Zhu Youzhen was in a very happy mood, but the new head of the Wenhua Palace was too Ning, so he was very unhappy.

He was originally from the Dacheng clan of Beizhili, and his father was a hired farmer who lost his land, and his family was poor since he was a child, and he was born thin and weak, and he was bullied by children of the same age. When he was ten years old, a plague killed his parents, and the landlord naturally refused to raise him as a useless orphan and drove him out of the village. Since then, he has made a living by begging, suffering from white eyes, fists and kicks, and sometimes having to fight hungry dogs for food. In desperation, he thought of the very promising profession of being a eunuch.

But if you want to be a eunuch, it's not as simple as "if you want to practice magic skills, swing a sword from the palace". Don't look at this knife, it's a craft, it's often an ancestral kung fu, not just a person can do it. In those years, there were many comrades who wanted to take this road, and the fees of the "eunuchs" became higher and higher, at least five or six taels of silver. Guan Ning didn't have a big son, gritted his teeth and was ruthless, found a place where no one was, and really wielded a knife from the palace.

Isn't there another sentence at the end: Even if you are from the palace, you may not succeed. Guan Ning walked away from the ghost gate, and he was lucky to come back to life, but unexpectedly, there were too many eunuchs, and the acceptance rate was lower than the civil service examination, and he waited for several years without waiting for the opportunity to enter the palace. There is no need to go into detail about the suffering he has suffered in the past few years.

It is the so-called endless road. When Guan Ning was about to despair, the Wanli Emperor in the forty-eighth year of Yuji died, and his son Guangzong followed the crane to the west after only one month on the throne. After a battle between the open and the dark, the Emperor of the Apocalypse, who was only ten years old, ascended the throne. Wei Zhongxian took Zhu Youxiao with him when he was young, and Zhu Youxiao naturally relied on him deeply. Since then, Wei Zhongxian has risen to prominence, and his power has become more and more powerful.

The civilian-bureaucratic clique headed by the Donglin Party naturally refused to sit idly by and watch the eunuch clique compete with them for power. And Wei Zhongxian relied on the emperor's favor, but he was unlearned. He thought that he was not the opponent of the Donglin Party, so he had to frantically form a gang to strengthen his strength. Considering that the existing eunuch corps was seriously aging and could no longer meet the needs of the new struggle situation, Wei Zhongxian carried out the largest expansion of the Ming generation. Guan Ning was selected into the palace in this expansion.

He has been in the market since he was a child, and he has tasted the warmth and coldness of the world, not looking at his age, but he has been very clever. Therefore, he mixed very smoothly in the palace, and in less than three years, he was promoted from a small eunuch at the lowest level to a young eunuch step by step. Because of his outstanding performance, he was also valued by Wei Zhongxian, and he was honored to worship Wei Zhongxian as his godfather. Wei Zhongxian was also very interesting, and assigned him to Shangshan Supervisor, which was a fat shortage among the twenty-four yamen.

Just when he was looking forward to becoming the chief eunuch of Shangshan Prison in two years, or being released by his godfather, to be a town guard eunuch, or even a garrison eunuch, Wei Zhongxian suddenly sent him to Wenhua Hall as the chief eunuch.

When he was appointed, Wei Zhongxian also said to him mysteriously: "My son, don't underestimate this eunuch in charge of the Wenhua Palace. Don't look at this position, there is no oil and water to be fished, but His Royal Highness King Ning has a lot to do with our family, and it is much more important than those eunuchs who guard the town. After you take office, you don't have to worry about anything else, just be careful and take care of King Ning for me. If there is any disturbance in the Wenhua Palace, you must report what King Ning and the princess have done every day. Moreover, you have to find a way to coax him, make him trust you, spoil you, and don't guard against you in anything. At that time, it will be convenient for our family to do anything, understand? ”

How Guan Ning didn't understand his godfather's thoughts, he was also proud of being so used by Wei Zhongxian. For the sake of convenience, as soon as he took office, he came to a big change, replacing all the eunuchs and palace maids with his confidants.

Unexpectedly, on the first day, the princess gave him a dismissal, refused to eat the food sent by the Shang Shan Supervisor, and actually cooked by herself. Guan Ning knew that he didn't believe in himself, and it was not good to collide with the princess, so he had to do as he was told.

"Wait for our family to report to the godfather, and then let the godfather play long live, and if he does not abide by the ancestral system, he will not be able to eat and walk around!" Guan Ning thought hatefully in his heart.

Who knew that before he could report the news, the prince suddenly went crazy, causing Lin Youkun to break into the Wenhua Hall at night. The little eunuch who went to open the door was the most powerful person under Guan Ning, but he didn't expect to be kicked in the lower abdomen by Lin Sen, although he didn't die, he also vomited three liters of blood, and he was afraid that he wouldn't be able to get off the ground in less than a year and a half. When the matter was over, Lin Youkun didn't even let out a fart, turned around and left!

Guan Ning was shocked and angry, thinking that he had suffered such a big loss in the palace! As soon as Lin Youkun walked on the front foot, Guan Ning went straight to the East Factory on the back foot and personally reported to Wei Zhongxian.

When I arrived at the gate of the East Factory, I found that the atmosphere was different from usual. The East Factory has always been heavily guarded, but today the number of guards has doubled compared to usual, and Xu Xianzhen, the head of the East Factory, is still on duty in person.

As soon as Guan Ning saw this situation, he naturally knew that something big was happening in the East Factory. If he had changed his usual life, he might not have joined in the fun. But one felt that he was bullied by Lin Youkun today, and he didn't look for a godfather, so he was really angry; Second, he has never been on good terms with Xu Xianzhen, if he turns around and leaves when he sees him, won't he look down on him? Therefore, his heart was horizontal, and he swaggered forward as usual.

