Gou was a member of the imperial family in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 910 Man is about to die
"Brother, you are so confused!" After listening to the bearded man's story, the slightly fat man was stunned. He couldn't help but blame him with great sorrow.

"Yes, I was confused. Zhuge Liang was cautious throughout his life. I am not as good as Zhuge Liang..." The bearded man shook his head and sighed. A single thought led to a huge mistake. If he had known this would happen, he would have risked his life to not let these bastards agree. But it was too late to regret now. With the arrest of these people, it would probably not take long for him to be traced back to him, and by then, his brilliant life would be ruined.

"It's too late to regret now, but in my opinion, you don't have to do this. Maybe there is still a way to save the situation. I think you can write a letter to apologize immediately, saying that you were deceived and trusted me, and maybe this matter will be ..."

Before he could finish, the bearded man shook his head slowly, feeling bitter.

He understood the intention of the slightly fat man, which was nothing more than to put all the responsibility on Gao Hongtu and others, and find a reason to exonerate himself. But if he did this, what would happen to his reputation? As one of the leaders of the Donglin Party, who would trust him in the future if he directly betrayed his subordinates? How could he call on Donglin?
What's more, there was one thing the slightly plump man didn't know, that is, he had been exchanging letters with Gao Hongtu and others because of this matter. Some things in the letters had already been written down in black and white. Since these people had been arrested, these letters were probably in the hands of Qian Qianyi and Zhang Xijun. With these letters, how could he defend himself?
Furthermore, the bearded man knew that he was not as tough as Yang Lian and Zuo Guangdou. He could not stand the beatings of the three wooden sticks. Once he was arrested and tortured, he would confess everything. Smuggling with the Jiannu was just a small matter. He was afraid that he would not be able to resist and confess the murder of Emperor Tianqi. If this matter was made public, it would be irreversible.

He has spent many years pursuing fame and fortune in his life, and wanted to leave his name in history so that future generations would remember him. If all these things were revealed, all that would be left would be an infamy, almost like Qin Hui in the Song Dynasty, who would be despised by all generations.

He absolutely did not want to see such an ending, and it would be better to die than to live like this. The long-bearded man told the slightly fat man the truth, and the slightly fat man was stunned after hearing it, and for a moment he was at a loss for what to do.

"This matter has nothing to do with you, and you don't need to get involved. There's still time. Don't stay here for long. Go away!"

“Brother…”

"If you still recognize me as your brother, then listen to my arrangements. You must not interfere in this matter. Just don't know about it at the time. As the saying goes, there is always a way to save the green mountains. The emperor played a big game and won over Qian Qianyi and others. This move was very vicious. It was not unfair for me to lose!"

"Qian Qianyi! This old bastard! I can never forgive him!" The slightly fat man's eyes turned red and he couldn't help but said on weekends.

Qian Qianyi, as a big shot of Donglin and a leader of the party, actually helped the emperor to deal with his own people, and was so vicious. I really underestimated him. I always thought that Qian Qianyi was just a nerd who could only talk big and write good articles, but was timid and powerless. But I didn't expect that this guy was actually hiding so deeply.

The bearded man shook his head and said, "You don't have to blame Qian Qianyi. He is not to blame for this. He has no choice."

"Why is my brother still protecting him?"

"After this incident, I finally understood it." The bearded man explained a few words to the slightly fat man. He had not figured out many things before, but now he understood them all at once. He told the slightly fat man the cause and effect of this incident. According to his guess, the incident in Jiangnan might have been known to the emperor a long time ago. The emperor had been forbearing and had not taken any action immediately because he considered the complicated situation in Jiangnan and the huge strength of the Donglin Party.

The emperor sent Qian Qianyi to Jiangnan to deal with the matter. On the surface, Qian Qianyi was the main person, but in fact, the long-bearded man believed that Sun Chengzong was the real boss. Sun Chengzong probably had discussed with the emperor and let Qian Qianyi lead the charge while he was in charge of the capital. Then, he would add the power of Zhang Xijun, Du Xun and Duke Wei to make a comprehensive plan and launch the attack in one fell swoop.

The reason for doing this was that both Sun Chengzong and Qian Qianyi wanted to preserve the vitality of the Donglin Party. If they had not stepped forward to let other people deal with it, the Donglin Party would probably be completely involved, and by then the Donglin lineage would no longer exist.

It was precisely because of Sun Chengzong and Qian Qianyi that although so many people were arrested in Nanjing, there were still many Donglin Party members who were not implicated. Moreover, those who launched the operation with Qian Qianyi, such as Li Banghua, Chen Liangxun, and Song Shixiang, were all backbones of the Donglin Party. They had long qualifications in the Donglin Party and had been included in Wei Zhongxian's "Donglin Generals Record". It was precisely because they also participated in the arrest operation that the long-bearded man understood everything completely.

