In the first assistant duty room in the Wenhua Palace, Huang Liji was reviewing the documents sent by various ministries, and his secretary Xue Wenjiang came in to report that Yao Zongwen, the imperial historian, wanted to ask to see him.

Huang Liji was only stunned for a moment, then nodded and asked Xue Wenjiang to bring Yao Zongwen in. Yao Zongwen is a native of Cixi, Zhejiang, and is also the backbone of the Zhejiang Party.

When Wei Zhongxian fell, the Qi, Chu, and Zhejiang parties that were originally attached to Wei Zhongxian in the DPRK and China also immediately changed their courts and were replaced by Huang Liji, the former helper of Wei Zhongxian.

However, Yao Zongwen, who is the imperial history of the capital, usually does not come to the door during the day in order to avoid suspicion, but now he suddenly found Wenhua Palace, about something important, to communicate with him.

After Yao Zongwen came in, Huang Liji took out a stack of signed documents and asked Xue Wenjiang to hand them over to the secretary Yao Shiheng to seal.

When Xue Wenjiang walked out of the door, Yao Zongwen suddenly whispered to Huang Liji in a bit of anger: "Liu Hongxun has just received Huang Zongxi's complaint and sued most of our officials in the court..."

Although this news was very abrupt, Huang Liji's face did not change, he frowned and said to Yao Zongwen: "What are you panicking about, just take it." Can the sky still fall? You came here in such a panic, didn't you tell the truth to those Donglin parties? ”

Seeing that Huang Liji was so calm and confident, Yao Zongwen, who was originally flustered, finally calmed down.

Huang Liji finished the document in his hand, looked at the drop of ink on the side of his name on the document, and shook his head slightly. He put down the pen in his hand and said to Yao Zongwen: "You tell me everything from beginning to end, what did Liu Hongxun do?" ”

Yao Zongwen calmed down, and slowly recounted everything he had just seen in the Criminal Department from the beginning.

Today is Liu Hongxun's first day of taking up his post in the Criminal Department, but his official sedan chair was stopped at the entrance of the Criminal Department. Dozens of scholars surrounded Huang Zongxi, who was dressed in filial piety clothes, and hundreds of people in the capital blocked the door of his sedan chair.

Liu Hongxun, who was forced out of the sedan chair, was finally forced to make his position clear under the petition of a cadre of scholars and the people, he is a righteous gentleman who stands on the side of the gentlemen of Donglin, and is by no means a villain who wagged his tail and begged for mercy from the eunuchs for the sake of his official position.

After Huang Liji listened, he asked in a somewhat cold tone: "So what were Yuan Keli and Yang Suoxiu doing at that time?" ”

Yao Zongwen subconsciously replied: "Neither of them was in the Criminal Department at the time, and it is said that they were summoned by His Majesty to discuss important matters..."

Yuan Keli and Yang Suoxiu, who didn't know what was going on in the Criminal Department in the Wuying Palace, were listening to the important things that Chongzhen asked them to do.

Chongzhen said with a serious expression on the two of them: "Since the slave chief Nurhachi raised his army, my Liaodong official army has lost several battles, lost most of the land and people in Liaodong, and millions of lives in Liaodong have suffered this catastrophe, families have been ruined, and wives have been separated.

There are three responsibilities for the defeat of Liaodong, one is that the imperial court did not pay enough attention to Nurhachi, so that this jackal unified the Jurchen tribes of Jianzhou in the name of the imperial court, which is a legacy of tiger breeding;

The second is that the Liaodong army will be arrogant and lazy, one does not repair the armor, the other does not operate the sergeants, and the armament is lax, so that Nurhachi has a chance;

The third is that many shameless scum in eastern Liaoning took the initiative to surrender to the Jianzhou Jurchens, lured wolves into the house, and slaughtered compatriots, which was simply madness.

Forced to surrender after defeat, I will not be demanding. However, I will never tolerate taking the initiative to betray my comrades in the army and my compatriots in the Ming Dynasty to the Houjin Army, just for my own glory and wealth.

For the first and second points, the imperial court has begun to correct. But for the third point, now the imperial court is not in a position to arrest them and bring them back to rectify the Fa, so as to comfort the dead soldiers and compatriots in Liaodong, but the imperial court cannot turn a blind eye to this, and close its eyes as if it has not happened. ”

Yang Suoxiu didn't understand the emperor's anger, but he knew that this was an opportunity to show loyalty to the emperor, and he immediately said to the emperor impassionedly.

"What Your Majesty said is that those rebellious ministers and thieves enjoy the country's fortunes on weekdays, but when they encounter slave soldiers, they surrender on their knees, completely ignoring the righteousness of the monarch and ministers, and they should be killed.

Although my Ming army can't capture them back now, I think that we can award rewards to these rebellious heads, and maybe it will have a miraculous effect. ”

Yuan Keli hurriedly stopped: "Your Majesty, Yang Shilang's opinion is too biased." When Nurhachi raised his army, our court also offered a reward for the heads of Nurhachi and the Jurchen generals.

However, in the end, not to mention that he got nothing, he was ridiculed by these frontier barbarians, which really damaged the face of our dynasty.

In Yichen's opinion, the implementation of this policy may not allow anyone to take the rebellious head to receive the reward, but on the contrary, it will cut off the back road of our generals who have wavered in the attitude of the Houjin army, and let these people follow the Houjin with all their hearts. ”

After Zhu Youzhen listened to the words of the two, he said slowly: "I don't agree with Yang Shilang's opinion, I can't beat others, so I will use money to bribe others to assassinate them."

