Daming talker

Chapter 548: Thieves and soldiers!
The weather was fine and clear today. At Xizhimen, the northwest corner of the capital, Pang Bazong, who was on duty at the gate, received a notice from above.

It is said that a criminal who was exiled to Xizhimen will be escorted here today and asked General Pang to receive him.

This kind of thing is common, as there are many people who have committed crimes and have been punished and exiled; it is also strange, as isn't the word "exile" a bit too appropriate to use in describing Xizhimen?
Although Xizhimen is located in the most remote northwest corner of the capital, the capital is only about ten miles in radius, and being exiled for more than ten miles sounds simply ridiculous.

But in the capital, nothing that happens is worth making a fuss about, because this is the capital, the most absurd place in the world.

The daily management system of the sixteen city gates inside and outside the capital is as follows: the number of gatekeepers is under the control of the Rear Army Governor's Office, and each gate is quotated with more than 400 officers and soldiers, divided into two shifts.

Each city gate has a eunuch guarding it, commonly known as a gate officer, who is considered the military supervisor of the city gate and the first person in charge of the city gate.

In actual work, there is a special person in charge of the Ministry of War who is responsible for inspecting the equipment of officers and soldiers at each city gate, and the inspection is conducted twice a month.

Then there is also a "eunuch who is in charge of nine gates including Zhengyang, seven gates including Yongding and four gates of the imperial city", which is equivalent to the chief military commander of all the city gates.

This eunuch position is the predecessor of the Nine-Gates Admiral that often appears in pigtail dramas and movies.

All in all, this system is very characteristic of the Ming Dynasty, with civil servants and eunuchs mixed together to play against military officers.

General Pang, who had long been accustomed to this kind of life, was squatting under the city wall with a few so-called personal soldiers, enjoying the warm breeze and spring day.

In times of peace, nothing major would happen at the city gate, especially a relatively quiet city gate like Xizhimen.

If something big happened, such as the emperor wanted to leave the city from here, or the enemy army reached the outside of the city, naturally there would be meritorious military officers leading elite troops from the Beijing camp to temporarily take over the defense of the city gate.

Suddenly, a guard pointed in the direction of Xizhimen Inner Street and shouted, "Here they come! Someone is coming!"

General Pang looked up and saw an official in the distance, escorting a strong and huge man, walking towards Xizhimen.

When he got closer, he recognized him as the official. He was none other than Zhao Zhushi from the Ministry of War, who was in charge of supervising the troops at the city gates. He would come to inspect the troops twice a month.

General Pang immediately stood up, walked over quickly to greet him, and saluted, saying, "Greetings, Master Zhao!"

Director Zhao pointed to the sturdy man next to him and introduced him, "This is the imperial prisoner Lin Tailai, who has been exiled to your Xizhimen. You should accept him!"

Lin Tailai? Pang Bazong suddenly felt that the name sounded very familiar.

Xizhimen is more than ten miles away from the political center and is definitely the edge of the edge.

So Mr. Pang is usually not sensitive to politics and doesn't pay much attention to politics that has nothing to do with him, but he has heard of the name Lin Tailai.

Looking at the person's image, Pang Bazong guessed the truth and asked Zhao Zhushi in a low voice: "Could this person be the one who won the ninth place in both civil and military affairs?"

Manager Zhao nodded and said, "It's him," then threw Lin Tailai to Captain Pang and left.

General Pang took a deep breath. Damn it! How could such a person be exiled to my place? And he is a criminal of the emperor!
Behind such things is often a fierce clash between two political forces, neither of which is an existence that one cannot afford to offend.

I won’t be caught in the middle and become an insignificant victim, right?
"Um, Mr. Lin, why are you here in Xizhimen?" General Pang hesitated for a while and asked tentatively.

Lin Tailai looked up at the tall and majestic Xizhimen and cursed, "Who wants to come to your shabby place? I want to go to Chongwenmen!"

Originally, Lin Tailai thought that the best way for officials to solve problems was through formalism.

So he could just carry out a formalistic military exile, which would be acceptable to all parties, and just stay in the official army in the capital for a while.

It is also best to find a place located in the political center or a place very close to it.

In this way, you can still maintain your influence on the political situation and respond promptly when something happens.

After all, the situation is uncertain now, and the issue of the three elders is still unresolved. We must pay close attention to who will be promoted and who will be demoted, and who will come in and who will go out.

But I didn't expect that others would guard against me as if I were guarding against thieves. It's not just me, many people think this way!

As a result, a group of bureaucrats forcibly exiled themselves to Xizhimen, a marginal corner of the capital's political arena!
What's the difference between this and putting yourself on the bench in a physical sense?
My style of doing things is just a little ostentatious, why are you all targeting me?
Seeing that Lin Tailai, the exiled prisoner, looked down on Xizhimen, General Pang made an excuse:
"This place is also quite nice, with beautiful scenery and lush grass. No other city gate has a better view than this one."

