This "Crown Prince" naturally does not refer to Zhu Ci, but rather to Zhu Ci.
In reality, although Zhu Ci was effectively under house arrest at the time, he was indeed still alive, his living conditions were quite decent; he was not subjected to any abuse.
However, Zuo Liangyu spread rumors far and wide that Zhu Ci had been imprisoned, claiming that Zhu Yousong intended to murder the Crown Prince.
Naturally, Yuan Jixian refused to agree, but the outcome would have been the same regardless of whether he agreed or not. When Zuo Liangyu met with Yuan Jixian, his subordinates, including Hao Xiaozhong and Zhang Shixun, secretly infiltrated Jiujiang City and set fires. Huge flames soared into the sky across the entire city, causing tens of thousands of casualties among the common people, the entire city of Jiujiang was reduced to scorched earth.
Was this something a human would do? Although everyone said this was not Zuo Liangyu's order, Zuo Liangyu also felt guilty toward Yuan Jixian because of it, subsequently falling seriously ill, those were still his subordinates. If he had strictly disciplined them in normal times, how would they have dared to do such a thing?
After the Zuo Army suffered defeat and was forced to surrender, Zhu Ci decisively ordered Zhao Jia to lead men to kill all of them, then officially announced to the outside world that these generals had fought valiantly and died in battle.
This news arrived in Huaian along with the reports of victory; when Huang Chunyao saw it, his vision went dark.
Here they come, here they come again.
Their Emperor has begun his killing spree again.
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Author's Note: Zhu Ci: Yes, I'm the one who ordered the killing, so what? An evil kitty looking up with chest out and acting righteous. jpg
Next update at 12:00 PM~
Chapter 124
Huang Chunyao did not believe for a second the claim that the Zuo Army generals had fought valiantly to the death.
Not to mention he didn't believe it, but probably hardly anyone in the imperial court would believe it either.
Does anyone not know what kind of people Zuo Liangyu and his subordinates are?
To put it bluntly, the ones with the most backbone from top to bottom in the Hongguang Era were actually some of the literati; although Ma Shiying and Gao Hongtu fought fiercely among themselves, they never once considered surrendering from beginning to end.
Aside from them, there were some scholars who refused to surrender, of course, there were those who surrendered as well. But by comparison, among the generals of the Hongguang Era, only Shi Kefa refused to surrender; the others either fled at the sight of the enemy or surrendered. The scholars performed quite well by comparison.
These generals were able to surrender quickly when facing the Qing Army, so why did they suddenly become unyielding when facing the Ming Army?
Remonstrate, he must remonstrate.
Huang Chunyao came specifically for this purpose to find Fu Ku and said earnestly, "We cannot let His Majesty continue to lead troops outside; having such an overwhelming aura is truly not a good thing."
Fu Chunsheng said with a gentle smile, "If Censor Huang feels it is improper, then offer your remonstrance; His Majesty never dismisses a person because of their words."
Huang Chunyao suppressed his anger: "The Emperor.. the Emperor doesn't even listen!"
Yes, no matter what they say, His Majesty is magnanimous and does not hold a grudge against them, but His Majesty also gives them no response. Huang Chunyao even suspected whether His Majesty had ever even opened those memorials.
Fu Chunsheng said perfunctorily, "Fine, I will write a memorial to the Emperor."
Huang Chunyao suddenly felt that this young Grand Secretary was exactly like the Emperor!
He had actually thought Fu Chunsheng was more composed than other young men in their twenties; now it seemed he had misjudged him.
“Grand Secretary Fu, His Majesty is still young; such bloodlust is not a good thing.”
Fu sighed inwardly and put aside his current task to ask earnestly, "Why has His Majesty become so bloodthirsty? Are all the people he kills not meant to be killed?"
Huang Chunyao also said seriously, "Setting aside whether they should be killed or not, His Majesty's temperament of acting on impulse must be tempered. The Great Ming's navy is already weak, there are very few generals capable of fighting naval battles. The Zuo Army navy consists of both elites and veteran commanders; they would be perfect for replenishing our forces. What benefit is there in killing them all for the Great Ming?"
