Wang Pu took the list handed over by Sun Chuanting, shook his head after reading it carefully, and said, "No, this list has to be changed!" ”

Sun Chuanting said: "Tell me your opinion. ”

Wang Pu said: "The first assistant of the cabinet can't let Shi Kefa be the first assistant, this first assistant can only be you." ”

Sun Chuanting frowned and said: "Regarding the candidate for the first assistant of the cabinet, the father has been carefully considered, Shi Kefa is famous, capable, and an important minister in the capital, and his reputation is also good, so he is the most suitable candidate." ”

"Nope." Wang Pu said categorically, "The first assistant of the cabinet can only be you, Shi Kefa, Gao Hongtu, Huang Daozhou and Ma Shiying can only be the second assistant, this is undoubted, tomorrow I will find a way to let the people of Donglin Fushe say this proposal, forgive Shi Kefa, Gao Hongtu They have nothing to say." ”

"Let the people of the Donglin Restoration Society bring it up?" Sun Chuanting said, "Is this possible?" If the people of Donglin Restoration Society don't go against us, they are already burning high incense. ”

"Contradiction? They have the guts! Wang Pu picked up the letter on the table and said in a cruel voice, "Don't forget that there is such a thing in our hands, and Zhou Bi's case has not yet been tried, these two things are our killer weapon against the Donglin Restoration Society, do they dare not listen to us?" ”

Speaking from the bottom of his heart, Wang Pu hates Donglin Fushe very much, these guys even dare to murder the prince, they have no loyalty at all, they only have party interests in their eyes, they don't care about the country's society at all, let alone the life and death of the people, such people are not too much to directly send troops to arrest and kill them.

But then again, after all, the Donglin Restoration Society is a huge political force, and it is not enough to worry about it in normal times, but if they are forced to be anxious, they will hug together and exert unimaginable strength, if this force is forcibly eradicated by force, the entire Jiangnan is bound to make people panic, this is by no means the situation that Wang Pu wants.

Therefore, to deal with the Donglin Restoration Society, the best strategy is to divide and utilize.

"I've thought about it." Wang Pu said, "Yangming Academy can't be built in Mr. Yangming's hometown of Yuyao, it must be moved to Nanjing immediately, and the young Confucian students scattered in the south of the Yangtze River of the Donglin Fushe must also find a way to gather them and let them enter Yangming Academy to study, so that they can give up science and believe in psychology." ”

Letting the Confucian students of the Donglin Restoration Society study in Yangming Academy is undoubtedly a ruthless move!

The students of the academy not only had to learn the knowledge of astronomy, geography, arithmetic, medicine, water conservancy, physics, chemistry and other disciplines, but more importantly, Wang Pu also arranged "political classes" for them, sparing no effort to instill capitalist ideas in them!

Absolutely do not underestimate the power of ideological transformation, in that environment, no young people can be indifferent, and when this batch of Confucian students of the Donglin Restoration Society graduate, they will change their appearance and become Wang Pu's most hardcore followers, Wang Pu is going to cause the Donglin Restoration Society to die, and then cultivate a new force that is completely obedient to him on the "corpse" of the Donglin Restoration Society!

Sun Chuanting said: "Aren't you afraid that Yangming Academy will become the territory of Donglin Fushe?" ”

"The territory of the Donglin Restoration Society?" Wang Pu sneered, "As long as those Confucian students enter Yangming Academy, they will no longer be members of the Donglin Fushe Party, I will completely militarize them, they must learn physics, arithmetic, geography, astronomy, medicine and other disciplines, and only after passing the examination of each discipline can they graduate, and when they graduate, their thinking and understanding will undergo earth-shaking changes." ”

"Graduation?" Sun Chuanting was stunned and said, "What graduation?" ”

Wang Pu smiled slightly and said: "The so-called graduation is almost like winning the Jinshi, and they can be released as officials!" ”

"Released as an official?" Sun Chuanting became more and more confused, "Then you have to be selected from the Hanlin Academy." ”

"No, this routine has to change." Wang Pu said, "From now on, the officials of the Ming Dynasty will no longer be selected from the Hanlin Academy, and once there is a vacancy in the officials, they will be directly selected from the graduates of the Yangming Academy." ”

Wang Pu's idea has actually been brewing for a long time, but at the beginning, he was just a small Datong general soldier, and he was powerless to reform, but now it is different, now Chongzhen is dead, the prince is young, and Sun Chuanting is in charge of the dynasty alone.

Why did Wang Pu reform the official selection system?

