Yue Qijie's words made Ma Cheng sigh, although Ma Cheng was a traveler, but after all, he fused Ma Cheng's previous memories, and there was still some father-son affection for Ma Shiying in his heart, and now when he heard that Ma Shiying was completely calculating himself, he couldn't help but feel a little depressed.

In fact, Ma Cheng doesn't need to be very sad, his relationship with Ma Shiying has changed substantially. In the past, he and Ma Shiying were father and son who supported each other, Ma Shiying could use all national resources to help Ma Cheng, and Ma Cheng could naturally return the favor by using his military ability to achieve a victory and support his father Ma Shiying in the court.

However, with the improvement of Ma Shiying's status, and now he has become the actual ruler of the small court in Nanjing, the identity of the father and son has begun to change, from a community of interests to an opponent who competes with each other and is wary of each other.

Ma Shiying's biggest enemy in the court was the Donglin Party before, but now the Donglin Party is no longer a climate, and the only thing that can threaten Ma Shiying's position is his good son Ma Cheng. In order to prevent Ma Cheng from getting out of control, and at the same time to prevent Ma Cheng from taking risks, Ma Shiying naturally had to suppress Ma Cheng everywhere. In addition, Ma Shiying's self-recognized successor is Ma Luan, so it is inevitable to suppress Ma Cheng.

Yue Qijie can analyze Ma Cheng today, naturally not because he is kind or pitiful to see Ma Cheng, but because Yue Qijie himself has his own calculations.

These intellectuals in ancient China, because of their different academic experiences, had different ideas about how to govern the country.

Generally speaking, intellectuals are divided into two factions on how to govern the country, one is the reformers who want to change the country through institutional change at the top.

There is also a group of conservatives who oppose the reformers and want to change the country from the bottom up through the healing nature of society itself.

There is nothing to praise or dismiss the reformers and the conservatives here, their ultimate goal is the same, but they follow different paths, so there have been many violent conflicts between reform and conservative in Chinese history. For example, the Shang Dynasty in the Qin Dynasty, the Huang Lao Controversy in the Han Dynasty, Wang Mang's New Deal, Wang Anshi's Reform in the Song Dynasty, the Longwan New Deal in the Ming Dynasty, the Wuxu Reform in the late Qing Dynasty, and the Westernization Movement.

Yue Qijie is different from Yang Wencong, Yue Qijie has led troops in Henan to quell the rebellion all the year round, so he hopes to govern the country with strict punishment and strict laws.

Yang Wencong, who was an official in Nanzhili, had a good relationship with the Donglin Party, and naturally hoped to change this society through slow social change. In this way, there is a conceptual conflict with Yue Qijie, who advocates Legalism.

In the past, there was a conflict between the two under Ma Shiying, but because Ma Shiying was only a governor at the time, the conflict between the two did not manifest. But now it is different, Ma Shiying has embarked on the road of power, whether for themselves or for the future, they must choose one of Ma Shiying's sons to ensure that their political ideas can be carried forward in the future.

Yang Wencong naturally chose Ma Luan, who had a good relationship with him, and Yue Qijie chose Ma Cheng, who was ready to implement the new law.

Because Ma Cheng came from the world of rule of law in later generations, a message of legalism was revealed between the lines of the new law. This made Yue Qijie, who is also a Legalist, like a treasure, so he decided to support this second ancestor and compete with Ma Luan, who was supported by Yang Wencong, for the position of heir.

When he returned to Beijing this time, Yang Wencong did not show mercy for the sake of his relatives, and slandered Yue Qijie in front of Ma Shiying, saying that he was trapped in the enemy camp with an ambiguous attitude. This can make Yue Qijiao, who has been in prison in Hangzhou for several years, angry.

However, for the sake of the overall situation, Ma Shiying thought that Yue Qijie had not made an inch of success in the past few years, and it was really unreasonable to be suddenly promoted to an important position, so Yue Qijie only won the official title of the official servant. Although the officials are servants

Lang is also very important, but the pants * slats are changed to bras, and the status is important, but the essence has not changed. Yang Wencong, who can be the same as Yue Qijie, was promoted and became one of the Nine Qings of the Zuodu Imperial History.

