In July of the eighth year of the orthodoxy of Great Chu, the emperor appointed Chen Jia as the eunuch of the imperial horse supervisor and went out of the palace in plain clothes to investigate the customs of the capital. On the same day, the news reached the cabinet, and Yang Pei, the first assistant, was really worried. Since the establishment of the 24 Supervision Bureau of the Inner Court in the Taizong Dynasty, the eunuchs who have been favored by the Inner Court have a huge power, in a sense, the eunuchs have instead exercised part of the power divided by the emperor, and what they have in their hands is the imperial power.

Since the previous dynasty, the imperial examination system has gradually been completed, and the civil official group has gradually formed, which has caused a great constraint on the emperor's power.

On the one hand, this is because the emperors of the past dynasties are still wise, on the other hand, there are many talents in the outer court, and even if they have great power in the inner court, their political tactics are still too tender in the eyes of the cabinet and the old oilmen of the six ministries, and there are constant disputes in the inner court, and they are not monolithic.

Yang Peishi has gone through three dynasties, of course, he knows the affairs of the nobles of Lu Daoxi, and his political sense is extremely keen, so he is worried that the emperor will favor Chen Jia too much, which will lead to a great increase in the power of the eunuchs and affect the government and politics. You must know that the appointment of the chief eunuch of the Inner Court is not like the Six Ministries and Nine Qings, which is completely in the hands of the emperor alone, and Yang Peishi has no way to oppose it even if he wants to.

Elder Ding Ge couldn't help but ask, "Lord Yuanfu, is there anything wrong with the emperor's appointment?" ”

Yang Peishi shook his head and said, "I'm just worried that this Chen Jia, a young man, will rise suddenly, I'm afraid it will be a blessing or a curse!" Let's take another look, let's see again! ”

When the old lady returned to Yang's Mansion that day, Yulan came to Songfeng Bookstore to read the excerpt to the old lady, but found that the old lady was silent about the holy decree on the cover of a roll of yellow silk, Yulan secretly glanced at it, and also remembered the name Chen Jia.

Sure enough, as the old lady expected, Chen Jia suddenly became favored at a young age, full of energy, wearing cloth clothes and hats when he went out, and riding donkeys or mules when he traveled back and forth inside and outside the capital. For a while, the big and small things, the dialects and alleys, were heard clearly, and they were all reported to the orthodox emperor, and the emperor was happy!

The emperor's love for him is increasing day by day, but he is increasingly dissatisfied with the efficiency of the East Factory. So he had the idea of handing over the East Factory to Chen Jia to take charge. Meng Chong was shocked when he heard the news, Chen Jia had already squeezed him to the point where he was about to see the emperor's face. Although he is the famous celebrant in the inner court, the number one eunuch in Tianzi, the inner court is different from the outer court, whether the eunuch has power or not depends not only on his position, but more importantly, on whether he has holy grace. If Chen Jia holds the Dongchang Great Seal in his hands, then where will Meng Chong still have a foothold.

Meng Chong had no choice but to ask for help from the crown prince, who was now locked up at home by the emperor to study. This study is three months, and if the emperor doesn't tell him to go out, he won't dare to go out. In Yuqing Palace, he was so irritable that he was going crazy. Meng Chong came to the door and told him the news, the prince listened to it for a long time, and sighed: "Lone is also powerless!" ”

The prince did not dare to make friends with ministers in the court, except for the title of a prince, the influence was so small, then Chen Jia was dedicated to the emperor by the imperial concubine, and it was naturally clear who was in the same party. The prince thought about it, so he had to ask Meng Chong to beg Yang Yuanfu.

The prince has been Yang Peishi's grandson-in-law for so long, and he is very clear about Yuanfu's personality. He is neither loyal to the emperor nor to the crown prince, he is loyal to the whole country, and the prince can not move him, the patriarch of the three dynasties.

But it is precisely because of this that he will have extremely great prestige in the DPRK and become the leader of the civilian clique.

