Compared with Zhang Xianzhong's first suppression and then promotion, Li Zicheng and Luo Rucai were very proud of themselves at this time. After capturing Luoyang, Li Zicheng appointed a surrendered Ming Dynasty official as the head of Luoyang, and tried to establish a sense of security for the first time. Of course, in

Later, during Zuo Liangyu's battle to regain Luoyang City, Luoyang City fell into the hands of the imperial court again, and the official was also executed by Zuo Liangyu, but after all, Li Zicheng began to take the initiative to establish political power.

At this time, the Li and Luo coalition forces were looking for a "capital" for their own regime. The first thing Li Zicheng set his sights on was Kaifeng City. However, during the siege of Kaifeng, the camp was repelled by the city's defenders and the Runing Army.

So Li Zicheng set his sights on the backup target - Xiangyang.

But at this time, the coalition forces of Li and Luo could not feel at ease to occupy Xiangyang, because Fu Zonglong, the governor of the three sides of Shaanxi Province, led the commander-in-chief He Renlong, and the deputy commander-in-chief Li Guoqi, together with the commander-in-chief Hu Dawei led by Yang Wenyue, the governor of Baoding

The troops were in hot pursuit, and Zuo Liangyu, who had defeated Zhang Xianzhong's troops, also joined the battle group, and the Runing army on the side was watching eagerly.

So the coalition forces of Li and Luo began to use the rapid movement that the peasant army was good at. When Fu Zonglong, the commander-in-chief of the Ming army, saw that the peasant army was leaving without fighting, he mistook it as a sign of cowardice and led his army in pursuit.

But at this time, the Jiangnan Shilin community was in a turmoil. As if they had not seen the war situation in the world, they started a campaign to push the former chief minister who had returned to his hometown to retire and the spokesperson of the Donglin Party - Zhou Yanru to the top again.

in the auxiliary position.

To be honest, sometimes I have to admire Emperor Chongzhen's willpower and psychological endurance. Not to mention his ability to govern the country, just think about it, if it is an ordinary person, if he encounters a deteriorating national situation for more than ten years, it may be early.

He was so drunk that he gave up on himself. But Emperor Chongzhen was still able to handle state affairs with all his heart and soul. Judging from his performance, he was really a role model among emperors!

Therefore, the current Emperor Chongzhen is just like before. After being stimulated, he thought of cheering up. So he first felt the pain of Safu's mediocrity.

On February 24th, Emperor Chongzhen summoned his courtiers once despite being ill. In the Dongnuan Pavilion of the Palace of Qianqing, he feebly said to the courtiers: "I have been ruling the world for fourteen years. The country is troubled and there is famine.

It's really pitiful that everyone keeps eating each other. Recently, the bandits captured Luoyang again. King Fu was killed. Even his uncle couldn't be saved. It's all due to my lack of morality. I'm so ashamed that I'm dying!"

As he spoke, Emperor Chongzhen couldn't help but shed tears, and the more he cried, the more grief he felt, and finally he broke down in mourning and burst into tears. This was the first time that he openly broke down in tears when summoning his courtiers, and he started crying from then on.

From then on, it often happened that I cried in front of the ministers.

But when the courtiers saw the emperor falling seriously ill because of worries about the country, and communicating with each other in tears because of sadness, they were speechless and could not think of a good strategy to save the country and strengthen it. In order to comfort the emperor, Fan Fucui, the first assistant, just said again and again: "This is

Qi number. Qi number!"

Emperor Chongzhen had no choice but to reply to him unhappily: "This cannot be said to be Qi Shuo. Even Qi Shuo must be restored by human power." The ministers then continued to remain silent for an indefinite period.

It is no wonder that Emperor Chongzhen was dissatisfied with the minister who only cried and said nothing. Therefore, he wanted to change his appearance again.

Since Wen Tiren returned to his hometown, there have been several rounds of assistant ministers. The first assistant has successively used Zhang Zhifa, Liu Yuliang, Xue Guoguan, and Fan Fucui, but none of them is suitable, let alone a king's assistant who can manage the country.

Emperor Chongzhen's original intention was to let Yang Sichang be the chief assistant, but in order to suppress the banditry, he had to let him go out of the capital to supervise the division. In the end, he was ruined. He felt sorry for Yang Sichang. He also felt sorry for himself, because after careful consideration,

After this, he could no longer find anyone he could trust among the courtiers to assist him.

The country was in crisis and he missed his loyal ministers, so he recalled several ministers who had served beside him. The more capable Han Xu, Sun Chengzong and Wen Tiren were all dead. It seemed that only Zhou Yanru, the former chief minister who had been particularly appreciated by him, was still alive.

Not satisfactory. It seems that for this dilapidated country, the only choice is to re-appoint Zhou Yanru.

Just when Emperor Chongzhen was having a hard time choosing a new chief minister, a powerful "outside activity group" was also busy working for Zhou Yanru's restoration. This group was the Jiangnan Fushe, which was famous in both the government and the public.

The establishment and growth process of Fushe will not be described in detail. If you are interested, you can consult historical materials. We only need to know that at this time, Fushe had already controlled the scientific examination in the Jiangnan area, and it was difficult for non-Fushe people to win. Moreover, Fushe

The society also intervened in the appointment of officials in the officialdom.

As the power and influence of Fushe increased, the reputation of Fushe leader Zhang Pu and his main assistants also skyrocketed, and they seemed to be somewhat arrogant. Moreover, most of them were from Jiangnan aristocratic families, and they had a similar relationship with the Donglin Party members.

