The Lantern Festival in the capital in the third year of Chongzhen is obviously much more lively than in previous years, not only because of the opening of various factories in the capital last year, which increased the income of the people in the capital, but also because the army of the Ming Dynasty finally defeated the Houjin army in the front and drove the invading Houjin army out of the pass.

Of course, the news of the victory of the Ming army on the frontal battlefield only exists in the word of mouth of the Ming Times and ordinary people, and for most of the officials of the Sixth Ministry, they either avoided talking about this war, or deliberately belittled the gold content of the victory of this war, and some people even openly questioned the results reported from the front.

The first reason for this situation is that after the victory of the war, the propaganda was focused on the General Staff, the New Army, ordinary soldiers, and a large number of auxiliary laborers, and the civilian officials of the imperial court and local areas were basically not at the center of propaganda, which made some civilian officials very dissatisfied.

After all, according to the practice of the Ming Dynasty, the credit for the decision-making of the temple and the praise of the painting in the army should belong to the cabinet and local officials, which is also the basis for ensuring the influence of civilian officials on military affairs. If, according to the current propaganda, the victory of the war has nothing to do with the cabinet and local officials, they will not be able to interfere in the affairs of the Ming army in the future.

Although most of the staff officers of the General Staff are considered to have been transferred from civilian officials to military positions, in the eyes of these officials, since Sun Chengzong and others have been transferred to military positions, they cannot be regarded as supervising the army of the Ming Dynasty on behalf of civilian officials. The General Staff Headquarters formed by Sun Chengzong and other civilian officials can be in charge of military affairs in peacetime, but when they are on merit, they cannot replace civilian officials in receiving the merit of decision-making and praise.

The second is that at the end of the second year of Chongzhen, the dividend civil officials who resisted the Houjin invasion war were put aside, and it actually became the reason for the resurgence of the eunuch party. This made most of the officials in the court involuntarily want to weaken and cover up the results of this victory.

Even Huang Liji, the first assistant who was closest to the emperor, saw the role that the eunuchs could use to promote land reform, so he pinched his nose and accepted Chongzhen's proposal. As for the other officials in the court who have no political baggage, they naturally have to oppose the revival of the eunuch party in life and death.

Not to mention, when the eunuch clique of Wei Zhongxian and Choi Chengxiu was overthrown, the incumbent officials of the DPRK and China made more or less efforts, and they naturally did not want to suffer retaliation after the eunuch party was revived.

Let's talk about the most practical thing, there are so many positions of officials in this dynasty, and many people were promoted by the trend of overthrowing the eunuchs, and now if the eunuchs want to rise again, is it difficult to let them give up their positions? Think about it with your ass, and these officials should know which side they are on, too.

However, in the past two years of being repeatedly educated by the emperor to be officials, these officials have learned from the pain, and finally found a lot of lessons and lessons. The first is that the current Ming Emperor is not afraid of moral constraints, and even likes to play with moral standards in order to rectify the officials. Therefore, the words of exhortation to the emperor should not be too high, and the most important thing is not to put forward standards that officials generally cannot do, and avoid letting the emperor use them to restrain officials themselves.

The second is that the snake can't be headless, in terms of numbers, there are undoubtedly more officials in the court who oppose Huang Liji, the remnants of the eunuch party, who continue to be in power, but they are often defeated by Huang Liji and the emperor. The main reason is that everyone's hearts are not united enough, and several officials and leaders who have been pinned on high hopes by everyone have not really taken responsibility.

Especially when Chongzhen just ascended the throne, Liu Zongzhou, a righteous man who was praised by him personally, thought that Liu Zongzhou, who had a great reputation, could enter the cabinet and go out of the court, assist the king, and clean up the dynasty. As a result, everyone praised him for a long time, but found that this old gentleman was a self-confessed man, although he had the words and deeds to persuade the emperor, but he never had the courage to really fight with the emperor, and refused to form an alliance with others to advise the emperor.

Enjoying the position of headmaster of the central government school given to him by the emperor, he was devoted to the pleasure of studying, and had no interest in practical affairs at all. As a result, many officials who once pinned their hopes on him ended up with nothing.

After Liu Zongzhou, several high-profile official leaders, such as Sun Chengzong, Yuan Keli, Qian Qianyi, Han Yi and others, either chose to compromise with the emperor, or gave in to the emperor, and in turn divided and appeased the officials and gentry below for the emperor.

In the two years since Chongzhen came to power, he has been promoting internal political reforms and replacing some officials who are too old and have low energy, or who have qualifications and inability, which makes some young officials begin to take office in advance.

Although these young officials are inclined to reform, in their opinion, an official with a political black history like Huang Liji is obviously not suitable to preside over the reform affairs of the Ming Dynasty. Today's Ming Dynasty needs to carry out reforms, but the reforms must be presided over by officials who are clean and have no moral problems, so that the reform policies issued by the imperial court can be recognized locally.

So at the end of the second year of Chongzhen, the gentry officials in the capital began to slowly concentrate on Li Biao, Cheng Jiming, and Zhou Yanru. Li Biao is Gao Yi, he is a fellow villager and disciple of the leader of the Donglin Party, after the outbreak of the Donglin Party case, he chose to return to his hometown due to illness. Chongzhen was recalled to the capital in the second year and served as a waiter in the ministry. Cheng Jiming was Yang Lian's classmate, who returned to Beijing a month earlier than Li Biao and served as a waiter in the Ministry of Rites.

