"Your Majesty, this matter is under special circumstances. Please make your decision after reading the letter."
Li Jing, who was on the side, saw that Zhu Yuanzhang had an angry look on his face, so he knelt down and played.
It turned out that Ni Yuanlu also received a letter from Zuo Maodi when he was receiving Nanliang. After reading it, he felt quite hesitant.
First of all, the two of them wanted each other hard, and he couldn't refuse.
Secondly, according to what was stated in the letter, the recommended Zhang Huangyan was really talented, and it was because he wanted to get the south to send troops that he was killed. If he only cared about his own safety and let such a righteous man die in vain, he would not be able to bear it.
Just when he was sad, he happened to see Li Jing.
He thought that Li Jing was loyal and trusted by Zhu Yuanzhang. After hesitating for a while, he informed Li Jing of the matter.
Li Jing was shocked when he heard about this, but when Ni Yuanlu showed him the letter written by Zheng Sen and Xia Wanchun about Zhang Huang's remarks, he immediately expressed his support.
So after some discussion, the two of them came to Dongnuan Pavilion together after settling the matter of Nanliang.
That's why when Li Jing saw Ni Yuanlu was in trouble, she offered to help.
When Zhu Yuanzhang heard this, he glanced at Li Jing in surprise.
He knew that Li Jing was an upright person and would not do anything casual. Then he saw Ni Yuanlu looking frightened. He said nothing more and continued to read.
After he read the letter, he found that Zhang Huangyan recommended in the letter was just an ordinary civil servant and seemed to have nothing to do with the Donglin Party, so he couldn't help but feel a little confused.
Then he saw that Ni Yuanlu was sweating profusely, obviously frightened, and his doubts became more serious.
Zhu Yuanzhang thought for a while and then said to Ni Yuanlu: "Ni Qing, are everything in this letter true?"
When Ni Yuanlu asked, he hurriedly replied: "Your Majesty, forgive me, but Zhang Huangyan's deeds happened in the south, so I haven't had time to verify it yet."
"However, I have here letters from Xia Wanchun, son of Xia Yunyi, and Zheng Sen, son of Fujian Commander-in-Chief Zheng Zhilong. The two of them described the matter in detail in their letters. Please check it out!"
After he finished speaking, he took out two more letters from his arms and handed them over tremblingly.
Zhu Yuanzhang was shocked when he heard that Zheng Sen was also involved.
He forced himself to take the letter calmly, and after examining it carefully, his frown gradually relaxed.
It turned out that at first he thought it was the Donglin Party who concocted such a person in order to frame Lu Jiude.
But after he read the letters from Xia and Zheng, he was already sixty-seven percent convinced.
Because the letter not only told the story of Xia Wanchun stealing the official seal and tricking Zheng Zhilong into sending troops, but also detailed the entire incident of Zhang Huangyan.
Especially at the end of the letter, Xia Wanchun also pointed out that all the people involved in the letter had come this time. If he didn't believe it, he could ask them one by one.
If this matter was a party dispute, Xia Wanchun would never write down such secret things, especially since these things would be detrimental to the Donglin Party members.
It can be seen that Xia Wanchun decided to sacrifice his life in order to save Zhang Huangyan.
However, although Xia Wanchun's letter was detailed, Zhu Yuanzhang was still a little worried.
Firstly, although the fault of Shi Kefa and others was mentioned in the letter, compared with Lu Jiude's refusal to send troops even though he knew the capital was under siege, it was not serious.
Secondly, this thing is too shocking and too coincidental to be believed.
In addition, the position of being a member of the Jin Yi Guard Thousand Households is not an ordinary official position. If it is entrusted to someone else, it is very easy to cause trouble in this special situation.
He thought for a while, handed the letter to Shen Zhan, and then said to Li Jing: "Li Qing, what do you think of this matter?"
Li Jing heard this and respectfully said: "Your Majesty, although I have never met Zhang Huangyan, according to what is said in the letter, this man is indeed a rare and rare man in ancient and modern times."
"Today's world is in panic, and most people only care about their wives. It's rare to find a person like this who can risk his life or death for the safety of the country. Your Majesty, please remember your loyalty and save his life!"
