The Red Chamber begins with a bastard

Chapter 603 The Emperor’s Mental Technique
After Jia Huan came out of Fengzao Palace, he left the Forbidden City under the guidance of the eunuchs, and went to the cabinet to visit the old headmaster Ye Gao. Then he planned to go back to the Ministry of War to do some things. As a result, when he passed the Ministry of Justice, he happened to meet the commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, Yi Hong, who was escorting a group of prisoners to the Ministry of Justice prison.

Although Jia Huan did not want to have close contact with a cruel official like Yi Hong, he still owed him a favor for redeeming Baochai and others from the Jiaofang Bureau, so he took the initiative to step forward and greeted, "Commander Yi, how are you?"

Yi Hong's one eye lit up. While he ordered his men to take the prisoner to the Ministry of Justice, he called Jia Huan aside and asked, "Brother Huan, aren't you guarding Ningyuan? How soon will you return to the capital?"

Jia Huan teased, "Commander Yi didn't even know. It seems that the Jinyiwei are not omnipotent. There are times when they are completely in the dark."

This remark hit Yi Hong's sore spot. The emperor was very dissatisfied with the complete failure of the Jinyiwei's intelligence system in the matter of the emperor's restoration. Now the Dongjishichang controlled by the eunuchs had been established, which undoubtedly greatly weakened the role of the Jinyiwei. The most terrible thing was that the Dongjichang not only had all the same powers as the Jinyiwei, but also had an extra one, which was to supervise the Jinyiwei.

Since its establishment, the Jinyiwei has only supervised others. Now that they are supervised by others, it is naturally a thorn in the side. How can Yi Hong be happy? He snorted coldly and said, "I just returned to Beijing too. I wonder if it is normal for Brother Huan to return to Beijing!"

Jia Huan exclaimed, "Commander Yi is out of the capital on business? What kind of case is it that requires the commander of the Imperial Guard to go there in person to arrest someone?"

Yi Hong nodded and said, "I went to Jiangxia, Huguang, for the case of Xiong Tingbai. All three sons were arrested."

Jia Huan frowned and said, "This is too much. Even if Xiong Tingbai is responsible for the loss of his duties and the loss of land, there is no need to bring disaster to his family, right?"

Yi Hong sneered disapprovingly and said, "Brother Huan, you don't know that Xiong Tingbai has handled millions of taels of silver in the past few years of his administration in Liaodong. Now it is preliminarily found that more than 170,000 taels are missing. The emperor is furious and ordered the Xiong family to confiscate the stolen money to make up for the deficit. If the deficit cannot be made up, hehe, Xiong Tingbai's three sons will suffer."

"So that's it!" Jia Huan suddenly said to himself. To be honest, although Xiong Tingbai had a bad temper, Jia Huan still didn't quite believe that he had embezzled 170,000 taels of military funds. Either the people below had done something, or someone was taking advantage of the situation to frame him.

Yi Hong glanced at Jia Huan and asked tentatively, "Brother Huan, do you know the East Jishi Factory?"

Jia Huan nodded and said, "I just found out about this not long ago. Today, I went to the palace to meet the emperor and happened to meet Eunuch Shi. We exchanged a few polite words."

Yi Hongdu's eyes sparkled, and he laughed, "Shi Dayong is always sweet-mouthed but treacherous. He says one thing to your face but stabs you in the back. Brother Huan, be careful. This guy actually hates civil servants the most. As the saying goes, a new official starts with three fires. In order to show off his achievements in front of the emperor, the Eastern Jishi Factory has only been established for less than two months, and ten civil servants have already suffered, including the former Minister of War Zhang Heming. All of them were involved in money, food and supplies for the Liaodong military pay."

Jia Huan felt a little nervous and said, "Thank you, Brother Yi, for reminding me."

"Haha, I still have to report to the emperor. I'll talk with Brother Huan when I have time." Yi Hong bowed and left.

…………In the southern study of the Qianqing Palace, Shi Dayong, the governor of the East Factory, was crawling in front of Emperor Qiansheng, reporting to him about how Jia Huan met the two concubines of Qi and Jia in Fengzao Palace. If Jia Huan heard it here, he would be shocked, because Shi Dayong repeated it in great detail, even repeating every word he said.

After Shi Dayong finished his retelling, he smiled and said, "I have heard that Jia Huan and his stepmother are not on good terms. It seems to be true. Although Concubine Jia tried to show her kindness, Jia Huan did not show the proper intimacy."

"You've talked too much!" Emperor Qiansheng said expressionlessly.

Shi Dayong was so frightened that he trembled and slapped himself a few times: "I have talked too much, I deserve to die! I deserve to die a thousand times!" After that, he kowtowed again.

Emperor Qiansheng just stared coldly until Shi Dayong's head was broken and bleeding, then he said calmly: "If it happens again, watch your head and leave!"

Shi Dayong thanked him hastily, and slowly retreated to the door with his buttocks sticking out. Only then did he dare to turn around and walk out. At this time, his back was already wet with cold sweat, and when the wind blew in his face, he couldn't help but shiver.

Since he ascended the throne, Emperor Qiansheng has always lived under the strong shadow of Emperor Kangping, the retired emperor. However, he was able to endure it and slowly build up his own power until he finally broke free from Emperor Kangping's shackles. This shows that he is not a mediocre monarch. On the contrary, Emperor Qiansheng is extremely smart and shrewd!

In fact, Emperor Qiansheng was also well aware of the dangers of eunuchs interfering in politics. The reason he established the East Factory was entirely out of the need to maintain his own totalitarianism. He simply regarded the East Factory as a vicious dog to control officials and people. The length of the dog leash was entirely up to him, and the dog could only bite people according to his wishes. Once the vicious dog tried to get on the kang, he would immediately beat it or even kill it directly.

Although the civil strife initiated by Emperor Kangping, the retired emperor, brought a heavy blow to the empire, after quelling the civil strife, Emperor Qiansheng became stronger and more confident than ever before, but also more suspicious.

In order to achieve a balance among multiple parties, he established the Dongjishichang, which was dominated by eunuchs, to both intimidate the civil service group and supervise the Jinyiwei. In this way, the three parties would inevitably check and balance each other and fight against each other, while he himself would be firmly on top as the referee, enjoying the pleasure of crushing others with his intelligence.

Emperor Qiansheng used to hate nobles. After this civil strife, he almost completely cleared out the old noble group, leaving only a few families on the right side, such as the Prince of Nan'an and the second branch of the Rongguo Mansion. However, Emperor Qiansheng still did not like Jia Huan because he was too outstanding and had the potential to become a powerful official.

Emperor Qiansheng only needed obedient ministers, not powerful ministers like Cao Cao and Sima Yi. However, Emperor Qiansheng would not neglect a job because of a person. Since Jia Huan had shown extraordinary talent in Ningyuan, and he really needed such a person to be in charge of Ningyuan, he simply appointed Jia Huan as the Ningyuan Military Preparations Commissioner to make the best use of his talent.

Emperor Qiansheng is very confident that he can keep Jia Huan under control, but if there are signs of him losing control, he will destroy him without hesitation and never give him the chance to become a powerful official. Today, he allowed Jia Huan to go to Fengzao Palace to meet Jia Yuanchun and the twelfth prince, which was actually a test. However, Jia Huan's performance was not bad, and he did not reveal Huo Guang's ambitions.

Therefore, Emperor Qiansheng was still quite satisfied, so he continued to let this boy resist the Jiannu army in Ningyuan!
(End of this chapter)