Chapter 733: Take my sword and kill this traitor today!
Ashikaga Yoshi completely blocked the news, and he wanted to launch a sneak attack on King Zhu Di of Yan.
In name, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu occupies a considerable advantage.
Although the Ming Dynasty was very powerful, this time it was the Yan King Zhu Di who started the war first, and Ashikaga Yoshimitsu was just a passive defense.
This gave him an explanation for the Ming Dynasty.
Without this explanation, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu would not have the courage to go to war directly.
Moreover, he learned that the four vassal kings were not of the same mind, and they wished that King Yan would suffer.
As long as it doesn't hurt King Yan's life, it doesn't matter what you do.
It's just that Ashikaga Yoshimitsu forgot that he could arrange spies to Kyushu Island. Couldn't Yan King Zhu Di arrange spies to Honshu Island?
Historically, Zhu Yuanzhang abolished the Jinyiwei system, and it was Zhu Di who restored the system.
Intelligence information has always been something Zhu Di attaches great importance to. Ever since he came to Japan, Zhu Di has been spending a lot of money to build his own intelligence agency.
Not to mention Kyushu Island, Zhu Di's intelligence personnel also infiltrated the other three vassal kings nearby.
Zhu Di suffered a painful loss when he faced off against Zhu Ying in the capital.
Why Zhu Ying can grasp the news in advance is not because the chamber of commerce's intelligence organization personnel are excellent.
Therefore, Zhu Di learned from the original model of the Qunying Chamber of Commerce.
For example, Xu Huyou, a maritime merchant.
The former Zhu Di, following his father's temperament, had always been disdainful of businessmen.
As his father changed, Zhu Di naturally had to change accordingly.
At this moment, in a shop next to the palace.
Two people are thinking about it.
They are not Han people, but authentic, native-born Japanese.
But last year, he became Zhu Di's secret informant.
As for the reason, it's very simple, it's all about money.
As long as they sell the information about Kyoto on Honshu Island to Zhu Di, they can get a considerable benefit.
"The palace was slaughtered. This should be considered a big event. I don't know how much money King Yan will give us."
"Whatever, maybe King Yan is not interested in this news? It doesn't matter how much, it's all for free. In the past year, the money we have gotten from King Yan has been more than the money we made from opening a store."
"Hey, actually sometimes I really don't want to do it anymore. If this is known to the family, we will definitely not have a good life. It's like stabbing the general and being afraid of being killed. It's really a risk of losing our heads.
"
"You are stupid. Can we stop at this time? We can't stop anymore. If you say no, believe it or not, King Yan will sell our affairs to the general. This is already the case.
I can only go all the way to the dark side and there is no turning back."
"I'm just saying, I still know the consequences."
"Don't think too much, let me tell you good news. As long as the news we bring to King Yan is of sufficient value, then you can let your son leave Japan and go to Daming. King Yan has already agreed.
"
"Really? Don't lie to me."
"Why am I lying to you? This is a big deal for us, but for King Yan, it's just a matter of words. King Yan won't deceive us for such a trivial matter."
"Since that's the case, then I'm relieved. Hurry up and tell King Yan the news that the palace was massacred by the general. As soon as these two princes left, something like this happened in the palace. Obviously there is something wrong with the general."
...
Zhu Gaoxu and Zhu Gaosui were very proud of their travels.
It’s a rare time to come out, so naturally you have to play enough.
They have a distinguished status, especially here in the Japanese country. Except for the Japanese king and the general, other famous names know that they are the kings of the Ming Dynasty, and they want to kneel down and lick their boots.
The dinner, singing and dancing are all well prepared.
This naturally delayed the trip.
Before they returned to Yancheng, King Yan had already learned the news about the massacre of the palace.
In the main hall of Prince Yan's Palace.
"Father, my son has lived up to his mission and reached an agreement with the Japanese king, and brought back one hundred thousand taels of silver first. This is considered to be the Japanese king's sincerity."
"At that time, my father will cooperate with the Japanese king and hoard troops at the border, attracting Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, and the Japanese king will consolidate the army and seize military power."
Zhu Gaoxu said proudly in the main hall.
But he never noticed that Zhu Di's face had darkened.
"Oh, it seems that you have contributed a lot to this trip." Zhu Di's tone showed no emotion or anger.