The reason is very simple, because the imperial examination system is no longer able to provide excellent officials for the Ming Dynasty, Wang Pu must reform the official selection system, and select a large number of truly capable talents to various positions, rather than accommodating those Confucian scholars who only know how to be poor and depressed.

So why didn't Wang Pu just abolish the imperial examination system?

Because now is not the time to abolish the imperial examination, if the imperial examination is abolished at this time, then there will be no hope for all the scholars in the world, and they will not have to find Wang Pu to work hard? Although Xiucai rebelled for ten years, if all the Xiucai in the world rebelled, it would be enough for Wang Pu to drink a pot.

Therefore, Wang Pu can't come openly, he has to use the [***] convention of officialdom to come in the dark.

According to the law of the Ming Dynasty, all the scholars in the world are children, and the children's academy is eligible to participate in the township examination if they win the Xiucai, and they are eligible to participate in the township examination if they win the township examination.

If you have a vacancy for officials, the Ministry of Officials will give priority to the selection of officials from the Hanlin Academy, but this is just a practice, and later the Ming officialdom [***] became a trend, and a large number of Jinshi basically had no chance to be released as an official after entering the Hanlin Academy, and they could only stay in the Qingshui Yamen for the rest of their lives.

Wang Pu wants to exploit this loophole, he does not know about abolishing the imperial examination, the future imperial examination will be carried out as usual, the world's scholars can still pass the academy examination, the township examination, and the entrance examination to enter the Hanlin Academy, but if you enter the Hanlin Academy, you don't want to come out to be an official again, anyway, it won't cost much silver to raise hundreds of Hanlin a year.

If you want to be an official, it's easy to do, go to Yangming Academy, as long as you graduate from Yangming Academy, even if you are just a child, you can be recommended by Sun Chuanting, the first assistant of the cabinet, and be directly released as a prefect.

Although Sun Chuanting is politically deficient, he is not stupid, Wang Pu understood a little, and said: "Boy, are you asking the old man to grasp the appointment and dismissal of Ming officials, and make a big fuss with this?" ”

"Yes." Wang Pu nodded and said, "So, you have to have both this official secretary, your old man Sun is not only the head of the cabinet of the Ming Dynasty, but also the secretary of the ministry, and the appointment and dismissal of all officials have to be counted by you nod, if you don't want people to be officials, he is a new champion and can't be an official, if you want people to be officials, he is a beggar on the side of the road can still be a magistrate." ”

"Haha." Sun Chuanting snorted, pointed at Wang Pu and said with a smile, "Boy, you still don't know much about the checks and balances system of Ming officials, that's right, if the old man is really the first assistant of the cabinet and the secretary of the ministry, he can appoint and dismiss officials, but don't forget, the cabinet must be supervised by the Metropolitan Procuratorate, and the officials also have the power to seal and return the official documents of the Ministry of Officials. They're not decorations! ”

"They're just decorations!" Wang Pu's eyes showed a hideous look and sneered, "The imperial officials of the Metropolitan Procuratorate and the officials of the six branches, who gave them their power?" ”

Sun Chuanting said: "Of course, it's Long Live Lord." ”

"That's a good point." Wang Pu said in a cruel voice, "If even the Long Live Lord is a puppet in the hands of you and my father and son, is it still a fart for the imperial officials of the Metropolitan Procuratorate and the officials of the Six Branches?" And, why can't we make things more complete? For example, if a large number of people from the Donglin Restoration Society are inserted into the Metropolitan Procuratorate and the Six Departments Yamen, if anyone dares not to cooperate with us, he will instruct the crowd of the Donglin Restoration Society to attack and defeat him! ”

Sun Chuanting said: "Boy, you are going to cover the sky with one hand, will the people of Donglin Restoration Society really obediently listen to you?" ”

Wang Pu said: "Old man, don't overestimate the character of those people in the Donglin Restoration Society, let alone underestimate the power in your hands, don't forget, now you are Cao Ying of the Ming Dynasty." ”

Sun Chuanting's brows tightened for a moment, Wang Pu's words made him very uncomfortable, although he had already acquiesced in his heart to the fact of being Cao Ying, but he was unwilling to pierce this layer of window paper verbally.

■■■

In Luanzhou, Li Yan led the soldiers of the Righteous Army after being ordered to break off and had been fighting fiercely with Wu Sangui's Guanning Army for two days, and the Righteous Army suffered heavy casualties, and Li Yan was also seriously injured, so he could only lie on the soft couch and command the battle.

The sky gradually darkened, and the Guan Ning army finally withdrew its troops, and the battlefield that had been noisy all day fell silent again.

