Yang Weiyuan, the right servant of the imperial history, shouted and scolded: "You Donglin get out, tell me, why do you put the basin on the heads of us people?" Despicable and despicable, it is simply a loss of conscience! ”

Wei Bao almost didn't faint, is this still a senior official of the fourth grade who should be sold? This whole ruffian is a scoundrel.

You are also a person who was born as a jinshi and has been in officialdom for decades.

Moreover, you scolded like this, as if you were afraid that others would not know that you were a eunuch?

Several other high-ranking eunuch officials were not far behind.

Wang Dewan, who is also the fourth grade, continued Yang Weiyuan's words and said: "When will the people of Donglin have to face up? has always been good at using tricks behind the scenes! You see, except for a few hardcore Donglin Party, they are not high, and they have brought everyone up, this is to wipe out all the people except the hardcore Donglin Party! It's good that a few of them have the final say, how vicious does this have to be to do it? ”

A group of people nodded in favor and cursed the Donglin Party.

Wei Bao secretly admired his hand, although he was not very clever, it was just a very simple divisive strategy, but it worked very well, and at once he separated several hardcore Donglin Party with all the Donglin Party who were inclined to the Donglin Party, not very hardcore Donglin Party, as well as the people who were inclined to the Donglin Party in the neutral faction, and the neutral faction was not inclined to the Donglin Party in the first place, but there were no enemies with the Donglin Party, all of them were stripped away, and everyone hated the Donglin Party together.

Although the means are not very clever, Wei Bao found a very accurate point of attack, which happened to hit the key points of the Donglin Party and hit the lifeline of the Donglin Party.

The eunuch party has not had many ways to take advantage of the Donglin Party, mainly because the biggest advantage of the Donglin Party is the numerical superiority, the large number of soldiers, the large mass base, and the relatively united.

Now that Wei Bao is so messed up, he has a posture of betraying his relatives.

Originally, many officials were either interested in the Donglin Party, or they were already members of the Donglin Party, but they did not reach the point of charging into battle.

Now although these people suspect in their hearts that this matter is very likely not to be done by Yang Lian and a few of them, but was framed by the eunuch party, they also have to say bad things about the Donglin party.

Why? Because since this matter has come out, it will definitely not be simply passed, and if you don't fight back, it is tantamount to acquiescence, who wants to bear the charge?

Now it is not a question of which side to stand on, but a question of whether or not to admit the charge, no matter who sues him, no matter what he sues, he will never admit it!

Even Li Limin, who is timid and afraid of things, and does a little bit of specific things every day, and no one dares to offend him, is saying bad things about the Donglin Party: "Zhente Niang's lack of morality, everyone knows what I am Li Limin, right?" I've never offended anyone, I've been cautious as an official all my life, let alone offending people, I don't even dare to offend an ant. But I didn't expect that even I would be sued! Isn't that out of nowhere? ”

Li Limin made friends with a lot of people, and everyone comforted Li Limin, and at the same time cursed the Donglin Party even harder.

Wei Bao smiled slightly, and kept standing silent, not intending to get involved.

Wei Bao just intends to be a behind-the-scenes driver quietly.

"Master Wei, you didn't stay in the prison today? Do you know? They've sued you, too! In the midst of everyone's scolding, Li Limin saw Wei Bao and came over to Wei Bao.

Wei Bao secretly laughed, I haven't been to the prison for many days, you only found out today? guessed that these days, Li Limin should not have been to the prison, and it is estimated that Li Limin has not been to the prison since he broke through Rong Zhengyu with him and arrested Yang Xue that day.

"Why don't you take it seriously? Master Wei, don't think it's fun, this kind of real-name report, and reported from Dongchang, will be directly stabbed to the sky! Everybody's going to be investigated. Li Limin saw that Wei Bao didn't seem to be too worried, and his tone increased.

Wei Bao said lightly: "Master Li, what's the matter with me?" I've only been here for a few days to watch politics, and I haven't had a single bird incident, and I haven't been involved in any cases, so what can you sue me? ”

"Sue you what? You can sue you for anything, just take the salary and don't work, and you can go home alone. Li Limin bowed his head and said.

