Compared with the promotion of civilian officials, the road to promotion of military generals is more difficult. The first is because the promotion of military generals depends on military merit. Except for the lowest-ranking junior officers, who have the opportunity to earn some military merits, middle and high-ranking generals rarely have the opportunity to obtain a unique piece of military merit. The second is because the military system of the Ming Dynasty is hereditary, which means that almost all officers inherit positions from their parents. This position limits their development path from the outset, and there is little opportunity for change. The third reason is that most of these generals have not systematically studied military knowledge, and some of them don't even know a word.

Such people are not only short-sighted but also unambitious, and it is impossible for superiors to reuse or promote them in particular. In the Ming Dynasty, except for the ten general soldiers, almost all the generals were looked down upon by the civilian officials, and the civilian officials even discriminated against these generals and looked down on their soldiers even more. Being a military general in the Ming Dynasty is the most cowardly, not only looked down upon by the civil officials, but also by the eunuchs. They did not dare to speak out loud in front of local officials, who were in charge of their supplies and salaries. They didn't dare to speak loudly from the eunuchs, because the eunuchs were sent by the emperor to supervise them, and a bad word from the eunuchs could take them down, and even cause their family to be kicked out of the army forever. Civil officials regard military generals as domestic slaves, and eunuchs do not treat military generals as human beings or even treat military generals as dogs.

Eunuchs are a very strange organization, they can treat themselves as inappropriate in front of their masters, and they can also compare themselves to the noblest people in the world in front of outsiders. Not only can they be wholeheartedly loyal to their masters, but they can also turn their faces and ruthlessly deny their relatives. Qin Tai had seen the speed at which these eunuchs changed their faces, and he had also learned the skills of these eunuchs.

Back then, King Yu and King Jing were both sons of Emperor Jiajing, and everyone had the possibility of becoming emperors. But because Yan Song, the first assistant of the cabinet, and his son were optimistic about King Jing, the eunuchs were very bloody towards King Jing, and they ignored King Yu and even a little cruel and indifferent. When King Yu gained the support of Xu Jie, Zhang Juzheng, Gao Gong and others and had a certain influence, some eunuchs came to take refuge in King Yu.

When King Jing lost the qualifications to inherit the throne, most of the eunuchs who had originally followed King Jing turned around to curry favor with King Yu. When Emperor Jiajing listened to the advice of Xu Jie and others and let King Jing go to other places to join the vassals, the eunuchs' attitude towards King Jing was indifferent. For them, King Jing lost his qualifications to be emperors and ceased to be their masters. In order to show loyalty to the new master, King Yu, they wanted to give King Jing a good look, and even began to make King Jing's family. If it weren't for the fact that Zhang Juzheng and the others couldn't look at it at that time, if it weren't for Qin Tai who couldn't bear it and spoke to King Yu together, King Jing didn't know how much more eunuchs he would have to suffer. Because of this incident, Qin Tai really saw the face of the eunuch clearly, and from then on, Qin Tai looked down on the eunuch from the bottom of his heart.

