Chongzhen was very happy today, and he ate more vegetables during the meal.

After eating, he was served by a group of eunuchs and palace maids and came to the back garden.

He came to the pond in the back garden, Wang Chengen handed over the fish food, and Chongzhen twisted the fish food and threw it down.

The pond, which had been calm, suddenly boiled, and all the fish hidden in it ran out to grab fish to eat.

"Xuanfu is the northwest gateway of the capital, and the position of governor here is a great responsibility, so I think there will be many people who are ready to move."

"The emperor is wise! At this moment, the ministers below the second rank in the capital are all active. ”

Wang Chengen bowed and praised.

"Humph! My ministers are all self-righteous and treat me as an ornament, and they still want to choose a governor for themselves, but I don't obey them. ”

Chongzhen grabbed a large handful of fish food and sprinkled it into the pond, and the pond suddenly became even more boiling.

Chongzhen is an ambitious emperor, he doesn't want to be a puppet emperor, he wants to take the court into his own hands.

Chongzhen has always suspected that there are still Wei Eunuch's remnants in the court, these people are officials in the court, and he is like a fish in his throat, and it is difficult to sleep and eat.

He wanted to take advantage of this opportunity to replace them all.

However, Wang Chengen on the side didn't think so.

He controls the East Factory to make brocade clothes, and knows that these ministers have too much black material.

He felt that Chongzhen was a little arrogant at this moment, and he underestimated the minister in the court too much.

But this can't be blamed on Chongzhen, he was not the emperor in the first place, it was his brother Zhu Youxiao who was the emperor, that is to say, he was not trained as an emperor, so he naturally lacked some of the necessary thinking of an emperor.

Wang Chengen bowed his head, hesitated for a long time, and finally didn't say anything, just quietly accompanied Chongzhen.

Because, preaching this kind of thing can only be done by elders, where is he, a eunuch, qualified to preach to the emperor.

On the second day, as soon as he went to court, Chongzhen was hit head-on by the ministers.

"Enlighten the emperor, and the ministers impeach the crown prince Taibao, Wenyuan Pavilion scholar, Yang Jingchen."

The family is poor, diligent and studious, when he was young, he studied in his father-in-law's Panhu pawn and Renying Academy, and later when he was a student, he taught village children in the township Zhongli Mengguan, and received a salary to subsidize the family.

In the past year, he went to Beijing to take the examination, won the second place in the examination, and the seventeenth place in the second class of the court examination, and was awarded the editing of the Hanlin Academy.

In the forty-third year of Wanli, Ding's mother returned to her hometown and was reinstated.

In the second year of Qi, he moved to Zuo Chunfang Yude, and was the examiner of the year's examination, and was later promoted to the young Zhan Shi of Zhan Shifu and the bachelor of Hanlin Academy.

In the sixth year of the Apocalypse, he was still in charge of the affairs of the Zhan Mansion, teaching Shu Jishi, and was appointed as the vice president of the "Three Dynasties Classics".

Yang Jingchen entered the Hanlin Academy from the fourth year of Wanli to the sixth year of the Apocalypse to the Ministry of Rites, and in the thirteenth year, the official rank was promoted from the seventh rank to the third grade, and he has been serving in the inner court.

In August of the seventh year of the Apocalypse, after Xi Zongxu and Sizong (Chongzhen) ascended the throne, in October of that year, he took decisive measures to eradicate Wei Zhongxian's eunuch party in one fell swoop, and promoted Yang Jingchen to the rank of scholar of the Ministry of Rites and a scholar of Dongge University.

In the first year of Chongzhen, that is, in April this year, he was promoted to the crown prince Taibao and Wenyuan Pavilion scholars, and he was the best.

During the period when Jingchen joined the cabinet and auxiliary government, he repeatedly failed to express his feelings, and actively put forward opinions on the revival of the revolution in view of the national policy and the disadvantages of the times, such as Xuchuan Gong and eliminating the abuse, recruiting loyalty to the party and imprisoning him, and benefiting the whole country and stopping the addition of factions, all of which were in line with the disadvantages of the times and were praised and adopted by Chongzhen.

At this moment, Chongzhen frowned, looking squarely at this imperial history who couldn't even name it, and his heart was boiling with murderous anger.

Before Wei Zhongxian died, he once told Chongzhen that Li Yangchong was a member of the Donglin Party, so after Chongzhen heard that someone was impeached, he put him in prison without saying a word.

