Chapter 7 There is a request for the knife maker Bi Wu

Li Lianying came to Beijing with a beautiful fantasy. For the first time, he saw the palace wall compound, the Tiananmen Gate tower, and the majestic and majestic stone lions.When he saw the guards with knives and guns, he was still a little scared. In the early and mid-Qing Dynasty, when entering the palace as a eunuch, one had to be approved by the Ministry of Internal Affairs first, and then sent to the Respect Room, and handed over to the Department of Punishment for purification.This is often called official punishment.The knife maker who is in charge of purifying himself here is called the official knife maker, and his name is eunuch.Most of the people who underwent surgery with this method were abducted children, or children bought by human traffickers and sold to the respect room.Firstly, the traffickers got money, and secondly, the respect room was too lazy to go out of the palace to select suitable candidates, so this was the biggest source of eunuchs.There are also some children from poor families who have no way out and want to enter the imperial gate but have no money to entrust someone to purify themselves, so they send them in by themselves.In the late Qing Dynasty, private builders appeared, called private knife craftsmen.At that time, there were two such businesses in Beijing. One family was named Liu and lived in Fangzhu Hutong in Di'anmen;The accounting department was not the person who managed money and accounts. At that time, the accounting department was a subordinate unit of the internal affairs, which was responsible for transporting eunuchs and nurses to the palace.Private swordsmiths are run by aristocratic families, and others cannot interfere at will, which is also approved by the court.They all have frequent contacts with the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and their relationships are intricate, and they are people in the same chain of interests.It is said that they can enjoy the sixth-rank top wear, which is higher than the seventh-rank magistrate.

Every year in the four seasons of spring, summer, autumn, and winter, private swordsmiths register the number of castrated people in this quarter, and send them together with the eunuchs to the Accounting Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.Don't look at these eunuchs being tortured terribly, but after the eunuchs entered the palace, they had to bribe these swordsmiths when they gained power.Especially for some homeless children who have been abducted and trafficked, they have to recognize their relatives before entering the palace, and they will walk around as relatives in the future.

Li Lianying's grandfather knew the twists and turns. In order to save his grandson from suffering, he decided to spend a sum of money to purify himself.Introduced by Zhao Huitian, a relative who was working in the Ministry of Punishment at the time, he sent the child to Biwujia in Accounting Department Hutong, Nanchang Street.According to the usual practice, the Bi family first inspected and interviewed the child.The so-called inspection is actually to check the physiological structure, so as to decide whether to retain it; the second is the interview, mainly to see whether the facial features are correct, because the eunuchs in the palace are very strict, and they serve the master all day, of course, they cannot be crooked. My heart was blocked and panicked.Therefore, it is not acceptable to have improper facial features, scars and pockmarks on the face, stuttering, baldness and blind eyes, and even less cleverness and stupidity.In short, the requirements are very strict.

Li Lianying successfully passed the examination. The Bi family told Li Wanzhi and his son that in order to reduce the pain of the child, the weather and seasons are now suitable, and the child must be cleansed soon, otherwise it will not heal well.After cleansing, it takes a long time to raise it, and it can only be handed over to the Accounting Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs before winter at the earliest.During this period, one hundred and ten taels of silver have to be paid for meals, surgery fees, boots, hats, gowns, etc.Li's father and son knew that these were rules, and they were unspoken rules in today's terms, so they agreed.After everything was discussed, the Bi family asked the Li family and his son to sign a contract that had nothing to do with the Bi family.After signing, Li and his son knew that Li Lianying's fate was about to undergo a complete change, whether it was a blessing or a curse, it was up to fate.Li Lianying didn't feel anything at all, she just had to wait for the purging operation to close.

In fact, this body purification is a high-tech job, and it is not something that can be fulfilled just by wishing.Bi Wu came from a noble family and was very familiar with this line of work. His moves were steady, precise, ruthless, and clean, saving himself and his children a lot of trouble.If you encounter those who are not skilled in the technique, you may have to perform a second cleanse, which is really painful to think about. According to historical records: Hong Xiuquan, the leader of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, wanted to create a group of eunuchs in order to meet the needs of the harem for basic living and cooking, and all the eunuchs were boys.He heard that the knife makers in Beijing were very cruel to the children, so he decided to invite a famous western doctor from Guangzhou to be in charge of castration, with all the medicines and medical equipment used.It is said that under such conditions, the success rate should be much higher than that of Beijing.Unexpectedly, hundreds of boys died after the operation, and none of them survived.As for the knife makers in Beijing, under the conditions of no disinfection, no anesthesia, and no anti-inflammatory and pain relief, most of the patients who underwent surgery survived, which is also a miracle.

