Jinyiwei and Dongchang were the two major spy organizations in the Ming Dynasty, and its Middle East Factory was the most notorious.

Zhu Di illegally overthrew the regime of Emperor Jianwen by force in the Battle of Jingyan, ascended the throne in Nanjing, changed the Yuan Yongle, and was the Emperor Yongle of the Ming Dynasty. However, at that time, there were many objections to the legitimacy of the Yongle regime. On the one hand, rumors that Emperor Jianwen was not dead appeared from time to time, on the other hand, many ministers in the court were not very supportive of the new regime, and Zhu Di also distrusted the ministers of the court.

At this time, Zhu Di felt that the Jinyi Guard located outside the palace was not very convenient to use, so he decided to establish a new institution. In the process of Zhu Di's army, some eunuchs have made great efforts, so in his mind, he still thinks that eunuchs are more reliable, and they are in the palace, and it is more convenient to connect. So Zhu Di went against Taizu's ban that eunuchs were not allowed to interfere in political affairs and reused eunuchs.

In December of the eighteenth year of Yongle, in order to suppress the political opposition, Zhu Di, the ancestor of the Ming Dynasty, decided to set up a new official office called "Dongzhi Factory", referred to as "Dongchang", and ordered the favored eunuch to serve as the leader.

Dongchang has been accompanied by huge profits and bloodshed since its establishment, and the entire Ming Dynasty has ruled Dongchang for more than 200 years, committing many atrocities. After Hongguang ascended the throne, the government was controlled by literati and doctors, and these intellectuals would never allow this kind of violent organ to appear in the court again, so the emperor headed by the Donglin Party closed the Dongchang.

Zuo Maodi, as a national official, naturally knows the attitude of the imperial court towards Dongchang, but now there is a guy with the Dongchang inspection waist card to see him, and this guy is still famous for being greedy for life and afraid of death, how can this make Zuo Maodi let down his guard?

Ai Daxuan also knew that Zuo Maodi couldn't trust himself yet, after all, Ma Shiying was not a clean person, but now he had gained Zuo Maodi's initial trust, so Ai Daxuan approached Zuo Maodi, leaned on Zuo Maodi's ear and whispered: "My lord, you can not believe in the last general now, but please cooperate with the last general, if the adult is still loyal to Daming!" ”

Zuo Maodi still can't figure out whether this Ai election is friend or foe, although he has Ma Shiying's letter in his hand and the handwriting is correct, but it is difficult to guarantee that this is not a Manchu strategy.

Zuo Maodi thought for a moment, anyway, he would never be cleared, no matter what Dolgon wanted to do to himself, it was the safest countermeasure to respond to all changes without change.

Thinking of this, Zuo Maodi nodded, and Ai Daxuan saw that Zuo Maodi accepted his meaning, so he smiled and sat back again.

Next, Ai Daxuan began to persuade Zuo Maodi again, and the words were still those words from before, which was nothing more than the great victory of the Qing Dynasty's Heavenly Army, Zuo Maodi, don't be ignorant of current affairs, etc. Unlike in the past, Zuo Maodi did not speak out against it today, and every time Ai came to the election, he was scolded by Zuo Maodi, but this time because of what happened just now, Zuo Maodi did not scold Ai in the election.

The guards who monitored Zuo Maodi immediately reported today's incident to Dolgon, and Dolgon was very happy after hearing it, it seems that these Han literati all know the current affairs very well, Hong Chengchou was like this back then, Feng Quan was like this, and Zuo Maodi was like this, no matter how loud the slogan was shouted at that time, as long as the situation changed, these literati would definitely make an appropriate choice.

Dolgon was so anxious to recruit Zuo Maodi was also helpless, because the Manchu Qing Dynasty had implemented a period of head shaving order when they first entered the customs, so now the entire Shandong and Hebei areas are in chaos, and there are hundreds of righteous troops in Shandong, and the Manchu Qing is now all energy to deal with Li Zicheng, so the rebellion in Shandong and other places can only be laissez-faire, but it will not work in the long run.

