For the imperial horse eunuch, another characteristic yamen of the Ming Dynasty, it is a helplessness of all the eunuchs who are in charge of the seal.

Even Liu Jin, who dominated the inner court back then, or Lu Fang, who claimed to be the first person in the inner court, no one really controlled the imperial horse prison.

The Imperial Horse Supervisor has become a taboo for the boss of the inner court, a topic that no boss wants to mention.

In fact, the reason is very simple, it's not that they can't do it, but they don't want to do it. The Imperial Horse Supervisor was nominally a yamen responsible for the management of the royal horses, but in fact, from the very beginning, the responsibilities and authority of this yamen were clearly defined.

The emperor needs to have troops in his hands, an army that obeys the emperor's orders alone. Although the palace was guarded, these armies were not independent, and they were subject to the dual command of the military department and the governor's office of the five armies.

The emperor did not trust them, and they were not the emperor's most trustworthy sergeants. At a certain time, these people became a hidden danger to the emperor, and they monitored the emperor's every move all the time, and even threatened the emperor's safety.

Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, established the Jinyi Guard, which was responsible for the internal security, and these guards guarded the perimeter.

Later, because Jinyiwei had to monitor officials, there was a serious shortage of manpower, and Zhu Yuanzhang thought of establishing an army that only obeyed the emperor.

This army was created from the very beginning and was already out of the ordinary army sequence. In addition to the fixed military expenditure every year, no one can control this army, whether it is the military department or the governor's office of the five armies.

This army was nominally managed by the Imperial Horse Warden of the Inner Court, but in fact the emperor alone had the final say. This army is the most elite and mysterious army of the daimyo, because their mission is to protect the emperor and be responsible for the security of the forbidden palace, so everyone calls this army the forbidden army.

Because the Imperial Horse Supervisor is responsible for the day-to-day management of this army, and because the Imperial Horse Supervisor is the emperor's last line of defense, the position of the Imperial Horse Supervisor is very special.

It turned out that the head of the imperial horse eunuch was not subordinate to the celebrant eunuch, and the chief of the imperial horse eunuch was almost equal to the eunuch of the celebrant because he was in charge of the army.

In the Ming Dynasty, officials called the cabinet chief assistant

"Foreign Minister", the celebrant is the eunuch who holds the seal

"Inner Phase". so-called

"Foreign Minister" and

The "internal minister" plus the emperor who made the final decision can decide all national affairs. But the connoisseur knows

"Foreign Minister" and

At best, the "internal ministers" will only determine the future trend of the country, and the support of the military is needed to really control the situation.

The whole country was full of troops, but on the whole, in addition to the nominal Governor's Mansion of the Five Armies, there were ten towns in the entire imperial court.

Among them, there are four towns in the border pass, three towns in the capital, one town in the south of the south, and two towns in other places.

The direct managers of these ten towns are the ten most powerful generals in the army. Because Zhu Yuanzhang, the emperor, was worried that the army would not be controlled from the beginning, he canceled the position of marshal.

The daily management and training of the army in peacetime were handed over to the Governor's Office of the Five Armies to manage them separately, and later because there were ten towns, the armies under these towns were managed by their generals, and the other armies were managed by the Governor's Office of the Five Armies.

As the armies in various places went their own way, the authority of the governor's office of the five armies became smaller and smaller, and it almost became an ornament.

Everyone said that the generals of the Ten Towns were the most powerful generals in the Ming Dynasty. But those who know the inside story will say that the general of the Ten Towns is a fart in front of the head of the Imperial Horse Supervisor.

The generals of the ten towns each have a maximum of tens of thousands of horses in their hands, although they are much more powerful than ordinary local forces, but they must not be compared with the forbidden army.

The forbidden army is not comparable to any army in terms of the number and elite of the army.

Although outsiders do not know the exact number of forbidden troops, they can guess some clues through the words of some forbidden troops and the number of weapons and equipment applied for each year.

