What is even more frightening is that due to a series of bad actions by the new emperor, the current Nanming court is also in the process of disintegration.
When the city of Beijing was captured and the news of Emperor Chongzhen's death reached Nanjing, Shi Kefa, as the Minister of War in Nanjing, became the head of the civil service without hesitation. The top priority at this time was of course to establish a new emperor.
But then, the Qing army and Guan Ning cavalry served King Lu to "side" the Qing emperor; Li Zicheng's Dashun army was defeated in Yutian; the Runing army went north to King Qin, regained the capital and rescued the prince; Wu Shigong wore a yellow robe. This series of dazzling news made Nanjing ministers We were all confused. By the time everything was settled, more than a month had passed.
However, during this period of more than a month, surrounding the establishment of the new emperor, those ministers also restored the "fine traditions" of the Ming Dynasty's civil servants and began to go into battle shirtless and engage in a fierce party struggle.
According to his close blood relationship with Emperor Chongzhen, King Fu Zhu Yousong was the natural choice for the new king. However, Qian Qianyi and other officials and gentry who were keen on the Donglin clan rallied to support King Lu. Of course, the real intention of these Donglin Party members was Exclude King Fu in order to ensure the political control of the Donglin-Fu Socialist Party during the Chongzhen period. Especially if King Lu is elected as a distant clan branch, Qian Qianyi and others must have contributed to "setting the strategy" You can have a meteoric rise.
As a powerful figure, Shi Ke was in a dilemma. He was the favorite disciple of Zuo Guangdou, a member of the Donglin Party. Naturally, he had doubts about supporting the succession of the Fu clan, but he was also worried that abandoning relatives and establishing strangers would cause greater political turmoil.
Finally, Shi Kefa personally wrote a letter to senior officials in Nanjing to explain his decision-making opinions: "Who welcomes Gui? It is for blessings and benefits that there is a will to establish Gui. The Lu Fan imitates the ancient military and horse marshal system and temporarily borrows the commander-in-chief. Soldiers and horses." The officials and gentry in Nanjing were quite satisfied with this compromise plan, and the Nanjing Ministry of Rites prepared to travel to Guangxi to meet the King of Gui by means of legal relics.
But at this moment, the situation took a turn for the worse. Lu Jiude, the eunuch guarding Nanjing, secretly colluded with the commander-in-chief Gao Jie and Huang Degong, and Liu Liangzuo decided to support Zhu Yousong, the blessed king.
Because Lu Jiude served the old Fu King Zhu Changxun in the palace during the last years of Wanli, so after Zhu Yousong's behind-the-scenes planning, Lu Jiude went on to lobby for cooperation.
The active participation and support of Gao Jie, Huang Degong, Liu Liangzuo and others was obviously to gain "the credit for deciding the policy" and to enhance their political status.
As for those Donglin Party ministers who originally did not agree with the establishment of King Fu, most of them immediately took advantage of the situation. For their own rights, they took the time to express their allegiance to King Fu Zhu Yousong. However, Shi Kefa was still kept in the dark and continued to write letters saying that Zhu Yousong " The seven reasons that cannot be established are: greed, sexual immorality, drunkenness, unfilial piety, abuse of subordinates, illiteracy, and interfering with officials.
However, when Nanjing ministers were invited by Lu Jiude to his home and circulated letters of allegiance from Gao Jie, Huang Degong, Liu Liangzuo and others, although many people were shocked, they had no military power, and their plan to establish Gui and Lu was dead. In my heart, I lost my support and had no choice but to agree against my will.
In the establishment of the new monarch, Shi Kefa was completely in charge of the situation and was subject to chaos. As a civil servant who was pro-Donglin Party, his behavior was due to some sectarian opinions. But the more important reason was that Shi Kefa had a certain personality in his character. His fatal weakness is that he lacks great talents and strategies. He always wants to deal with everything and be appropriate in all directions, but in the end, it backfires.
