On July 30, the sixteenth year of Zhengde in the Ming Dynasty, a team of more than 1,000 people came from outside Puzhou City, and the pomp was very large. The victims gathered outside the city thought it was a team escorting the relief food, so they all surrounded and begged for food, but they were driven away by those fierce and vicious men with knives, and several refugees who tried to approach a luxury carriage were even severely beaten, and it was estimated that they were not dead or disabled, and the other refugees scattered in a nest.

At this time, in the hall of the Yahoutang of Puzhou City and County, the eunuch Huang Jin was so anxious that he walked back and forth like an ant on a hot pot.

It is said that these days, Huang Jin mobilized 3,000 people from Linqingwei, and also requisitioned 30,000 people to repair the Yellow River embankment day and night, and finally closed the missing embankment on the fifth day, but the missing Xiao Huai and Xu Jin have not been heard from.

What is certain is that Xiao Huai and Xu Jin both suffered from the flood, because Huang Jin had already found some of the living Jinyiwei, and unfortunately, they confirmed that Xiao Huai and Xu Jin were indeed swept away by the flood, and it is estimated that the chances of survival are slim.

Huang Jin is just a middle-aged person, and now that Xiao Huai and Xu Jin have an accident together, he is completely confused, and he doesn't know what to do next, and now he is struggling with whether to report to Jingshi urgently for eight hundred miles, because he is worried that he will be held accountable.

Although the lack of embankments in the Yellow River is a natural disaster, Xiao Huai is a representative of the civil official group, and Xu Jin is the emperor's confidant and brother-in-law, Huang Jin is naturally afraid that he will be used as a punching bag by the two parties in the end.

Huang Jin paced back and forth in the lobby for a while, and finally gritted his teeth, took out the notebook he had written last night from his arms, handed it to a Jinyi guard, and ordered him to send it to the post station for 800 miles to report to Jingshi urgently.

As the so-called hiding from the first day of the new year, but not fifteen, the incident has happened for six days, and there is no way to hide it anymore, if the news of the death of the two Qincha is transmitted to the court through other channels, then he Huang Jin is afraid that he will be even more guilty, at least one crime of concealment and non-reporting will definitely not be able to escape.

As soon as Huang Jin finished arranging for the Jinyi guard to deliver the recital, a servant hurriedly ran in to report: "Father-in-law Huang, there is a father-in-law outside, named...... Named Huang Gonggong to go out to greet him. ”

Huang Jinzheng was in a bad mood, and couldn't help but be angry when he heard the words, and scolded: "Wild dog X, come here, ...... the dog thing outside that doesn't know whether to live or die."

Huang Jin was about to drink Ling Jinyiwei to arrest people in, but after thinking about it, the other party knew that he was ordered by order and dared to be so big, I am afraid that there is some reason, so he changed his words and said: "Let's go, my father-in-law wants to see who dares to be so arrogant." ”

Huang Jin came to the gate of the county government with dozens of brocade clothes murderously, but as soon as he went out, he saw a formation full of swords and guns, and his momentum suddenly weakened a little.

"Ouch, Gonggong Huang is okay? Our family came uninvited, I hope you don't be surprised! An old eunuch wearing a dark plate-collared robe and a gauze crown walked out with a smile on his face, and dozens of knife-wielding men with big shoulders and round waists were clustered behind him.

Huang Jin was stunned for a moment, and blurted out: "Grandpa Luo! ”

In front of him, Luo Gongcheng is Luo Xiang, a eunuch in Shandong Province, about 50 years old, and he only entered Beijing in May this year to pay homage to the new emperor Jiajing, and also paid a special visit to Huang Jin, the "red man" around the emperor, and of course also gave a valuable "meeting gift".

The town guard eunuch is also known as the town guard lieutenant. Originally, "town guard" was only the title of military attaché, and it was the military governor of the town side, and generally could only be filled by the general soldier. However, in the first year of Yongle, Zhu Di set a precedent for eunuchs to go out of the town, and while sending the town guard generals, he also sent eunuchs to accompany him, and also gave the eunuchs a princely suit, ranking above the generals and responsible for supervising the generals.

As a result, Zhu Di's son, that is, Renzong Zhu Gaochi, simply sent a eunuch as a town guard, responsible for commanding the army of a town (province), so he had the position of "town guard eunuch".

This Luo Gongcheng is a eunuch in Shandong Province, stationed in Jinan Mansion, Shandong Province, is the nominal supreme military commander of Shandong Province, and his status is still in command of the capital, and he can be an equal figure in front of the governor of a province.

Moreover, most of the town guards and eunuchs in these towns (provinces) are very wealthy, and most of the palace eunuchs in power in the Zhengde Dynasty rely on the town guards and eunuchs in these places for support. For example, Liu Jin, the powerful celebrant and eunuch in the early years of Zhengde, would receive filial piety from the eunuchs in various places every year, often tens of thousands of taels.

At this time, Luo Xiang said with a smile: "Our family has heard that Huang Gonggong was ordered to go to Shandong for disaster relief, and our family has been thinking about doing the best for the landlord, but unfortunately he has always been busy with mundane affairs and can't take a break, and he happened to be free recently, so he came to visit." ”

Although Huang Jin is the close attendant of the new monarch, his actual status in the palace is not high, and now the new monarch's throne is not stable, the civil official group is dominant, and the power of the eunuchs in the palace is not as good as before, but the eunuchs who hold real power in these places are more popular, so Huang Jin didn't dare to take the Qincha shelf in front of Luo Xiang, and said with a smile: "Grandpa Luo is too polite, please inside!" ”

Luo Xiang also took the lead, and walked towards the county office, and the fan behind him carried ten large red lacquer boxes to follow. Huang Jin couldn't help but feel warm when he saw this, and at the same time a little uneasy, although he was mediocre, he was not an idiot, he still understood the phrase "nothing to do to go to the Three Treasures Palace".

