After the New Year, the yamen of the major ministries and courtyards in the capital regained their former calm, the affairs of the yamen gradually entered the normal, and the aftermath of the closure case is gradually dissipating. Eight? A Chinese network? ≤≠≈．≥８≥

Although the officialdom in the capital is becoming more and more calm, but the time has passed, things are not people, and the case of sealing Xinjiang has greatly damaged the vitality of the Donglin Party, and many positions in the major ministries and courtyards have been replaced by officials of the original Qi, Chuzhe, Zhejiang and other factions, and the Donglin Party is once again in a situation of being suppressed.

However, this has made the officials of the Donglin Party feel very lucky, at least under the intervention of the Emperor of the Apocalypse, Wei Zhongxian could not kill them all, which can be described as a great luck in misfortune.

With the prosperity and decline of the Donglin Party, Wei Zhongxian, who defeated him in one fell swoop, turned into an upstart in the Ming officialdom, not only in charge of the ceremonial supervisor, but also gathered officials from the original Qi, Chu, Zhejiang and other factions, and some officials of the original Donglin Party also came to take refuge in the rudder.

But even so, the Donglin Party still has a lot of power in the court, and it hates Wei Zhongxian and the officials who defected to Wei Zhongxian, and the two sides are incompatible.

Li Hongyu knew very well that this was exactly the situation that the Emperor of the Apocalypse wanted to see, the more the Donglin Party and the anti-Donglin Party fought, the easier it was for the Emperor of the Apocalypse to control the courtiers.

The new policy implemented by the Emperor of the Apocalypse after the New Year did not exceed the slightest resistance, and no one in the civil and military forces of the Manchu Dynasty dared to raise objections, which was simply unimaginable in the past, and the people of the civil and official groups would make a lot of trouble and find all kinds of reasons to oppose it, as if the Emperor of the Apocalypse was going to bring disaster to the country and the people.

In mid-February, Shimen Mountain.

The memorial stele of the Ming Army Memorial Cemetery was full of tributes, Li Hongyu and Sun Chengzong stood solemnly, silent for a long time, and the atmosphere of the scene seemed quite gloomy.

Li Hongyu's return to Beijing this time was for the matter of the Guanjin defense line, so when the affairs in the capital came to an end, Li Hongyu naturally had to go out of the customs to go.

In the blink of an eye, it has been two years since Li Hongyu last left the customs, but Li Hongyu feels as if it was not long ago, and all his memories are so clear and profound.

Since he came to Guanwai, Li Hongyu must go to the cemetery of Shimen Mountain to pay respects to the Ming soldiers who died in battle, it was they who defended the territory of the Ming Dynasty with their lives and blood, and also enabled him to be promoted to the rank of knight.

Guarding the cemetery are more than a dozen soldiers who were disabled in the battle of Shimen Mountain, and with the help of Li Hongyu, they have become families, they not only have to take care of the Ming army's fallen soldiers' cemetery, but also take care of the Houjin army's dead soldiers' cemetery, and accompany the war dead.

Li Hongyu is not worried about the safety of the veterans and their families who are guarding the cemetery, presumably the generals of Nurhachi and Houjin will not embarrass these ordinary people who also guard the graves of Houjin soldiers.

In fact, when the Later Jin army seized the land outside the Guan, these caretakers of the Shimenshan Cemetery were courteous to the Manchu Emperor Huang Taiji, who forbade anyone to disturb them.

On the way back to Jinzhou City, Sun Chengzong and Li Hongyu rode horses side by side, chatting as they walked.

"Brother Li, I heard that many people in the capital are impeaching me now, and it seems that I am about to leave here."

Suddenly, Sun Chengzong sighed and said to Li Hongyu worriedly, "Now that the Guanjin defense line has just taken shape, I don't know how the successor will build it. ”

"Brother Sun is too worried, Brother Sun is the feudal official of the imperial court, and now the Guanjin defense line is a first-class major event for my Ming Dynasty now, and the emperor will not change the commander easily."

Looking at Sun Chengzong, who looked quite unwilling, Li Hongyu opened his mouth to comfort him, he knew that Sun Chengzong was not greedy for military power, but worried about the comeback of the Houjin army.

