The three ministers who impeached Zhou Yanru had been kneeling under the platform of Wenhua Hall. They were extremely ashamed when they heard the emperor's merciless rebuttal and his clear attitude of support and defense of Zhou Yanru. Shaanxi Daoshi Censor Wei Jingyuan cried loudly: "Your Majesty protects Zhou Yanru so much. This is the danger of raising tigers. If these greedy and despicable moths are not eradicated, our Ming Dynasty will not be far away." As soon as the words came out, the entire Wenhua Palace suddenly changed. There was silence, and all the ministers stared in shock at the Shaanxi Taoist Censor who spoke astonishingly. The veins on Chongzhen¡¯s face jumped rapidly, and his face looked ferocious for a moment. He suddenly stood up, grabbed the jade paperweight on the imperial desk, and slammed it onto Wei Jingyuan¡¯s head. Wei Jingyuan, who was raising his head and howling, was caught off guard. His head was broken and blood flowed. He immediately stopped howling and looked up at Chongzhen in a daze. The entire Wenhua Hall was filled with Chongzhen's roaring voice: "To report others for corruption, bribery, and dereliction of duty, you must first be upright yourself and do not commit despicable bribery before you can impeach others." Chongzhen stared at Wei Jingyuan fiercely and said: " Cao Wenheng, the governor of Jiliao, gave you a hundred Eastern pearls, three hundred mink skins, fifty kilograms of ginseng, and three thousand taels of silver. Please impeach the eunuch Deng Xi of the Western Association for his corruption, perversion of the law, and indiscriminate killing of innocent people. Is there such a thing? ? Xin'an Guard Commander Yang Guangxian bribed Wen Yin five thousand taels to ask you to impeach the Xin'an Copper Mine surveillance eunuch Wan Yougong for embezzling mining taxes and killing miners. " Chongzhen took the case and continued to roar: "Yes, and yes? There is evidence. A righteous person must first rectify himself, and how can you, a treacherous person, impeach others?" "The emperor, who appeared to be peaceful, turned out to be sharp-tongued and mean-spirited today, giving people a sense of moodiness. All the ministers in the Wenhua Hall were frightened and carefully held their breath. He was afraid that the emperor would turn his anger on himself. Chongzhen¡¯s words shot sharp arrows into Wei Jingyuan¡¯s heart. He thought he was doing the most secret thing. But the emperor had a clear grasp. In an instant, Wei Jingyuan seemed to have fallen into the ice cellar, his whole body was trembling, and he lay limply in the main hall. Chongzhen turned a blind eye and continued to roar: "The Ming Dynasty is my world, and I am the master of everything. Who is guilty and who is innocent is up to me to decide! How dare you, a little imperial censor, say something contrary to your words. It's all in vain. Regarding the rise and fall, who gave you such boldness? It was announced that Wei Jingyuan, the imperial censor of Shaanxi Province, would be dismissed from his post and put under investigation by Jinyiwei Zhenfusi. "Nine times out of ten, those who enter the Zhenfusi will die, even if they are lucky enough to survive. He will become a cripple when he comes out. Wei Jingyuan, who was paralyzed on the ground, suddenly passed out. Seeing Wei Jingyuan being driven out of the hall by the imperial guards like a dead fish, the other two officials who had impeached Zhou Yanru were lying on the ground trembling, fearing that Chongzhen would forward his anger to them. After venting his anger, Chongzhen seemed to return to normal. Looking down at the two kneeling officials, he said: "It is the official's duty to report things according to rumors, but intentionally misinterpreting and making false accusations is not allowed by the Ming Law Office. I will judge the right and wrong, and there will be no one who speaks out against what he said. Never." Please tolerate it, you two can do your own thing." Yu Yinggui, Feng Yuanbiao, Lu Zhenfei and other officials were secretly instructed today. They focused on impeaching Zhou Yanru, the chief minister, but in the end they failed I heard the words of warning from Emperor Chongzhen. Obviously not prepared to pursue the matter further, Feng Yuanbiao and Lu Zhenfei met each other. He hurriedly kowtowed his thanks and returned to the train. Wen Tiren stood in the train and observed the progress of the situation. Today, there were a series of impeachments in the court. On the surface, many officials and censors impeached Zhou Yanru. It had nothing to do with him. In