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

Chapter 821 Rejection
Qian Qianyi's words stunned everyone. No one expected that Qian Qianyi, as the leader of Donglin, would actually propose the suggestion of persuading the emperor to ascend the throne, and in the court.

You should know that Qian Qianyi was not only a member of the Qingliu Party, but also the leader of the Donglin Party. He had a high status and reputation both in the court and among the people. But it was surprising that such a person took the lead in persuading the emperor to ascend the throne.

"Shameless! Villain!" Prime Minister Wen Tiren cursed in his heart, "Aren't you Qian Qianyi known as a clean official? Why did you get involved in this muddy water? And you are the first one to come out and persuade him to ascend the throne. Do you have any shame, old man?"

But even though he was cursing in his heart, Wen Tihen rushed out in a flash, knelt down in front of Zhu Shenzhui, and said the same words of persuasion, begging Zhu Shenzhui to ascend the throne and rule the world for the sake of the Ming Dynasty and the people of the world.

In fact, Wen Tiren had originally planned to find an opportunity to persuade Qian Qianyi to take the throne today, but he did not expect Qian Qianyi to be one step ahead of him. Although an accident happened, Wen Tiren immediately came to his senses. He could not let this great achievement fall into Qian Qianyi's hands. He had planned for so long, and the credit for starting the war must belong to him, Wen Tiren.

As Wen Tihen stood up, several other people stood up instantly. Most of these people were arranged by Wen Tihen long ago. They followed Wen Tihen and Qian Qianyi to propose the idea of ​​persuading the emperor to ascend the throne. This scene shocked other court officials and they also started to make their own calculations. Although it was against the etiquette to ascend the throne as regent, one must know that Zhu Shenzhui was not an ordinary regent, he won the position of regent by his own efforts.

Zhu Shenzhui entered the capital under the banner of "clearing the court of evil officials and pacifying the national crisis". It stands to reason that he could have directly ascended the throne as Emperor Chengzu Zhu Di did. However, Zhu Shenzhui did not do so. Although he imprisoned Emperor Chongzhen, his harem, and children, he still regarded himself as a minister and even lived in Wenhua Hall instead of Qianqing Palace. Except for the promotion of the royal family to the rank of prince and the regent, the throne of the Ming Dynasty emperor did not fall into the hands of others.

At first, everyone didn't understand why Zhu Shenzhui did this, but after a while, they gradually came to their senses and couldn't help but secretly admire and look up to Zhu Shenzhui. After all, now is different from before. Although Zhu Shenzhui is a member of the royal family, he is just an ordinary member of the royal family, while Zhu Di was the son of Taizu and the head of the royal family, the famous King of Yan at the border. In addition, Emperor Jianwen made all the royal family members feel insecure because of the reduction of the feudal system, which made the Ming Dynasty extremely dissatisfied with him.

Under such circumstances, Zhu Di had internal and external support for his rebellion. In addition, Zhu Di had military merits and nearly half of the nobles were close to him. Therefore, Zhu Di was able to ascend the throne directly after taking Nanjing. As for the whereabouts of Jianwen, whether it was a mystery or a smokescreen deliberately released by Zhu Di after killing someone, it didn't matter.

But Zhu Shenzhui was different. Before entering the capital, Zhu Shenzhui was just an ordinary member of the royal family. Many people had never even heard of his name. Moreover, few people in and outside the court supported Zhu Shenzhui. He was able to take the capital entirely by relying on the military force in his hands and secret planning. He chose a good time and caught the Ming Dynasty off guard.

Under such circumstances, if Zhu Shenzhui directly took the throne, few people in the world would obey him, even if he controlled the capital. Even if Emperor Chongzhen was not a good person, he was still the legitimate emperor and the emperor of the Ming Dynasty. If he killed Emperor Chongzhen and became the emperor himself, the entire Ming Dynasty would be in chaos, and there would be many opponents.

Therefore, Zhu Shenzhu saw this very clearly, which is why his choices were completely different from Zhu Di's. Zhu Shenzhu did not replace the emperor, but only became a prince and then a regent. He found an emperor who was seriously ill and put Chongzhen's family under house arrest in the harem, and used the emperor to control the government.

Zhu Shenzui's method had a very good effect. Although there were still opponents of Zhu Shenzui at that time, because of Emperor Chongzhen, these opposition forces were not strong, and his actions were at least acceptable to most people.

As time went by, Zhu Shenzhui gradually consolidated his power after taking office as regent and did a lot of practical things, which allowed the Ming Dynasty's almost falling apart carriage to pull the reins when it was rushing towards the cliff, and turned the carriage around to get it on the right track.

The war with the Jiannu, the war with the bandits, the border trade, the development of foreign trade, the control of currency power, coupled with relative political stability, gradual economic recovery, local appeasement and a series of other means, in addition to winning over nobles and various factions, after the stabilization of the Ming Dynasty's political situation, Zhu Shenzhui's influence continued to rise. Last year, after the Prime Minister Wen Tiren proposed that Zhu Shenzhui be promoted from a county king to a prince and be called the King of Wu, everyone actually understood that Zhu Shenzhui was preparing to take the final step, but they did not expect that this step would happen today, and it was Qian Qianyi who took the lead in persuading him.

As more and more people began to echo Qian Qianyi and Wen Tihen's advice, some centrists could not help but be tempted.

