Deep Palace past events

The new eunuchs stood in a square line in the small square outside the gate of the Ouchi palace supervisor's office, waiting nervously and excitedly for the assignment.After the two hundred new eunuchs had decided where to go, it was already afternoon, and it was time for dinner.

The chief eunuch explained a few words to the three young eunuchs around him, and then left.

Although the new eunuchs knew where they were going, they were entering the palace for the first time after all, and they were unfamiliar with everything. Don’t say they couldn’t find the familiar fire place, the imperial dining room, the cleaning place, the manufacturing office, the meeting place...etc. , Even east, west, north and south are not clear.

Seeing that the chief eunuch had left, some impatient and courageous new eunuchs asked the three young eunuchs:

"Where is Yuxi?"

"Where is Zuoshunmen?"

"Yes, we just entered the palace, and we can't even find the direction, where can we find the way!"...

"Don't shout loudly!"

"This is the imperial palace, is this the place where you are shouting and shouting?"

"I really don't understand the rules! I don't know how Eunuch Luo and the others raped you?"

Seeing the angry expressions on the faces of the three young eunuchs, everyone was so frightened that they lowered their heads and did not dare to respond.

Among the three, the fattest eunuch with the fairest skin stared at everyone majestically for a long while before finally speaking again:

"Stand properly, everyone. After a while, people from various places will be sent to pick you up. We will give each of you two sets of new clothes soon. You think you can be like this now if you are a servant in the palace. Isn't it inappropriate to dress in all kinds of clothes?"

Everyone was very happy when they heard that two sets of new clothes would be distributed soon.After the three eunuchs showed off their prestige enough, they began to distribute clothes.

Just as everyone was receiving new clothes, the old eunuchs sent by various places to pick up the new eunuchs also arrived.

Apart from Yang Fan and Zhang Xiaomao, the new eunuchs who were assigned to the cleaning office this time also had five other eunuchs, they were also sent from the Dao Family Manor, although they couldn't recognize each other's names, they already knew each other.

After all five people received their new clothes, half an hour had passed, and it was already dusk. Fortunately, the old eunuch who came to pick them up had a lantern, so they would not have to walk in the dark.

Yang Fan, Zhang Xiaomao, Peng Xiaowan, and Gao Zhaohui said they cherished each other, and then followed everyone to the cleaning place.

At this time, everyone was hungry and tired, and it was already dark, and the scenery along the way was already blurred, so no one wanted to watch.

After a group of people walked in silence for a while, Zhang Xiaomao finally broke the silence and asked the old eunuch, "How far is the cleaning place? We haven't even had a bite of lunch today. How can we go to the cleaning place?" Can't have dinner?"

The old eunuch said: "Of course there is dinner, don't worry. You still remember the Meridian Gate - you entered the palace today through a small door next to the Meridian Gate - the cleaning place is behind the second palace wall behind the Meridian Gate .We can get there in a maximum of two sticks of incense.”

"My God, it takes so long to walk two sticks of incense?" asked a new eunuch.

The old eunuch laughed and said: "What place do you think this is, and you will be there when you talk about it? The palace is huge!"

Another new eunuch said: "I'm not afraid that you will laugh when I say it: Although I have entered the palace, I still don't know where the palace is in Jinling City!"

One sentence made everyone laugh.Zhang Xiaomao said: "I don't know, I just entered the palace in a daze!"

The old eunuch smiled and said: "Let me tell you something: the imperial palace is located on the east side of Jinling City, Zhongshan, and the west toe yang. It sits north to south, sleeps at the front and sleeps at the back, and the six palaces of concubines are arranged in sequence. Today's imperial palace is compared to my It had more than doubled in size when it entered the palace.

"I remember that the year I entered the palace was from the previous dynasty to the new 27th year, and the palace architecture was much simpler than it is now. The main hall is called Fengtian Temple, with the Fengtian Gate in front, the Huagai Hall behind the main hall, and Jinshen after the Huagai Hall. There are two buildings on the left and right sides of Fengtian Hall, the one on the left is called Wenlou, and the one on the right is called Wulou. The back of Jinshen Hall is called "Gong", the front is Qianqing Palace, and the back is called Kunning Palace.

"At that time, there were only four gates in the imperial city. The one on the south was the Meridian Gate when you came here just now, the one on the east was called Donghua Gate, the one on the west was called Xihua Gate, and the one on the north was called Xuanwu Gate. At that time, only one palace was built. In short, the scale of the palace city at that time was also very small, and there were only double gates of Fengtian Gate and Meridian Gate in front of the main hall.

"In April of the eighth year of Taibai, the emperor decreed a large-scale renovation of the palace here. This renovation first strengthened the construction of the gates. A temple was built on each side of the Meridian Gate to form the Que Gate. There are three gates in the middle. There are east and west corner gates built on the left and right of Fengtian Gate. The left side of Fengtian Hall is called Zhongzuo Gate, and the right side is called Zhongyou Gate. There are also gates between the two verandahs outside Fengtian Gate. It is Donghua Gate, and outside Youshun Gate is Xihua Gate. At the same time, some temples were added, such as the Wenhua Hall built in Donghua Gate, which is the place where the East Palace supervises, and the Wuying Hall is built in Xihua Gate , for the place of residence during fasting.