Wei Bao smiled, it is estimated that Li Limin should be the same as himself, and he was accused of sloppy neglect of government, "Lord Li, relax." Alas, by the way, I heard that Lord Yang's daughter sued? Did she go to the East Factory in person? How is she now? ”

Li Limin knew that Wei Bao was the same as himself, and he knew a little bit of the details, so he pulled Wei Bao aside mysteriously, and said softly: "You are still so loud? Then Miss Yang heard that she had gone home! Although she didn't go to the Dongchang in person, she threw the confession at the door of the Dongchang Yamen, what is the difference between this and what she personally sued? ’

Wei Bao nodded secretly, and said in his heart that your old boy is pretending to be true, you must be able to guess that Rong Zhengyu is a ghost, and what are you pretending to be so angry? "Master Li, I don't think this thing was done by the Yang girl, right? It shouldn't have been done by Lord Yang Lian, it is estimated that he was framed by someone with a heart, what do you say? ”

When Li Limin heard this, he glared at Wei Bao, looking very anxious, and couldn't wait to cover Wei Bao's mouth with both hands, "God knows this matter, you know that I know Lord Rong knows, you must not mention it again!" How do the people above them play, it's not our turn to think, and it's not our turn to mix! Got it? Anyway, the confession is that the girl of the Yang family sued everyone! This is something that is spread out on the surface, you have to look at the surface, don't be smart to delve into the truth under the table. ”

Wei Bao nodded, secretly thinking that Lao Li was not stupid, but just pretending to be stupid. "Master Li, I have a question, I can only talk to you alone, if you feel unwilling to talk, you can ignore me."

Li Limin guessed what Wei Bao probably wanted to ask, was stunned, and sighed: "Let's talk about it, you young people are young people, and you can't hide things in your stomach." ”

"My question is, since it wasn't the Yang family girl and Lord Yang Lian who wanted to sue such people, and now that the Yang family girl has returned home, then she must know that someone is using her as a knife, and she doesn't know how to stand up and explain everything?" Wei Bao asked.

In fact, Wei Bao asked this deliberately, all the plans were planned by himself, how could he not know why?

If Yang Xue is not sent home and sued in Yang Xue's name, and then Yang Xue disappears again, it must be that there is no evidence, there is only a confession, there is no plaintiff, and the case will not be completed.

At least in the short term, if the case is not completed, even if it is to be investigated, it must be determined that it is Yang Xue's signature, and even if Yang Xue is dead, it must be confirmed that Yang Xue is dead.

But Yang Xue was put home, the situation was different, and when the lawsuit had already been filed, Yang Xue withdrew the lawsuit, which can only show that the Yang family is empty-hearted! And it is a false accusation, falsely accusing so many court officials, court officials, and the Metropolitan Procuratorate and Dali Temple are the highest judicial yamen of the Ming Dynasty, which is already an earth-shattering case, where can it be withdrawn?

Even if Yang Lian spared his daughter's life and withdrew, he and several other hardcore officials of the Donglin Party who were not on the confession would not be able to get out of it, and they would definitely be caught!

Therefore, only when Yang Xue goes home can this case be confirmed, and Yang Lian and several hardcore Donglin Party officials can be stabbed to the tip of the knife, completely making them the opposite of everyone!

"Hi. Master Wei, you are still too young, you have just entered the officialdom, and there are still many things to learn. Li Limin pointed at Wei Bao softly: "Don't you understand this?" Is this kind of thing clear? What kind of yamen is Dongchang? Can you sue if you want to, and don't sue if you don't want to? Since someone has the intention to make this matter bigger, Dongchang has already filed for the record, and it is too late to withdraw the lawsuit. ”

Wei Bao nodded, Li Limin could say to himself in such detail, he must not have doubted himself, and asked softly: "Then you say, what should we do now?" What is there to tell people like me who have only been in the career for a few days? It's a false accusation. ”

"Yes, you just bite this one, no matter what others accuse you, you have to fight back, and you can't admit it if you die! Now find more friends to testify to you, to prove that you were in the Hanlin Academy, and later in the Metropolitan Procuratorate, you have done things and have not neglected your government. You know? Li Limin kindly instructed.

Wei Bao smiled slightly: "Thank you Lord Li for reminding me, but I have a friend of yours in the Metropolitan Procuratorate, and it is okay to say in the Hanlin Academy, I can find a few friends to testify for me." ”

Li Limin patted Wei Bao on the shoulder: "Cheng, I know, don't worry, if anyone asks about me, I will definitely testify to you, saying that you have been diligent in politics since you came to the Metropolitan Procuratorate, and you have never been lazy." ”

Wei Bao said gratefully: "Thank you, Lord Li, if someone asks about me, I will definitely say that Lord Li is diligent in official duties, and he is really a model for my generation." ”

Li Limin smiled, very satisfied with Wei Bao's attitude, "Don't worry, our foundations are clean, nothing serious." I guess they probably just want us to bring down Donglin together, and let's just wave the flag and cheer for it. This time they are very smart, this move is strangely ruthless! It is estimated that it is enough for Lord Yang to drink a pot. ”

Wei Bao knew that Li Limin was referring to a group of people from the Wei family, but he didn't dare to say it clearly, nodded yes, and agreed with Li Limin's vague guess.

