After Zhu Yuanzhang asked Li Ruolian to leave, he and Liu Wenbing continued to rush towards the palace.
It was not until he met Zhu Cihong and Shen Zhanran in front of Chengtian Gate who were preparing to rush to Changyi Gate with hundreds of people that Zhu Yuanzhang asked Liu Wenbing to lead the crowd back, and he entered the imperial city accompanied by Zhu Cihong and others.
Zhu Yuanzhang felt that tonight's rebellion was full of doubts. He had planned to go to Qianqing Palace to summon Wang Chengen and others to clarify the matter.
However, when he saw Zhu Cixiang's hesitant expression, and thought that after Zhou Hou had just rebelled, he still asked Zhu Cixiang to lead his people to assist him, he felt warm in his heart.
So he asked Shen Zhanran to go to Dongnuan Pavilion to prepare first, and then he and Zhu Cixiang went to Kunning Palace together.
When Zhu Yuanzhang came to Kunning Palace, Queen Zhou was comforting Princess Zhaoren who was frightened and crying, while Princess Kunxing standing aside also looked frightened.
Others, such as Concubine Yuan Guifei, also accompanied him in lamentation, and the room was full of sadness.
After everyone saw Zhu Yuanzhang, they all saluted. Only one woman bowed slightly and her behavior was different from the others.
Zhu Yuanzhang took a closer look and saw that the man was tall and handsome, with a face like Guanyin, eyes like autumn waves, a mouth like red cherry blossoms, a nose like hanging gallbladder, and white and white teeth.
When the woman saw Zhu Yuanzhang looking directly at her, her pretty face turned red, with a hint of anger.
Zhu Yuanzhang was shocked when he saw this, and then he remembered that the woman should be Zhang Yan, Queen Yi'an.
Because Chongzhen was grateful for the recommendation of Queen Yi'an, he was very respectful to her. Every time he saw her, he would bow to greet her and did not dare to claim to be the emperor.
In desperation, Zhu Yuanzhang could only greet him in vain, and Queen Yi'an's expression softened.
Later, Zhu Yuanzhang asked Queen Zhou and others to get up, asked and comforted them, and then fled the Kunning Palace in embarrassment.
When he arrived at Qianqing Palace accompanied by Zhu Cixiang, Wang Chengen was limping and directing everyone to clean the palace. After seeing Zhu Yuanzhang, he immediately knelt down to apologize.
Zhu Yuanzhang snorted coldly and said, "Come in with us. We have something to ask you."
Wang Chengen's body trembled slightly, and after respectfully responding, he stood up slowly and hurriedly followed in.
"Wang Cheng'en, I remember I told you downstairs at Zhangyi Gate that your main task was to divide the eunuch forces. Why was Wang Zhixin able to lead the eunuchs to riot and almost endanger the palace?"
Zhu Yuanzhang just walked into Dongnuan Pavilion and asked Wang Chengen angrily.
When Wang Chengen heard this, he immediately knelt down, kowtowed, and apologized repeatedly.
At this time, Zhu Cixiang on the side began to plead: "Father, you have misunderstood Admiral Wang..."
"Um!"
Zhu Yuanzhang interrupted Zhu Cixi's words with a cold snort, and then glared at him fiercely.
When Zhu Cihong saw this, he immediately understood and bowed back.
Zhu Yuanzhang nodded, then looked at Wang Chengen and said: "Chengen, you say it!"
Wang Chengen still bowed his head to the ground and said in a deep voice: "Long live my lord, this matter is indeed because this slave is confused and fell into the king's heart's conspiracy..."
It turned out that after Wang Zhixin revealed to Wang Chengen that he had a relationship and was forced to leave by Wang Dehua, Wang Chengen mistakenly thought that although they were in the same group, they were not in harmony with each other.
Especially after Wang Youde told him about the poisonous letter, he suspected that the letter should be written by Wang Dehua, because the letter had framed Wang Zhixin, which made him further confirm his judgment.
Therefore, Wang Chengen took the opportunity to reveal the matter in the letter to Wang Zhixin. Wang Zhixin was furious when he found out, and immediately said that Wang Dehua had colluded with Gao Qiqian, Zhu Yousong and others to murder Chongzhen and his son as a gift for advancement.
