Chapter 222 Shocking Crime
Chapter 222 Shocking Crime

This was a bargain. Ye Xuan was well-targeted and easily discovered the secret. After tearing open the interleaf, he found that there were strings of numbers in the interleaf.

Numbers are grouped in pairs, separated by spaces.

After pondering for more than an hour, Ye Xuan suddenly slapped his head and remembered the film and television works he had watched in his previous life. These numbers should be the number of lines and words in the poems in the secret letter.

Moreover, Ye Xuan was soon discovered that some pages in the book "Hanshan Ji" were obviously torn, which was enough to prove that these torn pages had been used.

These secret letters were all received by Wang Guangyang before, which was enough to prove that they were old. So, as long as he tore open the used pages of the book and compared them one by one, he would soon be able to find out the contents recorded in the secret letters.

So, Ye Xuan and Song Zhengshan spent another half an hour to decipher the contents of more than a dozen secret letters.

As the contents of each secret letter were deciphered, Ye Xuan and Song Zhengshan's faces became increasingly ugly and shocked.

Because the contents of the letter were all written by Pingliang Hou Fei Ju and Ji'an Hou Lu Zhongheng to Wang Guangyang.

The content of the letter was basically Fei Ju and Lu Zhongheng reporting to Wang Guangyang on how they recruited soldiers, trained soldiers, and forged weapons.

Occasionally, there were a few secret letters asking Wang Guangyang for military funds.

"This...this is a rebellion!" Song Zhenshan said with trembling lips.

Ye Xuan also had an ugly expression on his face. He did not expect Wang Guangyang to be so bold, and Hu Weiyong must be the mastermind behind it!

Ye Xuan grabbed Song Zhenshan's shoulders and stared at him, "Old Song, this matter is of great importance. It's not that I don't trust you, but in order to prevent any accidents, I hope you can lock yourself in a cell!"

When Song Zhengshan heard this, instead of being surprised or angry, he quickly understood Ye Xuan's intention.

If this matter were to be leaked, it would have nothing to do with him sending the shirt. Ye Xuan did this entirely for his own good.

Moreover, things in the world are unpredictable. If Song Zhengshan accidentally lets something slip, it will undoubtedly cause a stir in the court.

"Okay, okay, I'll find a cell and lock myself up there right away!"

As he said that, Song Zhengshan pulled Ye Xuan to an empty cell and locked himself in. Ye Xuan locked the cell himself and said to Song Zhenshan, "I will let you out immediately when this matter has a result!"

Song Zhenshan nodded and said, "It's okay. I will wait for your good news!"

Ye Xuan nodded solemnly, put the cracked secret letter into his arms, left the Pacification Office, and immediately rode his horse to the imperial city!

After struggling for half the night, it was already bright when Ye Xuan arrived at the imperial city. Ye Xuan simply showed his badge and entered the imperial city.

However, Zhu Yuanzhang was attending court at the time, so Ye Xuan had no choice but to find Yun Qi and wait for him in the Wuying Hall.

When Zhu Yuanzhang came back from court, Yun Qi hurried to report to him, "Your Majesty, Ye Xuan, the captain of the Imperial Guard, wants to see you! He has been waiting outside the store for an hour."

Zhu Yuanzhang frowned. He knew that Ye Xuan was a lazy person. He came to the imperial city to ask for an audience so early in the morning. Something big must have happened. He immediately asked Yun Qi to summon Ye Xuan.

"Your Majesty, I pay my respects to you!" Ye Xuan saluted, took out the secret letter from his bosom, and said, "Fortunately, I have fulfilled my mission. The mystery of superstition has been solved by me!"

Zhu Yuanzhang was about to praise Ye Xuan, but Ye Xuan's face became solemn, and he swallowed the words back. Because of Ye Xuan's expression, he felt that the contents of the secret letter would be extraordinary.

"Yunqi, bring it up!"

Soon, the secret letter reached Zhu Yuanzhang's hands.

Ye Xuan had already written the contents of the secret letter in the blank space with a pen, so Zhu Yuanzhang saw it at a glance.

As he read through the secret letters, Zhu Yuanzhang's face became increasingly gloomy. When he saw the last one, he slammed the table and said angrily:

"Wang Guangyang, I will kill all your clans!"

"And Fei Ju and Lu Zhongheng, I will cut you into pieces!"

After venting his anger, Zhu Yuanzhang looked at Ye Xuan again and asked, "Are you sure the contents of this letter are correct?"

After all, it involves a conspiracy between two princes and the prime minister of the Ming Dynasty to rebel. This matter is of great importance and cannot tolerate any mistakes.

Ye Xuan nodded, and then recounted in detail how he met Qian'er, how he discovered Qian'er's identity, and how Qian'er escaped from Hu Weiyong's residence.

"Your Majesty, it was Qian'er who told me how to decipher this secret letter. Qian'er also saw with her own eyes that Hu Weiyong also had a copy of Hanshanji. If they were not in the same group, how could they use the same set of secret codes?"

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded. If he said that Hu Weiyong had nothing to do with this matter, no one would believe it even if he was beaten to death.

Moreover, Zhu Yuanzhang knew Wang Guangyang's character very well. Although Wang Guangyang had some talents, he did not have the courage to rebel.

But Hu Weiyong was different. Although he looked submissive on the surface, he was actually extremely ambitious.

Zhu Yuanzhang knew this, but he didn't care about it because no one would have thought that Hu Weiyong's ambition would be so big as to rebel!

Zhu Yuanzhang walked back and forth in the hall with his hands behind his back. Ye Xuan and Yun Qi were as quiet as cicadas, not daring to disturb him at all.

After a long time, Zhu Yuanzhang stopped, turned to look at Ye Xuan and said, "Ye Xuan, how do you think I should deal with this matter?"

Ye Xuan was stunned at first and then suddenly realized, because in everyone's opinion, as soon as the emperor discovered that one of his subjects had the intention of rebellion, he should immediately issue an order to confiscate their property and exterminate their clan.

In fact, given Zhu Yuanzhang's character, if there had been no unexpected consequences, this would have been the outcome, and he would even have to kill all nine clans of that person!

But the situation is different now. Yang Xian, the left chancellor of the Secretariat, and Wang Guangyang, the right chancellor of Jiangsu Province, were successively confiscated and exterminated. If Zhu Yuanzhang immediately took action against Hu Weiyong and killed three prime ministers in a row, no matter what the truth behind it was, Zhu Yuanzhang would hardly escape the reputation of being cruel among the people!
The civil officials who were already dissatisfied with Zhu Yuanzhang because of the empty seal case, and the scholars all over the world would criticize Zhu Yuanzhang verbally and in writing.

At that time, no matter how Zhu Yuanzhang defended himself, even if he made the fact of Hu Weiyong's treason public, people in the world would only think that this was Zhu Yuanzhang's frame-up.

People all over the world would say that you, Zhu Yuanzhang, could kill one prime minister, or even two prime ministers in a row, but you couldn’t say you could kill three prime ministers in a row!

If the three prime ministers were either plotting treason, abusing their power for personal gain, or committing corruption and perverting the law, then how good could Zhu Yuanzhang, the emperor, be?

After all, these prime ministers were chosen by you, Zhu Yuanzhang, but the prime ministers you chose were either corrupt or wanted to rebel against you. Then there must be something wrong with you as an emperor!

(End of this chapter)