Li Ruolian, who was waiting on the side, also noticed something strange about the commander Wang Guoxing. He saw him looking at the list of confiscated houses in his hand in silence, and then asked: "Commander, what is wrong with this list?"
"look by youself."
Feeling a little troubled, Wang Guoxing handed the list in his hand to Li Ruolian. Li Ruolian didn't know the reason, so he took it and looked at it, and he was so frightened that he dropped it to the ground.
The first one on the list was the chief minister of the dynasty, Mr. Chen Yan and Chen Ge, followed closely by the powerful figure of the Jin Yiwei, Commander Luo Yangxing, and then followed by Zhang Jinyan, the Minister of War, and Li Guozhen, who commanded the Beijing camp.
There are more than 80 ministers in the DPRK. Even at such a critical moment, arresting so many ministers suddenly will definitely cause turmoil.
"Your Majesty, Commander, your Majesty has lost his mind and gone crazy."
Li Ruolian hurriedly handed the list back to Wang Guoxing. At this time, Li Ruolian was broken into a cold sweat and did not dare to speak anymore.
"What are you talking about?" Wang Guoxing put away the list, his eyes filled with a complicated look. His Majesty's sudden behavior was really unpredictable.
They were allowed to arrest so many people at once without any charges. Even during the reign of Emperor Taizu, this had never happened. At that time, everyone was charged with crimes. The arrest of a chief minister of the cabinet was already a shock to the whole court.
But now most of the officials in the capital are being arrested. Isn't Your Majesty afraid that these intellectuals will rebel collectively?
He hesitated at this moment. Although his loyalty to the Ming Dynasty was true, he did not have the courage to offend so many ministers at this moment. A quarter of an hour had passed, and they were still just standing here.
"Commander, you have to make an idea. If you don't take action, I'm afraid His Majesty will blame you." Li Ruolian sighed. No one knew that His Majesty would arrange such a difficult problem.
"Besides, it's okay to say that these civil servants don't have many people who look after the homes and courtyards in their mansions, but this Li Guozhen is the admiral of the capital, and he has been the uncle of Xiangcheng for generations. If we go to get him, I'm afraid
The sergeants under his command will not agree."
"Fart! I, the Imperial Guard, have arrested everyone. No one has ever dared to stop me. I am just an admiral of the Beijing camp. What is there to be afraid of? Anyone who dares to stop me will be shot to death!"
When Wang Guoxing heard this, he became furious and his eyes immediately became fierce.
"Sir, at this time, the intruders outside are besieging the city, and the morale of the troops in the city has been shaken for a day or two. Your Majesty doesn't know, how can you and I not know?" Li Ruolian hurriedly tried to dissuade him.
After thinking for a long time, Wang Guoxing took out the embroidered spring knife and said in a deep voice: "No matter what, His Majesty ordered that only the house be searched and the criminals arrested. The others should not move and take action immediately! As long as you are fast, you are not afraid of those soldiers.
!”
"As you command!"
But at this moment, a guard in royal robes suddenly came galloping from the palace on horseback. He quickly dismounted a few meters away from the two of them, and then ran down the runway in front of Wang Guoxing. He said respectfully: "Your Majesty, your Majesty asked me to give this to you.
"
Wang Guoxing and Li Ruolian glanced at each other, then took the flag, waved it away, and opened it. They saw that the crimes of everyone on the list were listed on it.
For example, Chen Yan, the first assistant, was charged with collaborating with the enemy and betraying the country. The court agreed to the invaders' request for land distribution, and repeatedly blocked King Boqin of Pingxi, causing Beijing to be surrounded by bandits. Zhang Jinyan, the Minister of War, was charged with corruption, collaborating with the enemy, and dereliction of duty.
, ransacked the house, and sent everyone in the house into the army.
As for the Admiral Xiangcheng Bo Li Guozhen who worried them the most, it was said on paper that there would be someone dedicated to assist them, so that they could rest assured.
"It seems that Your Majesty has already known about our worries. It is His Majesty who has such courage and foresight." Wang Guoxing looked relaxed after reading it, and his inner impression of Zhu Ling instantly rose to a higher level.
