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

Chapter 629 Intimidation
"You...you...who are you?"

"Haha." Zhu Shenzhui smiled, and suddenly his expression changed: "Since you ask me? Then I'll tell you!"

"I am a descendant of the third son of Emperor Taizu, Prince Jin, the grandson of Prince Jiaocheng, the ancestor of the current Ming Emperor Zhu Youjian, and the Lieutenant General Zhu Shenzhui!"

"By the way, I am not only a member of the Ming royal family and the ancestor of the emperor, but also the owner of Hengtong. Since you brought people to Shanxi to look for me, how come you don't know my identity? How come you can't recognize me now that I am in person? This is simply ridiculous."

Li Guofu was stunned when these words came out. He could hardly believe his ears.

Li Guofu naturally knew why he came to Shanxi this time. As Zhu Shenzhui said, he was doing a mission under the emperor's order, and his mission was related to Zhou Anmin, Hengtong, and the royal family of Pingyang Prefecture who were involved with Hengtong of the Shanxi Jinyiwei. In order to keep it secret, Li Guofu and his party did not make a big fanfare, nor did they mobilize troops like last time. He had planned to meet Zhou Anmin first after arriving in Taiyuan, and take him down directly when Zhou Anmin was not prepared. Once Zhou Anmin was dealt with and the Shanxi Jinyiwei was controlled, then the matter would be half done.

Therefore, Li Guofu brought only a few followers of the Jinyiwei with him, except for the men of the Imperial Horse Administration. In his opinion, this mission was not difficult. He could first control Zhou Anmin, then continue south and directly reach Pingyang, and at the same time directly mobilize the troops of the guards in Taiyuan, Pingyang and other places. In his opinion, it was easy to deal with a mere Hengtong Trading Company, and it was even easier for the royal family members in Pingyang Prefecture. Once he arrived, wouldn't these people just surrender?

But Li Guofu never expected that he would be intercepted on the way to Taiyuan before he even arrived there. He didn't know what happened to the dozens of people who escorted him. Maybe they were secretly killed by Zhu Shenzhui. He originally came to kill Zhu Shenzhui, but now he was killed by Zhu Shenzhui first. Li Guofu was shocked and didn't know how to face it for a while.

“You...you..." Li Guofu was shocked.

Seeing Li Guofu like this, Zhu Shenzhui smiled and shook his head. He asked Li Guofu how he felt when he saw him now. Didn't he come to Shanxi to find him, Zhu Shenzhui? The imperial edict clearly stated that he was going to attack him, Zhu Shenzhui, including Zhou Anmin and others. Why did he have this expression when he saw him now?

Li Guofu felt his mouth dry and he didn't know what to say for a moment. His legs were shaking uncontrollably and he was barely able to stand.

"Eunuch Li seems to be unwell? Someone, come! Bring a chair over for Eunuch Li." Zhu Shenzhui said, and instantly someone brought a chair and placed it in front of Li Guofu. Before Li Guofu could react, the other person pushed Li Guofu to sit down.

Li Guofu did not resist, he sat down, looked up at Zhu Shenzhui in front of him, and hurriedly explained: "I have been in the capital for a long time. This time I came here on the order of the emperor. I have not offended the lieutenant. From what I see, there may be some misunderstanding. I don't know why the lieutenant treats me like this. If there is any injustice, please tell me. I will definitely defend the lieutenant in front of the emperor. Why is it so?"

"The lieutenant is a member of the royal family of the Ming Dynasty and a descendant of the Jin vassal. What the lieutenant did today was unwise. The lieutenant should not make a mistake. Moreover, the emperor never intended to attack the royal family. He only sent us here to investigate..."

"Oh, did I misunderstand?" Zhu Shenzhui sneered and pointed at the imperial edict: "What's going on with this edict? Could it be that what is written in the imperial edict is different from what you said?"

"Of course not!" Li Guofu hurriedly explained: "Although this decree was issued by the emperor, the emperor was also deceived. Some time ago, there were rumors in the capital that someone from the Pingyang royal family seemed to have done something wrong with Hengtong. In addition, the Shanxi Jinyiwei was suspected of colluding with the royal family. The emperor was worried about his safety in the capital, so he specially asked me to go there to find out the truth."

"Lieutenant, you have read this decree. It does not mean to punish you! The emperor only intends to invite the royal family to the capital. The royal family of the Ming Dynasty is one body. As the saying goes, even if the bones are broken, the tendons are still connected..."

Li Guofu's forehead was full of sweat. He kept explaining and persuading. Anyway, his words were saying that he came to Shanxi not as Zhu Shenzhui thought, but simply acted on the emperor's orders. Moreover, Chongzhen's imperial edict did not say to kill Zhou Anmin and Zhu Shenzhui. It was just to find a reason to control Li Guofu after he arrived in order to investigate the truth, and then follow the clues to find out and report. In addition, even if Zhu Shenzhui was arrested, the final right of disposal was in the hands of Emperor Chongzhen. Li Guofu was just an errand boy, and he had no right to do anything to Zhu Shenzhui and others.

Zhu Shenzhui asked further. Although the imperial edict of Emperor Chongzhen did not say it clearly, he understood the meaning. Moreover, the royal family of Shanxi had always been loyal to the Ming Dynasty and had no other intentions. Regardless of whether Hengtong and Zhu Shenzhui really had any relationship, even if there was a connection, it would not be illegal. Why did they attack him?

As for Li Guofu's explanation, he was not a fool. He sent eunuchs to Shanxi and planned to take action against Zhou Anmin first. Who among the royal family in Shanxi didn't know that Zhou Anmin was his brother-in-law? It was not clear what it meant to take down Zhou Anmin? After Zhou Anmin was dealt with, the royal family in Pingyang would be the next to deal with. I'm afraid no one, including Zhu Shenzhu, would be able to get away with it.

