The carriage walked fast, stopped in front of the southeast gate of the imperial city, Lao Hu jumped out of the car, lay in the crack of the city gate and whispered a few words to the people inside, and then trotted back, to the window of the car and said: "Factory man, he is not here."

"Then go to Chengtian Gate, he will be there," Chang Yu said lazily in the car.

Lao Hu got into the car and whipped up: "Why is the factory so sure?" ”

Chang Yu chuckled: "Fang San, this guy, although he is a little cunning, but he is very thoughtful, I said he is here, he is there."

Lao Hu chuckled, silent, but a little jealous in his heart, raised his whip and hurried towards Chengtianmen, after what happened just now, he had no fear in his heart, knowing that Chang Yu had already prepared, and at this time in the imperial city, occasionally saw patrol guards, the thief did not dare to act rashly.

Chengtianmen (Tiananmen) outside is the thousand-step corridor, both sides are full of confidential departments of the yamen, although it is not mandatory for ordinary people not to approach, but the common people will not come to walk around at will, after all, the gate of the imperial city, heavily guarded, those guards are short-tempered, pleasing to the eye and scolding you a few words, not pleasing to the eye to pull over and beat, you have no place to sue.

When the carriage arrived at the North Bridge of the Jade River, it turned due west along the root of the imperial city, Lao Hu drove and looked at several yamen on the south side of the street, and suddenly said: "Factory Gong, do you say that the lord will be in the yamen of the military department at this time?" ”

Chang Yu heard this, lifted the curtain probe and looked south, the east side of the thousand-step corridor here is close to the root of the imperial city, the Zongren Mansion, the Military Department, and the Ministry of Officials, these six yamen are lined up to the south, and the one in front of him to the east of the Zongren Mansion is the yamen of the military department.

"Impossible" Chang Yu shook his head and lowered the curtain.

"It's here" Lao Hu stopped the car, and then ran quickly towards the gate of Chengtian, and after a while, he brought a person to run in a hurry: "I have seen the factory father" but it is Fang San.

Seeing that Fang San was shivering from the cold, Chang Yu beckoned him to get in the car to keep warm: "Can you see Master Shi?" ”

"Yes, but it was already past nine o'clock in the evening when he came out of the Qianqing Gate," Fang San hurriedly said.

"So late?"

Chang Yu was a little surprised, if there was no important matter, the emperor rarely kept the minister in the harem for so long.

"Yes, when the little one saw Lord Shi come out, he explained his intention to the front, but Lord Shi said that he would meet the factory supervisor another day, so he left in a hurry, and the little one had no way, and when he saw him out of the palace, he quickly followed out......"

Fang San left the palace, followed Shi Kefa to the settlement shop, and waited for Chang Yu at Chengtianmen, this wait was more than an hour, but it was enough to persevere.

"So Master Shi is outside the front door at this time, right?" Chang Yu asked, Fang San nodded vigorously: "Laifu No. 1 is in the room."

Chang Yu nodded slightly, and Lao Hu immediately went out of the city to the front door.

The south of Chengtianmen is Daming Gate, which is the nearest road to Zhengyangmen, but the thousand-step corridor is the emperor's way, if you walk on both sides of the thousand-step corridor, but drive the carriage to go, it is a big disrespect, Lao Hu does not dare, Chang Yu does not dare, so he has to go back and go around Zhengyangmen.

In front of the car to Zhengyang Gate, Lao Hu jumped out of the car and walked into the door to say something to the guards, and Fang San also ordered the car to go to the back of the car and waved in the dark, and after a while, he saw a few people coming over, but it was Jinyiwei's manpower.

"The overseer said that tonight is hard for everyone, if he wants to go out of the city, you don't have to follow, this bit of silver will be used as wine money for the brothers," Fang San said, took out an ingot of ten taels of silver and handed it over.

"Don't you dare, it's the duty of the lowly officials to protect the overseer," several brocade guards hurriedly waved their hands.

"If the overseer rewards it, just accept it," Fang San said impatiently.

