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

As evening fell, the golden rays of the setting sun shone on the glazed tiles, bathing the entire palace in a golden glow.

The young eunuch who had received the silver from Wang Dehua in front of the Wuying Hall approached Wang Chengen, the Grand Eunuch of the Directorate of Ceremonial: "Godfather, just now, Eunuch Wang Dehua went to see His Majesty and slipped me a piece of silver!"

As he spoke, he took out some silver from his pocket and placed it on the table next to Wang Chengen. If it were silver from someone else, the little eunuch felt he could just accept it, but this silver was given by the Grand Eunuch of the Directorate of Ceremonial, so he dared not keep it. After thinking it over, he decided to send it to his godfather, Wang Chengen, and inform him in case anything went wrong in the future.

Wang Chengen picked up the silver and looked at it, then suddenly asked, "What did he ask you?"

"I didn't ask anything! I just said you've had a hard time!" the little eunuch said truthfully.

After hearing this, Wang Chengen nodded slightly, then got up and quickly walked towards the Wuying Hall with the silver.

Before long, she came to Zhu Jian's side: "Your Majesty, this servant has something to report!"

Upon seeing Wang Chengen, Zhu Jian handed him a piece of pastry, saying, "Let's eat while we talk!"

Wang Chengen placed the silver on the table and accepted the pastries with both hands: "This is the silver Wang Dehua gave to the eunuch on duty at the gate! He didn't ask anything!"

As he ate, Prosecutor Zhu nodded, "He still knows the rules!"

He then added, "Just tell him to keep what Wang Dehua gave him without worry!"

In Zhu Jian's mind, Wang Dehua was frightened by Li Wen's matter and probably already knew that it was the Inner Court that was behind it. As a result, Wang Dehua now sees everyone as someone from the Inner Court. Since that's the case, Zhu Jian felt a little more at ease. It's always better for the Grand Eunuch of the Directorate of Ceremonial to maintain a certain level of fear.

To avoid being able to please both sides and not putting in any real effort!

"Yes! This servant will return the silver immediately!"

Go!

After Wang Chengen left, the new head eunuch of the Eastern Depot arrived outside the Wuying Hall: "This servant, Wu Daozheng, the head eunuch of the Eastern Depot, has something to report to Your Majesty!"

"Come in!"

Wu Daozheng bowed and slowly entered the hall, holding a stack of papers in both hands: "Your Majesty, the testimonies of everyone at Beixincang, Lumicang, and Tongzhou Mincang have all been completed!"

Wu Daozheng originally planned to conclude the interrogation tomorrow and submit the report to the emperor, but he didn't expect that these people would confess so quickly under the new torture instruments! Some of the new torture instruments were not even finished before the interrogation ended. It seems that none of these people have any backbone.

Upon hearing this, Zhu Jian was taken aback. He looked up and glanced at Wu Daozheng a few more times, then nodded slightly, thinking that this man was much better than Li Wenqiang!

"Bring it up!"

Wu Daozheng slowly stood up, took two steps forward, and placed the papers in his hand on the table in front of Zhu Jian.

Zhu Jian casually handed the last piece of pastry on the plate, along with the rest of the plate, to Wu Daozheng: "Well done. Have something to eat first, I'll take a look!"

Wu Daozheng accepted the plate with both hands, bowed, and knelt down, saying, "This servant thanks Your Majesty!"

Prosecutor Zhu picked up the testimonies and flipped through them page by page. He was shocked to discover the extent and scope of the crimes committed by these people.

It wasn't just burning down granaries; there was also grain reselling, human trafficking, encroachment on farmland, and collusion between officials and merchants to squeeze grain prices and raise selling prices!

As Zhu Jian read, he sneered, cursing inwardly: "Damn it, they're treating the imperial court like a futures market..."

He then said, "I am very pleased that these people have been investigated and punished in just one day since I took office! Go and tell Wang Dehua to take on the position of Grand Secretary in the Directorate of Ceremonial!"

Upon hearing this, Wu Daozheng immediately bowed and said, "This servant thanks Your Majesty!"

Go!

