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

Chapter 923 Prepare to close the net
The day after Zhu Youjian was canonized as Prince of An, he moved from the Prince of Xin's Mansion where he had originally lived to the Prince of An's Mansion newly granted by the emperor. Although the Prince of An's Mansion was not as big as the Prince of Xin's Mansion, it was also a very nice house in the capital. Moreover, he was no longer guilty at this time and his title of prince was restored. Even though he no longer had a real fiefdom, for Zhu Youjian, who had been imprisoned in Fengyang for many years, he was already satisfied.

He originally thought that he would be imprisoned until death, but he did not expect that his life opportunities would change like this. Zhu Youjian was extremely grateful for the emperor's kindness, and the same was true for his princess Zeng. They could have what they have today all because of Zhu Shencui!

The couple were not only grateful to Zhu Shenzhui, but also strengthened their loyalty to the emperor and Ming. After the An Wangfu was settled, Zhu Youjian and his wife went to the palace to express their gratitude. Zhu Shenzhui and Queen Xu Jingqiu met them together, encouraged them and took care of them.

A few days later, Zhu Youjian went to the Clan Court to take up the post as the emperor wished. The Clan Court had already made arrangements, and the brothers Zhu Minfeng and Zhu Minqi were very respectful to Zhu Youjian. They took the initiative to inform him of many situations in the Clan Court, and said that they would work with Zhu Youjian to manage the Clan Court in the future.

The most powerful person in the Ministry of Clan Affairs is the Grand Clan Director, a position currently held by Zhu Shenzhu himself. Under the Grand Clan Director are the Left and Right Clan Directors, which are currently held by the Prince of Qin and the Prince of Jin. However, as the Prince of Qin and the Prince of Jin are not in the capital, the positions of Left and Right Clan Directors are actually nominal positions. The people who actually manage the Ministry of Clan Affairs are the Left and Right Clan Directors, that is, the brothers Zhu Minfeng and Zhu Minqi.

Zhu Youjian's position in the Ministry of Clan Affairs was rather special. In order to arrange for him, Zhu Shenzui specially gave him the title of Zongzheng Qianshi. This position of Zongzheng Qianshi did not exist before. It was newly established to arrange for Zhu Youjian. His authority was equivalent to that of the left and right Zongren, and his rank was also the first rank.

The so-called Qianshi means assistant official, so the Qianshi of Zongzheng is equivalent to the assistant of Da Zongzheng Zhu Shenzhui. In later generations, it is a role similar to the assistant to the chairman or the secretary of the board of directors.

The Chief of the Zongren Mansion not only has the same rights as the left and right Zongren, but also has the privilege of reporting directly to the emperor, the Grand Zongren Mansion. This is enough to show Zhu Youjian's status in the Zongren Mansion. Zhu Youjian was also very satisfied with this arrangement. After arriving at the Zongren Mansion, he quickly became energetic and learned about the current situation of the Zongren Mansion. He put in his full energy and devoted himself to his work.

Not to mention that Zhu Youjian was still familiarizing himself with the situation at the clan house, Zhou Anmin's investigation and surveillance were still continuing. On this day, Zhou Anmin entered the palace again and met Zhu Shencui in the Qianqing Palace.

Zhu Shenzhui looked at the report sent by Zhou Anmin intently. Fan Yuwei had been quiet for quite a while, probably because of the outbreak of the Jiangnan case. As the Jiangnan case became more and more popular, the news of Yuan Chongyu's collusion with officials, gentry, and merchants in Jiangnan was gradually revealed. When Fan Yuwei learned of this, he immediately stopped all activities and found a place to hide quietly, fearing that he would be implicated.

After all, Fan Yuwei and Yuan Chongyu were both sent to the Ming Dynasty by Huang Taiji. Although they were divided into two groups and had different goals, they had no contact after arriving in the Ming Dynasty. But even so, they each knew of each other's existence and knew some of each other's purposes.

