When these clans in the capital were urged to leave the capital, Zhu Youzhen finally agreed to Qian Qianyi's request and ordered Ni Yuanlu to be appointed as the governor of Ryukyu and the prince of Ryukyu, so that Huang Daozhou could fill the vacancy of the governor of Sichuan.

Seeing Qian Qianyi's rather excited Tong Wen Tiren leave his room, Zhu Youzhen couldn't help shaking his head and said to himself: "This Qian Muzhai, I asked him to do something, he looked forward and cherished himself very much." But in order to fight for power and eliminate a few potential opponents, he is desperate and very decisive..."

Although Lu Qi, who was standing in the corner of the room, heard the emperor's dissatisfied, he still stood there silently, as if he hadn't heard anything just now. Zhu Youzhen glanced back at him at this time, and then ordered with satisfaction: "Since Qian Shoufu has already made a move, then you can inform Sun Zhiqi for me, and you can slowly publicize the corruption in the process of disaster relief one after another, and now it is our turn to speak out..."

For many members of the New Donglin Party in Beijing and those officials and scholars who were close to Ni Yuanlu and Huang Daozhou, the new appointments for Ni Yuanlu and Huang Daozhou suddenly issued by the imperial court at the beginning of the 14th year of Chongzhen were undoubtedly a bolt from the blue. This undoubtedly broke the backbone of their gradually formed small group, after all, no one in this group can be more affinable than Ni Yuanlu, and no one can dare to adhere to principles like Huang Daozhou, without these two people in the middle, this small group will undoubtedly lose nearly half of its cohesion.

At this time, the situation in Beijing was the most complicated, and the departure of these two people was undoubtedly a major blow to the group, making many people in the group a little dazed and overwhelmed.

Therefore, not long after Ni Yuanlu and Huang Daozhou's new appointments, everyone met to find a place to get together, nominally to see off the two of them to Beijing to perform their duties, but in fact, they wanted to discuss how to deal with it. Although no one suggested it, the person in charge of finding a place to meet avoided the daily meeting place of the New Donglin Party, and instead borrowed a private house near the Waijinshui River from a wealthy businessman in Beijing to entertain the people.

This riverside private house is about four or five acres in size, although it is not as good as several famous gardens in the capital, but the back garden built in imitation of the Soviet-style garden is also quite impressive. It's just that the season at this time is not quite right, although the harsh winter has passed, but spring has not yet arrived, so in addition to the lonely mountain and the remaining water, most of the trees in the garden have not yet come to life, and they look lifeless.

Of course, people didn't come to enjoy the scenery today, so no one put their minds on the scenery in the garden, but in such an environment, everyone couldn't help but feel a little nostalgic for the situation of the group.

The people who were able to be invited to the meeting this time were naturally the backbone of the group, and as for those marginal people who usually waved the flag and shouted for the group, none of them appeared here today.

But that's just it, there are 2 or 30 people today, and the small building in the back garden is almost full. Ni Yuanlu and Huang Daozhou are of course the protagonists today, but after Jiang Dejing, Chen Zizhuang, Huang Jingfang, Wen Anzhi and others arrived, everyone stood up and saluted.

By this time, this small group composed of members of the New Donglin Party already had a faint taste of independence from the New Donglin Party. Of course, the reason for the emergence of this phenomenon is not that the New Donglin Party lacks restrictions on party members, but that it is a congenital deficiency when the New Donglin Party was founded.

As a party established on the basis of big bureaucrats and big landlords, because of the weakness of some party leaders, the new Donglin Party not only failed to safeguard the interests of the interest strata they represented, but had to obey the will of the imperial court and take the initiative to harm its own interests, which naturally aroused the dissatisfaction of many members of the New Donglin Party.

Therefore, on the basis of this dissatisfaction, it is only natural that some members of the New Donglin Party chose to form a small group within the party in an attempt to correct the political tendencies of the entire party. It's just that the members of the New Donglin Party who made this choice are basically marginal people in the party, and they are people who have been excluded from the decision-making level of the New Donglin Party.

Even Jiang Dejing, Huang Daozhou and other figures who seem to be highly used by the emperor, they are also isolated from the decision-making circle of the imperial court, and they can only do their own work.

That's why these marginalized figures who have been marginalized by the imperial court and the party will gather together to keep warm, trying to find a way out for themselves. Originally, there was such a good opportunity right now, taking advantage of the dissatisfaction of the government and the opposition with Qian Qianyi, the first assistant, because of the Wang Hanru case, they tried to give up the position of the leader of the new Donglin Party by the way while Qian Qianyi was forcibly resigned from the position of first assistant, so that they could push their comrades who defended their interests to the top.

