I'm a big dick

Chapter 340 The Espionage Case
The middle-aged fat man boasted that he was "wise and mighty" and "the emperor of all ages", which also attracted the approval of many tea lovers.

After drinking another pot of good tea, the middle-aged fat man and Wen Sheng got up and left the teahouse calmly.

"That seems to be Boss Qian from Hechun Building." A tea guest said to his tablemate as if he had known him before, "There is a backstage, no one dares to make trouble in Hechun Building."

"Hechun Tower——" The tea guest at the same table showed a look that men could understand, and said with a smile: "The head card is as beautiful as a fairy, very good, very good!"

Not to mention the reaction of the tea customers, but to say that the middle-aged fat man and Wen Sheng left the teahouse and chatted while walking on the street.

"Brother Qian——" Wen Sheng finally couldn't bear it any longer, and said with a sneer, "How dare you say that you are a merchant in public? You can also say that you are a trader of flesh and blood?"

Fatty Qian didn't take it seriously, and said with a smile: "Why, it's different because there are buying and selling. Besides, taking the opportunity to praise the Holy One is also loyal to the emperor and patriotic!"

Wen Sheng shook his head, and teased, "Do you want the girls in the building to talk about 'the Holy One is wise and powerful' all day long?"

Just as Fatty Qian was about to answer, he saw a member of Dongchang coming in a hurry, so he immediately put on a serious look.

"Master Qian, go to the Meridian Gate quickly, and the factory supervisor will be summoned." Dongchang Fanzi walked past Fatty Qian, left only one sentence, and left without looking back.

Fatty Qian and Wen Sheng looked at each other, and their expressions became serious.Fatty Qian turned around and summoned the servants who followed him, got on his horse, and rode his horse swiftly towards the imperial city.

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In the middle and late Ming Dynasty, the gentry group continued to decay, and gradually became a huge vested interest group.

As can be seen in the historical record, this group is deeply rooted and extends to all levels from top to bottom.

In the court, they kept fighting among the parties and eliminated dissidents; in the local area, they searched for the people's fat and anointment, only caring about their own interests, regardless of the national interests and the life and death of the people.

Even, in the battle at the highest level, this group can affect the imperial power, that is, the succession of the throne.

The dispute over great etiquette, the theory of conferring three kings, and the battle over the case of moving the palace, on the surface, are Confucian morality, but in fact they are for the interests of the group and the party.

The power of vested interest groups is so huge, why does Zhu Youxiao dare to reform boldly and continue to deepen it?

The reason is simple, he saw through the essence of this group.It looks strong, but it is actually weak; it seems to be united with the outside world, but in fact it falls apart when it is in danger.

Moreover, it's not that the imperial power can't beat this interest group.Instead, starting from the perspective of the feudal emperor, instigation and balance are in line with the emperor's mind and are conducive to the stability of the imperial power.

For this set of power games, the emperors of the Ming Dynasty played it proficiently.

Whether it is Jiajing who cultivates immortals, Wanli who lives in the palace, or a small carpenter in history, they seem to be doing nothing, but they all firmly grasp the imperial power and government.

The reason is also simple, no matter how idle the emperor is, he also knows how to hold the army firmly.And the civil servant group in the court seems to be powerful, but it's just that they haven't crossed the emperor's bottom line and are too lazy to deal with them.

Take the dispute over etiquette as an example. In order to prove that "my father is my father", Emperor Jiajing turned against almost all civil officials in the court.

Therefore, more than 150 civil servants wearing "justice" official uniforms and claiming that "the country has supported scholars for 200 years and died adhering to integrity and righteousness, just today", knocked on the gate of Zuoshun gate and shook the gate, "the sound shook the court".

What was the result, he was beaten by the emperor's combination of being sent to prison for interrogation, suspended from duty, and suspended from salary and staff, and all of them shut their stinking mouths.

I gave you a face, didn't I? !I owe everything.The victory of the Jiajing emperor fully proved that the result of "knocking the nose on the face" was not good.

Zhu Youxiao also regarded this case as a sign of the weakness of the civil service group.What's the matter, after being imprisoned, suspended, tortured, punished, and suspended, don't you bastards still be reluctant to be officials, and continue to be officials brazenly?

Get out if you have the ability, I want to see if the court can operate, can the sky collapse?
There are a lot of people who want to be officials and hope to be promoted, and those who are eager to occupy the position should leave quickly and make room for themselves!
The reason why Zhu Youxiao was able to achieve the goal of purging the court in a short period of time was because of the support of the imperial power and the military as the backing, and secondly, because he did not play cards according to common sense and did not engage in any balance.

The attack was almost indiscriminate, and party officials from Donglin, Chu, and Zhejiang were all among them.Those involved in party disputes, those who wantonly criticize, those who do not do practical things, and those who are corrupt will be taken down without mercy.

Such an operation is obviously shocking and unprepared.By the time the civil servants came to their senses, a large number of core forces had either been convicted or left, and the emperor swung his sword at the magistrates again.

