With a "pop" sound, the wick of the oil lamp on the Long Case exploded with a few points of fire. This made Yan Min feel tense and secretly looked at the man who was reviewing the memorial in front of the Long Case. Chongzhen, at the same time, began to complain in his heart about the few small Huangmen who served the emperor. There must be fear in their hearts that made such omissions occur. If the emperor noticed it, I'm afraid people like themselves would be in trouble.
In the past two days, more than ten servants in the palace have been beaten to death for some minor mistakes. They either did not answer the emperor's questions in time, or disturbed the emperor's train of thought. Anyway, as long as Chongzhen got angry, he would be unlucky. These chamberlains. Originally, the status of the eunuchs in the Chongzhen Dynasty had plummeted, and they had truly become slaves. However, due to recent court affairs, the emperor was in a worse mood, so he naturally took it out on these people.
Although it was only a small matter for the lamp wick to explode with sparks, Yan Min could not guarantee that the emperor would not use this as an excuse to vent his anger on his minions. Everyone else had the same idea and looked at Chongzhen in front of Long An with trepidation, fearing that he would suddenly change his face and order them to be held accountable.
Fortunately, Chongzhen was obviously focused on the memorial in front of him at this time, and did not notice the sparks exploding from the lamp, which made all the servants heave a sigh of relief. But before they could relax, the damn oil lamp made a soft sound again, and everyone's hearts suddenly rose to their throats again.
"Huh?" The emperor was finally disturbed. He raised his head and looked at the lamp of oil: "What's going on?"
"Master, I will go and change one for you right now." Someone said quickly, just thinking about keeping Chongzhen from getting angry.
"Hmph, you slaves are becoming more and more disgraceful. I am reviewing memorials here, but you can't even do this little thing well. Why do I need you? Who is in charge here?" Chongzhen was obviously not affected. Moved by his proposal, he began to hold others accountable.
"It was a slave who took care of the lights. Please forgive me, Master." A young eunuch did not dare to hide anything and immediately knelt on the ground and kowtowed in apology. Yan Min took a look and recognized him at a glance. He was a little Huangmen below him. In the past, he was considered diligent and respectful, but this time he made a mistake, which was obviously affected by the environment. Although he felt a little pity for him, he did not dare to say a word in front of the emperor and just knelt down with everyone.
"This time there is just a problem with the wick. Next time there may be something wrong with the oil. It may even cause a fire. Even if you die, it will be difficult to offset it. This time, I cannot let you off lightly. I must To guard against potential dangers, we must make the following rules. Someone, take him to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and put him in charge of the eighty boards!" Chongzhen said coldly.
"Thank you for your kindness, Master!" The little Huangmen had already learned the lessons of the previous companions who were beaten to death, and did not dare to beg for mercy when the emperor opened his mouth, so that he might be able to save his own life.
At the third watch of the day, the emperor stopped what he was doing and went back to the palace to send news. Yan Min finally breathed a sigh of relief. He finally got through the night, but he didn't know what would go wrong tomorrow. After Yan Min left the Nuan Pavilion, he did not go back to his residence. Instead, he went to the residence of the small yellow gate. He was one of his confidants, so he wanted to check on his injuries.
"Xiao Kezi, how are you?" Yan Min asked hurriedly when he saw the other party lying motionless on the kang after entering the door.
"It's Eunuch YanXiao Kezi, thank you for coming to see me." He replied weakly. It was obvious that his injuries were serious. Thinking about it, it is true that even a strong man can't bear the Eighty-Ting Staff, let alone a weak little eunuch like him. It seems that he will not be able to get off the ground for a while.
"Actually, that's good. At least you can recuperate here during this period of time, so as not to make any mistakes again." Yan Min lifted the thin quilt covering Xiao Kezi's body and looked at it. He found that his back was rotten, and he felt in his heart It was also a tragedy, not entirely because he felt pity for the other party, but more because he thought of himself, feeling as if the rabbit was dead and the fox was sad.
