Cross the Sea in the Red Chamber

That night, Lin Jun, who disguised himself as a servant in the inn, really came over.

Jiang Yuan leisurely stopped at each place on the river to attract everyone's attention. He had to go all the way fast and desperately. After arriving in the south of the Yangtze River, he had no time to rest, and he had to hurry up to collect information. He was so busy. God, he looks much more haggard now than when he was in the capital.

However, although he became haggard, his eyes were shining with excitement. This feeling of being valued and promoted swept away all his physical and mental fatigue, and made him very excited and full of strength.

Jiang Yuan did not choose to avoid Situ Ye.He understood very well that the reason why Situ Sheng wanted this kid to follow him was because he thought that at his age he could already observe some government affairs.Whether he can understand it is another matter. The first thing he needs to adapt to is his own identity. Unless the princes and grandchildren don't want to achieve great things, they all come here like this.If he can attend to every major event, by the time he is a teenager, his mind will be far superior to that of others, and he will be able to take on major national affairs.

Seeing that Situ Ye was staying here, Lin Jun didn't ask any more questions. Seeing that the guards outside the door were heavily guarded, and no one could approach the room where they were, he carefully took out a map from his pocket and unfolded the flat map. Put it on the table.

This map is very strange. The positions and names of some local officials are marked next to each place name on it, but the colors used for the names are different, some are red, some are blue, and some are green. Some of them are black, and in the black, there are a few names encircled by circles. The names and surnames are mixed together, which is very strange.

Pointing to the map, Lin Jun introduced, "The red names represent that these officials belong to noble powers, the blue ones represent that they are the minions of the aristocratic family, and the black names refer to the people from the imperial court. They are circled on purpose. The representative is the power of His Highness the Crown Prince, and the last green official is someone who has not yet been identified. I got this map from the spies His Highness sent to Jiangnan, and it should be quite accurate... It looks quite Shocking."

Lin Jun is right, this map is indeed amazing!

On the map, the red forces representing nobles and the blue forces representing aristocratic families are intertwined, each occupying territory, and already occupying most of the Jiangnan.But the black that represents the imperial court or the old emperor is nothing more than two or three kittens to civil servants, except for the army, and the power of His Royal Highness is even smaller, and the total number of officials in his hands is just a handful , looking very pitiful.The green officials who didn't find out where they were standing were only a few people, and it was still unclear who they were.

This shows what?This shows that in this land of the south of the Yangtze River, the vast majority of civil servants are standing in the ranks of nobles and aristocratic families. Jiangnan has long since belonged to these two forces instead of the imperial court.

The only reason why there was no chaos was that they were hostile to each other and were evenly matched. Once he and Lin Jun mishandled it, and there was no prohibition on eradicating evil, it may cause serious consequences, and even affect the people in the south of the Yangtze River.

Jiang Yuan frowned, and then said: "They can't all be so 'loyal'..." While speaking, he raised his head slightly, staring closely at Lin Jun who was sitting opposite him with bright eyes.

"Of course not." Lin Jun raised his lips and smiled, thinking that Jiang Yuan was indeed the number one adviser under His Royal Highness, and his response speed was astonishing. This keen insight is enough to rule the roost.

Situ Ye sat next to him and was dizzy from hearing it. He didn't understand why officials were not loyal to the court. His teacher and Master Lin Jun who was sent to investigate the situation in the south of the Yangtze River would still laugh.Isn't disloyalty a bad thing?

Jiang Yuan patted Situ Ye's head and said with a smile: "I knew these guys would be unreliable scumbags, they would not be loyal to the court, nor would they be loyal to anyone. Will care."

He smiled and took brushes and paints from the table to write and draw on the map, and added some information about aristocratic families and honors in a while.After he marked the locations of the major families and noble families on the map, the situation on the map became more clear.

Sure enough, in the area where the big aristocratic family is located, the vast majority of officials rely on the power of the aristocratic family, and in the state capital where a large number of nobles gather, the officials who rely on them also have an advantage. Among them, there are almost no officials who have survived who stand differently from them.In Jinling, where the nobles were stationed, almost all the officials fell for the nobles, and in Hangzhou, where there were more families, the officials almost all prostrated themselves at the feet of the nobles...

"Don't you understand yet?" Jiang Yuan rubbed his disciple's little head and said, "Most of these officials belonging to aristocratic families and honorable forces are not loyal to their ostensible masters, they are just out of fear. Their forces are only willing to obey their orders for the time being, and obeying orders is just to keep their official hats on their heads. When the real thing comes, they may not obey the orders of these masters, and may even betray their masters."

