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

Chapter 616
After the fall of Wei Zhongxian, the previous commander Tian Ergeng was executed, and the Jinyiwei was replaced by Luo Yangxing, the son of Luo Sigong.

Compared with his father Luo Sigong, Luo Yangxing was a pretty good person. He was not only upright, but also loyal to Emperor Chongzhen. Unfortunately, after Emperor Chongzhen came to power, he dealt with Wei Zhongxian and suppressed the factory guards. As an emperor, he lacked trust in anyone. Coupled with the instigation of the Donglin Party and others, the strength of the Jinyiwei is now much weaker than before. Luo Yangxing's temperament is not strong, but rather soft, which also leads to the fact that the Jinyiwei's presence is far less than during the Tianqi period.

But even so, the Jinyiwei was still the Jinyiwei, the minions of the emperor. This time the matter was of great importance, and Emperor Chongzhen not only sent the Jinyiwei but also sent his trusted eunuchs to Shanxi to investigate the matter. In addition to Wu Mengming, the governor of the Jinyiwei, and Du Xun, the eunuch who held the seal of the Shangshenjian, Emperor Chongzhen also mobilized an army for the sake of insurance. This army was the army of Zuo Liangyu, who had suffered a defeat at the hands of Gao Yingxiang before, and ordered them to enter Shanxi to prevent any accidents.

Zhou Anmin was the head of the Jinyiwei in Shanxi, but he was not only the pacification envoy of the Qianhu Suo, but also held the title of Commander-in-Chief. As early as the Tian Ergeng period, if Zhou Anmin had not refused to go to the capital to take up a post, he would have been the Commander-in-Chief with his seniority in the Jinyiwei.

However, fortune and misfortune are interdependent. After Wei Zhongxian's downfall, the eunuch party was liquidated. Although Zhou Anmin had some involvement with Wei Zhongxian and Tian Ergeng, he was not a real eunuch party after all. Moreover, because of border trade issues, Tian Ergeng became jealous of the profits and sent people to take away this job. Zhou Anmin took the opportunity to retreat. From this point of view, Zhou Anmin was actually suppressed by Tian Ergeng.

After that, Zhang Xijun's operation and the money he spent did not affect Zhou Anmin in the court's purge of the eunuch party, which is why Zhou Anmin stayed in Shanxi and still managed the Shanxi Jinyiwei. When Wu Mengming arrived in Taiyuan, even though Wu Mengming's official position was higher than Zhou Anmin's, he was still very polite to this "old predecessor" Wu Mengming.

Knowing that someone was coming from the capital, Zhou Anmin made arrangements in advance and personally led his subordinates to welcome them.

The two sides exchanged a few pleasantries when they met, and Zhou Anmin invited the two to enter the Jinyiwei Yamen. According to the official position, Wu Mengming should be the first, but how could Wu Mengming dare to walk in front of Du Xun? Not to mention Zhou Anmin, who was a little humble, Du Xun went in front, accompanied by Zhou Anmin and Wu Mengming on the left and right, and the three entered the Yamen.

They took their seats one by one, had tea served, and waved away the attendants.

"Sir Zhou, I think you already know why we are here on orders of the emperor. I wonder how your investigations have gone these days?" Du Xun asked as he sat in the main seat.

"My Lord..." Zhou Anmin stood up and bowed, "After receiving the news from the capital, I did not dare to delay for a moment and made arrangements overnight. I have already sent someone..."

Zhou Anmin explained his arrangements in detail, paying attention to the expressions of Du Xun and Wu Mengming. These arrangements were all laid out in the open, without any mistakes. The Jinyiwei kept records of everything they did. Although Zhou Anmin was in control of Shanxi and his subordinates were basically all his people, it was impossible for him to have no loopholes in an organization like Jinyiwei, because no one knew whether there were spies from the Northern Pacification Office in the Jinyiwei Yamen in Shanxi, or spies sent by the capital.

He explained his arrangements first, and then showed the two the records of Jinyiwei's internal orders. The two did not react much, and even looked at the records absent-mindedly, just flipping through them briefly and leaving the matter to the rest.

"Thank you for your hard work, Lord Zhou..."

"I dare not. This is my duty."

"Since Lord Zhou has made the arrangements, we naturally trust Lord Zhou. However, before we left the capital, the Emperor specifically told us that this matter is of great importance and must be thoroughly investigated. I wonder what Lord Zhou has found out so far?"

"My Lord, I have made strict arrangements for the Prince of Jin's Mansion and other Princes' Mansions, including the Generals' Mansions of Fengguo and Fuguo. However, I am a member of the Imperial Guards and do not have the authority to investigate the royal family without an imperial decree. I can only make arrangements after you come. However, my Lord, I have already taken action on Hengtong Commercial Bank. I have arrested important figures of Hengtong Commercial Bank in the past few days and are interrogating and verifying..."

Hearing this, Du Xun interrupted and asked, "What did you find out?"

Zhou Anmin shook his head. "I have spent a lot of effort, but there is no result yet. According to the information from my interrogation, although Hengtong has business connections with the royal family, they are just ordinary exchanges. My father-in-law also knows that these merchants are profit-seeking people who forget their principles. They will do anything to make money. It is natural for them to win over local officials and manage the royal family. Shanxi is poor and has little land, so it does not produce much, but there are many private merchants. Since the reign of Emperor Taizu, the court has encouraged Shanxi merchants to enrich the nine borders with the salt permit method. After more than 200 years, it has become a routine."

Du Xun frowned, as if thinking about something. Wu Mengming at the side asked, "Has Kang Youfu, the head treasury manager of Hengtong Commercial Bank, been caught?"

"I'm ashamed that I failed to capture him..."

