Chapter 6: Intimidation

  Beijing, since the capital was moved to Beijing in Yongle's time, for more than 200 years, it has been the capital of the Ming Empire, with a mighty and majestic reputation. In the past, Zheng He sailed to the Western Ocean, and all countries came to pay homage, what a shocking scene it was.

  The city wall is still majestic, but the military and civilians have long lost their former momentum. The enemy building has obvious signs of neglect, and the guards inside and outside the city gate are mostly old and weak, with yellow faces and thin skin.

  Gu Zhenhua and his entourage finally arrived in the capital city. Standing on horseback, they saw a desolate scene before them, their brows furrowing involuntarily.

  "Fourth brother, it turns out that the imperial guards in the capital still had some prestige, but two years ago a plague broke out and most of the young and strong men died, leaving only this kind of moral character!" Sun Cheng sighed.

  Linked together, waiting for an opportunity to escape. If the news leaks out, there will be no good outcome. In order to keep it a secret, Gu Zhenhua, Lu Yong, Sun Cheng, and Xue Biao made a vow on the road, becoming sworn brothers of different surnames. Sun Cheng was the oldest, Lu Yong was second, and Gu Zhenhua was the youngest. From then on, the relationship between them became even closer and more trusting.

  "Everyone hurry up, the city gate is going to be closed!" Lu Yong shouted loudly.

  "Lu Yong, it's only noon, why are you closing the city gate?" He Zhonghou asked with a puzzled expression, sticking his head out of the carriage.

  "Sixth Uncle, need you ask? The city is terrified."

  "Second Brother, let's not waste any more time, hurry up and enter the city."

  When they arrived at the city gate, Lu Yong showed the waist card of Cheng Guo Gong and entered the city smoothly. As soon as they came in, the city gate was closed.

  Everyone's mood was a bit nervous, Gu Zhenhua pulled Lu Yong and said in a low voice: "Second brother, when you go to report back, if Zhu Chun asks about the situation outside, just push it onto me."

  "Hmm, Fourth Brother, you should also be careful, Zhu Chunshen is not someone to be trifled with."

  "Don't worry." Gu Zhenhua said with a solemn oath, he was familiar with the history of the late Ming dynasty, this was completely an asymmetrical war, don't look at Zhu Chunchen being a noble duke, he would also have to drink foot-washing water.

  Walking through the streets, there were few pedestrians along the way, but there were many beggars on the side of the road, barely breathing. Soon, they arrived in front of a magnificent building, with an astonishing scale that occupied almost half of the block. After entering, it was even more impressive, with intricate carvings and glittering gold, leaving Gu Zhenhua in admiration.

  For over two hundred years, the aristocratic family was not ordinary, but unfortunately, such a mansion would soon fall into the hands of a group of savages, which is really a great shame.

  Just as Gu Zhenhua was thinking, He Zhonghou and Lu Yong went to see Zhu Chunchen one after another. As soon as they turned around the main hall, a big meatball came face to face with them. It was none other than Zhu Han, the housekeeper. This guy was less than 1.6 meters tall, but at least 1.2 meters wide, just like a ball that had come to life, and he kept panting as he walked.

  "Lao He, you've finally come back, these past few days have scared me to death."

  He Zhonghou also smiled and said: "Housekeeper, I have narrowly escaped death nine times, but fortunately I did not bring shame to my ancestors. I'm back now. Is the Duke available?"

  "There is." Zhu Han said with a difficult expression: "Old He, these two days the Prince of the State's mood has been extremely bad. The Emperor sends people every day to let us give out silver so that Wu Sangui from Shanhai Pass can come to Beijing to quell the rebellion, but where is the silver?"

  "Yes, even the emperor doesn't know who to pity."

  After saying a couple of words, He Zhonghou and Lu Yong went to see Zhu Chunchen directly. Just after walking out for a few steps, Lu Yong sneered: "He wants money but not his life, I don't know if he's really stupid or pretending to be stupid."

