The Hui Wu Gu incident did not stop because of Guo Hui's death, but set off a bigger storm.

Zhu Yuanzhang was furious when he saw the confession of the palace people in Jingyang Palace, he didn't expect that Guo Hui not only cursed Ma Xiuying with witchcraft, but also did so many bad things, and even had close contact with foreign ministers, he immediately asked Guo Hui's body to be discarded and not allowed to be buried, and passed Li Shanchang into the palace to confront him.

"Li Shanchang, is what you said above true?"

A ball of paper smashed mercilessly on Li Shanchang's head, and his heart sank, he had followed Zhu Yuanzhang for many years, and he had never been scolded by Zhu Yuanzhang so sharply. He hurriedly opened the paper ball, and the content that was criticized by the royal pen was the testimony of the palace people exposing Concubine Hui and his collusion. He was suddenly frightened, and hurriedly knelt down and said: "The emperor is gracious, Weichen has been wronged!" ”

"Wronged?" Zhu Yuanzhang sneered, "So many people accuse you of colluding with Concubine Hui, do you still dare to quibble?" ”

Elder Li Shan burst into tears, "After Li Meiren entered the palace, her father and mother were worried that Li Meiren was not feeling well in the palace, so they asked Weichen to help them inquire about Li Meiren's living situation, and Weichen did ask Concubine Hui about Li Meiren's current situation, but he did not have any other contact with Concubine Hui, let alone collude with her to frame the queen." Weichen's words are true, and he dare not deceive the emperor. ”

"Hmph, don't you know that it's taboo to visit the harem?" Zhu Yuanzhang's words were still powerful, but the expression on his face was slightly loosened.

Li Shanchang bowed to the ground and kowtowed, "The minister is guilty, the minister should not inquire about Li Meiren's situation in private, and the minister is willing to accept the punishment." Please ask the emperor to forgive their crimes in the heart of Li Meiren's father and mother, they have just lost their daughter, and their spirit is very poor......"

Li Shanchang is worthy of being an old minister who has figured out Zhu Yuanzhang's thoughts thoroughly, he did not intercede for himself, but pleaded for Li Meiren's father and mother, which immediately made Zhu Yuanzhang feel that he was still a more affectionate and righteous person, especially when he indirectly mentioned Li Meiren's death, which touched Zhu Yuanzhang's heart.

Zhu Yuanzhang has found out that Li Meiren was killed by Guo Hui, and he feels a little guilty about this woman, and he is also a little sentimental about the unborn imperial heir. Thinking that Li Meiren suffered a catastrophe for no reason, he naturally had a more tolerant heart for Li Meiren's relatives. After pondering for a moment, he said: "For their sake, I can not blame the past, but you ......"

Li Shanchang immediately said: "The minister begged the emperor to spare the minister's life, and the minister was willing to tell the old man to return to his hometown and think about it." ”

God knows how reluctant Li Shanchang is to give up the power in his hands, in the court, he is almost an important minister above 10,000 people under one person, but at present, he can only exchange his rights for his life, otherwise when Zhu Yuanzhang says a more severe punishment, maybe his official position will not be saved, and his life will not be saved.

Zhu Yuanzhang squinted at him, silent, and calculated in his heart.

Li Shanchang still contributed to the imperial court. In the past, as the chief manager of the army, there was no shortage of military salaries and food for front-line soldiers. Later, he served as prime minister, established the tea law and salt law, restored the money law, opened mines and smelted iron, and formulated a fish tax, which promoted the country's wealth to grow day by day, and the people were no longer poor. In general, Zhu Yuanzhang still trusts and reuses him, and entrusts him with the implementation of everything in consultation with the ministers.

In order to suppress the generals, Zhu Yuanzhang once said: "Although Li Shanchang has no meritorious service, he has followed me for many years and provided military rations, and his merits are great, and he should be promoted to a great country." ”

So when he was added to the knighthood, Li Shanchang was named the Duke of Korea, ranking first among all the dukes, and the edict also compared him to Xiao He, praised him very much, and gave him an iron coupon to avoid death.

But Li Shanchang, who was a very popular minister, became arrogant and indulgent after his power and position reached the peak, and he led Huaixi officials and Jiangnan officials to fight-for-tat, which Zhu Yuanzhang was happy to see, but he also instructed officials to impeach Ma Xiuying, which made Zhu Yuanzhang a little uncomfortable.

Zhu Yuanzhang once wavered in the idea of *** Shanchang, and once discussed with Liu Ji to remove Li Shanchang's official position as prime minister, but was dissuaded by Liu Ji.

This time, it was learned that Li Shanchang and Guo Hui had a close relationship in private, and Zhu Yuanzhang originally planned to punish Li Shanchang severely, but Li Shanchang's initiative to resign made Zhu Yuanzhang a little hesitant. Li Shanchang has an iron ticket to avoid death, and if he wants to further punish him for capital crimes, he will inevitably be criticized, and his protégés have many henchmen, Zhu Yuanzhang really wants to punish him, and he has to consider the reactions of others, if he shakes the court alone, the gains outweigh the losses. Therefore, the best way is for Li Shanchang to resign himself, which will not hurt the relationship between the monarch and the minister, nor will it cause a backlash from other officials.

Seeing that Li Shanchang took the initiative to be interested, Zhu Yuanzhang's attitude was not so tense, and he softened his tone and pretended to stay: "Li Qing is the pillar of the country, and he has shared many affairs for me, and I can't do without you now." ”

Li Shanchang's heart fell to the bottom, if Zhu Yuanzhang really wanted to keep him, he would directly say that he couldn't say it, how could he have the leisure to say these scenes. He has followed Zhu Yuanzhang for many years, and he knows that the more beautiful Zhu Yuanzhang's words are, the more contrary the meaning in his heart. This time he was trying to keep him, but in fact, he wished he had gotten out soon. So he resigned more and more resolutely, "The minister is old and sick, and he no longer has the energy to be competent for court affairs, so please ask the emperor's ministers to resign and return to their homes." ”

"In that case, I will allow you to return to your hometown to recuperate, and when you recover, you will continue to come back to assist me." Zhu Yuanzhang said two polite words and immediately announced: "Come here, I will give a certain number of acres of land to the Korean Gonglinhao, set up 150 grave guards, give 1,500 tenants, and 20 honor guards. ”

"Thank you, Lord Longne!" Li Shanchang held the holy decree, his heart was bitter, these rewards sounded glorious, but how could they be compared with the real power he once held. That's it, that's it, it's good to be able to save an old life. It's just one thing that makes him feel a lot of emotion, he didn't usher in Ma Xiuying's retaliatory strike, but it was Guo Hui, a dead man, who affected him, and he knew that today, he really shouldn't have chosen to cooperate with Guo Hui in the first place!

Even though Li Shanchang himself took the initiative to resign, the officials were still shocked by the news, and many protégés tried hard to persuade Li Shanchang to stay and continue to show them the direction of struggle.

Li Shanchang said goodbye with a stiff smile on his face, he wanted to stay, and it depended on whether Zhu Yuanzhang agreed or not.

The status quo of officialdom was soon alarmed by another decree of Zhu Yuanzhang, who appointed Hu Weiyong as the right man of Zhongshu to replace Li Shanchang's position. Li Shanchang's great contribution ranks first among the hundred officials, and everyone has no objections, but Hu Weiyong's jump from participating in political affairs to the prime minister is a little unacceptable, such a guy who snorts and learns can also be valued by Zhu Yuanzhang, and everyone feels as if the sky is about to change.