In the sound of hurried footsteps, Li Hu and Jing Maocheng strode to Li Yan's soft couch, both of them were tired and bloody, Li Hu said loudly: "Big brother, Luanzhou can no longer be defended, and if you continue to fight so hard, the brothers should fight it out!" ”

Li Yan asked in a low voice, "How many people are left now?" ”

Jing Maocheng said: "There are more than 5,000 people left, but many brothers are wounded. ”

"Ugh." Li Yan pounded the edge of the couch with his fist in pain, looked up to the sky and sighed, "In the battle of a stone, our army was unjustly defeated!" ”

"Big brother, what's the use of talking about this now?" Li Hu said in a sullen voice, "What should we do now, go to Yanjing or go back to Henan?" ”

"A piece of stone has been defeated, and the entire army of 100,000 elites has been destroyed, and Yanjing is afraid that it will be difficult to hold it." Li Yan muttered, "If we go back again, we will lead Wu Sangui's army to Yanjing, and in that case, the pressure on Yanjing will be even heavier, so we can't go back to Yanjing, we have to turn in the direction of Tianjin, divert Wu Sangui's army, reduce the pressure on Yanjing, and buy time for the king to mobilize garrisons from all over the country." ”

Jing Maocheng said: "But what if Wu Sangui is not fooled? ”

Li Yan sighed again and said, "Now I can only do my best and obey the destiny of heaven, Senior Brother Jing." ”

Jing Maocheng hugged his fists and said: "Humble duty." ”

Li Yan said: "You immediately rush to Yanjing, tell the king, let him not give up Yanjing no matter what, as long as the king guards Yanjing for half a month, the hundreds of thousands of elite troops scattered in Henan, Shanxi, and Shandong provinces will rush to Beijing, then there is still a big thing to do, if the king withdraws from Yanjing, I am worried...... I am worried that it will trigger a chain reaction, and the Ming officials who have already surrendered to Dashun will defect again! ”

"Yes." Jing Maocheng said solemnly, "The humble post must bring the general's words." ”

"Hmm." Li Yan nodded tiredly, and said to Li Hu again, "Huzi." ”

Li Hu hugged his fists and responded: "The little brother is here." ”

Li Yan said: "The order goes down, the whole army evacuates Luanzhou overnight, moves to Tianjin Wei, first converges with Henan and Shandong reinforcements, and then goes to relieve the danger of Yanjing!" ”

■■■

Nanjing, Qian Qianyi's residence.

Wang Pu put the secret letter on the case, Qian Qianyi only glanced at it, and his old face turned pale in an instant, he didn't need to look at the content to know which letter it was? Because there is his handwriting on it, and his signature at the bottom, it is obvious that this is the secret letter that plotted to intercept and kill the prince.

Qian Qianyi couldn't help but feel confused, if Wang Pu made this letter public, then he Qian Qianyi would not only be ruined, but also be beheaded!

Wang Pu carefully folded the secret letter and put it away, picked up the tea cup on the case, took a sip slowly, and asked, "Elder Mu, what crime do you say is the murder of the prince?" ”

Qian Qianyi shivered excitedly, knelt at Wang Pu's feet as soon as his legs were weak, and said in a trembling voice: "Don...... Horse master, old man, old man......"

"Hey, get up quickly." Wang Pu hurriedly stepped forward to help Qian Qianyi up, and said with a smile, "Don't be like this, the younger generation knows that Mu Lao is just bewitched by Zhou Bi, and he is just confused for a while." ”

Qian Qianyi's eyes lit up when he heard this, and he nodded again and again: "Yes, yes, yes, the old man was confused for a while, and he was bewitched by Zhou Bi's bastard to do such a rebellious thing, and I hope that the master of the horse will be aware of everything and don't ......."

"Huh." Wang Pu smiled and said, "The younger generation will not make this letter public, let alone give it to Ying Tianfu." ”

Qian Qianyi wiped the cold sweat from his forehead with his sleeve and said in a low voice: "Thank you, old man, for your mercy." ”

Wang Pu smiled slightly, and then said, "But ......"

Qian Qianyi's heart jumped, and he hurriedly said: "If you have anything to say, just ask the horse master." ”

Wang Pu said with a smile: "For the Donglin Party, the younger generation has always been extremely admirable, so the younger generation wants to make friends with Donglin Fu, I don't know if the old man can thread the needle in the middle?" ”

Qian Qianyi is old and refined, how can he not hear the meaning of Wang Pu's words?

Wang Pu meant that he could let Qian Qianyi go, but he Qian Qianyi had to do things for Wang Pu from now on.

