It is almost noon. According to the order of heaven, earth, sun and moon, at this time the emperor and officials should offer sacrifices at the Moon Altar in Xicheng. This means that the activity of offering sacrifices to heaven and earth is coming to an end. The next step is to offer sacrifices to ancestors and then return to the palace. When the officials take a rest, they can drink a little water and rice. The banquet starts at three or four o'clock in the afternoon, and ends with singing and dancing in the evening, enjoying the flowers, the moon, and the fragrance of autumn.
Chang Yu and Kuang Ren drank too much tea in the Yamen. When they heard it was quiet outside, they thought of going out for a walk. They slipped out of the back alley and walked for more than a hundred steps without seeing anyone, even though it was already noon time to cook. , but there is only a few smoke, which shows how attractive the royal family is to leave the palace, and it is not just empty words to lead the people to empty streets.
Of course, it’s not that there are absolutely no people around. Some people like to join in the fun, and some also like to be quiet. There are always a few old people squatting at the door in the alley, gossiping. Maybe they are too old to squeeze in, or maybe they are watching the door at home. After all, When the streets are empty, it is the happiest time for thieves to climb over walls and sneak into doors to steal chickens and dogs.
But the yamen is not a vegetarian, especially after yesterday's chaos. All the soldiers and horsemen were named by the big boss of Dongchang. How dare you be careless today during the big festival? They can't get involved in the emperor's security. Public security is their responsibility. If something goes wrong again, it would be really unjustifiable.
Therefore, when Chang Yu and Kuang Ren were walking through the streets, they would always encounter soldiers from the Army and Horse Division armed with sticks, and from time to time they would encounter patrols from the Beijing camp. This shows that Wang Jiayan was also well prepared. Both groups of people interrogated Chang Yu and the two of them. After Kuang Ren showed his belt, they all respectfully handed over their hands and said thank you for your hard work. In their opinion, these two people were patrolling spies from Dongchang.
Although the teahouses and restaurants on the street were not as noisy as before, there were still guests in twos and threes chatting about the excitement today. The two of them wandered around the streets and alleys of Dongcheng and felt a little hungry. Chang Yu said to Kuang Ren: " I was going to treat you to a meal, but I just remembered that I didn’t bring any money.”
"I'm asking you for my humble job." Kuang Ren was overjoyed. After all, there were not many opportunities to invite the eunuch to dinner, and it wasn't possible for anyone to do so.
"Our family has a big appetite. Do you have enough money?" Chang Yu smiled and walked into a small restaurant on the street. It was a mutton soup shop. There were not many people inside. Kuang Ren followed behind and laughed: "Enough, today is a big day... you can eat whatever you like. Eat as much as you like."
After a while, two bowls of hot mutton soup were served, and the mutton was also given in sufficient portions. The steamed buns were really more appetizing than the delicacies in the palace, at least Chang Yu thought so.
Kuang Ren finally had the opportunity to treat the guests, and knowing that Chang Yu had a big appetite, he asked the shopkeeper to cut another plate of mutton for the two of them to feast on. The food was so delicious that it attracted the attention of the diners at the next table. After all, it is so popular in this kind of fly restaurant these days. There are not many heroic people.
"Staff, would you like two steamed buns with mutton soup? It might be cheaper without adding meat?" A customer shouted at the door, and the store owner readily agreed. Most of the people who come to eat in this kind of place are ordinary people. Those who are greedy and can't eat meat. Make a bowl of soup to satisfy your craving.
Chang Yu inadvertently glanced at the diner at the door, raised his brows slightly, and tapped his fingers on the table quickly. Kuang Ren knew something was going on, pretended to pick up something, and glanced sideways at the door. He saw that he was in his forties. The thin man had a tired look on his face. At first glance, he looked like a begging refugee, but he exuded a vigorous aura. He was by no means an idle man. However, this man was definitely unfamiliar to him and he had never seen him before in his memory.
The man seemed to be hungry, so he stood in front of the stall without even coming in and stared at the shopkeeper serving him soup. His eyes were shining and he couldn't help but swallow his saliva: "Sir, please come in and sit down," the shopkeeper greeted.
