The Empress Dowager Zhang's decision to kill Wang Zhen happened after the palace banquet last year, which alarmed the capital and dealt a heavy blow to Wang Zhen, but it was a pity that Li Yuntian missed this good show.

Originally, the Empress Dowager of the Zhang family didn't want to make such a big fuss, no matter how Wang Zhen was also the henchman of the orthodox emperor, as the saying goes, beating the dog depends on the master, how can she save some face for the orthodox emperor, after all, the orthodox emperor is the son of heaven and the master of the Ming Dynasty.

It is worth mentioning that although the Empress Dowager Zhang replaced the orthodox emperor Bingzheng and did not deal with state affairs, she handed over government affairs to the civil and military officials of the imperial court to deal with, and faithfully adhered to the ancestral precept that the harem and relatives were not allowed to interfere in politics set by Ming Taizu.

But Wang Zhen is too public, which makes the Empress Dowager Zhang vigilant, she can suppress Wang Zhen when she is alive, but once she dies, I am afraid that the inner court will take the opportunity to become bigger, which is not what she wants to see.

In fact, the Empress Dowager Zhang hoped that Li Yuntian would stay in the capital for more time, because she wanted Li Yuntian to teach the orthodox emperor a strategy to control it, so that the orthodox emperor could control those eunuchs in the palm of his hand like Emperor Xuande and maintain the balance of power above the court.

It's a pity that Li Yuntian is too busy and doesn't have much time to stay in the capital at all, which is also where the Empress Dowager Zhang admires Li Yuntian, unlike other high-ranking officials and dignitaries in the capital, who have been thinking about how to please her and the orthodox emperor, otherwise they are deceitful in the officialdom, and the party is the same as the other.

After all, the Empress Dowager Zhang is over sixty years old, which can be described as an old man in ancient times, and her health is declining, considering that the orthodox emperor is young, she has to prepare in advance, even if she can't kill Wang Zhen, let him remember this lesson.

I have to say that Wang Zhen is scheming and very methodical, although he did not serve in the celebrant eunuch, he was able to intervene in the "red approval" matter by bypassing the eunuch Jin Ying, the palm print of the celebrant eunuch.

Several of the eunuchs of the celebrant are very close to Wang Zhen and Song Dashan, and everyone knows that the two will be in charge of the celebrant in the future, so they must have a good relationship now, so as not to be excluded at that time.

Speaking of which, Wang Zhen and Song Dashan's official positions are only at the middle and upper level among the eunuchs, and the two of them are now serving as the left and right young eunuchs of the imperial horse eunuch, and they are from the official position of the fourth grade, and there are also the eunuchs of the imperial horse eunuch of the fourth grade.

But in terms of power, Wang Zhen and Song Dashan are enough to be compared with Jin Ying, the eunuch who holds the seal of the eunuch, and more than half of the eunuchs in the palace have taken refuge in the two, among which the eunuch of the ceremonial eunuch Bingbi is particularly important.

There is no doubt that the celebrant is the most important one in the inner court yamen, not only in charge of the affairs of the eunuchs in the palace, but also in charge of the Dongchang and other secret agencies, for the emperor to take charge of all internal and external chapters and documents, and to pass on the emperor's decrees.

Due to the importance of the celebrant eunuch, the palm seal eunuch and the bingbi eunuch were both eunuchs of the emperor's confidants.

When the Ming Dynasty's "vote" system was formed, the emperor's opinions on the ministers' recitals were written on the chapter by the celebrant and the eunuch with a red pen, and then the eunuch with the palm print on the seal, called "batch red", and then submitted to the cabinet to prepare an edict for issuance.

In fact, as a result, the eunuchs who were the celebrants mastered the power of "approving red" and became the spokesmen of the emperor.

Throughout the history of the Ming Dynasty, the government affairs of the Ming Dynasty since Emperor Xuande were basically handled by the eunuch group and the civil official group, which greatly reduced the burden on the emperor and saved the emperor from intrigue with those civil official groups.

Because the eunuchs were next to the emperor all day long, they knew the emperor's preferences, and were good at observing words and expressions to cater to the emperor, and often took advantage of the emperor's deep residence and little contact with foreign court officials to deceive superiors and subordinates, falsely pass on edicts, or distort and tamper with edicts, which became an important reason for eunuchs to abuse power in the future, and at the same time, they were enough to confront the powerful civil bureaucracy.

Although Wang Zhen and Song Dashan were deeply loved by the orthodox emperor, the orthodox emperor was too young to govern after all, and the major affairs of the court were ruled by the empress dowager of the Zhang family, and the empress dowager of the Zhang family not only trusted Li Yuntian, Zhang Fu and Yang Shiqi and other civil and military dignitaries of the imperial court, but also reused Jin Ying and other eunuchs in the inner court.