Unlike the officials in the capital, Sun Chengzong knew the situation outside the Guanxi very well, and knew that Houjin was a big trouble for the Ming Dynasty, and even Li Hongyu could not lead the army to attack Liaodong, let alone others?

And in time, if the Houjin is not eliminated, sooner or later it will pose a serious threat to the comfort of the Ming Dynasty, and he does not think that the Great Wall can stop the pace of the Houjin army moving south.

Although Shanhaiguan is magnificent and strong, it is impossible to open it for a long time, but Shanhaiguan is dead, and once Houjin bypasses Shanhaiguan, then he can calmly attack Gyeonggi.

This is also the reason why Sun Chengzong tried his best to build the Guanjin defense line, as long as the western Liaoning corridor was held, then the Houjin would not be able to move south and pose a threat to the Jinggi region of the Ming Dynasty.

Sun Chengzong originally wanted to train a force and lead the army north to recover Liaodong, exterminate the Houjin, and solve the scourge of the Ming frontier once and for all, but now he has not even built the Guanjin defense line, but he has been impeached by officials of the DPRK, Yuanqi, Chu, Zhejiang, and other factions, and he is quite depressed in his heart.

In fact, when the Donglin Party was beaten by Wei Zhongxian in the court, Sun Chengzong's Jiliao Governor was already unstable.

Obviously, Sun Chengzong is not only a leader of the Donglin Party, but also has a heavy army outside the pass, and the officials of the original Qi, Chuzhejiang and other factions naturally do not want to see Sun Chengzong control such a big power, just like the Donglin Party withdrew Xiong Tingbi and replaced Yuan Keli as the Liaodong Economic Strategy after gaining power.

Therefore, after the New Year, the officials of the original Qichu and Zhejiang factions in the court went to impeach Sun Chengzong, wanting to pull him down from the position of Jiliao Governor.

Li Hongyu knew very well that although the Emperor of the Apocalypse trusted Sun Chengzong, for the sake of the balance of the factional relationship in the court, the Emperor of the Apocalypse could not keep Sun Chengzong, even if he did not send an official from the original Qichu and Zhejiang factions to serve in this important position, then he had to send an official from the neutral faction to come.

"Internal and external troubles are really sad!"

Sun Chengzong naturally knew that Li Hongyu was comforting him, and after sighing, he said eight words with a gloomy expression, but he didn't know whether he was referring to himself or Daming when he said "really sad".

"Brother Sun, the emperor is wise and wise, and the court situation will be better day by day." Li Hongyu replied with a straight face when he heard this, which can be regarded as a placation to Sun Chengzong.

In his opinion, if the Emperor of the Apocalypse can rule for more than forty years like the Wanli Emperor, then the Ming Dynasty will definitely prosper, and the social contradictions will be greatly alleviated, and in a sense, the mind of the Emperor of the Apocalypse will be better than that of the Wanli Emperor.

It's a pity that the emperor of the Apocalypse died young in history, which made Li Hongyu's prediction come to naught, perhaps this is the fate of the Ming Dynasty.

"Brother Li, I still need you to take care of the affairs outside the customs in the future." Sun Chengzong realized that his topic was too heavy, and then Yu Feng immediately talked to Li Hongyu about the Guanjin defense line.

As a leader of the Donglin Party, it may be difficult for Sun Chengzong to take charge of Gaoquan who is higher than you, so he can only entrust the Guanjin defense line to Li Hongyu.

As a Ming hero who defeated Houjin twice, no matter which faction came to power, he had to rely on Li Hongyu to deal with Houjin, so as not to be disgraced like Sun Chengzong.

"If Brother Sun really returns to the capital, then the younger brother will definitely do his best." Li Hongyu naturally agreed in one bite, because of the battle of Shimen Mountain, he also had a deep affection for the Guanjin defense line, and he didn't want it to collapse.

"Alas!"

The corners of Sun Chengzong's mouth squirmed when he heard this, and he wanted to say something, but in the end he couldn't say it, sighed and looked ahead, he originally wanted to lead the army to recover Liaodong, but he stepped down because of the party struggle in the court, and the unwillingness in his heart was self-evident.

