newbobooks Chapter 536
Chapter 536
Those who were originally planning to take action were dumbfounded when they saw Prince Zhu Qiyuan's behavior.
The Prince of Jin was aware that his superiors had ordered him to take action against Zhou Chu, the commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard.
They originally thought that even if the Prince of Jin's mansion didn't help, it would at least acquiesce, since Zhou Chu's death would be of some benefit to the Prince of Jin's mansion, although the benefit would not be much.
The reason these merchants chose to target Zhou Chu, the commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, was to transform Taiyuan into a place far removed from the reach of the emperor, a place where imperial power could not reach. Only in this way could they truly be safe.
They were fundamentally different from Prince Jin, Zhu Zhiyang. The imperial power had absolute control over the princely mansions in various regions, and the emperor could decide the life or death of a prince with a single word, unless Prince Jin was prepared to rebel directly like Prince Ning.
Clearly, Prince Zhu Zhiyang of Jin was incapable of rebelling; otherwise, he would have done so long ago. Zhu Zhiyang understood very well that if he did not rebel, he might still have a chance to survive, and most importantly, the lineage of Prince Jin could be passed down peacefully. However, if he rebelled, things would be completely different, and the nature of the situation would change entirely.
In addition, the fact that Prince Ning had prepared and planned for so long, only to be easily defeated by Wang Yangming, made the various regional princes truly realize the huge gap in size between them and the imperial court, and that their rebellion was basically impossible to succeed.
Not to mention them, throughout history, only Emperor Yongle (Zhu Di) of the Ming Dynasty has successfully rebelled. However, Zhu Di's success was due to special reasons. The nobles and generals of the court were secretly helping Zhu Di. They had long been dissatisfied with Emperor Jianwen (Zhu Yunwen), which enabled Zhu Di to successfully raise an army.
Otherwise, Zhu Di would have been killed in Beiping by Li Jinglong as soon as he raised his army.
Unlike the Prince of Jin's residence, Shanxi was a place beyond the reach of imperial power for many years. Even Datong had many problems in the past, but the emperor dared not easily change generals. If the generals of Datong were replaced, it would probably trigger a chain reaction, leading to the Mongols invading from Datong, which was definitely not a situation the emperor wanted to see.
Once these Shanxi merchants kill Zhou Chu, no one in the court will be able to extend their reach to Taiyuan like Zhou Chu did. At that time, Taiyuan and even the entire Shanxi province will be completely under their control, and whatever they say will be law.
On this point, the demands of these Shanxi merchants and Prince Zhu Zhiyang of Jin were completely different, so the ways of handling the matter were naturally different as well.
"Your Highness, you..."
The leader looked at Zhu Qiyuan, and he couldn't understand why the Prince of Jin's mansion would stop him from taking action against Zhou Chu.
"Shut up! You all harbor ulterior motives and want to assassinate Commander Zhou of the Embroidered Uniform Guard. Your crimes are unforgivable. Guards, arrest them all."
Zhu Qiyuan roared.
As soon as Zhu Qiyuan finished speaking, the Imperial Guards behind him drew their embroidered spring knives and surrounded the men.
“Lord Zhou, these people are incredibly audacious. They previously approached my Prince Jin’s residence to discuss assassinating you. Naturally, my Prince Jin’s residence would never do such a thing, nor would we stand by and watch Lord Zhou be assassinated by them.”
Zhu Qiyuan bowed and said.
After his father's guidance, Zhu Qiyuan understood a principle: since Zhou Chu, the commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, had come to Taiyuan, he must have obtained sufficient evidence, and the emperor's decision on the Prince of Jin's residence had probably already been made.
There's no point in hiding it from Zhou Chu now. Since we're not as good as him, we might as well lay our cards on the table. That way, we might even gain favor with this Lord Zhou.
Even if one's father or even oneself is demoted to a commoner, it does not mean the end. Just like when the previous Prince of Dai was demoted to a commoner, the emperor eventually softened and restored Zhu Junzhang's right to inherit the title. Even the former Prince of Dai, although he could not leave Taiyuan, did not live the life of a commoner as before.