Chapter 140: The Great Villain Wen Tiren

Wen Tiren had a habit: whenever a major operation he had orchestrated was about to unfold, he would plead illness and stay home, submitting his resignation to show he was uninvolved.

This time he pulled the same old trick again, hiding inside the Huguang Guild Hall in Beijing, waiting quietly for good news — only for Tang Shiji to lose and be scolded like a dog by the Crown Prince.

When Wen Tiren at the Huguang Guild Hall in the capital heard the news, his brows knitted tightly. He felt he needed to reassess this Crown Prince's strength. When it came to political struggle, Wen Tiren was confident he was unmatched in the world.

No matter how much the common people suffered or how chaotic the situation became — like this time when the Qing troops invaded through the passes — he had never offered a single suggestion, spending his days instead busy opposing people.

Back then, the lecturer Yao Ximeng was about to be promoted to Supervisor of the Household; Wen Tiren disliked him, so he used the matter of Yao impersonating a military student to strip him of his post and send him to manage the Southern Academy.

Vice Minister of Rites Luo Yuyi had once enjoyed considerable prestige. Because he wrote in an essay for Chongzhen that "those left and right have not been the right men," Wen Tiren took it as a satire of himself and ordered him to remove the phrase. Luo Yuyi stubbornly refused and was ultimately dismissed from office.

When Wen Zhenmeng entered the Grand Secretariat and Wen Tiren could not stop him, he had men watch him every day, probing for his faults, then had others impeach him, until Wen Zhenmeng was driven out of the Grand Secretariat.

Vice Minister of Rites Chen Zizhuang had once reproached Wen Tiren to his face. Not long after, he was thrown into prison on the pretext of discussing matters of the imperial clan and feudal princes in defiance of the emperor's will, and his official rank was stripped as well.

Zheng Man said a few unpleasant words about him and was cast into the great prison, waiting to be sliced to death; Grand Secretary He Wuchou offended him and was dismissed from office.

Count of Sincerity Liu Kongzhao's impeachment of Ni Yuanlu and Supervising Secretary Chen Qixin's impeachment of Huang Jingfang were both carried out on Wen Tiren's instructions. He was obsessed with eliminating dissidents and striking down political enemies.

Over the years, countless ministers had submitted memorials impeaching him, yet not only did they fail to topple Wen Tiren, they instead burned their own hands — some were dismissed, some exiled, and some were even beaten to death on the spot.

As time went on, Wen Tiren felt he had made too many enemies. He grew worried in his heart, afraid that one misstep would see him finished and invite retribution. To leave no handle for others, every memorial he presented to Chongzhen and every related document drafted by the Grand Secretariat was never filed in the archives — he was trying to destroy the evidence of his crimes.

The reason Wen Tiren could be so successful was, plainly put, that he was a superb actor who could grasp the emperor's mind well. Anyone he wanted to recommend, he would first have someone secretly propose, then lend his own support.

Whenever he wanted to frame someone, he would first deliberately feign magnanimity, then bring up matters that touched Chongzhen's taboos, seizing the moment of the emperor's dragon fury to destroy his opponent.

Thus, in Chongzhen's eyes, Wen Tiren was an incorruptible, cautious, upright senior minister — most importantly, he had excellent judgment of the emperor's mood. As for ability, well, it was a bit lacking.

Since the eunuch faction had already made a move against him, Zhu Cilang naturally would not just sit by and let people think he was easy to bully.

Zhu Cilang first had Li Tingbiao's intelligence organization gather evidence of crimes committed by eunuch faction members, then used his authority to assist the Chongzhen Emperor in reviewing memorials to secretly bring down several eunuch faction ministers.

Zhu Cilang also compiled a complete list of Wen Tiren's political enemies, especially those officials he had sent into exile in the provinces, planning to transfer a few back to give him a headache. Afterward, he found Minister of Personnel Xie Sheng and had him transfer Lu Zhenfei, Inspector of the Henan Surveillance Office, back to the capital.

Lu Zhenfei would rail against heaven and earth alike — there was no one he dared not attack. Back in the day, over the case of Qian Qianyi, his words had stabbed at Wen Tiren, earning Wen Tiren's resentment, and he was demoted to Inspector of the Henan Surveillance Office.

Although Xie Sheng was Zhu Cilang's teacher, he wavered back and forth without a firm stance — wanting both the merit of supporting the future emperor and fearing to offend Wen Tiren. How could Zhu Cilang allow such a fence-sitter in his core camp? So he directly let this teacher make his own choice.

