My eunuch godfather

Chapter 78 The Skills of the Embroidered Uniform Guard

In the early stages of his uprising, Emperor Hongwu (Zhu Yuanzhang) established the Capital Garrison Command (都镇抚司), which was responsible for the emperor's guards.

It established the Jinwu Imperial Guard Protectorate, which directly commanded the emperor's seventeen personal guards and also participated in the emperor's guard duties.

For various reasons, in the twenty-fourth year of the Zhizheng era.

Zhu Yuanzhang merged the latter into the Grand Military Commission, and no longer directly commanded the emperor's seventeen personal guards.

At the same time, the Capital Garrison Command was changed to the Garrison Command, which was then responsible for guarding the capital.

As for the emperor's guards, Zhu Yuanzhang successively established new units such as the Imperial Guard, the Gentleman's Guard, the Attendant Guard, and the Baduer Personal Guard.

Ultimately, it was merged into the Imperial Guard Commandery, which was later transformed into the Imperial Guard Commandery. The Ceremonial Guard Commandery was also merged into the Imperial Guard Commandery.

Nominally belonging to the Grand General's Office, they were actually directly commanded by Zhu Yuanzhang, serving as both imperial guards and the emperor's personal army.

In the thirteenth year of the Hongwu reign (1380), the Hu Weiyong case broke out.

Zhu Yuanzhang changed the Imperial Guard Commandery into the Embroidered Uniform Guard and the Flag Guard, with the latter being managed by the former.

The ten imperial guards, including the Jinwu, Yulin, Huben, and Fujun, were separated from the Grand General's Office and placed under its direct command once again.

Together with the Embroidered Uniform Guard and the Standard Guard, they formed the "Twelve Imperial Guards of the Upper Army" and split the Grand General's Office into the Five Military General's Offices.

It can be seen that the Embroidered Uniform Guard was Zhu Yuanzhang's most trusted bodyguard and personal guard, whose status was far above that of other personal guards.

......

The Zhenfu Division Prison of the Nanjing Imperial Guard.

The Zhenfu Division was responsible for the judicial affairs of its own garrison. Each garrison had its own Zhenfu Division and Zhenfu Officials; it was not only the Jinyiwei that had such a division.

Because the Censorate, which was responsible for handling cases involving officials, was completely wiped out in the Hu Weiyong case.

The Censorate, which replaced the Censorate, had not yet been established, nor had the Court of Judicial Review, and the Ministry of Justice was not responsible for cases involving officials.

Furthermore, Zhu Yuanzhang distrusted them, so the Zhenfu Division of the Embroidered Uniform Guard was put in charge of handling the Hu Weiyong case.

As I continued the investigation, I realized, "Hey, this knife is really useful!"

Zhu Yuanzhang then used the Embroidered Uniform Guard (Jinyiwei) as a weapon to try the Empty Seal Case, the Guo Huan Case, and the Lan Yu Case, resulting in a large number of executions.

It should be noted that the North and South Garrison Commands were established in the fourteenth year of the Chenghua reign (1449). Before that, each Garrison Command had two Garrison Commanders.

The Imperial Prison was separated from the Zhenfu Division Prison only in the fourteenth year of the Chenghua reign.

As a proud member of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, Zhang Kun is honored to visit the historically significant Nanjing Embroidered Uniform Guard Zhenfusi Prison today.

Remembering the events of the Hongwu era and carrying forward the culture of the Embroidered Uniform Guard; paying homage to the relics of major cases and remembering the spirit of the Embroidered Uniform Guard...

Unfortunately, the Nanjing Imperial Guards had long forgotten their mission and original aspirations, lost their beliefs and ideals, and degenerated into useless cowards who just loafed around waiting to die.

No matter, it is our duty to restore the former glory of the Nanjing Imperial Guards!

"See this spot where you're holding the prisoner down?"

Zhang Kun pointed to the center of his lower abdomen and instructed several officers of the Nanjing Imperial Guard: "Push it with your knee."

This is the bladder, and the prisoner has already been waterboarded several times. Forcibly pushing against a full bladder causes the prisoner excruciating pain.

Under stress, fear, and severe pain, the urethral sphincter will close tightly due to stress response, making it impossible to urinate.

The literal meaning of "bladder is about to burst" is unimaginable pain.

The prisoner began to struggle desperately, but his hands and feet were firmly bound to the torture chair, and he could not move.

"Put your knees back."

Feeling that the time was right, Zhang Kun instructed the garrison officers, "Remove his hemp balls."

Zhu Ruirou wanted to curse, but the pressure suddenly eased, causing him to lose control and instantly lose control of his bladder.

