Zhu Youzhen looked at Li Chaoqin, who was summoned again, and couldn't help but feel a little emotional.

The experience of more than a year on the throne finally made him understand something. The superficial political theories he had learned in school were also influencing the way he handled things.

Perhaps the political curriculum of junior high schools in later generations was biased towards theory rather than practice. And it has nothing to do with most people's daily lives, and once they graduate, these things are forgotten.

But the summaries of these courses are, after all, theoretical summaries extracted from hundreds of years of political practice by the elite of an era. The era of a certain great man, the successor of socialism, is indeed not an empty word.

After becoming Chongzhen inexplicably, the political affairs of the entire dynasty became his best opportunity to practice. From trembling at the beginning to being at ease now, the speed of Chongzhen's transformation really surprised the civil officials of the foreign courts.

In addition to being familiar with government affairs, Chongzhen also began to reacquaint himself with the eunuchs and courtiers around him.

If you say that when he first ascended the throne, he was still trying to distinguish the difference between eunuchs and civil officials. So today, he already feels that whether it is a eunuch or a civil official, they are actually just representatives of political forces.

As the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, his most basic task was to balance the power of these forces. To go a step further is to unite these political forces along the path he has designed.

Wei Zhongxian, Wang Tiqian, Cui Chengxiu, Huang Liji, Gu Xiancheng, Li Sancai, Liu Zongzhou, Yuan Keli and other figures are not gentlemen and villains as public opinion says.

In fact, in Su Changqing's view, they are actually labeled on them, which is expressed in the language of later generations, that is, politicians, or politicians.

Whether they are politicians or politicians, what they represent is not their own speech, but the views and interests of a certain group, township party, or stratum.

It's like an iceberg floating on the surface of the sea, and it looks like the size of the iceberg is only one-tenth of the size of the entire iceberg.

Therefore, the politician who can let Chongzhen know his name, even if he is depressed now, he once represented the interests of a large group or class.

It is through these famous and unknown political figures that Chongzhen can convey his voice layer by layer to the ears of the people at the lowest level of this huge empire.

Dealing with these politicians who are on the surface, but not the political groups behind them, is just a matter of stopping the boiling water, and after a period of time, new political representatives will emerge.

Or either they disobeyed the orders of the imperial court, or they wanted to start anew and rebel against him, the Ming Emperor who could not protect their rights and interests.

Therefore, Chongzhen feels that as long as he is not a politician who betrays the Ming Dynasty or endangers the interests of everyone, he should not use capital punishment. These politicians represent the interests of various political groups in front of him, but they are not his spokesmen in front of the members of those political groups.

However, political figures such as Wei Zhongxian and Cui Chengxiu have subverted the political balance in the Ming Dynasty and even threatened the majesty of imperial power. So Chongzhen couldn't help but take action, and drove one of the two of them home to guard filial piety, and the other to Fengyang to guard the mausoleum.

Wei Zhongxian and Cui Chengxiu left the center of power in the capital, and the partial revival of the Donglin Party made the political balance finally restore to the Ming court.

The departure of Wei Zhongxian and Cui Chengxiu also made the name of the eunuch party, which once controlled the government, almost disappear, and the court re-emerged the momentum of the separation of various factions. Although the Donglin Party members have the intention to settle accounts, Chongzhen obviously has no intention of making the Donglin Party bigger in the court again.

Several officials who wanted to turn over the old cases of the Donglin Party were either refuted or released, which also made the Donglin Party members have to temporarily stop fighting.

And before they could come up with a foolproof plan, Zhu Youzhen instigated Qian Qianyi to form a new Donglin Party, which set off a struggle among the Donglin Party members, and it was even more difficult for the Donglin Party members to get together and form a complete political group.

When the various political groups of the outer court gradually fell into a situation of fighting but not breaking, the inner court finally let the eunuchs from the palace of Yiganxin and the low-level eunuchs who were not reused in the palace completely control the situation through restructuring and reducing the number of people.

Tu Wenfu and Li Chaoqin, two of Wei Zhongxian's former cronies, are also the leaders of Wei Zhongxian's remnants in the palace, so they have embarrassingly become the two activities of the celebrant supervisor.

Although Tu Wenfu is attached to Wang Chengen and seems to have signs of getting rid of this embarrassing position, Li Chaoqin has been sitting on the cold bench in the ceremonial supervisor.

With red and white, this is the atmosphere of officialdom, and it is also the default unspoken rule in the palace. After Wei Zhongxian was driven out of the capital, the rest of Wei Zhongxian's cronies in the palace instantly became a flood beast that everyone avoided.

People who fall from the clouds of power to the ground, and can still maintain a state of mind like water, may have, but it will definitely not appear on these eunuchs in the palace.

Li Chaoqin, who had been sitting on the cold bench for more than a year, did not hesitate to take a risk yesterday in order to change his situation, but he did not get a positive evaluation from the emperor, and soon let them leave the upper study.