"Oh, being able to make friends with the master of the horse is really a blessing for the Donglin Restoration Society." Qian Qianyi hurriedly said, "The old man dares to assure the master that in the future, the matter of the master of the horse is the business of our Donglin Restoration Society, as long as you say a word, let us do whatever the Donglin Restoration Society does." ”

"Shepherd." Wang Pu said with a smile, "Can the younger generation understand that we will be friends in sincere cooperation in the future?" ”

"Of course." Qian Qianyi hurriedly said, "Of course. ”

"Good." Wang Pu said as he took out the list of officials that had been revised by him from his sleeve and handed it to Qian Qianyi, saying, "Elder Mu, tomorrow morning, during the court meeting, you will take the lead and jointly submit it to the prince in the name of the Donglin Restoration Society. ”

Qian Qianyi's eyes were overjoyed, originally he was worried about how to mention this matter to the people of the Donglin Restoration Society, but with this layer, he had an excellent statement.

"In addition......" Wang Pu took out a piece of paper from the sleeve on the other side, handed it to Qian Qianyi, and said with a smile, "I have to bother the old man to sign his name on it, in fact, it's nothing, just be prepared, keep it when necessary to clear the suspicion of the old herd, the younger generation is also for the sake of the old man, what do you say?" ”

Qian Qianyi was stunned after a glance.

It was a letter of repentance, saying that supporting King Lu and intercepting and killing the prince were all conspiracy planned by Zhou Bi, Qian Qianyi and the rest of the Donglin Fushe Party members were just bewitched by Zhou Bi, it was really confused for a while, Wang Pu's hand is too powerful, if Qian Qianyi signed it, then he would sell himself to Wang Pu.

But can Qian Qianyi not sign it?

Of course not, Qian Qianyi cares too much about his reputation, and his reputation is even more important than life for people like him! In order to save his reputation, he could only obediently sign his name.

Wang Pu put away the letter of repentance, got up and said with a smile: "Then the junior won't bother the old man and say goodbye." ”

Qian Qianyi got up and said respectfully: "The old man sent the horse master." ”

Leaving Qian Qianyi's residence and walking less than two hundred steps, Wang Pu suddenly turned his horse's head and said to Lu Liu, Nen Niang and more than a dozen cavalry soldiers who were following behind him: "Go, go to the mansion of Lu Daqi, the squire of the military department!" ”

The reason why Wang Pu wanted to visit Qian Qianyi, Lu Daqi and other Donglin Party leaders was to make them have scruples, but they didn't dare to leak their secret defection to Wang Pu to others.

The advantages of this are obvious, Qian Qianyi thought that he was the only spokesperson of Wang Pu in the Donglin Restoration Society, and Lu Daqi also thought that he was the only spokesperson of Wang Pu in the Donglin Restoration Society, and Zhang Pu was the same, they did not dare to speak out about the fact that they were coerced by Wang Pu, which avoided the collusion of the Donglin Restoration Party to deal with him Wang Pu.

What is the art of manipulating? It's called the art of manipulating!

It was not until late at night, after visiting Lü Daqi and Zhang Pu respectively, that Wang Pu returned to the Yanziji camp.

Back at the camp, Wang Pu just sat down and didn't have time to drink hot tea, Lu Liu led Yin Wei Daben of Yingtianfu, who was sweating profusely, and walked in, Wang Pu stood up with some surprise and asked, "Lord Wei, what happened to you when you came to Yanziji camp so late?" ”

Wei Daben gasped twice and responded, "That's right, out of ...... Something went wrong. ”

Wang Pu's heart jumped and asked, "Is it Zhou Bi, what's wrong with Zhou Bi?" ”

That day, after questioning the prince in every possible way, and being accused by Fang Yizhi and Wang Duo in court, Zhou Bi was sent to Yingtianfu Prison for blaspheming the prince and framing his colleagues.

Wei Daben said: "This guy secretly went on a hunger strike, he hasn't eaten for two days and two nights, plus his body is already weak, and he finally passed out in the prison tonight, and when he found out, he had only one breath left." ”

Wang Pu hurriedly said: "Hurry up and find Lang Zhong for treatment." ”

"I've found it." Wei Daben said, "Lang Zhong is being treated, but Lang Zhong said that he can only do his best and obey the destiny of heaven." ”

"It's going to be bad." Wang Pu hurriedly said to Lu Liu, "Six, go and find Father Li, and ask him to follow me to Yingtianfu Prison immediately." ”

"Why?" Lu Liu was puzzled, "A rebellious guy like Zhou Bi is still clean when he dies." ”

"You know the." Wang Pu said angrily, "The wicked still have to be grinded by the wicked, so don't go quickly!" ”

"Yes."

Lu Liu answered and went reluctantly.

……

(To be continued)