"This servant takes her leave!" Wu Daozheng stood up, holding the tray and the pastries on it, took two steps back, and turned to leave Wuying Hall.

As the Grand Secretary of the Directorate of Ceremonial, the second-highest position in the Directorate, Wu Daozheng felt the emperor was very satisfied with his work. He also realized that the emperor didn't care about the severity of the punishments; he only cared about the desired outcome…

After a while, it was completely dark, and the eunuchs lit candles in the hall.

Zhu Jian slowly rose to his feet and said, "Send an imperial decree to Zhou Yuji and Liu Guoneng, ordering them to immediately lead five thousand elite troops into the palace!"

"Pass a message to the court meeting tomorrow!"

"Yes, Your Majesty!" Upon hearing this, the eunuch serving in the Wuying Hall hurried out of the hall to convey the decree to the civil and military officials and nobles in the capital...

As Zhu Jian gazed at the burning candlelight, he sighed inwardly: "The noble lords of the Ming Dynasty have enjoyed over two hundred years of good times; it's time for it to come to an end..."

The next morning, as the sky began to lighten, the bells on the Meridian Gate rang, and the palace gates slowly opened.

Attendants, dukes, marquises, imperial sons-in-law, and civil and military officials slowly walked towards the Golden Water Bridge through the left and right side gates...

As soon as the officials entered through the left and right side gates, before they could even line up, the two gates slowly closed! Then, a large number of soldiers slowly descended from the ladders on both sides of the wall, their footsteps in perfect unison.

Upon seeing this, the civil and military officials disregarded their decorum and began to question each other.

What does this mean? A mutiny? A coup?

Fang Fengnian, the Minister of Rites, turned to Sun Chuanting, the Minister of War, and asked, "Lord Sun, isn't this the army under your command? What is the meaning of this?"

He didn't believe Sun Chuanting would stage a coup. He thought Sun Chuanting was an upright person, and that they were on the same side! They both belonged to the Donglin Party...

"Lord Fang, you are mistaken. The army is under His Majesty's control! I was unaware of this!!" With that, Sun Chuanting took a step to the side and closed his eyes to rest.

Sun Chuanting felt that in the capital, no one but the emperor could directly mobilize troops into the palace without anyone else noticing. As for what the emperor wanted to do, he didn't know. If the emperor needed him to know, he would tell him; if the emperor didn't need him to know, he wouldn't inquire.

When Minister of Rites Fang Fengnian couldn't get any information from Sun Chuanting, he turned to Li Banghua and asked, "Grand Secretary Li, do you know anything about the army entering the palace?"

Li Banghua shook his head: "I don't know!"

Seeing this, Sun Chengzong, who was standing in front of Li Banghua, reminded him, "Let us stand still and wait for His Majesty!"

Seeing that he couldn't get any information from the situation, Fang Fengnian stopped bothering with it.

Behind him, Duke Cheng, Zhu Chunchen, Duke Ding, Xu Yunzhen, and other nobles saw that the soldiers had blocked the palace gates and were also deploying defenses on both sides of the square, and they could vaguely sense a sense of danger.

"Duke Cheng, this isn't coming for us, is it?" Xu Yunzhen asked.

Zhu Chunchen looked around, his throat bobbing: "I hope not..."

Marquis Guo Peimin of Wuding squeezed next to Zhu Chunchen and Xu Yunzhen and said in a low voice, "My lords, I think we should just drop what we were talking about earlier!"

Marquis Guo Peimin of Wuding was a descendant of Guo Ying, a general who followed Zhu Yuanzhang in the founding of the dynasty, and was a hereditary noble marquis.

Marquis Yongkang, Xu Xideng, also came to their side and nodded secretly, "Lord Guo is right, let's give up on that!"

Xu Xideng was a descendant of Xu Zhong, a meritorious official of Zhu Di during the Jingnan Campaign, and was also a hereditary noble.

These people are all members of a prestigious group that has been passed down for over ten generations...

Xu Yunzhen looked around and nodded, "Let's give up for now...we'll decide based on the situation!"

These troops truly frightened them. They didn't know why, but a large army fully armored and armed suddenly appeared at the grand court assembly...