Haisheng Mingdi

Chapter 25 Donglin
Shaoxing, Kuaiji.

Zheng Zunqian strode up to his father's bookstore on the second floor in the backyard. When he entered the room, he saw his father Zheng Zhiyin reading a letter.

"What are you going to do with all the fuss? You can't settle down for a few days?" Zheng Zhiyin reprimanded his son without raising his head.The Zheng family was originally from Linshanwei, Yuyao, and moved to Kuaiji City.

Moreover, he is also a member of the Donglin Party, a celebrity of the Qingliu.

At this time, Zheng Zhiyin had just returned from visiting Boluo in Hangzhou, and the letter he read was sent by Qian Qianyi from Nanjing.Qian Qianyi was originally the Minister of Rites of the Hongguang Dynasty, and even the leader of the Donglin Party. He has always had a very good relationship with Zheng Zhiyin.

After Qian Qianyi fled from Hongguang, he surrendered to the Qing army and offered the city together with Nanjing's honorable ministers. The Qing court awarded him the Minister of Rites and stayed in Nanjing to assist Prince Yu Duoduo.

It is said that before the Qing army entered Nanjing, Liu Rushi, Qian Qianyi's concubine and one of the thirteen beauties of the Qinhuai River, once persuaded Qian Qianyi to throw himself into the water to observe the festival. The water was too cold and he went home, Liu Rushi threw himself into the water angrily, but Qian Qianyi dragged his concubine back.

When the Qing army first entered the city, even Duoduo issued an order to shave the military but not the literary, and temporarily only let the surrendered Ming army shave their hair. As a result, Qian Qianyi was sitting at home, but suddenly said that his scalp was itchy, and then ran out of the house. When he came back, he was dead. The front hair was shaved, and a rat tail was left behind.

In contrast, Qian Qianyi's two friends in Nanjing City, Yue Qijie, the governor of Henan, and Yuan Shu, the patrolling soldier in Henan, were the brother-in-law of Ma Shiying, the treacherous chief minister, and the son of Yuan Keli, Minister of the Ministry of War. Swear not to be an official and die on a hunger strike.

As the leader of Donglin, especially for his talent and learning, Qian Qianyi's performance can be said to have shocked the world, and some people even wrote poems to ridicule,
Qian Gong's origin is good-minded, and Shandou is famous all over the world.

The country is broken and the North Palace is new, and the official height is still the old Donglin.

"Father!"

"Sit first!"

Zheng Zhiyin pointed to the huanghuali official chair and said to his son, continuing to read the letter.

He has read Qian Qianyi's letter several times. He said in the letter that the situation in the world has changed drastically. He learned from Duoduo that at the end of last month, Li Zicheng, the thief who once broke into Beijing and proclaimed himself emperor, was defeated and went south all the way. Withdrew, after the remnant troops withdrew to Changsha, when he passed Jiugong Mountain with more than [-] riders, he was surrounded and beaten to death by the local gentry and landlord led by the villagers, it has been confirmed.

At the beginning of this month, Zhang Xianzhong of Xiying led his troops to attack Hanzhong, but he was also defeated and returned to Sichuan.

After Yuan Jixian, the right servant of the military department of the military affairs of Jiangxi, Xiangguang, Yingtian, and Anqing, the governors of Jiangxi, Xiangguang, Yingtian, and Anqing, who was appointed by Hongguang, was tricked by Zuo Menggeng into the army and surrendered to the Qing Dynasty. Yuan Jixian refused to return to the Qing court and was killed.

The Qing government respected Yuan Jixian very much, and offered to give him the governorship of Jiangxi as long as Yuan was willing to return to Jiangxi to appease the old ministry. He flatly refused, and was escorted to Beijing.

Qian Qianyi, Zheng Zhiyin and Yuan Jixian are all good friends, this news makes them very heavy.

