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

Chapter 934: Capturing the Prince
There was a heavy snowfall overnight. Although the scenery in the capital looked better than usual, the sudden heavy snow also brought many troubles.

Especially for ordinary people, it is inevitable that a heavy snowfall will crush their houses and cause casualties. Moreover, those who are poorly clothed and food-free will have an even harder time in winter. As the weather gets colder, someone may freeze to death. These people need to be resettled by the government to avoid such situations.

Fortunately, the court's financial situation has improved a lot now, and Zhu Shenzui has always paid attention to people's livelihood in recent years, especially in the capital as the best place.

After returning to the Qianqing Palace from Wansui Mountain yesterday, Zhu Shenzui summoned all the cabinet ministers, including officials from the Ministry of Works, the Ministry of Revenue, the prefect of Shuntian Prefecture, and the police department, into the palace and explained some matters to them.

In addition to clearing the snow in the capital and repairing the houses crushed by the snow, the government also set up temporary settlements in various parts of the capital to allow the affected people to live in peace. In addition, Zhu Shenzhu also sent censors and palace guards to patrol various places to ensure the implementation of the policy.

Apart from the capital, the same is true for all areas around the capital, and the northern provinces also need more attention. After these matters were handed down, the elders headed by the cabinet and the officials of the ministries and departments, including the local officials, all took action. Although Zhu Shenzhu knew in his heart that except for a few places, these officials in most areas were just doing superficial work at best and could not really produce any effect, but even so, it was necessary. After all, it is better to do superficial work than to do nothing. Even if it is just superficial work, it is still of some use. As long as it can make the people live better and suffer less disasters, that is enough.

In order to train the prince, Zhu Shencui also let the prince be in charge of the affairs of the capital, and patrol the city with Shuntian Prefecture, the censors, and the guards to check and resolve the situation at any time.

The prince was very concerned about this. He changed into the clothes of an ordinary guard, patrolled the capital with other guards without revealing his identity, and was busy from morning to night. When he returned to the palace, he would report the actual situation to Zhu Shencui. Zhu Shencui was quite satisfied with the prince's attitude, and told him not to be too ambitious, but to read more, learn more, and ask more questions to accumulate valuable experience.

The snow stopped two days later, but the work is still going on and will not be completed until the beginning of next spring.

Zhu Shenzhui handed the details over to the crown prince. The crown prince had done a very good job in the past few days. It was enough to have the crown prince keeping an eye on things. As the emperor, he had more important things to deal with.

The treatment of the vassal kings was already underway. Due to a memorial from Prince Zhou, Zhu Shenzhui decided to close the net early, first arresting Fan Yuwei and his accomplices, then obtaining evidence, and then taking action against the four families of Prince Fu, Prince Lu, Prince Zheng, and Prince Chong.

More than ten days ago, Fan Yuwei and his accomplices were all arrested, escorted to the capital overnight, and detained in the Jinyiwei prison.

The Jinyiwei had already figured out their situation, so it didn't take much effort to get confessions and evidence. With these, plus the information previously collected by the Jinyiwei and the cooperation of King Zhou, Zhu Shenzhui felt that the time was ripe to take action against these four princes, so he issued the order to take action.

Because they were vassal kings, and also involved the two vassal kings, Prince Fu and Prince Lu, Zhu Shenzhu did not make a big fanfare. He just cooperated with the clan office and Prince Zhou, and gave an imperial edict to Lu Xiangsheng, the governor of Henan and the left governor, to let Lu Xiangsheng cooperate and lead the troops to capture the four vassal kings in one fell swoop.

The four princes had no idea that their little moves had already been seen by Zhu Shenzhui. When the fierce Jinyiwei and Lu Xiangsheng's soldiers rushed into the palace, the princes were still putting on airs and loudly scolding the other party for their intentions. Didn't they know that this was the prince's palace? Were they princes of the Ming Dynasty?

It was outrageous! How dare a mere Jinyiwei and a local governor attack a vassal king? Who gave you the courage? They even threatened them to leave the palace immediately, or else they would lose their heads with a memorial.

But the Jinyiwei and soldiers who came didn't care at all. They directly took out the imperial edict and the documents from the clan government and told these princes that they didn't need to submit any more memorials. Your crime has been exposed. The princes of the Ming Dynasty actually colluded with the Jiannu to rebel. The evidence is solid and the crime is unforgivable. Your good days are over. They were arrested by the emperor. If they surrendered, it would be fine. The emperor might give them leniency and spare their lives because they are relatives. If they intend to resist, they will be killed without mercy!

Upon hearing this answer, Prince Fu, who was the most impressive, was immediately shocked and collapsed to the ground, trembling like a pile of mud. He couldn't figure out how the court knew such a confidential matter? How did the emperor know about it? If he had known this, why would he be so stupid as to do such a thing? Wouldn't it be good to be a prince of Taiping? Although he didn't have much power, he would have no worries about wealth and honor! As for Prince Lu and Prince Zheng, they were not much better. These guys were strong on the outside but weak on the inside. After years of rich life, they had lost the courage to fight back. Although they had been shouting loudly before, they were all weak when the time came, and they didn't even think of resisting.

