Zhu Liujiu tried his best to defend himself in front of Zhu Yuanzhang, hoping that Zhu Yuanzhang could forgive him.
But Zhu Yuanzhang's face was gloomy from beginning to end, without any change. It wasn't until Zhu Liujiu finished speaking that Zhu Yuanzhang slowly said:
"Did you do this, or did our nephew do it?"
Zhu Liujiu shut up instantly. He didn't know what to say. He just looked at Zhu Yuanzhang pitifully, hoping that Zhu Yuanzhang could forget the past.
However, Zhu Liujiu was destined to be disappointed. When Zhu Yuanzhang saw that Zhu Liujiu was silent, he immediately shouted out the door:
"Mao Xiang!!!"
Mao Xiang walked into the hall from outside the door, knelt down quickly and said:
"Meet the Emperor!"
Zhu Yuanzhang narrowed his eyes and asked Mao Xiang:
"Do you know about this and who is behind it?"
As the commander of the Jinyi Guards, Mao Xiang accompanied Hu Weiyong in handling the case from beginning to end, so he naturally knew the ins and outs of the matter.
Feeling Zhu Yuanzhang's murderous intent, Mao Xiang said without any hesitation:
"It was Zhu Huan who did it."
Zhu Huan, Zhu Liujiu's son, Zhu Yuanzhang's nephew.
As the only descendant of Zhu Liujiu, Zhu Liujiu doted on Zhu Huan to the extreme.
Coupled with Zhu Yuanzhang's favor for Zhu Liujiu's family, Zhu Huan was born with a golden key and grew up with the support of everyone.
He was praised everywhere he went, making Zhu Huan feel like he had the whole world under his control.
Zhu Yuanzhang also valued his nephew very much. When Zhu Huan was young, he brought Zhu Huan into the palace to keep Zhu Biao company.
It was only when he was a little older that he was released from the palace to experience.
It is said to be experience, but in fact it is gold. After all, who in the Yamen of Yingtian Mansion does not know that Zhu Huan is Zhu Yuanzhang's nephew.
Even the ancestors thought that Zhu Huan was having a hard time, so who would dare to make Zhu Huan unhappy?
Gradually, Zhu Huan came into contact with all kinds of people in the outside world, and naturally many businessmen came to Zhu Huan's name.
As Zhu Huan's wealth increased day by day, these businessmen relied on Zhu Huan and continued to rely on power to suppress dissidents and make a lot of money.
Recently, some businessmen participated in Li Jin's investment promotion, and saw that Li Jin had the imperial approval of the Royal Chamber of Commerce.
And when they were about to enjoy the right to go to sea, these businessmen suddenly became jealous. When they returned to the capital, they went directly to Zhu Huan and told Zhu Huan about the matter.
I want Zhu Huan to get the right to go to sea. At that time, they will become people who can go to sea to do business, and the profits will go without saying.
Although Zhu Huan was greedy for money, he was not stupid. He knew how much his uncle hated people who wanted to go to sea.
That's why he wanted to make the matter bigger first. If Li Jin was arrested by then, he would be able to take Li Jin's place and go to sea from Shanghu County without anyone noticing.
If Li Jin is not caught, it means that Zhu Yuanzhang's attitude towards going to sea is very vague. At that time, it will be time for him to come forward to ask Zhu Yuanzhang for sea rights.
But he didn't expect that Zhu Yuanzhang neither arrested Li Jin nor had any intention of contacting the sea ban. Instead, he killed him directly and took the businessman who spread the rumors directly to prison.
He was tortured day and night, which made him panic. After all, if these businessmen couldn't hold on and confessed to him, he would be dead.
Although he was deeply loved by Zhu Yuanzhang, Zhu Huan knew Zhu Yuanzhang's character. Once he threatened the Ming Dynasty, not to mention Zhu Huan, even his own son would die.
Zhu Wenzheng is the best proof. He once defended Hongwu for sixty days and defeated Chen Youliang. He was the greatest hero and Zhu Yuanzhang's closest nephew. Where is he now?
He has disappeared. No one knows where he went, and no one dared to ask Zhu Yuanzhang. They only know that since the first year of Hongwu, this young and ambitious young man has never appeared in the public eye again.
Thinking of this, Zhu Huan couldn't help but shuddered and hurriedly went to his father to discuss countermeasures.
He wanted his father to go to Zhu Yuanzhang and confess his crime. No matter how cruel Zhu Yuanzhang was, he would never kill his only brother.
Moreover, Zhu Huan also taught Zhu Liujiu how to excuse his crimes. It was just for the sake of the Zhu family that what happened today happened.
But Zhu Huan still made the wrong calculation. How could Zhu Yuanzhang's Jin Yiwei be doing nothing?
