The civil officials of the Ming Dynasty are such complex creatures. Those who are full of mouths, ethics and morality, turn their backs, but they are the leaders of various crimes. After the founding of the Ming Dynasty, Emperor Hongwu and Emperor Chengzu were decisive and monopolized, and the civil officials were suppressed and could not raise their heads. Since then, it has gradually emerged and become a backbone of the government. In order to fight against the imperial power and the so-called tyranny, they stood up and did not hesitate to abandon their families and children for the sake of the clear name and straight name that they had received in exchange for a court scepter. Until the Ming Emperor began to balance the entire court situation with a group of eunuchs and divide the power in the hands of civil officials.

After the "glorious period" of the eunuch group during the Apocalypse Dynasty, civil officials once again became the masters of the imperial court. This time, they suddenly found that the opponent in front of them was so vulnerable, so they looked around, and when they found that there was no opponent, they pointed the finger at themselves, so the historical tradition of party struggle once again became the main theme of the Ming Dynasty.

Chongzhen's indecisive and suspicious personality provided a free battlefield for party struggle. Cabinet members, you will appear after you sing, each for a year or two, or even more than 100 days, and he is tired of it, he has not shown his full strength back then, and more importantly, Zhou Yanru, who has not enjoyed the happiness brought by the first assistant of the cabinet, is the leader among them.

Cao Huachun's reminder was expected for Zhou Yanru. It is obviously unrealistic to take advantage of the fiasco in Shandong and the war in Hebei to defeat Yang Sichang at once. But it's like demolishing an already sturdy house, chiseling out a few cracks with a chisel until the foundation of the house is loose. No matter how hard the killer is, no matter how strong the house is, it will be in vain.

Now, what Zhou Yanru is doing is the work of chiseling cracks.

The next day's court meeting was still a pot of porridge. The main battle and the main peace two factions have no longer take care of the system, and Zhao Guangluan in the military department has already scuffled with Liang Botan in the matter, and was finally stopped by Emperor Chongzhen, and the two of them each put a black eye socket on their heads and returned to the team.

There was a moment of peace in the chaotic court. Even Huang Daozhou, who had been talking endlessly, was a little hoarse at this time and had to close his mouth.

Yang Sichang is not a fool, by now, he has tasted a different taste. Someone must have been behind the scenes to instruct someone to attack his strategy. But who the hell is behind this scene?

Could it be a few people in the cabinet? Probably not. The first assistant Liu Yuliang is still supervising the army in Baoding, and his identity as the first assistant is about to be lost; Cheng Fengxiang in the cabinet is old and has already asked for a tribute, and the emperor has also approved it; Cai Guoyong was born in the Ministry of Industry. His people are only proficient in engineering and construction. There will be no interference in government affairs. Moreover, he is a lonely person, and his popularity in the DPRK is very poor, so he never has such strength; Yao Minggong and Zhang Sizhi are typical pedantic scholars. Being able to enter the cabinet is recommended by myself, and I will definitely not destroy my future.

In this way, Yang Sichang was a little confused, who was encouraging this large number of officials to challenge him, and it was at this critical moment. Zhou Yuanzhong traveled back and forth between inside and outside the Guan, and had already brought Huang Taiji's conditions for peace negotiations, but Emperor Chongzhen had never been able to make up his mind. Yang Sichang saw his thoughts very clearly, Chongzhen's heart was willing to negotiate peace, but the key is that someone always needs to come forward to negotiate peace, and who will take this responsibility.

Chongzhen is determined to pick a son, but he, Yang Sichang, is never noble enough to be willing to buckle this basin on his head. The strategy is good, but there is a lack of a candidate who is willing to pay for it, and the situation is difficult, and the difficulty is in this place.

