Chapter 273 The Unpredictable Power of Heaven (Part 2)
It is still cold in Yanland and the early spring is chilly. From the palace to various government offices, people still have not woken up from the atmosphere of celebrating the New Year.
Everyone up and down is reluctant to part with the New Year, for no other reason than because they don’t have to go to work.
Holidays in the Ming Dynasty were so rare that there were only a few days off throughout the year. The first month and New Year were days that no one could bear to spend.
The eunuch in charge of the Qianqing Palace, the Royal Horse Supervisor, the Admiral of the Four Warriors Camp, the Admiral of the Twelve Regiment Camp, the Admiral of Shanglinyuan Haizi Pass Defense, the Admiral of the Ceremony Room and the Huanyi Bureau, the Shangyi Supervisor of the West Zhifang, Qin Fu, the eunuch Qin, walked out of Qianqing early in the morning. I cleared the door and took a few deep breaths of the still cold air.
He likes this kind of cold feeling, which suits his mood very well.
As the eunuch in charge of the Qianqing Palace, Eunuch Qin no longer has to personally serve the emperor personally. He is mainly responsible for taking the lead in catching up with the general manager. But the first job every day is still to meet with the emperor as soon as he wakes up.
During the audience, the emperor will receive today's oral instructions and arrange all the matters on the emperor's schedule, especially those who will serve the emperor.
After arranging the above things, Eunuch Qin will come out of Qianqing Palace to handle other errands, mainly with the Royal Horse Eunuch.
In the evening, Eunuch Qin will return to the direct room of Qianqing Palace to rest. This is the privilege of the eunuch in charge of Qianqing Palace. According to the rules of the palace, there will also be a eunuch who is responsible for rituals and takes turns to be on duty in the direct room of Qianqing Palace.
In the past two or three years, Eunuch Qin's life has generally been like this every day, and today seems to be no exception.
Standing outside the Qianqing Gate, Qin Fu briefly thought about the other tasks for the day, and was about to walk west to the inner school grounds, when he saw a eunuch approaching from a distance and waving to him.
Facing the early morning sunshine, Qin Fu recognized the person from his figure. He was Gao Zhong, an eunuch and eunuch. His current main job was to be responsible for the construction of the palace. He did a good job and the emperor was very satisfied.
After the throne was stabilized in the past few years, the emperor gradually became obsessed with Taoism, and then began to build a large number of supporting buildings in the palace. Gao Zhonglai was responsible for it.
In the restricted area of the palace, you are not allowed to shout or yell. Gao Zhong didn't wait until he got close to Qin Fu before he said in a low voice: "Brother Qin, teach me how to do things!"
In terms of age, Gao Zhong is actually three years older than Qin Fu, but he willingly calls Qin Fu brother Qin.
Qin Fu asked calmly: "What's wrong?"
Although his attitude was cold, he took the initiative to ask about the matter and did not deliberately avoid it.
Gao Zhong had long been used to it, and he said quickly without taking it seriously: "Your Majesty has a great sense of filial piety. He wants to start building a new palace for the Queen Mother this year. I can't make up my mind, so I asked Brother Qin to come and talk about it."
As we all know, there are two empress dowagers today, one is Empress Zhang of the late Emperor Hongzhi, and of course she is Empress Dowager Zhang now. Yes, it is the empress of the Ming Dynasty who was gossiped about by countless new media because of her monogamy.
The other empress dowager was the emperor's biological mother, Empress Dowager Chiang. She was just a princess in Hubei back then. Unexpectedly, her son became the emperor, so she was taken back to the capital and became the empress dowager.
After Qin Fu pondered for a moment, he first said: "If we want to build a new palace, we must have two queen mothers, it is impossible to build just one.
Otherwise, if you treat one person too favorably over another, the minister will not be able to get through it, and the emperor’s face will not look good.”
Gao Zhong replied: "Building two palaces is not a problem, but how to build these two palaces is a problem. I don't know if the emperor wants to build them the same way, or is there a difference between them?"
