Lin Gao Qiming

In the past few years, he has been secretly collecting dirty information about Fushe, preparing for a fatal blow. Wen Tiren knew that the emperor's most taboo thing was "party formation".

When the emperor first ascended the throne, in order to exclude the eunuchs, he appointed members of the Donglin Party, but later alienated Donglin. The reason is that he hates ministers who join the party, not just "eunuchs". After the Wei Zhongxian clique was eradicated, the problem of the Donglin Party gradually became prominent, attracting Chongzhen's attention. He turned his attention to those "lone ministers" without party affiliation. And gradually excluded Donglin Party members from the cabinet center.

After excluding the Donglin Party, the emperor did not reinstate members of the Eunuch Party. In the selection of cabinet members, he preferred to choose ministers who did not have obvious partisanship. The entry of Zhou Yanru and Wen Tiren into the cabinet has a lot to do with their "partylessness" in the eyes of the emperor. Of course, only God knows whether they are party-free or not.

Zhou Yanru wants to return to the cabinet with the help of Donglin's restoration, which must be prevented at all costs. This is not just a matter of power distribution, but once Zhou Yanru returns to the cabinet, Donglin will definitely have to deal with him. The old affairs of attacking Qian Longxi and Yuan Chonghuan were settled.

As for the "conquering Kun" and "opening of ports" mentioned during today's meeting, they were not on his mind.

His most important thing now is to fight back against Donglin and Fushe.

Wen Tiren's attacks on political opponents are very powerful. Unlike other politicians, he never engages in public opinion offensives like snow. This was useful for some emperors, but for Chongzhen, who opposed "party formation", too many impeachments against someone would only arouse his doubts - if there was no party formation, how could so many people come? Attack them in groups?

A very important reason why Wen Tiren can still stand is that the methods of the Donglin Party do not adapt to the emperor's thinking mode. Wen Tiren, on the other hand, does the opposite. If he wants to exclude someone, he will wait patiently for an opportunity. When the person makes a mistake, he will then go up and add insult to injury. If he does not take action, he will often kill the other person. Ever since he attacked Yuan Chonghuan and brought down Qian Longxi, he has basically never failed to punish his opponents.

This is the so-called "thinking about things, making them spontaneous, without doubts". Sometimes he would pretend to be magnanimous and say good things for a person, but in fact he connected this person with things that the emperor was taboo about, making the emperor Become more angry and thereby increase the punishment for the person. This is called overt rescue and hidden harm. If he wants to recommend someone, he will secretly instruct the person to make the recommendation and then express his opinion himself. In short, no matter what he does, he always does it secretly and never shows up in person.

He had the same idea when it came to Fushe. Although he didn't take action, he always asked his younger brother to secretly observe whether there were people who would return to the society. Last year, Lu Wensheng and Zhou Zhikui's attack on Fushe gave Wen Tiren an excellent opportunity.

If Zhou Zhikui's opposition to the restoration of society was due to his past political differences and his subsequent "loss of office", Lu Wensheng's attack contained elements of the local Jin gentry's struggle for power and profit.

Lu Wensheng was also a native of Taicang. Although he had no fame, he was also a member of the Jin gentry. When he was young, he was a classmate of Zhang Cai at his grandfather Zhou Wenqian's house. In the ninth year of Chongzhen's reign, the two had a falling out over trivial matters. Lu Wensheng held a grudge because of this. Wanting to wait for an opportunity to retaliate against Zhang Cai, he came up with the idea of ​​going to the capital to accuse Fu She.

Naturally, going to Beijing to accuse such a big matter was to deal with the "Fushe" who was at the height of its reputation. A "white person" like Lu Wensheng would not dare to make independent claims. Naturally, he has the support of "big shots" behind him.

This big shot is not Wen Tiren. It was Wang Shimin, a prominent member of Taicang family. This Mr. Wang is a descendant of Wang Xijue, the former chief minister of the cabinet. He has a "two-generation family friendship" with Wen Tiren. He is deeply relied on by Wen Tiren and is more generous than other close relatives.

At that time, the prominent families in Taicang were the Wang Shizhen family, who was an official in Wanli and the minister of the Ministry of Justice, and the Wang Xijue family, who was an official in Wanli and the chief minister of the cabinet. After Zhang Pu advocated the restoration of the society, the gates and walls flourished, and many descendants of prominent families lived under the sect. Wang Shimin therefore complained about Fushe. Lu Wensheng noticed this and came to tell him that he wanted to join the capital.

Wang Shimin said: "The prime minister has resumed the society, and it is the right time to participate in it. However, the prime minister is serious and does not treat others lightly. The only person in charge is Deqing who governs the country and it is appropriate to do business." Lu Wensheng followed his instructions and went to Beijing to visit Cai Yichen. Submit manuscript.

Wen Tiren read the manuscript sent by Cai Yichen and thought Zhang Cai was of no importance, so he instructed Lu Wensheng to change the target of attack to Zhang Pu. , and criticized Zhang Pu from the perspective of "using borrowed money to raise wages and experiencing evil practices".

But this opportunity was offset by Fushe's influence. The Tixue censor Ni Yuangong who was responsible for investigating the case, and his successors Qi Wei and Zhang Fenghe either returned to the society or delayed the case. During this period, the society was restored and Lu Wensheng was transferred to Yongzhou Prefecture in Hunan Province as an official through the relationship between the members and the method of providing "good land for vacancies". Wen's close confidant Cai Yichen's attempt to induce him to submit another letter completely failed.

