Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

"Did Zhu Huakui really sign it?"

"Did he really write this?"

Looking at the confession brought by Wang Wenzhen, Zhu Youjian asked again and again.

He did not expect that Zhu Huakui would admit to being a counterfeiter, because for Zhu Huakui, this meant that he and his descendants would have no chance of becoming the King of Chu.

If Zhu Huakui was willing to risk his life, he might even commit suicide to show his determination and create a chance for his descendants to turn the tables.

In that case, Zhu Youjian would have a headache, which is why he decided to control Zhu Huakui and put him in the imperial prison.

Prevent this person from causing any trouble and winning the sympathy of the world.

I didn't expect this person to be so spineless. He was so scared that he signed the confession when the real thing happened.

Wang Wenzheng knew the emperor's concern about this matter and confirmed:

"It was Zhu Huakui's signature, and he also wrote the confession."

“Although he evaded the charge of ignorance, he admitted that he was a fake.”

"With this confession, the new King of Chu can ascend the throne with confidence."

Obviously, he knew what the emperor was most concerned about and confirmed this matter.

After hearing this, Zhu Youjian nodded repeatedly and praised Wang Wenzheng highly:

"You have done a great job on this matter. Your title will be upgraded to a higher level."

"Also, take this confession to Zhu Huakui's brother Zhu Huabi and ask him to admit that he is impersonating a royal family member."

"The combination of the two confessions completely established a solid case."

He had to make sure that the legitimacy of the new King of Chu was confirmed. Even if Han Hu could have allowed the court to check and balance the new King of Chu, he was unwilling to use this method.

Otherwise, everyone in the royal family will feel insecure and no one will be willing to believe the emperor anymore.

As for the treatment of the brothers Zhu Huakui and Zhu Huabi, he planned to confer them a title and send them to the north to expand the border.

Until now, he has not been able to confirm the backgrounds of these two people. He only guessed from the existing information that they were most likely fakes.

However, the biggest doubt looks different and cannot support this judgment.

After all, twins with different faces were common in the folk. Even if people at that time didn't know what fraternal twins were, they knew that boy-girl twins existed.

Twins may not even have the same gender, let alone their appearance.

If he really expelled Zhu Huakui and his brothers from the royal family for this reason, there would be a lot of people who would speak up for the two brothers.

The officials who previously confirmed that Zhu Huakui's brothers were real may also have their disciples and descendants come forward.

Zhu Youjian could not deny the possibility that these two people were the heirs of Prince Gong of Chu, but he did not want to push them too hard and cause them to get into trouble.

So they decided to give the two of them a chance to live and let them go to the north to expand the border.

However, the specific title they are given depends on how much money they donate.

He said to Wang Wenzheng:

"Send someone to retrieve the account book Zhu Huakui gave us as soon as possible."

"Also, did he tell you how much property the Chu Palace has and how much cash it can take out?"

Wang Wenzheng threatened Zhu Huakui for money, so he asked in detail. He replied to the emperor:

"Zhu Huakui said that the Chu Palace's assets are at least four or five million."

"The gold and silver alone, which are readily available, amount to millions."

This surprised Zhu Youjian. He didn't expect Chu Fan to be so rich.

Because as far as he knew, the clan salary of the Chu vassal was only 100,000 taels, less than half of that of the Jin vassal.

These 100,000 taels of silver belong to the entire Chu clan, and the Chu Palace will only get a few tens of thousands of taels at most.

Unexpectedly, Chu Fan had accumulated a fortune of four or five million, with millions in cash.

Wang Wenzheng did not think this number was too much, and said to the emperor:
"King Chu Zhao was enfeoffed in the third year of Hongwu, and became a vassal in Wuchang Prefecture in the fourteenth year of Hongwu." "Over the past two hundred years, I don't know how much wealth he has accumulated."

"I think Zhu Huakui is underestimating the truth. We can actually find more."

Among the various vassal states of the Ming Dynasty, the richest ones were not the vassal kings of Jin and Dai who had a lot of royal salaries, but the vassal kings in the north.

Instead, he was granted fiefdom in the south and was given a large amount of land.

In particular, the Shu and Chu vassal states were the richest, and everyone in the world knew it.

Many of the lands of these princes were not under their own names, but were managed by temples and Taoist temples.

After hearing this, Zhu Youjian was silent for a moment.

At this time, he realized more deeply how great the influence of the vassal kings was on the local areas and how much harm they caused to the local areas.

He was even more determined to relocate these people, even if it meant forcing a few of them to rebel, so that the world could see his determination.

It can be said that the emergence of the single-shot musket made him more radical and less restrained.

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Regarding the Chu clan's wealth, Zhu Youjian said:
"The cash and silver of the Chu clan must be transported to the capital as soon as possible and deposited in Shuntian Bank as funds for the Chu clan to purchase weapons."

"The mint should also step up its coinage and ask the printing factory to print more subsidiary notes."

"Other assets can be sold slowly, especially real estate such as land and houses, which need to be properly confirmed."

Naturally, these properties of the Chu vassal state did not belong to the King of Chu alone; many of them were owned by the royal family of the Chu vassal state.

There are also those who donate land for tax evasion, and these must be distinguished.

In order to avoid any chaos during the process, Zhu Youjian decided to send Wang Wenzhen, the chief eunuch in charge of the inspection, to preside over the search.

Thinking about it, Zhu Youjian said:
"The matter of confiscating the Chu Palace will be left to you personally."

"Now that you have completed your position, it is time to move on. The East Factory still needs a capable person to take charge."

Wang Yongzuo, the current governor of the East Factory, is not Zhu Youjian's confidant after all. He doesn't say he doesn't work hard when performing tasks, but he always feels constrained.

In addition, he was originally used as a transition to clean up the personnel left by Wei Zhongxian. Now that the situation has stabilized, it is natural to change someone to take charge.

After the power of the Jinyiwei gradually stabilized, Zhu Youjian also needed to strengthen the Dongchang to keep the two intelligence agencies in check.

His favorite candidate was Wang Wenzhen, who had previously been given the power of the Chief Supervisor and was also responsible for supervising the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

Wang Wenzhen witnessed the transformation of the Jinyiwei into an intelligence agency from beginning to end, and he must know how to reshape the Dongchang.

After hearing the emperor's promise, Wang Wenzhen couldn't help but show joy on his calm face.

The Chief Eunuch is now a high-ranking official, but he ranks at the bottom among the eunuchs in charge of writing.

The situation is different for the Governor of the Eastern Depot, who may be ranked second only to the Chief of the Imperial Household Department.

This is the position of the second person in the inner court, how could he not be happy.

So he repeatedly promised the emperor that he would dig out all the wealth in the Chu Palace and handle the case of the fake Chu King beautifully.

Of course, we must grasp the right balance. He asked the emperor:

"What should we do with brother Zhu Huakui?"

"How will the emperor place them?"

Zhu Youjian took out the map and looked at it, then pointed to the area between Jiangling Principality and Cheng Principality and said:

"Give them a fiefdom in this place and let the two duchies keep an eye on them."

"As for whether he will be a baron or a viscount, it depends on how much money Brother Zhu Huakui can come up with."

"If you have more money, you can make him a viscount, or even a count."

"If you have less money, you can be a baron or even a hereditary knight."

Treat them as titles that were paid for, and confer titles based on their wealth. (End of this chapter)