On this day, Fan Yuqi was doing nothing in the inn, when suddenly a man named Chen Zengyu sent him a greeting card.
"Chen Zengyu? I don't know this person," Fan Yuqi said for a moment, "Please come in."
The visitor came in with square steps and a gentle breeze. It turned out to be the dear friend I met at Hexiang Tower that day.
Fan Yuqi was extremely happy and said: "Brother!"
"Good brother!"
This is true, there is no place in life where we don't meet each other. If the two love lasts for a long time, how can they stay together day and night?
After serving refreshments, Fan Yuqi asked: "I went in a hurry that day, and I didn't have time to ask my brother for his surname, so I didn't recognize him. Don't be offended if you are disrespectful."
The man laughed and said, "Brother, what are you talking about? You and I, brothers, talk about these false etiquette, but it will be ignored."
"In this way, I won't be polite to my brother anymore. Brother, try my best Yuhua tea. The green fragrance is very strong!"
"Well, good tea. I would like to ask my dear brother if you have anything to do when you come to Nanjing? Brother Yu has some connections in Nanjing. If you need help, please don't be polite."
"To be honest with you, brother, what I have to do is extremely difficult, and it cannot be done by someone other than a great scholar, such as the Master of Ceremonies, the Master of Ceremonies, or Bingbi. But when I gave gifts to the four bachelors in Beijing, they were all rejected. I am depressed.
Ah!"
After hearing this, the man was happy, picked up a piece of plum blossom cake, put it in his mouth, and made a smacking sound. He also took a sip of Yuhua tea, held it in his mouth, and swallowed it.
"To be honest, Brother Yu is Chen Zengyu, the political envoy of Zhejiang Province. If I want to meet another great scholar, it will be very difficult. If I want to meet the second assistant, Grandmaster Sun, Brother Yu can introduce him."
This confirms that the Provincial Envoy, Si Zuo, will participate in politics. He is ranked third in rank and is under the Chief Envoy. Ordinarily, it is not that easy for an official of this rank to meet a dignified deputy minister. This person actually made it extremely easy.
Fan Yuqi asked in surprise: "Brother, are you related to Xueshi Sun?"
Chen Zengyu chuckled: "Master Sun is Brother Yu's Mount Tai. If my brother wants to see Master Sun, Brother Yu can introduce him to me."
In the Ming Dynasty, the father-in-law was called Yue Weng, and he was honored as Mount Tai.
The word Mount Tai comes from the Tang Dynasty. When Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty consecrated Mount Tai, it was customary for all the accompanying officials to be promoted to one rank. As a result, Prime Minister Zhang said that he was selfish and promoted his son-in-law Zheng Yi four ranks, from a ninth-rank official to a fifth-rank official.
Pinguan. Unexpectedly, Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty knew Zheng Yi and saw that he was promoted to four levels all of a sudden. He asked what was going on. Minister Huang Ban mocked and said: "This is the power of Mount Tai." From then on, Mount Tai became the honorific title for his father-in-law. Chen Zengyu is the son of Si'en's general Chen Bangchuan. Chen Bangchuan and Sun Jinding are related to each other, and Sun Jinding's daughter married Chen Zengyu. When Zhu Hengjia started his army, Chen Bangchuan was duplicitous. In anger, Zhu Hengjia raised troops to attack Si'en, and Chen Bangchuan committed suicide.
.Seeing his tragic death, Emperor Guangwu felt compassion for Chen Zengyu. Instead of killing Chen Zengyu, he made him the prefect of Si'en.
Chen Zengyu learned from his father's lessons, became an official honestly, worked diligently, and had a good official, and his official career was prosperous. He had been promoted from the prefect to the high position of participating in politics. According to later generations, he moved from the city hall level to the political level.
to the rank of deputy minister.
It is said that having a bright future is a good thing, and Chen's life as a political activist should be happy. Unfortunately, there is a fly in the ointment, and he has a fierce wife at home.
Chen Zengyu's glory and wealth mainly depended on the power of Lao Taishan, so he naturally did not dare to offend his wife, Sun. Sun controlled him strictly and did not allow him to take concubines. He even strictly controlled his pocket money. This time, Chen Zengyu returned to Beijing for business and heard that Qin Huai
The river was prosperous, and I became interested in having some fun. By a strange combination of circumstances, I entered the Hexiang Tower and made friends with Fan Yuqi.
People say that three years of clearing the magistrate's office cost one hundred thousand snowflakes of silver. Poor Chen Zengyu was kept in check by the Sun family and only had three thousand taels of silver around him. Without the help of this sworn brother, there was no way to sleep with the famous prostitute Guo Qiaoer.
Of course, my heart is filled with gratitude to Fan Yuqi.
When Fan Yuqi heard that his sworn brother actually had such a background, he couldn't help but secretly thought: A noble man has come from heaven to help me, the Fan family. This hundred thousand taels of silver is so worth it!
Immediately he begged: "Brother, please introduce Xueshi Sun to my younger brother. My Fan family is extremely grateful!"
