Three hundred and ninetieth chapters aftermath of extermination
The middle palace in the palace is said to be the Twenty-Four Yamen, but there are various small functions such as the Genggu Room, Sweets Room, etc., which are not included in the Twenty-Four Yamen. Among them, the Genggu Room is located at Xuanwu Gate
The most east end of the corridor on the east side of the house is responsible for the night watch. This is the most difficult job. Every night, five people take turns to go to the Xuanwu Gate Tower to watch the drum, starting at three o'clock on the first watch and ending at three o'clock on the fifth watch.
The drums are played with rattan sticks, and each point is struck with a sandalwood hammer. Only one person is allowed to go upstairs at the first watch, and no lights are allowed. Things must be done in complete darkness.
Changing the drum room has always been the most thankless job, so on this day, Jia Shichun, the steward of Renshou Palace, was sent here. Fan Dayong, the steward of the general manager, left his job because of illness, and the remaining two and Dingshui were
At first they wanted to clear it up, but after being informed by someone from Chengqian Palace, Dingshui Brand became more alert and loudly ordered Jingjun who came outside to ask for instructions on how to arrange tonight: "This Jia Shichun is...
The Empress Dowager personally sent someone to the watch room to serve as a watchman, and tonight she asked him to go to the Xuanwu Gate Tower to do the watch. Well, it's three o'clock in the third watch to three o'clock in the fourth watch, so let's go on like this!"
It's already past midnight at three o'clock, which is when people are most sleepy. What's more, the weather is fine during the day, but extremely cold at night. This makes Jia Shichun, who is over sixty years old, go to Xuanwu in the middle of the night.
The clock watch at the gatehouse was tantamount to intentional trouble. When this word reached Jia Shichun's ears, he was so angry that he had never experienced such suffering since entering the palace, but the visitor just said a cowardly word,
He was so angry that he suddenly calmed down.
"Eunuch Jia is no longer what he used to be. If you don't want to experience what it's like to be tortured in a stable, you'd better be aware of current affairs."
Thinking that a good man would not suffer the immediate consequences, Jia Shichun had no choice but to accept the offer with a sigh of relief. He was kicked out of the Renshou Palace this time, and he had no time to pack any clothes or luggage, and the red robe worn by the high-ranking eunuchs had been stripped off, and now he only had
He was wearing a middle coat. Somehow, someone finally gave him a green tie.
Even so, when he left the watch room at three o'clock and went up to the tower, he was still shivering from the cold. His feet were shaking when he went up to the tower, for fear that he would accidentally miss the mark and fall down the stairs. Okay.
It was easy to reach the top, but the other Jingjun who was waiting to take over had already become impatient. He handed him rattan sticks and sandalwood hammers, and then rushed downstairs in three steps and followed him downstairs.
, and there was an angry toot.
"Finally, I don't need this update from time to time. It's going to freeze people to death!"
Jia Shichun pinched those two things, his hands and feet were so angry that they felt cold. Suddenly, there was a strong wind. In a panic, even the black gauze hat on his head was blown away by the wind. For a moment, he could only stand with his head bare.
In the wind field, he barely managed to hit a spot, but his hands and feet were already stiff and his whole body was numb. He could only move his hands and feet while walking on the tower. From time to time, he would jump for dear life, while muttering to himself.
.
"If you endure this night, if you endure this night, Eunuch Li will definitely try to rescue me. After all, I have done so many things for him..."
In the darkness, he didn't notice that there were people in the dark shadows who were staring at him. He was just walking back and forth with his hands in his arms, counting the hours and beating the drums. However, he was a lot older after all, and
He was used to being pampered, so how could he hold on to this job that the soldiers were used to doing? He could barely hold on for four-fifths of the time, but his lips were trembling and his whole body was shaky. He didn't even notice that two people were hiding behind him.
It wasn't until someone put his arm on his arm that he suddenly woke up and was about to scream, but a hand had already covered his mouth.
