Volume 1: Birth! Seven time travelers Chapter 021 Some People Deserve to Be Punished (Part 3)
"Where's Dong'er? Call him out to me!"
"Please forgive me, my Lord, but His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has not gotten up yet."
"It's almost noon, why haven't you gotten up yet? I've been accompanying my father to handle government affairs for half a day! What's your name?"
"Your servant Wei Zhongxian."
"Ah! Your name is Wei Zhongxian! That's the good job you did! Wei Chao!"
"The servant is here."
"Drag this evil slave out here! Beat him up!"
"Uh...I obey your command."
At this time, because Zhu Youxiao had not yet been born, young women like Keshi had not yet entered the Eastern Palace to be wet nurses, so naturally there was no competition between the two Weis for girlfriends. In fact, the relationship between the two Weis was pretty good at this time.
However, no matter how good it was, the prince was furious at the moment, and he said the three words "beat him hard". So he really couldn't fool around, so after a while, Wei Zhongxian's heart-wrenching screams rang out at the gate .
"Stop!" A childish voice accompanied by great anger sounded. To Wei Zhongxian, such a voice was no less than the sound of nature.
"Zhu Youdong! Oh, my Dong'er, the weather is so cold, why did you come out without any clothes on?"
"I have seen you, father. It is no big deal if you are cold. But if you chill the hearts of honest people, that would be more trouble than gain."
Standing on the steps, Zhu Youdong let the palace maids beside him dress him and comb his hair. Looking at Zhu Changluo who was standing at the bottom of the steps, angry and anxious, he felt very complicated.
For the modern soul living in the body, it is unlikely that Zhu Youdong, whose mental age is older than Zhu Changluo, can truly regard the prince as his father. Moreover, after several years of contact, Zhu Youdong only feels that his biological father is really weak and too cautious.
However, this father was really good to him. After several years of contact, it would be too cruel to say that he had no feelings for this man. Therefore, although Zhu Youdong had many things he didn't like about Zhu Changluo's way of handling things, he usually didn't say much.
But, it is intolerable that someone goes over and hits him.
"Come with me." After watching the maids clean up Zhu Youdong, Zhu Changluo tried to put on a very dignified look and took Zhu Youdong to a side room. As for the caning of Old Wei, it was finally stopped.
"Tell me the truth, was it you who did the thing about the house of Wuqinghou in Honghe Village?"
"yes!"
"You! Are you going to rebel?! Do we think we can afford to offend Marquis Wuqing?!"
“…”
"Speak! Why aren't you talking?!"
"Father, you are the crown prince of the Ming Dynasty. Marquis Wuqing is just a marquis. What can you afford to offend?"
"Hey! That's not what I said. Of course, I'm not afraid of Wuqing Hou. But, but, the Empress Dowager Cisheng... Dong'er, you know that I was given the title of Crown Prince because of your birth. But before you were born, if it weren't for the support of the Empress Dowager, I might not have waited until you were born, and could only watch Chang Xun become the Crown Prince!"
"Humph, even if Third Uncle becomes the Crown Prince and has a child, I will still take the Crown Prince's position back from you, Father!"
"Shut up! You are becoming more and more arrogant! How can you say such things? Your father asks you, what did you do to that house?"
"I didn't do anything. I killed everyone in the house and then set it on fire. Oh, by the way, I found about 200 taels of silver in the house. I paid 500 taels myself and gave 5 taels to each of my brothers who traveled nearly 80 miles back and forth last night."
"You! Slap!" The first slap in his life landed firmly on Zhu Youdong's face. Several finger marks immediately appeared on the delicate face of the four-year-old child.
"Dong'er, your father..."
Coldly pushing away Zhu Changluo's hand that was reaching out to touch his face again, Zhu Youdong uttered a metallic, cold voice from his throat: "This is the first time."
After taking a look at the somewhat dazed Zhu Changluo, Zhu Youdong cleared his throat and said, "According to the criminal law of the Ming Dynasty, if a strongman breaks into a house and robs the property of the householder , the householder can kill him without guilt! The Wuqing Marquis family occupied the royal manor, built houses on the manor and collected land taxes. What is the difference between this and strongman breaking into a house and robbing? Therefore, I killed people and burned houses just according to the teachings of Taizu. Father thinks that what I did was wrong, does that mean that what Taizu said was also wrong?"
"Of course, the Great Ming Law formulated by Taizu is correct. But, the other party is the Wuqing Marquis family!"
"Humph! So what if he is Marquis Wuqing? Does that mean his family can be above Taizu? The Ming Dynasty belongs to our Zhu family. When will it be the turn of the Li family to make the decisions?"
After saying this, Zhu Youdong did not wait for Zhu Changluo to speak, and continued: "Father may not know all the dirty things done by the two Wuqing Marquises, but at least he knows part of it. This family took advantage of the protection of the Empress Dowager Cisheng and accepted bribes. As long as they were given benefits, they would openly pass off inferior tributes as good ones. Not only did they make the materials used by my royal family inferior, but they also threatened the Ministry of War, the Ministry of Works and other key national departments. He wanted to get involved in the manufacture of weapons and soldiers' clothing for the Ministry of War, and the construction of river embankments and palaces for the Ministry of Works. After these things are taken over, they will directly eat up 70% or even more of the silver, and then let the merchants below use one-third or even less of the state funding to make them. Father, you can imagine what the quality of the things these merchants handed over is? Speaking of which, the current Wuqing Marquis is the uncle of my Ming Dynasty, and he should die with the country. But what did this family do? Do they think that my Ming Dynasty has been around for too long and want to die with the country as soon as possible? Humph! It's easy for their family to die out as soon as possible! But my Zhu family can't die out! "
"Hey, Dong'er, I know everything you said. But, Empress Dowager Cisheng..."
"Father, I know what you want to say. But father, being tolerant and trying to please others will not help stabilize the position of the crown prince. Please understand that this Ming Dynasty was founded by my great-grandfather Emperor Gao, who started the rebellion as a commoner, went through untold hardships, drove out the Tartars, and restored China. The one who decides the position of the crown prince can only be the emperor of my Zhu family, not the empress dowager or the ministers. A hundred years after the emperor, father will be the emperor. If father cannot show some thundering means at this time, but is always tolerant, how can the emperor let the emperor hand over the Ming Dynasty to you with confidence in the future? What I did is legal from the perspective of the Ming Dynasty law! From the perspective of the long-term stability of my Zhu family, it is reasonable! Under the premise of being both reasonable and legal, if we still allow a family of in-laws to bully us so much and dare not fight back, then what is the point of my Zhu family being the emperor?"
Zhu Changluo understood what Zhu Youdong said. After all, he just seemed a little cowardly and cautious because of the environment, and it was not that he really had an IQ problem.
Zhu Youdong's words actually meant one thing: We are right in this matter, there is nothing to worry about. Father, you are so submissive all day long, how can you be a king? The weaker you are, the less confidence the emperor will have in you, and the more unstable your position as the crown prince will be!
