The blue sky is pure and clean, the Xiangjiang River flows quietly, and the ship sails silently on the river, like a landscape painting with a timeless artistic conception.

Today is the first day of the Lunar New Year, there are not many passengers on the ship, they are all leaning on the bow of the boat in twos and threes, and they keep looking forward, Wang Kefan and Zhu Ji are wearing civilian clothes, and they are also standing on the side of the ship, Li Yushi and several personal soldiers are acting as personal companions, guarding from aside.

Wang Kefan is handsome and sunny, and Zhu Ji is beautiful and amazing, and outsiders who don't know see it, thinking that it is a young couple from a big family, they will praise it in their hearts, what a pair of talented and beautiful people!

Beautiful things always make people feel happy, in the face of picturesque mountains and rivers, flawless young men and women like jade, the old boatman hummed a hoarse tune, with the leisurely river breeze drifting behind him, the tenacious penny at the bottom of the river, the bow of the boat turned lightly, and the evergreen Yuelu Mountain suddenly appeared in the field of vision.

"Changsha Mansion has arrived!"

Immediately there were shouts of joy on the ship, these passengers were all late returnees, eager to go home and reunite with their relatives, and when they finally arrived in Changsha Mansion, their faces showed excited expressions.

Wang Kefan has never been to Changsha in his past or present life, but under the influence of the passengers around him, he also has a sense of intimacy with this strange city, his home is here, his family is here, and the feeling of coming home is always exciting.

When the night boat docked on the dock, the passengers disembarked along the gangplank, Wang Kefan stepped on the stone steps on the shore and said to Seal Ji: "Go to my house in a while, please eat rice cakes." ”

"You're stingy enough to go." Seal Ji glanced at him angrily: "I have a place to celebrate the New Year, so I won't disturb your family reunion." ”

There was a hazy good feeling between the two of them, but they didn't say anything, Zhu Ji came to Changsha this time, nominally to deal with the business of Hunan Longmaochang. and Wang Kefan are just walking together, and their identities are not embarrassing or embarrassing, so it is inconvenient to come to the door rashly.

But Zhu Ji himself doesn't know what to do, why would he follow Wang Kefan to Changsha, although the business in Hunan is important, does it really need to be dealt with during the Chinese New Year?

"It's a pity, the rice cakes made by my mother are a must in Chongyang, and you don't have a mouthful!" Wang Kefan felt an inexplicable sense of relief.

There was a bit of ambiguity between the two people, but nothing really happened, Wang Kefan originally thought. can frankly invite Seal Ji to his home as a guest, but as soon as the words came out, he turned out to be a little weak-hearted, very faceless and rejected by Seal Ji, and there was a feeling of being released.

How? What's so scary? This is the Ming Dynasty. It is normal for a man to have three wives and four concubines, and there is no market for the "old" concept of the old time and space. Wang Kefan didn't know what he was struggling with. But. He really didn't want to take him home.

"Well, I'm gone......"

Wang Kefan was about to flash people, but a middle-aged man dressed as a businessman greeted him and saluted him.

Shopkeeper Liu greeted him slightly. took out a small wax-sealed paper tube from his arms, handed it to Seal Ji with both hands, and Seal Ji only looked at the seal outside, and then handed it to Wang Kefan.

"News from Guangdong. It should be for you. ”

The intelligence system of the Chu army has just been established, and it is very imperfect, and when transmitting urgent news across provinces, it also needs to rely on the power of the rivers and lakes under Zhu Ji.

This information was sent by Fu Guan, with an urgent code on it, Wang Kefan opened it and took a closer look, the first few were ordinary news, the first one was related to Huguang - Guo Weijing, the secretary of the military department, served as the Qin mission, and was about to arrive in Changsha to preside over the Battle of Huguang on behalf of the imperial court.

Wang Kefan doesn't care, it's the army and food that fights for the war, the court doesn't send troops, and the second doesn't pay money, so naturally he has no right to speak, Guo Weijing holds the title of Cabinet Scholar and Secretary of the Ministry of War, but this time he came to Huguang more symbolically, and he is likely to go back home after a formality.

Looking down further, Wang Kefan's face suddenly changed, he frowned and saw the end, thought for a while, and said to Zhu Ji in a low voice: "Ding Kuichu is dead." ”

Seal Ji's body shook slightly, and after a moment of silence, he asked, "How did you die?" ”

"He was given death by the emperor. Recently, another corruption case was unearthed in the imperial court, involving Ding Kuichu, and the emperor sent two Qin messengers to Yazhou and sent him a white silk ......" Wang Kefan's expression was extremely serious, and he handed the information to Zhu Ji.

The emperor gave the minister a piece of white silk, that is, to order the other party to hang himself, there are many such things in history, nothing unusual, to Wang Kefan's shock, this time the protagonist turned out to be Emperor Longwu.

Emperor Longwu has always been generous, and even some indulgence in his ministers. At the beginning, Boluo led the Qing army to approach Fujian, and many officials in the imperial court secretly contacted the Manchus to reserve a way back.