"Look," Jiang Yuan pointed to an official with a red name on the map, "Since the San Francisco Rebellion, in order to weaken the power of aristocratic families and nobles, Jiang Yuan has often changed the positions of Jiangnan officials. For example, this People, a few years ago, he was still an official in the place where the aristocratic Chu family was located. At the beginning, he also served as the Chu family's minion, and he often helped the Chu family with affairs. He looked loyal, but now once he was transferred to Xun Jinling, where the nobles were concentrated, immediately became Xungui's subordinates, helping Xungui to oppress goodness."

"Hmph, these Jiangnan officials have never had any loyalty at all. Wherever they are officials, they will work for the people wherever they are, and they will be loyal to wherever they are. Although they seem to obey their master wholeheartedly, once their master falls, or they are transferred After leaving, these people will immediately change course and change their masters, and they will never put their future in it for the so-called 'loyalty'." Jiang Yuan said contemptuously.

"That is to say, if you want to completely eradicate the aristocratic families in the south of the Yangtze River and the huge power of nobles, you must not start from the branches. No matter how many branches are cut off, they can still grow back. Even if the trunk is cut off in the middle, it can continue to survive. It is necessary to cut the bottom of the pot and cut off their roots directly. As long as their roots can be cut off, that is to say, the power of the family and nobles themselves is eliminated, then the other branches attached to the roots will also be destroyed. It immediately turned against each other or disappeared, and the remaining power is no big deal, as long as you move your fingers, it will be wiped out." Lin Jun said.

Jiang Yuan rubbed his temples, "But the problem is that we can't do anything about it."

If you want to uproot these two forces, you need to make a quick attack before the enemy reacts, and kill all the noble families above the level, leaving no one behind. Only in this way can we achieve our goal.

The best way is to exterminate all the nobles of the family, but this is obviously impossible... Even if this is not possible, they should all ransack their homes, but this is impossible.His Royal Highness the Crown Prince can't let his own temper mess around, if he doesn't catch the other party's flaws and acts like this, it's not the work of a wise king, but he will be belittled as a foolish king!

Looking at the Zhen family back then, the old emperor ransacked their family and exterminated their family with one order. It seems that they were eradicated.But what next?The power under the name of the Zhen family was taken over by the other nobles and noble families, and the officials sent by the old emperor to occupy positions in the south of the Yangtze River also gradually rebelled to follow these nobles and noble families when they arrived in the south of the Yangtze River.All the things he did were in vain, but added strength to the nobles of the family. He thought he could cut off his arm, but in fact he didn't even stop the boiling, and he failed completely.

What does this mean?It shows that unless one of the noble families' forces is counted as one and all of them are cleaned up at the same time, these two forces will still not be under the control of the imperial court.As long as their remnants of power are relieved, no matter how much power the imperial court has, it is planned to deploy it here in Jiangnan.

No matter how much the imperial court has the upper hand in the capital, as long as Jiangnan is not under control, it will be difficult to defeat the nobles of the family.If it is defeated today, it will rise again tomorrow, and there is no way to eradicate it.

It is actually very simple to eradicate the noble family and the noble family. Now it is no different from the past. The military power in the south of the Yangtze River fell into the hands of the noble family. At one time, the family was overwhelmed. Even the power of the imperial court could not gain a firm foothold in the south of the Yangtze River.

But now the two kings of Dongping and Nan'an have fallen, and their military power has been firmly controlled by the imperial court. As long as the army comes out, it is not a matter of wanting to wipe out the noble families and nobles?As long as the old emperor is willing to fight to be scolded by the history books to make a decree, then the honorable family will collapse immediately and cease to exist.

But it is such a sentence, but no one can say it!

The military power in the south of the Yangtze River did not fall into the hands of Situ Sheng, but in the hands of the old emperor.

The old emperor wants to keep Shun Wang Situ Hui to check and balance the crown prince Situ Cheng, so he is absolutely unwilling to move the power of the family, and the family cannot be moved, and Situ Sheng has no way to eradicate the noble power alone, otherwise the family is in the south of the Yangtze River. Domination, the matter is more troublesome than the separation of the two powers. Even if Situ Sheng wanted to do this, the old emperor would not agree.

Now the aristocratic family and Xungui can't do anything, they can only cut off some twigs and vines to vent their anger, what's the use of that? !No matter how much it is cut down, it will only kill the morale of the nobles of the family, and it will be of no use in reducing their power.

Jiang Yuan and Lin Jun fell into silence, one kept drinking tea, the other kept hitting his forehead with his fist, the two wise men of the time were lost in thought, their minds were full of how to avoid disobeying the old emperor's will Under the premise of the situation in the south of the Yangtze River, the land in the south of the Yangtze River will be drawn from the bottom.

Even if 1 of them want to kill the old emperor, they can't do so... Their purpose is to assist Situ Sheng, and they dare not touch anything that will completely destroy Situ Sheng's foundation.

