If someone said that others were smuggling, Zhu Cijiong might believe it.
But if we talk about his elder brother, the current crown prince smuggling...
Especially things like smuggling to the Jiannu.
He totally didn't believe it.
The Ming army is now in the process of recovering Liaodong, and smuggling to the Jiannu at this time is tantamount to aiding the enemy.
As the Crown Prince of the Ming Dynasty and the future emperor.
There's no reason for him to do that.
etc!
Zhu Cijiong suddenly felt that this might be a frame-up.
These civil officials in the Ming Dynasty were capable of anything in order to fight among themselves.
Not to mention framing the prince, even betraying the emperor is out of the question.
Think of this.
The expression on Zhu Cijiong's face gradually solidified, and then slowly turned cold.
Yuan Shu noticed Zhu Cijiong's change, and he cupped his hands and said, "Don't be impatient, Prince Ding. Let me finish what I want to say."
"Just say whatever you want to say. I have plenty of time to listen today." Zhu Cijiong replied with a sneer.
"The Denglai Navy did capture a lot of merchant ships and merchants before. Most of them had backgrounds in Nanjing, so we released them after checking them several times. Two months ago, we seized several merchant ships near Liaonan and captured merchants in the caravan."
"We wanted to torture them to extract a confession, but the leader of the caravan produced a handwritten order from His Royal Highness the Crown Prince."
Hearing the word "handwritten order", Zhu Cijiong's eyes widened: "What does the handwritten order say?"
"It only wrote two words: let go!" Yuan Shu replied.
"This...this is not my eldest brother's style." Zhu Cijiong frowned immediately.
Yuan Shu shook his head and said, "This is indeed not the style of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, but a handwritten order is an order, and the navy can only let them go."
"Why don't you ask His Majesty to release the person?" Zhu Cijiong asked back.
Yuan Shu smiled bitterly and said nothing.
How could I tell Chongzhen about this?
If it were discovered that the matter was related to the crown prince, it would be tantamount to forcing Chongzhen to take action against his own son.
He might get promoted because of this.
But if one day Chongzhen misses the prince, he will be in trouble.
If it is found out that this matter has nothing to do with the prince.
The real mastermind behind those businessmen would say that he framed the prince.
He was just a governor of Dengzhou and had little power.
How can we fight those people?
So this matter had to be kept secret.
As for how long to keep it secret, Yuan Shu had already made plans in advance.
Recovering Liaodong is a turning point.
His lifelong wish was the same as his father Yuan Keli's, which was to recover Liaodong.
As long as he recovered Liaodong, he would feel relieved.
At that time, he would put aside his personal gains and losses and report the matter to Chongzhen.
Seeing that Yuan Shu remained silent, Zhu Cijiong began to ask further questions.
Yuan Shu had to express his doubts.
After listening to Yuan Shu's analysis, Zhu Cijiong finally understood the difficulties of being a minister.
"To be honest, do you think this matter has anything to do with my eldest brother?" Zhu Cixiong asked after a moment's silence.
Yuan Shu pondered for a while and said, "There is one impossibility and two possibilities in this matter."
"Thank you, Lord Yuan, for clarifying my doubts!" Zhu Cijiong returned to his previous humble attitude.
"First of all, it's impossible. The prince can't be the person behind this!" Yuan Shu was the first to make a conclusion on this matter.
"Why?"
"Just like a criminal committing a crime, there must be a motive. The prince is neither short of money nor a rebel, so he has no motive to smuggle to the Jiannu!"
Zhu Cijiong blinked and said, "Master Yuan, please continue."
Yuan Shu hummed and continued, "Let me tell you two possibilities."
"The first possibility is that someone may have taken advantage of the power of others and deliberately imitated the Crown Prince's handwriting and forged the Crown Prince's seal."
"Wait," Zhu Cijiong interrupted Yuan Shu, "Forging these things will result in death!"
"Smuggling will also result in death!" Yuan Shu reminded, "It's death anyway, so why not take a chance?"
"That's not right either," Zhu Cijiong frowned and said, "It's not easy to imitate handwriting and forge a seal, unless you have access to these things frequently."
Yuan Shu raised his right index finger and said, "Your Highness is right in guessing. This is the second possibility. The person behind the scenes is very familiar to Your Highness, or he often goes in and out of the Nanjing Palace."
"This person may be a close confidant of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince. He did this behind the Crown Prince's back, and the Crown Prince was unaware of it."
"It could also be that some powerful officials and nobles are trying to use this method to throw dirty water on the prince and drag him down with him!"
"By the time the prince finds out, it's already too late. Even if I deny it, no one else will believe me..."
Yuan Shu's words were a bit complicated. Zhu Cijiong thought about them for a long time before he figured out the meaning behind them.
He tilted his head and asked, "So... no matter how we investigate, we will eventually find our way back to my eldest brother?"
"Your Highness is indeed smart!" Yuan Shu gave Zhu Cijiong a thumbs up. "Merchants dare to smuggle, which means they have a backer. This backer uses merchants to make profits for himself, and also achieves his own political goals through smuggling."
"This person... is extraordinary!"
"No," Zhu Cijiong took a deep breath, "I will write a letter immediately to inform my father about this matter."
"Your Highness, you must not do this!" Yuan Shu was so scared that he shook his head and waved his hands.
"Why?" Zhu Cijiong was puzzled. "I am the son of the emperor! You are afraid of being implicated, but I am not!"
"If Your Highness gets involved, others will think you are trying to compete for the throne." Yuan Shu said seriously.
"This..." Zhu Cijiong finally realized the complexity of the matter.
It's too complicated.
It was so complicated that he felt powerless.
After thinking for a long time, Zhu Cijiong raised his head and asked Yuan Shu: "Are we going to keep this a secret forever?"
Yuan Shu was also very worried.
Just when he was at a loss, an idea suddenly struck him.
He came close to Zhu Cijiong and asked, "Why did your highness come to Liaonan?"
"Didn't I just tell you, it's to investigate smuggling!"
"Your Highness, you must investigate. Otherwise, you will not be able to report back." Yuan Shu instructed.
"What if we find out who is holding my elder brother's handwritten order?" Zhu Cijiong asked with a frown.
"Detain the merchant ship and cargo, but release the people!" Yuan Shu said with a sly smile on his face.
"Release the person?" Zhu Cijiong thought he had misheard and asked again: "Are you sure?"
"Confirmed." Yuan Shu nodded. "Detaining them once or twice is not a big deal. But if they are detained more often, the value of the merchant ship and its cargo will skyrocket."
"Whoever plans to take these goods will be the one behind this!"
"Great, it's really great!" This time it was Zhu Cijiong's turn to give Yuan Shu a thumbs up. "As expected of a descendant of a famous minister, he is really capable."
"Your Highness, you are too kind. I have only done my humble part, which is not worth mentioning." Yuan Shu said somewhat embarrassedly.
Zhu Cijiong coughed twice and said, "Let's stop flattering each other. Tell the navy to unload the grain quickly. After unloading the grain, immediately go to the sea to investigate smuggling, arrest merchants, and seize merchant ships!"
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