Wei Zhongxian, Liu Jin, Wang Zhi, and Wang Zhen were known as the four most powerful eunuchs in the Ming Dynasty. They relied on the emperor's favor. When they were in charge of the inner court, they all specialized in government affairs, suppressed dissidents, and repeatedly launched cruel eunuchs, leaving civil servants in foreign dynasties.
They were all terrified and miserable.
According to the official statement, the emperor was deceived by these powerful eunuchs, so he sat back and watched them act perversely and persecute the virtuous. After many years, the emperor finally discovered their evil deeds and immediately punished them severely, not only confiscating their homes.
He was convicted, the remnants of the party were purged, and even Chi was publicly punished, allowing the oppressed civil servants of foreign dynasties to finally vent their anger.
All in all, the emperor was innocent from beginning to end, and he never thought of using the power of the inner court to suppress the ministers of the outer court. He was just deceived, and it was only more than ten years later that he finally discovered it.
Just the truth.
But in fact, everyone with a discerning eye knew that all the evil deeds committed by these powerful eunuchs were due to the emperor's deliberate connivance and implicit consent. They were using these eunuchs to suppress the influence of civil servants in foreign dynasties and to collect money for the royal family.
The emperors were concerned about their own image, and there were some things that were not convenient for them to do personally, so they pretended to be deceived and innocent, letting Wei Zhongxian and Liu Jin bear the infamy and attract public anger. When the public anger reached a critical value,
If they come forward in time to "rectify the chaos", the past events will naturally be over.
Therefore, in many aspects, the situation of the eunuchs in the inner court during the Ming Dynasty was very similar to that of Zhao Junchen, who were nothing more than chamber pots and scapegoats for the emperor.
Although the power of the eunuchs in Huangzhuang was far less than that of high-level eunuchs such as Wei Zhongxian and Liu Jin, their situation was exactly the same. They were also the emperor's chamber pots and scapegoats.
The land in Huangzhuang comes from a variety of sources. Some of it is the horse herding grassland that was originally owned by the imperial government. Some of it is the land returned by the vassal kings. Some of it is confiscated after the courtiers were convicted and their homes were confiscated. Of course, there are also occupied civilian fields. "
The property donated by "treacherous people" on their own initiative, etc.
Whenever the emperor found that he had added a large amount of new land, he would ask the chief eunuch to select a reliable eunuch and appoint him as the "eunuch of Guanzhuang", and let the eunuchs of Guanzhuang go to build a new imperial village near the royal property.
However, if the eunuchs of Guanzhuang want to build a new imperial palace, they will naturally need a large amount of money as start-up capital, but the internal funds will only allocate a small amount of money to the eunuchs of Guanzhuang, which is barely enough for travel expenses. As for the eunuchs of Guanzhuang,
After they arrived at their destination, neither the emperor nor the inner court would ask or interfere with how they were going to raise money to build the imperial palace.
At the same time, the eunuchs of Guanzhuang have official titles of at least the seventh rank, and they represent the emperor and the inner court. Once they arrive at Huangzhuang, they can quickly have power to compete with the local officials. The emperor should at least clearly limit the power of the eunuchs of Guanzhuang.
The scope of power is to prevent conflicts between eunuchs in charge of the village and local officials, right?
But in fact, the emperor and the inner court never clearly stipulated the scope of power of the eunuchs in Guanzhuang, and always allowed the eunuchs in Guanzhuang to exert themselves.
All in all, when the emperor appointed the eunuch to manage the village, he would only issue an imperial edict to the eunuch to manage the village, and the content of this imperial edict can be summed up in four words - "manage the business by yourself"!
The most important thing is that the grain output and silver income of each imperial village are directly controlled by the eunuchs of Guanzhuang, and then handed over to the palace for their own disposal. They are one of the important sources of income for the emperor's internal funds, and the performance evaluation of the eunuchs of Guanzhuang
Whether it is high or low, whether the promotion speed is fast or slow, and whether the position can be stable or not, all depend on how much or how little money he turns over to internal funds every year.
In this way, the power of the eunuchs in charge of the village is not restricted, and they need to collect as much money as possible to hand over to the internal funds to enhance and stabilize their own status. Naturally, they use unscrupulous means and do anything.
Cruel exploitation of the people and repeated occupation of people's fields are all part of the title;
It is also common to block roads near Zhuangtian and collect heavy taxes from the people and caravans passing by;
If the common people committed a serious crime, as long as they donated their property to the imperial village and became tenant farmers of the imperial village, they would be protected by the eunuchs in charge of the village and avoid being convicted and punished by the government. Similar situations happened many times.
