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

Chapter 909 Disaster
"Weird? Haha, tell me what's weird about it?" The bearded man picked up the teapot in front of him and poured a cup of tea for the other person.

The slightly fat man said unhappily: "Brother, you don't need to test me. This is just my feeling. Even I have this feeling. With your wisdom, I don't believe you can't detect it."

"What if you notice it? What if you don't notice it?" The bearded man was not as anxious as the other party expected. Instead, he asked with a smile.

"Brother!" The slightly plump man could no longer hold his temper and stood up.

"Sit down." The bearded man said to him, putting away the smile on his face. He shook his head and sighed, "I know what you are worried about, but there is no point in worrying now. I made arrangements for this matter when Qian Qianyi left Beijing. If there is any news, you will know it. If everything is peaceful, there is no need to worry."

"So, brother had already planned it..." The slightly fat man was stunned for a moment, then his expression eased. He sat back in his chair and asked the other party about the details, but the long-bearded man told him that he not only sent a letter to Nanjing, but also sent people to Nanjing, and there were also his people among Qian Qianyi's entourage who went south. But until today, everything was normal, and nothing happened in the south. Maybe their worry was just an illusion, so why panic?

After hearing the answer from the bearded man, the slightly plump man finally breathed a sigh of relief and a relaxed smile appeared on his face.

"No one is more cautious than my brother! I really admire you!"

"Well, you and I are not outsiders, so there is no need to say these words. The current political situation is indeed delicate, so it is not too much for you to be careful. By the way, how is the thing I asked you to do before? Is it arranged properly?"

"Don't worry, brother. I have already made a plan for this matter. In the next few days, we will jointly submit a letter to the emperor to ask him to arrange a wedding for the prince as soon as possible and to determine the candidate for the crown princess."

"Well, this matter cannot be taken lightly. The Crown Prince is the foundation of the country, and the Crown Princess is the mother of the future Crown Prince. Only if the Crown Prince gives birth to a prince soon, the people of the world can rest assured!"

"That's right, brother. You are right. I think so too." The slightly plump man nodded repeatedly. They had been planning for the Crown Prince's wedding and the selection of the Crown Princess for a long time. Originally, they planned to start with the Emperor's harem, but who knew that the Emperor would unexpectedly make their original plan fail.

Although the emperor later took three concubines into the palace and named them Concubine Xian, Concubine Hui and Concubine Shu respectively, none of these three concubines were the ones they had chosen in the beginning. The Concubine Xian with the highest status was actually a Mongolian woman, the daughter of Ligdan Khan and a princess of the Golden Family. Zhu Shen appointed this woman as Concubine Xian under the pretext of appeasing Mongolia and stabilizing the north. The reason was perfect and there was nothing wrong with it.

Although Huifei was the daughter of a civil official, she was not one of the people they chose. Moreover, Huifei's father was not from the Donglin lineage, but was a lower-level official among the Qi party, which greatly disappointed them.

Not to mention the last concubine, who came from the noble group and was the younger sister of Huaiyuan Hou Chang Yanling. As a result, all the plans of many days were in vain, and they didn't get any one. They had no choice but to retreat and set their sights on the candidate for the Crown Princess.

But the emperor was not enthusiastic about the prince's wedding, and even the queen said that the prince was not in a hurry to get married immediately, and would discuss the matter after a year. As a result, the matter of the crown princess was delayed, but neither the bearded man nor the slightly fat man gave up, and they were still making preparations in secret. Now that a year has passed, the matter can be brought up again. How could they give up having already set their eyes on the candidate for the crown princess? They have already discussed and chosen the right time to directly write to the emperor to ask him to let the prince get married as soon as possible to reassure the people of the world.

"We must be extremely careful in selecting the Crown Princess this time. We must not make wedding dresses for others again." The long-bearded man warned carefully.

The slightly plump man nodded repeatedly to show that he understood. He certainly knew the importance of this matter. As long as the selection of the Crown Princess fell into their hands, then everything in the future would be stable. This matter had to be done no matter what, otherwise all the hard work of many days would be in vain.

Just as the two of them were discussing how to make sure that the Crown Princess would be selected, to ensure that no unexpected changes would occur, there was a sudden noise outside. The bearded man frowned slightly and shouted to ask what was going on outside.

"Master, someone just came from the south and brought you an urgent letter." The bearded man's trusted servant came in to report.

"Where is the letter? Where is the person?" the bearded man stood up and asked hurriedly.

"He came too hastily. It looked like he had run all the way here. He fainted after entering the mansion. I have asked someone to take him to the wing room for treatment. Here is the letter. He said he was in a hurry and wanted to deliver the letter to you as soon as possible. But he fainted before he could finish his words..."

Upon hearing this, the bearded man hurriedly reached out to take the letter without waiting for the other party to continue speaking. The servant did not say much, but stepped back a few steps, left the study, and closed the door.

"Brother, what about this letter?" the slightly plump man asked anxiously. If he guessed correctly, the letter was sent from Nanjing, that is, it was sent back by the person arranged by the bearded man.

The bearded man didn't say anything, but opened the letter and read it quickly. There wasn't much in the letter, just a few sentences. But after reading these few sentences, the bearded man was stunned as if struck by lightning. His body trembled slightly and his face turned pale. "So that's it... So that's it..." The bearded man muttered, his eyes wide open, and he no longer had his usual calm demeanor.

