Chapter 25 Section 3 The strong survive, the weak pay the bill

In this way, Zhou Yanru and Wen Tiren became cabinet members. But being a member is not enough in any organization. Because being a member means that you are the weaker party in the organization. The strong survive, and the weak pay the bill. This is an eternal philosophy of life. Must be a leader. Do whatever it takes to be a leader. Zhou Yanru and Wen Tiren focused their eyes on Cheng Jiming at the same time. He is extremely powerful, he can control the fate of Zhou and Wen. Because he is the chief minister of the cabinet. But is the chief minister of the cabinet great? It depends on who is sitting in this position.

What if Zhou and Wen were sitting in this position? Not impossible. Life is not impossible. It is precisely because life is full of possibilities that they are members of the cabinet today.What about tomorrow? Tomorrow will be better. There is no doubt about it. So Zhou Yanru and Wen Tiren suddenly feel that life is so fulfilling. Because they have such a clear purpose in life. It's so clear, it's obvious, it's about to move, and it's so easy to get.That is - to overthrow into the basic life. Cheng Jiming stepped down soon. Because he is not cruel enough. In the officialdom of the Ming Dynasty, it depends on who is more ruthless than the other.

Non-toxic no husband.Non-toxic and not husband. Zhou Yanru and Wen Tiren were ruthless and vicious, and joined forces to muddy the waters of Qian Longxi's case, instructing Jin Yiwei Zhang Daojun to attack Cheng Jiming as the general backer of Qian Longxi's party. The kind-hearted Cheng Jiming defended himself with a weak voice. But he could only convince himself, but not Chongzhen. Chongzhen's eyes were always gloomy. Obviously, the emperor was suspicious of him. Cheng Jiming felt that this officialdom could no longer be messed with, so he also returned. Zhou Yanru and Wen Tiren finally waited for tomorrow's sun.

But only Zhou Yanru was in a good mood.Chongzhen not only appointed him as the chief assistant of the cabinet, but also added him to the rank of Shaobao, and changed him to a bachelor of Wuyingdian. Wen Tiren got nothing. Now, he became Zhou Yanru's subordinate. Wen Tiren suddenly felt that the sun belonged to Zhou Yanru alone and had nothing to do with him. It took him a long time to push Zhou Yanru to the position of first assistant, but he was still at the bottom of the cliff. After Zhou Yanru was promoted to the first assistant, he accepted the greeting from his subordinate Wen Tiren as if nothing had happened. Everything seemed so logical and a matter of course.

This made Wen Tiren very sad and angry. For his grandma, I can let Cheng Jiming step down, and I can also let you step down Zhou Yanru. The throne takes turns and will come to my house next year. There are no eternal friends, no eternal enemies, only eternal thrones. Zhou Yanru is complacent, and Wen Tiren is acting. Wen Tiren's actions were quiet.After Wang Yongguang left, he tried to make his fellow-country confidant Min Hongxue the official official secretary, and he also recruited several censors who were not afraid of death as his confidantes. Wen Tiren knows that to succeed, the most important thing is to use the right people.

What does it mean to use the right person? It is to use people who can only use what I have, can charge into the battle, and can stand up at critical moments, especially those who can be loyal at critical moments. Now, the people are in place, just waiting for the critical moment to come. The critical moment finally came. In the spring examination of the fourth year of Chongzhen, Zhou Yanru's relative Chen Yutai and Zhou Yanru's old friend Wu Yuyu's son Wu Weiye took the examination at the same time.But Zhou Yanru did not avoid suspicion, and personally presided over the test as the chief assistant of the cabinet, which has violated the convention.According to the past practice, the first assistant of the cabinet should be handed over to the second assistant because of the heavy workload of the cabinet.Zhou Yanru took over the role, which made Cifu Wen Tiren feel that there must be something wrong.

