After Xu Dayong met Ruan Yuan, the next person he wanted to meet was a eunuch named Li Qiucheng, but he waited for several days but didn't see anyone. However, he also knew that it was extremely difficult for eunuchs in the palace to ask for leave, so he was too anxious to be upset.

The reason why the Intelligence Bureau wanted to develop this relationship was mainly because there was a special group of people among the residents of Beihai Town - eunuchs. There were 57 eunuchs exiled by the Qing court under Beihai Town. They were all exiled to Ningguta or Heilongjiang. Before being liberated, they either supervised ginseng in the mountains and forests, or they were slaves for armor, and their lives were extremely miserable.

There are many reasons for the eunuchs who were exiled to the Northeast in the Qing Dynasty.

Some people had major events, such as in the 48th year of Qianlong's reign, a group of eunuchs fought in the ditch north of the Heqiqiulu Building in the Old Summer Palace to catch crabs, and finally died; some people stole things from the palace and sold them, such as in the 34th year of Qianlong's reign, the eunuch Zhou Jinchao stole Buddha statues worshipped in the Longen Hall of Xiling; some formed a clique with ministers for personal gain, such as in the 39th year of Qianlong's reign, the eunuch Gao Yuncong, reported to officials from other provinces to leak the appointment and removal news to officials from other provinces. After the incident, Gao Yuncong was beheaded, but his apprentice was implicated and exiled.

There are also those who are unbearable and those who escaped from the palace and are even exiled just because they show resentment. For example, an old eunuch named Zhang Yinliang once worked in the Imperial Office. Ten years ago, he saw another eunuch being punished at the high mountains and rivers of the Old Summer Palace. He felt unfair, so he was dissatisfied and sent to Heilongjiang by Qianlong to be slaves.

Among the former Qing eunuchs in Beihai Town, except for a few who entered the civil affairs system like Lin Chunlai, all the older ones were arranged to go to factories or schools to watch the gates after being identified by the Public Security Police Station.

Beihai Town has spent a lot of energy in recent years to take care of this special group.

First, they are allowed to live in groups according to their own wishes, with each household having three to four people, and fifty acres of land being distributed. However, due to the physical disability of these people, the land they are allocated to are managed by the administrative village where they are located, and they can be distributed to 50% of the grain after autumn harvest.

In addition, treating them equally and reducing the rejection and discrimination of new and old immigrants by repeated publicity in the community; the most important thing is not to call them "husband". In the Qing Dynasty, the meaning of the word "husband" was different from that of later generations. It specifically refers to eunuchs, and it is a great insult, just as serious as the eight generations of ancestors who scolded a person.

In addition, Beihai Town also treated people in poor health, arranged people to teach them to read and read, and enrich their lives by reading and listening to radio. It should be noted that the Qing Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty, the eunuchs had generally low cultural level. Only a few people in this group knew literacy, but they were limited to a rough understanding of a few words. The emperor did not allow him to be proficient in literature and ink.

The problem is that a person's cultural level is too low, which will have many negative effects on his mentality, such as a great sense of inferiority and humiliation, which will make them deeply think that they are inferior, not even human.

From then on, these more than 50 former eunuchs in Beihai Town lived a new life that they could not imagine, and they were completely reborn. The most important thing was that they regained their dignity as human beings, which was more important than anything else.

You should know that the eunuch group is extremely sensitive and has a very fast emotional change, which is easy to move from one extreme to another. When Beihai Town treats them like this, everyone is grateful to Zhao Xin, even more loyal to Zhao Xin than the three hundred early naturalized people. So they reveal their relationship in the capital, hoping to use it for the "King of Zhao".

What can eunuchs have in their relationship network? Even if they were eunuchs who worked as eunuchs in the Palace of Harmony before - running errands for the emperor every day, they seemed to be glorious, but now they are phoenixes that fall down the slopes are not as good as chickens. The relationship they can provide is only eunuchs with good relationships before, as well as apprentices and godsons whom they once recognized in the palace.

But the problem arises again. The eunuch has experienced physical pain, suffered spiritual discrimination, ruthless oppression and exploitation by his master and even superiors, and is a very lonely group. However, poor people must have hateful things, which leads to extreme selfishness and it is difficult to have any real friends.

In addition, there is a system of superiors and subordinates with strict hierarchy like a pyramid within the eunuch group, just like a wife who has been married to a mother-in-law for many years; eunuchs with high status can suppress and bully eunuchs with lower status than themselves, and older eunuchs will also bully young and inexperienced eunuchs than themselves. Even if the eunuchs do not make any mistakes, as long as they don’t like them, they will bully newcomers in every way and even beat them to death.

So the fact is that there were only a few people who were well-known in the palace at the time, but they were not hated.

