When Zhu Yuanzhang heard this, he was shocked. He sent people to urge Li Ruolian to deal with Tian Hongyu and others as soon as possible, and rushed to Guangqumen.
Unexpectedly, when he reached Chengtianmen, he met Li Ruolian who sent someone to ask for instructions.
It turned out that after Li Ruolian got Zhu Yuanzhang's order, he immediately led the Jin Yiwei to arrest Tian Hongyu and others, and at the same time sealed their granaries.
Unexpectedly, Tian Hongyu and others took the lead and rushed to Zhou Kui's warehouse with his servants, claiming that Li Ruolian was enforcing the law unfairly and demanding that everyone be treated equally.
Seeing that the matter had come to this, Li Ruolian had no choice but to arrest Zhou Kui together.
Unexpectedly, the drunken Zhou Kui actually took out the prince's handwriting in public, claiming that these grains were the prince's private property and Jin Yiwei had no right to seize them.
This sudden handwriting not only tied Li Ruolian's hands and feet, but also aroused public outrage.
Although Li Ruolian made a prompt decision and sealed off the scene, the news still spread.
Not many people know about it now, but I believe that in an hour or two, everyone in Beijing will know about it.
After Zhu Yuanzhang heard the report, he knew that he was still a step too late.
Since the matter has involved the prince, even if he kills Zhou Kui now, he will not be able to completely quell the public anger.
Moreover, this happened just when the soldiers mutinied, indicating that all this was done intentionally by the other party.
Since the other party acts so carefully and accurately, if he ignores it or gives up his job to protect his commander, it may make the situation more serious.
He knew that if he could not handle this matter well at this moment, even if he could suppress the mutiny in Guangqumen, he would not be able to suppress the mutiny in other gates.
Thinking of this, his heart calmed down.
He first sent someone to notify Liu Wenbing and asked him to lead his troops to Guangqumen to prevent the soldiers from mutiny.
Then he ordered one of the hundreds of households around him to bring Zhu Cixiang to Chengtianmen, preparing to review the matter in front of everyone and express the anger of the people.
Unexpectedly, Zhu Cixiang hadn't arrived yet. Instead, a drunken Zhou Kui, with the support of Tian Hongyu and others, came to Chengtianmen arrogantly.
Behind them were a group of women, children, and servants, shouting injustice all the way, attracting many people to watch.
Although Li Ruolian, who was traveling with him, tried his best to drive away the people, there were still many people watching from a distance.
Zhu Yuanzhang was furious when he saw this. He immediately stepped forward and kicked Zhou Kui to the ground, punching and kicking him.
When the royal family and wealthy businessmen saw that Chongzhen, who had always observed etiquette, was so violent, they all fled in horror, fearing that he would see him.
At this time, Prince Zhu Cixiang, accompanied by Zuo Yude Ma Shiqi and Shao Zhan Shi Xiang Yu, came to Chengtianmen.
Not far behind Zhu Cixiang, there were also disguised Empress Zhou and Concubine Yuan.
After Zhou Kui was beaten, he woke up and was filled with fear.
Seeing Zhou Hou and the prince at this moment, he was about to step forward to cry, but was kicked to the ground by Zhu Yuanzhang.
Then Zhu Yuanzhang took off the jade belt around his waist and beat Zhu Cixiang head and face.
Upon seeing this, Ma Shiqi immediately knelt down and shouted loudly about the prince's crime.
When he saw that Zhu Yuanzhang was ignoring him, he pounced directly on Zhu Cixiang.
When Xiang Yu saw this, he also hurriedly stepped forward to dissuade him.
After Zhu Yuanzhang ordered the Jin Yiwei to pull the two of them apart, he continued to whip Zhu Cihong.
When Empress Zhou saw this in the distance, she wanted to step forward to stop him, but she was held back by Concubine Yuan Guifei who was traveling with her and whispered a few words in her ear.
After Zhou Hou heard this, he stood silently in the distance, looking at his beloved son who was kneeling on the ground and being beaten with tears in his eyes.
After a while, Wei Zaode, Fan Jingwen and other ministers hurried over and knelt down in tears to dissuade him.
Zhu Yuanzhang always valued family ties the most, and he was not willing to take such a heavy blow. However, Zhou Kui had the prince's handwriting, so even if Zhu Cihong was not guilty, it would be wrong.
