Ming Dynasty: Moral blackmail? I, Emperor Chongzhen, have no morals!

Chapter 104 The Inner Factory Appears Once Again (Please add to your favorites, subscribe, vote with monthly tickets, recommend, and follow along)

"Changzhou Prefecture has many scholars, and many talented people who have passed the imperial examinations," Zhu Jionghong said to himself.

"That makes sense. Isn't there also the famous Donglin Academy?" The eunuch from the Eastern Depot said, taking a sip of tea and speaking nonchalantly.

Clang! The teacup in Zhu Jionghong's hand fell to the ground, splashing tea everywhere.

"Your Excellency, I have no connection with the Donglin Academy. Please put in a good word for me with His Majesty," Zhu Jionghong said in a panic.

If a prince were to be labeled as having ties to the Donglin Party, wouldn't he be facing the extermination of his entire clan? If he dared to secretly participate in the factional struggles at court, let alone a marginal prince like him, wouldn't even the most powerful princes be wiped out in no time?

"We didn't say that Your Highness had any connection with Donglin Academy, we were just saying it casually." The eunuch from the Eastern Depot didn't mean to wrong Prince Shen. He had two Eastern Depot agents accompanying him this time, which made the eunuch very uncomfortable. He felt like they were watching his eyes, but there was nothing he could do. He had no choice.

Therefore, he dared not act recklessly. If he caused trouble, Wu Daozheng, the eunuch in charge of the Eastern Depot in Shanxi, would probably kill him immediately.

"Your Excellency is wise."

"It's such a fine piece of porcelain, now broken. What a pity," the eunuch from the Eastern Depot said with a regretful expression.

Just then, the Right Chief Secretary entered the hall with the Prince's Palace roster.

"Your Highness, Your Excellency, I have discovered that there is one person in the Prince's residence from Changzhou Prefecture, another from Suzhou Prefecture, and the rest are from outside Southern Zhili."

"Which other provinces are there?" the eunuch from the Eastern Depot asked.

"Seventy percent of them are from Shanxi itself, and the rest are from provinces surrounding Shanxi, including Shaanxi, Henan, Beizhili, and one from Sichuan," the Right Chief Secretary replied truthfully.

The eunuchs of the Eastern Depot, listening to the investigation of the Right Chief Secretary, keenly realized that it was aimed at Gao Qiqian. As for whether the target was the eunuch faction behind Gao Qiqian or the emperor, they didn't know.

Prince Shen remained silent, quietly waiting for the eunuchs from the Eastern Depot to make their decision.

After a moment, the eunuch from the Eastern Depot finally spoke: "We'll take these people with us. Your Highness can write a memorial to His Majesty explaining this, so we can have an account to give."

"Please trouble yourself, sir." As she spoke, she took out a ten-tael gold ingot from her sleeve and slipped it into the hand of the eunuch from the Eastern Depot.

Upon seeing that it was gold, the eunuch from the Eastern Depot, who had been keeping a tight face, finally broke into a bright smile: "We will say so ourselves."

Then, changing the subject, he reminded him, "Your Highness, as a member of the imperial family, things are not peaceful right now. It would be best if you stayed in your residence."

This eunuch from the Eastern Depot reciprocated the favor by accepting the gold and reminding Prince Shen to keep all of Shen's men lying in wait in the mansion to prevent them from doing anything that might anger the emperor. He even used the word "hide" to emphasize the seriousness of the situation.

The emperor's prestige is now at its zenith, and even those factional courtiers are starting to fawn over him. How much more so these relatives who have no political foundation? If they have any means to check the emperor, it is the ancestral rule, but that rule is about to become ineffective.

"Thank you for the reminder, sir." Prince Shen was relieved; it seemed he was safe, and so was Prince Shen.

Prince Shen hadn't expected the emperor to be so ruthless, so ruthless that he wouldn't dare to harm anyone... Therefore, he decided to play it safe, clearing out the garden of the palace, planting some fruits and vegetables, forbidding anyone from leaving the palace, and simply living peacefully within the palace grounds...

After the eunuchs from the Eastern Depot took away several people from Southern Zhili, Prince Shen went to the inner hall, summoned his wife, concubines, and other officials, and immediately issued an order that no one was allowed to leave the mansion.

