My father is Chongzhen? Then I have no choice but to rebel.

He then continued:
"I have repeatedly warned him so many times, but he is still so timid and indecisive. I am really worried that it may be too hasty to hand over the responsibility of overseeing the country to him. He may not be able to handle this situation."

Upon hearing this, Zhu Cilang calmly comforted him:

"Father, you are overthinking it. Cijiong is kind-hearted by nature, but he is young and inexperienced. It is inevitable that he will feel apprehensive when suddenly given such a heavy responsibility. As he gains more experience in the future, he will naturally become more composed."

"Moreover, with Grand Secretary Xue and other experienced and prudent ministers assisting him during this regency, there shouldn't be any major trouble. Father Emperor can rest assured."

"Habit?"

Emperor Chongzhen snorted, his tone tinged with self-mockery and helplessness.

"Once is enough for this kind of thing! Do you expect him to get used to it and become a permanent regent?"

He paused, seemingly unwilling to continue the topic, and instead asked directly:
"Alright, let's not talk about him anymore. You came all this way today, surely not just to see me teach your brother a lesson? Speak, what is it this time?"

Zhu Cilang's smile faded, he sat up slightly, and his tone became more formal:
“Your Majesty, I have come here to discuss a matter with you concerning the nobles in Nanjing.”

"Nanjing nobles?"

Upon hearing this, Emperor Chongzhen was slightly taken aback, then seemed to remember something and suddenly realized.

"Oh, you mean those Dukes of Wei and Bao, who came all the way from Yingtian to congratulate me on my birthday and have been staying in the capital ever since?"

"Exactly."

Zhu Cilang nodded, confirming Chongzhen's guess.

According to the ancestral system and custom of the Ming Dynasty, the main duty of the noble group in Nanjing, such as the Duke of Wei, the Earl of Chengyi, and the Marquis of Zhenyuan, who were hereditary officials, was to guard the southern half of the Ming Dynasty. Therefore, they usually only needed to go to Beijing to pay homage to the emperor during extremely important ceremonies such as the emperor's enthronement and wedding.

For annual celebrations like the Emperor's Birthday, they didn't need to come in person; they only needed to submit a congratulatory letter and offer tribute.

After all, traveling from Nanjing to Beijing is a long and arduous journey, sometimes taking several months, and is certainly not an easy task.

However, this year's birthday celebration for Emperor Chongzhen was particularly unusual.

Months earlier, Zhu Cilang, in the name of Emperor Chongzhen, issued an imperial edict summoning the Nanjing garrison commander and other high-ranking officials to personally come to the capital to participate in the Emperor's birthday celebrations and join in the grand event.

Unable to disobey the emperor's will, a group of Nanjing nobles, led by Duke Xu Yunzhen of Wei, had no choice but to pack their bags and head north to the capital in a grand procession.

When they arrived in Beijing, it was around the time of the Emperor's birthday celebration, and the capital was decorated with lanterns and colorful decorations, presenting a scene of great prosperity.

They participated in the grand celebration ceremony in an orderly manner, presented generous birthday gifts, and everything was in accordance with etiquette.

The strange thing is that after the festivities of the Emperor's birthday celebration, these nobles who should have returned to Nanjing to guard the capital as soon as possible seemed to be held back by something. They stayed in various guild halls and mansions in the capital for various reasons, such as "the journey is tiring and I need to rest" or "I admire the scenery of the capital and want to linger for a while". They did not return south immediately.

What's even more intriguing is that despite these nobles' repeated requests for an audience or their memorials asking when they would return home, Emperor Chongzhen remained ambiguous in his attitude. He neither granted them a formal audience nor issued an edict urging them to leave the capital, leaving them "out of the loop" in Beijing.

As a result, from the end of last year to the depths of spring now, this group of high-ranking Nanjing nobles have been "living in seclusion" in the capital for several months!

Why are they staying?

Why did the imperial court remain indifferent?
Zhu Cilang and Chongzhen were well aware of the key to this.

All of this stemmed from Zhu Cilang's impending policy of opening up the seas!
The Nanjing Noble Group, which has been entrenched in the south for over two hundred years, with deep-rooted power and intricate connections to coastal smuggling groups, is undoubtedly the toughest and most cautious part of this huge stumbling block.

The purpose of summoning them to the capital was ostensibly to celebrate their birthday, but in reality, it was a warning to the court to prepare for its next move.

To be honest, these nobles were not entirely unprepared for the imperial court's plan to open up the seas and crack down on smuggling.

After all, in recent years the imperial court has been determined to reform, opening up mines, training troops, publishing newspapers, and promoting new crops. Each and every one of these reforms is a sweeping and bold one.

