It is not a big deal to get the vassal king to come out and participate in politics, but the difficulties faced are enormous.

Su Tiancheng, who had long thought about reform, established the Zhongxing Society, and now, the views of the Zhongxing Society slowly began to circulate in the society, and in some places in the south, the influence even exceeded that of the Fushe and Donglin Academy, especially the leader of the Fushe Zhang Pu took the initiative to join the Zhongxing Society, which had a huge impact.

But such an influence has not yet been able to penetrate into the imperial court.

In the imperial court, the strength of the Donglin Party is still extraordinary, and the party struggle is mainly between the Donglin Party and the Zhejiang Party, and the Zhongxing Society has little influence in the imperial court.

Su Tiancheng's understanding of the Donglin Party in his heart is very bad, especially after crossing over, he came into contact with some students and officials of the Donglin Party, and he was even more disgusted.

In Su Tiancheng's view, the Donglin Party was originally a group formed by a small group of unambitious bureaucrats and gentry, and this group began to grow slowly by controlling speech and influencing the government, and the establishment of the academy was the greatest success of the Donglin Party.

The Ming Dynasty's teacher system, so that the Donglin Party began to develop and grow up rapidly, heaven and earth monarch teacher, after the student passed the imperial examination, of course under the name of the examiner, become the examiner's student, no matter what your previous identity was. It is said that the purpose of the imperial examination is to select talents for the emperor and the imperial court, but it is a pity that this kind of teacher system has changed the students in the examination into the private selection of talents by the bureaucracy.

This trick is too ruthless, just imagine, the student passed the imperial examination, just entered the imperial court, he was labeled, and the teacher who followed you belonged to a certain civil official group. Moreover, all your political propositions must conform to the requirements of this civilian clique, otherwise you will be deceiving your teachers and destroying your ancestors, and your future will be closely related to this clique of civil servants.

The Donglin Party passed such means. It quietly developed and began to influence the government on a large scale.

This is a normal situation, and such situations have occurred in all dynasties, but sadly the Donglin Party has no specific political propositions, and their demands have always been vague.

Su Tiancheng summed up the demands of the Donglin Party, their purpose is to limit the imperial power to the greatest extent, spare no effort to expand the power of the civilian bureaucracy, and the way to grow is to start from the economic aspect. They demand prudence, require everyone to have incomparably noble sentiments, and everyone is a moral pacesetter, but it is a pity that their demand is in the air, and they can't do it at all.

The emperor was not a fool and was able to notice the problem in this regard.

Powerful emperors, such as Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Di, used iron-blooded means. Suppress the civilian clique and consolidate the imperial power.

Ironically. When the imperial power was consolidated, the development of society showed a benign trend, and when the country became rich and the people were strong, and the interests of the civilian clique prevailed, the country began to decline.

It is based on this understanding that Su Tiancheng must consolidate the imperial power. Do what you order, what you prohibit.

To do this, it is necessary to face the entire civil service group, to face a class, so to speak, such a reform. It's not destined to be that simple.

The key figure in this is Zhu Youzhen.

After so many times of contact, Su Tiancheng felt that Zhu Youzhen was not a faint monarch, let alone a tyrant described in the official history, and he was by no means useless, at least Zhu Youzhen worked hard and was very strict with himself.

But Zhu Youzhen's shortcomings are also obvious, that is, he is still lacking in governing the country.

A young man who grew up in the deep palace, experienced the threat of Wei Zhongxian and Hakka and others, almost lost his life, ascended the throne at the age of sixteen, did not perceive the folk life, and it was even more difficult to receive the education of the system's imperial thoughts, Zhu Youzhen had no chance to be the emperor, he was just the younger brother of Zhu Youxiao of Ming Xizong, because Zhu Youxiao's health was not good, he died in the reign of seven years, and he had no heirs, so he was able to be the emperor.

It is reasonable to describe Zhu Youzhen with great talent and great ambition.

But Zhu Youzhen trusts talented ministers very much, and this kind of trust is almost to the point of no return, but unfortunately, this kind of trust, in exchange, is not what he imagined, the situation in the country is getting worse and worse, and after a long time, a young man will inevitably have such and such problems, and it is difficult to trust the minister unconditionally as he did at the beginning, and even when dealing with the government, there is some child's play.

Su Tiancheng silently made a contribution, so that Zhu Youzhen began to re-examine his own problems, and began to trust Su Tiancheng unconditionally, this time, Su Tiancheng seized the opportunity to give the Ming Dynasty, which was on the verge of collapse, injected vitality, and gave a shot of strength, in this case, Su Tiancheng is going to start to act, to start implementing his ambitions.

The purpose of the release is to avoid party strife, really make deeds, rely on these achievements, slowly influence the emperor, slowly begin to implement many of his own ideas, and slowly start the pace of reform.

When the conditions are ripe, Su Tiancheng will not wait, although he is only the prefect of Henan Prefecture.