Even the prince didn't expect that Meng Chong found Yang Peishi just to say, Yang Peishi actually agreed, saying that he would write to the emperor the next day, and he would never let Chen Jia grasp the power of Dongchang.

Yang Peishi really did what he said, and the next day he wrote to the emperor to oppose Chen Jia's promotion to the eunuch of Dongchang. I had to put this proposal on hold for the time being.

The emperor looked at the stack of opposes Chen Jia's appointment as the eunuch of Dongchang on the imperial book case, and feels very depressed. At this time, a little eunuch outside ran in, holding a red lacquer tray in his hand: "Your Majesty, Concubine Hui of Jingyang Palace is offering a bowl of rock sugar pear soup!" ”

Since the emperor has Chen Jia by his side, he hasn't been to the palaces for a long time, thinking of Concubine Hui and his old son Ye Minzhao, he really misses it, so he drove to Jingyang Palace.

Concubine Hui waited for the emperor to eat, and Ye Minzhao also came to meet her father. The emperor was very happy to see that he was advancing and retreating properly. Concubine Hui saw that the emperor looked very tired, so she stood behind him and helped him pinch his shoulders, and the emperor sighed and said, "Aifei, I am the emperor is difficult!" "Since the assassination of Heishigou, the emperor has seen everyone like the main messenger behind the scenes, and he is also wary of Concubine Xiao, Concubine Hui has no maternal support, and her son is the youngest among the princes, and he has never shown his intention to seize the heir, there are some things that the emperor can talk to Concubine Hui.

When Concubine Hui heard this, she smiled and comforted: "Your Majesty, you are both a king and a father, and the ministers below are disobedient, so you can punish them!" Can they still turn the sky upside down? ”

The emperor sighed and said; "If only it could be as simple as Concubine Ai said!" told Concubine Hui about Chen Jia from beginning to end. "I just think that Chen Jia is a talented person, he is capable, and he is loyal to me, and I handed over the East Factory to him, but I also want him to rectify the East Factory and do a better job of investigation. Why do these civil officials, one by one, think that I am going to make him a eunuch! ”

Concubine Hui lowered her head and pondered for a moment and said, "Your Majesty, this matter is difficult to say, and it is not difficult to say that it is not difficult!" I have a way, which can not only fulfill the emperor's wishes, promote Gonggong Chen, but also make the civil officials have no excuses. ”

The emperor was overjoyed when he heard this: "If you have any good ideas for the concubine, let's hear it." ”

Concubine Hui said with a smile: "Since the civil officials don't want Gonggong Chen to enter the East Factory, why don't the emperor open another factory, just call it the West Factory, and Gonggong Chen will be the superintendent, and he can also help the emperor investigate hundreds of officials, wouldn't it be the best of both worlds!" ”

The emperor has never thought about this issue from this angle. Indeed, the civil officials are only against Chen Jia being the eunuch of the East Factory, okay, I don't want him to be the eunuch of the East Factory now, I will set up a special West Factory, you can't object anymore.

The emperor was very excited when he heard this, thought about it, and hesitated a little: "But the West Factory, Taizu Taizong has never set it up?" ”

Huifei Dao; "Before Taizong, how did you come to Dongchang?"

The queen mother's state funeral period has not yet passed, and the emperor cannot stay in Jingyang Palace, and when the emperor leaves the main hall of Jingyang Palace, the little prince walked out from behind the curtain, but his face was full of anger. "Mother, why do you want to help Chen Jia's eunuch!" Chen Jia has established a huge power network in the harem in just a few days, how can Ye Minzhao have a good impression of this eunuch who was favored and played by his father?

When he saw his mother helping this eunuch like this, the little prince was angry and disappointed, and it was very difficult to accept emotionally.

Concubine Hui came over and gently stroked the little prince's head: "Emperor, you just need to remember that no matter what the mother concubine does, it is enough for you!" ”

The emperor returned to the Qianqing Palace and urgently summoned Chen Jia to discuss. A few days later, the emperor suddenly issued an edict with lightning speed, ordering Chen Jia to establish the West Factory, and the West Factory took over the power of the East Factory and Jinyiwei, and even had the power to audit the East Factory, which was greater than that of the East Factory and Jinyiwei.

