Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 258 The unparalleled traitor Qian Qianyi

After seeing many shrewd courtiers and eunuchs, Zhu Youjian was really a little surprised by Zheng Zhihu, a naive and wild person like Zheng Zhihu.

After making the reward, Zhu Youjian also gave him a house so that Zheng Zhihu could have time to study in the capital and communicate with martial arts officers.

None of these rewards went through the imperial court, and even the cabinet was not aware of them. Zhu Youjian used the power brought by overseas martial law to deal with these matters directly.

For the ministers who had served in the court years ago, they had already acquiesced in this kind of thing and did not want to get entangled in overseas matters.

However, for the ministers who returned to serve in the court after the year, some of them did not know the martial law order at all, and believed that the emperor acted arbitrarily and violated the court rules in recruiting Zheng Zhilong.

"The recruitment matter was decided directly without going through the cabinet or the Ministry of War."

"Why is it that no one dissuades His Majesty from doing this?"

Qian Qianyi, the young minister of Taichang Temple, is one of those who holds this view.

As a member of the Imperial Academy, he was likely to join the cabinet and become a bachelor in the future. Naturally, he attached great importance to the emperor's decrees issued without going through the cabinet.

However, among the current cabinet bachelors, Sun Chengzong, a member of the Donglin Party, left Liaodong and Han Xu had not yet taken office. He could only complain to the former bachelor Zhu Guozhen and mention this matter.

Zhu Guozhen, a former bachelor, was recalled by Zhu Youjian to Beijing to compile history at the National History Museum to prevent him from writing history books privately and going against the official views.

When he heard Qian Qianyi complaining to him, he took it seriously and said:

"Anything that is not done without the approval of the cabinet is the official decree, and ministers should discourage this kind of behavior."

"It's just that I'm not in office now, so I shouldn't comment on this kind of thing."

"In this way, my fellow countryman Wen Tiren is now the Minister of Rites."

"You discuss with him and see how to dissuade this!"

Send someone to call Wen Tiren and discuss the matter with him.

When Wen Tiren heard the call from fellow countryman Zhu Guozhen, he thought something big was going on. After hearing what Qian Qianyi said, I realized that it was a trivial matter of recruiting a pirate.

After thinking about it, he said:
"The imperial court promulgated the Imperial Law a year ago and declared martial law overseas, which can be managed by His Majesty's direct decree."

"This incident happened overseas. His Majesty has the right to deal with it according to martial law. We have no right to comment!"

Qian Qianyi heard this and said:

"How can things in Fujian be said to be overseas?"

"Let's talk about martial law. Qian also thinks it's a bit inappropriate."

"The cabinet is designed to assist the emperor. Why does it now have no right to comment on matters outside the country?"

"I will wait for His Majesty to advise you on this matter."

Wen Tiren stared at Qian Qianyi's expression and saw that he looked calm. But he sneered in his heart:
"What do you want to advise His Majesty to do instead of going to the hospital yourself, instead of dragging me along?" 』

"Do you think you don't have enough weight, or do you want to drag me into the water?" 』

After being promoted successively by Zhu Youjian, Wen Tiren knew how he came to be the Minister of Rites. It can be said that it was entirely the emperor who pushed him to this position.

Otherwise, given his prestige among scholars, it would be impossible for him to serve as Minister of Rites. Qian Qianyi, the backbone of the Donglin Party, has a greater chance than him.

Therefore, Wen Tiren put his position in a right position and knew that he must be loyal to the emperor. Of course, it is impossible to oppose the current emperor on the matter of martial law.

No matter what Qian Qianyi said, he just refused to obey and found another reason to leave Zhu Guozhen.

Not achieving the goal, Qian Qianyi's face was unhappy, and Zhu Guozhen's face was not good-looking. He felt that he had lost face after resigning as a bachelor. Even fellow countryman Wen Tiren ignored his words, let alone other court ministers.

Therefore, Zhu Guozhen did not invite other ministers over and said to Qian Qianyi:

"Yuan Keli, Minister of the Ministry of War, once resisted the emperor's decree. Why don't you go to his place and talk about this matter?"

