Taichang Ming Dynasty

Chapter 463 The ultimate plan
"Duke, could you please allow me to say one more word?" Zhu Jiazhen said carefully.

"Uncle, just say what you want to say." Zhu Chunchen was still willing to listen to Zhu Jiazhen.

"Your Majesty is right. The Li family is indeed a target. The Emperor has doubts and has sent out the Imperial Guards to investigate, but they will definitely investigate them first." Zhu Jiazhen confirmed Zhu Chunchen's judgment. "But since the Li family didn't do it, the truth will surely come out one day. When that happens, the Imperial Guards will mobilize all their forces to follow the clues and may not fail to find our Zhu family."

"Follow the clues." Zhu Chunchen smacked his lips and turned to look at Zhu Jiaqi. "Will he find his way here?"

"My Lord, Grandfather," Zhu Jiaqi continued, "I have deployed very carefully. There is no vine for the factory guards to touch."

"Then how did you know that the princess had just passed away?" Zhu Jiazhen asked.

Zhu Jiaqi smiled slightly and explained, "When the nursing room recruits people, when it replaces people, when it uses people, and who it uses are all no secrets. We don't need to stuff people into the palace or the nursing room, and we don't need to bribe anyone. We just need to place some inconspicuous sentries near the nursing room, that is, at the front and back doors, to detect who enters the palace and when, and who leaves the palace. That way we can analyze the recent death of the princess." Zhu Jiaqi didn't keep anyone in suspense and said immediately:

"Last month, several breastfeeding babies were brought into the palace, indicating that a princess was born. Considering the emperor's rules for appointing concubines, it's easy to conclude that Concubine Shao An gave birth to a daughter."

"Typically, nurses entering the palace are gradually released over a period of time, with only one selected to serve as the emperor's daughter's wet nurse. Even if all the nurses entering the palace are unsuitable and need to be replaced, it would take at least a month to test the entire batch. However, our scouts have detected that after less than ten days, all four nurses from the first batch have been replaced, and the nursery has selected a new batch to enter the palace. This is very unusual, and at the very least, it suggests that the newborn is not used to the milk of this batch of nurses. If we combine this with medical knowledge, we can boldly infer that this is a sign of premature death."

When Zhu Jiaqi found out about this, he reported it to Zhu Chunchen. But at that time, he just told Zhu Chunchen about it as an ordinary royal secret, and never thought that the Duke would make a fuss about it. Zhu Jiaqi looked at Zhu Chunchen deeply and continued:
"Today, our secret scouts discovered that the second batch of nurses who entered the palace were all expelled at once. This proves that our previous speculation was correct. The princess born to Concubine Shao An died young."

"Hehehe," Zhu Chunchen suddenly laughed. "I just wonder if Concubine Shao An's daughter died before full term. Can she still get the title of Concubine An by virtue of her daughter's status? If so, it doesn't seem like a big loss."

Zhu Jiaqi nodded in agreement and continued, "Now that those secret guards have returned, we can just give them some money and send them south to avoid the limelight. Then, the factory guards won't be able to find a way to get to Duke Cheng's mansion."

While the palace was undergoing a large-scale purge, Zhu Jiaqi, who oversaw the Zhu family's intelligence operations, also made corresponding adjustments to the Zhu family's intelligence gathering strategy. The imperial city used to be a sieve; whether it was the personnel changes of high-ranking eunuchs or unknown royal secrets, anyone could buy them for a price.

But after the strict palace restrictions, this silver was no longer just a stepping stone. A rash bribery strategy could even backfire. Therefore, Zhu Jiaqi could only resort to indirect investigations, seeking out information closely related to palace policies and imperial life, and then analyzing it. While the Forbidden City was forbidden, it was not, and could not be, a completely isolated island, and such information could not be contained.

"Well, okay. What are you going to do next?" Zhu Jiazhen reminded: "Don't forget, there are Jinyiwei watching our door."

It was a common practice for the Jinyiwei to monitor the gates after Emperor Chengzu's rebellion, mainly to prevent collusion between internal and external forces, and to prevent civil and military officials from plotting rebellion and threatening the imperial power.

To others, the Jinyiwei's surveillance methods were secretive and terrifying, powerful enough to deter those in power from attempting rebellion or forcing the emperor to abdicate. However, these semi-public tactics were nothing new to the Chengguo Mansion. Zhu Xixiao, the younger brother of the seventh-generation Chengguo Duke Zhu Xizhong, who passed away in the second year of the Wanli reign and served as the Grand Tutor and Prince's Grand Tutor, was the head of the Jinyiwei. When Zhu Xixiao was in charge, Luo Sigong's father was still alive. It's safe to say that the Chengguo Mansion was all too familiar with the Jinyiwei's methods.

