"Sir!"

When Gao Hongtu heard the news that Xu Hongji was killed, he was so frightened that he staggered back two steps and almost fell, but fortunately, the housekeeper was beside him at the moment and helped him in time.

"I didn't expect the emperor to be so ruthless and decisive, and my lofty ambitions are also in danger!" Gao Hongtu looked up to the sky and screamed, full of despair.

The emperor killed Xu Hongji's family so ruthlessly and decisively, how could he let him go of Gao Hongtu, it's ridiculous that he and Xu Hongji originally thought that the emperor was old and easy to control, and tried to override the emperor, but they didn't expect that they would cause trouble, and the emperor could go all the way from Beijing to the south and break through the encirclement, how could he be underestimated.

"Master, now that it's over, run away, it's too late if you don't escape." The butler said.

"In the end, the emperor is the emperor in this world." Gao Hongtu sighed helplessly, his expression was desolate, he seemed to be more than ten years old all of a sudden, Zhu Cihong's thunderbolt and ruthlessness made him feel powerless, thinking that although he was the first assistant in the cabinet, he was in a high position, and he was the leader of the Donglin Party, and most of the officials in the court were the only ones who obeyed him, but what could this be, the emperor was murderous together, and he could immediately knock everyone to hell.

The general trend has gone, Gao Hongtu doesn't think that the emperor may let him go, in order to save his life, Gao Hongtu can only simply pack up some soft and start running away with his family.

Gao Hongtu is not the only one with a weak heart, but not everyone is like Gao Hongtu and flees with a family, at least Jiang Yueguang, the head of the household, although he has also had contact with Xu Hongji and accepted the silver given by Xu Hongji, but he still has a fluke mentality and does not run away.

It's not that Jiang Yueguang is not afraid of death, but he is reluctant to hold the high position of the household book, and even more reluctant to hide the gold and silver in the secret room, which is his life's savings, if he really runs away, then there will be nothing.

Zhu Cihong returned to the palace, and Ji Feng and others came to report the battle.

"Your Majesty, the Imperial Forest Army is all controlled by the ministers and Jinyi Guards, and all the generals are all guarded and waiting to be disposed of." Zhang Kuishan was the first to report.

Zhu Cihong nodded and looked at Ji Feng and asked, "Ji Feng, how is the situation in the Wei State Mansion?" ”

"Back to the emperor, Xu Hongji's family was all captured, and no one slipped through the net." Ji Feng replied.

"How are the casualties of Ying Long's army?" Zhu Cihong is most concerned about this, he knows very well in his heart that a family like the Xu family cannot not raise some capable guards to protect the mansion, these people must be selected by thousands of people, and the combat power is not weak, and the Ying Long army attacked the Wei Mansion, and the casualties should not be small. Although Zhu Cihong expected this, when Ji Feng really told the number of casualties of Ying Long's army, he was still scared enough, and at the same time, he was so distressed that he wanted to drip blood.

"Back to the emperor, Ying Long's army suffered 852 casualties, of which 327 were killed and 525 were wounded." Ji Feng gritted his teeth, and his heart was dripping blood.

"So many dead!" Zhang Kuishan and Zhou Cao's eyes also widened in shock.

Ji Feng was helpless, the personal soldiers of the Wei State Mansion were all selected by Xu Hongji, after special training, the combat effectiveness should indeed not be Longjun Although the Dragon Army has also been trained by Zhu Cihong's new training method for nearly a month, the combat effectiveness has increased, but one-on-one words are also half a catty and eight taels, Ying Longjun killed and injured more than 1,200 personal soldiers of the Wei State Mansion, killed 1,000 enemies and lost 800 self-losses, and it is also common sense to have more than 800 casualties.

Zhu Cihong didn't blame Ji Feng, but he regretted it a little in his heart, this is the normal result of short-handed combat, if he wasn't worried that he would startle the snake, so he didn't replace Ying Longjun with an arquebus, otherwise Ying Longjun would not have suffered such heavy casualties, and now it is too late to regret it.