In the conversation in the Yangxin Palace, Zhu Youzhen did not hesitate to express his worries, afraid of the turmoil of the dynasty, afraid of not being able to control the situation, afraid that the civil and official group would rise up to resist, afraid that the gentry and rich families would not support it, as the emperor, saying these words in front of the ministers also shows that Zhu Youzhen is really a little afraid.

Su Tiancheng gave Zhu Youzhen the greatest confidence, and he made a detailed analysis.

The continuation of the Ming Dynasty, first of all, is to control the army, followed by the control of the economic lifeline, as long as you hold these two aspects, you don't have to worry too much, let the royal children come out to do things, the purpose is to disperse the power of the civilian group, the army is not to worry, at least the Jiangning battalion and the Datong border army are fully supported by the emperor, the army of the five provinces controlled by Sun Chengzong is also loyal to the emperor, and the taxation of Jiangning County has initially solved the problem of insufficient silver in the imperial court, these two aspects, at present, are relied on, There is no need to worry about some ministers making trouble and involving reforms, it is best to adopt moderate means, and at critical moments, there is no need to be afraid, killing a few people is not a big deal.

After Zhu Youzhen and Su Tiancheng analyzed the current situation, they finally made a decision to adopt Su Tiancheng's suggestion, loosen the feudal kings, and let them come out to do things.

During the discussion, Su Tiancheng also talked about the issue of eunuchs.

Although Su Tiancheng has received the greatest support from Wang Chengen, but when it comes to the issue of eunuchs, he is also outspoken, Su Tiancheng and other ministers' understanding, a little different, he does not object to the emperor giving the eunuchs a certain amount of power, but the key is to control the power of the eunuchs, can not let the eunuchs do whatever they want, to a certain extent, the eunuch is the embodiment of the emperor, always on behalf of the emperor to express his wishes, the power of the eunuch is completely given by the emperor, which is different from the minister of civil and military affairs.

Su Tiancheng expressed his understanding, but what he didn't expect was that Zhu Youzhen was going to call him to be responsible for enabling the vassal king or the vassal prince's younger brother to enter the court to do things, and Su Tiancheng hurriedly objected.

Without taking into account Zhu Youzhen's ugly look, Su Tiancheng explained again.

The vassal king and the children of the vassal king come out to do things and enter the court as officials, which is a big thing, and it will inevitably encounter strong opposition, in such cases, let a respected minister preside over such a thing, in order to suppress the opposition to the greatest extent, and, with the implementation of this matter, there are some follow-up things to do, and sometimes, the minister who presides over this matter is likely to encounter many sieges, or even fight alone.

Su Tiancheng did not shirk his responsibility, as long as the emperor made an order, he must fully support it, no matter what kind of situation he encountered, he would not be afraid, if someone objected, or even threatened to make trouble, Jiang Ningying was not a vegetarian.

The person recommended by Su Tiancheng is Sun Chengzong.

As for presiding over the extermination of the Liukou, Lu Shanji can be responsible, over the years, Lu Shanji has been following Sun Chengzong, and he already knows the habits of the Liukou, and he also knows how to exterminate the Liukou.

Zhu Youzhen almost didn't think about it, and he identified Sun Chengzong.

Sun Chengzong's qualifications, in the imperial court, almost unparalleled, was originally the teacher of the first emperor, ranked as the third duke, in the battle against the Tartars and Liukou, have made great contributions, and recommended and promoted a large number of officials.

Sun Chengzong is old, he is already over seventy years old, and it seems inappropriate to continue to run around on the battlefield, and it is very appropriate to come to the capital to preside over the affairs of the vassal king and the prince's younger brother to participate in politics.

Of course, Sun Chengzong will encounter a lot of problems, including the opposition of the ministers of the court, including the doubts of all parties, the vassal king will learn the news, he will definitely try his best to see Sun Chengzong, everyone wants to be able to arrange their own things, but in the early stage of implementation, we must be cautious, there are definitely not many vassal kings and the children of the vassal kings who can enter the court to do things, as for the matter of the prince's brother to participate in the imperial examination, it is natural.

After discussing and deciding on all matters, Su Tiancheng made a request again.

Lord Sun Chengzong is old, and it is difficult to preside over this matter alone, it is best to have a few assistants, Su Tiancheng recommended Liu Zongzhou and Huang Daozhou to assist Sun Chengzong.

Hearing Su Tiancheng's suggestion, Zhu Youzhen, who has always been very serious, showed a comfortable smile, how could he not understand that if Sun Chengzong, Liu Zongzhou and Huang Daozhou all agreed to this matter, many ministers in the court just wanted to oppose fiercely, and the role was not great, Sun Chengzong was among the ministers of civil and military affairs, with great qualifications and influence, Liu Zongzhou and Huang Daozhou, both of whom were great Confucians, and their influence among students was also unusual.

The decree was quickly issued.

Summoned Sun Chengzong, Liu Zongzhou, and Huang Daozhou into the capital.

Of course, when they arrived in the capital, the first thing they saw was not the emperor, but Su Tiancheng. (To be continued......)