Jia Shichun entered the palace at the age of six and was immersed in the palace for decades. Whether it was fighting for favor in the inner study hall, secret fights with long-term followers, or the struggle for power among the eunuchs, he had seen all kinds of things. At this moment, he woke up,
His brain, which seemed to have been frozen by the cold wind, suddenly woke up...
Someone is going to attack him!
However, he had been exposed to the cold on the Xuanwu Gate Tower for so long, and with his old age and frail body fighting against his physical strength, he was pushed to the side of the city wall without even the slightest strength to resist. He had already foreseen the next moment.
What was going to happen, he could only kick his legs in vain, but he didn't even touch a piece of other people's clothes. He could only watch as he was pressed tightly against the opening of the arrow stack, and then someone forcefully pushed him
He pulled his legs up. In an instant, he fell down from the tower with his head down and his feet up. The screams that reached his mouth were completely muffled by the strong wind.
In the drum watch room next to the stairs of the city wall, the four soldiers who had finished their shift and the four pure soldiers who were waiting for their shift were sitting in groups, drinking hot boiling water from the sea bowl one by one, and talking to each other one by one.
Jia Shichun. These little people knew that Jia Shichun had lost power just because others dared to send the formerly powerful eunuch to work overnight. Just when he was talking enthusiastically, one of them suddenly heard something heavy falling outside.
He raised his eyebrows suspiciously.
"What fell?"
"Whatever, if something happens, it has nothing to do with us... Don't look at it. It's not the first day of October yet. You have to freeze to death when you leave this house. You go out. Let's continue to stay warm here."
"If you don't mind, I won't go... That old guy cherishes his own life, otherwise he wouldn't have swallowed his composure and agreed. At most, he would have lost his head..."
The four people gathered around and rested for a long time. When it was the last person's turn to pick up Jia Shichun's class, the curtain outside was suddenly opened, and a gust of cold wind came in leisurely. One of the people had his back to the door.
Jing Jun suddenly stood up and turned his head, and was about to curse, but he found that the two people who came in were wearing green robes with lion patches on their chests. They were obviously high-class eunuchs with dental plaques, and they were silent for a moment.
When they saw a middle-aged eunuch wearing a black hat and bright red silk unicorn patchwork clothes coming in, everyone knelt down silently.
Gu Da looked around at everyone with a cold look, and then shouted sternly: "Do you know that a person just fell down from the Xuanwu Gate building outside?"
As soon as these words came out, everyone immediately realized what the sound of the heavy object was just now. Their faces turned pale, and they immediately kowtowed countless times knowingly, insisting that they had just dozed off and nothing happened.
Hearing this, one person stood up, and the others also swore and swore that they would never know anything about it. Seeing this, Gu Da was so angry that he turned around and left the drum room.
“Father-in-law, do you want someone to summon the three signs from the Genggu Room?”
"You must have no idea what they are doing, and it will only make people more angry!" Gu Da punched the wall next to him with hatred, but the force of the shock caused his hand to ache, so he simply let it go.
He held his hand and said viciously, "I was just trying to take something out of Jia Shichun's mouth at night, but he fell to his death by accident. How can there be such a coincidence in the world!"
"Then we have to check..."
"What are you looking for? This city tower has always been dark at night and no lights are allowed to be lit. Moreover, all the red-clad defenders are outside the palace. He is the only one upstairs. There is no clue at all!" Gu Dayong said angrily.
He refuted it, and then suddenly said thoughtfully, "Wait a minute, I just asked the emperor to ask for permission to bring the person to the stable and torture him, but it makes no sense for Jia Shichun to be sent to the tower just after he arrived at the watch room.
Go up and wake up in the morning - send a message and ask, where does it come from?"