"We have some golden sore medicine here. Come on, let me put some on you first." Yan Min said again.
"How can this be done? Father-in-law, you are Xiao Kezi's father. How can I trouble you to give Xiao Kezi medicine?"
"Why are you talking about this now? We slaves with six impure roots are all the same now. Do you still think it was back then? Whoever wants to take our lives now can just say a word, where is the sense of dignity? Ah." While speaking with slightly sad words, Yan Min slowly applied medicine to Xiao Kezi.
Hearing what he said, Xiao Kezi's eyes turned red again. Yes, people like me are worse than beasts now. They will kill and beat at just a word from their master. But he is already a member of the palace, what else can he do???I endured it, hoping that my master would be able to calm down as soon as possible, so that he would no longer be harsh to me and others.
"Okay, you should rest first. It's time for us to go back." Yan Min covered the little Kezi with a thin quilt and left, leaving only the little Kezi lying there full of grievances and gratitude. There, I don¡¯t know what to think.
A few days later, Xiao Kezi's injury improved a lot, and naturally he had no choice but to serve in front of Chongzhen again. After what happened last time, the servants were even more cautious and did not dare to make any small mistakes anymore.
Everything that happened in the palace these nights was seen by Xie Huo, and then he told Tang Feng truthfully. He sighed and said: "Chongzhen went to the other extreme. It is wrong for his brother to rely too much on those eunuchs, but if he does not regard the eunuchs as human beings at all, he will inevitably sow trouble for himself. The reason why Emperor Jianwen couldn't defeat his uncle and ended up missing was because he treated the eunuchs around him too harshly, which resulted in the emergence of a large number of traitors who were colluding with foreign enemies. Obviously, if his Chongzhen reign continued like this, It will inevitably follow the same path.¡±
Immediately, he asked again: "Let me ask you, when he punished the eunuchs several times, were there any close ministers around?"
"Most of the time there was no one around, but there were a few times when cabinet officials were around, and some eunuchs were severely punished for making small mistakes. Those officials prided themselves on their status and did not care about these things, which were extremely lowly in their eyes. people beg for mercy."
"This is natural. In addition to the conflicts between civil servants and military officials, they are also deeply wary of eunuchs. Now that Chongzhen is so harsh on the eunuchs around him, they are happy to see it, and naturally they will not stop it. . But in this way, these people can serve as witnesses." Tang Feng said with a flash of light in his eyes.
"Young master, what you mean is" Looking at Tang Feng's appearance, Xie Yu had already guessed something in his mind, but he still asked cautiously.
"The emperor is so harsh on the people around him. If he has any bad intentions, shouldn't the first thing these people suspect are these people who are unclean and humble in their eyes?"
"Although I say that, do they really believe such a thing? Do some eunuchs in the palace really have the courage to commit regicide?"
"Of course they don't dare, as long as someone thinks it is enough." Tang Feng chuckled: "During the early Jiajing years of the previous dynasty, didn't a palace maid murder the emperor? If a palace maid could do such a thing, then how could the eunuch do it? Can't do it?" Tang Feng said with a stern expression. His expression was natural and there was no trace of nervousness at all.
What he said about the early years of the Jiajing Dynasty was a major event that happened on October 21, the 21st year of Jiajing. Because he was devoted to Taoism, he actually thought of using the menstrual blood of the palace ladies to refine elixirs for immortality, thus killing many palace ladies. This made other palace ladies fearful and hateful. Finally, when Jiajing fell asleep that night, all the palace ladies thought of strangling Jiajing to death with a rope. It's a pity that when they were about to succeed, the rope was tied in a dead knot, so they couldn't use their strength, so they didn't kill him in the end. In the end, those palace ladies were executed, and Jiajing's character changed drastically and he no longer stayed in the palace. Because it was the year of Renyin when the incident occurred, it was called the Renyin Palace Incident.