Because Li Yuntian, Zhang Fu, Yang Shiqi, Jin Ying and others were all veterans of the previous dynasty, and their prestige in the imperial court and the inner court was very high, Wang Zhen knew that it was difficult to match, so he did not dare to be presumptuous so as not to get into trouble, and secretly waited for the opportunity to seize power.

Therefore, after the orthodox emperor ascended the throne, Wang Zhen was courteous to the Empress Dowager of the Zhang clan and the Chinese military ministers of the dynasty, and did his best to flatter him, pretending to be knowledgeable and righteous and dedicated to the country to gain the favor of everyone.

One thing is enough to show Wang Zhen's treachery, the orthodox emperor once played with the little eunuch in the imperial garden, and Wang Zhen later took advantage of the opportunity when the Chinese Wu Zhongchen was summoned to the palace to discuss the matter, knelt down in front of everyone to play the orthodox emperor, and implored the orthodox emperor to put the Jiangshan society first, and not to be intoxicated with fun.

The civil and military magnates at the scene were deeply moved by this, and they all sighed that Wang Zhen, a eunuch, could also worry about the country and the people, and he was really a loyal courtier.

Li Yuntian was also at the scene at the time, and he couldn't help but feel a little funny when he heard it, he knew very well that the few little eunuchs who played ball with the orthodox emperor were arranged by Wang Zhen, and their purpose was to cater to the preferences of the orthodox emperor, after all, the orthodox emperor was just a teenager, and he naturally had a fun-loving nature.

At the same time, Li Yuntian also keenly noticed that the corners of Jin Ying's mouth, who was standing on the side of the orthodox emperor, showed a trace of disdain, and it was obvious that he also knew the inside story and knew Wang Zhen's hypocrisy.

It is worth mentioning that after the orthodox emperor ascended the throne, Wang Zhen always went to the cabinet to convey the emperor's will with a respectful appearance, standing outside the door and not entering the cabinet, so as not to delay the affairs of the cabinet.

Wang Zhen's move undoubtedly confused the cabinet elders including Yang Rong, Yang Shiqi and Yang Pu, thinking that he was a loyal eunuch, so when Wang Zhen came to the cabinet again to deliver the decree, the cabinet elders invited Wang Zhen to sit in the house, after all, Wang Zhen represented the emperor.

Although Wang Zhen flattered the civil and military ministers of the court on the surface, pretending to be obedient to everything, he still couldn't resist the **** of grabbing power in his heart, and expanded his power at the first opportunity, and often persuaded the orthodox emperor to use heavy rules to control his ministers in private, oppose the opening of "scripture feasts", advocate civil governance, and suggest the development of the military, governing the country by force, and so on.

It is precisely because of Wang Zhenlian's Wuzhiwen that the relationship between the inner court and the Xungui clique is relatively harmonious, and in Wang Zhen's view, the threat of the civilian-official clique is far greater than that of the Xungui clique, and there is an irreconcilable conflict of interest between the two sides.

In that year, after the good news of the great victory in the Western Regions came, the orthodox emperor was overjoyed, and led the Chinese military minister of the DPRK to parade outside the Chaoyang Gate and held a school competition to boost the country's prestige.

Wang Zhen then took advantage of this opportunity to report his private party, the commander of the right guard of Longqing, Ji Guang as the first in cavalry and archery, so that Ji Guang was promoted from the commander of the guard to the governor of the capital.

With Wang Zhen unable to resist the temptation of selfish desires, he finally aroused the vigilance of the court's civil and military ministers, among the three auxiliary ministers of the cabinet, Yang Rong's strategy was the highest, and the city government was also the deepest, he knew that the three auxiliary ministers were old, so he discussed with Yang Pu and Yang Shiqi, preparing to select the successor of the cabinet from the Wenchen group, and cultivate the power of the cabinet.

At the same time, the Empress Dowager Zhang also noticed the signs of Wang Zhen's usurpation of power, and felt very uneasy in her heart, fearing that the history of the dictatorship of the eunuchs of the previous dynasty would repeat itself in the Ming Dynasty, and then ruin the Ming Dynasty.

When Wang Zhen complained to Song Dashan and was sent by the orthodox emperor to the banquet scene, the Empress Dowager Zhang decided to remind the orthodox emperor to beware of the dictatorship of eunuchs and punish Wang Zhen to dispel Wang Zhen's vain attempt to interfere in court affairs.

Therefore, the Empress Dowager Zhang asked the female officials in the palace to wear military uniforms, wear swords, and guard them in Cining Palace, and then summoned the Orthodox Emperor and the British Duke Zhang Fu, the Loyal Duke Zhou Zheng, the scholar Yang Shiqi, Yang Rong, Yang Pu, and the Ministry of Rites Shangshu Hu Huan and other auxiliary ministers to discuss matters.

