Ming Dynasty: Ask Zhu Yuanzhang to abdicate at the beginning

Chapter 337: Missing Intelligence! News!

royal palace.

After lunch, Zhu Yunhuan, wearing a brocade robe, slowly walked into the courtyard connected to the harem by a secret passage.

This courtyard has now been named "Jingxinzhai" by him personally, and has become a confidential place for Zhu Yunhuan to control the world's intelligence.

Every afternoon, he would come on time and carefully read the various secret reports submitted by the Jinyiwei spies and inspectors.

At the same time, he would also secretly communicate with Lao Zhu in the harem through writing and listen to his advice.

After all, Zhu Yuanzhang has extremely rich experience in dealing with people and affairs in the court.

Prior to this, Zhu Yunhuan listened to Gu Panjun's advice, and dozens of young girls quietly appeared in Jingxinzhai to assist in handling intelligence matters.

These girls all come from honest families, are well-versed in literature and writing, and after being selected to come here, they are confined and not allowed to go out at all.

In this way, there is no need to worry about them leaking any information.

As soon as Zhu Yunhuan stepped into the yard, the women immediately came forward to pay their respects.

They were dressed in the same light pink palace dress, with only simple pearls and jade adorning their hair, yet their youthful vigor could not be concealed.

Zhu Yunhuan raised his hand slightly and waved it gently, indicating that they didn't need to be polite.

Then he walked steadily into the room, went straight to the brocade-covered recliner in the room, and lay down peacefully.

Upon seeing this, the girls immediately took up their respective duties and began to serve attentively.

A pretty girl with lively eyes, holding a cup of steaming tea in both hands, walked lightly to Zhu Yunhuan's side, bent her knees slightly, and offered the tea respectfully.

Another girl holding a box of exquisite snacks followed closely behind. She opened the box, and the soft, glutinous and sweet snacks inside immediately exuded an enticing aroma.

There were also a few people who were nimble and skillful. They gently took off Zhu Yunhuan's warm clothes and hung them on a carved clothes hanger beside him.

Immediately afterwards, someone stretched out his fair and slender hands and began to massage Zhu Yunhuan's shoulders with just the right strength to relieve his fatigue from sitting in the court for a long time.

Someone held a specially made small hammer and hammered his back in a steady rhythm, with each strike precisely targeting the sore and swollen spots.

Someone else squatted down and carefully massaged his legs. The technique was so skillful that Zhu Yunhuan couldn't help but squint his eyes slightly in comfort.

At the same time, a calm and capable girl was waiting beside him with today's intelligence summary in her hand. After Zhu Yunhuan took a short rest, she stepped forward and handed it to him.

Throughout this whole process, the women cooperated in perfect harmony, and everything went smoothly and naturally, just like flowing water.

From beginning to end, Zhu Yunhuan only needed to lie there comfortably and do nothing.

Then he leisurely reviewed the information.

I have to say that Gu Panjun’s training for them was very thorough.

Zhu Yunhuan slowly and casually flipped through the intelligence handed over by the Jinyiwei spies and inspectors, his eyes focused and sharp.

Most of this information is exactly the same as that obtained by the Intelligence Department.

After all, the two have similar functions and basically overlap in business scope, so it is not surprising that they obtain the same intelligence.

Instead, it was the contradictory information that instantly caught his mind and attracted his special attention and attention.

This means that at least one of the intelligence sources is wrong, and even both of them may be far from the truth.

Either you are deliberately deceived, or you make mistakes yourself, or you are interfered by other inexplicable factors.

This was also the key reason why he set up several intelligence agencies in the first place.

Only in this way can we verify each other and find out the gaps and fill them.

However, there are significant differences between the intelligence submitted by the Ming Intelligence Department and the Military Affairs Department's Intelligence Department.

All the information presented by the Ming Intelligence Office was about foreign situations, trends, customs and practices, covering everything from the succession of foreign monarchs to the migration of frontier tribes.

The Intelligence Department of the Military Affairs Department focuses on supervising important military generals who hold large numbers of troops in the country, and guarding against them becoming self-reliant.

At the same time, pay close attention to the changing military situation abroad.

