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Chapter 80 Donglin Academy 3
"Brother Xuantai is still so cautious and self-restrained. There are only six of you and me here. Is it possible that there are factory guards among them? I don't have to catch the wind, but I really can't find any other reasonable explanation." But the fat old man didn't feel like discussing this. The topic is taboo and must not only be discussed but discussed clearly.

This person is An Xifan, one of the Six Gentlemen of Donglin. He was one of the top nine Jinshis in the 14th year of Wanli. He once served as the head of the Fine Food Department of the Zha Department and the head of the Certification Department of the Nanjing Official Department. Later, he was demoted as a civilian because of his outspoken remarks. , just turned 39 this year, the youngest among the six, but the most courageous, and never rubs dirt in his eyes.

The tall old man is Xue Fujiao, who was Jinshi in the 17th year of Wanli. He went to private school with Gu Xiancheng since childhood, and the two families have a close relationship.His experience was different from that of the other five. He resigned and returned home when the situation was bad. His personality was naturally more cautious.

"It's stopped raining outside. Let's go sit in the pavilion." Should we discuss the death of the late emperor? Gu Xiancheng felt that An Xifan's reasoning was worthy of attention, but we shouldn't talk in the academy. Walls have ears.So he got up first and suggested changing places.

There is a river outside the east wall of Donglin Academy called Gong River. There is a wooden plank road dozens of meters long beside the river, and an octagonal pavilion is built at the end.When the weather is nice, Gu Xiancheng is willing to come here to drink tea and enjoy the view. It is also an excellent place to talk about important matters.There is no obstruction within a hundred or ten meters. As long as you don't shout, no one can eavesdrop.

"The letter from Master Shen stated in detail that the late Emperor was indeed only accompanied by the Crown Prince at that time. The Imperial Concubine also mentioned this matter, but afterwards no abnormality was found in the thirteen departments of the Imperial Hospital. Both the Empress Dowager and the Empress Dowager believed that the Crown Prince had no abnormalities. The concubine was even scolded for the possibility of killing her father and usurping the throne." After sitting down at the stone table in the pavilion again, Gu Yuncheng arrived after a while, holding several letters in his hand.

"Is it possible that there are really such coincidences in the world?"

Although everyone here has read these letters before, you have to pick them up and review them again at this time, while trying to find clues between the lines.It's a pity that even after burning the incense, no doubts were found. An Xifan took the lead in putting down the letter and walked to the railing, looked at the river and sighed helplessly.

"Put the letter away!" Seeing this, Gu Xiancheng stopped staring at the letter and nodded to his brother, indicating that he should put the letter away first.These letters were all written by officials in the capital, and the contents were all about internal changes in the imperial court. It would be very bad for outsiders to see them.

"In that case, let's put it aside for now. Regarding the matter of reducing the vassalage, how do you think we should deal with it?" Then he clapped his hands and returned to the topic.

According to Shen Li's letter, the emperor gave the cabinet bachelors a multiple-choice question. The general meaning was that the external inspection was coming, and whoever supported the emperor more would get more approvals for the appointment and dismissal of officials.

In other words, the emperor wanted to use the local official assessment at the end of the year as a bargaining chip to make a deal with the different factions represented by the cabinet bachelors.Which faction supports the emperor's proposal to reduce vassal vassals will receive corresponding compensation, such as more quotas for local officials.

In previous years, at times like this, the censors and officials belonging to different factions would stare at him as if they had been beaten to death.As long as it is discovered that an official from a hostile faction wants to be promoted, he will immediately rush to impeach him. Even if he is just watching and watching, it can affect the emperor's judgment.

The ultimate goal of this is to obtain more local positions of real power, which can be used to arrange the rising stars of the faction. After a few years of training and some political achievements, they will be transferred back to Beijing to enrich the strength of the faction.

