Crazy at the end of the Ming Dynasty

() The row of houses next to the Longzong Gate in the Forbidden City is the office of the Ming Dynasty scholars.Among these houses, the most spacious and brightest one is the office of the current Chief Assistant Zhou Yanru.

The midsummer temperature, coupled with Zhou Yanru wearing a neat official robe for etiquette, made Zhou Yanru sweat profusely.But at this moment, outside the door was a little eunuch who served Zhou Yanru and other great scholars, and whispered to Zhou Yanru: "Old Zhou Ge, the emperor gave each great scholar some ice cubes. house?"

"Come in!" Zhou Yanru immediately cheered up and regained the solemn appearance of the first assistant.

The little eunuch outside the door entered the room lightly, and placed two basins filled with ice cubes in the room, and the temperature in the room suddenly dropped.

Zhou Yanru stood up, bowed meticulously to the two ice basins and said, "Thank you, Your Majesty, for the reward!"

After the little eunuch left, Zhou Yanru immediately relaxed and couldn't help yawning several times.Zhou Yanru was really tired last night.

Last night, an important guest came to Zhou Yanru's mansion, and that was Zhang Pu, one of the leaders of Fushe.After Zhou Yanru became the chief assistant, in order to consolidate power, he cited Fushe, which inherited the political legacy of the Donglin Party, as Austrian aid, and Zhang Pu's visit last night was to discuss how to strengthen cooperation between the two parties.

For the center of the Ming Dynasty in the fourth year of Chongzhen, the Tartars outside the pass were not important, nor were the rioters in Shaanxi. The most important thing was the selection of scholars for that subject.

And Zhou Yanru, the chief assistant of the Ming Dynasty who just came to power, in order to become the chief examiner for the selection of scholars, he even broke the rule that the chief minister of the Ming Dynasty cannot be the chief examiner, and passed the trust of Emperor Chongzhen, and finally did his best achieved this position.

The reason why Zhou Yanru did this was because a very important person participated in this meeting, that is Zhang Pu, one of the leaders of Fushe.Not only that, some other important members of Fushe also participated in the test.

Zhou Yanru planned in this way, by recruiting those Fushe members, Zhou Yanru can become the mentor of those Fushe members.With this teacher-student relationship, Zhou Yanru was able to control the political power of Fushe in his own hands.

Then in this general examination, a large number of Fushe members made it to the list.And it also occupies the position of No. [-] pick and No. [-] pick.In fact, anyone with a discerning eye will understand at a glance, if there is no cheating in this test, then it is a ghost.

Of course, Zhang Pu became a Jinshi as expected.However, this Jinshi was quite arrogant. He even judged Tanhua's examination paper after the examination.You must know that only highly respected ministers in the court are qualified for that kind of judgment, and Zhang Pu, as a Jinshi who has just been on the list, was able to do such incredible things successfully, which can also be seen from his How huge the energy is.

Therefore, although Zhou Yanru wanted to take over the influence of Fushe, he still regarded the members of Fushe as his subordinates and students.

But Zhang Pu, who has great energy, doesn't think so.He believes that Zhou Yanru and himself are equal, and the relationship between the two parties is just to take advantage of each other.And the visit last night was nothing more than finding a balance point for the cooperation between the two parties.

Therefore, although in the meeting last night, Zhou Yanru and Zhang Pu were still polite on the surface, but secretly, their words were constantly playing tricks.After some intense bargaining, the two managed to find that balance.

Of course, Zhou Yanru's fatigue was not only due to the scheming with Zhang Pu last night, but another reason was that after sending Zhang Pu away yesterday, Zhou Yanru went to the bedroom and took care of the pair given to him by the rich businessman. The sisters took a fresh taste.

For Zhou Yanru, it is important to hold the power in the world, and it is also important to lie drunk on the lap of a beautiful woman.Of course, the most important thing is one word - "money".As a former champion, Zhou Yanru's article must be excellent, but the word "morality" in front of the article has nothing to do with Zhou Yanru.

