Prince Chongzhen

Chapter 275: Everything is under control?

Lu Shaochun didn't care who killed Ruan Dacheng, nor did he care which force was behind it. The only thing he cared about was how to obtain the "Jian in the Emperor's Heart" BUFF to continue his already broken career.

But the risks involved were so great that even the Anji County Magistrate, who had managed to grab the position through bargaining among several parties, had to avoid this disaster by claiming to be "caught in phlegm".

You know, anyone who has the guts to kill a minister is either extremely confident in his own plans and arrangements, certain that the court cannot possibly find out the truth, or extremely confident in his own power, certain that no one can investigate.

Under such circumstances, the officials responsible for investigating the matter were in great danger, and the choice made by the Anji County Magistrate was the only way to preserve his life and property.

But then again, people with the same destiny may have different fates.

Although the Anji County Magistrate will lose his official position this time, he will still have a chance to resume his official career after three to five years when the incident has died down. However, Lu Shaochun has no family support and has committed a serious crime such as infidelity. If he misses this opportunity, he may have to struggle for several lifetimes before he has another chance to turn things around.

Therefore, Lu Shaochun was fully aware of the dangers inside, but he had to go through it anyway, in order to find the only way to survive hidden in this complex situation.

Others would probably think that Lu Shaochun only cared about the official position and not his life in the eyes of others. However, the expectations of several generations of the Lu family rested on him alone. Maybe in his heart, dying on the road of struggle was much better than facing disappointed clansmen.

But before finding a way to survive, he had to first try to find enough protection for his life.

Therefore, after learning that there was nothing unusual about the people sent by the Anji County Magistrate, he not only clearly asked the two people from the Advisory Council to report their plan in full, but also explained in detail the possible risks that might be encountered.

As for which level the report should be submitted to and through which channels, he did not say and the other party did not ask either. He seemed to know the truth but would not say it out loud.

After doing all this, Lu Shaochun asked Niu Junchang to investigate the recent movements of the surrounding garrisons, while he himself quietly waited for the opportunity to alert the enemy.

"Your Majesty, do you want to send some people to Anji?"

After reporting all the information he had received, Li Chaodong hesitated for a moment and then followed up with a sentence.

According to common sense, he should not have said this, but since the establishment of the Advisory Council, these people have been labeled as people who just want to make a living. Now there seems to be an opportunity to prove that they can be loyal to His Majesty, how could he not be a little anxious?
"Your place won't work," Zhu Cilang replied without further thought. He then looked at the map for a while before saying to Zhou Quan, "Draft an imperial decree to order Yan Yingyuan to send some troops over there."

After the reorganization, Yan Yingyuan was assigned to Xu Yinjue to assist in handling matters related to Jiang defense. Although his location was not too far from Anji, it was still a hundred or two hundred miles away from Hou Chengzu and Fang Guoan.

In this case, everyone knew that the people behind the scenes must be the local forces in the Suzhou and Songjiang areas, and both armies originated from there. Under such circumstances, it was reasonable to send Yan Yingyuan, who was a little further away.

This does not mean that Zhu Cilang does not trust the two generals.

Just imagine, if those two generals were sent over, then all kinds of requests, solicitations, collusion and provocations from relatives, friends, students and old acquaintances would surely follow.

Faced with such a situation, they either cut ties with Zhu Cilang out of loyalty to him and the Ming Dynasty, or succumb to the various human relationships and do something wrong.

If Zhu Cilang really sent them over based on so-called trust, it would not only put the ministers who had shed blood for him in a dilemma, but would also be irresponsible to his own efforts over such a long period of time.

As an emperor, how could he do such a foolish thing?

Li Chaodong probably couldn't understand this. His whole mind was now filled with disappointment over losing this opportunity to serve His Majesty, so how could he care about anything else?

"You want to send someone over there too?"

Seeing the expression on Li Chaodong's face, Zhu Cilang thought that he was worried about the safety of his family members, but when he hesitantly said what he was thinking, his heart couldn't help but warm up.

"Don't think too much. The Advisory Council is my eyes and ears. If you can help me grasp the local situation, your contribution will be no less than fighting the enemy." Having said this, Zhu Cilang originally thought that he should stop talking, but seeing that Li Chaodong's expression did not seem to improve much, he continued: "Take this time for example, if there were no people from the Advisory Council in Anji, how could I know the situation there so quickly?"