Zhu Jiazhen, the old housekeeper, was a veteran of the Jinyiwei when he was young. He worked for a long time in the detective offices such as the East Study and the North Pacification Office, and made many contributions, reaching the rank of centurion. However, due to his humble background and lack of military merit, he was unable to obtain the hereditary title.

But even if he could secure a hereditary position, it wasn't necessarily a happy occasion. Zhu Jiazhen's life was filled with misery, even worse than the palace eunuchs. When eunuchs entered the palace, their names and birthplaces were registered, allowing them to return home and erect memorial archways if they became successful. Zhu Jiazhen had no idea where his hometown was, and no descendants. If it weren't for the Duke's promise to allow him to be buried in the Zhu family cemetery, he would have died a lonely ghost, deprived of incense.

"Of course, I will never forget my grandfather's teachings. I know where the Jinyiwei are staking out." Zhu Jiaqi hesitated and said, "And it's not just the Jinyiwei, there are also people from the East Factory. Or rather, there are even more people from the East Factory." Zhu Jiaqi had never worked in the Jinyiwei system, but he still learned the skills that Zhu Jiazhen taught him very thoroughly. Even if he didn't learn it 100%, he still learned 90% of it.

"People from the East Factory!" Zhu Jiazhen's brows furrowed even more. "When did they come?"

Zhu Jiaqi said, "Not long after the Duke went to Tsinghua Garden, the East Depot surrounded him. Not only did they ask him questions, they also tried to bribe people in the mansion. To avoid the East Depot's suspicion, my grandson instructed some people to take the money and sell them some insignificant information."

Preventing rebellion required only routine surveillance, monitoring the interactions of high-ranking officials. Unless unusually close interactions were discovered, or something had angered the emperor, the Imperial Guards would not suddenly increase their surveillance of a particular noble family, much less track ordinary servants beyond those of important figures. To do so would likely require doubling the number of Imperial Guards and their budget to meet the requirements.

"Does the Duke know about these things?" Zhu Jiazhen looked at Zhu Chunchen.

"Didn't your good grandson tell you?" Zhu Chunchen nodded at Zhu Jiaqi inexplicably.

"No." Zhu Jiazhen chuckled and shook his head.

"I just don't want you to worry. Besides, even if the East Depot infiltrates, it's not a big deal," Zhu Jiaqi quickly changed the subject. "I've already tracked down all the East Depot agents. I've also determined their locations and movements. We can completely circumvent them from spreading rumors. Besides, as you know, rumors spread unpredictably. All we need to do is send people to those remote towns and spread the prophecy to ordinary people passing by. Once public opinion builds, we can send those who created the momentum away to hide in the dark, and the guards won't be able to get any leads."

"Since you already know what's going on, I won't say anything more. The Duke has nodded, so just do it." Zhu Jiazhen also tactfully stopped talking about the things that Zhu Jiazhen had not informed him of.

"Is there any safe way to guide the factory guards to lead the investigation to the Li family?" Zhu Chunchen asked quietly.

Zhu Jiazhen shuddered and quickly said, "Duke, of course we can do what we want, but the more we do, the more mistakes we make. If we lead the clues to the Li family, the factory guards might be able to follow them all the way to Duke Cheng's mansion. For example, bribery. We can certainly pay someone to falsely accuse the Li family after the incident, but once they are sent to the Imperial Prison of the Pacification Office or the East Factory's prison, the bribed person's mouth will definitely be pried open. That kind of torture is unbearable for a human being."

Zhu Jiazhen knew very well that the best way to wrestle with the factory guards was not to wrestle with them. It was necessary to avoid being suspected and targeted by the factory guards from the very beginning. Once suspected and targeted by the factory guards, any arrangement would be ineffective. The most terrifying thing about the factory guards was not surveillance, but that they only needed to spy on the superiors' intentions. As long as the superiors' intentions were not rejected, the factory guards could use torture without scruples. Under severe torture, no secrets were secrets. In order to seek death, people in the imperial prison could even bite their closest relatives for no reason. There were those who were so stubborn that they would not give in even after being tortured to death, but they were a minority after all, and such people could not be bribed. "Grandfather is right," Zhu Jiaqi said, "but there is not no way at all."

"Tell me about it!" Zhu Chunchen asked immediately.

