Just when Qin Tai and the others were about to go straight to the Yuxi Palace where Jiajing Emperor Zhu Houxi lived and cultivated, in a small courtyard not very far from the Yuxi Palace, an old eunuch who looked old locked himself in his room and talked to himself.

Who is this kind-looking, but a little senile old man? Judging from his appearance, he should be a eunuch, an old eunuch who is not very imposing.

He had white hair of sterling silver, a half-worn robe, and a pair of cloth shoes with a thousand layers of soles that were very popular and cheap at the time.

He had almost no accessories on his body, no rings on his hands, no jade pendants or sachets on his waist, and very plain clothes on his body.

A person with discernment can calculate that the sum of all that this old eunuch has from head to toe is definitely not more than two taels of silver at the market price at that time.

If you see it on the street, you won't attract everyone's attention. Unless you go to the slums, you will never be watched or paid attention to.

In this deep palace, this person's dress is definitely the worst. Not to mention an old eunuch with old qualifications like him, even ordinary little eunuchs like to walk around in their eunuch uniforms to show outsiders that they are different.

Everyone rarely wears clothes that do not show their status, and they rarely wear clothes that ordinary people wear. Is this old eunuch really an inconspicuous old eunuch?

No, this old eunuch is definitely not simple. He is the Jiajing Emperor Zhu Houxi's period when he was in charge of the world, and the eunuch Lu Fang, the eunuch who held the seal.

In the Ming Dynasty, when the eunuchs were very powerful, the eunuchs represented the largest leader of the eunuch group at that time.

It is an exaggeration to say that he can cover the sky with one hand in the court, but it is absolutely normal to be able to influence the court situation. In fact, in the Ming Dynasty, the emperors were very lazy, except for the last emperor of the Ming Dynasty, Chongzhen Emperor Zhu Youzhen, every emperor was very good at enjoying life.

The Cabinet is the most responsible yamen for all officials, and is directly responsible to their subordinates to handle and approve all major military affairs.

The head of the cabinet was called Shousuke, and he was directly responsible to the emperor at the time. The main duties of the celebrant were to supervise the affairs of the cabinet and to approve and issue important decisions on behalf of the emperor.

The so-called celebrant is in charge of the seal eunuch, and the seal he controls is none other than the jade seal representing the supreme authority of the emperor.

Four eunuchs drafted the decree on behalf of the emperor or took the emperor with him

"Batch red", and finally handed over to the master of ceremonies to seal the eunuch. Anything that is not stamped does not mean that the emperor agrees, it can only be regarded as the meaning of the cabinet.

In other words, this kind of document not only does not have the highest legal effect, but also the emperor will shift all the responsibility to the cabinet chief assistant.

Therefore, the real power of the eunuch in charge of the seal is actually greater and more important than that of the first assistant of the cabinet. Of course, there is still an emperor on the head of the eunuch who holds the seal of the celebrant eunuch, and if this emperor does not trust the eunuch who holds the seal of the eunuch, this person will be doomed.

But when the emperor still trusted this minion, the power of this celebrant eunuch was quite large.

Lu Fang belongs to a relatively peaceful and self-contained person, and his ambition is not very big. During the Zhengde period, there was a eunuch named Liu Jin, who was also trusted by the Zhengde Emperor Zhu Houzhao, and the eunuch who was in charge of the seal did something out of the ordinary.

Because Emperor Zhengde Zhu Houzhao was not in the mood to deal with national affairs, he handed over military affairs to Liu Jin and Lv Tiaoyang, the first assistant of the cabinet, for a long time.

Lu Tiaoyang is not bad, but as the teacher of Emperor Zhu Houzhao of Zhengde, he is old and a little indecisive after all.

In addition, he wanted to leave a little foundation for his son, so he had to cooperate with Liu Jin. As a result, while the eunuch's power grew rapidly, it also led to Liu Jin's ambition getting out of control.

Liu Jin has become unscrupulous, what

"Two Emperors",

Titles such as "Station Emperor" appeared. At that time, there was also a children's song dedicated to Liu Jin's arrogance.

"There are two emperors in the world, one is the emperor and the other is the emperor. The emperor is called Zhengde, and he just eats and drinks. The station emperor is Liu Jin, who kills and sets fires. Jiangshan's surname is Zhu or Liu? Strange, you say, isn't it strange? It can be seen that at that time, everyone was helpless with Emperor Zhu Houzhao of Zhengde as the emperor, and they were even more dissatisfied with the eunuch's interference in various affairs.

Liu Jin also took the joke of Emperor Zhu Houzhao of Zhengde seriously and urged everyone to call him

"Nine thousand years old". The situation at that time was like this, once the Zhengde Emperor Zhu Houzhao came back from other places, Lu Tiaoyang and Liu Jin reported some work to him, of course, it was processed and whitewashed.

Emperor Zhu Houzhao of Zhengde was very satisfied with their work, saying that as long as Liu Jin was there, he could play outside with peace of mind.

If Zhengde Emperor Zhu Houzhao can live for 10,000 years, it is best for Liu Jin to live for 9,000 years to help Zhengde Emperor Zhu Houzhao manage his affairs for a longer time.

Zhengde Emperor Zhu Houzhao was telling a joke, but Liu Jin took it seriously, and he announced that Zhengde Emperor Zhu Houzhao gave it to him

The title of "nine thousand years old", that is to say, except for the Zhengde Emperor Zhu Houzhao, his status and power are the highest.

Lu Tiaoyang, who saw Liu Jin's huge ambition, finally regretted it, regretting that he should not have connived at Liu Jin's strength.

But Liu Jin is no longer able to control it, and it is not something that Lu Tiaoyang can deal with. Out of guilt and helplessness, Lu Tiaoyang found an opportunity to oust himself from power.

