After returning to Dagongfang, the scenery remained the same, but the mentality of Zhu Guobi, who was waiting to see him, was completely different.
The last time he came, he was still a guest, and he could discuss how to deal with His Royal Highness the Prince of Fujun with a group of Nanjing nobles and ministers who didn't know the heights of heaven and earth.
But now, he is already a prisoner of his subordinates and a sinner of the eunuch! Some of the nobles and ministers who talked eloquently with him in the past are dead - Xu Hongji, Zou Cunyi, Liu Yunji, Fang Yiyuan, Jiao Mengxiong, Zhang Guocai, Huang Jiuding, Liu Zuochang, Tang Guozuo, Guo Zuoyong, Li Zushu and other eleven great officials. Xun Gui has been among the first batch to be executed!
Those who are not dead are either waiting to die, or they are cooperating with Jin Yiwei to ransack their homes with the best attitude of confessing their sins - this is not ransacking their homes, this is redeeming their lives! If you don't perform well, you have to go to Da Yuan Island...it's a hell gate known as "Ten people go, six people die"!
But Zhu Guobi now wants to go to Dajuan Island to spend the rest of his life...because he feels that his sins are too great! Moreover, the family property is too small, which is really not enough to atone for one’s sins! He was overjoyed to be punished by being exiled to the Island of Commissaries.
Who knows that he was a nobleman sent from Beijing, and most of his family property was lost in the north. Although he had worked hard on corruption after arriving in Huai'an, the amount was still limited, and it was nothing compared to his serious crimes.
However, compared with those nobles and ministers in Nanjing, he was also lucky. He is the only one living in Nanjing. His brothers, nephews and sons all live in Beijing. Among them, there was also a brother and two nephews who followed Zhu Cixiang to break through the encirclement and came south. Now they are the heroes in overcoming the difficulty.
As heroes, they certainly do not need to help ransack Zhu Guobi's home to atone for their sins (running his brother's house is an insult after all, and Zhu Cixiang would not treat a hero like this), and they will not be implicated by Zhu Guobi. It is said that Prince Zhu also plans to let One of them took the title of Marquis Funing.
Therefore, in order to behave well, Zhu Guobi made a list of his property, and now he is carrying it with him, preparing to send it to Zhu Cixiang to atone for his sins.
I don’t ask for full redemption, but I will be satisfied if I can redeem a place to go to Taiyuan Island. Thinking about it makes me shed tears...
The place where Zhu Cixiang personally examined Zhu Guobi was placed in the Yongchun Pavilion next to the Dagong Hall. It was a rather elegant courtyard with many evergreen plants planted in all seasons, and several strange stones transported from Taihu Lake. There is a two-story building that has just been renovated. The layout of the building is not luxurious, but it has been thought of everywhere, giving people a comfortable and comfortable feeling.
Zhu Cixi regarded this place as his "study room" for handling government affairs. Before the start of every noon session (which was held in the government school), he would read memorials here for a while, and sometimes he would also meet guests here.
When Zhu Guobi was escorted in by the admiral Dongchang eunuch Chen Shifang and several Dongchang armed eunuchs, Zhu Cixiang was talking with the newly appointed Nanjing Jingying Commander-in-Chief Zhu Chunchen and his senior brother Zheng Sen.
By the way, Zhu Cixiang is different from the previous Ming Dynasty emperors who were set up by the civil service group. He has a reliable team - the nobles, distinguished ministers, civil servants, military generals and practitioners who "walked the Long March" with him. The heroes who overcame the difficulties and the loyal followers who joined on the way south, and even the salt merchants who only joined the game in Yangzhou, all used it very smoothly. Therefore, the role of eunuchs under Zhu Cihong was not very great.
But he still retained the terrifying Dong Jiji Factory, but no longer used them to investigate counter-cases. Instead, they became bodyguards to guard the home. Chen Shifang, the former leader of the Fire Gun Eunuch, served as the admiral, and he also appointed a group of bodyguards to guard the home. The eunuchs who criticized the fire gun served as the backbone, and finally the Jingjun here in Nanjing was incorporated into the East Factory. An army of eunuchs was formed, and together with the guards of the East Palace, they were responsible for the security of Dakongfang and Xipu.
The four "eunuch leaders" Zhao Zhilong, Han Zanzhou, Zhu Guobi and Zhang Shenyan were also detained by Dongchang - they were only detained and not interrogated. Jin Yiwei was responsible for the Nanjing eunuch's rebellion.
"The guilty minister Zhu Guobi respectfully invites His Royal Highness the Crown Prince Jin An! The guilty minister has drawn up a list of adverse childbirths and please take a look at it..."
Zhu Cixiang was stunned for a moment, "List of reverse births? How many reverse births can you have in Jiangnan, as a noble person from Beijing?"
