Gou was a member of the imperial family in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 164 Eunuch Wei's Troubles
Capital, Qianqing Palace.

Emperor Tianqi has been in a good mood these days. Having just gotten married, he has experienced the transformation from a boy to a man.

At the end of last year, the Ministry of Rites submitted a petition, and Emperor Tianqi agreed to it and ordered a selection of concubines, with Liu Kejing, the eunuch of the Imperial Household Department, in charge of the selection. After many rounds of selection, it was finally decided that Zhang Yan, the eldest daughter of Zhang Guoji, a student of Xiangfu County, Kaifeng Prefecture, Henan Province, would be the empress, and the concubines Fan and Ren would be the concubines.

Zhang Yan was a beautiful girl with unparalleled beauty. Tianqi was very satisfied when he first saw her, and even rewarded Liu Kejing, who was in charge of the selection.

In April, Tianqi officially got married, and Empress Zhang Yan entered the harem. Fan was named Imperial Concubine and Ren was named Concubine Rong.

After the wedding, Tianqi and Empress Zhang Yan got along quite well. Moreover, the young emperor had just gotten married, and the harem had more beautiful concubines than the empress. For a time, Tianqi's sorrow over the defeat in Liaodong was alleviated a lot. After the wedding, Tianqi often stayed in the harem. Under the love between the man and the woman, even his interest in carpentry was much less than before.

Wei Zhongxian had no objection to the emperor's wedding. After all, it was normal for the emperor to marry a wife. Even though he was the most favored eunuch around the emperor, he could not oppose this matter. Moreover, since he entered the Silijian, Wei Zhongxian was very busy on weekdays. There were many things to do in the Silijian. In addition, he knew the real purpose of the emperor letting him control the Silijian. He was thinking about how to help the emperor and the cabinet and the court seize power, so he did not pay much attention to the selection of concubines at that time.

After the dust settled and the positions of the empress and concubines were established, Wei Zhongxian paid attention to the situation in the harem. It must be said that Liu Kejing was a man of great heart. The empress and concubines he selected for Tianqi were all stunning beauties, especially Empress Zhang Yan, who was a rare beauty.

Zhang Yan is known as one of the four great queens in history, which is enough to prove her unparalleled beauty. Tianqi was also quite satisfied with this extremely beautiful and well-educated queen.

However, after these days of contact, Wei Zhongxian's feelings towards Zhang Yan changed. At first, he didn't think much of this queen, but when the queen entered the palace, he noticed something wrong. Because Queen Zhang seemed to show obvious disgust and alienation towards him from the first time she saw him, Wei Zhongxian thought it was his own illusion at first, but as time went by, he became more and more certain that Queen Zhang not only disliked him, but also targeted him everywhere, calling him in from time to time to scold him, and warning him to abide by his duties as a servant, not to deceive the emperor, and not to interfere in government affairs at will.

Empress Zhang's behavior made Wei Zhongxian feel that he was being ignored, and Empress Zhang did not hide her attitude towards him at all, which made Wei Zhongxian angry and worried.

Although he is powerful now, he is a royal slave after all. The eunuchs' power comes entirely from the emperor. If there is no emperor, what would he, the eunuch who is the head of the Imperial Household Department and also in charge of the Eastern Depot, mean?

The emperor and the empress are one. Once the emperor really believes the empress's words and begins to alienate and distrust himself, the power he has just gained will soon become a thing of the past. Wei Zhongxian is very clear about this. After being reprimanded by Empress Zhang, Wei Zhongxian is extremely uneasy in panic. After thinking about it, he feels that he cannot let Empress Zhang continue like this, at least he cannot let the emperor lose trust in him. There are only two ways he can do.

The first way was to ask Keshi for help. Emperor Tianqi had very deep feelings for Keshi. Although Keshi was only his wet nurse, after Tianqi lost his mother, because Keshi had accompanied Tianqi since he was a child, psychologically speaking, Tianqi treated Keshi like his own mother.

As long as Keshi spoke for him, the Emperor Tianqi would not refuse. Moreover, the relationship between Wei Zhongxian and Keshi was different now. After driving away the "rival" Wei Chao, Wei Zhongxian became Keshi's only "lover". The two were like husband and wife in the palace. When Keshi was comforted by Wei Zhongxian at night, she would not refuse Wei Zhongxian's request.

The second way is to go directly to Emperor Tianqi and cry to him. Wei Zhongxian knows Tianqi very well, and Emperor Tianqi has always trusted Wei Zhongxian. If you are wronged, you should cry and complain to the emperor in advance. This is necessary. If you don't do it now and compromise, once time passes, Empress Zhang will continue to target you like this. What if the emperor really believes her and loses his favor? Where will you go?
Wei Zhongxian took action immediately and his two-pronged approach soon produced results.

With Keshi's help and her crying in front of Tianqi, Tianqi not only did not blame Wei Zhongxian, but instead comforted Wei Zhongxian with kind words.

Tianqi told Wei Zhongxian that Empress Zhang was born in a scholarly family and just disliked eunuchs. She was not targeting Wei Zhongxian. In the future, Wei Zhongxian should be more respectful to Empress Zhang and not let her find any evidence against him. As for the rest, Empress Zhang was the empress after all. Wei Zhongxian should not bother with a little girl for the sake of the empress's face, but for the sake of his face as the emperor.

