Chapter 205: Is the Senior Grand Secretary Scary, or is the Emperor Scary? That is a Question

Wang Wang Chonggu had been keeping an eye on this matter. As long as he was attentive, he could always find some clues. Soon, he discovered that someone had indeed hoarded coal in advance—hoarded a large amount of coal in advance, not starting to hoard coal after the big fire at the Coal Market Entrance. This point was very important.

If one were to hoard coal after a major fire, it could be understood as being optimistic about the short-term price increase of coal. However, buying in large quantities suddenly before the fire seems exceptionally strange. Of course, it might be because of the heavy snow, and merchants, relying on past experience, still chose to hoard coal based on previous habits.

Wang Wang Chonggu decided to wait and see. His most important task was to ensure the coal supply in the capital, which was the primary task.

Therefore, no matter how good Wang Qian's idea was, Wang Wang Chonggu would act according to the situation. If the coal price was too high and people froze to death during the thawing season, Wang Wang Chonggu, this official who gathered wealth and sought profit, would be impeached again.

Zhu Zhu Yijun delegated Zhao Zhao Mengyou to assist the Chief Justice in overseeing this matter. Zhu Zhu Yijun never believed it was a natural disaster. The Coal Market Entrance had existed for nearly two hundred years. Although there had been fires, it had never been so suspicious. Zhao Zhao Mengyou took the Embroidered Uniform Guards and firemen to clean up the fire scene, hoping to find some clues, while Luo Luo Sigong began to investigate secretly.

His Majesty had once said that when investigating a case, the clues are all in the hands of the commoners.

Luo Luo Sigong was very young. His visits achieved many breakthroughs. Few people would treat this child as a claw of the court, and most thought he was a young master from some noble family curious about whether he could make money after the big fire.

Zhu Zhu Yijun didn't ask Luo Luo Sigong to accomplish anything; he was just accumulating some experience in handling cases.

When multiple lines were proceeding, Xu Xu Wenbi, the Duke of Dingguo, requested an audience again. Zhu Zhu Yijun met Xu Xu Wenbi in the side hall of the Zhao Wenhua Hall. Xu Xu Wenbi reported the culprit.

As a top-level powerful and wealthy person, this time he heard the wind and locked the scope on a very small range. The Great Ming's Prince Consort.

The Great Ming's Prince Consort is a hereditary noble title. This group has never brought glory to the imperial relatives.

During the Emperor Hongwu period, Emperor Taizu Gao once personally issued a decree to kill a Prince Consort, Ouyang Lun. Ouyang Lun had been courting death. Zhu Zhu Yuanzhang disciplined him several times, but Ouyang Lun didn't change his stubborn habits and was beheaded. During the Yongle period, Prince Consort Wang Ning was convicted for unauthorized shipbuilding and going to sea to trade with Japan. During the Emperor Xuande, During Zhengtong, and Emperor Jingtai periods, Prince Consort Zhao Hui, relying on his seniority, did evil and was impeached repeatedly.

The reason Xu Xu Wenbi specifically entered the palace to say this was mainly because according to the *Imperial Ming Ancestral Instructions*, if imperial relatives commit crimes, the successor monarch decides. Only treason is unforgivable. For other minor crimes, meet with the relatives in the capital. For major crimes, meet with the kings outside the capital and the relatives in the capital, all decided by the Emperor.

Imperial relatives must be judged by rank.

According to the scope circled by Zhu Zhu Yuanzhang, the outer court had no right to investigate and arrest imperial relatives and Duke's mansions. This matter could only be handled by the Emperor personally.

"Wasn't the Prince Consort removed from the super-rank list in the ninth year of Emperor Jiajing and made a fifth-rank official?" Zhu Zhu Yijun read the *Veritable Records of the Shizong Su Emperor* and clearly saw the explicit text. Because Prince Consort often acted lawlessly, the Daoist master didn't indulge them either. Not only did he punish them severely, but he also directly cut the Prince Consort above the Earl title to the status of a fifth-rank official.

Xu Xu Wenbi said quite definitely: "But the Prince Consort is still an imperial relative. The Ministry of Justice, the Censorate, and the Court of Judicial Review all have no right to ask about his affairs."

Because of the historical lessons of the Jingnan campaign and King Han's rebellion, after the Emperor Xuande period, the Prince Consort and the harem were all not allowed to be from powerful and wealthy gentry families.