Don't be afraid of problems, but be afraid of not being able to grasp them when there is a problem. But this time, because the person used it correctly, Wen Tiren quickly grasped the crux of the problem. Zhou Yanru is tricky. He is definitely playing with fire. Zhou Yanru personally presided over the test as the chief assistant of the cabinet. He was not recruiting talents for the court as he kept saying, but recruiting talents for himself. It turns out that Zhou Yanru also knew that talents were the most expensive in the 17th century.He recruited his party members and recruited celebrities from all over the world as his disciples to expand his sphere of influence in the court, and the spring test became the best time for him to make a move.

It's nothing more than recruiting talents, isn't he also recruiting for his warmth and benevolence?But Zhou Yanru played with fire this time.He even secretly asked the examiners to peek at the sealed titles, and cheated with the papers for the talents he was looking for. In this way, Wu Weiye's test paper was tampered with, and he won the first place. Wu Weiye won the first place, Wen Tiren smiled: Zhou Yanru is not looking for death, making such a low-level mistake?He thought my Wen Tiren was blind? On the one hand, Wen Tiren asked his confidants to spread the top-secret news to the court, and on the other hand, he asked Yu Shi Yuan Jing to write a memorial to impeach Zhou Yanru.

But Wen Tiren didn't expect that Wen Tiren's shot was quick, and Zhou Yanru's shot was even faster. Just the night before Yuan Jing's memorial, Zhou Yanru had already sent Wu Weiye's paper to Chongzhen for reading.After reading it, Chongzhen commented eight words: Zhengda Boya, foot style is extravagant.That was the meaning of applause, and Wu Weiye was selected as the club member. Yuan Jing's memorial became a late memorial.A late memorial is like a wet cannonball. Although it is still a cannonball in name, it is destined not to explode. Wen Tiren understood that he lost this round.In fact, he did not lose to Zhou Yanru, but to the emperor.Wouldn't the emperor just investigate?Yes, the article is a good article, but who can guarantee that this good article was written by Wu Weiye?Even if the emperor checks the handwriting, he can see the result, but the emperor does not.The emperor's heart is still connected with Zhou Yanru.

Wen Tiren shrank his neck.He knew that at such a historical moment, there was no better way than to wait. Zhou Yanru finally realized what it means to be an extremely human minister. When Wen Tiren was speechless, Zhou Yanru realized that power is so attractive and lethal. He wants to increase the value of power, and he wants to make full use of the window period of his power life. He promoted Zhang Tinggong, the governor of Datong, and Sun Yuanhua, the governor of Denglai, to form a community of interests. His elder brother Zhou Suru was basically illiterate, but he served in Jinyiwei Qianhu, and his servant Zhou Wenyu became the deputy commander.

