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

Chapter 620 Stirring up the storm
Half an hour later, not far from where Du Xun and Wu Mengming lived, in the backyard of the Jinyiwei Yamen, Zhou Anmin and Zhu Shenzui were concentrating on looking at a record.

This record records the details of the conversation between Du Xun and Wu Mengming, and it is recorded word for word.

Du Xun and Wu Mengming never expected that the Shanxi Jinyiwei had already been blocked by Zhou Anmin, and Zhou Anmin had also been careful when arranging their accommodation. Although the place where they lived was guarded by Du Xun and Wu Mengming's men and outsiders could not get in at all, they never expected that there were passages and secret rooms under the residence, where the people arranged by Zhou Anmin were hiding.

From this point of view, every move of Du Xun and Wu Mengming was under Zhou Anmin's surveillance. Not to mention their conversations, even what they did while lying in bed and what they said in their sleep, Zhou Anmin monitored it clearly.

After reading the records, Zhou Anmin's face looked a little ugly. Although he had been on guard against these two people for a long time, he did not expect that they would be so difficult to deal with. Especially Wu Mengming, this kid was ungrateful. Not only did he not consider his life-saving grace, he even wanted to use him as a knife and a chess piece to make a stepping stone for his own advancement.

"Brother-in-law, why get angry with the villain? Besides, what they did is not a bad thing for you and me." Zhu Shenzui's expression was much calmer. After all, he had made preparations for the worst before returning to Ming Dynasty. Now he had gained the opportunity and time to deal with it. Naturally, he didn't want Zhou Anmin to be so angry.

Zhou Anmin clenched his fists, suppressed the anger in his heart, and sneered a few times, "You are right, there is really no need to be angry for the villain. Haha, this is also good, since these two people intend to start with the Fan family, it is just what they want. However, it will not be so easy for them to stay out of it. Once this fire is lit, they will have no choice..."

After a pause, Zhou Anmin turned to look at Zhu Shenzhui and said, "But you have to be prepared. If this doesn't work, you can..."

Zhu Shenzhui nodded seriously. He understood Zhou Anmin's reminder. In fact, this matter had already been arranged after he arrived in Ming Dynasty.

The next day, Du Xun and Wu Mengming called Zhou Anmin to discuss the matter and quickly decided to investigate the Fan family in Jiexiu first.

Zhou Anmin, who had known the two men's plan, naturally would not refuse. He agreed on the spot and handed over some of the evidence he had found to Du Xun.

While Du Xun was sending the evidence to the capital by express horse and handing it over to Emperor Chongzhen, Zhou Anmin was not idle either. He immediately began to make preparations to attack the Fan family in Jiexiu.

The Shanxi Jinyiwei was dispatched in large numbers, and in just a few days they captured the Jiexiu Fan family and several officials who were in collusion with the Fan family. Among them, Fan Yongdou's two sons were arrested, and the rest of the Fan family members who had suffered the Jiexiu incident also did not escape, but the head of the Fan family, Fan Yongdou himself, was missing. After investigation, it was learned that Fan Yongdou had escaped from the city through a tunnel first, and his whereabouts were unknown.

Zhou Anmin ordered the arrest of Fan Yongdou and blocked the border to prevent him from escaping to Liaodong. But after a few days, Fan Yongdou was still missing and no one knew whether he was dead or alive.

Although Fan Yongdou was not arrested, the other members of the Fan family were caught in one fell swoop. This incident directly shocked the whole of Shanxi. The huge Fan family ended up like this overnight. The other Shanxi merchants were all grief-stricken. You have to know that Shanxi merchants are a group, and the various families have intricate connections. The fall of the Fan family may implicate other families. Once it expands, who can guarantee that nothing will happen?
Moreover, behind every Shanxi merchant there is a background in officialdom. It can even be said that some Shanxi merchants are representatives of aristocratic families, especially the Zhang and Wang families, which have produced high-ranking officials and even cabinet ministers. They have many students and former officials in the court. Not only do they have great influence in the local area, they also have considerable say in the court.

In addition, the Fan family secretly engaged in smuggling trade with the Jiannu. Many Shanxi merchants knew about this. Some of them even cooperated with the Fan family to get a piece of the pie.

The Fan family was arrested, and it was reported that the reason for the arrest was that the Fan family colluded with the Jiannu to betray the Ming Dynasty. After hearing this news, which other Shanxi merchants who had dealings with the Fan family would not be afraid? If they were implicated, it would be a disaster for the Fan family to suffer the same fate.

In addition to the Shanxi merchants, the officialdom was also shaken, because several local officials implicated in the Fan family case were arrested, including the prefect of Fenzhou Prefecture and the magistrate of Jiexiu County. In addition, not only were the Fan family's properties in Zhangjiakou confiscated, but the lieutenant generals, guerrillas and other officers in Zhangjiakou were also in trouble. They were directly captured by the Jinyiwei sent by the capital and escorted to the capital. For a time, everyone was in danger, but this was not over yet. With the letters and evidence found in the search of the Fan family, it was not only proved that the Fan family had colluded with the Jiannu, but also several royal family members were involved, including the Qingcheng County Prince's Mansion.

The fief of Prince Qingcheng was in Fenzhou Prefecture, while the old house of the Fan family was in Jiexiu, which was a county under Fenzhou. It was natural that the Fan family could not make a fortune in Jiexiu without the support of local people. Over the years, several generations of Prince Qingcheng had received a lot of tributes from the Fan family. It was precisely because of the protection of Prince Qingcheng's Mansion and local officials that the Fan family became prosperous later.

