Be the emperor from the postman

The death of Xue Guoguan is a bad omen, indicating that his successor will not be able to start well and end well.

The astute Zhou Yanru was already aware of this when Zunzhi came back, and he was caught in a dilemma.

On the one hand, the king's order is hard to violate, even if he goes through fire and water; on the other hand, the temptation of power is irresistible. After all, the chief minister of the cabinet is the goal he has pursued for many years, and he is not willing to give up lightly.

He went to the capital with a complicated mood of luck and greed.

On the night when Zhou Yanru received the imperial edict calling him out of the mountain at his home in Yixing, he suddenly dreamed of his wife Wu, who had been dead for ten years, and tried to dissuade him from going out of the mountain. Stay in one place for now."

Zhou Yanru went with him and saw an old monk with a rope tied around his neck, and he woke up with a start.

Although Zhou Yanru knew that the future was bleak, he still embarked on the journey.

Power always motivates people to take risks.

This kind of legend reflects from one aspect that Zhou Yanru was afraid of taking office.

When Yang Shicong boarded a boat to pay homage to Shandong as a student, Zhou Yanru said to him meaningfully:
"I know that it will be a disaster if I come again, so I dare not not come!"

This only expresses half of his thoughts at this moment: it is extremely risky to serve as the chief assistant of the cabinet amidst domestic and foreign difficulties.

The other half of his thoughts were not disclosed to his disciples: the chief minister of the cabinet was very attractive to him, and he was always worried about being squeezed out by Wen Tiren, and wanted to do the opposite and show his skills again.

At this critical moment, Fushe played a role in fueling the flames.

Zhang Pu, the leader of his disciple Fushe (Zhou Yanru presided over the examination and was Zhang Pu's seat owner).

Long ago, Wen Tiren, who had stolen the throne of the country, and his henchmen Cai Yichen and Xue Guoguan persecuted the gentlemen in the southeast, sighed with regret, and expressed their anger day and night.

Wu Changshi, a member of the Fushe Department of Rites, wrote to Zhang Pu, urging him to encourage Zhou Yanru to come back.

Yushan (Qian Qianyi) was ruined, Prime Minister Zhan Chi (Wen Zhenmeng) was expelled in March, and the southeast party prison day heard that Fei Yangxian (Zhou Yanru) came back to solve the disaster.

Today, the Lord uses Sheduo to make arbitrariness, but he cannot be helpless.

For this purpose, Wu Changshi specially made friends with the emperor's close attendants in various activities.

Wen Bing, the son of Wen Zhenmeng, revealed some of the inside stories: Zhao Yu told the University scholar Zhou Yan Confucianism.

First of all, although the cabinet ministers have both internal and external functions, there are few who are holy, and everyone recommends Yixing. Zhou Yanru is quite ingenious, and he may be able to rely on the vice, and the holy meaning is also in line with it.

So Shuji Zhang Pu and Wu Changshi, a member of the Ministry of Rites, worked for Zhou Yanru. Feng Quan in Zhuozhou, Hou Xun in Henan, and Ruan Dacheng in Tongcheng were all divided into one share, and each share cost ten thousand gold, totaling 6 taels of gold.

Zhou Yanru was called again.

The officials in Ming Dynasty are all very strange. They all say that the poor will be their pants, but they can take out tens of thousands of taels of gold as bribes at every turn.

Of course, they could only buy off the emperor's close servants and trusted ministers with money, but it was difficult to buy off the emperor himself. Chongzhen saw that no one was available, and everyone around him praised him.

Simply promote Zhou Yanru to give it a try.

It is an indisputable fact that Fushe is actively working for Zhou Yanru's comeback.

Fushe, established in the second year of Chongzhen, is a consortium of literati associations.

Most of the members came to the society for the purpose of "making art" for the exam, that is, to pass the imperial examination.

Its founder is "Lou Dong Erzhang".