Wen Tiren watched all this coldly and remained silent. He understands that the time has not come to bring down Zhou Yanru now, the time has not yet come. But what Wen Tiren didn't expect was that the censors took action. This is a group of independent censors, not attached to Wen Tiren. They are the last bit of conscience of Daming.They scrambled to play. Shaanxi Taoist censor Yu Yinggui said that Zhou Yanru had no national interests in mind.No matter how big the country's affairs are, it is still a small matter, and no matter how small the family's affairs are, it is also a big matter.His unprincipled defense of his cronies has reached outrageous proportions.Sun Yuanhua, the governor of Denglai, spent several times more than Mao Wenlong in military pay. Not only did he have no military achievements, he even caused two mutinies on the island, but Zhou Yanru loved him very much.What is the reason?Just because Sun Yuanhua was Zhou's confidant, a large number of ginseng, mink fur, gold and silver were sent to Zhou Yanru every month.Zhou Yanru's family and brothers occupied all the beautiful houses in the fertile fields in the south of the Yangtze River, sparking a civil uprising.Your Majesty, Zhou Yanru has degenerated into the biggest moth in my dynasty, and he must get rid of it... Feng Yuanbiao from Huke told the story that every court meeting, when talking about Zhou Yanru, officials of all sizes stick out their tongues and shrink their necks, and dare to be angry but dare not speak. Why is this?Scared.Now Zhou Yanru is too powerful, Zhou Yanru is sinister and vicious, and he must take revenge.This phenomenon is extremely abnormal! Wei Jingyuan, the Taoist censor of Shanxi Province, said that Zhou Yanru accepted Zhang Tinggong's bribe of 3,500 taels of silver and appointed him as the governor of Datong as soon as the amber beads were hung; He was transferred from the Ministry of Households to the Ministry of Officials.But Wu Mingyu repeatedly dereliction of duty, the emperor was wise and personally punished him, but Zhou Yanru still defended him endlessly.What is the reason?It turned out that Wu Mingyu handed over his 5,000 mu of fertile land in Changzhou to Zhou Yanru. ... Zhou Yanru was impeached by so many officials in a short period of time. To be honest, Zhou Yanru was still a little scared.The officials are not just talking nonsense, some evidence has indeed been grasped by them.If the emperor seriously pursues it, Zhou Yanru will be too much to eat and will walk around.But Zhou Yanru skillfully drew the impeachment of the speech officials to the party struggle, saying that the imperial court and the party struggle had not stopped. When Zhou Yanru was ordered to be in danger, he had already ignored his personal reputation. Allegiance to the emperor.When Zhou Yanru said this, Chongzhen also felt that there was a lot in it.Several leading figures engaged in party disputes have resigned. It is estimated that their old department is venting their personal anger. Don't follow their way—once the investigation is opened, it will be a big trouble. Mouth?I punished several leading figures who engaged in party disputes, but the person who came up still had problems, so I... too blind-eyed.Even if it is found out that there is no problem, Zhou Yanru's enthusiasm for loyalty to the court has also been dampened. Therefore, it cannot be checked, at least not now. But since the wind has risen, it will continue to blow when given the opportunity. The wind rises from the water, and the wind rises from the end of the floating weed.When the wind picked up again, the wind continued to blow. Kong Youde, Geng Zhongming, and Li Jiucheng, Mao Wenlong's former subordinates, launched a rebellion in Dengzhou and captured Dengzhou City in one fell swoop, and captured Denglai Governor Sun Yuanhua. This sudden incident once again ignited the fuse of the Zhou Dynasty Movement.Wang Daochun, governor of Shandong, said that within six days of this rebellion, seven counties were conquered, and Dengzhou was lost on the tenth day. The city and land were lost so quickly, and Sun Yuanhua was clearly in collusion with the bandits.Shaanxi Taoist censor Yu Yinggui said that it was not Kong Youde who instigated Dengzhou's rebellion, but Sun Yuanhua; it was not Sun Yuanhua who prompted Kong Youde's rebellion, but Zhou Yanru... But Chongzhen continued to adhere to the "no investigation" policy, severely suppressed Yu Yinggui, and demoted him to three levels as a punishment. Zhou Yanru once again ventured into danger safely. The wind picked up again, and the wind continued to blow. Li Chunwang, who is not afraid of death, said that Cao Wenheng, governor of Jiliao, and the surveillance eunuch of Xixie had been attacking each other, disregarding state affairs, and they would always bring out Zhou Yanru during the attack. It can be seen that Zhou Yanru also played a role in it. Unclean character, this is really a great misfortune for the prosperity and decline of the country's governance.The minister suggested that all three should be dismissed. There was no reply to Li Chunwang's memorial to Chongzhen.He neither investigated Zhou Yanru and others, nor blamed Li, but chose to remain silent. Chongzhen couldn't figure it out, is there really such