Several brocade guards were a little embarrassed on their faces, and rubbed their hands and took it: "Thank you, thank you, thank you to this father-in-law."

The carriage went out of Zhengyang Gate, the scene changed, not to mention that the lights were much brighter than the inner city, after all, the front door outside the Dashanlan is a famous red light district in the capital, although the night is deep, the sound of beauty is endless, although it is not as dazzling as the neon of later generations, but it is wonderful.

Rifle Inn and Yuelai Inn in ancient times were the time-honored hotels of the national chain, and there was such a one outside the Zhengyang Gate, with a front store and a backyard, five-star level.

The so-called No. 1 upper room is an independent courtyard, quiet and elegant, but it is also expensive.

At this time, the main guest room in the small courtyard was faintly lit, who was sleepless in the middle of the night?

In the room, the candle flame is like a bean, a middle-aged man sits on the table in front of the bed, there are books and tea on the table, the man sometimes drinks tea, sometimes reads, sometimes puts down the book in his hand and stares at the candle flame frowning and pondering.

This middle-aged man is none other than the last backbone of the Ming Dynasty, the Nanjing Military Department Shangshu Shi Kefa.

。

Historically, when the thief army went north to besiege the capital, Emperor Chongzhen ordered Wu Sangui, Liu Zeqing and others to enter King Qin, but in addition to Tang Tong who brought 8,000 men and horses into Beijing, the rest of the people had their own excuses and did not come, but Shi Kefa was not called to spontaneously lead the army into King Qin, but before the road was halfway, the capital was lost, and Emperor Chongzhen hanged himself, and he was grief-stricken!

Now, when the prince was in a hurry, Emperor Chongzhen decisively removed some bigwigs in the court because of the prince's dream, and urgently summoned Shi Kefa to Beijing to fill the vacancy of the post of secretary of the military department.

After receiving the edict, Shi Kefa immediately packed his luggage and hurriedly went north.

In ancient times, when the minister took office, he had to drag his family with him, and it was inevitable that Shi Kefa would be in the military department, but he heard that the military situation in the northwest was urgent and the DPRK and China were in turmoil, so he let his family go back and set off first.

Rao is so, this thousands of miles away, the canal is frozen in winter, only relying on carriages and horses, it took nearly half a month to arrive in Beijing, and at this time Chang Yu has become famous in Taiyuan and returned victorious.

As soon as he entered the capital, regardless of the wind and dust, Shi Kefa went to the ministry to report, leaving his entourage to wait outside the Daming Gate, and first found an inn to settle down.

In ancient times, officials, whether local or Beijing, did not allocate houses, but had to solve them by themselves, and most of them rented houses.

That's right, it's indeed renting a house, and it's no different from the current North Drift, the so-called general rents a house, and that's what the prime minister means when he buys a house. The reason for this is due to many considerations, and the frequent transfer of official positions is one of them, after all, there was no concept of speculating in a house at that time, and I would not buy a house in the capital if I had nothing to do, and most of them could not afford it.

Therefore, in the Ming Dynasty, many ministers who had just entered Beijing chose to live in hotels or temples in order to save money, after all, the officials of the Ming Dynasty were generally low-paid, living in poverty, and many times they were paid salaries with food or other tables, chairs and sundries, and most of the officials at that time were really poor.

Shi Kefa didn't expect that he would be summoned by the emperor immediately after the ministry reported, and the time was so long, and the treatment was so high, the emperor not only set up a banquet for him to rub twice, but also talked with him privately about a lot of people and things, which made him flattered and shocked.

On this day, he absorbed too much of what he had seen and heard, and he had not had time to fully digest it, and when he left, he was still in the clouds, and he was stopped by a eunuch as soon as he left the Qianqing Gate, and said in a low voice: "The Governor of Dongchang Factory asked Lord Shangshu to explain."

Hearing the word factory superintendent, Shi Kefa couldn't help but shiver, from the time he first entered Beijing to hear about this person, to the ministry when he reported and listened to some more, when he arrived at the Qianqing Gate to line up outside the Qianqing Gate, he still heard him, and he was still talking after seeing Emperor Chongzhen.

