Chapter 1560: Trapping the House of the Divine Beast

Jin Yiwei and Dongchang turned the capital into a pot of porridge, and Shen Long waited in the palace for the return. Various news kept coming, and a smile gradually appeared on Shen Long's face, but those people were not willing to wait for death. He found a way to alleviate his predicament, and someone even found Queen Zhou, and Queen Zhou also came to persuade Shen Long, "Your Majesty, please redeem your ministers and concubines. Are you treating ministers harshly by doing this? And... Moreover, it may not be a blessing for the country to value eunuchs so much!"

"Hehe, Zitong, I also want to treat them well, but you can see how they treat me; when I went out to fight, they tried every means to cut off my food, and when I came back, they tried to poison me again. How can I treat such ministers kindly?" Shen Long sneered, but he had no objection to Empress Zhou, he knew that Empress Zhou was not trying to fight against him, but because she had limited knowledge and didn't know what these ministers had done.

In the Ming Dynasty, in order to prevent their relatives from becoming bigger, they only selected queens from poor families. This could prevent the problem of foreign relatives like Yang Jian from usurping power, but there was no way to have a queen who knew the general situation and could share the emperor's worries like Empress Changsun. Most women from poor families have limited knowledge and cannot see deeper things.

Empress Zhou didn't know this yet, and she was quite speechless after reading the reports from Jinyiwei and Dongchang. Shen Long took her hand and said, "If I hadn't been extra careful, I'm afraid I won't be able to come back after going out this time. I saw Zi Tong."

Why did the emperor call the queen Zitong? There are several theories here. There is a saying that Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty dreamed of a catalpa tree, and later favored Wei Zifu. Later, Wei Zifu became the queen, so later generations called the queen Zitong.

There is also a saying that in the eyes of the ancients, catalpa was the noble king among trees, and at the same time, it had the good intention of taking homonyms, and it meant having sons; in ancient times, people believed that the queen should bear the responsibility of spreading branches and leaves, and the heirs The most important thing in the feudal dynasty, especially in the royal family, heirs are particularly important. Therefore, in order to cater to this psychology of thriving offspring, the queen was called Zitong.

"Zitong, I also want to be lenient to them, but if I am really lenient to them, the people of the world will suffer; for the sake of the people of the world, and my Ming Dynasty, I have no choice but to let them suffer; Just like a rich family, you have to take good care of your own officials and owners, so that they don't dare to cause trouble, and the servants and tenants in the family can live a little better." Shen Long knew that Queen Zhou might not understand the truth, but In this way, she can understand somewhat.

"The concubine understands, it is the concubine who is taking the liberty!" Queen Zhou looked at the brochures reported by Jinyiwei and Dongchang. There were so many family properties copied from the houses of corrupt officials that she couldn't help remembering that she was still in Suzhou. I heard about the deeds of those corrupt officials when I was young, so I naturally didn't like these officials.

"If I am too lenient, it is inevitable that there will be incidents of evil slaves deceiving the master. In fact, there are many doubts about the death of the emperor's brother. I have been quietly investigating after I ascended the throne. Now there are some clues, but you should not discuss this matter with the emperor. Sister-in-law said that sooner or later, I will give an explanation to the emperor's sister-in-law." Shen Long continued, the foreshadowing he had planted before had already worked, and he planned to take this opportunity to settle the issue of Emperor Tianqi's death. It should be buckled to Wenchen.

Empress Zhou was chosen by the surrogate mother of Zhang Yan, Empress of Tianqi, to become Concubine Xin. She has always had a good relationship with Empress Dowager Zhang. When she heard about this, she immediately forgot about other things and immediately became concerned about it.

"It won't take long to find out, Zi Tong, don't worry." Shen Long did not reveal the news for the time being. This chain of evidence has to wait for Jin Yiwei and Dongchang to fill in, but it is not difficult. During Wei Zhongxian's power, in fact Some civil servants have tried to bring down Wei Zhongxian by killing Tianqi, and since they are prepared, they will not leave clues.

"Then the concubine will not bother His Majesty." Queen Zhou got up and was about to leave.

"correct,

Zi Tong. "Shen Long thought for a while and added, "If the head of the country and the uncle of the country enter the palace, Zi Tong can tell them that they can come to me if they want money, and I will help them find a way, but don't take it. money. "

Zhou Kui, the father of Empress Zhou, Jiading Bo, was a superb man. When Li Zicheng was besieging the city, Zhu Youjian ordered all the relatives of the emperor and the princes, ministers, civil and military officials of the Manchu Dynasty to donate silver as military expenses. The queen sold the gold and silver jewelry and collected five thousand taels for him, and asked him to hand it over to Zhu Youjian.

This guy even deducted 2,000 taels before reluctantly handing over the remaining 3,000 taels of silver to the treasury. After Li Zicheng took the capital, Zhou Kui continued to think about nothing, but Li Zicheng was not so easy to talk about. After his wife and daughter-in-law were forced to hang themselves , the eldest son was beaten to death, and when he, his second son, and nephew were tortured and almost died, they had to hand over a huge sum of three million silver and all their property.

But then again, Zhou Kui's refusal to pay was not completely unwise, because he knew the morals of Ming officials very well, so what if he could take out 50,000 or 100,000 taels? When it is handed over to the household department, it is handed over first, and the household department sends another sum to the officers. The officers withhold some and send it to their subordinates, and the subordinates continue to withhold it. When it is distributed to ordinary soldiers, it is estimated that they cannot even afford a steamed bun.

It's useless to hand over the money anyway, it's better to keep it for yourself, maybe you can keep your family's wealth, he just didn't expect Li Zicheng to be so ruthless!

"The concubine...the concubine knows." Thinking of Zhou Kui's character, Empress Zhou's face turned pale, she hurriedly left and summoned Zhou Kui to give instructions.

At this time, in a certain mansion in the capital, Jin Yiwei and Dongchang also met an official who was not willing to give up until the Yellow River. If I copied the money from the official, I'm afraid I found the wrong person."

"Hehe, Mr. Lu works in the arsenal of the Ministry of War, which is one of the most fat government offices in the world. Even if you say that you are an honest official, no one will believe you!" The eunuch of the East Factory who led the team sneered. The deployment, together with the Wenxuan Department of the Ministry of Officials, the Department of Examinations of the Ministry of Officials, and the Department of Military Selection of the Ministry of Military Affairs, is called the world's four fat poors. How can there be honest officials in this place.

"If Master Lu recruits honestly, we will save us trouble, and we can make Master Lu's life easier before he dies, but if you are stubborn, don't blame me for being ruthless."

Lord Lu continued to remain silent, and the eunuch of the East Factory shook his head, "It seems that we don't shed tears until we see the coffin, come here, please give us the magical beast that raided our house."