The literary giants of the late Ming Dynasty began by copying books

In fact, the real situation of the Chu Zong Rebellion was clearly seen by people in Wuchang.

Li Tao, the inspector-general of Huguang who once ran border affairs in Yunnan, and Xue Sancai, the right political advisor of Huguang with a military background, had communicated with Wu Kai before he came to Shu, saying that the matter was far from as serious as he said, and mobilizing soldiers would not only consume food and grass. , will also make people panic, which is not conducive to quickly settling the matter. If Shen Yiguan continues to operate, he may even create a scene where he marches into Wuchang City and fights with the clan. In that case, the number of casualties among the people of Wuchang will only be limited. There will be more.

Why should we turn Wuchang City into a battlefield when things can obviously be solved easily?
However, the Zhejiang Party was unwilling to give up this operational opportunity, so Wu Kai still wrote Shangshu according to his original method.

When his superior arrived in the capital, because the incident was so big and sudden, other parties such as the Donglin Party did not dare to object to Shen Yiguan's actions. Emperor Wanli was also frightened when he saw Wu Kai's superior, so he agreed with Shen The consistent plan was to suppress rebellion.

The current situation is that no one is in charge of the rebellious clans in Wuchang, but the three provinces have begun to mobilize troops. A large number of Hubei guards have stationed in Xiangyang, and grain and grass have begun to be distributed in various places. Zhejiang Party officials have also gone to various places to supervise and arrest those The civil and military officials who were not active in preparing for war made the entire Central Plains look like a war was coming, and they did not know who to fight...

You must know that floods are still happening in various places at this time. Would it be good to use this money and food for disaster relief?
Wang Wenlong did not want to see this farce continue to expand. He advised: "I think it is better for the Zhejiang Party to restrain itself now. It should seek to put down the clan rebellion as soon as possible instead of making the news too big. I have already given this advice this morning." Shen Shoufu went to write a letter, hoping that he would listen to my advice."

"Well... I will wait for the chief assistant's opinion." The censor said perfunctorily.

What Wang Wenlong said was a good idea, and it was also a way to make the Zhejiang Party retreat completely. Although the Zhejiang Party has seized a lot of power through the robbery case, this power will be lost as soon as the situation subsides, and will be counterattacked. All Zhejiang Party officials who jumped too high in this case will be attacked. , the Zhejiang Party gained first and then lost, and subsequent calculations were actually quite damaged.

Shen Yiguan's actions at this moment will only lose points in a case that can obviously benefit the Zhejiang Party, waste a lot of food and salary, and make the people of the Central Plains panic.

A few days later, Shen Yiguan received an urgent delivery from Wang Wenlong. He opened the letter and read it carefully.

Wang Wenlong tried his best to persuade him to restrain himself in the letter, but now that the Zhejiang Party was holding the robbery case, it really had unprecedented power. Shen Guanyin always felt that as long as the case continued for a while, the Zhejiang Party would be able to take over the power it had obtained. Digest it.

Wang Wenlong wrote: "The Chu clan is too weak. If it is put under pressure, it will collapse and disappear. How should the Zhejiang Party deal with the chaos caused by it?"

Shen Yiguan thought for a long time and said to his staff: "This is what I am afraid of, but the Chu clan can even kill the governor. Isn't it that they are so weak?"

This guy doesn't care at all about the suffering of the people of Wuchang, and even wants the Chu clan to make trouble more violent.

In his opinion, the first step in King Ning's rebellion was to kill the governor of Jiangxi, and the first step in the current Chu Zong rebellion was to kill the governor of Huguang. His operation was not excessive.

In the minds of the capital officials at this time, killing the governor was naturally tantamount to rebellion, which is why Emperor Wanli was so worried about this matter.

After reading Wang Wenlong's letter, Shen Yiguan had a moment of doubt about his behavior, but he soon put this thought aside and felt that his plan could be implemented smoothly.

Seeing Shen's consistent attitude, the staff around him naturally did not dare to dissuade him.

So the Zhejiang Party began to mobilize a large number of troops in the three provinces near Huguang, pretending that they wanted to suppress and attack Wuchang City with large numbers of troops.

The only thing they didn't expect was that there were officials in Wuchang who really cared about the people.

Huguang Inspector Li Tao was still standing in Wuchang City at this time. Seeing the situation becoming increasingly tense, he was afraid that the imperial court would really send troops to attack Wuchang, causing the lives of the people in Wuchang to be devastated.

Li Tao had been an official in Yunnan before and was very experienced in dealing with civil unrest. He judged that the Chu clan in Wuchang City had no intention of causing rebellion at this time, so he took a few government officials and went to negotiate with the Chu clan.

Then it worked.

Seeing that they had become the target of the imperial court's suppression of rebellion, the Chu clan was also afraid of being massacred, so they agreed to hand over the children who participated in the robbery and burning. All the guilty persons also agreed to stand trial, hoping that the imperial court would not wipe out the Chu clan.

Then the Chu clan called back the slaves and children they had robbed all over the streets.

Liang Yunlong had only arrived in Hubei for two days and was preparing to attack the city with troops. Suddenly he was informed that he could enter Wuchang City to take over the city defense and put the clan on trial.

The "Chu Zong Rebellion" that caused unrest in the Central Plains was actually put down by Li Tao and a few government officials... The Zhejiang Party was completely confused, and after a few days of silence in the capital, extreme violence quickly broke out. Big reaction.

