On the surface, these internal eunuchs were appointed by the emperor. In fact, everyone knew that these people were all members of Wei Zhongxian's eunuch party. Their mission was very clear, which was to check the number of food and equipment and the strength of the officers, soldiers and horses.
Although it sounds like that, in fact, there are a lot of inconveniences. In history, there have been many times when eunuchs joined the army but it was counterproductive. Therefore, it is reasonable for the ministers to object.
However, Wei Zhongxian had too much power, and most of their objections, after being whitewashed by Wei Zhongxian, fell on deaf ears of Emperor Tianqi.
At this point, it was a certainty that the internal prison guards would go to Liaodong. Compared with the concerns and objections of the ministers of the DPRK and China, the person involved, Yuan Chonghuan, made concessions and wrote a letter expressing his agreement that the internal prison guards could come.
Half of the credit for all this must go to Ma Xiaoquan.
When Ma Xiaoquan and Wei Zhongxian were still at odds, they had an unspoken agreement that no matter how hard we fought, we would not hurt the border. After all, it was the last line of defense of the Ming Dynasty. If the border was lost, the Ming Dynasty would be destroyed.
Wei Zhongxian and Ma Xiaoquan reached an agreement on this point. Even if he was later afraid of losing power and sent internal supervisors to supervise it, it was only the suggestion and instigation of his sons and grandsons.
...
In any case, the eunuchs are here, and they are almost everywhere. Especially in Shanhaiguan, the number of eunuchs is the largest and the most difficult to deal with. What is even more troublesome is that the then Shanhaiguan guard general was Mangui.
Man Gui is a rough man, and all his achievements are made with his hands. Such a manly man must look down on those eunuchs without penises. Ma Xiaoquan frowned all the way, thinking I have to go
How to coordinate?
Ma Xiaoquan had offended Man Gui once because of Wu Ertai's death because of the teeth issue. Although Man Gui didn't say much about his position, Ma Xiaoquan could guess that this time when he went to Shanhaiguan, Man Gui might want to find Yi Yi and him.
Fight.
In fact... Ma Xiaoquan thought too much. He originally thought of fighting Wu Ertai's death, but who would have thought that the envoy sent by Yuan Chonghuan came to "superfluous". After returning to Jinzhou, the envoy immediately sent Wu Ertai to death.
Ertai's ashes were delivered to Man Gui, and he also wrote a letter explaining the cause and effect of the matter.
Mangui was originally at odds with Yuan Chonghuan. If he had not taken the overall situation into account, he would not have come to Shanhaiguan. Now the messenger wrote a letter explaining Wuertai's death. Although in the letter, the messenger repeatedly emphasized that Wuertai made a mistake* and
The deacon of Jinyiwei, Ma Xiaoquan, can all testify to this, but Man Gui doesn't think so. He thinks that all of this was done by Yuan Chonghuan. Although Wu Ertai and him were not on friendly terms, they were still considered a fellow countryman, so he died like this.
, and what else did you say*? It’s just nonsense.
Man Gui could only think about being angry with Yuan Chonghuan, but as for Ma Xiaoquan, she selectively ignored him.
It wasn't until Ma Xiaoquan arrived at Shanhaiguan that Mangui remembered that Ma Xiaoquan was coming. He called the soldiers and asked why he wasn't notified. The soldiers said bitterly: "General, I gave the letter to the general a long time ago, but the general didn't read it.
, I don’t even dare to open it and read the letter privately.”
"Oh~" Man Gui patted his forehead and quickly found a slightly wrinkled letter from under the bed. He took it out and unfolded it. Man Gui said: "Ma Xiaoquan came here to reconcile me and those eunuchs.
Contradictory? Is he so capable? Didn’t he also have a bad relationship with Wei Zhongxian when he was in the capital? "
Although Man Gui did not have any major conflicts with Wei Zhongxian and his party members, as a pure man, he absolutely looked down on those men who cut off their penises. Although the imperial court sent many internal eunuchs, they were all suppressed by Man Gui
Don't let me take care of things.
These internal eunuchs are all masters who are not afraid of trouble. They are not willing to come here in the first place. Compared with the capital, there is nothing they want here. However, Master Wei has an order. If you don't go, you will lose your head, so they have to come.
Internal supervisors also have the habit of exchanging information with each other. They call this "traveling". Especially internal supervisors who are stationed in different places, they often communicate with each other.
They were all eunuchs from the capital, and naturally they were all good at personal matters. One of the reasons for them to take advantage of others was to tell each other which guard general was easy to get in touch with.
In this circle, Yuan Chonghuan was naturally at the forefront. As for Man Gui, he was defined as a "rogue" by the internal supervisors without hesitation.
Man Gui also heard what the inner guards called him. He didn't care, but just because he didn't care, it didn't mean that others didn't care.
The internal supervisors were all sent from the capital city. Compared with Man Gui who was straight-forward, these people were very good at playing tricks. They bribed almost all the generals around Man Gui, whether it was through coercion or inducement or playing emotional cards, at least
These generals never swore with Man Gui in front of him, and they would also mention the good things of the internal supervisors from time to time.
Mangui was also very conflicted in his heart. He didn't want to offend these internal prisoners, but he really didn't like them. A group of his subordinates kept saying how good the internal prisoners were, which made him very annoyed.
