In October of the first year of Wanli, Feng, who was in Nanjing, left Xiaoling with a handwritten letter from Chen Ju, the director of the East Factory, saying that he was "free from custody".
In his hometown, Fengjia Village, Shen County, Zhili Province, the construction of the gorgeous mansion that was just built at the beginning of the year has already stopped, and it looks dilapidated. His brother Feng You and nephew Feng Bangning were also released and demoted from official positions to civilian duties.
Feng You was tortured and frightened in prison, and soon after returning home, he lingered on his sick bed. When he recovered, he received another letter from Feng Bao.
Feng You said to Feng Bangning: "Meng Tian'en is so powerful, your uncle has been released and is working in Nanjing. What's the use of my body like this? Let your brother and I guard the house, and you go help your uncle."
Fortunately, Chen Juzhi's protection came in time, and the Feng family's property in their hometown was saved a little. Although it was less than ten thousand taels of silver, it was not difficult to dismiss the servants and maintain a well-off life.
The family sold their house in Diantian, packed up their money and quietly moved to Shenxian County without anyone noticing. Feng Bangning saw that his family was well settled, so he went to Nanjing to join Feng Bao.
When I arrived in Nanjing, I followed the address on the letter and found a house with three entrances. Feng Bangning informed me of his name, and the concierge at the door went in and informed me. After half a cup of tea, Feng Bangning was ushered into the central hall.
Feng Bangning saw Feng Bao standing at the entrance of the hall, wearing ordinary cotton clothes without any decoration. Only his thin body was still standing upright, with a smile on his face.
After Feng Bangning saluted, the uncle and nephew hugged each other and cried again. Feng Bao asked carefully about the details of the family, led Feng Bangning to sit down and said: "You have no protection today, and you have passed the year. You should put away all the habits of the past and follow me."
By doing things, you can gradually revive your family business."
In the past, Feng Bangning was a powerful figure in the capital. From the ministers to senior officials, to the prefecture and county yamen, no one dared to disrespect him.
The phoenix that landed today is not as good as a chicken. He knows that the pillars of his family have collapsed and it is a blessing to save his life. He said: "Uncle, don't worry, Bang Ning will go too far. I don't dare to trouble my uncle anymore."
After hearing this, Feng Bao cried and said: "I didn't expect our family to fall like this!" Feng Bangning comforted him a few words, and then asked: "How did the uncle hate the emperor and end up in this situation?"
After Feng Bao heard this, the licking look on his face slowly disappeared along with the tears. He said solemnly: "How do you know that our family has hated the emperor?"
Feng Bangning said: "If I hadn't hated the emperor, would anyone in the world be able to trip up my uncle?"
Feng Bao smiled, pointed to a calligraphy hanging on the wall and said, "Go and take a look at that calligraphy."
When Feng Bangning stood up and looked at it, he saw a large calligraphy hanging on the wall, which read, "Homo sapiens treasure his treasures." The signature was written by Yijun in the first year of Wanli, and there was no seal. It was very plain.
Feng Bangning has been required to be taught strictly by Feng Bao since he was a child, and he has a certain sense of elegance. He has been in and out of Feng Bao's house many times, and has seen Yubi. At this time, he opened his mouth wide and couldn't close it, and said: "Is this Yubi?!"
Feng Bao nodded in agreement. Feng Bangning asked curiously: "In that case, why did the emperor expel my uncle?"
Feng Baodao: "Looking back at this moment, it suddenly seems like a lifetime ago! Your Majesty has made great progress in sacred science since the feast at the beginning of the year, but I thought..." Before he could finish, his throat was choked and he could not speak.
After calming down for a while, he said: "What's wrong with our family? The mistake is that we think we can manipulate the emperor's heart!" After saying that, he pondered for a while, as if he was sorting out his thoughts.
After taking a sip of tea, Feng Bao continued: "Our Jiajing Dynasty entered the palace at the age of ten, and it has been more than forty years now! I was fortunate enough to study in the inner library, and I also became a godfather to several people. I was repeatedly warned,
Royal slaves should not be arrogant because of their power. There are so many examples of Wang Zhen, Wang Zhi, and Liu Jin!"
