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As the signs that the Seventh Prince was about to come to the fore became more and more obvious, the eunuchs in the inner court thought that they had a backer, and gradually began to feel neglectful. Although they had been holding Zhao Junchen's money, they were no longer the same as before. He was in awe of Zhao Junchen and no longer provided information and information to Zhao Junchen as diligently and actively as before.
When it comes to outsiders, Zhao Junchen has always been narrow-minded, and it is not an exaggeration to say that he must avenge himself. Zhao Junchen will not let go of the perfunctory neglect of the eunuchs in the inner court.
What's more, the inner court is one of the potential supporters of the seventh prince Zhu Hejian. Even if it is to weaken Zhu Hejian's future political potential, Zhao Junchen must attack the inner court and further weaken the strength of the inner court.
During this period of time, the former dynasty was busy with the affairs of the Six Ministries of Nanjing and border defense. Everyone's eyes were focused on these two aspects, but very few people noticed that a young eunuch in the imperial study suddenly disappeared!
Why did this young eunuch disappear? Is it life or death? No one knows the details.
The mutual strife and intrigues among the twelve eunuchs in the inner court are no less than the party struggles in the previous dynasties, especially the overt and secret fights between the ceremonial eunuchs and the imperial eunuchs, which have lasted for hundreds of years and often involve low-level eunuchs. If a lower-level eunuch offends an upper-level eunuch, it would be easy for the upper-level eunuch to kill a lower-level eunuch.
There are tens of thousands of eunuchs in the inner court, and it is not surprising that one or two low-level eunuchs occasionally disappear.
Therefore, at the beginning, no one cared about the disappearance of the young eunuch of the Imperial Study Room, not even Zhang Xiu, the great eunuch of the Imperial Study Room.
Zhang Xiu's master was Zhang De, the eunuch of Emperor Deqing, who also gained the attention of the Supervisor of Ceremonies. The imperial study room he was in charge of was one of the most central places in the inner court, and he often had access to Emperor Deqing's secret information. , is a very important figure in the inner court. Considering that Zhang Xiu is still young, it is very likely that he will succeed Wu Xinquan as the eunuch in charge of rituals in the future.
Especially a few days ago, Zhang Xiu risked his life to tell Emperor Deqing a rumor, saying that "Prince Zhu Heyu plans to compile the history of the Ming Dynasty after he ascends the throne, and also objectively evaluates the merits and demerits of Emperor Deqing." Emperor Qing completely strengthened his determination to depose Zhu Heyu. The prince Zhu Heyu had never wanted to see the inner court. Naturally, the inner court did not want Zhu Heyu to succeed to the throne. Therefore, this incident also made Zhang Xiu a major contributor to the inner court. His status is getting higher and higher, and he is already not inferior to his master Zhang De!
Therefore, the disappearance of a young eunuch in the royal study was just an insignificant matter to Zhang Xiu. Zhang Xiu did not even intend to spend any effort to get to the bottom of the matter. He only needed to inform the Supervisor of Ceremonies, and the Supervisor of Ceremonies would immediately Replenishing the Imperial Study Room with new people is not worth worrying about.
However, I don’t know when it started. Zhang Xiu used a groundless rumor in the imperial study to persuade Emperor Deqing to depose Crown Prince Zhu Heyu. It was actually leaked, and it spread more and more widely. Now there are people in the inner court. Many people already know about this matter, and they are spreading it everywhere vividly.
Obviously, the missing little eunuch was the reason why the news leaked!
When things developed to this point, Zhang Xiu finally became scared!
Because Zhang Xiu remembered very clearly that after he used rumors to seduce Emperor Deqing that day, Emperor Deqing was so angry that he almost beat him to death with a cane. Although he spared his life in the end, he also said, "Today in the imperial study room, Don’t let anyone know about what happened. If even a little bit of news gets out, everyone in the imperial study will be beaten to death today!”
Now that this matter has been leaked, what would be the reaction if Emperor Deqing also heard the news? What will happen to him?
