Zhao Peng kept chatting with Princess Kunxing in the palace until dinner time. The two went to the imperial garden together to have dinner with Zhu Cixuan. During this period, Zhao Peng and Zhu Cixuan discussed the matter about purchasing war horses.

Finally, it was decided that Chen Zilong, who had been on a mission to Sichuan, would go to Sichuan again to discuss with Zhang Xianzhong. On the other hand, Zhao Peng's Jinyiwei sent him to find Li Zicheng.

After dinner, Zhao Peng said goodbye to Zhu Cilang and got up and went home. Princess Kunxing kept sending him to the palace gate, and the two of them said reluctantly.

"Zhao Lang, come early tomorrow. I am waiting for you in Rouyi Hall. Come to the palace first, and then go to discuss matters with the emperor brother." Princess Kunxing said, pulling Zhao Peng's arm.

When they returned home, Wu Xiaomei and Zuo Xianmei, who had been seeing each other for three months, surrounded them from left to right. The two girls sandwiched Zhao Peng in the middle. They asked about their long and short questions, and asked if he had fallen in love with any girl again.

After a while, Wu Xiaomei remembered an important thing to say: "Zhao Peng, Miss Xiangjun and Miss Yuanyuan have been here several times, and it is Mr. Hou's business."

Zuo Xianmei also said, "Yes, after all, Miss Wu is a good friend of Miss Yuanyuan, and Miss Xiangjun is my good friend. If we don't help, it's probably unreasonable."

Hearing Hou Fangyu's name, Zhao Peng snorted: "Treasoning the country and surrendering to the enemy, if you are punished, you should be executed by Lingchi and killing the nine clans. It is already a blessing from outside the law. Do you still want to save him?"

The execution of the prison is equivalent to the death penalty in later generations. However, in ancient times, the probation of the death penalty was basically determined, but it was just that you could live for a longer period of time, maybe one or two more years, or several years. For example, Wang Huazhen was sentenced to the execution of the prison in the fifth year of Tianqi, and it was not until the fifth year of Chongzhen that he was executed, and he lived for seven more years.

During these seven years, Wang Huazhen's family spent money every year to manage. If Chongzhen hadn't remembered that Wang Huazhen was protected by Wei Zhongxian, so he decided to kill him, this guy would have been released from prison alive.

Hou Fangyu was sentenced to beheading the prison guard, and he was already lenient. He still wanted to survive, but he had no money to manage his family property. All his property was copied by the Jinyiwei. Where can he still manage his money? It can be said that he is dead.

Zuo Xianmei sighed: "Hou Fangyu deserves to die. His crime is enough to kill him ten thousand times. But Miss Xiangjun is innocent. Miss Xiangjun said, "If Mr. Hou cannot live, she will go with her. Zhao Lang, do you have the heart to watch Miss Xiangjun commit suicide and commit suicide?"

Although Zhao Peng only loves the daughter of the general and has no interest in Qinhuai Bayan, he still couldn't bear to hear the news of Li Xiangjun's death. So he thought for a moment and said, "Since that's the case, I have a way to make Your Majesty not kill him, and to be castrated, and then sent to Qiongzhou to serve hard labor. This is his only way to survive."

"Oh!" Wu Xiaomei sighed, "Empressing Mr. Hou is cruel to Miss Xiangjun, but this is the only way. Only in this way can Miss Xiangjun survive."

"That's good. As long as Miss Xiangjun can survive, even if she becomes a monk or a nun, she will still be alive and will have a chance to see people in the future." Zuo Xianmei nodded and said.

For Hou Fangyu, he was sentenced to castration, which was actually worse than death. A romantic young man turned into a father-in-law and threw him to the Qiongzhou iron mine to serve hard labor, which was even more uncomfortable than killing him. But for Li Xiangjun, as long as Hou Fangyu was still alive, she would not commit suicide, even if she became a monk and a nun, she was still alive.

The next morning, Zhao Peng, who had not attended the morning court for more than a year, had arrived at the palace gate early to wait for the court.

Today's court meeting was mainly about major cases. The two kings of Gui and Lu were plotting rebellion. Zhu Changqing and Zhu Youlang had already handed over to the clan's house for trial. Neither the Jinyiwei, the Dali Temple, or the Ministry of Justice, they had no right to deal with the case of the royal family's crimes. Zhu Cixuan could not bear to kill two of his own relatives, so he was sentenced to deprived of the king's title, demoted to common people, and sent to Qiongzhou to manage the iron ore.