Many imperial relatives couldn't even read. In order to educate the imperial relatives, the Ming Xuan Sect specifically asked someone to write a book called *Imperial Mirror of Imperial Relatives*.

This book collected imperial relatives from past dynasties, including 43 people who were good models, such as Wei Qing and Huo Huo Qubing, who, despite making great contributions, were humble and guarded their achievements and left a name for later generations. There were also 36 people who were bad examples, including Wang Mang, Liang Ji, and Han Tuozhou, who could not end well because they interfered in politics and disrupted the government.

It was hoped that the imperial relatives would choose the good and follow it, practice it with their hearts and strength, and share wealth and honor forever.

However, this wish eventually fell through. The Great Ming's imperial relatives didn't cause trouble, which was good, but they couldn't be the Emperor's support at all.

"Only the Embroidered Uniform Guards and the Eastern Depot can restrain them, right." Zhu Zhu Yijun understood Xu Xu Wenbi's meaning. The outer court had no power to restrain imperial relatives. The ministers in the court simply had no way to investigate and handle imperial relatives. Even if Wang Wang Chonggu found the culprit, he could only report it and ask for the Emperor's decision.

"Hmm." Seeing that he had said what he wanted to say, Xu Xu Wenbi bowed and left the side hall of the Zhao Wenhua Hall.

He was just here to remind the Emperor to be careful of his support.

The Great Ming's military nobility had long begun to lie flat. Xu Xu Wenbi was just telling the Emperor some things he knew to prevent the young Emperor from suffering losses.

Zhu Zhu Yijun took out a volume of the *Great Ming Collected Statutes*. After each volume was finished, it was sent to the Emperor.

The *Great Ming Collected Statutes* was a tool book for governing the country written by Zhang Zhang Juzheng for the young Emperor. If he encountered content he didn't understand, he could go through it, sort out the various decrees from the Emperor Hongwu period to the Emperor Longqing period, and tell the young Emperor why it was done that way at the beginning.

And the volume in his hand was mainly about the lives of the Great Ming's imperial relatives.

In the ninth year of Emperor Jiajing, the Daoist master issued a decree allowing imperial relatives to trade with merchants, but they were not allowed to fleece the commoners.

Imperial relatives seeking profit through trade were mainly concentrated in several aspects.

The first was operating shops and warehouses. Shops were for traveling merchants to stay; warehouses were for merchants to pile up goods; shops were for selling various commodities; and agencies were for commodity trading intermediaries, not the agencies of human traffickers.

This started from the Emperor Xuande period. In the second year of Emperor Xuande, the Ming Xuan Sect bestowed a district of the original Teng Mansion's Huangshun shop, which belonged to the Ministry of Revenue, to his uncle, Zhang Yong, the Earl of Pengcheng.

In the second year of Emperor Jingtai, the father of the Emperor Jingtai Emperor's original wife, Empress Wang, Wang Ying, asked for the Baoyuan shop for daily use. The Emperor Jingtai Emperor refused, and also inspected all official shops and warehouses, registered them, and the government collected the profits to fund military expenses.

During the Tianshun period, the Ming Yingzong repeatedly granted rewards to the relatives of Empress Dowager Sun. By the time of the Ming Wu Sect, the Huichang Marquis Mansion of Empress Dowager Sun's relatives was confiscated by the Emperor's eunuch Liu Jin and became an imperial estate.

During the Honghong period, the shops and warehouses bestowed by the Ming Xiaozong to Empress Zhang's mother, Jin, exceeded 143. And Empress Zhang's father and younger brother obtained the dream-like Heyuan shop, Baoyuan shop, etc., exceeding five hundred. By the Emperor Jiajing period, they were all confiscated and turned into the Emperor's small treasury.

In the ninth year of Emperor Jiajing, the Daoist master did a big thing. The Cabinet presented a memorial: "Begging to confiscate all the fields and shops of the powerful and wealthy in and outside the capital that were obtained improperly."

The Daoist Master managed to get this matter done by sheer force of will.

The reason the Emperor Jiajing Emperor was so determined to rectify the relatives of the imperial family was that this bunch of fellows had gone too far.

Zhang Cong reported that these imperial relatives were controlling the Wucheng Military Commission, preventing earth, wood, and stone materials from entering the capital. If anyone's house or storefront collapsed, they couldn't repair it and could only sell the land deed to the imperial relatives. This "collapsed shop and house" business caused extremely negative repercussions, and the Emperor Jiajing Emperor was furious and began to investigate the matter.

