Da Ming: I told you to die for your cause, why are you actually going to die?

Chapter 150, the drama has reached its climax! [Bonus Chapter 2 for Alliance Leader Dingyuan]

The hail stopped and the heavy rain gradually ceased.

The brothers Zhu Gaoxu and Zhu Gaosui left the messy street without saying a word.

The surrounding area was filled with people who were still in shock and cleaning up the mess.

Only when they arrived at a secluded, deserted alley did Zhu Gaosui lower his voice and say:

"Second Brother, what's going on with you?! Didn't you say you left the city? Why are you here? And causing such a commotion?!"

After speaking, he glanced around warily.

"Don't mention it!"

Zhu Gaoxu's face was gloomy, and he quickly and simply explained it to Zhu Gaosui.

It turned out that he had indeed been ordered by his elder brother Zhu Gaochi to leave the city early on.

He even changed into an inconspicuous blue cloth robe, dressed as a merchant, and led a packhorse carrying some ordinary goods, mingling with the crowds leaving the city in the early morning, heading towards Jubao Gate.

The secret agents and forces that Zhu Di left in the capital region were originally intended for transmitting messages or carrying out special missions at critical moments.

However, Zhu Di's latest secret letter was ambiguous in its attitude toward Zhang Biao's actions, demanding that they be cautious while also implying that they could be encouraged if necessary, which put Zhu Gaochi in a difficult position.

Later, the stone that Zhang Biao threw out made Zhu Gaochi very wary, but he couldn't disobey his father's orders, so he still let Zhu Gaoxu take the risk.

However, just as Zhu Gaoxu was about to reach the city gate and could even see the familiar teahouse signs along the official road outside the city, his gaze inadvertently swept over the tea stalls on one side of the city gate.

A man wearing a wide-brimmed straw hat and ordinary brown shorts caught his attention.

The man's posture, and the habitual action of unconsciously clenching his five fingers and slightly bulging veins on the back of his hand when setting down the teacup, made Zhu Gaoxu's heart skip a beat.

He has an excellent memory, especially for the experts he has met; he always pays extra attention to them.

Finally, he vaguely remembered that when a prince went to the capital to attend a funeral, there seemed to be such a person by the side of the head of the guards under one of the princes.

He wasn't sure which vassal king it was yet, but it was definitely one he knew well.

Although he was wearing the uniform of a prince's guard, the habit of holding the cup instantly aroused a strong sense of vigilance in his heart.

Driven by an instinctive mix of curiosity and a secret desire to cause trouble for the prince, Zhu Gaochi immediately changed his mind.

Instead of leaving the city, he quietly led his horse away from the procession and watched the man in brown from a distance.

The man in brown was very alert. After sitting at the tea stall for a while, he got up and blended into the crowd in the city.

Zhu Gaoxu, relying on his superb tracking skills, followed him all the way.

The man meandered through the city, eventually slipping into a relatively quiet street and entering a private room on the second floor of a restaurant called 'Qingyuan Teahouse'.

But Zhu Gaoxu did not immediately follow them inside. He pretended to wait in front of a pancake stall across the street, but his eyes were fixed on the entrance of the teahouse.

However, he waited for almost fifteen minutes, but the person never came out again.

Zhu Gaoxu's suspicions deepened, and he decided to risk going in to investigate.

But just then, as he stepped across the street, the Heavenly Drum suddenly sounded.

"Later, the whole city was placed under martial law, so how could I dare to move around? I could only hide first, and then this mess happened!"

As he spoke, Zhu Gaoxu subconsciously touched the thing that had been stuffed into his arms during the chaos.

It was a cold, hard, palm-sized, flat object covered with a layer of oilcloth.

"what is this?"

Zhu Gaosui immediately noticed Zhu Gaoxu's movements and what he was holding.

Zhu Gaoxu frowned and didn't speak, but he also looked around warily. Then he pulled Zhu Gaosui and quickly hid in the door jamb next to him, carefully unwrapping the oilcloth.

Inside, there was a plain iron box without any decorations.

The box wasn't locked; it seemed to be simply fastened.

The two brothers exchanged a glance, both seeing surprise and uncertainty in each other's eyes.

After a moment, Zhu Gaoxu took a deep breath, used his fingers to pry open the lid of the iron box.

There were no gold or silver jewelry in the box, only a few old, yellowed letters and a neatly folded, miniature ledger with slightly charred edges.

This tin box...

Could it be that deadly iron box that stirred up the entire court, enraged the Emperor, and drove Fu Youwen and his ilk to madness?!
When the two brothers saw the metal box and what was inside, their pupils contracted sharply, and they instinctively looked at each other.

