The Jinyi Guard, that is, the Jinyi pro-army commanded the envoys, was the emperor's bodyguard. Formerly known as the Gongwei Division set up by Zhu Yuanzhang, it specialized in monitoring, investigating, and suppressing the illegal acts of officials. Zhu Yuanzhang successively appointed civil and military officials with his cronies to serve as "inspectors" and "specially supervised and listened to the unfairness, lawlessness and rumors of officials in Beijing's large and small yamen." In the second year of Hongwu, it was renamed the Governor's Office of the Great Inner Army, and in the fifteenth year, it was changed to Jinyiwei, as a military institution for the emperor's guards. At the same time, in order to strengthen the centralized rule, Zhu Yuanzhang specially ordered his chief to be imprisoned, gave him the right to inspect and arrest, and engaged in investigation, arrest, interrogation and other activities.

The Praetorian Guard in the capital has 48 guards, and in the fifteenth year of Hongwu, Zhu Yuanzhang decided to reform the Praetorian Guard and established 12 pro-military guards, and the most important of them is the "Jinyi Guard".

Jin Yiwei's power is very large, and once this power is too large, it is not surprising that the abuse of dictatorship is not surprising. Jin Yiwei is naturally like this, although the description of it in later generations is really a little terrifying, but there is no wind and no waves, it must be true. The officials of the court, whether they are Qing officials or traitors, also feel a kind of horror to Jinyiwei, but after two hundred years, Jinyiwei has always existed, and it can only be said that this army is really "too easy to use" for the emperor!

Maybe because of this, the emperors of the Ming Dynasty produced so many "bastards", they don't have to take care of the government personally, they know what their ministers are doing and thinking, as long as they don't betray him, the emperor doesn't ask much. Perhaps it was the peak of the centralized rule of the Ming emperor that caused the decline of the Ming Dynasty.

Of course, this knowledge speaks for itself. Now Zhang Fan can't think about it so much, he just knows that there is a commander of the Jinyi Guard in the small courtyard in front of him. Walking into the courtyard, there was a person sitting at a small table drinking tea by himself, in his forties, looking very inconspicuous, and even giving people a sense of decadence. He just glanced at Zhang Fan at the moment when Zhang Fan entered the door and stopped asking, but Zhang Fan could be regarded as having fought with the strongest army of the Ming Dynasty, and there was a faint aura of fierceness on the person in front of him, although it was very subtle, but Zhang Fan could still feel it.

Zhang Fan saw that he didn't care about himself, so he didn't come forward to talk about himself, but now when he came to report, he thought about it, and was about to step forward to speak, when the door of the room in the courtyard was opened from the inside.

"You are Zhang Fan?" The person who pushed the door out looked at Zhang Fan and asked.

"Contemptible exactly." Zhang Fan replied. He looked at the person in front of him, a very ordinary middle-aged man, but the temperament revealed looked like he was born into a rich family. The feeling of being in power is good, but it is not very strong.

"I am Zhu Xizhong." The man said, "The emperor has told me everything about you, come in and talk about it in detail." ”

"I've seen the Commander." Zhang Fan said and followed him into the house.

It's a separate room, not too big. The furnishings are very simple, no, it should be said that there are no superfluous things in the furnishings, just some calligraphy and paintings hanging on the walls. Zhang Fan can see that although these calligraphy and paintings are not the kind of priceless masterpieces, they are very tasteful, and it seems that this Zhu Xizhong is an elegant person.

"Hehe, this brocade Wei Jianwei has been in the past 200 years, but it is the first time that he has ushered in a champion!" Zhu Xizhong looked at Zhang Fan and said with a smile.

"Your Excellency is serious." Zhang Fan said, "It's not because I offended others that I was loved by the emperor, so I came here." ”

"I naturally know about you, and I even know what you and Xu Jie are for." Zhu Xizhong said.

Zhang Fan was really a little surprised when he heard his words, the contradiction between him and Xu Jie originally thought that only himself, Zhang Juzheng and Xu Jie knew, but now that Zhu Xizhong said this, he said that he didn't know how many people knew about it in Jinyiwei alone, and since Jinyiwei knew, Longqing had no reason not to know. Zhang Fan was not worried about himself, but was afraid that Longqing would know that there would be something wrong with Zhang Juzheng's thoughts.

