Late Ming Dynasty: Oops, I am surrounded by the Donglin Party

Just after 3:15 PM, the outermost gate of the capital was immediately closed.

Of the 30,000 Beijing garrison troops stationed on the four-sided city walls, except for 10,000 new recruits left behind to retain the necessary defense force, the remaining 20,000 people came down from the city walls.

Dressed in brand new military uniforms and armed with swords and other weapons, they rushed into the main roads of Beijing.

The ordinary people who were still enjoying the festive atmosphere were a little panicked for a moment, wondering why these city defense troops were suddenly running around.

Many people thought that an enemy attack had occurred, but because they did not hear any warning sound, they all froze on the spot.

"In compliance with the imperial decree and the order of the Grand Marshal, from 3:45 pm onwards, the Lantern Festival will be cancelled and a curfew will be imposed in the capital. All idle people must return home within 2:45 pm. Those who disobey the order will be punished with 30 strokes of the cane!"

The captains and captains who took the lead rushed to the streets and shouted loudly to the people around them.

"In compliance with the imperial decree and the order of the Grand Marshal, from 3:45 pm onwards, the Lantern Festival will be cancelled and a curfew will be imposed in the capital. All idle people must return home within 2:45 pm. Those who disobey the order will be punished with 30 strokes of the cane!"

After arriving at the designated street, these soldiers stood on both sides of the street every few steps. They held swords in their hands and looked around with sharp eyes.

The people were suddenly in a panic. They didn't know why the Lantern Festival was suddenly cancelled. They only heard imperial decrees, military orders from the commander-in-chief, and canings.

Intimidated by the power of the imperial and military authorities, ordinary people did not dare to disobey and immediately ran home with their wives and children.

"There is plenty of time, no crowding, and you can return home in an orderly manner!"

The soldiers of the Beijing camp who arrived at the designated street shouted to the people in accordance with the military order suddenly issued from above.

“No looking around, no loud noises!”

Due to the principle of confidentiality, until this point, most of the soldiers in the Beijing camp and even the middle and low-level generals did not know what their superiors were going to do.

But for the army, this is not important. The army is a knife and all it needs to do is obey orders and enforce them.

Twenty thousand soldiers from the Beijing garrison successively took control of the main roads in the capital, and the Jinyiwei's cavalry, led by their respective flag officers, followed the map and rushed to various restaurants and brothels.

Zhang Shikang and Liu Jiawei heard the noise and finally came out of Yihongyuan.

Liu Jiawei lifted up his sleeves and wiped the lipstick marks on his face.

"Brother, many people will die tonight."

"Well, go back. You are a scholar and should stay away from war." Zhang Shikang replied dully.

"Brother, to be honest, I envy Sun Dasheng and his men, who are armed to the teeth and ride horses to kill the enemy." Liu Jiawei sighed.

"Bullshit!" Zhang Shikang shook his head.

“In times of war, soldiers are at the forefront, but the long-term stability of a country cannot rely solely on the army.

Your strength lies not in the army but in the court. Read less of the pedantic scholars’ nonsense and pay more attention to people’s livelihood.

You and the prince are classmates, so guide him more when appropriate, and don't let him become a nerd."

Liu Jiawei has a thin body and is the type that can never gain weight no matter how much he eats, but he has the brightest brain among the Second Sons group.

Sometimes Zhang Shikang did not tell Liu Jiawei about many of the things he was planning, but this guy was able to deduce them from clues.

Although a person of this kind of brain can be used as a military adviser, he is most suited to serving in the imperial court.

"Hey, I always listen to my elder brother.

But even though you are five years older than me, you are only twenty years old, yet you always speak in an old-fashioned way.

To be honest, I think my eldest brother has changed the most in the past year.

If I hadn't met you, I would have thought you were already over thirty." Liu Jiawei said with his eyes rolling.

Zhang Shikang turned his head and glanced at Liu Jiawei. He probably knew what this kid was thinking. After all, since he came through time and space, his personality must be very different from the original owner.

Even though he had already assumed the identity of a dandy son of a duke, his style of doing things had changed greatly due to the influence of later culture and thinking.

Sun Wukong and the others were so thick-skinned that they didn't notice anything, but Liu Jiawei was meticulous and it was not surprising that he found some clues.

But he was too lazy to explain anything, and no one would believe him even if he did.

"But I still admire the current big brother more." Liu Jiawei bowed to Zhang Shikang as a farewell.

