"them?"
"who are they?"
Qianqing Palace.
The biting north wind kept knocking on the red door, and the dim white light gradually disappeared into the black clouds.
Zhu Youxiao looked at the candlelight that had been lit and asked Wei Zhongxian coldly.
Wei Zhongxian was lying on the ground, his face flushed, and he replied tremblingly: "I don't know, but this is the exact words reported by Mo Yu, the eyeliner installed next to Fang Shihong in Dongchang!"
Zhu Youxiao looked at Wei Zhongxian, who was wearing a red robe on the ground, and said: "They are threatening Fang Congzhe on the surface, but they are actually threatening me! Next, Dongchang must make every effort to ensure that Fang Congzhe and his related people are safe." Safety, we must find out who kidnapped Fang Shihong as soon as possible! In addition, immediately tell the people placed next to Fang Congzhe and do our best to prevent Fang Congzhe from committing suicide!"
"My slave obeys the order!"
Wei Zhongxian replied.
Next, Zhu Youxiao asked Wei Zhongxian to retreat.
But Zhu Youxiao himself had no intention of continuing to read the memorial. He still stayed aside and thought about countermeasures.
Zhu Youxiao knew that the Donglin Party was not strictly a party like that of later generations. It was just a group of civil servants with common interests and political demands.
And after he, the emperor, severely attacked the civil servants of the Donglin Party, the power of the Donglin Party would definitely be greatly reduced, and many civil servants would automatically lose their Donglin color.
But Zhu Youxiao also knew that this did not mean that many civil servants in the civil service group were willingly driven by the emperor, nor did it mean that all civil servants no longer dared to get close to the group of civil servants who lectured at Donglin Academy, that is, the Donglin Party civil servants.
Because in Zhu Youxiao's view, the civil servants and gentry who controlled most of the society's wealth must pursue political power and would not be willing to be controlled by the emperor.
Zhu Youxiao knew that this problem could not be solved by relying on him, the emperor, to be stronger.
Although he killed a group of civil servants, it did not stop the powerful gentry behind some civil servants from wanting to fight against the imperial power's ability to manipulate the emperor.
And now Fang Congzhe's son Fang Shihong has been kidnapped and Fang Congzhe is being threatened. This is obviously the reaction of these civil servants and the powerful gentry behind them to the emperor Zhu Youxiao who killed a large number of civil servants this time.
After all, if they directly attack the emperor Zhu Youxiao, the possibility of success is too low, and the price of failure will be very high. And because the emperor is both the person they want to fight and the guarantor of their privileges, they can only The next best thing was to attack the civil servant who was too obedient to the emperor, namely Fang Congzhe.
Therefore, Zhu Youxiao said that these civil servants were actually threatening him.
Zhu Youxiao had to admit that the reason why the first assistants in the late Ming Dynasty were more useless than the last could not be entirely blamed on the first assistants themselves, but the nature of this era determined that most powerful gentry did not like strong first assistants, just like They also don't like strong emperors.
After all, these civil servants prefer to manipulate the emperor or the chief minister to become their agents.
"Your Majesty, Yuan Fu requests to see you now. Do you want to announce it or not?"
At this time, Liu Ruoyu walked in quickly and asked Zhu Youxiao for instructions.
Zhu Youxiao raised his eyes as deep as black pools and nodded.
Not long after, Fang Congzhe walked in, holding the memorial in both hands, breathing a little quickly. As soon as he arrived in front of Zhu Youxiao, he knelt down directly on the ground, and because he was too eager to kneel down, he fell to the ground, mouth Li said impatiently: "I have met your Majesty!"
Zhu Youxiao glanced at him sideways: "I know you are coming, so I will give you a seat!"
Liu Ruoyu hurriedly helped Fang Congzhe up, and then helped him sit on the soft stool beside him.
Fang Congzhe sat down and carefully handed over the memorial: "I am here to resign from my official position. Please allow me to return home."
