"The crown prince smuggled?" Funing Marquis Zhu Guobi almost laughed out loud: "This rumor is too false, isn't it? Anyone could smuggle to the Jiannu, except the crown prince. If the crown prince smuggled and colluded with the enemy, then there would be no one loyal to Your Majesty in the Ming Dynasty."
Xincheng Earl Zhao Zhilong also laughed: "Indeed! This news is obviously fake, it couldn't be more fake. Not to mention Your Majesty, even ordinary people wouldn't believe it."
Duke of Wei Xu Wenjue did not laugh, but frowned and analyzed: "The purpose of the groundless rumor is probably not to force the prince to rebel, but to have another purpose."
Zhao Zhilong asked: "What's the purpose?"
Xu Wenjue answered readily: "I don't know."
"Haha," Zhao Zhilong sneered, "You are too timid. You just scare yourself for fun."
“Everyone, everyone!” Liu Kongzhao stretched out his hands and pressed down: “You are focusing on the wrong point.”
Everyone turned around and asked, "What do you mean?"
"The prince's smuggling is not groundless, but has its reasons." Seeing that everyone was puzzled, Liu Kongzhao began to explain: "During the Ping Liao army's campaign in Liao, the Guan Liao Dengjin Navy seized many smuggling merchant ships near Shandong, and most of these ships had warrants with the prince's seal."
"It is certain that the prince himself is not aware of this. The seal above is either forged or stolen."
"Those who are qualified to touch the seal are the people around the prince, and there are four types of people around the prince. They are your majesty's people, the prince's own people, the civil servants' people, and our people."
"First of all, your Majesty and the Crown Prince's own people would not forge or steal. Secondly, our people did not forge or steal either. So there is only one possibility."
"Donglin Party..." Zhu Guobi guessed uncertainly.
Liu Kongzhao nodded: "That's right! The civil servants headed by the Donglin Party! In order to pave the way for the businessmen behind them, the Donglin Party has no upper limit or lower limit in what they do."
Zhu Guobi thought for a moment and said, "But we have no evidence! Even if we have evidence, what can we do? We have committed a capital crime! Exposing the Donglin Party is certainly a merit, but if we want to offset the merits, I'm afraid it won't work!"
"Haha!" Liu Kongzhao smiled and said, "Of course we can't offset the merits and demerits. So what I mean is... to drag the Donglin Party into the water."
Pull the Donglin Party into the water?
The others present looked at Liu Kongzhao at the same time and exclaimed.
Zhu Guobi stood up and walked to Liu Kongzhao: "The Donglin Party is full of cunning people. They only want to drag us down, so why would they let us drag them down?"
"Of course!" Liu Kongzhao said confidently: "The Donglin Party is also human, and human beings have weaknesses, and weaknesses mean flaws!"
Zhu Guobi didn't quite understand what he heard, so he asked, "Then...what is the Donglin Party's weakness?"
Liu Kongzhao paused for a moment and answered seriously: "Zheng Zhilong!"
"Zheng Zhilong?"
Liu Kongzhao nodded heavily: "Yes! It is Zheng Zhilong! As far as I know, the ocean-going merchants in Jiangnan have two backers. One backer is on the shore, responsible for helping them bribe local officials and manage relationships. The other backer is on the sea, ensuring that they will not encounter pirates when sailing."
"These two backers have connections with each other, otherwise Zheng Zhilong would not have allowed his son to worship Qian Qianyi, the leader of Donglin, as his teacher."
"Zheng Zhilong has now been impeached by Shi Kefa for being a pirate and smuggler under the guise of the government army, and for smuggling to the Jiannu during the Ping Liao army's campaign in Liao."
"This crime is very serious and the evidence is sufficient!"
"If he doesn't resist, Zheng Zhilong will surely die."
"So he can only resist! If he wants to resist, he must find the Donglin Party and ask them to help him find a solution."
"Wait," Zhu Guobi interrupted Liu Kongzhao's analysis, "Will the Donglin Party help Zheng Zhilong?"
Liu Kongzhao continued to analyze: "If it were someone else, the Donglin Party would definitely not care, but Zheng Zhilong is different."
"In the eyes of the Donglin Party, if Zheng Zhilong fell, the interests of those ocean-going merchants would be damaged, and ultimately their own interests would be damaged. So for the sake of their own interests, they would definitely help Zheng Zhilong."
......
Liu Kongzhao's analysis is very comprehensive and in-depth.
But the wording is not sharp enough.
In fact, Zheng Zhilong had long become the representative of the Jiangnan gentry interest group.
On the surface, it seemed that Zheng Zhilong was smuggling.
In reality, it was the Jiangnan gentry interest groups that were engaged in smuggling.
Before accepting the imperial edict, Zheng Zhilong had already helped the gentry interest groups to profit.
Why couldn't the imperial navy defeat Zheng Zhilong and his gang of pirates?
It is true that the military is corrupt and its combat effectiveness is declining.
But they were not so defeated by Zheng Zhilong and his gang of pirates that they could not go out to sea.
The root cause is that the Jiangnan gentry interest groups are behind the scenes.
After the navy was defeated, the imperial court had no choice but to offer amnesty.
It seemed that Zheng Zhilong accepted the amnesty, but in fact it was the imperial court that chose to compromise.
A compromise with the interest groups of the gentry in Jiangnan.
Now that Liaodong has been pacified, Chongzhen turned his attention to Jiangnan.
He seemed to be dealing with Zheng Zhilong, but in fact he was dealing with the interest groups of the gentry in Jiangnan.
In short, he wants to take action against Jiangnan.
This task is more difficult than pacifying Liao.
To pacify Liaodong, one only needs to win a battle on the battlefield, but to deal with the gentry in the south of the Yangtze River, one needs to make calculations and plot at every step.
As for Liu Kongzhao, Zhu Guobi and other nobles, they were just tools for sharpening knives.
Without them, the Jiangnan gentry interest groups would not have taken such desperate risks.
Liu Kongzhao and others did not know Chongzhen’s purpose, but they knew they were in danger.
In order to survive, he had no choice but to drag the Donglin Party into the water.
The Donglin Party was the core of the Jiangnan gentry interest group, and Zheng Zhilong was the representative of the Jiangnan gentry interest group.
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