He didn't expect that the next day, someone would target him.

Could this be how these ministers came up with a deal against him?

Why can't these ministers stand by his side?

"Say." Chongzhen almost gritted his teeth and spit out a word.

Yang Jingchen once praised Wei Zhongxian's merits three times, and participated in the eunuch party's revision of the "Three Dynasties Classics", the three parties of the attack, the red pill, and the palace were moved to the clear stream, and the book "The Essentials of the Three Dynasties" was completed in the reverse vertical. If such a traitor is an official in the court, it may be difficult to convince the public, please think twice. ”

Chongzhen held his face, looked at Yang Jingchen in pain after a while, and said, "Yang Jingchen should return home." ”

Chongzhen knew that what this imperial history said was the truth, how could he not know these things.

If Chongzhen doesn't deal with Yang Jingchen, they will use this as an example to protect themselves, which is not what Chongzhen wants to see.

"The emperor is wise, thank the emperor!" Yang Jingchen bowed three times, disheartened, and took off his official uniform and left.

After Yang Jingchen returned to Jinjiang, he soon became ill.

"Qi played the emperor, the first assistant of the cabinet, came to Zongdao, and had close contacts with Wei Zhongxian during the Apocalypse, and he also participated in the compilation of the "Three Dynasties Classics", please let the emperor know."

At this moment, the ministers of the court, whether it is the eunuch party, the Donglin party, the Zhejiang party, the Qi party, the Chu party, the Xuan party, and the Kun party, began to play, and began to squeeze out the pro-imperial faction in the court according to the rules set by Chongzhen yesterday.

is old, negligent in political affairs, and has contact with Wei Gelding, no problem, he will be impeached according to the emperor's will.

"The old minister is old and can no longer serve the emperor, please let the emperor know." Come to the sect and bow your head and ask for return.

"That's right."

"Your Majesty."

When Emperor Xizong died, Lai Zongdao, who was the minister of Gu Ming, played a considerable role in supporting King Lixin (i.e., Emperor Chongzhen), and he was the standard pro-emperor faction.

Seeing that the civil servants were menacing, he also had the idea of returning to his hometown.

Chongzhen almost had tears in his eyes, he saw his two ministers impeached, and he couldn't protect them, he had to drive them out of the court himself.

It was from this day that an incomparably tragic partisan dispute broke out, and it came so suddenly and so violently.

Since Chongzhen hit this day, every day in the court is like being hit by a hammer in the head, muddy, and flickering.

Every day, I can't eat and sleep.

During this period, something caught his attention.

May 11.

The king of the imperial history came out to play the cause of Chen Min's poverty, he said: "There are four disadvantages in Yousi: one is the invasion of fire consumption; the second is the punishment and atonement of abusive words; the third is the robbery of the discount; The fourth is the horizontal devouring of the leader.

There are four disadvantages in the local area: one is the concealment of field grain; the second is the harassment of robbers; the third is the bullying of the right; Fourth, it is the redundant food of laziness.

There are four disadvantages in the Yamen: one is the encroachment of the treasury; the second is the deduction of levy; the third is the harassment of the faction; The fourth is the borrowing of rituals.

There are four disadvantages in the merit order: one is the arrears of the additional assignment; the second is the protection of miscellaneous taxes; the third is to prevent the investigation of deceit; Fourth, it is the crime of investigation.

All these evils will always exhaust the people's anointment, and in addition to these evils, only the patrol can do it, and it is only in the choice of virtuous orders. ”

Chongzhen Muran's eyes moved slightly, and his stiff cheeks finally had a hint of expression, and he smiled.

"Good."

When the king returned to class, the hall was quiet, and after a while, these ministers impeached each other again, and no one cared about the content of Wang Xiang's performance.

This continued until May 18, when the court was once again silent.

Ma Maocai, the Ministry of Rites, was ordered to go to Shaanxi to investigate, and returned to Beijing to report the disaster at this moment.

The ministers of the court all looked at him with strange eyes, and without him, on May 10, Wang Zezhi arranged for Bai Yu to transmit the printed folk tabloids to the capital.

It's just that the ministers at the moment are busy with party strife, and they don't have time to care about an inconsequential tabloid.

However, with the shouting of the newspaper boy, they couldn't help but buy one.

Anyway, a newspaper is only a hundred yuan, which is too cheap for these masters.

