royal palace
Zhu Youxiao was wrapped in a blanket and sat on the dragon chair, quietly listening to the reports of Wei Zhongxian and Liu Ruoyu.
"Your Majesty, there has been no movement in the palace during these days, and there have been no personnel transfers. The spies arranged by the servants in the Shangshan Prison and the Wine and Vinegar Noodle Bureau have not reported any news."
"But a few days ago, several noble ladies came to the harem to pay their respects to the concubine. The minimum time they stayed was three hours."
"The East Factory has a register, and those who have been in and out of Cining Palace and Kunning Palace are also among them. You can ask your Majesty to take a look."
After Wei Zhongxian finished speaking, he took out a pamphlet from his arms and handed it to a young eunuch.
Zhu Youxiao opened the booklet and saw a few very familiar words.
Mrs. Cheng Guogong, Mrs. Dingxihou, Mrs. Funinghou...
They are all wives of honorable men. It seems that this matter has a lot to do with them.
The wives of honorable nobles all have official titles. They belong to noble women and official status. In addition, due to family reasons, these people can enter the harem without asking the emperor for instructions.
As long as the queen or concubine approves, they can enter and leave the harem without Zhu Youxiao's control.
Now it seems that they are probably behind the scenes to seduce the concubine and let the concubine come forward to restrain them in order to achieve some benefit.
Since nobles are actually involved, this matter cannot be simple and must be handled with caution.
This was Zhu Youxiao's first reaction. Even though the presence of these nobles was extremely low, they had been stepped on by civil servants for so many years.
But when it comes to strength and influence, Xungui doesn't know how far he has to go against them.
He can kill officials and scholars at will, sometimes without even charging him with any crime.
The most these people can do is call you a coward and tyrant, spread rumors among the people, and unite to criticize you with words and writings.
If you want to cause trouble, you won't be nagging you with your words, but you will be fighting with your actions.
For example, in history, Zhu Youjian's fifth son, Zhu Cihuan, died suddenly. These people really want to cause trouble, but they are much more ruthless than civilian officials.
Although the cause of Zhu Cihuan's death is unknown, anyone with a discerning eye can see what happened.
Emperor Chongzhen just forced the nobles to donate money and food to the court to fight the war. He just robbed a noble family and his son died. It is strange that there is no ghost in this.
What is even more incredible is the memorial written by the civil servants and military generals at that time, saying that it was because the Nine Lotus Bodhisattva could not stand it anymore. (Nine Lotus Bodhisattva is the mother of Emperor Wanli and Xiaoding Empress Dowager Li.)
The prince died suddenly because the emperor was too cruel to his nobles, so the Nine Lotus Bodhisattva wanted to punish the emperor.
The original text of the history book is: "Nine Lotus Bodhisattva said that if the emperor treats his relatives poorly, he will destroy all his sons."
Chongzhen's reaction was: "I am so frightened that I tried my best to save him, but it was no longer possible."
Even a fool would not believe this kind of magical talk, but it really frightened Chongzhen so much that he never dared to force or threaten Xungui again.
He even returned all the stolen gold and silver treasures to the nobles.
Although Emperor Chongzhen's abilities were not very good, we really couldn't put the blame entirely on him when it came to honoring vassal kings in the late Ming Dynasty.
After all, these people are too cruel and ruthless. The emperor just wants some money and food from you, so they will kill the prince without hesitation.
Don't be afraid of this situation, but no matter who comes, you have to be cautious and think before you dare to act.
Therefore, Zhu Youxiao had to be cautious. He did not dare to look down upon these selfish nobles who were lurking in the dark and waiting for opportunities.
Maybe one day these people will give him a Nine Lotus Bodhisattva to appease his anger, but the price will be too heavy.
After looking at it carefully, Zhu Youxiao asked again:
"When they come into the palace to see the concubine, I'm afraid it's not as simple as the so-called greetings."
"This slave is unknown. The Emperor has stipulated that personnel from the East-West Factory and Jinyiwei are not allowed to be involved in the harem. I will keep this in mind and will not dare to act beyond my authority and boundaries."
What Wei Zhongxian said was true and not false. Today's emperor has four different spy agencies under his command to supervise and investigate each other.
No one dares to reveal their handle and be caught by the other party, and then use their own handle or head to claim credit from the emperor.
"Okay, you go down and wait, and ask Liu Ruoyu to come in."
Although there are many people from Dongchang in the palace, they are responsible for the outer palace and city gates.
The one with the most and widest eyewitnesses in the harem must be the newly established inner factory.
After all, their mission is to supervise the East-West Factory and Jinyiwei, as well as the harem inside the imperial city.
Although the two people announced it together, it was naturally impossible for Zhu Youxiao to give the two spy chiefs a chance to meet, let alone report it together.
They must be separated to prevent the two of them from asking each other and connecting intelligence information.
After Liu Ruoyu came in, Zhu Youxiao asked about it directly.
"Your Majesty, this matter has been going on for more than ten days. In recent days, the Li family of Chengguo Gong, the Wang family of Funing Marquis and other distinguished ladies have come to visit."
"They all enter the palace with the pretext of paying respects to the concubine, but they actually have a purpose."
Zhu Youxiao was now curious as to what the purpose of this was to allow these honorable men to stand on the same line so firmly.
"Then tell me what their purpose is and what they want to do."
Liu Ruoyu heard this and replied:
"According to the reports from my spies and the investigations over the past few days, these nobles have quite a few complaints about His Majesty."
"They even mentioned His Majesty's previous plans to dismantle the Beijing camp and abolish the personal military guards. They also mentioned the appointment of the chief water transport officer and generals at the last court meeting. They also mentioned it to the concubine."
"Especially Zhu Chunchen, the Duke of Chengguo, showed extremely dissatisfaction. My servants have noticed it for a long time, but they didn't make any changes, and they didn't report it yet."
Zhu Youxiao has always regarded people like Zhu Chunchen as pigs and dogs.
When the time comes to take action against Xungui, Zhu Chunchen must be the first person he deals with.
"How dissatisfied you are, please tell me carefully."
Zhu Youxiao could also guess that Zhu Chunchen was extremely selfish. He dreamed of becoming the admiral of the Beijing camp so that he could get away with military expenses.
Previously, with the firm support of the British Duke and several other distinguished nobles, Zhu Youxiao had abolished the Beijing Camp and eliminated a major cancer.
But at the same time, he also offended many nobles who made money through this, among which Zhu Chunchen was the most typical representative. His loss of interests can be said to be the biggest.
Because of his ancestor Zhu Neng, he held very high official positions in the Fifth Army Governor's Mansion and the Beijing Camp. He also took charge of several of the emperor's personal military guards.
However, he was wiped out by Zhu Youxiao, which cut off his important financial resources.
As the saying goes, cutting off someone's wealth is like killing one's parents. This selfish guy must hate himself from the bottom of his heart.
If Zhu Youxiao hadn't shown some skill and cruelty in the more than a year since he took the throne, he would have probably taken action long ago.
7017k
