44: Chapter 44 Murder and Confiscation of Property? Li Jinglong: This is a piece of cake for me!

"How does Crown Prince Zhu Yuntong compare to Biao'er?"

This was a question that no one in the entire Great Ming dared to answer.

Eunuch Wang Fu did not even lift his eyelids. He hunched his back even lower, his tone filled with a smile: "Replying to Your Majesty, the Crown Prince is like the sun—warm, radiant, and shining upon all things, with all creation looking up to his benevolence; His Highness the Prince of Wu is like the moon—its clear radiance stretching for ten thousand miles, illuminating the darkness in silence."

The old eunuch paused, looking down at his own toes along the shadow of Zhu Yuanzhang: "The sun and the moon are both reflections of Your Majesty's brilliance. This old servant would not dare to recklessly discuss the stars in the sky."

Upon hearing this, the Hetian jade thumb ring in Zhu Yuanzhang's hand stopped rotating. He stared at Eunuch Wang Fu for a long while, the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes smoothing out little by little, followed by a few hoarse chuckles.

"You old thing," Zhu Yuanzhang scolded with a laugh, raising his leg to gently kick the hem of Eunuch Wang Fu's robe. "Your mouth is full of oil. I've listened to flattery for most of my life, but yours is the most cunning."

Eunuch Wang Fu took half a step back, not offering any defense, merely keeping a fawning smile on his face, his wrinkles bunched together in a good-natured expression.

After the laughter faded, the atmosphere on the city tower turned inexplicably cold and desolate. Zhu Yuanzhang turned around, his rough fingertips once again stroking the thumb ring in his hand.

The jade was warm and smooth, but it could no longer warm his old bones.

"Biao'er…" the old emperor murmured, his voice filled with an indescribable weariness. "He would rather exhaust his own heart and blood just to let me rest."

He raised his head, his gaze passing over the layers of palace gates, crossing the Great Ming Gate, and pointing straight toward the invisible Jiangnan water towns.

"And this kid, Crown Prince Zhu Yuntong… he wants to let me have one last moment of satisfaction before I die."

A breeze blew past. Zhu Yuanzhang turned around and said indifferently: "Return to the palace."

...

When Crown Prince Zhu Yuntong's figure appeared at the entrance of the Eastern Palace side hall, all the Huaixi Nobility, led by General Fu Youde and General Feng Sheng, and including the heavily injured General Lan Yu, knelt on one knee in unison, their heads bowed low.

"We respectfully welcome His Highness the Prince of Wu!"

The voices were low and heavy, but filled with more reverence than before.

"Everyone, rise."

Crown Prince Zhu Yuntong paced inside, walked straight to the main seat, and sat down, with Eunuch Sanbao standing quietly behind him.

"It seems you are recovering quite quickly, Great-Uncle." He looked at General Lan Yu.

General Lan Yu grinned, revealing a mouthful of white teeth: "That goes without saying! This little flesh wound will heal in a couple of days! Once I'm healed, I'll follow His Highness south to hack up a few of those blind, fat pigs in Jiangnan!"

"Hack, hack, hack—all you know is hacking!" General Fu Youde opened his eyes and glared at him irritably. "His Highness has his own plans; do you really need to be shouting and hollering about it?"

Crown Prince Zhu Yuntong picked up his teacup and gently blew away the foam: "Duke of Liang, just stay in the capital and recover in peace. The same goes for Uncle Fu and Uncle Feng; the capital still needs you to hold down the fort. In case of any unforeseen changes, it's good to have someone to look out for things."

"What?" General Lan Yu was anxious, nearly springing up from his couch. "Your Highness, you aren't taking us with you? Those gentry in Jiangnan are no pushovers. Without us old guys to anchor the situation, relying only on you and Jiujiang…"

"Who said I was taking you with me?" Crown Prince Zhu Yuntong set down his teacup and scanned the crowd. "Do you really think we're going to war?"

He stood up and walked into the middle of the group.

"I have The Emperor's imperial edict to command the troops of the three Jiangnan provinces and serve as the Imperial Envoy for the Land Survey Inspection Bureau, with the authority to execute first and report later. With this banner raised, who would dare to openly oppose me?"

"Those wealthy gentry clans are not skilled at wielding swords and guns; they are skilled at tripping people up from behind the scenes and inciting the hearts of the people. Do I need to bring troops to deal with them?"

