Upon becoming the Crown Prince, Zhu Yunwen showed no stage fright. Instead, he immediately established his authority in the court and asserted his status as the Crown Prince.
The expressions of the civil and military officials present varied, with most of the civil officials wearing complex smiles.
The situation is complicated because they really can't accept Zhu Yunwen becoming the crown prince, but they have to smile at it.
After Zhu Yunwen said a few words, the civil and military officials present had no choice but to kneel down again under pressure and shout "Your Majesty!"
As the saying goes, a new broom sweeps clean, and Zhu Yunwen, being the crown prince, naturally needed to establish his authority.
To establish authority, one must naturally do something concrete to intimidate the civil and military officials present.
Then he looked at Zhu Yuanzhang and said:
"Grandfather, since you have appointed me as the Crown Prince, I also bear certain responsibilities. Therefore, there are two matters that I would like to address in the court. Is that alright?"
Zhu Yuanzhang immediately nodded and said:
"Of course, do whatever you want to do. We're more than happy that you have such a sense of responsibility and attitude."
Zhu Yunwen nodded slightly, then looked at the officials below. His expression was somewhat gloomy, and he spoke in a low voice:
"First thing, Minister of Rites, please step forward."
Li Yuanming, the Minister of Rites who was called out, immediately became nervous and then slowly stepped forward.
He had just deliberately made things difficult for Zhu Yunwen, and now, as the Crown Prince, Zhu Yunwen was clearly preparing to target him first.
After Li Yuanming stepped forward, Zhu Yunwen snorted and said:
"As the Minister of Rites, you previously invited so-called literati and scholars to make things difficult for Your Highness in the Hundred Garden. Do you know your crime?"
Upon hearing this, Li Yuanming, the Minister of Rites, immediately knelt down and said:
"The Third Imperial Grandson..."
He paused when he said those three words, then quickly reorganized his thoughts and said:
"Your Highness, I have been wronged. I merely invited you to sit with the scholars and literati and engage in some refined pursuits. How could this be considered an attempt to make things difficult for Your Highness? This is truly a fabricated charge."
Zhu Yunwen snorted and said with a cold laugh:
"Does Your Highness intend for me to invite those so-called literati and scholars over for a face-to-face confrontation? Such pretentious affectation."
As promised, I arrived and recited poems with other talented scholars of my age. Although my poems were not particularly good, they were certainly not bad among those scholars.
But when Minister Li summoned me to a group of so-called literati and scholars, he began to criticize me from a scholarly perspective, showing me great power.
Your Highness truly never imagined that Minister Li would have such audacity, to the point that he believed he could teach a member of the royal family a lesson simply by finding a few scholars and literati.
Li Yuanming never expected that Zhu Yunwen would come to settle this score with him today.
In fact, Zhu Yunwen did not have such an intention at first. After all, Li Yuanming did act somewhat presumptuously and excessively in this matter.
No matter what kind of entity it is, it has absolutely no right to lecture the royal family.
Li Yuanming invited Zhu Yuntong over under the pretext of being cultured and exchanging ideas with literary talents. Zhu Yuntong cooperated and composed a poem on the spot, but Li Yuanming still referred him to the older generation and found fault with him in various ways.
If this were made public, Li Yuanming would indeed be guilty of treason.
This point was precisely what Zhu Yunwen, who had just become the Crown Prince, used to make an example of someone to establish his authority.
This also serves as a warning to everyone present: if anyone tries to cause trouble for Zhu Yuntong or embarrass Zhu Yuntong in a similar way to Li Yuanming, Zhu Yuntong will not only deal with it casually, but will also expose it to the public and punish it in front of everyone.
Li Yuanming's face was very ugly. He wanted to continue to argue, but it seemed that he really couldn't explain himself.
An old man who had served as Minister of Rites for several years, along with a group of elderly scholars, bullied a fourteen or fifteen-year-old boy.
The key issue is that it hasn't even had any effect yet. Putting aside whether it's shameful or not, it's already untenable.
Moreover, the other party is a grandson of the emperor.
On a smaller scale, it was a group of so-called scholars who bullied the younger generation by taking advantage of their seniority; on a larger scale, it was a minister who led a few scholars to commit treason and disrespect the emperor's grandson.
The officials naturally understood this principle, but not one of them dared to stand up and say anything in Li Yuanming's defense.
Zhu Yunwen then continued speaking:
"As the Minister of Rites, you should be guided by etiquette and set an example for others in your conduct. But what about you? You rely on your age and seniority to make things difficult for younger generations, and you even collude with several other Confucian elders to bully them. Do you still have any shame?"
As a court official, serving in the Ministry of Rites, he was ignorant of etiquette, acted disrespectfully towards the imperial grandson, and showed no respect for manners. How can such behavior be considered proper etiquette? Where is even a trace of manners in his behavior?
"How dare you, who bully the younger generation, disregard your status, and lack respect for hierarchy, defy your superiors? Do you even have the face to sit in this high hall? Do you even deserve to be officials of the Ministry of Rites? If you can represent the etiquette and laws of my glorious Ming Dynasty, then wouldn't my Ming Dynasty have lost all virtue and all manners?"
Zhu Yunwen's words were extremely aggressive, precisely targeting the weakness of the Ministry of Rites officials in that they should set an example by adhering to the rules of etiquette. He combined this with the actions of Li Yuanming, the Minister of Rites, and launched a severe attack on him.
Minister of Rites Li Yuanming's face was extremely ugly. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but his throat seemed to be blocked, and he could not utter a single word.
He really wanted to argue, but he couldn't find any reason to do so.
My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
