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

Chapter 621 Don’t care

Zhou Anmin had known about Du Xun and Wu Mengming's plan for a long time, so how could he let them stay out of it? While he was rigorously investigating the case, he continued to put pressure on the various royal palaces and clans, but on the surface he pretended to be helpless.

During all these years in Shanxi, Zhou Anmin and the royal families of various palaces kept to themselves on the surface, but it was impossible to say that they had no contact. After all, although the royal family of the Ming Dynasty had no real power, they had privileges, and as a Jinyiwei, it was impossible for him to avoid interacting with them.

While exerting pressure, Zhou Anmin secretly sent people to pass messages to several princes and leading figures in the royal family, telling them that he had no choice. Moreover, although he was a member of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, he could be considered half a royal family member. You should know that he, Zhou Anmin, married a princess of the royal family, and his two sons had half the blood of the Zhu family.

This time, it was the emperor who sent people to investigate the case, and he, as the head of the Shanxi Jinyiwei, was just cooperating. Moreover, he had already mentioned it to Du Xun and Wu Mengming, hoping that this matter could be resolved, but these two people ignored him in order to gain merit, and even forced him to investigate thoroughly.

In addition to this matter, there is also the matter of Hengtong. Hengtong has been a wealthy merchant among Shanxi merchants in recent years, and when establishing Hengtong Bank, Zhu Shenzhu had thought of attracting the royal family to join it, and distributed some shares to the Jin Palace and other royal palaces.

Although these shares are not much and do not play a decisive role in Hengtong's operation, the benefits are real. More importantly, with the continuous expansion of money houses, the use of silver bills is extremely convenient. In Shanxi, where Hengtong is based, silver bills have become the first choice for many merchants, including wealthy families, including the royal palaces and royal clans.

Now the affairs of the Fan family in Jiexiu have become a mess. Once Hengtong is investigated and Hengtong falls, everyone's interests will be damaged. The extent of the loss, including the area of ​​loss, is not small and no one can bear it.

Upon learning the news Zhou Anmin had secretly passed on, the various royal palaces, clans and local officials were extremely hateful towards Du Xun and Wu Mengming. Especially after investigations proved some of what Zhou Anmin had said, they were even more convinced that the whole situation was caused by these two villains.

In order to escape punishment, these people begged Zhou Anmin not to continue the strict investigation, or at least to help delay some time. On the other hand, they used their connections to ask the emperor for mercy, and asked officials in the capital to write to the emperor to speak for them.

Zhou Anmin agreed to their request, and on the surface he made a big fuss, but in fact he slowed down the investigation and gave them ample time. When these people began to mobilize and put pressure on Emperor Chongzhen by using their power inside and outside the palace, including the court, to make him stop the matter, Emperor Chongzhen in the capital immediately felt great pressure.

For a time, the court, including the imperial family, was in an uproar, and all kinds of memorials were pouring in. Some of these memorials were pleading for the imperial family, some were accusing Du Xun and Wu Mengming of handling the case with selfish motives, intending to expand the scope of the case to attack the imperial family and officials for their own benefit. Others were begging Emperor Chongzhen to consider that they were all imperial family members, and not to pursue them relentlessly even if there were problems with the imperial family. After all, they were all members of the Zhu family, and even if the bones were broken, the tendons were still connected, so why should we make fun of them for outsiders?
Faced with these circumstances, Emperor Chongzhen, who had originally intended to investigate and deal with the case strictly, began to hesitate. Emperor Chongzhen was a stubborn and hesitant person. As decisive as he was at the beginning, he was now as hesitant. For a moment, he didn't know whether to continue or let it go.

But at this time, Zhou Anmin in Shanxi launched another attack. Under the pretext of strict investigation, he secretly set up a plot against Wu Mengming's men, which frightened the general of the Xihe County King's family so much that he became seriously ill and died a few days later. This incident immediately aroused the fear and indignation of all the royal families in Shanxi. Upon hearing the news, Emperor Chongzhen had no choice but to stop the case in order to avoid exacerbating the conflict, and ordered Du Xun and Wu Mengming to return to Beijing immediately.

When the decree reached Shanxi, Du Xun and Wu Mengming looked extremely unhappy. At this point, they could no longer realize that Zhou Anmin had plotted against them, and they had eaten their rice for nothing for so many years.

I spent the whole day hunting geese, but was pecked in the eye by a goose. I felt so depressed that I didn't know where to vent it. It was really uncomfortable.

"This Zhou Anmin actually used this trick on me? Good! Good! Good!" Wu Mengming laughed angrily. Compared to him, Du Xun was much calmer and more steady.

After taking a look at Wu Mengming, Du Xun shook his head secretly. He thought that Zhou Anmin could not be blamed for this kind of thing. After all, it was you, Wu Mengming, who plotted against the other party first, but you didn't expect that you were plotted against by the other party instead. Who can you blame for this?
Besides, Zhou Anmin was Wu Mengming's lifesaver. You, Wu Mengming, didn't repay him but plotted against him. It's good enough that Zhou Anmin didn't dig a hole to bury you after he found out. Now that things have gotten to this point, the investigation is definitely not going to continue. Emperor Chongzhen has called a halt in the capital and ordered them to return to Beijing. When they get to the capital, Wu Mengming will definitely not have a good time.