Even so, after repeated analysis, the North Navy Intelligence Bureau finally selected eight targets that could be developed from the list provided by these former eunuchs, and Li Qiucheng was one of them.

This person is the apprentice of Zhang Yinliang, the eunuch of the former office mentioned earlier. He is currently the deputy chief eunuch of the Jingshifang and the sixth-rank palace supervisor. Both of them are from Hejian, Zhili, and the village in their hometown is separated by a Ziya River.

Jingshifang is an institution affiliated to the Ministry of Internal Affairs. It is specialized in obeying the imperial edicts, obeying the affairs of the palace and its etiquette, collecting money and grain from the external warehouse, identifying and replacing the internal prison, and inspecting the opening and closing of each door, and guarding the fire and candles. Many people think that the eunuch in the Forbidden City must belong to the Qianqing Palace and the Memorial Office, which has great power, but they do not know that the eunuch in the Jingshifang is actually more powered, and is in charge of all the affairs of eunuchs and palace maids in the Forbidden City; for example, if the eunuchs and palace maids make mistakes, they have to go to Jingshifang to get beaten.

At the beginning, the shopkeeper Dong of "Huang Shengtai" finally let Li Qiucheng meet him with a generous gift from a 500-acre irrigated land deed in Hejian Mansion. Li Qiucheng originally thought that shopkeeper Dong wanted to be a "buyer and seller" of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, so he went his way.

For example, Qianlong ate eggs for 10 taels of silver, and the price in the outside market was three cents per. The person responsible for supplying the goods was the "buyer and seller" of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

After receiving such a generous gift, Li Qiucheng asked someone to hand over some small purchases to "Huang Shengtai". Although the amount of the 500 acres of irrigated land was not worth mentioning, this kind of thing was a long-lasting flow. More than a year has passed, and during this period, "Huang Shengtai" did not do much business, but Deputy General Manager Li had already collected more than 3,000 taels of silver from Manager Dong.

Manager Dong was determined to win over, and Li Qiucheng was so lenient to collect the money. At the end of last year, the two actually burned yellow paper and cut off the chicken's head and bowed. By this time, the two were talking about everything, and Manager Dong had also heard a lot of secrets in the palace.

Seeing that the time was ripe, with the approval of the Intelligence Bureau, Manager Dong took out Zhang Yinliang's handwritten letter. Only then did Li Qiucheng realize that he had boarded the "pirate ship" in Beihai Town and could no longer escape if he wanted to escape.

However, after reading the letter and listening to Manager Dong's description of Beihai Town, Li Qiucheng was shocked. If he hadn't seen the photo of Zhang Yinliang standing in his own yard with a smile, he wouldn't have believed it.

Well, at this point, it's time to negotiate terms.

Deputy General Manager Li’s wish is to become the chief supervisor of the Great Inner in the "New Dynasty" - that is, the eunuchs in the Qing Dynasty, the General Manager of the Jingshifang in the Manchu Qing Dynasty, and at the same time, he needs the endorsement of His Highness King Zhao, which is a personal letter. The full name of the eunuch in the Jingshifang in the Qing Palace is "Palace Supervisor Leader", and he is in charge of all eunuchs and palace maids, and his rank is the fourth rank.

Manager Dong almost laughed out loud when he heard this, but he still tried to resist and did not dare. Instead, he told his sworn brother with a serious look that he would convey to King Zhao.

When Zhao Xin learned about Li Qiucheng's conditions, he thought it was OK. Anyway, the Forbidden City would be converted into a museum in the future. If this person could be used, he would be allowed to join the Management Committee in the future. So he wrote a letter and promised that Vice President Li would be in charge of the various halls of the Forbidden City in the future (actually the Cultural Management Office), and also stamped a newly engraved seal, which allowed Xu Dayong to bring it.

On the 20th day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar, Xu Dayong, who had been waiting a little impatiently, finally met Li Qiucheng in the backyard of "Huang Shengtai".

This person is not tall, wearing a sauce-colored poplin robe, a vest, and a melon-skin hat. He has a ochre yellow face, high cheekbones, slightly long cheekbones, big eyes, a high nose bridge, thick lips, wide chin, and a simple and honest look.

As soon as they met and greeted each other, Li Qiucheng whispered softly in a duck-speaking voice: "I'm really sorry! I'm really sorry! Li finally found an excuse to ask for leave and would have to go back in an hour. Master Xu, is Master Zhang okay?"

Xu Dayong often saw those former eunuchs in Beihai Town. He had talked with Zhang Yinliang several times before coming, so he was not uncomfortable with Li Qiucheng's voice and said with a smile: "Uncle Zhang is in good health! I went to see him before coming. I heard that this time I came to see Mr. Li, and he also told me a lot about your childhood!"

