From the beginning of Emperor Xuanzong, the position of the cabinet became more and more important, although it did not have the name of the prime minister, but it had the reality of the prime minister. Among the assistant ministers in the cabinet, the status of the first assistant is the highest, "the first assistant is heavy, and the second assistant does not dare to fight with the teeth." Therefore, in the history of the Ming Dynasty, the first assistant of the cabinet was mostly trusted by the emperor, and even called it "Sir". However, in the late period of the Chongzhen Emperor's reign, he suddenly "went crazy" and actually killed the two cabinet chiefs one after another!
If you count from Emperor Xuanzong of Ming, only three cabinet ministers died during the reign of the Ming Dynasty, two of whom were killed by the Chongzhen Emperor. Xia Yan, the first to be killed during the Jiajing Emperor's time, had already written an article introducing this person before. The second is Xue Guoguan in the Chongzhen period, and the third is Zhou Yanru during the Chongzhen Emperor! So why did the Chongzhen Emperor break the Ming Dynasty record and kill two cabinet chief assistants during his reign?
I. The Death of Xue Guoguan
Xue Guoguan was a native of Hancheng, Shaanxi, who was admitted to the Imperial Examination in the 47th year of the Wanli Calendar, and successively served as the governor of Laizhou and the head of the household department. During The dictatorship of Wei Zhongxian, Xue Guoguan was attached to the castration party and impeached many Donglin party officials. After the Chongzhen Emperor ascended the throne, Xue Guoguan was briefly dismissed from his post. Later, with the support of Wen Tiren, Xue Guoguan re-entered the dynasty and entered the cabinet in the tenth year of Chongzhen. In the twelfth year of Chongzhen, Xue Guoguan was appointed as the first assistant of the cabinet.
Xue Guoguan took Wen Tiren as an example to learn from, but his intelligence was not as good as Wen Tiren's, and his personal ethics were not as good as Wen Tiren's, and he used his position and power to collect bribes from officials. At the same time, Xue Guoguan also offended many people. One was a group of eunuchs, and the other was a courtier of the imperial court! In June of the thirteenth year of Chongzhen, Xue Guoguan was dismissed from his post, and he left the capital with dozens of carts of gold and silver treasures, only to be denounced. The Chongzhen Emperor was furious, "Based on bribery, he ordered the city to abandon." Xue Guoguan heard the news and hanged himself.
2. The death of Zhou Yanru
Zhou Yanru is a native of Yixing, Jiangsu Province, who has been known as a "prodigy" since childhood, and was the first to pass the examination and the temple examination in the forty-first year of the Wanli Calendar! Because during the apocalypse years, Zhou Yanru guarded the funerals of his parents one after another, so he escaped the turbulent period of Wei Zhongxian's dictatorship. In the first year of Chongzhen, Zhou Yanru was appointed as the Right Attendant of the Ministry of Rites and a bachelor of the Hanlin Academy, which won the trust of the emperor and successfully entered the cabinet the following year. In the third year of Chongzhen, Zhou Yanru became the first assistant to the cabinet.
After that, Zhou Yanru was ostracized by Wen Tiren and forced to leave his post. It was not until the fourteenth year of Chongzhen that Zhou Yanru was appointed again and re-appointed as the first assistant to the cabinet. This time, Zhou Yanru also learned Wen Tiren's method, "every time you greet the peeping, one is a coincidence of montage", but he also implemented some measures, such as "蠲逋授, abolish the nationality, withdraw the envoy, strike the internal exercise" and so on. As a result, Zhou Yanru also made the mistake of Xue Guoguan, offending the eunuchs and factory guards. In December of the sixteenth year of Chongzhen, the Chongzhen Emperor decreed that Zhou Yanru be put to death.
3. The fault of the Chongzhen Emperor
Zhang Dai, a historian in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, made a high evaluation of the Chongzhen Emperor, "that is, the ancient Zhongxing Order Lord, there is no exaggeration." However, Zhang Dai also criticized the Chongzhen Emperor's mistakes in employing people, "The first emperor used people too suddenly, killing people too suddenly: if one word is agreed, it wants to be imposed on the knee; if it is not agreed, it wants to fall into the abyss." As a vassal of the old, there is only one and no, such as parrot learning language, and echoing the ear with the voice." Employing people is a long-term process of investigation, but the Chongzhen Emperor is "thirsty for employing people."
As long as the Chongzhen Emperor approves, it will be reused, as long as he finds some problems, that person will hit the abyss, that is, "suddenly in the practice of the law", which will cause the ministers around him to have no one dare to speak, but will only promise and watch the emperor's face. For example, later, on the issue of moving south and withdrawing the ningyuan troops, the cabinet assistant ministers did not dare to express their opinions clearly. Xue Guoguan and Zhou Yanru were not able ministers, but they were able to worship shoufu, which also showed that the Chongzhen Emperor did not know anyone.
References: 1. "Book of Stone"; 2. "History of Ming"