Yang Sichang tried to calm himself down, and the top priority was that the war in Hebei was over, and as long as Lu Xiangsheng died, the main battle faction would no longer have a reason to make trouble. When people die, the lights go out, and it won't help to say anything more. But Lu Xiangsheng didn't know who he had bewitched, and he retreated to the land of Sanfu. With Yang Sichang's understanding of Lu Xiangsheng, he is a good hand in military affairs, but his personality is pedantic and inflexible, is he not afraid of the emperor's anger at this time, and sent Tiqi to arrest him into Beijing on the charge of retreating?

While he was thinking wildly, the eunuch in front of the palace suddenly reported that the Hebei messenger asked to be summoned.

There was a lot of discussion in the hall. Someone from Hebei actually came back, and he must have brought the latest battle report from the front.

Chongzhen's spirit was invigorated and he hurriedly summoned him to the temple.

So Yang Tinglin, who was in the dust, came to the palace. Yang Tinglin has been lurking in Beijing for many days, and has been under the strict protection of Yin Shigang, except for the prince, Zhou Yanru, Zhou Kui, and Cao Huachun, others do not know. With the cooperation of Cao Huachun, the news of Yang Tinglin's return to Beijing was also strictly blocked by Dongchang, and all of them were for today's court.

has been an official for many years, but the private affairs in the court have not been as much as in the past two days, which makes Yang Tinglin's inner understanding of the court a little deeper. He was very suspicious that at his young age, why Zhu Ping'an could have such an understanding of such a political affairs that could not be put on the stage, step by step, to push the entire situation in the direction he envisioned. Everyone is like a character in a big drama on the stage, each with their own duties, and their responsibility is to bring the big play to a perfect end.

With a stomach full of questions, Yang Tinglin knelt three times and bowed nine times, and made a great salute to the monarch and ministers. Chongzhen ordered him to get up and reply.

"Quickly speaking, what is the situation in Hebei now?" Chongzhen's voice trembled slightly.

Yang Tinglin touched the ground with his head, "The Xuanda Department has been fighting with the enemy for more than three months, Lu Inspector does not avoid the arrows, he takes the lead, the Qizhou guard, the Dingzhou prefect, the Tongzhi and the Tongju and others are all martyred for the country, and the two cities are all fighting to the last person." Inspector Lu is currently trapped in Julu, looking forward to the imperial court reinforcements like Ganlin, please send reinforcements as soon as possible to rescue 30,000 Xuanda disciples from fire and water! ”

Emperor Chongzhen nodded noncommittally. Qizhou, Dingzhou and other places have fallen one after another, this is already news a few days ago, and he is more concerned about whether Lu Xiangsheng can stop the pace of the Tartar attack. If you can, then you can take some initiative in the negotiation with Huang Taiji, if you can't, it means that you will lose more things at the negotiation table.

Yang Sichang's face was gloomy, and he shouted angrily: "Yang Tinglin! Why did Lu Xiangsheng not obey the will of the imperial court and fight a decisive battle with the Dongyu as soon as possible, but instead repeatedly retreated, missing the war, causing the Dongyu to go deep into the three mansions, plunder the place, and make the people suffer for no reason, what crime should Lu Xiangsheng be guilty of? ”

"And you Yang Tinglin!" Yang Sichang pointed at Yang Tinglin, "Since you are here for help, why don't you report to the Ministry of War, why don't you submit documents to the cabinet as soon as possible, but directly meet Your Majesty." Could it be that he wanted to cause turmoil in the court, so as to coerce the imperial court to send troops, and cover up Lu Xiangsheng's crime of supporting the army to protect himself and disobey the holy will? ”

"Yang Ge Lao's sentence is biased!" Zhao Guangluan of the military department opened his mouth coldly, "The war in Hebei is related to the safety of my Ming Dynasty, and Director Yang asked for an audience as soon as he returned to Beijing, in order to be a soldier and a nobleman." According to what the elder said, shouldn't this major matter of the military family be reported by the Ministry of War, and then forwarded to the cabinet for detailed consideration, and then reported to the celebrant for review, and finally by the emperor? In this way, I am afraid that there will not be many people left of the 30,000 soldiers of my Xuanda Division! Dare to ask Yang Ge Lao, is this what you mean? ”

"You're ......! Zhao Guangluan, you dare to speak to Shangguan like this! Yang Sichang trembled angrily.