He issued an edict: "Imperial relatives setting up shops to exploit the people's profits is something that must be reformed according to the law. It is decreed that relatives of the state should naturally study and follow the rites, and uphold the public laws and constitution of the state."

Before the Daoist Master was assassinated by the palace maids, he had been striving to revitalize the state and could absolutely be called an enlightened monarch. Even the critical Zhao Zhao Zhenji did not scold the Daoist Master for being obsessed with Daoism, but only hoped that the Daoist Master would not be overly indulgent.

During the Emperor Wanli years, Empress Dowager Li held the power to review memorials in the Qianqing Palace. In six years, she did not grant the family of Wu Xun Li Wei a single shop or warehouse, which Ma Deli Wei often complain that although his daughter was already the Empress Dowager, there was no affection between relatives.

The second means of profit was mainly long-distance trafficking. For example, Pengcheng Bo Zhang Jin, Zhou Qingyun Bozhou Shou, and others had for generations used official water-horse post stations, canal transport channels, and horses and fast boats in violation of regulations to seek private gain.

The third means of profit was lending usury. The one who caused the biggest stir was the maternal grandfather of the Ming Yingzong, Huichang Bo Sun Zhong, who ordered his family member Han Xing to lend high-interest "green rice money" everywhere. The censors in the court impeached him one after another, but the Ming Yingzong, out of consideration for his status as a relative of the state, specially pardoned him.

By the During Chenghua years, Sun Zhong's son, Sun Sun Jizong, controlled the newly reorganized Beijing Garrison and even lent usury within the garrison. In the tenth year of During Chenghua, Zhang Yi, a Supervising Secretary of the Ministry of War, sarcastically remarked: "The families of meritorious officials and relatives of the state collude with people in the marketplace to lend money within the Beijing Garrison, harming the soldiers." The Ming Xianzong was furious, severely reprimanded Sun Sun Jizong, who held military power, and stripped him of his military authority.

The fourth means of profit was monopolizing money and grain, taking on the procurement of cloth, flowers, jewelry, and other items for the inner treasury. For example, during the Emperor Longqing years, Wu Xun Li Wei took on the procurement of cloth and flowers for the old Beijing Garrison. Because the quality was too thin, the soldiers were in an uproar. The Emperor Longqing Emperor issued a strict decree forbidding Wu Xun from taking on such procurement again. By the fourth year of Emperor Wanli, Wu Xun requested to take it on again and was severely reprimanded by Empress Dowager Li.

The fifth was mining coal in the Western Hills, and the sixth was salt trafficking.

The mining of coal in the Western Hills was underway, and salt trafficking was also one of the reasons for the corruption of the Great Ming salt laws.

Zhang Zhang Juzheng had generally found six ways to seek exorbitant profits from past experience and analyzed the commonalities of these six types of businesses.

The first commonality was that the imperial relatives never came forward personally but handed it over to family members and servants. Once something went wrong, the imperial relatives would run to the Emperor to cry, saying that it was all done by the servants they had hired, who had falsely used the family name without their knowledge, and would ask the Emperor for leniency. Out of consideration for the feelings of relatives, the Emperor could only pardon them, forming a fixed set of tricks.

When Zhang Zhang Juzheng spoke of this issue, he specifically praised Dingguo Gong Xu Xu Wenbi for understanding the Emperor's intention to revitalize the state. Last time, regarding the matter of the Imperial Academy lending usury, Xu Xu Wenbi's excuse was that he had been deceived by cunning people, and after that, he no longer engaged in this business. When the Western Hills Coal Bureau was being prepared, he also brought out his own family's kiln wells and sat waiting for dividends.

Trading in kiln wells was against the regulations. Because of the Imperial Tombs, the Western Hills had prohibitions against opening kilns to sell coal, chiseling mountains to sell stone, setting up factories to burn lime, and making bricks to take soil, as it damaged the feng shui. If the Emperor was truly determined to handle it, confiscating them would be a waste of effort.

The second commonality was relying on imperial power, refusing to pay taxes, and causing losses to the state treasury. Imperial relatives involving themselves in these matters was strictly prohibited by the imperial court. The goods they traded passed through tax stations without paying any taxes, and they monopolized the payment of commercial taxes for merchants, causing huge losses to the state treasury.

