Ming Jiajing: Starting from Immortality

Chapter 118 If you don’t care for yourself, you will be punished by heaven and earth!
Xishan, Governor's Office.

Jinyiwei Commander-in-Chief Lu Bing suddenly arrived.

Wang Chonggu, the governor of Xuanfu and Datong, was not too surprised, and welcomed Lu Bing into the governor's mansion as if he had expected it.

The host and the guest were seated and the clerk served them tea.

Lu Bing stopped at the first glimpse and went straight to the point, saying, "Governor Wang, the emperor has ordered the Jinyiwei to immediately arrest the officials of the Xishan Mid-Autumn Festival Banquet."

It is said that "All under heaven belongs to the king." But the imperial court consisted of only a few palaces and government offices, and meals were still eaten from separate pots.

Datong Town is the territory of Wang Chonggu, the Governor of Xuanda. "When a general is away from the emperor, he is not always able to obey his emperor's orders." If Wang Chonggu really does not cooperate, the Jinyiwei will be in a difficult situation.

However, as of now, Wang Chonggu and the border soldiers of Datong Town are very cooperative with the emperor's will and the imperial edict. When they were told to close the border town gates, they closed them immediately.

But Lu Bing did not feel at ease. This was a border town, the frontline battlefield between the Ming Dynasty and the Tatars. The Jinyiwei had to repeatedly confirm the loyalty of Wang Chonggu and the border soldiers of Datong Town to the emperor, as well as the possibility that Wang Chonggu was pretending to obey the emperor's orders.

Wang Chonggu smiled calmly, used the lid to stir the tea leaves floating on the surface of the tea bowl, took a sip and said, "More than ten thousand envoys in brocade uniforms have blocked all the roads in and out of Xishan just to capture those hundred governors, prefects, county magistrates, and county magistrates. This is too much noise. These people are enough to bloodbath Xishan."

Wang Chonggu exposed Lu Bing's disguise and pointed out the deeper intentions of the Jinyiwei. Lu Bing did not deny it and just glanced at him coldly.

"Commander Lu, don't be nervous. I am not the enemy of the Jinyiwei, and the Datong Town Border Soldiers are not the enemy of the Jinyiwei either."

Wang Chonggu continued to smile, and said: "I am the emperor's subject, and the Datong Border Guard is also the sharpest spear in the emperor's hand.

I understand that my background and the military power in my hands make the emperor wary, but please believe me, Commander Lu, please believe me, Your Majesty, that I am definitely not a traitor.

Even if I really had ulterior motives and bad intentions, the border troops in Datong and Xuanfu, whose military pay and food were fully paid, would not obey my orders. "

Wang Chonggu pointed out the court’s prejudice against border towns and soldiers.

As the governor of the two towns, his power was granted by the emperor.

The border soldiers in the two towns were also fed with imperial grain.

They will not rebel, and it is impossible to rebel. Even if the border generals really want to rebel, once an imperial edict is issued, the border soldiers will turn against them and capture the border generals.

This is the loyalty that has been earned in exchange for the replenishment of military pay and food wages for the border towns and soldiers over the past two hundred years.

Border soldiers who have enough food and pay are the most loyal soldiers in the Ming Dynasty, no doubt about it.

Lu Bing thought of Datong Town, where the garrison commander immediately ordered the soldiers to close the city gates without asking the Governor's Office for permission after reading the imperial edict, and he felt a little less nervous.

That proved that the emperor's status in the hearts of the soldiers in Datong Town was far higher than that of the governor Wang Chonggu.

It is an army worthy of the trust of the emperor and the court.

The atmosphere eased a little, and Wang Chonggu said to the outsiders: "Bring it up!"

Then they saw soldiers coming in carrying large mahogany boxes, which almost filled the huge hall of the Governor's Mansion.

The soldiers retreated, and a young man came in holding a baby.

Lu Bing was startled. Wang Chonggu introduced him to Lu Bing, "This is my son, Wang Qian, my only son. The one in his arms is my grandson, Wang Zhizhen."

Lu Bing nodded.

