Eunuch Huang hurried to visit Gao Shidu. It was not because he really had something urgent to report to the imperial envoy. It was because this guy had studied in the Supervisor of Ceremonies before and knew that flattering people to go to the peak was far more important than drinking wine and eating meat.
The meaning of the junior eunuchs studying in the ceremonial supervisor is to be trained as personal secretaries around the emperor. To a certain extent, it is similar to the background of Gao Shidu in his previous life. This kind of person not only knows how to serve people, but also knows an important thing. Principle of being an official: The leader’s meaning must be understood immediately. If you cannot know the leader’s meaning at the moment, find out from the people around the leader.
Since Meng Zhangyin was only a chef by training and had not been trained by the Bureau of Ceremonies since he was a child, so his abilities were limited and his level was average. He was too slow to regard Gao Pragmatic's announcement of "watching politics" as a big deal. Therefore, Huang Zhenshou did not get Meng Zhangyin's instructions to him in advance.
Fortunately, Huang Zhenshou himself is a discerning person and knows that his ancestors relied on Gao Ge Lao to get there, so Huang Zhenshou did not dare to neglect Lao Gao Ge's nephew, so he had a banquet and came to see this man. out.
As for the imperial envoy Cheng Wen, since he is a disciple of Gao Gong, he will naturally have a bright future if things go well in the future. It cannot be said that he is not important, but there are so many disciples of Gao Gong, even if only the useful ones are counted, there are not even a hundred. He had to be eighty, so how could he be as important as the nephew who he had brought with him personally?
In this case, of course the only thing Huang Zhenshou can do is to show his loyalty.
Gao Pragmatic recognized Huang Zhenshou's knowledge and interest, and praised him very much with the air of "a small cabinet elder". He said so bluntly that Huang Zhenshou's face glowed red, and he even dreamed of waiting for Gao Shishou to read in the future. After becoming Gao Ge Lao, I might be able to go from Huang Zhenshou to Huang Palm...
In fact, theoretically speaking, the "imperial envoy to guard the local eunuchs of Datong" is much more powerful than his senior concubine. In terms of actual power, he is even more inferior to him, the powerless concubine of the powerless prince. But in a backward era of human rule like the feudal dynasty, many things cannot be taken at face value. Gao Shidu was an equal communicator in front of his immediate boss, Huang Zhengshou, Meng Zhangyin. What's so strange about praising him?
However, the reason why Huang Zhenshou was valued by Gao Shidu was not only because of his knowledge and interest, but also more importantly because of his power and position as the eunuch guarding Datong, which was very useful for Gao Pragmatic's subsequent work.
After the Ming Dynasty proclaimed its virtues, three types of garrison officials gradually formed: garrison eunuchs in Nanjing and other places, garrison eunuchs in various borders, and garrison eunuchs in various provinces.
The duty of the garrison eunuchs in Nanjing is to "protect the capital". To be specific, internal affairs include the affairs of Nanjing's Yamen and Xiaoling Guards, the management of Houhu reclamation art and the soldiers who were relegated to vegetable farming, the punishment and imprisonment of guilty middle-ranking officials from various places sent to Nanjing, etc.; foreign affairs include Nanjing The planning of city defense and river defense, the recruitment of prisoners in various prisons in Nanjing, the promotion of officers and soldiers at Dasheng Pass and other passes, the collection of taxes, money and grain from various places in the south of the Yangtze River, etc.
Of course, the main responsibility of the border guards is to guard the borders. To be specific, one is "supervising the army" and the other is "fuming the barbarians". The Supervisory Army of Zhongguan is different from the Supervisory Censor. The Supervisory Yushi and Supervisory Army are responsible for auditing the rewards and punishments of merits and crimes, while the Supervisory Army of Zhongguan has the authority to supervise military generals, coordinate military operations, and regulate military discipline and border defense.
The main responsibility of the provincial garrison officials is to provide peace of mind to the people. Its specific powers include supervising civil and military officials, deploying guards and troops to suppress people's resistance, suppressing local tyrants, arresting fugitives, making recommendations to the central government for additional administrative and military establishments in response to local security needs, and coordinating the province's civil and military officials and departments and governments. , official duties of county agencies, recruiting displaced people, etc.
In addition, all the garrison officials have two special missions. One is to serve as the eyes and ears of the court, reporting the situation in various places at any time; the other is to purchase local tributes for the royal family as a slave's "filial piety" to the master.
Since Huang Zhenshou was guarding Datong, he certainly belonged to the "Zhongguan of the Border Guards". The Zhongguan of the Border Guards was set up along the line from Liaodong along the Great Wall to Gansu, the so-called "Nine Borders" area. In the early Ming Dynasty, many of these areas had capitals. Or Xingdusi, an important town in the north. During the Yongle period, general troops were gradually added to these areas for garrison, and military posts such as generals, guerrillas, and garrison were assigned. At the same time, middle officers were assigned to go out of the towns to supervise and inspect military affairs. After Xuande, whenever there was a general garrison officer's office, there was a garrison eunuch or a young eunuch. There was a separate garrison officer's office, a separate garrison officer's office, a junior eunuch or a prison chief. , fengyu, internal envoys, etc., forming two complete systems of guarding military officials and guarding middle officials.
At this time, Gao Pangshi relied on Huang Mengyu because he had the authority to take care of ordnance. There are many gun guards in various castles and passes at the border. Their duty is to "protect firearms, and military officers are not allowed to get involved in this." The gun guards are appointed by eunuchs and are under the jurisdiction of the guarding eunuch.
To Wang Chonggu and Fang Fengshi, Gao Pragmatic was just a junior, not to mention his rank. If he wanted them to help, he could only use the name of imperial envoy to suppress him, but this was definitely a bad idea, and there was no need to explain.
As for Ma Fang, although Ma Fang has already taken refuge with Gao Gong, Gao Pragmatic is not Gao Gong himself after all. His relationship with Ma Fang is actually more like an alliance. Moreover, Ma Fang's main responsibility is to lead As a soldier in combat, he does not have the authority to directly manage the firearms warehouse, so although Gao Pragmatic can still ask him for help, things may not be done so flexibly and freely.
Only Huang Mengyu, the local eunuch who guarded Datong, had neither the power to command nor the power to mobilize troops, but the custody of firearms was within the scope of his duties.
If a civil servant wants to be promoted, he must follow the rules step by step. Unless the emperor makes an extraordinary promotion, even if he is recommended by the chief assistant, he may not be able to rise to the top in one step, because the chief assistant also has to consider the material, political, and political opinions, which usually can only prevent you from taking detours.
However, eunuchs are different. Although there are rules in theory, as long as the emperor approves, he is still the chef in the imperial kitchen today, and he can be the chief cook in the ceremonial department tomorrow. Although Meng Chong and Meng Zhangyin have limited abilities and average level, he has served Long Qing for a long time and has Gao Gong to help him. His speech to the emperor is still very effective. It is not a big problem to promote the junior eunuchs under him, so he can influence In Huang Zhenshou's opinion, the high-profile Gao Shidu is a master who must be carefully served.
Since he is an uncle, he must act like an elder and do not have to be as cautious as he is when facing senior civil servants. So after Gao Jingshi finished his compliments, he directly asked questions. He looked at Huang Mengyu, who had great power in Datong but was cautiously sitting on only half of his buttocks in front of him, showed a polite smile, and asked: "Tomorrow, my imperial envoy will inspect all kinds of firearms in Datong City, especially hand-held fire guns... Huang Can you make arrangements for me without being disturbed by others?"