Due to the inextricable connections and the fact that their moral standards are mostly consistent with Donglin's, Fushe has always been a staunch supporter of Donglin in terms of political stance. There are also many members of Fushe who are simply

A descendant of the famous Donglin Party member.

The Fushe controlled the political elections in Jiangnan and almost controlled the fate of the scholars, which naturally benefited the people inside the society a lot, but also attracted the hatred of the scholars outside the society; their fierce support for the political stance of the Donglin Party also made

Those who opposed Donglin in the bureaucracy looked sideways at them. Therefore, since the early years of Chongzhen, incidents of criticizing the restoration of society had occurred frequently. By the ninth or tenth year of Chongzhen, this kind of criticism formed a "gaochao".

Feeling threatened, the backbones of Fushe felt even more the importance and urgency of participating in politics and developing political strength. After that, they became more active in forming parties to participate in politics and creating public opinion. And before the 14th year of Chongzhen

, they also did two remarkable things.

One incident occurred in July of the 11th year of Chongzhen. A group of young people in the Fushe published a campaign against the eunuch Ruan Dacheng in Nanjing, "Remaining in the Capital to Prevent Rebellion".

What's funny is that Ruan Dacheng has always been very flattering to these people in Fushe. For example: he took the initiative to help Hou Fangyu, one of the four young masters of Fushe, with Li Xiangjun, a famous prostitute in Jiangnan, and also invited the young masters of Fushe to his home to drink and watch a play.

.However, after the young men of Fushe drank wine and watched a play, they mocked and scolded Ruan Dacheng in person. Moreover, they were even more vigilant about this, thinking that Ruan Dacheng's actions were clearly preparations for overturning the verdict.

Ruan Dacheng, on the other hand, was in a state of embarrassment. He also wrote a piece of paper "Repaying False Accusations" as a reply, and asked people to go around to explain and plead to the princes of Fushe. Naturally, all he received was slander. Under such insults,

So Ruan Dacheng had the desire to make friends with Wu Shigong, a warrior.

Although another major activity carried out by the Restoration Society was not as dramatic and lively as the attack on Ruan Dacheng, it had a more direct and far-reaching impact on imperial politics. In the thirteenth year of Chongzhen, the Restoration Society people worked closely with the Donglin Party members in the DPRK.

, removed Xue Guoguan, the chief minister of the cabinet.

Judging from the factional system in the court, Xue Guoguan belongs to the group of people who openly confront Donglin Party members. It is precisely because he dared to openly confront Donglin that he was recommended by Wen Tiren and appreciated by Emperor Chongzhen. The Donglin Party

Of course, people are very dissatisfied with having such an antagonistic chief minister in charge of the country, and by extension, people in the community also feel very depressed.

At this time, Xue Guoguan lost the favor of Emperor Chongzhen because of Wu Qinghou Li Guorui's donation to the treasury and the death of the emperor's fifth son.

The inversion movement.

This activity, mainly conducted by members of Fushe, is different from the behavior of Donglin Party members in the past. Donglin prides himself on his integrity. Even when attacking political opponents, he is generally straightforward and openly evasive and even reprimands in front of the emperor.

But Wu Changshi preferred to take the feminine path. Wu Changshi tried his best to make friends with the eunuchs in the palace and the leaders of Dongchang. He said many good words and gave many generous gifts, and then asked the eunuchs in the palace and Dongchang personnel to constantly reveal things that were not beneficial to Xue Guoguan in front of the emperor.

information.

Dongchang was originally not interested in Xue Guoguan, but once, when Emperor Chongzhen asked about the corruption of the courtiers, Xue Guoguan once said to Emperor Chongzhen: "If the managers of Dongchang and Jinyiwei were effective, how could the courtiers dare to act so recklessly?"

?”

At this time, Wang Dehua, the eunuch of the Governor Dongchang who was standing aside, was so frightened that he broke into a cold sweat and soaked his clothes. However, Emperor Chongzhen did not pursue the supervisor of Dongchang for this, but Dongchang remembered Xue Guoguan's hatred from then on.

, always looking for opportunities to retaliate.

With Fushe sending money, giving ideas, and Dongchang copying knives, you know what happened to Xue Guoguan. So Emperor Chongzhen saw the "evidence" of Xue Guoguan forming a party and accepting bribes. And Emperor Chongzhen could never forgive the corruption and bribery of courtiers.

He was in a clique with him, and was extremely angry at the actions of his chief assistant. Coupled with the old debt of the death of his beloved son, he finally could no longer tolerate Xue Guoguan staying by his side as his chief assistant.

After some secret operations, Emperor Chongzhen finally gave the order to let Xue Guoguan retire and go home. However, the members of Fushe, the eunuchs of Dongchang and Emperor Chongzhen himself did not give up, and even wanted to catch this drowned dog and beat him up.

On the night of the eighth day of August, Xue Guoguan, who had been captured in the capital, had already fallen asleep when the royal guards and warriors who delivered the edict suddenly arrived. When he saw that the edicts were all wearing red robes, he was shocked and looked for him in panic.

Since he couldn't find his own hat, he had to put the servant's hat on his head to receive the order.

When Xue Guoguan heard the imperial edict announcing that he should commit suicide, he lay on the ground and could not get up. He just muttered drowsily: "It was Wuchang who killed me, it was Wuchang who killed me!" Later, he regained his composure and heard the edict.
Chapter completed!