"The order is to pay three hundred taels of silver to each of the soldiers of the Ying Long Army who died in battle, one hundred taels of silver for the seriously wounded, fifty taels for the lightly wounded, and twenty taels for the rest." This is already ten times that of ordinary Ming soldiers, and it is really in their hands.

"The ministers and other generations of all the soldiers of the Ying Long Army thank the emperor Longen." Ji Feng and the others knelt down to thank him.

After reporting this, Zhang Kuishan suddenly realized something.

"Your Majesty, although Xu Hongji and others have been wiped out, Gao Hongtu and others have not yet been arrested, please ask the emperor to issue an order immediately, so as not to be escaped by them."

Zhu Cihong waved his hand and said with a smile: "It's okay, before I entered the palace, I had already ordered the Beijing camp to block the four gates, and none of them could escape." ”

Having said that, Zhu Cihong immediately ordered Zhang Kuishan to take the Jinyi guard to arrest the Donglin Party and others. At this time, Zhu Cihong was not afraid of making a big deal out of it, no matter whether there was evidence or not, as long as the Donglin Party members were all arrested and imprisoned on suspicion of rebellion, he would have to uproot them if he wanted to, and would not give the Donglin Party any possibility of revival.

It is said that Gao Hongtu fled to the city gate of Nanjing with a family in a panic, and saw that the city gate had been blocked, and no one was allowed to enter or exit, and his heart was suddenly like ashes, and he was unwilling, Gao Hongtu ordered the slave to turn his horse's head and rush to another city gate, but before he could reach the halfway way, he was robbed by the Jinyi guard, and the family was all thrown into prison.

The same scene also appeared on Jiang Yueguang's mansion.

Jiang Yueguang was restless at home, fantasizing that things should not involve him, and the things he received from Xu Hongji to help Xu Hongji talk were all done secretly, no one knew, and it should be fine.

"Master, no, Jinyiwei has broken in!" A servant came running in a panic to report it.

"What!" Jiang Yueguang was so frightened that his legs were weak and he sat down on the chair, at this time, more than a dozen Jinyi guards broke in, and the leader was Peng Cheng, the deputy commander of the Jinyi Guard, Peng Cheng sneered at Jiang Yueguang and announced: "The emperor has a decree, and Jiang Yueguang, the head of the household department, colluded with Xu Hongji, the Duke of Wei, to conspire and rebel, and the crime is unforgivable." ”

"Take it!" Several brocade guards rushed towards Jiang Yueguang and instantly held Jiang Yueguang down.

"I am wronged, I am the head of the household, and I am an important minister of the court, how dare you little brocade guards take me!" Jiang Yue shouted.

"Hehe, important ministers of the court? If you commit something, you are a dog in the eyes of Jin Yiwei, you can keep these words and say them in the prison, and escort them away! Peng Cheng sneered.

Within one day, more than 200 Donglin Party officials, regardless of whether they were in the court or not, were all imprisoned in the prison of the Criminal Department, and the Shangshu of the Criminal Department looked at the large group of officials who were escorted in front of him, and broke out in a cold sweat, the emperor was too crazy, and after arresting so many officials, he was not afraid that no one in the court would do anything and stop running.

Zhu Cihong doesn't care about these, in his eyes, the Donglin Party is originally a group of moths, it can't do anything big, and it's a waste of food to keep it, of course, Zhu Cihong doesn't want to kill all the people in the Donglin Party, at least there are actually some of them that are really clear, or really have some ability, after screening, this part of the people, Zhu Cihong will consider reactivating.

The next morning, Zhu Cihong looked at the half-empty court, and the corners of his mouth hooked up a smile.

Although it was a smile, but Ma Shiying, Zhang Zongyi and others were cold, although the Donglin Party was their opponent, and now it was wiped out by the emperor, and the court would be their biggest in the future, but after such a thing, they realized that the emperor was too strong, and it was impossible to be controlled, even if there was only one party left in the court, the emperor was likely to directly appoint him as the first assistant to take over Gao Hongtu's position, but if you want to be safe in the future, I am afraid that you will have to obey the emperor's orders, and dare to disobey the slightest disobedience, I'm afraid that today's lofty ambition is what he will do in the future.

...