fact, he had planned it for a long time and secretly promoted it. , the purpose is of course to try to bring down Zhou Yanru in one fell swoop. It now seems that Zhou Yanru made full use of the emperor's favor and cleverly poured disaster on himself. ¡°Not only did this incident not have the effect of bringing down Zhou Yanru, but it almost caused him to get burned. In this round of competition between the two sides, he was defeated. Wen Tiren knew that Zhou Yanru would definitely cause trouble if he would not give up, and would bite him back. Maybe his ministers would be in trouble. "In this court meeting, the emperor seems to still have his favor and trust in Zhou Yanru. Hum, the days are long, so I will let you be arrogant for a while. It is better to stay away from the edge recently," Wen Tiren frowned and thought inwardly. Wen Tiren turned his attention to Min Hongxue, the official minister, and signaled him not to act rashly and to wait and see how the situation changes. Min Hongxue became the Minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs only after being recommended by Wen Tiren. Therefore, he obeyed Wen Tiren's orders and was a direct descendant of the Wen faction. In the Ministry of Civil Affairs, everything was done to win over people's hearts and support Wen Tiren. Any faults were blamed on Zhou Yanru, turning the Ministry of Civil Affairs into a bridgehead for the Wen faction to win over officials at all levels. For a time, all the bureaucrats who were the first to succeed were all under Wen Tiren's family. Wang Jican, censor Liu Lingyu, and Zhou Kangeng hated Min Hongxue deeply, and impeached him one after another. Based on the same reason, Emperor Chongzhen also adopted a tolerant attitude towards this direct minister of the Wen faction.So that the Zhou and Wen factions can maintain a balanced confrontation. Wen Tiren's worries came true. Hua Yuncheng, a member of the military department of the class train, knelt down under the platform and loudly played: "Long live, I want to participate in the performance. Wen Tiren, the second minister of the cabinet, Dongge University, and Min Hongxue, the minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, are cheating." , to drive out dissidents." Chongzhen looked at Hua Yuncheng and said, "Hua Aiqing, please come." "The cabinet minister Wen Tiren also has the power of the civil servants, and the civil servants Min Hongxue is only willing to accept Wen Ti. The intention of benevolence, the clue breathing, the head and tail of the agency, building the door to ask for orders, it is normal at night, and the ministers under the jurisdiction are willing to act as officials, and the big handle is only used for revenge. Two days ago, Pingdu Zhizhou and Pingdu Prefecture Flood Camp jointly announced victory. When Kong Youde's rebel troops captured Dengzhou, Feng Jian, the garrison of the state's flood camp, was ordered by the governor Sun Yuanhua to blow up the ice of the navy and move the Dengzhou navy's warships. However, Wen Tiren put aside this report for his own selfish interests. The sinister intentions are self-evident, please ask the emperor to remove this black sheep so that the merits of the soldiers who have made meritorious service outside will not be buried," Hua Yuncheng said in an angry tone. Chongzhen's face darkened again. Starting from the autumn of the fourth year of Chongzhen's reign, Dalinghe City was first besieged by Houjin soldiers and horses, and then there was a tragic defeat in the Changshan Battle. Bandits such as Wang Ziyong and Gao Yingxiang from all over Shaanxi fled to Shanxi to cause trouble. Now Kong Youde Li Jiucheng and other former Liaodong army generals suddenly rebelled and captured Dengzhou City in one fell swoop. Plenty of bad news came one after another, and he desperately longed for some uplifting news. Suddenly I heard Hua Yuncheng's report that the naval warship in Dengzhou City had been transferred safely, and my spirits were really lifted. Then an unknown fire rushed to my forehead. The cabinet dared to delay reporting such a major military and national event, so what else can't be done! Chongzhen first turned his attention sharply to Luo Yangxing, the commander of the Jinyiwei, and seemed to blame him for the cabinet's delay in reporting. This is obviously a fight between the two factions of the cabinet, and Luo Yangxing will naturally suffer the consequences! Jin Yiwei is not omnipotent. They have no right to investigate the memorials that enter the cabinet. Therefore, Luo Yangxing can only be filled with grievances and secretly