Looking at the Qing army outside the city who withdrew from the battle, Ma Cheng wiped the white sweat on his head, it was really dangerous just now, and it would be troublesome to let the Qing army rush in a few minutes later.

Now after more than a month of planning by Ma Cheng, the battle of Dinghuaimen was finally a complete success, although the number of Qing troops eliminated was not much, but among the more than 5,000 people, there were 2,000 real prisoners, and the rest were not inferior to the real Han army banner of Liaodong, which was a great achievement.

At the beginning of this night, the cannon of Dinghuai Gate rumbled, and when it was about to dawn, Sanshanmen began to fire cannons again, which made the whole city from the emperor to the ordinary people frightened all night.

Now that the sky is bright, the battle on Ma Cheng's side is over, and he has also received continuous inquiries from the Ministry of War, the Cabinet, and the Imperial Palace, what is the problem?

After Ma Cheng received the emperor's holy decree, he explained the matter of Sanshanmen, and rushed to the palace with his own soldiers, and now that the problem of the Qing army is solved, the next step is to deal with the anti-horse alliance in the city.

Emperor Zhu Lunkui was very depressed today, originally the Qing army had not attacked the city in the past few months, which made Zhu Lunkui relieve his nervousness a little. But unexpectedly, on the night of August 15, the north and south cities rang out at the same time. This can make Zhu Lunkui panic, and at the most critical juncture, Zhu Lunkui even prepared the rope, preparing to hang himself as soon as the Qing army attacked the imperial city.

However, as time passed, the sound of artillery gradually became smaller, and everything was as usual outside the imperial city, and there was no news of the Qing army entering the city. Zhu Lunkui breathed a sigh of relief when he heard the news that everything was fine in the city, and at this time, several elders of the cabinet also rushed to ask what was going on.

When Zhu Lunkui saw Ma Shiying coming, he hurriedly asked: "Ma Aiqing, what happened, why did the north and south cities make such a loud noise?" ”

Ma Shiying shook his head and said, "Your Majesty, the minister doesn't know!" ”

After Ma Shiying finished speaking, he looked at Ruan Dacheng beside him, Ruan Dacheng was in charge of the military department, thinking that he had any news, but Ruan Dacheng rolled his eyes and said: "The minister doesn't know, the Marquis of Guiyang didn't give a letter to the military department!" ”

Just when the monarch and ministers were at a loss, the little eunuch outside the Qianqing Palace said that the Marquis of Guiyang came! Zhu Lunkui heard that Ma Cheng was coming, and hurriedly sent a decree to meet him.

Ma Cheng, who got the order, walked into the main hall of the Qianqing Palace covered in blood and gunpowder. In fact, Ma Cheng did not participate in the battle last night, and has been hiding in the city at Dinghuai Gate, and even more so at Sanshanmen, the Qing army retreated directly without even attacking the city. However, in order to show his martial arts, Ma Cheng deliberately got blood all over his body when he left, and painted his face with ash at the bottom of the pot, as if he was fighting bravely to kill the enemy.

Ma Cheng walked into the main hall, knelt down on his knees and shouted: "Minister Ma Cheng, long live my emperor!" ”

Seeing Ma Cheng coming in, Zhu Lunkui hurriedly said, "Aiqing, please get up!" What the hell is going on in the North Side? Why is there so much artillery? ”

Ma Cheng stood up and said respectfully: "Your Majesty, last night the Qing army outside the city colluded with some nobles who were dissatisfied with Your Majesty in the city, intending to open the Dinghuai Gate to wash the southern capital in blood. This time, the minister was protected by Emperor Taizu Gao, and His Majesty the Emperor was full of holy light, and his soldiers worked together to eliminate a total of 5,000 true captives

！ ”

Zhu Lunkui and several cabinet ministers were taken aback when they heard this, Qian Qianyi knew what kind of virtue Ma Cheng was, and quickly stood up and said: "Ma Cheng, you said that Xungui rebelled, is there any evidence?" ”

Ma Cheng had already prepared the evidence, took out the confessions of Chen Hongfan and Zhu Tong from his arms, as well as the records tracked by the Military Intelligence Department, and handed them over to Zhu Lunkui for review. However, these things were all added by Ma Cheng, and there were only five or six nobles who really participated in the rebellion except for Baoguo Gong and Wei Guogong, but Ma Cheng hinted to Chen Hongfan in order to expand the results of the battle, and expanded the scope of participation, including all the twenty-five nobles in the city, and none of them ran away.