  "Shut up." He Zhonghou said in a low voice, and Lu Yong could only shut his mouth. The two of them arrived at the main hall. In the middle of the room, on a taishi chair, sat a middle-aged man with three strands of whiskers, looking very elegant. However, this guy had thin lips and an eagle nose, making him look sharp and cruel.

  This was indeed Cheng Guo Gong Zhu Chunshen, who was actually over sixty years old. He looked young only because he took good care of himself, but at this time, his face was also full of worry and his eyes were bloodshot.

  "We wish you safety and a speedy return, sir. We will report back to you upon our safe return." He Zhonghou and Lu Yong hastily paid their respects to Zhu Chunchen.

  Zhu Chunchen lazily waved his hand: "Forget it, how's the situation in Shanxi?"

  "In response to Master Lao's words, the seven-brush land property, a total of 34.2 million mu, has already been transferred to the Fan family; they will use one million mu from the southeast as compensation."

  Zhu Chun heard this and also shook his head with a bitter smile: "To think that as a noble duke, he would actually be exploited by these merchants, it's truly pitiful and infuriating!"

  "Never mind, let's just get out of here and we'll be safe. What's the situation in Shanxi? Have you heard any news on the road? Where have the bandits raided now?"

  "Report to the master, the bandits have broken through Ningwu Pass, Zhou Yuji's whole family has died for the country. It is said that the bandits are reorganizing their army, next step... Next step they may attack the capital."

  Zhu Chun Chen suddenly stood up and walked back and forth on the ground in two circles, his footsteps floating, looking very anxious.

  "Have you seen the bandit army? What's their situation like?"

  Lu Yong hastily said, "Sir, we haven't met before, but on the way, we encountered a young man named Gu Zhenhua. His family's home was burned down by bandits. I thought he might know something about the bandits, so I brought him back."

  "Alright, bring him in, I'll interrogate him thoroughly."

  Before long, a footstep sounded, and the family brought Gu Zhenhua over. As soon as he entered the door, Gu Zhenhua hurriedly prostrated himself on the ground, partly to show his fear and partly because he was really not used to kowtowing to others, so he just lay on the ground to make up for it.

  "Your Excellency, I, Gu Zhenhua, pay my respects to you!"

  "Uh-huh, lift your head up."

  Zhu Chun looked at Gu Zhenhua and saw that this young man in his early twenties had a handsome face, with an air of arrogance between his eyebrows, not like ordinary people, but his hair was very short, somewhat strange.

  "Young man, have you ever been a monk?"

  "No, when the bandits set fire, my hair was burned and then rolled into a puddle. The fire went out, but my hair was gone."

  "Hmm." Zhu Chun nodded: "Young man, tell me, how do bandits behave? Do they plunder and loot local officials and merchants?"

  Gu Zhenhua heard this and suddenly had a flash of insight. According to normal reasoning, the Duke should have asked about the war situation and whether Li Zicheng could be defeated, but instead he asked this question, which was out of the ordinary. It seemed that the Duke had thoughts of surrendering!

  Don't even think about surrendering! Even if Li Zicheng spares your life, I won't let you off.

  "I report to the Duke, the bandits are prone to plundering, especially officials and wealthy households, they never let them go. I heard that after our county's big landlord was captured, Li Zicheng had his wife and daughter tied up on a bamboo pole."

  "What is the burglar going to do?"

  "Of course, they forced him to hand over his silver. Hiding even a little would mean cutting one's own family members, and as a result, the wealthy man's wife and daughter were chopped into pieces right in front of him, and then fed to the dogs by the bandits."

  Ugh! The family members who were standing by couldn't help but retch upon hearing this, and although Zhu Chun was still calm on the surface, his eyebrows had already furrowed.

  "Is what you're saying true?"

  "It's a fact that Li Zicheng has been going around saying that he will redistribute land and exempt people from paying taxes, but soldiers still need to eat and spend money, all of which will have to be taken from the officials and wealthy households. I've also heard that Li Zicheng has already drawn up a list, and once they enter Beijing, they'll go after the silver, forcing people to hand over their wealth. As the capital is the most prosperous city in the country, they'll surely be able to squeeze out at least 100 million taels of white silver!"

