Zhu Yunying didn't seem to have much of a psychological barrier to the possibility of further eliminating some nobles. Even if people criticized him for killing meritorious officials, Zhu Yunying would not hesitate. Ultimately, there are certain bottom lines that cannot be crossed; he was definitely not someone who could do whatever he wanted just because of his merits or the merits of his ancestors.
Looking at Zhu Yunying's calm expression, Old Zhu said with a smile, "You've done a good job of maintaining your composure these days. Who says that even if you have some unpleasant things to worry about, you can still put on a good show and make it impossible for others to see your true feelings or emotions?"
Zhu Yunying was clearly displeased with such comments. "Grandfather, in the past you all said that I was shrewd and never showed my emotions. Back then I was just a child. So many years have passed, can't I have improved a little more?"
Old Zhu smiled and shook his head, saying, "You know what I mean. In your younger years, you were smarter and more shrewd than most kids, but you couldn't stay calm when faced with important matters. Now it's different. Sometimes we can't quite figure out what you're thinking."
Zhu Yunying responded excitedly to Old Zhu's assessment, "Then we really have improved. Even Grandfather can't figure out what we're thinking now, let alone others. But now, we're the ones observing people and figuring out their thoughts and shrewdness."
Recognizing talent was one of Zhu Yunying's tasks, and it was definitely one of the emperor's main duties.
Old Zhu smiled and nodded, saying to Zhu Yunying, "You should put more effort into understanding people's hearts. You are not as good as your father in this respect, let alone as good as us. If you want to be a good emperor, you can't just think about doing things; you should also pay attention to matters in the court."
Zhu Yunying did not take Old Zhu's reminder lightly; indeed, he needed to be careful about this matter. For an emperor to spend all his time pondering people's hearts and engaging in factional struggles was certainly not a good thing, and was indeed undesirable.
But it would be somewhat unreasonable for an emperor to not think about these things at all.
Zhu Yunying doesn't need to worry about these things at this stage, largely because Old Zhu is in charge, and this great Buddha can suppress all evil spirits.
However, Joo Yun-young obviously couldn't rely on his father's support forever. Sooner or later, he would have to face many things on his own, and he did need to consider many things in advance. This was something he had to go through.
An emperor needs to be versatile; this truly shows that having many skills is never a burden. However, some skills are essential, while others are merely decorative. And the ability to judge character is arguably one of the most crucial skills for an emperor.
Old Zhu also became serious, looking at Zhu Yunying and asking, "Someone is bound to plead for leniency this time. What do you plan to do about it?"
Zhu Yunying spoke calmly and coldly, "What good can be done about this? It's naturally a matter of the imperial laws. Those nobles disregard the laws of the court, and we, as the emperor, cannot do the same. They don't care about the laws of the court, so we'll force them to reconsider. The laws are not something that nobles can disregard!"
Old Zhu was even happier and said to Zhu Yunying, "Then you'd better think it over, this time we're going to kill someone. If it were before, we would have helped you be the bad guy, we would have done these things, we didn't want you to get your hands dirty. This time we won't help you, you're not a child anymore."
Zhu Yunying stood up, patted Old Zhu's shoulder, and said, "Even if Grandfather wanted to help us, we wouldn't agree. Grandfather has already abdicated, so just help us teach the Crown Prince well, and we'll deal with the military officers ourselves. It's a good opportunity for us to kill the military officers and establish our authority."
Old Zhu knew that Zhu Yunying was joking. Zhu Yunying did not need to establish his authority by killing military officers, and many people were aware of this.
Old Zhu smiled and squinted as he enjoyed Zhu Yunying's massage. Although the technique was probably just average, Old Zhu felt comfortable. This was definitely the best massage technique.
“Grandfather, these things cannot be accomplished by a mere military officer.” Zhu Yunying said to his father, “We definitely need the Embroidered Uniform Guard and the Eastern Depot to investigate further. We need to keep it a secret from the Five Military Commands for now.”
Old Zhu squinted and said with a smile, "Yes, that's the right thought. We know the Five Military Commands are fairly reliable, but many of the nobles are also of the same ilk, so we should be wary of them to prevent them from colluding and protecting each other."
Zhu Yunying shared the same thought and continued, "We definitely need to gather more intelligence so we can better deal with people later. However, I reckon that some border generals are involved, and I also suspect that some local officials are involved."
Old Zhu snorted and said, "This kind of case couldn't have been done by one person alone; it must have involved a whole bunch of people. The nobles led the way, the border generals followed, and the local officials colluded with them. If you ask me, you should have someone investigate whether there are any merchants or local powerful families involved. You should investigate all of them; I reckon they're all corrupt."
Zhu Yunying thought for a moment and said, "Our idea is to let Lian Zining handle it. His status is suitable, and he's not afraid of offending anyone. Besides, we should let Xu Huizu return to the capital in advance. We definitely can't let our eldest uncle do this."
Old Zhu squinted and said, "That makes sense. Although the eldest son of the Chang family wouldn't dare to act recklessly, he might be considering his family background. Sending the eldest son of the Xu family would mean he'd offend some people and help Yin'er with some things."
Zhu Yunying continued, "Among the imperial clan, we plan to send Zhu Yunwen. He's better; that boy's been too bookish, his mind is full of Confucian ideas, and he'll be quite rigid in his work. That's a good thing, though, because he'll definitely follow the law."
Old Zhu raised his eyes and looked at Zhu Yunying with disdain, "Prince Xu is still your father's flesh and blood, how can you speak to him like that?"
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