Zheng Hengzhou shouted, slashed out diagonally, and cut a cut on each of the prince's legs. The prince snorted, turned over and fell to the ground, bleeding from the wound, and it was difficult to get up for a while.

Zheng Hengzhou put the tip of the knife against the neck of Wang Gonggong and said: "Wang Gonggong, you are not as good as others today, you can't catch me, so you will find a way to go back and make a difference." I will leave this place, and I will have nothing to do with the Yamen of the Governor of Baoding from now on. If you are troubled by the Governor for today's affairs, I will surely come back to you. After speaking, he threw the knife on the ground, turned to Liu Jingxian and said, "Lord Governor, ...... humble position."

"Wait." Bai Caozhi said suddenly, and walked forward.

Zheng Hengzhou's heart sank, and he turned around with a wary expression. I saw Bai Caozhi come to Wang Gonggong's side, bow his head and say, "Wang Gonggong, you said that you want to report back to the factory and tell me to fall to the ground?" ”

The prince said, "So what? ”

Bai Caozhi shook his head: "I can't let you do this. "Saying that, the knife fell, and the prince's head fell to the ground.

Zheng Hengzhou shouted: "Bai Qianhu! ”

Bai Caozhi turned back to his subordinates and said, "Dongchang Fanzi, no one is left." ”

The brocade guards were ordered, one opened the door and left, and the other killed the guards on the ground and jumped out of the window.

Zheng Hengzhou was about to stop it, and Bai Caozhi had already caught up. "Brother Zheng, Dongchang is ruthless. You let the tiger go back to the mountain today, and it will be Lord Liu who will trouble you in the future. ”

"But ......"

"Those who achieve great things are not informal, and besides, the people of Dongchang are innocent of death, and Brother Zheng does not need the kindness of a woman." Bai Caozhi returned the knife into the sheath and gave it up: "Brother Zheng kidnapped the Qin criminals and killed the East Factory, the crime is too big." It's better to get out of town before dawn. You still have to discuss the words, so I won't bother you below. Say goodbye today, we'll see you later. After speaking, he said goodbye to Liu Jing first, and then strode away.

After Bai Caozhi left, Liu Jing first ordered: "Yuanzhi, go out and watch outside, don't let anyone in." ”

Chen Yuanzhi said: "Yes, my lord." I'll have the corpses removed. ”

Liu Jing raised his hand first. "We'll talk about it later." Then he said to Master Song: "Master, you go and take care of it first." The two of them had to be ordered to go.

Zheng Hengzhou arched his hand and said: "To add such trouble to adults, I don't want to go to my humble position." Thanks to the care of adults over the years, I am here to say goodbye to adults today. "Bow down and bow down." Hengzhou thanked the adults for their kindness. ”

"Don't be polite." Liu Jingxian hurriedly helped him up. After standing still, he asked, "Where are you going?" ”

Zheng Hengzhou replied: "Leave Beizhili first." Find a way to meet up with my junior brother and see if there is anything that can help. Where to go from here, and then make a plan. The world is so big, there is always a place for me. ”

Liu Jingxian said with emotion: "Seeing the chaos in the government and government, talented people are either arrested and imprisoned, or forced to go away. ...... go on like this."

He sighed and said: "Thinking back to the Wanli period, the emperor refused to go to the court, the government did not repair, the shortage of personnel was not filled, the performance was not approved, and the courtiers could not even ask the old man to go. Finally, I looked forward to Emperor Guangzong's succession, and the government finally improved, but I didn't expect that after only a month in power, Emperor Guangzong would indulge in death. Today's saint should have done something, but because the courtiers formed an intra-party struggle, he lost patience with the government and reused the eunuchs, allowing villains like Wei Zhongxian to gain power. Now that the eunuch party has been brewing for a long time and has a huge force, as long as they are deployed and the evidence is sufficient, then everything will be over......" he said and shook his head.

