Ming Dynasty: Moral blackmail? I, Emperor Chongzhen, have no morals!

at the same time.

Liu Guoneng entered the Wuying Hall and reported, "Your Majesty, the hundreds of Jurchens captured earlier are still in the army. What should be done with them?"

Liu Guoneng was a surrendered general of the peasant army. Now he has been promoted three ranks by Zhu Jian and has become a general. He feels that he is willing to serve his lord and die for him. Therefore, he takes Zhu Jian's orders as the standard in everything, even verbal orders.

After the war ended, Zhu Jian ordered that all several hundred Jurchen prisoners be brought to the capital to await their fate; they are still in his camp...

"Go back and conduct a preliminary interrogation to determine who holds the highest official rank, then report back to me!"

"Your humble servant obeys!" After receiving the answer, Liu Guoneng got up and left the Wuying Hall to conduct the interrogation.

"Your Majesty, what use are these prisoners?" Sun Chengzong asked as he wrote the imperial edict.

"It's useful. I've received information that there are quite a few Jurchen spies in the capital!" Zhu Jian said, glancing at Sun Chengzong.

Upon hearing this, Sun Chengzong exclaimed in shock: "A spy!!!"

"These were merchants who not only profited from selling contraband to the Jurchens, but also secretly informed the Qing court about the Ming army's defenses!"

Upon hearing this, Sun Chengzong gripped his pen tightly: "These traitors!"

Sun Chengzong had long heard that some people were selling goods to the Qing court, a practice that had been going on since the Tianqi era, but the court had never obtained any evidence and the matter was eventually dropped.

"Does Your Majesty possess any evidence?"

"Aren't these Jurchen slaves proof enough?"

"What does His Majesty mean by interrogating these prisoners?"

"I don't know, let's interrogate them first!"

Zhu Jian never intended to obtain evidence first and then arrest and execute people.

His plan was to simply confiscate their property and execute them. As for evidence, he was confident he could find it once the property was confiscated. The ancestral procedures and rules established by Zhu Yuanzhang in the Ming Dynasty were utterly meaningless in Zhu Jian's eyes...

........

Three days later, at dawn, Zhu Jian received a report from Liu Guoneng that the highest-ranking official among these prisoners was only Zuo Ling, a fourth-rank official.

Zhu Jian looked at the list of personnel and shook his head, it seemed he wouldn't be able to get any information out of them.

He then commanded: "Transform Cao into a dragon, and unleash the might of Hu Dawei, as fierce as a tiger's army, and enter the city to jointly command the defense of the capital with Gao Jie and Liu Guoneng's troops!"

"At the same time, the city gates of the capital are closed and martial law is declared! The Imperial Guards are ordered to patrol the city, and all citizens are prohibited from going out on the streets after noon; those who disobey will be imprisoned!"

Former Crown Prince Zhu Cilang and Empress Zhou had already led the six ministries of the cabinet, along with imperial concubines and princes, to Nanjing to pay homage to their ancestors. Now, two days later, they had passed through Daxing County, so Zhu Jian, who remained in the capital, began a major purge.

"Your Majesty, why has martial law suddenly been declared in the capital?" Hong Chengchou asked anxiously.

The capital city only goes into martial law when there is an emergency. There is nothing urgent now, so why was martial law suddenly ordered? This left Sun Chengzong, Hong Chengchou, Sun Chuanting, and Li Banghua, who had just returned from Baoding, completely bewildered!

"Yes, Your Majesty, the sudden imposition of martial law will surely cause panic among the people in the city!" Li Banghua chimed in from the side.

Zhu Jian waved his hand: "It's alright. Grand Secretary Sun and Banghua can continue reviewing the memorials forwarded by the Office of Transmission in the Wuying Hall. I have some business to attend to!"

Sun Chuanting is now in charge of training new recruits and manufacturing equipment and armor, while Lu Xiang-sheng is expanding the army by 20,000 in Yutian in preparation for the direct distribution of military pay in the future.

This memorial, which should have been reviewed by the cabinet and the six ministries, fell to Sun Chengzong and Li Banghua...

