The road to the collapse of the Ming Dynasty The mystery of the life and death of the first assistant of the Ming Dynasty is revealed
For such a weak person as Chongzhen, he killed every minister, killed the governor, Shangshu, governor, generalissimo, and generalissimo of soldiers and horses and killed a large number of people, but the ** at the first and auxiliary level only killed two people, namely Xue Guoguan and Zhou Yanru. Of course, there were only three prime ministers killed in the entire Ming Dynasty.
However, Chongzhen cannot take full responsibility for Zhou Yanru's death.
Zhou Yanru has been smart and diligent since she was a child, and has won the first prize as a member and many times.
Chongzhen ruled the country, and the ancient literati gradually came back, and Zhou Yanru was particularly good at figuring out Chongzhen's thoughts.
In the first year of Chongzhen, due to the lack of military pay in Liaodong, the governor of the rebel army committed suicide, although only Ji Liaoyuan took over the post of governor of Chong'an rebellion, but for a long time, he still asked the court for military salary.
Chongzhen summoned the minister to discuss the matter.
As soon as the ministers heard that there was something to discuss, there was a backlog of military spending, and they urgently needed money to send military expenses, so the ministers allowed Chongzhen to take money from the inner treasury to send this military spending.
Zhou Yanru guessed that Chongzhen was unwilling to take the money, so he stood up and said: Ningyuan soldiers rebelled, give money, Jinzhou soldiers rebelled, and also give money, if this continues, the army guarding the border will know that there is a rebellion, and if you give money again, every border town will rebel.
Chongzhen felt that it made sense when he heard it, so he asked Zhou Yanru if there was a good way.
Zhou Yanru also said that the soldiers' rebellion must have ulterior motives, not just a lack of military pay.
In his reply, Zhou Yanru suggested that the arrogance of the generals and soldiers of the local army was the cause of the rebellion.
Zhou Yanru served as the first assistant of the cabinet twice, and the first time he fought with Wen Tiren in the cabinet, the court made a lot of trouble, and finally Zhou Yanru was defeated and went home to recuperate. After Wen Tiren was dismissed, there was a shortage of people in the imperial court, Chongzhen wanted to find someone to manage the overall situation, and Zhou Yanru was recalled to serve as the first assistant.
Regarding this resurrection, Zhou Yanru said a meaningful sentence: Knowing that it was a disaster, he would never dare to come again. When the Ming Dynasty fell, Zhou Yanru, as the first assistant, knew very well, but he also vaguely foresaw the consequences of the fall of the Ming Dynasty.
After Zhou Yanru became prime minister again, he had fewer restrictions on Wen Tiren, but he also tried to do some practical things. Zhou Yanru was well aware of the eternal policy of the imperial court, knew the symptoms of the imperial court, and made careful calculations on the way to Beijing, so when he met Emperor Chongzhen, he talked about the management plan, and he was also the first to say: First, please make the grain and salary owed by the household department be distributed, and please reduce the tax arrears of the people, and propose to reduce the tax for two years in those cities that are in a state of famine and chaos. For the floods in Suzhou, Song, Chang, Jia, and Hu provinces, please allow next year's summer wheat to replace grain. These policies were all aimed at reducing the burden on the peasants, and Emperor Chongzhen carefully considered and allowed them to be implemented one by one.
Not only that, Zhou Yanru also said:"Ancient sages cannot be easily deposed"。Therefore, Gu Xian must be reused, so Zheng Sanjun is in charge of the Wenhua Department, Liu Zongzhou is in charge of the Metropolitan Inspection Yuan, Fan Jingwen is in charge of the Main Engineering Department, and Ni Yuanlu is in charge of the Military Department, these people have all been dismissed and reused this time. Others, such as Li Banghua, Zhang Guowei, Xu Shiqi, Zhang Wei, Jin Guangchen, etc., should also be placed in important positions. It should be said that Zhou Yanru's vision is still good, and many people he recommends can use it. The imprisoned Fu Zonglong and others have been released, Wen Zhenmeng has died, and Yao Ximeng and others have also been posthumously sealed.
The court unanimously praised Zhou's actions.
Chongzhen was also very satisfied with Zhou Yanru and called him"Mr", don't call his name, this is Wanli's attitude towards Zhang Juzheng. He often sat and gave food. The documents uploaded by Zhou Yanru were approved by Emperor Chongzhen on the same day, and sometimes he encountered unexpected circumstances and delayed the approval the next day, and Emperor Chongzhen would also explain the reason for the delay. Some Chongzhen even wrote:"I trust Lord Suhu as the right and left hand, and I can't say anything about it"。
Chongzhen looked at Zhou Yanru and muttered: It's still him.
If the Wanli and Jiajing dynasties of the Ming Dynasty also had such harmony between monarchs and ministers, it would be a good story.
But now is the last year of the Ming Dynasty, how can it be so simple!
