The Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was extremely rebellious

Chapter 333 Death in Chaos

The change of ownership of Liaodong left the Zhejiang Party completely stunned.

They originally wanted to collude with Li Chengliang, control Liaodong Town, and use it to threaten Wanli.

In history, Wanli was also threatened by them and had no way out. For example, in the Battle of Sarhu, the Zhejiang Party wanted to let Yang Hao, the criminal who killed tens of thousands of elite Ming troops in Korea, to command the army. At that time, Wanli had no way to deal with it.

Things are different now. Wanli is no longer the Wanli in history. The military force he controls is enough to make people awe-inspiring. Anyone who dares to disobey him will be killed if he is caught.

Li Chengliang didn't dare to do that.

He summoned Li Chengliang to the capital, gave him a beating, and then gave him a date, and the guy became obedient.

Li Chengliang resigned from his post as commander-in-chief of Liaodong without saying a word and moved his family to the capital.

Moreover, this guy stayed indoors and ignored any civil servants. He would not see anyone even if someone came to him to send a visiting card.

The brothers Li Rubai and Li Rumei, who used to love to live a life of debauchery, seemed to have disappeared, and their traces were nowhere to be found.

The only one left in the Li family was the eldest son, Li Rusong, who served as the deputy general of the Shenwu Left Camp in the Beijing Camp. The problem was that this guy rarely interacted with civil officials, and now he avoided them even more.

This really confused the Zhejiang Party.

They don't know what happened.

In fact, Wanli replaced Li Chengliang so quietly and took over Liaodong Town in order to avoid Li Yuansheng being exposed too early.

As for Yang Hao, he couldn't escape anyway. Compared with what the Zhejiang Party spit out, Yang Hao was nothing.

That was goods worth millions or even tens of millions of taels, and he wanted to make the Zhejiang Party pay a heavy price.

Time passed quickly, and in the blink of an eye it was September. The autumn wind started to blow in the north, and Li Yuansheng's fleet to Japan was about to return, and Imperial Concubine Qin Lan was about to give birth.

It was only at this time that Wanli remembered that Meng Yanghao was still imprisoned in the imperial prison.

Imperial Concubine Qin Lan is about to give birth, and Queen Wang will be pregnant soon. He also has to devote all his energy to planning the war to destroy Japan. It is time to release this guy and completely end the dispute over the national foundation.

Early in the morning at about noon, he had just finished reviewing the memorials when he changed into his Feiyu uniform and quietly came to the imperial prison with a group of expert guards.

Meng Yanghao was actually sitting there cross-legged, reading a book seriously by the oil lamp. He didn't seem to react when a group of people came over.

The small table in front of him was filled with books, almost taller than a person.

What book is this guy reading?
Wanli ordered his men to open the prison door and take a look inside. It seemed that there were only history books, not the Four Books and Five Classics.

Meng Yanghao felt a figure approaching him, so he raised his head and looked curiously.

It doesn’t seem like dinner time now. Why is the jailer running in?
As a result, when he looked up, he saw Wanli wearing the Feiyu suit.

He quickly got up, clasped his hands and bowed, saying, "Your humble servant greets His Majesty."

Wanli nodded slightly, then pointed to the piles of books beside the table and asked, "What kind of subject are you studying?"

Meng Yanghao quickly said modestly, "I dare not claim to be a scholar. I am just trying to understand the reasons for the rise and fall of dynasties."

Taking history as a mirror, we can know the ups and downs.

No wonder you asked people to bring in so many history books.

What are the reasons for the rise and fall of dynasties?

There are different opinions on this question.

Wanli also wanted to know what the result was after Meng Yanghao had studied the history books for so long.

He asked with great interest, "Then what do you think is the reason for the rise and fall of dynasties?"

How do you say this?

Some of them are taboo.

Meng Yanghao thought about it carefully, then said cautiously, "I've discovered that every dynasty has fallen due to chaos. Then, when chaos reaches its peak, they seek to govern and work together to create a prosperous era. However, the prosperous era will, for various reasons, turn into a chaotic era, and then fall due to chaos again."

Perish in chaos?
There is a certain truth.

This is the same principle as the world's general trend of long-term division will eventually lead to unification, and long-term unification will eventually lead to division. As for why it is divided, it can also be said that it is because of chaos.

Wanli nodded slightly, then asked, "Then why do you think the prosperous times turned into troubled times?"

It’s hard to say.

Throughout history, there have been many dynasties that have perished due to the rule of incompetent rulers!
Meng Yanghao thought about it carefully again, and then said carefully: "The reasons why a prosperous era turns into a chaotic era can be roughly divided into two categories: civil unrest and war. Wars are mostly caused by foreign invasions, of course there are also wars caused by internal struggles.

There are many reasons for civil unrest. For example, when the civil officials in power no longer care about the country and the people, but instead fight for power and profit for their own selfish interests, chaos will occur.

Well, that’s well said.

You probably guessed what I wanted to hear, so you said that.

