The will of Wang Qiang to the south study saved his life and untied Concubine Li's knot. Concubine Li relied on Wang Qiang to tell stories, attracted the emperor to be lucky, and survived the difficulties, according to Concubine Rong's meaning, the next step must be to dispose of Wang Qiang, but Concubine Li is a kind person, and Wang Qiang is in love, how to give up in her heart, she is in a hesitation, seeing the emperor announcing Wang Qiang, she just took the opportunity to be relieved, only worried that Wang Qiang went to the emperor's side to expose the fake eunuch's secrets. On the night before Wang Qiang took office, Concubine Li specially summoned Wang Qiang to the dormitory, Yin Yin advised, Qu Yiwen saved a while, very reluctant, she also sewed two small purses with her own hands, put several spices in them, and tied Wang Qiang under the armpit with red thread, so that the taste of Wang Qiang has a faint aroma, covering the body odor of the man on his body. She saw that Wang Qiang's lips and chin had grown sparse fluff, considering that his beard would grow sooner or later, she also taught Wang Qiang a method, that is, to paste an ointment specially configured by the imperial doctor on the chin, soak the hair roots softly, and then use a sticky cloth to glue off the beard, although it hurts a little, but it can not hurt the skin. Wang Qiang was grateful for Concubine Li's care.

On the third day after receiving the will, Wang Qiang took office. He crossed the level of the chief eunuch and directly became the deputy chief, and his treatment was greatly improved, and the palace allocated him a separate small courtyard, and also equipped a small eunuch who served him; He also has a waist card, which he can go to outside the Forbidden City to deliver orders.

The duty of the eunuch is very simple, that is, to be by the emperor's side, ready to be sent everywhere to convey the emperor's will, although the rank of this position is not prominent, but the position is very critical, because all day long with the emperor to meet with the ministers, review and review, you can directly understand the emperor's thoughts and inside information on people, things, these information are very important for those ministers who think about the emperor's thoughts all day long, Emperor Chongzhen also learned about Wang Qiang's life experience, Knowing that he had nothing to do with the internal and external ministers, he agreed to let him fill this gap.

Although he was promoted, Wang Qiang was not satisfied with this position, he used to be in Zhongcui Palace, resting and wandering during the day, and having a beautiful woman in his arms at night, and he could also talk to Cailing Zhuer in his spare time, how carefree, but now he accompanies the emperor all day long and stands in a regular manner, can not talk nonsense, and must always be vigilant, can not be distracted, afraid that once the emperor has any orders, he does not hear, it is a sin, it is really uncomfortable. Partial Chongzhen is also a very diligent emperor, he gets up early in the morning to work, takes a nap at noon and then continues to see people to criticize the folds, often has to stay up until late at night to rest, never tired. And Chongzhen usually sleeps in the south study at night, as the deputy head of the south study, Wang Qiang has to accompany him, and he has no free time at all, so he secretly complains.

Every day after the next court, Chongzhen came to the south study to work, whenever he was tired, he would beckon Wang Qiang to tell him a story, relax and relax. Wang Qiang is quite scheming, he knows that for Chongzhen, if he blindly tells myths and funny stories, he will get tired of hearing them sooner or later, and he must tell him something useful, so he searched his intestines, sorted out his knowledge, and finally decided to tell Chongzhen about the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, because he has accumulated the richest and most detailed memories in this regard, and he feels that this book should be helpful to Chongzhen. Chongzhen knows the book Romance of the Three Kingdoms, but he hasn't read it, but he just understands some of the content in it through the drama, so listening to Wang Qiang talk about the Three Kingdoms, I think it's very interesting, and occasionally I can get some inspiration from it, I have to listen to a paragraph every day, and sometimes I invite them to listen to it when the ministers are there, and use the topic to play the training of the subordinates, for a while, the Manchu Dynasty civil and military began to study the Three Kingdoms, and the Ming Dynasty formed a Three Kingdoms fever, and Wang Qiang's reputation for telling the story of the Three Kingdoms also spread.