I don’t know whether it was this example that worked or whether Li Chaodong himself had come to terms with it, but when Zhu Cilang finished speaking, his complexion finally looked much better.

After all, Zhu Cilang is still a very nostalgic person, especially towards people like Li Chaodong who have risked their lives for him, he can always maintain enough patience no matter what.

At this point, Li Chaodong had no reason to stay any longer. After telling the emperor about the situations reported from various places, he left the palace.

Looking at this slightly fat figure, Zhu Cilang couldn't help but think of the days when he spent all day hanging around on the city wall.

Although Yingtian was in danger under the attack of the Tartars at that time, if one looked at the details one could find many opportunities to win. But now the Tartars have retreated to the north of the Yangtze River, and after he recaptures Jiangxi, all the land south of the Yangtze River will be in his hands.

But even in this situation, his plan suffered a major mistake for the first time, which also made Zhu Cilang much more alert.

It is undeniable that Ruan Dacheng is the sharp weapon he uses to weaken local forces. Even though this sharp weapon has shown some signs of being uncontrollable, in the current situation, he has no better choice.

Zhu Cilang knew very well that Ruan Dacheng had already harbored a desire to protect himself. Not only did he resort to a number of tricks after receiving the imperial edict in an attempt to reach some kind of tacit understanding with the local forces in Suzhou and Songjiang, he also repeatedly delayed his march south under the guise of understanding the situation until the end of the year.

But he had never thought that based on his actions over the past two years, this tacit understanding would be so easy to achieve?
Will local forces regard these "small tricks" as big means to paralyze them, leading to more intense reactions?

Yes, when Zhu Cilang saw Ruan Dacheng's little moves, he expected that the performance of the local forces in Susong would become fierce as a result. He even thought that those fierce reactions would force Ruan Dacheng to fight back with more fierce means.

But he never expected that the reaction of the local forces in Susong would be so fierce that the sharp blade in his hand broke before he could use it a few times.

However, the occurrence of such a horrific and shocking case is not completely without benefits for Zhu Cilang.

after all
They were the first to break the rules.

Rules are both a constraint and a protection for everyone.

Since someone dared to blatantly break the long-established rules, then as the defender of the Ming Dynasty's rules, no one would be able to say anything if he used means outside the rules.

"Has Wang Fuping arrived?"

"Your Majesty, Commander Wang has been here for a while. I saw that you were thinking about something, so I didn't inform you."

"Tell him to come in."

As soon as he finished speaking, Zhou Quan trotted out of the palace. But when he was about to leave the warm room, he heard another voice from behind: "Don't act on your own in the future." "I dare not, Your Majesty, please forgive me."

"Go."

Having been confined in the palace for a long time, Zhu Cilang’s biggest worry was that he would be cut off from all communication with the outside world.

Of course, at this moment he doesn't have to worry about these things, but even tigers take naps sometimes, so who can tell what will happen in the long run?
A moment later, Wang Fuping appeared at the door of the warm room. After some greetings, he first reported all the news that the Jinyiwei had obtained in recent days before looking up at Zhu Cilang.

The Jinyiwei did not get much information about the Ruan Dacheng case, and even few people had access to first-hand information about the case.

To ordinary people, this is probably incredible. After all, the Jinyiwei back then had the power of inspection. Whenever there was a case that interested them, they would take out their badges. Even if it was not convenient to take over the case directly at some times, they could still keep an eye on it.

But since he first received the mission, most of His Majesty's orders were just to gather information, and they have never been allowed to exercise the power of inspection openly.

Under such circumstances, even though Wang Fuping, who was always tactful and cautious, knew that the case was extremely important, he did not dare to go beyond the line without the emperor's order.

"We still need to keep a close eye on Wu Zhikui and make sure he doesn't cause any trouble while we're waiting."

"Yes."

Ever since Wu Zhikui got the stack of IOUs written by the wealthy families in Suzhou and Songjiang to the Tartars, he has been focusing on debt collection.

Although Zhu Cilang had known about this for a long time, he pretended to be ignorant and was prepared to see how far he could push those people.