The vassal kings in the Ming Dynasty are also a group of eccentric people, they are considered nobles, but they are also the most unhappy group of people. They were all descendants of Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, but they became vassal kings because they were not qualified to be emperors. The vassal kings of the Ming Dynasty were a group of wasted people who had no office or power from the beginning, and their existence was only to continue the royal bloodline and prevent Zhu Yuanzhang's descendants from dying. Unless the emperor had no children or died early, they were not eligible to be emperors. They were not allowed to leave their palaces, meddle in local affairs, manage the army, attend official gatherings, and return to the capital. Except for the opportunity to come to the capital for a reunion between the old and new emperors, they are almost never allowed to communicate with each other privately. The emperor was not only their relatives, but at the same time did not really treat them as his own. The sons of these vassal kings are okay to say, anyway, they have been used to it from the beginning. Some princes were not used to being vassal kings when they first became vassal kings. They left their biological mother shortly after they were born, and when they were young, they were kept by a large group of eunuchs and palace maids. From the age of six, they began to study and learn culture, and at the age of twelve or thirteen, they began to be educated in the form of herding sheep. Every day, in addition to eating and etiquette and discipline, I have to sleep, and I have no freedom at all. When they reached adulthood, they didn't have time to enjoy the joy of adulthood, so they were driven away by their father or brother. Since then, they have never had the opportunity to be with their parents, and even when their mother died, they did not have the opportunity to come back to mourn. They are guarded and raised like pigs, and in addition to eating, drinking, and having fun, they will desperately have offspring. Therefore, the emperors of the Ming Dynasty are not prosperous, but the vassal kings are more likely to have children than one another. There was a vassal king who lived to be over 60 years old, and on his 60th birthday, five generations lived together, and his two-year-old youngest son and the fifth-generation descendant, the three-year-old great-grandson, paid homage to him. The three-year-old little prince should call this prince grandpa, and the child who is one year younger than himself will be called grandpa. It is said that this prince has thirty-eight sons and forty-seven daughters, the number of grandchildren is more than 300, and the number of great-grandchildren is more than 1,200, which is simply the largest breeding pig in the Ming Dynasty.

What is the relationship between the feudal kings, the local officials, the eunuchs, the family members of the cabinet chiefs who have already sent their heads to the government, and some merchants and low-ranking officials in the yamen? And what can bind them together? How could these people have the same thing? What do they have in common?

Qin Tai couldn't think of it for a while, so he had to distinguish and analyze them one by one. The vassal king is the most honorable person in the world except for the emperor, they don't have to worry about food and clothing, as long as the Ming Dynasty does not die, these princes do not have to worry about life problems. If there is any dissatisfaction or pursuit among the feudal kings, the feudal kings crave freedom and power in the name of it. Local officials have power and authority in their hands, and as long as they do not step down and are not transferred, they can do whatever they want in their own territory. By the way, local officials need their own territory to always be their own, and it is their greatest goal to always have the existing territory and obtain higher honor and status. Because the eunuchs have no fertility, they don't think about the afterlife, they just want to be beautiful when they are alive, they have endless money in their hands, and there are people under them who respect them. Fame, status, and money are all that a eunuch has.

What does Xu Jie's confidant Jia Baishun lack? He lacks prestige and connections, and he lacks the respect and fear of the common people for him. Because of Qin Tai, Jia Baishun's official luck was not good, and the people did not have due respect for this official. Jia Baishun has always hated Qin Tai to death, and the reason is because Qin Tai has destroyed his image in the eyes of officialdom and the common people. Therefore, he wants to use special means to let everyone re-understand themselves, so that the common people can fear and respect themselves again.

Businessmen have always been the most timid people, and what can make them forget that timidity is involved? What is the role of the servants? Could it be that they also knew something, so they let the vassal king and others pull them into the water?

The more Qin Tai thought about it, the more confused he became, so he had to put these questions aside for the time being and re-read Zhang Juzheng's letter again. Zhang Juzheng's letter confirmed three things, the first of which was that the vassal king had made an abnormality, and there might be collusion with local officials. The second thing is that Xu Jie, the head of the cabinet who has already been decided, seems to have moved. The third thing is that he and others suspect that there is some kind of connection between Xu Jie and the vassal king. What can make the most noble people in the world worry together? Can they let go of all their minds and be unanimous to the outside world? What exactly are they worried about? Is it necessary to be so worried? Although Qin Tai didn't know what they were worried about, Qin Tai sensed some secrets that Zhang Juzheng didn't tell from Zhang Juzheng's letter.

Qin Tai immediately invited Meng Chong to come in and asked Meng Chong to say the harmfulness of this matter without reservation. and said what secrets Xu Jie and the vassal king knew, which made Empress Dowager Li, Gao Gong, Zhang Juzheng and others restless. Qin Tai wanted to know how bad this matter was and if there was a chance to turn the situation around.