At this point, Fang Congzhe's voice choked up, his mouth trembled, and then he knelt on the ground again, his forehead pressed against the cold floor tiles.
Zhu Youxiao did not answer Fang Congzhe clearly, but only said: "I know they don't want an obedient person around me. Even if they know that you Fang Congzhe has left the court, I will not use them, but they will still get rid of you Fang Congzhe. Because only in this way can they force everyone around me to be on their side, and only in this way can my will not leave the Forbidden City without their consent!"
Zhu Youxiao continued: "They want to turn me into a canary, keep me in the cage of the Forbidden City, and use my name to satisfy their selfish desires, but they will blame me for the future overthrow of the world! "
When Fang Congzhe heard this, he did not dare to answer. After all, he admitted that this was a fact, but he was also a civil servant, so it was not easy to directly admit that we just wanted to put the emperor under house arrest in the Forbidden City and only listen to our mercy.
Zhu Youxiao suddenly roared at Fang Congzhe: "But I don't want to be manipulated by you!"
When Zhu Youxiao yelled like this, Fang Congzhe trembled with fright and sent chills down his spine.
And Zhu Youxiao directly waved his sleeves: "Because of your greed, there are not many days of peace and tranquility! You Fang Congzhe is from Daxing, the capital. You should know how many refugees are starving to death outside the city, and this is still under the emperor's feet. , the outside will only be worse than this! And how many restless forces outside the border are watching covetously, and they have been in the cabinet for so many years, and they know better than me! But when the time comes, you can change my official robes from the Ming Dynasty and serve the new dynasty again, And what about my Ming Dynasty?"
Fang Congzhe understood Zhu Youxiao's intention and burst into tears: "Your Majesty, they kidnapped my son and asked me to commit suicide. If you don't let me resign, I will have no choice but to commit suicide! Please allow me to resign. Let me have a chance to live, woo hoo!"
Even ants have a secret love for life.
As a human being, Fang Congzhe naturally did not want to die like this. Zhu Youxiao naturally understood this, and also knew that Fang Congzhe wanted to beg him to let him go and allow him to resign, so that he would not have to commit suicide to leave the center of power of the empire.
"I know your request is not excessive and is reasonable. I am indeed not a heartless person, but I cannot agree to it!"
After Zhu Youxiao answered, he gritted his teeth and continued: "I must be like this! I must be cruel to everyone, not just them, but also you Fang Congzhe, and even myself, I must be cruel! There is no way, since you Fang Congzhe has become my chief assistant, Either die in their hands, or die in my hands!"
Zhu Youxiao stared at Fang Congzhe as he spoke: "Want to escape unscathed?"
Then, Zhu Youxiao sneered: "Impossible!"
Fang Congzhe cried even more excitedly: "Your Majesty! I beg you!"
Fang Congzhe knocked his head loudly.
"No need to knock anymore, it's useless!"
Zhu Youxiao shouted loudly and said: "I'm not even afraid! What are you afraid of? Do you really think they can cover the sky with one hand? In fact, they are the most cowardly people, do you know! They are as cowardly as you, Fang Congzhe, are now. ! Don’t look at how arrogant they are behind the scenes now, but they are a group of strong-willed guys who only dare to do shady things. If they have the ability, they will directly come against me. Believe it or not, I will seize the opportunity to kill a few more of them next time. Nine tribes, they still dare not openly rebel against me? Do you know why? It’s because I am still the rightful ruler of this world!”
As Zhu Youxiao spoke, he squatted in front of Fang Congzhe and patted Fang Congzhe on the shoulder: "Continue to be my chief assistant, dear! As long as you continue to be loyal to me, in the future I will only give your Fang family eternal wealth, and will not let you Your Fang family's life is at risk! Otherwise, although I can't control them yet, it will still be easy for me to destroy your Fang family, and it will be easier than them!"
Fang Conzhe trembled. He wanted to scold Zhu Youxiao as a tyrant, but he didn't dare to scold him. He could only bite the bullet and reply: "I obey the order!"
