In the 21st year of Hongwu, Xie Jin ranked tenth in the third class of the Wuchen imperial examination. He passed the imperial examination together with his brother Xie Lun and his brother-in-law Huang Jinhua. He was awarded the title of Shujishi and studied as a secretary. In the same year, he was promoted to Hanlin scholar.

During this period, he submitted a ten-thousand-word letter, advocating that laws should be simplified and good governance should be rewarded.

Shortly thereafter, he again presented "Ten Strategies for Peace" to offer his advice.

However, Xie Jin was young and hot-tempered, lacking the tact of an official, and was unscrupulous. He was framed by his colleagues early on, which soon displeased Zhu Yuanzhang.

He was demoted to the position of Censor of Jiangxi Province.

Duke of Hanguo Li Shanchang was executed by Zhu Yuanzhang for his crimes. Xie Jin submitted a memorial on behalf of Langzhong Wang Guoyong to defend Li Shanchang. He also submitted a memorial on behalf of the censor Xia Changwen to "On Yuan Tai's Treachery".

Li Chen accused Yuan Tai of defying the imperial order, taking bribes and perverting the law, and framing loyal officials. Yuan Tai was punished and bore a grudge.

Zhu Yuanzhang believed that Xie Jin still lacked self-cultivation and must cultivate his character and reflect on his mistakes behind closed doors, otherwise he would become the target of attack by other ministers.

In the 24th year of Hongwu, Zhu Yuanzhang summoned Xie Jin's father to Beijing and told him directly: "You are a late bloomer. If you bring your son back, you will be able to make further progress. In the next ten years, it will not be too late for you to make great use of him."

Although Xie Jin left, his reputation in the capital was established.

The reason why Lu mentioned Xie Jin was because Xie Jin had profound knowledge, covering many aspects, especially in the field of law, and had been rewarded by His Majesty.

Now that I see that my son has encountered difficulties in revising the law, I mentioned this person.

Zhu Yunwen had also heard of Xie Jin's reputation. Hearing this, he said, "It's just that mother, I'm not familiar with this person. If I rashly invite him, wouldn't it be too abrupt?"

Mrs. Lu smiled and said, "Wen'er is being too stubborn. No matter what, you are the grandson of the current emperor and the future prince. You are just a scholar and have no official position. It is not time for you to go and ask for it in person."

"Most of these writers are familiar with each other. Just ask Huang Zicheng to write a letter and you will know the result."

"However, Xie Jin is young and frivolous, and has many rivals in the court. If you really invite him, he will be easily targeted by the memorial. You must think about these things carefully."

"You must explain this clearly to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince. Otherwise, as the recommender, you may be implicated and reprimanded by His Majesty."

"Last year, your Majesty punished Xie Jin by sending him back to his hometown. When you go to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince to recommend you, you should also explain this matter. Don't let anything go wrong and cause His Royal Highness the Crown Prince to misunderstand and ruin the relationship between the brothers."

Women's minds have always been much more delicate than men's, let alone someone as shrewd as Lu.

Each sentence was clearly organized, not only grasping the key points but also making Zhu Yunwen avoid any involvement in the matter. More importantly, Lu caught on to the Crown Prince's desire to seek talented people.

In the eyes of many officials, Xie Jin was not a good person. Relying on his own talent, he criticized wantonly and left no room for others, making the court, where everyone was already insecure, even more dangerous.

This of course means we should work together to defeat him.

There was a gleam in Lu's eyes. He proposed this idea, but no one knew what he was thinking.

After listening to this, Zhu Yunwen suddenly understood, and then he praised casually: "Mother, you are really clear about the affairs of the court."

"Luckily I have mother, otherwise I wouldn't know how to start."

The speaker may not mean it, but the listener may take it seriously.

Lu's smiling face suddenly became a little stiff.

The harem is not allowed to interfere in government affairs.

This was the iron rule set by Zhu Yuanzhang, but Empress Ma was an exception.

When Lu became the Crown Princess, she naturally regarded herself as the future Queen Ma.

Therefore, he paid much attention to the affairs both inside and outside the government, and through occasional meetings with his father, he also had a good understanding of political affairs.

Lu looked at Zhu Yunwen's innocent appearance, thought for a while, and said with a smile: "Mother, how can you understand what is going on in the court? However, Xie Jin is too famous and has a great reputation in the capital."

"My mother also heard about Li Jin's childhood story when writing couplets last year. It left a deep impression on her."

Zhu Yunwen thought for a moment and said, "Mother, you are talking about the couplet about bamboo and books, right? I have also heard about it. Xie Jin is indeed very smart."

This story became widely circulated in the 21st year of Hongwu, when Xie Jin passed the imperial examination and became a Jinshi.