"Sir, let's act quickly." Li Ruolian no longer worried and urged.
"Okay! Do it!"
Later, Wang Guoxing and Li Ruolian each led hundreds of people on horseback into the city, drove all the people wandering in the city back to their homes, and began to hunt down the people on the list. The first one was the chief minister of the dynasty, Chen Yan.
Wang Guoxing personally led the team and directly led people to knock away the servants and forcefully entered Chen Yan's mansion. Even though the servants saw so many royal guards, they were still not afraid. When they saw this, they directly used their sticks and yelled: "How presumptuous! You don't even look at it."
Whose mansion is this! How dare you break in! Get out quickly, otherwise, my boss will report to Your Majesty and you will all be thrown into jail!"
Looking coldly at these servants who didn't know whether to live or die, he snorted coldly and ordered the flag masters behind him to draw their swords and bury these servants in the sword. The next moment, he died on the spot with an incredible expression.
Under the order of Wang Guoxing, a team of Jinyi guards, led by another Baihu, led dozens of subordinates into other courtyards and began to search the gold, silver and jewelry in the house.
At this time, Chen Yan, who noticed something strange in the mansion, also walked out. Seeing that there were suddenly many guards in golden clothes who came from nowhere, he immediately yelled loudly: "Who broke into my mansion?"
"Mr. Chen Ge, I am the commander of the army, Wang Guoxing." Wang Guoxing also bowed out of gratitude for having served as an official in the same court.
"Why do you Jinyi Guards search my mansion? Is there any oral instruction or imperial edict from His Majesty?"
Chen Yan looked around at the Jin Yiwei running around, behaving like bandits, and felt furious inside, but he didn't want to lose his etiquette, so he just suppressed his anger and asked.
"Your Majesty is speaking, Chen Yan is kneeling down to listen!"
Wang Guoxing's unprepared words immediately made the somewhat older Chen Yan panic, and he hurriedly led everyone behind him to kneel down.
"Chen Yan, the chief assistant of the cabinet, has three charges. One is collaborating with the enemy and betraying the country! He privately agreed to the thieves' request for peace, causing Ming Dynasty to lose a large area of territory in the northwest. It is also suspected of dereliction of duty. I issue an order to you to quickly recall Pingxi Bo Wu Sangui back to Beijing.
King Qin, but you refused to listen, causing the city of Beijing to be surrounded by thieves; thirdly, you accepted a large amount of bribes and countless gold, silver and jewels. It is in vain that I treat you so sincerely. I will count your crimes and you should be punished!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Chen Yan immediately felt his eyes darken and fainted. The people behind him hurriedly helped him up.
Looking disdainfully at Chen Yan who fainted, Wang Guoxing showed no pity at all and immediately ordered someone to drag him out. In his heart, this man should be executed by his entire family! It is not an exaggeration!
His Majesty must have thought that Chen Yan had made contributions to the Ming Dynasty, so he spared his family.
"Why don't you kneel down and thank Your Majesty? If it weren't for Your Majesty's kindness, I'm afraid you would have perished too!"
The words Wang Guoxing specially added immediately made Chen Yan's family burst into tears of gratitude to Zhu Ling, and they knelt on the ground and cried and howled in thanks.
At this time, Hundred Households also made a discovery. After reporting Wang Guoxing, the two of them went to the backyard together. The flag masters were killing a few villains who had tried to stop them and dragging the bodies out.
In the backyard, as soon as you enter, you can see that the ground is in a mess, but underneath the mess, a large amount of gold and silver jewelry is exposed. After being a royal guard for so many years, this is the first time I have seen such a heart-warming scene.
If it were night now, the entire courtyard would be illuminated like daylight by the illumination of so many jewels.
"Pack up all these jewels immediately and count them. Remember, no one is allowed to use them without His Majesty's permission!"
"Yes, sir!"
Wang Guoxing left the mansion and ordered his men to kill Chen Yan directly at the door. At this time, a man came to the front of the mansion with several soldiers.
"Commander the King, I have long admired you!"
The person who came was none other than Meng Zhaoxiang, the right minister of the Ministry of Punishments. He was wearing armor and riding a horse with several soldiers. He got off his horse and said hello to Wang Guoxing, who had just killed someone.