Fan Yuwei was worried that he would be implicated, so he stopped his actions and hid himself. If the affairs of the Ming Dynasty had not been completed, he was worried that he would encounter accidents on the way back to Liaodong, and he was afraid that he would not be able to explain to Huang Taiji after returning. Fan Yuwei would have run away long ago.

After hiding for a while, as the Jiangnan case gradually came to an end, Fan Yuwei's uneasy heart gradually calmed down. It seemed that Yuan Chongyu did not expose him, nor did he inform the Ming court of his existence.

Come to think of it, there is no benefit for Yuan Chongyu to bite himself. What's more, Yuan Chongyu doesn't know anything about his actions. Moreover, the Jiangnan case is almost over. What the other party has done has nothing to do with him. Isn't it normal to keep his whereabouts and purpose secret?

In this way, Fan Yuwei gradually put his mind at ease and began to show up again tentatively. After making sure that the Ming court had indeed not noticed him, Fan Yuwei gradually became bolder and continued to try to contact several princes of the Ming Dynasty in order to complete the task assigned to him by Huang Taiji.

"King Zheng? King Chong? There's also King Zhou?" Looking at the names on the report sent by Zhou Anmin, Zhu Shenzhui couldn't help but frown.

Prince Zheng and Prince Chong were fine, but how did Prince Zhou get involved with Fan Yuyi? Prince Zhou Zhu Gongyao was considered a good person among the royal family of the Ming Dynasty. Although he was not as bold and courageous as Zhu Youjian, he was also a sober person.

When Li Zicheng led more than 100,000 people to attack Kaifeng City, it was King Zhou who spent all his money to recruit brave men to join forces with the officers and soldiers to defend the city and kill the enemy. King Zhou also climbed the city wall and promised in public that he would reward Li Zicheng handsomely if he could defeat the bandits. Afterwards, Li Zicheng failed to capture Kaifeng City after several attacks. It was King Zhou's move that kept Kaifeng City firmly under the control of the court, which allowed the various government troops to buy time, set up a dragnet, and finally wipe out Li Zicheng.

It can be said that King Zhou played a great role in this battle. After the war, King Zhou also fulfilled his promise, which made the local people grateful to King Zhou. Moreover, King Zhou's lineage has always had a good reputation in Kaifeng. The old King Zhou also has great prestige among the royal family of the Ming Dynasty. He was the leader of the royal family during the Wanli period. During the Tianqi period, King Zhou's lineage was also extremely loyal to the court. Now King Zhou actually hooked up with Fan Yuwei, which is really surprising.

"What's going on with King Zhou?" Zhu Shenzhui couldn't help but ask Zhou Anmin.

"Your Majesty, Fan Yuwei first contacted Prince Chong, and then found the eunuch of Prince Zhou's Palace through Prince Chong. A few days ago, my people saw Fan Yuwei enter Prince Zhou's Palace with their own eyes. He stayed inside for more than two hours before leaving..." Zhou Anmin reported everything. Zhu Shenzhu frowned more and more as he spoke. Other princes were fine, but Prince Zhou was a little different. Prince Zhou always had a good reputation, and he had made contributions in the suppression of bandits in the Central Plains before. Once Prince Zhou was touched, it would be a troublesome matter even with real evidence.

"It's time to close the net..." Zhu Shenzhui said in his heart. He originally wanted to use Fan Yuwei to make things bigger and wait until more people were involved before taking action. But now this idea was rejected by him, because the King of Zhou was actually involved, Zhu Shenzhui had to consider launching the action in advance.

If Fan Yuyu continued to do this, this matter might backfire. Now it not only involved Prince Fu and Prince Lu, but also Prince Zheng, Prince Chong and Prince Zhou. Especially Prince Zhou was different from ordinary princes, so Zhu Shenzhu had to be cautious.

