When a society has been scattered for a long time, it needs to be re-united, especially in the face of strong external pressure, and it needs a leader, even a deified leader, in order to achieve the common interests of all people to visualize and concretize.

The behavior of the Donglin Party and its derived members of the Fushe Society and many of the officials and gentlemen who composed them in the late Ming Dynasty had already aroused the dissatisfaction of many people.

Covering up lawsuits, blackmailing the government, and even bullying the people are all their crimes, and they have even led to the deepening of the contradictions between the north and the south.

As a result, strong popular uprisings naturally occur on a regular basis.

It's not just the fierce peasant uprising in the north, but in a rich place like Jiangnan, hasn't there also been an incident of people copying Dong's mansion?

From Zhang Juzheng's reform to the party struggle between the Donglin Party and the Eunuch Party, as well as the struggle between Wen Tiren and Zhou Yanru in the Chongzhen Dynasty, these are not obvious characteristics of the intensified struggle.

People yearn for an authoritative court and emperor, instead of constantly speculating for their own interests, and even staging various party struggles, especially at this juncture when the northern capital has fallen and the country is in crisis.

As long as there are still ideals, scholars are eager to hope for the time, Daming can no longer be a plate of loose sand.

It just so happened that now, Zhu Youzhen, as the emperor, has put forward his ideal of reviving the Ming Dynasty in the whole Jiangnan, which has also met the psychological needs of the vast majority of the people who still have conscience and nation-state consciousness, especially the psychological needs of middle- and lower-class scholars.

They are not willing to delve into whether Zhu Youzhen is a selfish dictator or a careerist, they are only willing to think that His Majesty the Emperor Zhu Youzhen can solve their current confusion.

Because everyone knows that the current Ming Dynasty needs a strong imperial rule.

Especially when this kind of people's hearts are not ancient, and even the descendants of saints like Kong Yinzhi are speculating again, everyone needs to re-believe in the ideals represented by a person or that person.

In fact, the reason why Gao Hongtu chose to betray the Donglin Party was not only because he was afraid of death, but also because he thought that the Ming Dynasty could do without the Donglin Party but not without the emperor Zhu Youzhen.

Shi Kefa chose to obey Zhu Youzhen, and it was also through getting along with Zhu Youzhen every day that he discovered the importance of Zhu Youzhen in leading the Ming Dynasty out of the current crisis.

The entire Ming Empire can do without his Shi Kefa, but must have Emperor Chongzhen Zhu Youzhen.

And if the Ming Dynasty wants to continue to exist, they must unconditionally obey Zhu Youzhen.

The people need a leader who will be dominant.

Zhang Shenyan's behavior is to cultivate a puppet leader, and then seek benefits for his own small group, which is the real reason for the anger of most of the gentry and people in Jiangnan.

The eyes of the masses are bright.

In this era, the brutality of Dongchang Jinyiwei and the expansion of imperial desires are no longer the main causes of social instability.

What the people really need is that when they encounter the pressure of foreign enemies, the wanton plundering of thieves, and even the outbreak of plague and disasters, the government that used to have strong control and stability maintenance capabilities is gone.

Therefore, it is no accident that Zhu Youzhen has been able to get to this point, he moved the Donglin Party and killed the big bureaucrats and gentry in Jiangnan, which did not affect his influence among the people at the bottom, but only offended some bureaucrats.

The bureaucratic stratum is the most dispersed and the most difficult to unite, and the easiest to divide and utilize, after all, they are all cultural people, and cultural people are easy to produce traitors and loyal ministers.

Xiucai's rebellion will not be achieved in ten years, and the knife will not affect the rule of the empire, and at most it will cause a personal tragedy.

Wang Anshi's reform and Zhang Juzheng's reform did not lead to the immediate collapse of the empire, but both exacerbated the division within the ruling group.

Originally, the Manchu Qing Dynasty in history was able to gain a firm foothold by massacre in the end, and it was not because of this that the people were not afraid of the brutality of your ruling methods, but they were afraid that you would not give him a stable era.

The world seeks governance, and does not like chaos.

Zhang Shenyan's behavior of wanting to mess up Jiangnan and disrupting the imperial court was spread by Guangming Daily and even Jiangnan celebrities such as Gao Hongtu and Shi Kefa who took refuge in Zhu Youzhen, so Zhang Shenyan and others became the target of public criticism.

Zhang Shenyan looked at the crowd outside who were insulting him and shouting to knock him down, and was directly stunned, it was only a few days, he didn't expect this to happen.

Ma Shaoyu, the right attendant of the Ministry of Rites, ran in: "Elder Ge, hurry up and run, now the gentry and people all over the city are clamoring to eat your flesh and drink your blood, and your students Wang Yan and Sun Zhengqiang have been beaten to death." ”

"How did it suddenly become like this?"

As he spoke, Zhang Shenyan picked up the plan he had prepared to impeach Shi Kefa and set up Guangming Daily to manipulate public opinion, thinking to himself if he was one step slower?

"You just look at this newspaper, they are all saying that you are Jiannu's meticulous work, Zuo Liangyu's accomplice, intending to mess up Jiangnan, so that the Ming Dynasty can reproduce the disaster of the Two Song Dynasty, saying that you are the Qin Hui of the Ming Dynasty, and you are a surrender faction, not only the people below criticize you, Gao Hongtu and Shi Kefa also jointly criticized you, and cut off your robe and break your righteousness, and your student Chen Zhenhui also said that he would cut off the teacher-student relationship with you."

Ma Shaoyu handed the newspaper to Zhang Shenyan, Zhang Shenyan hurriedly took it and took a look, and after reading it, he was so angry that he vomited a mouthful of blood: "Gao Hongtu!" You traitor! In vain I trust you so much! ”

"Elder Ge, it's too late to say this, hurry up and escape, if you don't escape, you will be beaten to death."

As he spoke, Ma Shaoyu hurriedly instructed the enlightened master who came with him: "Hurry up and take the elder pavilion to escape in my official sedan chair, I will deal with these troublemakers, hurry up, after the people from Dongchang find out, it will be too late!" ”

"Go to Jiangpu, go to Jiangpu, Huaining Marquis Sun Weicheng still has 3,000 cavalry!"

Zhang Shenyan took the initiative to run out of the house as he spoke, and he didn't even have time to bring his family with him.

Ma Shaoyu watched Zhang Shenyan sit in his official coupe and run away, and hurriedly changed the clothes of the slave and went out.

And by the time the people broke into Zhang Shenyan's house, Zhang Shenyan was already gone.

The angry people had no choice but to set fire to Zhang Shenyan's mansion.

Ma Jixiang, who was also disguised as a scholar, couldn't help but say to a Jinyi guard next to him who was disguised as a scholar: "Actually let him run away, and immediately send orders to block all the city gates!" ”

Ma Jixiang was very depressed in his heart, because Wang Chengen did not let him execute Zhang Shenyan by assassination this time, but wanted to launch a speech attack on Zhang Shenyan by the gentry and the common people.

Although this discredited Zhang Shenyan, it also gave Zhang Shenyan a chance to escape.

Zhu Youzhen also knew the news of Zhang Shenyan's escape, and he didn't react much, just said:

"It's better to deal with this kind of people, let them lose their reputation, and have no foundation to bewitch the people, than to kill them, but in order to prevent him from becoming a traitor like Fan Wencheng, I strictly ordered Dongchang to make every effort to want this person, to see people alive, and to see corpses when dead!"