The forbidden army does not have the bad habit of falsely reporting numbers and deducting military salaries. Therefore, there can be no mistake in the number and well-equipped level of the forbidden army, and it is likely that it is the sum of two or even three towns.

Therefore, the head of the Imperial Horse Supervisor was the most elite person in charge of the army in the Ming Dynasty. No wonder there is one in the inner court

"The celebrant has a literary minister, and the imperial horse supervisor has a military commander." said. By the time of Jiajing Emperor Zhu Houxi, in order to facilitate the management of the inner court and to collect the power of the Imperial Horse Supervisor for his own use as soon as possible, Jiajing Emperor Zhu Houyu ordered the Imperial Horse Supervisor to be merged into the subordinates of the Si Li Supervisor.

In this way, the head of the Imperial Horse Eunuch can also be regarded as a subordinate of the eunuch who holds the seal of the celebrant eunuch, a eunuch of course who holds the pen.

At that time, the reason why Jiajing Emperor Zhu Houxi wanted to do this was also a helpless way. At that time, Jiajing Emperor Zhu Houxi inherited the throne as the stepson of Ming Xiaozong Zhu Youji, and he had to recognize Wuzong Zhu Houzhao, that is, the mother of the first emperor, Empress Dowager Zhang, as his mother.

Jiajing Emperor Zhu Houxi was only a teenager when he ascended the throne, and the imperial court was controlled by Yang Tinghe, the first assistant of the cabinet, and the harem was controlled by the Empress Dowager Zhang.

Jiajing Emperor Zhu Houxi became a puppet emperor, and he didn't even have a little freedom and secrets. In order to change the situation as soon as possible, Lu Fang, who was the personal eunuch of Jiajing Emperor Zhu Houxi at that time, suggested that he take control of the harem as soon as possible.

Jiajing Emperor Zhu Houxi tried his best to get much power from Yang Tinghe and Empress Dowager Zhang.

This also made Jiajing Emperor Zhu Houxi completely hate Yang Tinghe and Empress Dowager Zhang. Lu Fang became the eunuch of the celebrant eunuch, a little person with no real power at all.

But Lü Fang heard good news for his master, Jiajing Emperor Zhu Houxi. Although Empress Dowager Zhang controlled the harem, the relationship between the eunuch who was the master of ceremonies at the time and the eunuch who was in charge of the imperial horse was not good.

Taking advantage of the contradiction between the two of them, it was possible to divide the power of Empress Dowager Zhang in the harem, and buy time and opportunity for Jiajing Emperor Zhu Houxi.

For this reason, Jiajing Emperor Zhu Houxi strongly persuaded Empress Dowager Zhang to merge the Imperial Horse Supervisor into the Celebrant Supervisor, and the Chief Eunuch of the Imperial Horse Supervisor served as the Bingbi Eunuch of the Celebrant Eunuch.

On the surface, it seems that the administrative order is unified, but in fact, it is to deepen the contradiction between the eunuch in charge of the celebrant and the chief eunuch of the imperial horse, and let the two of them have friction over a trivial matter.

Soon after, the nominal subordinate of the chief of the imperial horse supervisor really quarreled with the eunuch who was in charge of the celebrant and the eunuch who held the seal.

In order to maintain the authority of the number one, Empress Dowager Zhang had to help the eunuch in charge of the celebrant seal to suppress the chief of the imperial horse eunuch.

In a fit of anger, the general manager simply secretly took refuge in Jiajing Emperor Zhu Houxi, which allowed Jiajing Emperor Zhu Houyu to have his own power in the harem.

After taking control of the overall situation, Zhu Houxi, the Jiajing Emperor, began to worry about the excessive power of the eunuchs in charge of the seal.

Therefore, he implied that Lu Fang took the initiative to divide power, and he was also testing Lu Fang's loyalty to himself. However, Lu Fang was not only loyal to Jiajing Emperor Zhu Houxi, but also regarded Jiajing Emperor Zhu Houyu as his own relative.

