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Chapter 101: The king is not secret and the minister is missing (available now)
In mid-August, the court became lively again, and this time it was related to two people, specifically two feudal officials.As if they had made an appointment, the governor of Yunnan, Chen Yongbin, and the commander-in-chief of Liaodong, Li Chengliang, rushed to the capital to be summoned to meet the saint.

However, the two men's styles were completely opposite. Chen Yongbin's servant went to the east of the city in advance and rented a yard as a place to stay. After arriving in Beijing, except for a few friends from the DPRK and China visiting him, it was deserted every day.

Li Chengliang lived in the Tenth Prince's Mansion on Ding Street to the east of the imperial city. It was not full of guests, and he had to set up a few tables in the mansion to entertain the guests who came to visit.According to Chen Ju, [-]% of them were officials in the DPRK and Central Government, and about [-]% of them were civil servants, with quite low grades.

Note that there is a misleading name here.The Ten Prince's Palaces are not ten palaces, but a collective name for a large courtyard. There are no palace walls, no altars and family temples, and they have nothing to do with the regulations of the palace.

According to the regulations, the princes of the Ming Dynasty lived in the Forbidden City when they were minors. After reaching adulthood, they had to go to the fiefdom and become a vassal. They were not allowed to build a royal palace in the capital. Therefore, there was no serious royal palace in Beijing and Nanjing in the Ming Dynasty.

But the Ten Prince's Palace does have something to do with the prince. It is prepared for the vassal princes from all over the country to be summoned to the capital.Adult princes may be allowed to enter the capital when encountering major events after enthroning the vassal. At this time, they cannot live in the Forbidden City, and it is difficult to find an official's house to stay. The Tenth Prince's Mansion is their temporary destination.

However, there are special cases. For example, Zhu Changxun, the third son of Emperor Wanli and nominal half-brother of Hong Tao, has been living in the palace since he became an adult and cannot continue to live in the palace, so he was arranged to live temporarily in the Tenth Prince's Mansion.

In addition, the Ten Princes' Mansion also has an agreed-upon purpose of entertaining high-ranking officials who come to Beijing on official business.Anyway, most of the courtyard is empty all year round, and we have to feed a group of servants in vain, so it is better to use it as a guest house.

From the places chosen by the above two feudal officials, we can see their respective personalities. Chen Yongbin was relatively cautious and low-key. Even though he was qualified enough to live in the Tenth Prince's Mansion, he still chose a more inconspicuous private residence.Li Chengliang is more straightforward. Since his level is high enough, why not stop him? He won't make any mistakes even if he does, and even the official can't find a reason to complain.

At the same time, it also revealed the mentality of the two people. Chen Yongbin was impeached because he was unfavorable to the Burmese war in Yunnan. He may be investigated and prosecuted when he returns to Beijing this time. It cannot be said that he is disheartened, and there is nothing to be happy about.

Although Li Chengliang did not have any good results in Liaodong and suggested retreating and shrinking defense, he had just been promoted to the title of Taifu and was in the limelight. This time he returned to Beijing to express his gratitude and listen to the praise.

"Is the arrangement ready?"

But in Hong Tao's eyes, the dingy Chen Yongbin is more pleasing to the eye, while the glamorous Li Chengliang is awkward.As a result, a conspiracy against the current Liaodong Commander-in-Chief quietly unfolded in the Dongnuan Pavilion of the Yangxin Hall. The person selected this time was Chen Ju, the chief eunuch of the Bureau of Ceremonies and the governor of Dongchang.

"The slaves selected 30 fans from the inner factory, led by Bai Cong, Tian Bao, and Liu Yi, who took turns guarding them at twelve hours a day." In order to make the emperor's plan foolproof, Chen Ju made a serious move. After some effort, we did not use the often-appearing outside factory executives and fans, but transferred manpower from the internal factory.

The size of Dongchang expanded slightly in the early years of Wanli. It may be that Emperor Wanli also noticed signs of being infiltrated by courtiers and felt uneasy, so he divided Dongchang into two.The courtyard originally established in Cuihua Hutong in the north of Dong'anmen was called the Waichang, where the original work was still performed, and the personnel continued to be selected by the Jinyiwei.

