weaving

Chapter 1329: Divine Grace

Emperor Chongzhen originally wanted Zhou Yanru to continue to serve as the Prime Minister of the Cabinet for a period of time so that he could calmly choose a successor, thus maintaining the stability of the government and avoiding an unmanageable situation due to time constraints.

But after two new impeachments were submitted by the Military Affairs Department’s Imperial Secretary Hao and Imperial Censor Jiang Gongchen, Emperor Chongzhen could no longer sit still…

In fact, Emperor Chongzhen could still tolerate the corruption and selling of official positions by Wu Changshi and Dong Tingxian. After all, these trivial matters were not enough to threaten his rule over the Ming Dynasty for the time being. They were nothing more than minor problems.

But he could not tolerate the fact that Wu Changshi and Dong Tingxian were secretly communicating with the inner court, especially when it had been made public!

If Emperor Chongzhen continued to pretend to be ignorant at this time, it would be tantamount to openly condoning external officials to secretly communicate with the inner court, and this consequence was something Emperor Chongzhen could not bear.

On June 23, an imperial edict was issued from the palace - ordering the commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard and the deputy governor Luo Yangxing to immediately arrest Wu Changshi, a doctor in the Ministry of Personnel's Selection Department, and put him in prison at the Zhenfu Division; and to arrest Dong Tingxian, a retainer of Zhou Yanru, and put him in prison at the Zhenfu Division.

With the arrest and imprisonment of two capable generals, Wu Changshi and Dong Tingxian, the outcome in the court was decided. No one spoke up to defend the Prime Minister Zhou Yanru, and no one was interested in Zhou Yanru's duty room anymore. Even the Second Prime Minister Chen Yan was deterred from doing so.

At this time, slander against Zhou Yanru had already appeared in the capital. Some anonymous leaflets were posted on the city walls and streets with the couplet "Calling him all day long, you will summon a great Cao Cao; answering him all day long, you will answer him a great Qin Hui", which seemed to foreshadow Zhou Yanru's tragic end in the future.

In fact, Zhou Yanru was really panicked in his heart. He even wanted to lock himself up at home, refuse visitors and never meet anyone again. But if he did that, it would make him look guilty.

Therefore, he had to bite the bullet and come to the cabinet duty room early, in case some people could not see him and would attack and impeach him more frantically, and might even tell him how often he emptied the toilet at home.

"You can't wait for what's not supposed to come, but you can't avoid what's supposed to come!"

Less than a day after being arrested by the Pacification Division, news came out from the palace that Emperor Chongzhen had personally come to the Zhongzuo Gate to interrogate Wu Changshi and Dong Tingxian, two doctors of the Ministry of Personnel’s Wenxuan Division, and ordered them to check their statements with the censor Jiang Gongchen on the spot...

As for the specific circumstances of Emperor Chongzhen's personal interrogation of Wu Changshi and Dong Tingxian, outsiders naturally had no way of knowing, and those who knew the situation did not dare to reveal anything, but this did not stop speculation from outside.

After all, this imperial trial, which concerns the fate of the prime minister of the current cabinet, not only involves the future structure of the court, but also involves the future fate of many people. How could it not be a concern for the people in the capital?

Although the specific process and plot are unclear, we can work our way back from the ending!

On the evening of the day when Emperor Chongzhen tried Wu Changshi and Dong Tingxian, the outside world had already learned that Wu Changshi and Dong Tingxian had been severely tortured, and that they both died in the Zhenfusi prison that night.

But when people were speculating that Zhou Yanru was doomed, Emperor Chongzhen suddenly showed mercy. He changed his previous harsh and ungrateful behavior and did not delve too deeply into Zhou Yanru's problems...

On June 25, Zhou Yanru, the chief minister of the Ming Dynasty Cabinet, wrote a letter to resign from the title of Grand Secretary of Zhongji Palace and the position of chief minister of the Cabinet, but was not approved by the emperor.

On June 26, Zhou Yanru again wrote a letter to resign from the title of Junior Tutor, which was approved by Emperor Chongzhen.