Ma Shiying's actions naturally have his own considerations, but in Yue Qijie's opinion, Ma Shiying is suppressing himself. Thinking that he would succumb to his brother-in-law and political enemy Yang Wencong in the future, Yue Qijie was angry. At the same time, after learning that Yang Wencong instigated Ma Shiying to seize Ma Cheng's military power, Yue Qijie decided, if you Yang Wencong helps Ma Luan, then the old man will help Ma Cheng to see if you are powerful or the old man is powerful.

Yue Qijie looked at Ma Cheng's frustration and said with a smile: "Zhonghe, don't be discouraged, although Shoufu suppressed you, it's not that he doesn't have the ability to fight back at all!" ”

Hearing that he still had a chance, Ma Cheng was a little better, and hurriedly asked, "May I ask my uncle, what should my little nephew do?" ”

"You don't have to do anything, you just have to wait!"

Ma Cheng didn't understand, just wait? Can you sit and wait until pie falls from the sky?

"Uncle, my little nephew doesn't understand, why wait?"

"This is simple, your military ability is your guarantee, although the Northern Captives suffered heavy losses two years ago, after all, they occupied half of China, and they will definitely have to go south in time. Although your father let Ma Xi go out to lead the army alone, do you estimate that your third brother has the ability to win? So when you can't do anything, you still need to go out of the mountain! ”

Ma Cheng listened to Yue Qijie's analysis and nodded again and again, he knew what level Ma Xi was, even if he could be in charge alone, but the army was Ma Cheng's descendants, although he couldn't defect to the battle, but it was no problem to pull Ma Xi's hind legs.

Ma Cheng regained his confidence after listening to Yue Qijie's words, stood up and poured Yue Qijie a glass of wine, and then asked: "Uncle, it stands to reason that you are a scholar, you should be close to my eldest brother, why did you come to get close to my little nephew?" ”

Yue Qijie smiled: "Hehe, what the virtuous nephew said is very right, but your brother is not bad for an old man, and you can have your other uncle, Yang Longyou!" ”

Ma Cheng suddenly realized in his heart when he heard Yue Qijie say this, it turned out that this old guy was jealous of Yang Wencong, so he came to help him. Ma Cheng has some literati around him, but there are no old fritters in officialdom like Yue Qijie, Ma Cheng was ecstatic when he heard that Yue Qijie came to help him, and hurriedly promised: "Please rest assured, as long as my uncle helps my little nephew inherit my father's position, when that day comes, my uncle will be the first assistant of my little nephew!" ”

Ma Cheng is the best at sealing officials and making wishes, and the position of the first assistant has been promised to Chen Zilong and Wang Xian, and now it is promised to Yue Qijie, but Yue Qijie is more than sixty years old, and it is uncertain whether he can live until then.

After drinking, Ma Cheng sat down again, and then asked, "Uncle, you said that my father's preferred successor is my eldest brother, what should the little nephew do?" ”

"This is very simple, you now have military ability, as long as you show the ability to govern the country! The old man heard that there are a few literati under you who are doing that kind of official and gentry as an errand boy, but is there such a thing? ”

Ma Cheng heard what Yue Qijie said and hurriedly promised: "Please rest assured that my little nephew will dismiss them when he goes back!" ”

Ma Cheng's idea was that since Ma Shiying didn't like this new law, he would wait a minute. But I didn't expect Yue Qijie to say: "This is not busy, let them do it first, and it will be of great use in the future!" ”

Yue Qijie didn't understand Ma Cheng when he said this, didn't he just say that Ma Shiying didn't like to make up any new laws by himself? Why don't you let yourself stop now?

"Uncle, didn't you say just now that your father wanted to win over the Donglin Party, so he hated the new law of the little nephew, why did you say not to stop now?"

