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

Chapter 339 Eunuch Wei's Attack
Returning to the inn, Yuan Chonghuan was extremely upset.

Originally, he intended to show his face in front of Emperor Tianqi today to deepen the emperor's impression of him. If he could make further progress, it would be even better if he could eventually replace Sun Chengzong. But he didn't expect that he said the wrong thing due to carelessness, and was actually speechless when asked by Emperor Tianqi, which was a big loss of points.

After leaving the palace, Yuan Chonghuan wished he could slap himself a few times for talking nonsense and instead of saying something else, he kept talking big about pacifying Liaoning in five years and even came up with the idea of ​​military farming and the integration of the military and civilians.

Originally, Yuan Chonghuan wanted to brag in front of Emperor Tianqi to show off his talents. He thought that Emperor Tianqi would be happy after hearing it. After all, Yuan Chonghuan knew that Emperor Tianqi had been paying attention to the war in Liaodong. As long as the Liaodong issue could be resolved and the Jiannu could be completely defeated, Emperor Tianqi would probably be willing to do anything.

But he underestimated the young emperor. Yuan Chonghuan never expected that Emperor Tianqi would be so difficult to fool. He immediately refuted his plan to pacify Liao in five years with a rhetorical question, and the question was so question that Yuan Chonghuan didn't know how to answer at all.

Yuan Chonghuan regretted not only showing his face but also his butt. If he had known this would happen, he should have controlled his mouth and said less. But who could have imagined that the Emperor Tianqi, who was rumored to be a carpenter and not concerned with government affairs, was actually such a master?
Rumors are deadly. Yuan Chonghuan could not help but lament. However, he had no other options now. He could only hope that Emperor Tianqi would let him off the hook and pretend that what happened before had never happened. Now he did not expect to be promoted. He just wanted to return to Ningyuan in peace. When he got to Ningyuan, he would keep a low profile and change Emperor Tianqi's impression of him with practical actions. Perhaps he would be able to make further progress in the future.

That night, Yuan Chonghuan tossed and turned and couldn't fall asleep. At dawn the next day, he ran to see Wei Zhongxian with a pair of panda eyes. When he arrived at Wei's house, Wei Zhongxian seemed to have known that he was coming. When he learned that he was coming to visit, he asked someone to take him to the study. After meeting Wei Zhongxian, Yuan Chonghuan very low-key admitted his mistake yesterday and hoped that Wei Zhongxian could speak well of him in front of the emperor.

To Yuan Chonghuan's surprise, Wei Zhongxian did not treat him coldly. Instead, he comforted Yuan Chonghuan with a friendly face and told Yuan Chonghuan that the emperor felt he was still capable and that boasting was just a minor problem and that he just needed to work hard and do things well.

No one is perfect. Yuan Chonghuan's little flaw is not a big deal. He just needs to remember to be down-to-earth in the future. As for the rest, Yuan Chonghuan doesn't need to think too much. He can just go back to Ningyuan as soon as possible and prove himself with practical actions.

These words made Yuan Chonghuan feel at ease and he was extremely grateful to Wei Zhongxian. When he left, Yuan Chonghuan left a generous gift. Although Yuan Chonghuan had given Wei Zhongxian a gift when he met him on the first day he arrived in Beijing, he gave him another generous gift before leaving this time. Wei Zhongxian did not refuse and accepted it with peace of mind.

In Wei Zhongxian's mind, Yuan Chonghuan's importance was much lower than before, which was naturally related to the change in the attitude of Emperor Tianqi after meeting Yuan Chonghuan. In addition, Emperor Tianqi privately evaluated Yuan Chonghuan in this way. As someone close to the emperor, he naturally had to follow the emperor's will. Yuan Chonghuan also fell from the first choice to replace Sun Chengzong in Wei Zhongxian's mind to a lower position. At least in the short term, Yuan Chonghuan had lost the possibility of ruling the military and political affairs of Liaodong.

