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

Chapter 901 Capture
This matter was arranged on the spur of the moment, and no one else knew about it except Zhu Shenzhui and Zhou Anmin, the two parties involved. Even the Queen Xu Jingqiu, the Crown Prince, Prince Song, the Grand Princess Zhu Xiuer, Xu Xiancheng, and Zhou Anmin's two sons did not know about it.

So everything that happened later seemed so real. Everyone thought that Zhou Anmin was completely finished this time and the Jinyiwei would never recover. But who could have known that not long after Zhou Anmin "reflected on his mistakes" at home, he quietly left the capital and went to Jiangnan in disguise. In Jiangnan, he secretly made arrangements and cooperated with Zhang Xijun to keep a close eye on these people. Officials such as Gao Hongtu, Zheng Sanjun, Xu Shiqi, and Wang Ji had no idea that Zhou Anmin was secretly monitoring their every move. Even the actions of Yuan Chongyu, Yang Dehua, and Qiao Changfu were clearly seen and they did not escape Zhou Anmin's supervision at all.

When Yuan Chongyu was about to go north to Korea, Zhou Anmin had already figured out their subsequent plans and sent people north to make arrangements in advance. He not only mobilized the Shandong Navy, but also sent reliable people to sneak into the Korean royal city to meet with the Korean King Yi Jong.

Although the King of Korea, Yi Jong, is now almost like a puppet, he is the ruler of a country after all. The Jiannu invaded Korea, stationed troops in Seoul to control the whole of Korea, and regarded the king as a mascot. That was because Korea was helpless because it could not defeat the Jiannu. Moreover, after Korea was controlled by Huang Taiji, life became increasingly difficult in recent years because the war between Huang Taiji and the Ming Dynasty continued and the production in Liaodong was seriously insufficient. In addition, the economic and military blockade of the Jiannu by the Ming Dynasty caused Huang Taiji to suffer a serious shortage of food. If this continued, Huang Taiji would find it difficult to maintain the current situation, let alone compete for the Central Plains.

Huang Taiji had no choice but to take over Korea. In addition to obtaining population and war resources from Korea, the more important reason was the source of food. Although Korea was a small country, it was still a country after all. Huang Taiji was able to continue to support the Eight Banners Army with Korean food. Otherwise, he would have failed long ago.

However, this would cause great harm to Korea. Korea was a small, poor and weak country with little food production. Now Huang Taiji had to collect food from Korea every year, which made Korea miserable. Ordinary Koreans were now unable to eat their next meal. In many places, people starved to death due to lack of food. Not to mention the Korean people, as time went by, the nobles and officials of Korea could not bear it. How could they continue to demand so much? Would they be left with no way out?
Furthermore, Korea was originally a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty. Korea has always been proud of its status as a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty and called itself "Little China". In the eyes of all Koreans, the Ming Dynasty is the real parent country. When Toyotomi Hideyoshi's army invaded Korea, Korea almost suffered the disaster of national destruction. If it were not for the Ming Dynasty's help to repel the Japanese army, how could there be Korea today?

It has only been a few decades since the Ming Dynasty aided Korea in the war against Japan, and Korea still remembers the kindness of the Ming Dynasty. In addition, the Ming Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty have completely different policies towards Korea. One protects Korea like a son and gives rewards from time to time. The other treats Korea as a slave, emptying the food at home and even killing people at will. Compared with the two, even a fool knows which one is better. The more the Qing Dynasty suppresses Korea, the more Korea misses the Ming Dynasty and is more inclined to the Ming Dynasty as their parent country.

The same was true for the Joseon King Yi Jong. He hoped that the Ming Dynasty would help Korea drive these barbarians out of the country one day, so that he could break away from the control of the Qing Dynasty and become the real Joseon King. This idea continued as the war between the Ming Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty continued two years ago, especially when Zheng Hongkui and Li You joined forces to cross the sea and attack the north, turning the rear of the Jiannu upside down, and even directly annihilated the joint navy of the Jiannu and Korea in the naval battle. After restoring the Pi Island base, Yi Jong was not angry but happy, and saw more hope in his heart.

In Li Jong's view, the Ming Dynasty is the Ming Dynasty. How can it be compared with the barbarian country of the Qing Dynasty? At present, the civil strife in the Ming Dynasty has been quelled. With the strength of the Ming Dynasty, it is only a matter of time to destroy the so-called Qing Dynasty. By that time, the knife on the heads of the Koreans will be gone. Korea will still be the original Korea, and he will be the real king of Korea before, not just a puppet like now.

Because most of the Korean monarchs and ministers had this idea, when Zhou Anmin contacted Li Jong, Li Jong did not think much and said he would fully cooperate. Of course, Li Jong's cooperation was conditional. Li Jong hoped not to get himself involved as much as possible. He would privately give the Ming Dynasty some conveniences in Korea. As for how to do it, it was up to the Ming Dynasty itself. There was really nothing more that could be done.

Although this result is not satisfactory, it is enough for Zhou Anmin. Moreover, it is not only the King of Korea who stands on the side of the Ming Dynasty, but also the dignitaries of Korea. These people have suffered from the Jiannu for a long time. Since the Ming Dynasty is willing to take action, how can they not cooperate?