"No?" Wu Mengming widened his eyes.

Zhou Anmin nodded and said, "I sent people there after receiving the news, but when my people arrived in Pingyang, they found out that Kang Youfu had disappeared half a month ago. When I asked other shopkeepers of Hengtong, they all said that Kang Youfu had gone out for something half a month ago and no one knew where he had gone. I think this is quite strange."

Du Xun and Wu Mengming exchanged glances and saw the same answer in each other's eyes. Kang Youfu was the head of Hengtong. It was said that there was a shadow of the royal family behind Kang Youfu. This matter was of great importance, otherwise Emperor Chongzhen would not have sent them to Shanxi to investigate. But Kang Youfu disappeared before the Jinyiwei took action. This was too much of a coincidence. And judging from the time, it was half a month ago. If this was the case, wouldn't it mean that Kang Youfu learned about this matter in Shanxi when the news in the capital just spread, and felt that the situation was not good and fled for fear of crime?

How did Kang Youfu, a businessman, learn the news so quickly? And how did he make such a decisive decision to abscond? This makes people think deeply.

Both Du Xun and Wu Mengming were not ordinary people. Who could reach their positions without twists and turns? Moreover, everyone knew about the dirty things in the Ming officialdom, including the dirty things of the royal family that could not be seen in the light, but they just didn't say it.

If the guess is correct, someone must have tipped off Kang Youfu in advance, which led to Kang Youfu's disappearance. Now that Kang Youfu is missing, it will be difficult to investigate this matter. Originally, they planned to dig out the truth from Kang Youfu. No matter what method they used to pry open Kang Youfu's mouth, as long as Kang Youfu opened his mouth, it would be clear who was behind it, and all other situations could be figured out.

But now that Kang Youfu is gone, this road is blocked. As for the other Hengtong shopkeepers who were captured, they are nothing more than small figures. If they knew the inside story, Kang Youfu would never have left them behind when he escaped. Since he left them behind, these people also fell into the hands of the Jinyiwei, which means that these people are useless and nothing can be learned even if they spend a lot of effort.

Both of them were very clear about this, and they couldn't help but frown when they thought of this.

"Eunuch, Lord Wu." Seeing that they were silent, Zhou Anmin bowed and continued, "I have asked people to carefully track down Kang Youfu's whereabouts, but I think it will not be easy to find Kang Youfu now that he has escaped. In addition, Hengtong's business is not small, not only in Ming Dynasty, but also in the grasslands. Once Kang Youfu disguised himself and sneaked north to Mongolia, it would be difficult to find him."

Du Xun and Wu Mengming looked at each other in bewilderment. They knew that what Zhou Anmin said made sense. It might not be difficult to capture an ordinary person, but it would be extremely difficult to capture a person like Kang Youfu. Moreover, they had learned about Hengtong before leaving Beijing. Hengtong is now a well-known large business among Shanxi merchants. There is even a Hengtong bank in the capital. As the chief shopkeeper, Kang Youfu is naturally very capable.

If they really wanted to hide, even in Mongolia, finding Kang Youfu would be like looking for a needle in a haystack. But if they couldn't find Kang Youfu, what would happen to the mission that Emperor Chongzhen had given them? They left Beijing this time just for this matter, and Emperor Chongzhen was particularly concerned about it. He even ignored Gao Yingxiang, who was currently under siege, and specially mobilized Zuo Liangyu's troops to cooperate with them. If they returned empty-handed, Emperor Chongzhen would definitely not forgive them.

The two immediately asked Zhou Anmin if there was any other useful information besides Kang Youfu, or if he had found any clues.

Zhou Anmin told them that although he suspected that the royal family, including the Prince of Jin's Palace, had connections with other princes' palaces, the general's palace and Hengtong, just as he had said before, the Jinyiwei had limited powers and had privileges over ordinary people and even officials, but for the royal family, without an imperial decree, they could only use surveillance and secret investigations, and no other methods could be used.

"According to you, if Kang Youfu escapes, we can only investigate from the royal family?" Du Xun asked back.

Zhou Anmin nodded and said, "I can't think of a second way. Please let me know if we should do this."

Du Xun nodded silently. He gave Wu Mengming a look, and Wu Mengming nodded in agreement. It seemed that they had the same idea.

"Zhou Anmin!"

"The humble position is here!"

Du Xun stood up, took out a scroll of Huang Juan from his bosom, unfolded it and said, "Your Majesty has received the order!"

"Your Majesty, Zhou Anmin has received the order..." Zhou Anmin quickly knelt down in front of Du Xun, kowtowed and shouted.

Du Xun didn't say anything more and just unfolded the imperial edict and started reading it. This was given to him by Emperor Chongzhen when he was leaving Beijing, and ordered Du Xun to lead the Jinyiwei to conduct a thorough investigation into the Shanxi incident. The matter must be investigated thoroughly. If it involves royal family members, Emperor Chongzhen also gave him the privilege of acting at his own convenience.

After reading the decree, Zhou Anmin shouted "Long live the emperor" and kowtowed, and then stood up with the help of Wu Mengming. After standing up, Zhou Anmin patted his chest and promised that since His Majesty had already issued an order, the Jinyiwei of Shanxi would naturally obey His Majesty's arrangements. No matter which clan was involved in this matter, the Jinyiwei would not show any mercy and would definitely find out everything for His Majesty and live up to His Majesty's instructions.

Seeing Zhou Anmin's attitude, Du Xun was very satisfied. He immediately encouraged him with a few words and asked him to sit down again. Then they continued the conversation. What they talked about was nothing more than what to do next. Zhou Anmin's answer was well-reasoned and his thinking was clear, which made Du Xun very happy.

(End of this chapter)