There is another more important point, that is, yesterday Emperor Tianqi suddenly issued an edict to reinstate Gao Di, the former left vice minister of the Ministry of War. Gao Di just retired this year and returned home to retire for only a few months. What does it mean that he is suddenly reinstated as the right vice minister of the Ministry of Works? Wei Zhongxian, who knows Emperor Tianqi best, certainly understands this.

It seems that if nothing unexpected happens, when Gao Di returns to Beijing, he will not be in this position of Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Works for too long. Next, Emperor Tianqi will definitely put Gao Di back to the position of Ministry of War, perhaps the previous position of Left Vice Minister, or directly as the Minister of War. Once he has this official position, Emperor Tianqi will transfer Gao Di from the capital to Liaodong to replace Sun Chengzong as the next Governor-General of Ji-Liao.

This was Emperor Tianqi's attitude toward Yuan Chonghuan. He could be used, but not on a major basis, and he certainly could not be allowed to take full charge of the Liaodong war. There had to be a reliable old minister above him. Previously it was Sun Chengzong. Once Sun Chengzong left office, the most suitable candidate would be Gao Di.

Gao Di was a senior minister with a good reputation. He was prudent and had served as the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of War, so he had a good understanding of military affairs. Gao Di was old, so he was only used to suppress Yuan Chonghuan. The real power in Liaodong was in the hands of Emperor Tianqi, so there was no need to worry about Yuan Chonghuan messing around in Liaodong and causing trouble.

Wei Zhongxian didn't care much about this matter, especially now that Yuan Chonghuan's status in his mind had been lowered, Wei Zhongxian cared even less. Anyway, Emperor Tianqi had made the decision, so he just had to do it according to Emperor Tianqi's wishes.

In addition, Wei Zhongxian was busy with another important matter these days, which was the fight with the Donglin Party.

At present, the eunuch party and the Donglin party are not only incompatible, but also in a fierce struggle. A few months ago, Yang Lian, a backbone of the Donglin party, wrote a memorial impeaching Wei Zhongxian for twenty-four major crimes, including persecuting the former emperor's old ministers, interfering in government affairs as an eunuch, forcing the death of the virtuous concubine in the harem, manipulating the Dongchang to abuse his power, etc. Finally, he pointed out that the evil consequences of Wei Zhongxian's monopoly of power were "the court only knows Zhongxian, not Your Majesty; the capital also only knows Zhongxian, not Your Majesty."

Yang Lian originally intended to submit this memorial in front of the emperor and his ministers during the court meeting, but he did not expect that the court meeting was cancelled because the emperor was unwell. Yang Lian had no choice but to submit it to the palace as the left deputy censor-in-chief, and the memorial fell directly into the hands of Wei Zhongxian. After reading the contents of the memorial, Wei Zhongxian was terrified, but he did not dare to hide it, and hurriedly took the memorial to see the emperor Tianqi.

After meeting Emperor Tianqi, Wei Zhongxian handed over Yang Lian's memorial, knelt down and cried out that he was wronged, crying miserably with tears and snot.

Emperor Tianqi took the memorial and opened it. He was not angry after reading it. Most of the contents in Yang Lian's memorial were nonsense and had no basis at all. As for some things that did happen, Emperor Tianqi knew in his heart that these things had nothing to do with Wei Zhongxian. He instructed Wei Zhongxian to do them, and Wei Zhongxian just took the blame for himself.

Wei Zhongxian was a knife to the Emperor Tianqi from the beginning. Everything he did was instructed by the Emperor Tianqi. The Emperor Tianqi was not stupid. How could he punish Wei Zhongxian just because Yang Lian impeached him? He wanted to keep this loyal dog to bite people. It was ridiculous for Yang Lian to file a complaint against the dog's owner.

Not only that, Emperor Tianqi also saw an opportunity in this memorial, which was a good opportunity to use the issue to bring down the Donglin Party.

In the past few years, Wei Zhongxian's eunuch party and the Donglin Party were fighting each other, and neither side could do anything to the other. As time went on, many officials defected to the eunuch party, which made it more powerful. The Donglin Party, which had the upper hand at the beginning, gradually became evenly matched and began to show signs of falling behind.

