Gou was a member of the imperial family in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 234 Fire in the Backyard
Seeing Zhu Shenzhui's bewildered expression, Feng Quan sneered in his heart, "Why are you still pretending at this time? What's the point of pretending like this?"

I was originally thinking about how to continue, but since you took the initiative to come today, Feng Quan will not hide it. Some things are better to say openly. You, Zhu Shenzhui, are just an ordinary member of the royal family. Do you want to make trouble? Not to mention that you are a mere lieutenant of the auxiliary state, even if you are a general, a prince, or a prince, what's the difference?

After the Jingnan Rebellion, the imperial court of the Ming Dynasty had extremely strict control over the royal family. In addition to their status, the royal family was inferior to ordinary people in many aspects. When court officials met the royal family, they had to follow certain etiquette rules, but they didn't care about the royal family at all. Moreover, the royal family always attached great importance to the royal family and dared not neglect it at all, for fear that another person like Zhu Di would appear in the royal family. This was also the main reason why Emperor Tianqi sent him to Shanxi privately.

It would be better for Zhu Shenzhu to confess his guilt himself than to reveal the truth later. In this way, everyone can get out of it. If this is done, Feng Quan will not offend Liu Ce and the Donglin Party, nor will he offend Eunuch Wei Zhongxian. As for the emperor, he will also have an explanation.

Besides, Zhu Shencui's title was not high, so as long as there was a reasonable explanation for this matter, there was no need to pursue it relentlessly. By that time, Emperor Tianqi might not do anything to Zhu Shencui for the sake of his royal family's face. Anyway, he was just smuggling some salt, and the most serious thing he would do was to confine Fengyang. There was no need to imprison his entire family, right?
Feng Quan had a good idea. He planned to use this method to force Zhu Shenzhui to admit it himself, and then take all the blame. The more he thought about it, the more proud he felt. Feng Quan felt that Zhu Shenzhui's visit today was not a bad thing, but a good thing. Perhaps his previous actions made Zhu Shenzhui a little flustered. As long as he forced him again, his mission in Shanxi would be accomplished.

But at this moment, Zhu Shenzhui suddenly said something that made Feng Quan stunned. From the moment he heard that Zhu Shenzhui was coming to visit him, Feng Quan had been thinking about the affairs of Shanxi, but he didn't expect that Zhu Shenzhui's real intention was not this at all.

"You...what did you say?" For a moment, Feng Quan's brain froze and he even felt like there was something wrong with his ears.

"Master Feng really doesn't know?" Zhu Shenzhui looked surprised. "I came here today specifically to visit Master Feng. After all, we have met once. Master Feng came to Shanxi for my business. I can't just watch Master Feng worry about such a big thing happening in the capital. But who would have thought that Master Feng would say those words to me when we met. I was completely confused. Master Feng didn't know about this after all this fuss."

"You...you..." Feng Quan's face was uncertain, his voice was trembling, he reached out and grabbed Zhu Shenzhu's left hand and asked anxiously: "Are you serious about what you just said?"

"Of course it's true. It's strange. It shouldn't be like this. Do you really not know?" Zhu Shenzhui asked back.

Feng Quan's face looked even uglier. His mind was spinning rapidly, trying to figure out whether what Zhu Shenzhui had just said was true or false.

At first, Feng Quan thought that this was a lie. Perhaps Zhu Shenzhui was trying to scare him on purpose in order to make him leave Shanxi and stop investigating the matter.

But then he thought about it again and felt that it was wrong. Zhu Shenzhui didn't need to do this, because doing so would not only do him no good but would be harmful. It was easy to verify whether this matter was true or not. Shanxi was not too far from Zhili, and it would only take a few days for a fast horse to go back and forth. And even if he panicked, what would it matter? What was true could not be false, and what was false could not be true. Once he was deceived, he would definitely blame Zhu Shenzhui. If he was angry and fell out with Zhu Shenzhui, what good would it do him?
"Could it be... that this is true?" The more Feng Quan thought about it, the more he felt that this was true. If it was true, then it was simply too much!
He, Feng Quan, and his son worked diligently for the Ming Dynasty and never did anything to let it down. They were worthy of the Emperor and their own consciences. Especially now, they were ordered by the Emperor to come to Shanxi to investigate because of Liu Ce's memorial. But during the days when he was away from Beijing, Liu Ce and the Donglin Party behind him secretly attacked him and his son in the court. They were simply not human beings!
Fortunately, Feng Quan was still hesitant about whether to pursue the matter further or investigate it thoroughly. But now, he no longer has the idea of ​​continuing to investigate, and his mind is full of anger and dissatisfaction with Liu Ce and the Donglin Party.

"Master Feng, this matter...ah, Master, you'd better make plans early..." Zhu Shen added fuel to the fire, sighed and shook his head.

"Shameless! Shameless!" Feng Quan's face flushed red, and he was so angry that his stomach was about to explode. However, he was also extremely anxious. What should he do after such a big thing happened? He, Feng Quan, was just a Hanlin. Although Hanlin was noble, his rank was not high. Moreover, Feng Quan had not made any progress in all these years. What plans did he have?
The news brought by Zhu Shenzhui made him at a loss for what to do for a moment. If everything was true, then Feng Quan was completely finished. He had worked hard for so many years but achieved nothing. This time he went out of Beijing to do a rare job, but before he could finish his work, he was stabbed in the back by the Donglin Party. A feeling of being betrayed filled his heart, making him angry.

