"How could this happen? Why did it cause such a commotion? Didn't the general say it was no big deal? When he left yesterday, he told us that he was going to see His Royal Highness Chang Sun."

"I haven't heard any rumors, how come it has become like this today?"

The military officer who had gone to Zhan Hui's residence with Lan Yu to cause trouble earlier whispered in panic to the people next to him.

His voice couldn't stop trembling.

The Duke of Liang's behavior scared him to death.

Duke Lan Yu of Liang is arguably the most sought-after general in the entire Ming Dynasty.

After the Battle of Buirhai, his reputation reached its peak and he became the most dazzling figure among the entire Huaixi military generals and nobles.

Even the previous Marquis was willing to obey his orders, not to mention that Lan Yu inherited the command of King Kaiping, who had many elite soldiers and generals.

Even in front of His Majesty, there is no fear at all.

This kind of person, just because he beat up the Minister of Personnel, he had to bear the punishment by carrying a thorn stick on his back.

Such a scene is simply hard to believe.

A calm military officer said, "Before the general went to see His Royal Highness Chang Sun yesterday, he was very confident and did not say that there was no problem."

"All of this probably happened at His Royal Highness Chang Sun's place. We don't need to panic for now. Perhaps this was arranged by His Royal Highness Chang Sun."

"Look carefully, the general's face is relatively calm, without too much anger or other emotions. Instead, it gives me the impression that he is confident."

After hearing the military attaché's analysis, the military attachés around him all looked over carefully.

Sure enough, there was no trace of decadence on General Lan Yu's face.

On the contrary, I felt very energetic, as if the brambles behind me were just that simple.

Although the civil officials did not know what Duke of Liang Lan Yu had done wrong, this did not affect their gloating.

The confrontation between civil and military officials was still very obvious in the court. Isn't it a happy thing to see the Duke of Liang, the head of the military officers, being humiliated?

However, there was a vacant seat in the front row of civil servants.

"Why didn't Minister Zhan come to the morning court today?"

"I guess His Majesty has other instructions."

"It should be so."

After a brief exchange, no one paid attention to Zhan Hui anymore.

After all, the Shangshu in the court has a very close relationship with His Majesty, and it is common for him to have private arrangements that lead to his inability to attend the morning court.

Among them, the one who liked to miss the morning court the most was the Minister of Works Shen Xi. A few days ago, he did not attend the morning court for several days in a row. It was obvious that he was doing something that His Majesty had instructed him to do.

Soon, the Fengtian Gate opened.

Lan Yu carried the bramble on his back and headed towards the Fengtian Palace as usual.

This behavior really attracted the attention of most people.

The officials and guards were all a little confused.

However, in such a situation during the early morning court session, especially with the Duke of Liang at the center, they had nothing to say and could only follow the usual procedures.

After the Fengtian Gate was opened, Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Ying were already in the Golden Palace.

After a series of procedures, Zhu Yuanzhang asked, "Duke Liang, what are you doing? You are carrying a whip on your back. Are you trying to make fun of me?"

Obviously, Zhu Yuanzhang had noticed Lan Yu the moment he entered the hall.

Before speaking, he looked at his eldest grandson deeply.

Wow, such an arrogant and domineering person was actually tamed by the eldest grandson?

You have to know that Lan Yu has a very bad temper. After taking a sip of wine, he even dares to talk back to himself.

Even Zhu Yuanzhang did not expect such behavior.

Upon hearing this, Lan Yu bowed and knelt on the ground, shouting, "I am guilty!"

Zhu Yuanzhang asked: "What law of our Ming Dynasty did the Duke of Liang violate that required such a large-scale military campaign?"

Lan Yu raised his head slightly, looked at His Royal Highness Chang Sun who was standing beside His Majesty, took a deep breath, and then said: "I drank too much yesterday, and in a moment of impulse, I committed a terrible crime."

"Because he was dissatisfied with the Minister of Personnel Zhan Shangshu on a daily basis, he got drunk and lost his temper."

"Then he rushed to Minister Zhan's residence, and a slight conflict occurred. In a fit of rage, he beat up Minister Zhan."

When Zhu Yuanzhang heard this, he was shocked and angry: "What! You actually beat up Minister Zhan? You know, he is a second-rank official of our Ming Dynasty. How dare you do this!"

As he spoke, Zhu Yuanzhang stood up from the dragon throne and was almost roaring at the end.

Zhu Ying glanced at him out of the corner of his eye.

I couldn't help but sigh in my heart, what a great old man! It's true that none of the founding emperors are simple. If Zhu Ying hadn't known about this performance long ago, and it was the old man who called him over and told him, I'm sure Zhu Ying would have known about it.

