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

Chapter 166 No bottom line
On the day he returned to the Imperial Household Department from the Qianqing Palace, Wei Zhongxian announced the emperor's will.

Wang Guochen resigned from the Silijian and was transferred to be the eunuch guarding Nanjing, and was replaced by Song Jinru of the Silijian.

Everyone is familiar with Song Jin. He was Tianqi's study partner and Wei Zhongxian's follower. It is easy to imagine what his entry into the Imperial Household Department meant.

In addition, there were opinions on how to deal with Yao Zongwen and others. Wei Zhongxian had someone draft an edict, which was then stamped by the eunuch Wang Tijian, who held the seal. It was then submitted to the cabinet for distribution together with a memorial from the Imperial Household Department approving Wang Huazhen's appointment as the governor of Liaodong.

After Wang An lost his job, Wei Zhongxian did not become the eunuch in charge of the imperial seal, but Wang Tiqian took over the position. In name, Wang Tiqian was the head of the Imperial Household Department, but in reality, Wang Tiqian was also Wei Zhongxian's younger brother, and he always followed Wei Zhongxian's lead. He was actually just a rubber stamp, and he did everything Wei Zhongxian said.

When the imperial edict was conveyed to the cabinet, Prime Minister Liu Yirong said nothing after reading it. His expression was very complicated. Although he had expected that the emperor would agree to Wang Huazhen's promotion to Governor of Liaodong, he also dealt with five censors at the same time. These five censors happened to be the five people who were most enthusiastic in impeaching Xiong Tingbi. This was intriguing.

Liu Yirong naturally understood the meaning of this. Moreover, how could Liu Yirong not know what it meant when two edicts were sent to the cabinet at the same time?
For a while, Liu Yirong was in a dilemma. He called other cabinet elders to discuss. Some said that it was inappropriate for the emperor to target the censors like this. The censors had the right to report rumors. How could they be demoted with such a crime? This was not in line with the court rules. Others said that the emperor used the Liaodong governor to exchange with the cabinet. Anyway, there were only five seventh-rank censors, and many of them were opportunists and not Donglin Party members. It was okay to demote them and give the emperor face. As long as Wang Huazhen got the governorship, it would not be a loss for the Donglin Party.

In addition, some people suggested that it was not a bad thing for the emperor to do so, especially since the imperial edict was issued by the Imperial Household Department, so it might be a good thing if this matter became a big deal. At present, the power of the Imperial Household Department was gradually increasing, and Wei Zhongxian was showing signs of being the number one person in the inner court. The eunuch party had always been at odds with the civil service group, so they could use this incident to attack the eunuch party, tell the world that the emperor was deceived by the eunuch party, and incite the court and the public to attack the Imperial Household Department, which would be beneficial to the civil service group, especially the Donglin Party.

After a day of discussion behind closed doors, Liu Yirong finally made the final decision and agreed to the emperor's two edicts, which were officially issued by the cabinet.

The next day, the imperial edict was issued, and the five censors were heartbroken. They never thought that they would suffer such serious consequences just for impeaching Xiong Tingbi.

Especially Yao Zongwen who was dismissed from his post was struck by lightning. He had studied hard for ten years and finally passed the imperial examination to become an official. He had worked hard to climb to the position of Jieshi Zhong, but he was dismissed from office in one day and became an ordinary citizen. He was completely devastated.

Yao Zongwen was not a member of the Donglin Party. He was a core member of the Zhejiang Party and was in the same party as the former Prime Minister Fang Congzhe.

The impeachment of Xiong Tingbi was not due to party disputes, but due to personal grudges between him and Xiong Tingbi. This grudge is also very interesting, because Yao Zongwen was sent by Fang Congzhe to inspect Liaodong. After arriving in Liaodong, the greedy Yao Zongwen directly asked Xiong Tingbi for a bribe but failed. Instead, he was scolded by Xiong Tingbi in person.

