The sunset shone obliquely over the Forbidden City, bathing in this golden light, Zhao Yan stood outside the city gate and stared at the sky, this empire, just like this sunset, was about to enter the end.

In the distance, a troop of soldiers and horses was slowly approaching.

A large flag embroidered with the word 'Lu' fluttered in the sunset, and Zhao Yan saw the flag with respect in his eyes. Lu Xiangsheng was Zhao Yan's most respected official in the late Ming Dynasty.

Historically, Lu Xiangsheng faced the Qing army and killed the giant deer, largely because of the court battle, and the rest of the officials and soldiers were greedy for life and afraid of death, so that they were isolated and defeated and died.

This is a very normal thinking official in the late Ming Dynasty, not as numb, cruel and greedy as the rest of the officials, afraid of death, and loves money like life.

The army led by Lu Xiangsheng gradually appeared in front of Zhao Yan's eyes, and after the officers sent by Zhao Yan were reorganized and equipped with the equipment of the Shandong Army, the Tianxiong Army seemed to have become a well-trained existence.

The infantry marched as if it was not chaotic, everything was in order, but there were still many gaps with Zhao Yan's soldiers and horses, first of all, the infantry did not have horses, and secondly, the spirit of the soldiers was not as full as Zhao Yan's soldiers...... There is a gap in ideological transformation.

Moreover, the artillery is not as strong as Zhao Yan, and the cavalry is not as trained as Zhao Yan, but in terms of Lu Xiangsheng's foot soldiers, in addition to the Shandong army, it is definitely the strongest officer army in the Ming Dynasty, but Qin Liangyu's white pole soldiers may be stronger in mountain warfare.

Soon, Lu Xiangsheng's Tianxiong army stopped one mile away from the capital, and then took more than a hundred personal soldiers and rode towards Zhao Yan's side.

Zhao Yan rolled off the horse, Lu Xiangsheng came over quickly, also got off the horse, looked at the city wall where the Shandong army stood on the head of the city, and sighed to Zhao Yan: "Hold strong!" Looks like I'm a step too late. ”

"The Doge isn't too late." Zhao Yan laughed and made a gesture to Lu Xiangsheng, "Governor, please, let's go into the city and talk in detail." ”

Lu Xiangsheng nodded, and the two got on the horse again and entered the capital together.

On the way, Lu Xiangsheng couldn't help but ask: "Zhijian, how do you plan to deal with the aftermath?" ”

"Your Majesty has signed the Constitutional Covenant with me, the Shandong Military Privilege Covenant, and the Memorandum of Understanding between the Monarch and the Minister, and has issued an 'edict for crimes', and in the future, Your Majesty will only be in charge of military power, and will not ask about political affairs. The Cabinet is under full authority to preside over political affairs, and I will withdraw my troops when the Cabinet is reorganized. Zhao Yan said.

"Don't ask about politics?" Lu Xiangsheng frowned and asked.

"In all dynasties, because the number of people who died was not small, it was all due to the excessive power of the monarch, so it was necessary to limit the privileges of the monarch and let the cabinet manage the world. The meaning of the constitution is to let the monarch also be bound by the law, and if he breaks the law, he will be guilty of the same crime as the common people. Zhao Yan continued: "The cabinet rotates once every four years, and the first assistant can be re-elected up to three times, that is, twelve years. As for who should be the first assistant, it is up to the people to decide, so in the future, if you want to be the first assistant, you must first do things for the people, so as to win the hearts of the people. ”

Lu Xiangsheng pondered silently, and after a long while, he said: "Although this is good, if you let the people choose, I am afraid that someone will cheat for personal gain." ”

"That's why it's not time to hold a general election, but to find someone with integrity to form a cabinet." Zhao Yan patiently explained, "In the future, as long as the wisdom of the people is vigorously opened, and the people can exercise their rights, the people will support the Ming Dynasty, if someone undermines the constitutional system, the people of the world will attack it, and the descendants of the Zhu family can also be the emperor for all generations." ”

Zhao Yan knew in his heart that if Lu Xiangsheng was stabilized, there would be almost no suspense. Lu Xiangsheng came into contact with Zhao Yan, and Zhao Yan knew what kind of person he was.

So he took the initiative to say: "The total number of cabinet members is 100, and I Shandong wants to establish two parties, each accounting for 25 seats, one headed by Yan Jizu and the other headed by Zhu Dadian. In addition, the governor set up another party, which occupied 25 seats, and the remaining 35 seats were ceded to Donglin and other parties. ”

"In this way, because the constitution has not been enacted, if it is elected by the people, it will be indulged by the gentry and merchants, and the cabinet will not care about the interests of the poor people, so it will have to be forcibly reorganized."

