The political game is cruel, which Zhou Yanru knows very well, especially after experiencing the turmoil in the court, as the saying goes, the emperor is like a tiger, the emperor is moody, and there are too many suspicions about the ministers of civil and military affairs.

At this time, the atmosphere in the court is not the same as a few years ago, at that time Zhou Yanru was highly trusted by the emperor, and the emperor rejected the eunuchs, and the major affairs in the court were discussed by the cabinet, but now it is different, the emperor trusts the eunuchs around him the most, and he has always instinctively resisted the civil and military ministers of the Manchu Dynasty.

There are many reasons for such a situation, but one point is the most critical, that is, the emperor does not trust the Minister of Civil and Military Affairs in his bones, Yuan Chonghuan, Wen Tiren, Zhang Zhifa and others are all important ministers in the court, shouldering unusual responsibilities, but unfortunately what they did in the end made the emperor completely disappointed, after so many years, the emperor has encountered so many changes, and he naturally does not believe in the Minister of Civil and Military Affairs.

Now the situation is even worse, the emperor is suspicious of Zheng Xunrui, and it has reached the point of no return.

In such an atmosphere, Zhou Yanru served as the first assistant to the cabinet, and the pressure can be imagined.

Zhou Yanru's feelings for Zheng Xunrui are also unusual, otherwise he would not have married his daughter Zhou Bingyan to Zheng Xunrui's younger brother Zheng Kaihua, but between the emperor and Zheng Xunrui, he still has to choose the emperor.

Zhou Yanru once thought of peacefully resolving the emperor's suspicion of Zheng Xunrui, and his idea was to transfer Zheng Xunrui to the capital through certain means, and even let Zheng Xunrui serve as the second assistant of the cabinet, so that Zheng Xunrui could be justifiably relieved of his military power, and the emperor and the court could directly control the Zheng family's army.

Of course, Zheng Xunrui is too young, and it is still difficult to serve as the second assistant of the cabinet at such an age, but as long as the problem can be solved, it doesn't matter.

But this is just Zhou Yanru's inner thoughts. He didn't even dare to bring it up, there was a kinship between the first assistant of the cabinet and the second assistant of the cabinet, how could this reassure the emperor, wouldn't it be even more suspicious.

The emperor made his attitude clear. will not forgive Zheng Xunrui, which makes Zhou Yanru feel that the problem is complicated, according to the emperor's attitude, I am afraid that after Zheng Xunrui comes to the capital, the ending will be similar to Xiong Tingbi, Yuan Chonghuan and others.

Now that the emperor has made his attitude clear. At that time, Zhou Yanru was going to work in this direction, and at such a critical moment, he could no longer have any relationship with Zheng Xunrui, let alone show the slightest concern.

But Zhou Yanru knew very well that if the emperor was ready to make a strong move, it would be impossible to achieve the goal.

Zheng Jiajun has controlled Huaibei, Shaanxi, Penglai and Fuzhou and other places, these places are very critical places, especially Zheng Xunrui directly controls Caoyun, it can be said that under the current situation, once Zheng Xunrui lets go, it is difficult. Cao Yun can not be maintained at all, if the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal is cut off, the north will quickly fall into chaos, at that time, I am afraid that no matter what conditions Zheng Xunrui proposed, the emperor and the court will have to agree.

After thinking about it, Zhou Yanru still stubbornly expressed his understanding, which he must do, even if the emperor does not want him to continue to serve as the first assistant of the cabinet.

Fortunately, Wang Chengen understands things.

Wang Chengen is the eunuch of the ceremonial supervisor and the pen. He has won the trust of the emperor and his power is extraordinary, but Wang Chengen, unlike other eunuchs, has always been very low-key. And he rarely shows up, basically by the emperor's side, and he can't see any special abilities, but Zhou Yanru is clear that Wang Chengen's ability is by no means ordinary, otherwise it is impossible to serve as a eunuch of Bingbi. Moreover, Cao Huachun, the governor of Beijing, Gao Qiqian, the eunuch of the palm print, Wang Dehua, the governor of Dongchang, and others all respect Wang Chengen, and if they want to convince these big eunuchs, they don't just rely on the emperor's trust.

On how to deal with Zheng Xunrui, the emperor sent Wang Chengen to discuss with Zhou Yanru.

Zhou Yanru told Wang Chengen about his concerns without concealment, but he didn't expect Wang Chengen to fully agree, and Wang Chengen also proposed that there is no need to be particularly anxious to deal with Zheng Xunrui, and the imperial court cannot deal with Zheng Xunrui in a short time, otherwise the Houjin Tartar will know, and maybe he will enter the customs again and plunder, and Liaodong will also fall into a tense situation.

Wang Chengen also mentioned the Liukou, believing that the Liukou is also a big problem for the imperial court, and it is necessary to find a way to eliminate it.

After Wang Chengen put forward these views, Zhou Yanru was impressed, which made him understand why Wang Chengen was able to become the eunuch of the ceremonial supervisor Bingbi.

After careful deliberation, Zhou Yanru and Wang Chengen made a decision to gradually transfer the officials around Zheng Xunrui, or let the officials trusted by Zheng Xunrui ensure their loyalty to the emperor, so that they can gradually isolate Zheng Xunrui, and after solving the civil officials around Zheng Xunrui, the next step can be to consider how to weaken the Zheng family's army.

