The disgraced official I took care of was actually Zhu Houcong's childhood friend.

Chapter 728

Wang Hong was one of the chief eunuchs of the Royal Military Academy and also a court eunuch of the Directorate of Ceremonial. The Directorate of Ceremonial, as one of the twelve directorates, was the most powerful among them.

Many emperors, wanting eunuchs to do things they wanted to do but couldn't do openly, simply granted the Directorate of Ceremonial Affairs the authority to wear imperial robes on their behalf. Many famous eunuchs, such as Wang Zhen and Liu Jin, were the chief eunuchs of the Directorate of Ceremonial Affairs.

Even when Liu Jin was just the Grand Eunuch of the Directorate of Ceremonial, he began to control the court.

The Emperor held all the authority of the Directorate of Ceremonial Affairs. When the Emperor needed the Directorate of Ceremonial Affairs to do things for him, he would delegate a lot of authority. When he didn't need the eunuchs of the Directorate of Ceremonial Affairs to do too much, he would take back their authority.

In fact, since Liu Jin's death, the power of the Directorate of Ceremonial Affairs has been greatly diminished. Back then, Yang Tinghe and other officials were suppressed by Liu Jin to the point of being unable to raise their heads. After finally bringing down Liu Jin, they naturally would not tolerate another Liu Jin appearing in the Directorate of Ceremonial Affairs.

After Zhu Houzhao's death, Zhu Houcong succeeded to the throne. At first, Zhang Yong naturally became the Grand Eunuch of the Directorate of Ceremonial. However, Jiajing never trusted Zhang Yong. If the Grand Eunuch of the Directorate of Ceremonial lost the emperor's trust, he would lose all power.

Zhang Yong, the Grand Eunuch of the Directorate of Ceremonial, was intentionally marginalized by Emperor Jiajing for two or three years. In the third year of Jiajing's reign, he voluntarily applied to retire in Nanjing. He died of illness at the beginning of this year.

After Zhang Yong resigned from his position as Grand Eunuch, Huang Jin naturally became the new Grand Eunuch of the Directorate of Ceremonial. After Huang Jin took office, due to Jiajing's trust, the Directorate of Ceremonial's authority was much greater than before.

Wang Hong is one of Zhang Yong's adopted sons. Now, Wang Hong is nearly fifty years old, but he is still just a court eunuch in the Directorate of Ceremonial. If you ask who Wang Hong is most jealous of, it is undoubtedly Huang Jin. In Wang Hong's eyes, Huang Jin is not yet thirty years old, but because of his close relationship with the emperor, he has become the Grand Eunuch of the Directorate of Ceremonial.

Logically speaking, this is understandable. Emperors usually appoint eunuchs based on their relationship with the emperor, such as Wang Zhen during the reign of Emperor Yingzong, and the powerful eunuch Liu Jin.

But Wang Hong couldn't help being jealous, even to the point of being insanely jealous, wishing he could take Huang Jin's place. After all, he had worked so hard to climb the ranks for so many years, but he was still just a court eunuch. Why was Huang Jin a court eunuch as soon as he entered the capital, and then promoted to Grand Secretary Eunuch a year later?

Now he is the Grand Eunuch of the Directorate of Ceremonial.

Wang Hong couldn't understand it, and it was precisely because he couldn't understand it that he wanted to seize every opportunity he could. He kept trying to figure out Jiajing's intentions, hoping that one day he could seize a suitable opportunity to soar to great heights.

In Wang Hong's view, Lord Zhou now wields immense power in the court. Both generals were trained by Lord Zhou. If His Majesty and Zhou Hengqi were to fall out, it would be hard to say which side these two would take.

Not to mention the current cabinet, the Grand Secretary and Grand Secretary Yang Yongxiu, or rather, apart from Grand Secretary Xia Yan, almost everyone else is on Lord Zhou's side.

Wang Hong understood this point clearly.

Therefore, Wang Hong felt that His Majesty must be very wary of Lord Zhou, otherwise he would not have sent him and others to the military academy to be on duty. The reason he was sent here was simply to monitor Lord Zhou, find out what he did wrong, and let His Majesty punish him.

Or, to put it another way, if Your Majesty finds it difficult to say or do something, I can certainly do it myself. If Your Majesty asks me to do it, I will definitely be promoted.

At the very least, he should be a high-ranking eunuch, and one with extremely high authority, so that he could make things difficult for Zhou Hengqi and do what His Majesty wanted to do but dared not.

It must be said that Wang Hong's plan was very shrewd.