Don't forget that a few months ago, the general of the Xihe County King's family was frightened and died of a serious illness because of the Jiexiu Fan family incident. This incident caused a sensation among the Shanxi royal family. Now the court still refuses to give up. After investigating the Jiexiu Fan family incident, it turned around and investigated the Pingyang royal family. Could it be that the royal family of the Ming Dynasty is not as good as ordinary people? As the Son of Heaven, how could Emperor Chongzhen not tolerate even the royal family?

Seeing Zhu Shenzhui asking this, Li Guofu hurriedly explained that Emperor Chongzhen never had such thoughts, but someone had been persuading him and wrote to the emperor, which led to the current decision. It was not Emperor Chongzhen's original intention to come to Shanxi, but someone instigated him. Otherwise, Emperor Chongzhen would not have only ordered to control Zhou Anmin and investigate the Hengtong and Pingyang clans in the imperial edict. If he wanted to take direct action against them, he would not have let Li Guofu come with only a few dozen people, let alone mobilize the army.

"So, Your Majesty has no plans to take action against the royal family?" Zhu Shenzhui asked with doubt.

"I can guarantee that the emperor has no such plan." Li Guofu heard Zhu Shenzhu's tone seemed to slow down, and hurriedly explained: "When leaving the capital, the emperor also specifically told us not to make a big fuss when we arrived in Shanxi. Jinyiwei Zhou was only suspended from his post, and he did not explicitly demote him or arrest him. Even the lieutenant and other members of the royal family were also told that they were only asked to question us, and there was no plan to attack the royal family!"

"So, I have wrongly accused Your Majesty?" Zhu Shenzhui asked hesitantly, but suddenly his face changed and he said, "No! If Your Majesty said so, why didn't you just issue an order to investigate, but sent you out of the capital? Li Guofu! You are full of lies! How can I believe you?"

"Every word we say is true. If I lie, my descendants will be extinct! I would never dare to deceive the lieutenant!" Li Guofu was sweating and talking nonsense. How could he have imagined that the job that was almost certain to happen would become like this? Zhu Shenzui's face was full of anger and disbelief, and the people on his left and right looked ferocious and didn't seem like good people. Now he was at the mercy of others. Zhu Shenzui even dared to tie himself up, so what else could he not do?
If he said the wrong thing, Zhu Shenzhu might have used him as a scapegoat and his head would have been gone. Although Li Guofu was a eunuch, he valued his life and was unwilling to lose his head in such a muddle. Li Guofu hurriedly continued to explain, swearing that Emperor Chongzhen had no intention of taking action against the royal family, and that he made this decision only because he believed the slander of others.

The fault is not with the emperor, but with the traitor who spread the slander! Moreover, when he left Beijing, he persuaded Emperor Chongzhen and reminded him that the royal family was originally one with the Ming Dynasty. How could he do such a thing? In addition, he had sent people to Shanxi once before, but nothing was found at that time. Now he continued to investigate, but there was no real evidence at all. It is very likely that this matter was done deliberately by someone in order to alienate the relationship between the royal family and the royal family!
Unfortunately, Li Guofu was a lowly person, and his words had no effect. In the end, he could only obey the imperial order and leave Beijing. But even so, Li Guofu never thought that there would be any problems in Shanxi. He came here just to go through the motions, but he didn't expect that he would be brought here without knowing why as soon as he entered Shanxi. He felt really wronged.

Zhu Shenzhui didn't believe a word of Li Guofu's words. How could he not know what kind of people eunuchs were? Moreover, Zhu Shenzhui had already investigated Li Guofu's character. This guy was not very old, but he climbed to the position of eunuch of the Imperial Horse Supervisor. You should know that the Imperial Horse Supervisor has a high status among the twelve supervisors, ranking fifth after the Sili Supervisor, Neigong Supervisor, Yuyong Supervisor, and Sishe Supervisor. However, in fact, the power of the Imperial Horse Supervisor is not small, because the duty of the Imperial Horse Supervisor is to manage the palace ban for the emperor and supervise the Beijing camp, and he has military power in his hands. From this point of view, Li Guofu's status in the palace is much higher than Du Xun.

The key reason why Li Guofu was able to take this position was that he had a good godfather. He was the adopted son of Han Zanzhou, the chief eunuch of the Imperial Household Department. Han Zanzhou's position in the Imperial Household Department was second only to Cao Huachun and Wang Chengen, and he was also the deputy commander of the Beijing Camp. Because of this, Li Guofu rose rapidly in just a few years, from an inconspicuous eunuch to the position of the Imperial Horse Supervisor.

However, Zhu Shenzui did not care whether what Li Guofu said was true or false. Zhu Shenzui immediately asked Li Guofu that since Emperor Chongzhen was deceived, then who was the person who deceived the emperor?

Li Guofu said that the person who made the slander was Jinyiwei who informed Wu Mengming. Wu Mengming had been holding a grudge against Zhou Anmin and others since he returned to Beijing from Shanxi. Moreover, he was punished for the previous incident. As the co-director of Jinyiwei, he was transferred to manage the imperial prison. Wu Mengming was extremely angry and said in private many times that he would teach Zhou Anmin a lesson. It was because he kept writing letters and adding fuel to the flames when rumors were spreading in the capital that Emperor Chongzhen became suspicious and he left Beijing.

Hearing Wu Mengming's name, Zhu Shenzhui snorted coldly, with anger in his expression. Seeing his expression change, Li Guofu secretly breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed that Zhu Shenzhui also thought of this person, and what he said just now was exactly right. If Zhu Shenzhui transferred his anger from himself to Wu Mengming, then his life might be saved.

(End of this chapter)