Seeing the bearded man's expression, the slightly fat man immediately became anxious. What on earth was written in the letter that made him lose his composure like this? The slightly fat man took the letter from the bearded man and read it. When he finished reading the contents of the letter, his face turned pale and his whole body trembled.

"It's a disaster...it's a disaster..." The slightly plump man was so frightened that his body was shaking and he couldn't help but keep repeating these three words.

The content of the letter was very simple, but the amount of information hidden was like a mountain pressing down on his head. The letter told the long-bearded man that something big had happened in Nanjing. Minister of Rites Qian Qianyi, Imperial Envoy Zhang Xijun, Duke of Wei Xu Hongji, Nanjing garrison eunuch Du Xun, Fengyang Tongzhi Ma Shiying, Nanjing Minister of War Li Banghua, Nanjing Criminal Left Vice Minister Chen Liangxun, Yingtian Prefecture Governor Song Shixiang, Jinyiwei, and the Command Department all launched an action at the same time, causing a huge change in Nanjing.

On that day, Qian Qianyi and Zhang Xijun arrested more than 60 officials at all levels in Nanjing, Zhejiang and other places. Among them were not only senior officials such as Gao Hongtu, Zheng Sanjun, Xu Shiqi, and Wang Ji, but also many middle and lower-level officials.

In addition, nearly 300 people were arrested, including the officials' staff, housekeepers, local gentry, celebrities, merchants, etc. Almost one-fifth of the middle and high-level officials in Nanzhili, including Zhejiang Province, were imprisoned at once, and the number of others was even greater.

According to the imperial edict requested by Qian Qianyi and Shang Fang Baojian, these people were involved in a major case, a shocking case of treason and aiding the enemy. At present, the officials in Nanzhili and Zhejiang are in a panic, and people are being arrested every day, and from time to time someone is arrested and imprisoned.

This incident happened very suddenly, and there was no sign before it was launched. Several senior officials were even arrested by the Jinyiwei at a banquet. The prefectures of Nanzhili, including Nanjing, as well as the Zhejiang provincial government and the prefectures of Suzhou and Ningbo launched the attack at almost the same time. This shows that this incident had been planned carefully, otherwise how could it be such a coincidence?

The slightly plump man was overwhelmed by the news. He suddenly remembered several major cases when the Ming Dynasty was founded, such as the Hu Weiyong case and the Lan Yu case. Zhu Yuanzhang killed countless people and there were countless people involved in his cases.

Could it be that the emperor was also taking this opportunity to stir up trouble? To purge the Ming officialdom? And to start directly from the south? Thinking of this, the slightly fat man trembled even more, worried that the butcher's knife would fall on his head.

"Brother, what should we do? This... How can this be? Collaboration with the enemy and selling out the country? What kind of crime is this? It's clearly a false accusation! Brother, we can't just sit there and wait for death! No! We must contact someone to write a letter as soon as possible. Where does Qian Qianyi get such courage? He is from my Donglin!"

The slightly fat man was now completely panicked. He tried to explain himself and scolded Qian Qianyi for doing such a thing as a member of the Donglin lineage. Did he want to be a knife in the hands of the emperor? When did Qian Qianyi have such courage?
The bearded man remained silent, his face showing pain and helplessness.

"Brother! Say something!"

"Now that the matter has been revealed, I'm afraid it can't be undone. The so-called treason, haha, our Majesty is really good at it. I thought I was cautious, but I still underestimated him! Haha! Hahaha!" The bearded man suddenly laughed, but his laughter was filled with loneliness and helplessness, as well as deep resentment and regret.

“Brother, what are you doing…?” the slightly plump man asked in confusion.

At this point, the bearded man had nothing to hide from him, so he sighed and told him the truth. He told the slightly plump man about the plans of Gao Hongtu, Zheng Sanjun, Xu Shiqi, Wang Ji and others in the south, including the smuggling activities with the so-called Park family of North Korea.

He also said that the man who claimed to be from the Park family of Korea was actually Yuan Chonghuan's younger brother Yuan Chongyu, and Yuan Chongyu had been missing since Yuan Chonghuan was imprisoned. According to information available, this man probably ran to Huang Taiji in Liaodong overnight and defected to the Jiannu.

So the so-called smuggling trade with North Korea was actually backed by the Liaodong Jiannu. Although they knew the inside story, they pretended not to know because the benefits were too great. As long as this trade was carried out, not only could they make huge profits, but they could also break the monopoly of northern merchants on northern maritime trade.

Driven by interests, these people privately agreed to Yuan Chongyu's conditions, and the two sides hit it off and cooperated. As the leader of the Donglin Party, the long-bearded man was originally the common backer of these people. The subordinates under him naturally had to inform him when they wanted to do something, and he was also confused at the time and actually believed the assurances of these bastards. That's why he nodded in agreement.

But no one expected that things would turn out like this. The news leaked out not long after they started cooperating, and the court's reaction was so quick and resolute. They used the excuse of a special examination to let Qian Qianyi go south and join forces with Zhang Xijun to launch the case, and they also won over so many people in the south, and handled the case strictly in one fell swoop.

Although the letter only mentioned the matter in a few short words, the bearded man seemed to be very clear that the incident had already happened. Now that Nanjing had started the attack, it would probably not take long for the capital. He was implicated in this matter and it would be difficult for him to escape.

(End of this chapter)