Therefore, anyone with a modicum of common sense could guess that the imperial court's next target would inevitably be the southeastern coastal region, where vested interests were deeply entrenched and where the court's tax revenue was severely shrouded in loopholes! This was almost a foreseeable outcome.

However, it is one thing to speculate, and quite another to see it become a reality.

When they sensed that a huge change and crisis was about to befall them, an indescribable panic quickly spread through the hearts of these nobles who had lived in luxury for over two hundred years.

The reason is simple: these families have been stationed in Nanjing for generations and have deep-rooted relationships with the gentry and merchants in the south. Their family businesses and illicit incomes are more or less connected with the maritime smuggling trade. In fact, many families are among the biggest behind-the-scenes protectors and beneficiaries of the coastal smuggling trade!

If the imperial court were to truly take action and completely sever the smuggling chain, it would undoubtedly be cutting off their flesh and bleeding them dry! How could they not panic? How could they not be afraid?

What's worse is that this matter is not so simple to resolve. After the damage is done, there may be a catastrophic disaster!

As a result, the Nanjing noble group, led by Duke Xu Yunzhen of Wei, Earl Liu Kongzhao of Chengyi, and Marquis Gu Zhaoji of Zhenyuan, was extremely anxious and restless.

In recent months, they have been like ants on a hot plate, gathering day and night in their respective residences or clubs in the capital to discuss and rack their brains, hoping to find an opportunity to meet the emperor.

They still harbored a sliver of hope, believing that with their family's status as meritorious relatives who had shared the fate of the country for over two hundred years, and their generations of hard work guarding the south, the emperor and the crown prince would surely remember their kindness and not exterminate them.

They even secretly agreed that if His Majesty would grant them an audience, they would be willing to "bleed heavily" and offer up part of their family fortune in exchange for the court's "pardon" and a promise not to hold them accountable for their past transgressions.

Even if we have to make significant concessions on maritime interests in the future, it's still better than being uprooted.

However, reality dealt them a heavy blow.

Apart from the collective court audience on the Emperor's birthday, which allowed them to catch a glimpse of Emperor Chongzhen on his throne amidst the bustling crowd, their petitions requesting an audience remained unanswered for the next two months, as if thrown into the ocean.

Not to mention the emperor, who rarely left his home, even the crown prince, who was known for frequently meeting with officials to handle state affairs, could not see them at all.

The vermilion walls of the Forbidden City seemed like an insurmountable chasm, completely isolating them from the outside world.

This deliberate coldness and alienation completely threw these nobles, who were used to having the final say and living a life of luxury in Nanjing, into a panic!

Various ominous speculations began to circulate wildly in private:
Are Your Majesty and the Crown Prince determined to make an example of them? Are they going to follow the example of Emperor Taizu and repeat the "Lan Yu Case" to wipe out all these nobles who have been entrenched in the south?

The thought of the terrible consequences of having their homes raided and their families wiped out made many people restless and unable to eat or sleep. In a short period of time, many of them became haggard and thin.

Even in their extreme fear, they dared not leave Beijing and return to Nanjing to "wait for death."

Returning south without a clear order is tantamount to disobeying the imperial decree and giving others a handle to use against you.

They had no choice but to stay in the capital, wandering around like headless flies, trying to bribe, ask favors, and cultivate relationships to beg influential officials in the capital who could speak before the emperor, such as the Grand Secretaries of the Cabinet, the Ministers of the Six Ministries, or even the close eunuchs serving the emperor, to pass on a message to His Majesty and the Crown Prince and sound out their opinions.

Even if it's just to convey their humble sentiments of "requesting an audience and fearing punishment," that would be fine.

However, which of these officials and nobles in Beijing wasn't a shrewd and cunning individual?

They were fully aware of the imperial court's impending implementation of new policies in the south, especially the strict rectification of coastal defenses and crackdown on smuggling. They were also well aware that the core target of this storm was the group of Nanjing nobles who were sitting on pins and needles.

This murky water is bottomless; who would dare to get involved so easily?
Therefore, no matter how much money the Nanjing nobles offered or how much they appealed to their emotions, their colleagues in Beijing avoided them like the plague, making excuses, or even refusing to meet them.

No one dared to accept money offered to them!
After all, this is clearly a hot potato; it could very well be evidence that could cost you your head!
For a time, the nobles of Nanjing found themselves in an unprecedentedly isolated and helpless predicament, truly experiencing what it meant to be "unable to get help from heaven or earth."

All of this was a situation deliberately created by Zhu Cilang.

