Prince Chongzhen

Chapter 175 Don’t let the corrupt official leave!
Contradictions can be suppressed.

Take the Donglin Party and the Eunuch Party for example. If they had an emperor who controlled the vast majority of the country's troops, their struggle would definitely only be maintained within the scope allowed by the emperor.

But if the person standing at the top does not have enough power, even the smallest conflict will eventually evolve into an internal struggle that is enough to destroy the empire.

So the question is, is the power in Zhu Cilang enough to suppress the infighting between Donglin and the eunuch party?
Generally speaking, it should be possible, but this kind of suppression is very forced, so forced that at the slightest sign of trouble, these people will secretly use various means to suppress their opponents.

Under normal circumstances, Zhu Cilang, as the regent prince of the Ming Dynasty, could gradually weaken them through the struggle between the two sides until his strength could keep the struggles within a controllable range.

But now all the arrangements on his side have been made, and the result will come within a few days as soon as Duoduo makes the final choice of Jiangnan.

Under such circumstances, how could he allow such an extremely unstable factor to be by his side?

so.
After reading the letter, Ruan Dacheng stood outside the Hangzhou government office for a long time, so long that the servants beside him thought that their master had also lost his memory like the Crown Prince.

But how can this memory be lost so easily?

In other words, as a chess piece, how could he have the right to lose his memory?
"Ready your horse."

After giving a light instruction, a servant responded and left.

Ruan Dacheng had mixed feelings at this time, but at this point the arrow had really been on the string and had to be shot, so he could only continue to act according to the script.

It can be said that the servants in the house of this veteran minister were indeed well-trained. It only took them an incense stick of time to replace the prepared carriage with horses.

Seeing that everything was ready, he did not delay any longer. He took two quick steps and sat on the horse with the help of the servant.

"Go to Su's house."

In fact, Ruan Dacheng was not afraid of death. As long as he could bite off a piece of Donglin's flesh, he would smile in his grave even if he was torn to pieces.

However, the information revealed in the letter was so shocking that he looked a little hesitant.

The letter didn't say much, it just roughly listed what he would encounter in the future and provided a plan to save his life.

These matters concern his life and death, so they are of course important.

But the message behind it is more important than his life or death.

Why did the writer know the plans of the various ethnic groups?
Why would he save himself?

If everything develops according to that person's plan, how will things turn out in the end?
What will that person get from this?
Along the way, Ruan Dacheng's face was as calm as water, but his heart was surging with waves.

This is definitely an extremely powerful force.

If not, how could that person obtain such important information from the local snakes in Donglin? How could he have the guts to try to profit from such a big event?

Is it the Qing army?

This guess just occurred to him, but he extinguished it in the blink of an eye.

The reason is not difficult to understand. If the Qing army had such a strong force in the city, then they should have launched a sudden attack during the fierce fighting last night to help the army capture Hangzhou in one fell swoop.

Is it Donglin?

It seems possible that they could use the excuse of a civil uprising to start with themselves and then eradicate the so-called "eunuch party".

But if that was the case, there was no reason for them to go through the trouble of leaking the specific plan through a letter.

Is it the "Eunuch Party"?

This is indeed possible.

Now the prince is probably no longer able to manage the affairs of state, so by doing this he can wipe out his biggest enemy, and in this way he will be able to control the government without any hindrance.

By then, Ma Shiying held the orthodoxy in his hands and controlled the government. Although he could not command the whole world to obey him, he would eventually return to the pinnacle of his position as an official.

If he can plan well in the future and drive the Tartars back to Jiangbei, he might become another "Cao Cao".

But does Ma Shiying have such strategy and courage?
If that were true, why would the Tartars be able to advance so unstoppably until the crown prince took over the government and their decline was stopped?
Now that all possibilities have been ruled out, there is no need to think about the remaining one even if it is no longer possible.

Can.
With some guesses in his mind, Ruan Dacheng not only did not feel that the clouds had been cleared to see the light, but he became even more confused.

Didn't he lose his memory? This was witnessed by thousands of people, how could it be fake?
What's more, he is just an outsider, how could he possibly find out such secret information?