As for Zhu Jian, he had no interest in those trivial memorials.

When Zhu Jian arrived outside the Wuying Hall, the cool autumn air brushed against his face.

"Dehua, have the Eastern Depot's agents survey all Shanxi shops and residences in the capital, and have everyone keep an eye on them! At noon, arrest everyone and confiscate their property! I will deploy Hu Dawei and the Fierce Tiger Division to assist the Eastern Depot and the Embroidered Uniform Guard!"

"This servant obeys the decree!"

After speaking, Wang Dehua slowly took two steps back and walked towards the Directorate of Ceremonial.

Although Wang Dehua's face remained expressionless, his heart was in turmoil. Originally from Datong, Shanxi, he had many connections with Shanxi merchants, but the sudden investigation of Shanxi merchants in the capital made him uneasy.

The capital is now under martial law, with no one allowed in or out. The Imperial Guards have begun clearing the streets of pedestrians, so even if someone wanted to send a message, they couldn't get out. They could only pray that this incident wouldn't implicate them...

After Wang Dehua left, Zhu Jian glanced sideways and said, "Cheng'en, have Li Ruolian keep an eye on Wang Dehua and the agents of the Eastern Depot. Anyone found colluding with Shanxi merchants should be imprisoned immediately, and killed on sight if they resist!"

"As you command!"

In an instant, the capital was filled with fear and unease. On the streets, the Imperial Guards rode their horses and shouted for everyone to go home, and anyone found on the streets after noon would be imprisoned.

Upon hearing the noise, all the people rushed home, and shops and taverns everywhere closed their doors.

The crowded streets of the entire capital were instantly cleared out within an hour...

On the streets, teams of ten men, led by a squad leader, were stationed at various checkpoints and on patrol.

Zhu Jian walked slowly to the outside of the palace, followed by Wang Chengen, Li Ruolian, the Northern Garrison Commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, General Gao Jie, Liu Guoneng, Cao Bianjiao, and hundreds of Embroidered Uniform Guards.

Just then, Wang Dehua stumbled up to Inspector Zhu, panting heavily: "Your Majesty, all the shops and vendors from Shanxi have been tallied!"

After saying that, he held up the silk cloth in his hands and presented it to Zhu Jian.

"There are still some hours left. Go and check yourself to see if anyone has been missed! I don't like being deceived by living people!" Zhu Jian emphasized the word "living people".

This was a warning to Wang Dehua, a way of telling him that if he insisted on removing certain people, he wouldn't mind cleaning up the Directorate of Ceremonial and the Eastern Depot as well.

"Yes, Your Majesty! I will go and verify this immediately!" Wang Dehua said, wiping the sweat from his forehead, and turned to leave quickly.

In this census, some people were indeed removed from the list, but he did not remove them voluntarily. They were removed by his subordinates after receiving bribes. He simply turned a blind eye to it.

Now that the emperor's demands are being met without exception, there's no room for ambiguity anymore. This involves their own lives, and no one can be an exception. As for what the emperor actually does, that's no longer his concern...

Before long, Wang Dehua returned, holding up the two pieces of silk to Zhu Jian: "Your Majesty, some servants accepted bribes and seized some shops and residences belonging to people from Shanxi. Now they have been added..."

Zhu Jian grabbed the silk cloth, his eyes scanning the handwriting: "Seize all of the Fan family's grain store, Wang family's cloth store, Jin family's porcelain store, and so on!"

"Also, confiscate these eight mansions in the capital, and imprison all personnel there in the Northern Garrison Command for further processing!"

"Yes, Your Majesty!" Wang Dehua was about to leave when he heard Zhu Jian's voice: "Li Ruolian, Liu Guoneng, lead your men to assist in the confiscation of the property! Seal all accounts and letters!"

"This humble general obeys the order!"

As Zhu Jian watched the departing group, he thought to himself: Let's start dealing with Huang Taiji's eight partners—Fan Yongdou, Wang Dengku, Jin Liangyu, Wang Dayu, Liang Jiabin, Tian Shenglan, Zhai Tang, and Huang Yunfa—from the capital!