Ma Shiying is very helpless, his Hongguang Dynasty's great contribution to the policy is really forced by the situation - Beijing fell, the Son of Heaven was martyred, it is said that the prince and Ding, Yong two kings also fell into the hands of thieves, the emperor has become the primary event in Nanjing, the king of Fu who originally lived in Huai'an and the first emperor are closest in blood, and it is logical to inherit the unification, but the Donglin and Fushe people led by Qian Qianyi advocated supporting the famous King Lu in the name of Lixian, and Shi Kefa, the secretary of the military department, also added fuel to the fire and accused King Fu of "being disloyal and unfilial in the domain, and I am afraid that it will be difficult to dominate the world". In fact, the vassal kings were locked up in the palace and did not leave the house, and the ghost knew what was going on with them.

This is another old account, King Fu is the grandson of Zheng Guifei of the Wanli Dynasty, when the old King Fu fought for the position of the prince, his grandmother and the predecessors of the Donglin Party fought into a life and death rivalry, Qian Qianyi and others clearly took revenge in the name of "Lixian". Sincerity Bo Liu Kongzhao, Nanjing Town Guard Eunuch Han Zanzhou, Jiangbei Eunuch Lu Jiude stood up for King Fu to fight for the grievances, Caoyun Governor Lu Zhenfei also sent a letter to Shi Ke *** When the order is in King Fu, it is advisable to determine the head of the society as soon as possible", "If you are a relative, you will be one, and if you are virtuous, you will be chaotic", the two sides insisted on a stalemate, and Ma Shiying, the minister who held the four towns of Jiangbei, became a pivotal figure.

Shi Kefa made an appointment to meet Ma Shiying in Pukou, explaining that there were differences in the imperial court on the issue of imperial unity, and it was best to choose another vassal king in addition to King Lu and King Fu, hoping that he would support King Gui - Ma Shiying was startled, and the crisis should have been settled as soon as possible, King Gui was still in Wuzhou, Guangxi, thousands of miles away, and it was too late in time, but he didn't dare to provoke Shi Kefa, this person had almost no size in addition to being known as an incorruptible name, but he sat straight up to the head of the six departments in Nanjing, and the background was so big that it scared people to death. Ma Shiying acquiesced vaguely, but when he returned to Huai'an, he found that the situation had changed abruptly, and the commanders of the four towns, Huang Degong, Liu Liangzuo, Liu Zeqing and Gao Jie, came to the door and threatened that if Wenchen did not do a good thing, he should be done by the generals, and asked the governor to take the lead in supporting King Fu, Ma Shiying would not be able to go through troubled waters, and immediately expressed his attitude to Nanjing - resolutely support King Fu. Shi Kefa was anxious, and replied that King Fu had "greed, lewdness, alcoholism, unfilial piety, abuse, ignorance, and arbitrariness" seven should not be established, and advised Ma Shiying to follow the Old Testament, Ma Shiying was happy, and the vassal king was not allowed to leave the palace and make friends with the ministers It is the ancestral system, where did you hear that King Fu has seven should not be established, it is obviously nonsense, so he simply contacted the general army of the four towns to escort King Fu to Nanjing. The knife was on the neck, Shi Kefa did not dare not bow his head, and rushed to Yizheng to welcome King Fu into the prison of Nanjing, and soon the old minister Zhang Guowei sent his family to report day and night that "King Ding is in Datong, it is advisable to make a decision quickly", and the ministers of Nanjing no longer hesitated, and immediately supported King Fu to ascend the throne. The farce of the Ming Emperor's reign subsided, and each of the military leaders of the four towns got a knighthood and went home - Huang Degong entered Jingnan Marquis from Jingnanbo, Liu Liangzuo was crowned Guangchangbo, Liu Zeqing was crowned Dongpingbo, and Gao Jie was crowned Xingpingbo, but Lao Ma fell into the quagmire from then on.

