Chongzhen Emperor Zhu Youzhen, succeeded to the throne at the age of 17, vigorously eradicated the eunuch party after succeeding to the throne, diligent in political affairs, frugal life, and had six edicts against himself, and was a young and promising emperor. It's a pity that he is suspicious and can't save the declining Ming Empire. During his reign, a peasant uprising broke out, and the Jin regime was eyeing the outside of the Guan, and was already in a situation of internal and external troubles.

During the reign of Chongzhen, for the Later Jin, the ministers were divided into two factions: the main battle, the main and the two. In terms of employing people, Chongzhen used Yuan Chonghuan, the main battle faction. The civilian clique made the generals in the army only return to their families, and several large-scale military activities against the Later Jin were defeated, weakening the military power of the Ming Dynasty, and eventually leading to the emptiness and weakness of the internal forces, unable to suppress the peasant army uprising, and hastening the fall of the Ming Dynasty.

The once powerful Ming Empire has been in turmoil, and the two parties are fighting each other, but it is difficult to find people who can be used, and it is indeed difficult to find people who can be used. At the beginning of Chongzhen's ascension to the throne, with the help of the civil official group, he destroyed Wei Zhongxian's eunuch party, but indirectly promoted the expansion of the power of the civilian official group.

The relationship between Chongzhen and his courtiers may be said to be the most awkward and strange period in history - mutual hatred, interdependence, and mutual use. During the seventeen years of Chongzhen's reign, in addition to suppressing the peasant army and resisting the Houjin, he devoted more energy to weakening the power of the civilian bureaucracy.

Although Chongzhen is ambitious, hard-working, well-fed, and will bow to everything, he has neither the strategy of governing the country nor the skill of appointing others.

In 1644, when Li Zicheng's army broke through Beijing, he hanged himself in Coal Mountain at the age of 34.

What about the man next to Chongzhen? Their power plots and struggles have never stopped, some people support their own troops and form parties for personal gain, some people take advantage of the dynastic danger to eradicate dissidents, and some people turn the tide with their own strength. If he supports his own army, it cannot be said that he has the heart of rebellion, because he wants to hold on to the power in his hands to protect himself; It cannot be said that those who eradicate dissidents are heinous, because they maintain the stability of the court; The one who turned the tide cannot be said to be loyal and righteous, because it is difficult to be alone in the dye vat.

Loyalty and disloyalty are difficult to define.

When Chongzhen and Huang Daozhou were in the middle of the scolding battle, Qin Yiming suddenly interjected, and everyone's surprised eyes were on Qin Yiming's body.

In fact, Chongzhen didn't take Qin Yiming's matter to heart, he cared more about Yang Sichang, and today he just wanted to use Qin Yiming's release to make a concession with Donglin, so that Yang Sichang could enter the cabinet. But obviously he was whimsical, in the eyes of the Donglin Party, Qin Yiming was not qualified to be this bargaining chip.

"Lord Huang, what is loyalty? What is a Lady? Qin Yiming asked.

"Hahaha, of course, you dare to say that war is for loyalty, and for the sake of peace and betrayal of the country, Huangkou child, read more history, think about the past, the traitor Qin Hui, strongly advocated peace, and framed the national hero Yue Fei on trumped-up charges, this history of loyalty and traitor has already had an answer, and it is only an ignorant and reckless man like you who can ask such a ridiculous question." Zodiac Zhou was extremely contemptuous, dismissive, and snorted angrily.

Qin Yiming said unhurriedly: "Yes, Lord Huang is right, in the Southern Song Dynasty, Qin Hui at that time was indeed a traitor, in order to negotiate and frame General Yue, who was the main battle faction, was indeed a traitor to the enemy, he should be killed, and he should kneel for a thousand years." However, at this time and that time, is Lord Huang carving a boat for a sword by comparing like this? ”

"Huh, what's the difference?" Huang Dao Zhou Niu snorted and asked unconvinced.

