Back to Ming Dynasty with Industrial Revolution System

Chapter 740 Clique Controversy (Part [-])
Knowing that Zhang Yandeng was recruited by Chu Yun for an interview, when Zhang Yandeng returned to the Yamen of the Chief Secretary of the Jianghuai River, the officials of the Chief Secretary of the Jianghuai River looked at me and I looked at you, and then in the exchange of eyes, an official stood up "My lord Zhang, I don't know why the military lord came to our Jianghuai Chief Secretary this time?"

Zhang Yandeng said slowly: "This matter has not been approved by the military lord, so I can't tell you without authorization, but please rest assured, most of us have nothing to do with the military lord's visit this time."

The Jianghuai Chief Secretary officials who were present were a little relieved to hear what their boss said, but they became curious again.

"Could it be that this has something to do with the Fourth Corps?" The officials of the Jianghuai Chief Secretary again set their sights on the Fourth Corps stationed outside Nanjing. Apart from the civil servants of the Jianghuai Chief Secretary, this regular army is also theoretically important subject of investigation.

"Don't speculate too much, just take care of your own affairs." Zhang Yandeng said.

"Yes." Seeing that their superiors didn't say much, these officials stopped running into trouble.

Zhang Yandeng returned to his seat, still thinking about what Chu Yun said to him.According to what Chu Yun said, he was very dissatisfied with the group of scholars who advocated the restoration of the stereotyped essay this time, and wanted to use this incident to suppress the active scholars of the old school.

It's just to suppress Fushe, a few literati organizations that have not yet become successful. Does Chu Yun need to come in person?Just let the officials of the Jianghuai Chief Secretary make things difficult for them, and then send an ultimatum to the families of these scholars, and send yamen servants to dismiss the so-called Huqiu meeting, basically they will be disintegrated very quickly.

Could this matter have something to do with the Donglin Party?Zhang Yandeng thought of the Donglin Party, which still had great influence among the scholars of the old school.The power of the Donglin Party in the south of the Yangtze River is not insignificant, and even many people in my own government are directly or indirectly related to the Donglin Party.

But those who can work under the newly established yamen of the Kyushu Army know that the assessment of the Jianghuai Chief Secretary formed by the Kyushu Army is controlled by a group of people in the capital who have nothing to do with the Donglin Party. At this time, the Donglin Party can no longer bring them any benefits. , their clique concept is gradually weakening.

Now if you want to be promoted as a civil servant, there are only two ways!One is to cater to Chu Yun's changes when he was in office, build more roads, set up more factories, and complete the targets explained above!Another way is to apply for advanced studies at the Academy of Sciences. If you perform well, you may be promoted after you come out of the Academy of Sciences, because the higher authorities think that you have already integrated into the new bureaucratic system and truly have "special skills" instead of relying on slapstick.Of course, there are countless officials from various provinces and governments who have applied for admission to the Academy of Sciences. The above has limited the number of places. When the annual performance assessment is required, only those who perform well can be eligible to go to the Academy of Sciences.

"Clan rivalry..."

Zhang Yandeng seems to recall the time more than 20 years ago, in the 40th year of Wanli, when he served as the official secretary.At that time, there were many cronies in the court, which harmed the court. He once went to Emperor Wanli to report his harm.

But in the end, no one heeded his suggestion, and because of his disagreement with Donglin Party, he was framed as "Qi Party" by Donglin Party.Although more than 20 years have passed, Zhang Yandeng is still vivid in my memory.Although the collapse of the late Ming Dynasty cannot be entirely attributed to crony disputes, it is indeed a serious problem for the government to fight against dissidents.

"I understand!" Zhang Yandeng's eyes burst out with a gleam.

Now he roughly figured out Chu Yun's intentions. It was probably that Chu Yun wanted to completely end the cliques left over from the late Ming Dynasty. By the way, he sounded a wake-up call to the current officials.Only political performance is the criterion for measuring promotion, and the method of fighting dissidents with the same party does not work here in Chu Yun.

If you want to end crony feuds, the best way is to kill the chicken to make an example to the monkey, so who is the chicken?The eunuchs followed Chu Yun to blockade the palace and forcibly turned the palace into a tourist attraction and basically disappeared. Then the cronies with the greatest influence were the Donglin Party and Fushe, who were active in the south of the Yangtze River.

Thinking of this, Zhang Yandeng couldn't help feeling worried for these scholars who advocated the restoration of stereotyped essays.

"Recently Fushe and the outside literati of the Donglin Party have gotten very close, and their activities have become more frequent..."

Zhang Yandeng muttered to himself, thinking that his favorite student Chen Zilong seemed to have set up a few clubs with some young scholars, and he was also very close to the outside literati of the Donglin Party.

It seems that he needs to be mentioned a little bit, Zhang Yandeng couldn't bear to let this proud student be abolished because of Chu Yun's actions.Sometimes Chu Yun's methods are very harsh, almost saying the same thing, saying that stereotyped writing is abolished, but directly declaring that he must either abide by it, or there will be no official action.

After Zhang Yandeng left, Aila came out from behind the screen and said to Chu Yun: "I don't understand why we decided to attack cronies and arrest traitors in the south of the Yangtze River, and we told Master Zhang about this in advance, in case the news gets out ..."

"Zhang Yandeng was a veteran of the three dynasties. When the crony disputes were the most serious in the Wanli and Tianqi years, he even reminded the emperor, but unfortunately it was useless. In addition, he is old and pays attention to his own reputation. Take the risk of revealing the wind. I did this to prepare the Chief Secretary of Jianghuai for the arrest and prevent the situation from escalating," Chu Yun said.

"People from the intelligence department have already rushed to Suzhou to deploy, and the Fourth Corps you arranged also went to Suzhou under the guise of setting up a coastal defense fort. Should the net be closed?" Aila asked carefully.

"Don't worry, I'm here now. The Zhili Fleet and the Fourth Corps are all under my control. They're just a bunch of talkative nerds. It's not easy to handle them? It's just that we are the court now, and the other side is Scholars. China has admired tragic heroes since ancient times. If we appear in the image of "suppressing scholars", wouldn't the world sympathize with them instead? And I don't want to arrest them in the name of "conspiracy". It hurts our prestige, and it flatters them too much. Why don't we find another excuse to catch them?" Chu Yun said.

"Is there any other reason to arrest them?" Ayla asked.

"If there is no reason, we will create a reason. You inform Yu Cheng, Xiao Xiu'er and the others, and we will pretend to go to Suzhou. I want to see for myself the grand occasion of the Huqiu Conference jointly held by the Donglin Party, Fushe, and Jishe. How?" Chu Yun said.

"Isn't it too risky for you to personally go to the meeting held by these scholars?" Ella said with some concern.

"What are you afraid of? Don't forget that we didn't go there with bare hands. The 'revolver' newly developed by this ordnance factory has proved its power in the assassination operations in Nanyang. It is used for body protection. Can those literati still get close?" Chu Cloud pulled out a revolver.

(End of this chapter)