In this way, Yao Zongwen and Xiong Tingbi had a feud. After Wanli's death, Yao Zongwen could not wait to jump out, intending to pull the Donglin Party to impeach Xiong Tingbi, and finally succeeded in the impeachment, resulting in Xiong Tingbi's resignation and Yuan Yingtai taking over as the governor of Liaodong. When the news came, Yao Zongwen celebrated and laughed in his mansion, saying that it is never too late for a gentleman to take revenge. No matter how arrogant you are, Xiong Tingbi, you looked down on me in the past, and now you have fallen into my hands, right?

But who would have thought that the saying "the tide turns" was true, and Liaodong was in trouble not long after that. Yuan Yingtai was defeated in Liaodong, and Liaodong was in ruins. Tianqi once again used Xiong Tingbi. After learning about this, Yao Zongwen was always uneasy, fearing that Xiong Tingbi, who was reinstated this time, would cause trouble for him.

Yao Zongwen kept a low profile these days and didn't dare to stand out. As time went by, he gradually felt relieved after Xiong Tingbi went to Liaodong to take up his post. In his opinion, this matter was over, but he never expected that the sky would suddenly fall.

When the imperial edict came, Yao Zongwen's eyes went dark and he almost fainted on the spot. He finally recovered after his family members pinched his Ren Zhong and fed him ginseng soup. When he came to his senses, Yao Zongwen beat his chest and cried loudly, cursing the Donglin Party for being ruthless and ungrateful, and selling him out for a mere governor of Liaodong.

In Yao Zongwen's view, this was a move by the Donglin Party to crack down on dissidents. They used the arrangement of the Liaodong governor to curry favor with the emperor, which led to his loss of his official position. Anyway, he was not a member of the Donglin Party, and the Prime Minister Fang Congzhe had retired, and there was no big boss to rely on in the court, so he was thrown out as a scapegoat.

For a moment, Yao Zongwen did not hate the emperor or Wei Zhongxian in his heart. Instead, he hated two people. One of them was Xiong Tingbi, the governor of Liaodong. In his opinion, perhaps Xiong Tingbi had said bad things about him in front of the emperor when he left Beijing not long ago, which made the emperor remember him.

The second person was Liu Yirong, the chief minister of the Donglin Party. Not only Liu Yirong, but also the entire Donglin Party. These bastards were nothing. When I was the first one to impeach Xiong Tingbi, they all cheered, but now they put all the responsibility on me. It was clearly a case of crossing the river and destroying the bridge to exclude dissidents. The more I thought about it, the more hatred I felt in my heart. Yao Zongwen was so angry that his teeth itched, and he swore that as long as he was still alive, he would take revenge.

He did what he said. Although Yao Zongwen was not a high-ranking official and was also a censor, he had made a lot of money in private through his own means over the years. Yao Zongwen was a clean official but not an honest official. He had a disagreement with Xiong Tingbi because he failed to extort bribes, so his family background was quite rich.

Now that he had no big boss to rely on, the Donglin Party had become his enemy and was targeting him. Xiong Tingbi was the governor of Liaodong and held great power. How could he, a man who had been dismissed from office, be able to deal with him? After much deliberation, Yao Zongwen decided to find a new big boss to rely on. After looking around the court, the only one he could rely on was the eunuch Wei Zhongxian, who had emerged recently and was favored by the emperor.

In order to regain his position and have a chance to take revenge, Yao Zongwen gritted his teeth and asked someone to use his connections to send money to Wei Zhongxian. Fortunately, he had a lot of money from years of corruption, and he finally spent most of his family fortune to meet Wei Zhongxian.

As soon as they met, Yao Zongwen, regardless of his status as a Jinshi, kowtowed to Wei Zhongxian, claiming that he was framed by the Donglin Party and begged Eunuch Wei to help him.

Although Wei Zhongxian had heard of Yao Zongwen and knew that he was the leader of the Zhejiang Party, this was the first time he met him. He didn't want to meet him at first, but Yao Zongwen gave him a lot of money, so Wei Zhongxian reluctantly agreed to meet him.