After coming to Cining Palace, Emperor Zhengxun and Zhang Fu and others were quite surprised when they saw those female officials in military uniform, and they didn't know what had happened.

Song Dashan and Wang Zhen, as the personal attendants of the orthodox emperor, naturally followed the orthodox emperor at all times, bowing left and right behind the orthodox emperor, and the atmosphere did not dare to breathe, the empress dowager of the Zhang family was very majestic in the imperial court, although the two of them had the orthodox emperor as the backing, they did not dare to show the slightest disrespect.

The Empress Dowager Zhang glanced at Zhang Fu and the others, then looked at Yingzong, and pointed at Zhang Fu and the others with a serious expression and said to the orthodox emperor: "Your Majesty, these auxiliary ministers are the elders of the previous dynasty, and they are ordered by the emperor to assist the emperor in governing the country. ”

"I follow the teachings of my grandmother." When the orthodox emperor heard this, he naturally didn't dare to slack off, and hurriedly bowed to the Empress Dowager of the Zhang family, and agreed in one bite.

"Take these two dog minions down to the mourning family!" The Empress Dowager of the Zhang family bowed slightly when she heard this, then stretched out her hand and pointed at Song Dashan and Wang Zhen, and shouted angrily.

As soon as the Empress Dowager Zhang's words fell, the female officials who were waiting for the scene immediately rushed forward and put their knives on the necks of Wang Zhen and Song Dashan.

Wang Zhen was suddenly frightened, and hurriedly knelt on the ground, trembling all over, he was most afraid of the Empress Dowager of the Zhang family in the court, the Empress Dowager of the Zhang family killed him as simple as pinching an ant to death, even the orthodox emperor could not save him.

Song Dashan knelt there with a depressed face, he belonged to the disaster of unreasonableness, he acted low-key on weekdays and did not offend the Empress Dowager Zhang, but after all, he was the favored servant of the orthodox emperor, so the Empress Dowager of the Zhang family beat it together this time.

"Emperor Taizu once made a rule that eunuchs are not allowed to interfere in political affairs, and those who violate it will be beheaded. Now, if you serve the emperor unruly, you should be given a death according to my Ming law. ”

The Empress Dowager Zhang stretched out her finger and pointed at Song Dashan and Wang Zhen and scolded fiercely, then flicked her sleeves and shouted coldly, "Don't kneel down to thank the emperor!" ”

The orthodox emperor was taken aback when he saw this, and he never imagined that the Empress Dowager of the Zhang family would kill Song Dashan and Wang Zhen, so he hurriedly knelt down to intercede for Wang Zhen in a hurry, and asked the Empress Dowager of the Zhang family to spare the two of them for the sake of accompanying him since childhood.

Zhang Fu, Yang Shiqi and others originally secretly applauded in their hearts, but now they got rid of their troubles, and everyone was quite jealous of Song Dashan and Wang Zhen, who were favored by the emperor.

However, when they saw the orthodox emperor kneeling, Zhang Fu, Yang Shiqi and others sighed secretly in their hearts, they didn't expect the orthodox emperor to have such a deep relationship with Song Dashan and Wang Zhen, it seems that the two of them can't die now.

Therefore, Zhang Fu, Yang Shiqi and others also knelt down and begged the Empress Dowager Zhang to spare Song Dashan and Wang Zhenyi from death.

"The emperor is young, how do you know that such eunuchs have plagued the country since ancient times, I see that I spared these two dog slaves in front of the Zhongqing family, and then the internal servants are not allowed to interfere in the affairs of the country, if there is a violation, they will not be spared!" The Empress Dowager Zhang glanced around at the orthodox emperor and others kneeling down at the scene, the expression on her face slowed down slightly, and she pointed at Song Dashan and Wang Zhen and said in a deep voice.

In fact, the Empress Dowager of the Zhang family did not have the intention of killing Song Dashan and Wang Zhen, but just wanted to deter the two, after all, she also needed the inner court to deal with the civil and military ministers in the court.

After hearing this, Song Dashan and Wang Zhen hurriedly kowtowed to thank them, and swore that they would never abuse their power, and the two escaped this catastrophe.

After that, the Empress Dowager Zhang sent people to the cabinet every once in a while to inquire whether Song Dashan and Wang Zhen had decided on their own without going through the cabinet, and strictly supervised them.

Song Dashan and Wang Zhen became unusually low-key after being taught by the Empress Dowager Zhang, for fear of doing something that would anger the Empress Dowager Zhang, which made the relationship between the inner court and the foreign ministers much smoother.

Now, the Empress Dowager Zhang is seriously ill, and Yang Pu is naturally worried that the inner court will take the opportunity to rise after the death of the Empress Dowager Zhang, so he came to Li Yuntian to find a way, but unfortunately Li Yuntian does not want to intervene in this matter now, which makes him feel a little disappointed in his heart.