After Li Xian passed away while serving as chief minister, Chen Wen became the twelfth chief minister of the Ming Dynasty's cabinet.
Chen Wen (1405-1468), courtesy name Anjian and nickname Zhizhai, was born in Ji'an County, Jiangxi Province. You must be very familiar with this place name, because several former chief ministers also came from here, such as Xie Jin, Hu Guang, Yang Shiqi and Chen Xun, all from Ji'an. It can be seen that there are really outstanding people here, and it is not an exaggeration to call it the "Hometown of the First Assistant".
When he was young, Chen Wen showed rare intelligence and almost had a photographic memory. He was a prodigy praised by everyone. However, perhaps he was so outstanding that Chen Wen developed a sharp and aggressive attitude since childhood, which had a huge impact on his future life.
With this momentum, Chen Wen quickly began to stand out. He took the first place in the provincial examination for the first time, which did not disgrace his reputation as a child prodigy.
In 1436, Chen Wen took second place in the high school examination and was awarded the post of editor of the Imperial Academy. From then on, Chen Wen, like other seniors, struggled to be promoted as an editor due to his qualifications.
In 1449, a Mongolian army went south to harass the Ming Dynasty. The entire city outside the Great Wall fell, leaving only the lonely city of Datong. Under the instigation of the eunuch Wang Zhen, Zhu Qizhen, the Yingzong of the Ming Dynasty, decided to lead the expedition in person and rashly led his army to the northern expedition. He was also surrounded by the leader of Wasi in the earthen fortress.
As a result, not only Zhu Qizhen himself was captured, but also hundreds of thousands of Ming army soldiers and dozens of important court officials died for their country, which is known in history as the "Tumu Fort Incident".
Although, this incident was the most tragic military and political shame in the history of the Ming Dynasty. However, some people have become direct beneficiaries, such as today's protagonist Chen Wen is one of them.
Since the new emperor Zhu Qiyu ascended the throne, and dozens of important officials died in Tumubao, too many high-quality resources and high-quality positions need to be rearranged. Calculating this way, many people have the opportunity to be promoted.
In 1451, Chen Wen, who had been waiting for a long time, was finally given a real job by the imperial court and served as the right chief envoy of Yunnan. Although Yunnan is located in a borderland, far away from Beijing, the political center, Chen Wen has become a high-ranking official after all.
After he took office, he completely reversed Yunnan’s past decadence through a series of incentive measures, resulting in gratifying changes in local agricultural production and economic outlook. In particular, as Yunnan was the rear area of ??the Guizhou war, Chen Wenli flexibly took corresponding measures to ensure the smooth progress of the war to the greatest extent. As a result, he became famous and even attracted the attention of Li Xian, the first assistant of the dynasty.
At that time, after Zhu Qizhen, the Yingzong of the Ming Dynasty, was released first, he had to return to Beijing in despair and became the Supreme Emperor. From then on, he was placed under house arrest by the Ming Dynasty Zong Zhu Qiyu.
With the long-term poor health of Zhu Qiyu, he gradually became idle in government affairs, which also provided the possibility for Zhu Qizhen to regain power. With the support of Shi Heng, Xu Youzhen and others, Ming Yingzong successfully restored his power through the "Change of Seizing the Gate".
In order to reward meritorious ministers, Zhu Qizhen not only reused the general Shi Heng, but also appointed Xu Youzhen and Xu Bin as his first assistants. It is a pity that these two people did not hold the position of first assistant for a long time. It was not until Li Xian became the first assistant that the situation of the Ming Dynasty was truly stabilized.
Due to Chen Wen's political achievements in Yunnan, Li Xian, the first assistant, recommended him to serve as the right minister of the Ministry of Rites, becoming a serious senior official of the Six Ministries. Not long after, Emperor Xianzong of the Ming Dynasty appointed Chen Wen to the cabinet to participate in machine maintenance. Obviously, Li Xian's support for Chen Wen was obvious.
However, after Chen Wen entered the cabinet, he was completely different from before. Not only did he declare that he did not belong to Li Xian's faction, he also obstructed many of Li Xian's policy measures and showed extremely uncooperative behavior. He was simply more enemy than enemy.
Chen Wen's behavior shocked everyone, and even secretly accused him of being ungrateful. Even Ming Xianzong asked Li Xian many times whether he had any old grudges with this person. However, Ming Xianzong began to pay more and more attention to this newcomer who had just joined the cabinet. In his opinion, it was a good thing that there were different voices in his cabinet, which was at least better than being harmonious or even monolithic.