Therefore, he first beat Zhu Cihong severely, firstly as a punishment, and secondly as a way to wait for others to come and remonstrate.
If he wants to punish Zhu Cihong again, since Zhu Cihong has already been punished, ministers will come out to intercede.
In this way, he could also use the donkey to get off the slope without causing Zhu Cixiang to be punished too severely.
At this moment, he had achieved his goal, and saw that although Zhu Cixiang was beaten and covered in blood, he was still kneeling on the ground, neither wailing nor crying, but repeatedly asking him to calm down and not to hurt his body due to anger.
He looked at Zhu Cixi's figure and vaguely saw Zhu Yunwen, who was pushed to the throne by him and whose life or death was uncertain in the end, and felt sad in his heart.
So he threw away the bloody jade belt and shouted angrily: "Tell me, tell us clearly today why you are hoarding food and raising prices, and doing such things to harm the people?"
Zhu Cixiang heard this and said with a trembling voice: "Father, my son has always followed the teachings and studied hard. He has never participated in government affairs, let alone issued an order to collect grain. Please pay attention to this!"
When Zhu Yuanzhang heard this, he already believed it.
Seeing that Zhu Cixiang answered politely, he secretly approved in his heart, but still pretended to be angry on the surface.
He snorted coldly, and shouted loudly: "You said there is no decree, then why is there your handwriting in the hands of the abbot? Could it be that the abbot framed you?"
After that, he deliberately glanced at Zhou Kui again.
When Zhou Kui saw Zhu Yuanzhang's gaze, he couldn't help but trembled and looked away in panic.
After Zhu Cihong heard Zhu Yuanzhang's words, he also looked at Zhou Kui in surprise.
Then he quietly glanced back at Queen Zhou, then knelt on the ground and remained silent.
When Zhu Yuanzhang saw this, he shouted sternly: "Why, don't you want to quibble? We must kill you, an unfilial son, today!"
After saying that, he bent down to pick up the jade belt.
Seeing that Zhu Yuanzhang was about to take action again, Ma Shiqi immediately pounced on the jade belt. No matter how Zhu Yuanzhang kicked him, he still held the jade belt firmly under his body.
Seeing this, Fan Jingwen and others knelt down and moved forward, surrounding Zhu Yuanzhang to plead for mercy.
Zhu Yuanzhang pretended to sigh helplessly and said: "The prince is so stubborn and you still want to protect him. Where will this put our Ming Dynasty and thousands of people?"
When Fan Jingwen heard this, he fell to the ground and sobbed and said: "This matter is obscure and unclear, and it may not be the fault of the prince."
"What's more, the prince is young. Even if he makes mistakes occasionally, his majesty will either reprimand him in person or order the three teachers to teach him. How can he be so harsh?"
"If the prince is harmed because of this, how will your majesty face the great ancestor Taizong and the people of the world!"
After saying that, he kowtowed again and again.
Zhu Yuanzhang originally had reservations about Fan Jingwen, but now that he saw him trying to protect the crown prince, his view of him changed a lot.
At this time, Ma Shiqi on the side suddenly said: "Your Majesty, I wonder if I can take a look at the grain harvesting order issued by the prince?"
As his words fell, Zhou Kui, who was kneeling on the ground, could not help but tremble.
Zhu Yuanzhang felt reassured when he saw Zhou Kui's expression.
He waved to Li Ruolian, who immediately took out a piece of silk from Zhou Kui's arms and handed it to Zhu Yuanzhang respectfully.
Zhu Yuanzhang unfolded it and saw that it was covered with the prince's seal, and the content was just as Li Ruolian said before, and he couldn't help but glared at Zhu Cihong again.
"Your Majesty, could you please let me have a look at the prince's handwriting?"
At this time, Ma Shiqi got up from the ground, bowed his waist and said to Zhu Yuanzhang.
Zhu Yuanzhang glanced at him and handed over the silk in his hand.
Ma Shiqi took the silk respectfully, his eyes kept scanning, and after a while he murmured: "Impossible, this is impossible!"
With that said, he said to Xiang Yu who was beside him: "Xiang Zhanshi, all the handwritings sealed by the prince will be reviewed by you. Do you have any impression?"
When Xiang Yu heard this, his face twitched involuntarily, and then he leaned over to take a look, and stammered: "This... this seems..."
"This is the seal you sealed. It's just the seal you sealed without telling the prince."
Suddenly, a loud voice came from far away.
