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

Chapter 120 Entering Beijing
Wei Zhongxian did not expect that the results of his investigation would be somewhat beyond his expectations.

Zhou Anmin, who brought his nephew to the capital, left quietly without even seeing him, was actually just an ordinary postmaster, and also held the position of a captain of the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

At first, Wei Zhongxian thought he had misheard. He was very surprised that a mere postmaster, even a lieutenant of the Jinyiwei, could understand his situation? Moreover, he traveled thousands of miles to his hometown to help his brother and nephew settle down in real estate, and then brought his nephew to the capital to seek refuge with him?

In addition, after further investigation, Wei Zhongxian was shocked to find that not only his own family, but even Keshi's family, had been arranged in advance by Zhou Anmin.

Not long ago, Zhou Anmin went to Keshi's hometown and helped Keshi's brother and son pay off their debts and purchase real estate. He also arranged a good marriage for Keshi's son.

After receiving the feedback, Wei Zhongxian was dumbfounded. He couldn't understand how Zhou Anmin knew him, and why he would spend such a huge price and gamble on this?

In order to find out this, Wei Zhongxian directly mobilized the East Factory's spies and asked his godson to continue the investigation. Now the results of the investigation were in front of him. After listening to his godson's story, Wei Zhongxian finally felt relieved and couldn't help but look at Zhou Anmin with a new eye.

According to the investigation results, although Zhou Anming was just an ordinary postmaster and his position in the Jinyiwei was not high, his identity was not simple.

Zhou Anmin's wife was a princess of the royal family, from the line of Prince Jin. According to the family tree, she was the great-aunt of Emperor Tianqi.

However, Zhou Anmin's wife's family was just an ordinary royal family, and there was only one brother-in-law in the family, whose title was a lieutenant of the auxiliary state, which was neither high nor low.

Wei Zhongxian finally felt relieved when he heard this. Since Zhou Anmin's wife's family was from the royal clan, and there had been two consecutive national mournings before, it was not too surprising that Zhou Anmin, as a relative of the royal clan, learned about some of the situation in the palace from the royal clan.

Wei Zhongxian was also somewhat complacent in his heart. He had not been famous before. Although he was a close companion of the eldest prince, he did not have a high status in the palace. However, he did not expect that his relatives far away in Shanxi also knew his name.

Later, Wei Zhongxian noticed that Zhou Anmin had done a great thing before, personally leading people to wipe out the followers of the Wenxiang Sect, thus preventing a rebellion of the Wenxiang Sect. This was a great achievement, but unfortunately Zhou Anmin was unlucky. As soon as he reported his achievements, Emperor Wanli died, and then Emperor Taichang only worked for a month, and then Emperor Tianqi succeeded to the throne... These events happened one after another, and the Jinyiwei was in a state of panic, and Zhou Anmin's reward for his achievements was left unresolved.

Perhaps for this reason, Zhou Anmin had some complaints against the Jinyiwei upper echelons, but was unwilling to let his contribution go unnoticed. In Wei Zhongxian's view, if this contribution was real, then Zhou Anmin would have no problem being promoted to a small flag, let alone a general flag or even a trial centurion.

But now, according to inquiries, Zhou Anmin did not even have the position of a small flag, but only gave him a temporary position of a small flag with a light "power". If this matter fell on him, Wei Zhongxian would not be able to bear it with his temper.

Since the higher-ups were so unreliable, Zhou Anmin, who was resentful, had no other way out. After learning about the status of Wei Zhongxian and Keshi in the mind of Emperor Tianqi, it was a normal choice for him to take a gamble and use this method to befriend them and choose a new family.

However, Wei Zhongxian also felt that Zhou Anmin was not only smart, but also courageous and decisive. He was just a postmaster and a lieutenant of the Jinyiwei, but he could come up with so much money to do this. Most people could not do it.

For a time, Wei Zhongxian was not only curious about Zhou Anmin, but also had a strong interest in him. Even if Zhou Anmin did this for the purpose of befriending him, after all, he had not yet entered the Imperial Household Department when he did these things. Under such circumstances, Zhou Anmin had such a vision to see him well and spent a lot of money to bet on him, Wei Zhongxian, which made Wei Zhongxian very proud and complacent, and he also had a little more appreciation for Zhou Anmin.

Wei Zhongxian was a very smart man. He understood his identity and status very well, and he also understood who gave him these rights. To serve the Emperor Tianqi, Wei Zhongxian currently faced opponents not only in the palace, but more outside the palace, especially in the court.

After Wang An was completely dealt with, Wei Zhongxian would start to make arrangements outside the palace, but the power of the Imperial Household Department and the East Factory alone was far from enough. Not to mention the Donglin Party, which was in its heyday, which was not something Wei Zhongxian could deal with at the moment, and there was also a secret service department that was on par with the East Factory, which was the famous Jinyiwei.

When talking about the Jinyiwei, we have to mention the commander-in-chief Luo Sigong, who was a powerful figure. This old man had colluded with civil officials before, which made the emperor extremely dissatisfied. But when he learned that Wang An was replaced by Wei Zhongxian, Luo Sigong immediately bowed to the emperor and expressed his loyalty. In view of his status and previous merits, as well as the special nature of the Jinyiwei, the Emperor Tianqi was not in a position to touch him for the time being, but instead appeased him with a few words.

However, Wei Zhongxian knew that not taking action now did not mean that he would not take action in the future. With Tianqi's personality and style, he would never allow someone like Luo Sigong to continue to control the Jinyiwei. As the emperor's sword handle, the Jinyiwei must not fall into the hands of someone he did not trust. As the emperor's most loyal servant, Wei Zhongxian naturally had to think and worry about what the emperor thought and did what he should do.

