Emperor Zhengde

Chapter 155 Zhu Houzhao Became Suspicious

Zhu Houzhao knew that to carry out reforms meant going against the majority of the gentry in the world, so his own safety could not be compromised at any time, and he naturally had to guard against hidden dangers such as falling into water, poisoning, and explosions.

Therefore, Zhu Houzhao gave an order to Gu Dayong, the governor of the Western Factory, from the very beginning, asking him to continuously expand the number of people in the Western Factory and try to spread it throughout the Ming Dynasty and even the whole world, especially in crowded places such as teahouses and taverns, and even to place spies in the mansions of officials, gentry, and nobles, including princes.

Anyway, Zhu Houzhao is not short of money now, and he has enough funds to expand the Western Factory and maintain its intelligence work.

Now Zhu Houzhao not only asked the Western Factory to be responsible for its own safety, but also for the safety of reformist officials such as Ma Wensheng.

And there is a special group in charge. Once one of himself or the reformist officials is assassinated, the people in this special group of the Western Factory will lose their jobs and be directly expelled from the Western Factory!

Because of this, Zhu Houzhao and the reformist officials have not encountered any danger so far.

Of course, Zhu Houzhao also relied on the Western Factory to learn the secret movements of many officials and gentry.

The main secret agencies of the Ming Dynasty now include the Jinyiwei and the East and West Factories.

As the Empire's demand for military intelligence gradually increased, the Imperial Guard began to gradually withdraw from the Empire's internal intelligence investigation and arrest work, and was only responsible for the collection of military intelligence and the arrest and execution of military personnel;
The East Factory began to replace the Jinyiwei in arresting civil officials, gentry and common people;

The Western Factory was responsible for collecting intelligence within the empire except for military affairs.

For example, not long after returning to Beijing, Zhu Houzhao learned from the Western Factory that some gentry from Jiangnan had secretly gone to Nanchang to meet Prince Ning, which aroused his vigilance.

But Zhu Houzhao did not let the people from the Western Factory become public. After all, the current Prince of Ning was not powerful enough.

Now, because of the incident of craftsmen killing important court officials, Zhu Houzhao had to summon the Western Factory Governor Gu Dayong again to inquire about the latest developments of officials in the Ministry of Works and the Armory Bureau.

At this time, Gu Dayong picked up the booklet he had prepared in advance and replied:

"Minister Zeng Jian of the Ministry of Works suddenly suffered from acute pain in the middle of the night last night. He held his right abdomen and wailed non-stop. He was sweating on his forehead and felt like dying!"

"Minister of the Left of the Ministry of Works..."

……

After listening to Gu Dayong's report on the current situation of officials in the Ministry of Works and the Bureau of Armaments, Zhu Houzhao could not help but fall into deep thought. He thought that on the surface, except for the sudden memorial from the Imperial Censor of Engineering requesting the restoration of the craftsman registration system, it seemed that these officials had no abnormal behavior. Could it be that the officials of the Ministry of Works and the Bureau of Armaments really did not plan this?

At this time, the cabinet chief minister Ma Wensheng came over and said, "Your Majesty! Minister of Works Zeng Jian submitted a memorial, saying that he suddenly suffered from stranguria last night, so he requested to be granted ten days' leave and the left assistant minister to take over his duties."

Zhu Houzhao had already learned from Gu Dayong of the Western Factory that Zeng Jian, the Minister of Works, was ill last night, and he did not suspect anything. But he suddenly remembered that the people from the Western Factory said Zeng Jian was wailing while holding his right abdomen. He read the booklet handed over by Gu Dayong again and again, and after confirming that it was written like this, he became puzzled:
"This stone is kidney stone in later generations. It is very painful. If it is kidney pain, you should touch the back, because the anatomical location of the kidney is in the shallow fossa on both sides of the spine behind the peritoneum, usually at the lower edge of the ribs. The right kidney is at the transverse process of the second lumbar vertebra. If it is a right kidney stone, you should touch the dorsal side. Besides, I have seen others suffer from it."