Qian Qianyi said that the Qing court had summoned him to Beijing in July, gave him the right servant of the Ministry of Rites to manage the secretarial affairs, and made him the vice president of Ming History.

He also revealed that Duoduo may also enter Beijing in July, when Hongguang, Lu Wang and others will go to Beijing together, so Qian Qianyi concluded that the Qing army's southern expedition has ended.

Entering Shaanxi along the Great Wall, defeating Li Zicheng all the way, and chasing Prince Azig to Anqing, Huguang, Jiangxi, he has already dispatched troops ahead of schedule without waiting for the Qing emperor's will.

Prince Yu Duoduo on the East Road will return to Beijing in July. He even heard that Belle Boluo who is stationed in Hangzhou will take most of the Eight Banners back to Beijing.

The Qing government plans to appoint Hong Chengchou, the former governor of the Ming Dynasty who surrendered to the Qing Dynasty, as the governor of the South to recruit the Southern Governor of the Military Affairs University, replacing Duoduo to recruit Jiangnan. He will appoint Dorobel Lek Dehun as the General of Pingnan, and Tonggushan Ezhen Yechen will replace Duduo , Boluo guards the south of the Yangtze River.

Qian Qianyi estimated that Hong Chengchou, Luck Dehun, etc. could arrive in Jiangling in August, and Duoduo, Boluo, etc. might not be able to return to Beijing until September at the earliest.

It is also said that civil servants and military generals of the Ming Dynasty from all over the south of the Yangtze River surrendered one after another, and the intruders not only lost all their territories, but even Li Zicheng was killed. Now only some remnants are still fighting, fleeing to the mountains around Badong It became a climate, and Xiying had just experienced a big defeat in attacking Hanzhong, and retreated to Sichuan in embarrassment.

Huguang, Jiangxi, Nanzhi, and Zhejiang are now almost determined by rumors, and few people really raise their flags to resist.

Qian Qianyi was very sad. He said in a secret letter to Zheng Zhiyin that the collapse of the Hongguang Dynasty caught everyone by surprise. Now that the Qing army is powerful, it must not be hard-pressed. It is better to pretend to surrender to the Qing Dynasty. , and then slowly map it.

Now that the Qing government has made the judgment that the Ming Dynasty is dead, Jiangnan will surrender without a fight, and it is the best opportunity for the troops to withdraw. After the main force withdrew as scheduled, everyone planned another uprising.

He also said that after the defeat of Hangzhou, General Fang Guoan withdrew to Yanzhou and Jinhua to rest and recuperate. There are still many troops from the Hongguang Dynasty in other places, and many generals are still loyal to Daming.

So you should lurk temporarily and wait for the opportunity.

At the end of the letter, Qian Qianyi said to his old friend Zheng Zhiyin that he had always been loyal to the emperor and patriotic, and now he pretended to surrender to the Qing Dynasty, but he wanted to leave a useful body to restore the Ming Dynasty. When he goes to Beijing, he will keep Liu Rushi behind. At that time, Zheng Zhiyin will be able to help take care of him, and he also said that after he arrives in Beijing, he will find a way to get out of office and return to his hometown as soon as possible.

In the end, Qian Qianyi said that in the current situation, only in Guangdong and Guangxi where King Gui ascended the throne and supervised the country, and gradually calmed down the hearts of the people, would it be possible to rule across the river and preserve half of the Ming Dynasty.He also said that fortunately, now that the robbers and Xiying have been defeated, and they are about to perish, Daming has also got rid of this henchman's trouble.

At that time, it will negotiate peace with the Qing court, and the north and the south will rule together.

Seeing this, Zheng Zhiyin frowned in thought.

Zheng Zhiyin did not fully agree with some of Qian Qianyi's judgments. For example, the main force of the Qing army might return to the north, but even if some troops were left behind, it would be too difficult to reverse the current situation.

