The people who attended the Jian Xinzhai outing party during the day were all children around ten years old. Even if their identities attracted a little more attention, the impact would be limited. The court officials would not take it too seriously, and the Dongchang directly under the emperor would not take it too seriously. Care too much.
But in the afternoon, Cheng Guo Gong Zhu Xizhong suddenly sent out a batch of invitations, inviting a group of distinguished officials in Beijing to come to his home to enjoy plum blossoms. This had to attract the attention of Dongchang - it was normal for Jinyiwei not to respond. After all, now The Commander-in-Chief in Jinyi is Zhu Xizhong's younger brother Zhu Xixiao.
Feng Bao, the ceremonial supervisor, eunuch Bingbi and admiral of Dongchang, had already left Dong'anmen and rushed to the Dongchang Yamen south of Yanxi Temple in person to listen to the reports of his subordinates.
There is a south-facing gate in the East Factory, which is closed all year round to add a mysterious and terrifying atmosphere. The real gate is on the southwest side for people to enter and exit. Inside this gate is the main hall, and there is another small hall on the left side of the hall, which contains a portrait of Yue Fei. There is a brick screen wall behind the hall. Carved on the wall are stories about Suan Ni and other animals and Di Renjie's killing of a tiger. There is an ancestral hall in the west of the hall, which enshrines the titles and tablets of the eunuchs in charge of the East Factory in past dynasties. There is a stone square in front of the temple, with the four characters "Eternal Fragrance" engraved on its forehead. A little south is a prison, specially used to collect felons.
Historically, in the early years of Wanli, Feng Bao, as Zhang Juzheng's ally in the palace, was the governor of Dongchang. His authority was extremely powerful, so he built another Dongchang Yamen, called the internal office, and used the original Dongchang as the external office. At that time, there was a horizontal plaque in the interior office with the words "Confidant of the Imperial Court" written on it. The pride revealed in these four words is simply beyond words. However, it was still the year of Longqing, and Feng Bao's status had not yet reached that point, so there was no distinction between inside and outside of Dongchang. He was the only chief yamen of Dongchang at this moment.
"Factory Supervisor, the reason why Duke Chengguo hosted the banquet for all the distinguished ministers was that he had just recovered from a long illness. It happened that there were two plum blossoms in the garden, so he was in a good mood... I also heard that the Beijing camp was reorganized recently, and many generals in the capital were uneasy. I would like to come forward and summon all the nobles to come to the house to comfort and appease him." A leader said cautiously.
"Do you believe this?" Feng Bao glanced at him coldly and said expressionlessly: "This is not what this governor wants to hear."
The leader was speechless for a moment, and another leader next to him hurriedly said: "The Governor, please calm down. I am just reporting as a rule, and I don't really believe it... The banquet hosted by Duke Cheng was just before the Governor arrived. The subordinates have discussed and analyzed it for a while and think there are roughly two possibilities."
Feng Bao held his air, took a sip of tea from the tea cup, and then said: "Since I was the admiral of Dongchang, I have never seen you do anything good. Since you have already discussed this matter, then Let’s talk and listen.”
The chief ministers present all cursed in their hearts: Our Dongchang has a bad reputation. The more we do, the more infamy we get. The late emperor refused to reuse eunuchs, so we can only hold back. Today, you are a kind and forgiving king. If we stir up trouble, I'm afraid the first one who can't afford it will be you, Governor Feng, right?
According to the regulations of the Ming Dynasty, there was an admiral eunuch in the East Factory, commonly known as the admiral of the East Factory, the factory master, the governor, the factory owner, etc. There are more than 40 people in charge, foremen, and housekeepers, and 12 groups of managers, arranged according to Zichou and Yinmao, each leading the work, totaling more than 100 people, and there are more than 1,000 subordinates under them.
On the gate of the Admiral Dongchang is engraved "Imperial Envoy Governor Dongchang Official School Service Eunuch Guanfang", which has more "imperial envoy" than other official offices. Since he has the status of the emperor's imperial envoy, everything he does represents the emperor, so no one will dare to disobey him. In addition, a sealing tooth seal was engraved with the four characters "Dongchang Seal" engraved on it, which was specially used to seal the information presented.
Since there are so many spies, big and small, they must be used to spy on intelligence. The targets of intelligence include everyone except the emperor. Collecting intelligence is called "hitting the incident." The incidents called involved a wide range of matters, ranging from murders to lightning strikes, fires, and even the price of firewood, rice, oil, and salt. It can be said that all the actions and speeches of officials, soldiers and civilians in the world are theoretically under their investigation.