As Zhu Youxiao judged, a group of officials were eliminated, and another group of officials came up.On the issue of continuing to stick to the previous way of being an official or obeying the emperor, most people wisely chose the latter.

In addition to Sun Chengzong, Li Qiyuan, Bi Zisu, Tao Langxian and other cronies personally promoted and appointed by the emperor, even superficial obedience is very important for Zhu Youxiao to promote reforms.

Of course, not many people know the grand plans of the emperor.Most people attributed the implementation of the emperor's policy to insufficient finances and the huge cost of the war, and the emperor had no choice but to do so.

What I want to build is a Ming Dynasty where the sun never sets. What are slaves and chieftains? My eyes are on the whole world.

For this goal, gods block and kill gods, and Buddhas block and destroy Buddhas, I am so excited that I am even afraid of myself!

Zhu Youxiao flipped through the newspaper, although there were his original words, but the imperial pen was very well polished, which made him very satisfied.

Raising business taxes and cracking down on collusion between officials and businessmen, although the decree has been made a long time ago, it is still not clear enough, which makes Zhu Youxiao feel a little lacking.

Now, the Emperor of Nine-Five Supreme has spoken, let's see who dares to blow their wings and who dares to make irresponsible remarks.

Zhu Youxiao put down the newspaper in satisfaction, took a sip from his teacup, and saw Wang Tiqian rushing in, knelt down and reported: Wei Zhongxian, the admiral of the East Factory, brought Qian Baihua, the leader, into the palace for an audience.

Old Wei hadn't entered the palace for a few days, and this time he took a lead, so he didn't know what was going on.Zhu Youxiao put down his teacup and ordered the palace servants to summon him.

Soon, Eunuch Wei entered the hall with Qian Baihua, knelt down and kowtowed, saying "Long live".

"Get up!" Zhu Youxiao said casually: "Wei Ban, you suddenly entered the palace, what's the matter?"

Wei Zhongxian quickly took out the title book, bowed and gave it to Wang Tiqian who came over.

After receiving the question book from Wang Tiqian, Zhu Youxiao opened it and looked at it twice, his face became serious, and even showed a little anger.

But after more than a year of training and habits, the emperor has become much calmer.He read the test book with a gloomy face, and it was rare that he didn't lose his temper.

Eunuch Wei peeked at the emperor, saw that he had put down the test book but was silent, so he bowed his head again, waiting for the emperor's inquiry.

"Are you sure Wu Changchun didn't get any important information?" The emperor finally spoke and asked in a deep voice.

Wu Changchun is the son-in-law of the traitor Li Yongfang, and also married the daughter of Zhao Yihe, a Chinese military officer under Li Yongfang, as a concubine.

In the 46th year of Wanli, the year Li Yongfang surrendered, he was sent to Beijing to hide.

In the first year of Tianqi, Liaoyang fell, and Wu Changchun secretly came to Juehua Island near Ningyuan to meet Li Yushan, who was sent by Li Yongfang.

Li Yushan gave Wu Changchun 700 taels of activity funds, and conveyed Li Yongfang's instructions, asking him to pay attention to intelligence gathering in the capital.

If there is important information, it will be sent to the home of Chen Yijing in Pingdu, Shandong, and then Chen Yijing will send it to Houjin.

After receiving the funds and accepting the task, Wu Changchun returned to Beijing and began active activities, trying to break into the high-level Ming Dynasty in order to obtain important information.

Important information, of course, is military first.Therefore, Wu Changchun set his sights on the position of the Ministry of War.He pretended to be dead uncle Wu Yiyang's martial arts resume and started some operations.

Through a man named Zhou Yingyuan, Wu Changchun got acquainted with several military officials including Ji Yingcheng, and bribed these officials with money to get him into the military department.

If the matter can be done, Wu Changchun promised a reward of 400 taels of silver, and also paid 450 taels of activity fees in advance.

Ji Yingcheng and others took advantage of Wu Changchun, and they really helped him with affairs. They really got Wu Changchun an official position in the Ministry of War, and even issued the appointment paperwork.

But when Wu Changchun was overjoyed, someone reported that Wu Changchun was an impostor and that his martial arts qualifications were fake.

In fact, this person didn't know Wu Changchun's details, but he just wanted to blackmail Wu Changchun with this incident and extort a sum of money as a hush money.

Ji Yingcheng found out about the report and exposure, and fearing that he would be implicated, he took back the appointment document from the Ministry of War from Wu Changchun.

The money was spent, but the officials didn't get it. Wu Changchun was really unlucky.

700 taels of silver seems to be a lot, and ordinary people can't earn so much after working hard all their lives.

But for Wu Changchun, he lived in a rented house in Beijing and bought a prostitute named Li Feng'er... the girl is happy and happy, 700 taels of silver is not enough to spend at all!