Tianqi still trusted Wei Zhongxian and encouraged him to do his job well and not to take such trivial matters to heart. After Tianqi said this, Wei Zhongxian was relieved. After observation, Wei Zhongxian was also convinced that Tianqi did not have any other thoughts about him and still favored him as before. This matter was temporarily over. Although on the surface this matter was over, Empress Zhang also restrained herself a lot under Tianqi's warnings in the following days, but every time they met, Wei Zhongxian still could not feel Emperor Zhang's kindness towards him. As a result, Wei Zhongxian felt very uncomfortable. Naturally, he did not dare to hate Empress Zhang. After all, he was just a slave and a eunuch in the palace, and the queen was the master. No matter how brave Wei Zhongxian was, he could not go against the queen.

Although he was unable to deal with Empress Zhang, Wei Zhongxian was not idle. Because of this incident, Wei Zhongxian hated Liu Kejing, the eunuch in charge of the selection of concubines. He felt that if it weren't for that bastard Liu Kejing who chose such a queen, there would not be such trouble.

Now, the Queen and I don't get along. Even if Tianqi trusts me, what should I do if the Queen catches me in the future? There is always a thief who travels a thousand miles away, but there is no such thing as guarding against thieves for a thousand days. How can a great eunuch like Wei have to be on guard against a woman every day? What's going on?
Besides, wasn't it Liu Kejing who got Empress Zhang to the throne? Now that Empress Zhang was in control of the harem, she would naturally be close to Liu Kejing. If this continued, Wei Zhongxian felt that it would be extremely disadvantageous to him. After thinking about it, Wei Zhongxian decided to take action against Liu Kejing. Anyway, Liu Kejing had always been at odds with him. Liu Kejing's position in the Imperial Household Department was not low. It would not be a good thing for him to continue staying in the Imperial Household Department and the palace. If things went wrong, Empress Zhang would hate him because of Liu Kejing's tricks. After all, this guy would be a hidden danger if he was not eliminated. It would be better to solve this trouble as soon as possible.

However, it is not easy to get rid of Liu Kejing. Liu Kejing has been in the Silijian for much longer than Wei Zhongxian, and he also has power in the palace. Not only himself, but another eunuch in the Silijian, Wang Guochen, is in cahoots with Liu Kejing. Since Wei Zhongxian entered the Silijian, although he has control over the Silijian on the surface, there are still struggles within the palace. His opponents are Liu Kejing and Wang Guochen.

Today, Tianqi was in a rare mood to do carpentry work. Wei Zhongxian deliberately put aside his work at the Imperial Household Department and personally accompanied Tianqi in the busy work inside and outside the Qianqing Palace.

After working on the carpentry for two hours, Tianqi put down his tools and looked at the wooden furniture that had taken shape with satisfaction. Wei Zhongxian, who was standing by, quickly handed Tianqi a towel to wipe his sweat.

"Wei Banban, what do you think of this thing of mine?" After wiping the sweat off his forehead, Tianqi took the tea handed to him by Wei Zhongxian, took a sip, and asked, pointing in front of him.

"Your Majesty's craftsmanship is truly ingenious. Although this item is not yet finished, I feel it is extremely exquisite. Although there are many skilled craftsmen in the world, none can compare to Your Majesty." Wei Zhongxian flattered him hastily.

"Hahaha, is Wei Banban saying this to please me?" Tianqi asked with a smile.

"Of course not!" Wei Zhongxian said seriously: "Although I don't have much experience, I can still distinguish the good from the bad. If Your Majesty doesn't believe me, why not wait until this thing is finished and let me have someone take it to the street market to sell it? Anyone in the world who is not blind can see the exquisiteness of this thing and buy it at a high price. This can also prove the high level of Your Majesty's skills!"

"Hey, that's feasible." Tianqi was immediately interested. Wei Zhongxian's words hit the spot in his heart. Carpentry was the hobby of Emperor Tianqi. If the woodworking toys he made could really be popular in the market and sold at a high price, wouldn't it prove that he was indeed the best craftsman in the world?

In terms of being an emperor and being the best craftsman in the world, in Tianqi's heart, the latter is probably the best. In fact, this is also the norm in people's minds, just like the big leader who likes calligraphy. If you say that he is a good official, he may not be too happy, but if you say that he is good at calligraphy, his calligraphy attainments are comparable to those of a master, and each word is worth a thousand gold, then this leader must be very happy.

Even when others come to ask for calligraphy with real money, the leaders are even more proud. One character can be exchanged for a lot of money, which proves that their calligraphy is good. In the long run, even they themselves believe these things, and are flattered. It is not uncommon for a piece of calligraphy to sell for tens of millions during their lifetime. But once they lose their positions, or pass away one day, those calligraphy will become worthless in the blink of an eye. The principle is the same.

Tianqi, who was interested, thought about it and felt that this suggestion was good. He immediately said, "There is no need for this. There are items I made before in the palace. Wei Banban, you can pick out a few and have someone take them to the market to sell. Oh, and those who leave the palace should disguise themselves and never let outsiders know that these are items I made. I want to see if people in the world recognize my craftsmanship."

As soon as Tianqi said this, Wei Zhongxian quickly agreed and patted his chest to promise that he would keep the secret and not let outsiders know the origin of the things.

(End of this chapter)