Ming Jiajing: Starting from Immortality

Chapter 278: Beating the dog bullies its owner, the official is the dog official!
By the time of Zhu Houcong, the Ming Dynasty had already had its eleventh emperor.

The eunuchs who were carrying out tasks under the emperor's orders were attacked, let alone the Imperial Household Department, which was unprecedented.

Although eunuchs were only castrated men and slaves, they relied on the emperor's power and spoke the imperial law, making them like substitutes for the emperor.

The saying "When beating a dog, look at its owner" is very appropriate here.

The cabinet elders and ministers from the six ministries and nine government departments came to the emperor to impeach him. If this matter gets out of hand, it is likely to trigger a dramatic change in the palace!
Even if the disaster gets smaller, there will still be a thunderstorm and heavy rain. The ones who will be punished by heaven will be either the outer court or the inner court. It is possible that both the outer court and the inner court will be destroyed.

All of this depends on how Lu Fang, the eunuch who holds the seal of the Imperial Household Department and is the person closest to the emperor, reacts.

There was no reason for the East Depot not to know about the cabinet's big move. Huang Jin, the chief eunuch of the Imperial Household Department and the governor of the East Depot, who had just come back from Liaodong Town to execute Gao Huai by lingchi, had already reported to his ancestor Lu Fang the news that the important ministers of the dynasty were on their way to Yuxi Palace to meet the emperor together.

Lu Fang entered the Prince Xing's Palace at the age of ten, and served Zhu Houcong when Zhu Houcong was the prince of Xing. Even though there were countless people in the palace, Lu Fang had been tempered in the Eight Diagrams Furnace in the Forbidden City for many years during the Jiajing Dynasty. He has survived to this age and climbed to this position. Every pore on his body has become an eye.

However, Lu Fang did nothing from beginning to end. He did not intervene or stop the two capitals and thirteen provinces from collecting evidence of the crimes of the eunuchs who supervised the mines and collected taxes.

The East Factory is in decline, but it is not dead. If it takes action, I wonder how many "anti-eunuch" court officials will suffer the consequences.

However, Lu Fang pretended to know nothing and faced the arrows shot at the inner court and the Imperial Household Department from the outer court with his chest and arms exposed.

However, those who pretend to be confused cannot pretend to be confused all the time, because if they do, they will become really confused.

For more than 20 years, whenever Zhu Houcong meditated, Lu Fang would quietly wait by his side, adding sandalwood to the copper furnace, changing the incense sticks and candles on the altar, cleaning the altar and wiping the dust off the floor. He could move as fast as a cat, pick up objects as easily as a needle, and walk on the water without being affected by the breeze. Even Huang Jin was still a long way from achieving this level of skill.

But today, Lu Fang's power suddenly decreased drastically, and he was even worse than the new eunuch who came to Yuxi Palace to serve. At this time, he was opening the lid of the red sandalwood incense burner in front of the altar. He had just added incense and when he closed the lid, there was an unprecedented crisp sound!
Zhu Houcong's eyes suddenly opened and he looked sideways towards Lu Fang.

Lu Fang knelt down slowly.

"This is the third time you have disturbed my meditation in this month."

Zhu Houcong looked at him and said calmly, "Lv Fang, what are you afraid of?"

Lu Fang kowtowed, touched the ground lightly, and said: "Your Majesty, I am not afraid of anything around you...Your Majesty, I know I was wrong."

Zhu Houcong's eyes flickered for a moment, and he looked at Lv Fang, who was lowering his head and not daring to raise it. He seemed to be feeling something, then closed his eyes and asked, "Do you feel overwhelmed by such a large inner court?"

"Yes."

Lu Fang knelt there and replied, "Your Majesty, I am a mortal. I have no power to help the 24 offices of the inner court."

To some extent, the affairs of the inner court are more complicated than those of the outer court.

After all, the people in the palace, the emperor, the empress, the imperial concubine, concubines, etc., are all their masters. No matter how powerful the eunuchs are, they are still slaves after all, and they dare not displease the nobles in the slightest.

As for the officials outside the court, even if they were not in harmony, like the Prime Minister Zhang Juzheng and the Second Prime Minister Gao Gong, they were more wary of each other than their enemies, but no one could do anything to anyone else.

In the inner court, every step is like thin ice and every step is thrilling, so one has to be careful at all times.

But as the "internal minister", Lu Fang had many things to do besides carefully serving his master and often accompanying the emperor.

Foreign affairs include reviewing memorials, announcing imperial decrees, etc.

The internal affairs department's management of eunuchs covers all aspects.

Especially the selection system. The Ming Dynasty stipulated that anyone who voluntarily castrated himself and requested to become a eunuch must obtain approval from the government in advance. It also stipulated that only a family with four or five children could be willing to have one of their children castrated. The family would be registered by the county government and selected on the day of recruitment. Private castration was strictly prohibited. Once discovered, the person would be severely punished. In order to increase the intensity of the prohibition on private castration, it was even stipulated that neighbors who knew about it but did not report it would also be punished.

