Zhu Hongsan knew that Feng Ruoshu was planning for himself, because Old Man Feng didn't know who Zhu Yousong was. If you get another emperor who is as wise and martial as Zhu Hongsan himself, it will really be a widow and a dead son—there is no hope.

Zhu Hongsan knew that Zhu Yousong was also a Chinese person, and an emperor like him might be able to do something in the peaceful years, but it was a fee in troubled times.

But Zhu Hongsan didn't say anything, after all, Old Man Feng was for his own good.

Zhu Hongsan saw that everything he wanted to say was said, and it was not interesting for him to stay in this flower nest, and said: "Then the emperor's nephew wishes the emperor's uncle can ascend to the great treasure." ”

After speaking, Zhu Hongsan took out a stack of silver tickets and said, "Uncle Huang, the little nephew has nothing to help you, this is 10,000 taels of silver." The little nephew knows that his uncle is going to do big things, and there are many places to use silver, which is the little nephew's heart. ”

Zhu Yousong was really moved, he had been in exile for several years, and he was used to seeing the faces of his relatives. For the first time, there was someone like Zhu Hongsan who sent charcoal in the snow.

Zhu Yousong stood up and said, "Virtuous nephew, uncle now promises you that as long as your uncle accomplishes great things, you will be the king of Chu." Master Feng is a university scholar. ”

Zhu Hongsan said: "Then the little nephew will thank Uncle Huang first." The little nephew took his leave. After speaking, he got up and left with Feng Ruoshu. Zhu Yousong naturally sent someone to find Lu Jiude according to Feng Ruoshu's arrangement.

Zhu Hongsan and Feng Ruoshu walked for a while and enjoyed the scenery of Hongze Lake. Zhu Hongsan said: "Sir, now we should have done what we should do, and the rest depends on God's arrangement." ”

Feng Ruoshu nodded and said, "It's okay below, let's wait for the news in Huai'an." It just so happens that the old man has never been to Huai'an, is the lord interested in accompanying the old man to browse this hometown of the Marquis of Huaiyin? ”

Zhu Hongsan said with a smile: "It just so happens that the kid is free, uncle, please." ”

Just when Zhu Hongsan and Feng Ruoshu were visiting the scenery of Hongze Lake, Ma Shiying and Shi Kefa, who were far away in Pukou, were discussing the next emperor of the Ming Dynasty.

The reason why Shi Kefa wanted to come to Pukou to discuss with Ma Shiying was not because Ma Shiying had a good relationship with him or had a high official position, nor because Ma Shiying had seen people, but because Ma Shiying had a large number of troops led by the general soldiers of several towns, holding guns and stalks in his hands.

And Fu and Lu, the two popular candidates for vassal kings, are precisely in his territory, so no matter who wants to be the emperor, you must agree with him, and at this time, it can be said that he is a pivotal figure.

Shi Kefa still has this most basic understanding of the situation, and he did what he said, immediately made an appointment with Ma Shiying, and had a secret conversation with him in Pukou. From this point of view, Shi Kefa's political vision is still much higher than that of Qian Qianyi and others.

And Ma Shiying's attitude at the moment is quite pro-Donglin Party, and he also has the intention of making a great contribution, so the two quickly reached an agreement and secretly agreed on a compromise plan that should not be offended, that is, to give up King Fu and King Lu, and support Zhu Changying, King Gui.

On the second day after arriving in Pukou, Shi Kefa wrote a letter back to Nanjing, proposing a plan to support King Gui and at the same time have King Lu temporarily command the soldiers and horses in accordance with the system of the ancient marshal of soldiers and horses.

And Nanjing's Donglin forces, in fact, as long as they are not succeeded by King Fu Zhu Yousong, no matter who they choose, they will have no opinion, so as soon as they received Shi Kefa's plan, the Ministry of Rites immediately prepared various honor guards, planning to set off to Guangxi to pick up King Gui to Nanjing to succeed to the throne.

It can be seen from this that the so-called "virtuous" of the Donglin Party in Nanjing is indeed just a slogan of ignoring the society for their own interests.

If they are really for the sake of the country's social "virtuous" Shefu King and King Lu, then they should fight to the end, how can they say that they will change their candidates for the emperor.

From this point of view, Qian Qianyi, Lu Daqi and others are far from the predecessors of Donglin in the Wanli period, and the so-called generation is not as good as the generation.

No matter what the reason for those Donglin seniors, the fact that they dared to fight the emperor to the end at the expense of their officials and heads regardless of their selfish interests was far better than Qian Qianyi and others.

But these Donglin stirrers forgot the famous saying that history is created by small people, and they forgot about a small person, a eunuch they didn't pay attention to.

When the old Fu King Zhu Changxun was in Beijing, there was a little eunuch nicknamed "Red in the Womb" called Lu Jiude, after Zhu Changxun left Beijing to become a vassal, he rose all the way, to the Chongzhen Dynasty, has repeatedly supervised the army, controlled Zuo Liangyu, Cao Wenzhao, Huang Degong, Liu Liangzuo, Chen Yongfu and other fierce generals, and also fought with the peasant army repeatedly, once served as the governor of the Beijing camp eunuch, and now happens to be the eunuch of the prison army guarding Fengyang.