Hong Chengchou is nicknamed Hong Crazy. Although this person was defeated in the supervisor outside the customs, it does not mean that he is incompetent. On the contrary, Hong Chengchou is extremely capable. Now that he is the governor of Jiangnan, he may be more powerful than Duoduo, Azig, and Bo. Luo and the others can still entangle, no one knows the officials and army of Ming Dynasty better than Hong Chengchou.

As for King Gui who fled to Guangxi to supervise the country, Zheng Zhiyin thinks it is even more unreliable. King Gui has no talent or virtue. Although it is true that he is at the top of the succession order, what Daming needs now is not a number one. Instead, he needs a virtuous king who can take on this great task.

In this regard, he felt that Tang Wang was more suitable, after all, that Tang Wang was famous for his bravery.

As for Qian Qianyi's longing for a comeback of hiding one's strengths and biding one's time, Zheng Zhiyin thinks it is impossible.But as a member of the Donglin Party, he couldn't convince himself to surrender like this for a while.

Just like Qian Qianyi also said, they can't die now, because if they die, they will not help Daming or the world.Of course, they can't really surrender. In that case, their reputation for half their lives will be completely ruined. For Donglin Party members, reputation is the most important thing.

Some people choose to go on a hunger strike, hang themselves, or throw themselves into the water to die for their country, but Qian Qianyi, Zheng Zhiyin and others think that death is very simple. many.

Both Qian Qianyi and Zheng Zhiyin believed that the Ming Dynasty still had people in Jiangnan, especially the gentry represented by Donglin and Fushe, who had a strong influence and control in Jiangnan. Temporarily impossible to have.

Now the Qing court has made two mistakes. One is that it is too optimistic that it depends on the spread of Jiangnan, so it decided to go to the teacher immediately.The second is to think that the world has been settled, so regardless of the feelings of the scholars and the people, they forcefully push for hair shaving orders, and they do not keep their hair or leave their hair.

These are all big mistakes they made, and a round of violent resistance is bound to be set off.

Qian Qianyi finally made a request in the letter, hoping that Zheng Zhiyin could help.

That is to hope that Zheng Zhiyin will help raise funds. He plans to raise 10 taels of silver. After he arrives in Beijing, he will use this money to bribe the dignitaries of the Qing court to influence the policy towards Jiangnan.

As the leader of Donglin, Qian Qianyi is not only talented, but also very powerful in political tactics. Back then, he failed in the fight with Wen Tiren and was expelled from the court. Later, he came back out of the mountain by bribing the chief assistant Zhou Yanru.

These guys who have been in the officialdom for a long time know very well that money can turn ghosts around. As long as the money is in place, even Dorgon, the uncle of the Emperor Regent in Beijing, can also handle it.

The south of the Yangtze River is rich and prosperous, and the members of Donglin and Fushe are more famous noble families, just like Zheng Zhiyin, his family is very rich, so his son Zheng Zunqian was famous for his heroism and righteousness when he was young.

Relying on a lot of money, he got the name of this righteous young man.

Zheng Zhiyin is sixty years old, tall and thin, with gray beard and hair.

The newly shaved rat tail was also very thin and dragged behind the head.

He burned the letter that he had read many times in the brazier, and finally did not forget to pick up the ashes, and then he set his sights on his son.

"You bastard, what are you doing?"

"Father's rat tail is really ugly!" Zheng Zunqian said to his father mockingly.

"Bastard, how do you talk to your old man?"

Zheng Zunqian likes to be a hero, he likes to make friends, has a wide range of acquaintances, values ​​righteousness over wealth, and is very famous in Jiangsu and Zhejiang.Back then, he was also a protégé of Fushe tycoon, and he and his good friend Xu all worshiped under He Gang.

At the end of the Ming Dynasty, it was not only the peasants who could not survive that rebelled, but also many landlords, scholars, merchants, etc., who also rebelled. The reason was dissatisfaction with many policies of the imperial court.