Zhu Gaoxu didn't pay attention and replied smoothly: "This is all because of the father's good guidance. The child dare not be greedy for credit."
Zhu Di did not continue to talk to Zhu Gaosui, but turned to Zhu Gaosui and asked: "Lao San, do you have anything to say?"
Zhu Gaojiu was carried away by joy, but Zhu Gaojiu kept paying attention to his father's expression.
When he saw his second brother talking about one hundred thousand taels of silver, his father's expression changed, and his heart suddenly sank.
He knew that his father must have discovered that he and his second brother had embezzled one hundred thousand taels of silver.
When I heard the question, I immediately hesitated.
"I'm asking you, Third Brother, are you deaf?"
Zhu Di's tone was obviously very angry.
At this time, Zhu Gaoxu had also reacted and suddenly felt a little uneasy.
"Father, forgive me, father, forgive me!"
Zhu Gaosui was not frightened, and immediately knelt on the ground and kowtowed.
He knew how ferocious his father was, and for such a large sum of money, he would definitely not be able to avoid a beating.
Zhu Di stood up, walked in front of Zhu Gaosui, and kicked him over.
He said sternly: "Excuse me, forgive me for what crime, but tell me how big a crime you have committed."
After Zhu Gaosui fell to the ground, he turned over and crawled, but he did not dare to answer.
At this time, he did not dare to betray his brother.
At this moment, Zhu Gaoxu was a little stunned by his father's rage, but suddenly thought of something, pointed at Xu Huyou and cursed: "You are, you told your father about the one hundred thousand taels of silver, right?
"
"You despicable businessman, I shouldn't have believed your lies in the first place, I should have killed you!"
Zhu Gaoxu was so angry that his teeth itched.
In order to covet the one hundred thousand taels of silver, he and Zhu Gaosui divided 40,000 taels each, gave Xu Huyou 5,000 taels, and the remaining 15,000 taels were divided among the accompanying soldiers.
Now Xu Huyou took his own money and told his father about it, which is basically betraying the two brothers.
At this moment, Zhu Gaoxu had sworn in his heart that he would kill him in the future to vent the hatred in his heart.
However, the next thing he saw, Xu Huyou's face changed drastically. He knelt on the ground in fear and kowtowed to his father: "King Yan, please spare your life. Your Highness, King Yan, please spare your life!"
This reversal scene immediately stunned Zhu Gaoxu.
In this situation, even a fool can see that Xu Huyou didn't say anything about being greedy for one hundred thousand taels of silver.
The father was naturally angry because of other things.
So I just told you about one hundred thousand taels of silver all at once?
Snapped!
A loud slap hit Zhu Gaoxu's face directly.
He struck out with strong force and anger, knocking him to the ground directly. The burning pain on his left side left Zhu Gaoxu without any temper at all.
However, this is not the end.
Zhu Di was so angry that he went over and kicked Zhu Gaoxu hard.
"You stupid bastard, you still talk about taking your eldest brother's place as the heir apparent. For a fool like you, this is simply out of the blue."
"If you even dare to take this money, what else can't you dare to do?"
"Do you really think that being a general and being able to kill a few people is your great ability?"
"Bring me the king's sword. Today I will kill this unfaithful and unfilial son who deceives his superiors and deceives his subordinates!"
Zhu Di shouted loudly, and all the guards present were so frightened that they shivered, but no one moved to get King Yan's sword.
This is what the prince said, who dares to take it seriously?
If the sword is really brought over, do you think the prince's sword will kill or not?
"Are you going against it? You didn't even listen to what I said." Zhu Di turned to look at the surrounding guards and scolded.
The personal guards in the main hall, including General Zhu Neng, all knelt on the ground and did not dare to say a word.
Zhu Neng on the side thought to himself: It would be great if Zhang Yu were here, he would definitely be able to advise King Yan.
Zhu Neng is a brave general, not a wise general.
King Yan always listened to Zhang Yu's advice.
It's a pity that Zhang Yu led his army to inspect the surrounding area at this time.
At this time, footsteps were heard outside the door.
I saw Xu Yihua walking over with two palace maids.
"Madam, why are you here?"
Seeing Xu Yihua, Zhu Di's originally angry face faded a bit.