But he didn't expect to see another side of Yao Zongwen during this meeting. Wei Zhongxian was originally from the market, and he had been in the palace for many years, so he had a good ability to read people's expressions and judge people. He originally thought that since Yao Zongwen was a censor, he would have some integrity. But who would have thought that Yao Zongwen had no integrity? He was like a desperate scabby dog. After meeting him, he was not only respectful, but also cried and admitted his mistakes. He was extremely dissatisfied with the Donglin Party and cursed the Donglin Party from top to bottom. This aroused Wei Zhongxian's interest.

The Donglin Party dominated the imperial court and the cabinet. Wei Zhongxian knew that the Emperor Tianqi had given him control of the Imperial Household Department, which was nothing more than a struggle for power with the civil service group, and the biggest opponent of the civil service group was the Donglin Party.

The rise of the Donglin Party during the Wanli period, after so many years, has become a trend, not only in the court, but also in the local Donglin Party is deeply rooted. Although Wei Zhongxian has taken control of the Silijian and has become the de facto prime minister, compared with the powerful Donglin Party, Wei Zhongxian, the eunuch, does not have the capital to directly compete with the Donglin Party.

These days, Wei Zhongxian has been secretly accumulating strength, winning over various factions, and preparing for the future competition with the Donglin Party. But after all, the time is too short, and Wei Zhongxian does not have the ability to do so at the moment. There is a saying that goes, the enemy of my enemy is my friend. Wei Zhongxian looked down on guys like Yao Zongwen from the bottom of his heart. This guy is not only a spineless person, but also a corrupt criminal, a complete villain.

But then again, villains also have their own roles. Wei Zhongxian was a eunuch. Eunuchs and the civil service group are naturally incompatible. Few people in the civil service group look up to eunuchs. In the eyes of these scholars, these eunuchs are people with congenital defects and are the eunuch party that brings disaster to the country and the people.

If you want to fight against the Donglin Party, it is impossible to rely solely on the Imperial Household Department and the Eastern Depot. You must have your own people in the court, so that you will have a chance to compete with the Donglin Party.

Wei Zhongxian did the same thing these days, and he attracted many frustrated civil servants and officials from other factions who were at odds with the Donglin Party to gradually form a small group. Most of these people were villains, and there were very few good people among them. But it didn't matter, whether they were gentlemen or villains, as long as they were useful, these people were just tools in Wei Zhongxian's eyes, and the same was true for Yao Zongwen, who was now kneeling in front of him and crying.

Thinking of this, Wei Zhongxian patiently listened to Yao Zongwen's crying. Instead of scolding him, he also comforted him with a kind face.

Seeing Wei Zhongxian's kind attitude, Yao Zongwen suddenly felt hope in his heart. He swore to Wei Zhongxian on the spot that as long as Eunuch Wei could help him get his official position back, Eunuch Wei would be his second parent, and he would follow Eunuch Wei's lead and join forces to deal with the Donglin Party.

Yao Zongwen's attitude made Wei Zhongxian particularly satisfied. Wei Zhongxian generously expressed his position and asked him to stay in Beijing and help him collect some solid evidence of the Donglin Party's crimes in private. It is unlikely that he will be reinstated immediately now. After all, the emperor's edict was issued not long ago and it is impossible to take it back.

But it doesn't matter. Once this matter calms down after some time, no one will pay attention to it anymore. Besides, Yao Zongwen will also perform as he was told. Then Eunuch Wei will be able to speak well of him in front of the emperor. By then, not to mention being reinstated, he might even be promoted.

With Wei Zhongxian's promise, Yao Zongwen instantly came back to life as if he had taken a tonic pill. His face was flushed and he was full of energy. He patted his chest and said that he would not talk empty words and let Eunuch Wei just watch his performance!
(End of this chapter)