"With Mr. Yuan's personality, he will not disappoint his nephew."

Let Qian Qianyi go to Yuan Keli and take the lead in admonishing him about this matter.

Qian Qianyi had no choice but to go to Yuan Keli, Minister of War, as Zhu Guozhen said.

When they arrived at the Yuan Mansion, Yuan Keli was discussing with Dong Qichang, the right servant of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, about the appointment of those who excelled in the mock examination to take up official positions.

After hearing Qian Qianyi's intention, Yuan Keli said:
"Brother Qian, it's not that I won't help you with this matter. It's actually a matter of martial law. His Majesty asked me to take charge of the formulation."

"How can I be a minister if I go back on my word?"

He told Qian Qianyi the inside story about the enactment of martial law, and then said:

"Your Majesty is a wise man. If you don't use martial law, you can get your Majesty's promise not to comply with the decree."

"In the future, there will inevitably be various disputes in the court because of the imperial decree."

"Brother Qian doesn't want to keep arguing about this matter in the court, or let His Majesty use another Wei Zhongxian, right?"

There was still dissatisfaction in his heart, and he blamed Yuan Keli for allowing the emperor to expand his power. Hearing the words "Wei Zhongxian", Qian Qianyi's heart suddenly jumped and he understood the reason why Yuan Keli promoted martial law.

If martial law is not exchanged for the emperor's commitment and the emperor is given the opportunity to flex his muscles abroad, the emperor may focus on internal affairs and start arguments with ministers in the court.

Once he feels uncomfortable, he may appoint Wei Zhongxian like Emperor Tianqi did. That's even worse for civil servants.

Therefore, Qian Qianyi, who is not so firm in his stance and is good at protecting himself wisely, has already planned to get out of this matter and will not raise any objections to the martial law matter.

However, word had spread that he opposed the emperor's use of the imperial edict. In order to maintain his reputation in Shilin, Qian Qianyi thought about it after returning and wrote a memorial to discuss whether the recruitment of Zheng Zhilong was outside the country or within the country.

The content of this memorial is not intense at all. But what Qian Qianyi didn't expect was that after his memorial was posted, it seemed to send a signal. Many officials who were dissatisfied with the emperor's actions many years ago began to follow Shang Shu.

At first, they only opposed martial law, and then expanded to other methods, such as the grinding method, the court recommendation method, and even the adjustment of the Nine Temples, the restructuring of the Jinyi Guards, and the establishment of the Navy Yamen. Some people put forward opinions.

Some people even raised objections regarding the Mingfa Branch and the Mingshu Branch.

It can be said that this is the new official who entered the court questioning the emperor's decision years ago. There was a push by some officials to overturn the resolution.

Qian Qianyi's memorial was an introduction that brought these people out.

And because of Qian Qianyi's prestige among the Donglin Party and Shilin, he received a lot of support. This phenomenon surprised Qian Qianyi, who did not expect that he had such great appeal.

However, Wen Tiren's mind changed and he saw an opportunity:
"Qian Qianyi tried to drag me into trouble last time, but luckily I wasn't fooled and didn't get involved in this incident. 』

"He wants to use this matter to plot against me. I have to respond, otherwise others will think that I am scheming." 』

"I remember that when Qian Qianyi was presiding over the Zhejiang Provincial Examination, he was involved in a fraud case. 』

"You can find out this matter, give him a severe blow, and help His Majesty resolve the crisis!" 』

As a Zhejiang native, Wen Tiren still knows something about what happened in his hometown.

When Qian Qianyi presided over the Zhejiang Provincial Examination in the first year of Tianqi, he was involved in the Qian Qianqiu joint case. Wen Tiren planned to use this incident to drag him down and dampen his arrogance.

In this way, he helped the emperor calm down the turmoil caused by Qian Qianyi, gained the emperor's respect, and prepared for joining the cabinet in the future.

Even, in order to make the emperor pay more attention to him, he also tried to figure out the emperor's thoughts and guessed that what the emperor hates most is party strife. Qian Qianyi responded to everything like this, which was against the emperor's taboo.