The emperor usually did not directly participate in the struggle, but stood on the side drinking tea and eating melon seeds to watch the excitement.Which faction had the greater advantage, the emperor would deliberately suppress it when approving the reply, so that the disadvantaged faction would not be completely defeated.

This is the most basic way of balancing, and it is also the most difficult to do well.If there are factions, there is nothing to worry about, but if there are no factions, it will be more troublesome.As an emperor, you only need to control the fighting between official groups within a certain range and approach it infinitely close to balance. You can become the emperor of the ages without doing anything.But this year's situation is a little different. The emperor, who has always been in the role of referee, suddenly came off the field and participated in the game himself.In fact, many emperors have done this before, but they played it more reservedly and were better at pulling one group to fight another.There are few precedents of tearing off the face, clearly marking the price, and openly cheating.

Should we agree to the emperor's suggestion?Officials from all factions had no idea and hurriedly gathered privately to discuss countermeasures. Fast horses carrying messengers in twos and threes ran southward non-stop from opening the city gate to closing the city gate.

"This is a dead end. Unless we can put aside our past grievances and unify the orders, we alone will not be able to fight against the Holy Emperor." Qian Yiben was the first to answer Gu Xiancheng's question.

"Yes, Shen Jianwu is the first one who won't cooperate. As long as we dare to come forward, he will immediately agree to the Holy Lord's conditions, and a large number of officials will follow. Even if we finally prevent the Holy Lord's plan to reduce the feudal vassal, with If you don't have enough appointments and promotions, your vitality will be damaged and you will be gradually squeezed out of the court."

At this time, Gu Yuncheng collected the letter and came back. He happened to hear Qian Yiben's conclusion and agreed with him.The pattern in the court is clear. Officials from the Qi, Chu and Zhejiang Party advance and retreat together as a team, and are the most powerful; the Xuan Party, the Kun Party, and the Qin Party are relatively small, and they will fall to whichever party has advantages.

The Donglin Party is a rising star that split from the Southern Zhili forces. It has only a short period of time and is currently unable to fight alone against the group composed of officials from Qi, Chu and Zhejiang. Once it takes the lead in opposing the emperor's plan to reduce the vassal, failure to maintain integrity will become the target of all factions. He was the first to be purged from the court.

"Does the current emperor really want to cut down the vassal clan?" Qian Yiben was right. This is a dead end. We can only follow the trend, not go against it, and we can't even stay out of it.Faced with this situation, Gu Xiancheng didn't have a magic trick for rejuvenation, but he thought more about not only the structure of the court, but also the emperor's actions.

When it comes to reducing the vassal status, every member of the Donglin faction will applaud and applaud.This cancer that has plagued the Ming Empire for hundreds of years should have been cut off long ago.

It's a pity that no one in the past emperors was willing to act rashly in order to maintain the stability of the situation. Anyway, most of the royal family's expenses were taken from the treasury. Compared with their own interests, the country's poverty, the people's suffering, and the military's weakness were not critical.

Now a courageous emperor suddenly appears and plans to take action against stubborn diseases. The officials of the Donglin faction who have always been honest and honest, eliminate long-standing abuses, open up their voices, and oppose the corruption and bending of the law by the powerful naturally welcome it from the bottom of their hearts, or at least do not resent it.

But there is a problem that prevents these Donglin Party members from expressing their support. No one knows why the emperor suddenly wants to do such a thankless thing. What if someone is causing trouble behind the scenes to attack the hostile forces in North Korea and China? , if you rashly express your stance and get involved, you will fall into a trap and suffer big losses.

This is called politics. As long as you join the game circle, you can no longer look at problems from an ordinary perspective.Everything must be based on gains and losses. There is no good or bad, right or wrong, friend or foe.

Anyone who deviates from this criterion will be eliminated from the game. No matter how full the ideal is and how great the goal is, as long as you participate in this game, it will be difficult not to operate according to the rules, and the Donglin Party is no exception.

(End of this chapter)