But before this war began, their side first folded two generals, how can they be willing? So when everyone arrived, as soon as the meeting began, someone recklessly proposed it, and simply asked Ni Yuanlu and Huang Daozhou to immediately write a letter to resign from these two appointments.

However, there were soon objections that this was not a good idea. refused to appoint the court with legal procedures without a valid reason, and Ni Yuanlu and Huang Daozhou lost their legitimate reasons to stay in the capital. Next, the imperial court can also issue an order to order the two to leave the capital and return to their hometown within the specified time.

Although there are many gentlemen who can participate in the meeting today, there are many people with noble morals, but from the Tianqi Dynasty to the Chongzhen Dynasty, those who can survive the court struggles again and again and can not be eliminated are naturally not pedantic people who do not understand the world.

It's just that these people are considered the best choice even in the current group, and in the face of such a scene where the overall situation has been decided, they will not be able to come up with a plan to break the situation in a short period of time. At the end of the day, they received the news too late, and everyone else had already finished the process, leaving them with only two options: accept or not accept.

Therefore, no matter how angry they are, it has nothing to do with the overall situation at this time, but they can just say some words of comfort to Ni Yuanlu and Huang Daozhou.

Because things were not going well, when everyone found that they could not do anything to leave Ni Yuanlu and Huang Daozhou in the capital, they couldn't help but be a little depressed, so when the meeting reached an impasse, some people left one after another. When there were only seven or eight people left in the small building, including Jiang Dejing, Ni Yuanlu, and Huang Daozhou, Huang Jingfang finally couldn't help but complain loudly: "Qian Muzhai is the first assistant of the cabinet, Wen Tiren and His Majesty want to release the two governors, how can they not communicate with him in advance."

As the leader of his own party, he knew that such news would not be notified, which was too bastard. Did he take the wrong medicine and forget which side he was? ”

Jiang Dejing stared at this friend fiercely, and then said to everyone: "Personnel issues have always been the most concerned about His Majesty, I think Qian Ge Lao is not angry with us, and it is also his own consideration." It's not a good thing to talk about Shoufu and the party leader behind your back, so let's be cautious. ”

With Jiang Dejing's reminder, everyone was silent again, and couldn't help but drink sullen again, Ni Yuanlu, who was in a bad mood, drank a little too much, and suddenly became drunk and smoky, and everyone had to arrange personnel to send him home. As soon as Ni Yuanlu left, the rest of the people also felt bored, so they simply dispersed the banquet and went home separately.

However, Jiang Dejing, who walked out of the garden, did not immediately get into his own carriage and leave, but waited at the intersection, and after seeing Huang Daozhou come out, he sent someone to invite the other party to leave in his own carriage.

Huang Daozhou gave a few words to his own carriage waiting at the door, accepted Jiang Dejing's invitation, and Shi Shiran walked to the carriage waiting on the side. The two sat in the carriage and chatted for a few words, and after the carriage began to start slowly, Jiang Dejing cut to the chase and said: "The appointment of the two of you, I look very strange, maybe it may not be exactly what Your Majesty meant. ”

Huang Daozhou glanced at the other party, and said with an unchanged expression on his face: "It seems that Qian Shoufu has made a decision, this is planning to protect Wang Han Ru to the death, and the next movement in the capital is not trivial." ”

Jiang Dejing turned his head to look at the scenery outside the car window, and said leisurely: "Actually, I have no intention of arguing with Qian Muzhai for anything, if he can take into account the interests of the local gentry and big families a little, and don't follow His Majesty like this, I am willing to support him to continue to control the party." ”

Huang Daozhou smiled and said, "Since Qian Shoufu has already made a move against the two of us, I think it will be difficult for him to compromise with us anymore." In the final analysis, after all, we are too far away from the center to gain His Majesty's support, which is why Qian Shoufu is so tough on us. ”

Jiang Dejing sighed and said: "What you said is exactly what I think, until we get the power to govern, we can't pass on our thoughts to Your Majesty."

Now the local gentry are suppressed, suppressed by the imperial court, and affected by natural disasters, which has greatly reduced their power. Now, coupled with the propaganda of public opinion, they have turned from the cornerstone of the stability of the local order to the source of all the evils in the eyes of the king and the people, and they have lost the fear of the local people.

If this situation continues, the social order in various places will fall apart, and my Ming Dynasty will also reproduce the last days of the collapse of etiquette and happiness as the master said. His Majesty may have thought that the strong suppression of the gentry would allow them to spit out some benefits, thereby making the people's lives better.

But it may be so simple, once the people lose their reverence for the gentry, will they still fear the authority of the court? Once the Code of Ethics falls, the king loses his majesty. And once the people of the world lose their restraints, troubled times will follow. When the time comes, whether it is a minister or a king, it will become a pile of dry bones by the roadside..."

( = )