Zhang Jing is not scary, nor is Liu Shouyou, but Zhang Jing and Liu Shouyou together require a little attention.
Zhang Jing and Zhang Cheng both became adopted sons of Zhang Hong when they were eunuchs in their early years (young eunuchs had to find a godfather when they first entered the palace). At that time, Zhang Hong himself was serving the late emperor Longqing, so They were sent to serve Zhu Yijun, the prince.
If it weren't for Gao Pragmatic's appearance, let alone Zhang Hong, even his two adopted sons Zhang Jing and Zhang Cheng would be older than Huang Mengyu and Chen Ju in front of Zhu Yijun.
Even now, their qualifications in front of Zhu Yijun are no worse than those of Huang and Chen. However, they were replaced by Huang Mengyu and Chen because they did not have high pragmatic recommendations and failed to exert a positive influence in some previous major events. Chen Ju and the other two were pressing behind them.
After Chen Hong left, Huang Mengyu and Chen Ju were the two giants in the palace, and there was no doubt that they were both dependent on Gao Pragmatic. The eunuch under them was Zhang Hong. Eunuch Zhang Hong was old and had an upright personality, so he did not join Gao Jingshi's command - but fortunately, he felt that Gao Jingshi was a wise minister, and he did not hinder Gao.
Now that Zhang Hong himself is on a hunger strike and has died, Zhang Jing and Zhang Cheng, as the two best-successful among his adopted sons, have emerged, especially Zhang Jing's momentum.
What is Zhang Jing's job and why he is so favored? He is the eunuch in charge of the imperial palace.
The imperial government supplies the treasury to the 24 yamen, mountain mausoleums and other places in the imperial city for official rice (four bushels per person per month) and royal yellow wax, white wax, agarwood and other incense. The chief official is the eunuch who holds the seal, and there are more than 100 people including the prime minister, managers, scribes, directors, writers, and supervisors. It has an oil depot, a wax depot, etc.
This is the official statement. In fact, the imperial government supplies more than just "rice and royal yellow wax, white wax, and agarwood"?
It would be better to use a more simple and crude expression: the daily use of the entire palace, the yamen of the inner government, and the imperial mausoleums of the past dynasties are basically under his control.
If this position is compared to various government agencies in later generations, it is roughly equivalent to the office director of the unit.
Who can be an office director? A hard-core confidant of the top leader.
With this comparison, Zhang Jing's status in Zhu Yijun's mind becomes clear.
But Zhang Jing’s high pragmatism is not a big deal. After all, his status is much more detached than Zhang Jing’s, and his importance and irreplaceability to Zhu Yijun cannot be compared to Zhang Jing’s. In addition, there is Huang Mengyu. Even if Zhang Jing is the "office director", it is impossible for Gao Jingshi, the chief minister of the inner court, Chen Ju, the admiral of the East Factory, to pose any direct threat to Gao pragmatism.
However, if Liu Shouyou is added, the situation will be completely different.
Liu Shouyou is the current Commander-in-Chief of the Jinyiwei. He is a special being who is both an internal minister and a foreign minister. More importantly, the Jinyiwei controls the Tiqi and has the power to supervise and even monitor all officials.
With the development of Jin Yiwei, the function of monitoring hundreds of officials has been greatly weakened, but that still depends on the character and will of the governor himself. For example, when Zhu Xixiao was the commander-in-chief of Jinyiwei, Jinyiwei was obviously an angel holding high the banner of peace to the civil servants. Especially after Chengguo Gongfu and Gao pragmatism reached a comprehensive partnership, Jinyiwei almost became Gao pragmatism's hand from the side. knife.
It is a pity that brothers Zhu Xizhong and Zhu Xixiao died a little early, in their sixties. Although Zhu Yingzhen inherited the Dukedom of Chengguo more easily than in history, he failed to get the Commander-in-Chief of Jinyiwei. As a result, in a few years Later, Liu Shouyou sneaked out and became the new governor.
Liu Shou's situation has been mentioned in the previous article, so I won't go into details here. To put it simply, he was one of the group of people who came from a family of civil servants and joined the Imperial Guard after the civil servants and Yin officials and military positions became popular. His father and ancestors were among the civil servants. They are all from the same lineage of Xinxue, so his attitude towards the Gao family is very bad.
It's not bad at all. In fact, Liu Shouyou didn't dare to think about overthrowing Gao Jingjing at first. He just said some bad things about Gao Jingjing in the spirit of "being as bad as he can" when he could, such as Gao Jingjing. When Pragmatic was in Annan, Liu Shouyou did this (mentioned above).
It's a pity that Liu Shouyou's actions have not achieved any results - Gao Pragmatic is always cautious in doing things, and occasionally he will explain his excessive behavior in front of Zhu Yijun. In addition, everything he does has good "curative effect" in the end, so Zhu Yijun always felt that Liu Shouyou's undercover investigation of Gao Pragmatic was a bit ridiculous. If the ancestral system hadn't been there, he would have ordered Liu Shouyou not to waste so much time.