"It's the same method as before," Zhu Jiaqi explained. "It's to create public opinion among the people, saying that the prophecy was fabricated by the Li family. As long as the volume of public opinion is loud enough, the censors will naturally hear of it and report it to impeach the Li family."

"But that would negate the purpose of the prophecy," Zhu Jiazhen said. "Fundamentally, we spread the prophecy to convince the Emperor of the 'appearance of the Nine Lotus Bodhisattva,' and thus to dissuade him from using the Li family's three major crimes, or the fabricated disappearance case, as leverage to investigate the affairs of Tsinghua Garden and ultimately reach the Duke Cheng's residence. But if rumors spread that the Li family fabricated the prophecy, and the censors reported it to the emperor, the Emperor might even disbelieve the 'appearance of the Nine Lotus Bodhisattva.'"

"Hmm," Zhu Chunchen nodded, "Uncle, you seem to have misunderstood me. I didn't mean to spread the rumor that the Li family was making up the prophecy while making it happen, and I didn't want to harm them. I just wanted to be on the safe side and make the emperor suspicious and not believe the prophecy. When he is about to send people to investigate, I wanted to guide the investigation towards the Li family." Zhu Chunchen just wanted to give himself another layer of insurance.

"It's good to be prepared, but it's difficult." Zhu Jiazhen shook his head. "If the emperor doesn't believe the prophecy and sends the factory guards to investigate, then doing anything else would be superfluous and ultimately self-defeating."

Zhu Chunchen looked at Zhu Jiaqi again, and seeing him shaking his head, he stopped insisting. "Let's do this for now. Let's do it well. If you need money, just ask Uncle."

"Yes." Zhu Jiaqi replied.

"Uncle." Zhu Chunchen looked at Zhu Jiazhen.

"What are your instructions, Duke?" Zhu Jiazhen stood up and answered.

"Prepare." Zhu Chunchen thought for a moment and said, "Prepare tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of taels of silver, in cash."

"Please allow me to ask you a question, my Lord," Zhu Jiazhen asked. "What are you doing with so much silver at this time?"

Adhering to the safe-haven philosophy of "a cunning rabbit has three burrows, not putting all its eggs in one basket," the Duke of Cheng's mansion didn't have much cash. As long as the emperor didn't tear his face off and launch a massive inquest and property confiscation, even if someone in the mansion committed a crime and the imperial guards raided their homes, they wouldn't find much money.

"Just store it and do nothing." Zhu Chunchen took another sip of tea.

"Hoarding it?" Zhu Jiazhen was shocked. "It's not a good idea to hoard money at home at this time."

"No, we just need to station troops." Zhu Chunchen smiled sinisterly. "Liaodong has been at war for two years. Our government has also relied on this war to make a living for two years. If the emperor sent someone to investigate and searched our government's treasury, and only found a few thousand taels of silver, what would he think? I bet the emperor would not praise me for my integrity."

"But what if the emperor really sends someone to investigate and finds the money?" Zhu Jiazhen asked again.

"Then I'll give it to him. As the saying goes, what's taken from the country should be used for the country. Our Duke's House was simply following basic business logic, buying low and selling high. We had no intention of profiting from the country's crisis, much less realizing that we were able to make so much money because someone was manipulating prices behind the scenes." Zhu Chunchen sighed with a smile, then put on a righteous front, as if in a play. "Knowing that prices are being manipulated, I'm deeply troubled and haven't been able to sleep a single night. Right now, the country is in dire straits, and as a duke who has received the emperor's grace for generations and shares the country's fate, I naturally have to share its worries! Your Majesty, please use this ill-gotten gains to reward the soldiers on the front lines!"

After this one-man show for only two people, Zhu Chunchen slowly subsided. "The so-called willingness to give up means taking what you deserve and giving up what you deserve. If you really can't keep the money, then you can't force it to stay."

"The Duke has planned everything perfectly, I admire you!" Zhu Jiazhen praised sincerely.

"Keep the accounts clean," Zhu Chunchen ordered. "Except for the household ledger and the account for the cash, burn everything that needs to be burned."

"Yes." Accounting is not a difficult task for Zhu Jiazhen.

"Go." Zhu Chunchen waved his hand.

"Yes." Zhu Jiazhen bowed and turned around. But just as he reached the door, Zhu Chunchen hurriedly called him back. "Wait!"

"Does the Duke have any other instructions?" Zhu Jiazhen responded quickly.

"Keep the account of one thousand taels."

"Yes!"

(End of this chapter)