Thinking of this, Zhang Xiu was naturally panicked and couldn't sleep for several nights. He immediately asked Wu Xinquan, the eunuch in charge of the ceremony, to help him cover up the matter. However, the matter had been leaked out, even though Wu Xinquan tried his best to suppress it. The spread of rumors had little effect, and the matter continued to spread more and more widely.
When the matter came to this, Zhang Xiu had no choice but to hope that the inner court could help him hide it from Emperor Deqing. As long as Emperor Deqing did not know about it, Liu Xiu would not be affected in any way even if it became known to the world.
The Chief of Ceremonies has always been responsible for the communication of memorials and meetings between emperors and ministers, and he was indeed able to help Zhang Xiu cover it up. So after Zhang Xiu was worried for a day, seeing that this matter had never reached the ears of Emperor Deqing, he gradually Reassured.
However, Zhang Xiu had forgotten that the inner court was not monolithic. The conflict between the Li Supervisor and the Royal Horse Supervisor had always existed, especially after Zhao Junchen returned the two major institutions of the inner transport warehouse and the West Factory to the inner court. These two major institutions eventually fell into the hands of Si Li Jian. Another eunuch force, Yu Ma Jian, did not gain much benefit. Therefore, Xu Sheng, the eunuch of Yu Ma Jian, has always been unwilling to accept it and has always planned to take revenge on Si Li. The ceremonial supervisor, take back the benefits that the royal horse supervisor deserves!
At the same time, Zhang Xiu got too close to the Chief of Ceremony, and naturally became a thorn in the eyes and flesh of the Imperial Horse Supervisor!
Xu Sheng, the eunuch in charge of the imperial horse eunuch, has always been reckless and does not have many scheming methods. He has been suppressed by Wu Xinquan, the eunuch in charge of the eunuch of the ceremonial department, and he was originally unable to take advantage of this opportunity!
However, Xu Sheng now has a resourceful and ruthless confidant Li Ruan by his side!
Li Ruan, whose real name was Yan Ruan, was originally a failed scholar who lived a poor life. After offending several eunuchs in Eunuch Lane, he was retaliated by these eunuchs. Not only was he beaten by them, but his crotch was also severely injured. Heavy and completely lost their functions, his temperament changed drastically from then on, and he became more sinister and ruthless. Under the arrangement of Zhao Junchen, he entered the inner court and became a eunuch. With Zhao Junchen's secret support, he soon entered the twelve ranks of the inner court. Supervisor, and also became a confidant of Xu Sheng, the eunuch in charge of the Royal Horse Supervisor!
With Li Ru'an's advice and Zhao Junchen's secret promotion, Xu Sheng will naturally not miss this great opportunity to attack the Supervisor of Ceremonies!
In fact, the disappearance of the young eunuch from the Royal Study and the leakage of the news about the Imperial Study were all orchestrated by Li Ru'an!
On this day, the preparations for the 50,000 elite Imperial Guards were completed and were about to go to the three sides of Shaanxi and Gansu. Emperor Deqing personally summoned the leading general Guan Wuyuan in the morning. After seeing Guan Wuyuan's majestic appearance and noble temperament, his impression was also very good. In addition, Wang Shou, the Minister of War, highly praised Guan Wuyuan, and Emperor Deqing praised Guan Wuyuan a few words and named Guan Wuyuan General Zhaoyong!
After receiving this title, Guan Wuyuan's status was greatly improved. When he led his troops to the border areas of Shaanxi and Gansu, no one could overpower him except Wang Zheng, the governor of Shaanxi and Gansu.
After the morning court, Emperor Deqing was in a pretty good mood. He felt that although there were many things going on in the court, everything was in order and going smoothly, obviously because of his wise leadership.
However, just after Emperor Deqing returned to the imperial study, before he had time to review the memorials, he suddenly received a report that Xu Sheng, the eunuch in charge of the royal horse supervisor, wanted to meet the emperor.
Seeing that Mongolia was about to invade the border, the imperial court also provided support with a large army. According to the imperial court's practice, at this time, the Royal Horse Supervisor was required to send a eunuch as a supervisor to monitor the movements of the army. Emperor Deqing thought that Xu Sheng was seeking to see him because of When the supervisor was selected, he also attached great importance to it and summoned Xu Sheng immediately.
