Gou was a member of the imperial family in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 366 Account
"Stupid bug!"

After listening to Zhang Xijun's story, Zhu Shenzui was so angry that his face turned black. The Donglin Party really did everything they could to the point of betting on the fate of the Ming Dynasty. Don't they know the principle of "the lips and the teeth are cold when one is gone"?
Although Zhu Shenzhu had been preparing secretly for these years, he had complicated thoughts in his heart. On the one hand, Zhu Shenzhu wanted to accumulate strength before the chaotic times came, not only to protect himself, but also to fight for the world if possible.

On the other hand, as a descendant of Yan and Huang, Zhu Shenzui did not want to see the historical situation where barbarism defeated civilization, the Jian slaves entered the country, burned, killed, looted, destroyed our clothes, and took away our spirit, making the great Chinese country the sick man of East Asia laughed at by later generations, and his descendants shaved their forehead hair, kept ridiculous rat tails, had broken spines, and looked like slaves with open mouths and closed mouths of masters.

In Zhu Shenzui's view, no matter whether it is the Eunuch Party or the Donglin Party, no matter how much they fight, it is only an internal fight. In fact, both sides are not good people. No matter who wins or loses, the world is still the world of the Ming Dynasty and the world of the Han people.

It is completely different in nature to introduce foreign enemies, use external forces to attack political opponents, or even sell out national interests to achieve one's goals.

The Donglin Party only cared about their own selfish interests and ignored the safety of the country. They deserve to be killed!

"Does Wei Zhongxian know about this?" Zhu Shenzhui asked.

"Of course Wei Zhongxian knew."

"Since he knew, why didn't he take any measures?" Zhu Shenzhui continued to ask.

Zhang Xijun shook his head slightly: "Although Wei Zhongxian's eunuch party has the upper hand, it has not yet reached the point where it can completely defeat the Donglin Party. What's more, the eunuchs in the party are still good at doing practical things, but when it comes to playing political tricks, the hypocrites in the Donglin Party are better."

"The Donglin Party did this in an open and aboveboard manner. There is nothing wrong with the procedures. They even made a big fuss about Sun Chengzong's stay in Liaodong, saying that since Sun Chengzong spent countless money in Liaodong for many years but failed to solve the problem of Jiannu in Liaodong, and the defense line he set up was criticized, and the previous battle of Liuhe had already determined the gains and losses of Liaodong's strategy, since Sun Chengzong was wrong, they should correct the wrongs, readjust the Liaodong strategy, abandon the Ningjin defense line, and withdraw to Shanhaiguan."

Upon hearing this answer, Zhu Shenzui burst out laughing. It seems that there are smart people in the Donglin Party. This is using the spear of the eunuch party to hit the shield of the eunuch party.

Wasn't it because of these reasons that Sun Chengzong was forced to resign? In order to get rid of Sun Chengzong, the eunuch party took advantage of the defeat in the Battle of Liuhe to criticize Sun Chengzong in the court, and impeachment memorials were flying everywhere. All of them accused Sun Chengzong of being the main responsibility for the Battle of Liuhe. Sun Chengzong spent more than tens of millions of dollars in Liaodong over the years, but he never solved the Jiannu. In addition to military and economic blockades, he spent so much money and time in Liaodong, but only built a few cities. If this continues, when will Liaodong be evaluated? When will the Jiannu be eliminated?
In fact, everyone in the court knew that there was no problem with Sun Chengzong's strategic deployment in Liaodong. The so-called Liuhe defeat did not cause much loss. Although the Ming army suffered casualties, the same was true for the Later Jin and Jiannu. What's more, in this battle, they killed a Jiannu general Gushan and brought back hundreds of Liao people. It cannot be said that there was no achievement at all. From this point of view, the Ming army suffered greater losses than the Later Jin and Jiannu.

In addition, the Battle of Liuhe had no direct relationship with Sun Chengzong. The person who made the decision was Ma Shilong, the general of Shanhaiguan. Sun Chengzong had no idea about Ma Shilong's arrangements, and was not the person directly responsible.

But in order to get rid of Sun Chengzong, Wei Zhongxian's eunuch party took advantage of the incident, exaggerated the facts of the Battle of Liuhe, and put the blame on Sun Chengzong, and also implicated the Liaodong Governor Yu Anxing.

Everyone knows the purpose of doing this, which is nothing more than to get rid of Sun Chengzong and thus deal a further blow to the Donglin Party.

The Donglin Party at that time argued for Sun Chengzong, but the "disastrous defeat" in the Battle of Liuhe was a fact. Moreover, Wei Zhongxian had already reported this to Emperor Tianqi when he did this, and the removal of Sun Chengzong was carried out with the tacit approval of Emperor Tianqi. Under this situation, Sun Chengzong's removal was a foregone conclusion and could no longer be changed.

Although Sun Chengzong retired and returned to his hometown afterwards, Wei Zhongxian was not stupid. He knew very well that Sun Chengzong's strategy in Liaodong was correct, because since Sun Chengzong went to Liaodong, the war situation in Liaodong had stabilized. In the past few years, the Later Jin Jiannu had had a very difficult time under the blockade and defense-instead-of-offense tactics of the Ming Dynasty. If Sun Chengzong's strategic deployment continued to be used, the Jiannu in Liaodong would probably no longer be able to support it in a few years.

This was also the real reason why Wei Zhongxian intended to replace Sun Chengzong with Yuan Chonghuan after getting rid of him, and supported Yuan Chonghuan to continue to garrison in Ningyuan. However, Wei Zhongxian never expected that just after he solved the Sun Chengzong issue with those reasons, the Donglin Party used the same reasons to make a fuss and proposed a strategic retreat and directly abandon the Ningjin line.

