After Xu Dayong met Ruan Yuan, the next person he wanted to meet was a eunuch named Li Qiucheng. However, he waited for several days without seeing anyone. However, he also knew that it was extremely difficult for the eunuchs in the palace to ask for leave, so this matter could not be rushed or annoyed.
The reason why the Intelligence Bureau wants to develop this relationship is mainly because there is a special group of people among the residents of Beihai Town-eunuchs. There were a total of fifty-seven eunuchs exiled by the Qing government under Beihai Town. They were all exiled to Ningguta or Heilongjiang. Before they were liberated, they either supervised the processing of ginseng in the mountains or forests, or worked as slaves for armored men. Extremely tragic.
The eunuchs who were exiled to the Northeast during the Qing Dynasty were convicted for many reasons.
Some fights caused big troubles, such as in the forty-eighth year of Qianlong's reign, a group of eunuchs fought over catching crabs in the ditch north of the interesting Luoshi Tower in the Old Summer Palace, and ended up killing one of them; some stole things from the palace and sold them For example, in the 34th year of Qianlong's reign, the eunuch Zhou Jinchao stole the Buddha statue enshrined in the Long'en Hall of Xiling. Gao Yuncong was beheaded, but his apprentice was implicated and exiled.
In addition, there were some who could not bear the inhuman treatment and ran away from the palace, and some were even exiled just because they showed dissatisfaction on their faces; for example, an old eunuch named Zhang Yinliang once worked in the Construction Office, but ended up in the Old Summer Palace. When the water chief saw another eunuch being punished, he felt unfair and dissatisfied. As a result, he was sent to Heilongjiang by Qianlong to be an armored slave.
Among the group of former Qing palace eunuchs in Beihai Town, there are all the above-mentioned people. Except for a few who entered the civil affairs system as clerks like Lin Chunlai, the other older ones were all arranged into the system after being screened by the Public Security Police Department. Guard the gate of a factory or school.
In order to take care of this special group, Beihai Town has spent a lot of energy over the years.
First, they are allowed to live together in households according to their own wishes. Each household has three to four people and is also given fifty acres of land. However, due to the physical disabilities of these people, the land allocated to them is entrusted by the administrative village where they live, and they can receive 50% of the grain after the autumn harvest.
In addition, we should treat them equally and reduce the rejection and discrimination of new and old immigrants by repeatedly publicizing them in the community; the most important thing is not to call them "husband". In the Qing Dynasty, the meaning of the word "husband" was different from that of later generations. It specifically referred to eunuchs, and it was a huge insult, as serious as scolding a person's eight generations of ancestors.
In addition, Beihai Town also treats people with poor health, arranges for people to take classes, teaches them reading and literacy, and enriches their lives by reading books and listening to the radio. You must know that the Qing Dynasty was different from the Ming Dynasty. The cultural level of eunuchs was generally very low. Only a few people in this group were literate, but they could only roughly understand a few words. The emperor did not allow them to be proficient in calligraphy.
The problem is that a person's cultural level is too low, which will have many negative impacts on their mentality, such as a huge sense of inferiority and humiliation, which will make them deeply believe that they are inferior to others, or even not human.
From then on, the more than 50 former eunuchs in Beihai Town lived a new life that was unimaginable to them. They were completely transformed. The most important thing is that they regain their dignity as human beings, and this is more important than anything else.
You must know that the psychology of eunuchs is extremely sensitive, and their emotions change very quickly, and they easily go from one extreme to another. Everyone in Beihai Town was so grateful to Zhao Xin that they were treated like this, and they were even more loyal to Zhao Xin than the more than 300 early naturalized citizens. So they all revealed their relationships in the capital, hoping to be used by "King Zhao".
What kind of relationship can a eunuch have? Even though he had been a serving eunuch of the Yangxin Palace before - running errands for the emperor every day, which seemed like a glamorous job, he was still a fallen phoenix no better than a chicken. The only relationships they could provide were eunuchs with whom they had good relationships in the past, as well as apprentices and godsons they had recognized in the palace.
But the problem comes again. Eunuchs are a very lonely group because they have experienced physical pain, mental discrimination, and ruthless oppression and exploitation by their masters and even superiors. However, poor people must be hateful, which brings about extreme selfishness and it is difficult to have any true friends.
In addition, there is a pyramid-like hierarchical system within the eunuch group, just like a daughter-in-law who has been married for many years. Eunuchs with high status can suppress and bully eunuchs with lower status than themselves, and older eunuchs can also bully those with higher status. I am a young and inexperienced little eunuch. Even if the young eunuch makes no mistakes, as long as he doesn't like it, he will bully the newcomers in every possible way and even beat them to death.
So the fact is that there were really not many of the fifty-seven people who were popular in the palace and were not hated by others.