When the eunuchs of Guanzhuang committed these evil deeds, they did so under the guise of "acting according to orders."
After all, the emperor asked them to "manage their own business". They are the imperial angels in Huangzhuang. Whatever they do can be said to be "acting on orders", but it cannot be completely regarded as lying.
But if we insist on pursuing the case, although the emperor gave them the power to "manage their own business", he did not explicitly say that they could occupy people's fields, block roads to collect taxes, and protect criminals. Therefore, it can be said that they "fabricated the imperial edict"!
In fact, as long as someone is willing to stand up and expose the various evil deeds of the eunuchs in Guanzhuang in public, and make these things known to everyone and attract the attention of the central court, the emperor will definitely make a clear statement and declare Guanzhuang in order to protect his own image.
The eunuchs were fabricating imperial edicts and committing all kinds of evil deeds in the name of the emperor. He only let the eunuchs in Guanzhuang "manage their own business", but never allowed them to commit adultery or evil.
All in all, I, the emperor, have been deceived by the eunuchs of the inner court once again, and I will definitely punish these hateful eunuchs in charge of the village who deceived the superiors and concealed the truth from the subordinates.
Otherwise, the emperor couldn't admit in person that he connived and acquiesced in the evil deeds of the eunuchs in charge of the village, right?
All in all, this kind of public impeachment of the Huangzhuang eunuch for fabricating the imperial edict is a sharp blade handed to the "Zhou Party" by Huo Zhengyuan. As long as the "Zhou Party" is willing to use this sharp blade, it will definitely be able to completely suppress the Huangzhuang in South Zhili.
Eunuchs, it is very easy to sweep away those eunuchs in the imperial village and make them punished.
But since this sharp blade is so easy to use and so obvious, no one has ever thought of using this sharp blade to deal with the eunuchs of Huangzhuang. Naturally, there is a reason.
Because once this sharp blade is used, it will definitely suffer from the emperor's strong hatred, which can be said to hurt others and yourself.
Since the early Ming Dynasty, several warriors have used this sharp blade. However, they only temporarily attacked a small number of Huangzhuang eunuchs, but they were completely unable to reverse the continuation of Huangzhuang's bad governance. The final outcome was extremely miserable.
Take the Jiajing period as an example. Xia Yan, the chief minister of the cabinet at that time, was such a warrior.
This person was once a close confidant of Emperor Jiajing. He had the same political views as Emperor Jiajing. He supported Emperor Jiajing unreservedly on many key issues. Naturally, he was a great scholar of the Holy Scroll, and he moved to be a bachelor of Wuyingdian, the minister of the Ministry of Rites, and the crown prince.
Fu, who was promoted to a young master, became a special official in Guanglu, went to Zhuguo, and finally became the chief minister of the cabinet. He was unparalleled and the most powerful minister at that time.
However, relying on his divine favor, Xia Yan suddenly lost his mind and tried to reverse the bad governance of the imperial village. He stated the various harms of the imperial village to Emperor Jiajing and suggested that Emperor Jiajing rename part of the imperial village as official land and withdraw those "
The eunuchs of Huangzhuang who manage their own business are replaced by the Ministry of Household Affairs, that is, they are "managed by a company".
After hearing Xia Yan's well-founded and well-founded speeches about serving the country and the people, Emperor Jiajing was immediately "greatly moved" and publicly praised Xia Yan for being "upright in heart" and "heroic", and he fully agreed.
Xia Yan's suggestion.
But since then, Chief Minister Xia has completely lost the Holy Scroll. He has been insulted and criticized by all forces in the government and the public. He lost power and collapsed three times in a row and was expelled from the court.
When the situation was at its most critical, Xia Yan was completely frightened by Emperor Jiajing's killing methods. He repeatedly wrote to admit his mistake and begged to retire and return to his hometown. However, Emperor Jiajing was unwilling to let him leave the temple and allowed him to suffer all kinds of consequences.
Power attacks and frame-ups.
In the end, Xia Yan, as a powerful official and the chief minister of the cabinet, was brutally wronged and publicly beheaded and abandoned. The Xia family members were also implicated, either exiled thousands of miles away or demoted from their posts to serve the people.
The officials who Xia Yan begged for mercy were reprimanded and demoted one after another.
As a result, Xia Yan's suggestions and good words against the bad government of Huangzhuang naturally have no chance to be truly implemented.