Now that Tang Feng mentioned this matter, he obviously wanted to use this as an excuse to blame the regicide on those eunuchs.
After being confused for a while, he was stunned for a while, and finally nodded and said: "Since the young master has made a decision, I will definitely not let you down."
Tang Feng looked at him for a while and then said: "This matter is not only related to the future of our family, but also related to the future of the entire Ming Dynasty, so you must be good to him and don't be afraid because the other person is the emperor."
"Well, I remember it. I will never let him escape from my hands. Master, when will I take action?"
"Tomorrow, we can't wait any longer. Judging from the situation in the past two days, the emperor's anger has dissipated a lot. It is very likely that he will not execute the eunuchs again, so we have no excuse."
The next day, October 21st. Suitable for: breaking ground and traveling; avoid: receiving lottery tickets and litigation!
It seemed that God was also helping Tang Feng. The clouds were very thick that day. At night, there were no stars or moon, making it look particularly gloomy. So when the emperor came to the top of the palace where he daily reviewed memorials, no one would even notice. Following the cracks in the glazed tiles, Jieyuan saw everything inside. Chongzhen was reading the memorial as usual. Not far away from him, several servants were waiting carefully beside him, with low eyebrows and a hint of submissiveness in their eyes. of timidity.
Xiao Kezi¡¯s injury has not healed yet today. After standing for so long, he only felt waves of burning pain on his back, which caused faint sweat to appear on his face. But in front of the emperor??How dare he slack off in the slightest? No matter how painful it is, he must endure it. Yan Min saw something wrong with him, but there was nothing he could do about it.
At this time, Chongzhen, who had been reviewing the memorial, raised his head, and then naturally stretched out his hand to pick up the tea bowl at hand, which contained the finest old wild ginseng tea. As soon as the tea was in his mouth, Chongzhen frowned: "Who prepared this? Why is it so cold?"
"Master Master, this tea has been sitting for a while. I will go get you another bowl right now." As the head of the servants, Yan Min immediately said. At the same time, he glanced at the emperor timidly. I was afraid that this little thing would trigger his thunderous wrath.
Chongzhen glanced at him and nodded slightly. Then he suddenly said: "Your name is Yan Min, right?"
"When I return to the master, this is the name of this slave." Chongzhen never paid attention to the eunuchs around him, but he didn't expect that he would actually know his name, which made Yan Min feel flattered.
"It seems that it's you. A few nights ago, you went to his residence and had a conversation with him." Chongzhen glanced at Xiao Kezi who was standing below, which made both of them feel excited. Shiver.
"Do you know what I hate the most? It's forming cliques behind my back to deceive me. You two eunuchs actually dare to form cliques in the palace. Do you really think I don't know anything?"
"Master, Master is wronged." Xiao Kezi didn't know where he got the courage at this time. He immediately knelt down and said loudly: "Master, Eunuch Yan did come to see me that day, but he just gave me some medicine for my wounds. , there is absolutely no other, Master."
"Really? If he had nothing to do with you, how could he send you medicine overnight? Tell me, Yan Min." Chongzhen gave all the servants a cold look, which made everyone tremble with fear. .
"Please forgive me, Master. I really dare not hide anything from Master" His words were followed by people kowtowing until their faces were covered with blood.
Chongzhen stared at the two of them for a long time before he said: "Okay, I will spare you this time today. If you dare to do it again, don't blame me for punishing you."
"Thank you, Master, for your kindness." The two of them let out a loud sigh, but the worries in their hearts have not disappeared at all, because this matter has not passed, and who knows when the emperor will bring up the old matter again to punish himself. At the same time, everyone else's clothes were wet with sweat. The emperor even knew about this and used it to punish people. How could everyone live?
Yan and Ke were just getting along normally, but the emperor was so suspicious of them, so why should they still be in contact with each other? Although they are missing something, they are all human beings after all and they also need some friends. It is too sad for them to be like this now.