Xu Xianzhen saw that it was Guan Ning coming, and reported it with both fists, and said lukewarmly: "Isn't this Guan Gonggong?" What a rarity! My father-in-law is not serving King Ning in Wenhua Palace, so why do you come to Dongchang? ”

Guan Ning also sneered and said: "Alas, our family thought that it was a new guard standing guard here, and when we got closer, we saw it, isn't this Xu Da's stall?" What's the matter today, the big stall only cares about killing people and setting fires on weekdays, how can you have the kung fu to say hello to our family! Xu is that you have changed shifts and moved to the gate of the East Factory to be the concierge? I'm sorry, our family is looking for something 9,000 years old, see you later! "As he spoke, he was going to go inside.

Xu Xianzhen listened to Guan Ning's sneer, and was not annoyed, but just raised his hand to stop him, and said expressionlessly: "Guan Gonggong is slow." Nine thousand years old has a purpose, today in the East Manufacturers to discuss important matters, idle people are not allowed to enter, otherwise they will be killed! ”

Guan Ning was also unambiguous, his hands were crossed on his waist, and he raised his bare chin and said, "Are we idle people?" Xu Da stall, don't forget, when the nine thousand years old sent our family to Wenhua Hall to be the chief eunuch, he told our family a thousand times, if there is anything important, we must return immediately. Now that our family has something important, do you have to stop our family from entering, delaying the 9,000-year-old event, can you afford it? ”

Xu Xianzhen smiled slightly: "Father-in-law, this moment is not more than usual. If you have to go in, the lower officials will go in and say goodbye, and the nine thousand years old will tell you to enter, and you will naturally be able to enter. However, if it's boring, don't complain that the subordinate didn't remind him in advance. ”

Guan Ning was willing to believe him, and said proudly: "You just have to be polite." ”

Xu Xianzhen called the two fans around him and said: "I'll go in and be nine thousand years old, you put a good door, if you put a finch in, don't ask for your own finches!" After speaking, he glanced at Guan Ning meaningfully, and then turned around and went in.

"Phew!" Guan Ning looked at Xu Xianzhen's back and smacked viciously.

It turned out that Wei Zhongxian had many henchmen, but he was also mixed, and there were many factions under him. For example, the original Zhejiang Party, Chu Party, and Jiangxi Party, after the failure of the struggle against the Donglin Party, all hid under the big tree of Wei Zhongxian, and they were all one in name, but in fact they were still clearly distinguished, each taking its own way, but when dealing with the Donglin Party, it was just that they were temporarily united with the outside world. But in general, Wei Zhongxian's party members can be divided into two major factions: the idol faction and the powerful faction.

This idol faction is mainly dominated by the eunuchs in the palace and the officials of Dongchang and Jinyiwei. Their characteristics are: taking Wei Zhongxian as their idol, taking whiskers and horses as their main means, seizing power as their goal, and trading power for money as their ultimate goal.

The powerful faction is mainly dominated by the courtiers who are attached to Wei Zhongxian. Compared with the eunuchs who are uneducated and unskilled, or even illiterate, most of them are full of poetry and books, full of economy, and have rich experience in officialdom, which can be described as high-quality talents.

For Wei Zhongxian, the idol faction and the powerful faction are his right-hand men, and both are indispensable. When it is necessary to attack a political opponent, he selects those who are sharp in writing and outstanding in scolding from among the powerful factions, and attacks a certain minister en masse, and within a day, he has 30 or 50 impeachment memos.

When public opinion is created, it is time for the idol faction to appear, and Dongchang or Jinyiwei will take people into a prison or edict, torture them, and beat them into tricks. If you encounter a few hard-boned ones, you will simply die in prison. After that, he will install his own henchmen in the vacant seats.

However, relatively speaking, it is still the idol faction that is more trusted and reused by Wei Zhongxian. Although eunuchs cannot be officials, the vacated seats of ministers have to be selected from among powerful people. However, the eunuchs of the celebrant and the imperial horse eunuch, as well as the eunuchs and garrison eunuchs in various places, are the real powerful figures. And these heavy responsibilities naturally fall on the shoulders of idols with acquired physiological advantages.

And the idol faction and the powerful faction don't buy each other, and they both look down on each other. The idol faction is proud to be from the same door as Wei Zhongxian, they have both been stabbed, and the cultural level is also of the same level, whether in terms of emotion or temperament, they are closer than those ministers who are full of mouths, and often do not take the powerful faction in their eyes.

And the powerful faction feels that they are all ten years old, and they have worked hard to get out of the imperial examination army with their skills, and these dead eunuchs can write five words wrongly, and they have no ability, they only know how to flatter Wei Zhongxian, why should they be equal to themselves? It's just that the words "dead eunuch" don't dare to say it anyway, because Wei Zhongxian is also a dead eunuch.

This Guan Ning is the leader of the idol faction, and Xu Xianzhen is also a person who is quite used by Wei Zhongxian in the powerful faction, so it is natural that the two look down on each other.

After a short time, Xu Xianzhen returned to the gate, and said coldly: "Nine thousand years old has a purpose, and Guan Ning enters the East Factory to do things." ”

Guan Ning glanced at Xu Xianzhen triumphantly, turned his hands behind his back, shook three times in one step, and slowly stepped into the gate of the East Factory, as if he was deliberately angry with Xu Xianzhen.

But when Guan Ning walked through the courtyard and stepped into the council hall, he really regretted coming in a little.