Please call me the Emperor of the Great Ming Dynasty

Zhu Youjian did not believe this explanation at all. Yang Lian, Zuo Guangdou and the other six gentlemen were all Jinshi graduates, learned and virtuous. How could they possibly have embezzled so much money?

This is clearly a miscarriage of justice fabricated by Wei Zhongxian.

Zhu Youjian looked at it carefully and found a line of small characters in an inconspicuous place, which were not written very clearly.

He examined it carefully by the light and saw that it read: "No evidence found," signed: Wu Mengming.

Zhu Youjian found it strange and handed it to Zhou Ling'er to take a look.

Zhou Ling'er lowered her head and pondered for a moment, then said, "Your Majesty, so this is indeed a miscarriage of justice. It seems that Wu Mengming is quite knowledgeable about this matter. We can find out by summoning him and asking him."

Therefore, Zhu Youjian sent Wang Chengen to invite Wu Mengming. Before long, Wu Mengming arrived at the Qianqing Palace.

After bowing to Zhu Youjian and Zhou Ling'er, he stood respectfully to the side with his hands clasped.

Zhou Ling'er handed the file to Wu Mengming.

Wu Mengming was also surprised when he saw it and asked in astonishment, "Your Majesty, where did you obtain this file?"

"Naturally, it was taken from our royal archives."

"I saw a line of small writing by you on the document, saying something about 'no evidence found.' Are you familiar with this case?"

When Wu Mengming saw that Zhu Youjian had asked about this matter, his expression turned somber: "I wasn't substantially involved in this case, but I did have some understanding of it."

At the time, I was the person in charge of taking notes.

In order to give this case a chance to be overturned in the future, I made a small note on it that most people wouldn't notice unless they looked closely.

After hearing this, Zhou Ling'er opened her eyes wide and asked, "So, according to you, the case of Yang Lian and Zuo Guangdou was a miscarriage of justice?"

"It's definitely a miscarriage of justice, a tragedy that's been buried deep in the sea. They're more wronged than Dou E!"

Upon hearing this, Zhu Youji was furious. He thought to himself that Wei Zhongxian was truly despicable; this was a case of settling personal scores under the guise of public office, all because Yang Lian, Zuo Guangdou, and the other six gentlemen had submitted a memorial impeaching Wei Zhongxian.

Wei Zhongxian harbored a deep grudge, so he fabricated a false case.

Yang Lian, Zuo Guangdou, and others were pillars of the court, yet they were all murdered by them.

Zhou Ling'er seized the opportunity to suggest, "Your Majesty, please hand over the case materials to the Dali Temple for retrial. I believe Liang Tianqi will clear their name."

Zhu Youjian listened and nodded: "These materials alone are probably not enough to overturn the case; we need to obtain other materials."

"Your Majesty, please entrust this matter to me," Wu Mengming said.

night.

Shengjing.

Cui Chengxiu and Wei Guangwei arrived at this place on Wei Zhongxian's orders.

At this moment, a sense of desolation and death pervaded the area.

However, they had been there for several days and had not seen either Huang Taiji or Daishan.

Of course, they treated them quite well, arranging for them in a large tent.

Cui Chengxiu was so anxious that his mouth was full of blisters, wondering what was going on.

Why are they always left out here?

What does "Lao Dai" mean?

Could it be that you're upset because you didn't treat him well when he visited the capital last time?

After thinking it over, Cui Chengxiu felt that continuing like this was definitely not a good thing.

Wei Zhongxian was still waiting for his reply.

then,

He then rushed to Daishan's main tent.

Outside Daishan's tent, there was a gatekeeper.

Cui Chengxiu was stopped by the gatekeeper.

With a beaming smile and groveling demeanor, Cui Chengxiu spoke with the gatekeeper, requesting to see Daishan.

The gatekeeper raised his head and refused to agree.

Cui Chengxiu pleaded repeatedly: "Sir, could you please make an exception?"

I saw that Your Highness had something urgent to attend to.

The gatekeeper said, "No, our Prince is ill and will not see anyone."

"No, I'm different from ordinary people. I have a good relationship with your Prince. Do you know who I am?"

"I don't care who you are, I said no means no!" The gatekeeper crossed his arms and looked up at the sky.

Having no other choice, Cui Chengxiu took out a bag of silver from his pocket and stuffed it into the gatekeeper's hand.

The gatekeeper weighed the silver in his hand; it was at least five hundred taels.

"That's alright," he said, putting the silver away. "You wait here while I go in and take another look."

"Brother, thank you for your help."

After a long time, the gatekeeper came out again: "Our prince said that he will arrange for you to meet our Khan tomorrow morning."

Thank you.

Upon hearing this, Cui Chengxiu thought to himself that money was still the most useful thing.

morning.

Huang Taiji's camp.

Cui Chengxiu discovered that Huang Taiji's army camp was well-organized, capable of both offense and defense, and was imposing and majestic.

Outside the gate, there were thousands of soldiers guarding the area.

Each of them held a knife or spear, standing ramrod straight, like wooden or clay sculptures.

Cui Chengxiu walked ahead, with Wei Guangwei following behind him.

When Wei Guangwei saw the enemy's orderly military formation, he was so frightened that his legs trembled.

at this time,

A scream of agony came from not far away.