Since Gao Pragmatic adjusted the internal structure of Jinghua and created a Ministry of Internal Affairs, Jinghua itself also has an intelligence agency, so he was not unaware of Liu Shouyou's little actions. The reason why he did not take countermeasures was because at that time It seems unnecessary.
Sometimes, it is not a bad thing for a person to say something unfavorable to himself in front of the emperor from time to time, because it can prove that he has no one-handedness to cover the sky - of course, the premise is that these bad words are not a big problem, and there must be no real problem found. Come.
It was precisely for this reason that Gao Pragmatic was reluctant to move on Liu Shouyou: Let him say something bad. Anyway, firstly, it was not a big problem, and secondly, there was no solid evidence. The emperor always got such unsubstantiated gossip. , after listening to it for a long time, you will become immune.
In the end, maybe Zhu Yijun will still feel: Even if these are true, they are just some trivial matters. Pragmatism is not a fairy. He knows everything about Jinghua, right? Is it weird for people down there to make small mistakes? I have so many ministers under my command. How many of them make mistakes every year? Is it all my responsibility?
However, Gao Jingshi was willing to deliberately keep Liu Shouyou, but Liu Shouyou seemed unwilling to let go of Gao Jingshi, and actually got involved with Zhang Jing, the eunuch who was about to rise.
Internal and external alliances are a threat and cannot be taken lightly.
After all, Gao Pragmatic himself is the beneficiary of internal and external alliances. How could he not know the power of internal and external alliances?
"Besides the fact that they met several times a month, did you find out anything else?" Gao pragmatically asked.
Huang Mengyu's eyes narrowed and he said: "There is one more thing. I don't know if it has something to do with the cooperation between the two of them."
"What's the matter?"
"After they met for the second time, Liu Shouyou visited Mr. Yu Ge the next day - in the name of visiting a patient."
Gao Pingshi's heart moved, he pondered for a moment, and asked: "Is Yu Ge always really sick?"
"The illness must be real." Huang Mengyu said with certainty: "Old Chen has checked it out a long time ago. Mr. Yu Ge has been having problems with his bones since last year. He has to take leave from work every now and then. He is really lying in bed at home to recuperate."
"confirmed?"
"I'm sure, I'm very sure, Dongchang has placed two secret disciples in the Yu University Scholar's Mansion." Huang Mengyu said with certainty.
Gao pragmatic nodded, thought for a while, and then said helplessly: "Are these two people under the direct management of Dongchang, or are they seconded from Jinyiwei?"
"One is a fan of Dongchang, and the other maid is an outsider who gets paid to do things...but her family owes loan sharks and is controlled by us."
Huang Mengyu himself has been the admiral of Dongchang for several years, so he can certainly speak smoothly about things in Dongchang.
Gao pragmatic thought for a while and said: "Let's do this, Lao Huang, you and Lao Chen make arrangements to hand over these two people to Wang Zhizhen and Gao Wuben respectively, and in addition, Wang and Gao will be seconded in the name of Dongchang."
Wang Zhizhen and Gao Wuben, one is Gao Jingshi's cousin and the other is his serious cousin. The two of them are obviously Gao Jingshi's right-hand men in Jinyiwei.
Huang Mengyu knew that Gao Pragmatic was going to personally intervene in the matter, but he did not blame Gao Pragmatic for being meddlesome, but was very happy, because once Gao Pragmatic intervened, it would be equivalent to the direct intervention of the Practical School, no matter what the final development of this matter was. Whatever it looks like, the entire Practical School has the whole story.
Besides, high pragmatism's intervention also means one thing: there must be no shortage of funds, various rewards can be improved a lot, and the people below are definitely very motivated.
"Okay, don't worry, Young Sima. I will talk to Lao Chen when I return to the palace later." Huang Mengyu nodded immediately, and then asked: "However, if it is really Mr. Yu Ge who is behind Liu Shou, this matter..."
Gao pragmatic thought for a while, shook his head and said: "Perhaps Liu Shou will get the support of Mr. Yu Ge, but the support will not be too strong. As for Zhang Jing... Mr. Yu Ge will not talk to him. What’s the relationship?”
Huang Mengyu rolled his eyes and asked thoughtfully: "How can Young Sima be sure that Mr. Yu Ge's support for Liu Shouyou will not be too strong?"
"Is Mr. Yu Ge willing to make friends with military ministers on weekdays? If Liu Shouyou hadn't come from a civil servant family, I'm afraid Mr. Yu Ge wouldn't even bother to see him." Gao pragmatically said: "But since Mr. Yu Ge is not very strong anymore, maybe We are worried that once we are no longer in the cabinet, the heavy responsibility of the Xinxue School will fall entirely on the shoulders of Mr. Shen alone, so we are happy that Liu Shou will cause us some trouble.
