Daming: Apocalypse of Longevity

Chapter 80
Five days later, Zhu Tianqi went to court again, and the ministers also handed over the list of recommendations they had discussed. There were ten people on the list, five of whom were Donglin Party members. It seemed that in this "spoils-sharing meeting" ", the Donglin Party still had the upper hand, but this is not surprising, after all, this "victory" was thanks to Qian Longxi.

Zhu Tianqi carefully looked at the ten people on the list. There was no Lai Zongdao, only Zhou Daodeng, and Zhou Daodeng's name was still at the bottom.

In addition, there was another name on the list that attracted Zhu Tianqi's attention - Qian Qianyi.

That's right, it was Qian Qianyi who ate young grass and married the famous Qinhuai prostitute Liu Rushi!
It was the Qian Qianyi who first shaved his hair and surrendered to the Qing Dynasty, then turned against the Qing Dynasty and restored the Ming Dynasty, and secretly assisted Zheng Chenggong!
As for why Qian Qianyi was so repetitive, no one except himself may be able to tell clearly, but judging from historical records, there is a high probability that he was influenced by Liu Rushi.

The reason for such speculation is naturally not groundless. Qian Qianyi was originally the leader of the Donglin Party and often regarded himself as a "clean stream", but in fact he had neither spine nor integrity. His "Shui Tai" "Cool" and "itchy scalp" are two famous historical memes that are still the butt of jokes today.

The so-called "water is too cold" means that when the Qing army besieged Yingtian, Qian Qianyi was ordered to defend the city in danger. Seeing that the city could not be defended, Liu Rushi persuaded him to join him in drowning and die for the country. However, Qian Qianyi thought for a moment and finally But he pretended to take a few steps into the water, then came back and said, "The water is too cold, don't go in!"

When Liu Rushi heard this, he immediately jumped into the water and wanted to die for his country alone, but Qian Qianyi held him firmly in his arms. Then the Qing army entered the city, and Qian Qianyi surrendered directly to the Qing Dynasty!

The "itchy scalp" refers to the fact that the Qing Dynasty later issued a "hair-shaving order". At a time when the people were agitated and resisted to the death, Qian Qianyi got up early in the morning and claimed that his "scalp was extremely itchy." After leaving the house for a while, So he shaved his head and walked back with a pigtail, which was extremely shameless.

In comparison, Liu Rushi showed a lot of integrity. When Qian Qianyi came to Qing Dynasty and was named Minister of Rites, when he was about to go to Beijing to take office, Liu Rushi said that she was "ashamed to communicate with him" and insisted Stay in my hometown in Changshu.

Later, Qian Qianyi was imprisoned by the Qing court. After Liu Rushi went around to rescue him, she also encouraged him many times to contact the anti-Qing martyrs, and did her best to help and comfort the anti-Qing martyrs. These all showed her strong patriotic national integrity. .

Therefore, the reason why Qian Qianyi was able to "come to his senses" and "return from the lost path" in his later years, and had a slightly better reputation than several other Ming Dynasty rebels, was largely due to Liu Rushi's "contribution"!
By the way, Liu Rushi is not yet called this name, nor has she become one of the Eight Beauties of Qinhuai. Instead, she was bought home by Zhou Daodeng as a maidservant to serve his mother. In the past two years, Zhou Daodeng will take her home. She was taken as a concubine.

Zhu Tianqi naturally didn't like Qian Qianyi, but Qian Qianyi's name was ranked first. It was obvious that the Donglin Party favored Qian Qianyi to join the cabinet.

Zhu Tianqi slowly put down the list in his hand and said, "I remember that Qian Qianyi has returned to his hometown for many years and is no longer an official in the court!"

Upon hearing this, Qian Longxi came forward and kowtowed and said: "Your Majesty, Qian Qianyi was dismissed from office after being framed by the eunuch party. Although the court has rehabilitated him, he has not yet been reinstated. Therefore, we are so special To put him at the top of the list, in addition to asking the emperor to use Qian Qianyi as an official again, he also strongly recommends Qian Qianyi to join the cabinet!"

As soon as Qian Longxi finished speaking, more than a dozen ministers came out behind him and kowtowed: "I second my opinion!"

Zhu Tianqi could see that they were determined to recommend Qian Qianyi to the cabinet, so he simply stopped objecting and said: "Qian Qianyi is an outstanding scholar. If you recommend him to the cabinet, of course I will not." My opinion is just that when it comes to Qian Qianyi, I also think of a capable minister who is currently idle at home." Hearing that Zhu Tianqi agreed to let Qian Qianyi join the cabinet, Qian Longxi and a group of Donglin Party members couldn't help but feel happy. , but after hearing what Zhu Tianqi said, they couldn't help but look at each other with some doubts. Finally, Qian Longxi saluted and asked, "I wonder who the 'capable minister' the emperor mentioned is..."

"Come to Zongdao," Zhu Tianqi said. "Speaking of which, he is still one of my teachers."

After hearing this name, all the ministers could not help but secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Although Lai Zongdao was not a member of the Donglin Party, he was not a bad person and could not be considered an enemy of the Donglin Party.

Lai Zongdao is indeed very tactful in his dealings with people, and he can play both sides. Whether it is the Donglin Party or other parties, he has never offended him, and he can get along well with them.

Because the emperor had attached great importance to Lai Zongdao in the past, it is reasonable and reasonable for the emperor to move Lai Zongdao out at this time and plan to reinstate him. Using Lai Zongdao in exchange for money for Qianyi to join the cabinet, this "deal" is still very cost-effective, ministers Agree immediately.

Zhu Tianqi then circled Zhou Daodeng's name on the list and handed the list to Wang Yuanbao. Wang Yuanbao immediately walked down the stairs holding the list and handed the list back to Qian Longxi.

Qian Longxi took the list and looked at it. Apart from Qian Qianyi, the emperor actually chose only one Zhou Daodeng. The emperor only chose the first and last person on the list of ten people. There was no one among the eight emperors. Although the goal of pushing Qian Qianyi into the cabinet has been achieved, after a long time of tossing and only sending in one Qian Qianyi, I still feel a little unwilling to think about it.

Qian Longxi finally couldn't help but said: "Your Majesty, now there are three vacancies in the six ministers, and the cabinet ministers should also make up for the previous seven. The emperor has only appointed three candidates, which is probably not enough to fill the vacancies in the six ministers and the cabinet. ah!"

Zhu Tianqi said immediately: "I think it is enough to make up for these three people. The gaps in the six ministers can be made up. As for the cabinet, the court has never stipulated the number of cabinet ministers. There are only three or four people in the cabinet. It happens all the time, I think there is no need to make up for the seven people, it is enough to have six cabinet ministers to advise me!"

When Qian Longxi heard this, he thought he had guessed Zhu Tianqi's thoughts. For the emperor, the fewer ministers he could not control, the better.

However, Qian Longxi didn't say anything more. He decided to give it up and fight the emperor. He had to be more cautious and proceed step by step. If he was eager for success, he would easily mess up the matter.

"Your Majesty is wise, it's because I'm worrying too much!" Qian Longxi immediately kowtowed and shouted.

The ministers behind him originally expected Qian Longxi to fight for it again, but they didn't expect Qian Longxi to "admit defeat". Naturally, they were surprised and unwilling, but they did not dare to act rashly, so they had to endure it for the time being. He suppressed his inner impulse, kowtowed with Qian Longxi, and returned to the train.

(End of this chapter)