Chen Wen and Li Xian were at loggerheads in the cabinet, so they were naturally Li Xian's mortal enemies. Many people thought so, including Li Xian's real mortal enemy Qian Pu. Qian Pu believed that the enemy of his enemy was his friend, so he quickly attracted Chen Wen to support each other politically, and he and Li Xian found quarrels with Li Xian in the cabinet.
By the late Ming Dynasty Yingzong, Prince Zhu Jianshen's position was already very secure. Qian Pu saw the opportunity and quickly caught up with Wang Lun, the eunuch next to the prince. The two agreed privately that when the future prince ascended the throne, they would work together to expel Li Xian from the cabinet, and Qian Pu would take over the post of chief assistant, with Wang Lun taking over. The ceremonial supervisor holds the post of eunuch.
Qian Pu was so happy that he quietly informed Chen Wen of the "anti-Lee Alliance" about the matter, and even promised on the spot that he would recommend Chen Wen as the second assistant to the cabinet in the future.
As a writer and calligrapher, Qian Pu was obviously too naive politically. It is true that Chen Wen complained about Li Xian, and it was true that he hoped that Li Xian would fall, but he did not want to help Qian Pu become the first assistant. In Chen Wen's opinion, he is the most suitable candidate for the first assistant of the Ming Dynasty.
When Emperor Yingzong of the Ming Dynasty passed away, Li Xian, the first assistant, was preparing to draft a posthumous edict. However, Chen Wen, who was beside him, quietly told him that Qian Pu, the posthumous edict of Emperor Yingzong of the Ming Dynasty, had already been written in advance.
This time there is a big problem, because according to convention, important edicts can only be written by the chief minister himself, and others are not allowed to overstep it. Moreover, this time it was still an edict related to the succession of the throne. Apparently Qian Pu went too far this time.
Not only that, Chen Wen also added another piece of firewood and exposed the fact that Qian Pu and the eunuch Wang Lun colluded and conspired on the spot. Chief Assistant Li Xian was so angry that he turned green. They dared to carry out such a huge plot without authorization when Yingzong was critically ill. It was really disrespectful.
Li Xian personally led the cabinet members and six senior officials to report to the crown prince Zhu Jianshen, who had not yet ascended the throne, demanding severe punishment for these two people. Although Zhu Jianshen did have deep feelings for eunuch Wang Lun, in the face of conclusive evidence, he had no choice but to announce on the spot that they would be dismissed from their posts and sent to leave Beijing.
After Emperor Xianzong of the Ming Dynasty officially ascended the throne, he still appointed Li Xian as his chief assistant, promoted Chen Wen to the position of Minister of the Ministry of Personnel and concurrently held his previous position, and continued to serve in the cabinet.
With the growth of his official position and power, Chen Wen gradually deviated from his nature. He was no longer the upright and honest minister he once was, and became more and more inflated by power. The most prominent point is that Chen Wen's temper is getting louder and his character is getting more stubborn.
In the second year of Chenghua in the Ming Dynasty, Li Xian, the chief assistant, returned home to Ding You. During this period, Chen Wen temporarily took over the position of chief assistant. During several months of acting as a substitute, Chen Wen actually began to form cliques, constantly exclude dissidents, and even colluded with eunuchs.
Feeling that the situation was serious, Emperor Xianzong of the Ming Dynasty had no choice but to issue an order to "seize love" and order Li Xian, who had only been in trouble for a few months, to return to Beijing and continue to serve as the chief minister of the cabinet. pity! Li Xian died of illness just six months after he was reinstated as the first assistant, and he did not even have time to focus on training and recommending new first assistant candidates.
In 1466, Chen Wen successively took over as the chief minister of the Ming Dynasty's cabinet. From then on, his arrogance and domineering reached an unprecedented level. He did not take anyone else seriously except Emperor Zhu.
In order to whitewash peace and cater to Emperor Xianzong, Chen Wen also took the initiative to serve as the chief editor of "Records of Yingzong", which greatly comforted the emperor and made him the crown prince Shaobao.
In 1468, Chen Wen, who was in great glory, suddenly died of illness at the age of sixty-three.
After Chen Wen's death, the imperial court had very contradictory opinions on him and was extremely controversial. However, Emperor Xianzong of the Ming Dynasty still named him Shaofu, with the posthumous title "Zhuang Jing". In this way, Chen Wen, the chief assistant who had mixed reputations and reputations, finally ended his complicated life.