In the Great Ming, not paying taxes is absolutely not allowed!

To what extent had the imperial relatives lost face?

In order to compete for profit, in the ninth month of the ninth year of Honghong, Changning Bozhou Yu and Shouning Hou Zhang Heling, two families of imperial relatives, fought fiercely in the middle of the bustling market at the foot of the Son of Heaven and in the capital over a cart of coal, and were impeached by the Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate, Tu Yong, and others, who asked if the Xiaozong Emperor was not going to manage it!

They said: "The families of Changning Bozhou Yu and Shouning Hou Zhang Heling fought over trivial matters, gathered crowds to compete, and the noise spread throughout the capital and reached the imperial residence. It is because they have long harbored resentment from competing for market profits in their daily lives, and once touched, they became enemies. This damages the image of the imperial relatives and harms the majesty of the imperial court. When Your Majesty hears of this, will you not be moved?"

The Ming Xiaozong was truly not moved.

One was the second younger brother of the Empress Dowager Zhou, and the other was his own wife's younger brother. The Ming Xiaozong could only let the relevant authorities report the facts. The authorities did submit a report, but the Ming Xiaozong kept dragging it out and never handled it, letting it fade away.

Zhu Zhu Yijun held the memorial in his hand, his brows tightly furrowed, waiting for the progress of the matter.

The first to report back was Zhao Zhao Mengyou.

"Your Majesty, the arsonist has been found. This person is the great-grandson of Changning Bozhou Yu, named Zhou Zhou Shichen. During the Emperor Jiajing years, the imperial relatives had their titles stripped, and the Changning Bo family was demoted to the rank of Embroidered Uniform Guard Commander. By the generation of Zhou Zhou Shichen, even the rank of Commander could not be inherited. He was usually idle and lazy. Someone promised him a large sum of money. Zhou Zhou Shichen was already harboring resentment, so he took a jade pendant ornament from the fire scene and then pursued it." Zhao Zhao Mengyou reported his work in detail.

Identifying the arsonist Zhou Zhou Shichen was not just based on a jade pendant left at the fire scene; there was also testimony from neighbors that he had left sneakily that night, evidence that he had bought a lot of oil at an oil shop, and even more so, the huge debts he owed at the gambling den.

"Arrest him and interrogate him carefully." Zhu Zhu Yijun's spirit lifted. The Embroidered Uniform Guards were indeed capable. It took only two days to find the person. Zhu Zhu Yijun finished reading the case file. The motive was clear, and the evidence formed a complete chain—witnesses, documents, and physical evidence; the evidence was as solid as a mountain.

Zhao Zhao Mengyou frowned and said: "When your subject arrived with the Embroidered Uniform Guards, Zhou Zhou Shichen was already dead. It is said that thieves broke in, killed Zhou Zhou Shichen, and fled. When your subject arrived, I happened to encounter Zhou Zhou Shichen's maid, He Hua, and the butcher Lu Jin from across the street. When the butcher Lu Jin was caught, he was hiding under the bed, saying he was afraid of the government soldiers, so he hid."

"Your subject arrived half a day late, and I ask for Your Majesty's punishment."

Zhou Zhou Shichen's death further confirmed that he was the culprit of the arson case. The close investigation by the Embroidered Uniform Guards put great pressure on the mastermind who knew the news, so they simply killed him to silence him.

"Your speed in investigating the case is already lightning fast; it's just that the other party is ruthless." Zhu Zhu Yijun would not think Zhao Zhao Mengyou was incompetent. To be able to find the culprit in two days for this arson case could already be called a "divine detective," and the kind that couldn't be found even with a lantern.

Zhu Zhu Yijun highly recognized Zhao Zhao Mengyou's ability to handle affairs and could only say that the demons and monsters hiding in the dark were indeed ruthless.

"Thank you, Your Majesty, for your leniency." Zhao Zhao Mengyou was also under great pressure. The fire at the Coal Market was devastating, with many casualties, and the impact was extremely negative. In order to pursue the culprit, all six hundred Embroidered Uniform Guards had been dispatched, searching for clues everywhere and using various methods, finally locking onto the culprit, but the culprit was still killed.

"How does the Commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guards view this matter?" Zhu Zhu Yijun asked.