It can be said that both internal and external factors are taken into consideration, with different focuses.

The intelligence obtained naturally varies greatly.

Suddenly, Zhu Yunhuan's pupils shrank slightly, like a cheetah that keenly captures the traces of prey in the dark night.

His eyes were fixed on a piece of information that didn't seem too important at first glance.

"This morning, His Royal Highness Prince Zhou quietly left the palace and went to the east gate of the Imperial Palace to meet and talk with the chief steward of the Imperial Kitchen, Sun Deying. He deliberately avoided being around other people during the conversation, so the specific content of the conversation is unknown."

"After the conversation, King Zhou handed Sun Deying a basket of items. It is not clear what is hidden in it at the moment."

Inside and outside the palace, whether it is the Jinyiwei spies, the secretive inspectors, the Eavesdropping Department with spies everywhere, or the Military Intelligence Department that is particularly sensitive to military developments, they all secretly inquire about the whereabouts and behavior of some important people on a daily basis.

For example, which street the prince was drinking in with joy in the tavern today, or which minister in the court had taken in a new and pretty concubine, or which daughter-in-law was fierce and aggressive, and became the one feared by the neighbors.

All these trivial matters will be reported.

There are no set rules for this.

Sometimes, when ministers discussed important matters with their sons and daughters in their own study, the matters would be written down in detail in the secret reports.

But sometimes, even such a major event as the death of a minister’s wife and children was only mentioned in a few words.

Firstly, even if intelligence personnel have special skills, they are not gods and it is impossible for them to know everything.

What kind of information you can get and where you will run into obstacles, most of the time, depends entirely on chance.

Secondly, if there were no special orders from their superiors, they would mostly gather information on the spur of the moment, and naturally would have no set direction.

Instead, they are like those aunties at the entrance of the village who are keen on collecting gossip about other people's daily lives.

The only difference is that the target of collection has changed to powerful ministers in the court.

And the person who finally summarized it was him, the almighty Emperor.

Of course, even if a clear target is locked in, obtaining many confidential information still depends on the right time, place and people.

Especially the private conspiracies among ministers. As long as the other party is a little wary, it would be extremely difficult to know the details by human power alone.

Unless someone within the party takes the initiative to report it.

Otherwise, in this era without eavesdropping devices and even less high-tech surveillance methods, whether or not one can uncover secrets will more or less depend on a bit of luck.

However, every move of the princes while in the capital was subject to close surveillance.

Although it is difficult to find out the specific words used in private conversations between the princes and others, their whereabouts, when they met and with whom they met can basically be found out under heavy surveillance.

Otherwise, wouldn't the intelligence agency that he had spent huge amounts of money and invested massive amounts of manpower and material resources to painstakingly build be useless?
"Why would Zhu Su go to see the chief steward of the Imperial Kitchen?"

Zhu Yunhuan pondered secretly in his heart, his brows slightly furrowed.

"As a vassal king, he should have nothing to do with the Imperial Kitchen Supervisor."

"The Imperial Kitchen Supervisor is in charge of the palace's meals. How could he purchase dishes and meat from the princes?"

"Besides, why did Zhu Su hand over a basket of items to the Shangshenjian for no reason?"

A series of questions kept swirling in his mind.

"Unless... he is trying to use the Shangshenjian to plot something. Is he trying to poison someone secretly, or does he have another plan?"

As soon as he thought of this, Zhu Yunhuan broke out in a cold sweat on his back, and fine beads of sweat soaked his underwear.

so close!

Fortunately, I acted decisively and arrested all the officials in the Shangshenjian at noon today.

Otherwise, if they are given a little more time, there is no guarantee that there will not be collusion between internal and external forces, and poisoning and murder of themselves.

Thinking of this, Zhu Yunhuan remained calm on the surface, but his heart was in turmoil.

Immediately, a hint of doubt flashed in Zhu Yunhuan's deep eyes, and he remembered another thing that made him suspicious.

Why was it that only the intelligence submitted by the Jinyiwei spies and the inspectors mentioned the extremely secret meeting between Prince of Zhou Zhu Su and Sun Deying?