Okay now, you, Ma Xiaoquan, are here, I will leave this matter to you.
That night, Mangui invited Ma Xiaoquan to have dinner with him, and Ma Xiaoquan happily agreed.
...
During the meal, Ma Xiaoquan and Man Gui talked about the cause of Wu Ertai's death. Because Ma Xiaoquan was present at the time and witnessed Wu Ertai's death, Ma Xiaoquan knew everything Man Gui asked.
Ma Xiaoquan's original intention was to say that Wuertai was so conceited that he committed suicide, but Mangui always turned the topic to Yuan Chonghuan, as if Wuertai was killed by Yuan Chonghuan on the spot.
Ma Xiaoquan did not correct Man Gui. He knew that the relationship between Man and Yuan was not harmonious. If he defended Yuan Chonghuan too much, it might be counterproductive and make Man Gui unhappy.
Ma Xiaoquan's task this time is mainly to repair Shanhaiguan. As for how to beat or suffer? Who is the guard? He doesn't care, but he will definitely not want anyone to go against him and cause trouble if he is here for a day, no matter if he is having dinner with him now
Man Gui is still the same group of internal prisoners we are going to meet tomorrow.
After drinking for three rounds, Mangui asked Ma Xiaoquan: "Deacon, what do you think of those internal prisons?"
Ma Xiaoquan smiled and said: "Wei Zhongxian sent these people, no matter what, it is better to offend less. I heard that General Man drove these people together and refused to let them do anything?"
"Of course, those bastards with no dicks, who can't even lift a spear, would make me uncomfortable if I let them take care of things. If this goes to the battlefield and the Jurchens see it, they won't laugh.
Lose your big teeth, laugh at me, there is no one in the Ming Dynasty, and send eunuchs to the battlefield?"
"Haha, no wonder I heard them say General Manchu was overbearing when I came here."
"Let's go ahead, they've made quite a few lawsuits against me, but I'm going to have some problems with my life. If I keep talking too much, I won't do it anymore." Man Gui said disapprovingly.
"Hey, General Man is saying too much. Shanhaiguan is an important part of Guan Ning Jin's defense line. It can't be done without anyone. When General Man was still collecting heads to get rewards, I just heard that
I lost my reputation as a general, haha, to put it bluntly, I didn’t even have hair at that time.”
Man Gui was used to being straightforward, and he was really comfortable listening to Ma Xiaoquan's words with some rough words.
Mangui thought Ma Xiaoquan was a good person earlier. Although he knew that Ma Xiaoquan and Yuan Chonghuan had a good relationship, he did not think that Ma Xiaoquan and Yuan Chonghuan would always be so good.
In Mangui's view, Ma Xiaoquan came from the capital, and the twists and turns in the officialdom of the capital had smoothed Ma Xiaoquan. Therefore, the good relationship between Ma Xiaoquan and Yuan Chonghuan was probably just a subtle friendship.
"Haha, the deacon is really good at joking. Anyway, you can come and help me. Just as the letter said, I will leave the group of internal prisoners to the deacon to help me deal with it.
."
Ma Xiaoquan nodded: "Of course~ Of course, I also said in the letter that I have to take care of the repair work of Shanhaiguan. After all, the repair money belongs to me, Ma Xiaoquan. General Man, don't worry about where the money comes from, it's anyway
My, my money, I have the right to control, what does General Man think?"
Mangui smacked his lips and said, "That's natural, but all that money was spent on repairs. Isn't it a bit of a waste?"
Ma Xiaoquan heard what Man Gui meant and said with a smile: "Don't worry, I have already kept the general's share."
Upon hearing this, Man Gui smiled and clapped his hands and said, "The deacon is thoughtful and considerate. Okay, I like to deal with people like the deacon."
This dinner was quite enjoyable. Man Gui got what he wanted, and Ma Xiaoquan also had his own idea.
...
The next day, Ma Xiaoquan led a few servants and brought a batch of gifts to visit the internal prison in the capital.
Most of these internal eunuchs, Ma Xiaoquan, had met before when they were in the capital, and they were considered old acquaintances.
When they saw Ma Xiaoquan coming, the inmates greeted him politely.
Ma Xiaoquan smiled and waved, and after the servants placed the gifts on the table, the eyes of the eunuchs suddenly lit up.
"Isn't this...a little embarrassing?"
The one who spoke was Liu Yingkun, the chief eunuch guarding Shanhaiguan. This guy was not low-ranking and had a good background. He also held many positions - he was the eunuch who held pens for the ceremonial supervisor, the governor of the Zhongyong camp, and he was also in charge of the imperial horse supervisor's printing.
It's hard to pronounce, but this long list of names is enough to illustrate Liu Yingkun's power.
Ma Xiaoquan is very familiar with Liu Yingkun, otherwise he wouldn't have prepared such a big gift as soon as he came on stage. Liu Yingkun's one hobby is greed for money.
"Haha, Eunuch Liu is joking, what's the point of being embarrassed? Xiaguan and Mr. Wei had misunderstandings before. When Xiaguan left the capital, he had already cleared up the past with Mr. Wei. Eunuch Liu should know this best, right?