Seeing that this person came here specifically to find him, Wang Guoxing roughly guessed that the person His Majesty was talking about must be him, so he did not dare to neglect and raised his hand to say hello.
"I've admired you for a long time! I wonder what's the purpose of Minister Meng coming here?"
"I am here to meet the king and command an envoy to do a big thing by your Majesty's order."
"Oh? What kind of big event is it?"
Meng Zhaoxiang smiled and said mysteriously: "This matter is related to Li Guozhen, the governor of the capital, Xiangcheng Bo!"
Hiss~
It seems that the guess is correct. This person must be the person your Majesty said to capture. Wang Guoxing hurriedly asked: "I wonder what Minister Meng can do? I am also having a headache about this matter below. If there is a conflict with the soldiers because of arresting someone,
, once there is a fight, I'm afraid..."
"Commander Wang, don't worry, I have a clever plan here." Meng Zhaoxiang obviously had a solution before he came, and he did not panic at all when facing this difficult problem.
"Young Master, please come and listen."
"I personally went to find him in his camp and said to him, Your Majesty announced that you have important matters to discuss. Ask him to remove his armor and go to the palace with me. Then on the way, I will command the envoy to ambush the flag school and intercept him halfway!"
After saying that, Meng Zhaoxiang made a sideways and downward slashing motion with his palms.
Wang Guoxing immediately understood that this matter could not be done by his Jin Yiwei. If the other party found out that the Jin Yiwei who had experienced a house raid came to the camp to take him into the palace, it would probably arouse the other party's suspicion.
After all, Jin Yiwei has done similar things many times.
"Then thank you very much, Minister."
After the counting of the hundreds of households was completed, the numbers he said frightened Wang Guoxing.
"What? Five hundred thousand taels! Have you checked clearly?"
"Sir, I'm afraid I won't be able to count them all, so I specially asked three people to help me count them together. According to the current price of jewelry, I'm afraid it's more than three hundred thousand taels."
Hearing that the facts were correct, Wang Guoxing took a breath. He didn't expect that the chief minister who seemed so honest at that time was actually a corrupt official.
"Move all these things back to the palace!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Meng Zhaoxiang heard from the side: "Your Majesty, Commander, there is no need to move back."
"Why?"
"Your Majesty ordered me to tell you that 500,000 taels will be counted and moved to the city wall, and the rest will be rewarded to you." Meng Zhaoxiang said congratulations.
After His Majesty said this half an hour ago, he understood the truth. Nowadays, many officials and soldiers have not been able to receive their salaries for a long time. Apart from the money they got from confiscating their homes, they gave it to the intruder, and the rest was given as salary to the Jin Yiwei. This is how to win people's hearts.
Policy.
"Thank you, Your Majesty!"
Wang Guoxing bowed with his hands in front of the palace, his eyes filled with tears. His Majesty really has not forgotten their wives, children, and children at home!
"By the way, Your Majesty also said that if there is a non-integral amount of silver after ransacking the house, all of it will be distributed to you and the officers and soldiers guarding the city. It will be used as a pre-war incentive for the army to besiege the city."
After saying that, Meng Zhaoxiang leaned close to Wang Guoxing's ear and whispered: "If you copy a lot, you will naturally get more silver. Commander, at this time, there is no need to hide it. Use whatever methods you have to confiscate the house."
, This is also what His Majesty means."
Especially after hearing the last sentence, which was also what His Majesty meant, Wang Guoxing immediately said loudly to the guards behind him: "Brothers, give me all your strength. Your Majesty said that all the extra silver will be given to you!"
Don’t be fooled! Next one!”
"Walk!"
[Author's digression]: Historical records: When Li Zicheng entered Beijing, Chen Yan wanted to escape from Beijing, but failed because his family property was too large. He took the initiative to donate 40,000 taels of silver to Liu Zongmin. Later, his servants reported that he had silver hidden underground in his home.
Tens of thousands of peasants dug it up and found that the ground was full of silver. Liu Zongmin was furious and tortured him. He asked for hundreds of taels of gold and dendrobium of pearls. On April 8, he was released.