Prince Chongzhen

Chapter 283 Some people can't hide, some people dare not hide

January 2

Yingtian
Duke of Wei's Mansion
Since the death of the old master of the Xu family and the succession of the title by Xu Yinjue, the status of the Duke of Wei among the nobles of Yingtian has actually been declining.

This is of course due to the strong rise of Zhu Guobi and Zhao Zhilong, but it is undeniable that Xu Yinjue's relatively simple mind also played a significant role.

But things in the world are always unpredictable. When the nobles were trying to get along well with the Duke of Baoguo and the Earl of Xincheng, the Duke of Wei, because of his simple mind, stood firmly on the side of the "fake prince". Even though the Duke of Baoguo made the same choice at the same time, everyone could see that the "fake prince" really regarded the Duke of Wei's Mansion as his right-hand man.

Afterwards, the "fake prince" gradually became the regent, and after repelling the Tartars, he ascended the throne and became emperor. The Duke of Wei's Mansion thus secured its position as the most meritorious official in the Jingwu Dynasty.

At the beginning, Xu Yinjue was of course somewhat complacent about reviving his family's fortunes. However, who would have thought that this complacency did not last long, as the Empress Dowager actually planned to make Xu Shaoyue the Crown Princess.

Under such circumstances, Xu Yinjue, who knew that the rise and fall of foreign relatives could be sudden, naturally found a way to postpone the marriage.

Originally, he thought that an emperor like His Majesty, who had fought his way through the army, would understand how serious this was. His own daughter had always been obedient and would not have any thoughts, so it would not be difficult to cancel this marriage that had not yet been made clear.

But I don't know what went wrong. My girl looked resentful those days, and His Majesty even asked the cabinet to make a direct proposal. In the end, those who wanted to propose other candidates gradually became silent under this pressure, and the marriage was settled just like that.

It was everyone's business. After the marriage was decided, Xu Yinjue sighed as soon as he returned home, as if he had suffered a huge trouble. However, the nobles of Yingtian didn't care about this. People with or without connections, or those who had no connections but wanted to force themselves to have connections, were like a swarm of fish that were about to break down the threshold of the Duke of Wei's mansion.

By these two days, the team that delivered the invitations to the palace included not only nobles, but also many civil officials and military generals, so that Xu Yinjue didn't know how to deal with it.

"The mission your majesty gave me is only to manage the river defense, and investigating the case is not within my authority. In this situation, even if I want to excuse you, I will do my best."

Looking at the people who had been waiting in his living room for a long time, Xu Yinjue finally declined tactfully.

Originally, everyone thought that the case of Ruan Dacheng's death in an attack would come to an end with the defeat of the Qing army and the surrender of the He family in Changxing. However, who would have thought that His Majesty would take advantage of the opportunity of transferring troops to the south and raid the homes of more than a dozen major families in Suzhou, Songjiang and northern Zhejiang overnight.

Each of these big families is prosperous and involved in many things. Even if there won't be too many people involved in a major event like a rebellion, the court will certainly carefully control the scope of the attack. However, after so many years of accumulated interactions, some people will worry that they will be swept in if they are not careful.

Therefore, more and more people came to Xu Yinjue to seek refuge.

"My Lord, although my family has some business dealings with the Chen family, we don't have the courage to get involved in something as big as treason."

"Since you are not involved, what are you afraid of?"

The person who spoke was the head of the Sun family in Taicang. He had the opportunity to enter the Duke's Mansion by following the path of Lingbi Marquis Tang Guozuo, but no one knew how many benefits he had offered.

The Sun family had produced officials at the level of six ministries several generations ago. Although there is only one descendant of the side branch working in the Ministry of Revenue, the family relationship formed back then has not been completely severed. So even if Xu Yinjue does not intend to help and has no ability to help, meeting him is still necessary.

After all, everyone knows that nothing lasts forever. The reason why the declining aristocratic families were able to make a comeback is that they all want to make some preparations for their own decline in advance.

"My Lord, please understand. My family is in Taicang. Wu Zhikui is the general of Wusong. The Chen family is in Suzhou. This..."

Having said that, the head of the Sun family glanced at Tang Guozuo who was sitting next to him without saying a word, and Tang Guozuo seemed to realize something and waved at him.

"The Duke has already known about your family's affairs. You go back first and let the Duke think about it. I will send someone to inform you if there is any news."

Seeing Tang Guozuo directly driving the people away, Xu Yinjue felt a sense of relief, but he couldn't help feeling a little confused.

This action obviously means that he wants to say something to me alone, but the relevant situation has been explained clearly by the Sun family before, so I don't know what else he has to say.