An inner factory was also added to the south of the Hungtang Division outside Dongdonghua Gate. Since this place was within the imperial city, the staff could only be staffed by eunuchs. They seldom showed up and were specially designed to handle some difficult matters for the emperor that were not suitable for outsiders to know. matter.

"Very good, but I would like to remind you that the top priority is confidentiality. The person we have to deal with this time is a feudal official with military power. The slightest mistake will lead to death."

Is the inner east factory necessarily weatherproof?Hong Tao doesn't think so.Having lived in the palace for more than twenty years, the ability to gossip among the eunuchs and maids must be experienced in person.Many times, the eunuchs and maids with a little respect knew about what happened in the palace earlier than the emperor and empress.You know what's going on, and it doesn't change the actual situation at all.But such dirty tactics against the ministers of the DPRK and China in private must not be leaked in advance. If you don't use Dongchang, you have to use Jin Yiwei. You can only choose one of the two.

Compared with the Jinyiwei who have been infiltrated by all forces for a long time and are riddled with holes, the eunuchs in Neidongchang should be relatively reliable, especially after Tian Yi's death, Wang An, Zou Yi, Li Shi, Wang Guotai and others took control. After taking most of the power in the inner palace, he has started to clean up hundreds of uneasy eunuchs and maids, which has had a somewhat deterrent effect.

"... I will personally supervise the team. If there are any mistakes, none of these people will survive. I will never dare to cause trouble to the Long Live Lord!"

In the past two years, Chen Ju would sometimes be awakened by nightmares in the middle of the night, and a young man with a dull expression and a smile always appeared in his mind.He had deceived himself for more than ten years. Ever since he ascended the throne, he had been uncharacteristic of himself, hiding under his harmless appearance and plotting against everyone.

Every time, he was able to find the opponent's weakness, and either used interests, life and death, or family members to force him to submit, and even used it in the next life and the next life. His methods were skillful, ruthless, and irresistible.

"Chen Ju, you watched me grow up, and I sent Wang An to serve me early. I will never forget this friendship. But do you feel that we are very aggrieved to stay in the palace? Every move Everyone is staring at me, so passive.”

Facing Chen Ju's oath, Hong Tao could only affirm it on the surface, but he didn't care in his heart.Even if everyone who performs a secret mission is a dead soldier, and if they don't succeed, they will be benevolent, and if things go wrong, they will still go wrong, and it will not help you at all.

Regarding this issue, Hong Tao decided to have a deeper chat with Chen Ju and look forward to the future development. Don't be satisfied with the current state all day long, let alone be confused by illusions. You must wake up, wake up, and wake up again.

"My slave is guilty, and I have worried Long Live Lord..." But these words changed in Chen Ju's ears. The emperor was blaming Dongchang for his poor performance and inability to keep secrets, and he immediately knelt down and kowtowed to the carpet.

"Stop knocking, my carpet has been damaged by you. It's very expensive and you should take care of it. I don't want to blame you, and the problem of Dongchang and Jinyiwei is not your responsibility. But if you know the problem and still don't do anything, then There must be something wrong.

Can you do this? You start from the Dongchang, select smart and trustworthy people to gradually replace the previous bosses and fans, and then implement a mutual supervision system internally, and boldly expose the phenomenon of collusion with foreign ministers and embezzlement of money. If it is true, Rewards will be given, and those who are not true will be severely punished.

You can use your real name or remain anonymous. You can go down and think over the specific details with Wang An and Li Ran. Once you have thought it through, write something to me.Don't worry too much. Dongchang itself does the dirty work. There is no need to follow benevolence and morality. It's enough to be my good eyes and ears. "

It's not an exaggeration. There are indeed some slight signs of wear and tear on the carpet of the side hall where foreign ministers often meet. The colors are different. They were all rubbed by passive kowtows.

This problem may not be corrected for a while, but there is a problem that must be corrected immediately, and it must be completely corrected, otherwise it will affect the execution of every step of the plan in the future, and if it is not guaranteed, people will die because of it. Keep it secret!

(End of this chapter)