Jingtai: Making the Ming Dynasty Great Again

After nightfall, Wu Ning sat alone in the signing room of the governor's office.

He had been sitting like this for an hour.

He read the secret letter in his hand three times.

The letter was personally delivered by Cheng Jing an hour ago, from a secret agent of the Eastern Depot who had infiltrated Ganzhou.

The letter said that Wang Jing's confidants had quietly left the city and headed north this afternoon.

Accompanying them were two unfamiliar faces who looked like people from the grasslands.

Shortly after they left, Wang Jing went to the governor's office.

He stayed with Ma'ang for almost half an hour before leaving.

On the other hand, Liu Yu suddenly sent people to clean up a storeroom in the backyard of the imperial shop this afternoon, burning a lot of things.

Wu Ning knew that things might have to be brought forward.

Their original plan was to wait for the reinforcements sent by the imperial court to arrive before capturing the people in one fell swoop.

But now it seems that Wang Jing and the others have already realized something.

Liu Yu's sudden burning of the account books was clearly an attempt to destroy evidence.

The person Wang Jing's confidant met outside the city was most likely a secret envoy from the Oirat Mongols.

The worst-case scenario is that they will betray the country!

This winter was already difficult for the Oirat people.

If Wang Jing and the others were to offer up such a lucrative opportunity at this time...

The Oirat people will surely all turn into wolves and pounce on us.

Wu Ning put down the secret letter and rubbed his temples.

He recalled what Cheng Jing had said during the day: "No matter how careful our family is, there will inevitably be loopholes."

Wang Jing had been operating in Ganzhou for many years, with informants everywhere.

He's no fool for being able to command the eunuchs.

Yes, Wang Jing isn't stupid.

During his years in Gansu, he smuggled ironware and gunpowder and colluded with Oirat merchants.

The fact that they could do all these things unscathed speaks volumes about their shrewdness.

Cheng Jing's Eastern Depot agents could secretly investigate, which could deceive people for a while, but not forever.

Wang Jing's burning of the account books and meeting with the mysterious man clearly indicate that he has heard rumors.

We need to act now.

But how do we get started?

They have too few soldiers at their disposal.

The more than two hundred guards they brought were kept under close watch from the very first day they entered the city.

Although those people dared not openly obstruct them.

However, a dozen or so people guarded the entrance to the post station every day, ostensibly for "protection," but in reality for surveillance.

Ren Li would know immediately if these two hundred-plus people made a move.

As for Wang Jing, as the garrison eunuch, he also had a group of eunuchs and guards under his command.

In addition, there was Ma Ang, the governor, and Li Gui, the imperial inspector.

These three people together have at least three or four hundred people at their disposal.

The most troublesome one is Ren Li.

Although this veteran has been feigning illness to delay things these past few days, he still has troops at his disposal.

The three hundred private soldiers at the farm outside the city, plus the officers and soldiers in Ganzhou Guard who were under his command.

If it really came down to a fight, he could rally thousands of people within half an hour.

A direct confrontation won't work.

We must outsmart them.

Wu Ning thought of someone: Zhou, the old clerk under Shen Yi.

These days, Shen Yi has been dealing with those clerks.

On the surface, they were constrained in every way, but in secret, they figured out the details of the governor's office.

On the surface, Master Zhou was perfunctory in dealing with Shen Yi, but in reality, he had already been won over by Shen Yi.

In Shen Yi's words, "These old officials know best which way the wind is blowing."

He realized we were sent by the Emperor and would succeed sooner or later, so he secretly defected to us.

Master Zhou had been in Ganzhou for over twenty years and knew the ins and outs of the place like the back of his hand.

He knew how many gates Wang Jing's mansion had.

They knew what time Ma Ang's guards changed shifts each night.

They even knew the names of the girls Ren Li's son, Ren Jie, called from brothels every night.

This information might come in handy.

However, Wu Ning did not rule out the possibility that Zhou Shiye was involved.

It's also possible that he deliberately placed someone by Shen Yi's side to gather information.

Therefore, Wu Ning was skeptical of what Master Zhou said.

However, this does not prevent us from using him.

Just as Wu Ning was thinking, he suddenly heard a light footstep outside the door.

He turned around warily.

"Governor Wu, it's me."

It was Cheng Jing's voice.

Wu Ning breathed a sigh of relief and quickly stepped forward to open the door.

Cheng Jing slipped in, his expression extremely grave.

"Eunuch Cheng, what happened?"

Cheng Jing lowered his voice and said, "Liu Yu is dead."

Wu Ning was startled: "What?"

"Just an hour ago."

As usual, the people from the Eastern Depot kept an eye on his residence.

I saw someone go in, and then I heard a scream.

By the time the guards broke in, Liu Yu was already hanging from the roof beam.

"suicide?"

Cheng Jing sneered: "There's only one rope on that roof beam."

The knots on the rope were tied in a mess; it wasn't tied by me at all.

Moreover, Liu Yu had two marks on her neck from being strangled.

One was a rope, the other was bound by hand.

Wu Ning's expression changed: "Someone's trying to silence us?"

"Most likely, Liu Yu just burned the account books today and died tonight..."

Wu Ning suddenly asked, "What's going on with Wang Jing?"

Cheng Jing said, "This is exactly what I was going to tell you."

Less than a quarter of an hour after Liu Yu's death, someone from Wang Jing's residence went to the governor's office.

The lights on in Ma'ang's area are also on, and they've been on all this time.

Wu Ning walked to the window and looked in the direction of the governor's office.

Sure enough, there were a few lights there, which stood out conspicuously in the night.

"With Liu Yu dead, the trail went cold. But they also knew we wouldn't give up so easily."

So next they either run or rebel.

Cheng Jing nodded in agreement.

Where can they run to?

To the north was the Oirat Mongols, to the west was Turpan, and to the east was the imperial court.

The only direction they could run was north to join the Oirat Mongols.

But if they did that, they would become traitors and could never come back.

On the contrary, they have soldiers, food, and cities in their hands.

If they were to take the risk and seize Ganzhou City to establish themselves as independent, they could do so.

Although they will eventually die, at least they can hold on for a while.

Wu Ning said slowly, "They won't run away."

At least they wouldn't go to the Oirat; they want to demonstrate their value.

The most likely scenario is that they will first reverse and then run.

They want to hand over Gansu to the Oirat Mongols!

Cheng Jing narrowed his eyes: "If they make the first move, our few hundred men won't be able to stop them."

Wu Ning turned to look at him: "So we have to act before they do."

"Eunuch Cheng, how many people does the Eastern Depot have in Ganzhou?"

Cheng Jing said, "There are twenty-three spies on the surface, all of whom we brought from the capital."

There are more than a dozen hidden threads, which have been laid out over the years.

There were fewer than forty people in total.

Wu Ning pondered for a moment: "Eunuch Cheng, please trouble you to invite General Fan and Governor Shen over to discuss this together."

"Okay, we'll go right away."

After Cheng Jing left, Wu Ning picked up a pen and drew several circles on a piece of paper.

At the same time, he muttered to himself, "This is the General's Mansion, this is the Governor's Office, this is Wang Jing's Residence, and this is Li Gui's Residence."

And here, the brothel Ren Jie visits every night…

We don't have enough people; we can't force a fight.

We have no choice but to split up and catch them off guard.

The key is to be quick; you have to subdue them before they can react…