"Someone must have instigated Zhou Zhou Shichen. Your subject found a large amount of silver ingots in his home, mostly Japanese silver. Zhou Zhou Shichen's death, killed with a single blow, was absolutely the work of a villain." Zhao Zhao Mengyou said very affirmatively. Zhou Zhou Shichen was an ordinary person who had lost his title and was addicted to gambling; it was difficult for him to come into contact with things like Japanese silver. Whoever gave the Japanese silver, once found, would lead to the true culprit.

Being able to be sure it was Japanese silver was because the Northern Town Guard Office had a method for investigating silver routes. This Japanese silver had a lot of sulfur, had a smell, and was yellow and black, which made it easy to narrow down the scope of the investigation.

"Continue the investigation. As long as there is action, there will be clues. Just continue the investigation." Zhu Zhu Yijun said with a smile.

While Zhao Zhao Mengyou continued to exert effort, the case changed again. The Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice, Weng Weng Dali, who was responsible for supervising the case of Zhou Zhou Shichen's murder, reported that Zhou Zhou Shichen's maid, He Hua, and the butcher Lu Jin had been having an affair for a long time and might have conspired to kill Zhou Zhou Shichen for his family property.

Zhu Zhu Yijun kept tapping the memorial in his hand.

When Zhao Zhao Mengyou presented the case, he had already said that Zhou Zhou Shichen was killed very cleanly—someone knocked on the door, Zhou Zhou Shichen opened it, and one knife entered the heart and lungs, killing him immediately. All the characteristics showed that it was absolutely the work of a heinous villain. The butcher Lu Jin did not have that courage, let alone that technique.

There is a big difference between slaughtering a pig and killing a person, and the psychological burden is completely different.

Weng Weng Dali's statement also made sense in terms of logic; conspiring to kill after having an affair was also relatively common, and the maid and the butcher did indeed have an affair.

Zhao Zhao Mengyou completely disagreed with the Ministry of Justice's direction of the investigation and chose to pursue the culprit. Soon, a culprit named Zhu Zhu Guocheng entered Zhao Zhao Mengyou's line of sight. After confirming that this person had fled, he immediately dispatched Embroidered Uniform Guards to pursue him.

Zhu Zhu Guocheng was an alias, nicknamed "Zhu the Boss." He was originally a criminal, a bandit from Shandong, with several murder cases on his hands. The imperial court had been pursuing him for several years. This time, Zhu Zhu Guocheng brought three subordinates into the capital. Zhao Zhao Mengyou first captured one of them, and then followed the vine to catch the melon, capturing Zhu Zhu Guocheng and bringing him to justice.

While Zhao Zhao Mengyou was handling the case quickly, Wang Wang Chonggu, according to his son's suggestion, was constantly hoarding coal and occasionally releasing a little to test the market conditions. On the seventeenth day of the twelfth month of the fourth year of Emperor Wanli, after Wang Wang Chonggu sold 120,000 catties of coal, he immediately realized that the price had reached its peak.

"Father, are you going to close the net now? Are you not going to wait any longer?" Wang Qian asked about the progress, seeing his father's face full of relaxation.

Wang Wang Chonggu hummed a little tune, and hearing his son's inquiry, he said with a smile: "Yes, if we don't close the net now, His Majesty will close the net on us."

"The people's coal has been exhausted, we can't wait any longer. And the coal released today, more than ten thousand catties, was sold to individual customers, proving that some people are already full and can't eat any more. Tomorrow is the day they release coal, and it is also the day the imperial court releases coal."

"Rest assured and hand over the kiln wells to His Majesty. His Majesty handles affairs fairly; can he really be short of his dividends? We are all relatives; why must we make things so awkward?"

Wang Qian shook his head and said: "Actually, this person probably thought this was the Senior Grand Secretary's new policy, so he resisted. He didn't expect it to be His Majesty's intention. He thought he could be like the previous two hundred years, using his status as an imperial relative to escape punishment. If His Majesty gets ruthless, I'm afraid even his maternal grandfather, Wu Xun Li Wei, would be killed."

Wang Qian did not feel he was wrong to deal with Zhang Zhang Siwei; Zhang Zhang Siwei had already threatened the head of the old Wang family.

Wang Qian's ruthlessness was completely learned from His Majesty.

Back then, Wu Xun Li Wei and Zhang Zhang Siwei were doing business, and Zhang Zhang Siwei got hold of some leverage. Li Wei went into the palace to plead for Zhang Zhang Siwei and was shot by His Majesty with an arrow, which flew past his ear.

