Just as Zhu Yuanzhang was reminiscing about the past, a soft footsteps woke him up.
He instantly regained his regal look and looked towards the door.
I saw a young eunuch walking in cautiously, bowing and saying: "Your Majesty, Wang Baihu is outside asking for an audience!"
Zhu Yuanzhang was slightly startled when he heard this, then nodded and said: "Okay, let him come in!"
When the little eunuch heard this, he respectfully withdrew.
When Zhu Yuanzhang saw that the little eunuch behaved with more awe than before, he knew that it was the auspicious effect of the golden dragon, and he felt relaxed for no reason.
"Your Majesty, the general has just received news that Thief Li may be colluding with the Jurchens in an attempt to disrupt our world!"
After Wang Shoulin hurriedly saluted, he said anxiously.
Zhu Yuanzhang was stunned when he heard this. He thought that he had not known the situation of Xuanfu and Datong before, but now he said that the rebels were colluding with the Jurchens. He couldn't help but asked with some confusion: "Where did you get this news?"
Wang Shoulin said: "It was Vanderford who said it!"
"Vanderford?"
Zhu Yuanzhang frowned and looked at Wang Shoulin and said, "Didn't you interrogate him several times before and said that he was the eyes and ears of the wealthy families in Jiangnan? How could you think of interrogating him now?"
Wang Shoulin's body trembled slightly, and then he knelt down to plead guilty and said: "Your Majesty, the general was unaware and almost fell into Vanderful's scheme. Just now, the general thought that the red lady was Li Yan's mother-in-law..."
It turned out that when Wang Shoulin was preparing to leave the city just now, he suddenly thought that the red lady was Li Yan's wife and should know the rebels better, so he went to interrogate her.
Wang Shoulin thought that the Red Lady would be a tough nut to crack, so he had several sets of torture instruments brought in before he went there. Unexpectedly, the Red Lady told him everything before he was tortured.
However, the information told by Red Lady is roughly the same as that of Li Mou. The only difference is that she said that after Li Zicheng occupied Datong and Xuanfu, he ordered General Zhang Tianlin to recruit 50,000 soldiers and horses. Together with the soldiers he had brought from Xi'an, the total number was about Around two hundred thousand.
In addition, she also revealed an important piece of information, that is, Fan Defu is not from Jiangnan, but from Shanxi, and is a relative of Fan Yongdou, a wealthy Shanxi businessman.
After Wang Shoulin heard about this, he hurriedly interrogated Van Defu.
Vanderford didn't admit it at first, but after Wang Shoulin revealed his relationship with Fan Yongdou and used several punishments, Vanderful told everything.
It turned out that when he first met Li Wan, Li Wan had used the excuse of purchasing firearms to ask him to contact the Jurchens and let the Jurchens Chen Bingxuanfu and Datong.
Vanderford was shocked when he heard this and lied that he was from Jiangnan and had nothing to do with the Jurchens.
Unexpectedly, Li Wan actually took out his real household registration and claimed to know everything about them.
Then seeing that Vanderford seemed unconvinced, Li Wan listed the data on their transactions with the Jurchens in recent years.
Vanderford saw that although what Li Wan said was biased, the evidence alone was enough to destroy the Ford Tower.
Therefore, he had to admit his identity and deliberately put forward a harsh condition. Firstly, he wanted to test the other party's situation, and secondly, he could also buy time to report to Fan Yongdou.
Because he knew that after the death of Huang Taiji, Dorgon and Haoge fought fiercely for the throne.
Although Fulin, Huang Taiji's ninth son, succeeded to the throne this spring, the internal fighting among the various factions has not subsided, and they may not be able to send troops at this time.
At the same time, he also wondered why Li Zicheng had taken such a roundabout way to find him when he could have directly negotiated with Fan Yongdou since he had occupied Shanxi and other places.
He originally wanted to delay time through this condition, but he didn't expect Li Wan to agree immediately.
Fortunately, although Li Wan agreed, he also said that he would wait for some time before trading, so he was able to use the carrier pigeon to ask Fan Yongdou for instructions.