You know, although the "Eunuch Party" has declined somewhat, it still has many information channels in various aspects. Even the "Eunuch Party" knows nothing about this, so how can he
The more he thought about it, the more confused he became. Ruan Dacheng even wondered if there were other forces hidden in Hangzhou. But as one of the people standing at the top of the world, how could he believe such nonsense?

Not to mention anything else, many major events have happened since arriving in Hangzhou. Even if there is some force hidden here, it should have revealed clues in these waves. How could it be possible that it could still be hiding in the dark until now?
"Master, we are almost there."

Although Ruan Dacheng did not show anything unusual along the way, as a close follower who had followed him for decades, he was still keenly aware of something. So when a group of people entered the street where the Su Mansion was located, he spoke out to remind his master.

"Well, tell everyone to cheer up," after giving the order, Ruan Dacheng didn't wait for the attendant to leave before he leaned down from his horse and said, "If there is anything wrong, run to the military camp west of the city."

Hearing this, the attendant was stunned for a moment before regaining his composure. He then passed the master's order to the hundred or so generals leading the team before returning.

Although Hangzhou is a big city, the streets are not long. After just a few words, the group arrived at the gate of Su Mansion.

After all, the Su family is a long-standing wealthy family in Hangzhou. The elegant front door is made of mahogany. Although there are no exquisite carvings on the doorposts, the sense of age clearly shows that there is a world of difference between this family and ordinary wealthy families.

"You are so honored to be here, my humble abode. Please come in, come in."

When Su Deng saw Ruan Dacheng for the first time, he quickly walked down the steps to greet him. The heads of the various families behind him were the same as him, as if Ruan Dacheng was the closest person to them in the world.

As the saying goes, the arrow is on the string and has to be shot.

Although he gained nothing from Zhang Yinli, he finally decided to act according to his original plan.

Most people would think that he was being too reckless, but as he was in the middle of a chess game, he had no other choice.

The emperor wanted money, and the Tartars also wanted money, but the Hangzhou aristocratic families who served as the solid backing of Donglin knew that Ruan Dacheng would cut off their family inheritance.

When the Hongguang Dynasty was first established, Ma Shiying was extremely powerful. He took advantage of this favorable situation and destroyed the powerful families in Yingtian.

This naturally caused a counterattack from the Yingtian faction within the Donglin faction, but as the saying goes: A scholar's rebellion cannot succeed even in three years.

That group of people had only been spreading rumors to defame Hongguang and his ministers, such as the "Tongfei Case", "Dabei Case" and "Crown Prince Case" that attacked Hongguang.

For example, Ma Shiying was accused of doing many things to please Wei Zhongxian.

The truth of the "Crown Prince Case" has now been revealed. It was indeed done by the Hongguang emperor and his ministers because they were afraid that the throne would be taken away by the bloodline of the previous emperor, but it is hard to say what other things happened.

Of course, these things did greatly damage the dignity of the Hongguang court and also reduced Ma Shiying's control over the court to the extreme.

But what can be done about it? Didn't Ruan Dacheng still keep the big families in Yingtian in line?

If the Tartars had not later marched south in large numbers and the Hongguang emperor and his ministers had not fled in panic, who knows how many families in Yingtian would have remained.

With the lessons learned from the past, how could Su Dengdi be like those guys who only took action and did not talk?

"You should have understood our purpose," Ruan Dacheng was clear-headed in the face of Su Dengdi's hospitality. "If we mislead the military, it will be difficult for His Highness to hide the truth."

"Minister, please understand. Each family can provide food, fodder and money, but we don't have weapons."

This is both the reason for the civil unrest and the truth.

Although the imperial court's management of cold weapons is no longer as strict as it was in the early years since the large-scale use of firearms in the army, these big families do not intend to rebel, so how could they prepare enough weapons for an army of more than 10,000?

This is the viciousness of Ruan Dacheng. Because the imperial court does not care about the possession of cold weapons by the people, he can confuse these things with money and grain. But if you can produce so many things, then he will ask you what your intentions are.

In this situation, the only options left for the ethnic groups in Hangzhou were to rise up in resistance or to wait to be killed.

Under normal circumstances, he would not dare to do it so blatantly, but now the powerful force that weighs on all parties has lost its former deterrent power, so it is natural for him to take this opportunity to settle some personal grudges.

Of course, this was what he thought before he received the letter.