When he started doing it, the outcome was already determined.
When Zhu Yuanzhang heard the expected answer, he glanced at Zhu Liujiu and wanted to see what else Zhu Liujiu wanted to say.
"Chongba, for my sake, just bypass Huan'er this time, right?"
Zhu Liujiu was already panicking at this moment. He didn't expect Zhu Yuanzhang to be so indifferent.
"After all, he is my only son, right?"
Zhu Yuanzhang took a deep breath, looked at the poor Zhu Liujiu, and said:
"Let's give Huan'er a chance. We'll call him over later. If he can take the initiative to admit the mistakes he's made over the years, we can forget about it and spare his life."
"But if he dares to refuse to admit it, then I guess you can't blame us, brother!"
Zhu Liujiu was overjoyed when he heard this. He quickly knelt down and kowtowed to Zhu Yuanzhang and said:
"That's great, that's so great."
"Don't worry, when Huan'er comes, I will definitely ask Huan'er to admit his mistake to you. He will tell you honestly and will never hide anything."
An inexplicable look flashed in Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes, he nodded indifferently, and said to Mao Xiang:
"Go and bring Zhu Huan to us. We want to interrogate him personally."
"Hu Weiyong, please get up and stand aside to listen."
At this moment, Hu Weiyong's intestines were about to turn green. If he had known that Zhu Yuanzhang was so magnanimous, he would not have handed over his confession even if he was beaten to death.
If Zhu Huan really confesses and is lenient later, then Hu Weiyong will be in trouble.
Although Zhu Yuanzhang values himself very much, in front of his relatives, Zhu Yuanzhang still values his relatives more.
Hu Weiyong could even feel Zhu Liujiu's vicious eyes at this moment, and cold sweat could not help but break out on his forehead.
Zhu Liujiu's eyes were always staring at Hu Weiyong. Just as Hu Weiyong thought, Zhu Liujiu had already listed Hu Weiyong on his must-kill list, and he would kill Hu Weiyong sooner or later.
It didn't take long for Zhu Huan to be brought up. Zhu Huan asked about him on the way, but Mao Xiang ignored him at all.
This made Zhu Huan worried all the way.
It wasn't until he saw Zhu Liujiu who was intact that Zhu Huan's heart slowly relaxed.
As long as the father is still there, it means that Zhu Yuanzhang has not planned to kill his entire family.
"My nephew Zhu Huan pays homage to the emperor. Long live my emperor."
Zhu Huan performed a standard junior ceremony. At this time, Zhu Huan was still playing tricks, hoping that Zhu Yuanzhang would remember his family affection.
Zhu Yuanzhang did not let Zhu Huan get up. Seeing that his son was kneeling in discomfort, Zhu Liujiu said:
"Huan'er, get up quickly and tell your uncle about the mistakes you made."
"Your uncle has already said that as long as you tell the truth, you can forget the blame. You can't hide it!!"
Zhu Huan stood up and was overjoyed after hearing Zhu Liujiu's words.
But he didn't show it on his face. Instead, he pretended to have done something wrong, lowered his head and began to explain:
"Uncle, my nephew mistakenly listened to the villain's words and let people spread rumors in the capital. He is really confused. Please punish him."
When Zhu Liujiu heard this, he finally felt relieved and said to Zhu Yuanzhang happily:
"Chongba, you see, we Huan'er still know our mistakes and can correct them."
"As you know, you can correct your mistakes when you know they're wrong. There's no such thing as a good thing. Can you forgive him this time?"
Hu Weiyong felt cold in his heart, and he felt that his future was dark.
But no one noticed that after Zhu Yuanzhang saw Zhu Huan stand up, his face was as frosty as a thousand-year-old iceberg.
After hearing Zhu Liujiu's words, he ignored him and said to Zhu Huan word by word:
"Who asked you to get up? Did we ask you to get up?"
As soon as these words came out, Zhu Huan was dumbfounded and Zhu Liujiu was confused. This plot was wrong.
"Chongba, the ground is cold, I let..."
"shut up!"
Zhu Yuanzhang shouted loudly, turned to Zhu Liujiu and said coldly:
"It's him we're asking, not you!"
Scared, Zhu Liujiu was frightened and at a loss when he saw Zhu Yuanzhang's cold eyes.
At this moment, he even felt like he was seeing a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood, and the hair on his body stood on end.
"Snapped!"
Seeing this, Zhu Huan immediately knelt on the ground and cried loudly:
"Zhu Huan knows his mistake and asks the emperor to punish him."
At this time, Zhu Huan truly understood the situation.
At this moment, Zhu Yuanzhang had no mercy. If he said the wrong thing, blood would probably be spilled on the spot.