After Lu Tiaoyang left, Liu Jin used his henchmen to control the cabinet, and it became a situation in which Liu Jin alone had the final say.

Gradually, Liu Jin was unwilling to satisfy the fish anymore

"Nine thousand years old" is even quite a real one

"Long live the Lord". This is what happened later, after Liu Jin failed, not only was he cut by Emperor Zhu Houzhao of Zhengde, but also taught the eunuchs behind him a big lesson.

For this reason, Lu Fang is more introverted, and he is not an arrogant and domineering eunuch. In fact, the reason why Lu Fang was very loyal to Emperor Jiajing Zhu Houxi was that there were other factors.

Lu Fang was also a bitter child when he was a child, otherwise he would not have entered the palace. Lu Fang is a little different from other children, because his background is a bit weird.

His father was originally a scholar, and he had a reputation and belonged to the intellectuals. When Lu Fang was born, his biological mother passed away.

At that time, Lu Fang's father was preparing for the next year's big exam, and as long as he was successful, he could become an official. Therefore, Lu Fang's biological mother's funeral can be said to be very simple and sloppy.

At this time, the county where Lu Fang lived came to a new Bapin County Cheng. This county is born in Gongsheng, and he has a daughter who has not been out of the cabinet by his side.

This county Cheng hopes to make an investment and marry his daughter to a promising scholar, and it is best if this son-in-law becomes an official in the future, even if he can't become an official, he can enter the yamen to help him do things.

Fortunately and unfortunately, he chose Lu Fang's father, at that time, Lu Fang's father was not only a little learned but also low-key, he already had a child and a dead wife, and outsiders didn't know much.

The county found a reason to call Lu Fang's father for questioning, but Lu Fang's father didn't know whether he forgot to say it or deliberately concealed it, and did not tell the fact that he was married and had children.

The county was very satisfied with this person, and in order to fulfill his wish as soon as possible, he made the decision to give his daughter to Lu Fang's father on the same day.

In order not to offend this old man, Lu Fang's father simply came to a quick knife to cut through the mess, invited someone to talk to the matchmaker on the same day, hired the next day, and married the bride into the door on the third day.

In order not to attract everyone's attention, all the ceremonies were held in the county Cheng's house, and the people in Lu Fang's hometown did not know.

When Lu Fang's father came home with his wife, everyone was dumbfounded. This Lu Shusheng is also enough, he was alone when he went, and when he came back a few days later, he not only brought back a wife, but also a young lady with status.

Knowing this time, the bride knew that her husband not only already had a wife, she was just filling the house, and she also had to be a stepmother of a child.

Since then, this eldest lady, who has not had a very good temper, has been paired with Lu Fang's father and son, scolding her husband during the day and taking out her anger at the child at night.

Just at this time, the county received a document saying that the palace needed young children to be eunuchs. For the sake of his daughter's future, the county asked Lu Fang's father to discuss this matter.

Lu Fang's father originally resolutely disagreed, but he couldn't stand the persuasion of his father-in-law and the actual situation, so he had to agree to think about it.

Lu Fang's father knew very well that the reason why the wife of the family reacted so much was mainly for the sake of this child.

As long as the children are gone, their lives will be more stable. Besides, the county Cheng also made it clear that as long as his daughter was unhappy, he would not arrange for his son-in-law to enter the yamen.

As for Lu Fang's father's career, his career was almost broken, because he tried to buy test questions before the exam, he has been disqualified as a candidate and fined seven years and not allowed to enter the examination room again.

If the father-in-law didn't help again, Lu Fang's father's life would be ruined. For the sake of his future and his family, Lu Shusheng, who had no feelings for the child, decided to give up the child.

In this way, when Lu Fang was not too sensible, he was ruthlessly abandoned by his family and was tortured inhumanely.

Because Lu Fang was the youngest in the batch at that time, and Lu Fang had been abused by her stepmother for a long time and had poor development, Lu Fang became a little guy that no one wanted.

In the end, he was assigned to Xingwangfu and became a personal little eunuch of Xingwang's son. This year, Jiajing Emperor Zhu Houxi, who was still the son of King Xing, was four years old, and Lu Fang was eight months and three days older than Jiajing Emperor Zhu Houxi, that is, five years old.

At that time, Lu Fang didn't know that he was no longer a normal person and would never be able to pass on the lineage, but he knew one thing.

This little brother who looks a little smaller than himself, but is stronger than himself, will be the person he will take care of for the rest of his life.

Since then, Lu Fang has never left this little brother, and has experienced many, too many changes together.

When Jiajing Emperor Zhu Houxi entered the palace as emperor at the age of fifteen, he only had two cronies around him, one was the little eunuch Lu Fang who grew up with him, and the other was his maternal brother Lu Bing.

Lu Bing was born in the Jinyi Wei family, and was originally a spy who had been planted in the Xingwang Mansion for a long time, monitoring and controlling every move of the Xingwang Mansion.

But after the Lu family arrived at Xingwang's mansion, they were immediately bought by Xingwang, and Lu Bing's mother later became the nurse of Xingwang's son.

In other words, Lu Bing, like Jiajing Emperor Zhu Houxi, grew up eating the milk of the Lu family's lady. These two people grew up almost together with Jiajing Emperor Zhu Houxi, and their relationship has been very iron since childhood, of course, with Jiajing Emperor Zhu Houyu becoming emperor, their future has also changed dramatically.

Lu Fang later became the eunuch of the master of ceremonies and the eunuch of the seal, and became the second important person in the palace, and the eunuchs called Lu Fang before and after

"Old Ancestor". Lu Bing also became the commander of the Jinyi Guard and became the No. 1 spy leader under Jiajing Emperor Zhu Houxi.