"But in the past six years of Longqing, I have lost my vigilance, manipulated the situation, and even..." I stopped talking again.
Seeing Feng Bangjing listening quietly, Feng Bao finally said what he had been holding in his heart for a long time: "People should think twice, think about danger, think about retreat, and think about change! It's a pity that I was so smart all my life that I was dazzled by power.
I have completely forgotten the teachings of my former teacher!”
Feng Bangning heard this and smiled bitterly: "Who can avoid this? Uncle, don't restrain yourself too much."
Feng Bao had completely calmed down and said with a smile: "Your Majesty woke me up with this stick, but before leaving, he gave me a cloak and asked Chen Ju to protect us. Otherwise, how could you and I sit here? We are both scum.
There aren’t any left!”
Then he gritted his teeth and said, "After I was defeated, I woke up from my dream and realized how those people who used to camp in front of me betrayed me and hurt me!" His tone was full of resentment, and he shed tears again.
Feng Bangning quickly comforted him and said: "It is unusual for my uncle to be able to protect the leader when the official in my dynasty was defeated. It can be seen that the uncle helped protect the emperor and was kind to him, but the emperor still misses the old relationship."
Feng Bao gave a wry smile and remained silent. He had been speculating for many days, wondering why the emperor wanted to expel him? Because he was the liaison between the Queen Mother and the powerful ministers. If he were here, the Queen Mother would unite with the foreign court, and Zhu Yijun would do the same.
If you make a mistake, your throne will be lost at any time!
Why did you want to protect him later? Just to have a back-up! Although the emperor was firmly on the throne at this time, only one year after he ascended the throne, there was still King Lu's younger brother. If the powerful officials could contact Cisheng, the emperor could be deposed in a matter of seconds!
The emperor was very scheming, and for some reason he learned that Cisheng and he had joined forces with Zhang Juzheng to rectify the edict. He left Feng Bao behind and worked with him again. Once the emperor was able to escape during the palace coup, he could use his backhand to
Attack! If I stay in the palace, I will definitely not be able to side with the emperor. But at this time, if I want to survive and take revenge, I can only rely on the emperor!
And no matter how much he flutters outside, the surveillance of Jinyiwei and Dongchang cannot be missed. He will never be able to enter the inner palace again in this life. Even if he hates the emperor, what harm will it do to him? On the contrary, he has to work conscientiously on his errands to prevent the emperor from connecting with this "old love".
"I won't be with him anymore!
It's just that there was no need to tell Feng Bangning about his thoughts. The two talked about family matters for a while, and Feng Bao said: "You have worked hard from afar, but you go to rest. I have something to do with you tomorrow."
Feng Bangning had dinner with Feng Bao, and the housekeeper took him to settle down. Feng Bangning was surprised when he saw that he had a maid to serve him. He already admired Feng Bao, but now he felt that he was unfathomable.
The next day, Feng Bao called him and said: "When you were in the capital, you hung out in brothels and alleys all day long, and you could also write obscene words and songs." Seeing Feng Bangning's coyness, he took out a stack of paper and said, "This is
Business."
"Such a thing can't trouble you. Just go find some Cuoda, write scripts, poems, and novels according to the outline and theme on this paper, and sell them in the streets and give them away. I have
There is a printing shop, and there is a set of copper movable type from Da Neijing Factory. You can take care of it. There is only one thing -" Senran looked at Feng Bangning, "The accounts must be clear, otherwise I can't protect you."
When Feng Bangning read it, he saw that the content on the paper was divided into dozens of parts, with titles such as "The Heroes of the Ming Dynasty", "Three Heroes and Five Righteousnesses", "Generals of the Yang Family", "The Biography of Yue Fei", etc., all with themes, outlines, and specific details.
There is not a single word in the content. I don’t know who wrote it.
Feng Baodao: "This should be the outline and gist of the emperor's dictation, recorded in the inner study hall. From what I can see, the emperor wants to gather people's hearts and drive the four words "national justice" deeply into the hearts of the people. Do it carefully and don't ignore it!"
"
He sighed and said, "I, Feng Shuanglin, claim to be a scholar and a man of heaven, but I never dreamed of manipulating people's hearts like the emperor!"