The reason he kept this group of "local bullies" trapped in the capital and delayed meeting them was to use this silent pressure to wear down their will and destroy their psychological defenses to the greatest extent possible.

Because he knew that people are most likely to compromise when they are in extreme fear and waiting for the unknown.

What he wanted was to turn them into "frightened birds," to make them lower their bottom line again and again amidst endless suspicion and panic.

Only in this way will they obediently submit and accept the court's conditions when the time comes to truly confront the situation.

Now, after more than two months of "cooling off," the time is almost right.

The scene shifts back to the East Warm Pavilion of Kunning Palace.

Zhu Cilang picked up the hot tea newly served by the palace maid, gently blew away the floating leaves, took a sip, then put down the teacup, calmly looked at Chongzhen sitting opposite him, and said:
“Father, I think the time is almost right. Those nobles from Nanjing have been suffering in the capital for more than two months. They must be like frightened birds, living in constant fear.”

“If we continue to leave them hanging, I fear that things will backfire. If one of them can’t withstand the pressure and does something foolish out of desperation, or falls ill from worry, that would be undesirable.”

"It's time we met them."

Upon hearing this, Chongzhen paused in his actions, then let out a cold sneer, his tone filled with undisguised disgust:
"Hmph! These parasites of the nation! They have been blessed by the country for generations, yet they occupy Jiangnan, embezzling and engaging in corruption, colluding with pirates to line their own pockets! The South was originally a land of great wealth and riches, and over the past two hundred years, who knows how many mountains of gold and silver they have accumulated!"

"If I don't seize this opportunity to scare them out and make them spit out all the benefits they've swallowed, with interest, I will never be satisfied!"

As he spoke, a sharp glint flashed in his eyes, as if he could already see mountains of gold and silver treasures.

Zhu Cilang looked at Chongzhen's eager and murderous expression, and couldn't help but smile slightly, his tone remaining calm and composed:

"Father, rest assured, this time we won't need to ask for it. They will eagerly offer up their wealth in order to save their lives and titles."

"However, the way to govern a country is to have a balance between leniency and flexibility, and to give them a break. In my opinion, this time, we should only take half of their property. We should leave them half so that they can survive and continue to guard the south for the court. If we push them too far, it may cause unrest, which would be undesirable."

"Only half?"

Upon hearing this, Emperor Chongzhen immediately frowned, and his face clearly showed displeasure.

In his mind, these nobles were guilty of heinous crimes. Even if their families were not confiscated and their clans exterminated, at least 70-80% of their property should be seized to appease his hatred.

Taking only half is far too lenient on them! It's practically letting a tiger return to the mountains!

He opened his mouth, wanting to refute, but the words stuck in his throat.

Because he saw Zhu Cilang's calm yet unquestionable gaze.

Chongzhen knew that Zhu Cilang, though seemingly mild-mannered, was actually calculating and far-sighted. Since he decided to take only half, he must have had his own overall considerations.

If I insist on doing this, I'm afraid it will only disrupt my son's plans.

Thinking of this, Chongzhen, though unwilling, could only suppress his dissatisfaction and gave a somewhat resentful hum, which was considered an admission of his consent.

He paused for a moment, then asked another crucial question:
"By the way, has Luo Yangxing found out everything about the wealth of these noble families? Just how much is there?"

This is what he cares about most: without solid evidence, how can he get the other party to comply?

Zhu Cilang nodded and answered with certainty:

"Father, rest assured, Luo Yangxing is extremely capable. He has provided information on the major noble families in Nanjing, such as the Duke of Wei, the Earl of Chengyi, and the Marquis of Zhenyuan, including their land, shops, residences, as well as the routes and ships they operate through agents for maritime smuggling, and the approximate amount of profits they have made over the years."

"Even some key copies of account books and secret letters between wealthy coastal merchants and pirates have been secretly collected and organized by capable officers of the Southern Garrison Command and sent to the capital one after another via the 600-li express courier service."

"Now, all this evidence is stored in the secret files of the Northern Garrison Command. It is irrefutable and leaves them no room to deny it."

Upon hearing the words "irrefutable evidence," Chongzhen finally showed a satisfied expression, slowly nodded, and a cold glint flashed in his eyes.

"Very well, since the evidence is conclusive, I will summon them to the Qianqing Palace tomorrow! If they know what's good for them and cooperate obediently, I might be able to show leniency out of consideration for the relationship between Emperor Taizu and Emperor Taizong and their ancestors!"

"If they remain stubborn and resist to the bitter end, then don't blame me for showing no mercy and being ruthless!"

As he uttered those last words, a chilling killing intent filled his voice. (End of Chapter)