Huang Liji's suggestion was quickly approved by Chongzhen, and after thinking for a very short time, Huang Liji suggested to the emperor that Wen Tiren be put in charge of the investigation of the Nanjing Township Trial fraud case.

Zhu Youzhen also strongly agreed with the candidate proposed by Huang Liji, although this person did not seem to be outstanding, but every time there was a dispute in the court, Wen Tiren followed closely behind him. Others may be wary of other people's eyes in such a case, but this one doesn't seem to be going against any of his wishes.

Huang Liji had just decided with Chongzhen how to deal with the Nanjing Township trial fraud case, and then some doubts suddenly arose, and he couldn't help but ask the emperor tentatively: "Since Your Majesty is already confident about this case, why has he not given the will to the cabinet for a long time?" ”

Zhu Youzhen played with the empty teacup in his hand for a while before he spoke: "Because I'm not sure if this is the best choice." Societies like the Fusha that have their own political ideas should naturally be controlled, but the members who join the Fusha are not all ambitious people, and some of them do believe in the Fusha's philosophy and join.

If it weren't for the Nanjing Township trial fraud case this time, I would actually want to take a second look at what kind of people these people in the Restoration Society are. However, because of this case, I had to preemptively suppress the Restoration Society, although thus preserving the achievements of the imperial court's reform of the imperial examination and education system. But it also dampens the political enthusiasm of young people who want to help the country.

I have always believed that power, strategy, and institutions alone cannot change a declining dynasty, and that there is no enthusiasm and effort from the people to change the country. No matter how perfect the reform plan is, it is nothing more than a butcher's knife used by some corrupt officials to rob the people.

Wanting to change a country is not just the task of the princes who sit high above the temple, but should be the goal of all levels of the country to strive for. In order to preserve the existing reforms, I suppressed some of the scholars who wanted to change the country, which is why I have been unable to make a decision for a long time. ”

Huang Liji was silent for a moment, and finally suggested to Chongzhen: "Your Majesty cherishes the mind of talents, and the minister is also deeply admired. Since His Majesty has such an idea, the minister thinks that he might as well tell Wen Tiren to let him grasp the balance when dealing with this matter, that is. This time, the cancellation of the number of scholars in the Restoration Society is enough to deal a blow to the reputation of the Restoration Society, and the minister thinks that it is not easy to pursue these scholars too much, and it is not forbidden for these scholars to participate in the examination again for three years, as the final punishment. ”

Zhu Youzhen looked at Huang Liji and said with great satisfaction: "Mr. is worthy of being my first assistant, and he can take care of all aspects very thoughtfully, so let's do this according to Mr.'s wishes." I wonder if there is anything else that my husband wants to discuss with me? ”

At this moment, Huang Liji also had an indescribable sense of depression in his heart, obviously things were carried out according to Chongzhen's intentions, but when he brought this conclusion back, I am afraid that everyone else would think that he had once again bypassed his cabinet colleagues and reached this conclusion privately with the emperor.

However, he soon put this depression behind him, and turned to the second thing, "I wonder if Your Majesty has any attention to the actions of Liaoxi to suppress the enemy and traitors?" The minister also wants to talk to His Majesty today about the rebellion in Liaoxi. ”

Zhu Youzhen was still satisfied with Huang Liji's attitude toward the Nanjing Township Examination. Although he and Huang Liji and others have the same position on the matter of suppressing the southern gentry and bureaucracy, it does not mean that he hopes to see the situation in which the southern gentry and bureaucracy are completely suppressed.

Without Nurhachi leading the rise of the Jurchen clan in the northeast, there would have been no scholars within the Ming Dynasty who wanted to change politics; In the same way, without the opposition of the southern gentry bureaucracy in the court, these northern gentry bureaucrats lost the motivation to continue to follow him in changing society.

In this era, except for Zhu Youzhen, who can see what the goal of reform is, the expectations of other officials for reform are just to ensure that Daming will not have problems in their hands. If there is no external pressure, the social change that Daming is carrying out now, after solving the problem of Daming's survival in a short period of time, may be time to turn off the fire and stop the car.

Zhu Youzhen, who was in control of the direction of this reform train, was naturally unwilling and could not stop. Balancing the balance between the scholars of the north and the south, the reformers and the conservatives has become his most difficult task at the moment.

After hearing Huang Liji's change of topic, Zhu Youzhen also shook his head and shook off some of the nonsense in his mind, and he immediately replied: "I still know about this matter." Didn't Hui Shilang from the Criminal Department just send back a recital? I've already seen it, but what do you think, sir? ”

Huang Liji suddenly looked at Chongzhen and said: "Your Majesty, the ministers and cabinet colleagues think that the suppression of the rebellion in Liaoxi this time seems to have gone too far. In the punishment list sent back by Hui Shilang, 279 people were required to be sentenced to death, and 1,379 families were exiled overseas.

The ministers learned about this list and found that thirty percent of the people were born in the original Liaodong big households, and the rest belonged to military families. Your Majesty, although these big families fled their homes because of the war, they still have a certain influence among the fugitive refugees in Liaodong. The rebellion against the army, but now it involves so many large families, doesn't it make the people of Liaodong fluctuate and lose their trust in the imperial court?

Moreover, the minister has heard that several generals have fled from Liaoxi Town, and some of them are in the highest positions of guerrillas. Your Majesty, Liaoxi Town is an important barrier to the north of Shenjing to resist the invasion of the Later Jin Kingdom, and it is also the first line of defense for the Later Jin to the south. Even the high-ranking military attachés in the guerrilla army fled to the Houjin side, and the reality of China's defense line outside the customs to deal with the Houjin was not completely mastered by Jiannu?