"Brother Xian, what are you talking about? What are you and I talking about? Thank you. Wait a moment. Brother Yu will go to Mount Tai immediately."
Chen Zengyu was an honest man. After coming out of Fan Yuqi's place, he immediately rushed to the Sun Mansion to ask for an audience with Sun Jinding.
Grand Scholar Sun happened to be at home after court, and his son-in-law asked to see him. There was no reason why he should not see him, so please come in immediately.
I thought that introducing someone in front of Yue Weng was not a trivial matter.
Unexpectedly, the reason why Sun Jinding was able to rise from a convicted officer who was sentenced to Guilin to the high position of the second assistant was to closely follow the footsteps of Emperor Guangwu. When Zhu Hengjia said east, he would never go west; when Zhu Hengjia said south, he would never go west.
Not going north.
As a confidant of Emperor Guangwu, Sun Jinding naturally knew that the emperor hated the so-called "Eight Great Imperial Merchants", especially the old Fan family, and he wanted to get rid of them quickly.
How can I meet someone the emperor doesn't like? To make friends with such a person is like hanging myself because my life is too long.
At that moment, he straightened his face and lectured: "My good son-in-law has been an official for many years. He should know that the officialdom is dangerous, so how can he act so absurdly? This Jiexiu Fan family colluded with the Tartars and rebelled against our Ming Dynasty. The Holy Emperor hates their family deeply, and sooner or later he will kill them."
Destroy his nine tribes. It is impossible to hide from such a person. How can you make friends with him and lure them home? Isn’t this getting into trouble? You really don’t know what is going on. After you go back, cut off all contact with this person as soon as possible, and never do anything else in the future.
Not allowed to meet each other.
Chen Zengyu was sweating profusely when he heard what Lao Taishan said. It was not because he was afraid that he would get into trouble if he made friends with Fan Yuqi, but because he felt that he had boasted so much in front of his sworn brother but failed to get anything done. How could he live up to his sworn brother's friendship?
When people are anxious, they become anxious.
Chen Zengyu suddenly had a plan in mind and said: "My son-in-law thinks that Taishan might as well give in and meet Fan Yuqi, accept his money and then hand it over to His Majesty. First, I can test His Majesty's attitude towards Fan; secondly,
You can show His Majesty that you are an upright gentleman who does not accept bribes."
Sun Jinding thought about Chen Zengyu's words, and the more he thought about it, the more reasonable he felt, and he praised: "My good son-in-law has made great progress in these years as an official abroad. It's okay, I just want to meet this Fan Yuqi."
Sun Jinding met Fan Yuqi at his residence and unceremoniously accepted the 100,000 taels of silver he offered as a bribe to himself and the 1 million taels presented to Emperor Guangwu. After serving tea to see the guests off, he immediately entered the palace to see Zhu Hengjia.
"Sun Qing, you are so anxious to see me, could you be doing something good?" Zhu Hengjia made a joke about Sun Jinding.
"Your Majesty, Your Majesty, someone has sent you 1,100,000 taels of silver for military expenses. I dare not make a decision on my own, so I must hand it over to you immediately." Sun Jinding also started to fight.
"Oh, who is so generous, giving away one million and one million taels?"
"It's the traitor Jiexiu Fan. Seeing that the Qing Dynasty was defeated in battle, they wanted to set up camp here in the Ming Dynasty. They ran to the minister's house and gave me a hundred thousand taels. They also asked me to give a hundred thousand taels to your majesty.
I felt that the money from the traitors was in vain, so I took it on my own initiative and handed it over to Your Majesty to use it as military expenses for the Ming Dynasty."
Zhu Hengjia laughed loudly, "Sun Qing said it right, money from traitors will not be collected until it is free. I was short of money, so I accepted it."
Then he sneered, "Then Mr. Fan thinks that he can buy the lives of his whole family if he has money. What a fool's errand! By the way, did Fan Yongdou die of illness?"
"I heard from Fan Yuqi that Fan Yongdou is dead."
"Humph, this traitor has gained an advantage." Zhu Hengjia took out a booklet and found the page that recorded the eight imperial merchants including Fan Yongdou, Wang Dengku, Jin Liangyu, etc. He checked out Fan Yongdou's name and replaced it with Fan Sanba, the new head of the Fan family. Sun Jinding took a look and felt a chill go down his spine. Your Majesty is now the emperor, so why hasn't his habit of keeping small accounts changed?
After resigning, Sun Jinding summoned his son-in-law Chen Zengyu and gave him many warnings and instructions: He must not have any contact with anyone from the old Fan family in the future.
However, the strongest relationship in the world is this stroll along the Qinhuai River. Chen Zengyu hindered the brotherhood and got closer to Fan Yuqi.
Fan Yuqi was also a generous person. Knowing that his step-brother was afraid of henpecks, he spent hundreds of thousands of taels to buy a big house in Nanjing for his step-brother, redeemed Guo Qiaoer's body, and became his step-brother's concubine.