If these people continue to vigorously defend Qian Qianyi, it will further confirm the fact that Qian Qianyi has formed a party. The emperor would kick Qian Qianyi out of the court out of disgust.

The scheming Wen Tiren even thought about how to gain a foothold in the court in the future, that is, "without a party", making the emperor think that he was a lonely minister.

In this way, the emperor will feel that he is easy to control, and if he impeaches others in the future, he will also appear to be "lonely and loyal".

After deciding on this strategy, Wen Tiren wrote a memorial with a very sensational name: "The Unparalleled Traitor with Straight Hair", directly denounced Qian Qianyi as the "unparalleled traitor" and said that this "supernatural traitor formed a party and deceived the emperor". ", causing a storm in the court. He also brought up the Zhejiang rural examination fraud case in the first year of Tianqi again, attacking Qian Qianyi as the examiner and accepting bribes from Qian Qianqiu.

As soon as this memorial was read, Zhu Youjian was shocked, almost thinking that he had seen the shock of future generations.

After reading it carefully several times, I realized that Wen Tiren wanted to impeach Qian Qianyi and wanted to beat Qian Qianyi to death and drive him out of the court directly:
"When did Wen Tiren and Qian Qianyi become friends?" 』

"Isn't his relationship with the Donglin Party very good? 』

With doubts in his heart, Zhu Youjian was a little puzzled that Wen Tiren treated Qian Qianyi so cruelly.

Little did they know that it was Wen Tiren who had been close to the Donglin Party before, but now that he realized that he did not like his ministers forming factions, he wanted to distance himself from the Donglin Party by intervening in the impeachment of Qian Qianyi——

For Wen Tiren, he basically has no leverage from the Donglin Party. Qian Qianyi is different. He is the backbone of the Donglin Party and is likely to become his opponent when the court nominates cabinet ministers in the future.

To abolish Qian Qianyi now is to remove a very competitive opponent. Wen Tiren targeted Qian Qianyi not without reason.

He couldn't figure out what Wen Tiren meant. He told Wen Tiren that Qian Qianyi was the "unparalleled traitor", but he didn't believe it in his heart. However, he was indeed a little tired of the turmoil in the court questioning the resolutions made a year ago. Therefore, in order to suppress the turmoil, Zhu Youjian decided to let Wen Tiren's memorial ferment and attack Qian Qianyi, the leader.

Therefore, this memorial quickly spread widely. Now many people know that Qian Qianyi is the "unparalleled traitor" and is suspected of cheating in the examination room.

As the exam is approaching, this matter has attracted a lot of attention. Especially candidates from Zhejiang are asked by many people from other places.

Qian Qianyi never expected that Wen Tiren would be so cruel, and would have trouble with him because of a trivial matter. He didn't pay attention to this matter at first, and he was still in his usual gentle and elegant manner. He humbled himself as "his talents are low, his knowledge is ignorant, and his temperament and benevolence are very good." Then he defended Qian Qianqiu's matter.

This memorial made people even more suspicious, thinking that Qian Qianyi was related to Qian Qianqiu's case, or at least suspected of it.

The officials who followed Qian Qianyi to the court, especially those from the Donglin Party, tried their best to defend Qian Qianyi. He believes that Qian Qianqiu's case has been determined, and with Qian Qianyi's integrity, he will not participate in the fraud case.

The excuses from so many people would normally be enough to make the emperor change his attitude. However, Wen Tiren had anticipated this a long time ago and regarded these as evidence that Qian Qianyi formed a party. He also put forward an appalling view that "the whole dynasty is a party of Qian Qianyi"——

These people labeled him as a party member of Qian Qianyi, and he was "isolated". Even because "Qianyi's party all hates the minister", he asked "the emperor to dismiss the minister and return home to avoid the fierce attack."

If Zhu Youjian hadn't known that Wen Tiren was a traitor in history and Qian Qianyi had done little in the Chongzhen Dynasty, he would have almost believed Wen Tiren's point of view, thinking that Qian Qianyi had many followers and was a "unparalleled traitor":
"Wen Tiren is really amazing!" 』

"This man is a genius in political warfare, and he has figured out what I want. 』

Although Zhu Youjian had demonstrated his ability to combat party strife by appointing centrists, he did not deliberately exclude the Donglin Party members.

