Zhu Youxiao was wrapped in a blanket and sat on the dragon chair, quietly listening to the reports of Wei Zhongxian and Liu Ruoyu.
"Your Majesty, there have been no changes in the palace during these days, and there have been no personnel transfers. The servants have been placed in the Shangshan Prison, and the spies who are jealous of each other have no news to report."
"But a few days ago, several noble ladies came to the harem to pay their respects to the concubine. The minimum time they stayed was three hours."
"The east factory has been registered, and those who have gone in and out of Cining Palace and Kunning Palace are also among them. You can ask the emperor to take a look."
After Wei Zhongxian finished speaking, he took out a pamphlet from his arms and handed it to a young eunuch.
Zhu Youxiao opened the brochure and saw a few very familiar words.
They are all the wives of honorable men. It seems that this matter has a lot to do with them.
The wives of honorable nobles all have imperial titles. They belong to noble women and official status. In addition, due to family reasons, these people do not need to ask the emperor for permission to enter the harem.
As long as the queen or concubine approves it, they can enter and leave the harem without Zhu Youxiao's supervision.
Now it seems that they are probably seducing the concubine behind the scenes and letting the concubine come forward to restrain them in order to achieve some benefit.
Since nobles are actually involved, this matter cannot be simple and must be handled with caution.
This was Zhu Youxiao's first reaction. Even though the presence of these nobles was extremely low, they had been stepped on by civil servants for so many years.
But if we really talk about strength and influence, I don't know how many ways I can beat them.
He can kill officials and scholars at will, sometimes without even charging him with anything.
The most these people can do is call you a coward and tyrant, spread rumors among the people, and unite to criticize you with words and writings.
If you want to cause trouble, I won't use your words to argue with you, but use practical actions to fight with you.
For example, in history, Zhu Youjian's fifth son, Zhu Cihuan, died suddenly. These people really want to cause trouble, but they are much more ruthless than civil servants.
Although the cause of Zhu Cihuan's death is unknown, anyone with a discerning eye can see what happened.
Emperor Chongzhen just forced the nobles to donate money and food to the court for fighting the war. He had just robbed a noble family and his son died. It is strange that there was no ghost involved.
What is even more incredible is what Zhu Cihuan, who was seriously ill at the time, said to Chongzhen while lying in bed, saying that it was because Jiulian Bodhisattva could not stand it anymore.
.)
The prince died suddenly because the emperor was too cruel to his nobles, so Nine Lotus Bodhisattva wanted to punish the emperor.
The original words of Zhu Cihuan recorded in the original historical records are: "Nine Lotus Bodhisattva said that if the emperor treats his relatives poorly, he will destroy all his disciples."
Chongzhen's reaction was: "I was greatly frightened and tried my best to save it, but it was no longer possible."
Even a fool would not believe such miraculous words.
Besides, how could a five-year-old child say such a thing?
This was obviously something someone had taught him. It must have been the eunuchs and maids in the palace who took bribes from nobles and instigated him behind the scenes.
But it really frightened Chongzhen so much that he never dared to force or threaten him again.
He even returned all the stolen gold and silver treasures to the nobles.
Although Emperor Chongzhen's abilities were not very good, we really couldn't blame him entirely on the issue of honoring vassal kings in the late Ming Dynasty.
After all, these people are too cruel and ruthless. The emperor just wants some money and food from you, so they killed the prince without hesitation.
This situation should not be said to be scary, but no matter who comes, they have to be cautious and think before they dare to take action.
Therefore, Zhu Youxiao had to be cautious. He did not dare to look down upon these selfish nobles who were lurking in the dark and waiting for opportunities.
Maybe one day these people will give him a Nine Lotus Bodhisattva to appease his anger, but the price will be too heavy.
After looking at it carefully, Zhu Youxiao asked again:
"When they come into the palace to see the concubine, I'm afraid it's not as simple as the so-called greetings."
"This slave is unknown. Your Majesty once stipulated that personnel from the East-West Factory and Jinyiwei are not allowed to be involved in the harem. I will keep this in mind and will not dare to act beyond my authority and boundaries."
Wei Zhongxian's words are true and not false. Today's emperor has four different secret agencies under his command to supervise and investigate each other.
No one dares to show off their handles and be caught by the other party, and then use their own handles or heads to claim credit from the emperor.
"Okay, you go down and wait, and ask Liu Ruoyu to come in."
Although there are many people from Dongchang in the palace, they are responsible for the outer palace and city gates.
The one with the most and widest eye-witnesses in the harem is the newly established inner factory.
After all, their mission is to supervise the East-West Factory and Jinyiwei, as well as the harem inside the imperial city.
Although the two people announced it together, it was naturally impossible for Zhu Youxiao to give the two spy chiefs a chance to meet about this kind of thing, let alone let them report it together.
They must be separated to prevent them from asking each other and connecting intelligence information.
After Liu Ruoyu came in, Zhu Youxiao asked about it directly.
"Your Majesty, this matter has been going on for more than ten days. In recent days, the Li family of Chengguo Gong, the Wang family of Funing Marquis and other noble ladies have come to visit."
"They all enter the palace with the pretext of paying respects to the concubine, but they actually have a purpose."
Zhu Youxiao was now curious as to what the purpose of this was to allow these honorable men to stand on the same line so firmly.
"Then tell me what their purpose is and what they want to do."
Liu Ruoyu heard this and replied:
"According to the reports from my spies and the investigations over the past few days, these nobles have quite a few complaints about Your Majesty."
"They even mentioned His Majesty's previous plans to dismantle the Beijing camp and abolish the pro-military guards. They also mentioned the appointment of the chief water transport officer and generals at the last court meeting. They also mentioned it to the concubine."
"Especially Zhu Chunchen, the Duke of Chengguo, was extremely dissatisfied. My servants have noticed it for a long time, but they didn't make any changes, and they didn't report it yet."
For people like Zhu Chunchen, Zhu Youxiao has always regarded him as a pig or a dog.
When the time comes to take action against Xungui, Zhu Chunchen will definitely be the first person he deals with.
"How dissatisfied you are, please tell me carefully."
Zhu Youxiao could also guess that Zhu Chunchen was extremely selfish. He dreamed of becoming the admiral of the Beijing camp so that he could be greedy for military expenditures.
Previously, with the firm support of the British Duke and several other dignitaries, Zhu Youxiao had abolished the Beijing camp and eliminated a major cancer.
But at the same time, he also offended many nobles who made money through this, among which Zhu Chunchen was the most typical representative. His loss of interests can be said to be the greatest.
Because of his ancestor Zhu Neng, he held very high official positions in the Fifth Army Governor's Mansion and the Beijing Camp, and he was also in charge of several of the emperor's personal military guards.
However, he was wiped out by Zhu Youxiao, which cut off his important financial resources.