But now, Wei Zhongxian had no confidence in targeting Jinyiwei. But the appearance of Zhou Anmin suddenly made Wei Zhongxian think of the possibility of breaking through Jinyiwei from within, and further bringing down Luo Sigong.

As the commander of the Jinyiwei, Zhou Anmin, who had made great contributions, was not rewarded? This was really too much. Moreover, Zhou Anmin's identity was not simple. He was a clan member, and according to seniority, he was the uncle of the current emperor. How could such uneven rewards and punishments convince the public? And it was for a clan member, wasn't this a slap in the face of the royal family?
But on second thought, although Zhou Anmin is useful, his position is too low. Whether he is the postmaster or the lieutenant, they are all low-level officials, and such a level cannot be raised all at once. But anyway, Zhou Anmin is still a useful chess piece, even if it is impossible to promote him to the level of controlling the Jinyiwei, it should not be difficult to arrange a position for him as a pacification envoy.

The pacification envoy was considered a high-level official in the Jinyiwei. In this way, he had planted a nail inside the Jinyiwei. With Zhou Anmin's cleverness, he could help him win over other Jinyiwei officials from the inside out. Even if he couldn't get Luo Sigong, he could still control part of the Jinyiwei's power through this method. Thinking of this, Wei Zhongxian's eyes lit up and he suddenly became energetic. He stood up and walked around the room a few times, and suddenly burst into laughter.

After returning to Pingshun, Zhou Anmin continued to work as the postmaster as if nothing had happened before.

Time goes by day by day, and it is the end of the year in a blink of an eye. The Chinese New Year will be here in less than half a month.

As the Chinese New Year is approaching, the work of the post station has become much easier. After all, the government office also has to celebrate the Chinese New Year. The post station is an official guesthouse, responsible for the accommodation of officials and their families, as well as postal delivery through the post road. On weekdays, there are many things, big and small, but at this time of year, except for a few emergencies, there is not much to do at the post station.

On this day, Zhou Anmin was busy in the office of the post station, checking the amount in the account book. After a few days, when the new year is over, the account book of this year will be sealed up. This is the process every year.

While he was busy, there was a sudden noise outside. Zhou Anmin was slightly startled, put down the pen in his hand, got up and went out. As soon as he went out, he saw Lao Tang and a low-level military officer walking in from outside.

"Sir, this is my Master Zhou."

"Are you Zhou Anmin?" The man looked at Zhou Anmin and asked.

"It's my humble servant. May I ask who your superior is?" Zhou Anmin quickly saluted. From the official uniform he wore, he could tell that he was at least a general flag officer, which was the same level as his immediate superior in Pingshun. Of course, the general flag officer of the Jinyiwei was not comparable to an ordinary officer. Although he was at the same level, he had much greater power.

"Li Jin, the general flag of the Military Department, this is the document of the Ministry of War, ordering Zhou Anmin, the postmaster of Pingshun, to come to the capital as soon as possible on official business!"

Without saying a word, Li Jin took out a document from his arms and handed it to Zhou Anmin, while saying.

"Sir Li..." Zhou Anmin quickly reached out to take it, then checked the lacquer seal on the document, and then asked Li Jin for his identity badge. After checking it, he apologized, went back to the house to get a knife to open the document, and there was indeed an official document inside.

The content of the document was very simple, asking Zhou Anmin at Pingshun Post Station to leave for the capital immediately after receiving the document, and report to the Ministry of War after arriving in the capital. As for what he was going to do and why he was in such a hurry to go to the capital, there was no word written on it.

After reading the document, Zhou Anmin returned to the courtyard and saluted Li again, informing him that he had received the document and would immediately prepare to go to the capital as required by the document.

However, it is getting late today and he needs to make some preparations. Besides, Li Jin has just arrived, so it is better for him to rest for a night and set off tomorrow morning.

In response, Li Jin shook his head, saying that he was too busy to delay and asked Zhou Anmin to leave immediately. It was only afternoon, and there were still two hours before the sun set. He was at a post station, so he directly changed a fast horse for him and asked Zhou Anmin to pack up and leave on horseback.

Seeing Li Jin so anxious, Zhou Anmin agreed immediately, although he was a little nervous. He asked Old Tang to help them prepare horses, dry food and water, and he hurried back to the backyard to find Zhu Xiuer and tell her about it.

"The New Year is just a few days away. Why are you suddenly allowed to come to Beijing? Boss, nothing has happened, right?" After listening to what Zhou Anmin said, Zhu Xiu'er asked him nervously with a worried look on her face.

"No, if there is something wrong, it would be better to send someone to arrest me directly?" Zhou Anmin had figured it out by now. This trip to Beijing might have something to do with the previous arrangements. Otherwise, how could a government office like the Ministry of War suddenly send a formal document to summon a mere postmaster to Beijing? And why was he so anxious?
After comforting Zhu Xiu'er with a few words and asking her to help him pack some clothes as soon as possible, Zhou Anmin went into the house to take out the gold and silver that Zhu Shenzhu had prepared for him, packed them into a bag and carried them on his back.

After finishing all this, Zhou Anmin told Zhu Xiuer before leaving, asking her to stay at home with the children and to go back to the capital if she could, but she didn't need to worry if she couldn't. In addition, he asked Old Tang to send a letter to Zhu Shenzhui after he left, telling him that he was going to the capital.

Although Zhu Xiu'er didn't understand the reason behind Zhou Anmin's arrangement, she still agreed to it. She then sent her husband out the door and watched him and the general bannerman get on their horses. They headed towards the capital without stopping for a moment.

(End of this chapter)