The Imperial City includes the imperial palace and some of the government's offices.
The area outside the imperial city was where ordinary people lived.
Upon arriving at the street of Zhu Yunwen's Prince's residence, the officials were filled with anticipation.
They wanted to know how Zhu Yunwen would defend himself once he arrived outside the palace they had built.
Does this mean that things will be resolved if we change the location?
The Minister of Revenue and Zhu Yunwen, in particular, found Zhu Yunwen's expression somewhat comical at that moment.
After all, the facts are there, and even if you move the location, nothing will change.
However, despite their thoughts, once they arrived at the destination, the Minister of Revenue, Zhu Yunwen, and all the civil and military officials were stunned.
What came into view was a rather small royal mansion, arguably the smallest they had ever seen.
It could only be considered a relatively large mansion at best. Although the mansion was luxurious, it was far from meeting the requirements of a royal residence.
Upon witnessing this scene, both Zhao Mian, the Minister of Revenue, and Zhu Yunwen turned pale.
Zhu Yunwen even looked at Zhao Mian, the Minister of Revenue:
"Lord Zhao, have we come to the wrong place?"
Zhao Mian was also completely bewildered. It was his first time here, but he was sure he was in the right place.
At this moment, Zhang, the steward who was finishing up work in the Prince's residence, hurriedly came out to greet the Emperor, knelt on the ground, and shouted "Long live the Emperor!" Then, Zhao Mian, the Minister of Revenue, angrily summoned him and said:
"Steward Zhang, what's going on? Is this the Prince of Wu's residence?"
Zhang, the steward, glanced at Zhu Yunwen, and after they exchanged a look, he spoke to Zhao Mian:
"Your Excellency, this is indeed the Prince of Wu's residence!"
Zhao Mian said with a grim expression, "How is this possible? Isn't this the original mansion? Although it has been renovated and repaired, it hasn't been expanded at all!"
Zhang, the steward, smiled but remained silent. At this moment, Zhu Yunwen slowly stepped forward and said:
"Lord Zhao, is this the grand mansion you built for me at a cost of 230,000 taels of silver? Is this the high-standard mansion you built according to the Emperor's requirements?"
Zhu Yuanzhang stared at Zhao Mian, who was already panicking.
This was completely different from what he knew, and he didn't know how to answer for a moment.
He could only look at Steward Zhang and angrily said:
"Manager Zhang, didn't you tell me it was finished? What happened?"
With Zhu Yunwen backing him up, and knowing that Zhao Mian was definitely doomed at this moment, Zhang was not afraid at all and said:
"Your Excellency, do you want to ask me this question? Very well, I will answer you in front of His Majesty."
You've only given me less than 50,000 taels of silver in total, yet you want me to build a high-standard princely mansion. May I ask, how is it possible to build such a mansion?"
"You...you're talking nonsense, Zhang Shan! Have you got the guts to spout such nonsense here?"
Zhao Mian was caught off guard when Zhang, the steward, revealed how much silver he had given, causing him to panic.
However, Zhang Shan, the head clerk, remained unfazed. He calmly took out an account book from his person and respectfully handed it to Zhu Yuanzhang, saying:
"Your Majesty, this is the money allocated by Minister of Revenue Zhao Mian for the construction of the Prince's Mansion. I remember every single penny clearly. Please take a look."
Zhu Yuanzhang gradually realized the problem. He took the account book, glanced at it casually, and his face turned gloomy.
Minister of Revenue Zhao Mian was trembling with fear, and Zhu Yunwen remained silent.
He gradually realized that things were once again slipping out of his control.
It seems that everything was under Zhu Yunwen's control from the very beginning.
Although he really didn't want to admit it, he seemed to have no choice but to face the truth.
After reading it, Zhu Yuanzhang glared at the Minister of Revenue and then slammed the account book in his hand down on him.
The Minister of Revenue quickly knelt on the ground, picked up the account book, and looked at it. The more he looked, the paler his face became.
After a moment, he kowtowed heavily to the ground and said to Zhu Yuanzhang:
"I did indeed only pay 50,000 taels of silver, but I didn't say I wouldn't pay the rest. I didn't expect them to tell me that the Prince's mansion was finished..."
Upon hearing this, Zhu Yunwen sneered and said:
"Does the Minister really not know how to argue anymore? I remember that during the morning court session a while ago, you told the Emperor that you needed 200,000 taels of silver to build a palace for me."
Grandfather approved it back then, so how come now that the Prince's Mansion is finished, you're saying the money will be paid later? Since you haven't paid, how could you so confidently answer in the morning court that you were sure the Prince's Mansion was finished?
Do you think 50,000 taels of silver is enough to repair the Prince's mansion? Or do you mean that the additional 200,000 taels of silver will be needed after the mansion is repaired?
Zhu Yunwen's series of words left Zhao Mian speechless, and Zhao Mian was trembling all over.
He knew there was no chance to explain this matter anymore.
Because Zhu Yuanzhang was never a fool, he quickly kowtowed and said:
"Your Majesty, I deserve to die..."
Zhu Yunwen snorted and said, "Of course you deserve to die, but this isn't over yet. Let's make things clear before you die."
Zhu Yuanzhang turned his gaze to Zhu Yunwen, who continued:
"The Ministry of Revenue only allocated 50,000 taels of silver, yet it wants to force its officials to build a massive palace? Everyone should be able to figure out its intentions, right?"
Furthermore, the list that my second brother gave to my grandfather included a number of the elderly and children who had died! This shows that the people initially used to build the Prince's Mansion were mostly the elderly, children, and even the sick and disabled.
This clearly demonstrates that the Ministry of Revenue did not have enough money to pay its officials, so they had to hire the elderly, children, and disabled to do the work. And yet, with insufficient funds, they still needed to build such a massive palace.
Therefore, those below could only resort to extreme measures to force the workers to do more work than they were required to do.
In this situation, casualties were inevitable. So, ultimately, were those eight people who died coerced by me, or by your Ministry of Revenue?
Zhao Mian was speechless at this point; he knew that any explanation would be futile.
Zhu Yuanzhang clenched his fist and said:
"Well, you deceived your superiors and forced the workers. You were the one who killed eight workers, yet you shamelessly pinned the blame on Prince Zhu Yunwen. How dare you!"
Zhao Mian had already gone to great lengths, and his crotch was already soaked.
At this moment, he was so trembling that he couldn't even utter a word.
After roaring, Zhu Yuanzhang looked at Zhu Yunwen and said:
"Yun-hu, what exactly happened in the whole process?"
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