In the county Yahoutang, after Huang Jin and Luo Xiang exchanged politeness, the former ordered someone to serve wine and food. After three rounds of wine and five dishes, the atmosphere will be warm.

Luo Xiang, the eunuch guarding the town, took a sip of wine and asked quietly: "Gonggong Huang, our family heard that Lord Qincha Xiao and Lord Xu were both flooded, do you have any whereabouts now?" ”

Huang Jin suddenly said with a bitter face when he heard this: "Our family is worried about this matter, and the two of them have not heard from us now, I am afraid that there will be less luck." ”

The corners of Luo Xiang's mouth curled slightly, and he sighed: "There are unpredictable storms in the sky, who could have expected that the Yellow River lacks embankments, this has nothing to do with Huang Gonggong, and he will go directly to the imperial court, so why worry?" ”

"Senior Luo, you don't know, how arrogant those civil officials in the court are now, even the emperor has to bear their anger, now that Old Man Xiao has an accident and Xu Jin is missing, our family is afraid that we will become the scapegoat for anger!"

After all, Huang Jin is only an eighteen or nineteen-year-old rookie, and the city government is not deep, so he is the opponent of an old eunuch like Luo Xiang, and he spit bitter water to Luo Xiang in a few words, as if he had found an organization, and he couldn't wait to pour out all the words in his heart.

Luo Xiang echoed with a little anger: "That's true, now these civil officials are bullying people too much, and we also heard that Yang Tinghe is persuading the emperor to abolish the local town guards." ”

Huang Jin nodded and said: "There is indeed this matter, Yang Ting and this person are really hateful, and they have to force the emperor to recognize Xiaozong as the emperor's exam, the emperor is annoyed, and he is still consuming." ”

The eunuch group and the civil official group were originally rivals, both of them were in the eunuch camp, and at this time, when it came to Yang Tinghe's hatred for the same enemy, the atmosphere was even more familiar.

Luo Xiang suddenly rolled his eyes, and changed the topic: "Our family heard that Huang Gonggong is investigating the case of local standing liquidation and shortfall recently. ”

Huang Jin said with a smile on his face: "Yes, hey, these magistrates in Yanzhou Mansion are really daring, they even stole and sold grain stored by officials in tandem, and even the prefect, Tongzhi, and commanders also participated in it, which is simply heartbroken and shocking." ”

Luo Xiang took a sip of his wine glass and said lightly: "If it is said that local state and county officials steal and sell stored grain, our family believes it, but when it comes to the involvement of government-level officials, our family does not believe it." ”

Huang Jin pouted and said, "Father-in-law Luo, our family has even searched out the account books." ”

"The ledger can also be forged, maybe it was deliberately framed, Huang Gonggong, do you say it...... Well? Luo Xiang stared at Huang Jin intently.

Huang Jin was stunned for a moment, and then his face changed, when it came to this, if he didn't understand, then he was really an idiot.

Luo Xiang smiled and clapped his hands, and the fan at the patio carried ten heavy boxes in, and opened the lids of the boxes one by one, and suddenly the room was full of jewels, and the gold, silver and jewelry were dazzling.

Luo Xiang smiled and said: "Huang Gonggong, there are two thousand taels of gold, 20,000 taels of silver, two boxes of jewelry and jade, and two boxes of medicinal materials, all of which are ginseng, dendrobium, shou wu, notoginseng and the like, which are not worth anything. ”

Huang Jin's eyelids jumped for a while, he really made a lot of money during this time, but the total value was less than half of what was here.

"Grandpa Luo, you ...... What does that mean? "Huang Jin eats authentically.

Luo Xiang smiled and said: "The theft and sale of grain storage must only be done by local state and county officials, and has nothing to do with officials at or above the provincial level. ”

Huang Jin's face sank, shook his head and said: "Father-in-law Luo, this matter Xiao Huai has already been played in the imperial court, at least the Yanzhou Mansion still has to be thoroughly investigated, our family can't do anything, these intentions Father-in-law Luo still take it back." ”

Although Huang Jin is greedy for money, he is still a little sensible.

The smile on Luo Xiang's face still did not diminish: "This is simple, just let Guo Gang, the governor of Puzhou, retract his confession, and now Gonggong Huang is the only one who is ordered to send a copy, and then he can play the Ming court." ”

Huang Jin shook his head and said, "That's not good, this is the crime of bullying the king!" ”

The smile on Luo Xiang's face finally disappeared, and he said lightly: "Xiao Huang, our family is dozens of years older than you, so I will ask you a few words tonight." Local theft and sale of official grain is not only unique to Yanzhou Prefecture, but also exists in the entire Shandong Province and even the entire thirteen provinces of the Ming Dynasty. This matter is so deep, I'm afraid you won't be able to hold it back. Alas, Xiao Huai and Xu Jin are really unlucky, we don't want to even be unlucky for you! ”

After Luo Xiang finished speaking, he patted Huang Jin's shoulder meaningfully, and the latter couldn't help but change his complexion, only to feel a chill in his back.

"Think about it again, our family is a little tired all the way, say goodbye and go back to sleep first, tomorrow our family will do the friendship of the landlord, I hope Huang Gonggong will appreciate his face." After Luo Xiang finished speaking, he led people out of the county back hall, and those gold, silver and jewelry naturally remained.