Zhu Di: My fourth son is a great emperor of all time?

Chapter 69 Was it Zhu Zhanji who assassinated Zhu Gaoshuo?

"What happened to the fourth brother?"

The smile on Zhu Di's face vanished instantly.

The Ming Dynasty was developing in the best possible direction, but the most important figure, Zhu Gaoshuo, ran into trouble.

what is going on.

How could the fourth brother be assassinated for no reason?

As Zhu Di roared, the officials all lowered their heads, not daring to provoke the current emperor.

Zhu Di was inherently suspicious.

It's inevitable that people will start to suspect others unnecessarily.

Sure enough, the first person Zhu Di suspected was Zhu Gaoxu.

"Second brother, is it you causing trouble? If anything happens to fourth brother, I'll kill you!"

Zhu Di's words caused Zhu Gaoxu's expression to change drastically.

He could clearly see just how angry his father was.

Forget about his image, he quickly knelt down and explained, "Father, this couldn't possibly have been done by me, okay? Although I was still working with the eldest brother to target the fourth brother, I would never have killed him. At most, I just didn't want him to have so much power."

Zhu Gaoxu was telling the truth.

He really had no reason to kill.

Especially the killing of Zhu Gaoshuo.

Upon hearing this, Zhu Gaosui quickly added, "Second brother is right, fourth brother promised us, we can't possibly kill him!"

Even Zhu Gaosui, the most arrogant of the group, was afraid.

He hadn't seen the old man so angry in a long time.

When the emperor goes mad, even his own son might lose his life.

Zhu Gaosui, of course, dared not say more.

"That's you, Boss!" Zhu Di's meaningful words made Zhu Gaochi feel fear.

He is not now the Crown Prince who will later decide to rebel against his father for the sake of his son Zhu Zhanji.

Zhu Gaochi still lives in the shadow of Zhu Di.

Sensing his father's anger, he was also frightened.

At this moment, Zhu Gaochi understood very well that neither the second nor the third son would kill the fourth son.

The only possible person now is myself.

Looking at his eldest son's appearance, Zhu Di frowned.

"What are you afraid of?"

"Nothing happened. Even if you killed the fourth brother in the Sky Curtain, he's still alive. What are you so nervous about!"

“Father, I’m worried about the fourth prince and about the Ming Dynasty. If the fourth prince really dies, the Ming Dynasty will lose a great emperor.”

Zhu Gaochi wiped the sweat from his forehead and thought for a long time before slowly speaking.

He believed his explanation was flawless.

Unexpectedly, Zhu Di flew into a rage and smashed the teacup on the ground.

"Does the Crown Prince think that killing the Fourth Prince will pass the throne to you? Is there no one else in our Ming Dynasty?"

"Father, I was wrong, I was wrong!" Zhu Gaochi bowed deeply, bending his body low.

Having been Zhu Di's son for so many years, it's safe to say that no one understands Zhu Di's anger at this moment better than him.

Zhu Di, in particular, was terrifying when he smashed things.

Only Zhu Gaoxu was overjoyed by what Zhu Di had just said.

The fourth son died, and the eldest son was viewed with suspicion. So he had no choice but to become emperor.

Thinking about it this way, it doesn't seem like such a bad thing that the fourth brother died.

Zhu Gaoxu looked at Zhu Gaoshuo and thought to himself, "Fourth brother, don't blame your second brother later. It's good to be an emperor overseas, but the emperor of the Ming Dynasty is still more legitimate!"

But to Zhu Gaochi's surprise, Zhu Di did not get angry again.

Silence fell over the hall.

No one dared to speak.

Until the sky continued to fall.

Upon returning from Japan, Zhu Gaochi immediately sought to understand why his fourth son, the fourth prince, had ordered the construction of numerous merchant ships. He discovered the immense benefits the fourth prince had gained by controlling these ships after the lifting of the maritime ban, as anyone wishing to sail or enter the Ming Dynasty had to pay taxes.

Zhu Gaoshuo's tax rate was as high as 50%, yet merchants still flocked to do business with him, because the goods brought back from Japan showed the world the boundless opportunities hidden overseas.

By controlling access to the seas, a large amount of overseas wealth flowed into Zhu Gaoshuo's Prince Qi's residence. Of course, Zhu Gaochi understood that it might soon become the Crown Prince's residence!

Seeing Zhu Gaoshuo's abilities, Zhu Gaochi was completely convinced and felt extremely pessimistic. He realized that even if he fought to the death for his son, he couldn't possibly defeat the fourth prince. It would be better to obediently become a vassal king; given Zhu Gaoshuo's personality, his family would surely receive good treatment.

Zhu Gaochi just didn't expect this day to come so soon. When he, as the crown prince, was about to put aside his grudges and lead his ministers to the morning court the next day to thank Zhu Gaoshuo for bringing the current prosperity to the Ming Dynasty.

Unexpectedly, that very night, Zhu Di sent an imperial edict to depose him from his position as crown prince and appoint Zhu Gaoshuo as the new crown prince!

That night, Zhu Gaochi cried all night, holding his mother's memorial tablet. He had long considered that he would be deposed as crown prince and replaced by his fourth son, Zhu Gaoshuo, and was prepared for it.

But he seemed unable to accept that his father, Zhu Di, hadn't even come in person, but only sent a lowly eunuch. At that moment, Zhu Gaochi truly felt wronged, which is why he thought of going to complain to his mother!

"Father, what you've done has really gone too far!"

Zhu Gaoxu got up from the ground and directly criticized Zhu Di with great dissatisfaction.

In his view, although he had been fighting with the boss for so many years, the boss had been diligently overseeing the country and had not actually made any major mistakes.

It's just that he's not as good as the fourth brother.

Even if he were to remove his crown prince, there was no need for him to be absent.

Just send a eunuch to tell Zhu Gaochi.

Zhu Di's face darkened; he knew perfectly well that this was very unfair to his eldest son.

But there's no other way. Should we make him go and tell the boss himself?

Isn't that even more cruel?
Zhu Di felt it was fine to send a eunuch to deliver the imperial edict in private.

But seeing that the eldest and second eldest brothers were both on the opposite side of him.

Zhu Di was somewhat displeased. He looked at Zhu Gaoshuo and asked, "Fourth Prince, do you think I did anything wrong in this matter?"

"Father, I think you're wrong!" Zhu Gaoshuo said calmly.

Zhu Di remained silent.

Surprisingly, even the fourth brother didn't help him.

The boss is very likely the one who wants to assassinate him.

When I ask you brothers to be united, why don't you ever do that?

How come they're so in sync when it comes to refuting him?

At the morning court session, Zhu Gaochi did not wear the python robe that belonged to the crown prince, because he was no longer the crown prince. The officials had obviously received the news, and no one even greeted him.

Because Zhu Gaochi was no longer the crown prince or a prince, people didn't know how to greet him.

Just as Zhu Gaochi was grieving, shocking news arrived: Zhu Gaoshuo had been assassinated, and his fate was unknown!

[Zhu Di was furious. His first priority was to locate Prince Qi, and his second was to find the murderer.]

The news of Zhu Gaoshuo's assassination enraged the people. They owed their current good life to Prince Qi, and now that he had been assassinated, it was tantamount to murder for money.

Zhu Gaochi's expression changed drastically, because the assassin was indeed not one he had sent. Therefore, the only person capable of killing his fourth brother was his son, Zhu Zhanji.

(End of this chapter)