Li Qiucheng was stunned. He stared at Xu Dayong up and down for a long time, and asked with an incredible expression on his face: "Do you call Master Zhang an uncle? Do you call me a sir?"

"Yes, he is over 60 years old. Should he call him uncle? Is it okay to call him Mr. Li? I wonder if it is offensive?"

After hearing this, Li Qiucheng's eyes gradually turned red, and then shed tears and started to cry.

He was accustomed to serving people in the palace, and observing his words and expressions had become an instinct for survival. He usually did things like walking a tightrope, and his feet were tilted to the abyss. If he hadn't had these two brushes, he wouldn't have climbed to the position of the eunuch of the deputy general manager of Jingshifang.

He knew that Xu Dayong came from Beihai Town and brought the handwritten letter from His Highness Zhao, and he could not make such a low attitude to please him. However, from the other party's expression and voice just now, he did not feel any discrimination, but an equal treatment between people.

You should know that eunuchs are generally inferior. Long-term oppression and enslavement, and day-to-day cycle of labor have exhausted the beautiful hopes that eunuchs who have been in the palace for a long time. They turned to a depressed and numb decadent mentality, and gradually fell into a deadly cycle of decadence-lowering-more decadent-more inferiority, and gradually became self-denial and self-despised.

Xu Dayong and Manager Dong looked at each other, thinking that they had said something wrong just now, why did this person cry?

Li Qiucheng cried for a while, took out a handkerchief from his sleeve and wiped it, and said in a crying voice: "Master Xu laughed! This is the first time I have lived in these years that someone calls me "Mr.", and I really feel ashamed. We, all people, don't look at the superficial scenery, are actually people living in the dust. When the master is happy, they call us nicknames or nicknames. One day, the one who is unhappy will beat us in a mess, killing eight boards and burying them into Enjizhuang. I have been in the palace for many years. To put it badly, if you want to live, you have to not regard yourself as a human being."

After hearing this, Xu Dayong and Manager Dong unconsciously breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that's right, it turns out that this is the case.

"Mr. Li, Beihai Town is different from the Qing Dynasty. We have no masters or slaves, and no slaves." Xu Dayong sorted out his words and continued: "The King of Zhao said from the beginning that everyone in the world should be equal. We have beggars from Henan, gan households from Guangdong, and of course there are also people like you. For example, I was a pirate before, but since I followed King of Zhao, I have changed my lifestyle."

Li Qiucheng wiped his tears and nodded and said, "Master, he suffered a lot in the past few years. I, a disciple, can't help anything. Every night, my heart is like a knife. Fortunately, King Zhao came from the sky, and Master, now he lives a life of a god, I can finally feel at ease."

Seeing that he was almost crying, Xu Dayong took out Zhao Xin's handwritten letter from his arms and handed it over. Li Qiucheng hurriedly got up, took it with his hands tremblingly, bowed three times to the northeast direction, and then pulled out the letter and read it.

He read it very carefully and even looked at Zhao Xin's seal for a while. Fortunately, the sentences written by Zhao Xin were very straightforward and did not use those verbal words, which Li Qiucheng could easily understand.

After reading the letter, Li Qiucheng's mood calmed down. He looked up at the roof, his eyes rolled a few times, and a strange smile flashed across his face. Then he lowered his head and said to Xu Dayong: "Master Xu, King Zhao wants me to be an insider. When the king comes to Beijing, he will take care of the palace and the garden. If this matter is done well, I may be alone and I will be unable to support it."

"You might as well say something."

"It's absolutely impossible for no one in the palace to help you, but if you want someone to help you, it's a difficult step without money."

“How much is needed?”

Li Qiucheng suddenly changed his mind and said, "I heard from my brother that everyone on your side will give you land?"

"Yes, a family of 50 acres. In a year, one acre of land can produce five or six hundred kilograms of grain."

When Li Qiucheng calculated in his mind, his eyes suddenly shone. Fifty acres of land can actually produce 2,300 kilograms of grain. His 500 acres of irrigated land will only cost 70,000 kilograms of grain if he dies of 500 acres of irrigated land, and it must be a good weather!

"Can you give me fifty acres?"

"Haha, Mr. Li, don't think we have not entered the pass yet, the territory under King Zhao's command is larger than that of the Qing Dynasty. There is more than ten thousand miles of fertile land! Fifty acres are fine."

Li Qiucheng slapped the armrest of the Grand Master's chair and said, "Mr. Xu is happy! Then that's it, two thousand acres of irrigated land and fifty thousand taels of silver. I'll find someone in the palace and garden!"
Chapter completed!