Ming Dynasty: The Crocodile King of Han Prince Zhu Gaoxu's Family

Chapter 246 The Guangxi Official Who Kneels and Begs

After helping Yin Shi and the other person up, Zhu Zhanhe gently beckoned to Xiao Xizi. Xiao Xizi immediately understood and returned the token. Zhu Zhanhe, satisfied, casually put the token away again. After all, it was a keepsake from his grandfather and should be carefully preserved!

"Thank you, Your Highness!" Yin Shi and his companion, who were helped up by Zhu Zhanhe, were quite surprised by Zhu Zhanhe's courtesy, but still respectfully expressed their gratitude.

But at this moment, Yin Shi and Liu Anchashi, who were helped up by Zhu Zhanhe, were saying thank you, but their legs were so weak that they could hardly stand up and were trembling with nervousness!

At this moment, not only were their legs weak, but their heads were also buzzing with confusion! Because what the Crown Prince of Han had just said was far too serious! It was simply beyond the ability of the two of them, or rather, their small local officials, to handle!
At first, Yin Shi doubted why the court would agree to build ships for the Crown Prince of Han. After all, the court was currently beset by internal and external troubles, and the Prince of Han and the Prince of Zhao were rebelling. What could the court do if it didn't provide the Crown Prince with a fleet of ships?
But after hearing the whole story and secretly reviewing the pros and cons, Yin Shi rejected his previous idea and couldn't help but sigh inwardly, no wonder the bigwigs in the cabinet chose to compromise when facing the Crown Prince of Han, and even promised to give the Crown Prince the fleet, and even promised to give the old ships and the shipwrights first, such excessive compensation conditions, to appease the Crown Prince of Han.

Now that he had sorted out his thoughts, Yin Shi realized that the cabinet's seemingly cowardly actions were not only to stabilize the court and prevent the Crown Prince of Han from attacking Guangdong and Guangxi, but also to prevent the Crown Prince of Han from leading his army to participate in the rebellion of the King of Han and the King of Zhao!

The deeper reason was that Emperor Taizong personally ordered the construction of ships for the Han Crown Prince's fleet!
Emperor Renzong, who succeeded to the throne, had no choice but to agree to provide the Han crown prince with the fleet. The stakes involved were astounding!
But now, even Emperor Renzong has passed away, yet the court has not given the Crown Prince of Han a new ship. Yin Shi even doubts whether the court has even started making these new ships!

Moreover, not only did the imperial court not provide the ship, but after both parties reached an agreement on the extension, the imperial court also played a strange trick on the extension agreement!
To put it bluntly, the imperial court not only failed to provide the Crown Prince with a new fleet, but also tricked him with the old fleet! And in a blatant and unscrupulous way!

At this moment, Yin Shi, the Provincial Governor of Guangxi, had already cursed every single official in the imperial court who was handling this matter in his mind!

Don't you know that the Prince of Han is rebelling?!

Don't you know that the King of Han and the King of Zhao have already reached the gates of Jinan?!

Don't you know that the Crown Prince of Han still has over 100,000 elite troops under his command?!

Aren't you afraid that the Crown Prince of Han will really send troops to attack the Guangdong and Guangxi regions?!

Aren't you afraid that if you push the Crown Prince of Han too far, he might lead his army of over 100,000 men to rebel with the Prince of Han?!

Aren't they afraid of another Jingnan Rebellion by the Ming Dynasty?!?

But at this moment, no matter what Yin Shi thought or how he cursed, he knew that today's matter was too complicated.

Even if we argue about it from all angles, at most it's just that the Crown Prince of Han was humiliated and forced by the court, leaving him with no choice but to raise an army in retaliation. Because of this, the court is undeniably in the wrong!

To put it bluntly, this matter has dragged on for so long that it has killed two emperors, and it is still not resolved!
On a smaller scale, this is official inaction; on a larger scale, it is the inaction of the imperial court!

But if we take it a step further, things could get really serious!

Some might even say that this is the successor to Emperor Taizong, disregarding the late emperor's wishes!

If someone were to say that, it would concern the legitimacy and legality of Emperor Renzong's succession to the throne—that would be an extremely important matter!