The identity of the old emperor occupied the orthodox position, which made the two of them tied their hands and feet, and it was difficult to break free. Before the death of the old emperor, Situ Sheng had no way to deal with nobles and aristocratic families.

What Jiang Yuan wants to know most is why the nobles of the family can win over so many officials, and after eradicating one group, another group will appear again. It seems that no matter how loyal officials are, once they enter Jiangnan, they will be dyed black here. Floating and sinking in this big dyeing vat and finally lost.

It doesn't make sense, does it?The aristocratic family Xungui was obviously tossed by them in the capital, and he could be crushed to death if he wanted to, so he didn't have much strength at all.Their children were either thrown into the backcountry to become officials, or it was difficult for them to become officials, so they could only be playboys. Logically speaking, they should be weakened to the point of failure.But why do they still have such great power in Jiangnan?

What they rely on is not titles, official positions, or even the support of the prince, so what can threaten so many officials to obey them?Jiang Yuan couldn't figure it out, Lin Jun couldn't figure it out, Situ Sheng couldn't figure it out either, this was the crux of the matter.

Things that could have been cut quickly, but now they can only be solved in a roundabout way, which tortured everyone under Situ Sheng's command.

Even when dealing with the two countries of Beiman Kingdom and Qianxiang Kingdom, Jiang Yuan did not have such a headache as now, so the most difficult thing to deal with in the world is not enemies like wolves, tigers and leopards, but teammates who can lag behind pigs , Internal conflicts are much more difficult to resolve than external ones. With the old emperor as a teammate who can't hold back any longer, it is simply impossible for the imperial court to win in Jiangnan. Just thinking about it gives me a headache.

After drinking tea all night, Jiang Yuan couldn't think of anything to do. In the end, he decided to go to Lin Hai's place to investigate the situation. Lin Jun had already left and continued to investigate secretly. Situ Ye was unwilling because he slept too late. go out.

Since the fall of King Yong, Lin Hai has become a "lonely minister" without any backing. After being blackmailed by Situ Sheng, he became honest in an instant.

It is estimated that he had originally hoped that the Jia family would save him because of his in-laws, but he did not expect that the message from the servants from the capital was that the Rongguo Mansion had also been deposed by the emperor. Zheng has been relegated to a small official from the ninth rank, and the Rongguo Mansion has also become a third-class general's mansion, and their Jia family will never be able to stand up again.They themselves are still in the quagmire, how can they come to save Lin Hai?

Lin Hai sent his daughter to Jia's mansion for nothing, but he couldn't save the decline at all. Now Xungui can't help him at all, and the aristocratic family is unwilling to help him. The old emperor didn't reach out to save him, but hated him so much that he gritted his teeth. So he could only cling to Situ Sheng's line.

He knew that he had offended Jiang Yuan, and he also knew that his past position would annoy the Crown Prince. He knew that Situ Sheng wanted to squeeze all the benefits out of him, and then deal with him properly.But if he didn't choose to obey Situ Sheng's orders, he might die on the spot. How can he wait for the day when he can get all the benefits?

There are two options of death penalty and death reprieve, do you need to choose which one to choose?It's better to live than to die, and it's good to live one more day...

Lin Hai did not live in Yushi Yamen, but bought a manor in Yangzhou City to live in.

Yangzhou is an important place for north-south transportation, and salt merchants from all over the world gather here.Because the north and the south are mixed, the architectural style not only has the exquisiteness and compactness of the south, but also incorporates the grandeur and grace of the north.In terms of diet, it has also become moderately salty and sweet, suitable for both the north and the south, no matter where you are from, you are not unaccustomed to living here, it is a good place.

Lin Hai's house also has a style that blends the north and the south, but considering that he himself is from Suzhou and his wife grew up in the capital, this style is considered normal.

After getting off the horse, Lin Hai has already greeted him outside the main gate.

During this period of time, he was not in good health. In private matters, his wife died of illness and his daughter was far away.

Looking at Jiang Yuan in front of him, Lin Hai felt mixed feelings.

The so-called wrong step, wrong step!At the beginning, in order to be supported by Jia Daishan, he compromised with Yue's family and cut off Jiangyuan's Wenju path. At the third level, what is it to cut off the literary examination path of a small scholar?

What he thought at the time was to be able to show off his ambitions, and even go straight to the sky, surpassing the glory of his father and ancestors, and revive the prestige of the Lin family.At that time, his beautiful wife was picturesque and his future was bright. He thought that everything was under his control, and he became a little arrogant and had no scruples.

But the result?

Yes, he did cut off Jiang Yuan's literary career in Jinling, but Jiang Yuan made a comeback in Chengdu.After galloping all the way, the helpless young man at that time has become the current Lord Guanying. The big guy who is about to shake.