In just a moment, the two saw indescribable horror, shock, bewilderment and countless other complex emotions in each other's eyes.

How could it... have ended up in my second brother's hands in this way?!

Zhu Gaosui's mind was filled with endless daydreams.

Who gave it to my second brother?! Was it someone from that vassal king's faction?! Or the vanished Zhao Fengman?! Or perhaps some other force?!

A tremendous fear and a suffocating feeling of being swept into a raging vortex instantly overwhelmed the two brothers.

"Oh!"

Zhu Gaoxu abruptly closed the iron box, as if holding a fiery bomb that could explode at any moment; his palms were covered in cold sweat.

"Quick! Go back! Find our eldest brother!"

He spoke to Zhu Gaosui in a dry voice, with a slight, almost imperceptible tremor in his voice.

This iron box is a death warrant, but it may also be your only talisman.

But in any case, they must immediately hand it over to someone who can make a decision—

Their eldest brother, Zhu Gaochi.

Unbeknownst to them, from the window of a private room in a distant restaurant, a pair of indifferent eyes were silently watching them disappear into the alleyway through the post-rain mist.

……

On the other side, in that unknown, hidden, dark room.

A figure, almost blending into the darkness, silently entered the room, knelt on the floor, and spoke in a hurried and fearful voice:
"Your Highness! Urgent report! Urgent report from Yingtian Prefecture!"

"explain."

The voice in the darkness remained languid, but seemed to have taken on a subtle, sharp edge.

"The drums of petition have sounded! An old litigious lawyer has directly accused the palace of using forbidden drugs to harm the imperial heir, and has implicated old cases in Shaanxi and... the death of the crown prince!"

"Fu Youwen, Ru Chang, Zheng Ci, and Zhai Shan were arrested in court and sent to the imperial prison!"

"The four men panicked and began to implicate each other in court. Zhai Shan almost uttered the word 'vassal'! The Emperor has issued a strict decree to punish them for treason. The nine gates have been sealed off, and the entire city has been searched!"

The breathing in the darkness seemed to pause for a moment.

[The drum for petitioning... forbidden drugs in the palace... accusations and slander in court... ah!]

He sneered inwardly.

[Zhang Biao, you really know how to cause trouble. And those two idiots, Li Mo and Wu Naida, are even more reckless than expected.]

Fu Youwen and the other three were imprisoned as he had expected, but the intensity and depth of the process, especially the fact that they dared to subtly implicate the princes during the court assembly, still made him frown slightly.

[A bunch of useless trash, still barking even as they die.]

His opinion of Fu Youwen and others was even lower.

Fortunately, it was the second and fifth brothers who were bitten, saving me some trouble.

This move, though risky, is currently the fastest and most effective way to muddy the waters.

He had to use something explosive enough, something that would grab Lao Zhu's full attention, to cover up the more fatal clues that might be brought up by the iron box.

For example, some of his arrangements in Shaanxi.

[That iron box should ideally only contain the corrupt records left behind by Zhao Qian.]

For the first time, a sense of uncertainty rose within him.

What if... what if there really is even the slightest clue about the cause of my brother's death... given the old man's current madness, he will definitely investigate endlessly.

Even if you clean it up perfectly, there's no guarantee that some traces won't be left behind. After all, there's no such thing as a perfect solution.

This worry, like a venomous snake, was quietly gnawing at his confidence.

But he quickly suppressed it.

【Will not. 】

he told himself.

Even if there were, it was the second son's side that was up to something! Yes, that must be it!

He almost instantly came up with a plan to frame the other man. Thinking about all the dirty tricks his second brother had done in Shaanxi, which one wasn't enough to give him a hard time? One more wouldn't make a difference.

Thinking of this, his mind hardened again.

Worry is an emotion only the weak have.

He doesn't need to worry, he only needs to calculate and control.

[Li Mo, Wu Naida...]

The location where the two minor characters were hiding flashed through his mind.

He deliberately threw the package there, and he tacitly approved of it, even secretly pushing for it to happen.

Just as predicted, those two fools couldn't wait to have someone ring the petition drum, becoming the tinderbox that lit the fuse.

This saves me a lot of trouble.

He thought indifferently.

[It was worth it to use their lives to ensure the situation unfolded as I desired.]

As for their lives or deaths, and Zhao Fengman, who was clutching the iron box and running around like a headless fly, those were not even on his radar.

They are nothing but ants; it is their honor to sacrifice themselves for the greater good.