Zhu Lunkui was taken aback when he heard this, why did these nobles oppose him? Zhu Lunkui didn't believe it at first, but when he took the confession and looked at it, he believed it.

Ma Cheng made a very detailed confession, from what Chen Hongfan said when he first contacted Xu Wenjue, to meeting with Zhu Guobi and conspiring, and more than 20 nobles in the city sacrificed blood together to surrender the city, and so on, there were numbers and details, and Zhu Lunkui couldn't help but believe it.

When he saw that Zhu Guobi said in the confession that he was not rewarded in the new emperor's accession to the throne, he was dissatisfied, Zhu Lunkui secretly scolded this Zhu Guobi in his heart. This time, Zhu Lunkui's ascension to the throne is entirely due to Ma Cheng, and at the same time, Ma Cheng is also responsible for the security of the whole city, so Zhu Lunkui naturally wants to reward Ma Cheng's father and son.

At the same time, these nobles have no credit in Zhu Lunkui's ascendancy, so naturally they can't give them official positions, but this doesn't mean that Zhu Lunkui has forgotten them. The nobles of the Ming Dynasty were initiates with the country, and if they were close to the emperor, these nobles were much closer than Ma Cheng. It's just that now Zhu Lunkui has asked Ma Cheng for it, so he neglected Xungui.

If according to the development of things, after Ma Cheng repelled the Qing army, it was time for Zhu Lunkui to reuse this group of nobles. After all, no emperor wants the country's military power to be in the hands of a general, so those nobles have become excellent candidates for Ma Cheng's military power.

But I didn't expect that these nobles were stupid to death, and they couldn't understand the emperor's intentions at all, and they would rebel if they couldn't eat meat, so they couldn't blame Ma Cheng for being cruel to them.

After reading the confession, Zhu Lunkui handed it over to a few elders, and when he came to Qian Qianyi, the old Qian immediately saw the doorway. Ma Cheng went a little too far in order to fight against dissidents, and included all those who disagreed with him.

In this confession, there are Xu Wenjue, Duke of Wei, Zhang Guobi, Duke of Baoguo, Zhang Gongri, Marquis of Longping, Li Zushu, Marquis of Linhuai, Marquis Sun Weicheng of Huaining, Marquis Tang Guozuo of Lingbi, Marquis Liu Zuochang of Anyuan, Marquis Xu Hongjue of Yongchang, Marquis Deng Wenyu of Dingyuan, Chang Yingjun of Xiangcheng Bo, Zhao Zhilong of Xinchengbo, Zou Cunyi of Daxingbo, Liu Yunji of Ning Jinbo, Yiyuan of Nanhe Bo, Jiao Mengxiong of Dongning Bo, Zhang Guocai of Anchengbo, Huang Jiuding of Luozhongbo, Guo Zuoyong of Cheng'anbo, Qi Zanyuan of Fuma, etc., so the confession is false at first glance.

Qian Qianyi, as a cabinet elder and in charge of the work of the Criminal Department, naturally wants to stand up and expose the ugly faces of Ma Shiying and Ma Cheng's father and son party, of course, in Qian Qianyi's heart, this list must have been instructed by Ma Shiying and woven by Ma Chengluo.

"Your Majesty, this list of the Marquis of Guiyang is a bit too much, is it possible that for more than 200 years in our dynasty, there has not been a single lord who has served the country and His Majesty? This list of ministers is suspicious, please Your Majesty order to hand over Chen Hongfan and Zhu Tong to the Three Law Divisions for trial! ”

The three legal divisions are the Criminal Department and the Metropolitan Procuratorate

The collective name of the court and Dali Temple is similar to the joint handling of cases by the Ministry of Public Security, the Discipline Inspection Commission, and the Law Court in later generations, and has always been a necessary procedure for the imperial court to hear major and extraordinarily large cases. This rebellion involved so many nobles, especially the descendants of Xu Da, the first hero of the dynasty, and it was normal to hand it over to the three law divisions for trial.