However, after Xu Sheng met the Holy Spirit, the news he brought shocked Emperor Deqing!
After seeing Emperor Deqing, Xu Sheng's expression was serious. After bowing, he said without waiting for Emperor Deqing to speak: "Your Majesty, as far as I know, there have been many rumors spreading in the inner court in recent days, causing People's hearts are in chaos, and the impact is extremely bad. Now the rumors are still spreading within the inner court, and they can still be controlled. But if they spread to the outer court and let the officials know the news, I am afraid it will cause a lot of turmoil. I hope your majesty can control it as soon as possible, otherwise it will be It’s too late!”
After hearing what Xu Sheng said, Zhang Xiu, the eunuch in the imperial study room next to him, suddenly changed his expression, and the other eunuchs in the imperial study room also looked flustered.
Emperor Deqing couldn't help but was stunned, his expression became serious, and asked: "What kind of rumors are they? Why didn't I receive any news at all?"
Xu Sheng turned his head and glanced at Zhang Xiu. When he saw Zhang Xiu's face full of pleading, he smiled coldly and continued to report to Emperor Deqing: "Your Majesty, there was a rumor spread in the inner court five days ago. It is said that Your Majesty has been bewitched by Zhang Xiu, the eunuch of Yangxin Palace, and has made up his mind to depose His Highness the Crown Prince!"
"What!?"
After hearing Xu Sheng's report, Emperor Deqing's expression was slightly angry, and he turned to look at Zhang Xiu with cold eyes.
When things have reached this point, it is no longer a secret that Emperor Deqing wants to depose Crown Prince Zhu Heyu. Even if this matter is leaked, it will not affect the overall situation.
However, Emperor Deqing deliberately letting people guess his thoughts is completely different from the passive leakage of news! The news in the imperial study room was leaked repeatedly, which made Emperor Deqing very dissatisfied. As for what happened in the imperial study room that day, Emperor Deqing had clearly warned everyone seriously not to leak the news, but the news still leaked out. This It means that someone ignores the imperial majesty of Emperor Deqing and must be severely punished!
What's more, if the emperor was bewitched by the eunuchs around him and decided to depose the prince, once word spread, it would also be a serious blow to Emperor Deqing's reputation!
Therefore, Emperor Deqing was naturally extremely angry!
Seeing the change in Emperor Deqing's expression, Zhang Xiu's expression became even more miserable, and he immediately knelt down in front of Emperor Deqing. His body could not help but tremble, but he did not dare to explain at all, let alone deny it.
Behind Zhang Xiu, the eunuchs in the royal study all knelt together, also panicked and trembling.
When a young eunuch from the royal study disappeared, Zhang Xiu had no intention of getting to the bottom of it, because to Zhang Xiu, the missing eunuch was just an insignificant person, not worth worrying about, and there was no need to investigate the cause.
Now, after the original news was leaked, Emperor Deqing did not intend to get to the bottom of it, because Zhang Xiu and the eunuchs in the imperial study were also insignificant people to Emperor Deqing, and Emperor Deqing did not need to get to the bottom of it. Who leaked the news? Emperor Deqing only needed to kill people to establish his authority!
Emperor Deqing said at the beginning that once this matter was leaked, everyone in the imperial study would be beaten to death! Emperor Deqing was a man of words, so he naturally wanted to keep his word!
Therefore, all the eunuchs in the imperial study were no different from dead people in the eyes of Emperor Deqing!
Emperor Deqing just looked at Zhang Xiu and others coldly, stopped paying attention, and didn't even ask.
Emperor Deqing was more concerned about another thing at this time!
Emperor Deqing's eyes returned to Xu Sheng, and he slowly asked: "So, it is indeed of great importance, but I am just surprised now that this rumor has been spreading in the inner court for five days. The influence is getting bigger and bigger, but why didn’t I know about this until today? Are my East Factory and West Factory all just living on hard labor?”
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ps: There is still only one update today! But the bugs will make up for everyone, and from Monday to Friday, there will be at least double updates! .
Well, as a dad who is very obsessed with his daughter, please forgive me!
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