However, such a big case did not pass so simply. The case of King Gui and King Lu's conspiracy actually had a certain connection with the case of Zuo Menggeng's treason. Before the rebellion, the two kings had sent letters to Zuo Menggeng and conspired to rebel together. Who knew that later Zuo Menggeng found that his strength was not as good as the court, so he abandoned the two kings and chose to surrender to the Qing Dynasty.

Therefore, the rebellion case of King Gui and King Lu and the treason case of Zuo Menggeng belongs to the same major case, and there are too many people involved, and almost all the gentry of Huguang and Guangdong and Guangxi were involved.

When Zhao Peng left Guangdong and returned to Nanjing, he had already dispersed the Jinyiwei everywhere. For several months, the Jinyiwei took the Xin army to arrest people everywhere in Huguang, Guangdong and other places. Even if there was a little involved, the Jinyiwei rushed into the house and confiscated the house and arrested people.

Over the past three months, the Jinyiwei has almost wiped out the gentry of Huguang. Eighty percent of Huguang's land fell into the hands of the Jinyiwei and turned into the land of the Ming Dynasty Royal Family. The original tenants on these lands have become tenants of the Ming Dynasty Imperial Village.

The Donglin Party not only did not have any objection to the Jinyiwei's removal of the gentry of Huguang, but instead applauded. Because the Ming Dynasty Royal Family purchased grain from Huguang and shipped it to Jiangnan for sale; the business of transporting textiles from Jiangnan to Huguang for sale was packaged and sent it to Donglin Party. The Huguang Gentlemen fell as a class, and the Ming Dynasty Royal Family and the Donglin Party rushed forward, divided up their bodies and made a fortune. This is what Zhao Peng said to the Donglin Party, and the royal family and the people benefited each other.

Since it is profitable, the Donglin Party will not care about the life and death of the gentry of Huguang. It will be better if they are done. Let the grass people go away and reach in and grab all the interests that originally belonged to the gentry of Huguang.

In fact, for Zhao Peng, eliminating the Huguang gentry is actually a great thing, because the Huguang gentry can be said to be the landlord class, and the Donglin Party is a little different. The Donglin Party is not only the landlord class in Jiangnan, but also the Jiangnan industrial and commercial masters. The Donglin Party not only represents the interests of the Jiangnan landlord class, but also represents the interests of the emerging Jiangnan industrial and commercial bourgeoisie.

Moreover, even the landlord class in Jiangnan can induce them to change, from the landlord class to the farmer and transform tenant farmers into agricultural workers. This is the progress of the times.

However, the relatively conservative gentry of Huguang is a simple landlord class, which is difficult for them to transform and is not willing to transform into the emerging bourgeoisie. They would rather rent land for peasants to plant and lie at home to collect rent than use their brains to develop industry and commerce. For these Huguang landlord class, which rely on landlords who have no contribution to human discovery and have no tax exemption, can only be completely defeated.

After listening to the report from Zhao Peng, Jinyiwei, as well as Dali Temple, the Ministry of Justice, and the Ministry of Revenue on Huguang, Zhu Cilang, who was sitting on the dragon throne, turned to look at Zhao Peng and slowly opened up: "Zhao Aiqing, Zuo Menggeng surrendered to the enemy and treason, and he should destroy the nine clans according to his crimes. However, Zuo Liangyu is dead, and Zuo Menggeng fled to the north again. I heard that he has a sister named Zuo Xianmei. In terms of crimes, Zuo Xianmei should be the Jiaofangsi. However, since she has surrendered to my Ming Dynasty King's Army and is willing to work for Jinyiwei, I pardoned Zuo Xianmei's crime."

"Thank you Your Majesty!" Zhao Peng knelt on the ground and saluted, "I have thanked Your Majesty on behalf of Miss Zuo!"

If you really get serious, not only Zuo Xianmei will be included in the Jiaofangsi, but even Wu Xiaomei will be included in the Jiaofangsi, because Wu Sangui is now a rebel general.

At this moment, Qian Qianyi suddenly reported: "Your Majesty, although Hou Fangyu is extremely guilty, he is the loyal and good Hou Xun of the court. I hope Your Majesty can give up his grace outside the law and save Hou Fangyu from his death penalty."

"I'm going to discuss it!" Several censors also walked behind Qian Qianyi and knelt on the ground.
Chapter completed!