Although Cao Sicheng still carries the title of Zuodu Yushi, he has experienced the party struggle of the Apocalypse Dynasty and the open and secret struggle after the new emperor ascended the throne, and the fierce political struggle has made him lose interest in his career.

In fact, he has also resigned several times in the past two years, but Chongzhen has always rejected his resignation out of the desire to stabilize the situation. And Cao Sicheng didn't care about anything in the Metropolitan Inspectorate, and let the eunuchs and Qingliu officials below do their own thing, just being a mud bodhisattva in the temple.

Before Chongzhen's personal expedition, Cao Sicheng asked the emperor to resign again, hoping to return home to retire. This time, Chongzhen agreed to him, but asked him to hold on until he returned to Beijing.

The reason why Zhu Youzhen was reluctant to remove Cao Sicheng when he first ascended the throne was because the position of Zuodu Yushi was the leader of the clear stream of words, and it was more suitable to let an official who had no intention of career occupy this position than to replace an official who was not of the same mind as him.

Chongzhen's mind really achieved great results, because of Cao Sicheng's inaction, the Metropolitan Procuratorate has always been a plate of scattered sand in the past two years, and it has not been able to form a whole to contain Chongzhen and the cabinet's actions.

At the end of Chongzhen's second year, the six departments were divided into the supervisors of the six departments because they were broken up, and they gradually lost their independence, and they were bound by the interests of the six departments.

And some of the imperial historians of the Metropolitan Procuratorate were also transferred to the Criminal Department and became the backbone of the newly established procuratorate. In the late Ming Dynasty, the Kedao Qingliu forces, which could influence the government, were not as good as before at this moment.

Li Kuilong and other imperial historians who were completely obedient to Chongzhen's orders also rebuilt a power group in the Metropolitan Procuratorate. And Cao Yubian, who has always been pinned on by some people and wants to replace Cao Sicheng as the imperial history of the left capital, also lost the best opportunity to recover because of the emperor's delay.

Although there is now a small group of Shanxi people headed by Sun Juxiang and Wei Guangxu in the Metropolitan Procuratorate, the influence of this group has not formed any climate.

Cao Sicheng's current removal can no longer affect the overall situation of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, so Zhu Youzhen finally agreed to his resignation.

And Cao Sicheng, who has already determined that he is going to leave his post and return to his hometown, naturally does not have much resistance to the emperor's order, he just regards it as something that has nothing to do with him.

As for Li Kuilong, he also knew the news of Cao Sicheng's resignation, so he naturally knew that he would have a great chance of taking over the imperial history of Zuodu, so he not only did not feel embarrassed by the emperor's order, but felt that he had an opportunity to show his loyalty.

For Chongzhen, it was the first time that he realized what the power of faith was, if he had assigned such a task before, even Li Kuilong, who could only persist by holding his thighs tightly, would need him to explain for a long time.

Today, however, until the completion of his assignment, the two chiefs of the Metropolitan Procuratorate did not raise any objections, as if they believed that the task he had proposed would be accomplished.

Cao Sicheng and Li Kuilong's well-behaved made Chongzhen save a lot of tongues. After the two of them were ordered to leave, Wang Chengen on the side suddenly asked him for instructions: "Your Majesty, Cui Chengxiu and other officials who met Your Majesty today have been waiting in the side hall for a long time, and now that the court meeting has been interrupted, should you send them back directly?" ”

Zhu Youzhen thought about it, but still shook his head and said, "Let's see each other, just meet in the apse..."

After leaving the Imperial City, Ni Yuanlu wanted to ask his teacher Yuan Keli for an idea on how they would deal with the next situation.

Today's court meeting undoubtedly exhausted the last bit of spirit that supported the Donglin party.

In fact, the so-called Donglin Party members were originally just a small circle of teachers and students of Jiangnan Academy. As Jiangnan officials from the academy came to power, in order to be able to cling to these people in power, many officials relied on the relationships between teachers and students, classmates, the same year, and the township party to get involved with these people in power, which gradually formed the political group of Donglin Party members.

However, although the Donglin Party members boasted of being the moral benchmark of the Ming Dynasty, they did not have a complete and clear concept of the political concept of governing the country. Therefore, when they really took charge of the government, because they could not launch a governing concept that met the wishes of the people in the party, they had to fight all the forces of non-Donglin party members as the political concept that united the Donglin party.

This kind of party and disagreement finally made all the political forces of the non-Donglin party in the court unite and counterattack the Donglin party, which is also called the eunuch political group by the Donglin party.

Therefore, the political bond that unites the Donglin Party members is not a lofty moral demeanor, but a political struggle between the party and the other.

During the Apocalypse, the Donglin Party was defeated by the so-called eunuch party, and thus suffered political repression and retaliation. At that time, the Donglin Party still had hope for their own group, one was the solar terms that broke out when the gentlemen of Donglin faced the eunuchs; The second is that the apocalypse is seriously ill, which makes them think that after the change of the throne, there may be a chance to turn over.