Zheng Hengzhou persuaded: "My lord, the general trend is like this, we are alone, so we have to endure for a while." ”

"You endure it for a while, I endure it for a while, if you endure it like this, the whole world will let Wei Zhongxian take it." Liu Jingla walked to the coffee table first, opened the two teacups, and lifted the teapot to pour the tea.

He motioned for Zheng Hengzhou to come and sit down, and pushed a cup of tea to him.

I blew the tea that had already been cold, took a sip, and asked: "Hengzhou, I have always only made a mouth in front of you, commenting on the government, but I have always done nothing, I just want to protect myself." Actually, you don't think so, do you? ”

Zheng Hengzhou said: "If you are not in your position, you are not in charge." The adult served as the governor of Baoding, diligent and loved the people, and did not slack off in his duties. The affairs of the central court are not in the hands of adults. ”

Liu Jingxian shook his head and said: "The two adults, Zuo and Yang, have tried to recommend me to serve in the military department several times, but I have been refusing to resign. I am willing to be a magistrate just so that I don't go to those troubled waters. I was talking all day long, but when I had the opportunity, I didn't dare to go down and change anything. I promise to be clear, but in fact, I am cowardly. ”

Zheng Hengzhou didn't know what to say, so he said, "My lord......"

Liu Jingxian shook his hand and said: "In all fairness, of course, there are many high-spirited people in the Donglin Party. However, the DPRK and China have been harassing for decades, and the Donglin Party members also have to pay a great responsibility. ”

The so-called Donglin Party, originated in the 32nd year of Wanli, Gu Xiancheng, who was dismissed for offending Shenzong, rebuilt Donglin Academy in Wuxi, and Gao Panlong and others gave lectures, commented on current affairs, advocated opening up the way of speech, implemented reforms, and won the majority of support, but also was opposed by some courtiers and eunuchs.

The opposing courtiers formed the Zhejiang Party, the Xuan Party, the Kun Party and other parties according to the geographical relationship, and united to oppose the Donglin Party, and since then the decades-long party struggle has begun, which is known as the Donglin Party Struggle in history.

Whenever the courtiers of various parties took advantage of the opportunity to preside over the Jingcha to eradicate dissidents, the Jingcha was an official inspection system. If the people of the Zhejiang Party preside over the Jingcha, they will take the opportunity to dismiss the Donglin Party members, and vice versa.

During the Wanli period, the courtiers of various parties came and went in this way, and they fought happily. In addition, in order to canonize the son of Zheng Guifei as the crown prince, Shenzong was obstructed by the ministers, and he was angry and neglected to go to the court, and he refused to go to the court for 30 years, and some courtiers never even saw the emperor, and the central and local officials did not make up for the vacancies, and the border war was tight and did not reinforce them, resulting in the emptiness of the court during the Wanli period, and no one was in charge, which was the bane of the demise of the Ming Dynasty.

After Guangzong succeeded to the throne, he reused the Donglin Party to revitalize the government internally, and used Xiong Tingbi externally to alleviate the war situation, which finally relieved the predicament of the Ming family a little.

It's a pity that Guangzong lived in the shadow of his father, and he could only ascend the throne at the age of thirty-nine. After being freed, he immediately took in eight beauties, indulged in venting, and soon fell ill. After that, he took the laxatives of the eunuchs and the red pills of the courtiers, and finally died violently.

Emperor Tianqi ascended to the throne for the first time, trying to cheer up, and also reused the Donglin party.

However, the Donglin Party did not love themselves, and continued to fight against other parties and compete for official positions, which made Tianqi impatient and lazy to deal with government affairs, causing Wei Zhongxian to take the opportunity to interfere in politics.

He united with the Zhejiang Party and all the courtiers who disagreed with the Donglin Party to form a eunuch party and suppressed the Donglin Party members everywhere.

Now that Yang Lian and Zuo Guangdou have been arrested and imprisoned for impeaching Wei Zhongxian, everyone in the Donglin Party is in danger, and they have put away their previous anger, and they are silent when they go to court. Whatever you say, I am afraid that they will all come to naught in the struggle to form a party.

