My uncle is Zhu Di

Chapter 212 Zheng Ci Complains to the Emperor

Zheng Ci was very angry. He had been an official for so many years and had never been beaten. Now, he was beaten by a group of young boys. After all, he was the Shangshu! He couldn't swallow this anger.

Zheng Ci had thought it over and decided to have a life-and-death fight with Xu Qin this time. He would go to file a complaint with the emperor later. Either the emperor would deal with Xu Qin, or he would die in the Qianqing Palace. He could not bear such an injustice. It was too shameful!

"I will go to His Majesty to file a complaint. I don't believe it. There is no place for justice in this world. It is you ruffians who have the final say. It is you warriors who have the final say." Zheng Ci was very angry. He shook off Xia Yuanji's hand and said excitedly.

"Brother Yanjia, don't get angry first!" Xia Yuanji said anxiously, knowing that even if the matter was brought to Zhu Di, it would be difficult for Zheng Ci to please him. Who was Xu Qin? Zhu Di's most trusted son of military merit, and also Zhu Di's money bag. How could Zhu Di deal with Xu Qin?

Besides, the Ministry of Justice is not without responsibility. This incident happened for so many days, but there was no movement from the Ministry of Justice. Moreover, officials from the Ministry of Justice were also arrested. Not only did Zheng Ci not deal with it, he also neglected Xu Qin.

Even if Xu Qin is to be punished, it will not be a serious punishment, but Zheng Ci will be in trouble.

"Don't try to persuade me. I don't believe it. There is no place for reason in this world." Zheng Ci said very excitedly. He felt greatly insulted.

Xu Qin sneered at Zheng Ci and said, "Go! I tell you, I will only give you three days. In three days, I want to know who is the mastermind. Also, more than twenty of our brothers have died. If there are no more than twenty officials to pay for our lives, the officials of the Ministry of Justice, dreaming of having a good ending!"

After Xu Qin finished speaking, he looked at the officials with a sneer. Xu Qin didn't want to fight in the first place, but he hadn't caused trouble or fought for a long time. Beating ordinary people would have no effect, so beating the Shangshu would be a good idea.

Originally, Xu Qin had no intention of beating Zheng Ci today, but Zheng Ci was so blind that he actually looked down on him. If not him, who would be beaten?

Xu Qin was planning to beat Chen Ying today, but Chen Ying knew the situation very well and did not give him a chance, so Xu Qin said that he would give him one day to find out the truth. However, it would be difficult for Chen Ying to find out the truth in one day, and if he did not give him an explanation by then, then Xu Qin would beat him.

"Hmph!" After Zheng Ci finished speaking, he walked out the door. All the young men of honor who had followed Xu Qin blocked Zheng Ci's way.

"Let him go. What are you afraid of? Come on, let's wait outside and sit under the shade of a tree. Let them continue with their investigation. If they can't find out the truth, we must not let them go." Xu Qin said with a smile and waved his hand.

I was afraid that he would complain. Even if I beat him or punished him however I wanted, he would not be killed or exiled. At most he would just stay in the imperial prison for a few days.

Zhu Di, who was in the Qianqing Palace, soon received news that Xu Qin had beaten the officials of the Ministry of Justice.

Zhu Di looked at the official who came to report with great difficulty in understanding, and so did Zhu Gaochi. Zhu Di originally thought that it was Chen Ying who was unlucky this time, so why did he end up going to the Ministry of Justice?
Zhu Di looked gloomy, stared at the official who came to report and asked, "What's going on?"

The official who came to report also told everything in detail, but he did not say that Zheng Ci despised Xu Qin or even that he was perfunctory in his treatment of Xu Qin.

After listening to this, Zhu Di frowned, then turned to look at Zhu Gaochi next to him.

Zhu Gaochi immediately stepped forward, bowed to Zhu Di and said, "I will go and take a look right away!"

"Well, let's find out the situation and send the imperial physician over. Those guys fought without restraint." Zhu Di sighed. He couldn't understand why Xu Qin would take action in the Ministry of Justice.
Moreover, if he had beaten so many officials from the Ministry of Justice, he would have to arrest Xu Qin. But if he arrested Xu Qin at this time? Then, should he still use the sand table? What if Xu Qin was angry about his arrest and stopped helping him make money in the future? What if he stopped giving him advice?
If this kid doesn't help me, I'll be in trouble. But I can't not give an explanation after beating up an official from the Ministry of Justice.

Just as Zhu Gaochi was about to leave, he saw a eunuch come in and said, "Your Majesty, Zheng Ci, the Minister of Justice, and Xia Yuanji, the Minister of Revenue, want to see you. In addition, Zheng Ci wants to file a complaint with the emperor."

"Complain to the Emperor? Zheng Ci was also beaten?" Zhu Di asked the eunuch in surprise.

The eunuch cupped his hands and said, "Your Majesty, judging from the marks on Minister Zheng Ci's body, he was probably beaten."

"Oh, this bastard. Boss, go call that bastard over and talk to him clearly. Ask him to come here and apologize to Zheng Ci." Zhu Di said anxiously. If Xu Qin did not apologize to Zheng Ci, he would have to stay in the imperial prison. This was not acceptable.

"Yes, Dad, I'll go right away!" Zhu Gaochi also felt a headache, wondering why Xu Qin would beat Zheng Ci? There was no reason?

