Compared with containing Yue Lengqiu, Dong Yuan and other foreign vassal forces, Huaidong currently faces an urgent problem that needs to be solved, which is what kind of power structure Huaidong must use to control Jiangning.
Emperor Yongxing ascended the throne in Jiangning. In order to cope with the situation at that time, he established the Imperial Camp Division to take charge of military affairs. The ministers of the Political Affairs Hall also served as the Imperial Camp envoys. The deputy envoys, including the Beijing camp army, were also placed under the framework of the Imperial Camp Division. The political power , unprecedented concentration of military power.
The Imperial Camp Army, Hanghu Army, and Huinan Army were successively defeated and disabled. Except for Jiangzhou Army, Huaixi Army, Jinghu Army, Xiangtan Army and other foreign vassals, Huaidong Army was almost all the troops and horses that South Vietnam could control.
Huang Jinnian said: "The authority that my lord holds today is the same as that of the imperial envoy. It is natural that the imperial envoy should be the chief assistant and concurrently serving as the imperial envoy. According to Jinnian's opinion, the lord should use the chief assistant and the imperial envoy to manage the state affairs..."
Lin Fu shook his head and said: "The Queen Mother invited Shen Rong to board the ship in Weiyang and come to Jiangning with her. She also wanted to invite Liu Tingzhou and Yuan to return to the government. After that, there were many verbal disputes in the political affairs hall. I don't have the energy to go to the political affairs hall all day long. Let’s go and start a quarrel…”
Qin Chengzu, Lin Mengde, Sun Jingxuan and others were not familiar with the official system and could not talk about this kind of topic, but they also felt that Huang Jinnian's idea was unreliable.
First, Lin Fu does not have so much energy to be involved in tedious administrative affairs. Secondly, once Lin Fu becomes the chief assistant, he will not be able to leave Jiangning and go to the front line to preside over the war in person. Currently, Lin Fu's status in the military is not high enough. Let someone else take your place.
In addition, Lin Xuwen is the deputy prime minister and lives with Lin Fu, which is very ugly in the eyes of outsiders. Furthermore, in the internal power structure of Huaidong, there cannot be a "second person" setting. Even if the successor will be involved in the future The question should also be chosen from among Lin Fu's descendants, not Lin Xuwen.
Once Lin Fu became the first assistant, Lin Xuwen would inevitably resign as deputy prime minister; and once Lin Xuwen resigned as deputy prime minister, there would be no other suitable official position in the court to place him.
Song Fu said: "Master has said: The wealth of the world belongs to the farmers, the prisons of the world belong to the imperial officers, and the soldiers of the world belong to the privy council - outside the political affairs hall, there is an additional privy council envoy, who is entrusted by the Lord. To control the military power of the world. With the power in hand, there is no need to worry about trivial matters. In addition, the power of the political affairs hall should be vested in various ministries and yamen. Even if the Queen Mother summons Yuan to return to power, Liu Tingzhou, Shen Rong enters Jiangning, it will not constitute a major problem... "
"What Song Gong said is very good." Gao Zongting was familiar with the official system and thought that if Song Fu had such an opinion, he might have thought deeply about it.
Lin Fu frowned. He was not familiar with the official system. He wanted to think about the strategy proposed by Song Fu.
Huaidong wanted to control the government. Except for him, Lin Xuwen, Huang Jinnian and several other people, including Qin Chengzu, Lin Mengde, Sun Jingxuan and others, none of them had enough qualifications to hold prominent positions.
Weakening the Zhengshitang and returning power to the Six Ministries, with Lin Mengde, Sun Jingxuan and others serving as ministers and other real power positions in the Six Ministries, can avoid the intensification of conflicts and provide a buffer time for Huaidong to digest the land south of the Yangtze River. , disbanding the original military and political system and concentrating military and political power in the Privy Council. First, it would grasp the big ones and let go of the small ones. Second, it would be conducive to implanting the Huaidong Military Division into the Privy Council system.
Lin Fu thought for a moment and then said: "Privy envoy is an official title, and the government office can be called Privy Council. The details are the work of Song Gong, Zong Ting and others. We will work out the details for the time being, and the Empress Dowager Liang and various foreign vassals will work on them." They have to bargain—Dong Yuan, Hu Wenmu, and Yue Lengqiu. I think they can’t be too stingy if they use the title of Deputy Privy Envoy!"