"The comprehensive national strength is different." Qin Yiming said.

"Comprehensive national strength? What do you mean, isn't the current strength of my Ming Dynasty still not as good as the small court of the Southern Song Dynasty in a corner of peace? "Huang Daozhou can't quite accurately understand what comprehensive national strength is, but he can roughly understand that this so-called comprehensive national strength should refer to the strength of the imperial court.

When it comes to comprehensive national strength, everyone is very confused, but everyone has the same understanding as Zodiac Zhou, which is not bad, but everyone does not have a clear concept of what comprehensive national strength includes.

Qin Yiming knew everyone's confusion and said: "Xiaguan believes that comprehensive national strength should include five aspects: population, prosperity of agriculture and industry, abundant treasury, strong soldiers and armor, and brave public war. Ladies and gentlemen, if you count these five aspects carefully, do you think that our dynasty is better than the small court of the Southern Song Dynasty? ”

"Your Majesty, of course, my Great Ming Dynasty has stronger comprehensive national strength, so how can the small court of the Southern Song Dynasty be compared with our Dynasty?" Kong Yunzhen ignored the facts and spoke first.

"Yes, yes!" The surrounding adults also echoed and nodded frequently.

"Really? But in the eyes of the lower officials, except for the fact that my Ming Dynasty has a larger population than the small court of the Southern Song Dynasty, the rest are probably not as good as the small court of the Southern Song Dynasty. Just because of the issue of military salaries of more than one million taels of silver, if this happened in the Southern Song Dynasty, would the court not be able to take out this money? Also, was there such a big civil unrest in the Southern Song Dynasty, and were there thieves in all directions? Is there a tragic phenomenon of thousands of miles of red land and no harvest? The Southern Song Dynasty military generals once killed 100,000 elites of the Jin Kingdom, and now in our dynasty, I am afraid that 10,000 Manchu iron hooves killed 100,000 Ming officers and soldiers. The more Qin Yiming said, the more realistic he became, none of those high-ranking officials in Donglin dared to speak up, and now Chongzhen, who was sitting on the dragon chair, was ashamed, and his displeasure was undoubtedly revealed.

Originally, everyone was still hiding it, but now this fig leaf has been torn off by Qin Yiming, and the civil and military forces of the Manchu Dynasty are silent.

Huang Daozhou was naturally unconvinced, and said: "Hmph, Wu Zhuangyuan is just afraid that it is far away, and it makes no sense to talk about things that are not related to each other." According to Lord Qin's meaning, it is the right thing to surrender and betray the country now? ”

"Lord Huang is really a master of Confucianism, and he secretly changed the concept, why did the lower official say that he was going to surrender and betray the country? Those who surrender and betray the country will be punished by everyone! The rise and fall of the Ming Dynasty is the responsibility of the husband, I, Qin Yiming, swore to the sky in front of the emperor today that if I find that someone has betrayed the country and become a thief, I will definitely kill this person. Qin Yiming's sentences are righteous and powerful.

"Since Lord Qin keeps saying that he wants to kill the traitors and thieves, why do you still support peace?" Shoufu Zhang Zhifa said angrily.

Qin Yiming arched his hand and said: "Lord Shoufu, peace is peace, surrender is surrender, during the Wenjing period of the Han Dynasty, the Han Dynasty has long implemented a policy of peace and affinity with the Xiongnu, is this a surrender?" If there is no Taoguang Yang Hui in the Wenjing period, can there be the cultural and martial arts of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, and the great cause of a thousand years? The captive Nurhachi was once a local commander under my command, did he surrender? Huang Taiji has taken the initiative to propose peace to me many times, is he surrendering, if so, I'm afraid there will be no trouble in Liaodong today. ”

"Hmph, that's a thief's expediency." Zodiac Zhou said disdainfully.