No matter what, this is where I work and live. Mr. Pang can complain about it himself, but he doesn’t want to hear others say that this place is bad!

Lin Tailai glanced at General Pang and asked, "If I help you get a connection and transfer you to Chongwenmen, will you go?"

"Go!" Pang Bazong said without hesitation, and did whatever he wanted.

Lin Tailai, who was exiled here, could not change the reality and could only wander around. He passed through Xizhimen and Wengcheng and went out of the city.

Just as Pang Bazong said, the scenery here is indeed beautiful.

Outside Xizhimen is the Gaoliang River, which is considered the "source of life" of the entire capital city today. The river bank is shaded by green plants, with occasional farmlands visible, creating a beautiful scenery.

About ten miles northwest is the Haidian Scenic Area, which has a large area of ​​water.

It can be said that the area outside Xizhimen is the area with the richest water resources around Beijing.

No wonder in your Qing Dynasty, a large number of gardens from the royal family to princes and nobles were built in this direction.

"What do you think? What I said is true, right?" said Pang Bazong next to him.

Lin Tailai still replied frustratedly: "Although the scenery is beautiful, it is too far away from the court, which is not conducive to my manipulation of the political situation."

General Pang: “.”

Is this something a convict should consider?

Lin Tailai sighed again, "I finally understand what it feels like to be demoted to Chaoyang eight thousand miles away in the evening."

Pang Bazong said casually: "Not really, not really, it's only a dozen miles away."

Lin Tailai said in surprise: "You can actually understand what I say?"

Pang Bazong said: "When I was young, I also wanted to take the military examination. I read a few books, but it was all in vain."

Lin Tailai went back through Xizhimen and returned to the city, frowning and saying:
"As I recall, there were more than 200 soldiers guarding the city gates. How come there were only about 100?"

General Pang's face turned serious. "Master Lin, as a new convict, don't you have too many questions?"

"Huh?" Lin Tailai turned his head, looked down at Pang Bazong, and stared at him with a deadly look.

Pang Bazong felt as if he was being stared at by a ferocious beast, and quickly answered from the heart: "The gatekeepers can be exempted from duty if they pay five cents of silver to the gatekeeper every month."

The gatekeeper is the eunuch guarding the city gate. Lin Tailai asked in confusion: "Where is he? I have been here for a long time, but I haven't seen the gatekeeper."

General Pang pointed at the city gate tower and said, "Eunuch Liu is sleeping up there."

Lin Tailai shook his head. The Ming Dynasty was really doomed!

I couldn't help but complain: "It's broad daylight, and it's a good thing he can sleep!

Normal men might be busy at night and catch up on sleep during the day, but what can a father-in-law do at night?"

In the area of ​​several dozen feet, Lin Tailai was probably the only one who dared to make such a sarcastic remark about the eunuch. Pang Bazong explained: "Eunuch Liu went out to drink wine last night and played with the girls until dawn."

Lin Tailai: "."

The eunuch went to a brothel, what a unique person he was, and he actually met such a weirdo.

As they were talking, a head suddenly popped up from the top of the city wall and shouted to the bottom of the city wall: "Captain Pang! Eunuch Liu asked if the convicts were delivered today!"

Pang Bazong also shouted back, "We're here! We're here!"

Not long after, a eunuch in his thirties was seen coming down from the city gate tower, surrounded by several soldiers.

Then the eunuch, reeking of alcohol, squinted at Lin Tailai:

"You little thief, are you Lin Tailai? Other civil and military officials are afraid of you, but we eunuchs are not afraid of you!"

Looking at Eunuch Liu, Lin Tailai was quite surprised.

I thought that since the identities were clear, there would be no scenes like pretending to be a pig and eating the tiger, or pretending to be cool and getting slapped in the face.

Just look at Pang Bazong's attitude towards himself and you can tell that there are still more normal people in this world after all.

I didn't expect that someone would still want to give me a chance? Is it reasonable for such a stupid person to appear?

Eunuch Liu continued arrogantly: "No matter who you were before, you are a thief in the army when you come here!
Some rules cannot be abolished. Have you heard of the killing stick? "

Lin Tailai replied coldly: "I have never heard of the killing stick. I have only seen it in vernacular novels."

Eunuch Liu shouted, "Then today, Master Liu, I will let you know that vernacular novels are based on reality!"

Then he ordered the soldiers on his left and right: "Capture this thief! Beat him with a hundred military sticks first!"

Pang Bazong quickly advised: "Master Liu, please think twice and don't hurt the harmony!"

Eunuch Liu scolded, "Get out of here! Don't hinder my promotion and wealth! Otherwise, I'll beat you too!"

