Gou was a member of the imperial family in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 165: Borrowing Strength
Wei Zhongxian's answer made Tianqi very satisfied. He was not stupid. He knew that once outsiders knew that the things he was selling were made by him, even if they were ordinary things, they would be sought after by people.

After all, it was made by the emperor. Who would say it was bad? Who wouldn't give the emperor face?
Therefore, Tianqi specifically instructed Wei Zhongxian not to disclose the source of the things, just to see whether his craftsmanship was really as good as Wei Zhongxian said, and whether the things he made could really be sold at a high price.

But Tianqi forgot that even if he told him so, it would be useless. Tianqi was in the palace, and Wei Zhongxian had his own way to handle this matter even if he said it openly. Moreover, Tianqi's woodworking skills were really good, and the things he made were extremely delicate. In addition, if he worked secretly, wouldn't it be easy for Wei Zhongxian to pay for Tianqi's happiness?

Of course, Wei Zhongxian would never say this out loud. As for what to do, he had already thought about it.

After talking about the sale of wooden furniture for a while, Tianqi was in a very good mood. He drank tea and asked about the situation in the court and the Imperial Household Department.

Wei Zhongxian reported everything to Tianqi. The situation in the court today was no different from before. The cabinet was still headed by Liu Yirong, and the Donglin Party controlled most of the government affairs. Many things after the defeat in Liaodong had been almost implemented. The people who should be dealt with had been dealt with, and those who should be arranged had been arranged.

Tianqi and Liu Yirong re-employed Xiong Tingbi because of the Yuan Yingtai incident. Xiong Tingbi had now rushed to Liaodong. Tianqi entrusted the military affairs of Liaodong to Xiong Tingbi, but the cabinet had trouble with this matter again and proposed to promote Wang Huazhen to the governor of Liaodong.

The cabinet had just reported the matter, and Wei Zhongxian had the cabinet documents on him. Upon hearing this, Tianqi frowned slightly. He naturally knew Wang Huazhen. Wang Huazhen was a disciple of Ye Xianggao, the former chief minister of the cabinet. Ye Xianggao had served as the chief minister of the cabinet during the Wanli period, and later resigned due to illness. Fang Congzhe succeeded Ye Xianggao.

Ye Xianggao was not only the chief minister of the cabinet, but also the leader of the Donglin Party. He had many disciples in the court and had great prestige. Now that the Donglin Party was in control of the government, it was natural for them to use their own people. Wang Huazhen was a disciple of Ye Xianggao. When Yuan Yingtai was in charge of Liaodong, the Donglin Party had Wang Huazhen appointed as the director of the Ministry of Revenue, and then transferred him to the right councilor and stationed him in Guangning.

This time Liaodong was defeated miserably, Yuan Yingtai's main force was wiped out, and a large area of ​​Liaodong fell. On the contrary, Guangning, where Wang Huazhen was stationed, was still in the hands of the Ming army. Moreover, Wang Huazhen held Guangning firmly and failed to let the Later Jin succeed, which was the only bright spot in this war.

Although Liu Yirong and Tianqi reached an agreement privately that Tianqi would not pursue the responsibility for Yuan Yingtai's death, and the Donglin Party gave in and agreed to Tianqi's re-employment of Xiong Tingbi, in the eyes of the Donglin Party, although Xiong Tingbi was reinstated as the governor of Liaodong, the overall situation of Liaodong could not fall into the hands of Xiong Tingbi alone.

After all, Xiong Tingbi was not a member of the Donglin Party. They could not rest assured that he was not a member of the Donglin Party. However, they could not stop Xiong Tingbi from being reinstated, but they could make some other arrangements, among which they thought of Wang Huazhen in Guangning.

In the eyes of the Donglin Party, Wang Huazhen was of good descent and a member of their own faction. Only with such a person could they be truly assured in Liaodong to contain Xiong Tingbi.

Since there was no way to replace Xiong Tingbi with Wang Huazhen, it was still possible to promote Wang Huazhen. Moreover, the Ming Dynasty had always controlled the military with civil officials. Although Xiong Tingbi was a civil official, he had been regarded as a military general in the eyes of the Donglin Party because of his several expeditions to Liaodong. It was a wise move to use Wang Huazhen to restrain Xiong Tingbi, so it was proposed to promote Wang Huazhen to the position of Governor of Liaodong.

