"So according to you, it is very likely that the rebels will break through the city at the Yinmao period of Ding Weiri?"
Liu Wenbing already understood Zhu Yuanzhang's intention and helped Shen Zhanran.
Shen Zhanran glanced at Zhu Yuanzhang and said with a smile: "Based on Song Xiance's inference, this should be the best time."
"But he forgot that this year is the year of Jiashen, and the year of the year is heavy. The righteousness of Jiashen is not good for Li Thief."
"And if we really want to talk about auspiciousness, the plague that started in the sixth year of Chongzhen will end this spring. Nothing can be as auspicious as this!"
Liu Wenbing also noticed the solemn look on Zhu Yuanzhang's face at this time, and said with a smile: "Yes, if we talk about auspiciousness, there is indeed nothing more auspicious than this. It's ridiculous that Thief Li is so ignorant, which also determines that he will die in this."
When Zhu Yuanzhang heard this, he smiled and said: "You don't need to comfort us, we have never taken the rebels to heart."
"As for the destiny trick played by Li Thief, we have also laid out a plan for him. In fact, the reason why we let Li Mou go is to play into his trap and make Li Thief believe that we have fallen into his trap."
"As for sending Wu Mengming and others out of the city, in addition to confusing Thief Li, the more important thing is to use his superstition to give him..."
After listening to Zhu Yuanzhang's arrangement, Liu Wenbing and others were filled with admiration.
Even Shen Zhanran couldn't help but bow and stand, his expression much more respectful.
Upon seeing this, Zhu Yuanzhang discussed some details with them.
Due to the rebel siege, Zhu Yuanzhang had canceled the court meeting.
So it wasn't until Dongfang Dabai that they discovered that they had been discussing all night.
Since there were still some details that had not yet been completed, Zhu Yuanzhang asked the imperial dining room to make some breakfast and planned to continue discussing with them after eating.
Unexpectedly, he suddenly heard a cry from outside Qianqing Palace, and Zhu Yuanzhang asked Wang Chengen to go out to check.
After Wang Chengen went there for a while, he came back and reported that a group of royal relatives such as the state leader Zhou Kui and Tian Hongyu had no money to donate and were forced by Li Jing to cry outside the palace and asked Zhu Yuanzhang to make the decision.
When Zhu Yuanzhang heard this, the scene where Chongzhen begged for pay suddenly appeared in his mind, and his face darkened involuntarily.
He originally wanted to go out and reprimand Zhou Kui and others, but he felt sulky in his heart, but he thought that the matter at hand was not finished, and it was not worth wasting time on these people.
He asked Wang Chengen to beat Zhou Kui and others with twenty imperial sticks on the pretext of disturbing the palace.
He also said that if they refused to leave after being beaten, they would continue to beat them until they were willing to leave.
Wang Chengen was stunned for a moment, and was about to take the order to go out, but was stopped by Zhu Yuanzhang again.
Upon seeing this, Liu Wenbing asked in a low voice: "Your Majesty, why don't you let the ministers go out to persuade them."
Zhu Yuanzhang shook his head and said: "If you go out, it may increase their arrogance, and the trouble will become even more fierce."
After that, he said to Wang Chengen: "Did Wei Dezao and Wang Dehua leave?"
Wang Chengen shook his head and said: "I just ordered people to go. I think they haven't left the palace at this moment. How about I call them here?"
Zhu Yuanzhang waved his hand and said: "No need, go and see if Li Ruolian is there. If he is, call him."
Wang Chengen heard this and said: "When I went out just now, I asked the guards outside the palace. Master Li just went out an hour ago and is not in the palace at the moment."
Unexpectedly, just as he finished speaking, he saw a young eunuch hurriedly walked in and said that Li Ruolian wanted to see him.
Zhu Yuanzhang nodded and asked the young eunuch to bring Li Ruolian in.
As soon as Li Ruolian came in, he knelt down and apologized, saying: "The general was careless for a moment and allowed the royal family to disturb the holy master. Please forgive me."
Zhu Yuanzhang saw that his eyes were red and dusty, so he knew that he must have been busy all night.
So he stepped forward to help him up and said, "It's okay, we know you worked hard, don't blame yourself."
After saying that, he paused again and said, "During your inspection yesterday, did you find that anyone had met with these royal relatives and nobles?"
Li Ruolian thought for a while and said: "Last night, after Mr. Wei entered the palace, the Ministry of War reported to Zhongguang Shiheng that he went to see Duke Cheng at the time of Xu. As for the abbot and others, they did not meet with the ministers of the court."
When Zhu Yuanzhang heard this, he frowned and said, "They really haven't seen them before?"
Li Ruolian shook his head and said: "Probably not. At the end of last night, the general was worried that the rebels would cause trouble in the inner city, so he specially asked the royal guards to guard the residences of the emperor's relatives and nobles. The abbot and others closed the door tightly and did not go out. At the end of the Yin period, there will be female maids..."
Li Ruolian said and suddenly stopped.
Seeing this, Zhu Yuanzhang knew that he must have thought of something, and asked again: "But what is so special about the maid?"
Li Ruolian thought for a while and said: "There is nothing special about it, but I just remembered that Duke Cheng's maid seemed to be out shopping at that time. They might have a chance to meet."
Zhu Yuanzhang was stunned when he heard this, and then he remembered the scene at the court meeting yesterday afternoon, and he understood in his heart.
He then nodded and said, "That's right. Otherwise, with the character of those royal relatives, how would they dare to come to the palace and cry so early in the morning?"