"These things we know, don't tell anyone, if you don't say it, the two of us will definitely be fine this time, if you talk nonsense, there must be something! Do you understand? Li Limin instructed uneasily.

Wei Bao smiled: "Don't worry, I will never say what we saw in the prison that day!" I'm afraid that the jailers won't keep their mouths open. ”

"You can put a hundred hearts at this, the jailer, the cell leader, they are all people who have been in prison for a lifetime, for generations, and their mouths are the strictest, since Lord Rong has threatened them, they will never dare to say it." Li Limin said.

Wei Bao snorted, and asked in a very small white voice: "Master Li, then you say, they won't kill the two of us, right?" After all, we know a little bit. ”

Li Limin snorted, didn't hold back, almost burst out laughing, pouted with his fist, coughed several times, and calmed down a little.

"Master Wei, are you supposed to be singing a big opera? Kill people at every turn? This is the capital, fighting back and forth, you can't escape a single word, it's not so easy to kill, and besides, how many things will happen if you kill a person? You'll have to kill more people to cover it up! Don't say that your Wei family has a big business, you have a big house in the capital, and you have a lot of subordinates, not a lonely person without relatives. I have been in the capital for so many years, and my family and friends are not young and old, who dares to kill us easily? Remember what I just said, if you keep your mouth shut and don't leak the news, we'll be fine! ”

Wei Bao sighed, looking suddenly enlightened, "Master Li, it turns out that you have a bottom in your heart?" Then why are you so angry just now, and you are still scaring me? ”

Li Limin smiled, "If you hadn't asked so much, how much could I teach you?" You don't know how to weigh it yourself, and you want me to explain it to you? Whether you know it or not, you have to pretend that you don't know. Whether you're scared or not, you have to pretend to be worried and scared, and it's better to be angry, understand? ”

Wei Bao sweated, secretly thinking that you old boy, why don't you become a spy? It's quite appropriate for you to enter the Census Department.

However, which old fritter in officialdom will have worse quality than a spy?

It can even be said that everyone is a spy, whether it is a clean official or a corrupt official, whether it is a follower or a dull official!

The name "Follower" was first seen in the "Biography of the Follower" in the "Historical Records", and later inherited by the "Book of Han", "Book of the Later Han" and "Qing Historical Manuscript", and became a fixed style in the official history to describe those prefecture and county-level magistrates who valued agricultural propaganda, were honest and honest, lived in wealth, and went to see and think.

In addition to the concepts of "followers" and "good officials" in the official history, there are also titles of "Qing officials" and even folk "Qingtian Lord" in Yuan miscellaneous dramas.

A follower is a law-abiding official, and to put it bluntly, he is a good official.

Sima Qian first wrote "The Biography of the Followers", and later generations have passed on the Followers because of it.

A truly good official is even admired by the people.

For example, Ni Kuan, a famous minister during the time of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, when he was appointed to the history of Zuo, the tax collection depends on the situation of the people and determines the urgency of time, so many taxes are often delayed. Once, the army was about to go on a campaign, and the country was in urgent need of money and food, and Ni Kuan was dismissed from his post due to insufficient tax revenue.

As soon as the people under his rule heard the news, they were afraid of losing this good parent, so they all came up together to hand over the grain. The big family pulls it with ox carts, and the small family carries the burden, and the front foot follows the back foot, and the procession is like a long line, endlessly.

In the end, Ni Kuan received the most money and grain. When an official deserves this position, it is really amazing.

It is generally believed that the achievements of the followers are mainly manifested in three aspects: first, improving the economic life of the people; 2. Education; 3. Litigation.

Embody the spirit of "harmony".

According to the traditional Confucian political model of "getting rich first and then teaching," then among the three, improving the people's economic life is the most important.

China's heavy agriculture has a long history.

The behavior of officials focusing on agriculture can give a glimpse of the specific process of the implementation of the policy of heavy agriculture in ancient countries.