Otherwise, he would really think that the old man had just found out about this.

As soon as this conversation happened, the entire Fengtian Hall suddenly became as lively as a vegetable market.

Especially the civil servants were extremely excited.

The current Minister of Personnel, who was, in a sense, almost the head of the civil officials, was actually beaten by a military general.

Even if the person who hit someone was Duke Lan Yu of Liang, it is unacceptable.

It is extremely taboo for all scholars to have a warrior beating a scholar.

This is probably because, since the Song Dynasty, most of the current literati are weak scholars, unlike those in the past who were both civil and military.

Therefore, people are more and more wary of military generals, especially those with strong personal strength.

The black hat on their heads is their greatest reliance.

However, this reliance was broken by Lan Yu today. How can this be tolerated?

If Lan Yu can beat the Minister of Personnel today, tomorrow there will be other generals of the same level who will dare to beat him.

What should we do after this?

The literati suddenly felt a sense of sympathy, and 90% of the civil servants became extremely angry.

At this time, coughs broke out among the civil servants.

This is not because of any harm caused by wind infection.

It was just a tacit understanding among court officials that coughing meant to remind colleagues that I was going to make a memorial, so as to avoid the situation where too many people had to make memorials at the same time.

“Ahem!”

“Cough cough cough!”

"Cough, cough, cough!"

All of a sudden, none of the excited civil servants wanted to give in and they coughed violently, strongly expressing their desire to make a report.

Those who are not of high enough quality naturally dare not cough.

Those of similar rank, especially the assistant ministers of the six ministries, kept coughing at each other.

Our levels are similar, why should you go first?

Especially when it came to impeaching Lan Yu, Duke of Liang, naturally everyone wanted to be the first to do such a high-profile thing.

"You guys are really endless, aren't you? Just hold it back. You don't need to say anything more about today's matter. Let me ask you personally."

When Zhu Yuanzhang saw the scene below, he scolded loudly.

Seeing that His Majesty was angry, the ministers naturally stopped and dared not make any loud noises.

After calming down, Zhu Yuanzhang asked Lan Yu: "Duke Liang, we see you are holding the Great Ming Law in your left hand, and you are also asking for forgiveness. I think you must be aware of your sins."

"I just want to ask you what your plans are."

In fact, according to the Ming Dynasty law, this kind of behavior of beating others is only punished by a few dozen strokes of the cane. For an average person, twenty strokes of the cane would basically cost him half his life.

However, for people like Lan Yu, the Jinyiwei who took action would generally hold back to a great extent and just go through the motions.

The biggest influence among these was not the punishment in the Ming Dynasty laws, but the overall influence on military generals and civil officials.

Although Zhu Yuanzhang executed a few corrupt officials for fun, he did not kill innocent people indiscriminately. He always took the reputation into consideration. Even in the four major cases of Hongwu, at least there was absolutely no problem with the process.

Therefore, even though officials were extremely afraid of Zhu Yuanzhang, they still acted according to the law and did not kill people on a whim.

Zhu Yuanzhang's influence on literati is also something that needs to be taken into consideration.

Upon hearing this, Lan Yu kowtowed first, and then said respectfully: "I know my crime, and I am asking for forgiveness today to express my sincerity to Your Majesty and Minister Zhan."

After he finished speaking, he held up the land deed in his right hand and continued, "This is all the land under my name. I am willing to donate it all to the court. At the same time, I feel that I am not capable of serving as the Left Commander of the Central Military Commandery."

"I also ask Your Majesty to decree that I be dismissed from my position as Left Commander."

When these words were spoken, not only Zhu Yuanzhang, but all the civil and military officials in the court became mobilized.

“Are you crazy?”

This is the first subconscious reaction in everyone's mind.

This Duke of Liang must have gone crazy drinking, not only giving up his official position, but also handing over all the land under his name.

This kind of behavior is really crazy.

Many ministers couldn't help but wipe their ears, wondering if they didn't sleep well last night and whether they were hallucinating just now.

However, the sharp-eyed officials had already noticed that what Lan Yu was holding in his hand was the land deed.

This is true.

Now in the court, no matter whether they were civil officials or military officials, their minds were no longer on the beating of Minister Zhan, but were all focused on the land deed in Lan Yu's hand.

What is the purpose of being an official?

If someone were to ask those students who have studied hard for ten years, they would tell you with certainty that it was to become an official.

What is the purpose of being an official?

The idea of ​​realizing one's ambitions, serving the country and the people, and the nation, etc., is only something that the children of the top nobles can have.

