Chapter 699: Cao Jixiang's Struggle (Fourth Update)
The Imperial Horse Warden, if you just listen to the name, it is easy to give birth to the idea that this is an institution that breeds horses for the emperor. In fact, when Emperor Taizu first set up the imperial horse supervisor, he did have such a mind and ordered him to take charge of the imperial stables.
It was only with some later changes and the change of the Son of Heaven that the power of the Imperial Horse Supervisor slowly increased, from simply managing horses for the Son of Heaven to involving military affairs.
When Zhu Qizhen heard Cao Jixiang report his identity, he was even more happy: "You were once a person in the celebrant eunuch?" Have I ever seen you? ”
"The slave and maid are fortunate to have admired the face of the sky, but because of their humble status, they can only look at His Majesty from afar. By the way, Cao Rui, the slave's godfather, was a eunuch in the hall before the celebrant eunuch, I wonder if Your Majesty still has an impression? ”
"Cao Rui?" Zhu Qizhen recalled for a while, and then remembered: "He is a diligent person, I still remember him." By the way, where is he now? ”
"Godfather...... As early as the fourteenth year of orthodoxy, he was killed. Speaking of this, Cao Jixiang's eyes were red, and he unconsciously remembered his hardships in the past few years.
As a eunuch who used to be used in the celebrant eunuch, although outsiders did not know the close connection between him and Cao Rui, he was still implicated. So when the palace carried out a big purge, Cao Jixiang was directly transferred from the celebrant to the most despicable place in the palace - the Huanyi Bureau.
The errand people in this Huanyi Bureau are all old and frail, or palace people who have made mistakes. And what they do on weekdays is not only to wash clothes, but also to clean up the dirt in the corners of the palace, and to deal with the toilets and other filth collected from the palaces every day.
Not to mention that it is dirty and tired every day, and it always has to be eaten and hanged, but where the palace is not clean enough, the responsibility must be in the Huanyi Bureau, and the eunuchs and palace maids in it are not less affected by this.
From the celebrant with extremely high power to the lowest coon clothes bureau, this is tantamount to going from heaven to hell for Cao Jixiang. But even so, he felt that he was still lucky, because he had seen with his own eyes that many people who were originally in important inner palace yamen such as the celebrant and eunuch like himself were directly charged with a crime and then beaten alive.
This made Cao Jixiang, who had just entered the Huanyi Bureau, live in fear every day, for fear that one day someone would figure out his identity, and then someone would directly take him down. This also made him more and more low-key and diligent in the yamen, and he rushed to do the dirtiest and most tiring work without anyone giving orders. Because at that time, Cao Jixiang had only one thought in his heart, that is, to live, even if he lived like an ant, it was better than dead.
As it turned out, his luck was quite good. Even if there were hundreds of palace people implicated by Wang Zhen and others, Cao Jixiang still became the fish that slipped through the net, and everyone forgot about him and forgot him in the Huanyi Bureau.
In fact, if things continue like this, his life will be like this, and it will be impossible for him to come into contact with something higher, even if he is unwilling, it will not help.
But God didn't want him to leave the scene like this, so half a year after joining the Huanyi Bureau, an opportunity appeared in front of Cao Jixiang.
On that day, a hairpin that was most cherished by a nobleman in the palace suddenly disappeared, which frightened and busted many of the stewards and eunuchs around him. They searched everywhere, and even took many suspicious people for questioning, but they never found the hairpin.
At that time, the palace where the nobleman was located rummaged inside and outside, and still found nothing, just when everyone was helpless, Cao Jixiang, who happened to receive the toilet the day before yesterday from here, suddenly thought of the hairpin may have fallen into the toilet, which is the most neglected place.
So, in front of everyone, he searched dozens of toilets for a while, completely ignoring the filth, and finally let him fish out the lost golden hairpin from a certain toilet!
No matter how precious this hairpin is, since it was found from such a disgusting place, the noble person naturally won't want it again, but she also remembered Cao Jixiang, a clever person, so she said hello to the people around her.
Many times, no matter how diligent the eunuchs and palace maids in these palaces are on weekdays, they are often not worthy of a word from the nobles. So Cao Jixiang, who had worked hard for half a year and couldn't get any benefits, quickly resurfaced because of this incident.
A month later, he was transferred from the Huanyi Bureau and entered a more decent mixed department. Then, relying on his already good kung fu of meeting and patting horses, coupled with a compliment once mentioned by the nobleman, Cao Jixiang was continuously promoted and promoted in a few years. In August last year, he entered the imperial horse supervisor, one of the most powerful important internal officials in the palace.