Empress Dowager Li did not reprimand him, and Zhang Zhang Juzheng did not submit a self-reproach memorial. The Emperor also acted as if nothing had happened and even rewarded Li Wei.

"According to your statement, the Senior Grand Secretary's new policy, isn't that even more terrifying?" Wang Wang Chonggu thought for a while, but still couldn't figure it out. Where did this demon and monster get such great courage to come out and show off in broad daylight, insisting on clashing with the Emperor and the Senior Grand Secretary?

Even if he didn't know the Emperor's true face because of information asymmetry, was Zhang Zhang Juzheng not terrifying?

"Is the Senior Grand Secretary terrifying, or is His Majesty terrifying? This is a question." Wang Qian pondered for a long time; this seemed to be an unsolvable question.

Wang Wang Chonggu seemed to recall some kind of fear, his face turning pale as he said: "No, no, no, it's when you add them together that it's the most terrifying."

Right now, it was Zhang Zhang Juzheng, supported by the Emperor and reinforced by the "Contradiction Theory" and the "Public-Private Theory." Even without these reinforcements, Zhang Zhang Juzheng was already terrifying enough. When his combo punches hit Wang Wang Chonggu, Wang Wang Chonggu really thought he was going to die the next day.

When the Emperor and the Senior Grand Secretary have no rift, doing things obediently is the best choice. Moreover, there are official positions and honors, and crucially, one earns more than before and feels more secure than before.

"I'm going to the Qian'an Bo's mansion. Tomorrow I have to entrust General Qi. His Majesty asked General Qi to bring a foot battalion into the capital to assist in releasing coal and prevent people from causing trouble." Wang Wang Chonggu stopped thinking about it and went to find Qi Qi Jiguang, humming a little tune.

Qi Shuai bringing a foot battalion into the capital was seen by the court officials as having no problem at all. Last time, when the Emperor went from inspecting the troops every five days to inspecting them every day, Li Li Rusong led a foot battalion into the capital as the Emperor's vanguard.

But it scared the court officials silly.

If Qi Qi Jiguang was going to assist Zhang Zhang Juzheng in rebelling, it would certainly be a bloodbath. If Qi Qi Jiguang didn't assist Zhang Zhang Juzheng in rebelling, it would be even harder to handle.

The result was Zhang Zhang Juzheng helping the young Emperor mount his horse, and they joyfully completed the ceremony.

The next morning, the sun was bright. The negative impact of the Coal Market fire had slowly manifested. The price of coal had risen to two hundred wen per catty, and the households of the people in the outer city had begun to run out of fuel. When the morning bell rang, there was finally coal in the Coal Market, but the price was two hundred and ten wen per catty.

But as soon as the city gates opened, one after another, side-box battle wagons without cannons began to enter the city, all filled with coal. Each wagon had a sign hanging on it: "Eight wen per catty." These side-box battle wagons were the reinforcements Wang Wang Chonggu had requested. He was afraid that if he released the coal himself, the brokers and agents would not buy his affordable coal, so he had the Beijing Garrison soldiers sell it on his behalf.

Eight wen per catty, plenty and satisfying.

Zhu Zhu Yijun stood on the Zhao Wenhua Tower, looking around with a telescope, watching the side-box battle wagons enter the city, and also let Wang Wang Yaozhuo watch the fun together.

"Report to the Son of Heaven above, save the common people below." Zhu Zhu Yijun sat on the grand master's chair in the Zhao Wenhua Tower, the morning sun shining on his face, radiant.

The capital began to release coal. The lieutenants of the Wucheng Military Commission did not dare to intercept the Beijing troops from entering the city, and they walked through the streets and alleys, which allowed the coal to enter the people's homes directly.

"Your Majesty, the Commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guards requests an audience." Zhang Hong whispered to a young eunuch and bowed his head to say.

"Proclaim him."

"Your Majesty, the traitor Zhu Zhu Guocheng has confessed. This matter was done by the Imperial Son-in-law Xu Xu Congcheng. Your subject requests Your Majesty's edict to make the arrest." Zhao Zhao Mengyou said straightforwardly.

Zhu Zhu Yijun heard this, and the smile on his face became even more intense. He had heard last night that Zhu Zhu Guocheng had been arrested, and today there was a result. The "Five Poisons" torture of the Northern Town Guard Office was absolutely not something an ordinary person could withstand, and it didn't even require using the Five Poisons torture. Just taking them to the Dissection Academy for a tour was enough for nine out of ten people to confess everything cleanly.