slander the cabinet bosses. Chongzhen looked at Wen Tiren with cold eyes and said: "Wen Aiqing, I just want to ask you whether you concealed the report of the victory document?" It turned out that the victory document that Chen heard was first delivered to the Ministry of War. After receiving the victory document, Liang Tingdong, the minister of the Ministry of War, was overjoyed. As the Minister of the Ministry of War, he still has some strategic vision. From a strategic point of view, without the Dengzhou Navy warships, Kong Youde's rebel army will have fewer escape routes. Once they are besieged by the imperial army in Dengzhou City, it will be a dead end, and the imperial court Having mastered the Dengzhou naval warships will make it possible to attack the Dengzhou City rebels at sea, indirectly damaging the confidence of the Dengzhou rebels. Liang Tingdong immediately submitted this memorial document from Pingdu Prefecture to the cabinet, requesting that the cabinet vote be submitted to the emperor for review. At that time, the minister on duty in the cabinet was Wen Tiren. He naturally understood the weight contained in this victory document. The imperial court invested nearly 500,000 taels of silver in the Dengzhou navy every year. Now that Dengzhou city has fallen, and all the warships are safe and sound, this means This means that the Dengzhou Navy will be redistributed. Whoever this piece of fat meat falls into will have a steady stream of money. Wen Tiren predicts that there will be a fierce battle over the ownership of the Dengzhou Navy! Therefore, he intended to prepare the news according to the conventional rules and submit it to the royal family in order, so that the ministers and civil and military ministers of the Manchu Dynasty could use their own methods. In fact, he had already learned this news yesterday. Pingdu Prefecture Chen heard that someone had sent 10,000 taels of silver in order to request the Dengzhou Navy warship to belong to the Pingdu Prefecture flood camp. He promised that if the matter was successful, he would be sent to Pingdu Prefecture every year. There are ten thousand taels of silver in filial piety. A bribe of ten thousand taels of silver is also very important in the eyes of senior officials like Wen Tiren. Wen Tiren was a little hesitant. Originally, small officials like Chen Suowen and the garrison officer Feng Jian who successfully transferred the Dengzhou Navy warship could not enter his sight at all. But there were some differences between the two people. He remembered that at the first court meeting last year, the emperor praised Feng Jian, the garrison officer of Pingdu City, which left a deep impression on him. At that time, Wen Tiren thought that this young garrison officer could be dating. . Now that the other party came to his door and offered such generous terms, Wen Tiren naturally would not refuse. He personally sent the contact person Pan Zhaoying to the door of the study and told him to go back and wait for the news. Pan Zhaoying naturally understood the meaning. He was naturally very excited to catch up with this popular big shot in a short period of time and successfully completed the command given by the commander. Hearing Chongzhen's reprimanding words, Wen Tiren hurriedly left his job and knelt down, panicking and saying: "Your Majesty, your Majesty, this matter involves the military and national affairs, how dare you, the ministers, to play tricks? After noon yesterday, the ministers received this memorial document and drafted it immediately. Shang Shujin submitted it to the imperial review, and now someone is publicly slandering the minister for shelving the memorial document. Yichen thinks that this person has ulterior motives and is specifically trying to frame the minister" Chongzhen was a little impatient, waved his hand to stop Wen Tiren, and turned to ask who was standing behind the imperial case. Wang Chengen said: "Wang Daban, is this possible?" Wang Chengen hurriedly knelt down and said: "It is indeed true. I will submit this memorial to the emperor's case. It's just that the holy body was not good yesterday. I didn't dare to disturb the emperor casually. This matter is all my fault. Please punish me!" Chongzhen sighed and his face darkened. He vaguely felt that the matter was not as simple as Wen Tiren and Wang Chengen said, and the situation was not as dirty as Hua Yuncheng said. He casually found the memorial document from a pile of memorials, opened it and looked at it carefully. His gloomy expression was quickly replaced by joy. ! ! (To be continued)