They all saw the article that Ma Mao had just published, and the writing was sharp, loud, and quite extraordinary.

As for Bai Xiaosheng's comments, the ministers did not like them, and they inevitably scolded, as well as verbal criticism.

But that's about it.

Ma Maocai impassionedly stated the disaster, and the back of his neck was full of cold sweat.

It is impossible to say that he did not know about that tabloid, but when he returned to Beijing, his family informed him, and he suddenly became a celebrity in the capital.

Ma Mao locked himself in his home, thought about it all night, and finally threw away the copy he had written, and re-copied the copy in Wang Zezhi's newspaper.

He had to admit that this article was more able to state the actual situation in Shaanxi.

"The minister is guilty." After Ma Mao finished his statement, he immediately knelt on the ground and pleaded guilty.

His recital appeared in the folk tabloids before it was presented to the emperor, and he was afraid that Chongzhen would blame him.

"What is Aiqing's crime?" Chongzhen also read this tabloid, and after he read this article, his face sank like water, and he only then realized how erosive Shaanxi was.

"Minister, the minister's writing is too long, so I threw it away, but I didn't expect it to be published in this folk tabloid."

As soon as Ma Mao finished speaking, Chongzhen's face was gloomy and dripping, was this to blame him for asking for a streamlined piece as soon as he ascended the throne?

On the second day of the first month of February in the first year of Chongzhen, Emperor Chongzhen was tired of playing the chapter and ordered all yamen to be concise and not a thousand words.

If the meaning of the word is not exhausted, it can be played again, to the ninth day of the first month, and the order of each department, since the first year of February issued by the chapter, all limited to 10 days within the title of the reply, if still late, the ministry and section of the mutual survey.

"The saint is out, the saint is out, the emperor is the saint is born." As soon as Wang Chengen saw Chongzhen's face, he knew that something was wrong, and hurriedly knelt on the ground and shouted.

"Where did the saint come from?" Chongzhen looked at Wang Chengen puzzled and asked.

"In the former Tang Dynasty, a hundred flowers were singing, the subjects were good at admonishing, the sage was good at governance, knowing people and being good at their duties, and the emperor and the subjects spontaneously built tabloid advice, which is a good omen for the birth of the saint."

Wang Chengen praised Chongzhen from the bottom of his heart, and Chongzhen became happy again, and the subjects said that this was indeed a good thing.

Seeing this situation, the civil officials who originally wanted to slander the comments of the Three Jin Dynasty all dispelled their thoughts and knelt on the ground and shouted for the saint to come out.

Chongzhen was refreshed after this day, and he felt that tomorrow might not be so difficult.

Unexpectedly, the previous dynasty returned to its original state, and this group of ministers did not think about how to solve the problem of the great drought in Shaanxi and the lack of livelihood of the people, but continued to attack each other.

This group of ministers not only attacked the court but also put the target outside the court, and for a while, the entire Ming Dynasty was in turmoil

Until May 25, Chongzhen could not bear it anymore, he put all kinds of letters collected by Dongchang and Jinyiwei, as well as the black materials of the ministers of the DPRK and China, into a large box and carried them to the early court.

"In this box are the letters of allegiance, praises, and government affairs exchanges that Wei Zhongxian's henchmen have written to him over the years, as well as some evidence of your corruption and perversion of the law.

Inside and outside the imperial court, there are more than 1,000 civil ministers and military generals from all over the country, some of them help and abuse, secretly communicate with Wei Gelding, some accept bribes, some oppress the people, and there is everything in the fish and meat township, which is really an eye-opener for me.

In order to please Wei Gelding, someone dispatched a thousand soldiers to transport a big fish from the south, just because Wei Gelding likes to eat fresh.

In order to bury his biological parents, he accepted the feng shui treasure given by Wei Gelding, just to ensure that his official fortune was prosperous. ”

"The minister is guilty."

"The sin of the minister deserves death."

"The sin of the minister deserves death."

The ministers in the hall knelt on the ground one after another, which was seated by the right number, and as for those who did not sit with the right number, they looked like they did not cry without seeing the coffin, and they were still standing without fear.

"There are even people who read poetry and books, and they usually look dignified, but in private, they discuss women's small hands and women's small waists with Wei Gelding, which is just, simply, insulting." Chongzhen thought about it for a long time, but he didn't come up with a curse, but he just held back an insulting sentence.

More people knelt down at this point.

