The reason why only 6 people in this major eunuch case were sentenced to death and the remaining 19 people were sentenced to be executed after the fall was not to let them live a few more months.
But they didn't confiscate much property from the homes of these 19 people.
It was obvious that these people had transferred their property in advance.
In order to have more time to find their property, they were not killed immediately.
Otherwise, with the temperament of the Donglin Party members, they would like to cut executioners like Xu Xianchun into pieces with a thousand knives.
Can he still survive until the end of the year?
In the Qianqing Palace, Luo Yangxing, the commander of the Jinyi Guards, said: "Your Majesty, Tian Ergeng and others have confessed that their property has been transferred to Liaodong."
"Li Xianzhong, the Duke of Liao, opened a bank called Liaodong Bank, and these eunuch members all deposited their money there."
"Moreover, the Duke of Liao also accepted a large number of members of the eunuch party and their tribesmen, and appointed a large number of nephews of the eunuch party as officials in Liaodong."
At this time, Chongzhen's face was extremely ugly. He set up a dragnet to attack the eunuchs, but in the end, Li Xianzhong reaped the benefits.
A large number of eunuchs went to Liaodong with money, but those officials who would never be hired by the court took their nephews and fled to Liaodong.
And you can't catch Li Xianzhong, because he did not hire those members of the eunuch party who were "never hired" by the court, but only their nephews and disciples.
He accidentally provided an "assist" to Li Xianzhong.
He said: "In other words, there is no more money to be squeezed out of people like Tian Ergen?"
Luo Yangxing said: "These people have all been sentenced to the Autumn Judgment. Now their property clan members have gone to Liaodong. They know that they will die, so naturally they have no scruples."
"unless."
Chongzhen said: "Unless there is something, just say it!"
Luo Yangxing said: "Unless Your Majesty can spare them from death, then they will be able to spend money to save their lives."
Chongzhen is indeed in need of money. According to Sun Chengzong, the current troops of the imperial court cannot defeat Li Xianzhong's Liaodong Army.
If the imperial court wanted to fall out with Li Xianzhong, it would have to train at least 150,000 new troops.
Even though his imperial brother worked hard to develop the Yulin camp, there are currently only 60,000 people, of which 30,000 are new recruits who have only been recruited for half a year.
However, it is impossible to pardon people like Tian Ergen. He sentenced them to the Autumn Judgment, which has aroused the dissatisfaction of a large number of Donglin Party members.
If they were exempted from the death penalty, I'm afraid the court would explode.
As the emperor, he cannot do whatever it takes to get money. Otherwise, what is the difference between him and the likes of Wei Zhongxian and Li Xianzhong?
This was absolutely unacceptable for Chongzhen, who aspired to be the Holy Ancestor and Mingjun.
He waved his hand and said: "This matter is absolutely impossible and there is no need to discuss it further!"
Tian Ergeng and others naturally wanted to survive. They gave Luo Yangxing some benefits and begged him to save his life in front of Chongzhen. They said that he would be heavily rewarded if the matter was accomplished.
That's why Luo Yangxing said this. Even if each of these 19 people took out one or two hundred thousand taels, there were still several million taels.
In Luo Yangxing's view, this money was very important to the Ming Dynasty, and Chongzhen might still be tempted.
It's a pity that His Majesty didn't give him a chance to continue. It seems that the money is not easy to earn!
Fortunately, Chongzhen did not get angry. He quickly said: "I made a mistake, your majesty, please forgive me!"
Chongzhen said: "Since these people have no value anymore, they no longer need to be imprisoned in the imperial prison. They can be transferred directly to the prison of the Ministry of Punishment."
Luo Yangxing resigned quickly.
In fact, there were no real prisons in the Ming Dynasty, only the imperial prisons and the prisons of the Ministry of Punishment.
And these eunuchs also had quite a lot of property. Although most of them moved to Liaodong, they still had enough money to manage, and they did not suffer much in prison.