As soon as Ma Cheng heard that he was willing to work there, three-quarters of the twenty-five nobles were woven by Ma Cheng, just for their family property, if the case was handed over to the Criminal Department and the Metropolitan Procuratorate controlled by the Donglin Party, Ma Cheng estimated that he would be completely busy in the end.

"Your Majesty, the minister thinks that it must not be handed over to the Three Law Divisions for trial! Because according to Chen Hongfan's confession, Qian Qianyi, an assistant minister of the cabinet, and Xie Xuelong, the secretary of the Criminal Department, also participated in the rebellion, so the minister asked for the order to take down these two people as well! ”

Ma Cheng said this completely improvised, when he fabricated the charges last night, Ma Cheng only thought of those noble family properties, and forgot about his political opponent Qian Qianyi, and now he remembered when he saw Qian Qianyi. However, it is not difficult to add Qian Qianyi, as long as you go back and whip Chen Hongfan twice.

Qian Qianyi didn't expect Ma Cheng to be so shameless, there was a temporary addition, Qian Qianyi said angrily: "Ma Cheng, the old man is confident that he is worthy of His Majesty, not that you can frame him!" ”

Zhu Lunkui had a headache when he saw Qian Qianyi and Ma Cheng arguing, and looked at Ma Shiying, who was standing silent, Zhu Lunkui asked: "Ma Aiqing, you are the first assistant, what do you say should be done about this matter?" ”

Ma Cheng was happy when he heard Zhu Lunkui say this, of course he could face himself, and he knew that Ma Shiying stood up and said: "Your Majesty, the minister thinks that although Qian Qianyi is pedantic and not strong, it is absolutely impossible to betray Your Majesty and do such a thing that people and gods are angry about!" So the minister didn't believe what Ma Cheng said! ”

As soon as Ma Shiying's words came out, the eyes of everyone in the hall fell to the ground, Qian Qianyi didn't expect Ma Shiying to say good things for himself, and Ma Cheng didn't expect Ma Shiying to help political enemies. Only Ruan Dacheng immediately understood what Ma Shiying meant after being stunned, so he smiled and said nothing.

Emperor Zhu Lunkui saw Ma Shiying say this, and also nodded and asked, "What Aiqing said is very right, so how should this matter be handled?" Zhu Lunkui also didn't believe that Qian Qianyi could be involved in this rebellion case, after all, the traces of Ma Cheng's deliberate framing were too heavy.

"Your Majesty, there is no doubt that the case of the rebellion of these twenty-five lords is beyond doubt, there are witnesses and physical evidence, and there are 5,000 heads of the northern captives to testify, so the case of the rebellion of these twenty-five nobles has become an iron case! The minister thought that he didn't have to go through the triage of the three law divisions, and he would handle it very well in extraordinary times, and he would be severely punished for these rebels! ”

Ma Shiying is very right, Zhu Guobi and they colluded with the Qing army to sacrifice the city, this is certain, and now the Manchu siege needs the whole city to unite as one, if the emperor hands over this case to the three law divisions, it will inevitably make the soldiers defending the city lose confidence.

At the same time, there is also the most important point, Ma Shiying did not say clearly, these rebellious nobles have made up their minds to oppose you Zhu Lunkui, if you don't clean up these two or five boys ruthlessly at this time, what prestige do you have as the emperor in the future?

Zhu Lunkui also understood what Ma Shiying meant, nodded and said, "Okay, since that's the case, Ma Cheng will take the order!" Ma Cheng has made meritorious contributions to defending the city, I will reward you with the whole mansion of the Duke of Wei, and all the ministers who participated in the rebellion between Zhu Guobi and Xu Wenjue will be punished by the nine clans, the men will be executed, the women will be sold into slavery, and the family property will be confiscated! Chin this! ”