"Virtuous nephew, this is the difference between you and your father

！ Now your father naturally wants to win over the Donglin Party for the sake of the political stability of the imperial court, but do you really think your father doesn't know about the stubborn diseases of the people? Now suppressing you is just for those Donglin parties to see, but when your father really controls the political situation, he must solve the problem of land annexation, and then your new law will have a big effect! ”

Ma Cheng heard Yue Qijie say this and suddenly realized that the land annexation in the Ming Dynasty was becoming more and more intense, and Ma Shiying and other court ministers did not understand, but the country was worried about internal and external troubles, and could not change and did not dare to change. If Ma Shiying is given enough time, as long as Ma Shiying can solve the external troubles, he will definitely turn back to solve the major matter of land.

Yue Qijie reinvigorated Ma Cheng's confidence today, Ma Cheng stood up and bowed down and thanked: "Listening to my uncle's words today is really better than reading for ten years, if the little nephew has any questions in the future, please ask my uncle to solve his doubts!" ”

Yue Qijie smiled: "Now Zhonghe can rest assured!" Remember, your father is fifty-nine years old this year, and his life has entered the twilight of his life, if the old man's estimate is good, he will have to choose a successor in a few years, Zhonghe and you have to work hard to surpass your brother! ”

With Yue Qijie's explanation, Ma Cheng decided to change his mind and live in a simple place, Ma Shiying, don't you want to show off yourself? That he was playing at home with a woman and holding a child, Ma Cheng from this day on, he didn't go out anymore for anything, and he didn't contact his subordinates in the army, making a low-key attitude of not asking about the world.

Just when Ma Cheng was shrinking into his grandson at home, a major event happened in Beijing, and the Manchu regent Dolgon was appointed as the regent of the emperor's uncle by the decree of the little emperor Shunzhi.

Two years earlier, the Manchu army of 400,000 had been annihilated under the city of Nanjing, and although the losses were heavy, the real blow to Dorgon was the death of Duoduo.

In addition to being Dorgon's own brother, Duoduo is also Dorgon's political ally, and with Duoduo in control of the army, Dolgon can rest assured that he can control the government and avoid being seized by Daishan of the two red flags and Haoge of the two yellow flags.

However, this time Duoduo died outside Nanjing, and Dolgon no longer had a trustworthy person to lead the army, and at the same time, the destruction of the 30,000 Manchurian Eight Banners made Dolgon very passive in the court.

After receiving the news of the defeat in the south, the various forces in Korea and China that were enemies of Dolgon joined forces to force Dolgon to surrender his power. But Dorgon knew how it could be so easy to give up power. At the same time as handing over the rights, it was also the end of Dolgon's life, so it was absolutely impossible for Dolgon to hand over the rights in his hands.

The first step for Dolgon to save himself was to divide and disintegrate the hostile forces, and first use various means to oppress the old slippery head to replace the good. Dai Shan, a scheming old fox, naturally refuses to break the net with Dolgon, so it is easy to be subdued by Dolgon.

The second step is to clean up the two yellow flags, and the family member of the two yellow flags is Huang Taiji's eldest son Haoge. In the fourth year of Shunzhi, that is, in August of the third year of Shaowu in the Southern Ming Dynasty, Haoge led the army to pacify Sichuan and returned with a great victory, and the little emperor of Shunzhi personally went to the Taihe Palace to set up a banquet to comfort Haoge. Dolgon took advantage of this opportunity to conceal the charges of his subordinates for taking the merit and using the brother of the sinner to send Hauge to prison, and Hauge died in prison half a month later.

Hauge's death also means that the two yellow flags have completely lost their backbone, and Dolgon has monopolized power, but in order to strengthen his authority, Dolgon stipulates that in the future, he is not allowed to call himself the ninth prince or Prince Rui in official documents, but must call the emperor's uncle regent in official documents. At the same time, Dolgon wrote to the emperor, on the grounds that the letter of the little emperor of Shunzhi was stored in the palace, and it was very inconvenient to ask for the seal every time the troops were dispatched, and the emperor's seal was moved to his own mansion for later use.

At this point, Dolgon had completed the centralization of power, but Dolgon knew that this was only a superficial submission of the Manchurian aristocracy, and that a victory was needed to strengthen his authority in order for these opposition to completely lose power.