This result made Li Chaoqin restless all night, and when he appeared in front of the emperor again, his eyes were blistered and swollen, as if he were hanging two small lanterns.

Zhu Youzhen looked at Li Chaoqin for a long time, and then asked gently, "You didn't rest well last night?" But what's on your mind? ”

Li Chaoqin, who was originally standing in front of Chongzhen, suddenly knelt down again, and said loudly: "After the minister went back last night, he thought that he couldn't share his worries for His Majesty, and he really felt sad and indignant, so he didn't sleep all night.

However, although the minister is dull, he is still loyal. If His Majesty has something to do with his ministers, even if his ministers are broken, they must relieve His Majesty's worries. ”

Regarding Li Chaoqin's sudden expression of loyalty in front of him, Zhu Youzhen only slightly paused for a while before he understood, with the 24 Yamen changed to the Internal Affairs Office, Wei Zhongxian's henchmen like Li Chaoqin have become more and more difficult to gain a foothold in the palace.

His status in the past was too high and he offended too many people, even if he wanted to change his court, it was difficult for others to accept his refuge.

And with the restructuring of the 24 Yamen and the continuous downsizing of personnel, those remnants of Wei Zhongxian who once followed him are now scattered and looking for their own way of life.

As a result, Li Chaoqin, who has no backer and no foundation, has now become a lonely ghost in the palace. The only thing he has now is the identity of a celebrant and eunuch, and if he loses even this identity, he will be truly at the end of his rope.

Even if Chongzhen didn't dispose of him, those enemies who formed when he was in power would not let him out of the palace so easily.

Yesterday, he thought that he didn't seize the opportunity, but he obviously regarded today's summons as his last chance, so he finally threw away his last reserve, completely let go of his face, and wagged his tail to Chongzhen and begged for mercy.

After Zhu Youzhen listened to Li Chaoqin's loyalty oath to himself, he said kindly: "Why are you like this, you were loyal to the imperial brother in the past, even if I look at the imperial brother, I will also treat you old people around the imperial brother preferentially."

I remembered that the imperial brother asked me to take good care of Wei Zhongxian in the past, but unfortunately Wei Zhongxian... Forget it, let's not talk about him. I have called you today because I want you to do something. ”

Zhu Youzhen suddenly paused, looked at the people in the study, and ordered: "Except for Wang Chengen and Lu Qi to stay and serve, the others should go out first for the time being." ”

After sending away the little eunuchs serving in the room, Zhu Youzhen continued to say to Li Chaoqin, who was kneeling on the ground and nervously erecting his ears to listen quietly: "Yesterday I told you about the case of the Shu King's gangsters, and I have been thinking about it from yesterday to today, and I feel that Xu Yingyuan is a little reckless after all.

Although I ordered Xu Yingyuan to set up a minority committee in the southwest to appease the Tusi in the southwest, and by the way, clarify the matter of the change of land property rights in the rebellion of Lu'an. But I didn't authorize him to investigate the illegal deeds of the King of Shu.

What Tu Wenfu said yesterday was still correct, whether the King of Shu had any traces of bandits, that was the responsibility of the local officials, not that he should intervene, even if he found some clues, it should be handed over to the local officials to investigate.

Now that he has bypassed the local officials and directly put the King of Shu under house arrest in the palace, even if he reports this matter to the imperial court now, it will inevitably arouse the criticism of the civil officials of the foreign court.

The King of Shu has been inherited in Shu for 14 generations, and his reputation in the local area has always been good, and he has always kept to himself. The current king of Shu is my uncle again, and now Xu Yingyuan has put him under house arrest on the charge of gangsters, if the case cannot be determined for a long time, I am afraid that the people of Shu may be unstable.

Guizhou and Sichuan have already been greatly injured by the Lu'an Rebellion, and now they can no longer let the people of Shu turn their grievances to the court because of the case of the King of Shu.

Of course, the King of Shu has been placed under house arrest in the palace, and there must be an explanation for this case. If the case is closed without an explanation, the clan of the King of Shu will not be satisfied, the people of Shu will not be satisfied, and the clans and people of the world will not be satisfied.

Even if this matter is Xu Yingyuan's own opinion, I am afraid that the clans of the world will think that I have the idea of cutting the domain.

So I want to send someone to the southwest to handle a few things. The first was to pass the word for me, and asked Xu Yingyuan to escort the family of the King of Shu to Beijing and talk about my family relationship, and by the way, ask about the weapons and armor in the hands of the rebels.

Second, the matter of the king of Shu colluding with banditry may have some causal relationship with the Shu Wangfu objectively, but the king of Shu should have no intention of collaborating subjectively.

It is the king of Shu who went to Beijing not to ask about the case, but to narrate. After clarifying the ins and outs, you can return to Shu. During his stay in Beijing, the envoy also needed to temporarily preside over the affairs of the Shu Palace, until the King of Shu returned to the Shu Palace.

Li Chaoqin, would you like to serve as this messenger? ”