Honestly speaking, this kind of waiting for things to change probably has some intention behind it, but now that the local forces in Susong have done such a big thing, Zhu Cilang already has a legitimate reason to take action against them, so there is naturally no need for Wu Zhikui to continue to indulge them.

"Jinyiwei, work harder and pay more attention to Suzhou and Songjiang during this period. Take advantage of this opportunity to deal with as many evil gentry who bully the people as possible."

"Yes."

After settling these, Wang Fuping took the order and left. Afterwards, Zhu Cilang thought for a while about the prefect of Huzhou who suddenly appeared, and then put all his attention on the title book on the table.

The incident involving Ruan Dacheng did have a huge impact on the imperial court, and even some ministers who were quick to see the opportunity were ready to face the storm.

But for Zhu Cilang, this was really not a big deal. Even though the death of a dignified Shangshu in an attack might cause some damage to the dignity of the court, in his opinion, it also meant that misfortune may bring blessing.

After all, there have been cases of court officials being attacked and killed even in times of peace, let alone in such a chaotic situation?
For the late Ming Dynasty, who often treated the emperor as a puppet and the army as their own private army, this was just a normal operation for that group of people.

As long as the few direct troops under his command did not get involved in these matters, let alone killing a few officials, he would not even blink an eye even if there were local forces rebelling.

It was only like this for a while, and when his thundering wrath fell on Susong, everything became just a reason for him to take action.

Of course, one still had to behave properly in front of the court officials.

For example, a few days ago he flew into a rage during court session, and even scolded three cabinet ministers for the cabinet's response measures.

This is probably what is called the pattern.

Due to differences in vision, strength, information, etc. among each person, there are naturally huge differences in their views on this matter.

In the eyes of ordinary officials and servants in Anji, attacking and killing the ministers of the current dynasty was not only a crime of treason, but also a great provocation to the majesty of the court. This matter would not only cause great waves, but could also easily swallow them up.

At Lu Shaochun's level, he already has the qualifications to take advantage of the situation, even if this qualification requires using his own life as a bargaining chip, but it cannot be denied that he has already separated himself from most people.

As for Zhu Cilang.
He is probably the only person in the entire Ming Dynasty who doesn't care about this matter.

After all, he had already planned to take action, and the opportunity was also brewing. The only difference was the reason and timing of the action. How could it be possible for him to have too many negative emotions?
But is there anyone who can really control every situation?
Thousands of miles away from Yingtian, in the suburbs of Changxing County, a wealthy middle-aged man in coarse cloth was pacing in the mountains and forests.

It's ridiculous to say that in this era, how could anyone be so wealthy if they were not from a wealthy family? His coarse clothes were indeed a bit of an attempt to cover up his wealth.

"Is it this time? Why hasn't that flower arrived yet?"

Although he tried his best to maintain his usual calm tone, his unstoppable steps and the words he spoke clearly revealed his anxiety.

"Don't worry, sir. I think the flower should be treated with more care at this time of year."

"Humph, what's the point of being careful after he did such a good thing?!"

After saying this hatefully, the middle-aged man turned his head and looked into the distance again. However, during the time it took him to finish these two sentences, when he turned his head back again, he saw a burly man approaching within ten feet of him and his group.

Seeing the person he was waiting for arrive, the middle-aged man put away his previous anxiety. When the person approached him, he said lightly: "If you develop this habit of being late, I'm afraid you won't be able to do business well."

"Let's stop talking nonsense. Why do we need to meet again at this time of year?"

Yizhihua was obviously very dissatisfied with this meeting. Not only was she extremely rude in her words, but her face also showed deep impatience.

"You also knew about this period of time?! You said you only wanted to scare him, why did you directly take his life?!"

Seeing the other party's behavior, the middle-aged man's anger that had been suppressed for many days immediately burst out. However, who would have thought that as soon as he finished speaking, he heard a nonchalant reply from Yizhihua.

"Why are you panicking? It was the barbarians in the north who did it, and they can't trace it back to us." Having said this, Yizhihua paused for a moment, and then said with some doubt: "I'm also wondering why they were so cruel. If the government investigates, people like us can just scatter. How can they deal with it?"

"Don't say these useless things. Now that the incident has happened, you should stay out of the spotlight for now."

(End of this chapter)