Although he is still only a small leader in the Imperial Horse Prison, and he has no military power, he already has a considerable status in the palace. In particular, he relied on flattery to serve Zhang Yin, the eunuch of the palm print of the current imperial horse eunuch, and he was quite trusted by Father-in-law Zhang, which made him quite prestigious in the palace, especially among those forbidden army eunuchs.
Even if he has now mixed up and no longer needs to be despised like a few years ago, Cao Jixiang still can't sleep peacefully in his sleep every night. In Mengli, he will always see his godfather Cao Rui's miserable appearance when he was pulled to death with a cane, as well as the terrible scene of countless forbidden soldiers pounced on him after his identity was revealed.
Hatred, coupled with fear, made Cao Jixiang unable to truly accept the peaceful life at this time. He knew very well that the only way to keep himself from being entangled by these nightmares was to subvert everything in the palace now!
And to do this is obviously extremely difficult. Even if he has Zhang Yin's trust, he is just a eunuch, not to mention that he has no military power, even if he does, as long as he dares to make any changes, his head will fall to the ground in an instant. Knowing this, he quickly set his goal here in Nangong, and he knew that only by borrowing the power of Zhu Qizhen, the former son of heaven, could he truly subvert everything in front of him.
So today, taking advantage of the fact that everyone in the palace was busy celebrating New Year's Day, he ventured to Nangong. And this time, his harvest was quite large, not only did he find out Zhu Qizhen's mind, but also got such a handwritten edict from him. With this, he can do many things.
Inside the palace gate, Zhu Qizhen was also silent and sighing for a while, it seems that the people he trusted before have already been eliminated by his good brother one by one. Subsequently, a resentment rose again, in fact, he had long wanted to replace himself, otherwise why was he in a hurry to get rid of Cao Rui and the others as soon as he ascended the throne?
Once this idea was born, it strengthened Zhu Qizhen's determination - first a palace eunuch like Cao Rui, and then a courtier, and now his goal has fallen on Zhu Jianshen, the prince, so what about after that? I'm afraid he's going to make a move on his brother, right? Or, his goal from the beginning was himself, and dealing with those people was just a gradual process.
Since it was Zhu Qiyu who wanted to attack him first, he couldn't blame himself for completely ignoring his brotherhood!
After thinking about this thought for a lifetime, Zhu Qizhen completely lost his hesitation: "Cao Jixiang, I will entrust this matter to you with full authority, don't let me down." As long as you can help me leave Nangong this time and live in Qianqing Palace again, then I promise you that the position of the eunuch in charge of the seal of the celebrant is yours! ”
"The slave and maid thank Your Majesty for the reward, and the slave and maid promise that even if you have your liver and brains, you will definitely do this well!" Cao Jixiang hurriedly kowtowed with a choked voice.
Hearing this, Zhu Qizhen was moved again. At this time, he had already been abandoned by all, so as long as there was someone who could still be loyal to him, it was enough for him to be excited. However, he didn't see it across the palace gate, but Cao Jixiang, who was speaking loyal words, only had a sneer on his face, and his eyes flashed with a strange light.
After that, Zhu Qizhen and Cao Jixiang talked for a while, and after the latter reassured him for a while, our emperor finally let him go with some reluctance. In the past few years, Zhu Qizhen, who has been confined here, has not been taken so seriously for too long, and he really doesn't want this wonderful feeling to disappear too soon, because it will make him feel that all this is just a sweet dream, and there will be nothing when he wakes up.
Turning around to leave the palace gate of Nangong, Cao Jixiang's face returned to its usual coldness and seriousness, and he soon came to the guards who had avoided a few zhang away: "Okay, what should be asked, what should be said is done, you go back and continue to guard." ”
Since Nangong is imprisoned here with such an important person as Zhu Qizhen, it is naturally guarded by the forbidden army. However, they happened to be the people under the head of the imperial horse supervisor, so when Cao Jixiang came under the banner of the imperial horse supervisor eunuch and even the Son of Heaven, these people could only let him close to the palace gate, and at the same time they had to avoid suspicion and avoid a distance, so they didn't know what Cao Jixiang said inside the palace gate.
Cao Jixiang didn't look weak at all when facing these guards, but told him as a matter of course: "You are all optimistic, there will be variables in the palace recently, but you can't just let people get close to Nangong here." ”
"Father-in-law, don't worry, we must be guarding this place."
"Also, our family is here today to act on a secret order, if you make a noise......"
"The little one knows that nothing has happened today, and no one has ever approached Nangong." The leader of the guards hurriedly replied smartly.
Hearing this, Cao Jixiang nodded with satisfaction, patted the other party's shoulder, and walked away. He believed that even if the other party saw something wrong, he would not dare to tell anyone, otherwise their guilt would not be small......
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The fourth watch... There should be a shift in the evening.。。。。