Now that they heard that he was going to be transferred to the prison of the Ministry of Punishment, many people started crying.
This conveyed two messages. First, Luo Yangxing's plea to His Majesty failed, and Chongzhen did not agree with them buying lives with money.
Second, when they arrived at the prison of the Ministry of Punishment under the control of the Donglin Party, their real hard days were coming.
Especially Xu Xianchun, who killed Yang Lian, Zuo Guangdou and others, seemed extremely excited, fearing that he would be retaliated by the Donglin Party members when he went to the Ministry of Punishments.
He had been having nightmares in the past few days, dreaming that the Donglin Party members he had killed were demanding their lives from him, especially the way Yang Lian looked directly at him before he died, which made him shudder.
So Xu Xianchun hit the prison wall and wanted to commit suicide.
Fortunately, he was discovered in time by the patrolling Jin Yiwei and did not die.
Luo Yangxing quickly had Xu Xianchun's mouth blocked to prevent him from biting his tongue and committing suicide, and then put shackles and shackles on him.
At this time, Guo Rong, the commander of Jinyiwei, said: "Commander Luo, it is really troublesome to keep these eunuchs in your hands. Since His Majesty has issued an order, it is better to transfer them to the prison of the Ministry of Punishment overnight."
Luo Yangxing thought the same thing, this group of people had no big fortune anymore, and they were left with long nights and dreams. If they committed suicide in the imperial prison, he would still be implicated.
So he said: "You are personally responsible for escorting them and putting shackles on all of them. There must be no mistakes on the way."
Soon these felons were shackled and shackled.
There were cries again in the prison.
I saw a guard in uniform shouting: "Why are you crying? The day has not come yet and I won't send you to the execution ground. If you cry again, I will give you a fist blow!"
After all, Tian Ergeng had been the commander of the Jinyi Guards for so many years, and he was still given preferential treatment in the prison of Fusi in Beizhen. He lived in a single room.
Guo Rong, the commander of Jinyiwei, had some troubles with Tian Ergen before and was suppressed by him, so Luo Yangxing retained him.
Tian Ergeng saw Guo Rong coming to his cell in person and thought that Guo Rong was going to humiliate him.
Unexpectedly, he was surprised to find that a royal guard brought by Guo Rong was very similar to him in height and appearance.
Guo Rong said quietly: "Someone spent a lot of money to protect his escape. This transfer is the only chance. Please cooperate with Governor Zuo!"
Although he didn't know what kind of medicine Guo Rong was selling in the gourd, this was his only chance to survive. Even if it was a pit, he could only jump into it.
Tian Ergeng soon exchanged identities with this Jinyiwei, especially wearing shackles and shackles. Naturally, no one could see through the fake Tianergeng's identity, and no one paid attention to the Jinyiwei responsible for escorting them.
Afterwards, these felons were driven into prison cars made of fine steel and taken to the prison of the Ministry of Punishment, where they were successfully taken over by the Ministry of Punishment.
Although this fake Tian Ergen looks very similar to himself, too many people know Tian Ergen.
The secret will definitely be exposed as soon as he is interrogated, so he must hurry up and escape from the capital.
He actually saw Feng Quan among the people who responded to him.
As a former member of the eunuch party, Feng Quan, the Minister of Rites in Nanjing, was naturally implicated.
Although he was not charged, he was demoted.
Now that Dong Lin is in power, there is naturally no good fruit to eat from him, so he simply resigned and returned to his hometown in Zhuozhou.
However, Feng Quan, who had already joined the Intelligence Department, was waiting for an opportunity to make a comeback, so he did not go to Liaodong to work.
Tian Ergeng helped him when he first went to Jiangnan, and even risked his life to save him in Taihu Lake.
When he was attacked by Cui Chengxiu, Tian Ergen did not hesitate to offend Cui Chengxiu to speak for him. He had to repay this kindness.
