Gou was a member of the imperial family in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 615: Muddy Waters
"This bastard! He's looking for death!"

Zhu Shenzhui slapped the armrest heavily, with a murderous look on his face.

Although he had done something wrong in Jiexiu before, in order to avoid escalating the matter, Zhu Shenzhui did not attack Fan Yongdou again after sending people to kill and plunder the old house of the Fan family in Jiexiu. The Jiexiu Fan family incident was enough to make Fan Yongdou drink a pot. Years of accumulation were destroyed in an instant, and many people in the Fan family died. Most of the anger he had been holding back was also gone.

It's not that Zhu Shenzhui didn't want to take direct action against Fan Yongdou. The main reason was that the Jiexiu incident had just ended. If something happened to Fan Yongdou at this time, people would inevitably suspect that it was an action directly targeting the Fan family. To be on the safe side, he spared his life, but let people, including Zhou Anmin, blame the Jiexiu incident on the bandits, thus reducing a big matter to a small one.

In Zhu Shenzhui's opinion, the Fan family had such a big incident, and Fan Yongdou had suffered heavy losses. The old man was already in a state of panic, so he would be much quieter. And this was indeed the case. The Fan family kept a low profile after the Jiexiu incident. Although they had been investigating it afterwards, it was left unresolved due to the government's prevarication. Zhu Shenzhui, who was busy with other things, no longer cared about Fan Yongdou.

But everything that happened now made Zhu Shenzui very regretful. If he had known this would happen, he should have taken action against Fan Yongdou directly. Even if there were some risks, it would be worth it to just cut the weeds and eradicate them completely.

If Zhou Anmin had not said that just now, Zhu Shenzhui would not have suspected Fan Yongdou. But the problem was that Zhou Anmin's words instantly made Zhu Shenzhui suspect Fan Yongdou. If there was someone in the Ming Dynasty who had been secretly targeting Hengtong and knew some of Hengtong's secrets, Fan Yongdou was a very likely person.

Zhu Shenzhu investigated the caravan attack, the rebellion of the Ashe Timur tribe, and other incidents for a long time. Although the clues were eventually cut off by the other party, Zhu Shenzhu gradually suspected Fan Yongdou. In addition, Fan Yongdou had a close relationship with the Jiannu, so Zhu Shenzhu decided to attack the Jiexiu Fan family. Now, the occurrence of this incident and the news told by Zhou Anmin just prove that Fan Yongdou was behind all these things. Otherwise, how could it be such a coincidence?

So when Zhu Shenzhu blurted out Fan Yongdou's name, Zhou Anmin also reacted instantly. If he guessed correctly, this matter had a lot to do with Fan Yongdou, and behind Fan Yongdou was Huang Taiji of Liaodong.

"What a guts!" Zhou Anmin also looked unhappy, and said angrily, "I shouldn't have been soft-handed at the beginning, I should have solved the problem directly. I was careless for a moment and didn't think that this person would dare to do this? Little brother, don't worry about this matter, just let me handle it."

"Brother-in-law, let me handle this matter. Fan Yongdou must die! It's much easier for me to do it than for you..." Before Zhu Shenzhui could finish his words, Zhou Anmin waved his hand and said, "Let me do this. The Jinyiwei are not pushovers. Besides, this Fan dared to do this, so he must bear the consequences. It's more appropriate to handle this matter through official channels. Haha, didn't the capital ask me to investigate this matter? It's just right. I can use this as an excuse to uproot the Fan family and let this old guy know what it means to shoot himself in the foot!"

Zhu Shenzhui's eyes lit up immediately, and he hurriedly asked Zhou Anmin what method he was going to use. Zhou Anmin did not hide it from Zhu Shenzhui, and immediately told him his plan.

Zhou Anmin said that this was an easy thing to do. If Fan Yongdou threw dirty water on Hengtong and Zhu Shenzhui, he could use their strength to make him suffer the consequences.

The imperial court is now investigating the matter strictly, targeting Hengtong and the royal family in Shanxi. Since the emperor has spoken, it is impossible for Zhou Anmin, as the head of the Shanxi Jinyiwei, not to investigate. Not only must he investigate, but he must also give an explanation to his superiors.

Zhou Anmin planned to take this opportunity to conduct a large-scale investigation, using the authority of the Embroidered Uniform Guard to first suppress the royal family of Shanxi, including the Prince of Jin's Mansion and several other princes. As for generals such as Fengguo and Fuguo, the same thing would be done. If he made a bigger fuss, he could mess with these royal family members. It would be best if he could find out some problems and arrest a few of them, so as to build up momentum first.

Anyway, these high-ranking royal family members are not clean. Although the restrictions on royal family members in the Ming Dynasty are extremely strict, they are still royal family members and they still have privileges. In addition, they live in their fiefdoms and cannot leave. Many royal family members have psychological problems. They often engage in plundering and even bullying men and women. Moreover, those people around them, such as the chief secretary, housekeepers and eunuchs, often show off because of their royal family background. If you look into it carefully, there are many problems.

Make a fuss about this matter, and force these royal families, especially the Jinwang Mansion and several county princes' mansions, to compete with the imperial court. And then throw the dirty water on the Jiexiu Fan family, that is, Fan Yongdou.

As a famous Shanxi merchant, the Fan family naturally colluded with local officials in Shanxi, including the royal family. The Jinyiwei had already obtained the evidence. Moreover, Fan Yongdou himself was not clean. He followed Yuan Chonghuan's brother Yuan Chongyu to Liaodong to smuggle and earned a lot of money.

