Near dinner time, Wang Chengen carefully entered Dongnuan Pavilion and informed Zhu Yuanzhang that Li Ruolian and Wang Shoulin were outside seeking an audience.
Zhu Yuanzhang knew that the arrest of the rebels had come to an end, so he asked Wang Chengen to bring them in.
After Li and Wang saluted, they immediately reported to Zhu Yuanzhang about the capture of the rebels.
This time they not only destroyed the rebel stronghold they found, but also found a surrender list of wealthy households in the city, more than 300 firearms and 50,000 taels of silver in the rebel lair.
In addition, after interrogating the captured rebels, Wang Shoulin learned that they had four similar strongholds in the city.
He was worried that the time would be too long and the news would be leaked. He wanted to ask Zhu Yuanzhang for help while encircling and suppressing the rebels. Unexpectedly, he happened to meet Li Ruolian who was patrolling the city.
After Li Ruolian learned about this, he immediately mobilized the Jinyi Guards to participate in the rebel encirclement and suppression. At the same time, he sent people to monitor the wealthy households who had surrendered to prevent them from fleeing after getting the news.
Because they acted quickly and kept secrets well, they did not cause much commotion after wiping out the rebels in the city.
This time they annihilated a total of 73 rebels, captured 208 prisoners, and seized nearly 150,000 taels of silver and 600 firearms.
Now these rebels and supplies are temporarily stored in Jinyiwei, under the supervision of dedicated personnel.
After Zhu Yuanzhang heard their report, his face was livid, and at the same time he was secretly happy in his heart.
If Li Mou hadn't been caught unexpectedly this time, these rebels lurking in the capital would have been difficult to detect.
With their numbers and firearms, once the rebels attack the city, it is very likely that the city gate will be lost.
"Your Majesty, what should we do with these prisoners?"
Seeing that Zhu Yuanzhang was silent, Li Ruolian asked in a low voice.
"Kill, take them all to the Xisi Archway and behead them!"
"And those rich families who surrendered, all their homes were ransacked, and all of them, young and old, were beheaded!"
Li Ruolian was shocked when he heard this, and said hesitantly: "There are about fifty wealthy households, and the whole family has arrested about six or seven hundred people, and beheaded them all?"
Zhu Yuanzhang pressed down the jade belt that was already under his belly, and said angrily: "These people only exploit the people on weekdays, and in times of crisis they sell themselves to their owners for glory. It is unreasonable not to kill them."
Seeing Zhu Yuanzhang's angry face, Li Ruolian and Wang Shoulin did not dare to say anything. After receiving the order, they were about to exit, but they heard Zhu Yuanzhang's voice saying: "You should move faster, and you must complete this matter before the curfew!" "
"In addition, this inspection of wealthy households should involve a lot of money. You can ask the Account Department to assist in handling it."
"If this is done, we will reward you generously. If we know that you have enriched your own pockets, we will not let you go!"
Listening to Zhu Yuanzhang's words, the two of them vaguely felt a strong murderous aura coming towards them.
He immediately knelt down on one knee and even said he didn't dare.
Zhu Yuanzhang nodded, and after they left, he slowly walked to the window and looked at the setting sun.
"Even if this country is like the setting sun that is about to set in the west, we will turn it into the rising sun tomorrow morning!"
Zhu Yuanzhang looked at the sunset and thought to himself.
But he also knew that between the two, there was still an all-devouring night waiting for him.
But he believes that with his ability, he can get through it...
Just as he was sighing, Wang Chengen came in again to report that Zhang Jinyan, the Minister of War, was outside seeking an audience.
When Zhu Yuanzhang heard this, he guessed that he already knew about the rebels and rushed back to report the missing firearms to avoid being blamed again.
He also wanted to hear how Zhang Jinyan would argue, so he asked Wang Chengen to bring Zhang Jinyan in.
After Zhang Jinyan came in, he bowed respectfully.
