Autumn of the 17th year of Chongzhen

Chapter 943
Zhu Cihuan has always been very good at hiding, and he also knows that once his identity is exposed, most of what will bring him is not wealth, but disaster.

A few years ago, if he had come out, it would have been an excellent banner. I don’t know how many people would take the initiative to join his sect, but at that time, he was cowardly, and he was displaced, so he failed to escape to the Ming Dynasty. The army or the area controlled by the rebels lost the best opportunity to reveal their identity.

He is revealing his identity now, but the Ming Dynasty has decided on Nanjing, and the court no longer needs him as a prince. Not only will his appearance not bring benefits to the Ming Dynasty, but it will also threaten to shake the foundation of the country again and become a hidden danger of turmoil. People must want to get rid of it and then quickly.

Zhu Cihuan is timid, but he knows this, so he keeps his mouth shut about his life, but he has changed from a prince to a down-and-out scholar. Whether there is a gap or dissatisfaction in his heart, there must be some.

He sees the prosperity of the city, sees the flowers and rivers and mountains, which may have belonged to him, and when he sees the life of the gentry and aristocrats, he will inevitably feel unbalanced in his heart.

Now under the rule of the Ming Dynasty, he doesn't have to worry as much as he did under the rule of the Qing court, and he is a little relieved.

At that time, the inspector at the gate of the city often came to visit Zhuangzi, and each time he brought a lot of gifts and chatted with him. After a few times, Zhu Cihuan regarded him as a good friend.

The patrol inspector was not some kind of ruffian, but such a person, there was no way to play with Zhu Cihuan.He was originally a scholar, but in the south of the Yangtze River, the culture is prosperous, and there are too many scholars. It is several times more difficult to pass the exam than other places. He took the exam several times, but he didn't even pass the exam, so he changed his career. did it.

Zhu Cihuan left the palace at the age of 13. Although he had a professor from the Imperial Academy, he could not learn much at the age of 13. His level is not much different from this inspection, and this inspection has been experienced for a long time. The people he came into contact with Duo, who is good at understanding people's hearts, quickly gained Zhu Cihuan's trust.

Years later, the two drank together and made indirect inspections. Zhu Cihuan also had the desire to confide in others, so he revealed a little secret about his past, and talked about his rich life in the past, but he was still vigilant and did not explain himself. However, when the inspector heard about his identity, he was immediately overjoyed, and concluded that Zhu Cihuan must be the son of a Qing official from the north.

In fact, if the patrol inspector was more patient, he might be able to get Zhu Cihuan's true identity, but he was too impatient, and when he returned to the county seat, he told the inference to Li Xiancheng.

Then Li Xiancheng came to power because of nepotism. He had long wanted to deal with Hu Yuanwai in Hujiazhuang. After hearing this, he didn't send someone to implement it again. property.

This kind of thing happened from time to time among the people. When the Ming army just regained the south of the Yangtze River, they accepted a large area of ​​territory. Many officials who accepted the local government slandered the rich and defected to the enemy. Yan issued a decree that no one should be prosecuted except for the prosecuted list stipulated by the imperial court, so this turmoil was suppressed.

Doing so will definitely make some people get away with it, but the Qing army has ruled Jiangnan for several years, and no one in the area under the rule has more or less cooperated with the Qing court. Those who took the opportunity to extort money, the Ming Dynasty's officials and people's hearts would collapse.

After Zhu Cihuan and Hu Yuanwai were imprisoned, Liu Zhixian was a little dissatisfied with this. He knew that Li Xiancheng and his gang had taken a fancy to his property, and Hu Yuanwai was a well-known squire in Yuyao, and his ancestors had also been high officials. The contacts are there, but he is about to be transferred away, so he doesn't want to get involved in the muddy water, and he doesn't want to keep a handle.

Li Xiancheng is a relative of Zhang Kentang, the leader of the Zhejiang Party. Liu Zhixian can also be regarded as a member of the Zhejiang Party. Cheng didn't think much of him either.

After Zhu Cihuan and Hu Yuanwai were imprisoned, Li Xiancheng forced Liu Zhixian to try it quickly and settle the case.

Liu Zhixian was angry, and the officials and businessmen colluded to annex other people's land, but asked him to be a villain. If friends outside the Hu members approached him and asked him to take the blame, he would naturally not do it.

During the trial, Liu Zhixian kept procrastinating, and when he arrived in the court, he was rambling, but he didn't close the case. He wanted to drag it until the day when he was transferred, and let Li Xiancheng handle it by himself, but he didn't expect him to ramble. A fifth son came out.

Zhu Cihuan didn't want to reveal his identity, he just wanted to live a peaceful and peaceful life, but now he was accused of being imprisoned, and even executed as a family member of an upright official, so he had no reason to hide and revealed his identity during the interrogation.

At first Liu Zhixian thought he was talking nonsense, but when he asked about the affairs of the palace, Zhu Cihuan gave him fluent answers, which shocked him.

He knew that this was a landmine dug for the imperial court. For the imperial court, it is best not to have any five princes, especially the king of Chu would be happy that Zhu Cihuan would spend his life among the people like this without revealing his identity, but they hid this The fifth prince was dug out.

Liu Zhixian had no choice but to block the news while quickly reporting to his backer and old officer Xiao Qihui.

In the city of Nanjing, the New Year holiday has ended for a few days, and the officialdom is busy again.

Xinmao New Year is the most comfortable year for Wang Yan in the past few years.

Like ordinary people, the palace cleans the house, decorates lanterns and festoons, prepares sacrifices, worships ancestors, and distributes annual money to family members and subordinates.

In addition to personally participating in these matters, Wang Yan's concubine He Zhizhi and Xu Yanyan took care of other things. I had a good few days of leisure.

However, the comfortable time always passed by very quickly. In a blink of an eye, the vacation was over, and he had to start dealing with the government affairs piled up during the New Year.

For several days in a row, he had to go to the cabinet to review the recent events, and then deal with them first.

Before dawn, Wang Yan was still asleep when he was woken up by He Zhizhi. He sneezed heavily, and when he opened his eyes, he found He Zhizhi sitting on the bed, hastily retracting his fingers to pinch. live lock of hair.

Wang Yan was angry and funny, grabbed her hand at once, pretended to be angry and said: "I'm already a mother, how can I be more naughty than Shizi!"

He Zhizhi was not afraid of him, and said with a soft smile: "My sister said that His Highness will get up early today to go to the cabinet to discuss matters. She kindly woke His Highness up, so why is His Highness ungrateful?"

Wang Yan sat up at once, let go of his hand, squeezed her face, and said with a smile, "Don't tease your husband like this next time."

After finishing speaking, Wang Yan stood up, got out of bed and stretched, He Zhizhi also got out of bed, brought a gust of fragrant wind, and told the maid waiting outside: "Come in, and serve His Highness to wash and change clothes. "

When Wang Yan finished washing and was about to set off, King Lu had already left the Palace of King Lu under the protection of nearly a hundred guards.

He was sitting in the carriage, and the carriage was passing on the street. Suddenly, a carriage caught up with King Lu. Hearing the sound, King Lu opened the curtain of the car, and the other side also opened. It was Dong Zhining, an official under King Lu.

"Your Highness, this subordinate has something important to report!"

(End of this chapter)