In the imperial court, Zhu Yunwen revealed a faint smile. He hadn't expected that the matter of building the Prince's Mansion, which he hadn't even brought up himself, would be brought up by Zhu Yunwen.
After looking at the list in his hand, Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang said with a puzzled expression:
Why did so many people die?
Zhu Yunwen slowly began to speak:
“Grandpa, I saw this list at the Ministry of Revenue. The Ministry of Revenue said they dared not give it to you, but I felt that matters of death are of great importance and should not be taken lightly, so I brought it to you.”
Zhu Yuanzhang frowned and said:
"What exactly happened to these dead people? Stop keeping me in suspense."
Zhu Yunwen sighed and said, "It is said that when building the Wu Prince's Mansion for my third brother, he was subjected to some oppression. Moreover, I also heard that my third brother, Zhu Yunwen, once went to the construction site of his own mansion. He even allowed his men to beat up the Ministry of Revenue officials who were supervising the construction, apparently because he was dissatisfied with the slow progress of the project. Now the Ministry of Revenue has accelerated the completion of the construction of the mansion. But I feel that those who died should be given justice."
That's why people say Zhu Yunwen is extremely treacherous and cunning.
His words were vague yet clearly targeted, and after hearing them, everyone naturally made connections to certain things.
For example, Zhu Yunwen visited the construction site, complained that the project was progressing too slowly, and even allowed his subordinates to beat the supervisor.
Then, in such a short time, the Ministry of Revenue completed the construction of the Prince's Mansion.
Could this series of events be interpreted as Zhu Yunwen building his own palace too slowly, so he ordered his subordinates to attack the Ministry of Revenue supervisors and force them to speed up the construction? In the process of speeding up the construction, some workers were overwhelmed and died or were injured on the construction site.
This serious accusation, though not explicitly stated, was firmly and unequivocally placed upon Zhu Yunwen.
This immediately caused the civil officials in the court to whisper among themselves, all seemingly discussing the shameful nature of Zhu Yunwen's actions.
Zhu Yuanzhang was also misled by Zhu Yunwen's words and unconsciously began to think in that direction as well.
He frowned slightly and looked at Zhu Yunwen, saying:
"Yunyi, the construction of this palace will take time. Why are you rushing the construction schedule?"
Seeing that Zhu Yuanzhang had successfully fallen into Zhu Yunwen's trap, Zhu Yunwen was not in a hurry at all. Instead, he said:
"Grandpa, don't worry, I also have a few questions about this matter."
Zhu Yuanzhang nodded and said, "Alright, go ahead and speak."
Zhu Yunwen looked at Zhu Yunwen and said:
"From what I'm saying, Second Brother, I went to urge the construction of this Prince's Mansion to speed things up. I even called the official from the Ministry of Revenue who was sent to supervise the construction site, right?"
Zhu Yunwen sneered:
Isn't that so?
At this moment, in order to prevent Zhu Yunwen from making a defense, Zhao Mian, the Minister of Revenue, also stepped forward and said: "Your Majesty, I was not clear about this matter at first. I only learned from my subordinates that His Highness the Third Prince had led people to the construction site and beat up our Ministry of Revenue's supervisor."
And it was only yesterday, after the Prince's mansion was completed, that I learned that eight people had died during the construction. It's hard not to connect this to His Highness the Third Prince.
Your Majesty, I truly do not understand. The Third Prince is living comfortably in the palace, and the Prince's residence will eventually be repaired. Why can't you wait? Why are you in such a hurry to repair the Prince's residence?
It's truly regrettable that something like this has happened.
Zhao Mian, the Minister of Revenue, spoke with great finesse. He first reminded everyone that Zhu Yunwen had indeed been eager to leave the palace and live in his own residence outside.
This leads people to reasonably believe that Zhu Yunwen was eager to leave the palace, so he would definitely urge the construction of the Prince's Mansion.
So, it's even more plausible that his actions of pressuring the workers to meet deadlines, leading to the oppression of the laborers and ultimately resulting in death, resulted in his assault.
So far, the officials and Zhu Yuanzhang have all considered what they have heard to be very reasonable.
They all believed that Zhu Yunwen might indeed have done such a thing.
Seemingly to be on the safe side, Zhao Mian, the Minister of Revenue, then said to Zhu Yunwen:
"The deed is done. If Your Highness wants to make excuses, then I have nothing to say. After all, in your eyes, repairing the palace as soon as possible is probably the most important thing."
Upon hearing Zhao Mian's words, Zhu Yunwen couldn't help but nod in admiration. It has to be said that the back-and-forth between Zhao Mian and Zhu Yunwen almost confirmed the charges against Zhu Yunwen for his misconduct, beating the supervisors, and forcing the workers to work until they died from the unbearable burden.
Now he understood why they were so eager to bring this up.
So you had already thought of all the excuses.
However, Zhu Yunwen remained calm in the face of this situation, and simply smiled and said:
“I admit that I did go to the construction site before, and I did have my subordinates beat up the foreman at the construction site. I also know that eight people died on the construction site because of labor, and I admit to all of this.”
Upon hearing Zhu Yunwen's words, both the Minister of Revenue and Zhu Yunwen smiled.
They all clearly believed that this distortion of the facts and the use of half-truths had successfully induced Zhu Yunwen to confess to his crimes.
Zhu Yuanzhang above frowned. If what Zhu Yunwen said was true, and Zhu Yunwen himself admitted it, then this matter would be difficult to handle.
After all, as a grandson of the emperor, he whipped the supervising officials to force the workers to speed up the work in order to speed up the construction of his palace, which resulted in casualties.
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