[The old man...]

His thoughts eventually returned to his father, the emperor who was far away in Yingtian and was furious.

[Go ahead and investigate and kill as many people as you like. The cleaner you cleanse the court, the fewer obstacles you'll leave for me in the future.]

The corners of his mouth curled up again with that familiar, lazy, and mocking smile.

As for us sons...

No matter how angry or suspicious you are, you will not ultimately kill them. Even a tiger doesn't eat its cubs.

Besides, you still need us sons to guard the borders and protect the Zhu family's empire. Now that the eldest son is gone, you'll miss us even more, won't you?

At most... he'll just be reprimanded and imprisoned for a few years. No problem, I can wait.

All the worries, calculations, and risks ultimately transformed into this almost ruthless confidence.

He understood his father all too well.

Suspicious and violent, but also extremely valuing family and heritage.

Thus, the last ripple caused by the uncertainty that the iron box might bring completely subsided.

Before long, he issued new instructions.

This time, the speed was astonishing, carrying an undeniable determination:

"Plan changed. Fu Youwen and the others are beyond saving; we can't let them start spewing nonsense anymore."

"First, immediately mobilize all our manpower in the Censorate and the Imperial Academy to incite the upright scholars!"

“It’s not just Yingtian Prefecture; we need to incite scholars in the surrounding areas as well. We don’t care how much money it costs.”

"I'll make them stir up the whole situation!"

"Let's just say that Zhang Biao, that scoundrel, is spreading heresies, framing ministers, disrupting the court, and shaking the foundations of the nation!"

"Have them jointly submit a petition requesting the imperial decree to execute Zhang Biao immediately!"

"We must not let him utter another single word!"

"The emphasis is on exaggerating his outrageous claim of 'abolishing Confucianism,' which has aroused public indignation among scholars across the country!"

"We must get the focus of public opinion back on Zhang Biao! Quickly! With a huge impact!"

"second!"

The prince's voice was as cold as ice: "Inadvertently reveal the hiding places of those two little bugs, Li Mo and Wu Naida."

"Neither their possessions nor their lives should be spared."

"Let the Five Cities Garrison find them, and then... shut them up forever. This tedious investigation should end."

"Third, tell our people in the prison that if... if Fu Youwen and the others can't control their tongues, help them out and let them 'commit suicide'."

"Remember! Act as if you can't withstand the interrogation or are about to commit suicide out of guilt."

The kneeling subordinate trembled, but immediately replied, "Yes! I understand!"

"Ha! I don't believe my father can resist the tide of history!"

From the darkness came a contemptuous sneer: "Go ahead. Stir the waters even more. Stir them until he thinks that the best option is to cut the Gordian knot, execute the culprit, and quell public anger."

"Yes!"

The subordinate kowtowed again and then quickly disappeared into the darkness.

Silence returned to the room.

Only the prince, hidden in the darkness, tapped his fingertips lightly on the back of his chair, making a barely audible sound.

[Zhang Biao...you have indeed exceeded my expectations, but I really cannot let you live. Originally, I wanted to see how crazy you would get...but alas, you went too far.]

His gaze returned to its deep and calm state, like an ancient well without ripples, silently gazing south once more.

The play has reached its climax.

And he remained the most composed observer of the show.

Unbeknownst to them, the last trace of emotion in the room vanished, leaving only absolute, chilling darkness and indifference.

……

Meanwhile, Zhu Yunwen, back in the palace, curled up in his bedroom and carefully opened the iron box.

"Ok?"

He paused for a moment, as nothing he had expected had happened.

However, he still gently picked up an account book and, by the candlelight, slowly opened it.

The handwriting on it is neat but slightly hurried, indicating that it does not record ordinary financial transactions.

Instead, they were seemingly ordinary but actually extremely secretive transactions involving the purchase of medicinal herbs, rewards from imperial physicians, and expenses for the Crown Prince's palace.
The timing of this event coincides with the period around the time of Crown Prince Zhu Biao's serious illness in the 25th year of the Hongwu reign.
Suddenly, a terrifying thought, chilling him to the bone, struck his mind like a bullet!

Could this metal box contain... the real cause of Father's death?!

Could it be that Father didn't die of illness? Or was he murdered?!

Boom!

Zhu Yunwen was struck dumb, his mind went completely blank.

The iron box in his hand, and the ledger he hadn't finished reading, fell to the ground due to the immense mental shock.

anger!
Extremely angry!
Ultimately, this coalesced into an uncontrollable hatred!
I'm going to kill you all—!!

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(End of this chapter)