After Yuan Chonghuan fell from power, Yuan Chongyu went out to sea and disappeared, and the smuggling business in Liaodong fell into the hands of Fan Yongdou. At present, Fan Yongdou was the largest smuggler to Liaodong and a frequent guest of Huang Taiji.

This is exactly what Zhou Anmin can use, he can directly shift the focus of Hengtong to Fan Yongdou. As a famous Shanxi merchant, he not only has connections with the royal family and government, but also flirts with Huang Taiji of Liaodong, and secretly engages in large-scale smuggling. So isn't it natural for him to raise some private soldiers?
If it works well, it will not only divert the court's attention from Hengtong and Zhu Shenzhui, but also allow Fan Yongdou to take the blame. Didn't Fan Yongdou have a good plan? He thought he was doing it secretly, but he was exposed because of the informant. As long as he got the evidence, he would report it to the court. With the character of Emperor Chongzhen, he would be furious, especially because of the things between the Fan family and the Jiannu. It is impossible for him to be spared. Fan Yongdou's fate can be imagined.

"This is a good idea!" Zhu Shenzhu praised immediately.

Zhou Anmin's years of service as a Jinyiwei were not in vain. He came up with this idea in such a short time. It was not only a way to use the opponent's strength to fight the opponent's strength, but also a way to divert the trouble. Even if it could not completely solve the crisis of Hengtong, it could at least shift the target and reduce the pressure on Hengtong. On the way back to Daming, Zhu Shenzhui considered the worst consequences. If the current problem could not be solved, then Zhu Shenzhui had only one way to go, which was to launch the attack in advance.

Although launching the attack ahead of time was not in Zhu Shencui's plan, it was better to launch the attack than to sit and wait for death, right? Moreover, Zhu Shencui was different from Gao Yingxiang and others. He had been planning for many years and his hidden strength was not weak. Even if it failed in the end, Zhu Shencui still had a retreat to the grassland. At this time, he could not care too much and could only take one step at a time.

But now the suggestion put forward by Zhou Anmin made him see another way to solve the problem. Although this method was a bit surprising, it was not bad when he thought about it carefully, especially if he could take the opportunity to kill Fan Yongdou and completely destroy the Fan family, it would be a way to vent his anger.

And if it works well, maybe it can clear Hengtong of suspicion and let this matter pass peacefully. If this is the result, then Zhu Shenzhui does not need to start in advance and continue to lie dormant and wait for a better opportunity.

Even if it fails, it can delay the time so as not to start the operation too early and be unprepared.

The two of them immediately discussed it, and soon decided to do this, throwing Fan Yongdou out as a scapegoat and letting him shoot himself in the foot.

"By the way, brother-in-law, if you take action against the royal family, how far can you go?" Zhu Shenzhui suddenly asked.

"What? What are your plans?" Zhou Anmin heard the hidden meaning of Zhu Shenzhu's words and asked back with narrowed eyes.

Zhu Shenzhui smiled and said, "Since we want to let the royal family and the imperial court compete, we have to make them feel threatened, or even furious. If it's just a few moves that don't hurt, the royal family will swallow their anger and the effect will not be very good."

Zhou Anmin thought carefully and nodded silently: "That makes sense, but it's not so easy to take action against the royal family. I have to think carefully about how to do it more appropriately. Let's do this after the people from the capital come. If we can also get the masters from the capital involved, we will have a much better chance of success."

"Then I'll leave it to my brother-in-law." Zhu Shenzhui said with a smile and bowed.

Zhou Anmin was very happy and shook his head, saying, "It's just a small matter, little brother. If I guess correctly, you have other plans for doing this, right?"

Zhu Shenzhui smiled without saying anything. Zhou Anmin had a better idea in his mind. He knew what Zhu Shenzhui wanted to do. However, it was not a bad thing to do this. It might even be a good thing. He, Zhou Anmin, would not have any psychological burden at all.

That night, Zhu Shenzui stayed in Zhou Anmin's house, but he couldn't fall asleep while lying on the bed. After drinking, his mind became much clearer.

He thought carefully about today's plan with Zhou Anmin, as well as some subsequent arrangements, and considered all possible changes and solutions.

After a long time, Zhu Shenzhui finally finished his speech and fell asleep peacefully. When he opened his eyes again, it was already the next morning. After getting up and washing up, Zhu Shenzhui went to see Zhou Anmin and talked with him for a long time.

Zhou Anmin's judgment was correct. On the third day after Zhu Shenzhui arrived in Taiyuan, the capital sent people. Not only was there Wu Mengming, the governor of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, but there was also a eunuch accompanying him. This eunuch turned out to be Du Xun, the seal-holding eunuch of the Imperial Kitchen. Although Du Xun did not have as high a status in the palace as Wang Chengen and Cao Huachun, nor was he the writing eunuch of the Silijian, as the seal-holding eunuch of the Imperial Kitchen, he was one of the most trusted eunuchs of Emperor Chongzhen.

After all, the Shangshenjian was one of the Twelve Academies, in charge of the emperor's and the palace's meals and banquets, which meant that Du Xun was responsible for all the food the emperor ate. If he was not a trusted eunuch, he would not be able to sit in this position, especially someone as suspicious as Emperor Chongzhen.

(End of this chapter)