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

Zhang Shikang was really angry. He guessed the beginning but not the ending.

How can it be that the emperor is so shameless?

If this gets out, those tributary states will laugh their heads off!

However, Emperor Chongzhen remained as steady as an old dog.

"You are being arrogant because of your favor. If it were someone else, I would have sentenced you to death based on what you just said.

I know you are dissatisfied. There are records of revival since ancient times. There should be a real discussion. Then let the nobles judge it."

After Emperor Chongzhen finished speaking, he threw the ball to all the civil and military officials in the court.

The entire court was suddenly in an uproar. Originally, they were just watching the game, after all, the game between the monarch and his ministers was too outrageous.

But now the ball landed on their heads with a thud.

Fortunately, the military officials did not have too many concerns. No matter from which perspective, they did not want the military power to fall into the hands of civil officials again. Duke Dingguo Xu Yunzhen was the first to stand up.

"Your Majesty, I also feel that the current situation cannot be considered a revival."

With Duke Dingguo taking the lead, all the other nobles and relatives seconded the motion, even Sun Weifan, the sixth among them, joined the motion.

Zhang Shikang was not surprised by this and could only place his hopes on the civil officials. After all, the sages taught that one should seek truth from facts.

Li Banghua and Hai Zhongqi are typical upright people. They can't just lie with their eyes open, right?

Zhang Shikang looked towards Li Banghua, but Li Banghua didn't look at him. He just took a step forward and said:

"Your Majesty is absolutely right. The people are still suffering, so this cannot be called a revival."

Emperor Chongzhen looked quite surprised when Li Banghua made such a statement.

After all, the memorials impeaching Zhang Shikang were eventually placed in front of him. As the Son of Heaven, Emperor Chongzhen knew clearly that the many court officials who advised him to take back the military power were all headed by Li Banghua and Hai Zhongqi.

He had already prepared himself mentally that if these civil servants continued to oppose him, he would be furious and would not hesitate to dismiss a few cabinet ministers.

After all, compared with Zhang Shikang, a rare pillar of the country, everyone else can be replaced. What the Ming Dynasty lacks the least is scholars who want to be officials.

Well, that was what the kid said to him. Emperor Chongzhen narrowed his eyes and expressed his affirmation to Zhang Shikang again.

Now that Li Banghua has become so sensible, great things can be expected.

However, some civil servants were really confused for a moment. They did not see things as far and clearly as Li Banghua. After all, this was completely contrary to the plan they had discussed before to overthrow Zhang Shikang.

While he was hesitating, Hai Zhongqi, the Grand Secretary of the Dongge and the Minister of Revenue, also stood up:

"I second the proposal."

Immediately afterwards, the cabinet's deputy minister Fan Jingwen also came out to second the motion. Although some civil servants did not understand why the leader did this, since both the chief minister and the deputy minister did so, there must be a reason.

Before long, the vast majority of civil servants also seconded the motion.

For a time, Zhang Shikang became the target of public criticism. He was completely numb, the kind of numb that made him feel numb.

He couldn't understand why these civil servants had been impeaching him for being autocratic and arbitrary, and now that he had taken the initiative to resign his military power, these guys didn't agree. Had they all gone crazy?

"You...you...how can you act like scoundrels together!" Zhang Shikang pointed at Li Banghua and then at Hai Zhongqi, and was so angry that he began to stutter.

He had always been the one who made everyone so angry that their scalps numbed, and this was the first time he had ever felt this way.

He never imagined that there would be such a shameless person in the world who lied with open eyes.

Emperor Chongzhen felt quite reluctant, but he had no choice but to continue:

"You see, all the nobles believe that the Ming Dynasty cannot be called a revival at present.

Wuji, you have to keep working hard. I can't live without you, and neither can the Ming Dynasty!"

What Emperor Chongzhen said was very sincere, but to Zhang Shikang at this time, it sounded somewhat harsh and difficult to accept.

He probably realized that he had indeed been deceived.

When Zhang Shikang thought about all his future plans going down the drain, he became more and more angry and said angrily:

"I don't care! I feel I have completed my mission.

I'm going to quit this crappy job! Whoever wants to take it can do it!"

Playing a rogue, right?

This old man must have forgotten his previous identity. The title of the number one playboy in the capital is not for nothing!

Come on, let's see who's more shameless.

"Prince Wuying, this is a court meeting. As a subject, you should be careful with your words and actions." Wang Chengen, the seal holder of the Imperial Household Department, warned.

His words were relatively mild. After all, Wang Chengen knew the whole story and knew that the emperor had no choice but to do so. But it was really inappropriate for Zhang Shikang to say that.

"You old Wang! I've always been very kind to you, so stop meddling in my business!"

Who is Zhang Shikang? He dared to slander even the emperor, so he was just the seal holder of the Imperial Household Department. He criticized him without any mercy.

"You...how can you be so unwilling to listen to advice? The emperor has it hard! You should..."

"What do you mean? Look at you, you're only in your early twenties, but you're tanned like charcoal.

My child cries the moment he sees me, do I think it's easy for me?"

Wang Chengen was not really angry, he just wanted to persuade Zhang Shikang as much as possible. However, Zhang Shikang would not listen and continued to argue with him.

The cabinet chief minister, Li Banghua, could no longer bear it and stepped forward to advise:

"Your Highness has such talent and is so young. You should be devoted to your country. How can you be greedy..."

"None of your business? Everyone has their own aspirations, understand?"

As usual, Zhang Shikang didn't let him finish his words. Just kidding, these civil servants never stop lecturing people.

"presumptuous!"

Seeing that Zhang Shikang was speaking more and more unscrupulously, Emperor Chongzhen slapped the handle of the dragon throne.

Emperor Chongzhen had nothing more to say after he finished his scolding, and the atmosphere in the court became extremely strange.

Zhang Shikang stood in the hall with his neck stiff, looking unmoved.

Emperor Chongzhen was really in a dilemma this time.

In the corner of the nobles' family, Sun Dasheng suddenly felt someone hit his back. He turned around and saw that it was Xu Wenyuan who was giving him a wink.

In this extremely strange game, all members of the Second Son Group chose to be invisible.

They were huddled at the very end of the nobles and relatives, and Zheng Chong was even lining up outside the Huangji Palace, so no one paid any attention to them during the grand motion just now.

It’s not that their titles are not high enough. In fact, as marquises, they are already very high up in the ranks of military officials.

But at this court meeting, they all took the excuse of being young and voluntarily gave up their positions to their fathers, in order to try their best not to get involved in this game.

There is nothing that can be done about it. On one side is the emperor, and on the other side is his good elder brother.

It's not appropriate to stand on either side.

"Brother Xu, is it time?" Sun Dasheng asked in confusion.

Xu Wenyuan replied in a low voice:

"Almost done, big brother has lifted the roof, it's time for us to open the windows!"

……

PS: I've seen so many villains and supporting characters frustrated by Zhang Shikang, so this time I'm going to turn against Tiangang and let Zhang Shikang have a taste of what's going on, haha. Here are two updates. Without exception, I'll be updating twice a week from now on. My goal is to get perfect attendance this month, so send me a message quickly.