But why did the Intelligence Bureau and the Military Intelligence Department, the two intelligence agencies he established and had high hopes for, turn a blind eye to this matter?

As this thought came to his mind, it grew like weeds in his heart, making him anxious and irritated.

Zhu Yunhuan could no longer sit still, and his body, which was originally leaning leisurely on the recliner, suddenly straightened up.

Like a disturbed god, he immediately stood up from the recliner and walked out with big strides.

Behind him, the ladies in Jingxinzhai were all surprised at the emperor's sudden action and exchanged puzzled glances with each other.

But he was well aware of the strict palace rules and did not dare to ask more questions.

Zhu Yunhuan walked hurriedly to the outside of the palace, his face stern, as if wrapped in a layer of frost, and immediately gave a loud order:
"Go, quickly fetch all the intelligence obtained by the Intelligence Department and the Military Intelligence Department today. There must not be any delay!" The eunuchs serving at the side dared not be negligent in the slightest. They bowed and responded hurriedly, and hurriedly ran towards the various departments.

Soon, he took the mountain of intelligence booklets, held them in both hands, and presented them respectfully before the emperor.

Zhu Yunhuan reached out to take it, quickly flipped through it, and examined it line by line with a sharp gaze.

Upon seeing this, his brows slightly frowned, and his heart couldn't help but skip a beat.

It turned out that both the Intelligence Department and the Military Intelligence Department had found out this sensitive information.

Even on the intelligence files of the Investigation Bureau, there were vigorous and powerful instructions from Yao Guangxiao, the evil monk in charge of the Investigation Bureau.

The handwriting was so strong that it could be seen through the paper, clearly telling the people below to keep a close eye on the situation and not miss any sign of movement.

However, what is incredible is that in the "Daily Brief" that was finally submitted to the emperor, this important news about the private behavior of the vassal king seemed to have been quietly erased by an invisible hand.

There is not even a single word of record.

The same was true of the briefing submitted by the Military Intelligence Department, as if some kind of tacit agreement had been reached to keep the matter behind the scenes.

When Zhu Yunhuan saw this, he suddenly became furious.

He swung his sleeves violently and angrily ordered someone to come for questioning.

Soon, the official in charge of intelligence gathering was summoned trembling with fear.

As soon as he saw the emperor, he fell to his knees with a plop, his body trembling like a sieve, and his face turned pale with fear.

Beads of sweat the size of beans rolled down his forehead, soaking the bricks in front of him.

"Your Majesty has already issued an order that the intelligence summary presented to Your Majesty should be rough rather than detailed."

The man's teeth were chattering, and his voice was as small as a mosquito's, trembling as he spoke.

"Many princes have already entered the capital. They are active in the capital and have frequent interactions with many officials."

"The intelligence gathered by the spies below is also vast and complicated."

"If I write all of them into the briefing, the space will be far from enough. The briefing will be as thick as a brick, which will be inconvenient for Your Majesty to review."

Having said this, he secretly raised his eyes, glanced at the emperor's increasingly gloomy face, and quickly lowered his head.

"I can only extract the essence of this matter after careful consideration, so I did not include it in the article. I hope Your Majesty will forgive me."

Soon, people from the Military Intelligence Department were brought in and gave the same reasons.

Zhu Yunhuan was slightly stunned. It turned out that the root of the matter was actually himself.

Given the vast size of the Ming Empire and the amount of intelligence it had, it was natural that everything would be reported to him as the emperor.

Zhu Yunhuan was also unwilling to work day and night like an old ox carrying a heavy load and exhaust himself.

He had already issued an order to limit the length of intelligence reports.

As a result, the intelligence submitted by the Military Intelligence Department and the Intelligence Bureau can only be streamlined again and again.

Like sand that has been sifted repeatedly, only the coarsest parts are left.

If it were an ordinary day, with only one prince in the capital, such matters as the prince's private activities and secret collusion with people in the palace might be regarded as important matters, written in great detail in a briefing and submitted to the emperor for his personal review.

But now, more than a dozen princes have gathered in the capital. If all their daily movements, meetings, and interactions were to be reported in detail, most of the space in the briefing would be occupied.

Therefore, the people below did not include the affairs of King Zhou in the "Daily Brief" report.

