Looking at the Qing army withdrawing from the battle outside the city, Ma Cheng wiped the white-haired sweat from his head. It was so dangerous just now that it would be a problem for the Qing army to rush in after a few minutes later.

Now, after more than a month of planning by Ma Cheng, the Dinghuai Gate Battle was finally successful. Although the number of Qing troops destroyed was not large, there were two thousand Zhen Captains among the more than 5,000 people, and the remaining one was the Liaodong Han military flag, which was no less than the Zhen Captains. This was a great achievement.

At the beginning of the night, the sound of cannons in Dinghuai Gate was rumbling. When dawn was about to start, Sanshan Gate continued to fire cannons, which made the whole city from the emperor to ordinary people scared all night.

It was dawn now, and Ma Cheng's battle ended. He also received continuous inquiries from the Ministry of War, the cabinet, and the palace. What exactly was wrong?

After receiving the emperor's imperial edict, Ma Cheng explained the matter at Sanshanmen and drove his personal soldiers to the palace. Now that the Qing army's problems have been solved, the next step is to deal with the anti-Ma small alliance in the city.

Emperor Zhu Lunkui was very depressed today. Originally, the Qing army had stopped attacking the city in the past few months, which slightly relieved Zhu Lunkui's nervousness. However, on the night of August 15th, the sound of cannons sounded at the same time. This made Zhu Lunkui panic. At the most critical moment, Zhu Lunkui was even ready to hang himself to the imperial city and sacrifice himself for his country.

However, as time went by, the sound of cannons gradually became smaller, and everything outside the imperial city was as usual, and there was no news of the Qing army entering the city. Zhu Lunkui breathed a sigh of relief when he heard the news of the Jinyiwei coming from the city. At this time, several cabinet masters from the cabinet also came and asked what was going on.

When Zhu Lunkui saw Ma Shiying coming, he quickly asked, "Aiqing Ma, what happened? Why did the artillery sound in North City and South City make loud noises?"

Ma Shiying shook her head and said, "Your Majesty, I don't know!"

After Ma Shiying finished speaking, he looked at Ruan Dacheng beside him. Ruan Dacheng was in charge of the Ministry of War. He thought he had any news, but he knew that Ruan Dacheng rolled his eyes and said, "I don't know, the Marquis of Guiyang did not write to the Ministry of War!"

Just when the king and his ministers were at a loss, the little eunuch outside the Qianqing Palace reported that the Marquis of Guiyang was here! Zhu Lunkui heard that Ma Cheng had come and quickly sent an order to meet him.

Ma Cheng, who received the order, walked into the Qianqing Palace Hall with blood and smoke on his face. In fact, Ma Cheng did not participate in the battle last night, and had been hiding at the city at Dinghuai Gate, and even more so at Sanshan Gate. The Qing army retreated without even attacking the city. However, in order to show his martial arts, Ma Cheng deliberately made bloody on his body before leaving, and even painted his face with ash on the bottom of the pot, making it look like he was brave enough to kill the enemy.

Ma Cheng walked into the hall, knelt down on his knees and shouted: "My Ma Cheng, long live my greetings to my emperor!"

When he saw Ma Cheng coming in, Zhu Lunkui said quickly: "My dear, please get up! What happened in the North City? Why did the cannon sound loudly?"

Ma Cheng stood up and said respectfully: "Your Majesty, last night, the Qing army outside the city colluded with some nobles who were dissatisfied with Your Majesty in the city, and intended to open the Dinghuai Gate and slaughter the Nandu. It was me who first showed the intention of these nobles and took their brains off first. Then I learned that they wanted to overthrow Your Majesty and intended to rebel. Then I am ambushed the Dinghuai Gate and Sanshan Gate, and wiped out all the Qing troops entering the city! This time I was protected by Emperor Taizu Gao, and the emperor's holy light shone everywhere. The soldiers under my command worked together to eliminate a total of five thousand true enemies.

