25: Chapter 25 Zhu Yunwen to Regent?

As General Lan Yu finished speaking, the entire Mansion of the Duke of Liang stirred into motion; men and women, young and old, servants and laborers, all knelt on the ground, trembling in terror, silent as cicadas in winter.

General Lan Yu lay shirtless on a daybed in front of the main hall, the fresh white bandages on his back already seeping with blood. He did not let out a single groan, scanning coldly over every person kneeling in the courtyard.

The steward, Lan An, an old man who had followed General Lan Yu for most of his life, was currently leading a team of unfamiliar, robust men, wielding clubs, blades, and spears, searching through every courtyard.

Before long, Lan An returned with hurried footsteps. Behind him, the robust men carried heavy chests, dropping them with a loud "clang" in the center of the courtyard. The chests were opened, and the dazzling jewels instantly pierced the night.

"Foster Father, this... this is just a small token of gratitude from your sons. Why have you dug it all up?" Lan Chong forced a smile, though cold sweat streamed down his temples uncontrollably.

General Lan Yu ignored him, merely tilting his chin toward Lan An.

Lan An understood. He pulled a booklet from his robes—it was a diary found in Lan Chong's bedroom. Clearing his throat, he read aloud: "In the twenty-fourth year of Hongwu, March, Lan Chong, in the name of the Mansion of the Duke of Liang, forcibly seized thirty mu of paddy fields from Widow Zhang, causing her to hang herself."

"In July of the same year, Lan Feng, while vying for favor on the Qinhuai River, pushed the son of a Hanlin Academy reader into the river to drown. Later, with three thousand taels of silver, he bribed the clerk of the Yingtian Prefecture office to rule it an accidental drowning."

"In the twenty-fifth year of Hongwu, Lan Bao, Lan Ying... let their servants race horses through the market, trampling a seven-year-old child to death and injuring over a dozen people. Afterward, not only did they provide no compensation, they even framed the child's family for 'offending the Duke,' broke their legs, and drove them out of Yingtian."

Lan An's voice was not loud, but with each item read, the faces of the dozen or so foster sons kneeling in front grew paler.

The more General Lan Yu listened, the angrier and more shocked he became. He had always thought these foster sons were just using his name to throw their weight around, mere childish antics, a common vice among the children of the nobility.

He never imagined that these foster sons, whom he treated like his own, were secretly committing such beastly, heinous acts!

Forcibly seizing women, treating human life like grass, embezzling military provisions, and even... even colluding with certain civil officials in the court to sell military armaments!

Every single one of these crimes was punishable by the extermination of one's entire clan.

"Beasts! A bunch of... mongrels!"

General Lan Yu suddenly propped himself up from the daybed, spraying a mouthful of blood mixed with rage onto the bluestone floor before him.

"Thud!"

Lan Chong and his brothers were scared out of their wits. They could no longer hold their kneeling position, collapsing onto the ground and kowtowing like pounding garlic.

"Foster Father, spare us! Spare us, Foster Father!"

"We were wrong! We will never dare to do it again!"

"It was all Lan Chong! He led us into this! We were forced, Foster Father!"

For a moment, pleas for mercy, wails, and mutual recriminations merged into a scene of utter ugliness.

General Lan Yu looked at these weeping "good sons," a twisted smile appearing on his face.

He laughed at his own stupidity, his blindness, and at having nursed a viper in his bosom.

"Spare you?" General Lan Yu's voice was hoarse, his heart dead. "If I spare you, will those you harmed agree to it?"

"Lan An."

"This old servant is here."

"Bring the family law."

Lan An shuddered. Looking at General Lan Yu's bloodshot eyes, he nodded heavily, then turned and retrieved a spiked iron rod, as thick as an arm, from the hall.

"Foster Father! No!"

Lan Chong and the others completely collapsed, scrambling to escape, but they were pinned firmly to the ground by the expressionless servants, unable to move.

"Plug their mouths." General Lan Yu closed his eyes, unable to bear looking any longer.

"Drag them to the backyard and beat them."

"Beat them until they are dead."