Zhao Yan said, Lu Xiangsheng nodded, and then pondered.

The reason why Zhao Yan gave up 25 seats to Lu Xiangsheng was mainly because Lu Xiangsheng was more upright, and he would definitely not obstruct some policies that benefited the country and the people, let alone play some obscene means.

In this way, on the surface, Zhao Yan's reformists and conservatives each occupy half of the seats, but in fact, the cabinet members selected by Zhao Yan are all from poor backgrounds, and they are scribes who have performed very well after long-term ideological transformation.

At the same time, Zhao Yan put the seat out, which is equivalent to sharing a piece of the pie, although this cup of soup can not actually bring any actual benefits, but for a while those people are still not very able to react, and at the same time, in terms of public opinion, Zhao Yan is also much more controllable.

Zhao Yan took Lu Xiangsheng to the mansion where he stayed, this mansion was very large, and Zhao Yan had already hung a sign of 'Cabinet Executive Yuan' at the door.

This mansion is just outside the gates of the Forbidden City, close to many institutions, and it is also very convenient for office.

In this mansion, after Lu Xiangsheng read the "Constitutional Law", "Shandong Military Privilege Law", and "Memorandum of Understanding between Monarchs and Ministers", he listened to Zhao Yan's account of what a party is constitutional.

"The constitution is a wonderful law, as long as the constitution is done well, the Ming dynasty can be forever." After reading it, Lu Xiangsheng nodded in agreement, as for Zhao Yan's "Shandong Military Privilege Covenant", Lu Xiangsheng didn't care.

Zhao Yan's personality, he can also believe.

Lu Xiangsheng had already introduced Zhao Yan as a confidant, and the two of them had a very similar surname in the Ming Dynasty, that is, they were sympathetic to the suffering of the people and were committed to maintaining the stability of the Ming Dynasty.

Since Lu Xiangsheng heard that Zhao Yan had raised troops on the side of the Qing monarch, Lu Xiangsheng would even have such an idea on the road, that is, if Zhao Yan was replaced as the emperor, could he accept it?

This method made him very conflicted.

If this is the case, what can he do? In all fairness, if Zhao Yan becomes the emperor, the world will inevitably take on a new look.

And this time, Zhao Yan's reshuffling of the cabinet is what Lu Xiangsheng is most willing to accept.

He has no objection to Zhao Yan's control of power, and if the cabinet is controlled by him, the Ming Dynasty will definitely be able to quickly settle down. At the same time, it also preserved the status of the Ming royal family, which can be described as a great joy.

…… To their delight, Zhao Yan actually put forward measures similar to their Donglin Party's ideology to oppose the monarch's reading of talents, and before that, Gu Xiancheng, a member of the Donglin Party, advocated "dispersing power", which was in essence to weaken the monarch's power, and Qian Yiyi advocated "electing auxiliary ministers in the public world", and Zhao Yan made the constitution this time, and these points were done.

The Donglin Party was a party in the late Ming Dynasty that dared to criticize the current affairs, demanded clarification of the rule of officials, reformed maladministration, pleaded for the people's life, resolutely opposed evil forces, and was willing to go to the soup for the fate of the country and the nation.

In the late Ming Dynasty, there was a significant development of the commodity economy and handicraft industry. The Donglin Party basically represented the interests of small and medium-sized landlords, merchants, and citizens in the south of the Yangtze River. While attaching importance to agriculture, they also attached special importance to industry and commerce, advocated benefiting merchants and caring for the people, and took an active part in the struggle against the mine supervisors and tax envoys and against the feudal plundering of industry and commerce.

Zhao Yan's feeling about this party is that there are things that he recognizes, and there are things that he dare not agree with.

What he recognized was the integrity of the Donglin Party, the Donglin Party was born in industry and commerce, and was not too keen on money, so many Donglin Party members had a high style and bright festival, and at the same time opposed the royal family and the father's seizure of land.

What is not recognized is that the Donglin Party is too partial to the interest class they represent, and they actually exempt all the commercial taxes, perhaps because the people of this era do not have a very clear understanding of the important surnames of commercial taxes.

The Ming Dynasty was not the Song Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty relied on the support of agricultural taxes, and the Song Dynasty was different, in addition to agricultural taxes in the Song Dynasty, commercial taxes were also an important financial support, in the Song Dynasty that kind of environment, people had a specific understanding of commercial taxes.

The Ming Dynasty was accustomed to surnames, and it was easy for people to ignore these things.