Not bad, not bad, promising.

After being locked up in the imperial prison for a few months, this guy seemed to have matured. He was no longer the young and foolish boy he used to be. He knew how to please me and he knew the importance of his words.

Well, this boy can be promoted and reused.

Wanli nodded slightly, then pondered: "How about you write an article about the civil strife and the destruction of the country after you go out?" Go out?

Meng Yanghao asked in surprise, "Your Majesty, is the Empress about to give birth?"

Not so fast?
Wanli shook his head slightly and said, "We'll have to wait for more than a month for the Queen."

Upon hearing this, Meng Yanghao hurriedly bowed and said, "Your Majesty, I dare to say that this place is very good. There are no worldly affairs to disturb me. Whether it is reading or writing, I can concentrate on it. Therefore, I want to finish my article here before leaving."

Do you still think the imperial prison is good?
If other people hear this, they will probably think you have gone crazy in there.

However, when it comes to being left alone, there's really no place like this.

Who would dare to come to the imperial prison for no reason?

Wanli nodded slightly, then asked, "What do you think of Lu Kun, the beloved minister, as an official?"

Meng Yanghao said without hesitation, "Lord Lu is a rare and virtuous person in this world. I admire him deeply. I believe that the Ming Dynasty needs such virtuous people who truly serve the country and the people."

Yes, if you can think this way, you can become a virtuous person in the future.

Wanli nodded slightly and said, "Then write another one for Lu Aiqing. There's a reason why the demon book case arose from Lu Aiqing's 'Guifan'. Those people didn't want such a virtuous person in the court, so they deliberately used Lu Aiqing's book to stir up trouble."

It turns out that the evil book has hidden secrets.

These guys are so vicious.

Hearing this, Meng Yanghao slowly nodded and said, "I understand."

In fact, Wanli wanted to promote Lu Kun together.

He knew very well that once Meng Yanghao's articles were published, Donglin would certainly take advantage of the situation and mobilize the Qingliu to launch a crazy attack on the Zhejiang Party.

There is a high probability that the Zhejiang Party will suffer heavy losses this time.

With such a good opportunity, he naturally wanted to promote Lu Kun to fill the vacancy.

However, because the Donglin Party and the Zhejiang Party were fighting in the court at that time, he could not mention Lu Kun personally.

Both gangs are very smart. If he intervenes clearly, the two gangs may react, stop fighting, and join forces to deal with him.

Although he was not afraid, he did not want to cause trouble. It would be much easier for him to let the Donglin and Zhejiang parties fight each other to the death. If he took action himself, he didn't know how much trouble it would cause.

Therefore, he asked Meng Yanghao, who seemed to have nothing to do with him, to write an article to build momentum for Lu Kun.

As soon as this article came out, Lu Kun became a well-known figure in the Qing Dynasty. If Donglin did not mention it, no one in the court would agree.

He just sits on the mountain and watches the fight between the tigers, waiting.

Not long after, Imperial Noble Consort Qin Lan really gave birth to a little princess.

Wanli was so happy that he couldn't close his mouth.

The next step is to wait for the queen to give birth to a legitimate son.

There was nothing to hide at this time, so he directly released the news that the imperial concubine had given birth to a little princess and that the queen was about to give birth, paving the way for the publication of Meng Yanghao's article.

Immediately afterwards, he released Meng Yanghao from the imperial prison and directly promoted him to the position of Deputy Minister of Rites.

This time, even Qingliu was confused.

Didn’t Meng Yanghao submit a petition requesting the establishment of a crown prince?
He actually managed to come out of the imperial prison alive and was even promoted!

Has the little emperor changed his personality?
Or maybe the young emperor was afraid that beheading the descendants of the second sage would offend the scholars of the world?
In short, Qingliu didn't understand what Wanli meant.

If he continues to have the rebellious temper before Wanli, he will be afraid of nothing about the scholars in the world, and the descendants of the Second Sage will kill him!

As a result, they soon understood.

As soon as the new issue of the court bulletin came out, the entire capital was in an uproar.

The official gazette is full of Meng Yanghao's articles.

Meng Yanghao wrote the whole story of the evil book clearly.

This is the conspiracy of some people, whose purpose is to use the ignorant people to stir up disputes over the foundation of the country and cause conflicts between the monarch and his ministers to break out again.

Some people want to use the current emperor to clean up their own clean streams and reap the benefits.

There is no need to ask who these people are, they must be the Zhejiang Party!
If it was written by someone else, Qingliu might not believe it easily.

Everyone believes what Meng Yanghao wrote.

This guy was tricked into submitting a petition to establish a crown prince, and was even thrown into prison. How could he really lie?
He was the one who was deceived the most and was imprisoned in the imperial prison for half a year.

Perhaps, the young emperor read the article he wrote and thought that this was indeed the case, so he released him and promoted him.

This time, the Qingliu people were outraged.

Some people are making fun of them. How can they tolerate this?

(End of this chapter)