Xu Wenjue saw Zhu Guobi scolding himself, but he smiled silently. Xu Wenjue knows Zhu Guobi very well, this guy is not loyal to the Ming Dynasty, he can do anything in order to protect his family property.

Wei Guogong has lived in Nanjing for more than 200 years, and the depth of his foundation is not at all comparable to Zhu Guobi, a dragon who crossed the river. Although on the surface, Zhu Guobi may have more family property, but secretly, Wei Guogong's family property is several times more than Zhu Guobi.

In the past few days, Ma Cheng has been frantically collecting grain in the city, and the noble families in the city have all suffered seedlings, and the great cause of the Duke of Wei is better, but Zhu Guobi can't afford it when he crosses the river. According to the information collected by Xu Wenjue, in the past few days, Ma Cheng has extorted tens of thousands of stones of grain from Zhu Guobi's house, and countless other salt, silk, etc., and it is initially estimated that Zhu Guobi's loss is between fifty and sixty thousand silver.

It is precisely because of this information that Xu Wenjue can rest assured to persuade Zhu Guobi. Although Zhu Guobi scolded Xu Wenjue for being disloyal and unfilial just now, Xu Wenjue knew that this old guy was completely lustful.

Zhu Guobi's situation was guessed correctly by Xu Wenjue, and the actual situation was even more serious than Xu Wenjue's estimate, and this time Ma Cheng engaged in the collection of surplus grain that made Zhu Guobi lose nearly 100,000 taels of silver. You must know that Zhu Guobi is not the Duke of Wei with deep roots, Zhu Guobi has a weak foundation in Nanjing, and only the property in his hands can bring Zhu Guobi a sense of security.

Of course, the loss of some property did not make Zhu Guobi ruthless to take the road of treason, after Ma Cheng supported the new emperor to ascend the throne, the new emperor Zhu Lunkui rewarded all the meritorious ministers, but forgot these honors. However, this is not that Zhu Lunkui really forgot, but that the situation was urgent at that time, the Qing army outside the city was besieging the city, and the situation in the city was unstable.

However, Zhu Guobi was completely unacceptable to the emperor to do this, Zhu Guobi used to be the town guard of Nanjing, and in April of the first year of Hongguang, he was dismissed from the post of town guard by the holy decree of Hongguang Emperor Zhu Yousong and handed over to Ma Cheng to serve. Afterwards, Zhu Guobi knew through his own channels that it was not Zhu Yousong's holy decree at all, but Ma Shiying's reckless behavior for his own interests. But now that Ma Shiying is the first assistant of the cabinet and an auxiliary minister, and his son is still the commander of the army who holds the military power, Zhu Guobi doesn't dare to say anything.

The political oppression, coupled with the economic devastation, made Zhu Guobi have long been disobedient, but he was weak and did not dare to attack.

Today, Xu Wenjue came to him to discuss the surrender of the Manchus, and Zhu Guobi had already agreed in his heart, but he was not sure whether Xu Wenjue was sincere, so he scolded Xu Wenjue for testing.

Xu Wenjue put down the wine glass and said with a smile: "Since uncle is so loyal to Zhu Lunkui, then ask uncle to tie up the little nephew and hand it over to the bastard Ma Cheng!" ”

Zhu Guobi's big eyes rolled twice, looked at Xu Wenjue for a long time, and then sat down and said: "Today, the old man is looking at your father's face, your father had a good relationship with the old man when he was alive, and the old man can't watch his heirs being killed, don't say this kind of rebellious words in the future!" ”

Seeing Zhu Guobi say this, Xu Wenjue didn't know what this old guy was thinking, Xu Wenjue said in a low voice: "Uncle, this time the new emperor ascended the throne without you, right?" The southern capital guard is still Ma Cheng, I heard that Zhu Lunkui is going to give Ma Cheng the post of metropolitan governor, but I don't know that my uncle has it

What kind of job? ”

Zhu Guobi was silent when he heard Xu Wenjue say this, Xu Wenjue knew that he had spoken to Zhu Guobi's heart, so he encouraged even more vigorously: "Uncle, since the southern capital can't be defended, why do you have to stick to it?" Even if you can hold on for a year, it's not that we want to pay money and food, in the end, it is the father and son of his Ma family who make meritorious contributions. Since this is the case, it is better for several of our nobles to join forces, open a city gate, and let the northern captives in, when the time comes, you and I can save our property, and we can also seek a position in the new dynasty through the military merits of the city, isn't this much better than waiting for death in this southern capital? ”

What Xu Wenjue said was similar to what Zhu Guobi thought in his heart, since this city could not be defended, it was better to surrender the city, at least his life could be saved. Thinking of this, Zhu Guobi asked in a low voice: "It's easy to say, but now all the gates of the southern capital are in the hands of Ma Cheng, and they are heavily guarded, so it's not easy to actually operate!" In addition to these, there are also things in contact with the Beiyu, you and I are both nobles of the Ming Dynasty, can the Beiyu easily believe it? ”

Xu Wenjue heard Zhu Guobi say this and said with a smile: "Please rest assured, uncle, the little nephew is ready, Ma Cheng has a general named Chen Hongfan, and his relatives are all officials in the Northern Capital, especially Chen Hongfan's son-in-law Tang Qilong, who is the chief soldier in the Beiyu, we can use this matter to blackmail him and let Chen Hongfan deliver news for us!" As for the matter of the city gate, I need my uncle's help, after all, my uncle served as a guard in the southern capital, and there should be a few henchmen in the army! ”

Zhu Guobi also knew Chen Hongfan, when Chen Hongfan and Zuo Maodi went north to negotiate peace, Chen Hongfan came back alone, and the entire Nanjing officialdom suspected that Chen Hongfan was a spy. However, in the end, he didn't expect the thick-eyed Zuo Maodi to surrender to the Manchu Dynasty, which proved what Chen Hongfan said, plus Chen Hongfan bribed Ma Cheng, so he became an official again.