"Eat here at the door, it will cool down faster." The man took the mutton soup and steamed buns and glanced inside the store, just in time to catch the eyes of Chang Yu and Kuang Ren. The three looked at each other for a moment and then each looked away, without any trace of it. There were waves, and then the man squatted at the door and started eating and drinking.
Suddenly he raised his eyebrows, as if he had thought of something. When he stood up and was about to look inside the store again, he suddenly found that the two people in the store were standing in front of him. The young man had a wicked smile on his face: "Why, remember Already?"
"What do you think of?" The man held the bowl with a confused look on his face.
Chang Yu sighed, this man was the thin man who committed a murder in public on Chaoyangmen Street last night. He stabbed three people to death in the blink of an eye and then ran away with a puff of smoke. He ran faster than a rabbit and even chased him. , but I didn’t expect to meet him in this fly restaurant.
I thought that this guy should have been arrested during the black and white manhunt last night. Who knows, he managed to escape. Sure enough, he had something. However, he didn’t take advantage of today’s holiday to escape out of the city. Instead, he openly walked on the street. If you go to Liaoda, do you think the skilled person is brave or stupid?
"Don't you feel familiar when you look at me?" Chang Yu sneered. The man in front of him was too calm. Although he pretended to be confused, he didn't panic at all. Ordinary people would never look like this.
"I don't know you." The man shook his head: "You may have recognized the wrong person."
"If you were a ghost, maybe I could admit my mistake, but you are a human being, so you can't be wrong." Chang Yu smiled faintly and winked at Kuang Ren: "It's not convenient to talk here, take him to a quiet place."
As soon as Kuang Ren moved, the man screamed and threw the bowl in his hand towards Chang Yu. At the same time, he ran away. The hot mutton soup hit his face, but Chang Yu was already on guard. He dodged sideways and jumped into the air. He kicked the man over with his body and fell to the ground. The man rolled over and tried to escape again. At this time, Kuang Ren had already rushed over...
"Be careful, he has a knife." As soon as Chang Yu finished speaking, Kuang Ren felt the cold air passing by him. He was so frightened that he quickly shrank his neck, and his chest was cut open by the man. If he was slower, his throat would be broken. !
"What a thief!" Kuang Ren was furious and kicked him away, but the man hid like a loach and ran towards the alley next to him.
Chang Yu and Kuang Ren stopped chasing, and stood there looking coldly at the entrance of the alley. After three breaths, the man slowly retreated, and four or five fierce soldiers holding steel knives surrounded him.
If you can have a good chat, you may be able to avoid death, but if you are still stubborn and want to jump over the wall, there is only one way to die. Chang Yu sneered. The man looked around with a sharp blade in his hand and his eyes fell on Chang Yu with cold eyes: "You are People from Fangba?"
"I'm asking you now, not you asking me." Chang Yu snorted: "The emperor held a knife at his feet and killed three people. You are not ordinary cruel."
The corner of the man's mouth curled up: "It doesn't sound like the right thing to say."
"It depends on whether you are talking about white or underworld." Chang Yu spread his hands and said, "If you are not stupid, you should know that I belong to the Six Doors, and I will take you to death today."
Huh, the man suddenly laughed: "Are you from a six-door company?"
"Why, it doesn't look like it?" Chang Yu shrugged and glanced to the side. Although this was a street intersection, because the common people had gone to see the emperor, there were not many people watching at this time, only about ten people. Still watching from a distance.
"If you are from Liumen, then I am the founder of Liumen." The thin man raised the dagger in his hand and shook it: "Why don't you come and kowtow to the grandmaster when you see him..." Kuang Ren didn't finish his words. He took a step forward and shouted: "You stupid bitch." As he spoke, he grabbed the weapon of the person next to him and was about to do it, but Chang Yu grabbed him. Kuang Ren glanced at Chang Yu sideways in confusion but saw that his expression was solemn.
"Are you from a six-door company?" Chang Yu stared at the thin man with sharp eyes.
