Before Wen Tiren entered the cabinet, he had a grudge with most of the court ministers, and he did not dare to act too recklessly, and he showed himself to Emperor Chongzhen Zhu Youzhen for his honesty and prudence.

So Emperor Chongzhen trusted him very much.

Wen Tiren was favored by Emperor Chongzhen Zhu Youzhen, and he was unrivaled in the court for a while.

Zhou Yanru was smart when he was young, and he had a literary name, and when he was 20 years old, he was even a member of the Zhonghui Yuan and the champion, and he was awarded the revision.

During the Apocalypse, he moved to the right Zhongyun, took charge of the economic bureau, and soon took charge of the affairs of the Nanjing Hanlin Academy with Shaozhan Affairs.

Emperor Chongzhen ascended the throne and was summoned as the right attendant of the Ministry of Rites.

Zhou Yanru is witty and sensitive, and analyzes problems thoroughly.

In the winter of the first year of Chongzhen, the soldiers stationed in Jinzhou mutinied, and the superintendent Yuan Chonghuan asked for military salaries.

Emperor Chongzhen convened ministers in the Wenhua Hall to discuss, and the ministers all requested the use of the treasury.

Zhou Yanru guessed Emperor Chongzhen's thoughts, and said alone: "In the past, the border guards prevented foreign enemies from invading, but now they have to guard against soldiers. The soldiers of Ningyuan mutinied and were paid military salaries, and the soldiers of Jinzhou mutinied and were paid military salaries. ”

Emperor Chongzhen asked, "What do you say?" Yanru said, "The situation is urgent, and we have to send it, but we have to think of a long-term solution." ”

Emperor Chongzhen listened to it and thought that Zhou Yanru was reasonable.

A few days later, Emperor Chongzhen asked Zhou Yanru again, and he said: "The grain is the best for millet, and Shanhaiguan is not short of millet, only silver." Why did the soldiers make trouble, there must be an inside story, this is nothing more than an arrogant military attache instigating trouble to threaten Yuan Chonghuan. ”

Emperor Chongzhen listened to Zhou Yanru's words and thought it was very pertinent.

Because he thought that the soldiers' mutiny was a threat to him by the border generals, he was uneasy, but he was relieved after listening to Zhou Yanru's words.

Since then, Emperor Chongzhen has paid more attention to Zhou Yanru.

Later, the scholar Liu Hongxun was dismissed, and Emperor Chongzhen ordered the courtiers to recommend a replacement, but the ministers thought that Yanru was not prestigious enough and was not included in the list.

At that time, there were 11 people recommended including Cheng Jiming, Qian Qianyi, and Zheng Yiwei.

Emperor Chongzhen didn't see Zhou Yanru's name on the list, and he was very suspicious in his heart.

Later, Wen Tiren exposed Qian Qianyi's privacy, and Zhou Yanru also secretly assisted.

Emperor Chongzhen was furious when he saw the song, and immediately dismissed Qian Qianyi's official, and did not use any of the people recommended on the list.

In March of the second year of Chongzhen, Zhou Yanru was summoned by Emperor Chongzhen in the Wenhua Palace, and the two of them talked secretly for a long time, and outsiders did not know what they talked about.

It's just that since then, Zhou Yanru has been more trusted by Emperor Chongzhen.

"Calling the two of you here today is really to discuss something, and what the king has done, you must have heard of it."

After Chongzhen summoned the two, he didn't talk nonsense, and went straight to the point.

"This person, Wei Chen knows a little bit about it, I heard that when this person was first appointed as the chief soldier of Datong Mansion, he privately beheaded seventy-four wealthy families in Datong Mansion, he..." Wen Tiren said halfway, raised his head and secretly looked at Chongzhen, and lowered it again.

"I know what you're thinking, but don't talk about it." Chongzhen knew that Wen Tiren was jealous, because Chongzhen had already exonerated Wang Zezhi in the court, and he didn't know whether to say the next words or not.

What Chongzhen didn't know was that Wen Tiren was a good hand at framing people, but he didn't dare to be too arrogant, so as not to live long.

As far as Wei Chen knows, after the king beheaded the squires privately, he classified the fields in their hands as military fields and distributed them to the soldiers under his command.