Of course, to a large extent, the Donglin Party has been a little different from the Donglin Party in Wanli, since the Emperor of the Apocalypse came to power, Wei Zhongxian united Zhejiang, Qi, Chu, Xuan, Kun and the parties to carry out crazy suppression and purge of the Donglin Party, and a large number of Donglin Party backbones died.

Spoilage is for sure.

But there are still a group of people in the Donglin Party who have inherited their previous ideas. Zhao Yan's restriction of the monarch's privileges and his proposal to promote universal suffrage within 20 years, so that every Ming people have the right to elect auxiliary ministers, is completely consistent with their thinking.

…… On August 21, the hustle and bustle of the capital was restored, and even more noisy.

People talked a lot about the constitution-making law in the restaurant, and civil and military officials even ran around to discuss the establishment of the party. Letters were also sent out from the capital one by one.

At the same time, Zhao Yan asked Chongzhen to send several holy decrees, as well as the edicts of sin, to all places.

When the people of Shandong saw the edict of sin, the whole province rejoiced. Zhao Yan conquered the Jingshi and made the emperor bow his head and admit his mistake, and the blood of the Shandong soldiers was not shed in vain.

The rest of the provinces were stunned, the great changes in the DPRK and China, they had received the news one after another, but what followed was Chongzhen's edict.

So the provinces hurriedly returned the banned "Daming Yuebao" and the property of the Jimin Inn, and after these things were returned, the provinces began to wait and see where the wind went.

Soon, news came right away.

Zhao Yan wants to reorganize the cabinet, with 100 cabinet members, and local officials can form their own parties and participate in the cabinet election. This is different from Chongzhen's efforts to suppress the party, and Zhao Yan made the party public.

Partisan is a thing, it is better to be blocked, human beings themselves live in groups, and they all have the surname of the group, because the power of the group is large, if it is possible for a few people not to hold a group, if you ask everyone not to hold a group, it is undoubtedly a fool's dream.

And Qian Qianyi, who returned to his hometown, also received a letter from the Donglin Party this time.

Qian Qianyi keenly felt that this was an opportunity.

Wen Tiren fell, Chongzhen was also in a state of semi-collapse, although Chongzhen still had military power, but everyone could see that the imperial court had no advantage militarily.

But the imperial court is not completely without a chance to turn the tables, both sides have a chance at this time, which makes those who want to play the chips undecided.

Since Zhao Yan asked people to form a party, then as the leader of the Donglin Party, his comeback is justified.

So Qian Qianyi received the letter and immediately got into the carriage to Beijing non-stop, and his heart was surging, thinking that the time for his comeback had come.

Zhu Dadian and Yan Jizu got up earlier, Zhu Dadian was scared into a cold sweat for Zhao Yan to raise troops on the side of Qingjun, and this time Zhao Yan won the game, and Zhu Dadian was relieved.

As Zhao Yan's most ironclad ally, if Zhao Yan becomes the emperor, he will naturally be indispensable to his benefits, but if he is defeated, he will not escape the fate of being purged.

Yan Jizu and Zhu Dadian's thoughts are also very similar, they didn't expect that Zhao Yan dared to fight a few battles with the Manchus in Liaodong and Korea, and went west to recruit thieves for a few months, and even dared to raise troops on the side of the Qing monarch when the soldiers and horses were tired.

However, the imperial court was like eating gunpowder, and it was also very abnormal to suddenly and frantically suppress Zhao Yan's forces.

When both sides are not calm, such a conflict is both unexpected and reasonable. Fortunately, Zhao Yan won, while Chongzhen lost.

Zhao Quan had full authority in Shandong, and of course, with his ability, he was not very good at military and political affairs, and was mainly assisted by the staff officers who stayed in Shandong.

Zhao Quan's role is that when Zhao Yan is not in Shandong, he looks at the people in various departments, so as not to create a power vacuum and be controlled by others.

The 30,000 Xiangyong stationed in Longkou, under the command of Zhao Quan, boarded the ship and headed for reinforcements from the Beijing Division. Zhao Quan was afraid that Zhao Yan would have an accident in Beijing, so he sent 10,000 new-style muskets made by the Ordnance Bureau, and asked the instructors of the recruit battalion to organize these 30,000 Xiangyong into three battalions and a reserve.

Each battalion had three thousand musketeers, six thousand pikemen, one thousand reserve musketeers, and two thousand pikemen. These townsmen have been trained in Yingzhou, and they usually shoot less guns, and it is not a problem to line up, plus the thieves who followed Zhao Yan in the Central Plains for a few months, and the marching formation is not a problem, the biggest problem is the rate of fire of the musketeers, but the range of the new musket is relatively long, and the rate of fire is still acceptable, and the most important thing is that there are long-range strike means.