a party struggle that is not afraid of death in this world? Almost all the censors and officials in the dynasty were scrambling to impeach Zhou Yanru. Although he suppressed him severely, he could not stop the impeachment trend from continuing. Could it be that Zhou Yanru—is there really a problem? If there is something wrong with Zhou Yanru, where will I put Chongzhen's face?It was I who overcame all arguments and reused him! what should I do?Without Zhou Yanru, who else can I use?Who do I dare to use? Chongzhen fell into silence, a sad silence. In Wen Tiren's view, Chongzhen's silence is intriguing. This is historic silence. This silence heralds the birth of an inflection point, the dissociation of one person's trust in another. turn left?go right?It was a new choice for Chongzhen, and it was also a new choice for Wen Tiren. Choice is the first homework in life. Choices determine success or failure, and Wen Tiren made a decisive choice at the most critical moment in his life: stop keeping a low profile and start working secretly to bring down Zhou Yanru. At this time, Hong Hongxue, the Minister of the Ministry of Officials he introduced, began to serve him at this time. Min Hongxue put all the things that won people's hearts under the name of Wen Tiren, and pushed all the things that were at fault to Zhou Yanru.For a while, Wen Tiren's achievements were outstanding, and his popularity increased greatly. Hundreds of officials rushed to Wen Tiren's family, while Zhou Yanru's family was left out in the cold. The balance of officialdom was broken.Zhou Yanru knew that Wen Tiren made another move after being dormant for a long time.In Wen Tiren's attack this time, Min Hongxue was the key weapon.Relying on his position as Minister of the Ministry of Officials, Min Hongxue wins over all the officials and accumulates strength for Wen Tiren, in order to strike a fatal blow! Wen Tiren's heavy weapon must be destroyed.The old balance is broken, and a new balance must be established. Zhou Yanru's henchmen began to attack.During the incident, Wang Jican, Yushi Liu Lingyu, Zhou Kanggeng, etc. Shangshu impeached Min Hongxue, and among them, Zhou Yanru's heavy weapon was Hua Yuncheng, a member of the Ministry of War. Hua Yuncheng's theoretical foundation is very solid. He summed up the three major regrets and four major concerns of state affairs from a high-level plan, thus leading to the ulterior relationship between the cabinet minister Wen Tiren and the official minister Min Hongxue.He said that Wen Tiren manipulated the official department, and the official department only obeyed Wen Tiren.They conspired behind closed doors, plotting countermeasures, fighting against dissidents, and turned the power of rewards and punishments granted by the court into a means for them to form a party for personal gain: those who are used by me will be rewarded; those who oppose me will be punished!If this continues, the country's affairs will be worrying! Hua Yuncheng talked eloquently, but Chongzhen remained silent.Being silent is not because he has no thoughts, but because he has too many thoughts: it is true that Hua Yuncheng cherishes and worries about national affairs, and it is true to attack Wen Tiren and Min Hongxue.Why did he do this, usually he is not a person with an exposed personality, what happened to him today, he attacked the ministers and officials?What benefits can he get by doing this? Could it be that he wants to be the Minister of the Ministry of Officials or even an assistant minister?Just kidding, this is highly unlikely.There must be someone behind it!This person should have a deep hatred for Wen Ti, so who is this person?They should be at the same level, and there should be a strong conflict of interest... Could it be him?Chongzhen didn't dare to think about it. Chongzhen severely reprimanded Hua Yuncheng's remarks, and told him clearly that there was definitely someone behind it, and he must honestly explain who this person is and what he wants to do! Of course Hua Yuncheng would not tell the truth.Strictness in confession, leniency in resistance, this is the rule of the game in the officialdom of Ming Dynasty, Hua Yuncheng will not understand it.He told Chongzhen that no one instructed him to do this, but the conscience of an official told him that Daming could no longer go on in such a mess.Wen Tiren and Min Hongxue did have a problem, and the problem was not small. If we don't investigate to find out the truth now, I'm afraid there will be no chance to investigate in the future. The more sincere Hua Yuncheng said, the more suspicious Chongzhen became.His head suddenly ached violently—it seemed that he had hired the wrong person again!The old party struggle is gone, and the new party struggle is coming again.Where there are people, there are left, center and right, and where there are officials, there are party struggles.There is no one who can be used in the civil and military affairs of the Manchu Dynasty, and everyone looks suspicious.God, is it true that the officials of my Ming Dynasty are just running around like this, forming cliques for personal gain?Is there no clean person in this officialdom anymore?Chongzhen said that every day should not be called the earth is not working, it is really sad.