But Zhu Houzhao did not voice his doubts, and only said: "I know, let's grant him leave first. Since the Minister of Works is sick, summon the Left Vice Minister of Works and Junior Supervisor Chi Zong, and ask them to come to the Cabinet and the Silijian Duty Room immediately to report on the registered craftsmen! Confirm whether the craftsmen pointed out by Shuntian Prefecture as offenders are registered craftsmen." After that, Zhu Houzhao asked Ma Yongcheng, the governor of the East Factory, "Have those offending craftsmen been taken from Shuntian Prefecture to the East Factory?"

"Your Majesty, they have all been taken to the East Depot, but now they have all confessed to their crimes," replied Ma Yongcheng, the governor of the East Depot.

"Continue the interrogation. Examine why they dared to kill important officials of the imperial court and who was the mastermind behind it."

Zhu Houzhao gave orders that he naturally did not trust the people in Shuntian Prefecture, and letting the East Factory be in charge of the case would naturally make him feel more at ease, and it could also be used to dig out the people who were planning this behind the scenes. Zhu Houzhao believed that if there were no bigwigs in the court plotting in secret, a few craftsmen would not have the courage and opportunity to murder three court officials, and directly use firearms!

At this time, Ye Heng, the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Works, and Chi Zong, the Junior Supervisor of the Armory, were ordered to come to the Cabinet and the Silijian Duty Room. After paying their respects to Zhu Houzhao, they handed the craftsmen's book that had not yet been cancelled to Zhu Houzhao and personally pointed out the location: "Your Majesty, you see, these craftsmen suspected of killing court officials are all registered craftsmen and civilians. We dare not forge it!"

In his heart, Zhu Houzhao actually hoped that the Ministry of Works and the Armory Bureau had randomly found a few court officials to plot, and then let Shuntian Prefecture pin the blame on a few craftsmen. However, seeing that the names of several murderers reported by Shuntian Prefecture were indeed on the craftsmen's list, he had to admit that the officials who were against him behind the scenes were indeed clean in their actions.

Zhu Houzhao had no choice but to let the two men leave.

Seeing this, Jiao Fang, the Grand Secretary on duty in the cabinet, had no choice but to say, "Your Majesty, it looks like we can only wait for the results of the trial by the East Factory! As long as those murderous craftsmen are willing to reveal the mastermind behind the scenes, we can directly execute them on the charge of murdering court officials and teach these officials who tried to prevent the court from abolishing the craftsman registration system a lesson!"

Zhu Houzhao nodded and said, "This matter must be resolved as soon as possible. The court must immediately hire skilled craftsmen to forge high-quality weapons after abolishing the craftsman registration system. If we delay like this, the recovery of Hetao will be delayed for several more years! Now it all depends on when the East Factory will come up with the result."

……

At this time, in the imperial prison of Dongchang.

Qiu Ye, the head of the East Factory, walked in and asked Zhang Yan, the head of the duty, "Where is the Supervisor?"

"Reporting to the chief, the governor is still reporting to the emperor and will be back later," Zhang Yan replied.

"Where are the craftsmen who were brought in for crimes being held now?" Qiu Ye asked.

"Reporting to the boss, he is in the Xuan room," Zhang Yan replied.

"Come with me. These craftsmen who committed crimes are related to an important case. We cannot be careless. I have to explain it personally! Of course, this is also what the governor instructed me to do before!"

As Qiu Ye said this, he took Zhang Yan into the narrow corridor of the Xuan room. When he saw that there was no one there, he suddenly took advantage of Zhang Yan's inattention, strangled Zhang Yan with the rope, tied it tightly, and hung him up on the beam. He then placed a stool under Zhang Yan to create the illusion that Zhang Yan had hanged himself.

Then, a muffled groan was heard from the Xuan room, and several craftsmen all died.

Qiu Ye walked out calmly and shouted at the Xuanzihao gate: "Zhang Boss, watch carefully! I will come back to check later, don't be careless!"

(End of this chapter)