Chapter 581 Xinuan Pavilion, Chongzhen (1)

（o581）

[Finally, I couldn't stand it anymore and cleaned up all the garbage at home...... Hit the rat for a day...... Two small ones, scare away one big one, big win...... So I'm sorry for the delayed update. 】

North Zhili, Jingshi, Forbidden City.

In the winter at the end of November, the climate is already very cold. After touching the weather, the streets in Beijing have been quiet, which looks particularly gloomy and desolate. At the intersections of important streets, soldiers stood to check the occasional passerby. Red or white paper lanterns hang outside the gates of every house, dimly lit and swaying under the eaves.

In the dim light, you can see large woodblock printed martial law notices on the walls of each street entrance. In the narrow and long streets and alleys, there are often men carrying small lanterns, knocking on broken gongs or bangs, and the shadow of the cowering appears and disappears into the darkness. The slow, listless sound of gongs or bangs faded away in the wind.

The bitter north wind blew through one after another, rolling up the dust on the ground, constantly drifting into the air, and then throwing it down fiercely. The wind swept up the wind and sand, and slammed it on the paper window, making a popping sound. Occasionally, windows were shattered, and the sound of the owner scrambling to remedy the interior could be heard.

Every year in winter, the city of Beijing is hit by sandstorms for a period of time, which is already customary. This year's sandstorms were particularly severe. The reason for this is that the deepening drought has led to a significant reduction in the amount of vegetation and crops. In addition, the two invasions of the Tartars ravaged the northern part of the Ming Kingdom, causing a large amount of land to be barren, and even more dust was picked up by the strong wind.

The lights were very dim, and the entire Forbidden City was shrouded in silence and desolation. On the long, lonely road, there was no figure in sight. After Chongzhen took power, a large number of palace expenses were reduced, and the number of concubines, palace maids, and eunuchs was greatly reduced. The originally lively Forbidden City suddenly became much deserted overnight. A lot of the places are very desolate. The north wind kept blowing, and the bare branches kept shaking, as if they were lonely ghosts.

Suddenly, a flickering lantern appeared, as if it had suddenly appeared as a ghostly fire. Suddenly, another lantern appeared. Suddenly, there was another one. The appearance of each lantern, instead of enhancing the visibility of the surroundings, made the surroundings look even more eerie. There were three lanterns in total, reflecting six long, slender shadows. The shadow fell on top of the palace wall, completely twisted, as if it were a ghost.

Walking in front was a somewhat tired old eunuch, and walking behind were six young eunuchs. The three little eunuchs carried lanterns in their hands, and the other three little eunuchs all carried food boxes painted dark yellow. They cowered in the cold wind, walking against the wind, and the north wind was constantly blowing on their faces, and they all looked red on their cheeks.

may have felt that the palace was really a little gloomy, and the ghost spirit was too strong, and the six young little eunuchs all looked a little nervous, and followed the old eunuch in front of them closely. Only the old eunuch walked slowly, with a blank face, ignoring everything around him. Like ghosts, the group passed through the long corridor and walked in the direction of the Xinuan Pavilion of the Heart Cultivation Palace.

Finally, they came to the outside of the Xinuan Pavilion. There are also lights in the West Warm Pavilion. Soft light shone out of the room, casting a yellow halo on the open space in the doorway. At the door of Xinuan Pavilion, there were two little eunuchs standing solemnly. Seeing the lights and the figures, the six little eunuchs breathed a sigh of relief. Only the old eunuch still had a vegetarian expression.

"Smack"

Suddenly, something was thrown out of it and landed on the ground, only to be a lump, crumpled paper ball. After rolling for a distance, the paper ball slowly dispersed, and it turned out to be a red-stained piece. At the end of the recital, the red pen is faintly visible.

Before everyone could react, a little eunuch hurriedly ran out of it. The little eunuch's face was full of grievances and horror. He saw the old eunuch and the other little eunuchs coming, but he didn't have time to say hello. After picking up the piece, he hurried in again.

The old eunuch walked in slowly, as if he had returned to his own home. The laying in the Xinuan Pavilion is actually very simple, there is no furniture, only a few embroidered piers, which are reserved for others to sit on. At the very back, there is the desk. There was a young man in his twenties, dressed in a yellow dragon robe, sitting behind a desk. But seeing that he frowned, he wrote hard, and he also ignored everything around him.