No matter what titles are given to Dong Yuan, Yue Lengqiu and others, it doesn't matter. The key lies in soldiers, horses and territory. After Huaidong controls Jiangning, Yue Lengqiu, Dong Yuan, Hu Wenmu and others will nominally obey Jiang Ning.
However, the trend of vassalization is difficult to change.
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Jiangning City had generally returned to peace on the sixth day of the lunar month. Although the war it experienced was not long, even less than ten days, it still left Jiangning with scars that were difficult to erase.
Nearly 20% of the houses in the city were set on fire, and tens of thousands of civilians died in the war. More people were robbed, their families were destroyed, and a large number of refugees from other places were still stranded in the city of Jiangning - and south of Jiangning,
Counties in the west were more completely destroyed by the war, and it will take a long time to eliminate the sequelae of the war.
Although the curfew will continue for some time, and there are still many deserters inside and outside Jiangning City to avoid arrest, most people are grateful that the war can be over so quickly.
Queen Mother Liang and King Hailing and their party sailed against the current to the west, and finally arrived at the mouth of Jinchuan River before noon on the sixth day of the Lunar New Year. Huang Jinnian rushed back to Jiangning in time to meet him.
In the early morning of the sixth day of the lunar month, Huang Jinnian, Zhang Yubo, Zhao Shuhan and other officials who stayed in Jiangning, as well as the few noble officials staying in Jiangning, such as Mu Guogong Zeng Yan, Yongchang Hou Yuan Jinqiu and others, went out of the Donghua Gate of Jiangning City to the mouth of Jinchuan River to welcome the return of the Queen Mother.
towards……
After arriving in Gutang County, Empress Dowager Liang learned the news about Chen Xiyan and Zeng Mingxin's sudden death on the day Jiangning was recovered from Liang Wenbai, the magistrate of Gutang County who boarded the ship to greet them.
For Shen Rong, the Queen Mother returned to court, which was undoubtedly a heavy blow.
Afterwards, the responsibility for the defeat of Huizhou and the abandonment of the capital and the flight to the west must be accounted for. Yu Xinyuan cannot be saved. Emperor Yongxing must issue an edict to blame himself. Zuo Chengmu, Cheng Yuqian, Wang Tian, Wang Xueshan and other officials who fled to the west must put their tail between their legs and become a good person.
, it is possible to escape the purge - only Chen Xiyan maintains his integrity and is highly popular, and can naturally continue to gather the Wu Party and the remaining forces in Jiangnan around him.
With Chen Xiyan inside and Yue Lengqiu and Dong Yuan outside, it is possible to restrict Huaidong from covering the sky with one hand above the court - now that Chen Xiyan has passed away, Yue Lengqiu and Dong Yuan will definitely not come to Jiangning to see Huai
Dong's expression was very lively, not to mention Lin Fu, there were very few officials in the court who were qualified to compete with Lin Xuwen and Huang Jinnian.
Empress Dowager Liang was supported by Hailing Princess Tian Shi and Yuan Yan as she tremblingly stepped off the riverside pier. Headed by Huang Jinnian, a handful of officials knelt on the pier to greet her.
Not many people from Shizi Qingliu came to greet him.
The gentry in Jiangning City who did not flee west with the emperor in time suffered much more than the civilians in the war. Those surrendered soldiers and rebel soldiers of the imperial camp knew where there were beautiful girls and young wives in Jiangning City.
, where are there more gold and silver treasures to plunder. The gentry who did not have time to escape from the city for refuge would naturally not be able to escape the catastrophe. How could they still be loyal to the imperial family who abandoned the capital and fled west? Even if they could escape into the imperial family in time
The people who had escaped the disaster felt more grateful to Huaidong.
Looking at the desolate scene in front of her, Queen Mother Liang couldn't help but sigh: This situation is more difficult than expected!
The Empress Dowager Liang wanted to greet the official Ping Shen, so she called Huang Jinnian and others to the front to ask: "Has Duke Pengcheng arrived in Jiangning?"
"Pengcheng County Lord is busy with military affairs. Maybe he can come to Jiangning in the afternoon to pay his respects to the Queen Mother..." Huang Jinnian said.
