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

Chapter 900 Secretly assassinating Chen Cang
Yuan Chongyu was stunned. He looked at the person in front of him in disbelief, his mind going blank.

Zhou Anmin, ordinary people may not know who this person is, but as Yuan Chongyu, how could he not know? Zhou Anmin is not only the consort of the current Grand Princess of the Ming Dynasty and the brother-in-law of the Yongming Emperor, but also the Earl of the Ming Dynasty, the Jinwu General, the Shaobao, the Right Pillar of the State, and the Commander of the Jinyiwei.

How could such a person be ordinary? Besides the new army under his command, Zhou Anmin contributed a lot to Zhu Shenzhu's ascension to the throne. After Zhu Shenzhu became the regent, he used Zhou Anmin and let him take charge of the Jinyiwei. His power was so great that only a few people in the court could compare with him. He was undoubtedly a big shot.

But the question is how did Zhou Anmin end up here? A few months ago, Yuan Chongyu heard the news in Ningbo that Zhou Anmin had offended Emperor Yongming, who was furious and stripped him of his position as the commander of the Jinyiwei and revoked all his other part-time jobs. He even demoted him by one rank and made him reflect on his mistakes at home.

The sudden fall of a famous figure was a great sensation in the Ming officialdom. Outsiders did not know how Zhou Anmin had offended Zhu Shenzhui, but rumors spread that Zhou Anmin was arrogant and domineering as the head of the Jinyiwei, and that it was these actions that angered the emperor and brought disaster upon himself.

Moreover, most of the Jinyiwei commanders of the Ming Dynasty had no good ending. Jinyiwei was a knife in the hands of the emperor, and a tool to do dirty work for the emperor. How could they have a good ending after doing so many bad things? Very few of the Jinyiwei commanders could survive safely. Most of them either became scapegoats or were killed by the emperor for other reasons.

Since Zhou Anmin was also the commander of the Jinyiwei, it was normal that some of his deeds were unknown to outsiders, and maybe he was unlucky for similar reasons as his predecessors. However, Zhou Anmin was lucky. Although he lost the emperor's favor, Zhu Shenzhu didn't kill him because he was the consort of the eldest princess. He just demoted his official position, leaving only an empty title and an additional title to keep him in the mansion under surveillance. This result was already considered good.

When the news of Zhou Anmin's fall from power spread to the south of the Yangtze River, officials and gentry in the south of the Yangtze River celebrated and talked about it with great relish. How could Yuan Chongyu, who was in Ningbo at the time, not know about it?

But now Zhou Anmin appeared in front of him. Yuan Chongyu was so shocked that he couldn't imagine what was going on. How could Zhou Anmin, who should have been in seclusion in the capital, be here? And looking at his appearance, he didn't look frustrated at all? Could it be...?
Got it! Got it!
Yuan Chongyu suddenly realized what was going on. He finally understood what was going on. Everything about Zhou Anmin was fake. This was a fake created by Emperor Yongming and Zhou Anmin for the world to see. On the surface, Zhou Anmin was finished, but in fact, he was secretly repairing the plank road! Zhou Anmin did not lose the emperor's favor at all. Not only that, he was still valued by the emperor. The reason for doing this was to take this opportunity to let Zhou Anmin go from open to covert and play a big game.

"Could it be that this move was because of me?"

Yuan Chongyu couldn't help but speculate in his heart, and the more he thought about it, the more this possibility seemed to him. After all, Zhou Anmin's "accident" happened after he came to the Ming Dynasty, and considering that he was now in his hands, the two were very likely to be connected.

But Yuan Chongyu didn't know that he didn't say this guess out loud, otherwise Zhou Anmin would have laughed to death. Who is Yuan Chongyu? He is just the younger brother of the former governor of Ji and Liao, a big businessman in Liaodong, and now he is just a lackey of Huang Taiji. How can he be qualified to let a person like Zhou Anmin set a trap for him? It's simply an overestimation.

Let alone Yuan Chongyu, even the Eight Banner nobles who were higher in status than him were the same. Who was Zhou Anmin? Was it necessary to do this? Yuan Chongyu was just one of the chess pieces. Although this chess piece was a little unusual, a chess piece was still a chess piece. Zhou Anmin had to deal with officials and gentry groups in the south of the Yangtze River, and even Huang Taiji who was far away in Liaodong.

Seeing Yuan Chongyu's pale face, Zhou Anmin continued to ask with a smile: "Yuan Chongyu, you are so bold! Not only did you smuggle with the Jiannu in private, you also stole and sold military rations, which worsened the situation in Liaodong. Later, you tried to control maritime trade and snatch the sea route from Mao Wenlong. You instigated Yuan Chonghuan to forge an imperial decree to kill important officials of the Ming Dynasty, which led to the civil strife in Dongjiang Town and its eventual destruction."

"After Mao Wenlong's death, you continued to collude with Huang Taiji secretly and provided intelligence to Jiannu privately, which led to Huang Taiji's invasion of the Great Wall through Mongolia. The Ji Yi Incident caused a disaster, and the people in the capital suffered heavy casualties, and countless people were plundered. Huang Taiji led his troops to attack the capital, which almost caused the capital of the Ming Dynasty to be captured by Jiannu. The people suffered and their lives were in misery. Every household was in mourning..."

"All of this is due to you, Yuan Chongyu. You have disregarded the country and the people for your own selfish interests, causing such consequences. Now you are sneaking into Jiangnan and trying to win over Jiangnan officials and gentry to sell grain to the enemy. The evidence is irrefutable. What else can you say?"