King Fu was appointed as the supervisor of the country, and ordered the courtiers to push the ministers, and he trusted Ma Shiying the most, but Shi Kefa, Gao Hongtu and Zhang Shenyan, the secretary of the ministry, insisted on using "righteous people", and only the Donglin Party was the most righteous in the world, and Ma Shiying was also evil and not considered. Sincerity Bo Liu Kongzhao also does not belong to the "righteous person", was rejected on the grounds of "honorable nobles do not enter the cabinet", but he was angry and chased Zhang Shenyan, and by the way, he was also upset with the old horse, and the new emperor immediately chose the old horse to enter the cabinet, and soon after ascending the throne, he was transferred back to Beijing to preside over the cabinet affairs and concurrently serve as the secretary of the military department. Lao Ma is in power, but life is not easy, Nanjing is the territory of the Donglin Party and the Restoration Society, and outsiders are not allowed to be the boss, the government and the opposition scolded him, Shi Kefa went out of Beijing to supervise the teacher and was said to be excluded, and to find a troupe for the emperor to relieve boredom was said to be a virgin, and to help his old friend Ruan Dacheng restore his official body was said to be a eunuch to overturn the case, in short, what he did will definitely be blackened and criticized.

Lao Ma is aggrieved in his heart, obviously you want to seize the military power and squeeze me into Beijing, it is nonsense to sacrifice virgins, the emperor is covered in more than 200 catties of fat, and he is powerless to want to have lewd pleasures, and the most chilling, he asked the emperor to reinstate Ruan Dacheng with infamy, Ruan Dacheng over there has been appointed to the important position of the military department, only to know afterwards that people have long been secretly trading, Ruan Dacheng asked him to recommend Qian Qianyi as the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, and Qian Qianyi asked the same party to recommend Ruan Dacheng as the military department, both sides got their wish, but kept him in the dark- The water in Nanjing is too deep, and there is no foundation to grasp the power, and I regret that I should not enter Beijing as the first assistant.

Ma Shiying was disheartened from then on, and Li Yu's letter did not dare to say a word when it arrived in Nanjing, but asked the emperor to convene a cabinet meeting - he had lost control of the four towns in Jiangbei, and he really had no weight in his words.

The four towns of Jiangbei have low combat power but are extremely arrogant, he gave preferential treatment to Huang Degong and Liu Liangzuo, two old subordinates in Fengyang, and beat Liu Zeqing, a fugitive general from Shandong, Gao Jie is both a fugitive general and a thief, so he will suppress it with all his might, and the four towns defense area is also deliberately staggered to let them contain each other, this arrangement has a deep meaning - Huang Degong and Liu Liangzuo are favored and work hard naturally, Liu Zeqing is a foreigner who suffers is a blessing, and Gao Jie is at the bottom, and his heart is also balanced, Gao Jie's thief nature does not change, and military discipline is the worst, But he was afraid of the other three, and he didn't dare to go too far.

This rare balance was disturbed by Shi Kefa, who had never led soldiers but thought he knew the soldiers, and when he first arrived in Jiangbei, he promised to treat the generals equally, and the rewards and punishments were clear, and announced that the number of soldiers approved by each town was 30,000, and the annual salary was 400,000 taels and 200,000 stones, and at the same time, the military salary for four months was also paid to boost morale. Gao Jie saw at a glance that this new official was so confused, and quickly pretended to be pitiful and hugged Shi Kefa's thighs, Liu Zeqing's tail was also cocked, and Huang Degong and Liu Liangzuo felt that they had suffered a big loss if they couldn't eat more, and they couldn't work hard from then on.

The coach is honest and fair, the soldiers will be able to use their lives, this Gao Jie is very good, he took the initiative to lead the army to suppress the thieves - Shi Kefa thought very beautifully, and soon received a slap in the face, Gao Jie said that he had 400,000 people, and the little food and salary was not enough to drink porridge, and he couldn't fight the war without adding money, and maybe he would mutiny, and the other three immediately reported more than 300,000 people, Shi Kefa was stupid, but he didn't dare to get along with the soldiers, and he also teamed up with the army head to Nanjing to ask for salary.

