Chapter 197 Xia Yuanji’s Helplessness
Xia Yuanji was very annoyed. No one had discussed this matter with him, and this matter must be related to some civil officials.

If they dare to do this, Zhu Di will dare to kill people. Do they have to force Zhu Di to become the next Zhu Yuanzhang?

Thinking of this, Xia Yuanji felt that he needed to do something?
From last night till now, the Jinyiwei has been arresting people, but all of them have been sent to the Imperial Prison. The Ministry of Justice and the Censorate have no idea of ​​the specific situation now.

This won’t work either!
The Censorate and the Ministry of Justice need to play their roles. If the Ministry of Justice and the Censorate do nothing, some of the main officials of these two ministries will probably be in trouble.

In addition, he needed to ask Zhu Di to not expand the scale of arrests. Once the scale of arrests was expanded, it would be troublesome.

But we shouldn’t make it like the four major cases of Hongwu, in which thousands of people were killed.

Xia Yuanji thought of this, stood up, and headed straight towards the Qianqing Palace. There were some things that Xia Yuanji wanted to fight for, so that those civil officials could have a good outcome instead of many people being killed.

Zhu Di was not in the Imperial Study, but in another wing room reading memorials. Ji Gang had just come to report that some people had been identified, but they were all small fry. However, Zhu Di was not in a hurry, as the investigation had just begun.

Soon, a eunuch came in and said to Zhu Di: “Your Majesty, Minister Xia wants to see you!”

“Hmm!” Zhu Di hummed and said, “Let him in.”

Soon the eunuch went out, and after a while, Xia Yuanji was brought here and first paid his respects to Zhu Di.

“Please sit down. Is there anything I can help you with?” Zhu Di said to Xia Yuanji. Zhu Di was very nice to Xia Yuanji.

“Your Majesty, since last night, the Jinyiwei have been arresting people everywhere, and the people in the capital are in panic. I’m afraid this won’t work?” Xia Yuanji said to Zhu Di.

Zhu Di glanced at Xia Yuanji and said, “Then do you know who was behind the fire that burned down the Eastern Palace? More than 20 people were burned to death, all of whom were editors of the Ming Daily. In addition, those people were drugged before they were burned to death. Tell me, how much do you know about this matter?”

Xia Yuanji immediately stood up and said to Zhu Di anxiously: “I really don’t know anything.”

“Well, I believe you. Although you opposed my establishment of the Ming Daily, you would not agree if I asked you to instigate the killing of these editors. But do you know who it is? Or who do you suspect?” Zhu Di stared at Xia Yuanji and said.

Xia Yuanji cupped his hands again and said, “I don’t know about this. I was also very surprised when I heard the news last night.”

“Then sit down!” Zhu Di said lightly, leaning back in his chair, thinking about something.

“Your Majesty, this matter is indeed a bit horrifying, but, but, if too many people are involved, it may be unstable for the court. After all, there are not many people in the court who have such courage. Please don’t expand the interrogation.” Xia Yuanji stood there and bowed to Zhu Di.

Zhu Di didn’t say anything, just sat there.

Xia Yuanji thought for a moment, then continued, “Your Majesty, even if there are ministers involved in this matter, if it involves too many people, it will cause panic among the ministers.”

“Panic? Do you know that I have not had a good sleep since last night? I can’t sleep or eat well when I think that those people can reach out to the East Palace. What if they burn the main hall of the East Palace? What if they set fire to my Qianqing Palace? Huh? Xia Yuanji, they are so brave. Do you think I dare not kill anyone?” Zhu Di stared at Xia Yuanji and said angrily.

When Xia Yuanji heard what Zhu Di said, he immediately knelt down. This was a bit heartbreaking. Xia Yuanji felt a little regretful at this moment and thought he shouldn’t have said that.

“Plead for them? Let me tell you, even if I have to dig three feet into the ground, I will find them and torture them to death.” Zhu Di said to Xia Yuanji with a serious face.

“Yes, Your Majesty, I know my crime!” Xia Yuanji knelt there and bowed.

“Get up. This matter has nothing to do with you. You probably don’t know about it. However, this may not be the case for others. Don’t worry, I will investigate it thoroughly. If anyone dares to set fire to the East Palace, I will execute all nine generations of his clan.” Zhu Di said gritting his teeth.

Xia Yuanji thanked him and stood up, feeling very sad. Xia Yuanji also knew that those ministers had gone too far. They had forgotten that Zhu Di was the first person in history to kill ten clans. Had those ministers forgotten Zhu Di’s decisiveness in killing and thought that Zhu Di had become soft-hearted in these years as the emperor?

“Sit down. If you want to beg for mercy, just go back. You don’t need to talk to me about any big principles. I just know that I can’t sleep unless I get rid of these people.” Zhu Di said to Xia Yuanji.

Xia Yuanji immediately bowed and said, “I have nothing else to say. I hope Your Majesty will take care of your health. I will take my leave first!”

Zhu Di waved to Xia Yuanji, and Xia Yuanji left the room. He came and left quickly.