"I...I..." Yuan Chongyu's face was pale, and his body was shaking like he was having the hiccups. Although he was brave, he was just a businessman after all, and now he had fallen into Zhou Anmin's hands. Zhou Anmin was the boss of the Jinyiwei. How could Yuan Chongyu not know what the Jinyiwei was? How could he not be afraid?
"I am not the only one doing these things. Who in the world doesn't smuggle with the Jiannu? There are so many officials in the court and merchants in the world who are secretly smuggling. Among them, the Fan family of Jiexiu does no less than me. And even if I don't do it, there will be others who will do it. Even if Mao Wenlong just mentioned is a good person?" "Mao Wenlong is in charge of Dongjiang. He is unruly and makes a fortune by smuggling. My brother has wanted to touch him for a long time. Do you think I can persuade my brother with just a few words? At that time, I was just pushing the boat with the tide. Once Mao Wenlong died, if I didn't take away the sea route in his hands, someone else would come to take it. It's better to fall into my hands, at least I can help my brother."

"As for the officials and gentry in Jiangnan, let alone them, are they less greedy than me? As the saying goes, it takes two to tango. If they didn't have the intention, I couldn't persuade them even if I used all my eloquence. How could these crimes be pinned on me alone?"

Yuan Chongyu was still stuttering at the beginning, but he became more and more excited as he spoke, and finally he became more confident. This was the first time Zhou Anmin had seen such a shameless person, and he couldn't help but laugh in anger.

Not wanting to bother with this bastard, Zhou Anmin waved his hand, and the bearded man standing nearby stepped forward, grabbed Yuan Chongyu and dragged him out. Yuan Chongyu was instantly frightened, and cried out loudly for "Sir Zhou, spare my life", fearing that Zhou Anmin would drag him out and chop off his head.

Of course Zhou Anmin would not kill him. Even if he wanted to kill him, it would not be now. Yuan Chongyu was an important witness, and it was far more meaningful for him to be alive than dead.

Not only Yuan Chongyu, but also Yang Dehua and Qiao Changfu were the same. All of them had fallen into Zhou Anmin's hands. Even the ships brought by Yang Dehua were directly captured by Zhou Anmin. All of Yuan Chongyu's Eight Banners soldiers were also directly eliminated by Zhou Anmin's men last night. None of them were caught.

Speaking of this matter, we have to start from the time when Zhou Anmin was dismissed from his post. Zhu Shenzhui was furious in the Qianqing Palace and even beat and kicked Zhou Anmin, but it was all fake. It was just a show, a good show that Zhu Shenzhui and Zhou Anmin jointly performed for the world to see.

After learning about the situation in Jiangnan, Zhu Shenzui felt that the situation was extremely difficult. Just as Zhang Xijun had considered, this matter would become a sensational case once the lid was lifted. If not properly prepared, not only would problems arise, it might even cause chaos throughout Jiangnan.

Now the Ming Dynasty must not be in chaos, stability is a must. But Jiangnan belongs to the Ming Dynasty, and it is also impossible to be separated from the center. There is only one way to solve this problem, that is to cut the Gordian knot, and deal with it with the most severe and rapid means with thunder and lightning. To do this, you must have real evidence in your hands. If you only rely on charges such as private mining and corruption and bribery, you can't do it at all. After all, this kind of thing involves too much. It can be said that once this investigation is carried out, it is equivalent to dragging most of the Ming Dynasty's officialdom into it, not only Jiangnan, but also the north, including the capital. If Zhu Shenzhu does this, there will be chaos in the world.

Therefore, Zhu Shenzhu could only select the key points, let most people go and only hit a very small number of people. Moreover, the previous charges could only be used as bargaining chips to exchange with the civil service group including local gentry, and could not be used as a means of disposal. As for what charges would be better? It was nothing more than treason and collusion with the Jiannu. At this time, Zhang Xijun had already found out that Yuan Chongyu appeared in Ningbo, and contacted several big figures in Jiangnan through the Ningbo Yang family, and had private discussions and plans, which gave him the best excuse.

Zhu Shenzhui could have arrested people through the Jinyiwei first, and then arrested all of them. But the evidence was still insufficient. Gao Hongtu, Zheng Sanjun, Xu Shiqi, Wang Ji and others were not stupid. They could have said that their subordinates did these things without telling them and they knew nothing about it.

If this is the case, the matter will become a quibble, and the so-called treason was just a plan at the time, and there was no actual consequence. These people have many connections in the court and are deeply rooted in Jiangnan. How can they be uprooted? Once the charges are dragged on, it will be difficult to deal with them as long as time goes by. So after thinking about it, Zhu Shenzhui and Zhou Anmin decided to play the long game and fish for the big fish. They will not move their troops for the time being, and wait until the time is right to strike them all with a thunderbolt.

In order to achieve this and not arouse the other party's suspicion, and to ensure that the news would not leak out, Zhu Shenzhui decided to make things difficult for Zhou Anmin. He found an excuse and furiously removed Zhou Anmin from all his positions, and almost put him in jail.

Sure enough, when Zhou Anmin got into trouble, the reactions inside and outside the court were different. Although some people spoke up for Zhou Anmin, most people were happy with the result. In the eyes of many people, the Jinyiwei were never good people, and Zhou Anmin was even less so. Moreover, as the consort of the Grand Princess and a popular nobleman, the threat brought by his leadership of the Jinyiwei was too great. His resignation made many people celebrate and secretly happy. After the Jinyiwei changed its commander-in-chief, the originally strong Jinyiwei suddenly became low-key, which made people even more excited.

(End of this chapter)