The benefit is strict military discipline. Censor Huang, this official knows you have dedicated yourself entirely to Great Ming, but there must still be a reckoning for right and wrong. If you were a commoner from Jiujiang, would you think those people deserve to live?
Huang Chunyao fell silent instantly, only after a long pause did he say, "Even so, they cannot just be killed like that."
Fu understood in his heart that Huang Chunyao felt it was improper for the Emperor to bypass the imperial court and carry out direct killings.
In his view, the Little Emperor was being far too lenient with these ministers.
In an era where imperial power was supreme, even if the Little Emperor killed a few more people, no one would dare say anything.
It was simply that Huang Chunyao had tasted sweetness and had already begun wanting to suppress imperial power; perhaps he himself had not thought that far, but his subconscious was already doing so.
Fu replied perfunctorily, "Rest assured, Censor Huang, this Marquis will submit a memorial."
After Huang Chunyao left, Fu did indeed write a memorial and sent it over.
As a result, Zhu Ci received two memorial submissions at once, which was a rare occurrence.
Because Fu Zhi had questioned him previously, Huang Chunyao did not dare say that those people should not be killed; he only said that His Majesty's actions were not in accordance with procedure.
Zhu Ci knew what Huang Chunyao would say just by seeing the memorial, so he had never intended to read it in the first place; it was essentially the same old routine, he could tell what Huang Chunyao would say with his eyes closed.
It was actually Fu's writing of memorials that was surprising. Previously, even when he directly killed Liu Liangzuo and Hu Maozhen, he hadn't received any memorials from this person; he had even written letters in private to help him clean up the aftermath. Was he unable to tolerate it now?
Zhu Ci opened Fu's memorial while lost in thought.
After reading it, he sat there in deep thought for a long while.
Fu's memorial was less an admonition for him to refrain from killing, more an implication that he should kill when necessary without hesitation, but also that he should not turn a blind eye to the voices of opposition from below.
The Little Emperor could disregard his reputation, but he could not hand a knife to the literati.
Facing memorials, if he remains silent and does nothing, he will only allow scholars to use such matters to make a scene; even if they do not destroy the Emperor's reputation, they will at least use it to elevate themselves.
In the end, they will use this sentiment to manipulate public opinion.
Of course, Fu spoke very obscurely—so obscurely that if Zhu Ci had not been forced by him to study and perform reading comprehension, he might not have understood it very well.
After reading Fu Zhi's memorial, Zhu Ci fell into thought for a long while. He felt this was a signal—a signal that scholars were beginning to band together to suppress imperial power.
Although he had already delegated power to those below him, it was clear that these people felt it was not enough.
A person's ego always expands. At first, Huang Chunyao might have been delighted that the new system granted him more power, but as time passed, he would gradually become dissatisfied.
Especially when the Emperor did things that went against his values or disagreed with his opinions, he would feel that it shouldn't be this way—why wouldn't he listen? We are only doing this for your own good!
Fu's meaning was very clear; Huang Chunyao no longer represented just himself, but an entire group behind him.
Zhu Ci placed great importance on the Grand Secretariat, so he placed immense importance on candidates for the cabinet, requiring individuals who possessed both talent and integrity.
However, in his heart, the Censorate was simply a supervisory body; as long as one's character was acceptable and their background and connections were relatively simple, it didn't matter even if their talent was slightly lacking.
As a result, there were more people in the Censorate, as the numbers grew, they naturally desired more territory; it was only natural.
This is the flaw of those who have never been officials; they do not understand the meaning of restraint, nor do they understand the meaning of propriety.
Therefore, when necessary, they must be taught a lesson.
This lesson cannot come from the Grand Secretariat; they are on the same level, the Grand Secretariat is a place for handling government affairs, so it can only be the Emperor.
Zhu Ci read the memorial twice more and couldn't help but smack his lips. What kind of nonsense was this?
The Grand Secretary wants to teach me how to be Emperor?