As soon as Ma Shiying saw the official document, he understood what was going on, the four towns must have robbed the population, and it was Gao Jie who led the way, the other three were genuine officials and soldiers after all, and they wanted some face, and they were embarrassed to do bad things and would not let Gao Jie do it, Shi Kefa untied Gao Jie, of course, in a hurry, no matter how much money these guys gave, it was not enough. Ma Shiying replied to Shi Kefa unceremoniously: When the public was in charge of the cabinet, he once said, "The world is half bad, and the annual endowment is only more than 4.5 million, and in the future, the military salary will be excessive, and the training salary, the salary and other items cannot be removed", the thieves were exempted from tax for three years, and the Dongyu was deposed and added, but our dynasty exempted the Qing people from holding the money and grain of Zhongzhili for five years and Shandong for three years. Today, the soldiers and horses have a comprehensive plan for money and food, and the shortage is 2 million, and the people have no money, the court has no money, and the internal funds have no money, and the public can spend it on their own!

Shi Kefa was really anxious, and soon asked for the four towns to be the four feudatories, and the defense area was divided to allow him to raise his own food and salary, this absurd suggestion was actually passed in the court, and the courtiers figured it out, Shandong didn't want it, Jiangbei also threw it to the head of the army, transferred Huang Degong to Yizheng, Liu Liangzuo to Shouzhou, Liu Zeqing to Huai'an, and Gao Jie to the north to grab territory. Ma Shiying was not angry, he knew that something would happen soon, and sure enough, Gao Jie couldn't figure it out, and openly sent troops to rob Yangzhou, and the chaotic army burned and killed and plundered outside the city to anger the people of Yangzhou, and the people of the city were angry with the enemy to defend the city, but Shi Kefa came out and diluted the mud, and assigned Guazhou to Gao Jie to settle his family, Liu Zeqing also had itchy hands, and actually went to grab Haizhou Port in the hands of Datong, so scared that Shen Tingyang led the fleet to sail north, only Huang Degong and Liu Liangzuo were more honest, except for setting up cards everywhere to collect money, they didn't make a fuss, but the reputation of the four towns in Jiangbei was stinky to the end, The common people are hoping that they will be finished soon.

The four towns of Jiangbei are completely ruined, a group of fools who have misled the country! Ma Shiying secretly scolded in his heart and bowed his head and replied: "The towns in Jiangbei are still powerless, and there is no chance of winning by driving the captives. ”

"No, Datong Li Yu colluded with the barbarians to destroy my famous religion, and the great traitors through the ages, and instigated Huguang and Jiangxi officials to promote heresies, and its sinister is still above the Qing people and the Liukou, and Shi Kefa should be ordered to lead the army north to return to Germany, and invite the Qing soldiers to go south to join forces to exterminate the thieves in Henan, so that Datong can be isolated from the north, and Huguang and Jiangxi can be restored." Jiang Yueguang hurriedly waved his hand.

"According to the old man, the edict of the first emperor of Datong is fake, the so-called king is also false, its intention is to coerce our dynasty, today's plan should be to tell the world Datong to rebel, and use the power of the Qing people to contain Datong to protect the land south of the Yangtze River, Wang Yongji, the governor of Shandong, and the general soldier Qiu Lei to appease Shandong, except for sending people to post a few notices, nothing else has been accomplished, it is better to withdraw, do not make the Qing people suspect that I have the intention to fight for land." Gao Hongtu is a native of Shandong, and would rather let his hometown go out than allow heresy to destroy sacred learning.

Ma Shiying frowned and said: "I have decided at the beginning of the dynasty, it is not appropriate to make enemies too much, Ma was appointed to preside over the cabinet, and he really did not dare to act rashly with the safety of the country." ”

"Ma Shiying, the Son of Heaven is established in the order of his relatives, what are your merits? The Manchu Dynasty said that it should be governed by a righteous person, but you want to overturn the case for the rebel party, and now you are protecting the traitor with words, you are not a gentleman, how can He De be the first assistant? Gao Hongtu sarcastically said that Ma Shiying has the stain of being greedy for ink and buying officials, and he is also clever and fickle, so he has already had the intention to teach a lesson.