This made Wei Zhongxian very uncomfortable. After all, the hat on Sun Chengzong's head was still there, and Sun Chengzong's resignation had just happened. Since you eunuchs used these charges and problems to force Sun Chengzong to resign, then isn't it natural for the Donglin Party to make these suggestions now with the same reasons? Could it be that what Sun Chengzong did when he was in office was wrong, and these things became right after he resigned? Such double standards, isn't this a joke?
No matter how powerful you are, you can't be so shameless, right? Now we, the Donglin Party, are just using the problems raised by your eunuch party to correct them. Do you think you, the eunuch party, are going to oppose it? No one does things this way! Isn't this the same as treating everyone in the world as a fool? It would be strange if we don't impeach you.

The Donglin Party's move made Wei Zhongxian very uncomfortable. Although he was born a gangster and disdained the so-called morality, he could do anything to achieve his goal. But Wei Zhongxian still had to have some dignity, not to mention that his current status was different. He couldn't hold his nose and deny his words in front of everyone, or even call a deer a horse in the court. After all, he was not Zhao Gao.

As a result, the two sides formed a stalemate in their attitudes towards the Liaodong issue. In addition, after Sun Chengzong left office, the court no longer established the Ji-Liao Superintendent General and appointed Gao Di as the Liaodong Governor. Gao Di did not belong to the eunuch party, so Wei Zhongxian had little influence on Gao Di. Although Gao Di was not a member of the Donglin Party, he was close to the Donglin Party in terms of political views. In addition, as a traditional literati, Gao Di was born close to the civil service group and alienated the eunuch party. Therefore, the attitude Gao Di made since taking office was also in agreement with the views of the Donglin Party, intending to abandon the Ningjin Line of Defense and withdraw the army to Shanhaiguan.

As a result, the Donglin Party and the Eunuch Party began to argue about this matter. In addition, although the Donglin Party suffered heavy losses at the moment, it still had a certain influence in the court. There were also many Donglin Party members in various departments. The Donglin Party was able to avoid direct confrontation and use some small tricks in private to create trouble for its opponents.

After understanding all this, Zhu Shenzui was speechless and could only shake his head and sigh.

He had read history, and it was true that the Ming Dynasty was destroyed by factional struggles. Today, the factional struggles have reached a white-hot stage, and both sides have done everything they can to defeat the other side, even at the cost of sacrificing the interests of the country.

Zhu Shenzhui had no say in these matters, let alone the possibility of influencing the decisions of the two parties. As a bystander, he could only sigh.

Zhu Shenzui was powerless and couldn't care less about the affairs in the court, but he still had to explain his own affairs to Zhang Xijun in detail.

In addition to talking to Zhang Xijun about some things, Zhu Shenzhu also told Zhang Xijun about Xu Xiancheng's situation and asked Zhang Xijun to take care of Xu Xiancheng at an appropriate time.

This so-called care was not to help Xu Xiancheng get promoted. If that was the case, Zhu Shenzhui would not have to make specific instructions. He could just write a letter and let Zhang Xijun ask Wei Liangqing to do it.

With the current power of the eunuch party, it would be effortless to promote a new Jinshi, but Zhu Shenzhui did not want to do so. What he wanted to do was to prevent Zhang Xijun from being watched by both the eunuch party and the Donglin party. It would be best if he could stay away from the two parties and just be a small and transparent person in the Ministry of Works.

Zhu Shenzhui was very pleased with Xu Xiancheng's answer during his previous conversation. He thought that his brother-in-law was very smart, could see the situation clearly, and did not have the impulsiveness of a young man. This made Zhu Shenzhui feel a lot more at ease.

At the same time, Zhu Shenzhui also felt that Xu Xiancheng's plan to stay in the Ministry of Works was a good idea. Instead of being appointed to other government offices, it would be better for him to stay in the Ministry of Works, where he could do some practical work and avoid being involved in the political vortex.

But it was not so easy for Xu Xiancheng to stay in the Ministry of Works. It was one thing for a newly-appointed Jinshi to observe government affairs in the six ministries, but it was another thing to be officially appointed as an official after the observation. Generally speaking, those who were officially appointed would be transferred from the original department where they observed government affairs, and only a few would stay. Therefore, if Xu Xiancheng wanted to continue to stay in the Ministry of Works, he needed to make some arrangements behind the scenes.

The purpose of asking Zhang Xijun to come today was not only to meet Zhang Xijun, but also to deal with Xu Xiancheng's matter. It would be best if Zhang Xijun came forward to deal with this matter. With Zhang Xijun's current status and network in the capital, it would not be difficult to help Xu Xiancheng stay in the Ministry of Industry. Zhang Xijun had countless ways to do this, and at the same time, he could also help Xu Xiancheng clear his relationship with the Eunuch Party and the Donglin Party.

After listening to Zhu Shenzhu's request, Zhang Xijun said that there would be no problem with this matter and he would make proper arrangements. Xu Xiancheng would definitely stay in the Ministry of Industry and no one would know the background behind Xu Xiancheng. In addition, if there were any party disputes involving Xu Xiancheng, he, Zhang Xijun, would also help and solve these problems for Xu Xiancheng.

"That's great. I'll leave it to you."

"My Lord, what are you talking about? This is what I should do."

Zhu Shenzhu nodded, and was very satisfied with Zhang Xijun's attitude. He thought about it silently and said to Zhang Xijun: "You are a smart man, and you can see clearly the current situation in the capital. If there are changes in the future, there is no need to worry too much. To achieve great things, you don't need to be particular about small details. You should put your own safety first."

As soon as these words were spoken, Zhang Xijun looked slightly moved. Without saying anything, he stood up and saluted Zhu Shenzhui solemnly. Zhu Shenzhui did not refuse, but nodded slightly to accept his salute.

(End of this chapter)