Zhao Guang sneered and arched his hand towards Yang Sichang, "Zhao is not talented, he knows that he has offended the tiger of the pavilion, and in the future, he will be demoted or suffer from unjustified disasters, knowing that he is dead, what else is the lower official afraid of, but he wants peace of mind!" ”

Yang Tinglin on the side continued: "If you want to say disobey the will, where will it be the turn to get Inspector Lu." Inspector Lu was ordered to lead the soldiers and horses of King Qin in the world, but now? There are only 30,000 tired divisions in his hands. Gao Qiqian has an army of 50,000 in Guanning, but he has been stationed in Jize, and he is suppressed by the 3,000 light cavalry of the Tartars and does not dare to move! Inspector Lu asked his division to join forces to attack the Dongyu several times, but he turned a deaf ear, if he did not comply with the order of resistance, Gao Qiqian would be the first to bear the brunt! ”

The officials of the main battle faction nodded yes one after another, and a pair of angry eyes shot at Yang Sichang, and some grumpy ones simply shouted, asking Yang Sichang to take the blame and resign.

Chen Xinjia, the right attendant of the military department, hurriedly went out to relieve the siege for Yang Sichang, "Please ask Your Majesty to issue a decree to thoroughly investigate Lu Xiangsheng's crime of disobeying the imperial court's edict......!" “

Before the words fell, the eunuch in front of the main hall ran in a panic, "Your Majesty forgive your sins, the Shandong army reports!" ”

"Come on!" Chongzhen sat up straight all of a sudden. His face couldn't help but be a little distorted with nervousness.

"Emperor Qiyu, the Dongyu Yue Tuo Department raided Jinan with a large army, Jinan fell, Shandong political envoy Song Xuezhu, political Deng Qian, Licheng County Han Chengxuan and officials at all levels were all killed, the East captured the people in Jinan City, and burned the city to the ground. King De and the rest of the clan were taken captive! ”

"Ahh Emperor Chongzhen screamed, rolled his eyes, fainted, and fell headlong. Fortunately, Huaide and Wang Chengen beside them were quick and fast, and they firmly hugged Emperor Chongzhen's body with both hands.

"Take care!" The civil and military officials suddenly panicked, and hulala knelt down in a large area.

The eunuch who presented the report trembled like chaff and prostrate on the ground, not even daring to raise his head, lest the emperor directly order him to be killed with a rod in anger.

"Yang Sichang!" Although Zhao Guangluan knelt on the ground, he still scolded angrily, "The enemy is like this, Jinan has fallen, and the clan has been taken captive, you should be satisfied!" ”

"Enough!" A sharp howl suddenly sounded in the main hall, "All of you are sincere gentlemen who have read the books of sages and sages, and now that Your Majesty has been angry like this, don't you know that it is difficult for you to understand the difficulties of the monarch's father, and you can't say two words less?" ”

Everyone looked up, but Wang Chengen stared at everyone with an angry face, and suddenly fell silent.

Huaide confessed the crime, and pressed Chongzhen's people violently, after a while, Chongzhen woke up slowly, and couldn't help tears like rain, "I'm sorry for the people, I'm sorry for the ancestors, the Tartars are like entering a no-man's land, taking away the clan, a hundred years later, what face do I have to see my ancestors underground!" ”

"The ministers are guilty!" The ministers bowed down in fear.

At this moment, an extremely discordant voice sounded, "Your Majesty, great joy!" Great joy! ”

"Who is it?" Chongzhen got up and glared angrily at the door of the main hall, "Who is talking nonsense there!" (To be continued......)