The fat eunuch Cao Jixiang, who was trembling with fear on the ground, took the opportunity to secretly glance at the young man who was so respectful to the killer. The two happened to meet each other's eyes, and Cao Jixiang quickly lowered his head.
He was full of doubts, where did these people catch him? Isn't the big fat man in the back Prince Jin? Why is he here?
Since he was captured with his head tied and covered, he did not know that he had entered the Jin Palace.
As the powerful man in the city of Taiyuan, Cao Jixiang naturally had dealings with the King of Jin. Because of his status as an eunuch, he could avoid suspicion.
Zhu Qiugui was also thinking, isn't this the guarding eunuch Cao Jixiang? Why did the emperor capture him and look very unfriendly?
The position of garrison eunuch was first established in the Yongle period, but at that time it was not called garrison eunuch, but instead called assisting defense, and it was only available in important border towns and cities with heavy garrison troops.
This was a turning point. During the Hongwu and Jianwen years, the eunuchs who were only allowed to carry chamber pots and do hard labor, like the eunuchs in the Han and Tang Dynasties, were trusted by the emperor and entered the stage of history.
Although Zhu Di was born as a military commander and was about to become emperor, because of this, he was very afraid and wary of military commanders who held military power, especially those who were guarding the field. This had always been his worry.
In order to monitor the generals in other places, he sent eunuchs from the palace to important military towns across the country to monitor the generals' every move.
For the Five Expeditions on Mongolia, objectively speaking, part of the reason was that he did not trust the generals who led the troops and was afraid that they would rebel and seize his throne, so he worked tirelessly to lead hundreds of thousands of troops on several expeditions.
Zhu Di was very selfish. He was not a good person, and he could not even be called a good emperor. For his own throne and his posthumous reputation, he gambled with him on the national destiny of the entire Ming Dynasty.
In order to stabilize his throne, he repeatedly ignored the instructions of his ancestors and acted against Zhu Yuanzhang's orders. He also reformed or abolished many national policies during the Hongwu period.
If he could be more broad-minded and not replace the entire northern garrison and military towns such as Daning and Chifeng, there would be no need to spend the entire country's money, manpower and material resources on five northern expeditions.
During the Hongwu period, places like Xuanfu and Datong were still very stable and peaceful cities where people lived and worked in peace and contentment. However, starting from Zhu Di in the Yongle period, the national policy of the Ming Dynasty completely changed.
In the border areas connecting Mongolia and the grassland tribes, guard posts were no longer established and all were abolished. The Thirteen Sai kings who were personally entrusted by Taizu to garrison the important border towns were re-designated vassal states. A large number of people moved inward, using the Great Wall as the boundary.
Start giving up the land outside the customs.
During the Xuande period, areas such as Datong and Xuanfu became key defense areas facing the threat of grassland nomads.
Zhu Di's idea is very simple. Since I can't trust the people below, I will do it myself. If the enemy comes to invade, I will feel relieved to lead the troops myself.
Where did the elite of the three major battalions of the capital come from? At least one-third of the sergeants were selected and trained from the sergeants of the former border guard station.
But what he didn't know was that it was his idea that indirectly led to the decline of the Ming army's combat effectiveness in the future.
Without the frontier troops, once a war broke out, we could only rely on the troops of the capital to fight. However, starting from the Xuande year until the Zhengtong year before Tumu Fort, the hundreds of thousands of sergeants in the Beijing camp had not fought a single battle for more than 20 years.
A decent war.
Therefore, although the main reason for the disastrous defeat of Tumubao was Wang Zhen's chaotic government and Zhu Qizhen's blind command, the fact that the troops in the Beijing camp had been sparse for a long time and collapsed at the first touch was also one of the reasons for the defeat.
The impact of this tragic defeat was so great that the country almost collapsed.
For this reason, the imperial court had no choice but to reestablish some guard posts on the border. In addition to protecting the capital, its purpose was to rebuild a new army and conquer the world.
But the emperor was worried again, what should he do? At this time, the eunuchs who served beside him every day once again came into the emperor's eyes, and their power was once again strengthened.
Guarding eunuchs appeared in the history of the Ming Dynasty. They carried imperial edicts and were appointed to important towns and border military towns across the country to supervise civil servants and generals on behalf of the emperor.
Their power was so great that all the local garrison generals and civil servants were under his control. No matter what the occasion, the position of the guarding eunuch was always at the top, and he was a transcendent existence.
The Cao Jixiang in front of Zhu Youxiao had been the guard eunuch in Taiyuan Mansion for seven years, so he did not recognize the young man in front of him as the emperor.
"Cao Jixiang, grandpa has sent you to guard and monitor Taiyuan for so many years. What have you done?"
"Grandpa", after considering the current situation and the Jin Palace where he was, Cao Jixiang immediately realized that this must be Long Live the Lord.
He immediately fell to his knees on the ground, howling with tears and snot, and shouted:
"Long live my Lord, you have to make the decision for me!"
Seeing him looking like he was ready to complain first, Zhu Youxiao felt disgusted. He would not tolerate treating a domestic slave like a dog like a civil servant.
He immediately took out the riding whip from Ma Xianglin's waist and whipped Cao Jixiang hard.
The poor Cao Jixiang didn't know the reason at all, so he was beaten until he was rolling on the ground, screaming repeatedly, which resounded throughout the palace.
After more than twenty whips, Zhu Youxiao stopped when he felt his arms were sore and weak. He wiped the sweat from his forehead and threw the whip to Ma Xianglin again.
Cao Jixiang was lying on the ground covered in blood, like a dead corpse. His voice was almost hoarse. The scream just now had consumed a lot of his energy. If it weren't for the slight sound of breathing, others would be suspicious.
Was he whipped to death by the emperor in public?
Jin Wang Zhu Qiugui, who was watching everything happen, had never seen this scene before. He swallowed hard and almost vomited out all the food and wine he had eaten today.
He never expected that the young emperor could be so ruthless and ruthless, even whipping people himself. This really shocked him.
"Your Majesty, why is this?"
Zhu Qiugui finally asked the question in his heart. He didn't understand. This Cao Jixiang was not his. How could he suddenly whip him so hard that he was half dead?
Why did the emperor take him to the Jin Palace and whip him? Was he trying to remind himself of something?
Zhu Youxiao said calmly:
"What's the use of keeping a person who can't see his own identity and doesn't seek political advice in his position?"
"Grandpa sent him here to supervise the officials and military generals in Taiyuan City, not to act as a local emperor and dominate!"
Zhu Qiugui understood at this time that it seemed that Cao Jixiang had angered the emperor somewhere, so he was whipped like this.
But he understood it wrong. Zhu Youxiao didn't understand Cao Jixiang at all. The reason why he whipped the eunuch today was because he was so arrogant that he didn't take the emperor seriously.