"Duke, what the Sun family is afraid of is not the case of treason."

Ok?
Hearing this, Xu Yinjue immediately showed his doubts on his face, but Tang Guozuo did not wait for him to ask and started to explain in detail.

A branch of the Sun family holds a position as a director in the Ministry of Revenue. Although this person does not hold a high position and is also a branch of the Sun family, he is only about 38 or 39 years old this year. If nothing unexpected happens, it should be no problem for him to become a vice minister when he retires.

This level is certainly inferior to the Sun family member who was at the minister level back then, but now the Sun family has been on a downward trend. If such a figure can emerge, the Sun family can survive for another one or two generations.

"What does this have to do with Wu Zhikui's case?"

After talking for a long time, Tang Guozuo was still harping on the head of the Ministry of Revenue of the Sun family. Xu Yinjue became impatient and asked him directly.

"Don't worry, Duke. The problem lies with the head of the Ministry of Revenue."

"Is he related to Wu Zhikui?"

Seeing that Xu Yinjue still hadn't figured out the key, Tang Guozuo continued talking.

The head of the Ministry of Revenue naturally had nothing to do with military leaders like Wu Zhikui, but the vacancy of the position of the Minister of Justice would lead to a series of personnel changes and a re-organization of the structure. Such turmoil would naturally have no impact on an outstanding person like Xu Yinjue, but a small head of the Ministry of Revenue could end up in an irreparable situation if he took a wrong step.

Therefore, the Sun family, who are in Taicang and have some vague connections with the mastermind of this case, naturally have to do their best to try to make their leader survive this.

Complex?
It's definitely complicated.

Are you helpless?
It's absolutely helpless.

The head of the Ministry of Revenue of the Sun family had nothing to do with the case itself, but just because he was born in Taicang, he might be affected by this slight connection.

But no matter how complicated or helpless it is, this is what it is like to be in officialdom, and it is something that must be accepted.

Otherwise, why would there be such a saying: think of change, think of danger, think of retreat.

just
"I can't control this."

After Tang Guozuo laid out the Sun family's idea in full, Xu Yinjue immediately said something quite firmly. Seeing this, Tang Guozuo seemed to still be unwilling to give up, so he began to explain again.

"They don't have any other intentions. They just want to make some preparations in advance. If nothing happens, it's fine. If there is something, they want to ask the Duke to take some measures." "Oh! I've been talking to you here, but I forgot the important matter!"

"Duke, please don't leave!"

"I still need to bring Annanbo to the palace to see the emperor today, please sit down for a while."

"The Duke! The Duke!"

As Tang Guozuo kept calling out, Xu Yinjue's figure did not stop for a moment.

To be honest, protecting a small leader in the possible aftermath is nothing to Xu Yinjue, but in his current situation, keeping a low profile is not enough, so how can he possibly reach out to the civil servants?
As I said, everyone was concerned about their own business. Others were only thinking about how to gain benefits from the future father-in-law of the emperor. Only Xu Yinjue was thinking about how to preserve his family.

However, today is indeed the day when Zheng Zhilong arrived in Yingtian, and Xu Yinjue did receive the emperor's order to bring him into the palace. If you look closely, it is not entirely the case that he took the opportunity to escape.

About an hour or two later, Xu Yinjue, who had been waiting for a long time at the Zhengyang Gate of Yingtian Inner City, finally saw Zheng Zhilong and his party approaching from afar.

Although both of them were welcomed by the Duke, Xu Yinjue's mentality at this time was slightly different from that of Zhu Guobi in Hangzhou.

At that time, Zhu Guobi knew the importance of Fujian and the Zheng family, but at the same time he looked down on the Zheng family because of their bandit origins. If it weren't for the fact that this Duke Baoguo was a shrewd man among shrewd men, it is possible that Zheng Zhilong would have felt what it meant to show his power.

Xu Yinjue's mentality was completely different from his. Although he knew that the Zheng family had to come to see the emperor due to the situation, he was quite close to Zhu Cilang and naturally knew that in the eyes of this majesty, the Ming Dynasty was still full of crises.

Under such circumstances, no matter why Zheng Zhilong came, he would not cause trouble for his "son-in-law" because of his own reasons.

"Oh! How could I have the honor to trouble the Duke to come and welcome you in person? It is such a sin, such a sin!"

"The Earl of Annan has guarded the southeast for our Ming Dynasty, and has made great contributions. Today, we have the opportunity to meet, so how can I, Xu, not come in person?"

"I, Zheng Zhilong, have been deeply blessed by the late emperor. Even if I die, I cannot guarantee a single chance of success. Today, I am so ashamed to receive the Duke's praise. How dare I accept it?"