When secretly investigating Wang Chonggu, we found out about Wang Chonggu's descendants, and also looked at the portraits of Wang Qian and Wang Zhizhen. The people were correct.

Wang Chonggu signaled his children and grandchildren to leave first, and looked at Lu Bing and said, "I know that it is difficult for the emperor to trust me. To be honest, it is disrespectful to say that even if the emperor and his subjects were reversed, it would be difficult for him to trust someone like me.

With vested interests at stake and a large number of troops under their control, if something goes wrong, the country will be destroyed in an instant.

Therefore, I want to send my son and grandson to the capital. I'd like to trouble Commander Lu to do this."

Lu Bing's eyes lit up.

Under the secret investigation of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, none of Wang Chonggu's relatives could hide, and they were very sure that Wang Chonggu had only one son and one grandson.

Wang Chonggu handed this grandson over to the Jinyiwei to be sent to the capital, which was equivalent to "sending a hostage to the capital."

Lu Bing appreciated this way of expressing loyalty very much. Then he summoned several imperial guards to escort Wang Qian and his son Wang Zhizhen to Beijing.

The process was so fast that Wang Chonggu didn't have any time to regret.

But Wang Chonggu acted very calm throughout the whole process. After his children and grandchildren were sent away, he said again: "Since the year I was born, my clansmen gradually withdrew from the Shanxi Merchants. I just occupied the status of the financial owner who received dividends every year. However, my Wang family did not spend a single cent of the dividends distributed by the Shanxi Merchants. All of them are here."

Wang Chonggu walked to the middle of the large mahogany boxes and opened them. The three colors of gold, silver and jade sparkled in the hall.

As he opened the box, he said, "I am ashamed to say that I am already 46 years old and have wasted more than 40 years. However, my Wang family, relying on the 21 shares in the Shanxi Merchants, can get dividends of 200,000 to 300,000 taels of silver from the Shanxi Merchants every year. Over the years, we have received more than 10 million taels of silver. Now, we will return all of it to the court."

Lu Bing stood up suddenly.

Looking at the boxes of gold, silver, jade, land deeds, shop deeds, and mining deeds, it was hard to believe that these mahogany boxes were filled with treasures worth more than 10 million taels of silver.

As for what Wang Chonggu said, that the Wang family did not dare to touch a single cent of the Shanxi merchants' dividends over the past few decades, and had been saving them since he was born, Lu Bingquan treated it as nonsense.

It is impossible that the Wang family had predicted decades ago that a second-rank governor of the Ming Dynasty would emerge from their family. The so-called saving of silver from the day of birth was to clear Wang Chonggu of any connection with the Shanxi merchants.

This wealth of more than 10 million taels was definitely just gathered by Wang Chonggu and his clansmen, but this kind of thing cannot be taken seriously. The sins of Wang Chonggu and his family seem to become less important in the face of this 10 million taels of atonement silver.

Wang Chonggu was truly a ruthless man, as he took his son and grandson as hostages and voluntarily paid the ransom money.

There was more respect in Lu Bing's eyes when he looked at Wang Chonggu.

Wang Chonggu still felt that it was not enough, so he opened a mahogany box. There was no money or goods in the box, but account books. "Commander Lu, after the two grain routes of the Shanxi merchants were mysteriously cut off, I noticed that the Jinyiwei were active in Xishan, and I also knew that the Shanxi merchants' treason could no longer be concealed.

According to the laws of the current emperor, I am afraid that none of the thousands of merchants in the Jin Merchants Gang will be able to escape, and even their clansmen may be implicated."

Lu Bing subconsciously wanted to deny that this trip was to arrest corrupt officials in Xishan, but Wang Chonggu said first: "Commander Lu, there is no need to deny it. I know that the Jinyiwei will come, and I have prepared a big gift for them. In this box, there is a list of merchants of the entire Shanxi Merchants. Jinyiwei can follow the map to arrest people and kill people without any mistakes.

I know that the Jinyiwei are more concerned about the five grain routes that the Shanxi merchants have secretly communicated with the Tatars, and they are all here. "

(End of this chapter)