Without waiting for Zhu Yuanzhang to ask, he told the story about tracing the firearms.
According to Zhang Jinyan, the firearms purchased by the Ministry of War are urgently needed. In order to save time, they are sent directly to Shanxi, Huguang and other places for encirclement and suppression of rebels, so there are only entry and exit lists in the arsenal.
In addition, when he was tracing firearms, he found that many officers and soldiers in the Beijing camp were smuggling firearms, which could easily cause instability in the capital. He suggested that Zhu Yuanzhang conduct a thorough investigation.
After listening to his story, Zhu Yuanzhang asked: "Do you know who is selling firearms? And who is buying these firearms?"
When Zhang Jinyan heard this, he deliberately glanced at Wang Chengen, as if he was hesitant to speak.
When Zhu Yuanzhang saw this, he knew that he wanted to blame the eunuch on the eunuch in order to weaken Chongzhen's power.
However, Zhu Yuanzhang was not Chongzhen, and his core strength was not eunuchs. If he had not been afraid that dealing with eunuchs would affect the capital's defense, he would have dealt with Wang Dehua and others long ago.
At this moment, seeing that Zhang Jinyan actually wanted to use him as a spearman, he sneered in his heart and pretended not to understand: "Zhang Qing, tell me what you want to say. Why are you so hesitant? You don't have the character of a minister of the Ministry of War."
Zhang Jinyan was overjoyed when he heard that Zhu Yuanzhang still called him Minister of War. He thought that Zhu Yuanzhang had been moved by his previous words.
He quickly said that someone had seen many eunuchs taking advantage of their authority to secretly transport firearms and sell them to wealthy households in the city, and the prices were not cheap.
It was suggested that Zhu Yuanzhang immediately search these wealthy households, not only to recover the firearms, but also to solve the military pay problem.
As he said this, he handed over the list of wealthy households from whom he had collected and purchased firearms.
Zhu Yuanzhang took the list and glanced at it, and found that except for Fude Tower's name on it, the other names were completely different from Li Ruolian's list.
He knew that Zhang Jinyan was using his eagerness to raise wages to lure him into killing good people.
As long as he agrees to this matter, Zhang Jinyan can not only take the opportunity to make a fortune, but also plunge the capital into chaos.
"It seems that Zhang Jinyan also wants to surrender, so Wei Zaode should not be clean either."
Zhu Yuanzhang had seen through their plan, and thought that Wang Guede asked Wei Zaode for help when he was beaten, so he pretended to be suspicious and asked: "Is this list reliable?"
Seeing Zhu Yuanzhang fall into the trap, Zhang Jinyan immediately swore to heaven that the list was absolutely reliable and advised him to act quickly to avoid any accidents.
When Zhu Yuanzhang heard this, he had a worried look on his face. He pondered for a while and then said to Zhang Jinyan: "These rich families are too involved and we cannot convict them based on this list alone."
"You first arrest those who sell firearms, and then let them confront you, so that you are not afraid of them denying it."
Zhang Jinyan felt disappointed when he saw that Zhu Yuanzhang was unwilling to arrest those wealthy households.
Then he thought that it would be a good thing to be able to deal with those eunuchs openly.
So he immediately responded loudly and walked out with great satisfaction.
Wang Chengen looked at everything in front of him silently. He wanted to speak several times, but finally endured it.
"Cheng'en, do you remember that there is a teahouse next to the Xisi Archway?"
Wang Chengen, who was hesitating, was awakened by Zhu Yuanzhang's words. He was stunned for a while and immediately replied: "I remember that there is a Gaosheng Teahouse there, but it is a place where people kill people. It is very unlucky. Why did Long Live Master think of it there?"
Zhu Yuanzhang glanced at Wang Chengen and said: "Go to the Jinyi Guards to pick up Li Mou, and take him to the teahouse first. We are going to put on a show there."
Wang Chengen was shocked again when he heard this, but seeing that Zhu Yuanzhang had already decided, he took the order and hurried away.
