In the Ming Empire, in the Forbidden City of Beijing, the great eunuch Liu Jin and Gu Dayong, Zhang Yong, Ma Yongcheng, Gao Feng and other eight most trusted eunuchs of the Zhengde Emperor were all sweating at this time.

It's not that it's hot, after all, it's only the second month of the lunar calendar. However, the pressure on the young Emperor Zhengde was too great for them, so they were sweaty.

Although Emperor Zhengde is intelligent, intelligent and courageous, because he is an only child and has no competitors, he has been spoiled since he was a child and is more willful.

Moreover, Emperor Zhu Houzhao of Zhengde also has a talent - that is, he can learn everything quickly. For example, after Liu Jin and others lured him to learn how to fight crickets, Emperor Zhengde quickly got started and became a master of fighting crickets. However, once he mastered it, Emperor Zhengde quickly lost interest and then wanted to find something else exciting. As a result, all kinds of eagles, dogs, chickens and other things that can be used for entertainment and gambling were all played by the bear child boy emperor. In the same way, these entertainment items are also tired of being played by bear children.

After getting tired of playing, the bear child naturally wants to find new fun, and the biggest task of Liu Jin and the other eight eunuchs is to help the bear child find new entertainment projects.

But where is it so easy to find new entertainment? And these eight eunuchs have basically never read and have not seen much, so they think very hard.

Originally, in the third year of Zhengde, the Emperor Xiongzi would build a leopard house to drive jackals, tigers and leopards and other fierce beasts to fight each other for fun. However, at this time, Liu Jin and the others have just gained power, and they have not yet had the ability to get so many rare and exotic beasts for Emperor Zhengde.

In addition, Liu Jin has just taken power and has not yet cleaned up the opposition. Most of the old ministers left behind in the Hongzhi Dynasty are more upright, and even if Zhengde wants to play, he will be sprayed by the ministers.

However, the ministers could stop the emperor from losing his mind, but these 8 eunuchs couldn't. Because, their power comes from the favor of the bear child. Therefore, it was not their work to admonish them. If they want to be favored and powered, they must meet all the requirements of the bear child, whether he is reasonable or not.

Now, the bear child is just tired of playing an entertainment project, and he is losing his temper at this time:

"Liu Daban, Zhang Banban...... And a few of you, think about it, what else is there to be fun? Think fast! If you want to come out, I'll be rewarded! I can't think of it, it's all on the board! "Bear children know how to threaten. Then, several eunuchs had bitter faces—Nima, and they couldn't think of being beaten again, which was really a chore.

To say that over the years, they have followed the bear child since he was still the prince. In order to please him, the general tricks have long been thought of! What fighting crickets, cockfights, dogfights, or even eagles...... They all figured it out, and there were even all kinds of gambling activities...... It's a pity that the bear child is too smart, and these things are too quick to get started. Others can play for a lifetime with one or two entertainment items, but bear children are good, and the heat will pass in three or five days. Therefore, these eunuchs are busy thinking of new entertainment projects to please the bear child.

Seeing that everyone was out of options, Liu Jin thought about it, asked the little emperor for a leave, and went out......

What is Liu Jin doing out? Naturally, I went to discuss it with someone......

There is no need to think about discussing with the other 7 eunuchs, because the 8 of them are in a competitive relationship. Now that Liu Jin has the advantage, the other 7 people can't wait to overturn him and replace him. So, don't expect the other 7 people to share their good ideas with him.

However, Liu Jin is also smart. He knows that his ability is limited, but he will attract talents......

In the DPRK, Liu Jin co-opted Jiao Fang, a cabinet scholar, as a political ally, and promoted some officials who were against him. In this way, Liu Jin gained a great voice in the court.

However, in order to curry favor with the emperor, it is not possible to find these civil officials with reputable reputations. For example, Jiao Fang, although he has an alliance with Liu Jin, is not Liu Jin's subordinate. If Liu Jin went to ask Jiao Fang how to make the bear child happy, he might be sprayed.

Therefore, what Liu Jin is looking for this time is not those political allies, but a group of chickens and dogs who are usually enveloped. Of course, there are some down-and-out readers. After all, for such a thing as a ghost idea, you still have to find some literati with a bad stomach...... And these chickens and dogs have a very loud name - diners......

If you want to say that during the Warring States Period, it was quite popular to raise diners, and the famous "Four Sons of the Warring States Period" were raised, and each family had thousands of diners.

Liu Jin himself is not smart, but he has also heard the story of the "Four Sons of the Warring States". Therefore, he also raised some chickens and dogs to help him come up with some ideas, mainly how to please the bear children......

As soon as Liu Jin returned to the mansion, a group of diners who were chickens and dogs immediately flocked over like sharks that smelled fishy. These people all looked flattering, and greeted Liu Jin:

"Dong Weng is back?"

"Dong Weng is good!"

"Dong Ong is in good health!"

……

Liu Jin waved his hand impatiently and said:

"Quiet, our family came back this time to ask everyone, is there anything new that can attract the interest of the saint?"

Suddenly, a group of people froze......

Nonsense, if you had a good idea, you would have used it to please Liu Jin a long time ago, and you would have waited until today? So, they're also helpless......