Therefore, Wu Changchun left the capital, intending to sneak back to Liaodong and get some funds back.However, after the Battle of Guangning, the Ming army implemented a strategic contraction and moved to the Liao people as much as possible, which was tantamount to cutting off the source of Houjin's intelligence.

When Wu Changchun came to Shanhaiguan, he realized that it was impossible to sneak back to the territory occupied by Houjin, so he had no choice but to return to Beijing again.

It was really hard to live without money, so Wu Changchun sold Li Feng'er to a man named Xue Yingkui for 80 taels of silver.

And Xue Yingkui sold Li Feng'er to Hechun Tower for 150 taels of silver.

When Wu Changchun was living with Li Fenger and fooling around, he got drunk and talked nonsense once, and when he was careless, he exposed his details.

But Wu Changchun obviously didn't remember, or forgot about it, and even sold Li Feng'er who knew about it, planting a fatal hidden danger for his exposure.

Li Feng'er didn't intend to harm Wu Changchun when she picked up the guests at the Hechun Building, maybe she didn't take it seriously either.So, inadvertently, she revealed the matter of Wu Changchun.

Where is the Hechun Building? It is the key place for the East Factory to collect information. Not only are there many eyeliners, but even the nominal boss is Qian Baihua, the crotch head of the East Factory. How can this important information be let go?

Originally, the Zhenfu Department was in charge of the outside, and the owner of the East Factory was in the house. This was the scope of responsibility set by the emperor.

That's why Dongchang paid more attention to intelligence gathering in the market, and brothels not only had all kinds of people, but also a place for officials and scholars to enjoy themselves and act aggressively, and it was also a key group of people that the emperor wanted to monitor.

But with such an important clue all of a sudden, Eunuch Wei was not so high-spirited, so he transferred the case to the Zhenfu Department for meritorious service.

The Dongchang team was sent to secretly arrest Wu Changchun, and the confession was successfully interrogated. Eunuch Wei quickly brought along the direct investigator Qian Baihua to claim the credit.

Hearing the emperor's question, Eunuch Wei hurriedly bowed and replied, "Don't worry, the emperor, the information collected by Wu Changchun is not important, and there is no chance to send it out. This is all due to the emperor's wiseness, and he moved all the people of Liao. Yu Guan's ingenious plan worked."

Zhu Youxiao felt quite comfortable with Eunuch Wei flattering him so naturally.If it wasn't for the strategic contraction, if it wasn't for the Liao people to move in, how could we cut off the information transmission line of Houjin?
Of course, various conditions in ancient times also determined the difficulty of espionage work.

Take Wu Changchun as an example. When he sneaked into the capital, it was tantamount to breaking contact with Hou Jin.Because he was the only one to look for Houjin, and Houjin wanted to send someone to look for him, which was a bit like looking for a needle in a haystack.

This means that Li Yongfang painstakingly established the Shanxi Fan family's intelligence line, but could not send someone to connect Wu Changchun's line.

Zhu Youxiao pondered for a long time, then raised his head and asked, "Wu Changchun's attitude is tough. Is it easy or difficult for you to interrogate the confession?"

Wei Zhongxian looked at Qian Baihua, motioning for him to answer.

Qian Baihua hurriedly bowed and said: "Long live, Wu Changchun is a soft bone. He confessed everything before he was severely punished, and even swore to serve Daming."

Zhu Youxiao pursed his lips slightly, revealing a sneer of disdain, looked at Wei Zhongxian, and asked, "How does Wei Ban think about dealing with Wu Changchun?"

When Wei Zhongxian came, he also made guesses, thinking that the emperor would probably be furious and cut Wu Changchun into pieces, and those officials who accepted bribes to facilitate Wu Changchun's entry into the military department were also in danger.

But as soon as the emperor asked, Eunuch Wei felt that he might have guessed wrong.The emperor didn't lose his temper, and the question he asked was ambiguous, as if there was some questioning meaning?
"Returning to the emperor, this servant thinks that killing Wu Changchun may serve as a warning to others." Eunuch Wei took a peek at the emperor's expression, paused and continued: "But if he is spared, maybe he will be killed again in the future." effect."

Zhu Youxiao chuckled, and didn't say what he had just conceived, nor did he criticize Eunuch Wei's ambiguous answer. He pointed at Qian Baihua and asked, "What about you, what do you think should be done?"

Qian Baihua bowed and replied: "I think I can keep Wu Changchun alive for a while, because he is Li Yongfang's son-in-law, maybe I can write some articles in the future."

That's right, Wu Changchun is just a pawn, and killing him is just to vent his anger, and it doesn't have much effect.

But Li Yongfang, this big traitor, the spy chief of Hou Jin, Zhu Youxiao hated him to the bone.

As for the special relationship between Wu Changchun and Li Yongfang, there is really a lot to write about.At least, wouldn't it be better to add obstacles to Li Yongfang, and even make him lose Houjin's trust?
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(End of this chapter)