Zhu Youzhen is now tempting officials by taking out the titles of first assistant, third duke, and prince and marquis at every turn.

The encouraging words for Li Mingrui are, I am very optimistic about you, and you are the material for the first assistant.

There is also the promise that Zhu Youzhen gave to Huang Degong and Yuan Jixian, who has already been mentioned earlier.

And now, Zhu Youzhen directly said to Ma Shiying, do you want to be the first assistant? OK! Submit a petition first.

Ma Shiying had to admit that the bait thrown by His Majesty the Emperor Zhu Youzhen was very tempting, and he could not tolerate Qingliu Donglin Dang and Zuo Liangyu, and could only follow His Majesty.

And being ranked in the pavilion and being the head of the civil service is also the dream of every two-rank jinshi.

Therefore, Ma Shiying agreed to Zhu Youzhen without hesitation: "Please Your Majesty, rest assured, Weichen will definitely find a way to get rid of Fang Guoan, and hand over the head of the Guoan people within five days at the latest!" ”

"Very well, I'm waiting for your good news!"

After Zhu Youzhen said that, he sent a decree to Wang Chengen, and the East Factory was responsible for getting rid of Ma Degong, and at the same time ordered Jinyiwei to command Wu Mengming to send people to Gao Jie's department, so that Gao Jie would design to get rid of Tian Xiong after arriving in Hangzhou.

Fang Guoan, Ma Degong, and Tian Xiong, the three general military officers, surrendered to the Manchus without a fight in the original history of the Southern Ming Dynasty, among which Ma Degong and Tian Xiong were the culprits who offered Hongguang Emperor Zhu Yousong to the Manchus.

Zhu Youzhen is now trying to clear the restless factors in his backyard, and he can't wait for others to surrender before he is prosecuted.

This time, Zhu Youzhen wanted to strike preemptively, and get rid of these unstable warlords who would only drag down the bad Ming before they were still struggling with whether to betray the imperial court, so as to achieve the goal of clearing the backyard in the fastest time with the least number of troops.

So, now he decided to just kill these people first!

Anyway, there are a lot of crimes committed by these people, and killing them may also improve the popularity of the Ming court in Jiangnan.

At this time, Wang Chengen came over and told Zhu Youzhen, Emperor Chongzhen, about Zhang Shenyan's attempt to use public opinion to investigate him, the Ming Emperor's escape to the south, about Gao Hongtu's relay.

After Zhu You listened, he slapped the table suddenly: "I really underestimated these people, and I still want to make me stink, I am the son of tomorrow, whether to retreat south or not is what he can count, I want to see how he accuses me, but in this case, I want to accuse them!" ”

After Zhu Youzhen spoke, he instructed Shi Kefa: "Follow me to the newspaper office!" ”

Zhang Shenyan wanted to make a fuss about his move south, and Zhu Youzhen had to admit that this was indeed a ruthless move.

First of all, his move to the south is indeed contrary to the ancestral precepts left by the ancestor Zhu Di of the Son of Heaven guarding the country, which is easy to be used by some people to make a fuss and find excuses for their rebellion, especially the Donglin Party, which can win the hearts of the people, and support the prince to ascend the throne, and then control the government.

This kind of political conspiracy can be described as vicious, and it can even completely characterize Zhu Youzhen as a faint monarch who is greedy for life and afraid of death, and negate the series of reform measures he implemented in Jiangnan by relying on the power and power of the emperor.

According to Dongchang's secret visit, the current Jiangnan gentry are not without opinions on Zhu Youzhen's massacre of Qian Qianyi, Hou Sui, Dong Qichang and other big officials and squires, but it is only because Zhu Youzhen is the Ming Emperor and now he is under the pressure of a strong enemy, so they all choose to endure Zhu Youzhen's series of brutal methods.

