When Chongzhen's motorcade entered the capital, Zhang Zhengchen was also accompanying his friend Wu Linzheng, who he had just met, to welcome the emperor's car back to Beijing on the side of the road. Although there were a lot of people on both sides of Deshengmen Street, because the people living nearby came out to welcome the emperor's return, the crowd of people who greeted them was next to each other, and it was very crowded.

However, because they were dressed in the clothes of scholars, the ordinary people did not dare to squeeze around them, but let the two of them have a wider field of vision to watch the emperor's chariot pass.

Seeing Chongzhen waving his hands to both sides from the inside of Shoufu's carriage, Zhang Zhengchen, who was square and had an old-fashioned personality similar to his teacher Liu Zongzhou, suddenly said to his companions with some displeasure: "How can Shoufu share a car with His Majesty to accept the cheers of the people, this is a rude move." ”

Wu Linzheng subconsciously looked at the emperor's car behind the Shoufu carriage and found that the curtain in the window had opened a gap, but soon the curtain was lowered. Although the curtain had been lifted for a short time, he had already spotted a young girl sitting in the emperor's car and secretly watching the crowd outside.

Wu Linzheng also replied with some displeasure: "It's really rude." ”

Zhang Zhengchen suddenly turned his head and glanced at his companion, and added quite approvingly: "Brother Shengsheng and I are really people in the same way, Huang Zhongwu first attached to Zhongxian, and then his majesty, and he is not a righteous person." The reason why the state affairs are so corrupt is because the people in power are all villains like Huang Zhongwu. Brother Shengsheng's entry into Beijing this time should be to help the society and expel these villains from His Majesty's side. ”

Regarding Zhang Zhengchen's impassioned attitude at this time, Wu Linzheng also woke up and knew that his words just now had misunderstood this companion. However, at this time, he didn't explain what he saw just now, but nodded and said: "What Yuhou said is true, but this place is not the place to talk, let's go back and talk again." ”

Zhang Zhengchen looked at the miscellaneous people around him on the left and right, and nodded silently, no longer pointing the topic to Huang Liji's moral issues. After Zhang Zhengchen calmed down, Wu Linzheng looked at the convoy passing in front of him, and began to think about the impact of the emperor's victory on all forces in the court.

Unlike Zhang Zhengchen, who was still white, Wu Linzheng was a jinshi in the second year of the Apocalypse, and at the beginning of the Jianchang Mansion, he not only suppressed the local heroes, but also captured the famous local thieves, so the official reputation is very good. But then I met my father's funeral home Ding worry, this year's Ding worry expired, and he had to be recommended in the same year, and it was revived.

However, as soon as he entered Beijing, he met the emperor's personal expedition, and the six cabinet departments were busy arranging the logistics supply of the emperor's expedition, so he never held office and lived idly in the capital. During this period, Wu Linzheng went to visit Liu Zongzhou, whom he had always admired, and became familiar with Liu Zongzhou's eldest disciple Zhang Zhengchen during the exchange.

Although Wu Linzheng can be cited as a confidant by Zhang Zhengchen, who has a square and old-fashioned personality, he himself is not a person who follows the rules, otherwise when he was a local official, he would not be able to solve major cases.

This time, the Houjin army avoided the Ningjin defense line outside the Guanguan and invaded the Guannai by a detour from the grassland, causing alarms to erupt in the Gyeonggi area, and the people near the capital fled to the outer city, while the officials in Beijing were at a loss. Let Wu Linzheng realize that the Ningjin defense line, which the ministers of the court once thought Mount Tai relied on, was no longer an obstacle for Houjin.

Since the Houjin army was able to make a detour to attack Jizhou, it also meant that they could make a detour to attack Miyun, Xuanda and other places. What seems to be a well-defended Great Wall defense line has become a sieve full of holes.

Chongzhen was able to ignore the opposition of the officials in the DPRK and China, with the General Staff as the core, and alone controlled the entire army and logistics dispatch against the Houjin invasion, and personally went to the front line to prevent the Houjin army from breaking through the Jizhou defense line and rushing into the Gyeonggi area, and the response was not unfast.

But with the news of the victory on the front line, after the safety of the capital was once again guaranteed, those officials in the capital who had been at a loss in the face of bad news began to discuss in private whether it was necessary for the emperor to personally conquer the emperor? Is the General Staff Dispatching the Army and Local Materials by Bypassing the Military Department and the Cabinet to Seize Power Too Much and Is There a Suspicion of Military Personnel Interfering in Political Affairs? and so on.

Although Wu Linzheng despised these officials for having nothing to do and being ashamed to speak out when they had nothing to do, in some respects, he still agreed with the views of these officials.

One is that the power of the General Staff is too great, which undermines the normal operation of the War Department; The second is that Huang Liji, the first assistant of the cabinet relied on by the emperor, blindly flattered, not only did not play the responsibility of supporting the emperor to govern the country, but became the emperor's spokesman in front of hundreds of officials.

Although after the cabinet reform, Shoufu gained more power than before, which seemed to be a great victory for the civil officials and doctors, but now Huang Liji did not use this power properly, but made the cabinet a vassal of the emperor, which seems to be less than before, which is also the most dissatisfied place for many scholars.

