Hu Zizhao was a little helpless about Zhou Xin's ruthlessness and inflexibility, but at the same time, he also admired his character.

But for Zhu Chun, the king of Shu, he couldn't appreciate Zhou Xin's character at all.

"This Zhou Xin, what a scourge, sooner or later he will have to be killed!"

Coming out of the Qianqing Palace, Zhu Chun, the always elegant King of Shu, had a gloomy and terrible face, and kept chanting this sentence in his heart.

Standing at the door of the Zongren Mansion, looking at the plaque with gold characters on a red background, Zhu Chun was full of emotion.

Zongren Mansion, in the last years of Hongwu, was actually a decoration.

At that time, Zhu Zhang, the king of Qin, was appointed as the order of the Zongren, Zhu Li, the king of Jin, was the left Zongzheng, Zhu Di, the king of Yan, was the right Zongzheng, Zhu Hu, the king of Zhou, was the left Zongren, and Zhu Zhen, the king of Chu, was the right Zongren, all of them were Zhengyipin, and these vassal kings were all in the fiefdom as prestige, and no one wanted to stay in the Yamen in Beijing to work, in fact, there was no need to do it, because the Zongren Mansion had nothing to deal with.

The Zongren Mansion has an experience department, and there is only one Wupin experience, who is responsible for sending and receiving official documents.

In the Jianwen Dynasty, after experiencing many rebellions and lawlessness of the vassal kings, Zhu Yunwen felt that the management of the vassal kings should be strengthened, so he reopened the Zongren Mansion and expanded its scope of authority and the scale of its establishment.

Now the Zongren Mansion is the Shu King Zhu Chun, and the left and right Zongren are the Han King Zhu Song and the Shen King Zhu Mo, and there are experience divisions, archives divisions, property divisions, engineering and construction divisions and other departments, and the management scope involves all aspects of the daily life of the clan, in addition to birth, old age, sickness and death, weddings and funerals, including income, welfare, palace and related project allocations, and even the assets of the palaces around the country, such as the number of land and shops, etc.

Zhu Yunwen's idea was to hand over all the affairs of the clan to the Zongren Mansion to manage, so Zhu Chun gradually became hot in the clan.

But in fact, Zhu Chun is also very hard, he is a clan himself, and to some extent the interests of the princes are consistent, but at the same time, he is a Zongzheng appointed by the emperor, so he has to try to find a balance between the emperor and the clan, without the support of the emperor, he can't be Zongzheng; Similarly, without the support and convincing of the clan, he can only do things thanklessly and even counterproductively.

King Qin's tax evasion, in Zhu Chun's opinion, is not a big deal, he didn't expect the emperor to be so serious, but if this matter is not handled well, the interests of the clan will inevitably be damaged.

Zhu Chun can be sure that if the emperor really ordered a thorough investigation, then these vassal kings in the country are all another Qin king, but there are some differences in severity.

Since the investigation has begun, it is impossible for His Majesty to return in vain, so the vassal kings will inevitably accept His Majesty's punishment, and the vassal kings will not dare to resent Your Majesty, but will only resent their own integrity.

At that time, His Majesty will inevitably dismiss his own sect to appease the anger of the clan, and at that time, the reward of the two kings will naturally come to naught.

Thinking of this, Zhu Chun couldn't help but sigh secretly.

At this moment, a sound of footsteps came from behind him, and a hurried voice sounded in Zhu Chun's ears: "Lord Wang, something happened!" ”

"What's the matter?"

Zhu Chun turned his head and looked at Wen Yuan, a panting attendant beside him.

Wen Yuan wiped the beads of sweat from his forehead, approached Zhu Chun's ear, and whispered a few words.

Zhu Chun groaned slightly, his face immediately turned pale, and his body shook twice, obviously shocked by Wen Yuan's news.

But he quickly recovered, he gasped slightly, and commanded in a low voice: "Okay, this king knows, you go down, everything is careful!" ”

"Yes!"

Zhu Chun glanced up at the plaque again, gritted his teeth, and walked in.

......

Standing at the door of his office, Zhu Chun felt that there was someone inside, not only was he stunned for a moment, but then he understood, pushed open the door, walked to the table and sat down: "Two younger brothers, why do you have time to come to my brother's place today?" ”

Shen Wang Zhumo, who was slightly fat, stood up first and saluted: "Tenth brother, don't go around in circles with your younger brother, what's the situation?" What did Your Majesty say? ”

Zhu Chun smiled, glanced at the pale face of King Han Zhu Song, and said, "Twenty brother, how is your health?" Is it better? ”

"Ahem! Cough! ”

Zhu Song coughed twice and smiled: "Don't get in the way, you won't be able to die for a while!" Brother, tell me quickly, what does Your Majesty say? ”

"Alas!" Zhu Chun hesitated for a moment, and said in a low voice: "Zhou Xin, the Qincha sent by His Majesty to investigate, has just returned, Shang Bing is indeed at fault for tax evasion and private checkpoints, and as for the beating of Shaanxi tax envoy Mu Benquan, the evidence is conclusive, and the human and material evidence is ......."