Zhang Pu and Zhang Cai advertised "reviving the ancient learning and making it useful", advocated the "skills of managing the world" of the new learning of "saving the time", pursued the remnants of Donglin, touched current events with knowledge, Involved in political disputes, known as "Little Donglin".

This kind of scholar is probably not accepted by the hammer bandit system, and they don't even bother to join the hammer bandit.

Zhang Pu and Zhou Yanru had the friendship of disciples and masters. Because Zhou Yanru and Wen Tiren fought against each other, Fushe was involved in it. The most prominent incident was the dispute surrounding "Legend of Green Peony".

In the sixth year of Chongzhen, Fushe held a meeting in Huqiu, Suzhou. Wen Yuren, the younger brother of Wen Tiren, the chief assistant of the cabinet, hoped to join Fushe to ease the conflict between Fushe and Wen Tiren.

But Zhang Pu resolutely refused, and Wen Yuren became furious, and wrote "The Legend of the Green Peony" to satirize the gentlemen of Fushe.

There are countless children of the two nobles who live under Zhou Zhang's family, and they have disputes and forged great enemies.

It can be seen that the reason why Fushe supported Zhou Yanru's comeback was closely related to their opposition to Wen Tiren.

Chongzhen decreed that Zhou Yanru, Zhang Zhifa, and He Fengsheng, former academicians, were summoned to the court.

Zhang Zhifa was self-aware, resolutely resigned and refused to be called.

After Zhou Yanru was called, he went to Beijing and served as the chief assistant of the cabinet.

Chongzhen joined him as a young teacher and the prince's grand teacher, and entered the Ministry of History as a scholar of Jidian University. He had high hopes for his son and hoped that Ming Dynasty would have a revival.

Zhou Yanru himself also wants to reappear in the political arena with a new attitude.

At this point, Zhou Yanru continued to receive the help of Zhang Pu, the leader of the Fushe, who recruited talents from all over the world. Zhang Pu gave him more than ten things to save time, and asked him to write down and come out again, which would surely win a good impression.

Zhou Yanru generously promised: "I will do it with determination, thank you gentlemen."

After entering Beijing, the censor Zhang Kentang, who has always been upright and dare to speak, also presented important tasks to him (such as donating rent and abolishing, cleaning up unjust prisons, etc.), and Zhou Yanru accepted them one by one.

With these preparations, Zhou Yanru made a concise statement of the policy program when he made his first pilgrimage to the emperor.

Such as the release of grain and white grain owed to households, the folks who have been in arrears of taxes for many years, the desolate places where the soldiers are dying, the land tax of this year is reduced, the offenders below the crime of garrison are forgiven, the wrongful recruits are rehabilitated, the quota is widely taken, and the recall is relegated due to speech officials etc.

Chongzhen agreed generously, and gave a banquet to wash away the dust.

After Zhou Yanru left, Chongzhen Xin smiled happily and said something meaningful: "It's better for him!"

The words "he is better" fully expressed Chongzhen's high evaluation of Zhou Yanru. The implication was that he was the most suitable candidate for the cabinet's chief assistant, and no one else could be trusted at this moment.

Because of the support of people from Fushe, Zhou Yanru's re-entry into the cabinet was really extraordinary, and he vigorously eradicated the bad governance of Wen Tiren and his successors, making the atmosphere a new one.

Zhou Yanru appeared as the "prime minister who saved the time", and he recruited a few people with good reputations to come out to assist him.

Because of this relationship, Chongzhen respected Zhou Yanru very much, treated him as a teacher, and called him Mr. (Teacher). An unprecedented exception.

Zhou Yanru appointed Qingliu and opened up his voice, and the crowd flocked more and more to discuss the matter.

Then Chongzhen became more and more unhappy, and many speech officials jumped up and down one after another after Wu Guojun, the Marquis of Jingliao, asked a large number of speech officials to defend the border.

Many people were suspicious of the wind and repeatedly questioned the emperor.

Zhu Youjian was extremely indignant, and secretly issued a secret decree to let Luo Yangxing, the chief officer of Jinyiwei, quietly execute the two speech officials in the imperial prison.