Didn't we already agree on the rebellion within the clan, communicate the date of the event, and issue notices to prepare for the rebellion? How could this be solved by just one Huguang right-wing political participant talking for a whole morning? Whose family rebels like this? Shen Yiguan's troop deployment all over the Central Plains seemed like pure performance art at this moment. With so much time, it was not enough to mobilize troops to guard Xiangyang. If he had gone to negotiate with the clan ten days earlier, this matter might have been solved long ago.

Wu Kai tried his best to cover up the results when reporting the results, and even downplayed the behavior of Li Tao, who had the greatest credit in the matter. But the results were so dramatic, how could he hide it from others?
The Donglin Party immediately began to fight back.

Shen Yiguan's series of operations in the process were naturally strongly attacked by the Donglin Party. All the officials who cooperated with Shen Yiguan were impeached. The news that Xue Sancai had previously advised Wu Kai not to report the matter as a rebellion was also revealed. Wu Kai Because of this, Liang Yunlong was impeached and the matter was resolved as soon as he arrived in Huguang. However, as the governor of Huguang who was always promoted by Shen, he could not escape the attack.

Yunnan Dao Yushi Xueqian of the Donglin Party asked: "All the sects are tied up. After all, who kills four members of the family, for whom is the person posting the papers? For whom is the person who robbed people, property, warehouses and defiled women? For whom is he made up to be different? Mobilize troops from three provinces?”

Killing is heartbreaking.

The Donglin Party directly wants to label the Zhejiang Party as the whole incident was caused by them.

When Shen Guanyi saw such remarks, he was naturally furious.

When the Chu clan burned and robbed Wuchang City, the whole Wuchang was in chaos. Naturally, it was impossible to know who killed Zhao Kehuai's family, and it was also unclear who posted the rebellion notice. But blaming the Zhejiang Party for robbing people, property, warehouses, and raping women is a bit too much, right? The Zhejiang Party can't even enter Wuchang City, so they can't fly into the city to rob property, right?
However, the previous actions of the Zhejiang Party were too high-profile, which not only damaged the interests of the Donglin Party, but also a large number of members of the other three parties were taken advantage of by Shen Yiguan's subordinates for disobeying the transfer. Above the court, Shen Yiguan The attack was almost one-sided. It was impossible for Shen Yiguan and the Zhejiang Party to distinguish. They could only hatefully express that their behavior was wrong and desperately spit out the benefits they had gained.

This time in the Chu Zong case, the Zhejiang Party won first and then lost, which also caused dissatisfaction among all the factions in the court. In the end, considering the overall gain, the Zhejiang Party can be said to have suffered a huge loss.

After the dust settled on the incident, Shen Guanyin couldn't help but sigh to his staff: "Wang Jianyang got it right again. I shouldn't have made this matter bigger and wronged myself!"

In October of the 32nd year of Wanli, the gang robbery case gradually subsided. When Chu Zongfan robbed the people, he was very majestic, and when he was interrogated, he cooperated like a flock of quails. A large number of clan members were handed over, and officials from the Sanfa Division were sent to Hubei to retrieve them.

The trial of the case will definitely be postponed to next year, and several leading clan members have already been scheduled to be executed. Based on their behavior of looting Wuchang, Ling Chi was not unjust, but given the identity of a clan member, it would be good to be executed.

Afterwards, the Zhejiang Party tried its best to make amends. First, it rewarded the officials who had put themselves in high positions. Although no soldiers or clans were used, in the process, all the Zhejiang Party officials who mobilized troops and horses and supported grain and grass were all credited to them. Ninety-two people claimed the credit.

The Donglin Party immediately sent people to Huguang to investigate and stir up public opinion among the people.

After the Donglin Party found out the truth about some things, they immediately began to publicize it. They said that the clan's actions in this matter were far from as serious as the local officials said. The criminal clan was sentenced to severe punishment, and more than 40 people were imprisoned. Those who take the lead in making trouble may be sentenced to death, which may be "excessive", "extremely publicized" and "unfair".

At this time, there was another earthquake, and the Donglin Party members exaggerated this as "the people's sentiments are too much and God's anger is unfair."

And the matter is far from over. In the future, in the court struggle between the Donglin Party and the three parties, the Donglin Party will continue to dig out the old accounts of the Zhejiang Party officials in the robbery case, whether they have rebelled, whether they need to use troops, and whether they should Severe punishments against the clan became the target of repeated attacks.

The Donglin Party's control over public opinion was not limited. After long-term propaganda, many literati and officials actually believed that Wanli should not use torture on the clan.

However, the people in Huguang who were harmed were considered to have deserved their death. The clan burned, killed, looted and raped women, and the Donglin Party also believed that they should not be arrested.

It's just to compete with each other for power.

Yuan Hongdao, who lives in Hubei, wrote a poem and lamented this matter: "There are no rules and regulations for the state, and it is pitiful for the old ministers to smear their blood." Neither the Donglin Party nor the Zhejiang Party ignored the rules at all in handling this matter. In my mind, I can easily bend the laws of the country in order to fight against each other.

At this time Wang Wenlong also left Nanjing.

Being in the center of public opinion in Jiangnan, he felt angry when he saw the chaos of the party struggle, and felt that it would be better to go back to his hometown in Fuzhou to do something practical.

He originally planned to return to Fujian in the second half of the year, firstly to publish a book, and secondly to see the immigration situation on Taiyuan Island. At the end of autumn, when the floods in various places finally subsided and the roads became calm, he immediately set off with his family. (End of chapter)