After that, he said to Wang Chengen: "Chengen, go and bring a group of young eunuchs to carry out the order we just gave."
Wang Chengen responded respectfully and walked out, and then there was a burst of crackling staffs and wailing sounds outside the palace.
After a while, Wang Chengen came in and reported that the emperor's relatives had left after being beaten, and Zhu Yuanzhang continued to discuss with Liu Wenbing and others.
About a quarter of an hour later, Wang Chengen received another report from the young eunuch, saying that the imperial censors Wang Zhang and Chen Liangmo had been petitioning outside for petitions involving more than thirty people including Guang Shiheng and Shi Min for scolding the emperor's relatives and forcibly imposing military pay.
When Zhu Yuanzhang heard the report, he sneered and said, "Go and tell Li Ruolian and ask him to send someone to guard the palace gate."
"If those officials petition in a polite manner, let them kneel down. If there is any disrespect, they will be punished immediately with twenty sticks."
It turned out that Zhu Yuanzhang knew through Chongzhen's memory that these officials had gone bad, and they were doing things to evade the imperial power in the name of advocating character, and he felt very disgusted with them.
In addition, they had just guessed that Zhou Kui and others were coming, and it was Guang Shiheng and others who secretly incited them, so they decided to kneel down first to kill their vigor.
Wang Chengen responded respectfully and slowly withdrew.
On the other hand, Gong Yonggu, who was on the side, said worriedly: "Your Majesty, those officials have always been stubborn and popular."
"Wang Zhang and Chen Liangmo, in particular, also shoulder the important task of defending the city. If they make a fuss about this matter, it may affect the defense of the capital..."
Zhu Yuanzhang glanced at Gong Yonggu and said: "It doesn't matter. These officials have different thoughts at the moment. They are not monolithic and cannot make any trouble."
After that, he discussed the topic with Liu Wenbing again.
When Gong Yonggu saw this, he did not dare to say anything and hurriedly participated in the discussion.
At this time, several energetic petitions came from outside the palace, and then the scoldings of the Jin Yiwei were heard, followed by the crackling of the imperial staff and the whining.
After a while, Wang Chengen hurried in and reported: "Your Majesty, it's not good. Mr. Guang Shiheng was tortured one after another. He passed out just now after receiving the Ten Court Staff."
Zhu Yuanzhang glanced at Wang Chengen and said dissatisfiedly: "If he faints, pour cold water on him to wake him up, and continue to execute the imperial staff!"
Wang Chengen saw that Zhu Yuanzhang had an angry look on his face, so he hurriedly responded and quickly withdrew.
Zhu Yuanzhang, on the other hand, continued to discuss with Liu Wenbing and others as if nothing had happened.
When the sound of the imperial staff ended, calm was restored outside the palace again.
About half an hour later, Zhu Yuanzhang and Shen Zhanran finished discussing a detail, and while taking advantage of the break, they called Wang Chengen to ask about the situation outside the palace.
When he learned that there were still more than twenty censors kneeling outside the palace during the incident, he slowly got up and walked out of the palace.
When he came outside the Qianqing Palace and saw the censor and Gei Shizhong kneeling under the steps, his face could not help but darken.
Especially when he saw panic flash across the faces of Guang Shiheng and others, and they avoided his gaze, their expressions became even more gloomy.
However, some of these people were arrogant. Four or five people, such as Wang Zhang and Chen Liangmo, completely ignored Zhu Yuanzhang's expression and went up to the court with great righteousness. They bluntly said that Zhu Yuanzhang's law enforcement was cruel and unworthy of royal demeanor.
As Wang Zhang and others spoke, others also echoed.
For a moment, it seemed as if hundreds of bees were swirling around Zhu Yuanzhang, and the buzzing sound was disturbing.
Fortunately, Zhu Yuanzhang was not Chongzhen. Faced with the censor's repeated bombardments, he neither stopped nor refuted, but just looked at them coldly.
Zhu Yuanzhang's different handling methods from Chongzhen finally attracted the attention of the censors, who slowly stopped and looked at him quietly.
When Zhu Yuanzhang saw this, he remained silent and just looked at everyone silently.
For a moment, the scene fell into dead silence.
"Wang Zhang, is everything ready at the Fucheng Gate you are guarding?"
"Chen Liangmo, we heard that you are good at defending the city. Do you have any strategies for defending the city?"
"Guang Shiheng, do you know how prepared the weapons are?"
...
Following Zhu Yuanzhang's sudden question, all the censors and officials trembled slightly and lowered their heads hastily, not daring to look at him.
Zhu Yuanzhang glanced at everyone coldly again and shouted angrily: "We have been up all night discussing city defense, but look, what are you doing?"
"You don't care about the defense of the city, and you don't care about appeasing the people. Instead, you are here to oppose the donation of wages. If you don't donate the money, will the soldiers be allowed to defend the city on an empty stomach, or will you be allowed to fight..."
Following his angry rebuke, Wang Zhang and Chen Liangmo seemed to wake up and confessed one after another.
Zhu Yuanzhang originally wanted to let them leave, but when he saw Shi Min, Gong Dingzi and others smiling evilly, he asked Li Ruolian to beat them with thirty imperial sticks on the spot.
After handling this matter, Zhu Yuanzhang was about to go back to Dongnuan Pavilion, but Wang Chengen followed him and whispered to Zhu Yuanzhang that Wang Dehua had come to see him last night.