"If I didn't come, wouldn't Xu'er be killed by you? Others say that a tiger's poison cannot eat its seeds, but you are better off, and you won't even spare your own son, right?" Xu Yihua said with a cold snort.
Zhu Di quickly explained: "Madam, you don't know how greedy this bastard is. He has stolen a hundred thousand taels of silver."
"And that's not all. The palace was completely slaughtered by Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, and this bastard was still enjoying himself on the road. He delayed the military plane like this, embezzled military pay, and there is nothing else that this bastard wouldn't dare to do."
Hearing this, Xu Yihua looked at Zhu Gaoxu who was lying on the ground with a swollen face and blood at the corners of his mouth. He couldn't help but feel a little heartbroken.
She loved Zhu Gaochi, and she also loved her second and third sons. These were the sons she almost died in her ten-month pregnancy.
Who wouldn’t feel sorry for the meat falling off the body?
"Xue'er and the others have done something wrong. They should be punished and beaten. As a mother, I don't even need to say more, but the crime will not lead to death."
"You will kill your own son at every turn. Do you want to show off your demeanor as King Yan by killing your relatives for justice?"
"Where is the sword? Zhu Neng, go get it for the prince. Let me, the mother-in-law, be killed together today."
Xu Yihua glared at Zhu Di and said.
How dare Zhu Neng take on the challenge at this time?
When the prince and his wife quarreled, it was his subordinates who suffered.
Then he knelt down half-kneeling like a sculpture, pretending he couldn't hear.
"Madam, why are you doing this? I'm just scolding you. How can I actually kill my own son?"
Zhu Di's tone softened.
Emotionally, Zhu Di is very similar to Zhu Yuanzhang, and he has always respected his wife.
Empress Ma helped Zhu Yuanzhang a lot in the founding of the Ming Dynasty. Her contribution to the founding of the Ming Dynasty was no less than that of Xu Da and Chang Yuchun.
Similarly, Xu Yihua, who grew up next to Queen Ma, also gave Zhu Di a lot of help.
Zhu Yuanzhang said that the harem should not interfere with politics.
In fact, he never paid any attention to Queen Ma's involvement in government affairs.
Father and son are similar in this area.
Xu Yihua did not answer, but turned to look at his two sons and lectured: "This palace will not be yours from now on. You are the only one who can covet your own money."
"Especially you, Xu'er. Your eldest brother is now in power in Annan and has the attention of His Majesty and Grandson. We even received a letter a few days ago. Everything is in order there. You can't imitate your eldest brother."
"If your eldest brother makes great contributions, he will be able to establish himself in Annan. There will be no need for the position of Crown Prince."
Xu Yihua is giving Zhu Gaoxu a warning.
Zhu Gaochi has already developed in Annan. If everything goes well, he will not come to Japan to inherit the palace unless something unexpected happens.
The future palace will naturally belong to Zhu Gaoxu.
It also includes the throne.
In fact, these things can be thought of after a little thought.
It's just that Xu Yihua has already seen that his second son probably didn't think about this at all, otherwise he wouldn't be greedy for his own money.
"Father, mother, I know I was wrong and I won't dare to do it again."
Zhu Gaoxu knelt on the ground and said hesitantly.
His swollen face made it difficult for him to speak.
When Zhu Di saw this, he snorted coldly: "You know you're wrong, you know what's wrong."
"Now that you are all here in Yancheng, have you ever heard anything about the palace?"
"If I hadn't made arrangements in advance, you, the rebellious son, would have asked your father to lead the troops, but little did you know that you had already fallen into Ashikaga Yoshimitsu's trap."
Zhu Gaoxu couldn't believe it and said, "Where did he get the courage to ambush his father?"
Zhu Di snorted coldly: "In the past few decades, the Japanese country has been trapped in a civil war between the north and the south. But Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, who was able to unify the Japanese country and end the chaos between the north and the south, is not a person with a false reputation."
"The person who killed the Japanese king is not a coward. He deliberately blocked the news about the palace in order to let the matter between his father and the Japanese king continue. If this king leads the army to the border, he will naturally have many ambushes.
One hundred thousand troops."
"It is true that he did not dare to harm my life, but how many soldiers will die in this ambush. In name, this king sent troops first and broke the covenant. He was just forced to fight back. The court did not
Everything needs to be explained."
