After the investigation and handling of the criminal department and the factory guard, the case has been revealed.

Jia Gui, the chief housekeeper of Pengcheng Bofu, collaborated with the enemy and punished the nine clans.

According to Mantulu's confession, there are still a large number of Tatar spies in the Jingshi, most of whom have entered the customs from Liaodong, and the best disguise is that they are leather merchants or medicinal herb merchants.

Jinyiwei immediately went out on a large scale, and the whole city searched for merchants from Liaodong.

After investigation, Peng Chengbo Zhang Kejian was not the main culprit, and was exempted from the death penalty, was stripped of his title, and was demoted to a commoner.

The two stones in Zhu Qizhen's heart finally fell one.

Since Tumubao, he has always suspected that there are traitors in the Jingshi, and now it seems that it is not the officials of the court who are secretly colluding with the Mongols, but the merchants.

Since Zhu Yuanzhang founded the country, the Ming Dynasty and the Northern Yuan Dynasty have been mortal enemies of each other, so they have not opened the mutual market for a hundred years.

Mobei is barren, living materials are extremely scarce, and it cannot be obtained from the Central Plains through normal channels, so many smugglers have emerged.

The two most important routes to transport goods from the territory of Daming to the grassland are from Datong and Xuanfu, and the other route is to go out of Shanhaiguan and Liaodong.

The former was mainly Jin merchants, and the trading objects were the Warat people.

In fact, the Jin merchant group has been active throughout the Ming Dynasty, and has been engaged in smuggling activities for a long time, and even in the late Ming Dynasty, when the mountains and rivers were in turmoil, it had vigorously funded the construction of slaves, which was the famous Eight Emperor Merchants in later generations.

Soon after Zhu Qizhen returned to Beijing, this line was uprooted, completely cutting off the supplies and intelligence of the Warat Department.

The latter, in collusion with the Tatars, has also been hit hard to this day.

After these two lines are completely eradicated, it is almost impossible for either Warat or Tatar to get information from the Ming Dynasty.

Now, there is still one last stone left in Zhu Qizhen's heart......

Two confidential letters were placed on the desk.

The first is a list with three names on it.

The second is a survey result.

After a secret inspection by the Absolute Voiceguard, Jin Yiwei commanded Zhu Ji, that is, Yu Qian's son-in-law, who was generous, courteous, honest, and trustworthy.

What's more, having Yu Qian's relationship made Zhu Qizhen determined to hand over this errand to him.

"Your Majesty, Zhu Ji, the Jinyi guard, asks to see you."

"Xuan!"

Not long after, Zhu Ji walked into the imperial study.

"Humble Zhu Ji, long live my emperor!"

"Flat!"

"Emperor Xie!"

After Zhu Ji got up, he hung his head quietly, waiting for orders.

Zhu Qizhen took a closer look, this person was about thirty years old, burly, but very delicate, if he wasn't wearing a black fish suit, he would have thought he was a scholar.

"Yuan Bin personally recommended me, saying that the Qing family is worthy of a big responsibility, and I have no doubt about employing people, and I will give you an important errand."

Zhu Ji hurriedly said: "Emperor Xie trusts him, and he humbly goes to the soup to fight the fire, and he will not give up!" ”

"It's not that serious!"

Zhu Qizhen waved his hand and said, "I will personally conquer the Northern Expedition in the near future, Yuan Bin will go out with the car, and the Jinyi Guard in the Beijing Division will be handed over to you." ”

"Please rest assured, the ministers should go all out!"

"I'm not worried about the Qing family's abilities."

Zhu Qizhen shook his head lightly and said, "I ask you to secretly check on a few people!" ”

"Please ask the emperor to command!"

"Wang Wen, the right capital of the Imperial Procuratorate, Xu Bin, the Shaoqing of Taichang Temple, and Zhang Yan, the governor of the five armies."

Zhu Ji seemed a little puzzled and asked, "What does the emperor need to investigate?" ”

"At the beginning, when I announced my personal expedition to Mobei, I told the hundred officials that if I encountered an accident, King Ke would succeed the unification, do you know what this means?"

Zhu Ji thought for a long time and said: "What does the emperor mean is that if someone secretly has a heart of disobedience, during the time when the emperor is away from Beijing, he may take action?" ”

Zhu Qizhen is very satisfied, this person has a flexible mind, he can understand everything, and he is much better than those reckless people.

These days, after the secret investigation of the Absolute Voiceguard, it is true that some officials are not honest and have some ideas in secret, but they are only some ideas, and they dare not take any action before they leave the capital.

"I will leave you a holy decree, and if you find someone who is plotting evil, Jinyiwei has the right to cut it first and then play it!"

"Humble obedience!"

Zhu Ji paused, and then asked, "Your Majesty, ...... over there?"

When I said this, I made up my mind.

Jinyiwei is loyal to the emperor, which is true, but when it comes to King Yu, it is difficult to say.

Because people may become the next emperor at any time!

What's more, when it comes to the royal family, even Jinyiwei is not easy to interfere with.

If you are not careful, your head will roll and your blood will flow like a river.

Zhu Qizhen suddenly asked, "What do you think of King Yu?" ”

With a pop, Zhu Ji knelt directly.

"The lowly is only loyal to the emperor!"

"You don't have to be nervous, I'm just asking."

"Don't dare to speak falsely!"

"Okay, okay, get up, I don't ask."

Only then did Zhu Ji stand up tremblingly, his face pale, and his forehead was covered with cold sweat.

Zhu Qizhen thought for a while and asked again, "What do you think...... How is King Xiang? ”

Poof!

Zhu Ji's knees weakened and knelt again.

This is all a proposition!

"I've said it, just ask casually, don't be so nervous!"

Zhu Ji secretly said in his heart, you don't look at what you asked, can I not be nervous?

Okay, when I stand up here, you can say one more thing, how about King Zheng?

Just, I can't get up on my knees, okay!

"I'm going to ask ...... other questions"

Zhu Qizhen thought for a while and asked, "What do you think of the current situation of the vassal kings of the Ming Dynasty?" ”

Zhu Ji was about to cry, and said: "The only way to be humble is to look forward to the emperor, even if you are a vassal king, as long as the emperor says a word, you will be ...... to be humble."

"That's not what I meant!"

Zhu Qizhen hurriedly interrupted him, and then pondered for a long time, and then said: "Since Emperor Taizu, the children of the Zhu family have been divided to guard the border passes, but later, they gradually moved the fiefdom to the Central Plains, and the vassal kings have gradually become greedy for pleasure and have no achievements. ”

Zhu Ji looked dazed, how did the vassal king of the Ming Dynasty change from a king of Sai to an idle king, who do you ask?

But then again, there are more and more vassal kings, and they are all idle, and each vassal king occupies a large amount of land and resources.

But what do you ask me to do with this kind of question?

I'm Jinyiwei, it's okay to arrest people and handle cases, national affairs, you go to the cabinet!

Zhu Ji regretted it very much at this time, why did he owe it so much, what did the good Tiyun King do?

I don't know, Zhu Qizhen has long planned to change the status quo of the vassal king, and today when he heard Zhu Ji mention it, he temporarily came to ask a few words with interest.

He naturally knew in his heart that this kind of thing could not be done overnight, and it needed to be considered in the long run.

"Stop kneeling, get busy!"

"Yes!"

Zhu Ji breathed a sigh of relief, hurriedly got up and retreated, and fled out of the palace.