Zhu Guobi nodded when he heard Xu Wenjue say this: "Okay, I'll solve it at the city gate, but Chen Hongfan needs a virtuous nephew!" Also, the virtuous nephew should pay attention to safety, don't leak the news! ”

"Please rest assured uncle, the little nephew only found An Yuanhou and Dingyuanhou, Anyuan Hou Liu Zuochang is my eldest brother's father-in-law, Dingyuan Hou Deng Wenyu is my uncle, both of these are very reliable!"

Zhu Guobi knew that the Duke of Wei had been operating in Nanjing for more than 200 years, and he still had some strength in his hands.

"Okay, in that case, let's go separately, but be careful, that Ma Cheng is very cunning, don't let him get the news!"

Xu Wenjue nodded, got up to say goodbye, and went home to prepare gifts to persuade Chen Hongfan.

In fact, there is no need for Xu Wenjue to convince Chen Hongfan, Chen Hongfan is more anxious than anyone else at this time. After Chen Hongfan returned from the north, although Ma Cheng took him in as a named general, he did not give him any rights. What Chen Hongfan needs to do every day now is to report to the yamen, and then sit in the yamen for a day, even the ambassador in charge of the warehouse in the yamen has more power than him.

Despite this, Chen Hongfan didn't dare to complain, because Chen Hongfan's sixth sense told him that this Ma Cheng had begun to suspect him, and in order not to show his feet, Chen Hongfan could only commute to and from work on time every day, striving to leave a good impression on Ma Cheng.

After sunset that day, Chen Hongfan got off work at the normal time, and as soon as he returned home, someone came to visit him, waiting for him

After entering the house, I learned that the person who came was the family of Xu Wenjue, the Duke of Wei. Wei Guogong held a banquet in the mansion tonight and invited General Chen to appreciate his face.

Although Chen Hongfan used to be the rank of admiral, he is now only a third-rank general, and he is 108,000 miles away from the Wei State. Chen Hongfan also asked the family, but the family was very tight, and Chen Hongfan didn't inquire about any news, so Chen Hongfan had no choice but to pack up and change into ordinary clothes, and followed the family to Xu's house.

When Chen Hongfan arrived at the Wei State Mansion, he found that he was the only guest invited today, and the only ones who accompanied him were the Xu brothers.

After the guests and hosts sat down, the three of them drank a few rounds of wine, and Xu Wenjue saw that the heat was almost over, so he asked his family members to go out, and only three people were left in the house. Xu Wenjue said with a smile: "Lord Chen, can you go smoothly as an errand under Lord Zhenshou?" ”

Chen Hongfan couldn't figure out what Xu Wenjue meant, so he had to say without pain: "There, Master Ma is very strict with his subordinates!" ”

Xu Jiujue looked at his younger brother, and then asked, "Lord Chen, doesn't Lord Zhenshou know that your son-in-law is Tang Qilong?" We have heard that this Tang Qilong is the son of Tang Shunshi, the general soldier of Juyongguan who surrendered to the north! ”

Chen Hongfan was originally a general in Liaodong, and later followed Zuo Liangyu to the Guannei to suppress bandits, an experience that many people know. Chen Hongfan was born in Liaodong, so naturally he had a lot of connections in the Manchu Qing Dynasty, and many people in the court also knew about this relationship, so Chen Hongfan didn't pay much attention to Xu Jiujue's question.

"Yes, Xia Guan's son-in-law is Tang Qilong, but does this matter have anything to do with Xia Guan?" Chen Hongfan frowned and asked after hearing Xu Jiujue's words.

"In that case, Lord Chen is not afraid that Ma Cheng will know about this relationship?"

Xu Jiujue originally wanted to use this matter to blackmail Chen Hongfan, but he knew that Chen Hongfan sneered: "Hehe, you really underestimate Ma Cheng, and Ma Cheng knows all these relationships." ”

Xu Jiujue was stunned when he heard Chen Hongfan say this, and after waiting for a while, he continued: "Isn't Lord Chen afraid that we will go to Ma Cheng to frame you for wanting to join the Manchu Qing Dynasty?" ”

Chen Hongfan despised Xu Jiujue when he heard him say this, no wonder this Xu Jiujue is a defeated general under Ma Cheng, do you think Ma Cheng can believe this kind of conspiracy that can be seen through at a glance?

At this time, Chen Hongfan already felt that the Xu brothers had some ideas, and although Chen Hongfan didn't care about anything in the Admiral's Yamen, he still knew that Ma Cheng had made the whole city jump for food in the past few days, and I heard that he had also raided Wei Guogong's house. After two certifications, Chen Hongfan knew that the two brothers were rebellious.

Chen Hongfan has been struggling to find supporters in the city these days, and now that the Xu brothers have sent them to the door, Chen Hongfan is naturally very happy.

"But you two want to surrender to the Qing Dynasty?" Because Chen Hongfan knew the filthiness of the Xu family and Ma Cheng, he was very relieved of the Xu brothers, and he was not ready to hide anything, so it was better to say it openly.

Chen Hongfan said this, but it frightened the Xu brothers, the two of them originally wanted to threaten Chen Hongfan to obey, but they didn't expect that Chen Hongfan was a Manchu person, and now Chen Hongfan told the truth and made the Xu brothers uneasy.

Seeing the Xu brothers look like this, Chen Hongfan smiled and said: "Don't worry, I, Chen, am just like the two of you think, I am a spy of the Qing Dynasty!" I, Chen, have an order from the regent to help Prince Yu take down Nanzhili! ”