"The fact that we are secretly hoarding mineral deposits has offended your grandpa. If we lose so many elite soldiers, we have to go to the court to apologize."
"Your uncles will definitely take advantage of the situation and seize the mineral deposits at the junction."
"At that time, if we put aside the development of King Yan City, I, the King of Yan, might be banned from the capital."
After hearing these answers, Zhu Gaoxu and Zhu Gaosui were sweating profusely and feeling frightened.
They didn't expect things to be so serious.
On the other side, Xu Huyou was even more frightened and trembling.
According to this situation, it feels like it would be a minor offense for King Yan to chop off his own head.
When Zhu Gaoxu and Zhu Gaosui wanted to share the silver with him, he really didn't want to take it, but he refused to take it, which made the two princes worried.
I was in a dilemma, so I had to accept it.
Now that Zhu Gaoxu has said it by mistake again, it is really an unreasonable disaster.
While he was thinking about it, King Yan turned his eyes.
"How much did you take?"
After hearing King Yan's question, Xu Huyou quickly said: "The villain took five thousand taels."
Zhu Di asked again: "How much did the others share?"
Xu Huyou's heart trembled and he replied: "A total of fifteen thousand taels of silver will be divided among the accompanying soldiers."
Zhu Di actually had no intention of blaming Xu Huyou.
Not to mention five thousand taels, even one hundred thousand taels was actually not much to Xu Huyou.
He knew that before the sea was opened, the Xu family of Xu Huyou was engaged in sea trade smuggling.
After opening the sea, it became even more profitable.
It was just that the imperial court severely cracked down on smuggling merchants, so the Xu family sought refuge under his command and at the same time worked for the Yan Palace.
The money from filial piety alone already amounts to millions.
Naturally, his two sons forced Xu Huyou to take this matter.
But Zhu Di would not let him go so easily.
"Afterwards, I will hand over 300,000 yuan as military pay." Zhu Di said casually.
Xu Huyou was overjoyed and kowtowed quickly: "Thank you, His Highness King Yan, for your kindness."
Zhu Gaoxu and Zhu Gaosui were stunned.
They deceived the superiors and deceived the inferiors, and the two of them divided a total of 80,000 silver.
When I got to my father, I asked for 300,000 guan in one sentence.
This Xu Huyou also needs to be grateful.
Sure enough, ginger is still spicy.
"We will not accept the money obtained by the accompanying officers and soldiers, and let them go to the army and lead twenty troops each to serve as a warning to others."
"As for the two of you, return the money you have stolen from Mo Mo in full, go to the rank of general, and demote yourself to the rank of pawn."
"If I can achieve success in the battle this time, I will consider reinstating my official position."
Zhu Di said with a cold hum.
"Your Majesty is wise."
Zhu Neng took the lead in shouting, followed by Xu Huyou and other guards.
Zhu Di showed kindness and power at the same time.
Each of the accompanying soldiers was given more than a hundred guan, and Zhu Di was too lazy to take it back. Twenty army battles was not a small punishment, it was a severe beating.
After receiving these twenty troops, I would not be able to get out of bed for at least ten days and a half.
Zhu Di also knew that these soldiers had taken the blame for his two sons, but this was the military rule.
If you make a mistake, you must be punished.
The soldiers who were beaten afterward would not have any complaints. After all, more than a hundred knives were not considered a small number for the lower class.
"Father, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu is obviously a trap, why should we go?" Zhu Gaoxu hesitated, but couldn't help but ask.
Zhu Di smiled coldly: "If you allow him to plan for me, don't you allow me to follow his plan?"
"It just so happens that you two treacherous sons will serve as pawns this time and go to your imperial uncle and uncle to inform you of this matter."
"This Ashikaga Yoshimitsu can't help it. Why have I never wanted to enter Honshu Island? Now that he is here, if he doesn't leave something behind, wouldn't it seem that I am afraid of him."
"As for the imperial court, they will report the whole matter to the court at that time, which means they will just blame it lightly."
"As long as it doesn't trigger a war between the two countries, it's not a big deal."
After hearing these words, Zhu Gaoxu and Zhu Gaosui suddenly felt happy.
I made up my mind to get back today's losses from Ashikaga Yoshimitsu.
Especially Zhu Gaoxu, this beating cannot be in vain.