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Chapter 1423. Conspiracy and conflict.

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    Wei Zhongxian, Liu Jin, Wang Zhi, and Wang Zhen, these four people are known as the four most powerful eunuchs in the Ming Dynasty. They relied on the emperor's favor. During their time in charge of the inner court, they all specialized in government affairs, suppressed dissidents, and repeatedly launched cruel eunuchs.  The civil servants in other dynasties were all panic-stricken and miserable.  According to the official statement, the emperor was deceived by these powerful eunuchs, so he sat back and watched them act perversely and persecute the virtuous. After many years, the emperor finally discovered their evil deeds and immediately punished them severely, not only confiscating their homes.  Convicting and purging the remnants of the party, and even lynching Chi in public, allowed the oppressed civil servants of foreign dynasties to finally vent their anger.  All in all, the emperor was innocent from beginning to end, and he never thought of using the power of the inner court to suppress the ministers of the outer court. He was just deceived, and it was only more than ten years later that he finally discovered it.  Just the truth.  But in fact, everyone with a discerning eye knows that all the evil deeds committed by these powerful eunuchs are due to the emperor's deliberate connivance and implicit consent. They are just using these eunuchs to suppress the influence of civil servants in foreign dynasties and collect money for the royal family.  They are worried about their own image, and there are some things that are not convenient for them to do personally, so they pretend to be deceived and innocent, letting Wei Zhongxian and Liu Jin bear the infamy and attract public anger. When the public anger reaches the critical value, they  If you step forward in time to "rectify the chaos", the past events will naturally be over.  Therefore, in many ways, the situation of the eunuchs in the inner court during the Ming Dynasty was very similar to that of Zhao Junchen, who were nothing more than chamber pots and scapegoats for the emperor.  Although the power of the Huangzhuang eunuchs is far less than that of high-level eunuchs such as Wei Zhongxian and Liu Jin, their situation is exactly the same. They are also the emperor's chamber pots and scapegoats.  The sources of the land in Huangzhuang are mixed. Some are horse herding grasslands that were originally owned by the imperial government. Some are land returned by the vassal kings. Some are confiscated after the court officials were convicted and ransacked their homes. Of course, there are also occupied civilian fields.  The property donated by "traitors" on their own initiative, etc.  Whenever the emperor found out that he had added a large amount of new land, he would ask the chief eunuch to select a reliable eunuch and appoint him as a "guanzhuang eunuch", who would then go to build a new emperor's village near the royal property.  However, if the eunuchs of Guanzhuang want to build a new imperial palace, they will naturally need a large sum of money as start-up capital, but the internal funds will only allocate a small amount of money to the eunuchs of Guanzhuang, which is barely enough for travel expenses. As for the eunuchs of Guanzhuang,  After they arrived at their destination, neither the emperor nor the inner court would ask or interfere with how they would raise money to build the imperial mansion.  At the same time, the eunuchs of Guanzhuang have official titles of at least the seventh rank, and they represent the emperor and the inner court. Once they arrive at Huangzhuang, they can quickly have power to compete with the local officials. The emperor should at least clearly restrict the eunuchs of Guanzhuang.  The scope of power prevents conflicts between eunuchs in charge of the village and local officials, right?  But in fact, the emperor and the inner court never clearly stipulated the scope of power of the eunuchs in Guanzhuang, and always allowed the eunuchs in Guanzhuang to exert themselves.  In short, when the emperor appointed the eunuch to manage the village, he would only issue an imperial edict to the eunuch to manage the village, and the content of this imperial edict can be summed up in four words - "manage the business by oneself"!  The most important thing is that the grain output and silver income of each imperial village are directly controlled by the eunuchs of Guanzhuang, and then handed over to the palace for their own disposal. They are one of the important sources of income for the emperor's internal funds, and the performance evaluation of the eunuchs of Guanzhuang  Whether it is high or low, whether the promotion speed is fast or slow, and whether the position can be stabilized, all depend on how much or how little money he turns over to internal funds every year.  In this way, the power of the eunuchs of Guanzhuang is not limited, and it is necessary to gather more money and grain to pay internal crickets as much as possible to improve and stabilize their position.  