[H] Who Says the Eunuch Can't Attack - Chapter 6

Throughout the history of the Dachang Dynasty, its emperors were largely ineffective, yet all had an inexplicable fondness for beauty, surviving against the odds, much to the historians’ disbelief. Some credited the dynasty’s endurance to the first regent eunuch, Yang Qing, while others attributed it to the tireless efforts of the Cabinet ministers. Regardless of later opinions, Yang Qing was quite satisfied with his achievements.

After securing an heir for the royal family by drugging the young emperor and smuggling a palace maid into his bed, Yang Qing considered retirement. However, seeing the young prince cling to him during the crown-grabbing ceremony, he realized he was yet another ineffectual ruler.

With a heart as still as water, and sharing his despair with the equally disenchanted Cabinet, Yang Qing finally recalled the only history lesson he had paid attention to before his time travel. He persuaded the Cabinet to transform the governance of the country into a constitutional monarchy, turning the royal family into mere ceremonial figures, while the real governance would be handled by a new body comprising members of the former Eastern Depot and the Cabinet. This body, now called the Eastern Court, allowed nobles and the descendants of prestigious families to join after undergoing castration, starting as handlers of royal affairs with the possibility of rising to power.

This proposal initially met fierce resistance from the nobility and royalty but was supported by scholars and the populace. As the first Speaker of the Eastern Court, Yang Qing’s power and prestige became a beacon for those hungry for authority, leading ambitious nobles to secretly enroll their pregnant concubines’ offspring in the Eastern Court, trading their progeny’s future fertility for a lifetime of power.

However, Shen Zi’an, who had been raised and taught by Yang Qing, was not particularly ambitious. After the Shen family fell from grace and the males were castrated and sent to lowly servitude and the females sold into music houses, Shen Zi’an could no longer bear to see nobles who sought power yet wished to preserve their lineage. He influenced Yang Qing to enforce a rule in the Eastern Court that only those without progeny and castrated could join, ensuring that those in power could not favor their own descendants.

Despite knowing his family’s actions, Shen Zi’an had asked Yang Qing if he should solidify his status as a eunuch. Yang Qing advised patience and extracted Shen Zi’an cleanly from his family ties, maintaining his position as a pure and untouched scholar. Shen Zi’an, promoted quickly within the government, frequently met with Yang Qing but no one knew that at night, the young and capable Shen Zi’an lay beneath Yang Qing, crying out indulgently in pleasure.

The Imperial Guard, too, had to bow their heads after the fall of the royal power, becoming a tool constrained by the Cabinet and the Eastern Court. Xie Yao became increasingly busy, and even Yang Qing found it hard to meet him except on the day Prince Qing passed away, when they returned to the villa and drank together in remembrance.

Yang Qing’s adopted son, Yang Yun, raised by Shen Zi’an, witnessed no concealment from Yang Qing, even seeing his foster father dominating Shen Zi’an. Initially resistant, Shen Zi’an eventually succumbed to the pleasures administered by Yang Qing, who manipulated his sensitive breasts until he helplessly indulged in carnal pleasures in front of Yang Yun, embodying both a nurturing mother and a lascivious whore.

Unlike the ambitious Yang Qing, Yang Yun, castrated early, developed a beauty neither male nor female, attracting the lustful attentions of a noble’s son at fourteen, who brought him home and discovered his eunuch status only after disrobing him. This did not deter the noble’s son, who proceeded to ravage Yang Yun, causing pain and unexpected pleasure, leading to Yang Yun’s understanding of Shen Zi’an’s nightly moans.

When Yang Qing learned of the incident, he bided his time before intervening, eventually confronting the situation with the full force of the Eastern Court behind him. Facing the arrogant noble, Yang Qing proposed a shocking compromise: the noble’s son would be spared the typical punishment for rape in exchange for castration and service in the Eastern Court, an arrangement reluctantly accepted as the noble’s family needed to send a son to the Eastern Court anyway.

From then on, Shen Zi’an no longer returned to his family, living instead in Yang Qing’s villa, indulging daily in the delicacies prepared by Yang Qing, and maintaining the delicately cherished, barely noticeable breasts that Yang Qing adored. He lay willingly under Yang Qing every night, the most cherished of Yang Qing’s lascivious eunuchs.

As the most powerful man in the empire, Yang Qing eventually retired, leaving the affairs of the Eastern Court to a well-trained successor. He spent his days finding new pleasures with Xie Yao and Shen Zi’an, playing contentedly away from the cares of governance.

Under the rule of the new Speaker, who understood the failings of nobility and royalty from his noble upbringing, the empire expanded its territory significantly, marking a new era of strength. The Speaker, who adored Yang Yun, established a position for him that set the precedent for the companions of future Speakers, ensuring a blend of personal and political alliances that lasted as the dynasty continued to transform.

As time passed, the waning royal family ceased producing viable heirs, turning instead to the Eastern Court and the Cabinet for governance, which remained the sole pathway for ambitious nobles to grasp power. The painful tradition of castration was a price many were willing to pay for a taste of authority, enduring the procedure without anesthesia to remember the cost of their ambition forever.