Regarding whether to use Wen Tiren, Zhu Youzhen was very hesitant for a while.

Wen Tiren is a person who is honest and honest, has strong government affairs ability, and is good at figuring out the holy will, in fact, it is very much in line with Zhu Youzhen's thoughts, otherwise he would not have been the first assistant for eight years in his last life.

In terms of handling government affairs, Wen Tiren has a strong ability, but he has done a very poor job in adjusting yin and yang and easing the relationship between the emperor and his ministers, and he is not a qualified first assistant. Many of Wen Tiren's actions were for his own rights, and he did not hesitate to stir up party disputes for his own status, secretly supported party henchmen in the name of lonely ministers, and frantically attacked other officials. All officials who stood in his way and threatened his position were brought down.

During Wen Tiren's eight years in the cabinet, the court struggle was very fierce, which made Zhu Youzhen very annoyed, so he didn't want to use Wen Tiren at the beginning, and even instructed Cao Huachun to collect Wen Tiren's black material, wanting to cut off his idea of entering the cabinet.

However, I didn't expect Wen Tiren to appear on the list of cabinet members. Although it did not pass the court push, its inclusion on the list is enough to show that this guy has a strong franchise ability.

did not pass the court push, but as long as Zhu Youzhen, the emperor, agreed, he could still enter the cabinet, which was to enter the cabinet for the sake of the central decree, of course, this way of entering the cabinet was a shame for many ministers, and many people were not happy to enter the cabinet in this way at all. But for Wen Tiren, who now has a bad reputation, it is the only chance.

The reason why Zhu Youzhen changed his initial idea and decided to use Wen Tiren was because he still felt that Wen Tiren was easier to use than other cabinet ministers.

Wen Tiren is the best person to block Donglin.

Zhu Youzhen ultimately wants to overthrow the entire existing system and abolish the privileges of the gentry, and he will inevitably have a showdown with the civil officials and gentry in the future. The Donglin lineage, which is based in the most affluent Jiangnan region, will be the main force opposing itself in the future.

With Wen Ti Ren presence, he will inevitably be able to divide the civil officials and gentry and prevent them from uniting as one, which is conducive to his own great cause from this point of view.

As for the future struggle in the cabinet, Zhu Youzhen thought about it, let's fight, anyway, civil officials are not good things, as long as they don't delay their business, they will fight if they love to fight, and it is best not to be united.

And as long as he grasps the army and money and food, he can be beyond the situation and sit and watch the civil officials fight.

After thinking about it, Zhu Youzhen added Wen Tiren's name to the list of ministers.

As expected, after the list was announced, there was an uproar in the court.

At the time of the court push, Wen Tiren received very few votes, but Cheng Jiming got more than half of the votes, and now Cheng Jiming was vetoed, and Wen Tiren was on the list of cabinet ministers, which made many officials very dissatisfied.

"During the mourning of Wen Tiren's father and his wife Dunlun, he was morally corrupt, what qualifications do he have to enter the cabinet?"

"Wen Tiren only knows how to flatter the saint, but he is also a minister, what face does he have in the court!"

There was a lot of scolding in the court, and many officials were filled with righteous indignation, and they opposed Wen Tiren's entry into the cabinet.

Even a small number of Wen Tiren's henchmen persuaded Wen Tiren to give up his intention to enter the cabinet, after all, this way of entering the cabinet is not good-looking.

"Brother Changqing, the court is in turmoil, I don't know what choice you make?" Zhou Yanru asked Wen Tiren with a private smile.

Wen Tiren smiled slightly: "Naturally, I obeyed His Majesty's will and entered the cabinet, because this is my only chance to enter the cabinet." ”

"If you can assist Your Majesty Zhongxing Daming to achieve a career, a little infamy is nothing!" Wen Tiren said angrily.

......

When there was a turmoil in the court because of the selection of cabinet candidates, thousands of miles away in Fujian, there was also a wind, the southeast monsoon.

When the monsoon blows, it's time to go to sea again. Departing from the coast of Fujian, the ship will take advantage of the monsoon to go north, and it will be able to reach Japan in half a month.

The town of Jin'an has become the base camp of the Royal Sea Trade Company, dozens of three-masted sea ships are moored in the bay outside the town, and hundreds of small boats go back and forth between the wharf and the sea ships to deliver supplies to the sea ships.

Ordinary sea ships carry less cargo and have poor ability to resist wind and waves, and three-masted sea ships are the main force of sea trade.

After the destruction of the Quanzhou merchant gang, there were more than 20 three-masted ships in Li Yanzhi's hands, plus the fleet in Zheng Zhilong's hands, there were more than 50 three-masted ships, so many large ships, it was definitely the first force on the southeast coast.

But there are many ships, but there is not so much cargo to carry.

After the destruction of the Quanzhou merchant gang, although the other merchant gangs in Fujian no longer dared to oppose the Royal Maritime Trade Firm, the secret resistance has always existed. For example, control the supply of goods and not supply to the Royal Maritime Trading House.

At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the maritime trade and its development have become a complete chain. Take raw silk and satin as an example, silkworm farmers who raise silkworms, silk reeling workshops, silk weaving workshops, merchants who buy raw silk, and maritime merchants who trade in the sea are a complete chain.

From the very beginning, silkworm farmers signed contracts with gentry merchants who opened silk reeling workshops to sell the harvested cocoons to silk reeling workshops, while large silk merchants signed contracts with silk reeling workshops early on to buy their raw silk, either load it themselves and ship it overseas, or sell it directly to maritime merchants.

The same is true for other industries such as cotton, tea, and porcelain, and the whole chain is controlled by the gentry, with the gentry in the interior responsible for production, the coastal merchants responsible for purchasing, and the maritime merchants responsible for transporting goods overseas.

It was Zheng Zhilong who later dominated the sea, in fact, it was only a link in this chain, responsible for transporting part of the goods overseas, and could not control the entire sea trade, the major merchant gangs would still load their own ships and go to sea, after all, they would make more money in this way, and of course they had to pay Zheng Zhilong a protection fee. And Zheng Zhilong didn't dare to offend the gentry in the southeast at all, and even took the initiative to get closer to the gentry, such as letting his son Zheng Sen enter the Nanjing Guozijian, and worshipping Qian Qianyi as a teacher is the proof. It's really that the gentry in the southeast are too powerful, and even the pirate king doesn't dare to offend them.

And now, the Royal Maritime Trade Company has brazenly entered Fujian, wanting to get a piece of the pie from the maritime trade, and even want to dominate the maritime trade, which will inevitably make the southeast gentry attack it. Of course, relying on the emperor's background and having a strong army, the Fujian gentry had no choice but to suppress the Royal Maritime Trade Firm, and they could not suppress it at the court level, and they colluded with the pirate red-haired ghost in private and were beaten by Li Yanzhi, so they could only choose to resist silently, such as not selling goods to the Royal Maritime Trade Firm.

This moment it stuck the neck of the Royal Sea Trade Firm, no matter how many ships you have, no matter how strong your force is, you can't trade by sea without goods.

Of course, after robbing Jin'an Town and destroying the Quanzhou merchant gang, the Royal Sea Trade Company had a batch of goods in its hands, and the quantity was quite a lot, but it could not be compared with other merchant gangs.

Although the Royal Maritime Trade Company adopted the method of absorbing small and medium-sized businessmen into shares, the goods that small and medium-sized merchants could get were limited, and the goods were all ordinary goods, and the most profitable raw silk, tea and porcelain could not be obtained at all, and were still controlled by the major merchants.

Of the more than 50 three-masted ships, only five were full, which made Li Yanzhi and Liu Mao dissatisfied.