However, Fu had still enlightened him; while he was reviewing Fu's memorials to see if there were any suitable talents for the Grand Secretariat, he was also reviewing Huang Chunyao's memorials, he handled them all with great seriousness.
He had been refuting him almost from the very first sentence.
He did not think he was in the wrong, nor did he think the people felt he was in the wrong, so he was indeed acting with righteous indignation this time.
In the reply, he even used an unusually stern tone to ask several rhetorical questions: "Is it right to use their grain to feed their enemies? If the criminal does not die, how can the spirits of the tens of thousands of people in Jiujiang be comforted? If killers roam free and no one seeks justice for the dead, what use is the law? What is your purpose in speaking out for such unscrupulous murderers?"
While sending out the imperial decree, Zhu Ci also instructed Jiang Xueyan to spread the word about this matter in Huaian, as quickly as possible.
First, it could start with the coal factory, the Firearms Factory, the textile factory.
Not all of his subordinates had followed him out to war; some were not physically strong enough or had minor disabilities, so he had basically kept them in the factories.
The liaison for these several factories has always been handled by Jiang Xueyan and the girls under her command; although the business dealings of the factories do not involve only those from the lower classes, there are still many ordinary people involved.
Spreading news is as easy as it gets.
Moreover, Zhu Ying has also returned.
Zhu Ying has now boarded the Emperor's great ship; some people flatter him while others trample him, his life is truly a whirlwind of extremes.
Among those who stepped on him, there were many literati who were indignant that a mere illiterate like him could receive the Emperor's heavy favor, while talented scholars like them could not even find an opportunity to see the Imperial Countenance.
Zhu Ying didn't quite understand the mockery from those scholars at first, but fortunately, his nephew had read a bit, so he translated it for him.
Zhu Ying was furious after hearing this, yet he could do nothing about it.
Among the four classes of people—scholars, farmers, artisans, merchants—he was already at the very bottom, so when these people angered the Emperor, he would naturally fan the flames.
Of course, the people the Emperor wanted to deal with and the people causing him trouble were not even the same group, but so what?
Zhu Ying had always viewed scholars as a single entity.
In addition, there was the Xi Family; they had gone to great lengths to send people into the imperial court to serve as officials, but because of their backgrounds, they hit walls at every turn. The talents sent by the Xi Family had long been filled with suppressed rage.
In this era, the transmission of news always requires time.
When Huang Chunyao received the reply, the noise outside had not yet picked up, he was stunned by the Emperor's response.
He was already quite surprised to have received the reply; hadn't the Little Emperor always ignored such memorials?
He actually replied this time?
After reading it, Huang Chunyao was first stunned, partly because of the Little Emperor's rare, stern wording, partly because of those rhetorical questions.
Huang Chunyao's first reaction was: Didn't I say we shouldn't kill them? I was saying they shouldn't be killed directly; even if they are to be killed, they must first be convicted and follow the proper procedures.
He did not yet realize the severity of the situation at this time, but when the small court assembly convened, Zhu Ci was the first to launch an attack.
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Author's Note: Zhu Ci: Class struggle is unavoidable no matter the time. It's just right to deal with a wave of them now, so there won't be any more trouble when big matters arise later. Evil Kitty distributing flyers. jpg
Next update at 6:00 PM~
Chapter 125
“Censor Huang, what are your true intentions in seeking justice for those unscrupulous members of the Zuo Army?”
Huang Chunyao looked at Zhu Ci with some surprise. This Prince of Ning had always been an invisible man in the imperial court; except for matters concerning the Ministry of Rites, he had always acted low-key, to the point that the entire court of officials had almost forgotten this Prince.
However, despite his surprise, Huang Chunyao still explained, "I am not speaking on their behalf; I only wish to advise the Emperor to follow proper procedures."
Zhu Ci gave a cold laugh. "What? Even a Jiujiang City that has been turned into wasteland cannot be condemned? Must the Ministry of Justice go through all those procedures just to let those people live a few more days, let the wronged souls of the Jiujiang people wander for a few more days?"
Zhu Ci was all too familiar with the tactics of these civil officials.