As a result, Luo Yangxing did not dare to do this, but instead asked his colleagues about it.

The colleague said, did you not see what happened to Tian Ergeng and Xu Xianchun?

(Both are eunuchs, they were beheaded by the liquidation office for killing Qingliu)
Now the imperial court is full of Qingliu's world!
Luo Yangxing decided not to implement the secret decree for the time being, and then revealed the secret decree, hoping to use public opinion to remove the two to the Ministry of Punishment.

As a result, it was leaked, and someone told the emperor about it. The emperor didn't want to make a big deal out of it, so he stayed in China.

In order to deal with the corrupt Ming Dynasty, Zhu Youjian finally appointed someone he thought would be good as the chief assistant.

And with the help of "Little Donglin", almost all of the imperial court is clean, and it is true that once again the court is full of righteousness.

But Chongzhen's imperial power became more and more low.

He couldn't even investigate the death of his favorite son, so he was forced to choose to return the money of the royal relatives and relatives to them.

The leader of Jinyiwei, who was supposed to serve only the emperor, did not carry out his orders whatever the emperor said.

It can be seen that Chongzhen has really become a poor ghost!
The people below do not rely on the emperor to distribute money, but can only selectively obey his orders.

The emperor's internal funds are empty, and he only needs to come to Beijing in the future to give him an official seal certification.

But do officials have money?

Have!
Leaving aside the fact that they used tens of thousands of taels of gold to go around and bribe them, both He Jinzhao and the rogues could prove to them that they were really rich.

Otherwise, where did the money for the luxurious garden come from?
What is the basis for the children of the family to fight for wealth in the Qinhuai River?
Does Prince Daming have money?
Have!
He Jinzhao only visited a few princes of Ming Dynasty and many county kings in Shanshan, Hanzhong, and Sichuan. As a result, he became No.1 in the "Rich List" at the end of Ming Dynasty.

Who can compare to He Jinzhao's wealth, even though Marshal He spends money lavishly.

Does Daming Xungui have any money?
Have!
Why is there no military station? They all knew in their hearts that if the emperor dared to borrow money from them, they would dare to kill the emperor's own son.

Does the local government have money?
Yes!

They have always kept enough for their own use, and then handed it over to the court, and even defaulted on what should be handed over to the court.

Anyway, it's either windy or rainy and it's impossible to go on the boat, or it's a drought, and I implore the court not to collect this year's taxes.

Actually a bumper harvest.

Is there any money at sea?

Yes!

If it wasn't for the sudden emergence of He Jinchao, Zheng Zhilong would be the richest man in Ming Dynasty. He always liked to hit people with money, but he was almost hit with a hammer by Marshal He's men.

Now, in the whole world, the richest person has become a poor ghost, with nothing to squeeze!
In addition, Chongzhen made a wrong judgment in the strategy of fighting against the outside world first, and he fell into a predicament all of a sudden, and now he has to face several powerful opponents.

Zhu Youjian felt more and more that the real situation was stretched, and he really couldn't afford the money.

We can only hope that Zhou Yanru can fight against corrupt officials with Qingliu, and get some money out to solve the urgent need.

But isn't Qingliu greedy for money?

When Li Zicheng's troops captured Luoyang, Henan governor Li Xianfeng was leading the guerrilla general Gao Qian's troops to suppress the local peasant uprising in the Huaiqing area north of the Yellow River.

Chen Yongfu, the deputy general of Kaifeng City Guard, learned that Luoyang had fallen, and hurriedly led his troops to help.

As a result, Kaifeng's defense force was very weak. Li Zicheng got this information and decided to surprise Kaifeng.

Zhang Xianzhong can make a surprise attack, but I, Li Zicheng, can make a surprise attack?
After conquering Luoyang and executing Queen Fu, Li Zicheng's army was greatly strengthened, and the nearby rebels Yidougu, Waguanzi and other scattered troops heard the news.