After discussing with his colleagues, Yichen thought that it was necessary to restrain the current suppression of rebellion in Liaoxi Town and avoid further expanding the targets of suppression. In addition, Hui Shiyang, the servant of the Criminal Department, was at a loss for handling the rebellion, and we thought that we should recall him and send another honest and stable person to preside over the rebellion. ”

Zhu Youzhen smiled and replied: "Sir's information is still not accurate enough, the report sent by Jinyiwei from Liaoxi said: So far, because of the fear of Su instead, the generals who fled to Houjin, the highest position is the deputy general.

Nineteen middle- and high-ranking generals, including adjutant general Liu Tianlu, staff generals Gao Guanghui, Jiang Xin, and guerrilla Fang Xianke, crossed the Liao River with hundreds of family members and close family members, and fled into Yizhou, Guangning, and other places.

It is said that after Liu Tianlu arrived in Yizhou, he was escorted to Shenyang, and Huang Taiji personally greeted him at the city gate. When Liu Tianlu saw Huang Taiji coming out to greet him, he immediately rolled off the horse, and gratefully called Huang Taiji the true lord of the world.

After these defected generals fled to Houjin, except for Liu Tianlu, who was promoted by Huang Taiji by one level, the other generals all retained their old official positions in my Ming Dynasty. After receiving such preferential treatment from Jiannu, what kind of goods they have in their stomachs must be revealed without reservation at this moment.

Now what is the point of stopping the rebellion against the military and civilians in Liaoxi Town? Those who should have fled have fled, and the information that should have been leaked has been leaked. If we stop the rebellion now, the fugitives will not run back, and the leaked information will not disappear, but will make those traitors think that the court is weak, and as long as they make a fuss, the court will have to give in.

I feel that Hui Shilang is doing well in Liaoxi, and the more he arrives at this time, the more the court needs to be tough, and only by breaking all the illusions of those generals and big families will they honestly accept the arrangements of the imperial court.

What's more, it was only some middle- and high-ranking generals who fled, or some military attaches who were attached to the generals of Liaoxi. As for the generals of the middle and lower classes of the military towns in western Liaoning, and the ordinary people of Liaodong, they did not have the intention of fleeing and opposing the rebellion of the imperial court. Judging from the current situation, the flight of these generals not only did not damage the imperial court's control over the Liaoxi army, but on the contrary, it freed up a lot of places so that we could arrange for the generals who were inclined to the imperial court to enter the Liaoxi army. ”

Huang Liji was not moved by Chongzhen's optimism, he still said worriedly: "But Your Majesty, even if you want to rectify the army, it will take time to rectify it slowly.

Now these generals have fled, and so many generals and big families have been punished. In a short period of time, the combat effectiveness of the armies outside the border will inevitably suffer a considerable blow. After getting the refuge of our army's rebel generals, after figuring out the reality of our country in western Liaoning, wouldn't it take the opportunity to send troops to attack Jinzhou and Ningyuan?

Now Zu Dashou is in the capital, Wu Xiang is in Jeju Island, and the Liaoxi Jiangmen is still divided, even if His Majesty wants to rectify the Liaoxi military town, it should be gradual and not too radical, causing the entire Liaoxi military town to be on the verge of collapse. ”

Zhu Youzhen replied disapprovingly: "Originally, I thought the same way, but who let me encounter a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity now." I thought that if I didn't take advantage of the current situation to carry out a comprehensive rectification of the Liaoxi Military Town and clean up the corruption and incompetence within the Liaoxi Military Town, it would be a waste of this opportunity.

Last year, Huang Taiji led a large army to leap thousands of miles and entered the customs from Jizhou, wanting to invade our Gyeonggi region, but stopped at Zunhua and had to retreat. The failure of this expedition was not only a blow to Huang Taiji's prestige in the Later Jin Kingdom. The important thing is that before the autumn harvest in Liaodong this year, the Houjin Kingdom has no surplus grain and grass to go out.

If it was in the past, I would still have to scruple about it, when rectifying the military town in western Liaoning, would the Houjin State take the opportunity to rob and collude with the scum in the military town in western Liaoning to fight against the imperial court. As for now, in addition to accepting these fugitives, Houjin has no extra strength to organize an invasion war of tens of thousands of troops again.

In this case, why don't we take this opportunity to completely reorganize and transform the military town of Liaoxi once and for all? Since Nurhachi raised his army, the military town of Liaoxi has changed from one of the nine sides of my Ming Dynasty to one and a half of the nine sides. The investment of one military town in western Liaoning is almost equal to that of the other eight border towns.

With an annual investment of 7 to 8 million in military salaries, apart from fattening a group of corrupt officials and corrupt officials, it is impossible to train even an army that dares to fight in the field with the Houjin army. If the imperial court is so accustomed to these Liaoxi generals, what benefits can it get except for raising a feudal town that no one can control?

Taking advantage of the temporary immobility of Houjin, it is worth reorganizing the military town of Liaoxi from top to bottom, even if it loses some combat effectiveness. As for the big Liaodong households in your mouth, they colluded with the Liaoxi Jiangmen to force the Liaodong Han people who fled back from Houjin to cultivate the fields for them and serve as laborers. On the one hand, he was still in contact with Jin's in-laws and friends after surrendering, smuggling all kinds of prohibited materials to Houjin, and providing all kinds of information to Houjin, trying to pave a way back for himself.

I really can't think of any reason to forgive these traitors who eat inside and out. ”