From a macro point of view, the value of the re-agricultural behavior of the followers is manifested in the following two aspects: on the one hand, the followers are the intermediary process of the implementation of the national heavy agricultural policy; On the other hand, proceeding from their own desire to make meritorious contributions, the followers adopted governance measures characterized by morality and politics, which objectively alleviated social contradictions. And these two aspects, in a certain sense, both embody the spirit of Confucian culture "harmony".

In the long story "Zhang Juzheng", the writer elaborated on the two completely different ways of being an official, "following the officials" and "clear streams", and his analysis was thorough and incisive, which impressed me deeply.

After Zhang Juzheng was honored as the first assistant, in order to create the "Wanli New Deal", he implemented the employment strategy of "reusing the officials and using the clear stream carefully".

So what is a follower? What is Clear Stream?

Followers refer to those officials who have the courage to do things, do not avoid dangers and obstacles, have outstanding political achievements, and care about the court, but will have some flaws in their means of doing things and personal morality.

Qingliu refers to those officials who are honest and loyal, have a good temperament, have first-class learning, and are morally first-class, but they are superficial in clear discussions, are not good at solving practical problems, and cannot solve the worries of the king at the top and work for the welfare of the people at the bottom.

The follower and the clear stream, like the spear and the shield, exist in correspondence.

In the book "Zhang Juzheng", the representative of the followers is Zhang Juzheng himself, and the representative of Qingliu is Hai Rui.

When Zhang Juzheng succeeded as the first assistant, he was in ruins. In the government, redundant officials and redundant personnel, those in power are slack in government affairs, and they learn from the camp; In the treasury, it is empty, not to mention maintaining the state, and even the capital officials are gone; At the local level, Guangxi's people are in turmoil, the employment of personnel is improper, and the suppression of bandits is ineffective, and the situation is grim.

After Zhang Juzheng succeeded as the first assistant, he strategized and chose to "rectify the rule of officials" as a breakthrough to open up a new policy. First of all, he carried out the Jingcha and dismissed those Beijing officials who had bad deeds such as perverting the law for bribes, forming parties for personal gain, dereliction of duty, and harboring evil spirits; Second, he created the "examination method", that is, all work tasks must be completed by a special person, within a time limit, and the completion of the assessment should be used as the basis for officials' promotion, promotion, reward and punishment, so as to eradicate the bad atmosphere of perfunctory officialdom and delaying government affairs.

After rectifying the rule of officials, Zhang Juzheng set about "rectifying finances" and achieving particularly remarkable results by opening up sources and reducing expenditures at the same time. First of all, he reduced the royal family's expenses by verifying the cost, and only verified the cost price of the dragon robe to save 600,000 taels of silver; secondly, he levied three cents of silver per mu on the "sub-grain fields" that enjoyed the right of tax exemption, and this alone could increase the treasury by 1.2 million taels of silver per year; Third, he changed the management system of the country's 10 major tax customs and strictly investigated tax evasion and evasion, doubling the annual tax revenue.

As the saying goes, "if you have money in your hands, don't panic in your heart", Zhang Juzheng, who is the first assistant of the Ming Dynasty, is also like this.

After the treasury was full, he could confidently start repairing the Great Wall, preventing border troubles, harnessing rivers, and putting an end to floods.

In addition, Zhang Juzheng reused Yin Zhengmao, who was greedy by nature but had military talent, to completely suppress the Wei Yinbao rebellion in Guangxi and maintain the stability of the country.

Although Zhang Juzheng is a "capable minister who governs the world", he is ashamed of the world's scholars because of the "love incident".

Zhu Yuanzhang, Taizu of the Ming Dynasty, set the rule, that is, all incumbent officials, when their parents died, must be removed from their official positions and go home to keep filial piety for three years, which is called "guarding the system". The imperial court ordered not to approve the resignation of the official system, or to recruit them to be officials during the period of the system, which was called "seizing affection".

Zhang Juzheng suffered the death of his father during his tenure as the first assistant, and he considered that once he left the system, the "Wanli New Deal" might change course.

Therefore, at the call of the emperor, he agreed to "seize the love".

According to the orthodox view of Confucianism, "seizing affection" means being unfilial, and unfilial people are not qualified to govern the country.

Speaking of Hai Rui, Hai Rui once served as the governor of Yingtian, governing Yingtian, and the Ming Dynasty stayed in the capital, Suzhou, Changzhou, Songjiang, Zhenjiang and other rich places in the south of the Yangtze River.