Even so, after repeated analysis, the Northern Navy Intelligence Bureau finally selected eight candidates for development from the list provided by these former eunuchs, and Li Qiucheng was one of them.
This person is the apprentice of Zhang Yinliang, the former eunuch of the Manufacturing Office mentioned earlier. He is currently the deputy chief eunuch of the Jingshi Room and the sixth-grade palace eunuch. Both of them are from Hejian, Zhili, and their hometown village is separated by the Ziya River.
The Jingshifang is an agency affiliated with the Ministry of Internal Affairs. It is responsible for complying with imperial edicts, undertaking palace affairs and etiquette, collecting money and food from the external treasury, screening and replenishing internal prisons, and inspecting the opening and closing of various doors and the security of fire and candles. Many people think that the eunuch in charge of the Qianqing Palace and the Memorial Office has the most power in the Forbidden City. However, they do not know that the eunuch in charge of the Jingshi Room actually has greater power. He is responsible for the affairs of all eunuchs and maids in the Forbidden City. For example, if the eunuch and maidens make mistakes, they will I have to go to the reception room to get slapped.
At the beginning, shopkeeper Dong of "Huang Shengtai" finally let Li Qiucheng meet him with a generous gift of 500 acres of irrigated land in Hejian Mansion. Li Qiucheng originally thought that Shopkeeper Dong wanted to be a "businessman" in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, so he followed his path.
For example, the eggs that Qianlong ate cost 10 taels of silver each, and the selling price in the outside market was three cents each. The person responsible for supplying the eggs was the "businessman" of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
After receiving such a generous gift, Li Qiucheng asked some small purchases to be handed over to "Huang Shengtai". Although it was not worth mentioning compared to the five hundred acres of irrigated land, this kind of thing was serious. It's a slow stream. More than a year has passed like this. During this period, "Huang Shengtai" did not do much business, but Deputy General Manager Li has collected more than 3,000 taels of silver from Shopkeeper Dong.
Shopkeeper Dong was determined to win over, but Li Qiucheng was soft on the cashier. At the end of last year, the two of them actually burned yellow paper and cut off the chicken head to pay homage. By this time, the two of them had talked about everything, and Shopkeeper Dong had also heard a lot of secrets in the palace.
Seeing that the time was right, shopkeeper Dong took out Zhang Yinliang's autographed letter with the approval of the Intelligence Bureau. Only then did Li Qiucheng realize that he had boarded the "thief ship" in Beihai Town and that he could no longer escape if he tried to escape.
But when he read the letter and listened to Shopkeeper Dong's description of Beihai Town, Li Qiucheng was shocked. If he hadn't seen with his own eyes the photo taken of Zhang Yinliang standing in his courtyard with a smile, he wouldn't have believed it even to death.
Well, now that we've reached this point, it's time to negotiate terms.
Deputy General Manager Li's wish is to become a general manager in the "New Dynasty" - that is, at the same level as the eunuch who was the general manager of the Manchu Qing Dynasty. At the same time, he needs the endorsement of His Highness King Zhao, which is a personal letter. The full name of the eunuch in charge of the royal affairs room in the Qing Palace is "palace supervisor and attendant". He is in charge of all eunuchs and maids, and his rank is fourth grade.
Shopkeeper Dong almost laughed out loud after hearing this, but he still held back and did not dare. Instead, he told his sworn brother with a serious face that he would definitely convey it to King Zhao.
When Zhao Xin learned about Li Qiucheng's conditions, he said yes. Anyway, the Forbidden City will be renovated into a museum in the future. If this person can be used, he will be allowed to join the management committee in the future. So he wrote a letter and promised in his own hand that Deputy General Manager Li would be in charge of all the palaces in the Forbidden City (actually the Cultural Affairs Office). He also stamped it with a newly engraved seal and asked Xu Dayong to bring it to him.
On the twentieth day of the seventh lunar month, Xu Dayong, who was already impatient with waiting, finally met Li Qiucheng in the backyard of "Huang Shengtai". As soon as they met and exchanged greetings, Li Qiucheng, who was dressed in casual clothes, said softly in a drake voice: "I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry! It took a lot of effort for Li to find an excuse to ask for leave. He will have to leave in an hour." Go back. Master Xu, Master Zhang, are you okay?"
Xu Dayong often saw those former eunuchs in Beihai Town, and had chatted with Zhang Yinliang several times before coming here, so he had no discomfort with Li Qiucheng's voice. He smiled and said: "Uncle Zhang is in good health! Before I come, I also went to see him, and I heard that this time I came to see Mr. Li, and he told me a lot about your childhood!"
Li Qiucheng was stunned. He stared at Xu Dayong and looked him up and down for a long time. He asked with an unbelievable look on his face: "You call Master Zhang uncle? You call me sir?"