However, these regulations are difficult to implement. Unless the family really can't make ends meet, who would be willing to castrate their own children? People are already suffering, and if they are further criticized, wouldn't it make the court seem inhumane?
Therefore, in addition to those who registered according to regulations and those who were on waiting list for recruitment, the imperial courts of all dynasties also directly recruited a large number of self-castrated people who did not meet the requirements and arrived in Beijing privately.

During the Hongwu period, the Ministry of Rites was the competent government agency for recruiting eunuchs for the inner court. However, as the status of the Imperial Household Department continued to rise, the recruitment of eunuchs was gradually handled by the Imperial Household Department in conjunction with the Ministry of Rites, and finally, by the Imperial Household Department alone.

The number of people does not necessarily determine the size of power, but it can satisfy people's desire for power. The Imperial Household Department of all dynasties has been trying to increase the number of eunuchs.

When there is a good year, the treasury is abundant, so some people are added. When there is a bad year, the people are poor, so some people are added. When there is neither a good year nor a bad year, just pray for a blessing and add some people. This thing is blocked on both ends. The Silijian of all dynasties was either adding people or on the way to adding people.

Even in the early days of Lu Fang's tenure as the head of the Imperial Household Department, he was keen on adding people to the inner court. By the 41st year of Jiajing, the inner court had 12 supervisors, four departments and eight bureaus, a total of 24 yamen. Although there were not as many as 100,000 people as rumored, there were still 20,000 to 30,000 people.

If we add the Imperial Household Supply Warehouse, the Key Warehouse, the Internal Transport Warehouse, the Guangying Warehouse, the Guanghui Warehouse, the Guangji Warehouse, the Imperial Wine Room, the Imperial Tea Room, the Livestock Room, the Water-Cycle Room, the Night Watch Room, the Armour Room, the Linheng Office, the Weaving and Dyeing House, the Anle Hall and so on, the number of eunuchs, castrated and non-castrated, will add another 20,000 to 30,000.

These are only those in the capital. Don't forget that the breakthrough point for this general attack on the inner court is the eunuchs who were sent out, the Weaving Bureau, the Mining Bureau, the River Office, etc., the eunuchs in charge and those accompanying eunuchs. It would be no problem to add another 20,000 or 30,000 people.

There were some other people. The inner court said there were 100,000 of them, and that was not a lie.

Lu Fang is a hands-on person. It is impossible for him to know everything about the supervision, rewards, illness, old age, funeral, etc. of so many people, but he will review them.

In the past, the five major eunuchs of the Silijian included Huang Jin, Chen Hong, Shi Yi, and Meng Chong, in addition to Lu Fang.

Shi Yi and Meng Chong died at the beginning of the 40th year of Jiajing's reign, and Chen Hong also died at the beginning of the 41st year of Jiajing's reign. In the huge Silijian, only two eunuchs, Lu Fang and Huang Jin, were left.

Lu Fang and Huang Jin had to serve the emperor and handle various affairs in the inner court. Lu Fang had regained his youth, but he could no longer split himself, and gradually, he was unable to cope with the situation.

Power is good, but it is not good if power grows recklessly and is beyond Lu Fang's control.

Last year and this year, too many things happened in the inner court. The East Factory is no longer glorious. The Jiangnan Weaving Bureau, Zhejiang Mining Bureau, Liaodong Mining Supervision... Lu Fang is scared!

This was the real reason why Lu Fang sat back and watched the attacks from the outer court. The number of eunuchs must be reduced, even if among them was him, the eunuch who held the seal of the Imperial Household Department, he had to be reduced. Otherwise, if he went any further, he would fall into an abyss.

"troubled you."

Shengyin sighed and sank. The ministers of the cabinet, six ministries and nine officials arrived.

Led by Huang Jin, they entered the main hall. Then, the two eunuchs, Lu Fang and Huang Jin, stood on the left side of the main hall, while the five cabinet members and the nine ministers of the six ministries stood on the right side of the main hall.

Everyone was quietly waiting for the sound of a bronze chime to come from behind the curtain.

There was not a trace of wind that day. A dozen people who decided the fate of the Ming Dynasty were waiting quietly in sweat, but the sound was nowhere to be heard. The only sound that could be heard was the sound of cicadas chirping in the distance outside the hall.

More than a dozen pairs of eyes turned to Lu Fang, hoping to get some information from the emperor from his eyes and expression, but Lu Fang seemed more silent than usual, with his eyes only looking at the ground below.

Huang Jin glared at the people opposite him and asked himself, among these pillars of the country in the hall, which one had not been helped or advised by him and his godfather, but what had he gained in return?
It's a sharp knife stabbing into the heart.

There are many dirty things in the inner court that need to be solved, but there is no need to solve them in this way. He is not a power-hungry person like Chen Hong. Although he is kind, when something happens to his subordinates, he will ruthlessly let the eunuchs of the Ministry of Justice take the evidence to convict them and will never forgive the innocent.

The Cabinet and the six ministries could have handed over the evidence of the eunuchs' crimes to him, and he would have given a satisfactory reply to the outer court. However, Zhang Juzheng and others did not do so. Instead, they drew their murderous knives.

