Wu Mengming, commander of the Jinyi Guards, was one of Emperor Chongzhen's confidants.
He is greedy for money and has no intention of playing tricks. Since he became attached to the young eunuch, he has been more focused on money, but he is not as blatant as before, and he does not dare to be so blatant.
Everything has its advantages and disadvantages. Chang Yu is in a high position and is in the limelight. He relies on his big tree to enjoy the shade. However, he is also jealous of others because of this. Especially his ruthless management of the nobles in Beijing has made him many enemies and countless eyes are on him.
To him and those who depend on him.
Therefore, Wu Mengming had to be careful. Fortunately, he learned a trick from Chang Yu. The more evasive and evasive you are when trying to get cards, the more people will notice you. It is better to do it openly and openly. The prerequisite is that you have to create a clever name so that no one can catch it.
For example, the state abbot Zhou Kui gave him one hundred thousand taels of silver. He originally wanted to use him to recruit young eunuchs so that he could open a door for Queen Zhou, but Chang Yu refused to accept it. The state abbot understood and donated the silver to Dongchang's military supplies.
So now, no matter how hard Zhou Kui bites him, the Dongchang side refuses to acknowledge him, and he voluntarily donates money in black and white to the Yamen and asks for bribes from individuals.
Wu Mengming has been very busy recently, extremely busy.
In addition to leading the three departments in the fight against corruption, he also needs to personally deal with public security issues in the capital.
After all, the capital was empty of troops at this time, and all forces were ready to move to detect spies and monitor refugees to prevent further trouble. More importantly, they had to personally guard the Tatar prisoner in the Yamen!
And these are just tiring Wu Mengming, what makes him upset is the endless stream of people who come to intercede every day. Dongchang, Jinyiwei, and the Metropolitan Procuratorate have joined forces to fight corruption. Everyone in the capital and officials in various departments is in danger. In short, there are not many
A clean one.
Just like checking for corruption in the army and knocking on the small ones to catch the second ones, the big ones have to be dealt with carefully, and all kinds of relationships have to be broken down before deciding how to deal with them.
In fact, the salaries of officials in the Ming Dynasty were low, and the average small-capital officials worked harder, but the big rats were very fat, so the three departments had no interest in the small-capital officials, and mainly targeted the big rats.
But none of the backgrounds of the big rats are simple. Most of them are powerful bosses in the three divisions and six ministries. Their network of connections is by no means ordinary. Although it is not all-encompassing, there are many people who are related to the cabinet, the Metropolitan Procuratorate, and even the Fifth Military Governor's Office.
, which is very troublesome to deal with.
This gave Wu Mengming a headache, so he might as well go out with the eunuch to steal it secretly!
Although many of the people who came to Wu Mengming to talk about a romantic relationship were not empty-handed, and some even offered huge prices, which made him very excited, but he really didn't dare to accept it.
This feeling was so painful that Wu Mengming simply refused to see the guests.
"Master Wu, Wang Zhixin asked someone to invite you to my house as a guest." The confidant took out a slap from his arms and slapped the small golden Buddha: "I said I borrowed it from you last year and now it has returned to its original owner."
Wu Mengming's eyes suddenly lit up. He took the Golden Buddha in his hand and played with it carefully. The more he looked at it, the more he liked it. However, he finally sighed and threw the Golden Buddha to his confidant: "The old guy couldn't sit still and came to find my way. This golden Buddha
Although the Buddha is priceless, it is far from enough. When the thing came back to him, he said that I would definitely come tonight."
Wu Mengming is no stranger to Wang Zhixin. When this old guy was in charge of Dongchang, he did a lot of evil and made a lot of money, but he didn't have much interaction with him, because at that time, the commander of the Jinyiwei was Luo Yangxing, and Wu Mengming would return to his hometown.
Wu Ming is simply not as discerning as him.
Who would have thought that thirty years to the east of the river and thirty years to the west of the river, and now it will be on his own head.
The phoenix will arrive, the fragrant flowers and butterflies will come. Wu Mengming has his legs crossed. If it is difficult for others to fish, this old eunuch will come to your door.
If you don’t get it, you won’t get it!
It gets dark very early in the summer, and it's almost past Unity Hour before there is still light. Two servants at the door of the big house in Gongxian Hutong looked around with slightly anxious expressions.
A carriage drove up at the entrance of the alley, followed by five or six big men, which aroused the curiosity and fear of the neighbors in the alley who were chatting in the cool air in front of their homes, pointing and talking in low voices.