At present, because of the failure of the peace talks with the Southern Ming Dynasty, the entire northern Cao Yun has been cut off, and it is okay to talk about other places, but the problem of feeding the millions of people here in Beijing is the main headache of the Manchu Qing Dynasty at present.

The grain-producing areas around Beijing originally included Shanxi, Shandong, Henan and other places, but Shanxi is currently the main battlefield of the battle against Li Zicheng, and at the same time, Shanxi's land is barren, and the grain output is not high. Henan is similar here, although the Zhongzhou Plain in Henan has always been a place of grain production, but now Henan is not being destroyed by the Liukou, and Henan is not currently controlled by the Manchu Qing Dynasty, so it is not possible to transfer grain from Henan.

In this way, only Shandong is left, although Shandong also has a rogue to make trouble, but the entire northern part of Shandong is still stable, of which Jinan, Qingzhou and other places are in the hands of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, plus the Daimyo of Beizhili, Guangping, Shunde and other places, will be enough for Beijing's daily consumption.

So at present, how to stabilize Shandong has become the most important problem to be solved by Dolgon, Zuo Maodi was born in Shandong, and the Zuo family is a famous family in Shandong, if Zuo Maodi can surrender Dolgon, then it will be much easier for the Manchus to recover the entire territory of Shandong.

Therefore, Dolgon was very happy to hear that Zuo Maodi's attitude had softened, and ordered people to send gold and silver as rewards to Ai General Election, and at the same time ordered Ai General Election to make persistent efforts to persuade Zuo Maodi as soon as possible.

With Dolgon's trust, Ai was much freer in the election, and now he could freely enter and leave the hospital without surveillance, which was also related to the secret stake set up by Ma Cheng in Beijing.

After learning that Zuo Maodi's family had already set off from Nanjing a month ago and would be in Beijing in half a month, Ai Daxuan knew that his mission had accelerated. Originally, Ma Cheng's order to him was to persuade Zuo Maodi to surrender before the end of February, but now because of the changing situation, Ma Cheng's new order is to persuade Zuo Maodi as quickly as possible.

Because Ma Cheng used to think that the Qing army could only arrive in Nanjing in May, but that knew that the historical record was completely wrong, the Qing army had already occupied Xi'an on the twelfth day of the first month, and if there was no accident, Duoduo would go out of Tong and go east in February, so that there were only two months left for Ma Cheng to prepare. Keyuan

That's why Ma Cheng hoped that Zuo Maodi could surrender as soon as possible, so that he could slander and clean up Duoduo and Azig in front of Dolgon, two outstanding generals who made Ma Cheng very afraid.

Ai Daxuan, who received Ma Cheng's secret order, did not dare to delay, and immediately returned to the Tai Hospital, at this time, because of Zuo Maodi's change of attitude, Dolgon halved the soldiers guarding Zuo Maodi, and at the same time, in order to release goodwill, he also stipulated that Zuo Maodi could relax in the Tai Hospital for a short time.

After being imprisoned for a few months, he was finally able to come out and let loose, Ai Daxuan followed Zuo Maodi to wander around the Tai Hospital, and a few Qing soldiers followed from afar.

Seeing that the Qing army's surveillance was lax, Ai Daxuan hurriedly whispered: "My lord, the last general has just received news from the south, and your family's family will arrive in Beijing soon!" ”

Zuo Maodi's heart moved when he heard Ai Daxuan say this, and he had also privately considered it in the past few days, and now that he had become Dolgon's prisoner, Dolgon didn't need to test himself at all. But this Ai election is a secret agent of the imperial court, which is really unacceptable to Zuo Maodi. So today, Zuo Maodi is ready to take this opportunity to ask clearly.

"General Ai Shen, now it's just you and me here, you can explain the matter in detail!"