Ma Shiying was notorious in Shilin, but Emperor Longwu was kind to him, if it were not for the unanimous opposition of the ministers of the court, Ma Shiying would be reused, and Zheng Zhilong intended to surrender to the Qing, and Emperor Longwu also disregarded the previous suspicions, and did everything possible to keep him, and promised to treat him as Yongzhen Fujian.

Emperor Longwu has been an emperor for two years, and he has not killed a single official, at most he will be dismissed, but he didn't expect it to start in Ding Kuichu!

According to the Emperor's technique, Emperor Longwu was undoubtedly right to do this. If he wants to really control Guangdong and truly subdue the officials of the Guangdong faction, he must get rid of Ding Kuichu, otherwise, even if Ding Kuichu is sent to the ends of the earth, his sworn friends will also have allegiance, and they will twist into a rope and form a party to protect themselves.

(Yazhou is Sanya, known as the end of the world)

Get rid of Ding Kuichu, and the officials of the Guangdong faction will become a plate of loose sand, which will be kneaded by the emperor, no matter how they are adjusted, even if most of them are removed, they will not cause a big mess.

The Longwu Imperial Court held an Enke examination a year ago, and just selected a large number of officials, and there is obviously a connection between getting rid of Ding Kuichu, it is not difficult to see that this is a ring after ring arrangement, and Emperor Longwu is going to reshuffle the Guangdong officialdom!

For Wang Kefan, this was originally a good thing, the stronger Emperor Longwu's ability to control Guangdong, the more conducive it was to realize the plan of operating the two Guangdong, but what made Wang Kefan secretly worried was that Emperor Longwu had obviously changed, and the change was greater, even more than he expected.

In terms of politics, Emperor Longwu became more mature and his methods became tougher.

Judging from the information that Wang Kefan has mastered, in the past month or so, nothing special has happened in the imperial court, and Guangdong and Jiangxi are relatively calm.

When he first arrived in Guangzhou, Emperor Longwu's foundation was unstable, so Ding Kuichu's case was simplified and only exiled to Yazhou, but Wang Kefan could imagine that Emperor Longwu had already made up his mind at that time, and when the court situation stabilized, he would have to settle old accounts with Ding Kuichu.

Another point worth noting is that Emperor Longwu executed Ding Kuichu without communicating with the "Chu Xun" group in advance, and Wang Kefan did not hear any rumors.

After Wang Kefan and Emperor Longwu formed an alliance, the cooperation between them was quite pleasant, and they could be consistent on major issues, if they said hello in advance, Wang Kefan would definitely not oppose the execution of Ding Kuichu, Emperor Longwu should be able to think of this, but he still did it without the Chu Xun group, and the meaning of this is intriguing.

In this matter, Wang Kefan is very concerned about the role played by the Donglin Party and the Southern Party, but the information is vague, this should not be Fu Guan's negligence, but he does not understand the real situation, and he is unwilling to speculate before getting accurate information, so as not to mislead Wang Kefan.

"This is a temptation to me!" Wang Kefan thought for a while and vaguely guessed Emperor Longwu's thoughts.

With the stability of the imperial situation, the imperial court wants to weaken the power in the hands of the feudal officials, and the plan to operate the two provinces will also be gradually unfolded, and it will be time to pick the fruits in the future.

The fruit on the tree was almost ripe, and there was no statute for how to divide it, so Emperor Longwu picked one off himself to see Wang Kefan's reaction.

Counterattack! This was Wang Kefan's first reaction.

If you don't fight back, Emperor Longwu will finish picking the fruits on the tree and leave the Chu Xun Group aside, if you are in a good mood, you may throw three or five fruits to the Chu Xun Group, but most of the fruits will be carried away by Emperor Longwu in baskets.

Wang Kefan couldn't accept this result, without the nourishment of these fruits, the fate of the Chu army and the Chu Xun group would be controlled by Emperor Longwu, even if Wang Kefan supported the army in Huguang and respected himself, he could not use the resources of the entire Southern Ming, and the development and growth of the Chu army would become an empty word.

Since you have traveled to the end of the Ming Dynasty, salvation is above all else, but your own fate is in your own hands.

What Wang Kefan is worried about is that Emperor Longwu occupies the position of righteousness, and other political forces have an unclear attitude, and if the Chuxun Group rashly launches a counterattack and fights against Emperor Longwu, there is not much chance of winning.

The political struggle is not a boxing match, this one is defeated, the next one can be fought again, the Chuxun group has just taken shape, the strength is weak, the foundation is insufficient, once it is planted in the political struggle, it will definitely encounter the wall falling down, everyone pushes and beats the water dog, falls into the well, sends ice in the snow and so on, and it will be difficult to get back into the situation.

Officialdom is like a battlefield, one wrong step, one step passive, Wang Kefan has to be cautious.

"Miss Seal, what should I do about this, do you have any suggestions?" The information is unknown, Wang Kefan is difficult to decide, and wants to hear the opinion of Seal Ji.

Although Zhu Ji is a woman, she is meticulous and intelligent, very familiar with officialdom, and an important member of Chuxun Group. (To be continued......)