Destroying people's wealth is like killing their parents. This situation also applies to emperors!
The emperors of the Ming Dynasty all had the temperament of a local rich man, and regarded their money as their lives. This is especially obvious in this regard!
*
A lesson for the past and a guide for the future.
Thinking about the tragic ending of Xia Yanxia's first assistant, even Song Chengren, who was used to big storms, couldn't help but look pale at this time.
Looking at the booklet in his hand, he felt as if the booklet was coiled around his arm like a poisonous snake, spitting at him and showing its fangs.
Zhou Shangjing and Song Chengren had always been cautious about the conflict between the imperial eunuchs and the wealthy Jin gentry in southern Zhili.
They can look for some trivial crimes, take the opportunity to bring down a few imperial eunuchs, or even suggest Emperor Deqing to abolish some of the imperial palaces - anyway, after a few years, Emperor Deqing will find reasons to restore these abolished imperial palaces.
Zhuang——But the power of the eunuchs of Huangzhuang to "manage their own business" cannot be shaken!
If the crime of fabricating imperial edicts by the Huangzhuang eunuchs triggered discussions in the central court, it would be equivalent to forcing Emperor Deqing to issue a clear edict to limit the scope of power of the Huangzhuang eunuchs, which would be equivalent to abolishing the "self-management" of the Huangzhuang eunuchs.
power, which is equivalent to reducing internal fund income...
Under such circumstances, Emperor Deqing would definitely fight to the death, and he would no longer just use conventional means to fight Zhou Shangjing in a battle of wits. He might even start a prison sentence and arrange the fate of the factory guards and the Beijing army!
Thinking of this, Song Chengren looked at Huo Zhengyuan with fearful eyes, and slowly commented: "What a ruthless method! What a vicious scheme!"
Huo Zhengyuan seemed to have heard the praise, smiled and nodded: "Senior Song is so complimentary."
Song Chengren narrowed his eyes and said coldly: "Scholar Huo, since you have worked so hard to collect these evidences, Chief Minister Zhou is not willing to take advantage of others and steal your reputation for insight into bad government... So, regarding the crime of fabricating imperial edicts by the eunuchs of Huangzhuang,
, it’s up to you to personally expose it, and when the time comes, Zhou Shoufu, I and others will definitely support you fully and cheer for you, how about that?”
Huo Zhengyuan immediately shook his head and said: "Junior is of a humble nature. If this kind of thing were to be pointed out by a junior, I'm afraid it wouldn't cause much trouble, and it would be suspected of overstepping his authority! According to this junior's opinion, it should be Zhou Shoufu
It would be better for Zhu Guo, who has such a high position, to stand up and express his position publicly. It will definitely attract the attention of all walks of life from the government and the public, and receive a huge response from all parties, making it impossible for the eunuchs of Huangzhuang to escape! At the worst, it should be from Nanzhi
The Jin gentry within the territory jointly expressed their position."
After Song Chengren took a deep look at Huo Zhengyuan, he suddenly asked: "How many copies of the booklet have you prepared with the same content?"
After hearing this, Huo Zhengyuan couldn't help but be stunned, and then he showed admiration and said: "Senior Song is really wise, and he can see through the methods of this junior at a glance... Junior has already had thirty books with the same content copied and handed them to Song.
This senior’s booklet is just one of them!
As for the other twenty-nine booklets, the younger generation plans to send people to those influential gentry families in Southern Zhili, such as the Xu family, Lu family, etc., and will also clearly tell them that as long as they are willing to stand up,
Expose the crimes of the eunuchs of the Imperial Palace in fabricating imperial edicts, and you can quickly win a complete victory in this conflict!"
"What a ruthless method! What a vicious scheme!" Song Chengren repeated his evaluation again and sneered: "As long as any wealthy gentry family is deceived and loses their minds and lifts the toilet seat, then the 'Zhou Party' will
By quickly defeating the Seventh Prince and the eunuchs of Huangzhuang, Zhao Cabinet's plan to hinder His Highness the Seventh Prince's succession to the throne can be successfully realized. However, the 'Zhou Party' will suffer full revenge from His Majesty afterwards, and you, the 'Zhao Party', can
Just reaping the benefits... Such a plan is really clever!"