Whenever a poor person fights a lawsuit with a rich man, Hai Jui will judge the poor to win the lawsuit and the rich to lose the lawsuit, regardless of the merits; When the poor can't afford to pay their taxes, Hai Jui waives them and passes them on to the rich.

In the two years of Hai Jui's tenure, the local gentry were resentful, the wealthy families moved to other places to avoid disaster, the prosperous economy became depressed, and the generous taxes became scarce.

Hai Rui always rode a donkey and took a messenger when he went out, which did not conform to the rules of the imperial court.

Hai Rui's simple work style formed a strong contrast with the style of his colleagues who conformed to the etiquette and rules of the court, and made Hai Rui offend almost all his colleagues.

Hai Jui's term of office as governor of Yingtian had not yet expired, but the notes on his impeachment flew into Beijing like snowflakes.

As a result, Lord Hai Rui was angry, hung up the seal, resigned and returned to his hometown.

In terms of character, Hai Jui is both honest and upright, impeccable; It's hard to say about being an official.

After Wei Bao and Li Limin chatted for a while, they prepared to leave the compound of the Metropolitan Procuratorate and go back to his Metropolitan Procuratorate Prison to hide and relax.

At this time, several hardcore Donglin Party officials who had been blocked in the room and scolded for a long time couldn't bear it anymore, and they ran out.

"Have you scolded enough?" The first to speak was Yang Lian, the left deputy capital Yushi, and the third grade! He is also the official of the Metropolitan Procuratorate and the Department of Daoyan, and the leader of a group of Qingliu Donglin Party members in Dali Temple.

"I didn't scold enough, what's wrong? Your daughter has falsely accused all of us, and we can't scold us anymore? If it weren't for the fear that there would be a lot of us, if we really started to do it, we would definitely kill a few of you dogs, and we would have done it a long time ago, hehe. "Zuo Du Yushi Wang Dewan took the lead in speaking out against Yang Lian.

Yang Weiyuan, who had been scolding the most energetically, was even more energetic when he saw Yang Lian come out, "Yang Lian, you dog things are too domineering, right?" Falsely accused us, and we are not allowed to speak? You sue Lao Tzu for being loose and slacking off the right to take advantage of the machine, let me ask you, what evidence do you have? If you can't say it, I'll beat you now! ”

"You are a mouthful, who do you call Lao Tzu, these crimes are not wrong!" Zuo Guangdou, who was good friends with Yang Lian, was furious and replied for Yang Lian.

"You old dog, do you want to be beaten too? Are you in cahoots with Yang Lian, when we don't know? Yang Weiyuan jumped up, pointed at Zuo Guangdou's nose and scolded.

Yang Lian and the others came out because they couldn't stand being scolded.

Yang Lian's heart is very chaotic now, and he is struggling, he knows that his daughter has been used as a knife, and he can't withdraw the lawsuit now! He must not let his daughter have trouble! Moreover, even if his daughter was made a scapegoat, after the lawsuit was withdrawn, he was inseparable from several friends from the Metropolitan Procuratorate and Dali Temple, so the road of withdrawing the lawsuit was almost cut off.

If the lawsuit is not withdrawn, it must be carried to the end.

Yang Lian had already read the manuscript of the confession sent back from the cabinet, and although there were many people who sued him, most of them were innocuous sins.

And most of the sins are like that!

Therefore, after Yang Lian discussed with a few friends, he felt that he could only make a plan, on the one hand, he fought with the eunuch party to the end, on the other hand, he tried to break through each one, and explained privately to those officials who were close to the hardcore of the Donglin Party, as well as those officials who had a good impression of the Donglin Party and had a certain liking, as well as those neutral officials who were usually cautious, so that they could understand that these were the tricks of the eunuch party! Let them not be fooled and not be angry.

This is the current thinking of Yang Lian and others.

Since you have this kind of thought, you can't stand up to everyone, but you can't fall into prestige in front of the eunuchs.

This is really a hardship, which makes Yang Lian and a few people very embarrassed.

Otherwise, according to the temper of several of them, not to mention that there are many people on the other side, even if the knife is on the neck, what will they be afraid of? It was in the Jinluan Palace that he was loyal to His Majesty, how could they have been afraid of it once?

What makes them most angry now is that several officials who were originally Donglin people either fanned the flames and turned against each other at this time, or they were silent and watched the development of the situation and did not stand with them.

A storm made Yang Lian several Donglin Party pioneers see the ugly faces of these people clearly!