However, after all, Mr. Yu Ge is also a well-respected veteran in the country, and his reputation is still important. It may be okay for him to meet Liu Shouyou, who is a civil servant, but he will definitely not be able to meet Zhang Jing. Willing to defile oneself. "
Huang Mengyu thought for a while and said with some confusion: "Although Mr. Yu Ge is not as prudent as Mr. Shen Ge, he is not a reckless person. Isn't he afraid of Yuan Fu's anger? Will it eventually lead to a big war?"
Gao pragmatic chuckled, shook his head and said: "Old Yu Ge knows in his heart that Yuan Fu will not break up with Liu Shou just because of this matter, especially since he picked a good time."
Huang Mengyu suddenly said: "Young Sima means that during the war in Yunnan, Yuan Fu will not care about this?"
"To be precise, during this period, Yuan Fu must suppress the internal disputes - no matter what kind they are." Gao Pragmatic raised his eyebrows slightly: "Now that the emperor attaches great importance to foreign wars, the first thing Yuan Fu needs to do is to fight Win the war, and only if you win will things in the court be easy to handle."
Huang Mengyu looked a little ugly and said: "In other words, Mr. Yu Ge feels that at this time, even if he goes too far, Yuan Fu can only let him go? Isn't this... isn't this..."
Gao pragmatic smiled: "Isn't this taking state affairs seriously? Lao Huang, after all, you started working as a guard eunuch in Datong. You don't understand the thoughts of these people in the court... They don't think that doing so is not taking state affairs seriously. Matter."
"Haha, isn't that right?" Huang Mengyu laughed angrily: "When I, Old Huang, was in Datong, if someone in the court delayed the border battle, I would have to scold him for causing trouble."
Gao pragmatic sighed: "Many people don't see it that way... They think that first they have to replace the 'right person', and then other things will be easy to handle, and in order to replace the 'right person', they won't suffer a temporary loss." Take it easy—it doesn’t matter if you suffer a few defeats.”
Huang Mengyu's face was livid, and he gritted his teeth and said, "I didn't expect that Yuge Lao, who came from a dignified background, would be such a person."
Gao Pangshi was not as angry as him. There have been many such people and such things in history. Mr. Yu Ge is not the first, and he will definitely not be the last. Instead of dwelling on why he did what he did, it is better to Think about how to respond.
Gao pragmatic thought for a while and said: "Although I judge that Liu Shouyou's support from Mr. Yu Ge will be very limited, but Liu Shouyou himself may not think so, especially once Zhang Jing really takes over as the censor, I will I doubt his actions will be bolder than he is now."
Huang Mengyu frowned and said, "What will he do?"
Gao pragmatic asked: "What has he done now?"
"Liu Shouyou..." Huang Mengyu thought thoughtfully: "From what Lao Chen and I know now, he is mainly Cha Jinghua. At the earliest time, he should have bought Zha Jinghua during his rise during the Longqing period. The procedures and prices when purchasing those mines and sites;
Later, he went to check out some of Jinghua's arrangements in Annan. Old Chen even suspected that he had secretly reported some situations. However, there was nothing special about the emperor's side, so Old Chen could no longer inquire;
Recently, Liu Shouyou seemed to think that checking Annan was useless, and began to turn his attention back to the capital. If Lao Chen and I are correct in analyzing some clues, he seems to be investigating the interactions between Shao Sima and nobles, especially matters related to the Beiyang Sea Trade Alliance. "
Gao Pragmatic did not comment, but asked: "Didn't he check anything related to you two?"
Huang Mengyu was slightly startled, frowned and said: "It seems that this hasn't happened yet..."
"That's not right." Gao Jingshi shook his head and said: "Since Zhang Jing has got involved, Liu Shouyou will definitely find a way to check you and Lao Chen. Otherwise, if Liu Shouyou is just to deal with me, why should Zhang Jing Want to cooperate with him? What good will this do to Zhang Jing? For Zhang Jing, I am pragmatic and it doesn’t matter where I am, because I can never compete with him for position. If he wants to get a higher position, the real obstacle is his old age. Chen and you.”
Huang Mengyu nodded: "Young Sima's words make sense..." He was slightly stunned as he said that.
Gao pragmatic noticed his abnormality and asked, "What's wrong?"
Huang Mengyu thought about it and said: "There is one thing. I wonder if it may be related to what Shao Sima mentioned just now..."
"What's the matter?"
Huang Mengyu's eyes narrowed: "Liu Shou also visited the Wuqinghou Mansion during this period, and if I remember correctly, on the day he went to the Wuqinghou Mansion, Li Wenjin happened to be off duty and also went to the Wuqinghou Mansion. Promote relatives."
Wuqing Marquis Mansion is Empress Dowager Li's natal family. It was originally Wuqing Bo Mansion. The marquis was given by Zhu Yijun in the tenth year of Wanli after Empress Dowager Li returned to power and took control of the power himself.
Gao pragmatic narrowed his eyes slightly, put down the Yu porcelain cup in his hand, and said in a distant tone: "If you think about it, I haven't been active for a while."
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