Liu Jingxian continued: "I have always rejected the formation of parties to discuss politics, because over the years, courtiers have formed parties not to discuss politics at all, but to compete for power and official positions. If you want to say that the eunuch party is hateful, in fact, there are many people who let the Donglin party fight desperately, so they took refuge in Wei Zhongxian. For example, Ruan Dacheng was originally pro-Donglin Party, if Nanxing hadn't blocked his promotion in Jingcha last year, why would he have mixed with the eunuchs? Really speaking, if it weren't for the eunuch ministers and eunuchs being linked and disgusting, in fact, there was not much difference between the Donglin Party and the eunuch party. ”

Zheng Hengzhou frowned and said: "Although it is reasonable for my lord to say this, but looking at current affairs, in the past few years, as long as the emperor reuses the Donglin party, the government will improve." I think the Donglin Party still has its strengths. ”

Liu Jingxian nodded: "There is no doubt that the Donglin Party is good at asking politics. If you want to save the country, you have to rely on them. It's just that they have been wallowing in the power struggle for too long, and many people have forgotten the proper dignity of a scholar. The political darkness has reached this point, and even if there is no party dispute, I am afraid that it will take many years to improve. However, in any case, it is one thing for courtiers to form parties and associations, and to fight openly and secretly. Wei Zhongxian used the authority of Dongchang, cleverly set up crimes, framed blame, lynched, and tortured into tricks, so persecuting the Donglin Party members is not a reason. ”

"What your lord says is very true." Zheng Hengzhou said.

Liu Jingxian looked at him and said slowly: "I got the news that at this moment, Wei Zhongxian is ordering the eunuch ministers to forge a record of the Donglin Party based on the three cases of the attack, the red pill, and the palace transfer, so as to discredit the Donglin ministers. When this record is completed, he will definitely present the Son of Heaven and maliciously slander, and when the time comes, the black one will be said to him to be white, and the Donglin Party will be in a catastrophe. ”

The three cases of striking out, red pill, and moving the palace are also known as the three major cases of the Ming Palace.

In the forty-third year of Wanli, someone broke into the prince's bedroom with a wooden stick and injured people, and it was later found out that it was the mastermind of Zheng Guifei, the favorite concubine of Shenzong, and it was a case of attack.

Guangzong overindulged in lust and suffered from diarrhea. took medicine offered by Zheng Guifei's cronies and eunuchs, and his condition worsened. Later, he took the red pill taken by the courtiers and died violently, which was the red pill case.

After Guangzong's death, Concubine Li Kang occupied the Ganqing Palace, teamed up with Wei Zhongxian to hold the crown prince hostage, and asked the courtiers to present Concubine Li Kang first, and then to the crown prince, which caused the courtiers to rebound and jointly demand that Concubine Li Kang be removed from the Ganqing Palace. Concubine Li Kang was forced to move the palace, and the Emperor of the Apocalypse successfully ascended the throne, which was a palace transfer case.

In the three major cases of the Ming Palace, the Donglin Party contributed a lot to establish their position in the imperial court.

Wei Zhongxian intended to take the opportunity to overturn the case, reverse right and wrong, and completely discredit the three major cases on which the Donglin Party relied to make its fortune. If this step continues, it will be difficult for the Donglin Party to turn over.

Zheng Hengzhou said hatefully: "This traitor is so vicious, is there no one in the world who can cure him?" ”

"He has the emperor's favor, and the Manchu Dynasty is helpless in civil and military battles." Liu Jing said first. "In the past few years, some people in the martial arts have successively stabbed him, but he didn't even hurt a single cold hair."