!”

Zhu Lunkui and several cabinet ministers were shocked when they heard this. Qian Qianyi knew what Ma Cheng's virtue was, so he quickly stood up and said, "Ma Cheng, do you say that the nobles are treason, is there any evidence?"

Ma Cheng had already prepared the evidence, and took out the confessions of Chen Hongfan and Zhu Tong, as well as the records of the follow-up of the Military Information Department, and handed them over to Zhu Lunkui for review. However, these things were all added by Ma Cheng. In addition to Duke Baoguo and Duke Wei, there were only five or six nobles in the real rebellion. However, in order to expand the results of the war, Ma Cheng hinted that Chen Hongfan would participate, including all the twenty-five nobles in the city, and none of them ran away.

Zhu Lunkui was shocked when he heard this. Why did these nobles all oppose him? Zhu Lunkui didn't believe it at first, but after taking the confession, he believed it.

Ma Cheng made the confession very detailed. From what Chen Hongfan said when he first came into contact with Xu Wenjue, to conspiring with Zhu Guobi, more than 20 nobles in the city joined in blood and wanted to surrender the city for the alliance. Among them, there were numbers and details, Zhu Lunkui couldn't help but believe it.

When he saw Zhu Guobi in his confession that he had not been rewarded in the new emperor's ascension to the throne, he felt dissatisfied. Zhu Lunkui secretly scolded Zhu Guobi in his heart for not knowing how good it was. This time Zhu Lunkui was able to take office was entirely due to Ma Cheng. At the same time, Ma Cheng was also responsible for the guards of the whole city, so Zhu Lunkui naturally wanted to reward Ma Cheng and his son.

At the same time, these nobles did not make any contribution to Zhu Lunkui's advance, so they naturally could not give them official positions, but this does not mean that Zhu Lunkui forgot them. If the nobles and fellow practitioners of the Ming Dynasty were close to the emperor, these nobles were much closer than Ma Cheng. It was only now that Zhu Lunkui had asked for Ma Cheng, so he neglected the nobles.

If, according to the development of the matter, after Ma Cheng repelled the Qing army, it would be the time when Zhu Lunkui reused these nobles. After all, no emperor wanted the national military power to be in the hands of a general, so those nobles would become the best candidates for Ma Cheng's military power.

But unexpectedly, these nobles were all stupid and could not understand the emperor's intentions at all. If they couldn't eat meat, they would rebel. This would be impossible to blame Ma Cheng for taking ruthless measures against them.

After reading the confession, Zhu Lunkui handed it to several masters to read it. When he came to Qian Qianyi, Lao Qian immediately saw the trick. In order to crack down on dissidents, Ma Cheng included all the people who were incompatible with him.

In this confession, there are Xu Wenjue, Duke Baoguo Zhang Guobi, Duke Baoguo Zhang Gongri, Duke Longping Marquis Zhang Gongri, Duke Linhuai Li Zushu, Duke Huaining Marquis Sun Weicheng, Duke Lingbi Tang Guozuo, Duke Anyuan Marquis Liu Zuochang, Duke Yongchang Marquis Xu Hongjue, Duke Xiangcheng Marquis Chang Yingjun, Duke Xincheng Marquis Zhao Zhilong, Duke Daxing Marquis Zou Cunyi, Duke Ningjin Liu Yunji, Duke Nanhe Bo Fang Yiyuan, Duke Dongning Jiao Mengxiong, Duke Ancheng Marquis Zhang Guocai, Duke Luo Zhong Man Huang Jiuding, Duke Cheng An'an Guo Guo Yong, Duke Prince Qi Zanyuan, etc., such confessions are obvious at first glance.

As a cabinet master and in charge of the Ministry of Justice, Qian Qianyi naturally has to come forward to expose the ugly face of Ma Shiying and Ma Cheng’s father and son fighting against each other. Of course, in Qian Qianyi’s heart, this list must have been instructed by Ma Shiying and Ma Cheng.