The key is to isolate Zheng Xunrui, let the civil officials around him be loyal to the emperor, and let Zheng Xunrui lose his support, as for the Zheng family, when the time comes, a paper edict will make Zheng Xunrui the governor of Jiliao, and take the Zheng family army to attack the Houjin Tartars, which will naturally weaken the strength of the Zheng Jiajun, if Zheng Xunrui can really completely defeat the Houjin Tartars, his own losses will definitely be heavy, and it will be logical for the imperial court to solve the problem of Zheng Xunrui and Zheng Jiajun at that time.

This plan was reported directly to the emperor by Wang Chengen, and finally obtained the emperor's approval.

What Zhou Yanru didn't expect was that the emperor was too anxious, and seemed to want to completely solve the problem in a few days, the emperor sent the imperial history to Shaanxi and Nanzhili respectively, and at the same time ordered Jinyiwei to directly contact Shi Kefa, Ma Shiying, Su Jiancheng and others, such a practice will definitely alarm Zheng Xunrui.

Zhou Yanru expected it well, Qin King Zhu Cunshu and Su Jiancheng and others did not make a particularly clear statement, Henan Governor Wen Zhenheng directly refused to go to the capital to serve as the left attendant of the Ministry of Rites, there must be Zheng Xunrui's efforts, which shows that Zheng Xunrui has begun to fight back.

Zhou Yanru and Wang Chengen discussed the method very well, it can be said that according to this method gradually implemented, even if Zheng Xunrui can understand, then he will not be able to return to the sky, but unfortunately the emperor agreed on the surface, but in fact he was not satisfied, so he adopted a method that was almost direct without scruples, which made the road behind it difficult.

The emperor did not do a good job, but Zhou Yanru did not dare to say that the emperor was wrong.

By this time, Zhou Yanru was already in a dilemma, gritting his teeth and persevering.

When he secretly came to the celebrant supervisor, Zhou Yanru's face was very bad.

Wang Chengen saw Zhou Yanru's expression with a smile on his face.

"Lord Zhou, don't be too anxious, let's invite adults over to discuss how to act next."

"Princess, this official is mainly worried about luck."

Wang Chengen nodded, still with a smile on his face.

"Actually, our family and adults think about it together, and our family is also worried about Caoyun, if this Lord Zheng makes a fuss about Caoyun, won't the capital be subject to him, but these two people have thought about it carefully, in fact, it doesn't matter, our family thinks that if Lord Zheng makes a fuss from Caoyun, maybe it is an opportunity."

Zhou Yanru was a little puzzled, looked at Wang Chengen, and did not speak immediately.

"Lord Zhou, our family sees it this way, if Caoyun is interfered with, the emperor just issued an order to adjust the candidate for the governor of Caoyun, as for where to arrange Lord Zheng, our family has also thought about it, so let Lord Zheng serve as the secretary of the Nanjing Military Department."

Zhou Yanru was stunned for a moment, the position of the secretary of the Nanjing military department is also very critical, you must know that Nanjing is the capital of the Ming Dynasty, and the status is extraordinary, and the secretary of the Nanjing military department is also directly responsible for all matters of the capital, and it can also govern all the affairs of the southern Zhili on behalf of the imperial court, including matters related to Caoyun.

But after thinking about it for a while, Zhou Yanru quickly understood, and he couldn't help but stretch out his thumb.

"The prince's hand is really high, let Zheng Xunrui serve as the secretary of the Nanjing Military Department, then it is completely under the control of the imperial court, the imperial court has strengthened the control of the Nanjing Ministry of Officials, the Ministry of Rites, the Ministry of Households, the Criminal Department, the Ministry of Industry and the Metropolitan Procuratorate, etc., Zheng Xunrui has truly become a loner."

"Hehe, Lord Zhou praised, is it possible to do this, it still needs the efforts of adults, our family knows that the influence of adults in Nanzhili is not small, if you want to really isolate Lord Zheng, I am afraid that there are still many things that need to be done."

The smile on Zhou Yanru's face stiffened, what he was most worried about was likely to appear, Wang Chengen's meaning was very clear, asking him to use the power of his family and clan to deal with Zheng Xunrui with all his might, which meant that the Zheng family and the Zhou family were completely disintegrated, and the contradictions between him and Zheng Xunrui would be irreconcilable.

Wang Chengen is really not simple, and such a vicious plan can be come up with.

But Zhou Yanru didn't dare to show any opinions, the emperor didn't particularly trust him Zhou Yanru, if Wang Chengen said some bad things in the emperor's ear, then he Zhou Yanru was afraid that he would die without a place to be buried.

"What the prince said is very true, and the official naturally understands, but whether this Zheng Xunrui will delay Caoyun's affairs, then it may not be said."

"Don't worry, Lord Zhou, our family can guarantee that Lord Zheng will definitely make a fuss about Caoyun, if Lord Zheng doesn't show the means to fight back, then our family really thinks highly of him."

Leaving the celebrant supervisor, Zhou Yanru's face quickly became gloomy, Wang Chengen's proposal has touched his bottom line, if the political struggle involves his family, it will be an extremely tragic ending, and if he doesn't do it well, the whole family will suffer, even if he helps the emperor calculate and destroy Zheng Xunrui, there is a great possibility to stand aside, if you pay attention, you can barely spend your old age in peace, if the emperor never forgets this matter, it is very possible to unload the mill and kill the donkey.

Since ancient times, people who have schemed have not been able to end well. (To be continued.) )