Just as Zhou Yanru was flying out of the sky, someone shouted outside the door: "Old Zhou Ge, the emperor has a call."

When Zhou Yanru arrived at the place of Emperor Chongzhen, he found that besides himself, the chief assistant, there was also a scholar, Wen Tiren, summoned by Emperor Chongzhen.In addition, there are several hall officials from the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Household Affairs.

After seeing Zhou Yanru, Emperor Chongzhen immediately got back to business and asked: "Today Liaodong came to play. In Dalinghe City, the slave chieftains have assembled a large army to invade. What do you think about this?"

In any case, Zhou Yanru, as the chief assistant, had to answer Emperor Chongzhen's question first: "Your Majesty, Mr. Sun Ge is well aware of the military situation. When he proposed to build Dalinghe City, he had to worry about the obstruction of the slave chiefs, and he must have a strategy. Respond. And the cabinet also discussed this matter, thinking that respecting Sunge’s old strategy is the most important thing. As the saying goes, the general’s orders are not accepted, so just let Sunge be random.”

Zhou Yanru's answer was very slippery, and he refused to take the responsibility on his shoulders.For Zhou Yanru, it is the best policy to maintain an ambiguous attitude in this matter.If Sun Chengzong wins, as the chief assistant, he must also have the credit for strategizing; if Sun Chengzong fails, the crime of defeat will also be borne by Sun Chengzong himself.

But Zhou Yanru's answer made Emperor Chongzhen a little dissatisfied, and he continued to ask: "Then all the academicians in the cabinet can't just stand by like this."

Seeing that Emperor Chongzhen was a little angry, Zhou Yanru went on to say: "That's not the case. It's difficult to judge the changes in the battle situation without the presence of the center. But the center will indeed support Liaodong, and that's nothing more than money and people."

"Oh? Can Zhou Aiqing elaborate?"

"This money, for the sake of the world's long-term stability, Liao pay has to be levied. This man, the power of the Liaodong Army is determined by Mr. Sun Ge, but the center must also be prepared for the unspeakable things. The passes of the Great Wall and the Jingfu Defense is of course important, but we also need to gather troops from all sides and make preparations to leave the customs at any time and rescue Dalinghe City."

After hearing Zhou Yanru's eloquent talk, Emperor Chongzhen's face softened.He nodded and said: "Zhou Aiqing's words are old-fashioned seeking to seek the country. But I have a question, how can the Li people afford the Liao's payment?"

In fact, from the time of Emperor Wanli, in order to fight against the Houjin army in Liaodong, the Ming court has been levying Liao pay from the common people. Later, because of the financial difficulties of the Ming court, this temporary tax increase is about to change. The taxation of Xing during the growth period.

Seeing Zhou Yanru being in the spotlight all the time, Wen Tiren on the side said: "The emperor is merciful, and his heart is for all people in the world. But long-term pain is worse than short-term pain. For the eternal foundation of the Ming Dynasty, this must be done. After the slave chieftain is pacified , the emperor can also be exempted from taxes to show the mighty grace of the emperor."

"Good! What Wen Aiqing said is reasonable!" Emperor Chongzhen immediately accepted Wen Tiren's opinion.In fact, Emperor Chongzhen had such a personality that he wanted to do something that violated the Confucian moral norms, but he was unwilling to say such things from his own mouth.It is the standard to be a bitch and set up a torii.As for the character of Emperor Chongzhen, the ministers around him had already figured it out, so this time Wen Tiren spoke out Emperor Chongzhen's thoughts on behalf of him, in order to win Emperor Chongzhen's favor.

But what these ministers didn't know was that Emperor Chongzhen still had a personality. If that kind of proposal caused bad consequences, he would immediately turn his face against others and use thunderous means to punish those ministers who proposed.

So, if those ministers now know that Emperor Chongzhen has this character, maybe they will think twice before using this method to win Emperor Chongzhen's favor.