They felt that it might not be a bad thing if Zhu Shenzhui really became the emperor. In fact, the only difference between Zhu Shenzhui and the emperor was the title. All the imperial power was in Zhu Shenzhui's hands, but he had not yet sat on that position.

If Emperor Chongzhen were allowed to become emperor again and take control of power again, people would definitely not want it. After all, working under Zhu Shenzhu was much better than working under Emperor Chongzhen. Not only was there hope, but there was no need to worry as before.

After weighing the pros and cons in their minds, they immediately followed the crowd and expressed their attitude, following Qian Qianyi and Wen Tiren to persuade him to enter the throne. Facing the crowd's persuasion, Zhu Shenzhu, who was sitting at the top, showed a surprised expression, and then his expression became indignant and excited.

"Bastard!" Zhu Shenzhui slammed the armrest with an angry look on his face.

"My dear ministers, what do you mean by this?" He stood up and said, "I started a rebellion as a member of the royal family and led troops into the capital to purge the emperor and quell the national crisis, but I never thought of becoming the emperor. If I wanted to be the emperor, I would have sat on the throne. Why do I just treat myself as a regent?"

"I did this for the sake of the Ming Dynasty and the common people, but I am also unfaithful to my king and father. I was forced to do this. If there were better choices, why would I do this? I am the regent not for myself. It is not my original intention to be the emperor. In these years, I have been working diligently and cautiously as the regent. How could it be for myself? Your words today are forcing me to be disloyal and to frame me! Where do you put me? Originally, I thought that after the world is peaceful, I would return the government to Your Majesty and retire to Pingyang. At that time, being an idle member of the royal family is also a retirement. Your nonsense today really shocked me. If I really become the emperor, how will the world view me? How will the world evaluate me?"

As he said this, Zhu Shenzhui waved his sleeves and said sternly: "I will pretend that I have never heard what you said today, and I will pretend that you have never said it. Leave the court!"

In full view of everyone, Zhu Shen walked away with a sullen face, leaving the ministers in the hall looking at each other in bewilderment, not knowing what to do for a moment.

Zhu Shenzhui was so angry that he left, and naturally the court meeting could not continue. Such a big thing happened in the court today, and everyone gradually dispersed with uneasiness in their hearts.

Qian Qianyi was walking at the back. As soon as he walked out of the palace gate, an official from the Donglin Party came up to him and asked Qian Qianyi why he suddenly took the lead in persuading the emperor to ascend the throne today. Doing so would not only lose the reputation of their Donglin Party, but also make the Regent Zhu Shenzhu unhappy. He might even be dissatisfied with Qian Qianyi and their Donglin Party.

Didn't you see how Zhu Shenzhui left angrily at the end? Zhu Shenzhui had no intention of becoming the emperor, so this flattery was just hitting the horse's leg, which was really not worth the loss.

Listening to the man's words, Qian Qianyi smiled without answering. He waved his sleeves and left with a swagger. What Qian Qianyi thought in his mind was completely different from that man's. Now Qian Qianyi was not frustrated at all, but secretly happy.

In Qian Qianyi's opinion, how could one be promoted just by persuading others? Moreover, this was different from the previous promotion of a prince to a prince. This was the promotion to the throne of the emperor!

At least three persuasions and three refusals were necessary. If he agreed to become emperor after just one persuasion, it would be underestimating Zhu Shenzhui. Although Qian Qianyi came to the capital relatively late and had only known Zhu Shenzhui for more than half a year, he was an extremely smart man, otherwise he would not have been the first to propose the appointment before Wen Tihen today.

If Zhu Shenzhui had no ambitions and no ideas, why did he come to Beijing under the banner of clearing the imperial court and pacifying the national crisis? And become the regent of the Ming Dynasty? Moreover, he was promoted from a prince to the prince of Wu, becoming the head of the princes. If Zhu Shenzhui had no intention of being promoted, how could he have agreed to it?

As for what Zhu Shenzhui said just now, you can only listen to it, how can you take it seriously? Zhu Shenzhui has come to this point today, is it really possible that he will give up power to Emperor Chongzhen? You are kidding, how is this possible! He Zhu Shenzhui is not a three-year-old child, he should know that he can only move forward and not retreat now, not to mention who Emperor Chongzhen is? Once he retreats from this position, how can he have the opportunity to go home and enjoy himself? With Emperor Chongzhen's temper and personality, once he holds power, he will definitely set off a bloody storm. By then, not to mention Zhu Shenzhui, even the civil and military officials in the court may not be able to stay.

Furthermore, although Zhu Shenzhui was angry, he still left room for maneuver in his words. Doesn't this mean that Zhu Shenzhui's real thoughts are not what he said? Therefore, Qian Qianyi concluded that Zhu Shenzhui definitely did not want to take the throne, but did not want to take the throne immediately. This kind of thing cannot be rushed and must be done step by step. If Zhu Shenzhui immediately nodded and agreed after he said this, how could this be possible? How would the world view this new emperor at that time? How would future history books write about this matter?
Not only Qian Qianyi, but Wen Tihen also thought so, so after retiring from the court, he was not unhappy but secretly happy in his heart, knowing that he must strike while the iron is hot and persuade the emperor to ascend the throne.

Qian Qianyi had snatched the credit today, and Wen Tihen couldn't let this old fellow steal the show again. He had to make another move as soon as possible to let Zhu Shenzhui know that he was the greatest contributor to the cause.

(End of this chapter)