Tian Ergeng knew that Feng Quan did not have such great energy.
Even if he could afford the money, he wouldn't be able to bribe a high-ranking Jinyiwei official like Guo Rong.
Feng Quan quickly noticed his doubts and said: "The one who rescued you is the Duke of Liao. You should go to Liaodong as soon as possible."
Tian Ergeng was very surprised. After all, he had saved so much money in Liaodong Bank, and Li Xianzhong did not agree to take him in.
How did Feng Quan persuade Li Xianzhong?
Feng Quan said: "Brother Tian, I still remember that you drank too much that day and told me that you knew the inside story about the murder of Li Rusong, the commander-in-chief of Liaodong."
"The only one in the world who can save Brother Tian is the Duke of Liao, so I said you know this and ask the Duke of Liao to help!"
This makes sense, otherwise how could Li Xianzhong take such a big risk to get himself out of Jinyiwei's prison?
However, Feng Quan did something bad this time out of good intentions and made Tian Ergen miserable.
If things were really that simple, Tian Ergeng would have used this to save his life.
But he'd settle for what he had come, and at this point he could only resign himself to fate.
The capital was by no means a place to stay for a long time, but this time they did not go to Tianjin to take a boat, but rode horses all the way to Shanhaiguan.
At present, the waterway from Tianjin to Liaodong has been paid attention to by the imperial court. Wei Liangqing suffered this loss last time, and the Jin Yiwei came to wait and see.
Tian Ergeng came to Kaiyuan more than ten days later.
In fact, there is no controversy about the fact that Li Rusong and the Liaodong cavalry were executed due to collusion between the Ming Dynasty and the Mongols. This is a certainty.
However, Zhu Changluo burned the clues left by Emperor Wanli, which still made Li Xianzhong very unhappy.
After all, he had traveled through time and wanted to understand the ins and outs of this matter.
As the grandson of Tian Le, then Minister of War, Tian Ergen should still know some inside information.
After meeting Tian Ergen, Li Xianzhong didn't talk nonsense. He said: "Captain Tian, you must also know why I have to spend so much effort to get you here, so please tell me exactly what you know. Bar."
Tian Ergeng suddenly knelt on the ground and said: "The villain's grandfather is ashamed of the Li family of Liaodong, and I ask the Duke of Liao to forgive me!"
Li Xianzhong had expected this result. He said: "With my power, if I want to pursue what happened back then, Governor Tian, do you think you can still be safe and sound today?"
"I promise that you will not pursue Tian Le's fault any more. Please get up and tell the truth!"
Tian Ergen wiped the sweat from his forehead and said: "Back then, Li Chengliang, the uncle of Ningyuan, made Liaodong a monolith, which made everyone in the court very afraid."
"Many ministers have written to His Majesty Wanli asking to weaken the Li family, but His Majesty has been indifferent, especially your Majesty Li Rusong, who is highly valued by His Majesty!"
"In the eleventh year of Wanli, your father-in-law was appointed as the chief military officer of Shanxi at the age of 34. The ministers reported that Li Chengliang already had a heavy army and that his son Li Rusong was not suitable to hold important positions in the army. But in the end, the chief assistant Shen Shixing stepped forward. After protecting your father, this matter will finally be settled."
"In the fifteenth year of Wanli, your father was transferred to Xuanfu, an important town in Jiubian, as the commander-in-chief. During his tenure, he beat Shanxi Governor Xu Shouqian, which almost caused all the civil servants in the court to impeach your father. However, due to your majesty's favoritism, your father was still safe and sound."
"After the Ningxia Rebellion and the Korean War, Your Majesty appointed Your Majesty Li Rusong as the Commander-in-Chief. Your Majesty was too partial to Your Majesty, which made the civil and military officials of the entire dynasty panic."