For most students nowadays, becoming an official is for money and power.

Among them, the most important is the fields.

In the Ming Dynasty, an agricultural civilization, everyone's dependence on fertile land is innate.

Obtaining more land without having to pay taxes is a privilege only available to scholars.

Scholar, Juren, Jinshi.

Even if one cannot become an official, one still has great privileges.

Especially now that clans and relatives are the main focus, fields are particularly important.

No one could understand Lan Yu's behavior.

As of now, everyone's attention has been attracted by this thick stack of land deeds.

Just a casual glance would estimate that there are at least thousands of acres, or even more, of fertile land.

Even though Zhu Yuanzhang had known about his eldest grandson's arrangements for a long time, he was still somewhat shocked when the time came.

When his eldest grandson told him about this before, Zhu Yuanzhang thought it was unlikely.

Now that it was right before his eyes, Zhu Yuanzhang had no choice but to believe it.

The whole court soon fell silent.

Many officials had complicated expressions on their faces as they looked at the land deed in Lan Yu's hand and suddenly felt a little overwhelmed.

All this seemed beyond their understanding.

Zhu Ying stood quietly in the Golden Palace with a calm expression, as if everything happening below had nothing to do with him.

However, deep in his eyes, there was still a hint of admiration for Lan Yu.

It takes great courage to give up one's official position, or even hand over all one's land.

For someone like Lan Yu, who has already reached the pinnacle of military rank and has so many achievements, it is generally believed that even if the emperor wants to touch him, he needs a very sufficient reason.

For example, in the case of Hu Weiyong, he was charged with treason. Only such crimes could be suppressed for these founding heroes.

Civil officials like Hu Weiyong are slightly better, but military generals like Lan Yu have a very wide influence in the army, and they also have the legacy left by Zeng Changyuchun.

In addition to the great contributions he had made, even if he refused to acknowledge it, Zhu Ying actually had no other choice for the time being.

It is impossible to give him a severe punishment just because he hit the Minister of Personnel.

So, as of now, Zhu Ying has truly identified with Lan Yu and has accepted this uncle in his heart.

Moving forward is just a polite remark.

Lan Yu's behavior now truly reflects his loyalty.

It was just like what happened to Crown Prince Zhu Biao before.

Lan Yu, who was kneeling on the ground, actually spent most of the night thinking before making up his mind.

There is no doubt that Lan Yu is a smart man.

He knew very well that in the future, His Royal Highness Zhangsun would be the master of the Ming Dynasty, and His Majesty had already begun the transfer of power in many aspects.

He could feel all of this directly. His Majesty had no suspicion at all towards His Royal Highness the Grandson, and was even more fond of him than he was of the former Crown Prince.

In fact, money no longer means much to Lan Yu.

Lan Yu himself was a military man with a generous and magnanimous personality. It was because of this character that so many military generals were willing to follow him.

He was also very clear that His Royal Highness Changsun had very little trust in him.

There was nothing he could do about it. After all, it had only been a short time since he met His Royal Highness Chang Sun. He had to find a way to express his loyalty.

Only by following closely beside His Royal Highness Changsun, can he be the real Duke of Liang. As for the position of Left Commander of the Central Army, he owns thousands of acres of fertile land.

Nothing can compare to the recognition of His Royal Highness Chang Sun.

"Duke Liang, let me ask you, have you really thought it through?"

After a long time, Zhu Yuanzhang asked in a deep voice.

Lan Yu held up the land deed in his hand and said loudly, "Your Majesty, I have made up my mind."

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded and said, "If that's the case, let's grant your wish."

As soon as he finished speaking, Zhu Ying said, "Grandpa, I have some ideas."

"Oh, tell me about it." Zhu Yuanzhang said with some surprise.

Zhu Ying said: "Duke Liang did make some mistakes, but this punishment, even though it was proposed by Duke Liang himself, is a bit too severe."

"The land deed is a token of the Duke of Liang's sincerity, so I won't mention it. But it would be a pity for the Duke of Liang, who is now in his prime, to just resign from his post and return to the countryside."

"For the Ming Dynasty, it is also a loss of a great general."

"Now that the Public Security Department has been established, most of them are staffed by veteran soldiers in the army. These veteran soldiers have fought in wars all their lives, and most of them are unruly and difficult to control."

"Now that there is still no candidate for the governor of the General Security Department, my grandson is thinking of letting the Duke of Liang take the position."

"With the Duke of Liang here, I'm sure these veteran soldiers in the army will become much more honest and won't dare to act recklessly."