The Rise of the European Emperor

In the Ming Dynasty, in the Forbidden City, the eunuchs Liu Jin and Gu Dayong, Zhang Yong, Ma Yongcheng, Gao Feng, and the eight most trusted eunuchs of Emperor Zhengde were sweating at this time.

It's not that the weather is hot, after all, it's only February in the lunar calendar. However, the young Emperor Zhengde put too much pressure on them, making them sweaty.

Although Emperor Zhengde was wise, intelligent and courageous, but because he was the only son and had no competitors, he was spoiled since he was a child and was more willful and mischievous.

Moreover, Emperor Zhengde Zhu Houzhao also has a talent - that is, he learns quickly in everything he plays. For example, after Liu Jin and others lured him to learn how to fight crickets, Emperor Zhengde quickly got started and became a master of cricket fighting. However, once mastered, Emperor Zhengde quickly lost interest and wanted to find other exciting things. As a result, all kinds of eagles, dogs, chickens and other things that can be used for entertainment and gambling have been played by the bear boy and the young emperor. In the same way, these entertainment items are also tired of being played by bear children.

After getting tired of playing, the bear children naturally want to find new entertainment, and the biggest task of Liu Jin and the eight eunuchs is to help the bear children find new entertainment items.

However, where is the new entertainment project so easy to find? Moreover, these eight eunuchs had basically never read books and had little knowledge, so they thought very hard.

Originally, in the third year of Zhengde, Emperor Xiongzi built a leopard house to drive wild animals such as wolves, tigers and leopards to fight each other for fun. However, at this moment, Liu Jin and others have just gained power, and they haven't been able to get so many rare and strange beasts for Emperor Zhengde.

In addition, Liu Jin has just taken power and has not yet cleaned up the opposition. Most of the old ministers left by the Hongzhi Dynasty were relatively upright, and even if Zhengde wanted to play, he would be sprayed by the ministers.

However, the ministers could stop the emperor from playing with things, but the eight eunuchs could not. Because their power comes from the favor of the bear children. Therefore, it is not their job to persuade them. If they want to gain favor and power, they must meet all the demands of the bear child, regardless of whether he is reasonable or not.

Now, the bear child just got tired of an entertainment project, and is now losing his temper:

"Liu Dafan, Zhang Fanfan... and you guys, let me think about it, what else is there to do? Think about it! I will reward you if you come up with it! If you can't think of it, you'll be playing the board!" Way of Threat. Then, several eunuchs were bitter - Nima, I can't think of being beaten, it's really a hard job.

To say that these years, they have been with the bear child when he was still the prince. In order to please him, the general tricks have long been thought about! What cricket fighting, cockfighting, dogfighting, and even eaglefighting... They have come up with all of them, and there are even various gambling activities... It's a pity that the bear children are too smart, and these things are too quick to use. Others can play one or two entertainment items for a lifetime, but it is better for a bear child, and the heat will pass in three or five days.

Therefore, these eunuchs are busy thinking of new entertainment projects to please the bear children.

Seeing that everyone had nothing to do, Liu Jin thought about it, took a leave with the little emperor, and went out...

What is Liu Jin doing? Naturally, I was looking for someone to discuss it...

There is no need to think about discussing with the other 7 eunuchs, because the 8 of them are in a competitive relationship. Now that Liu Jin has the upper hand, the other 7 people are eager to overthrow him and replace him. So don't expect the other 7 to share good ideas with him.

However, Liu Jin is also smart. He knows that his ability is limited, but he will attract talents...

In the DPRK and China, Liu Jin attracted Jiao Fang, a cabinet scholar, as a political ally, and also promoted some officials who fawned on him. In this way, Liu Jin gained a lot of right to speak in the DPRK.

However, in order to please the emperor, it is impossible to find these well-known civil servants. For example, Jiao Fang, although allied with Liu Jin, is not a servant of Liu Jin. If Liu Jin went to ask Jiao Fang how to make the bear child happy, he might be sprayed.

Therefore, what Liu Jin is looking for this time is not those political allies, but a group of robbers who usually win over. Of course, there are also some down-to-earth readers. After all, for such a thing as a ghost, you still have to find some literati who are full of bad water... And these roosters have a very resounding name - diners...

In the Warring States period, it was quite popular to keep diners, and there were also the famous "Four Young Masters of the Warring States", each of which had thousands of diners.

Liu Jin himself is not smart, but he has also heard the story of "Four Young Masters of the Warring States Period". Therefore, he also raised some robbers and thieves to help himself with some ideas, mainly to give ideas on how to please the bear children...

As soon as Liu Jing returned to the mansion, a group of diners from the generation of roosters and thieves immediately flocked over like sharks smelling fishy. All of these people looked flattering and greeted Liu Jin:

"Dong Weng is back?"

"Hello Dongweng!"

"Dong Weng is healthy!"

...

Liu Jin waved his hand impatiently and said:

"Quiet, our family came back this time to ask everyone, is there anything new that can attract the Holy Sage's interest?"

Suddenly, a group of people became cold...

Nonsense, if there is a good idea, I would have used it to please Liu Jin long ago, so why wait until today? So, they are also very helpless...