As an old man in the palace, of course he knows a series of stories in the palace many years ago, such as "fighting for the country", and he also knows very well that the son of the old lord in front of him, the current Fu Wang Zhu Yousong, is the most qualified candidate for the emperor at present.

And the experience of fighting on the battlefield for many years has made him know what is the last word.

So after he got the letter from the blessed king Zhu Yousong, he immediately went to find the hard word - the gun stalk.

Later, the three towns of Gao Jie, Huang Degong, and Liu Liangzuo in the four major towns of the Hongguang Dynasty, although they were under the command of Governor Ma Shiying at the moment, were also mostly Lu Jiude's supervised generals, and they were close comrades-in-arms who fought side by side in a trench and were born and died.

Therefore, when Lu Jiude had a showdown with Gao Jie and others, and showed the letter of Zhu Yousong, the king of Fu, explaining that he wanted to support King Fu as a meritorious hero, these generals who had always been suppressed by intellectuals in the Ming Dynasty immediately knew that their day of coming out was coming, and this wealth was so great that they never dreamed of it.

As for Liu Zeqing, the commander-in-chief of Shandong in another town, although he once echoed the opinions of the Donglin forces at the beginning and supported the support of King Lu, at this time, when he saw that his army was far inferior to the three towns that supported King Fu, he immediately saw the wind and made the rudder also express his allegiance to King Fu.

Ma Shiying and Shi Kefa happily returned to Fengyang after reaching a deal, who knew that as soon as he entered the city, he was shocked to find that his generals and troops were gathered inside and outside the city, and they had all fallen to Zhu Yousong, the king of Fu.

Ma Shiying is also an old fritter in officialdom, he knows very well that the situation has come to this point, and he has no other way to go, so he can only take advantage of the situation to fall to the Fuwang Zhu Yousong, otherwise, don't say anything about the official career, I am afraid that it will be difficult to save even my life.

Therefore, he immediately joined the alliance, and together with Lu Jiude and the general soldiers of Zhuzhen, he swore to support King Fu in front of the Fengyang Emperor's Mausoleum, and became the number one decision-making hero among the civil ministers.

At this point, the accession of the blessed king Zhu Yousong to the throne has been decided.

After the "Fuwang Incident" in Fengyang became a foregone conclusion, Ma Shiying led an army of 50,000 and came to Huai'an on April 20, picking up Zhu Yousong and rushing to Nanjing.

Zhu Hongsan and his entourage did not follow Ma Shiying and the others, after all, Zhu Hongsan and his family really couldn't keep up with the speed of the army. So he agreed to meet Zhu Yousong in Nanjing.

When Ma Shiying picked up Zhu Yousong and went south, Zhu Hongsan and his entourage set off slowly and leisurely on April 22 and continued along the canal.

Zhu Hongsan and his entourage passed through Baoying and Gaoyou, walked all the way and played all the way, and did not arrive in Yangzhou until the fifth day of the fifth month of May. After staying in this thousand-year-old town for three days, Zhu Hongsan accompanied Feng Ruoshu to visit the scenic spots outside the city of Yangzhou before setting off for Dantu, where the canal was connected to the Yangtze River.

Zhu Hongsan's fleet went up the river at this time, and finally arrived at Nanjing, the ancient capital of the Six Dynasties, on the tenth day of the fifth month.

Zhu Hongsan asked the fleet to stop at Waijinchuan Gate, and he took Feng Ruoshu and everyone along Waijinchuan Street to enter Jinchuanmen and enter Nanjing.

After finding a place to stay, Feng Ruoshu went to visit a few old friends, such as Shen Youlong and Ruan Dacheng, and only came back in the evening.

After coming back, Feng Ruoshu found Zhu Hongsan and told him two news, one good news and one bad news.

The good news is that King Sanfu was inaugurated as a prisoner of the kingdom at the beginning of the fifth month, and he will be enthroned on the fifteenth day of May. There is also the fact that Zhu Yousong wants to crown Zhu Hongsan as the king, and the specific fief has not yet been decided, and Feng Ruoshu is located in the household department.

Seeing Feng Ruoshu's fluttering demeanor, Zhu Hongsan said, "Why don't you stay with your uncle?" Feng Ruoshu thought about it and shook his head, he said: "Now those Donglin stirring sticks treat me as Ma Shiying's person, and there will definitely be no good fruit to eat if I stay here." I'd better go to Guangdong with you. ”

Zhu Hongsan asked, "What about the bad news?" ”

Feng Ruoshu said: "It can't be said to be bad news, many people in the court still say that it is good news, that is, the puppet Shun Emperor Li Zicheng was defeated by the Manchus in a stone, and I heard that Li Zicheng has returned to Beijing." ”