"What? Don't you think you're capable one by one? Why didn't they speak at the critical moment? To tell you the truth, the Holy One has spoken, and if there are no new and interesting things to offer, our family will also be punished. Our family has been hit by the board, don't think about it! ”

"Why don't you catch some jackals, tigers and leopards?" One diner suggested.

Liu Jin hurriedly shook his head:

"No, if you want to get jackals, tigers and leopards, you will definitely be impeached by the ministers. Gu Dayong, Zhang Yong and the other monkey cubs wish I would fall, and then take the position myself. What's more, even if our family wants jackals, tigers and leopards, we have to have a magistrate cooperate with our family to get them! ”

Liu Jin narrowly won the battle against Liu Jian, Xie Qian and other ministers in October last year. Now, although he has put his hand into the court, his foundation is still unstable. After all, if you want to control the government, you must cultivate party henchmen. But Liu Jin has only just cultivated a small number of henchmen, and he has not yet fully controlled the overall situation. Therefore, he is also afraid of impeachment for the time being. In addition, Liu Jin has no control over the local area for the time being.

"Still, what you're saying is an idea. If you can't use it now, you can use it later. But first of all, our family has to arrange for some people to go to the local government to be officials. Especially those places where there are jackals, tigers and leopards...... In this way, it is also convenient for these people to help our family capture jackals, tigers and leopards to dedicate to the Holy ......."

Through the reminders of the diners, Liu Jin suddenly found that he really needed to go out with some people and go to the place, so that he could collect rare things such as jackals, tigers and leopards through them......

Just when Liu Jin was thinking about the feasibility of the matter, a diner dressed as a scholar with thief eyebrows and rat eyes suddenly stood up:

"Dong Weng, I heard an interesting story recently, maybe it will help Dong Weng......

Liu Jin glanced at the scholar and said with a smile:

"It turned out to be a rat Xiucai, you can tell me about it."

The scholar's surname is Shu, but because he looks like a thief and a rat, and he is a rat, he is teased as a "rat showman".

In the Ming Dynasty, although it is said to be a national examination, it also depends on its appearance.

Those scholars with a face of national characters and a decent image are particularly popular. Because, such a scribe as an official can enhance the image of the court. On the contrary, a thief like Rat Xiucai, who doesn't look like a good person at first glance, often has a bumpy fate......

Rat Xiucai's literary style is actually good, but because of his obscene appearance, he has not been liked by the examiner. Therefore, his road to the imperial examination was very difficult. Mingming's literary style is not worse than that of people, but because of his obscene appearance, it may affect the image of the country, so he has been brushed down many times......

In desperation, in order to make a living, the hopeless rat Xiucai of the imperial examination took refuge in Liu Jin, who had a bad reputation......

Rat Xiucai said with a straight face:

"That's right, Dong Weng, the students have been eating in the restaurant these days, and they have heard such an interesting anecdote—it seems that a small barbarian country called Beihai Kingdom, in the land of Taixi, has presented a batch of Western guns to the imperial court, which is said to be very powerful. However, Lord Mao Cheng, the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, seemed to be prejudiced against guns, so he didn't even look at it, and sealed it in the treasury of the Ministry of Rites to eat ashes...... Because of this, the university scholars Wang Wei and Mao Cheng and Mao Shangshu saw a lot of unpleasantness......"

"Recently, the Governor of Liangguang, Chen Jin, seems to have won a great battle on the Guangxi side, and it is said that the envoy of the Beihai Kingdom sent a batch of guns to the Governor Chen Jin. And those guns had shined in the previous battles in Luorong County......"

"Later, Scholar Wang Wei quarreled with Mao Chengshangshu for this, but Mao Shangshu seemed unmoved......

……

"Hmph-Mao Cheng and Wang Wei, it's just a dog eats a dog, and we don't care who loses or who wins!" Liu Jin said impatiently. Because, whether it is Wang Wei or Mao Cheng, they all like to scare Liu Jin.

"Of course, but, Dong Weng, the point of what I am talking about below is that those Western barbarian guns should be good things! Isn't the emperor martial artistic? Dong Weng can take out those guns and cannons to please the saint! ”

"Pleasing the Holy Lord with guns?" Liu Jin hesitated.

"Exactly! Dong Weng, the emperor is still martial, and guns are sharp weapons in the army. Use it to cater to the saint, it should be in line with the emperor's taste! ”

But what if there is danger? The safety of the saints is a big deal. If there is a little problem, our family can't afford it. ”

"It's easy, find a craftsman who is proficient in firearms in the War Bureau to try whether it's safe or not. When you are safe, you will dedicate it to the Holy One! ”

"Makes sense! However, Mao Cheng's old puppet and our family don't deal with each other, how can we get things out of the warehouse of the Ministry of Rites under the jurisdiction of the old puppet? ”

"Dong Weng is now the eunuch of the master of ceremonies, and he can ask the saint to issue a decree to ask for these guns in the name of the War Bureau. I don't believe it, Mao Cheng's old puppet dares to resist the decree. If that's the case, then it's just an excuse for Dong Ong to clean him up! Rat Xiucai suggested.

"Brilliant plan! Okay, that's it! Liu Jin nodded with satisfaction.

……