After asking Wei Zhongxian for a cabinet memorial, Tianqi read it carefully and closed it without saying a word.

Wei Zhongxian stood aside without saying a word. He knew Tianqi too well. Often at such times Tianqi would appear calm on the surface, but he was actually very uncomfortable. This was especially true since he had just appointed Xiong Tingbi to govern Liaodong, bestowed upon him the Emperor's Sword, allocated him 5000 soldiers from the Beijing Camp, issued a letter of amnesty, and provided him with countless money and grain. When Xiong Tingbi left Beijing, Tianqi personally saw him off, giving him enough trust and expectations.

But just after Xiong Tingbi left, the cabinet came up with this incident, wanting to promote Wang Huazhen to the position of Governor of Liaodong, which was clearly going against Tianqi.

Tianqi knew very well what the cabinet and the Donglin Party were planning. They simply wanted to use Wang Huazhen and Xiong Tingbi to seize power and to divide the military and political power in Liaodong to suppress Xiong Tingbi. In his heart, Tianqi did not want to agree to this, but he could not reject it. After all, the establishment of the Liaodong Governor was normal, and recommending Wang Huazhen was also within the cabinet's authority. Moreover, Wang Huazhen's promotion to Liaodong Governor was reasonable, regardless of his qualifications or previous performance in the war. If Tianqi rejected the cabinet's request, the cabinet would inevitably react. Once the candidate for Liaodong Governor was in conflict with the cabinet, it would not be a good thing for the Liaodong war.

"Wei Banban, what does the Imperial Household Department think about this matter?" Tianqi thought for a moment and asked.

Wei Zhongxian said, "Your Majesty, I think the situation in Liaodong is complicated. Liaodong needs a capable minister to take charge of the situation. Your Majesty's previous decision to activate Xiong Tingbi was the most appropriate choice. Xiong Tingbi has been in charge of Liaodong twice, so he is naturally very familiar with the situation in Liaodong. When the late emperor was alive, he also entrusted the affairs of Liaodong to Xiong Tingbi. Your Majesty's move is the most appropriate..."

Before he could finish, Tianqi raised his hand and said, "There is no need to say more about this. I naturally know Xiong Tingbi's ability. I am asking for the opinions of the Imperial Household Department!"

Wei Zhongxian looked embarrassed, and after a moment's hesitation, he said, "The internal opinions of the Imperial Household Department are not unified, so I ask Your Majesty to make a decision..."

"Oh? Tell me in detail." Tianqi said.

"I think that although Wang Huazhen's appointment as the governor of Liaodong is legitimate, it is not appropriate at the moment. If Liaodong is stable, this move is fine, but now Liaodong has just been defeated and the Jiannu are aggressive, Xiong Tingbi should be allowed to take charge of Liaodong's military and political affairs and deal with it with all his strength to avoid power division. However, Wang Guochen and Liu Kejing believe that the cabinet's request is reasonable and inconvenient to reject, and agree to Wang Huazhen's appointment as the governor of Liaodong."

"Wang Guochen, Liu Kejing?" Tianqi remained calm, muttering the two names silently, and suddenly asked, "Where is Wang An, the eunuch in charge of ceremonies, now?"

"Your Majesty, you forgot that Wang An left the palace last month." Wei Zhongxian replied softly.

Tianqi then remembered that Wang An had been driven out of the palace last month and went to guard the imperial mausoleum in Fengyang. He nodded and asked, "If I remember correctly, Wang Guochen and Liu Kejing were both promoted by Wang An?" "Your Majesty has a good memory," Wei Zhongxian replied.

Tianqi was silent for a moment, then said, "Send the imperial decree to the Imperial Household Department for approval. I approve Wang Huazhen's appointment as the governor of Liaodong."

"I obey your order." Wei Zhongxian agreed quickly, and then he heard Tianqi say: "I remember that the eunuch guarding Nanjing has been in office for many years, right? It's time to return to Beijing. Wang Guochen is a good candidate. Pass on my order and let Wang Guochen, the eunuch in charge of the Imperial Household Department, go to Nanjing to take up his post and leave the palace today."

"The slaves obey the orders!"

Hearing this, Wei Zhongxian's heart burst into laughter. Wang Guochen was transferred from the Imperial Household Department to Nanjing to serve as the garrison eunuch. From the perspective of positions, they seem to be similar, but the rights are very different.