"Please ask the emperor to forgive the sin."

"I really can't stand it, I'm sad, I'm sad, you Aiqing, I was forced to ascend the throne by current events.

From the first day I ascended the throne, I gave my heart to you, and I regarded you as the pillars of the country.

You are full of poetry and books, you are all older than me, the great cause of your ancestors, and the society of the country all need to be maintained by you.

Aiqing, how can you fall to such a depravity?

You don't even care about the government and politics, you are all attacking each other here, how can you do this?

I was chilled when I saw it.

You have disappointed me so much, are you deceiving me when I am young?

If so, this is really unparalleled, and it's a shame! ”

Chongzhen said that he was excited, and he howled and cried in the court.

At this moment, the courtiers in the hall all knelt on the ground, bowing their heads, not daring to look up.

can force an emperor to be like this, and they are also unparalleled.

"I don't hate Wei Eunuch, I don't hate you Aiqing, I hate myself for being incompetent, I don't complain about the sky, I don't complain about the earth, I'm ashamed to be a king."

The ministers trembled when they heard this, they were all great Confucians who had read the books of sages and sages, if the emperor was really what he said, it would be fine, but the key was that he was not, no matter what people said, Wei Eunuch, who had destroyed the troubled government, was a thrifty and diligent emperor.

If the emperor is not like this, then they forced the emperor to be like this.

So what are they, they are a bunch of courtiers.

Therefore, this group of ministers who claim to be Qingliu are afraid, and they are afraid that they will be recorded in the history books as ministers.

"Your Majesty, take care of your dragon body."

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty."

This group of ministers is afraid, and now they don't dare to quarrel anymore, at this moment Chongzhen will do whatever he says, and if he doesn't do it, he will be a minister.

"Listen to the order, Shanxi Governor Geng Ruqi Ping thief meritorious, promoted to the governor of Xuanfu, Yuan Aiqing supervised Ji Liao, and concurrently supervised Denglai, Tianjin military affairs, things are busy, the post of secretary of the military department was promoted by Wang Qia, the right attendant of the military department."

Chongzhen paused here when he said this, Zhang Xiao, the governor of Xuanfu, was extremely slandered by these ministers, most of which were fictitious, and a few could not be verified.

Although Wang Chengen verified that Zhang Xiao was a good official who was charitable, seeking truth from facts, and making fair judgments, Chongzhen still had the mentality of preferring to kill mistakes and not let go of them, and removed Zhang Xiao.

Zhang Xiao watched the governor Li Yangchong being imprisoned and his house raided, and he had the idea of going into hiding, and then he was attacked by the civil officials, and he resigned and returned to his hometown without saying a word.

In this way, the post of governor of Xuanfu is empty again, and the Xuanfu is a matter of great importance, Chongzhen took advantage of Geng Ruqi's meritorious service, and rewarded Geng Ruqi while the iron was hot.

Geng Ruqi is a person, Chongzhen has heard of it, and Chongzhen is also relieved that the northwest portal is handed over to him.

The military department Shangshu chose Wang Qia, because Wang Qia had a strange appearance and left some impression on Chongzhen, so it was hastily decided.

As for the other vacancies, he was no longer able to take care of them.

"Another edict to the three departments of the household soldiers: the auxiliary minister Liu Hongxun, the official is even faster, if the law of long-term service is not followed, the final effect will be fresh, and the difference in the sea of clouds is heavy, let alone sent.

I think about it, and if the speed is regulated, the people will be disturbed, and if the official is in office for a long time, the class will be successful.

In the future, the officials of the feudal counties and towns must choose the right people and places, all of which are the same as the old system, and the period of employment is not enough, and they are not allowed to change or transfer; The official recommends talents, which is not without private favors.

In the future, the officials will be recommended to make a book, and then they will be appointed to do things, and the lord will sit together. ”

After Chongzhen finished speaking, he patted his ass and left, and the ministers in the hall looked at each other, and no one dared to open the box to confirm whether what Chongzhen said was true.

If it's true, then they have a handle in Chongzhen's hands.

But no matter who goes to see it, who will become a lost place, these people are more slippery than one another, kneeling on the ground and watching Chongzhen leave, they got up one after another, didn't dare to look at the box more, and hurriedly went down to do things.

It would be a big mistake to think that these scholars have succumbed, and they have simply turned from open fighting to secret fighting.

This court is gradually getting out of control...