Ma Shiying's face turned blue, and he arched his hand to the emperor and said: "The minister has no merit, but someone violates the order of the relatives to make the minister meritorious, and the minister is not a gentleman, Zhang Pu of the Fushe died of illness, Donglin and the comrades of the Fushe are ignored, only the minister runs thousands of miles to handle the funeral, and the minister has no intention of overturning the case for the anti-party, Ruan Dacheng is peerless, and the minister has also received his great favor, and he does not dare not recommend it in public and private. ”

"I am measured, Ma Aiqing is not wrong, and it is also said in the play that kindness will be repaid," the emperor nodded, he couldn't figure out between a gentleman and a villain, but he thought that Lao Ma was a righteous person, and the two old men hated it, except for teaching people and never doing serious things, he waved his hand to Wang Duo and said, "Wang Aiqing, what do you have to say?" ”

"Wang Yongji, Zhang Guowei and others all said that the edict of the first emperor is true, and they have also seen His Royal Highness King Ding, and they have never said that there is fraud in it, and the arrangement of the first emperor must have deep meaning, and I will do it." Wang Duo concentrated on his studies and had no intention of participating in party struggles, and was very dissatisfied with the courtiers' rigid prejudices.

"The Northern Captives are more insidious than the Eastern Captives, don't ignore him, let him fight with the Eastern Captives north of the Yellow River," Gao Hongtu hurriedly waved his hand, changed the topic and said, "Shi Kefa has been in contact with the Qing chieftain, but the other party seems to be becoming more and more disrespectful, it is better to send someone to negotiate the matter as soon as possible." ”

"Zuo Maodi and others are already waiting for the order, but the gold, silver, and silk brocade for rewarding the Qing people and Wu Sangui have not yet been prepared." Ma Shiying's recital.

The emperor nodded and said: "The towns in Jiangbei are useless, and it is good to be able to use the power of the Qing people to keep Jiangnan." ”

"The old minister is old and sick, and it is difficult to serve His Majesty, so he begs for permission to leave the court to recuperate." Gao Hongtu started again.

"The minister also begs for bones to return home." Jiang Yueguang continued.

The emperor was stunned for a moment, and then replied heartlessly: "The two old Aiqing have worked hard, I am ready, go home to recuperate, it is so hot, I have to go back to change my clothes." ”

Gao Hongtu and Jiang Yueguang glared at Ma Shiying fiercely and left, and the emperor also ran back to the harem with a smoke, Ma Shiying and Wang Duo couldn't help but look at each other and smile bitterly.

Ma Shiying returned to his study, Zuo Maodi hurried over with Ma Shaoyu, and asked when they met: "Chen Hongfan, the governor of Zuo, is also going to be accompanied by a deputy envoy, does the imperial court have a plan?" ”

Zuo Maodi was originally governor of Anqing and Wuhu, after the fall of the Beijing Division, he wrote a letter requesting to lead the army to the Northern Expedition, the imperial court had no intention of recovering the lost territory, but instead crowned him the right squire of the military department and the right of the imperial history to go north to the Beijing Division and the Qing Kingdom, Zuo Maodi did not postpone it, his mother died of illness in Beijing not long ago, just by the way, but Chen Hongfan suddenly appeared to make him very unhappy, this person has worked in the border town for a lifetime and has not come up with a decent record, but the prestige is high, Qingyun soared, retired for many years and was still reused, who knows what the background is.

"Chen Laoshuai was recommended by the courtiers, let him go, how to talk with the Qing State is still dominated by the two of you." Ma Shiying replied.

"Lord Shousuke, what are the imperial court's plans? There is no one to explain these days, and Lord Zuo and the lower officials have no idea how to handle this errand. Ma Shaoyu also complained that after Chen Xinjia's accident, the imperial court drove him to Nanjing to live idle, and this time the envoy Qing Guo sent him to be a deputy envoy to the Taifu Temple, but he had no confidence at all.

"You go and ask the governor of Jiangbei," Ma Shiying was expressionless, pondered for a moment and then said, "The Ming and Qing dynasties can be about the country of uncles and nephews, my emperor should be an uncle when he is older, and the Qing emperor should be a nephew when he is younger, so let's save some face for the country." ”

"The cabinet has no master, and I am afraid that it will be infamous for eternity!" Zuo Maodi replied coldly.