However, Wen Tiren realized from this that he was dissatisfied with the party struggle, characterized Qian Qianyi as a party member, and wanted to kill this person with one shot.

At the same time, his act of voluntarily asking for resignation also showed his "lonely loyalty" and allowed him to be trusted with his duties.

If he didn't know the history, he might have been deceived.

Therefore, Zhu Youjian was more wary of Wen Tiren at this time, knowing that he would most likely not be able to defeat this person with his own tricks, so he should be careful with him.

But the better thing is that Wen Tiren is indeed a "lonely loyal" now. After offending the Donglin Party, he will not be able to cultivate party members for a long time in the future——

During this period of time, you can feel free to use this person.

Therefore, Zhu Youjian pretended to be persuaded and allowed the matter to continue to ferment, and even asked people to review the case files, as if he wanted to pursue Qian Qianyi.

As a result, Qian Qianyi's turmoil can be said to be getting bigger and bigger. People in both the government and the public are paying close attention to this matter, more so than the resolutions made a year ago.

The ministers' comments in the court were no longer questioning the martial law and the Mokan Law, but talking about Qian Qianyi's case and putting forward various opinions.

Seeing that his purpose of transferring the hot spot was achieved, Zhu Youjian decided to deal with the matter and ordered Dali Temple to retry the Qian Qianqiu case based on the facts.

The cause of this case can be traced back to the palace examination in the 38th year of Wanli. At that time, Qian Qianyi relied on his high reputation and literary reputation all over the world, and he was almost certain to win the first prize. Unexpectedly, after the results were released, he only won the third place. The top pick was Han Jing from Huzhou, a man who was almost not admitted in the joint examination.

This incident, of course, made Qian Qianyi dissatisfied. After being exposed by the Donglin Party, during the Beijing inspection in the 39th year of Wanli, Han Jing's fellow examiner Tang Binyin was dismissed. Han Jing could not stay any longer and was expelled back to his hometown.

After Han Jing returned to his hometown in Huzhou, Zhejiang, he resented this. When Qian Qianyi was presiding over the Zhejiang Provincial Examination, he conspired with others to impersonate Qian Qianyi's name, and used the seven characters "One day to reach the sky" as a secret code to sell his joints and Qian Qianqiu and others were deceived.

Then Han Jing sent people to the capital to publicize the matter. The result of the trial by the Ministry of Punishment was that Qian Qianyi was fined three months' salary, and Qian Qianqiu was dismissed from the army and sent to the garrison in accordance with the law.

Now that Wen Tiren is pushing for a retrial, it's certainly not that simple.

　"Chongzhen Changbian" March of the second year of Chongzhen:
　　Qiao Yunsheng, the Minister of Punishment, and others commented:

　　The Minister of Rites, Wen Tirenjiu, and the right minister of the Ministry of Rites, Qian Qianyi, Xin Youdian, took the test of Chenxiang, and received bribes of thousands of gold from Qian Qianqiu. They used the idea of ​​​​rising to the sky as a link, and each article ended with one word, so it is Chinese style.

　　Following the classics and discussing impeachment, I knew that it was difficult to escape, so that Qianqiu could escape, and the Shen Pavilion was not knotted. Qianyi warned the disease to avoid it, and soon it was dim and rising. Now it seems to be attached to the person who was defeated by Wei Cui, and the divination ceremony is held in one hand. Qianyi can predict fortune, and Qianqiu should also be able to test it.

　　If Qian Qianyi begs the Justice Department to settle Qian Qianqiu's case as soon as possible, Qian Yi will be guilty of the crime he deserves.

　　The purpose is: Qian Qianyi's joints are well-founded. It is true that he accepted bribes, and he also used divination indiscriminately. The party can know it. Zu Falin is here, I cannot be selfish, so I have been dismissed from my post. Jiuqing will obey the public affairs in accordance with the laws and regulations, and shall not be guilty of favoritism. Qian Qianqiu wrote to the legal department to prepare a memorial for the crime. …

　　Obtained the order: Qian Qianyi will survey again together.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)