"What? Don't you think that you are very capable? When it comes to a critical moment, why don't you speak? To tell you the truth, the saint has spoken. If there are no new and fun things to offer, our family will be punished. Don't think about it if your family is beaten!"

"How about, go catch some jackals, tigers and leopards?" a diner suggested.

Liu Jin quickly shook his head:

"That's not right, if you want to get rid of wolves, tigers and leopards, you will definitely be impeached by the ministers. Gu Dayong, Zhang Yong and other monkey cubs want me to fall, and then take the position. Also, even if our family wants to be wolves and tigers Leopard, the local officials must cooperate with our family to get it!"

Liu Jin narrowly won the battle against ministers such as Liu Jian and Xie Qian in October last year. Now, although he has reached into the courtroom, his foundation is still unstable. After all, if you want to control the government, you must cultivate partisans. But Liu Jin has only just cultivated a small number of henchmen, and has not yet fully controlled the overall situation. Therefore, he is also temporarily afraid of being impeached. In addition, Liu Jin has no control over the place for the time being.

"However, what you said is also an idea. It can't be used now, but it can be used in the future. But first of all, our family has to arrange for some people to go to the local government. Especially in those places where there are wolves, tigers and leopards... This way, also It is convenient for these people to help our family capture the wolves, tigers and leopards to dedicate to the saint..."

Through the reminder of the diners, Liu Jin suddenly found out that he really needs to spread some people out to the place, so that he can collect rare things such as jackals, tigers and leopards through them...

Just when Liu Jin was thinking about the feasibility of the matter, a diner dressed up as a scholar with snarky eyes suddenly stood up:

"Dong Weng, I heard an anecdote recently, maybe it will help Dong Weng..."

Liu Jin glanced at the scholar and smiled:

"It turned out to be a mouse scholar, let's hear it."

The scholar's surname was Shu, but because of his quirky looks and the zodiac sign of the rat, he was ridiculed as a "rat scholar".

In the Ming Dynasty, although it was an imperial examination, it was also a matter of appearance.

Those scholars with Chinese character faces and decent faces are especially popular. Because such literati as officials can enhance the image of the court. On the other hand, someone who looks like a scoundrel like a mouse scholar doesn't look like a good person at first glance, and often has a rough fate...

Rat Xiucai's literary talent is actually good, but because of his wretched appearance, he has not been favored by the examiners. Therefore, his road to the imperial examination was very difficult. It is clear that his literary talent is not worse than that of people, but because of his wretched appearance, it may affect the country's image, so he has been brushed down many times...

In desperation, in order to make a living, the imperial examination hopeless mouse Xiucai took refuge in Liu Jin, who had a bad reputation...

The mouse Xiucai said with a serious face:

"It's like this, Dongweng, the students went to eat in restaurants these days, and I heard such an anecdote - it seems that a small barbarian country called Beihai Kingdom in the land of Taixi has donated a batch of Western guns to the imperial court. It is said that they are powerful That's right. However, the Minister of Rites, Mao Cheng, seems to have a prejudice against guns and guns, so he didn't even look at them, so he sealed them up in the warehouse of the Ministry of Rites to eat ashes... Because of this, the great scholars Wang He and Mao Cheng, Mao Shangshu, only saw trouble. Very unpleasant..."

"Recently, the Governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, Chen Jin, seems to have won a big victory in Guangxi. It is said that the envoy of Beihai Kingdom once sent a batch of guns to Governor Chen Jin. Those guns were used in the previous battle in Luorong County. Brilliant..."

"Later, Master Wang Shuo had a quarrel with Mao Cheng Shangshu, but Mao Shangshu didn't seem to be moved..."

...

"Hmph—Mao Cheng and Wang Hao, it's just a dog bites a dog, our family doesn't care who wins or loses!" Liu Jin said impatiently. Because, whether it is Wang Hao or Mao Cheng, they all like to hate Liu Jin.

"Of course, but Dongweng, the main point of the following is - those guns and cannons of the Western barbarians should be good things! Isn't the emperor a martial artist? Dongweng can take out those guns and guns to please the sage! "

"To please the sage with guns?" Liu Jin hesitated.

"Exactly! Dongweng, the emperor is martial, and guns are a weapon in the military. Using them to cater to the saint should be exactly the emperor's taste!"

"However, what if there is danger? The safety of the saint is a big deal. If there is a little problem, our family can't afford it."

"This is easy. Find a craftsman who is proficient in firearms in the military bureau to test whether it is safe or not. After it is safe, I will dedicate it to the Holy One!"

"It makes sense! However, Mao Cheng's old man and our family don't deal with it. How can we get things out of the warehouse of the Ministry of Rites under the control of that old man?"

"Dong Weng is now the eunuch of the Si Li Jian holding the pen and printing the ink, so he can ask the sage to issue a central decree, in the name of the military battle bureau, to ask for this batch of guns. If you don't believe it, the old man Mao Cheng dares to resist the decree. If so, That just gave Dong Weng an excuse to clean up him!" Mouse Xiucai suggested.

"Sure plan! Alright, let's do it like this!" Liu Jin nodded in satisfaction.

...