Xie Jin's family was poor when he was young. On New Year's Day when he was seven years old, Xie Jin posted a couplet on the door: Thousands of bamboos outside the door, tens of thousands of books inside the house.

This couplet has neat parallelism and elegant writing style, which attracted many scholars.

The rich man next door was so angry when he saw that the poor man was more arrogant than him that he ordered people to cut down all the bamboos in order to embarrass Xie Jin.

Xie Jin certainly understood the rich man's intention, so he took out his pen and inkstone and added a word under each of the couplets, so that it became: Thousands of bamboos are short outside the door, and tens of thousands of books are long inside the house.

The rich man became even more annoyed and simply ordered his people to dig up the bamboo with its roots. He thought, let's see what you, a little kid, can do this time.

The clever Xie Jin didn't even think about it and added two more words under the Spring Festival couplet.

When these two words were added, the rich man was dumbfounded. He could not think of any other ideas and could only consider himself unlucky.

The two characters Xie Jin added are "nothing" and "existence", and the couplet becomes: Thousands of bamboos outside the door are short and nothing, while tens of thousands of books inside the house exist forever.

It was also for this reason that the name of the seven-year-old Jie Jin, who had supernatural powers, began to spread widely.

After he passed the imperial examination and became a Jinshi, this matter became the focus of discussion in teahouses and restaurants in the capital.

Mrs. Lu knew her child's temperament very well. If she told him any profound truths or told him not to spread the news, it would easily have the opposite effect.

So he used this incident to divert Zhu Yunwen's attention.

In this way, even if Zhu Yunwen was asked, the attention would not be focused on himself.

"Okay, I'll find some time these days to ask my brother if it's feasible."

…

"How many memorials are there impeaching the Chamber of Commerce under Grandson? Bring them all here."

In the Huagai Palace, Zhu Yuanzhang said coldly.

During the morning court session today, he felt something was wrong.

It was a completely different atmosphere, although very subtle, but he had been emperor for twenty-five years, holding morning, noon and evening court sessions in this Fengtian Hall.

At least once, at most three times.

Zhu Yuanzhang, who had held court meetings tens of thousands of times, was already familiar with every detail.

But today's morning court was obviously a little different.

Sure enough, after the court meeting, a large number of memorials were presented.

These memorials did not come before the morning court, but after it. The meaning is very clear.

That is to avoid the eldest grandson.

These memorials were not submitted by ministers in the court, but came from all over the Ming Dynasty.

As for different places, they can agree that almost all memorials will be presented today.

That's the deal.

The contents were similar, all impeaching the Qunying Chamber of Commerce for competing with the people for profits, making unjust profits, violating laws and disciplines, hoarding goods, and engaging in speculation...

Almost all charges related to merchants were brought against them, and some crimes that Zhu Yuanzhang himself had forgotten were also dug out from the Ming Dynasty laws.

It can be said that he is extremely careful.

Following His Majesty's instructions, a large number of memorials were collected, and Liu He arranged for eunuchs to count them.

"How many memorials impeaching the Dasun Chamber of Commerce are there in total?" Zhu Yuanzhang asked coldly.

Liu He heard the tone and knew that His Majesty was already furious, so he quickly said, "Reporting to Your Majesty, there are a total of 867 copies."

Zhu Yuanzhang said sternly: "Good, good, good!"

"In our Ming Dynasty, there are a total of 1,427 counties and prefectures, and there are 867 memorials impeaching our eldest grandson. This is already more than half."

"Is this world still the world of our Ming Dynasty?"

"It seems that Dasun's Chamber of Commerce has touched the pockets of many people. They are starting to panic. They want to gather all their strength to fight against us."

"Then let us see how powerful you are!"

At the same time, in Kunning Palace, Zhu Ying also received bad news.

"Your Highness, the nobles we contacted earlier have suddenly started to go back on their word. Many of our Chamber of Commerce branches outside of Daming have been suppressed."

"Someone has spread the news that the Heroes Chamber of Commerce is controlled by Your Highness to all parts of the Western Regions, the desert, and the grasslands."

"Now there are rumors from the outside world that the Heroes Chamber of Commerce is a spy used by the Ming Dynasty to spy on the various ministries. Their business outside the region has been severely disrupted."

This was the first time Ye Yueqing reported with such an anxious look on her face.

Obviously, this incident happened so suddenly that there was no time to react.

Especially the previous plan of joining forces with various nobles to transport grain to Goryeo is now likely to fail.

When Zhu Ying heard this, a hint of cruelty flashed in his eyes, and he said in a very calm tone: "It seems that there is someone who doesn't want us to have an easy life."