When Wang Cheng'en heard this, he pretended to be indignant and scolded Wang Dehua for being unjust and wanting to enjoy wealth to himself.
After Wang Zhixin pretended to persuade him, he suggested that the two of them work together to remove Wang Dehua and share the wealth.
Wang Chengen was about to find out their true and false intentions, so he hurriedly agreed.
He had almost poisoned Zhu Yuanzhang due to his hasty actions before, so this time he planned to confirm the details with Wang Zhixin before reporting to Zhu Yuanzhang.
Unexpectedly, Zhu Yuanzhang sent people to capture Wang Youde soon after, and told him to guard the palace and not to leave rashly.
Wang Chengen didn't know Zhu Yuanzhang's plan, and thought Zhu Yuanzhang was angry because of the previous incident.
So he hurriedly sent someone to explain and report the matter to Wang Zhixin. Unexpectedly, the person he sent came back to report that Zhu Yuanzhang had fallen ill.
Just then Wang Zhixin came to him and said that Wang Dehua was about to take action and they must act immediately.
Wang Chengen was already frightened by Zhu Yuanzhang's illness. Now he heard that Wang Dehua was going to take action, so he immediately arranged people to arrest Wang Dehua.
Fortunately, he remembered Zhu Yuanzhang's instructions to "guard the palace city carefully" and left half of his troops to patrol the imperial city secretly, only to discover the abnormal movement of Wang Zhixin in time.
Due to his limited manpower, he did not dare to directly confront Wang Zhixin, so he had to send people to notify the prince and queen while leading people to guard Qianqing Palace.
When he did not see Zhu Yuanzhang in Qianqing Palace and heard that Zhu Cihong had led his people to Kunning Palace, he hurriedly followed him.
Fortunately, he arrived in time. With his help, Zhou Jing and others managed to hold on to Kunning Palace until Li Ruolian arrived.
After Zhu Yuanzhang listened to Wang Chengen's story, he signaled him to get up, and then said in a deep voice: "As you said, the person in charge of this matter is actually Wang Zhixin, and Wang Dehua is a supporting role?"
Wang Chengen shook his head and said: "No, I have already interrogated Wang Zhixin. Everything before was secretly planned by Wang Dehua."
"Originally, according to Wang Dehua's plan, after Wang Zhixin transferred the slaves, Wang Dehua would send people from Dongchang to assassinate His Majesty."
"But when Wang Zhixin rushed to Wang Dehua's mansion, he found that Wang Dehua had already left, leaving only a map. He followed the marks on the map and found Chen Yan."
"Chen Yan was also shocked when he saw Wang Zhixin, but when he knew that Wang Dehua had escaped, he immediately sent people to find Zhu Chunchen and Wei Zaode."
"After some discussion, they decided to divide their troops into two groups. One group will ambush Mr. Li, and the other group will besiege the imperial city, preparing to capture His Majesty and present the city to the rebels!"
When Zhu Yuanzhang heard this, he looked at Shen Zhanran and said, "Shen Qing, what do you think of this matter?"
Shen Zhanran was silent for a while and said: "Wang Dehua threw Chen Yan out in the end, probably because he wanted to force everyone to attack the imperial city so that he could take the opportunity to escape."
"But now all the gates in the capital are under the control of Your Majesty. I think Wang Dehua has not left the city. It depends on His Majesty's decision next."
Zhu Yuanzhang was silent for a while, then looked at Zhu Cihong and said, "Prince, how do you think we should deal with it?"
Zhu Cixiang said respectfully: "Father, I feel that Wang Dehua is at the end of his rope, so we might as well let him out of the city and look for him later."
Zhu Yuanzhang nodded and said, "Okay, just as the prince said."
After that, he looked at Wang Chengen and said: "Chengen, we have asked Li Ruolian to behead Chen Yan, Wei Zaode and others tomorrow. As for the eunuchs in the palace, we don't want to make any noise, so you can finish them off!"
"In addition, you will temporarily take over the East Factory and close it as soon as possible."
Wang Chengen heard the words, bowed in agreement, and then walked out slowly.
At this time, I saw Gong Yonggu hurriedly came in and reported: "Your Majesty, the rebels are asking for peace!"