Du Xun was not an official, but a eunuch. Eunuchs were the emperor's servants, so they naturally followed the emperor's ideas. He did whatever his master told him to do, and didn't need to think about anything else. Moreover, although he was the main person in charge of Shanxi this time, it was the Jinyiwei who did the work. As the co-director of the Jinyiwei, Wu Mengming was bound to take responsibility.

Du Xun felt that Wu Mengming would be in trouble after returning to the capital. He might even lose his job and go to jail. After all, a member of the royal family had died, and he was a middle- and high-ranking member of the royal family like the general who guarded the country. He had offended so many officials in the palace, including local officials and the court. Would they let Wu Mengming go? Of course it was impossible. Du Xun had learned how to protect himself in the palace for so many years. At this time, Du Xun had already thought of how to put all the responsibility on Wu Mengming. As the saying goes, it is better to let a friend die than to let me die. He, Du Xun, couldn't suffer the same misfortune with Wu Mengming, right?
Du Xun immediately joined in and cursed Zhou Anmin a few times. He sighed and said, "Since the emperor has issued an order, you and I should obey the order and return to the capital as soon as possible. When we arrive in the capital, we will report to the emperor. As for what happens next, the emperor will decide."

"Eunuch Du, can we just leave this matter alone? Don't you think there must be something wrong with Zhou Anmin? I feel that Hengtong is not as simple as it seems, and there may be something big going on..." Wu Mengming said unwillingly, intending to ask Du Xun to help him think of a solution. If possible, Du Xun would send a message to Emperor Chongzhen in the name of a eunuch, asking them to postpone their return to Beijing. He, Wu Mengming, would personally handle the next case and get to the bottom of it.

Du Xun looked at Wu Mengming and shook his head, "Big deal? What big deal? You have evidence? What else can you do? Sir Wu, you are a Jinyiwei, how to investigate the case is your business. I am the emperor's servant, since the emperor has ordered it, I will naturally act according to the emperor's order."

"If Lord Wu wants to continue investigating, I can't do anything about it. Anyway, I will leave for Beijing tomorrow. When I see the emperor, if he asks about Lord Wu, I will report it to him."

"Eunuch!" Wu Mengming suddenly became anxious. He knew very well that if he went back home like this, Du Xun might be fine, but he might be in trouble.

Without waiting for Wu Mengming to continue, Du Xun waved his hand and said, "Please go ahead, Lord Wu. I'm a little tired. I have to set off to return to Beijing tomorrow. The journey is not short. I have to go and rest first."

After saying this, Du Xun no longer paid any attention to Wu Mengming, got up and left, and disappeared in the blink of an eye.

Seeing that Du Xun did not give him a chance to speak and behaved like this, Wu Mengming was speechless and didn't know what to do. He stared blankly in the direction where Du Xun left. After a long while, he clenched his fists and hit his thighs with his hands, and his face became extremely ugly.

Du Xun returned to his residence, and just after he entered the room, there was a gentle knock on the door.

He cleared his throat and said "come in", and a young eunuch walked in from outside. After entering the room, he turned around and closed the door first, then trotted over to Du Xun, put his mouth close to Du Xun's ear and whispered a few words.

"Is that what Lord Zhou said?" Du Xun's eyes suddenly lit up after hearing this and he asked hurriedly.

"In reply to your question, father, I dare not lie. This is what Lord Zhou said." The young eunuch nodded, then took out two things from his arms and handed them over: "This is the memorial that Lord Zhou asked father to give to the emperor on his behalf, and also Lord Zhou's filial piety to father. In addition, Lord Zhou also said that this time, thanks to father's mediation, he is very grateful to father. If you need any errands in the future, just pass on the message..."

Du Xun nodded slightly, but after receiving it, he did not look at it immediately, but waved his hand. The young eunuch was very tactful and turned away immediately. After he left the room and closed the door, Du Xun took a closer look at the two things. One of them was a memorial from the Jinyiwei of Shanxi to Emperor Chongzhen. He opened the memorial and read the contents. After reading it, Du Xun was completely relieved. Zhou Anmin said a lot of good things for him in the memorial, and also took all the problems out of him and pushed them to Wu Mengming. Not only that, according to the memorial, he, Du Xun, was not only innocent this time, but also meritorious. Apart from other things, just the confiscation of the property of the Fan family, including the property of several local officials, brought a lot of benefits to Emperor Chongzhen.

As for the other thing, Du Xun smiled when he opened the envelope. There was actually a thick stack of Hengtong's silver notes inside. After counting, it turned out to be 10,000 taels, which was not a small amount. What did it mean to hand these silver notes to him privately? Du Xun naturally knew it well. At this moment, he knew even more clearly that Hengtong must have something to do with Zhou Anmin, otherwise Zhou Anmin would not do this.

But even if he knew, what would it matter? Du Xun was not Wu Mengming. Moreover, Emperor Chongzhen had already made a decision. Continuing to pursue these things would not only do him no good but would cause him trouble. Du Xun was not stupid, so why would he do this?
Now that he has received the benefit, wouldn't it be more appropriate to pretend to be ignorant, or even cover it up in front of Emperor Chongzhen? Moreover, the Hengtong incident was originally groundless, with no real evidence at all. Now there is the Jiexiu Fan family incident. Du Xun had already thought about how to report to Emperor Chongzhen. With his degree of favor in front of Emperor Chongzhen and his eloquence, it is not difficult to cover up this matter.

(End of this chapter)