Chapter 76 The Strange Zhu Yuanzhang

Chapter 76: The Strange Zhu Yuanzhang

"This Cui Wu really doesn't know what's good for him!"

In the Wuying Palace, the Hongwu Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang held the confession of the flower boat manager tightly in his hand, slammed the imperial desk with a furious look on his face and shouted: "Isn't it enough for me to reward him with houses, fields, gold, silver and jewelry? Why did he commit such a heinous crime and let me be accused by the world!"

Ye Xuan and Yun Qi stood quietly at one side with their heads down, not daring to answer at all, especially Yun Qi, whose nose was already sweating and he didn't dare to breathe.

Ye Xuan, the instigator, was not very nervous or afraid. Based on his understanding of Zhu Yuanzhang, he was not worried that Zhu, who always kept public and private affairs separate, would vent his anger on others just because Ye Xuan exposed his relatives.

After all, in history, many years later, the border official who reported the smuggling of tea by the prince consort Ouyang Lun, which indirectly led to the execution of Princess Anqing and her husband, not only did not suffer retaliation, but was even promoted because of his impartiality.

It was just a bit embarrassing to listen to Zhu Yuanzhang cursing.

"Ye Xuan, tell me, Cui Wu is a royal relative, he eats my food but turns around to discredit me and undermine the foundation of my Ming Dynasty, should he be killed?"

Ye Xuan, who was daydreaming, suddenly came back to his senses. Although he didn't know what was wrong with Zhu Yuanzhang, he actually asked himself, "It's not up to you to decide whether your own relatives should be killed or not."

If you don't want to kill, but I say he should, wouldn't that upset you? If you have already decided to kill, but I say he shouldn't, then you will think I am a flatterer.

In short, nothing you say is right.

As his thoughts turned, Ye Xuan simply said, "Whether Cui Wu should be put to death or not is up to your majesty to decide. I only know to follow your orders."

The meaning is very clear. Whether to kill or not is up to you, the emperor, to decide. As an outsider, I only know to follow orders. At the same time, he implicitly reminded Zhu Yuanzhang that it was you, Zhu, who issued the handwritten order to handle this case in the first place!
Zhu Yuanzhang, who was originally furious, suddenly calmed down after hearing this. A hint of interest appeared on the corner of his mouth, and he said with a smile: "No wonder my little Anqing has been asking me to transfer you to be his guard captain since he came back from Qixia Temple. You are really sharp-minded and a little cunning!"

Ye Xuan immediately felt a little regretful. He should have been colder to An Qing at the beginning. Now, he didn't even have time to keep a low profile, but An Qing was there to refresh his presence in front of Zhu Yuanzhang every day.

Ye Xuan grinned, and before he could figure out how to answer, Zhu Yuanzhang said inexplicably: "It's a pity that Anqing is still young, otherwise I might really want to recruit you as my son-in-law."

Ye Xuan felt a chill when he heard this, thinking of Ouyang Lun's fate. He quickly pretended to be panicked and said, "The princess is a daughter of a rich family. How can a humble minister be worthy of her?"

Zhu Yuanzhang waved his hand and said, "Everyone in my Zhu family is from a humble background. How can we not be worthy of this?"

Ye Xuan believed this. During the Ming Dynasty, the Zhu royal family had clear regulations on the selection of spouses, and they were only allowed to choose from small families. If they were from a wealthy family, they would not accept them.

The main reason was that Zhu Yuanzhang was worried that marriages between the royal family and wealthy and noble families would lead to the power of external relatives, which would control the government.

Therefore, all the empresses and concubines of the Ming Dynasty came from the common people.

Even Anqing's later prince consort, Ouyang Lun, was just an ordinary scholar.

Ye Xuan was hesitant and didn't dare to respond, for he was really afraid that Zhu Yuanzhang might do something wrong and recruit him as a consort. But then he heard Zhu Yuanzhang chuckle and said, "But if I really let you be a consort without real power, it would be a waste of your talent. You should check the imperial edict issued yesterday today."

"What, you really don't want to be promoted? I still have the position of Commander of the Secret Guard for you." Ye Xuan's heartstrings were lifted, thinking to himself that this old Zhu was still determined to promote me! He quickly brought up the past: "I just want to get married and start a business as soon as possible, and continue the incense of my Ye family..."

"Alright, alright," Zhu Yuanzhang waved his hands unhappily, saying, "I just don't understand. Why do you feel like I want to harm you by letting you get promoted? Forget it. If you don't want to be promoted, I won't force you."

Ye Xuan complained in his heart: Of course you are not here to kill me, but there are a million ways for officials in the Hongwu Dynasty to die, and I dare not take the risk.

Thinking this in his mind, Ye Xuan naturally did not show it on the surface, and still looked like an honest man who just wanted to start a family and build a career.

But the unconcealable joy on his face made Yun Qi, who was standing beside him, question his life.

I have only seen people seeking official positions, but I have never seen anyone slamming the black gauze hat handed to them by the emperor himself to the ground!

And he was taking pictures with great enthusiasm. This Captain Ye is really a strange man!
After being rejected by Ye Xuan again, Zhu Yuanzhang seemed to lose interest, but he soon regained his decisiveness and said sternly: "Since this Cui Wu wants to smear my face, it's no wonder that I disregard family affection!"

After saying this, he issued an imperial decree to arrest Cui Wu and confiscate all property of his family.

And this task naturally fell on Ye Xuan.

Ye Xuan received the imperial edict, tried his best to suppress the joy in his heart, and respectfully followed Yun Qi to leave.

But at this moment, he was stopped by Zhu Yuanzhang again.

Ye Xuan stopped and turned stiffly to look at Zhu Yuanzhang, praying silently in his heart that Old Zhu would not change his mind and force him to promote.

"Ye Xuan, from now on, as long as it is not curfew time, you can enter and leave the imperial city freely with your badge." Zhu Yuanzhang said, turning to look at Yun Qi and instructed: "Take my handwritten order and inform the Jinwu Guard later."

Upon hearing this, Ye Xuan thanked him respectfully. He did not feel much about this right to enter the imperial city freely. He just thought that Zhu Yuanzhang wanted to make it convenient for him to report to him at any time.

But Yun Qi on the side was surprised again. In just a short while, Ye Xuan had surprised him twice.

Ye Xuan didn't know how great an honor it was to have the right to enter freely, but Yun Qi knew it very well.

Take the civil and military officials in the court for example. Apart from the six founding dukes, only the heads of special institutions like Mao Xiang, the commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, had such rights. Others, even the ministers of the six ministries, needed to notify in advance and wait outside the Meridian Gate if they wanted to enter the palace to meet the emperor.

And who is Ye Xuan? He is just a small captain of the Jinyiwei. It is unheard of that a sixth-rank military general is more honorable than all the civil and military officials in the court!

This shows how much Zhu Yuanzhang valued Ye Xuan.

However, Zhu Yuanzhang did not seem to want to make it easier for Ye Xuan to report official business to him. Zhu Yuanzhang smiled meaningfully and said, "Anqing has been clamoring to transfer you to be his guard these days..."

(End of this chapter)