"This year the palace is undergoing the third expansion. I heard some chief eunuchs talking about adding more buildings in front of the palace this time. Rebuilding the Jinshui Bridge, and building Duanmen, Chengtianmen, Chang'an East and West Gates, all the way to the south The Hongwu Gate built in the sixth year of Taibai..."

Although he spoke carefully, but everyone was Grandma Liu who entered the Grand View Garden and didn't understand anything, and everyone was at a loss.

Zhang Xiaomao interrupted him and said, "We can still understand how big the palace is if you just say it, but we haven't seen it before, so we don't understand it."

The old eunuch was stunned for a moment, it seemed a little unbelievable, why didn't he understand what he had said in such detail?After pondering for a while, he said again: "Because the building is currently being expanded, I don't know how big it will be in the end, but I heard that the width from east to west is about 250 and 240 feet, and the depth from north to south is [-] and [-] feet..."

While talking, I went to the cleaning place.At this time, the eunuchs had already eaten and went back to their rooms to rest.

Fortunately, the chief eunuch in the cleaning office knew that everyone hadn't eaten dinner, so he had ordered two eunuchs to prepare meals for everyone in advance.

But to the surprise and dissatisfaction of the new eunuchs, there was only one cabbage tofu soup, and there was no oil or water in the soup.

Everyone looked at each other in blank dismay. Although they didn't say anything, there was a sense of anger at being abused in their hearts.The old eunuch just now saw everyone's expressions, coughed lightly, and didn't explain anything.After the two cooking eunuchs left the kitchen, they said in a low voice, "You will get used to it, from now on, you will have one meal and one soup every day..."

Zhang Xiaomao muttered angrily: "Do all the eunuchs in the palace eat so poorly?"

The old eunuch coughed twice, looked outside the door vigilantly, saw that there was no one else in the yard, so he walked over to close the door, returned to the table, and whispered: "This is life!"

He sighed, and said again: "It's maddening to compare people to others. If you want to eat well, you should mix well in the future. It would be fine if you become a chief eunuch or deputy chief eunuch. If you become a certain palace chief eunuch or It would be better to be the deputy chief eunuch, if not, just follow me for the rest of your life and be a low-level eunuch in a daze!"

Yang Fan smiled wryly, and asked, "The chief eunuchs and chief eunuchs you mentioned, what do they usually eat?"

"This...some powerful eunuchs eat a thousand pieces of gold, and their wealth even exceeds that of some masters! The chief executive's monthly meal silver is 100 taels, each meal consists of forty dishes, two soups, and the following The chief eunuchs in each place are given ten taels of silver for food, three for vegetables, and one for soup."

He was stunned for a while, then sighed: "Of course, the powerful are a minority after all. Most eunuchs only have five taels of food silver per month, and each meal is one meal and one soup. And the eunuchs in our cleaning department, and Mentou Jingjun is the same, with the lowest status! There is only two taels of rice and silver every month, and the food is still big pot of rice and big pot of vegetables."

The old eunuch is obviously very dissatisfied with his current situation and the disparity between the rich and the poor among the eunuchs. Although he speaks with scruples and unclear language, it can still make people feel a kind of anger and helplessness in his heart towards reality. .

Everyone originally thought that entering the palace as an eunuch, although their status is low, at least they can wear good food and good food, and there is still money to be made, but on the first day of entering the palace, they discovered that the facts are not what they imagined before.For a moment, the hearts of the new eunuchs seemed to be poured with cold water, and they were speechless.

After a long silence, an eunuch picked up the bowl and began to eat.As if being angry with someone, he finished a big bowl after a few big mouthfuls.When the others saw it, they also sighed and picked up the bowls and chopsticks.Because I was in a bad mood, I didn't speak, and there was no other sound in the room except the sound of bowls and chopsticks and chewing.

After eating a bowl of rice, Zhang Xiaomao suddenly said to himself: "Damn it, I swear that I will become the chief eunuch or chief eunuch in the future, otherwise I will enter the palace for nothing!"

Those words made everyone laugh, but the laughter inevitably had a bit of a wry smile.

After eating, the old eunuch led everyone into a big room in the northeast corner of the courtyard.Said: "Starting tonight, the seven of you will live in this house."

Yang Fan saw that this big room was similar to some student dormitories of the last century that he had seen in movies and TV dramas. The bunks were arranged along the two walls, and the beds were separated, so he picked the lower bunk on the leftmost inside and greeted him. Zhang Xiaomao took the lower berth opposite him.

Everyone entered the palace on the first day, and there were many feelings to share, but because the mood was spoiled by the dinner, the mood became very low.After only talking for a while, I put out the candles and went to sleep.

Because Yang Fan didn't intend to be a eunuch for the rest of his life, his mood was not affected too much, and he lay on the bed, just thinking wildly.