Jinyiwei spies and censors are completely different.

They still followed the iron rules set by Lao Zhu, operated step by step, reported everything truthfully, no matter how big or small, and did not dare to conceal or slack off in the slightest.

Therefore, Zhu Yunhuan was able to capture this key information at a glance from the intelligence submitted by the Jinyiwei spies and inspectors.

However, due to the requirement of streamlining, the briefings from the Intelligence Department and the Military Intelligence Department simply omitted this crucial content.

However, if you think about it carefully, it's just that he didn't report it to the emperor.

Since Yao Guangxiao has already issued instructions, it means that the people below have followed up on the matter.

However, this was a sudden situation that just happened today, so it naturally cannot be dealt with so quickly.

What's more, this matter involves the palace and the princes, so we must be extremely cautious and not allow any carelessness.

Thinking of this, Zhu Yunhuan's frown gradually relaxed.

The anger in my heart gradually disappeared like the receding tide.

What he feared and worried about the most was that the intelligence agency he had built with his own hands would one day get out of his control and become a tool for others to manipulate power and do rebellious things that he would conceal from his superiors.

As long as the situation is not so bad, it will be like a boat sailing on the water, although there are waves, it is not a big deal.

As an emperor, Zhu Yunhuan had to deal with countless affairs every day, and it was impossible for him to understand all the details clearly.

Many things can only be delegated.

Let the capable officials below handle the matter at their own discretion.

However, this incident still sounded like a wake-up call, ringing in his ears and giving him a wake-up call.

"Decree that from today onwards, all intelligence from the Military Intelligence Department, the Probe Department, and the Ming Intelligence Bureau must be copied to Rujing Xinzhai."

Zhu Yunhuan knew very well that he had to take precautions before it happened to prevent his subordinates from taking advantage of the opportunity of intelligence gathering to hide important intelligence.

After all, the people who compile the information have the power to decide independently which intelligence to report.

And this will most likely lead to the evil consequence of "abusing power".

It is also possible that due to personal negligence, important information may be missed, thus missing the opportunity to respond to the crisis.

If it is sent to Jingxinzhai and sorted out a second time by the women who are isolated from the world there, this hidden danger can be avoided to a great extent.

Anyway, once a woman enters Jingxinzhai, she will cut off all contact with the outside world. She is not allowed to take even a single step out of there for the rest of her life, nor is she allowed to have any contact with the outside world.

In this way, there is no need to worry about them leaking secrets or colluding with foreign enemies.

By having them summarize and review it a second time, we can provide a safe haven.

However, in this case, the scale of Jingxinzhai may have to be further expanded.

Not only does the number of people need to be increased, but these women "imprisoned" inside also need to be given more space to rest, relax and play.

Relieve the depression and stuffiness caused by being "imprisoned" in this invisible cage, so that they can work with peace of mind.

"In the future, when you encounter important intelligence gathering, the briefings submitted to me can be appropriately increased in length."

He soon issued a second decree.

There is no need to be completely conservative and limit the length of the article.

There should be more room for reporting decisions.

In this way, the people below can do their work more easily.

After issuing the decree, Zhu Yunhuan turned around and returned to Jingxinzhai.

As usual, at this time every day, Lao Zhu would write to him.

That is the bond between the grandfather and grandson.

However, something unexpected happened today. Zhu Yunhuan did not receive the letter written to him by Old Zhu.

Instead, there was a message from Yoshigaki.

"When the Shangshanjian was delivering vegetables and meat to the inner palace, he smuggled a woman in a basket."

"This person looks exactly like the former Queen Ma, as if they were carved from the same mold."

"Even her voice is gentle and moving, like the reincarnation of Empress Ma."

"The emperor loved her so much when he saw her that he burst into tears and told her not to leave again."

"This person is now imitating Queen Ma and making pancakes for Your Majesty."

"I dare not conceal anything, so I report this to Your Majesty."

"How to deal with this? I hope Your Majesty can make a decision soon!"

Seeing this, Zhu Yunhuan's pupils seemed to be suddenly pulled by an invisible hand and dilated instantly.

……

(End of this chapter)