Emperor Zhengde of Ming Dynasty

Chapter 96

As night falls, the entire Forbidden City looks solemn and solemn.

And inside and outside the Cao Mansion outside the Forbidden City, several vehicles pulling dung came in and out, which was very lively.

If you are more careful, you will find that the ruts on the ground of the vehicles entering and leaving Cao's house are getting deeper and deeper.

But around Cao's mansion, Jin Yiwei didn't have the guts to monitor everything, only the housekeeper in charge took out a broom from time to time to wipe off the ruts outside as much as possible.

After one night of transportation, all the 1000 taels of silver were transported to Cao Zhengchun's mansion. He immediately asked someone to dig a small ditch in the backyard and buried all the silver taels below.

At this time, it is the branch of the moon.

Cao Zhengchun looked at the busy servant with a sinister smile on his face.

"Housekeeper, ask the chef in the kitchen to cook a meal and add more meat to reward these people."

"Remember, increase the amount."

The butler understood. After all, he had been with Cao Zhengchun for more than 20 years. There was no need to explain clearly what it meant to increase the amount. Besides, he was already familiar with doing this kind of thing.

When all the rest of the work was done, Cao Zhengchun came in front of the servants hypocritically, coughed lightly and said, "You have worked hard tonight, Cao is very grateful, after finishing these tasks, I will give each of you another share." 100 taels of silver, I hope you all pretend you didn’t see anything about what happened tonight.”

"Understood, the villain understands, thank you, master!"

"Okay, you're welcome, have some breakfast and go back to bed!" Cao Zhengchun waved his hand and asked the butler to bring bowls of steaming meals.

A group of servants worked hard all night. They were already tired and hungry. They didn't care about anything at all. They picked up the bowls and chopsticks and started to eat voraciously.

The butler stood aside, watching them eat their meals one by one.

Half an hour later, the butler walked into Cao Zhengchun's room with a rustic expression.

"Master, we have finished processing them all. There are a total of 35 corpses. They were all buried three feet into the ground. No trace was left at the scene."

Hearing this, Cao Zhengchun nodded slightly, looked at the housekeeper seriously and said, "You have been following me for the longest time, and you are the person I trust the most. I know you are loyal and honest, so I will give you a ride today. I'm here." Over there, don't hold grudge against me, I will burn paper money for you from time to time."

The butler's face turned green when he heard this. He never dreamed that his beloved master, whom he had loved all his life, would be like this.

"Cao Zhengchun, you are not"

Before the butler finished speaking, a dagger pierced the butler's throat, making him shut his mouth forever
"Someone, drag him out and throw him into the ditch. Let's say that the housekeeper accidentally fell into the water and died."

After Cao Zhengchun took care of all this, it was just dawn.

He stretched his waist, looked up at the remnant clouds in the sky, and lightly concealed everything that had passed. Now, he was going to go up to the court to meet His Majesty, saying that the No. [-] village in the world refused to be used by Daming. The wealth can rival the country, but he is reluctant to spend the money for the court.

After thinking about everything, Cao Zhengchun looked at the backyard, turned around and walked towards the Forbidden City.

At this time, a young man disguised as a woman came to the gate of No. [-] Village in the World.

She opened the folding fan and fanned it in front of her. She was thinking how to persuade the owner Shen Wanqian?
There is a lot of knowledge in it, if there is a disagreement, there are some out-of-character quacks here, who will throw a knife at any time.

Although she is in charge of the No. [-] village in the world and has real power in her hands, whether these people will listen to her when it comes to key interests is another matter.

Besides, if the No. [-] village in the world is handed over to the imperial court for management, it is equivalent to ordering these heroes of the world to the imperial court. This is not an easy task for them.

Cao Zhengchun hurried to the Hall of Mental Cultivation.

At this time, Zhu Houzhao had just finished his meal and was about to do morning class.A nearby eunuch rushed over to report: "Your Majesty, the governor of the East Factory, Cao Zhengchun, is asking to see you."

Zhu Houzhao paused for a moment, thinking that there must be something urgent, otherwise why would he report so early?
"Tell him to come to the Hall of Mental Cultivation!"

"According to the order!"

The little eunuch trotted all the way to Cao Zhengchun. When Cao Zhengchun saw the little eunuch's figure, he also thought of himself back then and sighed in his heart.

"Your Majesty ordered Governor Cao to speak at the Hall of Mental Cultivation!"

Cao Zhengchun clasped his fists to show his understanding, turned around and walked towards the Yangxin Hall.

Inside the Hall of Mental Cultivation.

Cao Zhengchun looked worried.

"Your Majesty, I have already worn out my lips, but I just can't persuade Shen Wanqian, the owner of the No. [-] village in the world. He not only obstructed your Majesty's reform of the commercial tax rate from the source, but also let out the wind and let the outside businessmen unite to resist. By doing this, I am obviously going against your Majesty!"

"Furthermore, Shen Wanqian believed that he was protected by the best masters in the world, and he had four masters around him to protect his safety. Therefore, he was very insulting to me. He scolded me in person and said that if I dared to touch a hair of their hair, , I will die without a burial place."

"What, they are so arrogant!"

Zhu Houzhao stroked his chin. He remembered what Shangguan Haitang said to him one night. It was indeed difficult for the No. [-] village in the world to surrender. If it was not time-consuming and laborious, it would be difficult for the court to use it.

"Since I can't conquer it, then I will destroy it."

"Cao Zhengchun heard the order and passed on my oral instructions. He immediately sent troops to the No. [-] village in the world and razed it to the ground."

"The minister obeys the order!"

What Cao Zhengchun was waiting for was Zhu Houzhao's words. He knew that Shen Wanqian's wealth was far more than this, and there was more wealth, which could be dedicated to His Majesty at that time. This was a win-win strategy.

Cao Zhengchun bowed out of the Hall of Mental Cultivation and walked towards the Ministry of War.

The world's first villa.

Cao Zhengchun, the governor of the East Factory, looked at the No. [-] Village in the World with a ferocious expression.

"Originally the miscellaneous family didn't want to argue with you, but you actually humiliated Huang Wei, let's see how the miscellaneous family can easily bypass you!"

When he came out of the Ministry of War, he not only brought thousands of men and horses under him, but also borrowed ten new artillery pieces, twenty tiger squat guns, and more than 1000 royal guards from the Ministry of War.

His Majesty's imperial decree must be carried out without compromise.

In Cao Zhengchun's view, if he could not fulfill His Majesty's imperial edict, he would not be a qualified governor. In other words, he would not be qualified to be the court's eagle dog.

The word "hawk dog" is a derogatory term in the mouths of Jianghu people, but in the eyes of Governor Cao Zhengchun, it is indeed His Majesty's highest praise for him.

"Master, do we really want to bombard the No. [-] village in the world?" a Jinyi guard beside Cao Zhengchun asked in a low voice.

Cao Zhengchun turned to look at the imperial guard and said, "Do you want to resist the decree? This is His Majesty's decree. Besides, do you really want them to insult His Majesty's majesty?"

"The miscellaneous family wants to see how good the No. [-] village in the world is? Is the cannon of the miscellaneous family powerful, or their flesh and blood?"

After finishing speaking, Cao Zhengchun turned around and shouted to the surrounding guards: "Come on, set up a cannon!"

When the people inside began to scold Cao Zhengchun for being capricious and dishonest, Cao Zhengchun had already changed his face.

They can only curse Zhengde and the court, and some people even plan to flee from this place as soon as possible.

But Cao Zhengchun had made up his mind to raze this place to the ground, so no one could escape.
(End of this chapter)