Li Zicheng's strength increased greatly and he decided to attack Kaifeng, an important town in Henan.

His military advisers, especially Li Yan, made a detailed analysis.

"When Kaifeng heard the news of Luoyang's fall, it must take strict precautions to make it difficult to invade. It is better to lead the troops away for the time being, and return to the division to attack suddenly when their guard is slack.

So Chuang Wang sent his troops south to pretend to attack Ruzhou (now Linru).

Li Xianfeng, governor of Henan, only cared about entering Luoyang, not worrying about Kaifeng.

Seeing that Kaifeng's defense was empty, Li Zicheng immediately turned around and led [-] elite cavalry and [-] infantry, marching northeastward for three days and three nights, until they reached the city of Kaifeng.

Kaifeng was the feudal land of Zhou Wang Zhu Gongyun. King Fu was killed, and he was restless, fearing that he would suffer the same fate.

Gao Mingheng, the inspector censor of Henan Province in the Ming Dynasty, was afraid of repeating the mistakes of Luoyang and being blamed for losing the city and trapping the vassal, so they hurriedly rushed all the forces that could be mobilized to the city to hold on.

Zhou Wang Zhu Gongyan is a little different from other money-hungry vassals.

What he pursues is to keep the green hills there, and not be afraid of running out of firewood to save his life.

Otherwise, the city would be captured by the rogues, and the wealth of the family for hundreds of years would be owned by others. Not only his life but also the lives of the whole family would have to be held in the hands of the rogues, and they would be bullied.

King Zhou couldn't bear this kind of grievance, and he didn't want to.

As long as he is still the king of Zhou, the lost money can be earned back in the future.

But once he is the king of Qin who died at the hands of the bandits, then everything will be over.

Chuang Wang Li Zicheng was so cruel that he cooked King Fu to eat.

He was even more vicious than the hammer bandit He Jinchao, at least King Zhou hadn't heard the rumor that He Jinchao was eating the prince, only that he liked to sleep with the prince's wife.

Damn, what is a woman in front of life?
So when King Chuang Li Zicheng came to the city, King Zhou cruelly moved out part of the money he had accumulated in the mansion for more than 200 years.

"Decree to the people, those who can go out of the city to kill a first-class thief will be rewarded with 50 taels of silver, those who can shoot and kill a thief will be rewarded with ten taels of silver, and those who can shoot a thief or injure a brick will be rewarded with ten taels of silver."

This move really took effect, and a group of desperadoes in Kaifeng went to the city to fight against the rebels one after another.

King Zhou really gave money!

Flourishing, he opened the box and placed it there.

Since ancient times, money has moved people's hearts, whether it is a desperado or a temporary finder, they are full of morale.

Especially the officers and soldiers who have received silver rewards, naturally let Li Zicheng take a look at the combat effectiveness of her mother's fully paid Ming army.

Li Zicheng adopted a tactic of besieging Kaifeng without attacking it, and at the same time built siege equipment to put pressure on them.

As expected, after three days of siege, the city was filled with panic.

The examples of King Fu and King Xiang were right in front of him, even though King Zhou took out the silver, his heart couldn't stop trembling.

Who can guarantee 100% safety in this kind of thing?

For this reason, Zhou Wang suppressed his anger, but calmly told them to find ways to boost morale.

Whoever thinks of it has a big reward.

So with the blessing of banknote ability, I really figured out a way.

In order to stabilize people's hearts, the officials distributed tens of thousands of bamboo poles from the bamboo factory to the residents.

Each person was given five qian a day as a commission, and took turns carrying bamboo poles to parade on the city wall, shouting slogans such as "send troops to fight", bluffing.

The king of Zhou also sent someone to carry out a dragon tablet, and the soldiers blared gongs to clear the way, and walked on the street and shouted:

"Whoever can retreat from the bandits and save the siege will be rewarded with 10 taels of silver!"

Under such circumstances, Li Zicheng really looked at Kaifeng City and sighed.