This man......

He didn't dare to see him for a while, especially when he first arrived.

Out of the palace, I hurriedly went to the Daming Gate to meet the entourage that had been waiting for a long time, and then arrived at the Blessing Inn.

"How can it be so wasteful?" Seeing this pomp, Shi Kefa was dumbfounded, he was simple by nature and didn't like luxury, so he angrily reprimanded his entourage.

The entourage no longer concealed it, saying that it was arranged by the people who came out of the palace at noon, and they thought it was the emperor's love for the master, so they didn't think much about it, so they responded.

People in the palace? Shi Kefa is also in the clouds, he has few old stories in the capital, and even if he is a friend of the past, it is impossible to make a name in the palace, but he really has no acquaintances in the palace, prince? See you for the first time today, how many princes? I haven't seen it, the queen, the princess, and the concubine don't know one,

Eunuch...... No way

Maybe it was really arranged by the emperor, Shi Kefa thought of Chongzhen's attitude towards him today, and speculated that it was very likely, plus it was getting late, and he was tired, so he had to stay, and prepared to enter the palace tomorrow to thank the lord Longen.

After some washing, the exhaustion was halved, so I took the book to read, and digested what I saw and heard today.

Thinking of the eunuch, Shi Kefa had an inexplicable and indescribable feeling.

When I first entered the capital in the morning, I ate breakfast on the street, and I heard the discussion in the market, a new eunuch leader appeared in Dongchang, ruthless, even Xungui offended him and died, what came to beat people, and even caught Jinyi Wei to torture him, Shi Kefa, who listened to it, frowned, when did a big man emerge in Dongchang, what did the emperor think, has Wei Zhongxian's lesson forgotten back then.

However, soon those people began to pull again, those nobles do evil on weekdays, and it is really happy for someone to rectify it, and the big man will not only rectify the wicked, but also beat the thieves, saying that he supervised the army in Taiyuan, led an army of 100,000 to break into more than 100,000 thieves, took the lead, killed the enemy without counting, and finally beat the thieves to flee and keep Taiyuan safe.

Taiyuan is safe, but the thief army has retreated? Is it really the work of this eunuch leader? Shi Kefa looked confused, he just had to hurry for half a month, plus there was no Internet and no Weibo news in ancient times, and the matter of Taiyuan did not reach his ears at all, but the news of Taiyuan was sent to the capital every day, and the people in the capital spread it intentionally or unintentionally, and the people in the capital were all about to become storytellers.

When it came to the report of the Ministry of Officials, Shi Kefa intended to listen, but as soon as the officials of the Ministry heard the name of the big boss of the East Factory, they immediately became a cross talker, foaming at the mouth, and said that the eunuch was ruthless and did all kinds of evil, and soon after taking office, people complained and angry, but if they asked for details, no one said it, and many people had not even seen it.

When they lined up outside the Qianqing Gate to face the saint, when they greeted those officials, they heard a lot, this time the voice was different, talking about the battle of Taiyuan, some said that although the eunuch was arrogant and domineering, but Taiyuan was indispensable in the first battle, and some said that he was the overseer but occupied the command of Zhou Yuji's nest, and even disobeyed the military order and caused unnecessary casualties, and he actually brutally slaughtered and captured tens of thousands of people, the impact was very bad, and his people can be punished!

Shi Kefa is no longer confused, and he has been in the officialdom for a long time, and his judgment of a person is no longer a green head, at this time he has already become interested in this eunuch leader, but what kind of person he is, it is still a complete judgment, but judging by the ministers, he is by no means a good type, but he was born as a civil official, and he has a natural dislike for eunuchs and Dongchang, so in general, his impression of Chang Yu is also very bad.

It's just that what he didn't expect was that after meeting Emperor Chongzhen, he heard more about this eunuch leader, and it was more detailed, and after leaving the palace, he was already stunned.

What kind of person is this!

Tuk tuk, someone knocked on the door so late at night, but it was an entourage: "Master, someone outside asks to see ......" said and approached, whispered a few words, Shi Kefa stood up with a stunned face.