Soon, Zheng Ci came in. When he saw Zhu Di, he immediately knelt down and cried bitterly, "Your Majesty, please help me. Xu Qin and his men broke into the Ministry of Justice and beat me and the officials of the Ministry of Justice. He is so arrogant that he doesn't care about the laws of the Ming Dynasty and your Majesty. Your Majesty, if you don't punish Xu Qin severely, I will not live."

After Zheng Ci finished speaking, he kowtowed loudly.

"Hurry, hurry up, Xia Yuanji, hold him!" Zhu Di saw Zheng Ci kowtow like this, afraid that he might get hurt, so he shouted hurriedly, saying that he didn't know what the situation was, and he also needed to comfort Zheng Ci. Xia Yuanji also immediately held Zheng Ci.

Zhu Di also came down from his seat and pulled Zheng Ci up. Zhu Di said to Zheng Ci: "Why did you start fighting? What was the reason?"

Zheng Ci immediately told the questions that Xu Qin had asked after he arrived at the Ministry of Justice. After finishing, he bowed to Zhu Di and said, "It's not that I don't want to investigate. It's that the Jinyiwei have already arrested people, and there is no file. I don't know where to start. Xu Qin brought those military honors to ask me for an explanation. There is really no reason. He should lead those people to the Jinyiwei Yamen."

Zhu Di was unhappy when he heard this. What did Zheng Ci mean? Blaming the Jinyiwei for handling this matter? Did he not give the Ministry of Justice power? Would he dare to hand over such a matter to the Ministry of Justice? Besides, if he handed it over to the Ministry of Justice, would the Ministry of Justice investigate it?
"But, doesn't the Ministry of Justice have the responsibility to investigate this matter? Have you investigated? So many days have passed, is there still no movement?" Zhu Di said to Zheng Ci with a cold face.

Zheng Ci looked at Zhu Di, opened his mouth and wanted to say something, but no words came out.

As soon as Xia Yuanji heard it, he knew that Zhu Di was dissatisfied with the Ministry of Justice and that the Ministry of Justice had indeed done nothing on this matter.

The Ministry of Justice can investigate and needs to look into the case, but there has indeed been no movement from the Ministry of Justice.

"Your Majesty, the Ministry of Justice is indeed responsible for this matter. However, it is indeed inconvenient for the Ministry to investigate. The Jinyiwei has arrested people, and the Ministry of Justice has not read the case files. In addition, the people have been arrested, so the Ministry of Justice doesn't know where to start if it wants to investigate." Xia Yuanji could only bow his hands and say with gritted teeth.

He did not want to help Zheng Ci, but hoped to severely punish Xu Qin. Of course, Xia Yuanji knew in his heart that Zhu Di would not severely punish Xu Qin, but he still needed to make this gesture. It was estimated that there would soon be many memorials impeaching Xu Qin for beating court officials.

"Oh, so what you mean is that Xu Qin and others were wrong to go to the Ministry of Justice to ask you for an explanation? Should the Ministry of Justice take care of this matter? Should it?" Zhu Di returned to his seat with his hands behind his back and asked coldly.

Zheng Ci immediately cupped his hands and said, "Change the management, but our Ministry of Justice has not arrested anyone."

"Why didn't you arrest anyone? Didn't I tell the Ministry of Justice not to investigate this matter? Why did the Jinyiwei arrest people, but you, the Ministry of Justice, didn't? More than ten days have passed. Have you made any move from your Ministry of Justice? What's the matter? The Ministry of Justice won't arrest officials? Or, because someone in the Ministry of Justice is involved in this matter, you won't investigate it? When did the Ministry of Justice become the Ministry of Officials? When did the Ministry of Justice protect those officials who committed crimes?" Zhu Di said with a cold face, staring at the two of them.

The two of them immediately knelt down, shouting that they didn't dare.

"Don't dare? Did I order the Ministry of Justice not to investigate this matter? Who gave them the courage to burn down the Eastern Palace? Are they going to burn down my Qianqing Palace next time?" Zhu Di stared at them coldly and asked back.

"His Majesty!"

"I said, investigate thoroughly, investigate thoroughly!" Zhu Di shouted at the two of them angrily.

Xia Yuanji did not expect that Zhu Di would be so angry.

Zheng Ci was also a little confused. He came to file a complaint to the emperor, but Zhu Di not only did not inquire about the matter in detail, but also held him accountable.

"Look, this is the petition you wrote to appeal for mercy. What's the meaning of writing so many petitions? If those officials had no problems, why did the Jinyiwei arrest them? If you really want to appeal for mercy, shouldn't the Ministry of Justice endorse those officials? Zheng Ci, I ask you, do you dare to endorse those officials?" Zhu Di stared at Zheng Ci and asked.

Zheng Ci was shivering at the question. Endorse? How dare he endorse those officials? If those officials really participated in it, and he endorsed it, wouldn't that be a crime?

"Since you dare not endorse it, then what about these petitions? What? They burned down the Eastern Palace and wanted to burn my crown prince and my grandchildren to death, should I let them go?" Zhu Di said as he threw out several petitions in front of Zheng Ci and the others.

Xia Yuanji immediately cupped his hands and said, "Your Majesty, the people we are begging for mercy for may not have participated!"

"Then you will endorse it?" Zhu Di stared at Xia Yuanji and asked.

Xia Yuanji was immediately speechless.

"You go back and tell those officials that they can plead for mercy, but ask them to endorse them. If there is no problem, I will release them. If there is a problem, the person who endorsed them will be guilty as well." Zhu Di stared at Xia Yuanji and the other two and said coldly.

"This!" They were both dumbfounded. In this case, who would dare to beg for mercy?

(End of this chapter)