You have to know that the eunuch guarding Nanjing is a job for retirement, although the rank is not low, but being kicked out of the Silijian to the garrison eunuch is equivalent to being marginalized and retired. Moreover, with Wang Guochen's departure, Wei Zhongxian can easily control him in the future and he will never cause any trouble. This way, the Silijian will have one less strong opponent.

It is a pity that Tianqi did not issue an order to deal with Liu Kejing. Perhaps it was because Liu Kejing left a good impression on Tianqi in the selection of concubines, so he only dealt with Wang Guochen for the time being.

But it didn't matter. Once Wang Guochen left, Liu Kejing could not stand alone in the Silijian. He alone had no ability to compete with Wei Zhongxian. Wei Zhongxian had plenty of time and opportunities. If he couldn't deal with Liu Kejing today, he could find another opportunity in the future. As long as Emperor Tianqi trusted him, would he be afraid that he couldn't deal with a little Liu Kejing?

"Oh, by the way, Your Majesty, Wang Guochen has resigned from the Silijian, a post that is held by the Silijian..."

"It's such a small matter, Wei Banban can handle it himself." Tianqi said lightly, and Wei Zhongxian was even more delighted. This was equivalent to giving him the right to succeed Wang Guochen. This was the best thing for Wei Zhongxian.

"Wei Banban!"

"The slave is here!"

"Let the Imperial Household Department draft another decree. Yao Zongwen, the Imperial Censor of the Ministry of Revenue, will be dismissed from his post and made a commoner. Feng Sanyuan, Zhang Xiude, Wei Yingjia, Guo Gong, and others will be exiled from the capital immediately!"

"This..." Wei Zhongxian was shocked. The officials Tianqi mentioned were not high-ranking. Most of them were officials in the six departments, and their ranks were only seventh. But the problem was that these people were all censors. The emperor dismissed one person and exiled four people from the capital at once. This was no small matter.

Just as he was about to open his mouth to persuade Tianqi, a thought suddenly flashed through his mind and he swallowed back the words that were about to come out of his mouth.

Wei Zhongxian suddenly understood why Tianqi did this, because these people were the censors who impeached Xiong Tingbi, especially Yao Zongwen, who was the first to jump out and impeach, jumping up and down very excitedly.

Although Tianqi had accepted the cabinet's promotion of Wang Huazhen to the post of Liaodong governor, it did not mean that Tianqi had no objection to this matter. While agreeing to the cabinet's arrangement of the Liaodong governor, he not only expelled Wang Guochen from the Silijian and sent him to Nanjing to serve as a garrison eunuch, but also directly dismissed Yao Zongwen from his post and demoted Feng Sanyuan, Zhang Xiude, Wei Yingjia, Guo Gong and others from the capital in the name of the imperial edict.

Tianqi's intention in doing this was to warn the cabinet and the Donglin Party, and to express his dissatisfaction with the cabinet and the Donglin Party's small actions through this attitude. At the same time, it was also to let all the civil and military officials in the court know his firm attitude of supporting Xiong Tingbi.

In this way, even if Wang Huazhen became the governor of Liaodong, he might not dare to go too far, and Xiong Tingbi would have no worries in Liaodong, which could be said to kill two birds with one stone.

However, Wei Zhongxian did not think so. He felt that Tianqi was acting impulsively, especially dealing with so many civil servants at once. Based on his understanding of the Donglin Party, these guys would not surrender easily. Doing so would probably not only fail to produce any effect, but would make the Donglin Party even more hostile to Xiong Tingbi.

"Your Majesty, you need to be cautious about this matter." Wei Zhongxian couldn't help but advise Tianqi.

Tianqi looked at Wei Zhongxian deeply with a sharp expression, but Wei Zhongxian remained unmoved and still stood firmly with a respectful look.

His expression gradually softened, and Tianqi smiled: "Wei Banban, you are very good, but I have made up my mind about this matter, so just do it according to my wishes!"

"I obey your order!" Wei Zhongxian responded and sighed in his heart. He knew Tianqi's temper very well. Since he couldn't persuade him, he would not continue to persuade him. Although state affairs were important, court affairs were also important, but they were still not as good as Tianqi's favor to him. If this favor was gone, what use would he, Wei Zhongxian, have?
(End of this chapter)