"You don't have to worry, since I told you that, it won't be good." Zhu Xizhong saw Zhang Fan's worry and said, "Listening to what you just said, it doesn't seem that you want to come to me too much?" ”

"Your Excellency misunderstood." Zhang Fan hurriedly said, "It's not that the lower officials are unwilling, but they are a little curious when they think that they are going to serve in Jinyiwei." ”

"Oh." Zhu Xizhong said, "The emperor sent you to me, naturally with the emperor's intentions. Let me also tell you clearly, the emperor is very optimistic about you, you have to work harder. ”

"It's nature." Zhang Fan also let go a little now, and said, "I will get along with adults in the future, and I ask the adults to help me more." ”

"Hmm." Zhu Xizhong said, "We, Jinyi Wei, inspect hundreds of officials on behalf of the emperor, and the power in our hands is not small, so the emperors of previous dynasties have always been cautious in employing people here, and cronies who are not the emperor will never appoint them, and the emperor also specially instructed me to take good care of you." I heard that you have a good relationship with Feng Bao, the great eunuch of Dongchang? ”

"I have only met Grandpa Feng a few times, but I can talk about it, but I really can't call it irreversible." Zhang Fan said.

"That's enough, at least I know that Feng Bao also likes you." When Zhu Xizhong said this, he suddenly thought of something, smiled and said, "But it's really not a good thing to be taken by a eunuch!" ”

Zhang Fan listened to his words, a little speechless, he was not angry, but he felt that this commander was a little low-level and interesting.

Zhu Xizhong smiled to himself and said, "Don't talk about this, since you came to me, I have to think carefully about where you go." ”

In addition to Beijing, Jinyiwei has its branches in various places, and its base camp is in Tianjin. Zhu Xizhong was recalled to Beijing by Long Qingmi this time, but he stayed here temporarily. Naturally, there are also people stationed in the Jingshi, but not here.

Zhang Fan is a person personally recommended by Longqing, Zhu Xizhong naturally attaches great importance to it, and at that time he has been thinking about what position to give him for a long time, too high for fear that the people below will not be convinced, too low for fear that Longqing will not be able to explain.

"The emperor told me, I don't have a job here, so you can do it first." Zhu Xizhong said, "This is an inspection, but it is better to deal with the work of building a good relationship with the East Factory, since you are familiar with Feng Bao, you must be able to do it." ”

"Everything is at your command." Zhang Fan had no objections.

"In that case, Wang Meng!" Zhu Xizhong said outside the door.

The person in the courtyard came in before, and Zhu Xizhong said to Zhang Fan: "This is Wang Meng, Wang Meng, you take Zhang Yan to familiarize yourself with various places in Beijing today, I still have something to go back to Tianjin first." ”

"Yes, my lord." Wang Meng said very succinctly.

After Zhu Xizhong left, Zhang Fan wanted to have a relationship with Wang Meng, so he took the initiative to say to him: "Zhang Fan has just arrived, and today there will be Captain Lao Wang." ”

"Your Excellency, you're welcome." Wang Meng didn't say much.

"Captain Wang seems to have a prejudice against his subordinates?" Zhang Fan suddenly said, "I don't know where to offend Captain Wang?" ”

"The adult misunderstood, Wang is not good at words, not to mention that he is just carrying out the orders of the commanding adult, not having a prejudice against the adult." Wang Meng said unhurriedly.

When Zhang Fan saw him say this, he didn't say anything more. Wang Meng gave Zhang Fan a piece of Jinyiwei's waist card, and told him that this was Jinyiwei's certificate, and if there was no such thing, some places would not be able to enter. Zhang Fan took it, looked at the wooden waist card in his hand, which was engraved with the words "Jinyi Wei Shi", and put it in his arms.

Wang Meng took Zhang Fan to "run around" in the capital, Zhang Fan didn't remember these many places at first, but he felt that these places were too difficult to find, but he gradually found that this was just Wang Meng taking a lot of detours, "probably afraid of being followed by others", Zhang Fan thought in his heart.

Some places are located in very lively or conspicuous places, and most of these places are where the Jinyi Guard is located, and the people stationed are ordinary sergeants; Some places are very difficult to find, and most of them are places where the spies of the Jinyi Guard gather and sort out the news. People in these places are very enthusiastic about Zhang Fan, but they don't look down on Zhang Fan because he did things at a young age, some people know something about Zhang Fan, and some people are just very respectful, after all, connections are also a manifestation of strength.