However, if once he is pulled down from the altar by Zhang Shenyan and others, Zhu Youzhen doesn't know how many Jiangnan gentry who are already dissatisfied with his policies will take the opportunity to stand up, and really believe that Zhang Shenyan and other Donglin Party will bewitch the prince to ascend the throne, kill Ma Shiying and other traitorous ministers, force himself to be a faint monarch and even execute himself, a "fake king!" ”

Originally, the Nanming Dynasty in history had three major doubts, such as the Great Compassion Case, the Concubine Case, and the Prince Case, and even in the Wanli Taichang Tianqi Three Dynasties, there were various doubtful cases, which could not be ruled out and had nothing to do with the Donglin Party, which had lost power.

Now, Zhu Youzhen is reforming Jiangnan, and these Donglin parties are still playing this trick, Zhu Youzhen has to admit that this is really a mountain rain that is about to come and the wind is full of buildings.

Rumors stop at the wise, and whoever is the first to stir up the topic in public opinion is the winner.

In Zhu Youzhen's view, he must now immediately use the Guangming Daily, a propaganda agency, to sell the topic of his southward migration first, and everything the Donglin Party has done is to let the prince ascend the throne, so he will let the prince himself stand up and express his position, which is really not good, Zhu Youzhen feels that it is okay for him to kill his parents and children.

Of course, this is the last resort, and Zhu Youzhen will do such a thing.

After all, Zhu Cihong is only fifteen years old now, and his ability is not outstanding, and he has not yet used external forces to compete for power with his father.

Moreover, Zhu Youzhen can't move the prince casually now, once the prince is moved, it will be tantamount to giving these Donglin parties the truth, saying that they are weak-hearted.

But Zhu Youzhen can let the prince make his own statement.

In addition to the crown prince, Zhu Youzhen decided to use the prestige of Shi Kefa, Gao Hongtu and others in the Donglin Party and even among the Jiangnan gentry to control public opinion for himself.

Along the way, Zhu Youzhen informed Shi Kefa of the situation in the world and the possible consequences of Zhang Shenyan's demagogy once he succeeded, and said: "Aiqing has a very high prestige among the people of Jiangnan, and one word can be worth ten thousand words of others. ”

Shi Kefa is also a more rational person, and has followed Zhu Youzhen for so long, and has also observed the ability of the prince, knowing that the most important thing in today's world, especially in Jiangnan, is stability, so he did not hesitate to prostrate in front of Zhu Youzhen, and even changed his words, no longer commensurate with Wei Chen, in order to show that he is already Zhu Youzhen's retainer: "Please Your Majesty command, slaves and maids obey the order!" ”

"You immediately write an editorial, the title is called: "As the secretary of the military department, why do I want to be an eunuch from the palace: On Your Majesty's southward migration" is written like this, signed by you, telling the gentry and people in Jiangnan that my southward migration is beneficial to them rather than harmful, you have the highest reputation in Jiangnan, and you are personally written by you, plus you would rather be my minister from the palace in order to fight against the Tartars, and bear the burden of humiliation with the inner court, it is enough to let the gentry and people in Jiangnan understand your hard work, and also understand my hard work!"

Although Shi Kefa's descendants were cut by themselves, Zhu Youzhen has not announced this matter to the public, and now let Shi Kefa say it himself, and change a statement, it is his own palace, which can be regarded as saving some dignity for himself, and achieving a good story of cutting the knife from the palace to serve the king.

Shi Kefa gritted his teeth and nodded in response to Zhu Youzhen's will, for the fact of becoming a eunuch, he has chosen to accept and get used to this identity, and now for the stability of Jiangnan and the Ming Dynasty, it is acceptable for him to make an article to flaunt his virtues.

But Shi Kefa still couldn't help asking: "Your Majesty, if you send it out like this, will there be many people who come from the palace, learn from slaves and maids, and enter the palace to be eunuchs." ”

"When your article is issued, I will issue a clear decree prohibiting self-palace!"

Zhu Youzhen replied.