In the Forbidden City, the only one wearing a yellow dragon robe was the emperor. This young man is His Majesty Zhu Youzhen, the current emperor of the Ming Kingdom. Because of the year name Chongzhen, it is generally called Emperor Chongzhen. Due to overwork in state affairs, he was only twenty-five years old, and he looked a little old, and there was a trace of white on both sides of his temples.

Chongzhen is reviewing the recital. I don't know what I saw, his emotions have been in a state of suffocation. The weather outside the West Warm Pavilion is relatively cold, but inside the Warm Pavilion, there is a delicate small stove burning. The temperature difference is too large, and Chongzhen's face looks a little too ruddy.

The arrival of the old eunuch was quiet, and did not alarm Emperor Chongzhen, who was engrossed in reviewing the recital. He waved his hand gently, and the two little eunuchs waiting next to him suddenly turned around as if they had been amnestied. Chongzhen's mood for reviewing the recital has always been bad, and the people waiting around him are all cautious, and they don't dare to breathe. I'm afraid that if I'm not careful, I'll be hit by the board.

Chongzhen didn't notice that there had been a change of person around him. He continued to review the recital. To his left, there were unreadable movements, almost as thick as three fingers, pressed against heavy white jade paperweights. To his right, all had been approved, almost the height of a slap standing up, pressed with a topaz paperweight.

The content of the recital is different, and in the face of each recital, Chongzhen's mood is of course different. I only saw him frowning for a while, gritting his teeth for a while, helpless for a while, convulsive for a while, meditating for a while, shaking his head and sighing for a while, and so on. The emperor understands the common people in the world through the music. The joys, sorrows, and sorrows of the people in the world are concentrated on his face.

"Waste"

Suddenly, Chongzhen scolded angrily, rubbed a piece of music together, and then threw it aside. It's a completely habitual knee-jerk action, and it's extremely skillful.

~ Pick it up and slowly flatten it, but I didn't look at the content above. However, the following batch of red is too conspicuous, and he still sees it. The red font is not a good word, which shows the anger in Chongzhen's heart.

"Waste"

Suddenly, Chongzhen cursed again, threw a piece of music together, and then threw it on the ground. The movements are still so skillful, completely subconscious.

The main responsibility of the two little eunuchs just now in the Xinuan Pavilion was to constantly pick up these paper balls, then carefully unfold them, flatten them, and then gently put them next to Chongzhen again. Now, the two little eunuchs have left, and only the old eunuch has done this duty alone.

Chongzhen was reviewing the chapters while throwing paper balls. Every time he threw a ball of paper, the old eunuch had to pick it up slowly, and then use his thin fingers to unfold the ball of paper, flatten it, and then carefully stack it together. What is the content of the recital, the old eunuch consciously does not look at it, but the main writer in the back is too conspicuous, as long as he opens his eyes, he can't help but see it.

The old eunuch couldn't help but shake his head slightly. Recently, the emperor's approval has too many such words. One or two sentences are acceptable, but too much. If the minister had received such a red in the past, he would definitely be panicked and panicked, and a letter of apology must be indispensable. Or even hanged himself. But now...... Alas, except for directly sending Jinyi Wei to take people, there are not too many people who are afraid of such a red pen.

"If you are a waste, you know how to reach out and ask for money"

Suddenly, Chongzhen scolded angrily again, rubbed several copies of the music fiercely, and subconsciously raised his head, wanting to throw it outside the Heart Cultivation Palace. As a result, as soon as he raised his head, he finally saw the old eunuch in the corner of his eyes. His hand slowly stopped in mid-air, and then slowly retracted. I don't throw away the paper ball in my hand.

Seeing the old eunuch's somewhat clumsy figure, Emperor Chongzhen's anger immediately eased slowly, as if he saw his relatives, and said with relief: "Big companion, you are here." ”

The one who can be qualified to be called the big companion by Emperor Chongzhen is naturally Wang Chengen, the old eunuch of the Xinwang Mansion who has served Chongzhen since he was a child. There are many favored eunuchs around Chongzhen, Gao Qiqian, Cao Huachun, and Zhang Yixian are all on the list, but the most trusted from beginning to end is still this "big companion" who has played since childhood.