After walking through more than a dozen bright and dark strongholds in the capital, Zhang Fan has a general understanding of Jinyiwei, and he also knows that these are just on the surface, and there must be more Jinyiwei in this capital.

"Wang ...... Violent. Zhang Fan thought that this was on the street, but it was inconvenient to say his identity, so he hurriedly changed his words, looked around, and no one paid attention to it before he said, "Since I have done a job, but I mainly deal with Dongchang, please take me there." ”

Wang Meng didn't answer, just nodded and led the way in front.

The front door of the East Factory is very clean, completely showing a series of darkness that once existed behind the gas. There are only a few factory guards at the door who are patrolling, Zhang Fan listened to Wang Meng explain that there is one person each in charge of the 1,000 households and 1,000 households in the East Factory, and they are all served by the thousands of households and the white tiger of Jinyiwei. Therefore, many of the factory guards in this east factory are from Jinyiwei.

Zhang Fan stepped forward to reveal his identity, and at that moment, someone went in to report, and someone else welcomed Zhang Fan in. Before entering the lobby of the East Factory, you can see a "Hundred Generations Liufang" archway, and you can see a large portrait of Yue Fei just after entering the lobby, which is a reminder that the East Factory Tiqi does not need to be in vain to handle the case. Zhang Fan took a look, I'm afraid this is just for outsiders to see, has Dongchang handled fewer unjust cases over the years?

Zhang Fan was crowding the lobby, and Feng Bao walked out of it.

"Master Zhang, our family has been waiting for you for a long time." Feng Bao saw Zhang Fan and said with a smile.

"Hehe, it seems that the Governor already knew that I would be here." Zhang Fan also said with a smile.

Feng Bao just smiled when he heard Zhang Fan's words, but didn't speak.

"Zhang Fan is now Jinyiwei's servant, and he will have to trouble his father-in-law in the future, so he came here today to say hello." Zhang Fan said.

"Whatever Master Zhang said, we are all doing things for the emperor, so why be polite." Feng Bao said.

The two sat down and talked. Through a conversation with Feng Bao, Zhang Fan had in-depth contact with this eunuch who seemed to be quite upright for the first time. Although Feng Bao has not read much, he is a good handwriter, and I have to say that Longqing asked him to serve as a eunuch of Bingbi, which also accounts for a large part. When Feng Bao first ascended the throne in Longqing, he was not very popular with Longqing, of course, the high arch played a great role. At that time, the position of the eunuch of the palm seal of the celebrant was vacant, and Feng Bao should have taken over according to his qualifications, but Gao Gong, a university scholar at that time, recommended Chen Hong, who was the imperial eunuch, to be promoted. Feng Bao is still a eunuch with a pen, and Feng Bao is very unhappy about this. At the beginning of this year, the official impeached Gao Gong, and Feng Bao also made a lot of efforts, but Gao Gong said that he was sick and went home to recuperate. Although he didn't fight down the high arch, Feng Bao was also very happy.

However, Feng Bao is not the kind of person who only focuses on the emperor and has no selfish intentions. The eunuch was barren and did not like beauty, but he was very fond of power and possessions. Feng Bao is now the eunuch of the celebrant eunuch, and he is also in charge of the East Factory, he thinks this right is enough, and now he is only left with the pursuit of property. It is said that even an honest and honest person like Zhang Juzheng has given Feng Bao a lot of things. It's just that Feng Bao still feels insecure now, and this greed for money has been somewhat restrained.

Zhang Fan only vaguely heard something from Feng Bao's words, and he couldn't be sure, but he had a general understanding of Feng Bao's personality. That's enough, knowing Feng Bao's weaknesses, he will naturally act well in the future.

Bidding farewell to Feng Bao and coming out of the East Factory, Zhang Fan couldn't help but think that he could calmly walk into the East Factory and come out safely, I am afraid that there are only his own people in the East Factory and Jinyiwei, and now he has become a street rat shouted and beaten by hundreds of officials of the Ming Dynasty.

Sending Zhang Fan back home, Wang Meng took his leave. Zhao didn't ask much about Zhang Fan, she was familiar with her son, at least Zhang Fan didn't seem to have any problems now. Xiao Xiangmei and Xue'er naturally couldn't see anything.

Zhang Fan was thinking about things alone in the study: "It seems that this lackey's career is about to begin, and I don't know what will happen!" He smiled self-deprecatingly.