Early in the morning on Huanri, as soon as Xu Xun got up, he received the news from the palace that Jia Shichun had fallen from a building and died. Although the person who came to deliver the news did not say whether it was suicide, homicide, or just a slip, for him, death was
It means that the clues are temporarily cut off - after all, a Jia Shichun who has lost power can be tortured and extorted for information, but it is difficult for him to touch the senior officials of the Supervisor of Ceremonies who are still in office. Therefore, after hearing
Gu Da used a messenger to tell Jia Shichun that the person who asked Jia Shichun to go to the Xuanwu Gate Tower to do the watch was Liu Jin. The purpose was to make him feel bad. He just felt dumbfounded...
However, Xu Xun couldn't laugh or cry, but the news of Jia Shichun's death sent quite a shock in other places. Although Rong Shangyi strictly ordered not to bring this matter to Queen Mother Zhang, Jia Shichun had been the steward of Kunning Palace for so many years.
There are always a few people under the sign, and it is inevitable that someone will say something in front of Empress Dowager Zhang. When she learned that the person was dead, even though Empress Dowager Zhang hated the old guy for embarrassing herself, she still felt very uncomfortable. Fortunately, Rong Shangyi repaid her.
He hurried back soon, but intentionally or unintentionally accused Jia Shichun of committing suicide out of shame, and angrily said that this was an injustice to the Queen Mother. Finally, he changed his attention and revealed the matter gently and skillfully.
When the news reached the cabinet, the three cabinet ministers who were not familiar with Jia Shichun and had no romantic relationship all frowned. Xie Qian, who had always had a fierce temper, even sneered: "First, Min Chaopu became an official.
, followed by Wang Yue was sent to Tailing, and then Jia Shichun died inexplicably. Looking at this momentum, it seems that everyone inside and outside the palace is squeezing out the older generation, and we don’t know when it will be our turn.
"
Li Dongyang was thinking about the Huguo Temple murder case that his wife mentioned to him, and Liu Jian casually took a piece of paper and threw it in front of the two of them: "This is the impeachment of Tailing eunuch Li Xing by Yang Ziqi, the head of the Ministry of Civil Affairs' Examination Department, for concealing the report."
Regarding the Jinjing water leakage incident, the Chief of Ceremonies just turned over this morning. This Li Xing is a confidant of the eunuch Liu Marian, the eunuch, and if he doesn’t kill them now, there’s no telling what kind of trouble they are going to cause.
!”
"Is there such a timely rain?"
Li Dongyang heard Xie Qian talking and took it over quickly. He reminded: "This is not a timely rain. The late Emperor Tailing has spent countless efforts and money from site selection to construction. Besides, the golden well has been completed. It cannot be because of
Let’s dig this up again and inspect the area…”
"What we want is not inspection, nor tearing down and rebuilding, but using this incident to teach those treacherous villains a lesson, at least knock down their arrogance, and it would be best to drive Qiu Ju out of Dongchang! Wang Yue happened to be there
Tailing, I think it is the best witness to be full of anger." Liu Jian interrupted Li Dongyang, and then said lightly, "There is also Xu Xun's fiancée who suddenly appeared, and the Chief of Ceremonies has already
Someone has been urgently sent to Jinling to investigate, and there should be definite information soon." Xie Qian frowned and said, "Then it is better to ask the commander of Jinyi Guards Ye Guang, Xu Xun and Shen Shi, he knows best.
"
"I've already asked Ye Guang over there, and I've always said good things for Xu Xiaozi... - -. This old guy is obviously trying to protect himself now, so you can't count on him!"
Li Dongyang wanted to speak, but in the end he hesitated. Thinking back to the three of them who proposed to let Xu Xun take charge of the Jin Yiwei and throw Ye Guang out to compete with others, and now they still expect Ye Guang to obey them as always, this is too natural.
Some more!
ps: The information on Genggufang comes from "Ziuzhongzhi" written by Liu Ruoyu, the great eunuch in the late Ming Dynasty. Interested students can check it out. It is a good resource for recording the affairs of palace officials...).