After Xia Yuanji returned to the office, he thought about it and decided to go to Jian Yi’s office. Jian Yi was also worried at the moment. What happened yesterday was something Jian Yi had never expected. However, if Jian Yi was asked to guess who did it, he could not guess it. It could be anyone, including himself.

At this time, a clerk came in and said to Jian Yi, “Sir, the Minister of Revenue wants to see you!”

“You’re welcome!” Jian Yi nodded. In fact, Jian Yi also wanted to find Xia Yuanji to discuss and see who was in charge of this matter. There must be a minister behind this matter, and he must be at the Shangshu level, otherwise, he would not be so courageous.

Soon, Xia Yuanji arrived at Jian Yi’s office. Xia Yuanji first saluted Jian Yi, and Jian Yi smiled and asked Xia Yuanji to sit down.

“Hey, I just went to his majesty and wanted to ask him not to kill people. However, I’m afraid I can’t stop him this time. His majesty is very angry about the fire in the Eastern Palace. He thinks that if someone set fire to the main hall of the Eastern Palace or the Qianqing Palace, it would be fatal. So they went a bit too far in this matter.” Xia Yuanji sat down and said with a sigh.

“Well, that’s for sure. This matter has touched your majesty’s bottom line. Your majesty cannot fail to investigate this matter thoroughly. It’s not just about killing the editor of the Ming Daily, but killing people in the East Palace. Your majesty cannot tolerate this.” Jian Yi nodded and said.

“Oh, so confused, these people are so confused!” Xia Yuanji sighed after another quarrel.

“Do you know who those people are?” Jian Yi asked Xia Yuanji in a low voice.

Xia Yuanji shook his head, indicating that he didn’t know.

“How stupid!” Jian Yi could only sigh.

“Now I just hope that Your Majesty will not expand the matter, or in other words, find out who it is as soon as possible. Otherwise, if people are involved like this, I don’t know how many people will be in trouble.” Xia Yuanji said as he looked at Jian Yi, hoping that the truth would be revealed as soon as possible.

“Well, how can it be so easy? Besides, His Majesty seems to have some opinions about us civil officials, thinking that we are not satisfied. So, this time, His Majesty will make things bigger, and I don’t know how many people will be in trouble.” Jian Yi said with a sigh, stroking his beard.

“Otherwise, let’s go and ask and see who it could be. Send it to His Majesty as soon as possible. We can’t investigate anymore. We arrested more than 60 people last night, and I heard that many more were arrested during the day today. If they continue like this, I don’t know how many innocent people will be implicated.” Xia Yuanji looked at Jian Yi and said.

Jian Yi said with a wry smile: “How can we investigate? What can we find out? In this matter, we just hope that the Censorate and the Ministry of Justice can hold on? But now those children of military merit have been making trouble in the Censorate and the Ministry of Justice, and Your Majesty has no intention of severely punishing them. It is obvious what Your Majesty means.” Jian Yi shook his head and said that Zhu Di just wanted to expand the matter and use this incident to kill some civil officials.

On Xu Qin’s side, Xu Qin was still directing the loading of the ship. There were not many goods left. This time, the Trade Bureau hired a lot of laborers to move the goods and paid them a lot of wages.

Xu Qin stood under a big tree beside the dock and watched the goods being loaded onto the ship. Xu Qin just came to take a look.

As he was watching, a nobleman came over, saluted and said to Xu Qin: “Lord Haozhou, I, I have something to ask of you.”

“Well, you say!” Xu Qin nodded and said, they are all children of military honors, Xu Qin will definitely do it if he can help.

“It’s like this. Last night, the Jinyiwei arrested someone. My uncle was working in the Eastern Palace, and he was arrested for no apparent reason. My mother was very worried at home and wanted to know what happened.

Although I know it is related to the burning of the Eastern Palace, my uncle would definitely not dare to do it!” The young man said to Xu Qin.

Xu Qin looked at him and thought about it carefully. This man was called Ye Min. His father was a hereditary thousand-householder. However, Ye Min was not the eldest son, so even if the title was to be inherited, it would not be his turn.

“Well, Your Majesty will definitely conduct a thorough investigation of all the officials in the Eastern Palace. If they are not involved, then nothing will happen. You can go back and talk to your mother about it. If there is anything, we can talk about it then. Unless they are the mastermind or a participant, otherwise, it is estimated that there will be no big problem.” Xu Qin said to Ye Min.

“Thank you, Lord Haozhou. It’s just that my mother and my aunt are extremely worried at home. Otherwise, I wouldn’t come here to nag you, Lord Haozhou. After all, we have just started arresting people, and no one knows the specific situation. It really embarrasses you to come here to find you, Lord Haozhou, at this time.” Ye Min bowed to Xu Qin and said.

“Tell them that unless they are involved, it will be useless to look for me if they are involved.” Xu Qin said to Ye Min.

Ye Min immediately nodded, saluted to Xu Qin, and stepped back.

But before long, some people came to see Xu Qin again. They were all relatives who were arrested. Xu Qin was helpless. Now those military heroes also wanted to marry the girls from the families of civil officials and form alliances with each other. Xu Qin felt very bad about this.

(End of this chapter)