One day in early spring, Li Lianying was brought into an old and dilapidated operating room.Usually this kind of operation is called silkworm punishment, because the room in the operating room is small and airtight, like a silkworm room; it can also be called corruption punishment, because most eunuchs are incontinent, often Enuresis, named after a rancid smell.For a child who is just nine years old, facing such a gloomy environment and tall strangers, it is impossible not to be afraid. Before the operation, he was asked to drink a bowl of bitter and astringent marijuana leaf water.After drinking, he was immediately tied to an operating bed covered with straw and plant ash underneath, and a hard-boiled egg was stuffed into his mouth.Someone will ask him, do you really want to?This is not to ask for his opinion, but for another reason.Because no matter whether he answered yes or no, he had to open his mouth. As soon as he opened his mouth, the egg would immediately slide into the esophagus, causing fainting and unconsciousness.Bi Wu took the opportunity to raise the knife and drop it, and then randomly applied some herbs, and everything was done.Bi Wu completed the body purification operation in an instant, but the pain was unimaginable for ordinary people.Li Lianying fainted from the pain.In fact, fainting is not bad, and it is not uncommon for people to die from this kind of torture.

Sima Qian, a famous historian and writer in the Western Han Dynasty, was imprisoned in the second year of the Tianhan Dynasty (99 BC) because he defended Li Ling who was defeated by the Huns and offended Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, and was sentenced to imperial punishment.Later, he made a detailed description in "Bao Ren An Shu": "There is nothing ugly before humiliation, and there is nothing greater than imperial punishment. Every time you read this shame, you will sweat on your back and stain your clothes."With his own personal experience, he painfully revealed how cruel it is to cleanse himself, so that he would sweat profusely when he remembered it later.

Eunuchs who purify themselves are commonly known as monks, while eunuchs who have been castrated since childhood are called Naidi'er monks.At the age of sixteen, those who are unmarried and castrated are called monks through the door, and those who are married and have children and castrated are called half-way monks.There are also those who worship eunuchs as teachers since childhood, learn palace etiquette from teachers after castration, and those who enter the palace as eunuchs at the age of sixteen are called Menerli origin (a bit of a professional background).If the person is sixteen years old or an adult and has not been married or is married and has children, because of a poor family, worships a eunuch as a teacher and then castrates, it is called birth by birth.Those who were castrated by themselves due to family poverty or asked to be castrated by a swordsmith went to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and asked to act as eunuchs, regardless of their age, they were all called castration.From this point of view, Li Lianying was born as a monk in the milk land and as a congregation.

Regarding the situation after being eunuched, there is also a document describing: After being eunuched for surgery, the voice of the eunuch changed immediately on the same day, the beard and armpit hair gradually fell off in three days, the semen was sealed in seven days, the quills were removed in twelve days, and the quills were removed in fifteen days. After the wound heals, you can go to the ground in 21 days.The day of going to the ground is called the day of robbing and becoming enlightened, and it is a memorable day for eunuchs.On this day, the knife maker and the family members of the eunuch congratulate each other, and invite the eunuch to eat stewed meat noodles.From then on, if there is a happy event again, the eunuch can no longer say congratulations or great joy to the eunuch, but replace it with your auspiciousness.If you say something like great joy, it is considered to be a mockery of the eunuchs, and eunuchs usually avoid saying the word great joy to them.

Bi Wu is a knife maker who is greedy for money and has a dark heart. Not only is his method of purification cruel, but his method of extortion is first-rate.After Li Lianying died, his grandfather visited his grandson for the first time. Bi Wu pointed out that there are many eunuchs entering the palace every year, and most of them are servants for others to order.If the child wants to have good errands after entering the palace, he has to spend more money, collude with the eunuchs of the inner court to make favors from it, and only by making arrangements can he be arranged to serve by the concubine's side.Li Wanzhi didn't want his grandson to suffer, so in order to let his grandson find a good job, he had no choice but to agree, and said: "The only trouble is for the shopkeeper, and when the child is successful in the future, I will never forget your great kindness."