"The Earl of Annan is loyal to his emperor and his country. He is truly a role model for our generation!"

After dealing with a rather meaningless scene, Zheng Zhilong, led by Xu Yinjue, entered the imperial city through the East Chang'an Gate.

Don’t be fooled by its name, as it is actually located in the south of the imperial city. To its left is Chengtian Gate, and to its left is West Chang’an Gate. In detail, these two Chang’an Gates are used by ministers to enter and exit the palace.

"Annanbo wait a moment."

At this place, foreign ministers like Zheng Zhilong could only enter with the emperor's order. Xu Yinjue apologized and went in person to report, while Zheng Zhilong stayed between Chengtian Gate and Duanmen inside and waited for the emperor to summon him.

Looking at this majestic palace and recalling the rather complicated regulations, Zheng Zhilong not only did not feel the slightest bit of impatience, but his awe of the imperial power increased a lot, and his originally calm mood inevitably began to churn.

Naturally, he made this decision under the pressure of the general situation, so when he saw the chaos in the court, he couldn't help but wait and see.

According to his understanding, Ruan Dacheng's death was equivalent to one of his chieftains being killed. If there were not powerful opposition forces within, such a situation would never have occurred.

As a result, he stayed in Hangzhou on the grounds of acclimatization, in order to see how the situation would develop before deciding whether to go to Yingtian to meet the emperor as originally planned.

Both Zhu Guobi and Yue Qijie saw this clearly. After all, Fujian and Zhejiang were connected, and it was impossible for a pirate like him, who was used to traveling around, to suffer from the local climate and environment.

However, since they claimed that they were not acclimatized to the local climate, local officials like Zhu and Yue could only show concern and care for them as much as possible, but they could not forcibly drive them away.

As a result, Zheng Zhilong remained dissatisfied for a whole month.

During this month, he carefully considered the case of Ruan Dacheng's murder from the perspective of an observer. After hearing the news that the murderers were a group of defeated Qing soldiers, he even considered returning to Fujian.

This is not difficult to understand. How could such a big thing be accomplished with such a small number of forces involved? The reason why these two people were thrown out to die was that the central government of the imperial court had extremely limited control over Jiangnan. Even though the local forces were already riding on their heads, the emperor had to admit this conclusion for the sake of face.

But who would have thought that just when he was about to leave Hangzhou, shocking news suddenly came.

Your Majesty not only directly captured Wusong General Wu Zhikui, but also wiped out more than a dozen large families in Jiangnan that had been passed down for generations in one night with the force of thunder and lightning.

What surprised him even more was that despite the ruthless actions of the imperial court, the local forces in Jiangnan were like ants on a hot pan, looking for ways to extricate themselves from the relationship, and not a single one of them had the intention of resisting.

What does this mean?
Zheng Zhilong, who was standing next to him, did not dare to jump to conclusion, but this pirate who had fought in the underworld for most of his life was sure that he would never dare to use such brutal methods on his fleet.

After figuring this out, Zheng Zhilong was glad that he did not rashly return to Fujian, and at the same time he began to make arrangements to go north to pay homage to the emperor.

"Your Majesty has ordered the Earl of Annan, the Vice Governor of the Front Military Governor's Office, and Zheng Zhilong to come to the palace for an audience."

"Your Majesty! Zheng Zhilong has received your order!"

He replied to the eunuch who delivered the imperial edict at the top of his voice, and then Zheng Zhilong quietly slipped a silver note into his hand. The two of them then went straight to the Qianqing Palace, one after the other, as if nothing had happened.

At this time, Zheng Zhilong didn't know whether it was because of the thunder that night or because of the solemnity that permeated every corner of the palace, but he followed the eunuch who led the way with his eyes straight ahead and a nervous face, just like an ordinary official. There was no trace of the majesty of the "King of Fujian" at all.

This is probably the repressive power that can only be possessed by imperial power combined with powerful forces. This is true for some people in Jiangnan, and it is also true for him, the "King of Fujian".

Even though they had some unspoken thoughts in their hearts, at this moment they could only bow down and behave themselves in front of the already fully-fledged emperor, not daring to put their thoughts into practice at all.

About an incense stick's time later, Zheng Zhilong arrived at the gate of the Qianqing Palace under the guidance of the young eunuch. After hearing a faint voice coming from inside, he trotted straight to the warm room inside.

"Your Majesty, I am the Earl of Annan and the Vice Governor of the Front Army Command Office. I, Zheng Zhilong, pay my respects to Your Majesty. May our emperor live long, long, long, long!"

(End of this chapter)