"Get promoted and get rich?" Lin Tailai was a little puzzled.

Eunuch Liu grinned and said, "It's fine if you can just be a wise guy! I don't want to guard this broken city gate anymore!
As long as I take care of you, Concubine Zheng will definitely reward me! This is our chance!
So even though you and I have no grudges against each other, you must be unlucky today!

Then I can leave this broken city gate and find a better job!"

Lin Tailai was actually speechless. This eunuch Liu was really both stupid and lucid.

The twenty or thirty soldiers around looked at each other, surrounded Lin Tailai, but were afraid to act.

Eunuch Liu shouted, "Don't be afraid! He is now a thief! If he dares to attack your gatekeepers, he will be guilty of a serious crime!"

Lin Tailai sighed deeply. As expected, there were many scenes of pretending to be cool but then getting slapped in the face. Could this be the halo of the protagonist?
A long whistle was sounded, and suddenly countless big men jumped out from the alleys on both sides of Xizhimen Inner Street.

Moreover, these big men were well-trained. Within a few breaths, they formed teams and surrounded us.

General Pang took a quick look and found that there were more than 200 big men!
"Who are you?" Eunuch Liu asked loudly.

Lin Tailai sneered and said, "These are the servants of the Lin family. There is no rule that prohibits soldiers from bringing servants with them, right?
Don't worry, my servants all bring their own food, so they don't need to spend money from the court."

Everyone: "."

The actual number of soldiers in each shift at the city gate is only about a hundred people. How could you, a bandit soldier, bring two hundred servants with you?
Why not let everyone else take a holiday and just guard the city gate by yourself!
Looking at Eunuch Liu who was sandwiched between several servants of the Lin Mansion, Lin Tailai felt that he was being slapped in the face and said lightly:

“It seems that you don’t know the core competitiveness of the Lin Mansion. Do you think that the civil and military officials are afraid of me just because I have the nine civil and military yuan?
I just want to ask you one question, can you avoid being beaten with a stick?"

Eunuch Liu still spoke harshly: "No!"

It was the first time that Lin Tailai had seen such a tough eunuch, so he threatened again:
"I'm sure you must have heard about what happened in the inner palace a while ago. Do you really think I dare not take action against the eunuchs?"

Eunuch Liu gritted his teeth and said, "Go ahead! As long as you can't kill me, I will use the killing stick to intimidate you!"

Not to mention Lin Tailai, all the servants in the Lin Mansion were shocked. There was actually such a tough eunuch!

Lin Tailai was also stunned for a moment. He had never met such an opponent before.

Is this eunuch really a moron, or is he the most moron among all the morons?
Eunuch Liu shouted frantically, "Go ahead if you dare! I don't think you dare to kill me!"

Objectively speaking, this is true. As long as Lin Tailai was not insane, he would not have openly beaten to death the eunuch who was responsible for guarding the city gate.

That is truly an indisputable heinous crime, and no one can get a reduced sentence. Beating someone and beating them to death are two completely different things.

But even if he was not beaten to death, the pain of being beaten, as well as the double humiliation and torture of body and mind, were not something that an ordinary person would be willing to endure. Why was Eunuch Liu so stubborn?

Lin Tailai put himself in the shoes of Eunuch Liu and thought about it.

What would be the consequences if a eunuch with certain connections was beaten by the vicious Lin Tailai?

At the very least, it would attract the attention and even sympathy of Concubine Zheng, who is very powerful in the inner palace, right?
The only explanation is that he is getting closer to Concubine Zheng, right?

After the last battle in the inner palace, Concubine Zheng's trusted eunuchs suffered heavy losses. Some were disabled, and some were beaten to death by the emperor out of anger.

So right now Concubine Zheng is short of people, and someone like Eunuch Liu who has withstood Lin Tailai's test has a very good chance of being promoted by Concubine Zheng!

Thinking of this, Lin Tailai almost cursed, "Fuck your mother!"

From the perspective of interests, Eunuch Liu is simply invincible.

Whether he was beaten with a stick by Eunuch Liu or he beat Eunuch Liu himself, Eunuch Liu would not suffer any loss.

As long as Eunuch Liu survives, there will be huge profits.

This person is not just a moron among morons, he is simply a ruthless person among morons.

Lin Tailai pondered for a while, feeling a little conflicted.

It's easy to show off and get slapped in the face, just give Liu Taijian a beating. But if you let the other party gain something, is it still called showing off and getting slapped in the face?

When Eunuch Liu saw that Lin Tailai was not moving, he started to taunt him:

"The thieves are the soldiers! They don't fight them, and they don't let them go. Why?"

Lin Tailai: "."

It turns out that force is not omnipotent.

(End of this chapter)