Chongzhen said nothing.

He did not want to let Zhu Chunchen go, as this guy had a very bad performance in history.

Historically, he was stingy and watched the Ming Dynasty go to destruction.

After Li Zicheng captured Beijing, he led his ministers in surrendering in defiance of the order.

Unexpectedly, Li Zicheng hated such spineless people the most, and since he was a first-class duke, he executed Zhu Chunchen without hesitation.

All the family wealth was looted by the peasant army.

I will die sooner or later anyway, so instead of giving my property to the bandits, I might as well hand it over to the imperial court!

Seeing that Chongzhen didn't say anything, Empress Yi'an paused and continued to ask: "Is your majesty really merciless?"

Chongzhen shook his head slowly, "As a king, you must keep your word!"

"Okay!" Queen Yi'an stood up.

Chongzhen thought she was leaving and was about to stand up to see her off, but he saw Empress Yi'an bowing to him again.

"Since your majesty is as firm as a rock, I am relieved."

"If your majesty is not able to prepare enough military pay, my father, Earl Taikang, still has hundreds of thousands of assets."

Chongzhen said hurriedly: "Excuse me, my dear sister-in-law. I am not targeting Earl Taikang."

Empress Yi'an shook her head seriously and said, "Your Majesty, I dare not joke. I am not here to beg for mercy. If the capital is captured, even if I have tens of millions of properties, they will be looted by the bandits."

"The court is short of money and food right now, and I am powerless and cannot help. However, if the Zhang family is involved in this matter, you can kill them or chop them up if you want, and I will never stop you."

Chongzhen was stunned. He didn't expect that Empress Yi'an would be so righteous.

He clasped his hands together and bowed deeply to Empress Yi'an, "I understand what the Emperor's sister-in-law means. It is a blessing for the Ming Dynasty to have the Emperor's sister-in-law here!"

......

Outside the Duke Cheng's Mansion.

Lanterns and torches dispelled the darkness and illuminated the blue brick road outside the mansion.

There was a table and a chair next to the mansion gate, and Wang Zhixin sat on the chair with a heavy expression.

As the factory guards came in and out, all the valuable things in the mansion were carried out one by one.

"A gold hairpin weighing five taels and six cents."

"A pearl necklace, ten gold ingots of twenty taels..."

The young eunuch who was in charge of recording nearby wrote down all the properties that were moved out with great speed.

Lady Chengguo was dressed in gorgeous clothes and stood in front of Wang Zhixin, gritting her teeth.

Although Duke Chengguo was a first-class duke, he only had a few dozen servants in his mansion and was unable to resist this group of money-hungry guards.

Wang Zhixin only confiscated the houses and did not arrest people, so all they could do was hide as much money as possible on their bodies.

But no matter how much he hides, it is just a drop in the bucket of hundreds of thousands of assets!

The wife of Duke Chengguo said angrily, "Wang Zhixin, aren't you afraid of being punished by heaven?"

Wang Zhixin had a blank expression on his face: "Madam, you can scold me if you want, I am just following orders. You can scold me or hit me, but don't mention His Majesty, otherwise I will not be polite!"

After these words were spoken, Lady Chengguo calmed down instantly.

She thought back to what she had just said and felt a chill down her spine.

She stomped her foot hard on the ground, turned and walked towards the imperial city.

......

Outside the imperial city!

Most of the officials in the capital came. Those on the list came to follow the prince south, and some who were not on the list came to see him off.

The huge convoy was lined up from east to west, with the Jinyiwei and the factory guards standing on both sides.

They were wearing armor from the three major camps in the capital, and were equipped with bows, crossbows and firearms.

Li Banghua, the chief minister of the cabinet and the minister of war, stood on the high platform, looking down at the audience.

The escorting Jinyiwei and Dongchang consisted of only 2,000 people, but the number of carriages moving southward exceeded 500. Each carriage was loaded with gold, silver and other treasures, and moved slowly and cumbersomely.

Not to mention encountering bandits, even if you encounter an ordinary thief you won't be able to run away.

and.

As far as he knew, there were more than a hundred carriages waiting at the city gate.

Those carriages were filled with treasures that the nobles were reluctant to throw away, and they were determined to bring them to Nanjing even if it meant traveling thousands of miles.

Chongzhen walked out of the Meridian Gate accompanied by Wang Chengen, and looked at the dark crowd, feeling secretly delighted.

These carriages must be loaded with a lot of money!

A group of nobles and court officials stood side by side in front of the Meridian Gate. When they saw the emperor appear, they all knelt down and saluted: "Long live the emperor."

"Stand up."

Li Banghua walked up to Chongzhen and bowed, "Your Majesty, except for the city guards, the rest of the three camps have all been stationed outside the imperial city; the patrol camp, the Jinyiwei, and the East Factory have also assembled outside the Meridian Gate. The nobles and ministers going to Nanjing have already boarded the carriages, and they will set off together as soon as the crown prince and your majesty's harem arrive!"

"Thank you for your hard work, Lord Li. Come, sit down and talk!" Chongzhen asked someone to bring a stool to Li Banghua.

"I am terrified." Li Banghua was moved. He reached out to wipe the corners of his eyes, and his eyes became more determined.

"Wang Chengen, how are the preparations for the harem going?"

In theory, there are a lot of things to take with you from the harem, but only a few can be moved.

It was nothing more than clothes, jewelry, bedding and food.

The rest are just people.

The eunuchs and palace maids were responsible for loading the car, and the rest of the people were responsible for taking care of themselves.

"Your Majesty! The Crown Prince, Prince Yong, Prince Ding, Princess Zhaoren, and Princess Changping have all been packed up and are just waiting to bid farewell to Your Majesty." Wang Chengen replied from behind.

"Hmm? Where's Queen Yi'an? Where's the others?"

"Empress Yi'an vowed to never go to Nanjing, saying that she would live and die with the capital. Empress Zhou and Imperial Concubine Yuan were unable to persuade her, so they stopped trying. The other concubines also wanted to stay in the capital to accompany the emperor in fighting the bandits."

"Oh." Chongzhen sighed.

The women of the Ming Dynasty were so chaste and loyal that they were a hundred times more powerful than the officials in the court.

This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content!