In this way, every move of North Korea was under Zhou Anmin's surveillance, including the series of arrangements made by Yuan Chongyu after returning to North Korea.

So when the subsequent ships from Jiangnan to North Korea set out from Hangzhou and Ningbo, Zhou Anmin's orders had already reached the north, and a huge net had been secretly set up, waiting for them to fall into the trap.

Everything that followed was even simpler. The people arranged by Zhou Anmin took action on the day the ship arrived in Mokpo. Although Yuan Chongyu was guarded by some Eight Banners soldiers and assisted by a lot of Korean troops, the latter had already sold out Yuan Chongyu and the Eight Banners soldiers. With the help of these Korean troops, Zhou Anmin's people easily got rid of the Eight Banners soldiers, and then sneaked into Yuan Chongyu's mansion under the cover of night, and captured Yuan Chongyu, including Yang Dehua, Qiao Changfu and others who were sleeping, without anyone noticing.

Before daybreak, these people were transferred to the ship and then taken out to sea towards the Ming Dynasty. As for the goods carried by these ships, some of them have been stored in the warehouse as "rewards" for the Koreans. With these benefits, they can naturally find a "suitable" reason to report to Ajige, and will never involve anything else. As for the rest, they were all taken back by Zhou Anmin. These were all stolen goods, even including a large amount of gold and silver that Yuan Chongyu had prepared for the transaction. With these, the evidence is conclusive and cannot be denied at all. After leaving Mokpo, the fleet sailed west and arrived in Dengzhou in just less than three days. After landing in Dengzhou, when Yuan Chongyu saw where he was, his face turned pale and he was so scared that he couldn't stand steadily.

In order to keep it secret, Zhou Anmin did not take these people back to the capital, but directly interrogated them in Dengzhou. Li Xin was in Shandong now. Li Xin was a good friend of Xu Xiancheng and could be considered a reliable person. In addition, Zhou Anmin had the imperial edict, so Li Xin naturally cooperated with him. Under Li Xin's arrangement, outsiders did not know about these situations at all.

The interrogation went smoothly at the beginning. In fact, Yuan Chongyu's mentality collapsed when he was on the boat. He knew what he had done, and he knew that it would not be too much to be beheaded for what he had done. But people are greedy for life. In order to survive, Yuan Chongyu not only took the initiative to confess his crimes, but also said something that surprised Zhou Anmin. Zhou Anmin's scalp tingled after hearing this. He quickly wrote a secret letter to the capital and sent his most trusted subordinate to deliver it 800 miles away.

Yuan Chongyu's case went too smoothly, but the other two were not so easy to deal with. Yang Dehua knew the seriousness of the situation, and he knew that if he confessed, not only would he die, but his entire Yang family would also be implicated.

To this end, Yang Dehua adopted a strategy of avoiding the main issue and did not admit that he had colluded with the Jiannu at all. He only admitted that he used his connections to smuggle with North Korea because of greed. As for Yuan Chongyu's identity, he was clueless and pretended to be crazy and stupid, saying that he only knew people from the Park family in North Korea, and he had no idea who Yuan Chongyu was.

Not only that, Yang Dehua also cried out that he was innocent, saying that he was deceived or cheated. This guy had been a legal advisor for many years and was very familiar with criminal law. For all serious crimes, he either denied them flatly or pushed them aside whenever possible, appearing to be extremely innocent.

Qiao Changfu and Yang Dehua behaved in almost the same way, or even worse. Even with Yuan Chongyu's confession and identification, they refused to plead guilty, and kept saying that they were just invited by a friend to visit Korea. Could it be that the Ming Dynasty had such a crime? As for smuggling, they denied it completely, behaved extremely tough, and refused to admit it.

If the case was being tried in a government office, there would be nothing wrong with their attitude. As long as there was no solid confession or testimony, no one could do anything to them. What's more, they all had backgrounds, and the lowest among them was an official of the third rank. With these backgrounds protecting them, they would not be afraid even if they were tried in the three judicial departments.

But they forgot that Zhou Anmin's place is not the Three Judicial Departments, nor is it an ordinary government agency. He used to be the commander-in-chief of the Jinyiwei, and all his subordinates are elites selected from the Jinyiwei. Each of them has methods that you can't imagine, but there is nothing they can't do.

Where did Jinyiwei have so many rules? Jinyiwei's imperial prison is no joke. Although they are not in the capital or in the imperial prison now, they are still using all the means.

Since he refused to confess voluntarily, don't blame the Jinyiwei for using tricks. Only one day later, Yang Dehua, who had been gritting his teeth, confessed first. With the opening of Yang Dehua's gap, Qiao Changfu could not hold on for another day and admitted his crimes in detail. Not only did he confess the matter of colluding with the Jiannu to smuggle and sell supplies, he also confessed to privately mining, increasing taxes in the name of the court, and making up various excuses to make money.

The confessions of the two men were written into several thick volumes, the contents of which were simply shocking, and involved hundreds of officials at all levels, including local gentry and businessmen. After reading them carefully, Zhou Anmin did not dare to neglect it and quickly sent someone to deliver them to the capital.

(End of this chapter)