If the incidents are all caused by calls like this, although there are drawbacks, it is ultimately due to the understanding of the underlying situation. Even if the officials and the people are controlled by the spies, it is caused by the imperial autocratic regime and cannot be blamed on others. But the reality is far from that. Those Dongchang gangsters often do not fight the trouble themselves, but spend money to buy trouble from the local gangsters. What can ruffians not do for money? Using anger and false accusations to tempt people into committing crimes, they make things out of thin air. As a result, unjust cases occur frequently, and the officials and the people suffer greatly.
The purpose of establishing the Dongchang spy agency was originally to detect rebellion, treason and the so-called "treacherous parties", that is, to deal with political opposition. Because of this, in the Ming Dynasty, no matter whether it was a tyrant or a benevolent emperor, no one thought about abolishing Dongchang since its establishment. It's just that some emperors thought this matter was not very honorable, so they covered it up and restricted it a little. If they encountered a tyrannical and mediocre king, the spies' activities would be even more unscrupulous in their indulgence. At this time, Dongchang became an authoritative eunuch. A tool for eradicating dissidents and a slaughterhouse for displaying power.
Emperor Jiajing had good political skills and didn't care about face, so he didn't rely much on eunuchs. Emperor Longqing happened to have Gao Gong, a teacher who was sympathetic to father and son. He even asked for Gao Gong's opinion on the appointment of the Chief of Ceremonies. Feng Baoji Dongchang naturally has little room for improvement. At this time, of course the people in Dongchang would not dare to be rash, let alone act arrogantly. In fact, this is also an important reason why Feng Bao tried every means to get into the "Gu Ming" when Long Qing died in history, even if he did not hesitate to fake the inheritance.
However, they would never dare to challenge Feng Bao for their slander.
The first person to speak replied: "The factory supervisor, the humble official, and others think that the above reasons are not necessarily false, but they are certainly not the main reason that Duke Cheng Guo convened a night banquet with all the nobles."
Feng Bao closed his eyes and said "hmm" indifferently as a response.
Na Xantou continued: "Bi Gong and others analyzed the two final possible reasons. The first is that the dispute over the restructuring of the Beijing camp has reached a critical moment, and Duke Cheng needs to reach a consensus with all important nobles; the second is that It is related to the fact that this morning, the Crown Prince, accompanied by Gao Pragmatic, invited the direct descendants of all distinguished families for a spring outing, but the specific connection is not yet known."
Feng Bao suddenly opened his eyes, waved his hand and said: "The cabinet and the Ministry of War are still at a stalemate regarding the Beijing camp. Duke Cheng has always been a very tolerant person. He will not stand up to oppose a major policy that is about to become final, whether it is Zhao Ge Whether the old man wins or whether Huo Benbing wins, he will only go to the bookstore and say that everything will follow orders. Especially now that Mr. Zhao Ge's side is dominant, in order to avoid suspicion, he will not insist on having the military ministers be in sole control - didn't he already fight with the British last time? Has Mr. Gong resigned?"
All the supervisors said one after another that "the factory supervisor has great views", "the factory supervisor has clear vision for thousands of miles" and so on.
Feng Bao added: "Originally, the most suspicious thing is that the relationship between civil servants and military generals is too close. Although Gao pragmatically appointed himself as an official without any scientific examination, and is just a low-ranking and unqualified official, after all, he is not a good official. With the title of Hanlin Academy, he is also a civil servant after all. He travels with noble disciples, why don't you keep a close eye on him?"
"This..." The crowd looked confused.
Feng Bao sneered and said: "We know that it's just Zhu Xixiao, the Jinyi Commander, who makes you feel bad for going too far, right? But don't forget, our Dongchang originally had to monitor the Jinyiwei, even if there are many people in the factory ——Many of you, including you, are from Jinyiwei, but you can’t forget your own errands because of this! Otherwise, if something goes wrong, don’t blame our family for being unkind.”
What can you say? It's not just submissive, it means that I dare not forget my duty.
Feng Bao changed the topic and added: "Of course, our family is not unreasonable. The people Gao Pragmatic invited are juniors and young. You can be forgiven for ignoring them for a while. But!" His tone suddenly became stern, and he said slowly but extremely oppressively: "From today on, we can no longer be careless towards these people!"