Upon hearing this, the officials and servants of the Prince's residence hurriedly went to carry out the order. They were also afraid; if Prince Shen fell, the next step would be the decree to abolish the fiefdoms, and they too would be exiled. Therefore, no one raised any objections...

After leaving the Prince's mansion, the eunuchs from the Eastern Depot escorted two men to Taiyuan City, where Wu Daozheng, the director of the Eastern Depot, was stationed.

At the Shanxi governor's office, the eunuch from the Eastern Depot bowed respectfully to Wu Daozheng and said, "Greetings, Chief Supervisor."

"How is it?" Wu Daozheng asked softly.

"I brought back one from Changzhou and one from Suzhou. The one who died was also from Changzhou. The person who arranged for the deceased to enter the Prince Shen's mansion was the Left Chief Secretary of the Prince's mansion, who was also from Changzhou. He is currently observing mourning in Changzhou."

Wu Daozheng nodded, his expression unreadable: "Go and rest."

"Yes."

After the eunuchs from the Eastern Depot left, Wu Daozheng waved his hand, about to order an interrogation, when two more eunuchs entered the room and bowed: "Eunuch Wu, we must take these two men with us."

Because it involves Southern Zhili and Jiangnan, the emperor's current attitude towards Jiangnan is to maintain stability rather than take drastic action.

There's another layer of meaning: all the affairs in Jiangnan were handled by the Inner Depot using the name of the Eastern Depot, not by the Eastern Depot itself. Therefore, even the Director of the Eastern Depot had to back down on this matter.

Wu Daozheng was taken aback upon hearing this, his sharp gaze fixed on the two men. He didn't recognize them, but judging from their attire, they belonged to the Eastern Depot. As the head of the Eastern Depot, these two would only dare to directly demand someone from him if they were directly under the emperor's command or under the command of the other eunuchs in the Directorate of Ceremonial: "What if the person dies?"

A eunuch took out a yellow waist tag from his pocket. It was the same style as the one from the Eastern Depot, but there was a small character in clerical script inside the character for "depot". It was not easy to see unless you looked closely, and you would think it was a sign of poor workmanship. But upon closer inspection, you would find that it was the character for "inner".

When the eunuch in charge of the important person handed the waist token to Wu Daozheng, the director of the Eastern Depot, he said, "Please rest assured, Eunuch Wu, even if we die, the person will not die."

"Inside!"

Wu Daozheng's eyes widened, and he had just uttered the word "inside" when the eunuch who handed him the waist token made a shushing gesture and whispered, "It's good that Eunuch Wu knows."

Wu Daozheng nodded heavily. He knew that there was a special group of people within the Eastern Depot. His godfather, Wang Dehua, the Grand Eunuch of the Directorate of Ceremonial, had told him that those people operated under the name of the Eastern Depot. In reality, they were similar to the organization established by Liu Jin during the reign of Emperor Wuzong, except that they did not have as much power as Liu Jin, and they were also directly under the emperor.

But who exactly is it is unknown. Tell him to be careful and as long as he always puts the emperor first, everything will be fine.

Wu Daozheng knew that those people were spies among spies. No one except the emperor knew exactly what they did. At first, he just kept it in mind, but today was the first time he had encountered them.

Wu Daozheng slowly rose from his chair and gestured for them to proceed: "Please, gentlemen."

"Please forgive me, Your Excellency." The eunuch who had taken back his waist token bowed.

This statement tells him that it wasn't the Inner Depot that took the people away, but rather that the Director of the Eastern Depot arranged for the eunuchs of the Eastern Depot to bring the two people back to the capital.

The affairs of the Inner Depot would always remain known only to the Emperor and a few key figures in the Eastern Depot of the Directorate of Ceremonial Affairs; others would have no need to know.

The civil officials of the Ming Dynasty both hated and feared the Three Depots and One Guard (Eastern Depot, Western Depot, Inner Depot, and Embroidered Uniform Guard) to the core.

But Zhu Jian didn't want to provoke them yet, after all, the country was not yet at peace, and the threat of the Jurchens was paramount...

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