But now it seems to be of no use at all. The desire for power and the pursuit of ideals can make many people disregard life and death.

Old Zhu obviously knew something about it, and seeing Zhu Xiong Ying sulking, he smiled and said, "Ying'er, Zhan Hui doesn't understand your good intentions. Don't be too lenient, or these people will start to cause trouble."

"Grandson knows, these things are really difficult," Zhu Xiong Ying said to Old Zhu with a bit of frustration. "It seems we have to be more direct. Let's find a reason to send him away. We can forget about the central government, but it wouldn't be bad for him to govern a county well."

Old Zhu was still not satisfied and tried to persuade Zhu Xiong Ying to change her mind, "Ying'er, if we just kill them decisively, there won't be any trouble at all. If you ask me, we should just pick up a knife, and those people will know to be afraid. If you try to reason with them, they won't be afraid of you!"

The logic is basically the same, but Zhu Xiong Ying also felt that those civil officials might not necessarily be afraid of knives. At most, only a few would be killed, and the rest would remain silent for a while, only to start making noise again after a period of time.

Since he wouldn't voluntarily retire, let's just demote him. Zhu Xiong Ying thought these things weren't difficult, and as the Crown Prince, he could handle them with ease.

This is probably a characteristic of feudal dynasties: the supreme imperial power can decide life and death with a single word. Career advancement often hinges on a single decision made by the person in power.

With an emperor as domineering as Zhu Yuanzhang in power, there were naturally not many who could challenge him. While Zhu Xiong Ying's control over the court and his prestige among officials were indeed not as great as Zhu Yuanzhang's, Zhu Xiong Ying was not someone that the civil officials could easily control.

Even setting aside the fabricated charges, he had ample reason to eliminate Zhan Hui. Since Zhan Hui refused to step down voluntarily, Zhu Xiong Ying intended to force Zhan Hui to leave the court without any face, ensuring he would never have the chance to return.

For Zhu Xiong Ying, there were already answers in his heart about some things, and that was enough.

Old Zhu wanted to kill someone to solve the problem, believing it to be the best way to resolve the issue. This was indeed something Old Zhu was quite adept at.

Zhu Xiong Ying felt it was time to make some changes. He never intended to elevate the status of civil officials too much, but he also didn't intend to keep their status low, as that wouldn't be a particularly favorable situation.

After all, governing the country still requires the participation of civil officials, who still need to contribute their time and effort. Most importantly, the power of the Ming dynasty's nobility is strong enough, so it's natural to consider slightly altering the status of civil officials.

Let's start with Zhan Hui and make changes. This Minister of Personnel is indeed a good role model and can become a model project set up by Zhu Xiong Ying.

The next court session was, naturally, equally chaotic. This time, the Censorate launched the attack, accusing Zhan Hui of failing to properly educate his son and of showing favoritism in the appointment and dismissal of officials, particularly those from the south.

This naturally explains why Zhan Hui was directly demoted from the capital; the Minister of Personnel was reduced to a seventh-rank county magistrate, meaning he would essentially never be able to return to the central government. This was because Zhan Hui had been placed on Zhu Xiong Ying's radar; he was on Zhu Xiong Ying's blacklist.

The demotion of Zhan Hui naturally caused many civil officials to feel a sense of shared sorrow, and many people also spoke out in support of Zhan Hui.

Zhu Xiong Ying showed no mercy at this time, demoting those who deserved it, imprisoning those who deserved it, and fined those who deserved it. He did these things with ease and did not feel that there was anything difficult about it.

In these matters, Old Zhu seemed to be just a 'puppet,' as he basically left these things to Zhu Xiong Ying to handle. Old Zhu was also gratified that his grandson didn't make up any other excuses and resolved the issues cleanly and efficiently.

Even though Zhu understood that the reason these things were going so smoothly was mainly because of his imposing presence, which made the civil and military officials below him afraid to cause any major disturbances.

However, regardless of the circumstances, this incident also demonstrates Zhu Xiong Ying's current control over the court. It shows that Zhu Xiong Ying, the imperial grandson, acts simply and directly because he has power.

"Next, the real big things are about to happen: preparing for abdication and ascension to the throne!" Stretching, Zhu Xiong Ying muttered to himself, "The affairs of the court are temporarily settled, and everything is going smoothly!"