Ma Shiying smiled bitterly and pointed to his face and said: "This pavilion has become infamous all over the world, and the state affairs are so helpless, let's work hard!" ”

Zuo Maodi looked up to the sky and sighed: "Going to Beijing and discussing peace is like seeking skin with the tiger, Maodi's trip is the day of death, stupid and talented, I am willing to follow Wen Tianxiang to leave righteousness in the ages, please play Your Majesty, always to the first emperor's hatred, the shame of the north as the thought, but also hope to strictly advise the ministers, do not take the north behavior and the discussion will be successful, do not take peace and become enough, the husband can cross the river and fight, and can draw the river and peace." ”

Zuo Maodi and Ma Shaoyu left, Ma Shiying sat in front of the bookcase and covered his face and sighed, after a while, Ruan Dacheng suddenly broke in, this guy was the right attendant of the military department but rarely showed up, and he didn't know what he was busy with all day long.

"Yaocao, Donglin and Fushe are too rampant, I can't come out to be an official alone, I heard that Zhang Shenyan, the secretary of the ministry, is about to die of illness, this person who lacks us to replace us, I will call Qianzhi and Doushu to help you." Ruan Dacheng pointed to the two anti-party accomplices behind him, Zhang Jie and Yang Weiyuan, and shouted.

Ma Shiying's head was big, it was not easy to help Ruan Dacheng recover, he recruited two more accomplices, and after being stunned for a while, he asked with a smile, "Doushu, can you be the secretary of the ministry", Yang Weiyuan blushed and lowered his head - Emperor Chongzhen ascended the throne, Ruan Dacheng was clever, and sent someone to send two letters to teach him to act when he saw the opportunity, one of them was a speculative drill camp, one scolded Wei Zhongxian for touting the Donglin Party, speculating that the new emperor would support Donglin to liquidate the eunuch party, and the other "seven-year cost-effective book", speculating that the new emperor intended to convert Donglin, The eunuch party swept away and started a new team, but Yang Weiyuan made a mistake in prejudging and played the "seven-year book", of course, the Donglin Party turned over and had to settle accounts, this guy was very unrighteous and betrayed Ruan Dacheng, and as a result, the two were listed as anti-party together, and it was a joke that the person who did such a stupid thing was the secretary of the ministry.

"Wrong, I mean let Qianzhi be the secretary of the ministry, and Doushu will go to the general secretary." Ruan Dacheng waved his hand and said, this arrangement is not bad, Zhang Jie is cautious, it is very suitable to be the secretary of the ministry, Yang Weiyuan went to the General Administration Department to send and receive official documents, and by the way, it will be good to inquire about the news, but Ruan Dacheng still has something to say, "Yaocao, I thought of a good idea, Donglin and Fushe are too deceitful, Gong Dingyu, Guang Shiheng, and Zhou Zhong are all their people, but they surrender to the thieves without shame, they make a reverse case, we will make a smooth case, this is called a report and a report." ”

Ma Shiying leaned on the table with his head in his hands, and said after a while: "The courtiers' meeting is replaced by Zhang Guowei as the secretary of the ministry. ”

"No, Zhang Guowei is in a gang with them, the official department can only let the former be, if you can't do it, I'll find someone else, but you have to do it." Ruan Dacheng replied unceremoniously.

"Jizhi, the state affairs have come to such a point, why are you bothered!"

"Yaocao, the twilight of the country, why do you have to work hard!"

Zhang Jie gritted his teeth and shouted: "Yaocao, they are so ruthless, Jizhi runs a poetry club in his hometown Tongcheng, Fang Yizhi's kid goes around saying bad things and smashing the field, Jizhi hides from thieves and goes to Nanjing, and meets Gu Gao and Huang Zongxi in the Confucius Temple, they not only beat people, but also posted "Liudu Anti-Chaos Post" all over the street, slandering Jizhi as a chaotic minister and thief, they don't give us a way to live, and we don't give them a way to live. ”

Ma Shiying closed his eyes and nodded, Nanjing is too dangerous, without the help of Ruan Dacheng's gang, I'm afraid I won't be able to stay for a day, forget it, Donglin and Fushe are indeed arrogant, it's good to teach a lesson.

Ruan Dacheng asked a few more words about the situation of going north to negotiate peace and left, and the more Ma Shiying thought about it in the study, the more angry he became, and smashed the teacup on the ground.

At the beginning of July, officials who fled south reported that the main force of the Qing army in Shandong had withdrawn northward, and when they heard that they were going to fight Datong, the Nanjing court chief breathed a sigh of relief and sent an edict to Datong to posthumously recognize the edict of the first emperor and let the northern captives go to grab territory with the eastern captives.