And him?The prestige of the Yue family was gone, the emperor abandoned him, his lovely wife was dead, and his future was cut short. Let alone reviving the Lin family, he might not even be able to keep the family business that the Lin family had accumulated over several lifetimes.The only daughter doesn't know if she can support the whole family, so how can he not be heartbroken...

As soon as the Jia family was demoted, he understood that this Jia family, like him, had no protection from the holy family at all, but he couldn't think of other places to entrust his daughter.

Lin Hai knew that he would not end well, so he could only put his hopes on Jia's house. He no longer asked Jia's house to save him, but only hoped that Jia's house could survive and not collapse, and that it could bring Daiyu a little protection .Therefore, knowing that Situ Sheng didn't like it, he still didn't take his daughter back. He only asked the Jia family to keep his daughter after his death.

His own family has been cut off, and he has no one to rely on. The Jia family has a great fortune anyway. Even if the Rongguo Mansion collapses, it is better to have the Ningguo Mansion to support it than to let his daughter stay in the Lin family and be dragged down to death by him.

Facing Lord Guanying, Lin Hai bowed deeply, his back was hunched, his temples were graying, and the high spirits of that day had turned into the dying years of his life. He took a deep breath, controlled his voice and said calmly: "Please, Lord Hou, come in and talk about it, please come inside."

Jiang Yuan didn't say much, and walked in the door calmly.This high-ranking Tanhualang who once cut off his hope, is now just a dying man full of despair.You don't even need to deal with Lin Hai with real swords and guns. As long as you let him continue to be so desperate, he will die of depression in less than two years.This man ruined himself!

After entering the more secluded study room, Jiang Yuan didn't make any detours, and directly asked Lin Hai's opinion on the issue of aristocratic families and nobles.He is not afraid of Lin Hai's betrayal, Lin Hai has no other direction to turn his back on, the only thing he can yearn for is Situ Sheng's mercy...

Lin Hai said something about the situation, which was the same as what was shown on the map, and there was no discrepancy. However, when Jiang Yuan asked Song Chen, the magistrate of Yangzhou, he was still taken aback. He obviously didn't expect Jiang Yuan to ask about this person.

Lin Hai thought for a while and said, "Yangzhou is different from other places in the south of the Yangtze River. This is where the salt merchants are the most powerful, and noble families can't completely control this place. Therefore, at least half of the officials in Yangzhou remain neutral. Most of the aristocratic families and nobles are officials transferred here from other places. Song Chen was originally an official in Jinling and belonged to the Zhen family. Since the collapse of the Zhen family, the Liu family has been wooing him, but they don't know Did you defect to the Liu family? Is there anything wrong with this Song official?"

Liu family?This answer was far beyond Jiang Yuan's expectations.What kind of family is the Liu family?The Liu family is the backbone of the aristocratic family. If Song Chen fell to the aristocratic family, why would Wang Zipeng of the honorable royal family write to him?And why was Chen San robbed of the letter and thrown into the water?What a mess.

"Do you know what connection Song Chen has with the Liu family? Is there any connection with Xungui?" Jiang Yuan asked.

This salt censor was already working as a spy. Even if Lin Hai lost the support of the old emperor, a skinny camel is bigger than a horse. He still has a lot of information in his hands, and he might be able to ask something. Come.

Lin Hai noticed Jiang Yuan's importance, thought about it carefully, and then said: "It's very strange to say this, the Zhen family's power was not so big at the beginning, it was like an emperor in the south of the Yangtze River, and the officials attached to them Countless. The official position of this Song official is not the largest among these officials, and his ability is not the strongest among them. Yangzhou is far away from Hangzhou, where the Liu family is located. It is an enclave. But as soon as the Zhen family was destroyed, the Liu family fell It is really strange to rush forward and want to hold him in his hand, but Song Chen refuses and refuses to give up. As for Xungui... It seems that the Wang family has sent letters to Song Chen several times, but what is said in the letter No one will know."

Sure enough, there is something about the Wang family.

Jiang Yuan asked a few more questions, but didn't ask anything else, so he got up and left directly.As if he didn't see Lin Hai's hesitation, he got on his horse and left without looking back.

Lin Hai must have wanted to ask Jiang Yuan to speak well for him in front of Situ Sheng, but why did Jiang Yuan do this?The bane planted that day will taste the bitter fruit that will grow today, and he will never save Lin Hai.Repaying grievances with virtue, so why repay virtue?

From Lin Hai's mouth, he got a piece of information, which made Jiang Yuan speculate that Song Chen was definitely holding something important in his hand.Otherwise, why are the aristocratic family and Xungui unwilling to let him go?This thing is absolutely at stake, what the hell is it going to be?