Chongzhen Daming: Starting from Coal Mountain

Chapter 319 Uprooting the Foundation
"Are you threatening me?" Chongzhen laughed, "You want to say that justice does not depend on people's hearts, but in your Donglin Party, the people in Jiangnan will only believe in your Donglin Party, right?"

"That's not what I said." Yuan Pengnian said sarcastically.

"But if the Holy Majesty insists on understanding it this way, I can't argue with it."

"It's quite vigilant, and the words are tight." Chongzhen smiled, and said to the outside of the carriage, "Go to Chaoku Street."

The imperial chariot turned a corner and turned from Taipingmen Street to Chaoku Street. After driving for about half an hour, a high-pitched voice came from outside the carriage: "Long Live Lord, we've reached the end of the road."

Chongzhen said, "Open the curtain."

Gao Qiqian is about to lift the gauze curtain on the side of the imperial chariot.

Chongzhen pointed to a building on the street and said to Yuan Pengnian, "Yuan Pengnian, where do you think this is?"

"Qingyuan Teahouse?" Yuan Pengnian said with a smile, "Could it be that the Holy Majesty wants to invite ministers here for tea?"

"Will you drink tea?" Chongzhen said with a smile, "Look at that storyteller again, do you know him?"

"Isn't this Liu Mazi and Liu Jingting?" Yuan Pengnian said, "Your Majesty likes to listen to books? Then you can find the right person. Liu Mazi said that storytelling is a masterpiece."

Chongzhen said indifferently: "Listen to what he is saying again?"

Yuan Pengnian frowned slightly, but he still listened attentively. Although he was a little far away, he could vaguely hear Liu Jingting's clear voice.

"... But this Yuan family is said to be a family of officials in Huai'an."

"His father, Yuan Zhongdao, and his uncles Yuan Zongdao and Yuan Hongdao are collectively called Sanyuan, and they are quite well-known in literature."

Hearing this sentence, Yuan Pengnian frowned for a moment, and said three yuan?Official family?The key point is that the names of these three Yuans are the same as those of Yuan Pengnian's father and two uncles!What is Liu Jingting going to do?

Only Liu Jingting continued: "Let's say that the Jiannu army besieged Shanyang. Because they couldn't attack for a long time and suffered heavy casualties, the ten kings of Jiannu were unhappy. Yuan Pengnian immediately stepped forward to offer advice and said: "If you report to the ten kings, the slaves have a plan. Shanyang The city is at your fingertips! The women and goods in the city are all owned by the ten kings and the Qing Dynasty!"

"Ah this?" Yuan Pengnian's expression changed drastically.

When I listened again, I saw that there was already a lot of scolding in the teahouse.

"Traitor, so this Yuan Pengnian is a traitor!"

"Mother thief, the next time we meet again, I will hit him with rotten eggs!"

"Mom, this dog traitor is too bad, I will scold him later!"

In an instant, the book peddlers, peddlers, and even green gangsters inside and outside the teahouse were filled with righteous indignation. If Yuan Pengnian appeared in front of them at this time, he would definitely be beaten.

Yuan Pengnian's face was livid with anger, and said, "What does Your Majesty mean by this?"

"Liu Jingting is just the beginning." Chongzhen said coldly, "Afterwards, storytellers throughout Nanjing and even Jiangnan will tell the same stories in teahouses, docks, and streets and alleys in various cities."

"The content of the storytelling is the same. It is Yuan Pengnian who helped Jiannu attack Shanyang."

"But in the end, because of losing the battle, he was castrated by Jiannu and sent to the palace."

"I believe that the people in Jiangnan will re-evaluate you and the Yuan family after listening to it."

"Zhu Youjian! You stupid king!" Yuan Pengnian no longer concealed it at the moment, and said angrily, "You are here to deliberately ruin the reputation of my police Yuan family, are you worthy of being a king?"

"Then you murdered the king and conspired against him, are you worthy of being a minister?"

Chongzhen sneered and said: "I did this just to let you understand that not only your Donglin Party will lead the public opinion, even though your Donglin Party has been deeply rooted in the south of the Yangtze River for forty years, I also have the ability to disintegrate overnight Get rid of your manipulation of public opinion, just a simple paragraph about Pingshu is enough."

"Zhu Youjian, one day you will pay the price for your deeds."

After saying this, Yuan Pengnian said again: "What's more, you can fool these foolish men and women, but you can't fool the scholars in Jiangnan. The gentlemen in Jiangnan are not so easily deceived by you."

Chongzhen smiled, and said: "Gao Banban, go to Tongji Street."

Even if Gao Qiqian put down the gauze curtain, he drove to Tongji Street again.

About two quarters of an hour later, Gao Qiqian said through the curtain again: "My lord, we have reached the end of the ground."

After Gao Qiqian rolled up the gauze curtain, Chongzhen pointed to the building in front of him under the light and said, "Yuan Pengnian, look at this again."

Yuan Pengnian looked in the direction of Chongzhen's finger, and saw a two-story building. Although it was late at night, the lights inside were brightly lit.

There are quite a few people coming in and out.

He looked very busy.

Chongzhen pointed to the lintel and said, "Look at the lintel."

Yuan Pengnian moved his gaze upwards and landed on the lintel on the first floor, and saw a huge plaque hanging on it, on which was written "Huangming Times" in seal script.

"Emperor Ming Times?" Yuan Pengnian couldn't help but read aloud.

"Yes, Huangming Times." Chongzhen said, "Do you know what this is?"