There were also hundreds of carefully selected officials who followed the fleet into Beijing, all of whom were from poor families, and at the same time had a high level of education.

These officials themselves were to be transferred to the army to serve as education commissioners, or to other important posts, but the plan could not keep up with the changes, so they had to re-select personnel.

Today, Shandong has spread out its education work, and has carried out compulsory education for six years in the three eastern prefectures, and has also set up dozens of night schools to eradicate illiteracy for young people.

And in Handan and Yingzhou, the same is true.

These two provincial territories have always been valued by Zhao Yan, one is the granary when he fought in the Central Plains, and the other is the iron production base in Shandong.

The progress of the Western Three Prefectures was slower, after all, Zhao Yan only completely controlled the Eastern Three Mansions, and there were still many remnants of old forces in many parts of the Western Three Mansions.

However, the three prefectures in the west have also achieved the level of enrollment and education at the age of 10 and under 13.

Although education has not yet been thoroughly developed, with the current scale of education, a large number of capable talents will emerge in a few years.

At that time, the overall strength will be greatly increased.

…… In Beijing, Zhao Yan is indulging in power these days, and the General Staff Department, in the capacity of the cabinet, orders the provinces that have not complied with the order to immediately restore the "Daming Yuebao" and the Jimin Inn.

Zhao Yan naturally did not forget to launch a public opinion offensive, since the suspension of the "Daming Daily", the resumption of publication is imminent, and the content of this issue is all around the side of Qing Jun.

"Our Shandong army has good military discipline, after entering Beijing, not a single person was killed, and double compensation was given for the destruction of civilian houses, and the dead soldiers in the Beijing camp were given double compensation, although they hindered justice, but they also fulfilled their responsibilities, and the wounded were given a pension of 100 taels of silver, and the dead were given a pension of 300 taels of silver, and all the funds and expenses were borne by the general alone." Mao Yuanyi took the prepared layout and read to Zhao Yan.

What did not kill a single person, this is naturally an exaggeration. Under the blow of artillery fire, it is not normal to be undead, but it is still necessary to whitewash.

"After our Shandong army conquered the inner city and the imperial city, the saint ordered people to open the Forbidden City, but our Shandong army did not enter the Forbidden City except for the general with his personal guards, and the people of Beijing launched a demonstration on August 19, demanding severe punishment of the national thief Yang Sichang, restricting the privileges of the monarch, and proposing that the Son of Heaven was guilty of the same crime as the common people. Tens of thousands of people shouted and stormed the Forbidden City. Our Shandong army immediately sent soldiers and horses to protect the Forbidden City and block the people outside the city. ”

"At noon on August 19, at the request of the people, the general proposed the "Constitutional Decree on the Monarchy in the Year of Bingzi" and the "Memorandum of Understanding between the Monarch and the Ministers in the Year of Bingzi", which read as follows......"

"Except for the record of the incident, the rest of the pages are all explanations of the specific rules and regulations of the constitutional monarchy, that is, the praise of the constitutional law, and so on." Mao Yuanyi finished reading the contents of the incident record, and then made a summary.

"Then this issue will be printed like this!" Zhao Yan nodded, and Mao Yuanyi nodded: "My subordinates will send this document out immediately, and let the provinces expedite the printing." ”

At this time, Zhang Zhi, deputy chief of staff, came over and reported to Zhao Yan: "My lord, Wang Wenyue, the commander of the Honshu Mixed Brigade, reported that he had conquered Edo, and the treasury of the Tokugawa shogunate was served by him and robbed more than 8 million taels of property, and in addition, in the homes of those samurai and merchants in Edo, he also robbed nearly 10 million taels of property and captured 160,000 Japanese slaves, but Tokugawa Iemitsu secretly escaped from the city wall the day before the capture of Edo and failed to capture it. After conquering Edo, he immediately launched a sweep on the Kanto Plain, and so far more than 300,000 Japanese slaves have been captured, but the fleet has not been able to reach Edo for a long time, and he asked the fleet to leave for Edo quickly. ”

"Well done!" Zhao Yan's mood was suddenly extremely happy, Xiao said, the mortal enemy of the nation, is to strike hard, the Tokugawa shogunate was robbed of more than 8 million taels of property, I am afraid that it will face the danger of financial depletion, once the rule is unstable, civil strife will naturally appear.

Previously, according to the plan, after the fleet returned to Qingdao, it would leave for Yokohama immediately, but it was postponed because of Zhao Yanqingjun's side.

At present, the most important thing is to bring back those goods and the Japanese slaves.

(To be continued)