Wang Chengen flattened all the movements, showed a caring smile, and said slowly: "Your Majesty, it's late at night, you can eat something first." ”

Chongzhen shook his head and said, "I'm not hungry." ”

Wang Chengen knows the character of his master, and he wants to save face and suffer the crime. If you talk to him too much, he won't change his words. He immediately beckoned lightly to the little eunuch to bring in the food box and place the supper on the small table next to him. In fact, the appearance of the food box is exquisite, but the supper inside is very simple, only millet porridge, pickles, pancakes, etc.

In order to save money, Chongzhen ordered his food expenses to be reduced from the original 1,064 taels per month to less than 400 taels, and Shangshan Jian also reduced a large number of manpower. The menu is also vegetarian. Of course, the so-called saving is just for people to see. In the corner that Chongzhen couldn't see, I don't know how much silver there was, and it was swallowed up.

Sure enough, smelling the fragrance of millet porridge, Chongzhen couldn't help it, he was indeed hungry. In front of Otomo, he doesn't need to be reserved or anything. He stood up, stretched, and sat down to the side to drink the porridge. Chongzhen has an advantage of eating, that is, it is more casual and does not need to be waited. Therefore, the other little eunuchs all retreated to the outside of the warm pavilion.

When Chongzhen drank porridge, Wang Chengen sorted out all the movements. If it was another eunuch, when sorting out the chapter, he would definitely quickly browse it, and then write down the content as a capital for his own benefits. However, Wang Chengen never did such a thing. He will definitely not take the initiative to read the content of the recital.

Unlike other eunuchs, Wang Chengen did not have any power in the past, now, or in the future. Although he is the eunuch of Dongchang and the eunuch of Zhangyin, the eunuch of ceremonies, his power is completely equal to that of Liu Jin and Wei Zhongxian in the past, but he never interferes in specific affairs, and he never expresses his opinion on political affairs.

There are pros and cons to doing so. The advantage is that it does not interfere in political affairs and has won the trust of Emperor Chongzhen. The disadvantage is that the East Factory was paralyzed, and the state organs lost their role. In the past, although Dongchang did its best to oppress the civil and military officials, which made the civil and military officials hate, it still had a relatively great use in the intelligence system. Dongchang and Jinyiwei can persecute anyone, but not the emperor. Dongchang was paralyzed, and the power of Jinyiwei was greatly reduced, which was actually not a good thing for Emperor Chongzhen.

The two emperors of Jiajing and Wanli have lived in the deep palace for a long time, and they have not been in the court for decades, and the changes in the size of the court have never been hidden. The machinery of the state still works, why? Isn't it because of the effective intelligence reconnaissance of Dongchang and Jinyiwei? As long as he masters Dongchang and Jinyiwei, the emperor's control of the world is leveraged. Therefore, some people say that as long as you grasp the factory guard, the world is not a problem.

After Chongzhen came to power, he favored the backbone of the Donglin Party. The Donglin Party hates the factory guards the most, and hates the eunuchs, so they are trying their best to crack down on the factory guards and the eunuch forces. When Chongzhen started, he also hated eunuchs, Jinyiwei, and Dongchang. Therefore, after ascending the throne, the authority of Dongchang and Jinyiwei was vigorously restricted. Wang Chengen's own power is very small, and coupled with the emperor's restrictions, the factory guards are naturally greatly injured.

When Chongzhen appeared later, without the help of the factory guards, he couldn't understand the political affairs of the world at all, and the big mistake had already been made, and there was no way to change it. The civil government group will never let the factory guard continue to sit on the throne. Under their strong resistance, Dongchang and Jinyiwei have never been successful. Speaking of the factory guards of the Chongzhen Dynasty, it is simply negligible.

"Companion, sit down for a while."

Chongzhen finished drinking the millet porridge and continued to approve the chapter.

Wang Chengen knew his master's character, and he would rather die of exhaustion than have a reputation for neglecting government, so he didn't dissuade him much. Chongzhen's temper is more stubborn, as long as it is something he recognizes, he will rarely change his mind. Even Otomo can't be persuaded. Even the concubines in the harem have a deep understanding of this. In this world, there is only one person who can make Chongzhen change his mind a little. This person is Zhang Yan, Queen of Yi'an. But she also rarely interferes in political affairs.

[Today's second shift was sent to a busy day, killing two mice, it's really tired, everyone give some recommendation votes to comfort you]