My father is Chongzhen? Then I have no choice but to rebel.

Chapter 108 Chongzhen: This rebellious son is really good at using the Thirty-Six Stratagems!
In order to prevent any unnecessary trouble, Ma Xianglin had already led the white-pole soldiers to surround the entire Xuanfu.

The entire Xuanfu was officially taken over by the White Spear Soldiers!

It was not until the evening that the Jinyiwei kept reporting that there was nothing unusual in Xuanfu and that the civil and military officials who had been released earlier were performing their duties conscientiously. Only then did Zhu Cilang breathe a sigh of relief.

Because they knew that this matter had finally come to an end.

As for the eight traitors Fan Yongdou, Wang Dengku, Jin Liangyu, Wang Dayu, Liang Jiabin, Tian Shenglan, Zhai Tang, and Huang Yun, they had all been controlled by the Jinyiwei long before Zhu Cilang arrived at the governor's office.

Now those guys are crying in jail.

All the family property was confiscated by the Embroidered Uniform Guards and stored in the treasury.

In this incident, the eight imperial merchants were not a difficult problem to deal with. A thousand-household Jinyiwei could easily take them down.

What is really difficult to deal with is actually the civil and military officials in Xuanfu who are collaborating with the enemy.

Because they really have the ability to launch a rebellion!
But fortunately, everything is finally settled!

After dinner, lists of names of people to be confiscated were delivered.

Part of it was the property of the eight imperial merchants, and part of it was the property of the civil and military officials who had been decided to be executed.

All in all, there were 30 million taels of silver alone.

In addition, there were two million taels of gold, thirty boxes of rare treasures, two hundred thousand shi of grain, one hundred thousand jin of cotton, fifty thousand jin of pig iron, thirty thousand jin of salt, and fifty thousand jin of tea.

When he saw the list, Zhu Cilang smiled again.

Because if these things were added, it would mean that he had directly obtained 100 million taels of silver from the eight major Shanxi merchants!

Adding the silver he had obtained from raiding the homes of nobles before, he now had 130 million taels of silver available for use.

This amount of silver is enough for him to do many things.

And don't forget, after returning to the capital, he will take action against those civil officials and literati.

What will be seized at that time is not only silver, but also a large amount of land!
The wealth of these people is no less than that of the eight imperial merchants!
Because Zhu Cilang wanted to raid not only their hometown in the capital, but also their hometown in the south!

Think about it, these people have been resisting taxes for one or two hundred years. How much wealth should they have?

OK!
I dare not think about it!
All in all, this is just the beginning and is far from over.

When Zhu Cilang handed the list of confiscated property to Chongzhen, Chongzhen's expression was already a little numb and he showed no interest at all.

Come to think of it, all the officials in Xuanfu were involved in secret dealings with the Jiannu. This was a huge blow to an emperor.

Because this represents the emperor's incompetence!
How could he be happy?

After a moment of silence, Chongzhen finally spoke:

"I asked you before how to deal with the civil officials in the court. At that time, you said you would have a way to deal with them. I think you are using this incident as an excuse, right?"

Zhu Cilang nodded:
"That's right! Transporting food and fodder for the Jiannu is such a big deal. Do you think the civil servants in the court would not know about it?"

"These guys are plucking the spoils of their own grazing, so how can we not get a piece of the pie?"

"But the way they deal with people is not comparable to those merchants and the military commanders in Xuanfu. They won't leave any handles behind."

"But it doesn't matter. When we return to the capital, even if there is no evidence, the Jinyiwei will find it."

"When the time comes, we'll clean up the court. No matter if it's the Donglin Party, the Chu Party, or the Zhejiang Party, as long as they don't do anything, we'll get rid of them all!"

"Most of these people's hometowns are in the south. If we raid their homes, we can at least rake in tens or even hundreds of millions of taels of silver."

"It can also serve as a deterrent to those tax-resisting gentry groups in the south, telling them that the imperial court is not joking this time, thus facilitating the smooth implementation of subsequent tax reforms."

Chongzhen was speechless after hearing this, because Zhu Cilang’s plan was indeed perfect!
Anyway, if it were him, he would never think of such an idea!

Now he no longer wants to take care of these things, so he just lets this rebellious son do whatever he wants.

At this moment, Zhu Cilang suddenly thought of something, then looked at Chongzhen and said:
"By the way, Father, there is something I need to discuss with you."

Chongzhen didn't even bother to raise his eyelids.

"What's there to discuss? Just make your own decision!"

Zhu Cilang felt amused, but still said:
"What I want to talk about is the Mongolian affairs."

Mongolia?

Chongzhen was slightly stunned when he heard this.

"Wasn't Mongolia destroyed by the Jiannu?"

"That's right!"

Zhu Cilang nodded.

"Mongolia was indeed destroyed by the Jiannu. The Jiannu also appointed Ezhe, the son of Ligdan Khan, as the Prince of Chahar. However, as far as I know, Ezhe seems to have died."

"Ezhe has no children. He only has a younger brother named Abunai."

"This means that Abunai is now the only legitimate heir to the Golden Family."

When Chongzhen heard this, he looked a little confused. He didn't know where Zhu Cilang got the information from, nor did he know why Zhu Cilang was interested in these Mongols.

Zhu Cilang continued:
"Unlike Ezhe, Abunai has always hated the Jiannu, so I think there might be something we can do about it."

Chongzhen suddenly realized.