Cruel exploitation of the people and repeated occupation of people's fields are all part of the title; setting up roadblocks near village fields and charging heavy taxes on people and caravans passing by are also commonplace; people who have committed serious crimes can only donate their property to  If you become a tenant farmer in Huangzhuang, you can be protected by the eunuchs in charge of the village and avoid being convicted and punished by the government. Similar situations have happened many times.  When the eunuchs in Guanzhuang committed these evil deeds, they did so under the guise of "acting according to orders."  After all, the emperor asked them to "manage their own business". They are the imperial angels in Huangzhuang. Whatever they do can be said to be "acting on orders", but it cannot be completely regarded as lying.  But if we insist on pursuing the case, although the emperor gave them the power to "manage their own business", he did not explicitly say that they could occupy people's fields, block roads to collect taxes, and protect criminals. Therefore, it can be said that they "fabricated the imperial edict"!  ??In fact, ?If someone is willing to stand up and expose the various evil deeds of the eunuchs in Guanzhuang in public, and make these things known to everyone and attract the attention of the central court, the emperor will definitely make a clear statement in order to protect his own image and announce that the eunuchs in Guanzhuang  They were just fabricating imperial edicts and committing all kinds of evil deeds in the name of the emperor. They just let the eunuchs in Guanzhuang "manage their own business", but they never let them commit crimes.  "In short, I, the emperor, have been deceived by the eunuchs of the inner court once again. I will definitely punish these hateful eunuchs who deceive the superiors and conceal the truth from the subordinates."  "Otherwise, the emperor can't admit in person that he connived and acquiesced in the evil deeds of the eunuchs in charge of the village, right?  All in all, this kind of public impeachment of the eunuchs of Huangzhuang for fabricating imperial edicts is a sharp blade handed to the "Zhou Party" by Huo Zhengyuan. As long as the "Zhou Party" is willing to use this sharp blade, it will definitely be able to completely suppress the Huangzhuang in South Zhili.  Eunuchs, it is easy to sweep away those eunuchs in the Imperial Village and make them punished.  "But since this sharp blade is so easy to use and so obvious, no one has ever thought of using this sharp blade to deal with the eunuchs of Huangzhuang. There is naturally a reason.  Because once this sharp blade is used, it will definitely suffer from the emperor's strong hatred, which can be said to hurt others and yourself.  Since the early Ming Dynasty, several warriors have used this sharp blade. However, they only temporarily attacked a small number of Huangzhuang eunuchs, but they were completely unable to reverse the continuation of Huangzhuang's bad governance. The final outcome was extremely miserable.  Take the Jiajing period as an example. Xia Yan, the chief minister of the cabinet at that time, was such a warrior.  This man was once a close confidant of Emperor Jiajing. He had the same political views as Emperor Jiajing and supported Emperor Jiajing unreservedly on many key issues. Naturally, as the Holy Scroll grew, he moved to be a bachelor of Wuyingdian, the minister of the Ministry of Rites, and the crown prince.  Fu, he was promoted to a young master, specially promoted to Guanglu doctor, Shangzhuguo, and finally became the chief minister of the cabinet. He was unparalleled and the most powerful minister at that time.  However, relying on his divine favor, Xia Yan suddenly lost his mind and tried to reverse the bad governance of the imperial village. He stated the various harms of the imperial village to Emperor Jiajing and suggested that Emperor Jiajing rename part of the imperial village as official land and withdraw those "  The eunuchs of Huangzhuang who manage their own business are replaced by the Ministry of Household Affairs, that is, they are "managed by a company".  After hearing Xia Yan's well-founded and well-founded speeches about serving the country and the people, Emperor Jiajing was immediately "deeply moved" and publicly praised Xia Yan for being "upright at heart" and "heroic and upright", and he fully agreed.  Xia Yan's suggestion.  But since then, the Xia Chief Minister has completely lost the Holy Scroll. He has been insulted and criticized by all forces in the government and the public. He lost power and was expelled from the court three times in a row.  When the situation was at its most critical, Xia Yan was completely frightened by Emperor Jiajing's killing methods. He repeatedly wrote to admit his mistake and begged to retire and return to his hometown. However, Emperor Jiajing was unwilling to let him leave the temple and allowed him to suffer all kinds of consequences.  