"We all know this," Shen Wang Zhu Mo was an anxious man, he interrupted Zhu Chun impatiently, and said, "Tenth brother, we want to know how His Majesty intends to deal with Shang Bing?" ”

"Your Majesty has made a decree that all the officials of the Qin Palace's Mansion will be locked up and thoroughly investigate the truth of tax evasion and tax evasion in the Qin Palace; In addition, Shang Bing also needs to return all his illegal gains, and he also has to study in the Zongren Mansion for three months, and he is not allowed to go out without anything. ”

"What? Take all the locks? Refund all of your earnings? Do you want to study in the Zongren Mansion for three months? Shen Wang Zhu stood up suddenly: "How can Your Majesty's punishment be so heavy?" Doesn't this sweep Shang Bing's majesty away? Tenth brother, I didn't say you, you were in front of Your Majesty at the time, why didn't you fight to the death? ”

"Brother, of course I'm fighting," Zhu Chun hurriedly said: "I tried my best to explain that Shang Bing didn't know about tax evasion, and there was corruption in the Shaanxi Taxation Department, so Shang Bing may just be a moment of righteous indignation." ”

"But Zhou Xin, who investigated the case, held on to it, saying that as long as the subordinate officials of the palace were tortured, it would naturally be possible to know whether Shang Bing was deeply involved......"

"What? How dare he? ”

Looking at the two indignant younger brothers, Zhu Chun sighed and said, "Fortunately, Your Majesty is wise and did not adopt Zhou Xin's opinion, otherwise I am afraid that the matter will not end!" ”

"Well, this Zhou Xin, what a scourge!"

Hearing Zhu Song's complaint, Zhu Chun didn't answer, his goal had been achieved, Zhou Xin had already been on the list of kings, and Zhou Xin would ask for more blessings in the future.

After a while, Zhu Chun suddenly said: "Two younger brothers, just now my brother heard the report from the next person, after His Majesty summoned us, he immediately summoned Qi Tai, Huang Zicheng, Zhuo Jing, and Lian Zining......

"Why did Your Majesty summon the four of them?"

Finding that Zhu Chun seemed to be referring to something in his words, Shen Wang Zhu Mo was a little impatient and asked directly.

"I understand, is the tenth brother worried that His Majesty will directly take Shang Bing's title?"

"What?" After listening to Han Wang Zhu Song's words, Shen Wang Zhu Mo was stunned: "No! Just for this little thing? ”

Zhu Chun and Zhu Song glanced at each other and did not speak.

"Speak! Would Your Majesty really do that? ”

"I don't know," Zhu Chun hesitated for a long time, but only said this sentence.

Zhu Mo looked at Zhu Song, but found that the other party had closed his eyes.

......

"If I knew this, it would be better for the fourth brother to be the emperor!"

For a long time, Shen Wang Zhu Mo popped out such a sentence.

"Nonsense!" Zhu Chun's color changed suddenly, but he tried his best to lower his voice and said, "How dare you say such things, don't you want to live!" ”

"It was meant to be!" Zhu Mo stiffened his neck and said: "If the fourth brother wins, then he will definitely treat us preferentially, like the current Your Majesty, who thinks about how to clean up our princes all day long!" ”

"Smack!"

Zhu Chun slapped Zhu Mo in the face, and hit Zhu Mo very hard, knocking Zhu Mo to a stumbling block.

"I tell you Zhu Mo, don't think about things out of tune all day long, you want to die! I still want to live! ”

"Brother, brother, brother, I was wrong!"

Touching his slightly hot face, looking at Zhu Chun's fierce expression, Zhu Mo was a little scared, and quickly nodded: "My brother is wrong, my brother is just talking nonsense, don't be surprised!" ”

Seeing that Zhu Mo was soft, Zhu Chun sighed slightly: "Twenty-one brothers, twenty-one brothers, don't think about those things that don't matter." So far, there is no good way, but to know your majesty with affection, move with reason, I hope your majesty can listen to our bad ears! ”

"Well, Brother Ten, have you already figured out a way to talk to us!"

"Look at this," Zhu Chun took out a notebook from his arms: "I want to give this to Your Majesty!" ”

"What is this?"

"This, it seems to be the account book of the Qin Palace!"

"Yes, it's the ledger!"