This was the result that Emperor Tianqi was happy to see. Yang Lian's move seemed ruthless and directly hit Wei Zhongxian's weak spot. But in fact, Yang Lian's move was the stupidest. He could not defeat Wei Zhongxian politically, so he used those unfounded things to frame his opponent and to sow discord between Emperor Tianqi and Wei Zhongxian. It was simply ridiculous.

This also proved that the Donglin Party had gradually lost the initiative and was desperate. The Emperor Tianqi saw it clearly and was even more clear in his heart. After closing the memorial, the Emperor Tianqi comforted Wei Zhongxian with kind words, telling him not to be afraid, and that he would be fine as long as he was there.

Wei Zhongxian was relieved when he saw the attitude of Emperor Tianqi. With the support of Emperor Tianqi, how could he be afraid of impeachment? And because of Yang Lian's behavior, Wei Zhongxian hated him even more. Not long ago, Wei Zhongxian caught a handle on Yang Lian and dismissed him from his post on the charge of "disrespect". After Yang Lian lost his job, Wei Zhongxian felt relieved.

After Yang Lian was dismissed, Prime Minister Ye Xianggao resigned when he saw the situation was not good. As a veteran of three dynasties, Ye Xianggao served as Prime Minister twice. This old fox had a keen political sense and immediately sensed the danger of the situation. As a member of the Donglin Party, Ye Xianggao was in a high position and had great power. If he continued to stay in the position of Prime Minister, there would probably be no good results.

Ye Xianggao was already old and no longer had the energy to get involved in political disputes. Moreover, Ye Xianggao understood better than other Donglin Party members that the Emperor Tianqi was behind Wei Zhongxian. The struggle between the Donglin Party and Wei Zhongxian was actually a power struggle between the Donglin Party and the emperor. With the Emperor Tianqi backing Wei Zhongxian, the Donglin Party could not win this struggle no matter what.

Instead of staying in the position of Prime Minister, it is better to retreat from this political vortex. With his identity and status, as long as he withdraws voluntarily, Emperor Tianqi will not do anything to him. As for Wei Zhongxian, there is no need to worry about him. As long as Emperor Tianqi does not say anything, this dog Wei Zhongxian will not bite people at will.

But after resigning, Emperor Tianqi did not respond, which made Ye Xianggao restless. Then several things happened in succession. First, the Ministry of Works doctor Wan Rong was beaten to death for impeaching Wei Zhongxian. Then, the censor Lin Ruzhu was also beaten to death for offending Wei Zhongxian. He was lucky enough not to be beaten to death, but he was also scared to death. In order to save his life, he fled directly from the capital to the governor's office in Zunhua and hid there.

Lin Ruzhu was Ye Xianggao's nephew. When they couldn't find Lin Ruzhu, Wei Zhongxian's followers came to Ye Xianggao's house and asked him to hand him over, which made Ye Xianggao very anxious. Seeing that the situation was not good and that he might lose his life if he didn't leave, Ye Xianggao continued to resign, submitting 20 resignation letters in a row. Only then did the Emperor Tianqi agree to let Ye Xianggao retire for the sake of his old minister.

In this regard, the two sides secretly reached a tacit understanding that Ye Xianggao would completely withdraw from the political stage and give up the position of Prime Minister and no longer interfere in the affairs of the Donglin Party. Afterwards, Emperor Tianqi and Wei Zhongxian spared him and conferred the title of Taifu on Ye Xianggao, and sent the Embroidered Uniform Guard to escort him back home from Beijing.

The resignation of Ye Xianggao was a heavy blow to the Donglin Party. Without Ye Xianggao, the mainstay, the Donglin Party's strength in the court was greatly weakened. Han Yu, who succeeded Ye Xianggao, was replaced by Zhu Guozhen not long after taking office. Zhu Guozhen served as the prime minister for only one month before he was impeached and removed from office by Wei Zhongxian's men. Then the position of prime minister fell to Gu Bingqian from the eunuch party.

(End of this chapter)