"Have you found any confirmed information about the meeting between King Zhou and Fan Yuwei? Do you know what they talked about?" Zhu Shenzhui asked.

Zhou Anmin shook his head and said, "Although my Jinyiwei has spies in the palaces of various princes, their range of activities is limited. They can only monitor but not investigate closely. Therefore, I can only find out that Fan Yuyi did enter the palace of Prince Zhou, and was led in by the eunuch in charge of the palace. As for whether Prince Zhou himself met him and what they talked about, I don't know the details."

Zhu Shenzhui concentrated on thinking for a moment, and then made up his mind and said, "No need to wait any longer. We have enough people now. Let's start closing the net."

"Your Majesty, wait a little longer? I also learned that Fan Yuwei is still interested in contacting King Hui and King Ji. Do we need to wait until then..."

Before he could finish, Zhu Shenzhui interrupted him and said, "No need to do this. Involving these people is enough. There is no need to involve more. Moreover, this matter is a big case. The Jiangnan case has just subsided. If there is a big disturbance in the royal family, it will not be a blessing for the country, but will also cause many troubles. Besides, this person's appetite is as big as his bowl of rice. If you serve a big pot at once, even a strong man will not be able to finish it. Eat one mouthful at a time and do things one step at a time. Besides, I don't want to eliminate all the princes in the world. The purpose is to take this opportunity to restrain the princes and rectify the royal family."

"Besides, Fan Yuwei has been in the Ming Dynasty for a long time. After the Jiangnan case, Yuan Chongyu and others were arrested one after another, and now the news has spread to Liaodong. Huang Taiji is not an ordinary person. If Yuan Chongyu gets into trouble, he will definitely take action. Once he directly recalls Fan Yuwei and lets Fan Yuwei run away under his nose, won't the cooked duck fly away?"

"Besides, after the Jiangnan case, Huang Taiji's plan has been broken. Based on my understanding of Huang Taiji, he will never give up. I am afraid that the war in Liaodong will start again soon. So this matter should be dealt with sooner rather than later. The longer it is delayed, the more variables there will be."

Zhou Anmin suddenly understood and nodded, saying that he would make arrangements right away to ensure that none of these people could escape, especially Fan Yuwei. As the former head of the Jinyiwei, he had absolute confidence in the Jinyiwei, and the Jinyiwei had been closely monitoring the other party. In this case, if the other party could still slip away, there was no need to open the Jinyiwei, and he could just close it.

"You go and arrange this matter, but you don't have to show up directly. Let Wu Mengming go."

"Your Majesty, although Wu Mengming is capable, he has not much time left to take over the Jinyiwei, and this matter is of great importance. To be on the safe side, let me go."

"No! Let Wu Mengming go!" Faced with Zhou Anmin's suggestion, Zhu Shenzhu remained unshakable and directly rejected it.

Seeing that Zhou Anmin still wanted to dissuade him, Zhu Shenzhui waved his hand and told him to calm down.

Zhu Shenzhui whispered to Zhou Anmin that since Zhou Anmin was no longer the commander of the Jinyiwei, there was no need to wade into this muddy water. At the beginning, he and Zhou Anmin worked together to play a trick, dismissed Zhou Anmin from the position of the commander of the Jinyiwei, and deliberately demoted him by one rank. His intention was to use this method to paralyze the officials and make the world think that Zhou Anmin had lost the emperor's favor and left everyone's sight, while in fact he was hiding behind to help solve these major cases.

Zhou Anmin did a good job. On the surface, he was dismissed from his post and went home to cultivate himself and study. But in fact, Zhou Anmin quietly left the capital shortly after he was "brought down". Wu Mengming of the Jinyiwei was in the open, while Zhou Anmin was in the dark. He used Wu Mengming to stand in the front to attract the attention of the world, while he quietly sneaked to the south, and then cooperated with Zhang Xijun, Qian Qianyi and others to launch the plan in one fell swoop, and finally accomplished the task.

(End of this chapter)