After all, from the beginning of the country, generations of scholars and doctors hoped to restore the power structure of the Song Dynasty, when the king and the scholars ruled the world together. Huang Liji's actions obviously shattered the political ideals of these scholars, which is also the reason why many officials oppose Huang Liji.

As far as Wu Linzheng's political philosophy is concerned, he also hopes that Chongzhen will be a Ming monarch who rules by doing nothing, and that major national affairs should be handled by the cabinet with full powers, and the emperor only needs to promise to draw a charge.

However, looking at the cheering of the people around Chongzhen, he also knew that this idea might be difficult to realize. Judging from the support attitude of the people in the capital towards Chongzhen, he doesn't think that Chongzhen will be a no-do king who keeps to himself and is unwilling to meddle in government affairs.

As long as this victory has not been forgotten by the people of the capital, what Chongzhen wants to do, it is estimated that the probability of getting the support of the people of the capital is extremely high. Even those Qing officials and celebrities with outstanding prestige among the people, if they want to stop in front of Chongzhen at this moment, they are estimated to be bumped into each other, let alone others.

On the second floor of a street-facing teahouse not far from Wu and Zhang, Liu Xiang and his younger brother Liu Peng were also standing by the window of a private seat, watching the emperor's motorcade pass by.

Liu Xiang looked at the huge convoy passing through the street below with an angry face, and couldn't help but say: "It's still the emperor's majesty, but it's just a trip out of Beijing, and when you come back, you will be offered to the sky by these people in the capital." With so many guards everywhere, wouldn't those Tartars have already scared them away? ”

Liu Peng, who was standing beside him, suddenly said to his brother with some unhappiness, "Brother, let's be respectful, this is the capital, not Xiangdao, if the news of my brother's disrespect to His Majesty spreads, will there be good fruits to eat?" ”

Liu Xiang suddenly turned his head and glared at him with some annoyance, looked at Liu Peng and lowered his head, then looked at several cronies in the room and said, "Today, all the people in this room are their own families, can someone betray their brother?" Besides, I'm just talking, and I don't mean anything else, you're nervous. ”

Although Liu Peng was afraid of his brother's Jiwei, he still refused to admit defeat at this moment and replied: "I am not only worried about my brother, but also about my own brothers.

My brother used to always say that those Dutch red-haired people were credible, but after the red-haired people's merchant house was burned down by the Annanes, didn't they still fart a single one? The elder brother approached them to discuss the joint effort to retake Saigon, but what did they do besides perfunctory?

Now we have hundreds of brothers and thousands of villagers still in the hands of the Annamite people, and if the imperial court is unwilling to come forward, God knows where the Annamite people will take them to work as coolies.

When we went to Beijing this time, didn't we beg His Majesty to come forward and see if we could make the Annam people give in, even if we didn't spit out Saigon, at least we had to release those captives back, otherwise how would we explain to our brothers when we went back?

Since you're here to plead with Your Majesty, you have to be at least respectful, right? Besides, we have all surrendered to the court now, and we are already His Majesty's courtiers, as a courtier, it is not appropriate to talk about the king behind his back, right? ”

Liu Xiang listened to his younger brother's chatter, and immediately wanted to raise his eyebrows and scold the past, he was about to say that the surrender to the imperial court is just a temporary strategy, as long as someone has a boat, they are kings on the sea from Guangdong to Annam, and after a few days of being an official of the imperial court, they forgot their origins and went to grovel to those high-ranking officials and nobles, which is simply a soft bone.

However, the corner of his eye swept over the four or five subordinates in the room, but he found that most of them agreed with his brother's words, so he immediately softened his face and said with a smile: "It's just a casual joke, why are you so serious." Okay, brother, listen to your advice, and don't say anything disrespectful to Your Majesty in the future.

Now that Your Majesty has returned to Beijing, we must prepare how to persuade Your Majesty to help us deal with the Annamite people. In this maritime association, Shu Zheng Yiguan has the greatest power, but he and I have never dealt with each other, and he may not be able to speak for us at that time.

However, Zheng Yiguan's opponent Xu Xinsu is said to be very trusted by His Majesty, you go to find a relationship and let me meet him, if he can help us talk in front of His Majesty, maybe the purpose of this trip to Beijing can be achieved as soon as possible..."

Liu Peng obeyed Liu Xiang's orders and left the room with the three of them, the remaining two of whom were Liu Xiang's cronies and the right and left men who protected him from Saigon.

After watching Liu Peng leave, a cronie who had been with Liu Xiang for more than ten years looked at Liu Xiang's face, and couldn't help but lean in and said: "Big leader, these two leaders seem to have been estranged from the big leader since they became the garrison of Xiangdao." ”

Liu Xiang subconsciously reached out and touched his beard, and after he reached out and touched the air, he remembered that his beard that imitated Guan Gongchu had been shaved by him because he was picked up by fire when he fled from Saigon.

This couldn't help but make him a little annoyed and angry: "What a big leader, Lao Tzu is the envoy of Saigon Town." The second bastard, he has eaten rice from the imperial court for a few days, and he doesn't know what his surname is..."

Seeing Liu Xiang angry, the two cronies suddenly didn't dare to speak anymore. Liu Xiang was annoyed for a while, then regained his composure, and said to the two cronies: "We should also go, Zheng Yiguan is a bastard again, and we must meet him at this time, if we don't understand what he thinks in his heart, Lao Tzu is not steadfast in his heart..."