Chapter 23 Section 1 Worse than Corruption Is Partisanship

Corruption is serious. But even worse than corruption is partisanship. The party struggle in the officialdom of the Ming Dynasty is like an undercurrent under the sea, invisible and intangible, but with amazing energy.Chongzhen was quietly involved, and he felt the all-powerful power of the undercurrent.He wanted to make a difference, he wanted to turn the tide, but he was shocked to find that he had nowhere to go. This is a high-speed spinning centrifuge that separates everything and gathers everything—Chongzhen, can he finally dismantle this centrifuge? Wen Tiren, Jinshi in the 26th year of Wanli, Minister of Rites in the Chongzhen Dynasty.

An old man who doesn't look amazing. A cautious old man. He abides by the doctrine of the mean, is impartial in dealing with the court, and does not leak water in his dealings with others. But that's just what he looks like. Generally speaking, a person's appearance is often a cover for his heart. People who are honest on the outside are more aggressive on the inside. Warm and benevolent, sharp and sharp, the city is extremely deep. He doesn't take it easily. But once it is shot, it will definitely kill or injure a person. or opponents. or himself. Of course, the latter case rarely occurs.

After all, after so many years of experience in the officialdom of the Ming Dynasty, the so-called ability to handle things with ease, the so-called lightness of lifting weights, the so-called inviting the emperor into the urn, the so-called sneaking into the urn... He played all these well. A person is not afraid of what he is playing, but he is afraid that he will play with something. After playing with oil, everything can follow the trend without any hindrance. This is the environment. In the officialdom of the Ming Dynasty, Wen Tiren's pushing hands kung fu has reached the realm of perfection.

Therefore, it is often the case that the opponent falls, but he is unscathed. This is Wen Tiren's victory, and also Huajing's victory. Warm body benevolence and environment are inseparable. This time, he made another move. Chongzhen issued an instruction to require the Ministry of Officials to comprehensively consider the performance and official voice of each official, and report a supplementary list of cabinet members as soon as possible.Soon, the Ministry of Officials issued a list: Cheng Jiming, the left servant of the Ministry of Rites, Qian Qianyi and Zheng Yiwei, the right servants of the Ministry of Rites, Li Tengfang, Sun Shenxing, He Ruchong, Xue Sansheng, Sheng Yihong, the right servant of the Ministry of Rites, Luo Yuyi, the right servant of the Ministry of Rites, and Wang Yongguang, the minister of official affairs , Cao Yubian, the censor of the left capital of the Metropolitan Procuratorate.

However, Wen Tiren, who is the minister of the Ministry of Rites, is not on this list, nor is Zhou Yanru, the servant of the Ministry of Rites that Chongzhen has always been optimistic about. For Wen Tiren, it doesn't matter whether Zhou Yanru is on this list, what matters is that he should appear on this list. Becoming a member of the cabinet means one step closer to the core of power.He must fight. But how to fight is a skill. It's a good card that Zhou Yanru doesn't appear on this list. Everyone knows that he is deeply appreciated by the emperor. If Zhou Yanru lost the election, the emperor would definitely think that there must be a courtier forming a party, which led to the release of this list that cannot withstand scrutiny.

Therefore, we must follow the emperor's thinking and provide the emperor with evidence or cases that the list cannot withstand scrutiny. Among the eleven people on this list, who can't stand the scrutiny? Wen Tiren fixed his eyes on Qian Qianyi, the right servant of the Ministry of Rites. Although they are all members of the Ministry of Rites, I'm sorry, at the moment of life and death, you can kill blood only by using your own people. Wen Tiren worked hard overnight and wrote "Straight to the God of the World", exposing that Qian Qianyi accepted bribes from examinee Qian Qianqiu when he presided over the Zhejiang Examination as an editor of the Imperial Academy in the first year of Tianqi.If such a person becomes a member of the cabinet, it will discredit Daming!

But in fact, this is an unjust, false and wrongly decided case. In the first year of Tianqi, there was indeed a phenomenon of examinee cheating in Zhejiang: Han Jing, Shen Defu and others who had a relationship with Qian Qianyi fraudulently used his name to cheat among examinees by pre-embedding words in the test papers. Candidates who bribe money to open up joints and gain fame.A candidate named Qian Qianqiu took the test as a secret code of "once in the sky" and cleverly put these seven characters at the end of each passage so that the examiner could identify them.But all of what Han Jing, Shen Defu and others did was done in the name of Qian Qianyi, and Qian himself didn't know about it.Soon, due to the unequal distribution of the spoils among the examiners involved in the fraud, the matter was revealed. Gu Zhongqiu, who was involved in the fraud, retrieved Qian Qianqiu's test paper after finding out the relevant evidence, and reported it to the imperial court to expose the case. Qian Qianyi also took the initiative to report and expose the case. .Finally, the result of the interrogation given by the Ministry of Criminal Justice was: Qian Qianqiu was given credit, the person directly responsible was arrested and imprisoned, Qian Qianyi lost his awareness as the chief examiner, and his salary was suspended for three months.

There is no doubt that this is an old case. However, Wen Tiren exaggerated Qian Qianyi's responsibility too much, saying that he accepted bribes from candidate Qian Qianqiu, and the evidence was conclusive. This is stabbing Qian Qianyi in the heart! What moment is this?A critical moment in the selection of cabinet members. And no matter whether the old case is investigated or not, no matter whether the result of the investigation is consistent with the original one, Qian Qianyi can't afford it. First of all, his impression points are gone. Secondly, the investigation of such an old case many years ago must take a long time, and the selection of cabinet members is imminent-will Chongzhen give a person with suspected taint time to wash himself?

Therefore, in the officialdom of the Ming Dynasty, Wen Tiren's pushing hands kung fu has already reached the realm of perfection. But Zhou Yanru caught up in time. He complained everywhere, saying that Qian Qianyi was forming a party. Otherwise, with Qian Qianyi's qualifications, how could he be a candidate for a cabinet member? Both Wen Tiren and Zhou Yanru understood that if Qian Qianyi did not fall, they would have no chance of standing up. The next Qian Qianyi, on the surface, can only squeeze in one person among Wen and Zhou, but in fact it is not the case. Because for this list, Qian Qianyi is too lethal.

Qian Qianyi fell, and the other ten people were also in danger. Because the impartiality of the list has been questioned. Everything may be reshuffled, and everything may be full of vitality. Wen Tiren and Zhou Yanru now just need to wait quietly, waiting for the arrival of a spring. Chongzhen's eyes scanned the list N times. This list is intriguing. Zhou Yanru was not on top, but Qian Qianyi was ranked second.There is also Wang Yongguang, the Minister of the Ministry of Officials who is too old to stand up. Didn't he take the initiative to sue his old man and return to his hometown?Why, are you still reluctant to part with my Daming officialdom?

Wang Yongguang and Qian Qianyi must be tricky!Qian Qianyi, an old fox, did not show up himself, but his fellow student Qu Shixu jumped up and down, pushing Wang Yongguang, Minister of the Ministry of Officials, to dominate the list.Wang Yongguang is also not firm in his position. He said he wanted to leave but he didn't leave-could there be a party struggle?Wang Yongguang-Qian Qianyi party will dominate the future officialdom of Ming Dynasty? This is never allowed!