Crown Prince Zhu Yuntong's gaze fell upon Chang Sheng. Chang Sheng was his maternal uncle and was currently wearing an eager expression.

"Uncle, you don't need to go either."

Chang Sheng's face dropped immediately, looking somewhat displeased: "Your Highness, you won't even take your own uncle?"

"What would I take you for? To compete with people on who has the loudest voice?" Crown Prince Zhu Yuntong rolled his eyes at him and continued, "However, a few of your sons can come with me. Let them see the world, so they can better inherit your family businesses in the future."

As soon as he finished speaking, General Feng Sheng and General Fu Youde exchanged glances. The surprise in their eyes could not be hidden, and they hurriedly bowed: "We thank His Highness for your grace on behalf of our sons!"

Duke of Cao was listening from the side, beaming with joy. He leaned in and said: "Your Highness is wise! On this mission, fighting and killing are secondary; calculating accounts, confiscating properties, appraising assets, and selling them off… that is the real business! This is a job I'm familiar with!"

Watching his money-grubbing look, General Wang Bi couldn't help but spit: "Have some dignity!"

Just at this moment, the figure of Jiang Wan appeared outside the hall. He did not come in, but stood bowing, his expression solemn.

"Come in," Crown Prince Zhu Yuntong said.

Jiang Wan walked quickly inside, knelt on one knee, and presented a thick dossier with both hands. The dossier was wrapped in black oilcloth, with four large characters written in cinnabar on it: "The Hundred Evils of Jiangnan."

"Reporting to His Highness, this is the 'Record of the Hundred Evils of Jiangnan,' compiled overnight by the Embroidered Uniform Guard from the secret archives of the Northern Division of the Imperial Guard. The first volume records the ten clans within Suzhou Prefecture that have the greatest public grievances, the largest family assets, and the most perverse conduct. Their farmlands, shops, clan members, backers, and the crimes they have committed over the years are all contained within."

Jiang Wan's voice did not have a ripple of emotion, yet it caused the temperature in the hall to drop by a few degrees.

"I ask His Highness to review it and decide where the first strike of your southern journey shall fall."

It was here.

Everyone's breathing hitched.

Crown Prince Zhu Yuntong took the dossier. It felt heavy in his hand, as if it carried the blood and tears of countless Jiangnan commoners.

He untied the oilcloth and flipped it open casually.

Page after page, familiar yet strange surnames came into view.

The Wu Family, the Shen Family, the Zhang Family, the Lu Family… after every surname followed a long list of shocking crimes and astronomical estimates of family assets.

The nobles in the hall, even General Lan Yu, who was accustomed to the bloodshed of the battlefield, felt their eyelids twitch as they looked at those records. They knew Jiangnan was wealthy, but they hadn't expected it to be to this extent; even less had they expected that these gentry, who came from scholarly backgrounds, did things behind the scenes that were even darker than those of these killers.

Crown Prince Zhu Yuntong's finger slowly traced over the roster, and finally, it paused on one name for a moment.

"The Wu Family."

He softly read out these two words: "The first strike will start with the Wu Family."

As soon as the words fell, the murderous aura in the hall instantly boiled over.

General Wang Bi and the others had already begun to rub their palms together, calculating how much oil and water could be squeezed out of this Wu Family.

But just at this moment, a burst of hurried footsteps came from outside the hall. A young eunuch came running in, rolling and crawling, his expression panicked: "Your Highness! Your Highness! It's bad!"

The young eunuch knelt on the ground with a thud, kowtowing like pounding garlic: "The… the officials from the Ministry of Rites are asking to see you, saying… saying that the mission from Joseon has arrived three days early! They have already moved into the Huitong Hall and are specifically demanding to… to meet the newly appointed Prince of Wu!"

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone in the hall was stunned.

General Lan Yu propped himself up from the couch and snorted coldly: "This matter is suspicious. Why would they arrive early for no reason? And why do they specifically ask to meet His Highness as soon as they arrive?"

The crowd discussed it in hushed tones, all feeling that this matter carried the scent of a conspiracy.

However, upon hearing this, Crown Prince Zhu Yuntong's face showed not a hint of impatience; instead, a strange smile appeared on his face.

He looked at the bright spring light outside the hall and said indifferently: "Jiang Wan, go and check if there is someone named Yi Bang-won in this Joseon mission."