A flash of light appeared, and a head was severed, rolling far away on the ground.

Mangultai shouted, "This man is a spy of the Ming army who infiltrated our army to gather intelligence. He will now be beheaded and his head displayed as a warning to others."

Immediately afterwards, the head was hung on the gate, and blood splattered in the wind.

Cui Chengxiu was also startled and broke out in a cold sweat. He wiped the sweat from his forehead and thought to himself that Mangultai was really ruthless.

Wei Guangwei almost wet his pants. He wondered if he would be beheaded like that and if he would ever be able to go back.

Cui Chengxiu and Wei Guangwei entered the main tent.

The tent was very spacious.

Huang Taiji sat in the center, looking straight ahead.

Seated to his left was Daišan, with Saharin and Yuetuo standing behind him;

Sitting on the right are Amin and Mangultai.

Choi Seong-soo was also nervous, but he pretended to be calm on the surface.

He glanced at Dai Shan and found that Dai Shan was radiant and full of energy, showing no signs of illness.

Cui Chengxiu and Wei Guangwei knelt on the ground: "Greetings, Great Khan!"

Last time, Yue Tuo was beaten up by Li Ruolian, and he was still resentful. He glared at Cui Chengxiu and thought to himself, "I was beaten up because of you."

Huang Taiji nodded: "No need for formalities, please rise!"

"Thank you, Great Khan!"

Cui Chengxiu stood up and carefully examined Huang Taiji. He found that Huang Taiji had a slightly chubby face, thick eyebrows and phoenix eyes, a straight nose and a wide mouth, a robust body, and a dignified appearance, looking very majestic.

He wore a dark green ring on his left thumb, and the ring looked very expensive.

Cui Chengxiu had long heard that Huang Taiji was both a scholar and a warrior, and was one of the best among Nurhaci's sons.

His birth mother was Yehenara, and he was Nurhaci's eighth son.

He originally had no chance of inheriting the Khanate.

At the beginning, Nurhaci appointed his eldest son, Chuying, as crown prince, but Chuying committed many illegal acts.

He even sometimes forced Huang Taiji to work with him.

Huang Taiji wanted to stop, but he couldn't.

Later, Huang Taiji exposed Chu Ying to Nurhaci.

Nurhaci first imprisoned Chu Ying, and eventually executed him.

Daišan, as the second son and the eldest prince, originally had the opportunity to inherit the Khanate.

However, Daishan also had many problems; he was fighting with his son for his inheritance.

He also had an ambiguous relationship with his principal wife, Nara Abahai. This act of deceiving the emperor and disrespecting his father greatly diminished his prestige among the princes. Moreover, Nurhaci had already abolished his right of succession before his death.

After Nurhaci's death, Daišan's sons Sahalin and Yuetuo supported Huang Taiji in succeeding to the Khanate.

This shows that Huang Taiji was no ordinary man.

Huang Taiji looked at Cui Chengxiu: "Last time, Wei Zhongxian made an agreement with us that he would hand over Shanhaiguan to us."

We also sent Daishan with 1 cavalry to take over Shanhaiguan, but unexpectedly encountered fierce resistance from Zhu Youjian and Gao Di. What happened?

Cui Chengxiu steadied himself and said, "Your Majesty, we made it very clear in the agreement that we would be responsible for evacuating the main force of Shanhaiguan and leaving only a small number of troops behind."

At that time, Gao Di, the general of Shanhaiguan, only had about 2000 men under his command. Most of the rest of the troops had been transferred away by us under the pretext of suppressing bandits.

But you couldn't take it down, how can you blame us for that?

"presumptuous!"

Upon hearing this, Yue Tuo became extremely angry: "What do you mean by that? Do you dare to underestimate the fighting power of our Later Jin army?"

"Oh, no, no, no, I absolutely didn't mean that," Choi Seong-soo quickly explained.

Huang Taiji then said, "Didn't Zhu Youjian lead three thousand troops to Shanhaiguan?"

Cui Chengxiu thought for a moment and said, "This matter was truly unexpected."

At that time, the Ninth Prince and I had already transferred the main force of Shanhaiguan away.

Unexpectedly, Zhu Youxiao directly gave him 3000 soldiers.

This was completely unexpected; we didn't anticipate it either.

Recalling the battle, Yuetuo was seething with anger: "What's infuriating is that Ligdan Khan of the Mongols actually launched a sneak attack on us and captured over a thousand of our prisoners. This debt must be settled in the future!"

Dai Shan pondered for a moment: "That Zhu Youjian is not to be underestimated, and moreover, he has now inherited the throne."

We should take advantage of the fact that he has just ascended the throne and his position is not yet secure, and launch an attack on Beijing.

Huang Taiji, holding the document, said, "If we want to attack Beijing, we must first go through Shanhaiguan."

But Sun Chengzong has established the Guan-Ning-Jin defense line, which will be very difficult for our army to overcome.

Everyone was at a loss after hearing this.

Huang Taiji looked at Cui Chengxiu and asked, "Where are Sun Chengzong and Yuan Chonghuan now?"

"Reporting to the Great Khan, they have all resigned from their official posts and are now living in retirement at home."

"Oh, why is that?"