After the soldiers in his hands had the land, they only knew the king, not the Ming Dynasty, the court, and the emperor. Wen Tiren pondered for a moment or two and said cautiously.

Wen Tiren did not say anything about his private opening of the mutual market, nor did he say anything about his private appointment as the king of Shunyi, but found another way to talk about the situation of the soldiers under his command.

This trick is much more powerful than the courtiers in the court who shouted that Wang Zezhi was bullying the king.

Chongzhen's face changed, and his eyes jumped slightly, and he didn't know what he was thinking.

"The ancestral rules, the civil and military division system.

The generals only defend the city and train the soldiers and horses.

The general army of a province is only to manage the civil affairs of Tuntian with the governor to ensure the peace and security of the country.

That Wang Zezhi acted as a substitute for the cook, and meddled in civil affairs as a military general, which is really a great rebellion, and he should be punished for his crimes. Zhou Yanru pondered for a few breaths and continued to follow Wen Tiren's words.

After listening to what he said, Chongzhen's face became even more gloomy.

"As far as the minister knows, the soldiers at the Datong border pass did not mutiny, this is just an excuse for Wang Zezhi to adopt them as private troops.

This matter is not groundless, but has ironclad evidence.

It was the garrisons of the four prefectures and seven counties of Datong Prefecture that provided these evidences, and Wang Zezhi deceived the guards of the Datong border pass outside the pass in the name of paying arrears, and attacked them with wild wolves.

The garrisons of the four states and seven counties were loyal to their duties and did not go out of the customs without authorization, so they escaped. ”

Wen Tiren knew that Chongzhen might not believe it if he spoke in the vernacular, and he had to come up with evidence, so he pulled up the garrisons of the four states and seven counties of Datong Prefecture.

"I know, I'll find out about it." Chongzhen squinted his eyes and said gloomily.

"The emperor's abolition of commercial taxes is really a revitalization move, but the king does not listen to the emperor's decree and collects commercial taxes privately.

If the general army everywhere follows his example and relevies the commercial tax, the people will be unemployed, and the upper and lower levels will fight against each other.

This matter, Datong Mansion can be proved by those who go out of the customs and do business, and ask the emperor to make a judgment. Zhou Yanru thought about it, and he remembered that someone had told him that Wang Zezhi had collected protection fees for merchants and businessmen.

He felt that this was a disguised collection of business taxes, so he shook it out.

"What right does a military general have to collect business taxes privately, and what does Song Tongyin, the governor of Shanxi, eat?" Chongzhen was furious when he heard this, and slapped him on the table.

It hurt from the slap of his hand so hard that he immediately turned around and put his hand behind his back.

"Your Majesty, he didn't collect commercial taxes explicitly, he collected protection fees from the beginning by sending troops to protect the caravans out of the customs, so as to set up a clear and grandiose collection of commercial taxes, which is really a deception to the king, Your Majesty." Wen Tiren also knew about this, he listened to what Zhou Yanru said, and immediately continued to speak.

"Wang Zezhi's name is the chief soldier of Shanxi, but he is actually a thief wearing the emperor's skin, the emperor, this thief should be beheaded." Zhou Yanru struck while the iron was hot and further agreed.

At the end of the Ming Dynasty, officials and businessmen were integrated, officials were businessmen, and businessmen were officials.

Otherwise, with their meager salary, it will be difficult for them to support themselves.

Under the condition that officials and businessmen are integrated, interpenetrated, benefited from each other, and supported each other, the two major strata of officials and businessmen have rapidly achieved integration in the transaction of money and power.

On the surface, officials and businessmen take what they need.

Merchants monopolized business with the power of officials and made huge profits, and officials were promoted to make a fortune with the support of merchants.

This kind of pathological relationship has existed for a long time, and it has had a profound impact on the national capital of the Ming Dynasty, and the legacy is endless.

Wen Tiren and Zhou Yanru spoke for these businessmen and framed Wang Zezhi, which is a concrete performance.

Even though Wang Zezhi wrote a begging book, Chongzhen's heart still had a dislike for Wang Zezhi.

Now Chongzhen only wanted to hit Wang Zezhi's arrogance, and he didn't think deeply about the chain of interests represented behind what the two said.

Chongzhen thinks so, since it can't be hard, then it's soft.

He still doesn't believe that he, as the emperor of a country, can't govern a small general soldier.