I have to say that the long-bearded man's judgment was very accurate, although it was not 100%, but it was almost right. It was precisely because of this that the long-bearded man dissuaded the slightly fat man from targeting Qian Qianyi. Not only could he not target Qian Qianyi, but he also had to continue to be on good terms with him. In the subsequent investigation of the case by the court, the people of the Donglin Party who were not involved in it must not turn against the court. Instead, they had to cooperate with the court in the investigation. Only in this way can the emperor show mercy and let the Donglin Party go. As long as the Donglin Party survives this difficult time, it will be worth it even if it suffers a great loss of vitality. As long as people are there, the Donglin Party will be there. If people are gone, where will the Donglin Party come from? The future of Donglin depends on them, and I no longer have the ability.

Although the slightly fat man was indignant, he finally accepted the reality after being persuaded by the long-bearded man. The two continued to talk for a few more words, and at the urging of the long-bearded man, the slightly fat man shed tears and left the other mansion.

After the slightly plump man left, the bearded man looked at the book he had not finished reading on the table with complicated eyes, sighed and shook his head, stood up and put the book back on the bookshelf, just like any other day.

Then, he called his family members and explained to them. Although the family members felt strange, why would their master explain these things in such a strange time of year? However, as the head of the family, they had to listen to the words of the long-bearded man and remember them one by one. After the explanation, the long-bearded man waved his hand to let them leave, and then called his trusted servants to say a few words. After sending the servants away, the long-bearded man found a few letters from the study, set two of them on fire first, sorted the remaining letters and put them aside, and then took out a blank memorial book and wrote a memorial.

It took until midnight to finish writing. At this time, the long-bearded man carefully reviewed the contents of the memorial. After finding no other problems, he wrote a letter to his family and children. After finishing all these things, the long-bearded man changed into court clothes, sat down in the armchair, picked up a small porcelain bottle that had been prepared long ago from the table, hesitated for a moment, gritted his teeth and crushed the wax seal outside, poured the contents of the bottle into his mouth, and then quietly waited for the arrival of the final moment.

At the hour of Mao, when the eastern sky was just beginning to turn white and the crowing of cocks sounded, a new day began in the capital.

When it was noon, the servants saw that the man with a long beard had not come out of the study, so they could not help knocking on the door to ask the master if he wanted breakfast, but there was no response from inside the room.

Helpless, the servants could only report to the two young masters at home. The two sons of the long-bearded man rushed to knock on the door but it didn't open. Worried about their father's situation inside, they hurriedly asked the servants to pry the door open. When they finally opened the door of the study, they saw the neatly dressed long-bearded man sitting in the armchair.

At this time, the bearded man had long since fallen silent. His face was gray and an empty porcelain bottle fell at his feet. On the desk in front of him lay a memorial and several letters. Everyone was stunned by this scene. After a moment of silence, uncontrollable crying was heard.

Just after noon that day, people in the capital discovered that today was an unusual day. The new army that was originally stationed outside suddenly entered the capital, and was mobilized to the capital by the emperor's edict. In addition to the new army, the police department and the Jinyiwei of the capital also took action. The whole capital was filled with a tense atmosphere. Although these troops, police and Jinyiwei did not make any drastic moves in the capital, but seeing these people pouring into the capital and guarding all the important roads in the capital, the people of the capital and even the civil and military officials who had experienced the new army entering the city that year were uneasy, not knowing what had happened.

At noon, the Jinyiwei and the police began to arrest people, and one of them was the man with the long beard. However, when they arrived at the man's house, they learned that the man had committed suicide last night, and before he committed suicide, he left a memorial and a letter to the emperor. The Jinyiwei had no choice but to take these things back and report the matter to their superiors.

Not long after, Zhu Shenzui in the Qianqing Palace received a report from the Jinyiwei that only 18 of the 19 people they wanted to capture were arrested, and the most important one among them had committed suicide, and he had done so several hours before the Jinyiwei arrived.

In addition to being surprised, Zhu Shencui also saw the memorial written to him by the bearded man before he committed suicide. He opened the memorial and took a closer look. The memorial contained several thousand words. It was obvious that the bearded man had put a lot of effort into this memorial. The content of the memorial also surprised Zhu Shencui. The bearded man not only admitted that he had colluded with southern officials and engaged in private smuggling, but also admitted that he was one of the masterminds.

In addition, the long-bearded man also exposed the behavior of some people in the Donglin Party, including other party members, who secretly colluded with the Jiannu, and these behaviors were all proved by the letters he left. The long-bearded man expressed his repentance by dying, and hoped that the emperor would spare his family for the sake of his last words for the country, and declared that his family had no involvement in these things, and all the guilt was his own.

After reading the memorials and looking through the letters, Zhu Shenzhui couldn't help but sneer. This guy had a good plan. Did he think that he could let his family go by doing this? And he wanted to use this opportunity to muddy the waters? Involve more people? If that was the case, it would be too much of an underestimation of him, Zhu Shenzhui.

(End of this chapter)