Wei Zhongxian was naturally unwilling to suffer secret losses from Ma Xiaoquan one after another. He sent a large number of factory guards to inquire, and finally got him the news about Ma Xiaoquan's plan to open a bank.
Wei Zhongxian planned to cause trouble for Ma Xiaoquan, making it impossible for him to open a bank and lose all his money. Just when he vowed to show off his skills, another incident happened, forcing Wei Zhongxian to temporarily slow down his revenge on Ma Xiaoquan.
The cause of this incident is actually very early, and it should be traced back to the fourth year of Tianqi. At that time, Wei Guangzheng, one of Wei Zhongxian's henchmen, drafted a list of "gentlemen" and presented it to Wei Zhongxian, meaning that the people on the list he drafted could be reused by Mr. Wei.
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At the beginning of the fifth year of Tianqi, Li Yongzhen and Cui Chengxiu also copied the Donglin Comrade List, but their list only wrote about officials who were not pleasing to the court. Wei Zhongxian found it very interesting after reading it, so he rewarded them.
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The two of them tasted the sweetness and created a Tianjian directory. This directory lists all ministers who agree with them. In other words, they are officials who are attached to the Eunuch Party or are likely to be attached to the Eunuch Party.
This list was read in front of Wei Zhongxian. Master Wei was immediately happy and delegated the power of recruiting people to Cui Chengxiu.
Wei Zhongxian's delegation of power made other members of the eunuch party very envious of Cui Chengxiu.
Recruiting people means reaping benefits. Ever since Cui Chengxiu "took over" the power of recruiting people, the benefits gained from it have been countless. Of course, Cui Chengxiu also knew the current affairs and kept making contributions to Wei Zhongxian.
Cui Chengxiu's actions aroused the envy of other colleagues in the eunuch party, among whom Wang Shaowei was the most active.
Wang Shaowei referred to Cui Chengxiu's earliest draft of Donglin Comrade Lu, and modeled it on the "one hundred and eight generals" in Water Margin, and compiled a list called Donglin Point General Lu, in which he eliminated the Donglin Party.
Most of the backbones were listed one by one, and each person on the list was given a nickname from Water Margin, for example: The leader of the Donglin General Army, Tian Kuixing, Timely Rain Song Jiang: University Scholar Ye Xianggao, General Donglin
The Second Tiangang Star of the Soldiers, the Jade Kirin Lu Junyi: The Star of the Minister of Rites...
This list is kept by the core members of the Eunuch Party. Whenever an official submits a memorial, the core members of the Eunuch Party will intercept the memorial. First, they will read the list again. If there are people whose names are on the list, they will immediately report it to Wei Zhongxian.
Make the final decision.
At first, Donglin's general record was only in the hands of the core members of the Eunuch Party, but as time went by, this record was spread throughout the eunuch party.
After some time, everyone with connections in the imperial court also got a share, and Ma Xiaoquan was no exception.
Ma Xiaoquan originally did not want to have anything to do with the Donglin Party and Wei Zhongxian. He knew that no matter how the Donglin Party fought with Wei Zhongxian, the final winner would be Wei Zhongxian. His current task was to open a bank to make money.
It's just that... Ma Xiaoquan's idea was good, but it was very difficult to implement it. After asking about it, I found out that it was Wei Zhongxian who did it.
Although Wei Zhongxian didn't have much time to stop Ma Xiaoquan from opening a bank, he could make the process of opening a bank go smoothly for Ma Xiaoquan.
Forced by helplessness, Ma Xiaoquan had no choice but to meet the emperor and open his bank on the pretense that he had raised funds for the front line.
In the Yangxin Hall, Emperor Tianqi Zhu Youxiao rarely did his carpentry work. After hearing Ma Xiaoquan's request, Zhu Youxiao was very happy and was about to approve it immediately, but at this moment, Wei Zhongxian appeared.
Ma Xiaoquan knew that Wei Zhongxian would definitely stop him, so before Wei Zhongxian could speak, he preemptively asked Wei Zhongxian: "I heard that you have a copy of Donglin's General Record, and the emperor is very interested. Why don't you show it to the emperor?"
"
Wei Zhongxian looked at Zhu Youxiao, who smiled at him. Wei Zhongxian really thought the emperor wanted to see it, so he took it out obediently.
Since Wei Zhongxian was illiterate, Donglin Dianjianglu had his henchman Li Yongzhen read for him.
After Zhu Youxiao listened, he really became interested. He asked Li Yongzhen if he was coming to Donglin and ordered the general record. He read it again. Although he didn't recognize some words in it, the emperor still read it.
Because he was illiterate and couldn't understand many of them, Zhu Youxiao raised his head and asked Ma Xiaoquan and Wei Zhongxian with a smile: "What's going on with this timely rain in Songjiang? Who of you two knows?"
Ma Xiaoquan cleared his throat and pretended to answer the emperor's words. Seeing this, Wei Zhongxian quickly replied: "In Water Margin, when someone encounters difficulties, Song Jiang appears and gives money and says good words to ease and win people over, so it is timely rain. Ye Xianggao,
I also have this ability..."
"Oh?" Zhu Youxiao's eyes lit up and he laughed, "It's interesting, it's really like, well, keep talking."
Wei Zhongxian glanced at Ma Xiaoquan proudly, humming and describing the Water Margin story he had heard to Zhu Youxiao.
Ma Xiaoquan secretly laughed in his heart, but did not bite. Sure enough, after a moment, Zhu Youxiao asked again: "If they are so powerful, won't my Ming Dynasty have to reuse them?"
Wei Zhongxian was stunned for a moment, and then he realized what he was doing. He glared at Ma Xiaoquan bitterly, quickly shook his head and waved his hands to say no.
At this time, Ma Xiaoquan suddenly said: "Eunuch Wei, you are not right. Donglin Dianlu is obviously a fierce man. It is unrealistic to use none of them, right?" As he said this, Ma Xiaoquan turned to Zhu.
The school handed him over, "Your Majesty, the ministers think that Eunuch Wei's recommendation is meritorious and should be rewarded!"
Zhu Youxiao nodded.
How could Wei Zhongxian dare to accept the reward? He quickly said: "Your Majesty, this is just what the old slave did casually. Your Majesty, you don't take it seriously..."
Ma Xiaoquan said: "Eunuch Wei, why are you like this?"
Wei Zhongxian's face turned red with anger. He knew very well that Ma Xiaoquan was trying to squeeze him out. If Ma Xiaoquan succeeded, all his previous efforts would be in vain.
Gritting his teeth, Wei Zhongxian suddenly said respectfully to Zhu Youxiao: "Your Majesty, the deacon set up the bank for the sake of our great Ming Dynasty. I think the deacon did the right thing. I sincerely ask the emperor to agree."
Zhu Youxiao was stunned, then nodded with a smile: "Well, I just said this. Okay, let's do it as soon as possible."
Ma Xiaoquan achieved his goal and said respectfully: "Your Majesty, those batches of documents... must be done as soon as possible. The battle on the front line is tight..."
Zhu Youxiao thought for a while and said: "I will issue an imperial edict now, and you can do it."
"Thank you, Your Majesty. My Emperor will sleep forever and sleep forever..."
Wei Zhongxian rolled his eyes at Ma Xiaoquan and muttered in a low voice: "You big tongue...you can't speak clearly. It's obviously long live, long live, long live..."