All of a sudden, Chen Jia's arrogance was monstrous, and all officials were terrified!

The emperor appointed twice as many captains as the West Factory, and the officers of the West Factory were mainly selected from the Janissaries, and these people then selected their own subordinates.

At this time, a big case happened to occur, the late Shaobao Zhang Rong's great-grandson, Fujian Jianningwei commander Tongzhi Zhang Hua rampant in the township, killing people's lives, played by the enemy, Zhang Hua entered Beijing to bribe, was detected by Chen Jia, and tortured in Xichang Prison, which was originally a good thing. However, for the sake of political achievements, Chen Jia deliberately made a big fuss about the case, implicated many ministers who had opposed him, and turned a good case into an unjust, false and wrongful case.

Chen Jia made persistent efforts and handled several major cases with one face, and the emperor's favor for him was also unmatched for a while. For a while, there were many people who came to the DPRK and China, there were many party henchmen, and the power of the West Factory was great, and the people of the time looked sideways.

Yang Peishi never thought that Chen Jia would rise so fast, he had been the first assistant for so many years, and he would definitely not have no countermeasures, and immediately united with the six ministries and nine secretaries of the DPRK and the Central Committee to give Chen Jia a fatal blow. Before going to the sparse, Yang Peishi found Ye Yichen and asked him to sign the sparse. With Ye Yichen's prestige, if he is willing to lend a hand, Chen Jia will definitely die. Ye Yichen had an ambiguous attitude and said: "This king is ordered by the Holy Lord to be in charge of the Governor's Mansion of the Five Armies, and he is only in charge of the military and does not care about political affairs. ”

Yang Peishi had no choice but to write a letter in September to impeach Chen Jia for the 12 major crimes, and the six ministries and nine Qing seconded the motion, and asked to dismiss the West Factory. For a while, the court was in turmoil, this was a struggle between the inner court and the outer court, and it was also a struggle between the famous minister and the eunuch.

Yulan has also been paying close attention to this matter, and she can't guess why the prince refuses to sign her grandfather's recital. She also understands now that Chen Jia has won the emperor's favor and is very powerful, if no one stops him, maybe he will be able to develop into the "Wei Zhongxian" and "Liu Jin" of the otherworldly world.

Now the grandfather is not facing Chen Jia, but the emperor behind Chen Jia. Since the emperor's return from the southern tour, his temperament has changed greatly, not only alienating the prince, but also the minister. If this time the struggle wins, it's okay to say, if Yang Peishi loses, maybe the whole family will be in a big disaster.

And Yang Pei has to fight!

The Yang family was all nervous, and Yulan even pushed the post sent by the Qi family, at this time, it was indeed difficult to go out again.

The two-pronged game quickly came to fruition. The emperor couldn't bear the pressure of the outer court, so he had no choice but to agree with the old lady and others and dismiss the West Factory, but the removal of the West Factory was already the emperor's limit, and he refused to put Chen Jia in prison for interrogation, but asked him to go back to the Imperial Horse Prison.

Everyone in the Yang family celebrated, and the eldest and second masters united several colleagues to write an excerpt and prepare to make persistent efforts to completely beat Chen Jia to death.

The old lady finished reading the sons' recitals, but put them away without saying a word: "This matter, let's stop here!" Chen Jia, no one should mess with him again! ”

The old man and the others were confused, but Yulan faintly understood what the old lady meant. Under the pressure of the outer court, the emperor revoked the West Factory against his will, and he was already very aggrieved in his heart. If these courtiers persecute him like this again, maybe there will be a great backlash, and then the gains will outweigh the losses. For the emperor's understanding and speculation about the sacred heart, the old lady is still much older than them.

After this incident, Chen Jia also stopped for a while. The court was calm on the surface, but in fact it was turbulent. The situation is so complicated that Yulan can't understand it. During this period of time, she has been in and out of the old lady's Songfeng Study, and she knows the process of the whole thing very well, and she has a faint uneasiness in her heart.