"Wow!"

Zhu Ruirou, whose hands were stained with the blood of more than a dozen people, burst into tears, like a child who had done something wrong.

His former dignity as the leader of Qi Zong was shattered.

"Is Master Zhu thirsty? Would you like some more water?"

When the crying subsided, Zhang Kun kicked the water vat beside his feet and smiled at Zhu Ruiruo.

"I...I...please...I'll do anything you want, I'll do anything!"

Zhu Ruirou's face turned pale, his lips trembled uncontrollably, and he begged Zhang Kun for mercy.

Things went surprisingly smoothly.

The guards and servants of the British Duke's mansion defeated Qi Zong's men, accomplices, and thugs at Shuixi Gate.

At Zhang Kun's suggestion, Xu Bengao imprisoned all the "treasonous traitors" he had captured in the Zhenfu Division prison of the Jinyiwei in Nanjing.

After interrogation and torture, it was discovered that the ringleader was Zhu Ruirou, the leader of the Qi clan, who had been deceived by a student named Chen Ding.

This student, instead of staying in his hometown of Changzhou to study, ran off to Nanjing and spent his days hanging out with members of the imperial family.

Suspicious, highly suspicious!

Among those arrested as "treasoners," many were armed and confessed to being henchmen of the notorious bandit Hu Wu.

Furthermore, many of them identified Chen Ding and Hu Wu as having a close relationship and frequently interacting.

Now, not only Chen Ding, but also Zhu Ruiyu, who was married to Chen Ding, has disappeared without a trace after the incident.

There's definitely something fishy going on here; it's more like a rebellion than a full-blown one.

Zhang Kun dispatched Zhou Zhong with troops to Wujin County, Changzhou, overnight to arrest Chen Ding's family.

On the other hand, through Xu Bengao and Zhang Zhiyuan, they negotiated with the nobles and officials in the capital.

The Shuixi Gate case should be classified as a rebellion by the male members of the Qi clan!

Most of the nobles and officials in the capital opposed this characterization:

It wasn't because of the male members of the Qi clan.

Few nobles and officials would have much to do with these scoundrels.

Even the infamous Earl of Chengyi, Liu Shiyan, was repeatedly fined, dismissed from his post, stripped of his title, and imprisoned until he died.

They won't mix with those rotten fish and shrimp.

It was because of Chen Ding.

Chen Ding, a student with lofty ambitions, had a wide circle of friends.

There were so many disillusioned officials and so many impoverished nobles in the capital.

It wasn't too difficult for Chen Ding to use money to pave the way and get to eat at the same table with civil officials of the fourth or fifth rank and military officials of the second or third rank who had no real power.

Who knew this guy was plotting a rebellion? I thought he was just a fool who didn't know anything and was giving away money recklessly.

If Xu Bengao and Zhang Kun were to actually commit a major rebellion...

At that time, Nanjing will not only be in chaos, but will also be engulfed in a bloodbath!

"My dear nephew,"

Under immense pressure, Xu Bengao personally went to the Zhenfusi prison of the Jinyiwei (Imperial Guard) in Nanjing and smiled as he advised Zhang Kunqian:

"Did we go a bit too far with this case? Maybe we should scale it back a bit?"

"Grand Commander, is this case serious? We haven't arrested a single official!"

Zhang Kun took the newly published tabloid from this morning, showed it to Xu Bengao, and asked with a smile:

"Zhang Sanjie, the chief clerk of the Yunnan Provincial Office of the Ministry of Revenue in Nanjing, the one from Shuixi Gate, died last night from his injuries at the clinic."

Killing a sixth-rank official in the street—it seems inappropriate to treat this case as a minor matter!

Xu Bengao glanced at the tabloid, sighed deeply, and lowered his voice to Zhang Kun:

"Nephew, give me a straight answer. How far are we going to take this case?"

"Grand Commander, in my opinion, we need to accomplish three things in this case."

Zhang Kun held up three fingers to Xu Bengao and explained them one by one:

"The first thing is for the Nanjing Jinyun to establish a firm foothold in Nanjing."

Even if we can't control places like Suzhou, Yangzhou, Songjiang, and Hangzhou, we must at least keep Nanjing under control!

The second thing is to restore some of the powers of the Nanjing Imperial Guard!

The Nanjing Imperial Guard and your standard battalion are interdependent and will be your greatest reliance in Nanjing!

The third thing was that a large sum of silver was collected from various Tamburi merchants.

With this money, you, Grand Commander, will gain the Emperor's trust, which is more effective than anything else!