  "What?" Zhu Chunchen suddenly couldn't sit still, the Ming dynasty had a total of one billion taels of silver! Even if they turned the capital upside down, it's unlikely they could scrape that much together!

  "Young people, don't believe in empty words?"

  "I humbly report to His Excellency the Duke, I dare not deceive, this is what I heard from a fallen scholar, he recently defected to the Roaming King."

  "Is this a scholar who has fallen to the ground? How much learning can he have? Is it possible that bandits are so foolish as to use such a person to govern the country?"

  Chuang Wang said, all those who have been officials are greedy to the extreme, exploiting the people's wealth and blood, so they should all be killed. However, we cannot do without scholars, so we can only find some who have not yet taken office, regardless of whether they are juren or shengyuan, as long as they can read and write.

  As soon as these words came out, Zhu Chunshen was immediately speechless. He knew that Li Zicheng's two major strategists, Song Xianzhi and Niu Jinxing, were not scholars. According to Li Zicheng's habit of using people, it might be true. A mountain boy is not something that can be fabricated, and he no longer had any doubts about Gu Zhenhua's words.

  If Li Zicheng hated the powerful officials so much, once he broke into the capital, it was feared that everything would be destroyed. Thinking of this, Zhu Chunshen couldn't help but shudder.

  An official is still like this, he is a national duke of cumulative wealth and nobility, what will happen in the future, it's not hard to imagine. Although it was March weather, but in an instant, Zhu Chun seemed to have returned to the coldest days of winter.

  He glared at Gu Zhenhua with a fierce gaze: "You little brat, do you know that recognizing a bandit is punishable by death? However, since you're a first-time offender, just be honest and stay in the mansion, don't speak out of turn again, or I'll chop off your head."

  "I don't dare." Gu Zhenhua said with a pretended frightened tone.

  Zhu Chun looked at Lu Yong and then said: "Take him to the backyard and keep an eye on him."

  Lu Yong nodded and hastily led Gu Zhenhua out of the main hall. Only when they reached the back did Lu Yong let out a sigh of relief. Laughing, he said: "Fourth Brother, your words really scared the Duke, I saw his sleeves shaking and his face turned iron-green."

  Gu Zhenhua also smiled slightly: "Second brother, I guess the next step is that this Duke will continue to transfer his assets. I guess the amount won't be small, and relying on just us few definitely won't work. It's best to find some more helpers, at worst we'll just have to divide up the benefits a bit more."

  "Don't worry, brother will go contact other family guards now. At this time, everyone is thinking of self-protection, there must be someone willing to work with us."

  Gu Zhenhua was arranged to wait in the courtyard of the residence, and he waited for more than two hours. He Xiong came from the front with hurried footsteps and arrived at the back.

  "Sixth Uncle, what's wrong with you?" Gu Zhenhua hastily supported him.

  "We're all tired, let's go inside and talk."

  Two people entered the house, sat down, and He Zhonghou smiled and said: "Zhenhua, you're really formidable. After you left, Guogong Ye was so scared that he gathered all his staff and accountants to discuss a solution together."

  "Haha, Sixth Uncle, I've said it before, 'those who hoard too much will surely perish'. The Chengguo Duke's family business of over 200 years, isn't he afraid?"

  He Zhonghou smiled and said, "The Duke of Guo had me and a few other accountants calculate the accounts together. We organized all the gold, silver, jewels, antiques, calligraphy and paintings in the mansion. It seems like he wants to transfer them out."

  He Zhonghou took a look at the entrance and then stretched out two fingers: "I'm afraid it's this number!"

  Two million taels! Gu Zhenhua also gritted his teeth secretly. When Li Zicheng attacked Beijing, Chongzhen ordered Wu Sangui to raise a great army to rescue the emperor, but it required one million taels of silver for military expenses. However, the imperial treasury was empty. Asking these nobles for money resulted in each of them crying poverty. Now it seems that just one Duke would be enough to come up with the funds.

  These parasites of the state, if they don't rob them, it's simply unacceptable to heaven and earth!