Zheng Hengzhou shook his head helplessly: "Legend has it that Wei Zhongxian's martial arts are unfathomable. Even if there is no Dongchang guard, I am afraid that there are not many people in the martial arts who are his opponents. It is as hard as ascending to heaven to assassinate him. ”

Liu Jingxian sighed: "With you and me alone, dealing with Wei Zhongxian is like a fool's dream." However, when this catastrophe is approaching, we cannot watch them brutalize Zhongliang. In case Wei Zhongxian really wiped out the Donglin Party, when the time came, he would cover the sky with one hand, and maybe he would want to add another hundred years to the nine thousand nine hundred years old. ”

Zheng Hengzhou was shocked when he heard this, and asked, "Is Wei Zhongxian really so rebellious?" ”

Liu Jingxian shook his head: "Who can say for sure?" I only know that this person is powerful, has endless desires, and is invincible in martial arts. In his eyes, plotting to usurp the throne is not necessarily something that cannot be done. Seeing that Zheng Hengzhou was surprised in his heart, he was speechless for a while, and said slowly: "Hengzhou, I have something I want to entrust you to do." ”

When Zheng Hengzhou heard this, he knew that Lord Liu had finally entered the topic, so he immediately cleaned up his mind and said, "Your Excellency, please command." ”

"Zhang Dapeng's case, do you have a clue?" Liu Jing asked first.

"Yes. It turned out that he was a Shaolin disciple, and for some reason he came to settle in Baoding. I heard Bai Qianhu talking to his subordinates, and it seemed that there were other martial arts people like him near Jingshi who were living in seclusion in the market, waiting for an opportunity to plot. Jinyiwei was ordered to clean up the mess today, and it was the master of the East Factory who did the murder. ”

Seeing that Liu Jingxian was silent, he asked, "My lord knew that Jinyiwei would intervene in this case?" ”

"I'm just guessing." Liu Jing said first. "Zhang Dapeng was shot and killed, because his identity was revealed. No matter who does it, in short, there will be no room for our governor's yamen to interfere. ”

Zheng Hengzhou asked again: "Do you know Zhang Dapeng's identity?" ”

Liu Jingxian nodded: "Like Zhang Dapeng, there are still four people in Baoding Mansion, and there are about thirty people in Beizhili, all of whom are high-ranking disciples of famous families. ”

Zheng Hengzhou was puzzled: "They live in seclusion in the market, what is the matter?" ”

Liu Jingxian said: "More than three years ago, Wei Zhongxian came out of charge of the East Factory, and Lord Zuo Guangdou was worried that he would one day kill the Donglin Party members with the power of the East Factory. So he took sick leave, ran around, contacted people with lofty ideals in the martial arts, and secretly protected the Donglin party. In this matter, Shaolin, Emei and other famous and decent families have participated, and even the Lingshi Diancang Divine Sword is also in the middle of the adjustment. In the past few years, he has secretly rescued many dangers. ”

Zheng Hengzhou nodded: "I also heard a little about this matter." The people in the martial arts are often enemies with Dongchang, and after Lord Zuo ran to ask for help, the heads of the major factions discussed several times, so as to draw a geographical relationship, communicate with each other, and take care of each other, which greatly hindered Dongchang's law enforcement power in the local area. Wei Zhongxian deliberately wanted to eradicate the martial arts people, and the main reason was that the major factions secretly helped the Donglin Party. ”

However, the north and south Zhili have always been the world of the East Factory, especially the North Zhili is the base of the East Factory. Martial arts people are very good at protecting local officials, but it is difficult to infiltrate the Beijing division to do things, but the central officials are the ones who are most vulnerable to Dongchang's suppression. ”

Liu Jing took a sip of tea slowly, and then said: "For this reason, the major heads have met several times, gathered a few elites of each faction to form a party protection alliance, and each selected a few disciples or elders from the faction who are superb in martial arts but are unknown, change their names and surnames to sneak into Zhili and hide in the market. For three years, they hid their identities, never showed their martial arts, and did not take care of things, just to wait for Wei Zhongxian to finally decide to eradicate the Donglin party in one fell swoop. ”