After walking a few steps, he said:

"Your Highness the Crown Prince has been deep in thought for some time now, and he no longer listens to the words of the Confucian scholars who teach him. I think he must have been stimulated by something.

But if there is anything else, I will tell you, big brother."

After saying that, Liu Jiawei rushed home. In order to paralyze those Donglin Party members, he had been touched by young girls countless times in the past two days and he almost had PTSD towards women.

After Liu Jiawei left, Zhang Shikang hesitated on the street for a while. He wanted to go to the Jinyiwei Yamen to take charge, but he happened to meet a thousand-household official of the Jinyiwei.

The captain hurriedly saluted Zhang Shikang, and after asking, he learned that the person he was responsible for arresting was none other than the former Minister of Personnel, Zheng Sanjun.

Zhang Shikang knew that Zheng Sanjun was the leader of the Jingdong Lin Party in Jingdong, and since he had nothing else to do, he decided to arrest the old man himself.

After prior investigation, it was learned that Zheng Sanjun was drinking at Cuiyun Tower in the capital at that time.

When Zhang Shikang arrived with a large group of personal guards and the Embroidered Uniform Guard, Zheng Sanjun and a group of old men were arguing with a group of soldiers from the Beijing camp.

Due to the order from above, all high-end and mid-range restaurants in the capital were to be closed and no one was allowed to enter or leave. Although the dozen or so new recruits from the Beijing Camp did not know the reason, they did not dare to disobey the order. They blocked the door of the restaurant and did not dare to let anyone out.

As soon as Zheng Sanjun learned that martial law was imposed in the capital, he knew that something big had happened. He was extremely anxious and hurried back to his home.

Not only does he have more than a hundred servants in his house, he also has more than thirty death warriors. No matter what happens, it is always relatively safe to return home.

However, those damned soldiers from the Beijing camp just refused to let him go. He even revealed his family background and used his reputation as the former Minister of Personnel to suppress those soldiers, but they still didn't forgive him. He was so angry that his beard was sticking up.

At this moment, he suddenly saw Zhang Shikang leading a group of people over, and his face immediately fell.

"Champion Marquis, what do you want to do?"

At this moment, he knew very well that all this was Zhang Shikang's doing, and he immediately felt uneasy.

Two days ago, he felt that Zhang Shikang was causing trouble in the capital city to deliberately paralyze them, but since several of his colleagues disagreed, he did not give it too much thought.

Now it seems that he was right.

"It's nothing. We are just trying to eliminate the enemy for our country. Nian." Zhang Shikang was too lazy to say more and directly ordered his subordinates to act.

The officer immediately took out a file and read it out in front of everyone:

"The criminal Zheng Sanjun was formerly the Minister of Personnel, Junior Tutor, and Senior Minister of Justice.

In the first year of the Tianqi reign, his son Zheng Shaopeng maliciously annexed the land of the villagers in his ancestral home in Chizhou, beat Li Tianhe to death, and caused Li Tianhe's family to commit suicide.

Zheng Sanjun used money and power to force his son Zheng Shaopeng to avoid punishment.

In June of the fourth year of the Tianqi reign, Zheng Hu, a relative of Zheng Sanjun, annexed 67 hectares of farmland in the village. Upon investigation, it was found that the land actually belonged to Zheng Sanjun.

In April of the second year of Chongzhen, there was a severe drought in Shanxi. Zheng Sanjun embezzled 92,000 taels of disaster relief silver, and his accomplices Liu Zongzhou and Xiong Mingyu embezzled a total of 210,000 taels of disaster relief silver.

In June of the third year of Chongzhen, he took advantage of his position as the Minister of Personnel to seek the position of prefect for a fellow county magistrate in Jiangxi and accepted a bribe of 6,500 taels of silver.

In November of the fifth year of Chongzhen, Zheng Sanjun "received as a donation" 80 hectares of land in his ancestral home, Chizhou.

……

In February of the eighth year of Chongzhen, June of the ninth year, and April of the tenth year, Zheng Sanjun used his position as the Minister of Personnel to facilitate the promotion of many officials who came to Beijing to report on their work, and received bribes amounting to a huge amount of one million taels of silver.

In April of the tenth year of Chongzhen, 160 hectares of land were "donated".

……

In September of the eleventh year of Chongzhen, Zheng Sanjun and Gao Qiquan conspired to frame Lu Xiangsheng, the governor of Xuanda.

In the first month of the twelfth year of Chongzhen, Zheng Sanjun conspired with the eunuch Sun Er of the Imperial Kitchen to murder the emperor.

……