Later, Song Chengren changed the subject again and warned: "However, Master Huo, you seem to have underestimated the influence of Zhou Shoufu and me on the Jiangnan Jin gentry! No Jin gentry would dare to make the decision on this matter without authorization, and would definitely consult Zhou Shoufu in advance.
and me, so as long as Zhou Shoufu and me don’t nod in agreement, the gentry will never be easily bewitched by you, and your wishful thinking will definitely be impossible to realize!"
Huo Zhengyuan shook his head and sighed: "That's such a pity!"
In fact, inducing the Jiangnan gentry to publicly expose the crimes of the Huangzhuang eunuchs in fabricating imperial edicts was just one part of Huo Zhengyuan's follow-up plan.
Huo Zhengyuan prepared two knives at the same time. The knife handed to the "Zhou Party" was the crime of the Huangzhuang eunuchs for fabricating the imperial edict, while the knife handed to the Seventh Prince and the Huangzhuang eunuchs was the crime of the Jiangnan Jin gentry concealing their property!
The noble gentry concealed their property and evaded taxes. This crime was also an extremely sharp knife that could hurt others and themselves. It was also a secret that had been known to the world for a long time, but could never be discussed openly!
Everyone knows that the wealthy gentry have been concealing their land assets for many years, and the imperial treasury has lost at least millions in land tax revenue over the years because of their concealment!
But no one dared to expose this matter publicly, because once this matter was exposed publicly and triggered a comprehensive investigation by the imperial court, the gentry would definitely suffer heavy losses, and the entire gentry class would definitely hold a grudge!
It completely offended all the Jin gentry, and the consequences were no less serious than if it completely offended the imperial power.
Huo Zhengyuan also copied the evidence of the wealthy Jin gentry family's concealment of property and tax evasion into a book, and prepared to hand it over to the seventh prince Zhu Hejian, the Nanjing garrison eunuch Xi Cheng, and the imperial eunuchs in Nanzhili.
As Zhou Shangjing took the initiative to provoke the conflict between the wealthy Jin gentry and the eunuchs of Huangzhuang, the seventh prince Zhu Hejian was not willing to sit back and wait for death, and frequently used various means to continuously fight back. Coupled with Huo Zhengyuan's fueling, the "United Shipping Company" was openly involved in the dispute.
This conflict aggravated...
It is foreseeable that the conflict between the wealthy Jin gentry and the eunuchs of the Imperial Palace will quickly intensify, and the less powerful people on both sides will gradually lose their minds.
Under such circumstances, even if Zhou Shangjing and Song Chengren could maintain restraint, they could also control the unauthorized actions of the wealthy Jin gentry family and prevent them from easily using the eunuch of Huangzhuang to fabricate imperial edicts. However, the seventh prince Zhu Hejian and the Nanjing garrison eunuch Xi Cheng
And is it possible to maintain the same restraint and not use the knife of "thoroughly investigating the Jin gentry's concealment of property reports"? What about those Huangzhuang eunuchs?
Especially the eunuchs of the Imperial Village, who didn't have much knowledge themselves and were used to being domineering. After seeing that this knife could easily stab the wealthy Jin gentry, how could they resist using it?
And once the eunuchs of Huangzhuang publicly impeached the wealthy Jin gentry family for their crime of concealing their land properties and suggested that the court thoroughly investigate the true amount of land owned by the wealthy Jin gentry families, then some wealthy Jin gentry families would definitely come forward and accuse the eunuchs of Huangzhuang of fabricating imperial edicts!
Cutting off someone's wealth is like killing one's parents. This principle also applies to the gentry. Even if the wealthy gentry have greater knowledge and wisdom, they will not care about the consequences when the time comes.
Then, the conflict between the wealthy Jin gentry and the eunuchs of Huangzhuang will completely get out of control, and both Zhou Shangjing and the seventh prince Zhu Hejian, who support both sides, will suffer losses.
Then, Huo Zhengyuan and "Zhao Dang" can reap the benefits!
This is Huo Zhengyuan's conspiracy!
As a man recognized as a smart man and a powerful strategist in the temple, Huo Zhengyuan was only unable to truly display his talents because he lacked courage.
But when he forced himself to stand firm and determined to fight, the scheming methods he displayed were even significantly stronger than those of Zhao Junchen.
At least, Zhao Junchen had wanted to use conspiracy methods to deal with Liaodong Town before, but in the end he almost screwed up, and needed to use conspiracy methods to remedy the situation before he could control the situation.
So far, without Zhou Shangjing's response, Huo Zhengyuan's conspiracy is very likely to succeed!