Zhu Guobi hurriedly said: "Yes, I am a corrupt official, and there are many miscarriages that can be offered to the court to atone for my sins!"
"Oh, let's take a look."
Huang Xiaobao, who was serving Zhu Cixiang, took out the three-page list and handed it to Zhu Cixiang.
"So many? How many are there in total?"
"Reporting to the thousand-year-old master, not counting my property in Huai'an, here in Jiangnan alone, I have 3,000 acres of land, seven houses, and 530,000 taels of silver in cash..."
"So much money?" Zhu Cixiang was a little surprised, "How did you get it so greedily?"
"The guilty minister embezzled 200,000 yuan of tax money that was to be released from the treasury. In addition, he also embezzled more than 200,000 yuan by taking shortfalls and deducting military pay. The rest was obtained from private sales of boats..."
"What? How can you get so much by taking short quotas and deducting military pay? Does the grain transport army have so much money?"
"Of course there are not that many grain transport troops... I, I was ordered by the traitor Xu Hongji to lead the rectification of the Nanjing camp, and by the way I made a little profit..."
"What? You've rebelled with your head in your belt, and you still haven't forgotten corruption?" Zhu Cixiang was a little speechless. He shook his head and looked at Zhu Guobi's property list, and the first asset on the list was Tangtang Zhu. The eldest prince was confused.
"What is Kou's White Gate? Is it real estate?"
"It's not real estate, it's..." Zhu Guobi blushed and lowered his head, looking ashamed.
"It's a woman!" Zheng Sen on the side answered for him, "She is Kou Baimen, one of the eight beauties of Qinhuai."
"Oh..." Zhu Cixiang nodded, "Then let's keep it as a reward."
He didn't have much interest in the Eight Beauties of Qinhuai. He had ignored Chen Yuanyuan when he snatched Wu Sanmei. Later, he met Gu Hengbo when he went south from Dagukou, and Liu Rushi at Qian Qianyi's place.
These three are all big names among the Eight Beauties, and their names are much louder than Kou Baimen, but in Zhu Cixiang's opinion, that's all. Her face is not as good as Fei Zhen'e's, her figure is not as good as Wu Sanmei's, and her dignity is not as good as Ning Xiangyu's.
"Your Highness, junior brother," Zheng Sen whispered to Zhu Cihong, "this woman is famous all over Jinling, and she cannot reward people casually..."
Zhu Cixiang looked at Zheng Sen with a smile, "Senior brother, do you want it?"
"No, no..." Zheng Sen shook his head repeatedly, "Junior Brother, I, I never thought about it."
"What are we going to do with that woman? Public auction?"
Zheng Sen quickly shook his head: "We can't auction it off... Your Highness, junior brother, if you want to get along with Donglin Talent, you must have a bridge. This Kou Baimen is the bridge for you to contact Donglin Talent." "
"Oh, social butterfly, club..." Prince Zhu nodded, and then said two words that Zheng Sen couldn't quite understand, "Okay, you can figure it out."
Hearing Zhu Cihong and Zheng Sen talk about Kou Baimen in an understatement, Zhu Guobi burst into tears of distress. She was the "goddess" in his eyes, and she was given away like this, and people didn't take it seriously!
"Zhu Guobi," Zhu Cixiang said in a serious tone at this time, "do you want to live or die?"
"I want to live, the guilty minister wants to live..." Zhu Guobi felt overjoyed when he heard this.
"Then are you the leader of the Eunuch Party?"
What? Leader of the eunuch party?
Zhu Guobi was stunned. He was Wei Zhongxian's enemy! He was also deprived of his title because he was close to the Donglin Party and opposed Wei Zhongxian. He was reused after Chongzhen came to power.
How did this become an eunuch? Still the boss...
"Guilin Chen, Gui Chen..." He quickly turned to Zhu Chunchen for help. When he saw Zhu Chunchen nodding, he gritted his teeth and said, "Gui Chen is the leader of the eunuch party!"
"Then why does Wei Zhongxian want to take away your title?"
why?
Zhu Guobi said in his heart: I have to make it up...
"Because, because Wei Zhongxian wants the criminal to sneak into the Donglin Party!"
There is a future! Zhu Cixiang nodded repeatedly and said with a smile: "Yes, yes, you must be the spy who sneaked into Donglin! Tell me, what is your purpose of sneaking into Donglin?"
What purpose?
Zhu Guobi thought hard and said: "The guilty minister wanted to find out the inside story of the Donglin Party for Wei Zhongxian..."
"That's all?" Zhu Cixiang's face darkened.
"And, and..."
"what else?"
what else? I do not know!
Zhu Cixiang snorted and thought: Why are you so stupid!
"Are you developing allies within Donglin on behalf of the Eunuch Party?" Zhu Cixiang asked sharply.
"Yes, yes..." Zhu Guobi replied with a trembling voice.