"Your Majesty, this list of Guiyang Marquis is a bit too much. Is there no honorary minister in our dynasty who has been loyal to the country and His Majesty for more than 200 years? This list of ministers is doubtful. Please give your majesty the order to hand Chen Hongfan and Zhu Tong over to the Three Courts for trial!"

The three courts are the Ministry of Justice,

The general term for the Court and Dali Temple is similar to the joint handling of cases by the Ministry of Public Security, Discipline Inspection and the Court of Justice in later generations. It has always been a necessary procedure for the court to hear major and major cases. This rebellion involved so many nobles, especially the descendants of Xu Da, the first meritorious official of the State Council, so it is normal to hand it over to the Three Courts for trial.

When Ma Cheng heard that he was willing to do it, three-quarters of the twenty-five nobles were woven by Ma Cheng, just for their property. If the case was handed over to the Ministry of Justice and the Censorate under the control of the Donglin Party, Ma Cheng would probably end up being completely useless.

"Your Majesty, I think it must not be handed over to the Three Courts for trial! Because according to Chen Hongfan's confession, the cabinet minister Qian Qianyi and the Minister of Justice Xie Xuelong also participated in the rebellion, so I asked for an order to take down these two people!"

Ma Cheng said this completely temporary. When he was weaving the charges last night, Ma Cheng only thought of the noble property and forgot his political enemy Qian Qianyi. Now he only remembered when he saw Qian Qianyi. However, Qian Qianyi was not a difficult task, just go back and whip Chen Hongfan.

Qian Qianyi didn't expect Ma Cheng to be so shameless, and there was a temporary addition. Qian Qianyi said angrily: "Ma Cheng, I am confident that I can be worthy of Your Majesty, and you can't frame him!"

Zhu Lunkui had a headache when he saw Qian Qianyi and Ma Cheng quarrel. He looked at Ma Shiying who was standing aside and silently. Zhu Lunkui asked, "Ma Aiqing, you are the assistant, what should you do about this?"

Ma Cheng was happy to hear Zhu Lunkui say this. Of course, I could look to him. Then he knew that Ma Shiying stood up and said, "Your Majesty, I think that although Qian Qianyi is a pedantic and not capable, he will never betray Your Majesty and do such a thing that both human and gods are angry! So I don't believe what Ma Cheng said!"

As soon as Ma Shiying said this, everyone's eyes fell all over the floor in the hall. Qian Qianyi did not expect Ma Shiying to speak good things for him, and Ma Cheng did not expect Ma Shiying to help his political enemies. Only Ruan Dacheng, who was stunned and immediately understood what Ma Shiying meant, so he smiled but didn't say anything.

When Emperor Zhu Lunkui saw Ma Shiying say this, he nodded and asked, "You are right, so how should you deal with this matter?" Zhu Lunkui didn't believe that Qian Qianyi could be involved in this rebellion case, after all, Ma Cheng's deliberate frame-up traces were too heavy.

"Your Majesty, the case of the rebellion of these twenty-five ministers is unquestionable. Some people have evidence of physical evidence and five thousand heads of the Beilu as evidence. Therefore, the case of rebellion of these twenty-five nobles has become an ironclad case! I think it is not necessary to go through the three judicial departments to handle the extraordinary period and deal with these rebellions seriously!"

Ma Shiying was right. Zhu Guobi and his friends colluded with the Qing army to offer the city. Now the Qing Dynasty besieged requires the whole city to unite. If the emperor handed over this case to the Three Laws, it would inevitably lead to the lack of confidence in the city guards.

At the same time, there is the most important point that Ma Shiying did not explicitly say that these rebellious nobles made up their minds to oppose you, Zhu Lunkui. If you don’t take any ruthless measures to deal with these two and five boys at this time, what prestige will you have in the future, as the emperor?
Chapter completed!