"As the saying goes, if a tree is as good as the forest, the wind will drive it away! The civil servants of the Ming Dynasty were worried that the Li family would not be able to survive, but the military generals were jealous that the Li family of Liaodong had robbed everyone of the opportunity to make meritorious deeds. In the end, all the civil and military officials of the DPRK and China at that time joined forces to deal with Li family, especially the Ma family, another family of military commanders at that time.”
"First they made a big fuss out of the Battle of Byokjeokwan, describing it as a big defeat, putting pressure on His Majesty, and replaced the North Korean coach with Ma Gui, and then Ma Gui began to target the Li family's generals everywhere. , kill them."
"Under the influence of the Manchu Dynasty's civil and military forces, His Majesty finally changed his attitude and began to restrict the Li family. In the 24th year of Wanli, he sent eunuch Gao Huai to Liaodong to take the opportunity to cause chaos in Liaodong in the name of collecting taxes."
"However, the Li family's Liaodong cavalry is still the biggest threat. In the 26th year of Wanli, with the tacit approval of His Majesty, the DPRK and China made a plan to unite the Mongols to set up an ambush to encircle and annihilate the Liaodong cavalry led by your Majesty."
"My grandfather Tian Le, as the Minister of War, also cooperated with the chief minister Zhao Zhigao to participate in this matter and the subsequent series of attacks by the imperial court on the Li family in Liaodong!"
"At that time, the cabinet, the Ministry of War, and His Majesty were actually aware of this matter. As for who the Mongolian grandfather specifically contacted was not mentioned, I have no way of knowing!"
Tian Ergeng's account was generally similar to what Li Xianzhong guessed, but there was one point that subverted Li Xianzhong's cognition.
He had always thought that Emperor Wanli was unaware of the ambush against Li Rusong, and that His Majesty was forced to accept the result after the ministers made their own decisions.
But according to Tian Ergeng's discussion, Emperor Wanli knew about it at the time, and he did not stop it.
From the timeline analysis, Wanli sent Gao Huai to Liao in the 24th year of Wanli, which was indeed earlier than the murder of Li Rusong in the 26th year of Wanli.
As for Wanli's own role in this matter, it became unknown after the previous letter was burned.
It seems that the civil servants group headed by Zhao Zhigao and the military generals group headed by Ma Gui were ultimately responsible for this matter.
After all, "East, Li, and West Ma" destroyed the Li family, and the Ma family was the biggest beneficiary.
In fact, what the officials did against the Li family at that time should be similar to what they had done against Liaodong before.
It's just that the results are different.
He hurriedly asked: "Did any paperwork remain for these matters at the beginning?"
Tian Ergen said: "It is impossible to leave any records on such matters involving court secrets."
He glanced at Tian Ergeng who was sweating profusely.
He said: "Although Tian Le was the Minister of the Ministry of War at the beginning, he did not have such a big conflict of interest with the Li family. I believe that he was at best a promoter of this incident, not the leader."
"At that time, he was only acting on the orders of His Majesty Wanli and Chief Assistant Zhao Zhigao. I have already said before that I will not pursue you, so don't worry!"
Although Wanli did not directly order the death of Li Rusong, if one day he rebelled against the Ming Dynasty, this would be a perfect excuse. After all, the hatred for killing his father was irreconcilable.
Tian Ergeng was also a smart man. How could he not know what Li Xianzhong was thinking, so he said: "Thank you very much, Lord Liao, for your magnanimity. Your Majesty, Li Rusong, the commander-in-chief of Liaodong, has made great military exploits for the Ming Dynasty, but the emperor has not tolerated it. It is really my fault." A big tragedy."
Li Xianzhong said: "Your identity cannot be disclosed for the time being, so you can work for me in the Intelligence Department under the pseudonym Tian Xiong."
Tian Ergeng said quickly: "My subordinate Tian Xiong is willing to serve the Duke of Liao!"
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Sorry, I'm a little stuck today, so I'll post 4,000 words first.
(End of chapter)