Because of this incident, most people are questioning the legitimacy and rationality of the Yongle Emperor's successor's ascension to the throne! Adding to this the current uprisings by the Prince of Han and the Prince of Zhao, it's truly impossible to know what will happen!
Not to mention, the Crown Prince of Han now possesses a terrifying and unsolvable Golden Dragon Token, symbolizing the Yongle Emperor's absolute approval! This Golden Dragon Token can mobilize half of the palace guards under any circumstances! With this token, even if Emperor Renzong were still alive, if the Crown Prince of Han were to declare that Emperor Renzong's ascension to the throne was illegitimate and threaten to send troops to attack the capital, all the powerful figures in the capital would have to seriously consider their allegiance between Emperor Renzong and the Crown Prince of Han!

Not to mention, now that Emperor Renzong has passed away and the throne is vacant, if the Crown Prince of Han appears in the palace with the Golden Dragon Token, he will definitely have the possibility of directly inheriting the throne!
Especially the imperial guards of the palace, when the Crown Prince of Han appears with the Golden Dragon Token, it's really hard to say whose side they will take!
In just a moment, countless thoughts flashed through Yin Shi's mind. But suddenly, a bolt of lightning struck Yin Shi's head.

Could it be that there's more to the story behind the rebellion of the Prince of Han and the Prince of Zhao?!

Why didn't the Crown Prince of Han participate in the rebellion?

Is it to stabilize the political situation?

In an instant, Yin Shi and Inspector Liu felt dizzy. They looked at each other and swallowed hard. Their eyes were filled with panic. It seemed that they had unwittingly been drawn into something terrible!

The Crown Prince of Han had even written in advance to inform them of his intention to attack the Liangguang region. Now it seems he is a benevolent member of the royal family, and this military campaign was likely a choice made out of necessity! Looking at Zhu Zhanhe, whose back was to them, Yin Shi suddenly seemed to understand the Crown Prince's predicament. After all, the court was clearly in the wrong, and no explanation could stand up to it!

"My lords, I have finished explaining the matter. Do you two have any solutions?" Seeing that Yin Shi and Inspector Liu looked stunned and at a loss, Zhu Zhanhe stepped forward rather inappropriately and asked them directly if they had any ideas on how to resolve the issue.

"Your Highness." Faced with the question posed by the Crown Prince of Han, Yin Shi, the Provincial Governor of Guangxi, was speechless for a moment, because he had no solution at all! Therefore, Yin Shi lowered his head with a face full of shame.

"What about Lord Liu? Does he have any ideas?" Seeing that Yin Shi, the Provincial Treasurer, was speechless, Zhu Zhanhe had no choice but to turn his attention to another Inspector, Liu.

"Your Highness." For a moment, Inspector Liu was speechless. He could only look at Zhu Zhanhe with pleading eyes, hoping that Zhu Zhanhe would have mercy and not start a war.

"Your Highness, please have mercy!" Looking at Zhu Zhanhe's calm gaze, Inspector Liu felt a pang in his heart. After a moment's thought, without hesitation, amidst the astonished gazes of the crowd, his legs buckled, and he knelt directly before Zhu Zhanhe, banging his head on the ground and pleading loudly.

"Lord Liu," Yin Shi, the provincial governor, was stunned when he saw Inspector Liu kneeling down and pleading with Zhu Zhanhe. He had never imagined that the hot-tempered and sharp-tongued Inspector Liu would kneel down and beg others for the sake of the people.

"Your Highness, please have mercy!" When Yin Shi saw his colleague kneeling and begging, he did not hesitate at all and knelt down directly in front of the Crown Prince of Han, pleading loudly.

"It seems that neither of you gentlemen has any other options." Zhu Zhanhe looked at the two Guangxi officials kneeling on the ground, begging for mercy. He slowly walked to his seat, sat down, picked up his teacup, took a sip, and then spoke to the two men.

"Your Highness." Seeing that the Crown Prince of Han remained unmoved, Yin Shi and Inspector Liu were extremely anxious. They moved a few steps on their knees with pleading in their voices and called out to Zhu Zhanhe.

"Xiao Xizi, please ask the two gentlemen to get up and bring them some hot tea." After taking a sip of tea, Zhu Zhanhe noticed that the tea had cooled down, so he instructed Xiao Xizi to get to work.

"Yes." Xiao Xi agreed to Zhu Zhanhe's arrangement without hesitation. At the same time, he waved to the eunuch serving at the door, and the eunuch immediately turned around to serve hot tea.

(End of this chapter)