If I really kill my godfather, if I kill him, then I’ll see if the outer court can turn the situation around!
Feeling Huang Jin's angry gaze, Zhang Juzheng, Gao Gong... the cabinet ministers and officials all looked away, feeling guilty but sighing inwardly.

Huang Jin was not as experienced as Lu Fang after all. It was true that the knife from the outer court was aimed at the Silijian, but it was not aimed at Lu Fang and Huang Jin, but at the power and interests represented by the Silijian.

The eunuchs in the inner court have been firmly in control of the highly profitable industries such as tea, salt, wine, and mining, and the outer court has been jealous of them for a long time.

But in the past, officials appointed by the imperial court had many ways to make money, so even if they were jealous, they would not have to fight with the inner court.

It is not like before now. Officials appointed by the imperial court can no longer make profits by using tea permits, salt permits or simply selling private tea and private salt. The Jinyiwei are watching them too closely.

When people are poor, they tend to seek change. They will try things that they were unwilling to do before, and they must not miss out on positions that are lucrative.

Since the Yongle period of Emperor Chengzu Wen, the Ming Dynasty has relied heavily on eunuchs for 150 years. Facts have proved that there is no difference between court officials and eunuchs, and that they are even more corrupt than the former.

Your Majesty should wake up and let the court officials sit in those positions.

It is not difficult for Lu Fang, who can observe the other party's thoughts through his eyes and nose, to perceive the other party's thoughts. It is difficult for people to consider the problem from their own perspective.

Eunuchs are corrupt, and eunuchs sent abroad are even more corrupt. This makes them no different from officials appointed by the imperial court, but there is an essential difference in the direction of corruption.

No matter how greedy the eunuchs were, they could not be greedier than Chen Feng, the eunuch in charge of the Imperial Stables, who was caught by the outer court and became a typical example. However, even though they were so greedy that they put most of the money into their own pockets, Chen Feng still knew to give some money to the emperor, no matter how little it was.

And what about the court officials?

After distributing the money to his backers, superiors and colleagues, he pocketed the rest for himself, without ever thinking of the emperor for a single penny of the benefit.

This is the real reason why emperors of all dynasties allowed eunuchs to go to local areas and engage in corruption at will. No matter how rotten the meat is, it will rot in the pot.

The inner court was regarded as the emperors' own people, and as for the outer court officials, Lu Fang thought of an allusion.

"Records of the Grand Historian", Volume 53, "The Family of Prime Minister Xiao": "Emperor Gao said: 'In hunting, dogs chase and kill rabbits, while humans find and point out where the animals are. Now you can only catch the running animals, which is a merit of dogs.'"

Kung Fu dog!

It is certainly not accurate to use it to describe the ministers, because except for a few officials like Hu Zongxian, Wang Chonggu and Hai Rui who had made contributions to the country, most of the court officials had not made any contributions at all. It would be better to replace the word "merit" with "official".

'Official dog'?
'Dog official'!
No one would have thought that Lu Fang, who calmly tolerated it, could curse so foully.

Even if one is a very well-educated person, it is impossible to remain angry if one is stabbed in the back by someone whom one has helped.

With different thoughts in mind, the hall became even quieter and the cicadas' chirping in the distance became louder.

Everyone's eyes were secretly cast sideways at the two gauze curtains outside the temple.

Finally, there were footsteps inside, and the gauze curtain was slowly lifted by a hand, and Zhu Houcong walked out with a cold expression.

"Long live the emperor!" Led by Zhang Juzheng, everyone knelt down in their standing positions.

Zhu Houcong was still wearing the dark gold dragon robe. He walked slowly, so the sleeves of the robe did not flutter. He moved slowly to the chair in the middle and sat down.

"Everyone get up." Zhu Houcong's voice was a little dull.

"Long live the emperor! Long, long live the emperor!" Everyone kowtowed and stood up.

Zhu Houcong glanced at everyone as usual, and his eyes fell on Zhang Juzheng, Gao Gong, Hu Zongxian, Li Chunfang, and Wang Chonggu: "The elders should sit down."

When the ministers came to the audience, they were always given embroidered cushions, and this time was no exception. Upon hearing the emperor's words, Lu Fang and Huang Jin hurried to move the embroidered cushions. They went back and forth twice before they had enough cushions placed next to the five ministers.

Zhang, Gao, Hu, Li, and Wang did not sit down this time. Zhang Juzheng replied in a heavy voice: "The local government is abusing the people. The fault lies with the cabinet. As the prime minister, I feel ashamed to my father and emperor. Your Majesty, please let me answer while standing."

Everyone was shocked.

Even Gao Gong did not expect that the prime minister, who was always "submissive" in front of the emperor, would not say anything this time.

Local officials are poisoning the people, and the dispatched eunuchs are also poisoning the people. The local officials who are poisoning the people are killing, so what about the dispatched eunuchs?
As the head of all officials, Zhang Juzheng is guilty. Then, as the head of all eunuchs, what about Lu Fang?

In addition to this, there is inevitably a deeper meaning. If both the Foreign Minister and the Internal Minister are guilty, then is the Emperor, who is the head of the two ministers, guilty?

Lu Fang knelt down immediately.

(End of this chapter)