Wen Tiren was not discouraged because he still had a card in his hand, that was Zhou Zhikui who was the first to come out to repeat the club. For this reason, he specially sent his party member Cai Yichen to Fuzhou to persuade him to submit another letter.

According to the letter, Zhou Zhikui is already on his way to Beijing and will arrive in the capital soon.

This was his first move, and his second move was to deal with Qian Qianyi. Eradicate this leader of Donglin. A two-pronged approach, Qian and Zhang were the leaders of Donglin and Fushe. There were inevitably many interactions between the two, which inevitably included discussions on the court and some political operations. Moreover, according to the information he obtained, Zhou Yanru intended to make a comeback, and Qian Qianyi was also one of the traders.

If these three people can be connected together, the label of "forming parties and disrupting government" will be firmly established. Once a prison breaks out, even if you can escape with your life, you will have no political future.

Wen Tiren's calculations were very shrewd, and he himself was not involved in the whole process. The emperor was determined not to think of the plot behind the case.

"Wen Tiren will be deposed in June this year?" Wang Yehao asked in a low voice. "This is what is written in the Book of Heaven." Zhou Lezhi said, "The master also said that it is correct."

"Looking at his appearance, the emperor still has great trust in him!"

Even though the Book of Heaven has successfully predicted many major events, Wang Yehao is still a little uneasy about such important court events. Because many of the predictions about court affairs and world events in this heavenly book have gradually become less accurate in recent years. Regarding this problem, Zhou Lezhi naturally couldn't solve it, because he could only read the "Book of Heaven". As for his master, he only muttered some crazy things like "butterfly", "Caribbean" and "typhoon". Mr. Wang was too lazy to ask any more questions.

Wang Yehao's meeting with Zhou Lezhi today was conducted in secret. Zhou Lezhi had warned him that there must be many spy spies around the palace, and their meeting must be very confidential, otherwise Zhou Lezhi's life would be in danger.

If Zhou Lezhi had farted, the "Book of Heaven" would be just a pile of waste paper. Wang Yehaogui is the Minister of the Ministry of War and has the title of Minister of the Ministry of War, so he has to follow the instructions. Mr. Wang changed his disguise today and left home among the businessmen coming in and out of the mansion. He changed his costume again on the way. Only then did he come to this secret location to interview Zhou Lezhi.

Regarding the court situation, Zhou Lezhi's judgment was naturally not as good as Wang Yehao's, so he did not express an opinion.

"Forget it, this matter has nothing to do with us. We are happy to sit back and watch." Wang Yehao said, "It's just that today's court meeting seems to still require a war. In the emperor's heart, he probably still wants to seek peace through war."

"It doesn't matter whether we fight or not. Just don't let the imperial court lose its vitality." Zhou Lezhi sighed, "After this battle, I'm afraid Zuo Kunshan will lose his troops! Zhong Lun doesn't have many soldiers, so he has to recruit Kun. Nine times out of ten, he will call upon Commander Zuo’s troops..."

"Haha," Wang Yehao sneered, "Zhong Lun only holds the title of governor of Southern Jiangxi. How can he command those arrogant and powerful generals in the Central Plains? Zuo Kunshan has always been arrogant and self-willed. Zhong Lun is in charge this time. He only wants to It’s a good ending if you don’t lose too badly!”

Seeing that Zhou Lezhi was a little disappointed, he said: "Sir, don't worry too much. But you can talk about the opening of the port..."

When he summoned today's cabinet, everyone said what he said.

"...Wucheng is right. Shanghai is an important coastal town in the south. It is indeed a big deal to discuss its opening as a port!"

Zhou Lezhi thought for a moment and said: "No matter how many ships the Jin gentry travel, it is still a private matter and cannot be put on the stage. It will be very difficult to cross the open road! Alas!"

"Qian Tai rushed there..."

"It's not in the way." Zhou Lezhi said, "If Shanghai doesn't work, we can change it to Ningbo."

"Ningbo?" Wang Yehao is very familiar with Ningbo, not only because he is from Zhejiang, but also because he has rummaged through a lot of old information about the opening of the port. Ningbo's port has a better geographical environment than Yuegang, and it has a prosperous port. The Jiangnan region serves as the hinterland. In terms of transportation, although there is no Yangtze River water transportation like Shanghai, you can also use the Yongjiang River to directly reach Hangzhou and connect to the Grand Canal. You can also enjoy the benefits of water transportation in all directions.

"I'm afraid this will be difficult..." Wang Yehao shook his head and said, "Since the opening of the sea in Longqing, officials from Zhejiang Province have petitioned three times to open the sea in Zhejiang, but the court has refused."

"This time, that time." Zhou Lezhi said, "During the Jiajing and Wanli dynasties, the world was at peace. The opening of ports and tax collection were just the icing on the cake for the court. Naturally, more people in the center are better off than less. Now that the world is in turmoil, the court is most lacking. All that matters is money. Is it possible that the Jin gentry of Zhejiang Province just watched China Merchants Bank make money?"

Although there were many Jin gentry from Jiangsu and Zhejiang participating in the investment bank, most of them belonged to the Fushe Group, and the majority were from the four prefectures of Su, Song, Hu, and Hangzhou. There were far fewer gentry in the southern state capitals.

These people are the potential supporters of Ningbo Kaihai. If they are willing to take active actions, there is still hope for this matter. What's more, the government is currently discussing the "conquest of Kun", and the gentry in the merchant houses who used to turn a blind eye to Kun's thieves to make money are probably thinking of cutting off and "taking the bright road" to feel at ease.