At this time, in addition to performing the play according to that man's ideas, Ruan Dacheng was most concerned about how to save his own life.

"So you don't plan to help the imperial court fight against the Tartars?"

As he spoke, he steed his horse closer to the hundred soldiers. After he had some distance between him and Su Dengdi, he said, "Could it be that you and the others have colluded with the Tartars?"

Having said this, Ruan Dacheng had obviously shown his true colors, but Su Dengdi seemed not to have understood the meaning of his words. He just kept begging for mercy and had no intention of taking the next step.

"Your Excellency has wronged us. We have lived in Hangzhou for generations. How could we have anything to do with those bloodthirsty Tartars?"

"Sir, it's not that we don't want to contribute to the court, but we can't get the job of co-sponsoring military equipment."

"Sir, why don't you go into the palace first? We have something to express to you. Please express your gratitude to His Highness."

Hearing Su Dengdi's last sentence, Ruan Dacheng felt relieved.

Since they were planning to lure me into the mansion, that meant they had a lot of plans in mind. As long as I insisted on not entering, my life would probably be safe.

just
If I don't fall into the trap, they won't take action. Wouldn't that allow them to escape this disaster?
With this in mind, Ruan Dacheng's eyes kept looking around his mansion.

"Su Dengdi! How dare you ambush the soldiers! Are you planning a rebellion?!"

Hearing the sound, Su Dengdi, who had been begging for help, was stunned for a moment. When he saw Ruan Dacheng staring and pointing towards the mansion, he became confused again.

In order to make the event more powerful, all the clans in the city contributed a lot of manpower. So many people were deployed in the halls of the mansion and in every household on the street, but there was really not even a single person stationed at the gate of his house.

But now Ruan Dacheng was shouting so confidently, obviously he had discovered the ambush. In this situation, apart from taking action immediately, could he continue pretending?

"Do it!"

After this shout, Su Dengdi and Ruan Dacheng simultaneously widened the distance between them.

Afterwards, the doors of the houses on the street opened almost at the same time, and countless young and strong men holding weapons poured out.

"Kill the corrupt officials!"

"rush out!"

Two bursts of shouts came from two people's mouths, but Su Dengdi, who was slowly retreating back to the steps, was obviously much calmer than Ruan Dacheng, who was urging his horse to gallop.

"Don't let the corrupt officials go!"

Before coming, Ruan Dacheng asked the hundred or so soldiers to be on guard. Although they were just new recruits of Li Yongmao and had no armor, they were trained soldiers after all, and those who rushed out were just servants from various governments. Even though such an unexpected change came suddenly, they still left a valuable passage for Ruan Dacheng.

"Whoosh~"

Just as Ruan Dacheng was about to rush out of the street, an arrow shot from somewhere and hit his mount right between the eyebrows. Before he could make any move, the mount lost control and rolled on the ground before stopping.

People have their limits, but in critical situations they may be able to unleash abilities that far exceed these limits.

Just like Ruan Dacheng now, according to his age, even if he doesn't lose half his life after this fall, he will definitely not be able to struggle anymore.

But now, I don’t know if it was because of the instinct of survival that he not only pulled his calf out from under the dead horse, but also burst out with the speed of a young man afterwards.

Seeing that the old man was about to disappear at the street corner, Su Dengdi was naturally shocked. However, if he let Ruan Dacheng escape, not only would today's plan fail, but all the reasons he had prepared to escape punishment would also be invalid.

In this situation, he could not care about anything else. He changed his mind and shouted loudly: "We will only kill the corrupt officials! No one else will be harmed!"

As soon as the words came out, the hundred or so "soldiers" really became hesitant.

Su Dengdi naturally knew where these people came from, so he was sure that they would not sacrifice their lives for a superior whom they had only known for a day or two. So when he saw the soldiers make way, he shouted again.

"The stolen goods officer!"

At the command, all the men in each household abandoned their own defensive soldiers and chased out into the street. If they were not without armor, they would have looked like a large army charging into battle.

It was almost noon and the streets were bustling with people coming and going. Earlier, the red-robed official Ruan Dacheng, running wildly on the street with a dusty face, had attracted a lot of attention.

When so many young and strong men armed with weapons rushed into the street, the street immediately became chaotic.

"The Tartars have entered the city! Run!"

(End of this chapter)