Three days later, he received a message from Fan Yongdou, saying that the Jurchen political situation had returned to stability and that the power of the government was currently in the hands of Dorgon and Jirhalang, and they had established a good relationship with the regent Dorgon.
Since Dorgon had just taken power and was eager to establish his authority, he had already agreed to send troops, so that he could make deals with peace of mind.
In addition, the letter also speculated on the reason why Li Zicheng did not directly approach Fan Yongdou, saying that the Jurchens had sent people to find Li Zicheng and suggested dividing the Ming Dynasty's territory equally, but Li Zicheng rejected it.
This time, there should be divisions within Li Zicheng, and he suggested that Van Der Fu find out the identity of the other party during the transaction.
After receiving the news, Vanderford had an idea in his mind and just waited for Li Wan to come to the door again.
Unexpectedly, the person he was waiting for was not Li Wan, but Li Mou.
Vanderford wanted to find out from Li Mou who was behind the scenes, but Li Mou didn't know about it.
After some insidious investigation, although he did not find out the person behind the scenes, he also discovered that Li Zicheng had many internal conflicts, so he hurriedly sent the news back.
After he had done all this, he knew that the capital was about to fall, and when he was preparing to move, he encountered Li Mou coming to avoid trouble.
In order to avoid Li Mou seeing the flaw, he asked the clerk to stop working and prepare to sneak away quietly at night. Unexpectedly, he was caught by Wang Shoulin at this moment.
At first he thought it was a leak of his identity, but after he found out it was about selling firearms, he made up the previous lie.
After listening to Wang Shoulin's story, Zhu Yuanzhang was silent for a while and said: "We remember that there seem to be eight major merchant families in Shanxi, and Fan Yongdou is the head of the eight major families."
"Since he has been secretly dealing with the Jurchens, and I think the same is true for the other seven families, I don't know who else has colluded with the Jurchens!"
After that, when Wang Shoulin didn't answer, he spoke again: "Wang Qing, why do you think the Red Lady is so cooperative?"
Wang Shoulin was secretly blaming himself for being unable to answer the Shanxi matter. When he heard this, he immediately said respectfully: "I will think about this later. It seems that she knew about Li Mou and knew that if she didn't tell us, we would ruin her reputation." , so I chose to confess.”
Zhu Yuanzhang asked again: "If that's the case, she only needs to tell you the information about the rebels. Why did she tell you about Vanderful again?"
Wang Shoulin was stunned and said a little unconfidently: "I guess she is also dissatisfied with the rebels and hopes to take revenge..."
As he spoke, an idea suddenly came to his mind, and he changed the topic and said, "Well, last time it wasn't about the fierce internal fighting among the rebels. The general felt that her move was most likely to attack political opponents and ease her husband's plight. !”
When Zhu Yuanzhang saw that Wang Shoulin was also starting to think proactively, he nodded with satisfaction and said, "You are right, he has indeed improved compared to before!"
When Wang Shoulin heard this, he smiled awkwardly and said, "Your Majesty, you are so complimentary. I am just too stressed out by you and Lord Shen, so I am just thinking wildly."
Zhu Yuanzhang laughed, and then asked: "How are you preparing for leaving the city?"
When Wang Shoulin heard about this, he immediately said confidently: "Your Majesty, the troops leaving the city have been selected and are ready to leave at any time!"
Zhu Yuanzhang nodded and said: "Okay, Wu Tongzhi and Gao Qianhu are alone outside, so they are under a lot of pressure."
"This time we will grant you a thousand households first. Then you will go out of the city with Uncle Xiangcheng to help them."
When Wang Shoulin heard this, he looked happy for a moment, but then he became worried and said: "Your Majesty, the city is now surrounded by dangers, so the general should stay in the city to protect you!"
Zhu Yuanzhang smiled and shook his head, saying: "We know your loyalty, but you don't have to worry. The overall situation in the city has been decided at this moment, and there will be no more danger."
"And when you leave the city this time, in addition to assisting Uncle Xiangcheng in persuading him to surrender, you also have another mission..."
Before Zhu Yuanzhang finished speaking, he saw Wang Youde walking in holding a cup of ginseng tea.
