The next morning, Luo Yangxing went to the palace to pay his respects. He glanced at the desk in front of the emperor and saw that there was a small iron boat there.
I couldn't help but take a few more glances out of curiosity.
"Where did this come from? The things around His Majesty are definitely not common."
"But this little iron boat is rather rough."
"Could it be tribute from some foreign vassal state? But this tribute is far too crude..."
As he was pondering, Zhu Youjian strode over.
"Luo Yangxing, how are you doing with the tasks I entrusted to you?"
Luo Yangxing quickly composed himself and put the matter of the iron ship aside.
He said earnestly:
"Your Majesty, I would naturally not dare to neglect the task you have entrusted to me."
"I have already sent someone to inform Li Ruolian to return to the capital immediately."
"In addition, the Embroidered Uniform Guard was dispatched to keep a close eye on Wei Zhongxian and Prince Fu."
"I guarantee they won't cause any trouble."
Zhu Youjian nodded in satisfaction.
"Good job, you did a great job."
"I will reward you after this is over."
Luo Yangxing knelt down and kowtowed, saying:
"Your Majesty, I am already guilty, and you are still willing to employ me. This is already a great favor. How could I possibly accept any other reward from you?"
Zhu Youjian was even happier.
"Good, good, good. You actually thought of that. I was right about you after all."
After laughing for a while, Zhu Youjian asked about something else.
"Yesterday I sent people to deliver all the arrested Donglin Party members to Wei Zhongxian."
What did he say?
Luo Yangxing replied:
"Wei Zhongxian has taken them all in. According to the information I received yesterday, he is torturing them severely."
"In just one night, they managed to extract a considerable amount of hidden money."
Zhu Youjian waved his hand dismissively.
“Go and deliver an imperial edict to Wei Zhongxian, telling him that since he is acting so quickly, he might as well act even faster.”
“Before the Lunar New Year, let’s convict all members of the Donglin Party.”
"Those who have committed heinous crimes should be killed directly. I do not want them to hear the firecrackers of the first year of Chongzhen's reign."
At this point, Zhu Youjian recalled the matter that Cao Huachun had discussed with him not long ago.
Then he quickly added, "However, those who are quite talented in literature can be spared."
"I have another important use for him!"
Luo Yangxing nodded and said:
"Your Majesty, rest assured, I will take care of it immediately."
When Wei Zhongxian received the imperial edict, he outwardly knelt and kowtowed three times and nine times, displaying a submissive demeanor.
But a chill settled in my heart.
"Hmph, the little emperor told me at the beginning not to rush and to take it slow."
"But now, contrary to expectations, they're telling me to quickly deal with the Donglin Party."
"It seems he also harbors murderous intentions towards me, wanting to quickly deal with the cunning rabbit so he can use me, his lackey, to get rid of me!"
"It's a pity that this young emperor forgot that even a rabbit will bite when cornered. Am I, Wei Zhongxian, a fool who would just wait to die?"
“The Donglin Party members must be killed, and the young emperor cannot be spared either.”
A thought flashed through his mind, and he said to Luo Yangxing in front of him:
"Lord Luo, since this is the Emperor's order, this old servant naturally dares not disobey it."
According to the Ministry of War's report, General Li Ruolian returned to the capital on the tenth day of the twelfth lunar month.
“It would be wrong to kill someone when he arrives in the capital, but if we delay any longer, we will be going against His Majesty’s orders.”
"Therefore, in this old servant's opinion, the day for the execution should be the day before General Li returns to the capital. What do you think?"
Seeing Wei Zhongxian being so cautious, Luo Yangxing was overjoyed.
"Heh, this old eunuch, he probably doesn't even know that his little schemes have already been part of His Majesty's plan, does he?"
He nodded and said, "Alright, then I'll go and report to His Majesty right away!"
Seeing how happy he was, Wei Zhongxian sneered inwardly.
"I'll let you enjoy a few more good days. Once my plan succeeds, the first people I'll kill are you and Wang Chengen!"
The day Wei Zhongxian was first arrested, it was Luo Yangxing and Wang Chengen who were responsible.
When the two returned to report the good news to the emperor, they happened to run into Gao Qingyun, who had traveled through time.
Wei Zhongxian and Luo Yangxing exchanged a glance, then burst into laughter, each harboring their own ulterior motives.
However, inside the dark prison of Wei Zhongxian's mansion, a scene of utter desolation and misery prevailed.
"This is terrible, we're doomed!"
Many members of the Donglin Party sat there blankly, bearing numerous wounds.
"If we fall into Wei Zhongxian's hands, how can we possibly have a good ending?"
"That damned emperor has no sense of character! How could he hand us over to Wei Zhongxian?"
Some even said bitterly, "We shouldn't have let him fall into the water in the first place; we should have just sent someone to kill him!"
In the corner, Zhou Yanru felt utterly hopeless.
He was the first to be arrested and received the most severe punishment.
Although they entered the Party a few days earlier than the Donglin Party members.
But he had been tortured beyond recognition.
Hearing that the Donglin officials still had the mind to talk about these things, he sneered a few times and said in a weak voice, "It seems you're quite lucky!"
The Donglin officials were immediately enraged.
"Zhou Yanru, what do you mean by that?"
"That's right, we've all ended up like this, what are you still saying?"
Although for the past few months, they have all regarded Zhou Yanru as the nominal leader of the Donglin Party.
But at this point, they were too lazy to pretend anymore.
"Who do you think you are, Zhou Yanru? Huh?"
"We couldn't even defeat Wei Zhongxian, and he even dragged us into this dark prison."
"Yes, it's all Zhou Yanru's fault. He's the culprit!"
"Gentlemen, let's write a letter in blood to expose Zhou Yanru, this great traitor! I believe that His Majesty will know that we are innocent after seeing the letter!"
At this moment, they disregarded the fact that they had just been cursing Zhu Youjian and now wanted to ask for the emperor's forgiveness.
"By the way, how should this blood oath be written? It hurts a bit to bite my finger!"
Many people without physical wounds set their sights on ministers who had been tortured.
"Old Wang, we were born in the same year, can you lend me some blood?"
Before Old Wang could reply, the Donglin Party member reached out, pried open Old Wang's wound, and dug out the blood.
This prompted Old Wang to shout in anger, "You bastard, what are you doing?"
Many members of the Donglin Party also set their sights on Zhou Yanru, who was covered in wounds.
"We can take his blood!"
If this had happened in the past, Zhou Yanru would have been furious upon hearing these words.
But at that moment, he only gave a bitter smile.
"Looks like I was right, you guys are really lucky."
"You will soon be free."
Upon hearing this, the Donglin officials temporarily stopped what they were doing.
What do you mean by that?
Someone asked with a glimmer of hope, "Could it be that His Majesty will spare us?"
Zhou Yanru stared at the man's expression for a long while, then coughed up blood and laughed loudly:
"Hahaha, cough cough, how naive you are!"
"Having come this far, do you still think you can escape unscathed?"
"I'm telling you, the liberation I'm referring to is that you're about to die!"
"It's precisely because you're about to die that that old eunuch Wei Zhongxian is too lazy to torture you anymore!"
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