"You want to sow discord and cause civil strife between the Jiannu and the Mongols?"

Zhu Cilang nodded.

"That's about right! I've already sent someone to find a way to contact Abunai. As long as he's willing, the Ming Dynasty can provide him with some material assistance so he can restore his country!"

"But there is one condition, that is, he must submit to the Ming Dynasty and become its vassal."

"In this case, the Jiannu will not only have to face the Ming Dynasty, but also Mongolia!"

Chongzhen thought about it and felt that this method was indeed feasible!

Although the Mongols and the Jiannu were both foreign races, the relationship between the Ming Dynasty and the Mongols was much better than that between the Ming Dynasty and the Jiannu.

Starting from Taizu, the emperors of the Ming Dynasty often took in Mongolian concubines and recruited a large number of Mongolian generals to maintain border stability. This led to the continuous ethnic integration between the Ming Dynasty and Mongolia.

Even now, there are tens of thousands of Mongols among the hundreds of thousands of border troops. Except for a few individuals, these people are all loyal to the Ming Dynasty.

After understanding this, Chongzhen nodded.

"This idea is indeed good! Go ahead and do it. I support you!"

When saying this, Chongzhen couldn't help but sigh in his heart again.

This rebellious son is really good at using the Thirty-Six Stratagems, but he can't beat him anyway.

The two chatted for a while before Zhu Cilang said goodbye.

However, this time he did not go back to the restaurant, but stayed at the governor's office.

At this moment, the entire governor's office was tightly surrounded by his personal guards. There was no place safer than here.

The next day, when the sun rose, the whole Xuanfu returned to its former bustle.

Although what happened yesterday caused a great sensation in Xuanfu, it did not seem to have much impact on these businessmen.

Because the government appeased them overnight and even reduced some additional taxes and levies.

In addition, many people saw Chongzhen’s procession yesterday, and almost the entire Xuanfu knew the news of the emperor’s arrival.

This attracted a large number of merchants and foreigners to come to the governor's office, wanting to see the emperor's true face.

Overall, Zhu Cilang successfully achieved his goal.

There is no chaos in Xuanfu!
This is undoubtedly good news for him.

After having breakfast with Chongzhen, Zhu Cilang suddenly thought of something and looked at Li Ruolian beside him and asked:
"By the way, has the Mongolian girl been released?"

Li Ruolian shook his head:
"I was busy with work yesterday and didn't have time to release it."

Zhu Cilang said again:
"Let's release her now. The matter in Xuanfu has been dealt with. There's no need to keep her."

"Also, give her some silver."

"I'll go right away!"

Li Ruolian bowed and left.

Not long after, Li Ruolian returned to the restaurant where Zhu Cilang had lived, and released the Mongolian girl according to Zhu Cilang's orders.

As the girl slowly walked towards the door, her face was still full of confusion.

She stopped at the door, turned and looked at Li Ruolian behind her, with uncertainty in her eyes.

"Are you really going to let me go?"

Although Li Ruolian felt a little helpless about her questioning, she still nodded.

"This is the order of the Crown Prince, so we must follow it. Besides, this is your compensation."

As he spoke, he casually threw over a heavy bag of silver.

The girl reached out to take it, and was slightly stunned when she found that the amount of silver was at least several hundred taels.

Then a playful smile appeared on the corner of his mouth.

"You are quite generous."

Li Ruo Lian ignored her sarcasm and continued calmly:

"Go find your brother and companions; they are waiting for you at the inn."

When the girl heard this, her expression instantly became complicated.

She finally realized that these Han people had been secretly monitoring her brother and friends.

Thinking of this, she ran away quickly without looking back.

At the same time, in a shabby inn near the city gate, several Mongols were sitting in a room, looking at each other.

They all had injuries on their bodies.

Among them, a young Mongolian boy had bruises all over his face, and it was obvious that he had been beaten before.

At this moment, the door of the room was suddenly pushed open and a Mongolian man hurried in.

Seeing this, the young man hurriedly asked:

"How's it going? Did you find Qiqige?"

The Mongolian man shook his head, his eyes full of guilt.

"did not find."

Upon hearing this, the Mongolian boy's face once again showed disappointment.

And this young man was none other than the son of the former Mongol Khan Ligdan Khan whom Zhu Cilang had been looking for: Borjigin Abunai.

After the death of Lin Danhan, his two sons were separated and settled by the Jiannu.

Among them, Abunai stayed in the grassland to take charge of grassland affairs, while Ezhe inherited his father's position, became the leader of the Chahar tribe, and was brought to the territory of the Jiannu.

But because the Jiannu abolished the position of Great Khan of Mongolia, Ezhe could only be called Prince of Chahar.

Moreover, Ezhe's luck was really bad. When he was attacking Jinzhou with the Jiannu, he was accidentally killed by the army led by the Ming general Zu Dashou.

Because Ezhe had no son, the Jiannu planned to let Abunai inherit the title of Prince of Chahar.

But Abunai was not a stupid man. He had long seen through the intentions of the Jiannu. They simply wanted to use him as a puppet to control his people to continue working for the Jiannu.

Abunai was unwilling to be such a puppet, so he took his men and fled the Jiannu territory overnight.

However, they had nowhere to go on the vast grassland and could only come to Xuanfu City, hoping to find a place to stay.

(PS: Abunai should actually be a child at this point, but his age has been modified due to the plot needs. Please don’t take it too seriously!)

(End of this chapter)