On the evening of June 26, Emperor Chongzhen ordered the cabinet, the six ministries, the Censorate, and the Dali Temple to investigate Zhou Yanru's crimes of "having private interests and forming a party, causing misfortune to the country and overthrowing the nation". Li Banghua, the Left Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate, praised Zhou Yanru's achievements after his second comeback. Although he accused Zhou Yanru of not being able to "stay clean forever", he considered that his crime should be the same as the first level of failure to establish a border.

However, Li Banghua also insisted that the emperor had clearly stated that "as he had served as the Prime Minister, he should be arrested and released leniently", so he hoped that Zhou Yanru could be dealt with leniently.

However, Ling Yiqu, the Minister of Dali Temple, did not care about Zhou Yanru's political achievements after his comeback. He exposed his treacherous character in politics and in life, and believed that although there was a clause of "discussing the nobles" in the Ming Dynasty law, it could not be an excuse to forgive Zhou Yanru.

However, the Minister of Justice Zhang Xin was inclined to the opinion of the Chief Censor Li Banghua. In the end, the three judicial officials concluded that the chief minister Zhou Yanru should be sentenced to life exile.

However, when the conclusion of the three judicial officials was reported to the palace through the cabinet, it was overturned by Emperor Chongzhen himself...

Emperor Chongzhen was grateful to Zhou Yanru for his dedication and hard work in state affairs since he returned to the position of Prime Minister of the Cabinet for the second time, and he had not made any major mistakes. Although there were many inappropriate things now, most of them were done by his subordinates, and they were mostly unaware of it.

Therefore, when Zhou Yanru wrote a letter saying that he was waiting for punishment and asked to go to the border, Emperor Chongzhen issued an extremely mild imperial edict, saying that Zhou Yanru "has assisted in the government for many years, and I have not been able to fully implement his plans. This is all my fault", thus blaming himself and exonerating him.

Finally, Zhou Yanru retired and returned home on June 29th in a very decent manner.

…………

Although Zhou Yanru was dismissed from office and retired, the position of Chief Minister of the Cabinet is the head of all officials and cannot be vacant for long.

However, time was urgent and Emperor Chongzhen had no more suitable candidate, so he had no choice but to issue an edict "Appointing the Second Assistant Chen Yan to temporarily take over the duties of the First Assistant."

Although the cabinet's chief minister has been replaced, the bandits in the Central Plains are still there, and the danger in Kaifeng has not been completely resolved. The selection of a commander to lead the army to suppress the bandits is still a top priority.

Originally, before retiring, Zhou Yanru had suggested to Emperor Chongzhen that in addition to Hou Xun, Zhang Cheng, the Earl of Yongning, could also be considered as the commander-in-chief of the Central Plains bandit suppression campaign.

His explanation was that the Earl of Yongning had single-handedly resisted Li's army of hundreds of thousands and prevented the enemy from advancing an inch, which showed his ability. Although Hou Xun had done a favor to Zuo Liangyu, Zuo Liangyu had just been defeated and might not be able to gain power in a hurry. Therefore, it would be better to appoint the Earl of Yongning as the governor-general to suppress the bandits and temporarily stabilize the situation in the Central Plains. After Sun Chuanting's Shaanxi troops were formed and Zuo Liangyu had recovered his strength, he could send out respected and loyal ministers who knew military affairs to take charge of the situation and encircle Li from all sides, perhaps Li could be annihilated in Henan.

Emperor Chongzhen felt that what Zhou Yanru said made some sense for a moment, but the court had not had a military official serve as governor for more than a hundred years. He felt that the matter was of great importance and did not dare to make a decision.

Now, although Zhou Yanru has retired and returned to his hometown, Li's army is still under the city of Kaifeng, and the issue of selecting a commander to suppress the bandits can no longer be delayed.

On the second day of July, Emperor Chongzhen summoned cabinet members including Minister of Revenue and Grand Secretary of Wuying Palace Chen Yan, Minister of Rites and Grand Secretary of Dongke Wu Shen, Chancellor of the Imperial Secretariat and Head of Hanlin Academy Huang Jingfang, Minister of Works and Grand Secretary of Dongke Jiang Dejing, as well as Minister of Personnel Zheng Sanjun, and Left Vice-Chief Censor Fang Yuegong to the Qianqing Palace for a meeting.