Zhu Yuanzhang did not attend court for three days, remaining in bed the entire time, unable to accept this fact.
As for the cabinet, Yang Rong, Yang Pu, and Yang Shiqi also had red eyes from crying.
They weren't much older than Zhu Yunwen at this time; the oldest, Yang Shiqi, was only about ten years older than Zhu Yunwen.
Although they were ruler and subject in their daily interactions, they were more like friends, or even brothers.
Zhu Yunwen had shown them great favor, promoted them, and entrusted them with important responsibilities, enabling them to rise rapidly from ordinary people to the cabinet and become the current iron triangle of the cabinet.
However, Zhu Yunwen died, which was unacceptable and infuriating to these three men who were decisive in handling state affairs.
They didn't know who this person was who wanted to assassinate the Crown Prince of the Ming Dynasty.
Based on the information gleaned from the guards and commoners, it is highly likely that the assassins were sent by the king and prince of Chechi Kingdom.
But ultimately there was no evidence. After all, all the assassins were dead, and even if they weren't, the high-ranking officials of Chechi Kingdom were unwilling to admit it, so there was nothing that could be done.
Therefore, there is no evidence.
If you make wild claims about such important matters without evidence, it will obviously not convince people.
Despite this, Yang Shiqi still angrily spoke up:
"Give the order to investigate thoroughly. Pass down the order to collect concrete evidence. Once the evidence is sufficient, the Ming Dynasty and the Chechi Kingdom will fight to the death."
It was clear that Yang Shiqi was truly enraged. Just then, Duke Lan Yu of Liang, clad in armor and exuding a murderous aura, entered the cabinet and addressed the three Yangs:
"What's the point of investigating? I ask the three of you to quickly draft a plan and submit it to His Majesty. I, Lan Yu, will personally lead an army of 100,000 men. We will cross mountains and rivers and make the entire nation of Chechi pay the price for my nephew's death."
Yang Rong and Yang Pu were still young at the time, and almost agreed to the marriage based on their passion.
Yang Shiqi was more composed; he shook his head and said:
"If that's the case, my Great Ming Dynasty will likely find it difficult to win over the people and may become an enemy of all the countries in the world. Therefore, we must find a pretext to launch a military campaign."
Moreover, it's still uncertain whether the Kingdom of Chechi sent someone to kill my grandson. This matter must be thoroughly investigated; we will not wrong an innocent person, nor will we let a guilty person go unpunished.
Upon hearing this, Lan Yu sighed deeply. He knew that launching an attack on a country required a legitimate reason.
If evidence is found to prove that Chechi Kingdom sent people to assassinate Zhu Yunwen, then this is a national vendetta, and it is entirely justifiable to send soldiers to attack Chechi Kingdom.
The scary thing is that we can't find any evidence. The assassins from Chechi Kingdom are all dead, so there's no way to verify their identities. We can't just believe the speculations of the common people, can we?
Then Yang Shiqi spoke again:
"This matter is probably related to the Kingdom of Chechi. I plan to send an envoy to the Kingdom of Chechi to communicate with them and learn some information from them first."
If possible, try to obtain evidence from Chechi Kingdom itself. Or, if you can find a way to force them to confess, that would save you a lot of trouble.
Hearing Yang Shiqi say this, everyone decided to try it out using this method first.
At the same time, Yang Shiqi immediately issued an order:
"The Emperor is extremely worried and unable to make decisions on many matters. We must step up. There is no time for grief or heartache; we must prioritize the overall situation."
During this period, we must not only expedite the search for the Crown Prince's body, but also ensure the normal operation of the Ming Dynasty and prevent the people of the Ming Dynasty from panicking.
Hearing this, he nodded again. This was not an exaggeration; after all, the Ming Dynasty had changed so much since Zhu Yunwen came to power.
It can be said that it completely overturned people's previous lives and perceptions.
Like previous dynasties, the Ming Dynasty was a period of ordinary life for its people, who often lived simple, or even poor, lives.
The nation's strength, economy, and various goods did not see much improvement, but everything changed after Zhu Yunwen came into being.
All sorts of strange and wonderful things emerged one after another, allowing the people to truly enjoy many good things.
The economy is also taking off rapidly!
This has led the people to regard Zhu Yunwen as a god, as a pillar of stability for the Ming Dynasty.
But now that such a person is gone, it is indeed easy for the people of the Ming Dynasty to fall into panic.
It could also plunge the Ming Dynasty into chaos, and such situations must be avoided, otherwise the consequences would be unimaginable.
With the cooperation of Yang Rong, Yang Pu, and Yang Shiqi, the imperial court was able to resume normal operations.
Although many officials were deeply saddened, they were burdened with responsibilities and duties, and could not afford to collapse.
In addition, the imperial court kept issuing announcements, stating that it was not yet certain whether the Crown Prince was alive or dead, since no body had been found.
At the same time, it was also a promise to the people that they would do their utmost to find Zhu Yunwen, whether he was alive or dead.
These announcements, however, failed to appease the public.
The vast majority of people were still immersed in grief, and the news quickly spread to neighboring countries.
When the kings, emperors, princes, and princesses of some neighboring countries learned of the news, they were all shocked.
Some are happy, some are sad.
The happy ones were naturally Chechi Kingdom and a few other countries that were not very friendly to the Ming Dynasty.
The worrying ones are those countries that have established cooperation with the Ming Dynasty.
For example, the Kingdom of Women, the Kingdom of Zhu Zi, the Kingdom of Bao Xiang, and so on.
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