At the end of February, Li Hongyu returned to the capital, and as soon as he entered the city, he heard a news that he did not want to hear, and the Emperor of the Apocalypse was ready to behead Xiong Tingbi, who had lost his land without a fight, on the first day of March, and spread it to the nine sides to set an example.

Li Hongyu immediately attacked and met with the Emperor of the Apocalypse, and asked to see Xiong Tingbi off for a ride, the two were not only fellow villagers in Huguang, but also worked together in Liaodong, since he had this condition, then Yu should go to see Xiong Tingbi in public and private.

The Emperor of the Apocalypse knew what Li Hongyu was thinking, so he granted Li Hongyu's request, which could be regarded as a grace to Xiong Tingbi and let him take the opportunity to meet his family.

Because Xiong Tingbi and Wang Huazhen committed the most top-level crime of the Ming Dynasty, they have been locked in the edict prison, and no one is allowed to see the two without the willingness of the Emperor of the Apocalypse, so the families of Wang Huazhen and Xiong Tingbi have never seen each other since the two were defeated and arrested.

So, Li Hongyu led Xiong Tingbi's wife, son, grandson and other family members to visit the edict prison, and the people of Jinyiwei Beizhen Fusi naturally did not dare to stop them, and Xu Xianchun, the commander of Jinyiwei who was in charge of the affairs of Beizhen Fusi, personally accompanied him.

Although Xiong Tingbi started the uproar in the Xinjiang closure case last year, Xiong Tingbi was not involved, the reason is very simple, he was already in the edict prison when he was born, and he had no chance to contact the outside world at all, even if he could not be held accountable.

As for the rumors in later generations that someone went to the Imperial Prison to conspire with Xiong Tingbi or something, that is really a joke, the Imperial Prison Minister was the top prison in the Ming Dynasty at that time, with a set of strict procedures and systems, how could he casually bribe a cell boss or something to meet people? It is purely groundless imagination and fabrication.

Therefore, Xiong Tingbi, who lived alone in a single cell and was isolated from the world, did not know that the officialdom in the capital could make trouble because of his affairs, and one of the Donglin Party of Nuoda fell under the offensive of Wei Zhongxian.

When Li Hongyu and the Xiong family's family appeared in front of the haggard Xiong Tingbi, Xiong Tingbi knew that his limit had arrived, and Li Hongyu took the beautiful woman to see him off for the last time.

Because Xiong Tingbi and Wang Huazhen committed special crimes, not crimes such as corruption and bribery, the two did not suffer in the edict prison, but the days of this kind of imprisonment were really difficult.

Perhaps because he had thought of this ending a long time ago, Xiong Tingbi did not feel much surprised, and comforted and entrusted his family, and the atmosphere was so sad that Li Hongyu couldn't help but feel quite embarrassed.

The people of the Xiong family prepared a meal for Xiong Tingbi that he liked, and Li Hongyu and Xiong Tingbi sat opposite each other and drank, chatting about some of the past events when the two were in Liaodong.

Xiong Tingbi cooperated with Li Hongyu most happily when he was in Liaodong, not only because the two had not worked together for a long time, but also because the biggest difference between Li Hongyu and others in Xiong Tingbi's view was that he never made trouble for him, not only respected his Liaodong strategy, but also found a reasonable solution to some problems, and then did not have to bother him.

In fact, not only Xiong Tingbi, but other officials of the Ming Dynasty also want to cooperate with a shrewd and capable rising star like Li Hongyu, so that they will be relaxed and comfortable, waiting for meritorious service to be awarded.

"Brother Li, I hope my family can take care of it in the future."

At the end of the wine game, Xiong Tingbi, who had already drunk a little drunk, hesitated for a moment, and said to Li Hongyu with a somewhat embarrassed expression, he is not the kind of person who likes to beg people, but for the sake of his family, he can only pull down his face.

"Brother Xiong, rest assured, the younger brother is responsible for this matter." Li Hongyu agreed without hesitation when he heard this, and this request was just a gesture for him.

"!" When Xiong Tingbi heard this, the corners of his mouth squirmed, and he wanted to say something, but in the end he couldn't say it, and raised his wine glass and saluted Li Hongyu.

Li Hongyu and Xiong Tingbi touched the wine glass and drank it all, everything was silent.

(End of chapter)