*
Thinking of his subsequent series of arrangements, although they cannot be said to be foolproof, they are still in an invincible position and at least they will not hurt himself. The smile on Huo Zhengyuan's face became a little more confident.
Song Chengren also knew that Huo Zhengyuan must have only revealed part of the plan to him, and still kept many key links from him, so he was so confident.
Therefore, Song Chengren quickly softened his attitude and said that everything could be easily discussed. Even if Zhao Junchen took the opportunity to infiltrate the Nanjing Imperial College and the Nanjing Inspectorate, he could consider it. He slightly restored the friendly atmosphere between him and Huo Zhengyuan, and then
Start to explore more of Huo Zhengyuan’s thoughts.
However, Huo Zhengyuan naturally would not believe Song Chengren's empty words, and remained tight-lipped about his overall plan. He only urged the "Zhou Party" to immediately agree to Zhao Junchen's request, and Zhou Shangjing took the initiative to submit a memorial to the central court, recommending three "Zhao Party members".
Party officials respectively served as the director of the Nanjing Imperial College, the supervisor of the Nanjing Imperial College, and the deputy censor of the Nanjing Inspectorate.
As long as Zhou Shangjing is willing to compromise on this matter, Huo Zhengyuan will immediately stop his plan and fully cooperate with Zhou Shangjing's plan.
However, Song Chengren was certainly unwilling to agree to this condition.
In this way, as Song Chengren and Huo Zhengyuan were testing each other and constantly arguing, time continued to pass.
As the Song family's carriage shook slightly, the two of them had arrived outside Zhanyuan.
Seeing that he could not find out more information from Huo Zhengyuan, Song Chengren had no choice but to get out of the carriage with a sullen face.
However, Song Chengren did not feel defeated or panicked. He had already vaguely felt that Huo Zhengyuan seemed to want to use some conspiracy method to deal with the "Zhou Party", but when it came to conspiracy methods... there was also Zhou Shangjing standing behind Song Chengren.
Song Chengren was full of confidence in Zhou Shangjing's wisdom and skills.
In Song Chengren's eyes, even after Huo Zhengyuan's temperament changed drastically and his courage greatly increased, if he wanted to use conspiracy methods to deal with the "Zhou Party", it would be like using a big knife in front of Guan Gong's door to bring humiliation to himself.
After the confrontation with Song Chengren, Huo Zhengyuan's confidence greatly increased. Although he did not have time to sort out his inner emotions, he also temporarily eliminated the cowardice deep in his heart. He jumped out of the carriage with a smile and turned around.
He helped Song Chengren get out of the carriage, as if he had a pleasant meeting with Song Chengren.
When Huo Zhengyuan and Song Chengren got off the carriage one after another, they both raised their heads to observe the situation in Zhanyuan. They found that there were already crowds of cars and sedans outside the gate of Zhanyuan, and it was obvious that many guests had come.
For example, the prince and grand master Wang Baoren, the Nanjing garrison eunuch Xi Cheng, the civil and military officials of Nanjing's major yamen, the heads of various gentry families in the territory, and the eunuchs of the nearby imperial village had all arrived at Zhanyuan in advance.
In order to gain more time to meet and talk with Huo Zhengyuan, Song Chengren deliberately asked the driver to slow down, so the two of them arrived at Zhanyuan a little late.
Next, after Song Chengren and Huo Zhengyuan informed the people of Zhanyuan of their identities, they entered Zhanyuan side by side.
It is worth mentioning that before Song Chengren entered Zhanyuan, he summoned a Song family attendant, whispered a few words in secret, and then asked the Song family attendant to leave the place quickly.
But it was Song Chengren who wanted to inform Zhou Shangjing of the negotiation process between himself and Huo Zhengyuan as soon as possible, so that Zhou Shangjing could respond as soon as possible.
At the same time, after the variable Huo Zhengyuan appeared, Song Chengren didn't know whether he should further put pressure on the seventh prince during the dinner, which would further intensify the conflict between the two parties. Zhou Shangjing also needed to make a decision as soon as possible.
In this way, Song Chengren and Huo Zhengyuan entered Zhanyuan side by side. As soon as they entered the vestibule of Zhanyuan, before they took a few steps, they heard a commotion in the hall in front of them.
Later, Song Chengren and Huo Zhengyuan saw that the Seventh Prince Zhu Hejian had led a group of guests to personally appear in the vestibule to greet them.
When he showed up to greet him, Zhu Hejian still had a nice smile and a friendly attitude, and he still looked like a virtuous prince.