"The League for the Protection of the Party strictly guards secrets, and even the heads of the various factions may not know about it. Although Dongchang learned about the incident, it was unable to find out the identity of everyone. Now that the six gentlemen of Donglin have been captured, the eunuch party is about to move, and the party protection alliance believes that the time has come, and orders the martial arts people lurking in the north and south of Zhili to take action and wait for the opportunity to rescue the Donglin party. The first major thing that the Baoding Party activists did was to help Mrs. Zuo get out of trouble. ”

Zheng Hengzhou said "ah" and said: "Zhang Dapeng asked Dongchang to strike first. ”

Liu Jingxian nodded: "I think Dongchang can only find out Zhang Dapeng's identity, so the remaining four party protectors in Baoding Mansion can escape." However, Zhang Dapeng was the head of the Baoding Prefecture Protector League, and as soon as he died, the Protectors were in chaos, and Mrs. Zuo let Jinyiwei take it away. ”

"Jin Yiwei reported that there are five people in the chaotic party who robbed Mrs. Zuo, and one of them is good at using the sword technique."

Zheng Hengzhou said while thinking. "So, my junior brother came here to preside over the overall situation temporarily?"

He was not surprised by Mao's involvement in the Alliance for the Protection of the Party. His mentor Liu Chengfeng instructed his disciples to stay away from Dongchang because he was worried that his disciples would be injured at the hands of Dongchang, but in fact, he hated Dongchang very much. It's just that Mao Duxin believes that participating in such major events is on the orders of his teacher, or is he making his own decisions? We'll have to figure this out later.

"Your junior brother? Scholar Jian Mao Duxin came to Baoding Mansion? Liu Jingxian was surprised, obviously not knowing. It turns out that the prince is not lying to him, and the robbery of Mrs. Zuo was indeed done by the leader of the Diancang faction? ”

Zheng Hengzhou told Mao Duxin about his visit in the afternoon.

Liu Jingxian smiled after hearing this: "I see." Hengzhou, when the prince came to the door, I really thought that Mrs. Zuo was robbed by you. It seems that you are a person who is willing to succumb to the governor's yamen to serve as the head catcher, no matter how you look at it, it looks like a person who protects the party's alliance. ”

"My lord laughed." Zheng Hengzhou said, and then said: "My lord, there is something unclear about the humble position. ”

Liu Jingxian smiled: "You want to ask how I would know these things?" ”

Zheng Hengzhou nodded: "Exactly." The confidants of the adults are all on errands in the governor's yamen. These things are not for us to find out for you......"

Liu Jingxian said: "I didn't mean to hide it from you, but this kind of court struggle is very secret, and if you are not careful, it will cause murder, I don't want to involve the people in the yamen, so I didn't let you know, and I didn't send you to pay attention to this kind of thing." ”

He paused, seeing that Zheng Hengzhou was still frowning, and continued: "In fact, there are still some officials in the court like me who do not want to get involved in party disputes, such as Lord Xie Zhedao in the Criminal Department and Lord He Zaixing, the head of the Ministry of War. We don't meet like the parties, we just talk to each other privately. The prince is right, the court is a big dye vat, don't want to stay out of it when you come in. It seems that those of us who have no backing need to always pay attention to the situation in the current dynasty, not only to understand every move of the eunuch party, but also to grasp the movements of the Donglin party. ”

He leaned forward and said, "The so-called death and tooth cold, we can't sit back and watch Wei Zhongxian eradicate the Donglin party. When the situation gets out of hand, we need to know what we can do. ”

After thinking about it, Zheng Hengzhou knew that it would be difficult to achieve such a climate by relying on just a few officials without party and faction, and Lord Liu's henchmen must also include a force dedicated to investigating secrets.

On the matter of the party alliance alone, Lord Liu has even more inside information than Dongchang. Looking at the Jingshi, only Jinyiwei has this strength. He asked, "That brocade guard Bai Qianhu ......"