Seeing that Li Jing was so gullible, Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't help but feel worried, and said tentatively: "Li Qing, what you said is wrong. Even if Zhang Huangyan really held Lu Jiude hostage, Lu Jiude had merit in initiating the volunteer army. We will definitely do it." Reward him."
"Once Lu Jiude gets the reward, it's too late to thank Zhang Huangyan, so how can he harm him!"
Li Jing glanced at Zhu Yuanzhang in surprise, then took a deep breath and said in a deep voice: "Your Majesty, King Yan Zhao once bought a horse bone for a thousand gold, and Cao Cao also refused to kill Liu Bei because he was afraid of being known as a virtuous man."
"Although His Majesty's royal guards are important, compared with the reputation of praising loyal ministers and being eager to seek talents, they are much lighter. Your Majesty, please think twice!"
After he finished speaking, he knocked on the ground again.
Zhu Yuanzhang saw that although Li Jing did not answer the question, he saw the essence of the matter clearly, and the worry he just felt slowly dissipated.
Then he looked at Shen Zhanran and said, "Shen Qing, what do you think of this matter?"
Shen Zhanran also knew Zhu Yuanzhang's worries and said in a deep voice: "Your Majesty, it is difficult to verify this matter in a hurry. If you do not award a reward, it will easily chill the hearts of loyal ministers. If you award a reward without confirmation, if there are discrepancies afterwards, it will be lost." The decency of the court.”
"In my humble opinion, I might as well let Zhang Huangyan, Zheng Sen and others lead the army to attack Pi Island. If they can make some achievements, we can reward them together."
"As for the concerns of the two adults, I think we only need to inform Commander Li and Wu Tongzhi, and there should be no problem."
Zhu Yuanzhang was quite satisfied when he saw that Shen Zhanran had solved all three problems at once and maintained the dignity of the court.
Then he looked at Ni and Li who were kneeling on the ground and said, "What do you think of Shen Qing's suggestion?"
Ni and Li were already a little disappointed, but now they saw a turn of events and agreed one after another.
After Zhu Yuanzhang asked them to stand up, he said to Ni Yuanlu: "Ni Qing, you will be responsible for this matter. As for the specific matters, I will..."
Before he finished speaking, there was suddenly a rush of footsteps outside Dongnuan Pavilion. He couldn't help but frown and looked towards the door.
When he saw Wu Mengming running in sweating profusely, he was shocked, but pretended to be calm and scolded: "Wu Qing, how many times have we told you, why are you still so reckless!"
Wu Mengming was about to speak, but when he heard Zhu Yuanzhang's rebuke, he immediately knelt down to apologize.
Zhu Yuanzhang first dismissed Ni Yuanlu and Li Jing, then asked Wu Mengming to stand up and asked: "But Ping Xihou was defeated?"
Although he tried to keep his voice calm, he found that he was still shaking a little when he said the last word.
When Wu Mengming heard this, he shook his head repeatedly and said, "No, because Wu Sangui discovered that the situation was different after entering Guangling and sent a message to Pingxihou in time, so Pingxihou did not send troops."
"However, because Gao Jie, Ma Jinzhong and others received the news late, they were ambushed by Liu Zongmin and Li Mou. Fortunately, Ping Xihou and Wu Sangui rescued them in time, only seven or eight thousand people were lost. Now the two sides have returned to a state of confrontation. .”
When Zhu Yuanzhang heard that Gong Yonggu was fine, he felt relieved.
Then he thought that Wu Mengming was in a hurry just now, something big must have happened, and he said with some worry: "If Ping Xihou is not defeated, then what happened?"
When Wu Mengming asked, he said in a panic: "The general has just received the news that Li Jiantai was afraid of the rebels and revealed the hiding place of An Guogong. As a result, An Guogong was surrounded by the rebels and died in the final battle!"
When Zhu Yuanzhang heard this, he couldn't help being stunned.
You must know that he has been worried about talents, and he has just trained Liu Wenbing, who can be used in a big way, but he did not expect to die in battle like this.
Moreover, Liu Wenbing was the first prince to be awarded the title of Duke for his military exploits, and he was the hope and role model of many soldiers. Once this matter spread, the morale of the military would inevitably be dampened.