Power attacks and frame-ups.  In the end, Xia Yan, as a powerful minister and the chief minister of the cabinet, was brutally wronged, publicly beheaded and abandoned. The Xia family members were also implicated, either exiled thousands of miles away, or demoted from their posts to serve the people.  The officials who Xia Yan begged for mercy were reprimanded and demoted one after another.  In this way, Xia Yan's suggestions and good words against Huangzhuang's bad government naturally have no chance to be truly implemented.  "Destroying people's wealth is like killing their parents. This situation also applies to emperors!"  ??The emperors of the Ming Dynasty all had the temperament of a rich man, and regarded their money as their lives. This is especially obvious in this regard!  * * A lesson from the past is a guide for future events.  Thinking about the tragic ending of Xia Yanxia's chief assistant, even Song Chengren, who was used to big storms, couldn't help but look pale at this time.  Looking at the booklet in his hand, he felt like it was coiled around his arm like a poisonous snake, spitting out letters and baring its fangs at him.  Regarding the conflict between the eunuchs of Huangzhuang and the noble gentry in southern Zhili, Zhou Shangjing and Song Chengren had always been cautious.  They can look for some trivial crimes, take the opportunity to bring down a few imperial eunuchs, or even suggest that Emperor Deqing abolish some of the imperial palaces - anyway, after a few years, Emperor Deqing will find reasons to restore these abolished imperial palaces.  Zhuang¡ª¡ªBut the power of the eunuchs of Huangzhuang to "manage their own business" cannot be shaken!  If the crime of fabricating imperial edicts by the Huangzhuang eunuchs triggered discussions in the central court, it would be equivalent to forcing Emperor Deqing to issue a clear edict and limiting the scope of power of the Huangzhuang eunuchs. It would be equivalent to abolishing the "self-management" of the Huangzhuang eunuchs.  The power is equivalent to reducing the internal fund income Under such circumstances, Emperor Deqing will definitely fight with others, and will no longer just use conventional means to fight Zhou Shangjing.A battle of wits might lead to a prison sentence and arrange the end of the factory guards and the Beijing army!  Thinking of this, Song Chengren looked at Huo Zhengyuan with fearful eyes, and slowly commented: "What a ruthless method! What a vicious scheme!" Huo Zhengyuan seemed to have heard the praise, smiled and nodded: "Senior Song, that's a ridiculous compliment." Song Chengren  The old man narrowed his eyes and said coldly: "Scholar Huo, since you have worked so hard to collect these evidences, Chief Assistant Zhou is not willing to take away your beauty and steal your reputation for insight into bad government Therefore, regarding the crime of fabricating imperial edicts by the eunuchs of Huangzhuang,  It's up to you to expose it in person, and Zhou Shoufu, I and others will definitely support you and cheer for you, how about it?" Huo Zhengyuan immediately shook his head and said, "I'm a junior who speaks lightly. If this kind of thing is handled by a junior, it's up to you.  Coming out to speak out would probably not cause too much trouble, and it would be suspected of overstepping one's authority! According to the junior's opinion, it would be better for a high-ranking Zhuguo like Zhou Shoufu to stand up and express his position publicly, which would surely trigger a stir quickly!  With the attention from all walks of life and the overwhelming response from both the government and the public, the eunuchs of Huangzhuang are doomed! At the worst, the Jin gentry in Southern Zhili should make a joint statement. " Song Chengren took a deep look at Huo Zhengyuan and suddenly asked.  He said: "How many copies of the booklet have you prepared with the same content?" Huo Zhengyuan couldn't help but be startled after hearing this, and then showed admiration and said: "Senior Song is really smart, seeing through the younger man's methods at a glance the same content.  The junior has already had thirty copies copied, and the one given to Senior Song is just one of them! As for the other twenty-nine, the junior plans to send people to those with greater influence in Southern Zhili.  "  What a ruthless method! What a vicious scheming!" Song Chengren repeated his evaluation and sneered: "As long as any wealthy gentry family is deceived and loses their minds and opens the toilet seat, then the 'Zhou Party' can  By quickly defeating the Seventh Prince and the eunuchs of Huangzhuang, Zhao Cabinet's plan to hinder His Highness the Seventh Prince's succession to the throne can be successfully realized. However, the 'Zhou Party' will also suffer His Majesty's full revenge afterwards, and you, the 'Zhao Party', can sit back.  Harvesting the fishermen's profit Such a plan is really clever!" Then, Song Chengren changed the topic again and warned: "However, Master Huo, you seem to have underestimated the influence of Zhou Shoufu and the old man on the Jiangnan Jin gentry!  