince of Tartar had left the tribe, he made an analysis and believed that there was a high probability that the little prince would attack Datong Prefecture."

Zhu Houzhao asked at this time: "Since he analyzed the movements of the little Tatar prince, why did he end up like this?"

Fei Hong said: "Fu Yuan informed Datong Prefecture of his analysis and asked the Datong general to guard the city strictly, but..."

After a pause, Fei Hong still said honestly: "Xu Ze, the general commander of Datong, believes that Fu Yuan's analysis has no basis. In addition, he has deployed many spies outside Datong, and believes that Datong can be completely safe."

"If we really close the doors according to Fu Yuan's suggestion, then the merchants in Datong will suffer huge losses during this period, and the fiscal revenue of Datong Prefecture will also suffer huge losses."

"Based on this, he rejected Fu Yuan's suggestion to close the door."

Emperor Hongzhi's face turned red and he angrily said, "Bullshit!"

"Don't speak for Xu Ze. What do you mean by Datong merchants suffered huge losses? So many people have died. In his eyes, human lives are not as important as property?"

"You are all civil servants. Do you think Fu Yuan is from the inner factory and look down on people from the inner factory from the bottom of your heart?"

"If he had listened to Fu Yuan's advice, would Datong have suffered such a tragic loss?"

"Xu Ze deserves to die. He deserves to die! It's not too much to kill all his clans!"

"For his own selfish reasons, he actually turned a blind eye to the lives of tens of thousands of Datong people. He is the general of Datong. Datong's defense depends entirely on him. He should be treated with the utmost caution!" "For the sake of internal strife, he actually disregarded the lives of the people. What's the point of keeping him around?!"

Zhu Houzhao was still calm. He asked Fei Hong, "Teacher, you also said that since General Xu had already deployed spies outside the Great Wall, why did the little prince's troops break through his spies?"

Emperor Hongzhi was slightly stunned, and looking at his son's calm face, he felt extremely relieved.

His son has grown up, really grown up.

If it were the Zhu Houzhao of the past, he would probably have killed the Datong general without saying a word. But now he was not impulsive, but looked at the matter very calmly.

Fei Hong hurriedly said, "This is also what I want to report... The memorial from the Datong general arrived at the cabinet tonight, and I just received it."

"According to General Xu's analysis, the reason why his intelligence was breached by the little prince was because there was a spy in the group."

"And the people who knew about my spy deployment were undoubtedly people within the court, so... General Xu suspected that Fu Yuan was the little prince's traitor, and he submitted a petition to impeach Fu Yuan."

Emperor Hongzhi laughed out of anger. Fu Yuan reminded him, but he ended up biting back!
What a great general of Datong! He has no ability in fighting a war, but is so good at internal fighting!
Zhu Houzhao narrowed his eyes and asked Fei Hong: "Teacher, what do you think?"

Fei Hong shook his head and said, "I don't know either. I don't understand this matter yet, so I dare not make any suggestions casually."

"I will investigate this thoroughly and will not listen to anyone's one-sided statement."

Zhu Houzhao asked: "Teacher, do you think I can think this way? In order to avoid the court's punishment, Xu Ze deliberately slandered others and bit back?"

"He knew it would take a long time for the court to investigate him, so he deliberately delayed the time and shifted the target to the inner factory?"

"You civil officials are already at odds with the inner factory. By then, it won't just be a dispute between General Xu and Fu Yuan, but will it escalate to a fight between the civil officials and the inner factory?"

Fei Hong was stunned for a moment. He really didn't expect that the prince would be so mature now. This analysis was naturally very reasonable and very sophisticated.

Not only Fei Hong was surprised, but Emperor Hongzhi was too.

Fei Hong said with a stiff upper lip: "Your Highness, this is possible."

Zhu Houzhao said coldly: "What should I do? If I continue to investigate like this, will this matter end up in nothing?"

"So many people died in Datong, and in the end, they just picked someone to take the blame?"

"Xu Ze is neglecting his duty! He is trying to drag others into such a big incident? Does he think there is something wrong with me?"

"Teacher, what do you think we should do? Do you really think we should investigate it thoroughly and then wait for the results?"

"Did the 626 people who died in Datong just die in vain? I am going to swallow my anger and find a scapegoat to convict. Will Lord Xu continue to be his commander-in-chief?"

Fei Hong broke out in a cold sweat. At this moment he suddenly felt the tremendous pressure from Zhu Houzhao, which was a feeling he had never experienced before when he was Zhu Houzhao's teacher.

The prince has really grown up, and he is now about to become a qualified and mature emperor!
Fei Hong was somewhat frightened. He thought about it for a long time before answering Zhu Houzhao.

(End of this chapter)