Ming Dynasty: Empress Ma and I swapped clothes!

Chapter 108 Zhu Yuanzhang: Biao'er! That's our old brother!

The Duke of Wei's mansion, Xie Pavilion by the water, and Qinghu Pavilion in front of it.

Xu Da, Tang He, Feng Sheng, and the others still gathered together, but each of them was facing a great deal of trouble.

With their abilities, they actually managed to find out the truth, but the result was quite obvious; it wasn't good at all, and for them, it was nothing short of a nightmare.

The reason is that the founder of this snowflake salt method was actually the Empress in the palace, who was their sister-in-law.

In this way, it's clear that these are the Zhu family's possessions.

These brothers, while not entirely unrelated, were practically unconnected, since this property didn't belong to the imperial court but was privately owned.

So it would be quite difficult for these old buddies to shamelessly go and beg for it.

"Who will handle this?"

Xu Da asked a question.

Tang He curled his lip and said directly, "Whoever wants to go can go, but I'm absolutely not going. Taking advantage of my sister-in-law, especially such a big one, I, Tang, still have some shame. If my brother blames me later, wouldn't I become a laughing stock?"

"From now on, we'll all be the subject of gossip among the nobility. Even this snowflake salt, to put it bluntly, could be considered part of my sister-in-law's dowry to my elder brother. How can we possibly steal my sister-in-law's dowry?"

Tang slapped his thigh.

He presented this argument, and not only Xu Da, but even Feng Sheng standing next to him suddenly felt that the matter was hopeless.

After all, such a thing has never happened before in history. No matter how successful one is, it doesn't mean one can steal the dowry of the founding empress. If this gets out, it will be recorded in future history books.

These dignified dukes will be infamous for a thousand years.

They are all grown men, and if they had any sense of shame, they would never do such a thing.

"So what, are you just going to do, stand by and watch?"

Xu Da paused for a moment, then asked.

Tang He sighed, then slapped his thigh and clapped his hands, looking bewildered: "Giving up like this is something we're all unwilling to do, but what else can we do?"

"If all else fails, shall we ask Her Majesty?"

Feng Sheng suddenly spoke up, immediately drawing the attention of Xu Da and Tang He: "If the Empress is willing to give way, then it has nothing to do with us old brothers, right?"

But then, Xu Da and Tang He looked at him as if he were mentally challenged.

If they really did that, the Empress would naturally not blame them, but the eldest brother, Zhu Yuanzhang, would probably take a kitchen knife and cut off their necks, then stew them and eat them.

Like I said before, he stole his sister-in-law's things.

These two brothers are truly incompetent; they've made a complete disgrace to themselves.

The two of them became completely mute.

Seeing this, Feng Sheng remained silent. After all, in the Ming Dynasty, if even Xu Da and Tang He didn't dare to do something, then anyone who did would surely die without a burial place.

But as everyone knows.

Their conversation was overheard by the secret outpost of the Imperial Guard Commandery, which would later become the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

In the blink of an eye, these words also reached Zhu Yuanzhang.

Zhu Yuanzhang was both amused and exasperated. He opened his eyes, his brows revealing a sharp and menacing look: "These guys are really bold, trying to steal even my sister's things."

"If we don't get angry and warn them, then the soap-making techniques they're about to use will probably really get out of control."

"Biao'er, what do you think about this?"

Zhu Yuanzhang looked at Zhu Biao, who replied without hesitation, "Father, immediately draft an edict ordering Yun Qi to go and give him a good scare, followed by thirty strokes of the military rod. Then, issue a stern warning: how can anyone casually pry into matters of the palace and the inner court?"

"This is a grave sin."

"This time we'll give them a small punishment as a warning. If it happens again, we will not let them off the hook."

Good heavens, that's really something.

Zhu Yuanzhang only gave a verbal warning, but when it came to Zhu Biao, he was even prepared to use a stick.

He, as the son, was even more ruthless than his father, which left Zhu Yuanzhang momentarily at a loss.

After hesitating for a long time, he finally walked up to Zhu Biao and said to him, "Biao'er, they are all your uncles and brothers from back then. Isn't doing this a bit too hurtful to them?"

"hehe."

Zhu Biao ignored him completely, and even continued to sneer, "When these uncles came to seize Mother's dowry, did they ever think about the brotherhood between them and Father?"

"But these guys only thought about it; in the end, they decided not to do it, right?"

Zhu Yuanzhang continued to try to persuade him with kind words, but Zhu Biao seemed to have made up his mind.

"Those who deserve punishment should be punished, and those who need to be said should be said. Father Emperor cannot be soft-hearted. They have already developed greed today. If we do not give them a stern warning, what will become of them in the future?"

Has Father Emperor ever thought about this?

Did Father Emperor ever think about Mother Empress?

Got it.

At this moment, Zhu Biao even brought up Ma Xiuying's name, leaving Zhu Yuanzhang speechless. He nodded slightly and said, "Then we'll listen to our Biao."

He glanced at Yun Qi, whose face was full of smiles: "This servant obeys."

……

"By the Mandate of Heaven, the Emperor decrees..."

"The Duke of Wei is now incompetent and does not focus his mind on military affairs, but instead on wealth. This is a case of putting the cart before the horse and abandoning the greater good for the lesser good, which is extremely distressing to us."

"If we do not discipline them today, they will become a terrible disaster in the future."

After issuing the decree, Yun Qi silently stepped back. Immediately afterwards, the palace guards, armed with fire and water sticks, headed straight for Xu Da.

Xu Da was also quite resolute; he listened to the imperial decree.

He closed his eyes, then thrust backward, and his rather pert buttocks landed on the long bench.

Immediately afterwards, the water-fire stick struck three times with "slap slap slap," each strike using about 70-80% of its force, each one louder than the last.

Three shots, no more, no less, and it was all done in the blink of an eye.

Xu Da's face was flushed, but he was in so much pain that he couldn't stand up straight, so he could only stick his neck out and say loudly, "Your Majesty, I am guilty and beg for your forgiveness."

"Your Majesty's words today will be carefully remembered by your humble servant."

It was so embarrassing to talk about that Xu Da didn't dare to feel any resentment at all. He was so ashamed that he almost lost all his face.

If you have this kind of thought, you can still succeed by doing it secretly and without making a sound.

But if others find out, it's simply embarrassing to show off; it's laughable to even think about it.

But then Xu Da suddenly realized something, and the embarrassment on his face vanished instantly. He even looked excited and asked Yun Qi, "Eunuch Yun Qi, is this the first time or the last time?"