He paused, then added: "Take the gold and silver we found, send half into the palace, and send the other half to the families of those they harmed."

"Tell Yingtian Prefecture that my Mansion of the Duke of Liang is purging its own today. From now on, anyone who dares to use my, General Lan Yu's, name to commit evil outside..."

"Their fate will be the same as theirs."

...

The next day, just as dawn broke, the officials were already standing in formation before the Fengtian Hall.

Led by Hanlin Academician Huang Zicheng, Minister of Personnel Qi Tai, and Minister of War Bao Zhao, the civil officials stood with faces as dark as water, fury burning in their eyes. They had knelt outside the Meridian Gate for half the night, and instead of waiting for the Emperor's thunderous wrath, they received only a "We will discuss it tomorrow," which filled them with a deep sense of crisis.

On the side of the military generals, it was a different scene.

General Feng Sheng, General Fu Youde, and Chang Sheng, the Huaixi Nobility who had just returned from "kneeling in punishment" at the Xiaoling Mausoleum, stood on the other side of the formation. They each kept their eyes on their noses and their noses on their hearts, their expressions complex. They felt both the relief of surviving a disaster and a sense of confusion and faint anticipation for the future. They exchanged glances secretly, but no one dared to speak first.

The entire plaza was clearly divided into two camps, distinct and separate, as if an invisible boundary separated them.

"Clang—"

The heavy bell tolled, and the palace gates slowly opened.

The officials straightened their attire and filed in.

The moment they stepped into the Fengtian Hall, everyone sensed that something was wrong.

It was too quiet.

The high and mighty dragon throne was actually empty!

The Emperor wasn't here?

"Has His Majesty passed away?!" Hanlin Academician Huang Zicheng's heart skipped a beat, an ominous premonition welling up in his mind.

Just as the civil officials were whispering and discussing, and the entire hall was about to lose control, a slender figure slowly walked out from the side hall.

The newcomer was very young, dressed in dark, cloud-patterned casual robes, with a jade belt cinched at his waist. He wore no crown or headwear to signify his status, and his black hair was tied up with a simple jade hairpin, making him look clean and sharp.

Crown Prince Zhu Yuntong had no expression on his face, his eyes sweeping calmly over the officials below. Where his gaze landed, the noisy hall unexpectedly fell silent.

He walked up the imperial steps, step by step, unhurriedly.

Everyone's heart was in their throat.

What did he want to do? Did he intend to sit on that throne?

How bold!

However, Crown Prince Zhu Yuntong did not head toward the dragon throne, which symbolized supreme power, but stopped three steps away from it.

At this moment, the head eunuch, Eunuch Wang Fu, led a few young eunuchs out from behind the hall.

Eunuch Wang Fu held no imperial decree, but in a shrill voice, he announced in a tone devoid of emotion: "His Imperial Majesty has caught a cold and is feeling unwell. Today's morning court will be presided over by the Third Imperial Prince."

Boom!

A stone stirred up a thousand waves!

The entire Fengtian Hall instantly erupted.

"Absurd! Simply absurd!"

"How can the affairs of the state be treated as such child's play?"

Hanlin Academician Huang Zicheng was trembling with rage. He was about to step out of line, but he saw those few young eunuchs carrying a purple sandalwood armchair, placing it with a "clang" on the imperial dais.

It was right next to the dragon throne.

Although it was half a foot lower and a size smaller than the dragon throne, that position and that posture seemed to say it all.

This was... acting as regent?

Everyone's mind went blank.

Amidst the shocked, angry, or terrified gazes of the officials, Crown Prince Zhu Yuntong lifted his robes and sat down calmly, looking down at the Ming Dynasty officials below.

"Ahem."

Hanlin Academician Huang Zicheng could no longer hold back. He lunged out from the formation and questioned the young man on the imperial dais sternly: "May I ask, Third Imperial Prince, by what authority do you sit here?!"

"The 'Ancestral Instructions of the Great Ming' state that there is a distinction between ruler and subject, and order between senior and junior! You are neither the ruler nor the senior! How is such an act any different from usurpation?!"

"We implore to see His Majesty! We implore to see the Grand Imperial Heir!"