The lecture hall of Chunhe Palace was filled with accounts and files.
After sweating for several days, a group of East Palace lecturers finally finished sorting out the accounts of the Zhongshu Province for the past five years.
Then, there is no more...
~~
In the prince's study next door.
The prince looked at Wu Bozong with an unkind expression.
"There are no problems? Is this the result of your audit? Do I still have to give Hu Weiyong a plaque saying 'Integrity and Self-Conservation'?"
"Well, they must have problems. Hu Weiyong's party is rampant in corruption, and it is known to all women and children..." Wu Bozong said with sweat on his head: "Why are there no problems with the accounts? There must be something wrong somewhere."
"Nonsense!" The prince said angrily: "If you could catch him so easily, Hu Weiyong would have died eight hundred times! Do you still need to check the accounts?"
"Yes, yes..." Wu Bozong blushed.
Chen Qianfu, although the destruction of Yu Xun's party did not affect him, it frightened him badly. In order to improve his status in the eyes of the prince and get himself out of the dangerous situation——
That's why he tried his best to persuade the prince and finally agreed to this audit. He planned to show his face, but unexpectedly he showed his butt.
"I know, you heard that the King of Chu was auditing the accounts at Guozixue and found a lot of problems, so you wanted to do the same thing." Zhu Biao said heartily:
"Don't think that just because someone else is good, you can do it too! From now on, just study hard and don't comment on state affairs again!"
"Your Highness, what you said is wrong." Wu Bozong was shocked when he heard this. This was the first time he heard the prince say such words.
This time they had to retort verbally, otherwise their foundation would be shaken.
"The knowledge that I am doing is the knowledge of governing the country!"
"Is it true?" Zhu Biao was convinced of this at first. But he couldn't help but Lao Liu's demonstration, which made him more and more doubtful... Can a group of scholars who only read books from sages really manage the country well?
At the same time, the word 'technocrat' began to haunt his mind, making His Royal Highness more and more want to know if there really is another possibility?
"Is there anything to doubt about this? For thousands of years, all dynasties have relied on my Confucianism to govern the country. Your Highness, please don't listen to rumors and fall into evil ways!" Wu Bozong said with a stern voice, having already forgotten the person he just stabbed.
"Is this the right thing to do?" the prince murmured. At this moment, his mind was filled with the fallacies of Lao Liu...
While I was confused, I heard the faint sound of drums in the distance.
"What's the sound?" he asked attentively.
"It seems that the Dengwen drum is ringing." Wu Bozong said softly.
During the Hongwu Dynasty, people beat the Dengwen drum very frequently, so he was very familiar with the sound of the drum.
"It's true." The prince nodded and frowned slightly, feeling that things were not that simple.
"I have to go to my father as soon as possible." He stood up and ordered: "Hurry up and repack the account books and send them back to the Zhongshu Ministry of Education."
"Yes." Wu Bozong responded helplessly, and now he was going to be laughed to death by the guys from Zhongshu Province.
"I've been tired for several days anyway. Let's go back and rest as soon as you're done." The prince left the lecture room with a gentle word.
Looking at His Highness's retreating figure, Wu Bozong sighed sadly. He clearly realized that he had lost the Crown Prince's trust.
As for whether Confucianism has lost trust? This is not at all his concern.
~~
When Zhu Biao came to Wuying Hall, the old man Sun had already been brought to the imperial court.
As soon as the prince stepped into the hall, he felt that the atmosphere inside was extremely cold.
My father's increasingly rounded face was stretched like a shoehorn.
"Boss, you are here at the right time. Let's listen to the good deeds of our powerful children of the Ming Dynasty!" Zhu Yuanzhang said coldly.
"Yes, Father." Zhu Biao responded and quickly walked to stand next to the throne.
"Old man Sun, continue talking." Zhu Yuanzhang said solemnly.
"Yes, Your Majesty." Old Man Sun said with tears streaming down his face: "My daughter-in-law was pregnant with Liujia, and she was hit to death. When people brought her back, my wife fainted on the spot, and my son was also stunned..."
Old Man Sun then told the emperor and the prince the exact story of his extremely tragic experience.
"I originally expected the government to make the announcement, but the county magistrate actually changed the word 'driving and killed a person' to 'driving and killed a person'. It was deemed an accident and our family was ordered to pay ten guan of money, and the driver was also
Sentenced to exile.
"As for Mr. Hu, he actually has no responsibility. And within a few days, he changed his driver and continued racing on the street." Old Man Sun said with grief and anger:
"And because he refused to accept the verdict, my son once scolded Mr. Hu in public. Mr. Hu would deliberately pass by our stall every time. We sell pots and jars, and every time he would deliberately crush some pottery.
.My son was so angry every day that he finally lost his mind, picked up a crushed clay pot, and threw it towards Mr. Hu’s carriage..."
"In the end, he was beaten to death by his guards in the street..." The old man finally couldn't help crying loudly:
"My wife was carried back home, and my wife hanged herself that night. Old man, I was a family of four living in peace and contentment, happily waiting for the birth of my grandson. Who would have thought that in just one month, I would be the only old man left alone! Aha!
Ha ha……"
Although the prince didn't hear what happened, he was already shocked.
When I looked at my father again, I saw that his eyes were red and his face was full of shame and guilt.
"Father, who is this Mr. Hu?" The prince asked in a low voice while the old man was crying and unable to speak.
"Hu Weiyong's precious son." Zhu Yuanzhang sniffed, wiped his tears with his fingers, and choked with sobs: "I didn't expect that our family's experiences would continue in this dynasty. What is the difference between our Ming Dynasty and the Yuan Dynasty?"
"No, it's even more abominable than the Yuan Dynasty! The weather has been good this year, but how can it be compared to the severe disasters that happened in the past years? I didn't expect that the common people would still inevitably have their families destroyed."
As he spoke, he beat the imperial case hard and shouted angrily:
"Even in the eyes of those high-ranking officials, the lives of ordinary people are just like straw! I'm such a bitch!"
This frightened the crying old man Sun. He raised his head and stared blankly at the emperor who was also crying.
"You continue." Seeing that his father was a little out of control, the prince had no choice but to take over the situation.
"...The old man went to the county government to complain again, but the county magistrate said that because it was my son who struck first, he was sentenced to a beating. But the murderer who beat my son to death was too harsh, so he was sentenced to eighty canes.
Consigned to the border." Old man Sun then said sadly and angrily:
"It's said that the staff is eighty, but after ten days of exile, he can keep up with the officials on foot. I really don't know if he has an iron hip, or if there is no king's method in Liuhe County!"
"Lawless." The prince cursed in a low voice.
"And since that day, there have been people secretly watching the old man, wanting to kill me and silence me." Old man Sun said angrily.
"How do you know?" When Zhu Yuanzhang heard this, his pupils suddenly shrank and he stared at the old man Sun closely.
Even if the people Hu Weiyong sent to follow him were not good enough, they would not be discovered by ordinary people.