Any Jin gentry would not dare to make decisions without permission, and would definitely seek the opinions of Zhou Shoufu and me in advance. Therefore, as long as Zhou Shoufu and I don't nod in agreement, the Jin gentry will never be easily bewitched by you, and your wishful thinking will definitely not be realized.  !" Huo Zhengyuan shook his head and sighed: "That's such a pity!" In fact, inducing the Jiangnan gentry to publicly expose the crimes of the Huangzhuang eunuchs was just one part of Huo Zhengyuan's follow-up plan.  Huo Zhengyuan prepared two knives at the same time. The knife handed to the "Zhou Party" was the crime of the Huangzhuang eunuchs for fabricating the imperial edict, while the knife handed to the Seventh Prince and the Huangzhuang eunuchs was the crime of the Jiangnan Jin gentry concealing their property!  The wealthy gentry concealed their property and evaded taxes. This crime was also an extremely sharp knife that could hurt others and themselves. It was also a secret that had been known to the world for a long time but could never be discussed openly!  Everyone knows that the wealthy gentry have been concealing their land assets for many years, and the imperial treasury has lost at least millions in land tax revenue over the years because of their concealment!  But no one dared to expose this matter publicly, because once this matter was publicly exposed and triggered a comprehensive investigation by the imperial court, the Jin gentry would definitely suffer heavy losses, and the entire Jin gentry class would definitely hold a grudge!  He completely offended all the Jin gentry, and the consequences were no less serious than completely offending the imperial power.  And Huo Zhengyuan also copied the evidence of the wealthy Jin gentry family's concealment of property and tax evasion into a book, and prepared to hand it over to the seventh prince Zhu Hejian, the Nanjing garrison eunuch Xi Cheng, and the eunuchs of Huangzhuang in Nanzhili.  As Zhou Shangjing took the initiative to provoke the conflict between the wealthy Jin gentry and the eunuchs of Huangzhuang, the seventh prince Zhu Hejian was not willing to sit back and wait for death. He frequently used various means to continuously fight back. Coupled with Huo Zhengyuan's fueling, the "United Shipping Company" was openly involved in the dispute.  Exacerbating this conflict It is foreseeable that the conflict between the wealthy Jin gentry and the eunuchs of Huangzhuang will quickly intensify, and the less powerful people on both sides will gradually lose their minds.  Under such circumstances, even if Zhou Shangjing and Song Chengren could maintain restraint, they could also control the unauthorized actions of the wealthy Jin gentry family and prevent them from easily using the eunuchs of Huangzhuang to fabricate imperial edicts.Can the seventh prince Zhu Hejian and the Nanjing eunuch Xi Cheng maintain the same restraint and not use the knife of "thoroughly investigating the Jin gentry's concealment of land properties"?  What about those Huangzhuang eunuchs?  Especially the eunuchs of the Imperial Village, who don¡¯t have much experience themselves and have always been domineering. After seeing that this knife can easily stab the wealthy Jin gentry, how can they resist using it? ???????????????????????????? And once the eunuchs of Huangzhuang publicly impeach the wealthy Jin gentry family for their crime of concealing their land properties, and suggest that the court thoroughly investigate the true amount of land owned by the wealthy Jin gentry family, then there will definitely be the wealthy Jin gentry family who will stand up and accuse the eunuchs of Huangzhuang of fabricating the imperial edict!  "Destroying a person's financial path is like killing his parents. This principle also applies to the gentry. Even if the gentry and wealthy families are more knowledgeable and wiser, they will not care about the consequences when the time comes.  Then, the conflict between the wealthy Jin gentry and the eunuchs of Huangzhuang will completely get out of control, and both Zhou Shangjing and the seventh prince Zhu Hejian, who support both sides, will suffer losses.  Then, Huo Zhengyuan and "Zhao Dang" can reap the benefits!  This is Huo Zhengyuan¡¯s conspiracy!  As a man recognized as a smart man and a powerful strategist in the temple, Huo Zhengyuan was only unable to truly display his talents because he lacked courage.  But after he forced himself to stand firm and determined to fight, the scheming methods he displayed were even significantly stronger than those of Zhao Junchen.  ¡°At least, Zhao Junchen had wanted to use conspiracy methods to deal with Liaodong Town before, but in the end he almost screwed up, and needed to use conspiracy methods to remedy the situation before he could control the situation.  So far, with Zhou Shangjing not responding yet, Huo Zhengyuan¡¯s conspiracy is very likely to succeed!  * * Thinking of his subsequent series of arrangements, although they cannot be said to be foolproof, they are still in an invincible position and at least they will not hurt himself. The smile on Huo Zhengyuan's face became a little more confident.  Song Chengren also knew that Huo Zhengyuan must have only revealed part of the plan to him, and there were still many key links that he kept hidden from him, so he was so confident.  Therefore, Song Chengren quickly softened his attitude and said that everything could be easily discussed. Even if Zhao Junchen took the opportunity to infiltrate the Nanjing Imperial College and the Nanjing Inspectorate, he could consider it. He slightly restored the friendly atmosphere between him and Huo Zhengyuan, and then  Start to explore more of Huo Zhengyuan's thoughts.  However, Huo Zhengyuan naturally would not believe Song Chengren's empty words, and remained tight-lipped about his overall plan. He only urged the "Zhou Party" to immediately agree to Zhao Junchen's request, and Zhou Shangjing took the initiative to submit a memorial to the central court, recommending three "Zhao Party members".  Party officials respectively served as the director of the Nanjing Imperial College, the supervisor of the Nanjing Imperial College, and the deputy censor of the Nanjing Inspectorate.  As long as Zhou Shangjing is willing to compromise on this matter, Huo Zhengyuan will immediately stop his plan and fully cooperate with Zhou Shangjing's plan.  However, Song Chengren was certainly not willing to agree to this condition.  In this way, as Song Chengren and Huo Zhengyuan tested each other and continued to argue, time continued to pass.  As the Song family carriage shook slightly, the two of them had arrived outside Zhanyuan.  Seeing that he could not find out more information from Huo Zhengyuan, Song Chengren had no choice but to get out of the carriage with a sullen face.  However, Song Chengren did not feel defeated or panicked. He had already vaguely felt that Huo Zhengyuan seemed to want to use some conspiracy method to deal with the "Zhou Party", but when it came to conspiracy methods there was Zhou Shangjing standing behind Song Chengren.  Song Chengren has full confidence in Zhou Shangjing¡¯s wisdom and skills.  In Song Chengren¡¯s eyes, even after Huo Zhengyuan¡¯s temperament changed drastically and his courage greatly increased, if he wanted to use conspiracy methods to deal with the ¡°Zhou Party¡±, it would be nothing more than using a machete in front of Guan Gong¡¯s door to bring humiliation to himself.  After the confrontation with Song Chengren, Huo Zhengyuan's confidence greatly increased. Although he did not have time to sort out his inner emotions, he also temporarily eliminated the cowardice deep in his heart. He jumped out of the carriage with a smile and turned around.  He helped Song Chengren get out of the carriage, as if he had a pleasant meeting with Song Chengren.  When Huo Zhengyuan and Song Chengren got off the carriage one after another, they both raised their heads to observe the situation in Zhanyuan, only to find that there were cars and sedans gathering outside the gate of Zhanyuan, and it was obvious that many guests had come.  For example, the prince and grand master Wang Baoren, the Nanjing garrison eunuch Xi Cheng, civil and military officials from various major yamen in Nanjing, the heads of various gentry families in the territory, and the eunuchs of the nearby imperial village have all arrived at Zhanyuan in advance.  In order to gain more time to meet and talk with Huo Zhengyuan, Song Chengren deliberately asked the driver to slow down, so the two of them arrived at Zhanyuan a little late.  Next, Song Chengren and Huo ZhengyuanAfter the people in Zhanyuan reported their identities, they entered Zhanyuan side by side.  It is worth mentioning that before Song Chengren entered Zhanyuan, he summoned a Song family attendant, secretly gave a few words, and then asked the Song family attendant to leave the place quickly.  But Song Chengren wanted to inform Zhou Shangjing of the negotiation process between himself and Huo Zhengyuan as soon as possible, so that Zhou Shangjing could respond as soon as possible.  At the same time, after the variable Huo Zhengyuan appeared, Song Chengren didn't know whether he should further put pressure on the seventh prince during the dinner and further intensify the conflict between the two parties. Zhou Shangjing also needed to make a decision as soon as possible.  In this way, Song Chengren and Huo Zhengyuan entered Zhanyuan side by side. They had just entered the vestibule of Zhanyuan. Before they had taken a few steps, they heard a commotion in the hall in front of them.  ¡°Subsequently, Song Chengren and Huo Zhengyuan saw that the Seventh Prince Zhu Hejian had led a group of guests to personally appear in the vestibule to greet them.  When Zhu Hejian showed up to greet him, he still had a smile and a friendly attitude, and he still looked like a virtuous prince. ?¡­ ?¡­ ?¡­
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