Xie Sheng was deeply troubled as well. If he submitted a memorial to transfer Lu Zhenfei back, he was openly declaring support for the Crown Prince; if he refused, he was showing he stood with Wen Tiren. For a time he was at a loss — was being an official really so easy?

A few days later, Zhu Cilang saw Xie Sheng's memorial on the dragon desk in Wenhua Hall, requesting the emperor's approval to transfer Lu Zhenfei back to the capital.

The memorial had been pressed beneath a huge stack of personal memorials at the very bottom — clearly stuffed there by Wen Tiren in the Grand Secretariat's signing room. Zhu Cilang smiled knowingly, pulled it out, and placed it on top.

The Chongzhen Emperor was reviewing memorials, with Zhu Cilang studying at his side as ordered. When he saw Chongzhen looking at Xie Sheng's memorial and preparing to comment, he said: "Your son has heard that when this Lu Zhenfei was Regional Inspector of Fujian several years ago, the pirate Liu Xiang repeatedly colluded with the red barbarians to invade our Great Ming. Lu Zhenfei hung a thousand taels of gold as a reward to spur his soldiers, dispatching Mobile Corps Commanders Zheng Zhilong and Huang Binqing to crush them utterly. A capable minister who repels enemies beyond the nation's gates like this — Your son truly wishes to meet him!"

Hearing this, Chongzhen merely smiled, then tossed away the Grand Secretariat's attached slip of rejection beside the memorial and wrote a handsome "Approved" on it.

Chongzhen set down his vermilion brush, looked at Zhu Cilang, and laughed: "This man's ability is not bad, but he talks too much. If you want to use him, be careful you don't get scolded yourself."

Zhu Cilang chuckled. The fiercer the better — let Wen Tiren have a good chew on this hard bone! Zhu Cilang had already arranged everything for him, clear and neat.

On the fourth day of the tenth month, Vice Minister of Works Liu Zongzhou was dismissed for discussing the collusion between eunuchs and Wen Tiren. Chongzhen also sensed that Wen Tiren had been getting a bit too cocky in recent years, so he brought several new men into the Grand Secretariat, having Kong Zhenyun, He Fengsheng, and Huang Shijun enter it.

None of these three had associated with Wei Zhongxian back in the day, and nearly all had been persecuted by him. Though they could not be called pure members of the Donglin Faction, at the very least they were not of the eunuch faction. Chongzhen wanted to use them to check Wen Tiren's power within the Grand Secretariat.

The moment Lu Zhenfei returned to the capital, he received several anonymously sent letters, all containing evidence of corruption and bribery by officials of Wen Tiren's clique.

Lu Zhenfei was overjoyed at the sight. He had not expected to hit the jackpot the moment he returned to the capital. At that moment he only wanted to look up at the sky and roar with laughter: Tremble, Wen Tiren!

At his first court assembly after returning to the capital, Lu Zhenfei began a barrage of impeachments — from the Grand Secretariat to the Six Ministries, he cursed everyone from top to bottom. This time, however, he did not dare curse Chongzhen.

Wen Tiren especially — Lu Zhenfei even said bluntly that the Grand Secretariat he led was a pile of shit. The Tartars had invaded and ravaged the capital region, yet the Grand Secretariat had done nothing at all — truly the finest display of incompetence!

Wen Tiren was made thoroughly uncomfortable by him, secretly grinding his teeth in hatred. He loathed Lu Zhenfei and Xie Sheng with a passion, and his hatred for the mastermind behind it all, Zhu Cilang, rose sharply as well.

Since Wen Tiren was of the eunuch faction, he naturally had connections with eunuchs. The reason he had survived so many years was that he certainly had no shortage of eyes and ears within the palace, nor a shortage of spies outside it — one could say he possessed his own complete intelligence network.

Back when he dealt with Grand Secretariat minister Wen Zhenmeng, Wen Tiren had employed the power of his spies, some of whom were even men of the Eastern Depot.

From the morning court session to returning home after work, Wen Tiren's mood was terrible all day. Many of his own people had been replaced one after another, even those in the Grand Secretariat. If this continued, what was to be done?

After returning home, he thought it over again and again. To stabilize the situation, he decided to unleash a killing blow!

Wen Tiren stood atop the pavilion, hands clasped behind his back. The tortoise aura of dominance that had never leaked out over the years suddenly erupted. He raised his head to look at the gloomy sky and murmured: "It seems this old man must act personally!"