However, after Chongzhen ascended the throne, although he suppressed Wei Zhongxian, Cui Chengxiu and others, his attitude towards the Donglin Party was still impartial, which disappointed many officials who wanted to use the status of the Donglin Party to gain benefits.

What followed was Qian Qianyi's betrayal of the Donglin Party and the establishment of a so-called new Donglin Party, which caused a split within the Donglin Party. Today, the timidity of Donglin leaders such as Li Biao and Qian Longxi has destroyed the young officials' longing for the image of upright Donglin gentlemen such as Zuo Guangdou.

An official with a keen sense of smell like Ni Yuanlu has faintly realized that the loose political group of the Donglin Party may have disappeared after today.

It is clear that the originally balanced political structure between the DPRK and China will soon become unbalanced. The Qingliu forces, which had already succumbed to weakness in the DPRK and China, have a tendency to further divide and decline. The power of the cabinet headed by Huang Liji will inevitably be further strengthened, which does not bode well for Qingliu.

Returning to the courtyard of the Criminal Department on Criminal Department Street, Ni Yuanlu hurriedly went to Yuan Keli's duty room. Outside the hall where Yuan Keli was on duty, the doorman guarding the door stopped him and said, "Lord Shangshu is talking to Hui Shilang, and your lord has instructed that no one is allowed to go in and disturb them until they finish talking." ”

"Hui Shirou?" Ni Yuanlu paused for a moment, Hui Shilang is Hui Shiyang, the left waiter of the Criminal Department, he and Yang Weiyuan are jointly responsible for the procuratorate under the Criminal Department, and they are also one of the Donglin Party members who rose back after Chongzhen ascended the throne.

However, although Hui Shiyang is famous at home and abroad for his outspokenness and uprightness, he is not a righteous gentleman like Zuo Guangdou and Yang Lian, who only has fame and no power.

Emperor Taichang died, in order to let Li Xuanzhi move the palace, so as to prevent the empress dowager from controlling the government, Hui Shiyang entered the inner hall alone, and the eunuch Wang An determined the action of snatching the Emperor of the Apocalypse (Xizong), who was still the crown prince at that time, and won the merit of supporting the Donglin Party. Without the conspiracy of Hui Shiyang and Wang An, there would have been no Donglin's decision in the first year of the Apocalypse.

However, Hui Shiyang's reputation in the past was too great and his power was too deep, not only feared by the loyal and virtuous party, but also by his colleagues in the party.

At the beginning of Chongzhen's second year, because of the recommendation of Zhang Po and Huang Jingfang, he was able to recover. After returning to the capital, Hui Shiyang changed his previous posture of being incompatible with the eunuch party, and was cautious and silent during his tenure in the Ministry of Industry, so he won Chongzhen's trust and was transferred to the Procuratorate of the Criminal Department to divide Yang Weiyuan's power.

Hearing that this person was discussing things with the teacher, Ni Yuanlu was a little anxious in his heart, but he still waited outside the door.

At this moment, in the flower hall where Shangshu of the Criminal Department lived, Hui Shiyang, who Ni Yuanlu thought that his temperament had changed greatly, was talking eloquently to Yuan Keli, without the usual taciturnity.

After listening to Hui Shiyang's words, Yuan Keli said to him with an unchanged expression: "Yuan Ru persuaded me to take the lead in honoring His Majesty at this time, what is my intention? Don't fool me with the words you just said, but tell me what is in your heart. ”

Hui Shiyang, who was seen through by Yuan Keli, did not feel embarrassed, he pondered for a while before he spoke: "Since he ascended the throne today, he has built schools, developed education, and developed industry and commerce to help the treasury. Could it be that in the eyes of Lord Shangshu, there is still no honorific title? ”

Yuan Keli replied unmoved: "It can be counted reluctantly, but since Your Majesty ascended the throne, there are not a few old systems that have been reformed, and the time is still short at the moment, so I can't see any problems, and it always takes more than ten or twenty years of observation to know whether today's politics are conducive to the national economy and people's livelihood."

Yuan Ru has always been thoughtful, how could he let me take the lead in honoring His Majesty at this moment when the situation is unclear. If there is disharmony in the future, what I do today will not become the laughing stock of tomorrow.

Yuan Ru knew this, but he still wanted me to take this risk, obviously this honorific title was not to please His Majesty, but had other plans. If you don't want to speak, then seek counsel with someone else. ”

Hui Shiyang was silent for a long time, and then said slowly: "I don't know what Lord Shangshu thinks of today's court?" ”

Yuan Keli thought for a while and said: "It's just that some young officials don't know the inspection and have been arrested by His Majesty, but fortunately, His Majesty is generous, and this turmoil can be regarded as over." ”

Hui Shiyang suddenly sneered and said: "Your Majesty is really generous, but it will be difficult for my Donglin Party members to raise their heads in the court in the future."

According to the following officials, I am afraid that the reform policies promoted by the cabinet in the future will be even more numerous. lost our containment, and then let Cui Chengxiu return to the court, the Donglin Party disaster in the Apocalypse may not reappear..."