nycdaug Chapter 539
Chapter 539
"My lord, I was wrong. I am willing to donate all my family property to the imperial court."
"Zhou Chu, you will die a horrible death!"
"Innocent! Innocent!"
.......
When the Shanxi merchants in Taiyuan received the news, their first thought was to flee, but Zhou Chu had already made arrangements. He had his own men guarding the four city gates of Taiyuan, and anyone who tried to sneak away was intercepted.
Yun Jin led the Xuanwu Army to capture all the Shanxi merchants. When they saw Zhou Chu, some wept bitterly, some cursed him, and others shouted that they were wronged. Their reactions were varied.
The Zhou and Chu states could decide the fate of these Shanxi merchants directly; basically, all of them would be executed along with their entire families.
Those who were cursing and swearing understood that the tide had turned and that whether they cursed or not would not affect the outcome.
If Zhou Chu gave him a way out, he would kneel down faster than anyone else.
"Sir, the search of the house is over. Here is the list of the property."
Sun Wanfu jogged up to Zhou Chu. He was extremely nervous, wondering how the commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard would deal with him. Therefore, he had strictly ordered his men to be discreet during the raid.
Of course, Zhou Chu did not completely trust Sun Wanfu. When the house was searched, he sent people from the Xuanwu Army to keep an eye on it, and all the Jinyiwei guards who entered and left had to be searched.
Nearly twenty Shanxi merchants were confiscated and their families exterminated. The amount of money confiscated from each family, including silver and copper coins, was close to five million taels, not to mention countless other valuables.
If all the confiscated money were converted into silver, it would amount to about one hundred million taels, which on the surface is far less than that of the merchants in Jiangnan.
But for Zhou Chu and the imperial court, the most valuable things were not these, but these coal mines in Shanxi.
Whether it's the coal mines in Taiyuan or Datong, they are now basically under Zhou Chu's control.
Although the presence of silver mines near Xuzhou would significantly impact Shanxi's coal mines, this impact would only be temporary. Transporting Shanxi coal to the capital would be very expensive, but Zhou Chu knew that this situation would completely change once the steam engine and trains were developed.
By then, the transportation costs of coal will be greatly reduced.
During the Little Ice Age in the Ming Dynasty, the demand for coal was extremely high. For ordinary people, the more coal they had, the better, and the cheaper it was, the better.
The coal mines in Taiyuan and Datong are just the first step. Next, Zhou Chu will bring coal mines in other parts of Shanxi under the control of the imperial court. Of course, Zhou Chu will still have to handle how these coal mines are operated himself. Otherwise, he would not feel at ease handing them over to other officials.
To express their gratitude to the Emperor, the Prince of Jin's Mansion also handed over five million taels of silver. Zhou Chu estimated that this was basically most of the Prince of Jin's Mansion's current assets. This money was intended to protect the Prince of Jin's Mansion and to secure a future for the Prince of Jin's heir, Zhu Qiyuan.
In a few years, the Prince of Jin's Mansion, like the Prince of Dai's Mansion before it, will petition the court to restore Zhu Qiyuan's right to inherit the title of Prince of Jin. At that time, Zhu Zhiyang will also regain a certain status.
Of course, he can forget about regaining his status as the Prince of Jin; at best, he can only live the life of a wealthy man.
"I hope Lord Zhou will put in a good word for my Prince Jin's Mansion before His Majesty."
The current mistress of the Prince of Jin's mansion, Wang, the Prince of Jin's birth mother, handed a stack of silver notes to Zhou Chu, her face full of sadness.
"Don't worry, Madam, I know what to say."
Zhou Chu put the silver notes away.
Why not take this money? It won't do you any harm; in fact, it will bring you benefits.
Upon hearing this, Wang immediately smiled.
"Then I'll have to trouble you, Lord Zhou."
After leaving the Prince of Jin's residence, Zhou Chu arrived at the Embroidered Uniform Guard headquarters in Taiyuan and sat in the main seat.
"Sun Wanfu, effective immediately, you are being transferred from Taiyuan to Datong, demoted to the rank of strongman, and placed under Yu Hai's command. Do you have any objections?"
Zhou Chu looked down at Sun Wanfu, his face expressionless.
Upon hearing this, Sun Wanfu immediately knelt down in front of Zhou Chu.
"Thank you, sir, for sparing my life. I am already content."
As Sun Wanfu spoke, he kept kowtowing.
The reason Zhou Chu didn't kill Sun Wanfu was because he had obtained all the confessions from those people two days ago without holding anything back. In addition, Sun Wanfu hadn't been blinded by greed while eating lard at the restaurant and hadn't tried to frame him or the Prince of Jin.
If Sun Wanfu had even the slightest thought of that at the time, he would have been doomed long ago.
To put it bluntly, Sun Wanfu was trying to gain some benefits from the Jin Prince's Mansion and those Shanxi merchants. His stance was a bit skewed. Knowing that the Commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard had come to Taiyuan, he didn't come to pay his respects immediately, but instead obeyed the orders of the Jin Prince's Mansion.
This was something that neither Zhou Chu nor the emperor could tolerate. The Embroidered Uniform Guard had always been the emperor's personal guard, and they should have understood their position no matter where they were.
Sun Wanfu's political career was now over, but compared to those Shanxi merchants, his fate was much better; at least he retained his position in the Embroidered Uniform Guard.
"The new commanders will be transferred from the capital; you just need to wait."
Zhou Chu looked at the other centurions of the Embroidered Uniform Guard and said.
Zhou Chu didn't trust any of the Jinyiwei centurions in Taiyuan. As the saying goes, if the upper beam is crooked, the lower beam will be crooked too. These people all had some problems, but Zhou Chu didn't need to deal with them. How to deal with them was up to the newly arrived chiliarch.
The prefect of Taiyuan also did not escape Zhou Chu's investigation. In fact, Zhou Chu had already obtained enough evidence before coming to Taiyuan. However, the most evidence he had at that time was about the prefect of Taiyuan. As for other officials of all ranks in Taiyuan, Zhou Chu did not have enough evidence, or rather, the evidence was scattered.
This is quite normal, since those arrested at the time were mostly small-time figures, and even if they knew, they couldn't possibly know too many details.
Yang Zhen, the prefect of Taiyuan, was in prison at the moment. Looking at Zhou Chu in front of him, Yang Zhen trembled all over.
There was no other way; the interrogation methods of the Embroidered Uniform Guard officers were simply too formidable.
Generally speaking, high-ranking officials are exempt from punishment, but this rule does not apply to the Embroidered Uniform Guard. Moreover, Zhou Chu, the commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, is here at this time. Let alone a mere prefect of Taiyuan, any official below the second rank in the court would have to obediently accept punishment here.
“Lord Yang, there’s no need to insist. All those Shanxi merchants have been rounded up by me. There’s no point in you insisting. As long as you tell enough, your crimes will be mitigated accordingly. For example, your family members can be spared from being implicated.”
Zhou Chu looked at Yang Zhen in front of him and said calmly.
Upon hearing this, hope instantly ignited in Yang Zhen's eyes.
The reason he kept quiet was not out of loyalty or anything else; he was simply waiting for Zhou Chu to come to him and offer him sufficient benefits.
He knew very well that he had little hope; he would either be beheaded or exiled. But he wanted to fight for a chance of survival for his family.
Hearing this, Yang Zhen no longer had any worries.
"With Lord Zhou's words, I am relieved and will tell you everything."
Yang Shen said weakly.
"remember."
Zhou Chu looked at the Imperial Guard in charge of taking interrogation notes and said.