"Yes, expedient, but the initiative in the war in Liaodong is now completely in the hands of the thieves, and they still have to use this expedient measure, and my Ming Dynasty is obviously weak in Liaodong, but can't I exchange expedient measures for respite? Xiaguan believes that as long as I, the Ming Dynasty, can relieve the internal troubles, once I free my hands, under the wise leadership of the emperor, I will definitely be able to recover the time of the homeland of Liaodong. When Qin Yiming was bitter, he didn't forget to pat Chongzhen's ass, and Chongzhen on the dragon chair immediately came to his senses when he heard that he could recover Liaotu in the future, and he was extremely excited.

Zhongxing Daming, there is an important benchmark in Chongzhen's heart, that is, to recover the homeland of Liaodong and eliminate the Manchu Tartars.

"Okay, Qin Aiqing is reasonable!"

"Your Majesty, don't listen to the nonsense of the vertical son." Zodiac Zhou knelt and bowed.

"Yes, Your Majesty!" Shoufu Zhang Zhifa followed and bowed.

Zhang Zhifa knelt down, Huang Shijun, He Fengnian, Kong Yunzhen and other cabinet members all knelt down to respond, they just wanted to use the cabinet to suppress Chongzhen.

Seeing this, Chongzhen was even more angry and snorted angrily.

Zodiac Zhou was in a hurry, seeing that he couldn't convince the emperor, this Qin Yiming was so eloquent that he couldn't fight for reason, and finally took out the trick that literati are best at, humiliated Qin Yiming, and said: "Hmph, the little dog is ignorant and thinks the road is narrow." ”

The Donglin Party people present all had their heads on their heads, and the current court was the court of their Donglin people. Huang Daozhou's sentence seems to be a pair of uplinks, but in fact, it is also a naked threat, offending the entire Donglin Party, do you still want to mix in the imperial court, and do you want to be promoted in the future?

Qin Yiming looked like he didn't care, and he didn't forget to reply to the next couplet, "Ha, Dapeng spreads his wings and hates the sky." ”

One sentence made all Donglin people dizzy, but Chongzhen on the dragon chair was secretly applauding Qin Yi.

"Lord Qin is doing well." Wang Chengen couldn't help but whisper in admiration.

Not to be outdone, Zhang Zhifa continued: "Heaven is a chessboard star, who dares to play? ”

"Okay, Lord Shousuke is a good writer." Many red-robed high-ranking officials secretly applauded and whispered below, which was originally a shrew quarrel, but it turned into a war of words.

"The earth is a pipa road as a string, and I can play it myself." Qin Yiming replied unceremoniously domineeringly.

"Good!" Chongzhen couldn't hold back this time, and shouted out his voice, making a pipa road as a string one by one, I can play it myself, and the tone is so big that even Chongzhen smacks his tongue, but Chongzhen feels that in this situation, this big breath not only did not give him the slightest discomfort, but made him very happy.

The people kneeling on the ground are all Donglin bosses, where can they stand such humiliation, Kong Yunzhen looked at the green official uniform worn by Qin Yiming, and said: "The toad wears a green jacket when he comes out of the water." ”

This is a **naked insult, it is tolerable and unbearable, Qin Yiming didn't think about it, and scolded directly: "The crab in the soup is wearing a red robe." ”

"Hehe, happy, this is really an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, this is Qin Yiming, a general, I admire this Qin Aiqing's talent." Chongzhen whispered to Wang Chengen and said with a smile.

"Your Majesty, the slave family is dumbfounded, what's wrong with this Lord Qin today, the literary talent is no less than the great Confucian below, it is simply possessed by Wenqu Xing."

"What kind of Wenqu star, I think it's a bad star descending to earth."

Just when Chongzhen was happy, a voice suddenly remembered.

"Your Majesty, Weichen thinks that what Lord Qin said is reasonable, and Weichen agrees with Lord Yang Sichang to enter the cabinet."

Who is this person? The Donglin jailers who were kneeling on the ground turned their heads one after another.