"Yes, he is over sixty. Isn't it right to call him uncle? Isn't it offensive to call you Mr. Li?"
After hearing this, Li Qiucheng's eye circles gradually turned red, and then he actually shed tears, and then started to cry.
He is used to serving others in the palace, and observing their actions has become a survival instinct, because if he is not careful, he will be punished. If it hadn't been for these two brushes, he wouldn't have climbed into the position of deputy chief eunuch of the Jingshi Room.
He knew that Xu Dayong came from Beihai Town, bringing with him an autographed letter from His Highness King Zhao, so he couldn't afford to please him with such a low profile. However, from the other party's expression and tone just now, he did not feel any discrimination, but a kind of equal treatment between people.
You must know that eunuchs generally have low self-esteem. They have been oppressed and enslaved for a long time, and work in cycles day after day, which makes the eunuchs who have been in the palace for a long time lose all their good hopes for life. They turn to a decadent mentality of depression and numbness, and step by step they fall into an endless cycle of decadence - inferiority - more decadence - even more inferiority, and gradually become self-denial and self-contempt.
Xu Dayong and Shopkeeper Dong both looked at each other, wondering what they had just said wrong. Why was this guy still crying?
Li Qiucheng cried for a while, took out a handkerchief from his sleeve and wiped it, and said with a tearful voice: "Mr. Xu is laughing! This is the first time in all my life that someone has called me 'sir', and I am really ashamed of myself." We are all slaves living in the dust. When our masters are happy, they call us by our nicknames. If they are unhappy, they will beat us randomly, drag us out and throw us in a mass grave. No one cares. I have been in the palace for all these years. To put it bluntly, if you want to survive, you have to stop treating yourself as a human being."
After hearing this, Shopkeeper Xu Dayong and Shopkeeper Dong breathed a sigh of relief unconsciously and said to themselves, "Okay, so that's what happened."
"Mr. Li, Beihai Town is different from the Manchus. There are no masters, no slaves, no slaves there." Xu Dayong sorted out his words and continued: "King Zhao has said from the beginning that everyone in the world should They are equal. We have beggars from Henan, danhus from Guangdong, and of course there are people like you. Take me for example. I used to be a pirate. Since I followed King Zhao, I have changed to a pirate. Way to live.”
Li Qiucheng wiped his tears, nodded and said: "Master, he has suffered a lot in the past few years. As a disciple, I can't do anything to help. Every night, my heart is as sharp as a knife. Fortunately, the king of Zhao has descended from heaven. , Master is now living a life of immortality, and I can finally feel at ease."
Seeing that he was almost crying, Xu Dayong took out Zhao Xin's autographed letter from his arms and handed it over. Li Qiucheng stood up in a hurry, took it with trembling hands, bowed three times toward the northeast, and then took out the letter and read it.
He looked at it very carefully, and even looked at Zhao Xin's seal for a long time. Fortunately, the sentences written by Zhao Xin were very straightforward and did not use those formal vocabulary, so it was easy for Li Qiucheng to understand.
After reading the letter, Li Qiucheng's emotions calmed down. He looked up at the roof, rolled his eyes a few times, and a strange smile flashed across his face. Then he lowered his head and said to Xu Dayong: "Master Xu, Zhao The king asked me to serve as an internal agent and take care of the palace and gardens when the king comes to the capital. If I want to handle this matter well, I am afraid it will be difficult for me to do it alone."
"If you have something to say, you might as well say it."
"Well, it's impossible to do this without anyone in the palace to help you, but if you want someone to help you, it's hard to do without money."
"How much do you need?"
Li Qiucheng suddenly changed the subject and said, "I heard from my brother that as long as he is from Beihai Town, his land will be divided?"
"Yes, a family has fifty acres. In one year, one acre of land can yield three to four hundred kilograms of grain."
Li Qiucheng made a calculation in his mind, and his eyes suddenly lit up. Fifty acres of land can actually produce 20,000 kilograms of grain. His 500 acres of irrigated land can only produce 70,000 to 80,000 kilograms of grain, and the weather must be favorable!
"Then can you, can you also give me fifty acres?"
"Haha, Mr. Li, even though we haven't entered the customs yet, the territory under the command of King Zhao is larger than that of the Qing Dynasty. There are more than ten thousand miles of fertile fields and fertile fields! Fifty acres is no problem."
Li Qiucheng patted the armrest of the Grand Master's chair and said, "Mr. Xu, be happy! That's it, two thousand acres of irrigated land, fifty thousand taels of silver, I'll find someone in the palace and garden!"
Xu Dayong almost slipped out of his chair. This man really dared to ask for it. fifty thousand? He had a total of 20,000 silver notes with him, which was really troublesome!
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