"Oh!" Queen Mother Liang responded softly, her voice was cold, and her heart was as bright as a mirror: Lin Fu delayed his return to Jiangning until the afternoon because he was busy with military affairs, just because he didn't bother to kneel down to greet her, an old woman, otherwise Lin Fu would
How could it be possible that Fu would not enter the city until four days after Jiangning was recaptured?
When the Zhejiang and Fujian armies occupied the outer city of Jiangning, in order to restrict Huaidong warships from penetrating into the hinterland, the Jinchuan River was blocked by shipwrecks in many places and had not yet been completely cleared. After the Empress Dowager Liang and her party landed on the shore, they took a chariot and entered through the Donghua Gate.
City, and then enter the Imperial City. Princess Yuanyan and King Hailing can live in the palace.
The imperial city is well preserved, but the buildings around the imperial city have been demolished. She Feihu initially had the intention of storming the imperial city, but he was unable to carry it out. The outside of the imperial city was flattened, and it looked particularly ugly.
broken.
***************
Lin Fu entered the city from Fengyang Gate in Nancheng in the afternoon. Compared with the deserted situation when Empress Dowager Liang entered the city, Lin Fu's entry into the city was much more lively. Both sides of Yuqian Street were crowded with people waiting to greet her.
Lin Fu rode on horseback, surrounded by Su guards and horses, and many hidden sentries were deployed among the crowds along the street to guard against assassins.
Naturally, it was inconvenient for Lin Fu to move into the imperial city directly. Chen Yuan, which had been used as a residence for Li Zhuo and Yue Lengqiu earlier, was located on Yuqian Street. She Feihu also briefly used Chen Yuan as a carriage to facilitate supervision nearby.
In the offensive against the imperial city, She Feihu abandoned Jiangning and retreated. Although he sent people to set fire to Chen Garden, because Chen Garden was quite close to the imperial city, the fire was put out in time and the damage was not serious.
Zhao Hu led the First Brigade of the Tianjin Navy and was mainly stationed between the Imperial City and Chen Garden. Lin Fu moved into Chen Garden so that he could control the Imperial City nearby.
Before arriving at Chen Yuan, Lin Fu dismounted his horse and raised his head to look at the eaves of the corridor. The place where the door plaque was hung was empty, with deep traces of time. The left corner door had scorch marks from the fire.
Seeing Lin Fu looking up at the eaves of the corridor without looking in, holding the reins in his hands and not asking others to lead the horse away, Sun Jingxuan said with a smile: "You have to ask someone to get up there quickly!"
"It's better to wait for a few days. If you make one piece today and have to replace it every few days, isn't it troublesome?" Lin Mengde said with a smile.
After entering Jiangning City today, how could these people not feel proud? Lin Mengde's words were unexpected. Lin Fu was the Duke at this moment, and he might be the Duke or the King in a few days.
Lin Fu just smiled faintly, ignored the conversation between Lin Mengde and Sun Jingxuan about the forehead, and said to the people behind him: "You go in first and wait. I will go to Mu Guo Mansion to worship the old Duke and then come back!"
"When your lord goes to Mu Guo Mansion to worship, you should also go to Chen Xiangye's house to worship. We are not tired, so we can go with your lord," Song Fu said.
Lin Fu then thought about it and understood what Song Fu meant. Both Zeng Laoguo and Chen Xiyan died of exhaustion while guarding Jiangning. Worshiping them immediately upon entering the city further demonstrated Emperor Yongxing's lack of virtue. Lin Fu sighed in his heart.
Just like Mr. Zeng, there were only a handful of people who believed in him and helped him. Unfortunately, they all died one after another, leaving him unable to repay him even if he wanted to.
When he first heard the news of the death of Old Duke Zeng in Liyang, the joy of regaining Jiangning was diluted a lot. Lin Fu thought of going to pay homage to Old Duke Zeng first when he arrived in Jiangning. However, Song Fu was reminded that he was at Chen Xiyan's house.
I really need to take a trip.
What else is disappointing is that when they entered Jiangning, Zhang Yubo, Zhao Shuhan, and Yuan Jinqiu were all hiding. Will they become strangers in the future? She didn't know that Song Jia knew that She Feihu died in the Yiyang River Estuary.
How would he feel after hearing the news? - Lin Fu pinched his nose and realized that entering Jiangning City was not as relaxing as he imagined. All the things were weighing on his mind one after another, and he didn't know when he could take a break.