Li Biao and Cheng Jiming are both veteran Donglin Party members, and their status is not under Qian Qianyi and Han Yi and others, so after Qian Qianyi's formation of the party caused a split within the Donglin Party, these two people were pushed out by some Donglin Party members to clean up the confidence of the Donglin Party members and try to reunite the Donglin Party members.

Although Zhou Yanru is not a member of the Donglin Party, as a celebrity who was even a member of the Donglin Party, and as a celebrity who was even in the middle of the two yuan when he was a teenager, and there was a sleek Wen Tiren by his side to build momentum for him, coupled with the identity of a member of the Scientific Progressive Party, many young officials and scholars surrounded him.

On the night of the Lantern Festival, more than 30 young officials gathered in a restaurant in Xicheng, and after three rounds of drinking, the red-faced officials began to pay attention to the war in front of them.

Qian Shisheng was the first to express his dissatisfaction with the war heroes publicized by the Daming Times a few days ago, "... The Daming Times has now completely become the mouthpiece of those warriors, promoting those little-known soldiers and ordinary people every day, and even building a road has become a hero. The cabinet's temple calculations, but they didn't even mention it. If this continues, wouldn't we, who have been studying hard for ten years, not even be as good as a group of peddlers and pawns..."

An official who was a little drunk said angrily: "Speaking of which, it's all the bad things of the General Staff, since the establishment of the General Staff, it has first emptied the Governor's Mansion of the Five Armed Forces, and then emptied our Military Department, and now it seems that they don't even care about the Cabinet." Could it be that in the future, we will have to rely on the snort of a group of martial artists? ”

The official's words immediately won the support of several colleagues, and some even boldly said: "Just a group of warriors, what ability can they overtake the Governor's Office and the Ministry of War of the Five Armies, and also make several cabinet elders make concessions."

In the final analysis, it's not because of Bachelor Sun in the General Staff. With his qualifications as an emperor's division, coupled with the emperor's support, this general staff can naturally have its own system, so we can't interfere.

If you want me to say that if you want to change the current situation, you must let Master Sun leave the General Staff, and without the General Staff of Master Sun, there would be no status that is beyond the imperial court today. ”

"Brother Ju Ran is right, if you can get Master Sun to leave the General Staff, who will be the most likely person to take over Master Sun's position?" An official asked curiously.

"If one person is transferred from the sixth department, I'm afraid no one can say for sure. However, if one person is directly selected from the General Staff, I think it is possible for Lu Shanji, Yuan Chonghuan, and Mao Yuanyi..."

"Although Lu Shanji is known for his loyalty, righteousness and righteousness, he and Master Sun are two sides of the same coin, if he is allowed to take the position of Master Sun, this general staff is estimated to be a nephew playing a lantern - as usual (uncle).

Although Mao Yuanyi was born in a famous family, he is just a white body, and it may be difficult to convince the public if he takes over the position of Master Sun. However, Yuan Chonghuan is not only a Jinshi, but also has always been close to us, if he can take over the position of Master Sun, it will be a good thing. ”

Many officials suddenly sobered up, and some people couldn't help but say suspiciously: "Master Sun has just made such a great contribution, I'm afraid it's impossible to let him leave office, right?" ”

Lu Chengyuan, who hadn't drunk much tonight, smiled and said, "We can't let Master Sun step down, but it's not impossible to let Master Sun give up this position." ”

After hearing Lu Chengyuan's words, many officials immediately asked him curiously, wanting to know if there was any way to get Sun Chengzong to give up the chief of staff.

Lu Chengyuan glanced at his colleagues, and couldn't help but say: "You can follow Wang Yangming's old example and write to Your Majesty to request that Bachelor Sun be rewarded with a knighthood." ”

"Knighthood?" Many officials thought for a moment, and then praised loudly: "This plan is really good, as long as Master Sun receives the title of knight, he will not be able to do this position for a long time." ”

There were also some officials who were more sluggish to respond to the mystery of asking their companions for some reason, and someone suddenly whispered to them that once Sun Chengzong received the title, he would be transferred from the Wenchen system to the rank of Lord Wu. According to the practice of the dynasty, Sun Chengzong should have written and resigned from the post of chief of the general staff to show that he had no ambition to take over and control the military power.

Even if Chongzhen forcibly retains his position, Sun Chengzong will lose his reputation because of this. The Ming Dynasty could tolerate a civil servant commanding the Ming army, but it would never tolerate a military attache holding the highest command power of the Ming army. Even if this person used to be a civil servant, it would not work, because no one was willing to set this precedent and provide a channel for the martial artist to rise in status.

The young officials, who were already lacking scruples under the stimulation of alcohol, suddenly promised to swear under the guidance of Lu Chengyuan, Qian Shisheng and others that they would write to the emperor after they returned, asking for a knighthood on Sun Chengzong for their military exploits.

In the middle of the moon, the banquet was about to disperse, and when Lu Chengyuan and Qian Shisheng, whose faces were crimson, walked out of the restaurant, they looked at the street lamps that had been sleepless all night, and they all looked at each other and smiled, and then they got into the carriage and went home.