Even if we can really buy their heads with money, it will not allow the people of the world to distinguish between right and wrong, but will damage the justice we want to pursue.

What I mean is that the procuratorate will charge the case, and the criminal department will decide the case. Nailed these traitors and traitors who betrayed the military and people of Liaodong to the pillar of shame in history.

Just because we can't catch them now doesn't mean we can't do anything. We can now first show our attitude to the people of the world, judge these traitors and traitors in absentia as traitors, and set up a standard for the people of the world to judge right and wrong. ”

Yuan Keli and Yang Suoxiu were silent, they seemed to understand the emperor's meaning somewhat, but they were afraid that this matter would cause other troubles.

After surrendering, Jin's military attache and the Liaodong clan did not jump out of the cracks in the stones. The hereditary system of military attachés in the Ming Dynasty also made these military attaches form a fairly extensive network of relationships in the army.

Now those surrendered generals and local big families in Houjin are not a few relatives in the western Liaoning region and the army. If the emperor's punishment of these generals was too severe, so that the military attachés in the Liaoxi army were dissatisfied and fled from the rebellion, it would be tantamount to cutting off his own wings.

Yuan Keli thought for a while before cautiously asking Chongzhen, "Then what about His Majesty's plan to designate those people as traitors?" ”

Zhu Youzhen thought about it and said: "After surrendering, Jin Hou didn't make any effort, and he didn't pay attention to him. For those who surrendered to the Houjin, desperately suppressed the resistance of the local people in Liaodong, and fought hard for the Houjin, we must not let go.

I thought that Li Yongfang, the former guerrilla general of Fushun, Tong Yangzhen, a native of Liaodong, Tong Yangxing's brother, and Wang Huazhen, the former governor of Guangning, were the guerrilla of Sun Degong in the Chinese army.

If I can recover Liaodong and sweep away Houjin, I will destroy the whole clan of these four people and sacrifice for the soldiers and people who died in Liaodong. The first batch of traitors were the four of them. ”

The four names pointed out by Chongzhen made Yuan Keli and Yang Suoxiu think for a while. They confirmed that the four were not closely related to the DPRK. Except for Tong Yangzhen and Tong Yangxing's brothers, who seem to have clansmen in western Liaoning, the other two have no foundation in the Ming army.

The emperor used these four people to open the knife, but he could slightly deter the troops of Liaoxi, and they surrendered to Houjin at every turn.

Yuan Keli and Yang Suoxiu no longer objected to the emperor's proposition, and they carefully discussed with Chongzhen the details of how to judge these four people.

When Liu Hongxun finished his first day of work in the Criminal Department and returned to his apartment. That night, Qian Longxi, who was dressed in civilian clothes, came to visit him in a simple carriage.

Liu Hongxun took this old friend into the study, and before the servant in the house closed the door of the study, Qian Longxi, who was not worried, had already hurriedly complained to his old friend: "Qingyue, how did you do it, how can you take over Huang Zongxi's situation?" It was not easy for us to reach a tacit understanding with Huang Ifan, didn't you overturn the table again by doing this? ”

Liu Hongxun put his hands behind his back, glanced at Qian Longxi with his eyes, and then said calmly: "I have always disapproved of reconciling with Huang Ifan, don't drag me in." Besides, Huang I Fan is now the first assistant of the cabinet, under one person, above ten million people.

Now that we are reconciling with him, let him reprieve for two years, and let go of the layout in the DPRK and China, when the DPRK and China will be full of his henchmen and cronies, what chance will we have to turn around?

Even if he wants to make peace with Huang I Fan, he Huang I Fan must first draw a clear line with the eunuch party, which is a righteous name. What does my Donglin Party rely on as the leader of Shilin? Isn't that the name of righteousness?

If we don't say a word and make peace with Huang and Ifan, in the eyes of the world's scholars, won't we be in the same stream as the eunuchs? In the future, I, the monarchs of Donglin, what else will I take to lead Qunlun and support Sheji?

What's more, today Huang Zongxi didn't come to me alone. There are dozens of exam-takers around him, and the support of thousands of people in the capital, if I don't accept this situation, won't I become a shameless person who betrays the martyrs of Donglin and tends to be inflammatory? ”

Looking at the old friend who was fierce and unyielding, Qian Longxi's attitude softened, he sat down on the chair behind him gloomily, and said with some weakness in his mouth: "Then what are you going to do now?" Do you really want to involve Huang I Fan as well? ”

Liu Hongxun replied confidently: "I thought about it in the yamen for a day today, and found that this case is also an opportunity for my Donglin Party members.

After the first emperor's great trip, His Majesty exiled Wei Zhongxian and Cui Chengxiu from Beijing, and since then they have not made a big move in the court.

Judging from His Majesty's performance after his accession to the throne, His Majesty's idea of governing the government is first and foremost to maintain the stability of the situation in the DPRK and to achieve a balance between the forces of the DPRK and China, so he recalled us degraded officials.

It can be seen that in His Majesty's heart, Huang Ifan's status is not so completely unshakable, and His Majesty is not completely untrusting of us.

If Huang I Fan does not intervene in this case, we will take this opportunity to clean up the remnants of the eunuchs in the DPRK. If Huang I Fan intervenes in this case, this is the Cabinet interfering with the independent right of the Criminal Department to ask the case, how can Your Majesty tolerate Huang I Fan's dictatorship and arbitrariness? ”