In addition to being the chief scribe of the Imperial Household Department, Feng Bao was also the eunuch in charge of the East Factory and the Imperial Horse Department. Since the fall of the Lu family, the Imperial Guard has been firmly controlled by the East Factory, so he is now the biggest spy chief in the Ming Dynasty.

However, the civil officials were now powerful, and Emperor Longqing was a weak ruler. The emperor and the eunuchs were the master and the servant. If the master could not be strong, the servant would not dare to expand. In addition, Eunuch Feng had a high cultural level and was on good terms with the literati, so the presence of the East Factory was relatively weak.

But that only applies to the scholars who hold the right to speak. For the rest of the people, especially his enemies, Eunuch Feng has never relaxed his all-round surveillance.

And Chen Hong is Feng Bao's number one enemy.

Just like the Grand Secretaries dream of becoming the Prime Minister, who doesn't want to stand at the pinnacle of power? Becoming the most powerful eunuch is also the biggest pursuit of online writers... oh no, the eunuchs. As a eunuch who is well versed in classics and history, good at painting, understands music and likes collecting, and even the Hanlin scholars praise his talents, Feng Bao has always felt that it is natural for him to become the eunuch in charge of the seal.

Because apart from everything else, he had long been the second most important person in the Imperial Household Department, and when Teng Xiang left, he should have taken over the position according to the rules. But Gao Huzi wanted to gain credit, so he pushed Chen Hong, who was ranked behind him, to the throne of the eunuch in charge of the seal.

Eunuch Feng was so angry that his lungs exploded. When he entered the Imperial Household Department, Chen Hong was still in the Imperial Household Department. He had no qualifications to work in the Imperial Residence before, and he was able to rise to the position by presenting the emperor with extraordinary skills and tricks. Eunuch Feng was not willing to be ridden over by such a loser!

Moreover, Chen Hong, who only knows how to curry favor with his superiors and do whatever he wants, has too much dirt on him. The East Factory has enough dirt on him to fill a room. It was only because he got along well with Gao Gong, and Gao Huzi was like a father-in-law, that Feng Bao did not dare to report him.

Today, Zhang Xianggong secretly met with Feng Bao and told him that he and Gao Ge Lao had decided to let Chen Hong take the blame and leave. Feng Bao knew that Master Zhao's plan had worked. He ran back to Yikun Palace and reported Chen Hong to Concubine Li.

After giving birth to Princess Rui'an last year, Concubine Li never saw the dragon root of Emperor Longqing again. She hated those eunuchs who always used women to seduce the emperor. She found an opportunity to drive Teng Xiang out of the palace. Unexpectedly, the new one was even worse, causing the emperor to ignore state affairs and become haggard. He deserved death!

Therefore, when she saw the evidence collected by Feng Bao, she was so angry that she shook all over. She slammed the table and went to the Qianqing Palace to complain to the emperor.

"My queen, you can't do that!" This frightened Feng Bao. If Empress Li spoke too quickly in front of the emperor and betrayed him, would he still want to replace Chen Hong? It was unclear whether he could save his life.

"Why not?" Concubine Li snorted coldly, "Are you teaching me how to do things?"

"I dare not," Feng Bao explained quickly, "I am just worried that the emperor will deny it. Will Your Majesty be able to confront him? Then we will be wrong even if we are right, and it will give the other party time to destroy the evidence!"

"You mean?" Concubine Li understood a little. "Behead first and report later?"

"Your Majesty is wise and you really understand it immediately." Feng Bao smiled and apologized, "Your Majesty is in charge of the six palaces. It is your power to search the palaces and conduct inspections. As long as we get the evidence of his crime, I will force him to ask to leave. If he knows what's best for him, Your Majesty will also show mercy and let him leave the palace safely to retire. If he doesn't know what's best for him..."

Feng Bao gritted his teeth and said in a sinister voice, "I have no choice but to sacrifice my life to get rid of this evil for my master!"

"Okay, let's do it!" Concubine Li nodded repeatedly when she heard this. Of course, it would be best if she could get the job done without angering the emperor.

~~

Chen Hong's house.

"What kind of evidence did they get against you that scared you like this?" Shao Fang asked curiously.

"They searched the garden behind the palace and captured the twenty boys I hid inside." Eunuch Chen said with a sad face.

"Why do you hide boys in the palace?" Shao Fang asked in surprise, "Eating eggs boiled with boy's urine? Not so much."

"No, I'm refining the Qiushi Huanyuan Pill for the emperor." Eunuch Chen muttered in a low voice: "How can I have such a strong taste?"

"It turns out to be Qiu Shi..." Shao Fang suddenly realized. He was a man of the underworld, knowing all kinds of tricks and techniques, so he was naturally familiar with this.

There are two types of autumn stone: salty autumn stone and light autumn stone. The former is extracted from table salt, while the latter is made by grinding the bleached and dried white of the human body into powder.

The so-called "white in the middle of the body" is the solid sediment in the urine. But it is not just anyone's urine, it has to be the urine of a boy, and it has to be urine taken after the beginning of autumn, because it is said that the urine of a boy at this time has less heat.

There are two methods of refining yin and yang to extract human white from boy's urine, both of which are quite complicated. The yin method is to put four or five stones of boy's urine into a large vat and stir it repeatedly like drying salt; the yang method is to extract it with a furnace fire like boiling salt. Then mix them together, and the yin and yang are harmonized to form autumn stone.

