Zhu Yunwen's sudden words left everyone somewhat bewildered once again.
However, upon closer reflection, it seems that Zhu Yunwen only admitted to having been to the construction site from beginning to end. He also said that he had indeed served as a supervisor and that he knew that eight workers had died on the site.
However, he never admitted that the eight people who died were killed because he forced the project to speed up the construction schedule.
He admitted to everything else, but not this one.
Then everyone realized that it wasn't that Zhu Yunwen lacked sharp wit and sophistry, but rather that he hadn't even begun.
Zhu Yuanzhang then spoke up:
"Yes, that's right. Throughout the whole process, it was Zhu Yunwen and the Minister of Revenue who explained and guided everyone. But Yunwen did not seem to admit that the eight people who died were killed because he threatened the supervisors to speed up the process. It even seems that Yunwen did not admit that he forced the supervisors to speed up the process."
Zhu Yuntong nodded and said, "Let me emphasize this again: I have been to the construction site, I have served as the supervisor, and I know that eight people died."
But I never admitted that I supervised the work to force them to speed up the process, nor did I admit that the eight people who died were forced to work under unbearable pressure because I wanted to meet the deadline.
Minister of Revenue Zhao Mian said, "What, are you trying to make excuses?"
Zhu Yunwen smiled and said, "Don't rush to confront me. Let's have a proper talk first. I have a question for you."
Zhao Mian, the Minister of Household Registration, waved his sleeve and said:
"Your Highness, please ask whatever you wish!"
Zhu Yunwen nodded and said, "Okay, first, how much did it cost to build the Prince's Mansion in total?"
Zhao Mian, the Minister of Revenue, said: "According to the scale requested by His Majesty, the total cost is 230,000 taels of silver."
Zhu Yunwen asked, "Has the Prince's Mansion been completed?"
Minister of Revenue Zhao Mian nodded: "It has indeed been completed!"
In fact, he himself had never gone to the construction site. The reason he didn't go to the construction site was because he knew that he had only given a mere tens of thousands of taels of silver to force Manager Zhang to force him to take a break.
A prince's mansion built with tens of thousands of taels of silver is bound to be built with shoddy materials, is bound to be unsafe, and will inevitably force workers to do the most work for the least amount of money.
All costs will be controlled exponentially, otherwise the task cannot be completed.
Since he had never been there, if quality problems arose in the Prince's Mansion later, he could shift the blame to Manager Zhang, saying that he was too busy to go to the site and that he would at most be guilty of negligence.
It has nothing to do with cutting corners or using substandard materials.
He had even planned that if any problems arose in the Prince's Mansion in the future, Zhang, the steward, would take the blame.
Of course, this is just a problem that might arise a long time from now.
Zhu Yuanzhang might have already died by then, and Zhu Yunwen might have been in control of the government. Even if problems arose in Zhu Yunwen's palace, Zhu Yunwen would have known about them, so he would never have blamed the Minister of Revenue.
Therefore, the Minister of Revenue believed that as long as the fact that he had given his subordinates a small amount of money, forcing them to cut corners and hire people at low wages was not exposed during Zhu Yuanzhang's lifetime, nothing would happen.
Even if it were exposed during Zhu Yuanzhang's reign as emperor, he could still find someone to take the blame.
It can be said that such a scheme is ruthless.
As for how he learned about the death at the construction site, it was something he had asked Manager Zhang about before.
Manager Zhang told him that eight people had died. He was actually somewhat disappointed, feeling that it was unreasonable that only eight people had died despite such exploitation of the elderly, children, and the sick and disabled.
Little did he know that Zhu Yunwen had stopped the incident after discovering it, otherwise, who knows how many people would have died.
In short, the Minister of Revenue meticulously planned all the useful information he had obtained.
Zhang, the steward, also lied to him, saying that the Prince's Mansion was built according to normal standards.
That's why the Minister of Revenue has the confidence he has today.
In his opinion, the Prince's Mansion was built according to Zhu Yuanzhang's requirements.
However, it only cost tens of thousands of taels of silver.
The palace built with tens of thousands of taels of silver was indeed built with shoddy workmanship and exploitation of laborers, but this was not something that was obvious and no one could see it.
As for the rest of the money, he embezzled it himself.
Seeing Zhao Mian's confidence, Zhu Yunwen simply smiled and nodded, saying:
"Alright, since that's the case, I don't want to make any further explanations for now. I just want to ask my grandfather and all the civil and military officials to come with me to take a look at my magnificent palace that has already been renovated."
Hearing this, Zhao Mian, the Minister of Revenue, was not afraid at all. He knew that his subordinate, Zhang, would not lie to him.
If Manager Zhang says it's fixed, then it must be fixed.
Although it cost very little money, it's not impossible to fix it by cutting corners and exploiting labor.
Zhu Yuanzhang didn't know what Zhu Yunwen wanted to do, but for some reason, he felt a strange trust in Zhu Yunwen at this moment.
He knew that Zhu Yunwen had begun to retaliate against this matter.
Since he has launched a counterattack, Zhu Yunwen is likely very confident in his ability to succeed.
So Zhu Yuanzhang nodded and said:
"Very well, then all officials, please accompany us to see your Wu King's Mansion. We are also very curious to see what it will be like once it is completed!"
Zhu Yunwen nodded, a strange smile on his face.
With the plan laid out to this point, he felt it was indeed time to consolidate it.
He must continue to hold this position as Minister of Revenue.
So, the civil and military officials accompanied Zhu Yuanzhang to a bustling main street outside the imperial city.
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