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

"Thank you!" Zhang Shikang's face was full of black lines.

He felt that this girl had a blessed mouth. When she talked about assassins, she talked about assassins. Her little mouth was really full of honey.

This time he said don't get killed by bad guys. Although I know that this little girl cares about him, it still makes people laugh and cry.

After Zhang Shikang left, Empress Zhou and Emperor Chongzhen started talking to each other again.

"Your Majesty, you let Meichu follow the Marquis Guanjun, wouldn't that be..."

When Queen Zhou saw that her children were all there, she stopped talking.

The couple then simultaneously drove Zhu Cilang and Princess Kunyi out of the Qianqing Palace.

“Well, you guessed it.

Queen, I ask you, which is more important, the country and people of my Ming Dynasty and their well-being?

Or is personal love more important?" Emperor Chongzhen asked Empress Zhou.

After all, Empress Zhou was a spouse who shared life and death with Emperor Chongzhen, so she replied without hesitation:

"Your Majesty, of course the country is more important.

But Meizhuo is only eleven years old this year, isn't she a little too young?"

"Then let's wait a few more years." Emperor Chongzhen said enthusiastically.

“Queen, you have seen what has happened in the past two years.

It took Wuji only two years to clear out the court, and the silver in the national treasury almost filled the entire Taicang.

Wuji was not only good at fighting, he was not afraid of even the Jianlu, but he also understood governance. The reform suggestions he put forward were privately praised by Li Banghua and his group of cabinet ministers. If they could be implemented according to the rules, they would surely benefit the people in the future.

Today, our Great Ming is in a state of disrepair and needs to be rebuilt. The people who have been allocated land in various places all praise our Great Ming court.

On the surface, this seems to be my merit, but you and I as a couple must not become arrogant because of it. You should know that it is all because of Wuji.

Wu Ji has done great favors to you, me, the court, and the people. You must not say short-sighted words that will hurt his feelings. ” Emperor Chongzhen warned seriously.

Queen Zhou nodded and replied:

“It’s just that I don’t understand something. To win over your subjects, Your Majesty can reward them, or at least promote them to higher positions.

Why resort to such a bad idea? Not to mention Meichu's age, I have seen that the Champion Marquis does not seem to have the slightest interest in Meichu."

After hearing this, Emperor Chongzhen became worried.

"As the Son of Heaven, how could I not know how to win over my subjects?

Alas, you don’t understand. Wuji is not an ordinary subject. The fame, wealth and power that ordinary officials care about have no effect on him at all.

Queen, you don't know how worried I have been over this matter in the past two years!"

Emperor Chongzhen knew that Empress Zhou might not understand what he said, so he explained:

"Wuji is a good kid, except that he is too lazy.

Power is nothing but a burden to him. He once told me that his wish is to be a dandy young man, talking nonsense about stealing chickens and dogs in the morning, listening to music in brothels in the afternoon, and doing import and export trade at night.

What I cannot accept the most is that this is most likely what the boy really thinks.

This kid is very smart and has established connections with Zheng Zhilong.

If I force him and he really runs away, what should I do then?

The imperial court had just begun to show some signs of improvement, but Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong in the southeast had not yet been eliminated, and the threat from the north was still lurking.

As for that series of reforms, although I have heard a general idea of them, if there is no one like him who knows the subject to keep an eye on it, there is no guarantee that the benefits can really be realized to the court and the people of the world.

Queen, do you understand?"

Emperor Chongzhen spoke to Empress Zhou in a rather earnest tone.

Queen Zhou's eyes turned slightly red, and she finally understood how important Zhang Shikang was to her man.

"Your Majesty, I am short-sighted."

Only then did Emperor Chongzhen show a look of relief.

"Fortunately, I finally found out about this kid's hobby last year.

Just think about it, if Kunyi married this boy.

This boy became my son-in-law, and he also had a part in the affairs of the court.

At that time, would he dare not do his best?" Emperor Chongzhen said proudly.

"Well, your Majesty is right.

But Your Majesty, does Mianchu know about this?"

Emperor Chongzhen frowned slightly when he heard this.

"I guess... I don't know."

"Your Majesty, Meizhu is still too young. The Champion Marquis is already 21 years old this year, right?

Can he wait until Meichu comes of age before getting married?"

"I am also troubled by this problem."

"Are you going to let our concubine be your mistress?"

"Ugh!"

……

The time passed quickly and the Lantern Festival was here in the blink of an eye.

On that day, the Beijing Camp Army finally returned to the capital from Jiangnan. Along with thousands of carts of confiscated property, there were also dozens of rebel leaders headed by Zhang Shenyan.

When Sun Weifan entered the capital with the confiscated property and all the rebel prisoners, the people of the capital all pointed fingers at the prisoners.

Most of these rebels were nobles in Nanjing, and the Donglin Party consisted of only five or six Nanjing officials headed by Zhang Shenyan.

Even if a noble has committed treason, his fate should be decided by the current Majesty.

But it didn't matter to corrupt officials and gentry. Moreover, since there were too many of them, and the family members of the guilty officials numbered tens of thousands, almost all of them were executed on the spot by Zhang Shikang.

The reason why Zhang Shenyan was left behind was just to serve as a representative.

Zhang Shenyan knew that he was going to die, and in fact he begged Sun Weifan many times along the way, hoping that Sun Weifan would kill him directly.

But Sun Weifan ignored him and even sent more people to look after him.

Originally, Zhang Shenyan planned to go on a hunger strike, but he couldn't bear it after only two days. At that time, Sun Weifan was really worried that the old man would starve himself to death.

He was planning to force-feed him the food, but on the morning of the third day, as soon as the food was delivered, the old man stuffed it into his mouth with all his might.

Because he ate too fast, he almost choked to death. In the end, it was only after Sun Weifan immediately brought him some water that he was able to eat smoothly.

Sun Weifan didn't like civil servants in the first place, and now he was even more disappointed with their ugly faces.

Thanks to the publicity work throughout last year, Daming Monthly has become the best channel for people from all over the country to understand current affairs.

Most of the people knew the truth of the matter. They knew that the court's reform was to distribute land to them and ensure their food security, and that the court did so. Therefore, they did not have a good face towards these rebels.

On the 17th day of the first lunar month in the 13th year of Chongzhen, Emperor Chongzhen specially chose the Huangji Hall to hold his court meeting.

On this day, Zhang Shikang, Sun Weifan and other generals who had marched south all returned to the capital and were all asked to participate in this court meeting.

All the civil and military officials in the court knew that Emperor Chongzhen would definitely reward the meritorious officials who had made contributions in the southern expedition.

But I also feel that if it is because of this incident, there seems to be no need to change the venue to the Huangji Hall.

The rebellion of the Southern Army seemed to be very powerful, but in fact it was a failure and there was nothing much to say about it.

Although there are officials in the court today who occasionally impeach Zhang Shikang and say that Zhang Shikang should not be given such great power, the situation of officials dying for their remonstrances as happened last year has never happened again.

The civil officials' impeachment of Zhang Shikang was more like expressing their own attitude, and their impeachment memorials would never receive a response from Emperor Chongzhen.

When Zhang Shikang also arrived at the hall wearing a python robe, Sun Dasheng and others greeted him warmly.

Soon, Emperor Chongzhen also entered the hall and sat on the dragon throne.

……