In the afternoon of this day, Emperor Chongzhen discussed the appointment and dismissal of a group of local officials in the south study room with several ministers, and the ministers who attended the meeting were Wen Tiren, Zhou Yanru, Chen Shaoliang, Yang Guangguang, the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, and Zhang Bingkun, the secretary of the Ministry of Rites. Yang Guangguang first reported the situation of several vacancies and candidates one by one, and several scholars considered their opinions, and then the emperor decided.

When discussing the candidate for the prefect of Suzhou, several people's opinions were different, the candidate proposed by the Ministry was Zhang Xiaodong, who was formerly the chief official of the Suzhou City Ship Division, and had outstanding political achievements in the past few years, and was deeply popular, but he was not a genuine Jinshi background, at first he was an official who spent money to donate, and later because of his outstanding political achievements, he was gradually promoted to the chief official of the City Ship Division of the fourth grade, this person is very capable, good at governing the economy, and has a high voice among the local people, but because it is a donation official, he has not been able to move forward. This time, there was a vacancy in the prefect of Suzhou, and Zhang Xiaodong felt that it was an opportunity, he first secretly encouraged the local squires to jointly promote himself to the imperial court, and then sent people to Beijing to dredge up the relationship, and gave Yang Guangguang and other officials a generous gift, so the ministry naturally recommended Zhang Xiaodong to him.

Yang Guangguang's proposal was resolutely opposed by Zhou Yanru. Zhou Yanru is one of the leaders of the Donglin Party, the Donglin Party is the representative of the world's scholars and scholars, who were persecuted and suppressed by Wei Zhongxian, and later Zhou Yanru and Wen Tiren cooperated with Chongzhen to exterminate the eunuch party, and the two also took advantage of the situation to enter the cabinet and became the powerful Zaifu. Zhou Yanru's reason for opposing it is very simple, Zhang Xiaodong is not a serious Jinshi background, if he is reused, it means that the imperial court encourages spending money to donate officials, which will hurt the heart of Shilin scholars. And Wen Tiren is not from the Donglin Party, and he secretly wrestles with Zhou Yanru for the position of the first assistant of the cabinet, so he supports the opinions of the officials and sings against Zhou Yanru. Chen Shaoliang and Zhang Bingkun were indifferent and didn't want to get involved in the dispute between the two Zaifu. Several of them debated over and over again, and Emperor Chongzhen was dizzy when he heard it, and he didn't have a fixed opinion for a while, so he thought about it, so he just rested for a while and listened to the story. He beckoned Wang Qiang and said, "Little Duozi." ”

Wang Qiang was listening attentively to the arguments of several ministers, and when he heard Chongzhen's call, he hurriedly stepped forward and replied, "The slave is here." ”

"Let's take a break, and you can tell us a story." Chongzhen commanded.

"Yes." Wang Qiang first took a warm towel and handed it to Chongzhen, waited for Chongzhen to wipe his face, and then retreated to the center of the study and began to talk about the Three Kingdoms. He was originally going to talk about Liu Bei's foothold in Xinye today and the burning of Xiahoudun with the help of Xu Shu, but he just heard the arguments of several ministers, and he had a good impression of Zhang Xiaodong, because he himself was a miscellaneous brand who was not admitted to the university, and he had no good impression of officials who studied and didn't do anything, and felt that Zhang Xiaodong should be the same as himself, and he couldn't help but feel sympathy, and he wanted to help this Zhang Xiaodong, so he decided to skip this chapter and directly talk about the paragraph of 'Three Visits to the Thatched House'.

Wang Qiang has not read the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, his stories are made up based on the impression of watching TV series, but they are more vivid and vivid, he even spoke and performed, like acting in a drama, bowed down for a while to learn Liu Bei to speak, and then showed Zhang Fei's recklessness in a thick voice, and later lay down on the ground to go to school Kong Ming slept soundly in the grass hall, Liu Bei's humility and Kong Ming's arrogance were vividly expressed, Chongzhen and several others listened to it. Wang Qiang's story really touched Chongzhen, the story was finished, Chongzhen also had a fixed opinion on Zhang Xiaodong's appointment in his heart, and at the same time he felt that this little man's son was a bit of a "admonition" to tell this story at this time, he had always tabooed the eunuchs in the inner palace to seize power and interfere in politics, and he couldn't help but feel a little vigilant in his heart.