Chongzhen didn¡¯t think about these eunuchs at all. He just looked at everyone coldly, and then continued to review the memorial. But what he didn't know was that this incident had gradually turned the fear of the eunuchs around him into resentment. Although the resentment was not much, it had already arisen.
It was around three o'clock again, and Chongzhen stopped what he was doing and prepared to go back to the palace to sleep. All the chamberlains were also leading the way for him. Among those who were accompanying him today were Yan and Ke. After entering the palace, the emperor ordered everyone else to leave, leaving only these two people. This may be a small punishment for these two people, allowing them no rest.
After the two men carefully undressed the emperor, they retreated to the dragon couch, lit some soothing spices for the emperor, and then fell silent. They didn't notice that a black shadow had slowly fallen into the palace from above. Naturally, this person had been waiting for the opportunity to solve his doubts.
In the Nuan Pavilion, because there were too many servants, Qie Yu was not sure of solving them all at once, so he did not take action. Now that he came here with them, he found that the opportunity had arrived. There were only three people in the palace. As long as they moved quickly enough, they could make the two eunuchs fall instantly and then remove Chongzhen. Thinking of this, he stopped delaying and immediately came down from the roof, then quietly leaned towards Yan and Ke over there.
Although they were tired all day and were frightened at night, they really wanted to sleep for a while, but by the emperor's side, these two people did not dare to slack off at all. No matter how tired they were, they could not sleep. If the emperor suddenly wakes up to say hello and the two of them fall asleep again, their lives may really be in danger.
Just when the two of them were staring at each other, not daring to move or speak, Xiao Kezi suddenly saw a black shadow appear behind Yan Min, and his pupils suddenly shrank. Sensing his abnormality, Yan Min was startled. Just when he was about to turn around, he hit him on the back of the neck. Yan Min fell down without making a sound.
At this time, Xiao Kezi had already guessed that the person coming was going to be harmful to Chongzhen, and if he shouted at this time, he would still have time to turn the outsideThe guards will be called in, so Chongzhen will be fine. But at this moment, he hesitated. He suddenly thought of his companions who had died at Chongzhen's words these days, of the imperial staff he had suffered a few days ago, and of the emperor's words just now.
Deep resentment arose in his heart, and he wished that the emperor who did not treat him as a human being would die! But the person in front of him now was obviously able to help him achieve what he wanted, yet he somehow remained silent.
Although countless thoughts passed through Xiao Kezi's mind, it was only for a moment. In just such a moment, the solution to his doubts hit his arteries, and he suddenly lost consciousness.
Qian was also a little surprised by this man's reaction, but at this time he could no longer care about so much. He came to Chongzhen's dragon bed in one step, stretched out one hand and grabbed the throat of the world's number one man.
"Woo" Suddenly woke up from his dream, Chongzhen opened his eyes and saw a man in black, strangling his neck tightly with his hands. He wanted to resist, but he could no longer exert any strength in his body. He wanted to shout for help, but it was even harder to make a sound. This made Chongzhen's heart sink immediately. He never imagined that he would be assassinated in the palace.
After Tang Feng¡¯s advice, he did not use his own martial arts to kill Chongzhen, but slowly strangled his neck with his hands and suffocated him to death. Because Tang Feng wanted to make people believe that the person who killed the emperor was an ordinary eunuch.
Time passed little by little, Chongzhen's face was already red from holding back, his whole body was stiff, and only the last bit of consciousness was still there. Without a moment's hesitation, Jiejie suddenly pulled back his fingers and crushed his Adam's apple. Even the most powerful emperor is still not as important as his own son in Xie Huo's eyes.
Before watching him take his last breath, Jieyuan leaned into Chongzhen's ear and whispered: "I am Jieyuan next to Tang Feng."
Knowing who the person who killed him did not allow Chongzhen to rest in peace, but made him completely unable to rest in peace. He actually died under the instruction of this person, his former friend and assistant, the most capable minister of the court, the person he valued most, and the person he later suspected In the end, his mind went blank and he knew nothing.