One of the two servants at the door of the mansion rushed forward to greet him, and the other hurriedly reported to the house. After a while, Wang Zhixin walked out of the house with a trembling heart, just as the carriage arrived at the door.
"Wu..." Wang Zhixin just opened his mouth when he saw Wu Mengming hurriedly got out of the car and raised his hand to interrupt him and whispered: "Tell me inside!"
"Yes, yes, it said, please please..." Wang Zhixin quickly invited Wu Mengming into the palace, and took some money from his pocket to reward Wu Mengming's entourage.
The banquet was a private banquet, just Wang Zhixin and Wu Mengming, without any accompanying guests.
There are a variety of dishes, three of which are Wu Mengming's favorites: a plate of fried gold ingots, a plate of steamed silver ingots, and a hodgepodge of jewelry and jade.
"Mr. Wu, please don't tell me secret words. Our family was a little bit troubled when we were in Dongchang, but we didn't need to kill them all. Why did we hear that not only the proceeds were confiscated, but also the law was enforced? At our age and body, we can't bear the trouble.
Let’s put it this way, our family took in as much as we could now, and we just want a stable old age. For the sake of Dongchang, let’s let our family go.” Wang Zhixin’s words were really heartfelt.
"Your Majesty, please let me know. I, Mr. Wu, am no longer hiding anything." Wu Mengming took a lot of effort to look away from the three dishes: "Now that the three yamen are working together to handle cases, they are all serious. This must be
You have also heard, and this is not directed at you. Small fish and shrimps are usually let off with a warning, but big rats are not so easy to escape."
"Master Wu, I'm just a palace official, so I'm not a big rat. Now I just want to live in peace in my old age..." Wang Zhixin sighed, pointing to the three dishes on the table: "After this matter is done, it will be yours.
, and even if I turn over all the more than 30,000 taels I embezzled at that time, my old body really can’t afford to go to jail.”
Haha, Wu Mengming couldn't help but laugh: "Eunuch Wang, I praised you for your openness just now. Why do you treat me as Wu's three-year-old child again? You were the famous richest man in the king at that time, with only thirty thousand taels of silver? Are you funny?
”.
"Ouch, rumors kill people." Wang Zhixin slapped his thigh and said with a bitter look on his face: "Dongchang has been suppressed by the government and the public since Wei Zhongxian, so where can the little old man find any profit? Besides, the name of the richest man is just relative.
"It is well known that many internal officials are poor, and they may not save a few taels of silver in their lifetime. Compared with them, I am not the richest man with a net worth of thirty thousand yuan!"
Wang Zhixin's words were sincere and well-founded, but Wu Mengming was unmoved and even sneered repeatedly. He picked up the wine glass and drank alone: "Eunuch Wang, do you know how many people are queuing up to deliver food to Wu outside every day, and the portions are
It's just a lot more, but Mr. Wu didn't even see you. He just came to the house to bother you because you are an old man from Dongchang, and to show consideration for the old relationship for the emperor. Is this how you treat guests?"
Wang Zhixin was horrified. Hearing what he said, it was possible that the emperor had secretly ordered something. If it was so good, just accept it. So he gritted his teeth and said: "To be honest, the old man still has some leftovers, but it is only fifty thousand taels if he is full."
Seeing Wu Mengming's unkind expression, he quickly said: "There are two large houses with three entrances in Beicheng, and there are 120 acres of fertile land outside the city. Other than that, there is nothing left! If Mr. Wu doesn't believe it, you can conduct a thorough investigation. You can find everything.
Your"
Seeing what he said, Wu Mengming believed him: "All the property and land were confiscated, and the money was confiscated, but Mr. Wu didn't do anything right. How about leaving five thousand silver for old age, my lord?"
"Ah, five thousand taels, Master Wu, can you..." Wang Zhixin looked pained, and Wu Mengming coughed lightly: "My lord, you will always be content with what you have. You have no heirs and no heirs. This five thousand taels is enough to support you in your old age.
, if you are still not satisfied, you can go to the imperial prison in Dongchang to rest in your old age!"
At this time, Wu Mengming left the Wang family's mansion with a full meal. In the carriage, he patted the boxes beside him and couldn't help humming a ditty. From his perspective, this day was really a proud work, but he didn't know that he would tell his little wife later.
When I was monitoring, I was severely ridiculed, and I was so angry that I was looking for bad luck in the king's heart. That's a story for another day.