Naturally, Yuan Pengnian didn't know, so he could only keep silent, and it seemed that he was very ignorant when asked.

"I'm sorry you don't know." Chongzhen said, "I'll tell you straight, this is a kind of newspaper. It not only contains stereotyped essays about imperial examinations, but also poems and songs loved by ladies and gentlemen in the boudoir. The anecdotes and ghosts and fox fairies that He Shengdou likes to hear, of course, must have been announced by the court."

"Huh?" Yuan Pengnian instantly realized the power of the newspaper.

Such a newspaper is much more powerful than word of mouth among scholars.

But then he said to himself, such a mansion report must be worth a lot.

In this case, the problem is not big, because the price is expensive, and the contact surface of the residence newspaper is limited.

Especially as long as they left Nanjing, the news in the village had to be passed on by word of mouth from scholars who sympathized with their Donglin Party.

However, Yuan Pengnian's idea was quickly shattered, because Chongzhen immediately said: "The most important thing is that such a newspaper only sells for three pennies!"

"What? Three pennies?" Yuan Pengnian said dumbfounded, "How is this possible!"

Chongzhen said coldly: "Selling only three articles will definitely lose money, but I let people run this newspaper not to make money, but to enlighten the people's wisdom, so that the people in the south of the Yangtze River and Shilin will not be deceived and fooled by your Donglin Party!"

"It's Zhu Youjian who wants to deceive the common people and Jiangnan scholars." Yuan Pengnian sneered.

But it can be seen that Yuan Pengnian has obviously lost the confidence he had just now, and his momentum has been sluggish.

Yuan Pengnian is obviously discerning. He has already seen that under Chongzhen's combination of punches, the Donglin Party will not only lose its ability to control the people's opinions in the south of the Yangtze River, even the scholars in the south of the Yangtze River will not follow them. As for dancing, it means that from this moment on, the foundation of their Donglin Party has been eradicated by Chongzhen!

Without the foundation under their feet, how can the Donglin Party compete with the imperial power?
Chongzhen's face turned cold, and he said: "Yuan Pengnian, my patience is limited, and time is even more precious, because there are too many things waiting for me to deal with, so I don't have time to waste with you."

"I'm going to give you two choices now, one is to confess your guilt voluntarily."

"As long as you take the initiative to plead guilty, I can promise that you will not be as guilty as your family."

"Especially the reputation of your police Yuan's family will never be affected in any way."

"But you may not escape death yourself, and you will lose your reputation."

"Secondly, that is to resist to the end, and then wait for the three clans to be annihilated."

"In fact, I really don't like to engage in slander, and I hate things like melon copying, but if someone insists on forcing me to do this, then I will have to kill."

After saying this, Chongzhen said again: "I will give you three days, you should think it through carefully."

"Zhu Youjian, I don't have to think about it!" Yuan Pengnian snorted, "I can definitely reply to you now, the regicide case has nothing to do with me, Yuan Pengnian, if it doesn't matter, it doesn't matter!"

Chongzhen shook his head, and said again: "Go back to the prison and think it through."

After finishing speaking, Yuan Pengnian was escorted into another carriage by Jin Yiwei.

The Chongzhen father and son returned directly to Guozijian on the imperial chariot.

……

In the evening of the next day, outside the Jixian Gate of the Imperial College.

As soon as Zhang Dai got off the carriage, he saw Chen Zhenhui walking towards him.

"Brother Dingsheng?" Zhang Dai hurried forward to say hello, "Are you also coming to the Imperial College to attend the trial of the regicide?"

"Brother Zongzi." Chen Zhenhui bowed to Zhang Dai, got up and said, "Now the Holy Majesty is personally trying the case. This is an unprecedented event that is rarely seen in a hundred years. How can we miss it?"

Chen Zhenhui's tone contained first-class sarcasm.

Although Chen Zhenhui spoke cryptically, Zhang Dai could still hear it.

Zhang Dai frowned slightly, because recently there was a private discussion among scholars in Nanjing that the regicide case in Yangzhou was arranged by the Holy Majesty himself.

The purpose is to frame the Donglin Party.

Then take the opportunity to set up a big prison and eradicate the Donglin Party.

Zhang Dai didn't believe this, he didn't think His Majesty would do this.

On the contrary, Zhang Dai felt that the possibility of the Donglin Party killing the king was actually very high.

But Chen Zhenhui obviously didn't think so, he obviously leaned towards the Donglin Party.

In Zhang Dai's heart, he didn't want to go with Chen Zhenhui, but he couldn't tell because of his feelings, so he could only follow Chen Zhenhui into Jixianmen.

It happened that there were also two scholars walking in.

I vaguely heard the two scholars discussing: Will Jin Yiwei use punishment?
"Brother Zongzi, what do you think?" Chen Zhenhui asked, "Do you think Jin Yiwei really can't use punishment?"

Zhang Dai frowned slightly and said: "The Holy Majesty has already said that no punishment will be imposed, and Jin Yiwei will definitely not dare to impose punishment. Otherwise, it would be contemptuous of the emperor, and it would be disrespectful."

"Brother Zongzi, you are such a nerd." Chen Zhenhui said, "Since ancient times, I have thought that there is no punishment in handling a case? Although the Holy Majesty said that he would not impose punishment, but if Jin Yiwei did impose punishment, would the Holy Majesty still punish him severely? Think What? Jin Yiwei is the minion raised by the Holy One, can he still abolish his own minion?"

"Brother Dingsheng, be careful with your words." Zhang Dai really couldn't listen.

(End of this chapter)