For example, during the Xudu Rebellion a year ago, Xu Du was from Dongyang, Jinhua. He was the grandson of Xu Honggang, the censor of Zuodu, and the grandson of Xu Dadao, the deputy envoy. He Gang, the leader of the society, made friends with Man Jiangsu and Zhejiang.

The world was in chaos in the last years of Chongzhen, and celebrities like He Gang also thought that preparations should be made early. Seeing that Xu Du was a hero, he asked him to recruit troops and train volunteers.

Xu Du then scattered his money to meet customers and established a charity society.

At that time, He Gang, Chen Zilong, and Xu Fuyuan, the leaders of Fushe and Jishe, all valued Xu Du very much, and even directly recommended him to Emperor Chongzhen.

Later, Chongzhen also issued a reply to this memorandum, to appoint He Gang as the head of the staff, let him go back to Yiwu and Dongyang to contact volunteers, train strong teams, and said that Xu Du, Yao Qiyin and others should be appointed and used according to their talents.

If everything is normal, Xu Du's righteous society will become Jiangdong's voluntary force, but then there is a little accident, the magistrate of Dongyang is corrupt, and in the name of preparing for chaos, he blackmails Xu Du and asks for a bribe of ten thousand taels of silver. The county magistrate urged him very urgently.

Xu Du's mother died of illness at that time, Xu Du attended the funeral, and there were as many as ten thousand friends and neighbors who came to see the funeral.

The county magistrate claimed that Xu Du had rebelled, and sent officials to arrest him and confiscated his family property. Xu Du raised his flag and rebelled angrily.

Xu Du led his white-headed army to break through Dongyang, fall into the Pujiang River, seize Yiwu, encircle Jinhua, and shake Jiangdong for a while.

Later, due to the haste of the incident, the officers and soldiers were surrounded on all sides, and the white-headed army was defeated and retreated into the mountains. Please drop.

As a result, Zuo Guangxian, the inspector censor, ignored the recruitment conditions reached by Chen Zilong and Xu Du, and beheaded Xu and more than [-] people.

When Xu Du started an incident that year, Zheng Zunqian, as a good friend of Xu Du, responded immediately. He returned to Kuaiji to call for an incident, but when his father Zheng Zhiyin found out about it, he asked his servants to tie up Zheng Zunqian and lock him in the house. Zheng Zunqian was not released until Xu Du was killed.

Because of this, the Zheng family father and son almost severed the father-son relationship.

For Zheng Zunqian, Xu Du was not only a classmate or a good friend, but also a comrade with the same loyalty. At first, Zheng Zunqian doted on the concubine Jin, and later he doted on a maidservant. As a result, Jin was jealous and poisoned the maidservant. It was Chen Zilong. Chen Zilong didn't like Zheng Zunqian's personality very much, so he wanted to punish Zheng Zunqian and the Jin family for the same crime and execute him.

Later, Xu Du rushed to him and pleaded with Chen Zilong for him. In the end, not only Zheng Zunqian was not guilty, but even the Jin family was saved from death. In this matter, Zheng Zunqian owed Xu Du a huge favor.

So after Xu Du's accident, Zheng Zunqian went around to ask for favors, and later Xu Du raised his flag to revolt, and he immediately went home to raise money to respond, but was locked up by his father.

After Xu Du died, Zheng Zunqian blamed himself very much.

The relationship between father and son is getting worse.

"The son came here today to tell his father that loyalty and filial piety have been difficult since ancient times. My father went to Hangzhou and chose to shave his hair and surrender to the Tartars. This is the father's choice, but the son will never surrender."

Zheng Zhiyin knew that his son had always been like this, and lamented that he had been an official outside for many years and neglected to discipline him.

"What are you talking about being loyal to the emperor and loving the country? Last year, Xu Du rebelled against the imperial court. Don't you want to raise troops to respond to the rebellion? If I hadn't stopped you, you would have become a rebel and a headless ghost with Xu Du." .”

"That's an official coercion against the people."

(End of this chapter)