On the contrary, Prince Chong was quite courageous. Not only did he refuse to surrender, but he shouted that the other side was a traitor and led his men to resist. Unfortunately, his resistance did not bring any change. Most of the guards in the palace did not listen to him at all. Only a few diehard people followed Prince Chong to resist. But these people were quickly killed by the Jinyiwei and the ferocious soldiers. Looking at the corpses on the ground and the pungent smell of blood, Prince Chong's remaining courage disappeared in an instant. He dropped the sword in his hand and vomited on the spot. His face was extremely pale.

In the end, Prince Chong was also arrested. Not only him, but all the family members, young and old, in Prince Chong's mansion were arrested.

After arresting the man, the Jinyiwei searched the palace and found a lot of evidence. In addition to the evidence of rebellion, many transgression artifacts were found. The emperor usually turned a blind eye to these things. After all, the princes of the Ming Dynasty were not powerful in their fiefdoms, so as long as nothing happened, it would be fine. But now it was different, because they colluded with the Jiannu to rebel, and these artifacts became the best evidence, and there was no way to quibble.

In addition, countless properties and lands were confiscated from the princes. Among them, the richest belonged to Prince Fu and Prince Lu.

One of these two princes was the most beloved son of Emperor Wanli, and the other was the son of Emperor Wanli's most beloved younger brother, that is, his nephew. The two princes had been operating in their fiefdoms for a long time, and they had plundered countless amounts of people's wealth over the years. It was no exaggeration to say that their homes were filled with gold and silver. After these properties were seized, they were directly taken over by the Royal Bank that followed the operation, and then counted and put into the warehouse, and then handed over to Zhu Shenzhui.

The four princes and their families were taken directly to the capital as Zhu Shenzui ordered, and today is the day they arrive in the capital.

Zhu Shencui had known the news long ago, and the court officials also received news from the local areas shortly after the incidents of the princes. Everyone was surprised that Zhu Shencui suddenly took action against the four princes. You must know that since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, except for the fact that Emperor Jianwen took harsh measures against the princes because of the reduction of the feudal system, and later Emperor Yongle made major adjustments to the princes after he ascended the throne after the Jingnan Rebellion, in the following two hundred years, the court had never had such a thing happen except for the Ning Wang Rebellion during the reign of Emperor Zhengde, not to mention the major event of dealing with four princes at once.

This incident caused a sensation in the entire court. Everyone was shocked that Zhu Shencui suddenly attacked the four princes. Some people even worried that Zhu Shencui was planning to attack the royal family directly in order to purge the princes from all over the country. But soon news came that this was not the case at all. The clan office acted very quickly. When the four princes were arrested, the clan office informed the princes of the Ming Dynasty and told them the real reason for attacking these four people.

Thanks to the explanation of the clan government, the testimony of Prince Zhou, who had great appeal among the clan members, and the fact that Prince An, who had been abolished and now had his prince treatment restored, was ordered to be in charge of the matter, the concerns of the uneasy princes were quickly dispelled. Coupled with Zhu Shenzhu's assurances to them, these princes not only did not make trouble, but instead rushed to write letters to curse Prince Fu and others, demanding that the court severely punish these princes who intended to rebel, and take this as a warning.

The attitudes of the princes and other members of the royal family made the implementation of this matter much smoother, and the attitude towards the princes of the Ming Dynasty's civil service group has never been the same. The civil servants have always been working to suppress the princes of the vassal states. Now that the emperor is taking action against the princes of the vassal states, they are too busy applauding to cheer, so how could they stand up for these princes?

It is said that the key to the trouble of these four princes was that they colluded with Jiannu in private and intended to rebel. This charge made many people think of the Jiangnan case that just ended. Wasn't the Jiangnan case also a case of collusion with Jiannu in private? In addition, nearly a hundred officials of all ranks were eventually executed, exiled, or dismissed in the Jiangnan case, and hundreds of local gentry and merchants were also involved. It has become the first case of Yongming.

Now the incident of Prince Fu and others, including their crimes, could not help but make some people connect the two things together. Anyone who is smart enough can see that the two cases are inextricably linked. In this case, who dares to speak up for the princes? Everyone hopes that the emperor will severely punish these princes.

Moreover, there was no harm in the emperor's dealing with these princes. Not to mention that the civil officials had always been hostile to the princes of the Ming Dynasty, just the confiscated properties of these princes were a huge number.

Although most of the money went into the emperor's pocket and was collected by the Royal Bank, don't forget that this is only floating wealth. In addition to these foreign vassal kings, they also own a large amount of land, which is now in the hands of the court. The Chinese people's desire for land is unimaginable. Land represents the foundation. If the court can take this opportunity to sell these lands, then both the bigwigs in the court and the local officials including the gentry can profit from it. Everyone is staring at it eagerly, like hungry wolves. Who is willing to give up such a good opportunity?

(End of this chapter)