Seeing that Wang Qiang finished speaking, Emperor Chongzhen said noncommittally: "Well, Xiaoduozi, if you go to King Zhao's mansion, I will say that I want King Zhao to enter the palace tomorrow morning to talk about something, go ahead." ”

"The slave obeys." Wang Qiang wished he could go out to get some air, so he got up and trotted out.

Chongzhen smiled and looked at the ministers in front of him and said, "Okay, it's enough to rest, you can continue to discuss." ”

Several scholars have seen the Three Kingdoms, and when they listened to the story, they wondered, why did the emperor arrange for the little eunuch to tell the story at this time, and it was such a coincidence, it was about a generation of monarchs and corporal Lixian to ask for a mountain village husband, this could not be arranged by the emperor in advance, and he intended to mention us, right? Thinking of this, Zhang Bingkun stepped forward and said: "Your Majesty, the minister was deeply inspired by this story just now, and the selection of officials for the country should be virtuous and capable, not eclectic, and should not only be based on knowledge. ”

Zhou Yanru saw that Zhang Bingkun took the lead, and hurriedly went out of class and said: "After listening to this story this time, the ministers suddenly opened, Zhang Xiaodong is familiar with the local situation, knows the way of management, and is the most suitable to be promoted to the prefect of Suzhou. ”

Emperor Chongzhen was very pleased to see the two scholars humbly reviewing, and he said with a smile: "Selecting officials for the country should be eclectic, just know about the two of you, it is normal for the courtiers to have different opinions, it is not wrong." There is no doubt about it, and the officials will draw up the vote according to this opinion. ”

After a pause, Chongzhen seemed to ask casually: "Zhongqing, in your opinion, how is this storyteller Xiao Duozi?" ”

Yang Guangguang was secretly grateful to Wang Qiang, and knew that Wang Qiang was deeply trusted by Chongzhen, and when he heard Chongzhen ask, he stepped forward and replied: "Long live back, the minister heard that the princess has a very good reputation in the palace and outside the palace, and has always been well-behaved, courteous, never ostentatious, and went back to the minister's mansion to pass the decree, I saw him running sweaty, and wanted him to drink herbal tea before leaving, but the prince actually did not accept it, which shows that he is cautious." ”

Wen Tiren knew Chongzhen's suspicious character, and he must have been a little uneasy about Zhao Qiang, so he thought about it and replied: "Long live, the minister sees that this prince is a smart and clever person. Don't hide it, since the last time I accompanied the emperor to listen to the story of the Three Kingdoms, the minister felt deeply inspired, and after returning home, he began to study the Three Kingdoms, and found that the content of the prince's speech was different from the content of this book. The minister listened to the slang of the market in the words of the prince and the vernacular, and the minister guessed that the prince obviously did not read any books seriously, and the story he told should have been heard from the storyteller, and it was processed and deduced, and he could say it so vividly and interestingly, it was all by his own talent, it can be seen that his cleverness comes from nature, so the emperor selected him by his side, which is really as wise as a torch. However, the more such people are, the more they should be disciplined to prevent them from deviating from the norm and following the old path of eunuchs. These words are not leaky, not only praise Chongzhen, but also point out Chongzhen's worries, once Wang Qiang has a problem in the future, then he also foresaw it, and he is not wrong.

Zhou Yanru secretly sighed at Wen Tiren's old treacherous slippery, and also got up and said: "Long live, Lord Wen's words are also deeply true, thinking that the prince is still young, and the wealth is not thin, and the emperor himself will be able to use it in the future. ”

Several people touted it, saying that Chongzhen was the reincarnation of Bole, Chongzhen was really happy, thinking that Wang Qiang was still a child after all, and he had never read a book, what scheming could he have, he had been serving by his side, which would have become Wei Zhongxian, and today's incident was just a coincidence.