Emperor Jiajing was a person who particularly cared about "propriety". If the contrast between the two palaces was not to his liking, then Gao Zhong would have a difficult life, especially since the status of the two queen mothers was very delicate.
In fact, the key to how to build the two palaces depends on the emperor's attitude towards the two queen mothers. The emperor certainly had nothing to say about his own mother, the Empress Dowager Jiang, but what was the emperor's true attitude towards the Empress Dowager Zhang?
If you want to directly test the emperor, it is a very high-risk behavior. If you peep into the emperor's heart and anger the emperor, you may be beaten to death.
"Who asked you to test it directly?" Qin Fu pointed out: "The Empress Dowager Zhang has two brothers outside the palace, both of whom are relatives and have been granted the title of marquis. Can't we just find a way to use them?
Through the Emperor's attitude towards these two brothers, we can see the Emperor's actual thoughts towards Empress Dowager Zhang! Then you will have an idea of how to build the palace."
"What a great idea!" Gao Zhong said excitedly. For their eunuchs, being able to decipher the emperor's true thoughts was their greatest political resource.
Of course, Eunuch Qin was willing to give advice to Gao Zhong, not because he was a bad person, but because he and Gao Zhong needed to stick together and help each other.
After the great purge at the time of the succession of the throne, many of the eunuchs in power today are the so-called old people of Xingdi. They are the eunuchs who were in Prince Xing's Mansion when Emperor Jiajing was still the vassal king.
For example, the eunuchs Zhang Zuo, Huang Ying, Dai Yong, etc., as well as Huang Jin, the former companion of King Xing who is still young but will definitely be reused.
However, although Qin Fu and Gao Zhong were both trusted and reused by Emperor Jiajing, they were not old members of Xingdi, so of course they automatically joined the United Party.
Among the two, Qin Fu was better. He only entered the palace after Jin Shang ascended to the throne. The history of the palace was clean, and the emperor personally selected the important eunuchs he promoted.
Gao Zhong was almost there. He entered the palace since he was a child, had a godfather, and was an establishment eunuch raised under the traditional system. However, during this special period in the early Jiajing years, he felt a bit like a remnant of the previous dynasty.
Emperor Jiajing, a foreign vassal king, entered the palace and instinctively distrusted the eunuchs of the old system who were entrenched in the palace and passed down from generation to generation. Gao Zhong was already considered very good.
Gao Zhong thought about his errand and couldn't help but sigh: "It's so difficult to work for the emperor."
Thinking of the moody Emperor Jiajing, Qin Fu, who had always been cold-faced to the outside world, rarely said something from his heart: "Your Majesty's power is unpredictable, and he is walking on thin ice in the Qianqing Palace. It is better to seek external release as soon as possible to avoid unexpected disasters."
Gao Zhong couldn't help but ask: "Now that the garrison officials have been abolished in various places, where else do you want to go?"
There was no need for Qin Fu to hide his political allies. He confided his thoughts and said, "I think Dongchang is good."
Theoretically, the eunuch of Governor Dongchang is often the second-ranking figure in the eunuch system.
The current governor of Dongchang is Bi Yun, who is also a remnant of the previous dynasty, but has been retained by Emperor Jiajing. Don't ask the reason, just ask about the power of the emperor.
"That's right." Gao Zhong said again: "The deposed Pan Zhen asked me to send a message. I want to ask you to put in a few good words in front of the emperor to see if he can be reinstated."
Qin Fu said coldly: "What are you going to do with him again?"
"It's really useless. He's just a piece of trash like a laughing stock." Gao Zhong couldn't help complaining: "I heard that when Pan Zhen was in Nanjing, he was punished by a scholar."
Regarding the fact that Qin Fu was brought into the palace by Pan Zhen, Gao Zhong pretended to have forgotten and did not mention a word. He was just slightly curious as to why Qin Fu was so unkind to Pan Zhen.