Thinking of this, Feng Quan felt confused and sad at the same time. He was worried about his old father in Beijing and was even more concerned.

He never expected that the Donglin Party would suddenly attack his father Feng Shengming at this time. Feng Shengming was originally the Left Governor of Henan Province. In the 46th year of Wanli, Feng Shengming was appointed as the Left Governor of Henan Province. He had been in office for several years. Last year, Feng Shengming asked for rest due to old age and frailty, but the governor Zhang Woxu had a personal grudge against Feng Shengming at the time and did not approve his request.

Feng Shengming dragged his sick body for a few days and continued to apply for leave, but Zhang Woxu still refused to approve it. As the days passed, Feng Shengming's condition became more and more serious. He could not bear it any longer and had no choice but to resign to recuperate. Originally, this matter was not a big deal. It was just a small matter for a local official to ask for leave. In addition, Feng Shengming applied several times, and his condition was also real. However, not long after he left office without authorization, the Liaodong War broke out. Wang Huazhen was defeated in the Liaodong War, and Xiong Tingbi led his army to withdraw to Shanhaiguan. All the land east of Shanhaiguan fell into the hands of the Later Jin, which shocked the court.

Everyone knows what happened afterwards. Because of Wang Huazhen and Xiong Tingbi, the emperor was furious and ordered the arrest of the two. They were interrogated by the three judicial officials and eventually sentenced to death. Although the two are still in prison and the court did not execute them immediately, they are actually finished.

After the incident of Wang Huazhen and Xiong Tingbi, Emperor Tianqi appointed his teacher Sun Chengzong to the cabinet and supervise the Liaodong region. Logically, this incident had nothing to do with Feng Shengming, but a few days ago, just a few days after Feng Quan left Beijing, Zhang Shenyan, the censor of Shaanxi Province, suddenly said that Feng Shengming and his son planned to flee south to "the states of Wu, Yue, Shu and Chu, and choose a place to live."

As soon as this impeachment was made, the Donglin Party took action and launched a barrage of impeachments, all of which accused Feng Shengming of fleeing as soon as the war in Liaodong broke out, leaving his post without permission on the pretext of asking for leave, and using recuperation as an excuse to avoid war and save his life.

Feng Quan was shocked after hearing Zhu Shenzhui's words, especially when he learned that the court had arrested his father Feng Shengming and put him in prison, and that the fire had also spread to himself, making him even more angry.

As his son, Feng Quan knew the whole story very well. Not to mention that Feng Shengming was indeed ill, and he asked for leave to recuperate, and he applied three times, but his application was not approved because of his disagreement with Zhang Woxu. He had no choice but to resign on his own.

According to past experience, the most that would happen would be a reprimand from the imperial court. After all, asking for leave in later generations meant resignation. Once the resignation application had been submitted, there was no problem with the procedure. Even if your leader did not approve it, the procedure had already been completed. Moreover, three resignation reports had been submitted, which meant that everything had been done.

As a boss, you can't just ignore your employees' resignation, right? It's not like you can just walk away without any care, not to mention that Feng Shengming really had poor health and asked for leave.

Furthermore, the accusations put by the Donglin Party were simply nitpicking and deliberately looking for trouble.

You have to know that Feng Shengming asked for resignation before the Liaodong war broke out. The war in Liaodong had not yet started when he asked for resignation. The war in Liaodong broke out some time after he resigned. There is a sequence in the process.

Secondly, Feng Shengming was the Left Governor of Henan, and Henan was far away from Liaodong. If Feng Shengming was the Left Governor of Shandong, it might make sense. After all, Shandong was not far from Shanhaiguan and was only separated from Liaodong by the Bohai Bay. Once the war in Liaodong went wrong and the Later Jin army broke into Shanhaiguan, Shandong, which was adjacent to Northern Zhili, would be the first to bear the brunt.

But the problem is that Feng Shengming is the Left Governor of Henan! There is Northern Zhili between Henan and Liaodong, and Shandong is to the east. The closest distance between the two is thousands of miles. No matter how the war in Liaodong develops, it is impossible to directly affect Henan. Unless the Later Jin soldiers fight to the capital, Henan will be affected.

One is in the Northeast, the other in the Central Plains. How could Feng Shengming's case be related to the Liaodong war? And it is totally unreasonable to force these two things to be linked. If we must pursue this, if there is another incident in Liaodong in the future, does that mean that all the state officials in the world are responsible? Isn't this nonsense?
That was not all. Zhang Shenyan, the censor of Shaanxi Province, said that Feng Shengming and his son planned to flee south to "choose a place to settle among the states of Wu, Yue, Shu and Chu". This statement hurt Feng Quan even more. While using the war in Liaodong to target his father, he also dragged himself into it. This was simply trying to kill him!

How could a mere review of the Imperial Academy be considered as a conspiracy with his father to flee to Wu, Yue, Shu, and Chu? There is no shortage of excuses to accuse someone of a crime. The Donglin Party's indiscriminate attack was simply crazy, and it made Feng Quan furious.

Seeing Feng Quan's complicated expression and restless look, Zhu Shenzhui sneered in his heart.

The fire had been lit, and it was up to Feng Quan to decide how to deal with it. Zhu Shenzhui didn't say much, and after delivering the news, he pretended to comfort Feng Quan, and then left. Feng Quan didn't think much about Zhu Shenzhui's departure, because he was so upset at the time, and his mind was full of thoughts about this sudden incident, so how could he care about Zhu Shenzhui's affairs?
(End of this chapter)