"These six doors are not your six doors." The thin man seemed to be twisting his tongue, but Chang Yu's expression became more solemn and interrupted him: "Of course I know the six doors you are talking about. If you Really, maybe I can save your life, but if you talk nonsense, I will cut you into a pile of mud."
"Do you really know?" The thin man was startled, his expression changed and he was no longer as indifferent as before.
Chang Yu really knows.
The so-called six doors are what ordinary people or later movies and TV dramas call the government agencies. In fact, the earliest common people referred to the government agencies as six doors was mainly because the buildings of the government halls at that time had a three-bay, six-door layout. Over time, it became a public house. The name of the yamen, until the middle and late Qing Dynasty, also became the name of some civil servants in the yamen, that is, the public servants.
But in the Ming Dynasty, Liumen was just a name for government offices among the common people. Why is it said to be just among the common people? Because in the late Ming Dynasty, there was an organization that was unknown to the common people. It was called Liumen. It was a collection of martial arts masters and spies. A mysterious organization that combines agents and killers.
This "Six Doors" usually only takes over gang wars and important criminals who have been wanted by the government for a long time. At the same time, it has considerable friendship with various sects and plays a decisive role in the court and the Jianghu. Even if you disturb the heaven, you can just leave it alone.
In fact, this organization was first established in the Tang Dynasty. Anyone familiar with Tang history knows that before the founding of the Tang Dynasty, the world was dominated by green forest heroes. The Seventy-two Routes to rebel against the king and the like were all martial arts heroes fighting for the world. Later, the Li family made The world was conquered, the kings were defeated and the bandits were defeated. Although those heroes had no chance to reach the great treasure, they still made all kinds of troubles in the arena. Therefore, in order to completely deal with the remaining forces of the rebels and the green forest tycoons, the Ministry of Punishment established the Six Gates. Organize, train up-and-coming young people to be eagle dogs, and travel around the world to spy on intelligence and assassinate powerful people.
Later, this organization disappeared for a time until it was reestablished during the Wanli period.
Some people may be confused. In the Ming Dynasty, there were Jinyiwei, East Factory, and even a West Factory for a period of time. Their functions and authority included more than six doors, so why did they need to create an extra six doors.
In fact, it is easy to understand. You can think of Six Doors as a special department of Dongchang or Jinyiwei, just like the police department in later generations also has the anti-gang department, organized crime and triad investigation department... It can also be an outsourcing department. The members of its organization have no establishment, just like Su Jing, Fan Seng, Wu Shu and other Jianghu people around Chang Yu. They do not participate in the work within the organization and have no right to participate. They are only responsible for doing some shameful Jianghu things.
In addition, it must be combined with the current situation at that time. From the end of Wanli to the Apocalypse, the emperor reused eunuchs in order to suppress the civil servant group. As a result, the Dongchang controlled by the eunuch group covered the sky with one hand. As a check and balance technique for the emperor, naturally he had to create a To balance it out a bit.
It's just that the power of the eunuch group was too overwhelming at that time, and Liumen didn't make much progress and was almost reduced to a handyman. He could only do hard and dirty work on the periphery and never see people. It wasn't until Emperor Chongzhen came to power that his moment of glory came.
At that time, Emperor Chongzhen was a polished commander when he first came to power. Jinyiwei and Dongchang were both members of Wei Zhongxian. There was no one available to bring down Wei Zhongxian's gang members. In the end, they had to take the wrong approach. So the Liumen organization was reused and started to bring down Wei Zhongxian. Wei Zhongxian worked very hard during the process and performed very well.
However, with the fall of Wei Zhongxian and Emperor Chongzhen taking the throne, Six Doors disappeared.
As for why it disappeared, there is an old saying...
Therefore, the highlight moment of Six Doors is also his reflection.
In the blink of an eye, it had been almost 20 years since Emperor Chongzhen ascended the throne. Suddenly, someone appeared and said that he was from the Six Sects. Chang Yu, who knew about this mysterious organization, was very surprised.
