Chapter 130: Death of Zhu Guobi 2
At the Nanjing Governor's Mansion, Zhao Xiaokun was meeting with a guest. The visitors were none other than Zhu Guobi and Ma Shiying. Although Zhu Guobi looked down on this young, second-rank governor, he had saved the Empress Dowager and the Emperor when the city fell, and had also contributed to their enthronement. Such merit deserved no less than a reward. Furthermore, he was a member of the imperial family, so they had no choice but to bow down.
Zhu Guobi said, "Lord Zhao, this is a small token of our appreciation. We hope that Lord Kenan will speak well of you in front of the Emperor!"
"Mr. Zhu, you're too polite. Aren't these a bit too much?" Zhao Xiaokun said as he looked at the gift list.
"Lord Zhao and his family have made such great contributions to the country. What does this mean? It's not respect!" said Zhu Guobi.
"Sir Zhao! These are a few beauties that I selected from the people. I wonder if they are pleasing to you, Sir?" Ma Shiying said.
Zhao Xiaokun thought to himself, "You two old men, with all the money and the beautiful women, you must have some agenda." So, Zhao Xiaokun said directly, "My Lords, I like to be direct with everything. Just ask for anything, and I'll definitely agree to it if I can. If I can't, I'll tell you directly!" Zhao Xiaokun and Zhao Xiaofei hated the way the ancients used euphemisms, leaving you guessing. What time is it now? I don't have the time to waste on you!
Zhu Guobi and Ma Shiying looked at each other and felt that the Zhao brothers were indeed different from the native Chinese like them. They were not subtle at all! They were even more contemptuous in their hearts!
Zhu Guobi said: "The new emperor has ascended the throne, and there are too few Donglin people in the court. I hope the court can make more use of Donglin people!"
Zhao Xiaokun looked at the two of them and asked Ma Shiying, "Is this what you two meant?"
"Yes! We Donglin people have worked hard for the Ming Dynasty. During the Tianqi Dynasty, many people of noble character and lofty ideals were slaughtered by Wei eunuchs, which led to the decline of Donglin people. We still hope that Donglin gentlemen can serve the Ming Dynasty more and spread our Donglin's ideas of serving the country and the people." Ma Shiying said.
Zhao Xiaokun thought to himself: "Serving the country and the people? You resisted commercial taxes and levied heavy taxes on the peasants. Is this how you serve the country and the people? Emperor Chongzhen hanged himself because he believed your lies."
But Ma Shiying could still give him a chance to live. Aren't you the governor of Fengyang Military Affairs? You should stay in Fengyang! Unless you are seeking death! As for Zhu Guobi, you are now secretly intercepting the silver that was intended to be sent to the capital. Now you are secretly recruiting soldiers. What do you want to do?
Zhao Xiaokun said, "Sir Ma, I will talk to the ministers in the cabinet and try to get you a better position. But Master Zhu, I heard a few days ago that you secretly intercepted more than 100,000 taels of silver that was sent to the capital. Is this true?"
Ma Shiying was delighted to hear this, as he could continue his promotion. However, Zhu Guobi was somewhat uneasy. He had secretly intercepted the treasury silver. He had originally intended to use the silver to support a prince as the new emperor if chaos arose. By then, he would have both troops and money, and he would have full power in the court. However, no one had expected that Prince Ding would successfully escape and even proclaim himself emperor in Tianjin. Now, his actions, if taken seriously, could be tantamount to treason.
"Admiral Zhao, when I heard that something happened in the capital, I thought of intercepting the tax money and recruiting soldiers to go to the capital to defend the king!" Zhu Guobi said.
"Now that the new emperor has ascended the throne, it is still Zhu Shaobao's responsibility to worry about the manpower. According to the court regulations, you should not have more than 30,000 people under your command! Zhu Shaobao, please dismiss the extra troops. Otherwise, if the court investigates it, it may be disadvantageous to Zhu Shaobao!" said Zhao Xiaokun.
"Commander Zhao! How can we disperse those 70,000 or 80,000 troops? Now is the time for the court to mobilize troops. I hope you can speak a few good words to the court!" Zhu Guobi said. Zhu Guobi thought to himself: You want me to disband my troops! Without troops, who will take me, Zhu Guobi, seriously?
Zhao Xiaokun thought: What? You don't want to hand over the military power, it seems that you can't keep it! He smiled and said: "In this case, how about Zhu Shaobao handing over the troops to me to command?"
"Admiral Zhao, this..." Zhu Guobi didn't know what to say.
Seeing Zhu Guobi's embarrassment, Ma Shiying intervened, saying, "Commander Zhao, we need money to disband these troops. I hope the court can give us more time."
"Alright! Lord Zhu, please dismiss the extra troops as soon as possible!" Zhao Xiaokun said. It seems that no one is willing to give up the military power!
"Thank you, Admiral Zhao! We'll take our leave now if nothing else!" said Zhu Guobi.
"Then I'll see you two off!" said Zhao Xiaokun.
"No, no! Admiral Zhao, please stay!" said Ma Shiying.
"Then I won't see you off! Goodbye, both of you!" Zhao Xiaokun was too lazy to see these two off!
After the two left the Governor's Mansion, Zhu Guobi's face immediately fell. They went to a restaurant. Zhu Guobi said, "Who does Zhao think he is to try to seize my military power?"
"Sir Zhu, it's better to be patient! I think we can dismiss some of the troops first, just to make it look like something!" Ma Shiying said.
"What are they doing? Aren't they afraid of the bandits coming south? Without soldiers, are they just waiting for the city to fall? I think the Zhao brothers want to monopolize power. We can't just keep on giving in! We need to let the Zhao brothers know our strength!" said Zhu Guobi.
"Master Zhu, what are you going to do?" Ma Shiying asked.
"I want to unite Gao Jie, Liu Zeqing, Zuo Liangyu and others, and we will put pressure on the court! Brother Yaocao, what do you think?" Zhu Guobi said.
"Isn't this inappropriate? You want to resort to military remonstration!" Ma Shiying really didn't expect this.
"Take this opportunity to bring down the Zhao brothers. Let the Donglin people take power. We can't let these villains who are just flattering the superiors take power!" Zhu Guobi said.
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