On the eighteenth day of the twelfth month of the fourth year of Emperor Wanli, after more than ten days of investigation, the mastermind behind the case had been identified.

Zhu Zhu Yijun took out an imperial edict from Zhang Hong's hands, which only needed the name to be filled in. He filled in Xu Xu Congcheng's name and said: "Hmm, very good! I am very happy! Go and make the arrest quickly; don't let him commit suicide."

Zhu Zhu Yijun took out another imperial edict that had been prepared long ago. This was an edict for the Ministry of Justice to issue a warrant. Handling the "Yellow Paper Case" with the Embroidered Uniform Guards was a kind of damage to the Commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guards, Zhao Zhao Mengyou.

"I am very law-abiding! I don't handle 'White Paper Cases' or 'Yellow Paper Cases,' I only handle 'Iron Cases.' When I personally killed Chen Yang Youren, I also had a warrant from the Ministry of Justice!" Zhu Zhu Yijun handed the edict to Zhang Hong and asked him to go to the Ministry of Justice to get the warrant.

The procedures were very complete.

At this time, no one in the Xu mansion dared to speak loudly, and even their footsteps were very light, because the head of the family, Xu Xu Congcheng, was smashing things. Xu Xu Congcheng also wanted to release coal today. He didn't have side-box battle wagons, but he had brokers and agents.

However, starting this morning, the government-operated coal at eight wen per catty in the Coal Market had completely saturated and filled the market.

All the merchants who had hoarded coal were going to be unlucky. The coal they had hoarded at high prices was worthless, and there were three thousand foot soldiers in the city, which did not allow for any underhanded means.

"Impossible, absolutely impossible! Where did Wang Wang Chonggu get so much coal! The heavy snow blocked the roads for more than ten days, he releases coal every day, where did he get so much coal!" Xu Xu Congcheng's face turned red, and he roared ferociously. He still didn't believe that the capital had been filled with cheap coal.

This loss exceeded 500,000 silver, wiping out all the family assets he had accumulated over the years.

"Do not sell! Wait! Just wait, I don't believe Wang Wang Chonggu really has so much coal that he can fill the entire capital's needs!" Xu Xu Congcheng forced himself to calm down. He concluded that Wang Wang Chonggu couldn't have enough coal and was just using this method to create an illusion that the capital was not short of coal.

As long as he could hold his breath, even if he couldn't make a huge profit, losing a little money was acceptable.

"Master, the coal in the side-box wagons is not limited at all, anyone can buy it..." The butler reminded Xu Xu Congcheng carefully, saying in a low voice: "Wang Wang Chonggu prepared 300 million catties of coal, enough to use."

"How much?! The Western Hills Coal Bureau has been established for less than a month, where did he get so much coal!" Xu Xu Congcheng widened his eyes suddenly, full of disbelief.

"After the Minister of Justice took charge of the Western Hills Coal Bureau, he transported a lot of coal from Shanxi to the capital. Shanxi has a lot of coal." The butler finally finished saying the news he had heard.

During the process of preparing the Western Hills Coal Bureau, Wang Wang Chonggu had transported a lot of coal from Shanxi to the capital, and combined with the mining of the Western Hills Coal Bureau, he had accumulated so much.

"Ah? Oh." Xu Xu Congcheng frowned, remembering that Wang Wang Chonggu was from Shanxi and was one of the core figures of the Jin Party, and even after the elderly Ge Ge Shouli retired, Wang Wang Chonggu was the leader of the Jin Party. Wang Wang Chonggu had the connections to transport so much coal into the capital.

Xu Xu Congcheng's eyes widened more and more, and suddenly his legs went soft, and he collapsed on the ground.

All his savings were destroyed in one fell swoop.

The doorman ran in hurriedly, saying in extreme terror: "Master, Master! Something terrible has happened! The Commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guards, Zhao Zhao Mengyou, and the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice, Weng Weng Dali, have surrounded the Xu mansion with two hundred Embroidered Uniform Guards and have already reached the front hall!"

Weng Weng Dali was there to deliver the warrant, not to obstruct the investigation.

If one were to talk about imperial relatives seeking exorbitant profits, one could talk for days and nights. The book only selects a few outrageous things; the imperial relatives of the Ming Dynasty were not very reliable. Begging for monthly votes, awoo!!!

(End of chapter)