Liu Jing took it first and said, "I also met for the first time today. The actions of this white grass are unpredictable, and their movements are unknown. Although this man seems to be friend and foe tonight, his speech is indistinct and unbelievable. Although Jinyiwei has people who sympathize with the officials of the imperial court, after all, the number is scarce, and they dare not publicize it. Like he led his men to slaughter Dongchang like tonight, don't say that I haven't seen it, it's unheard of at all. I suspect that there must be someone behind him, someone who dares to secretly attack Wei Zhongxian. Maybe it's Hongdu commanding the envoy, but I don't see any benefit in him doing so. I'll have to keep an eye on the white grass in the future......"

Zheng Hengzhou thought that there were too many inside stories about this matter, and he couldn't understand it for a while. Although it was getting late, Dongchang should not send more people to catch his little head, but after all, he was in a dangerous place and should not stay for a long time. He asked, "Your Excellency said you have something for me to do?" ”

Liu Jingxian said: "Not bad. Mr. Zuo had a student named Shi Kefa, who cleared the jailer in the afternoon of the day before yesterday and entered the prison to visit him, so that Mr. Zuo was driven out. According to what we have seen in the prison of the Criminal Department, Lord Zuo once took advantage of the chaos to secretly pass a note for Shi Kefa to take out of the prison. ”

Zheng Hengzhou asked, "What is that?" ”

"I don't know." Liu Jingxian shook his head. "Shi Kefa is the proud protégé of Lord Zuo, and he has no fame at the moment, and Yidong Factory has not paid attention. Lord Zuo said to him in prison: "The old man is gone, you are light and righteous, who can support the affairs of the world?" It shows that he attaches great importance to Shi Kefa. We believe that what Lord Zuo handed over to him must be something of great importance, and most of it records the location of the list of the League for the Protection of the Party that Dongchang has been forcing Lord Zuo to hand over. ”

Zheng Hengzhou was surprised: "There is still this kind of roster? ”

Liu Jingxian nodded: "The identity of the party protectors is confidential, and each faction will make a register separately and hand it over to Lord Zuo for coordination, and only Lord Zuo will keep a copy of the complete list."

It is believed that the roster was hidden in the Donglin Academy in Wuxi, Suzhou. Dongchang has sent people to visit the academy at night several times, but they have never been able to find this list. Donglin Academy is the base of the Donglin Party, unless there is clear evidence, Wei Zhongxian is not good to directly send people in to search.

Hengzhou, this roster is very important, if Dongchang is allowed to go, firstly, the party protectors who are lurking in the Beijing division will not be spared, and secondly, it is equivalent to catching the evidence that the martial arts people colluded with the Donglin party. Once the Donglin Party is convicted, Wei Zhongxian can justifiably send troops to attack the various factions on the grounds of colluding with the party. When the time comes, the martial arts will be bloody and bloody, and there will be many deaths. ”

Zheng Hengzhou broke out in a cold sweat when he heard this, and said: "I must do my best to prevent the roster from falling into the hands of Dongchang." ”

Liu Jingxian said: "Dongchang is determined to win this roster, you must be careful." Shi Kefa left the prison of the Criminal Department safely, and it is difficult to guarantee that it is not Dongchang's strategy to capture the old man. At the moment, he is still not leaving Shuntian Mansion, and you are being pursued by Dongchang, so you can't go north to find him.

Tonight, you go out of the south gate and leave Baoding, first go to Hejian Mansion to circle for a few days, and then try to keep up after Shi Kefa arrives, if you see him in danger, you will take care of it for you. Even if he didn't come to retrieve the roster, you should be a guardian.

Now that politics is dark, the courtiers of the dynasty rarely come out of the mud without staining. If you want to revitalize the Ming Dynasty, you have to pin it in the hands of your younger generation. He looked at the tea bowl in a daze for a moment, then raised his head and said, "At this moment, Master Song has already taken care of the guards at the South City Gate, and the food and salary you sent to me have also been prepared for you." You can get out of town. ”

Zheng Hengzhou stood up and bowed respectfully. "Please take care, sir." After speaking, he withdrew from the study and left the governor's yamen, who had been on an errand for five years.