It takes more than 200 kilograms of boy's urine to produce a few coins of Qiushi, which shows that this is the essence of urine. Then it is combined with strange and rare materials such as male breasts to refine into pills, which are "Qiushi Huanyuan Pills". It is said that this pill is very tonic, especially for curing waist pain and premature ejaculation caused by excessive indulgence, and can make men last longer.

This recipe was not invented by Chen Hong. During the Jiajing period, a fallen official named Gu Kexue, in order to make a comeback, used the urine of boys and girls to refine Autumn Stone and presented it to Emperor Jiajing. After taking it, Jiajing thought it was very effective and promoted him to the Minister of Works, and later to the Minister of Rites.

At that time, there was a folk proverb that said, "A thousand rounds of peeing can be exchanged for a minister." Gu Kexue was also called the "Minister of Refining Urine", and was as famous as the "Prime Minister of Green Poetry."

After Chen Hong discovered that Emperor Longqing's bee stings became weak because he worked too hard to collect flowers, he tried every possible means to get the prescription from Gu Debai, the descendant of Gu Kexue, and made the "Qiu Shi Gui Yuan Dan" in the same way, and presented it to Emperor Longqing. Finally, Weng Weng could taste the essence of urine like his father...

Don't say, it really works! Buzz Buzz finally regained his vigor and became a hardworking and happy little bee again. Of course, Chen Hong, who presented the autumn stone, was greatly rewarded and was made to replace Teng Xiang as the eunuch in charge of ceremonies.

So what defeated the baby was not the tall beard, but the boy’s urine!

~~

However, Master Shao still didn't quite understand.

"Your Majesty is not unaware of your refining of Autumn Stone. Those little boys are at most sheep for the Emperor to milk. Besides, what can such a small child do? It won't be a problem to keep them in the palace."

"The problem is..." Chen Hong said in a depressed tone, "Not only the children, but also the officials."

"What? You are hiding your husband in the palace?!" Shao Fang's voice suddenly rose eight octaves. This was a big deal.

The first was to cause chaos in the imperial palace. The second was to let Emperor Longqing know that the Qiushi Huanyuan Dan he took was mixed with his husband's urine, and he would be skinned alive!

"It's not me, brother. You know me well. I like women." Chen Hong said with a hapless look on his face, "But I couldn't stand those damn guys down there. Some of them were too greedy and secretly brought my lover into the palace without my knowledge and kept her among the Qiushi boys."

"Such a big thing, you haven't checked it yourself?" Shao Fang asked in disbelief.

"That place is so noisy, I can't even avoid it in time..." Chen Hong sighed depressedly, "Oh, I didn't expect that Feng Bao, that bastard, would take all of them away. Now they are all detained in the Inner East Factory. The imperial concubine will go to the Qianqing Palace to file a complaint at dawn. Brother, you have to go and ask the old man Gao for help..."

"How do you want Lord Gao to protect you?" Shao Fang asked calmly.

"We don't know either..." Chen Hong said in a tearful voice, "Anyway, if Lord Gao can't do anything, our family will be completely hopeless."

"Alas..." Shao Daxia sighed and said, "It's not difficult to save you, but I'm afraid your career as a eunuch in charge of ceremonies has come to an end."

"Ah?" Chen Hong's tears flowed down his lips. "What's the difference between that and killing my family?"

"Then the external ministers don't care about the affairs of the inner court, and Lord Gao can't help either." Shao Daxia spread his hands and said.

"Don't..." Chen Hong looked at the clock on the table. It was already four in the morning, and there was still an hour until dawn. He didn't care about that anymore and cried, "If you don't want to be, then don't be. As long as I can get through it safely, that's fine."

"That's right, brother. A man who knows the current situation is a hero." Shao Daxia patted his shoulder and whispered, "It just so happens that the elder wants you to do something..."

Then he told Chen Hong about asking him to take the blame for the cabinet, "As long as you take this responsibility, I promise you on behalf of Lord Gao that I will suppress Feng Bao and the imperial concubine. I believe they don't really want you to die. As long as you can give up your position, everything will be fine."

"This, this..." Chen Hong said with trembling teeth: "Leaking the imperial decree is also a serious crime."

"What are you afraid of? Can't you find a scapegoat? As for you, the most you can be accused of 'not governing your subordinates strictly'. Isn't there a vacancy in the eunuch who stays in Zhongdu? Isn't it better for you to go to Fengyang and be a local lord than to serve others in the palace?" Shao Fang used his lobbying skills and persuaded him patiently.

Chen Hong thought, the problem is that I am not serving a human, but a little bee... Oh no, the real dragon emperor. Isn't the dream of all eunuchs in the world to serve him every day?

But at this moment, it was useless to say anything. He nodded dejectedly and gave up struggling.

Shao Fang taught him step by step how to write a self-surrender notebook...

~~

When I came out of Chen Hong's house, the sky was already turning pale.

Unexpectedly, the expected difficulty was solved so easily. Chen Hong was relieved, but he couldn't help wondering, how could it be such a coincidence? Zhang Siwei's letter was leaked, and Feng Bao happened to instigate the imperial concubine to search the palace. No one would believe that it was a coincidence.

"Well, it must be Feng Bao's doing!" Finally, Shao Daxia came to this conclusion and said to his son-in-law, "Go and report to the Prime Minister quickly. Fortunately, you have fulfilled your mission! I guess he hasn't slept a wink all night, waiting for your reply."

"Yes." Shen Yingkui responded and hurried away.