However, it was Shi Kefa who really had the decision-making power for a time. However, he hesitated on such a major issue and did not make a decisive decision to support King Fu, which caused Zhu Yousong to seek help from the general. From then on, the power of the small court in the Southern Ming Dynasty fell away. Shi Kefa should bear the main responsibility. .
King Fu Zhu Yousong first took office as the supervisor of the country. He immediately presided over the court meeting to elect cabinet bachelors. As a result of the meeting, Shi Kefa, the former Minister of the Ministry of War in Nanjing, was appointed as the bachelor of Dongge and the Minister of Rites to serve in the cabinet. Soon he was appointed as the Minister of Dongge and the Minister of Rites. Jiang Yueguang, the former Zhan Shifu of the Ministry of Rites, was the Zuo Shilang of the Ministry of Rites, and Wang Duo, the former Shangshu of the Ministry of Rites, who was also a bachelor of Dongge, came to serve in the cabinet. Zhang Shenyan was appointed as the Shangshu of the Ministry of Personnel, and Liu Zongzhou was appointed as the Zuodu censor of the Imperial Procuratorate. Other yamen officials also made arrangements.
Moreover, according to the intentions of Shi Kefa, Gao Hongtu, Zhang Shenyan and others, King Fu Zhu Yousong tried his best to let "gentlemen" occupy key positions, so that the court would have a new atmosphere at the beginning. In the beginning, they were able to get what they wanted in arranging important ministers in the court. However, this kind of The situation quickly changed.
The battle for power in the imperial court began with the chief minister. According to the system of the Ming Dynasty, the Minister of War in Nanjing ranked first among the officials in the capital. When the Hongguang court was first established, Shi Kefa became the natural chief scholar. But on the issue of decision-making, Shi Kefa's first The performance of both sides of the rat did not gain Zhu Yousong's trust. Therefore, some people, including the nobles, immediately followed the wind. For example, Wei Guogong Xu Hongji and others originally supported Shi Kefa as a man of heaven. "The power is transferred slightly, "Every stone that falls will rise again"; now he is advocating that the law can be punished by "diligence is useless" and "can be killed"
Therefore, Shi Kefa, who finally could not bear the pressure, asked himself to be the governor of Huaiyang on the grounds that Jiangbei had to have important ministers and governors. Zhu Yousong also approved Shi Kefa as the governor.
It is true that Shi Kefa was relatively honest and upright as an official, but if you think that if he stayed in the court and held power, he could protect Jiangzuo and restore the Central Plains, then you would be overestimating Shi Kefa's political vision and courage, and you would not understand what was brewing in the Southern Ming Dynasty. When the country was founded, Shi Kefa was restrained by the key elements of the Donglin Party and had already made a big mistake.
It is secondly that Shi Kefa himself cannot gain the trust of the new emperor. The real key lies in Zhu Yousong, who should inherit the throne according to the moral order. He is about to be rejected by the princes of Donglin. In order to ascend to the great treasure, he has to turn to military generals. This leads to The generals who had no achievements to record one by one regarded themselves as the heroes who made decisions.
However, Shi Kefa, who once held great power, failed to seize this fleeting opportunity to determine the safety and security of the country. The decision-making power fell into the hands of the warlords. Once Hongguang was established, whether he was assisting the government or Even the military governors abroad could not change the situation where military commanders were threatening the imperial court and had no intention of making progress.
Shi Kefa suffered the consequences and was forced to relinquish his position as chief assistant to the governor across the river. This only proved that his decision was wrong and the situation was lost and irreversible. A group of scholar-bureaucrats who tended to the Donglin Party shouted, "Qin Hui is included. "Li Gang is out", the country will be destroyed, but it is actually too late.
Therefore, for those in power, they must not make mistakes on key issues at critical moments, otherwise they will make mistakes every step of the way. Shi Kefa and Hong Guangchao also entered the precarious situation.