Ai Daxuan looked at the guards in the distance, and laughed in a low voice: "My lord, the last general is indeed a secret agent of the East Factory, but the imperial court has already abolished the East Factory, so the last general is now under the assistant management of Ma Junmen, the commander of the school field!" ”

Ma Junmen? Zuo Maodi served as the governor of Yingtian, and he was considered half a military official, and he still knew some about the senior generals in Nanjing. There are only two people in the entire city of Nanjing who can be called admirals, one is Liu Zhaoji, the commander of the large school, and the other is Zhao Zhilong, the commander of the small school in the city.

"General Ai Shen, who is this Ma Junmen? Why hasn't this official heard of it? ”

"My lord, Ma Junmen is the original Shenji Battalion Chief Soldier Ma Cheng, because Liu Junmen was transferred to Yangzhou to guard, so His Majesty the Emperor personally ordered Ma Cheng to take over the post of Admiral!" Ai Daxuan was also very angry in his heart, he had been a general in Nanjing for more than ten years, but he didn't expect that Ma Cheng would become a general soldier as soon as he arrived in Nanjing, and the general soldier was directly promoted to three levels and became a commander after a few months.

However, Ai Daxuan can only complain a few words in his heart, the admiral of Nanjing has always been a minister, and Ma Cheng's sister is the favorite concubine of Emperor Hongguang, so it is reasonable for Ma Cheng to hold an important position at a young age.

mentioned Ma Cheng Zuo Maodi remembered the young man on the dock at the time, wasn't that Ma Shiying's son? No wonder I was able to get Ma Shiying's handwritten letter.

Zuo Maodi was a little unhappy when he thought of this, and asked in a deep voice: "As a third-grade squire, does this official have to obey the orders of a little admiral?" ”

The admiral is from the first grade, which is not small, but the official system of the Ming Dynasty is very strange, because the civilian officials suppressed the military generals, and the second-grade general soldiers saw that the five-grade Zhizhou kneeling and kowtowing was not new, so the third-grade civil officials of Zuo Maodi really did not look down on Ma Cheng's admiral from the first grade.

Ai Daxuan doesn't look down on Ma Cheng, but there is no way, Ai Daxuan's whole family is in Ma Cheng's hands, and Lu Siye has already passed the word before Ai Daxuan leaves, if Ai Daxuan does not follow Nanjing's instructions, then his three sons and two daughters will go to Jinyiwei to pass the hall. Thinking of the cruel torture tools in Jinyiwei's prison, Ai Daxuan could only work hard for Ma Cheng.

"My lord, there has been a message from Ma Junmen, do you want to go down in history or leave a stench for thousands of years?"

Zuo Maodi was angry when he was elected by Ai, Zuo Maodi is the Donglin Party, and only their Donglin Party used this method to threaten people before, and now it is the first time that someone has used this means to threaten Zuo Maodi.

"What did you Ma Junmen say? What is the history of? How about leaving a stench for 10,000 years? ”

When Ai Daxuan went to the joint yesterday, he had already received Ma Cheng's latest instructions, and now he heard Zuo Maodi's question and quickly repeated Ma Cheng's words.

"Lord Zuo, Ma Junmen said, Chen Hongfan returned to Nandu to spread rumors everywhere that the Lord surrendered to the Manchus, and now it has spread throughout the entire Southern Capital, and at the same time, your family has also been taken into custody and imprisoned, but only Ma Junmen knows Lord Zuo's loyalty to the Ming Dynasty, so he asked Shoufu to let Lord Zuo's whole family go."

After speaking, Ai Daxuan looked at Zuo Maodi, and then continued: "Lord Zuo, the following is Ma Junmen's original words, and the last general is just a retelling!" Brother Zuo, now only the little brother can return your innocence, if the big brother Zuo refuses to help the little brother, then the little brother can only preach the feat of the big brother Zuo in the northern capital in the southern capital, such as taking the lead in shaving his hair and making it easy to wear, and giving Dolgon a letter to implement the shaving order to the whole world! ”