Lu Fang took the initiative to suggest that any eunuch who was in charge of the seal of the celebrant could not actually control the imperial horse eunuch, and took the initiative to propose that the eunuch of the master of ceremonies and the eunuch of the seal was not in charge of the East Factory himself.

Jiajing Emperor Zhu Houxi officially wrote the edict that the eunuchs could not control the imperial horse eunuchs.

From then on, every eunuch who came out of the imperial horse prison could not enter the celebrant eunuch, the person who came out of the ceremonial eunuch could not enter the imperial horse eunuch, the eunuch who came out of the imperial horse eunuch could not become the eunuch of the celebrant palm seal, and the eunuch who came out of the eunuch of the ceremonial eunuch could not directly order the imperial horse eunuch.

In this way, it is impossible for Meng Chong to have anything to do with the Imperial Horse Supervisor, and it is impossible for Li Guifei, who is in charge of the Imperial Horse Supervisor, to let Meng Chong interfere in the management of the army.

Meng Chong, as a celebrant eunuch in charge of the seal, not only could not control the spy agencies like Dongchang and Jinyiwei, but also could not manage the army, and it was impossible to completely subdue the subordinate institutions, so he was the most cowardly eunuch in charge of the seal of the celebrant and the eunuch.

In contrast, Feng Bao, the first eunuch of the ceremonial eunuch, is different. Feng Bao once worked in Dongchang and Jinyiwei, and served as the admiral eunuch of Dongchang.

Later, after entering the celebrant as a eunuch in the court, he held certain positions in various yamen under the celebrant eunuch.

Because Concubine Li Guifei controls the Imperial Horse Supervisor, Feng Bao has a good relationship with the Imperial Horse Supervisor. In addition, the current Feng Bao is in charge of the East Factory, and the concurrently manager of Jinyiwei is Feng Bao's friend, so Feng Bao is in charge of both the East Factory and Jinyiwei.

Feng Bao has more face and confidence than Meng Chong, the eunuch who holds the seal of the eunuch in the inner court. Everyone knows that Feng Baohui is the future eunuch of the master of ceremonies, and Meng Chong, the current eunuch of the master of ceremonies, is about to become obsolete.

In contrast, the relationship between Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng, Meng Chong and Feng Bao is not bad. After all, they are all minions, and Meng Chong and Feng Bao used to worship under Lu Fang, they are considered brothers.

The relationship between Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng is even more complicated. As early as when Emperor Longqing was still King Yu, because in order to make King Yu the heir to the throne earlier, they had joined forces.

But as early as when Jiajing Emperor Zhu Houxi was alive, they belonged to two camps because of disagreement.

Zhang Juzheng followed his teacher Xu Jie, Gao Gong and several other factions. This was acquiesced by Jiajing Emperor Zhu Houxi, and it was also deliberately done by Jiajing Emperor Zhu Houxi.

After Emperor Longqing ascended the throne as emperor, Xu Jie served as the first assistant of the cabinet, Gao Gong served as the second assistant of the cabinet, and Zhang Juzheng served as the second assistant

After the "cabinet walk", the contradictions quickly intensified. Later, Zhang Juzheng's views and his teacher Xu Jie were analyzed, and the cabinet became a three-legged trend.

As Xu Jie's farewell to his hometown, Gao Gong served as the first assistant of the cabinet, and Zhang Juzheng served as the second assistant of the cabinet, and everyone thought that the dust had settled.

Unexpectedly, Zhang Juzheng gave Gao Gong a few heavy punches, forcing Gao Gong to go home to recuperate. Just when Gao Gong was resting, Zhang Juzheng quickly took control of the cabinet.

With the acquiescence of Emperor Longqing, Zhang Juzheng gradually erected the high arch and became the de facto cabinet controller.

Now Gao Gong, the head of the cabinet, is waiting for retirement, and Zhang Juzheng has completely controlled the affairs of the cabinet.

The officials below have already gone through the run-in period with Zhang Juzheng, and they are waiting for Zhang Juzheng to officially become the first assistant of the cabinet.

Although Gao Gong was very reluctant, this trend could not be changed because the little emperor came to power.