When Emperor Chongzhen received a report from Shanxi and learned that the incident involving the Fan family in Jiexiu implicated the Prince Qingcheng's Mansion, he became extremely angry.

Speaking of the Prince Qingcheng's Mansion, this branch can be said to be an oddity among the royal family. Throughout the dynasties, the Prince Qingcheng's family is the best at committing suicide. There were cases such as the case of the brothers of General Zhu Qicheng, who assisted the country, fighting over the family property, the case of the palace's etiquette guests snatching the salary rice, the case of the royal family gathering to attack, the case of General Zhu Qijing forcibly marrying his nephew's wife, and so on. It can be said that over the past hundred years, the royal family of Prince Qingcheng's Mansion has committed almost all the crimes that can be committed, except for the case of treason.

It was precisely because of this that Emperor Chongzhen flew into a rage upon learning that the affairs of the Jiexiu Fan family involved the Prince of Qingcheng's Mansion. He issued an edict to severely reprimand the current Prince of Qingcheng Zhu Qiufu and ordered the Embroidered Uniform Guard to conduct a thorough investigation.

Zhou Anmin did not hesitate to send the Embroidered Uniform Guard to surround the Prince of Qingcheng's Mansion. At the same time, he took control of the Prince of Qingcheng's royal family and began to investigate the case.

Although Zhu Qiufu is of a lower generation, he is not young. He succeeded to the throne of Prince in the 38th year of Wanli and is now nearly 50 years old.

As a prince, Zhu Qiufu had never suffered in his life, and he either drank and enjoyed himself or spent his days with beautiful women in the palace. How could he have experienced such a scene? When the order of Emperor Chongzhen was delivered and the fierce Jinyiwei surrounded the palace, Zhu Qiufu was frightened and complained that he, as a prince, did not care about the affairs of the palace, and did not know about the smuggling and profiteering of Fan Yongdou and the Jiannu, and had never intervened in any specific arrangements.

This matter had nothing to do with him, it was all done by his subordinates, and he was wronged. But Zhou Anmin produced real evidence, including the correspondence between Fan Yongdou and the Prince's Mansion. These letters proved that Zhu Qiufan was behind the collusion between the Fan family and the Jiannu. It was because of the Prince's Mansion that Fan Yongdou was so unscrupulous in the Ming Dynasty, and he colluded with local officials and even border troops to smuggle materials to Liaodong on a large scale in order to make huge profits.

Faced with these evidences, Zhu Qiufu had no way to quibble. He could only admit that he did receive benefits from the Fan family, but that was all. How could he know what the Fan family had done specifically? Moreover, the Fan family had given tribute to so many people over the years, not only the Qingcheng County Prince's Mansion, but also the Yonghe County Prince and the Xihe County Prince had received tribute from the Fan family.

By the way, the Prince of Jin is also included, and everyone is doing the same thing, so why do you have to target yourself? This is not fair!
In order to prove what he said, Zhu Qiufu also produced some evidence. When Zhou Anmin got the evidence, he directly sent someone to deliver it to Emperor Chongzhen. When Emperor Chongzhen saw Zhu Qiufu's confession and the evidence he produced, he was furious. He never thought that the royal family of the Ming Dynasty would be so rotten that the princes and dukes colluded with businessmen, sold out national interests and made profits through smuggling, and ignored the safety of the Ming Dynasty?
Faced with such a situation, the furious Emperor Chongzhen directly ordered the Shanxi Jinyiwei to continue the investigation. Zhou Anmin was waiting for Chongzhen's reply. After receiving the order, he turned the spearhead from Zhu Qiufu to several other clan members in a big way, especially to the Prince of Jin's Mansion, where he went in person to inquire about the case. Such a change caught everyone off guard.

Du Xun and Wu Mengming originally planned to use Zhou Anmin as a pawn to deal with the Jiexiu Fan family first and then free up their hands to investigate Hengtong. They did not expect that just the Jiexiu Fan family would involve so many people. As the case became more and more expanded, and Emperor Chongzhen directly intervened in the case, the situation was already showing signs of getting out of control.

In order to prevent the situation from getting out of control, Du Xun and Wu Mengming found Zhou Anmin and suggested suppressing the matter and not going too far. Zhou Anmin smiled bitterly and took out the decree directly issued by Emperor Chongzhen, saying that he didn't want to do this either, but now that the emperor had issued an edict, he could do nothing about it. Moreover, he was of low rank and had no say at all. If the situation wanted to be controlled, Du Xun or Wu Mengming could only directly dissuade Emperor Chongzhen. One of them was the chief eunuch of the Twelve Prisons, and the other was the Tongzhi of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, second only to the commander-in-chief. Both of them were favorites in front of the emperor, and one of them could be more effective in front of the emperor than ten or a hundred words from themselves.

Facing Zhou Anmin's attitude, Du Xun and Wu Mengming could only look at each other in bewilderment. In this situation, instead of following the emperor's wishes, they dissuaded the emperor. Isn't this playing against the emperor? Du Xun and Wu Mengming were both old foxes. How could they do something that would anger the emperor? Besides the initial push, they basically stood by and watched the whole process. They originally planned to let Zhou Anmin charge in the front, but no one expected that it would eventually develop to such an extent.

Now, the matter is getting bigger and bigger, and the two of them feel like they have shot themselves in the foot. If they had known this would happen, they should not have let Zhou Anmin torment them, but it is too late to stop now. Even if they are unwilling, they can only bite the bullet and move on.

(End of this chapter)