Emperor Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 148 Arresting Zhang Shenyan
When a society has been scattered for a long time, it needs to reunite, especially when it encounters strong external pressure, it needs a leader, even a deified leader, so as to visualize and concretize the common interests of all.

The behavior of the Donglin Party and its derived Fushe members and many officials and gentlemen who formed them in the late Ming society has already aroused dissatisfaction among many people.

Taking up lawsuits, threatening the government, and even deceiving the emperor and the people are all their crimes, which even lead to deepening conflicts between the North and the South.

As a result, strong civil uprisings are naturally frequent.

Not only the violent peasant uprising in the north, but also in a rich and affluent place like the south of the Yangtze River, there have been incidents of people copying Dong's mansion?
From Zhang Juzheng's reform to the party struggle between the Donglin Party and the Eunuch Party, and the struggle between Wen Tiren and Zhou Yanru in the Chongzhen Dynasty, is it not the obvious feature of the intensified struggle.

People are eager to have an authoritative court and emperor, instead of constantly speculating for their own interests, and even staged various party disputes, especially at this critical moment when the northern capital has fallen and the country and society are in crisis.

As long as there are still ideal scholars eagerly hoping, Daming will no longer be a mess.

Coincidentally, now that Zhu Youjian, as the emperor, has put forward his ideal of revitalizing the Ming Dynasty in the whole of Jiangnan, it also meets the psychological needs of the vast majority of people who still have conscience and national consciousness, especially the psychological needs of middle and lower class scholars.

They are not willing to delve into whether Zhu Youjian is a selfish dictator or an ambitious man. They only want to think that His Majesty Zhu Youjian can solve their current confusion.

Because everyone knows that today's Ming Dynasty needs a strong emperor to rule.

Especially when this kind of people's hearts are not ancient, and even the descendants of saints like Kong Yinzhi are speculating again, everyone needs to believe in a person or the ideal that that person represents again.

In fact, the reason why Gao Hongtu chose to betray the Donglin Party was not only because he was afraid of death, but also because he believed that the Ming Dynasty could live without the Donglin Party but not without the Emperor Zhu Youjian.

Shi Kefa chose to obey Zhu Youjian, and through getting along with Zhu Youjian every day, he discovered the importance of Zhu Youjian in leading Ming Dynasty out of the current crisis.

The entire Ming Empire can be ruled without him, but there must be Chongzhen Emperor Zhu Youjian.

And if Daming wants to continue to exist, they must obey Zhu Youjian unconditionally.

The people need a dominant leader.

And Zhang Shenyan's behavior is to cultivate a puppet leader, and then seek benefits for his own small group. This kind of behavior is the real reason for the anger of most gentry and people in the south of the Yangtze River.

People's eyes are sharp.

In this era, the brutality of the Jinyiwei in the East Factory, the expansion of the emperor's desire, etc., are no longer the main causes of social instability.

What the people really need is that when foreign enemies oppress the country, thieves plunder or even plagues break out and disasters occur, the previous government with strong ability to control and maintain stability is gone.

Therefore, it is by no means accidental that Zhu Youjian has come so far. He mobilized the Donglin Party and killed the big bureaucrats and squires in the south of the Yangtze River, which did not affect his influence among the people at the bottom, but only offended some bureaucrats.

The bureaucratic class is the most scattered and the hardest to unite, and the easiest to divide and exploit. After all, they are all educated people, and educated people are prone to traitors and loyal ministers.

If a scholar rebels, it won't happen in ten years, and the knife inside the ruling group will not affect the rule of the empire, and at most it will lead to personal tragedies.

Wang Anshi's reforms and Zhang Juzheng's reforms did not lead to the immediate collapse of the empire, but they both intensified the division within the ruling group.

In the original history, the Manchu Qing Dynasty was able to gain a firm foothold by massacres in the end. It was not because of this. The people were not afraid of your brutal ruling methods, but they were afraid that you would not give him a stable era.

The world seeks governance, not chaos.

Zhang Shenyan wanted to mess up Jiangnan, and the behavior of messing up the court was spread by Guangming Daily, Gao Hongtu, Shi Kefa and other Jiangnan celebrities who had taken refuge in Zhu Youjian, which made Zhang Shenyan and others the target of public criticism.

Zhang Shenyan looked at the crowd outside insulting him and yelling to knock him down, he was stunned, it was only a few days, he didn't expect this to happen.

Ma Shaoyu, the right servant of the Ministry of Rites, ran in: "Master Ge, hurry up, the gentry and common people all over the city are clamoring to eat your flesh and drink your blood, and your students Wang Yan and Sun Zhengqiang have been murdered alive." Beaten to death."

"Why did it suddenly become like this?"

As Zhang Shenyan spoke, he picked up the memorandum he had drafted to impeach Shi Kefa and set up Guangming Daily to manipulate public opinion, wondering if he was a step too late?
"Just look at this newspaper and you will know that you are the secret agent of Jiannu, Zuo Liangyu's accomplice, intending to mess up Jiangnan, so that Daming can reproduce the disaster of the Song Dynasty, and they are saying that you are Qin Hui of Daming, who surrendered Pai, it’s not just the people below who criticize you, Gao Hongtu and Shi Kefa also jointly criticize you, cut off your robes, and your student Chen Zhenhui also expressed that they want to sever the teacher-student relationship with you.”

Ma Shaoyu handed the newspaper to Zhang Shenyan, Zhang Shenyan hurriedly took it over and read it, and immediately spit out blood after reading it: "Gao Hongtu! You are a traitor! I trust you so much in vain!"

"Ge Lao, it's too late to say these things now, run away quickly, or you will be beaten to death if you don't run away."

As soon as Ma Shaoyu said that, he hurriedly told Master Jue Wu who was following him: "Hurry up and take Mr. Ge and escape in my official sedan chair. I will deal with these troublemakers. Hurry up. After the Dongchang people find out, it will be too late! "

"Go to Jiangpu, go to Jiangpu, Huaining Marquis Sun Weicheng still has three thousand cavalry!"

As soon as Zhang Shenyan said that, he ran out of the mansion on his own initiative, not even taking his family with him in time.

Ma Shaoyu watched Zhang Shenyan run away in his official sedan chair, and hurriedly changed into the servant's clothes and got out.

And when the people broke into Zhang Shenyan's mansion, Zhang Shenyan was already gone.

The angry people had no choice but to set fire to Zhang Shenyan's mansion.

Ma Jixiang, who was also disguised as a scholar, couldn't help but said to Jin Yiwei, who was next to him who was disguised as a scholar: "You let him run away, and immediately send orders to seal the city gates!"

Ma Jixiang was very depressed, because Wang Chengen didn't let him execute Zhang Shenyan by assassination this time, but wanted to launch a speech attack on Zhang Shenyan by the gentry and common people.

Although this discredited Zhang Shenyan, it also gave Zhang Shenyan a chance to escape.

Zhu Youjian also knew the news of Zhang Shenyan's escape here, and didn't have much reaction, just said:

"It's better to deal with this kind of people and let them lose their reputation. They don't have the foundation to confuse the people. It's better than killing them. However, in order to prevent him from becoming a traitor like Fan Wencheng, Dongchang is strictly ordered to arrest this person with all his strength. He wants to meet people. To die is to see a corpse!"

　Thank you book friend Yu Tingyu for rewarding 100 book coins
　　
　
(End of this chapter)