Zhou Yanru asked Ni Yuanlu to be an official, but Ni Yuanlu politely declined and wrote a letter saying:"Ni Yuanlu is a good friend of mine :
The Son of Heaven is looking for old virtue, the Son of Heaven wants to rule the peace, the song of the thin sea, the dance of the elephant, compared to the "Song of Wenguo Nantai" (later: Sima Zhiguang), things are not people. The position of the Guo family must be different, why not?It's just that Xining is sick, but he raises his hands and cheers. If the fire is extinguished now, he will first show the fire of salary. That is, as the saying of the peak of the day is reached, the management is lenient, and the first responsibility is fully used;Forgive the past, the first responsibility is success. As long as he insists on working, does not shirk his responsibilities for a day, and rejoices in the tolerance and forgiveness of the world, the old man does not seem to wait for a moment.
I will translate these sentences, but not literally, but in Italian.
Ni Yuanlu said that after Sima Guang was resurrected, Wang Anshi wanted to change the law, and he only needed a warrant to change the direction. And you Zhou Yanru, the situation you are facing now is that the fire in the stove has been completely extinguished, and if you want to rekindle the fire in the stove, then you have to drill wood to make fire, which will be more difficult! Also, if you talk to the emperor about tax reduction, the emperor will ask you how to solve the problem of food and clothing; You talk to the emperor about tolerance, and the emperor will ask you how to set up ghosts and gods first. Whether it is to make contributions in a foreign country or to solve the problem of food and clothing, it is impossible to achieve it overnight. But everyone in the world is too tired, and I hope that Zhou Yanru will be generous and give everyone in the world a chance to breathe.
Therefore, Chongzhen hopes that Zhou Yanru will make a career, and the world hopes that Zhou Yanru will strive for self-improvement, which in itself is an insurmountable contradiction, so Zhou Yanru is doomed to failure.
Ni Yuanlu's words are really insightful! Who said there was no one in Daming?
The truth is as Ni Yuanlu said.
At that time, Chen Xinjia, the secretary of the Ministry of War, proposed to the Qing army to hold peace talks, this matter was very important, Chongzhen of course had to ask Zhou Yanru's opinion, Zhou Yanru of course supported the negotiation, but this means that the negotiation is related to the land compensation payment, this is not a trivial matter, and the later problems, I am afraid that they will not be able to get around, so how to ask Chongzhen, Zhou Yanru refused to express his position.
Zhou Yanru opened his very pitiful head and silently answered the emperor's question, and then the first assistant Chen Yu, Wei Zaode and others also used this method to answer Chongzhen's tricky questions.
On the fourth day of November in the fifteenth year of Chongzhen (1642), the Qing army crossed the Great Wall to the Zuoling wall and plundered in the sixth plough. The Ming Palace was unable to return to the sky, which was actually the consistent performance of the Ming Dynasty. In addition to the Ming Dynasty after the first introduction of the Jin people to change the mascot, the Ming Dynasty is still a plate of loose sand, later the Qing army repeatedly entered the customs, the Ming army did not escape, passive to avoid the war, something like Lu Xiangsheng was shot by the Qing army, but also had to retreat.
Chongzhen was also worried and angry, and announced at the court meeting that he would go out in person. The cabinet ministers listened, and of course knelt down and begged for mercy and begged the emperor to go on the march.
Zhou Yanru hurriedly knelt down and said:"The ministers act in the name of the emperor. "Emperor Chongzhen didn't speak, just raised his head and looked around, nodding frequently. Chen Yu and Jiang Dejing were about to go to the governor, but Emperor Chongzhen nodded. Zhou Yanru understood a little, and knelt down again to ask the governor, Emperor Chongzhen sneered and said"Lord Liangguo is ready, and there are people in the palace who count the door pier armor, and at this time they are walking towards the door, that is, to the east, be careful not to turn to the west. "
The next day's order, Zhou Yanru wanted to thank Beijing. Zhou Yanru is just a civilian official, he has never had the experience of setting up troops to kill the enemy, but he just took the posture of chasing ducks to the shelves to kill the enemy. Zhou Yanru was bold enough to bring a group of well-fed and well-drunk soldiers to fight the Qing army in Tongzhou, because Chongzhen had already gained the military knowledge of the great victory. Of course, these things could not be hidden from Chongzhen, and Chongzhen was furious and dismissed him.
But Chongzhen did not kill him, but sent him back to his hometown.
How did Zhou Yanru die?
Zhou Yanru couldn't control his own people in office, and some subordinates **, and then fired the local **, and the local ** accused Zhou Yanru in the process of investigating the case. The people of Chongzhen escorted Zhou Yanru to the capital and quickly conducted a self-examination.
Zhou Yanru's death was enough to make General Chongzhen misjudge, passively avoid war, lie about the military situation, and die to death. But as soon as Zhou Yanru died, domestic talents dried up even more, and Zhou Yanru took over as the first assistant and became a person who was more straw than a straw bag, but they learned a trick from Zhou Yanru: silence.