Zhu Youxiao's imperial edict was purely for words but for being ruthless, he said directly and decisively that most of the businessmen in Zhangjiakou were guilty of colluding with the Tartars and betraying the country and supporting the enemy.
Before this trip, all affairs in Zhangjiakou were handed over to him, the commander of the Royal Forest Army, and they, the officials, must also actively cooperate with all actions.
If there are those who disobey the orders and dare to speak for the officials and defend them, they will all be regarded as guilty of the same crime, and their crimes will be increased to three levels, and the three tribes will be killed.
"I accept the order and thank you!"
To say that they are not afraid is completely false.
How can one not be greedy when serving as an official in a place as rich as Zhangjiakou?
Fortunately, they were not mentioned in the emperor's imperial edict. As long as they pretended to be dumbfounded and actively cooperated, nothing would happen to them.
After the infantry entered the city, Ma Xianglin immediately set out the task of searching all shops and arresting them.
In a huge Hou's store north of Zhangjiakou, the shopkeeper was sitting on an armchair with his eyes closed, swaying as if he was about to fall asleep.
Suddenly, the swaying armchair stopped moving. The sleepy shopkeeper started to curse before he even opened his eyes:
"Which bitch is so blind that I have to skin you!"
Seeing no response for a long time, the shopkeeper opened his eyes with difficulty. In a daze, he only saw a knife handle. He was so frightened that he immediately woke up and jumped up.
"Who are you? What do you want to do?"
Standing in front of the shopkeeper was the imperial guard wearing a red shirt.
"We are the Royal Guards of the Imperial City. Following His Majesty's decree, we are here to arrest you!"
"I'm sure you don't know what things your Hou family has committed. Come with us. If you tell us the truth honestly, you might be able to save your life!"
Although the shopkeeper looked confused, he was certainly not a tactless person who could be assigned to manage a shop.
Although he was a little afraid of these warriors holding sword handles, he still had the courage to retort and even questioned their identities.
"What Imperial City Guards Army? When did the Ming Dynasty have such an army?"
"Even if you are, how could you appear here? I think you are so tired of living that you dare to pretend to be the emperor's personal soldiers."
After a few words, the shopkeeper refused to give up and claimed that he was going to file a complaint against them to Shanxi Governor Chen Qiyu.
The imperial guard didn't bother to talk to him and directly put the knife on his neck. The shopkeeper trembled and collapsed on the ground.
As for the dozens of shops including Kong, Qi, Cao, and Chang that were not far away from the Hou family's shop, Ma Xianglin didn't miss any of them. He sent people to search the shops at the same time, collect charges, and arrested everyone in the shop.
But not every family is like the Fan family, who are frightened when they pull out the knife.
The shopkeeper of Qijia Shop saw that these people were here to arrest him, so he immediately asked several guards in the shop to go up and stall for time, and then ran away himself, but he could not escape the fate of being caught.
In the Fan family shop, Fan Yongdou, the main core figure of the Fan family and the first contact person with Mongolia, was negotiating business with Lin Danhan's envoy.
Lin Dan Khan was defeated one after another, and the tribe's cattle, sheep, and horses suffered heavy losses. The most important food and salt were also in extreme shortage. Dozens of people died every day due to hunger and cold.
In order to preserve the vitality of his direct tribe, Lin Danhan took the initiative to find the Tumote Mongolia and asked for their help.
The Tumote Department did not want Lin Danhan to end his life like this, so he recommended Fan Yongdou, who had frequent transactions with Lin Danhan, to Lin Danhan. Of course, the recommendation fee was also indispensable. The Tumote Department made a fortune from Lin Danhan.
After Lin Danhan got in touch with Fan Yongdou, he didn't mince words. He hoped to exchange war horses and rare medicinal materials for food and salt to ensure that he could survive this year's cold winter.
How could Fan Yongdou refuse to expand his business? The two parties hit it off immediately and soon began to negotiate the specific transaction price and how to deal.
Lin Danhan's tribe was in urgent need of a batch of food, and he couldn't wait so long, so he sent his brothers from the same clan as envoys to Zhangjiakou.
But after just a few words of discussion, Man Gui had already brought more than a hundred servants to the Fan family store to pick up people.
"Whoever is in charge here, come out, our general has a happy event to tell him!"
When Fan Yongdou heard the noise outside, he quickly asked Lin Danhan's envoy to hide, and then slowly left the inner hall.
Fan Yongdou is truly a man of talent. He has never seen any of these soldiers, and there are several others who are clearly different.
He lowered his posture as much as possible and asked softly:
"I'm in charge of affairs here. I wonder what you, the generals, are doing here if you condescend to come here?"
When a guard wearing a breastplate saw this person, he immediately came to Mangui's side and whispered in his ear:
"This man is Fan Yongdou, the eldest son of the Fan family. He should be regarded as the chief evildoer of the Shanxi merchants. He is number one on your Majesty's list. Please be sure to capture him alive, general!"
Man Gui nodded slightly, indicating that he knew, and then waved his hand, and several soldiers behind him strode forward with ropes.
Although Fan Yongdou didn't know what it meant, he also knew it was aimed at him, so he shouted loudly and asked:
"What do you want to do in broad daylight?"
"Come here, hurry up and notify General Chen and Wang Bingbei!"
Just as the messenger was about to leave, Mangui's soldiers all pulled out their long knives from their waists. They were so frightened that they stood there with their legs shaking.
Mangui took a manuscript and told them loudly that it belonged to the emperor, then opened it and said:
"After investigation, it was found that from the Wanli period to the first year of Tianqi, the Fan family, a merchant in Shanxi, had many private transactions with the Tartars outside the customs and resold large quantities of grain and weapons to support the enemy."
"And many times, at high prices, the armaments of many military towns and border fortresses in Shanxi were sold to the Tartars, as well as the secrets of the imperial court."
"What is even more heinous is that every time the Tartars went south to harvest grass and valleys, the Fan family would take the initiative to ask for cooperation, send guides to lead the way for the Tartars, and help them plunder people and food. They were so drunk that they immediately arrested the entire Fan family and ransacked their homes!"
Fan Yongdou was dumbfounded. What is going on?
He indeed resold food and weapons to the Mongols, but how did the emperor know?
Besides, he has never done this kind of leading thing before. Isn't this unreasonable?
What puzzled him the most was that he couldn't figure out where the secret was exposed and the emperor noticed it?
There is no news among them, or among the ministers who protect them in the court, that the emperor has set his sights on them?
He suddenly remembered that half a year ago in the Qi family, a head clerk disappeared inexplicably. Could it be that they were responsible?
At that time, they also felt very suspicious and wondered whether the imperial court was secretly investigating. They were so frightened that they did not dare to move for nearly two months.
Afterwards, each family discussed it and sent people to the capital to inquire with a large sum of money. The results obtained were that there was no trouble at all.
They let down their guard and didn't think much about it.
Now it seems that this is not a coincidence at all, this is a sign.
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