Ming Dynasty: My Father Zhang Juzheng

Chapter 16: The old man is as steady as a rock

Just after dusk, Wanli changed his clothes, strode down from the dragon throne, and scanned the hall with a fierce look.

Wei Qing wanted to say something but stopped himself, his face turning purple as if he was constipated.

"Guard it well, I'll be back soon. If the Empress Dowager and Otomo find out about this, I'll send you all to see the imperial mausoleum!" Emperor Wanli said with a cold face and walked away.

Wei Qing exchanged a glance with several eunuchs and hurriedly chased after them.

He followed closely behind Emperor Wanli.

"Assholes, why are you following me?"

"Your Majesty, we can't go. If the Queen Mother knew about this, she would have to skin us alive." Several eunuchs knelt on the ground. Wei Qing crawled forward on her knees and hugged the emperor's thighs. "Your Majesty, please forgive me this time because I have served you for so many years."

"Okay, okay, you guys are afraid of the Queen Mother, but aren't you afraid of me, the Emperor?" Wanli stamped his feet and gritted his teeth, "If I can't get out today, all of you will go to see the Imperial Mausoleum for me."

"Your Majesty." Several people cried out in grief.

"Shut up!" Wanli glared at them, took a few steps forward, turned around and said, "Don't follow me. I will reward you when I come back."

In an instant, the back of Emperor Wanli disappeared from everyone's sight.

Several eunuchs looked at each other, then at Wei Qing, and asked, "Eunuch Wei, what should we do now?"

"What else can I do? Go back!" Wei Qing stomped his feet and walked back to the Qianqing Palace.

He ordered several men to keep an eye on the palace, then he picked up his robe and ran straight to the Imperial Household Department.

The Imperial Household Department was not too far from the Qianqing Palace, only about seven or eight miles away. After a quarter of an hour, Wei Qing arrived at the duty room.

When the guard eunuch saw Wei Qing, he immediately greeted him with a smile and said flatteringly: "Oh, I was just thinking that there was something I hadn't done. It turns out that the noble has come."

Wei Qing was the manager of the Qianqing Palace. Although he was submissive in front of the emperor, his status was extremely high.

Except for the eunuchs in charge of ceremonies and the key seal holders in the Twenty-Four Prisons, few dared to underestimate him.

Unfortunately, Wei Qing was in a hurry at that moment, so he had no time to think about these things. He glared at the young eunuch and asked, "Where is Eunuch Feng? Is he in there?"

"Inside, he hasn't come out for a long time."

Wei Qing stepped in and rushed forward as if his heels were on a whirlwind of fire wheels.

In a duty room, the candlelight flickered red, green smoke curled around, and a man was leaning on a pearwood chair with his eyes slightly narrowed.

The man was about fifty-five or fifty-six years old, of medium height, with fair skin, a slightly swollen belly, and warm features, making people feel like they were in the spring breeze.

He wore a cashmere felt hat, a black python robe with a small python pattern, a jade belt around his waist, and a pair of black soap leather boots.

It was the eunuch in charge of the Imperial Household Department, Feng Bao!
He is 62 years old this year, but because he has taken good care of himself, he looks a little younger than Zhang Juzheng.

Don't be fooled by his plump white face and kind appearance.

There was no one in the eunuchs who was not afraid of him.

Since entering the palace at the age of 12, Feng Bao has stayed in the palace for a full fifty years and has been in the Imperial Household Department for more than twenty years.

Who would dare to underestimate such an old monster?

Because he likes quietness, people outside the house dare not make any noise when he is on duty.

He even walked on tiptoe, and if he had something to report, he would squeeze his buttocks together for fear of farting.

dong dong dong.
Suddenly, hurried footsteps sounded outside the door. Feng Bao frowned and suddenly opened his eyes. Looking forward, he saw Wei Qing rushing in in a hurry, sweating profusely.

"Eunuch Feng, something big has happened!"

Feng Bao was upset when his rest was interrupted, but he could only suppress his annoyance as he was close to the emperor. He jokingly said, "What happened? Did someone dig up your ancestral grave?"

It would be better if they dug up my ancestral grave!

Wei Qing felt bitter and told everything the emperor had done today.

Feng Bao's eyes lit up when he heard this, and he thought to himself, "Great! I was just worried about having no money to spend, and this 100,000 silver coins come at the right time. I didn't expect the emperor to be so bold."

"And Zhang Yunxiu is also a bad guy. In order to please the emperor, he actually went against his father. But it doesn't matter. The emperor is old now, so it's good to fight him. The more we fight, the more Zhang Juzheng will rely on us." Seeing that Feng Bao had finished his words, Wei Qing was undecided and continued, "Eunuch Feng, the emperor's secret departure from the palace is a big deal. Is it the Queen Mother's?"

"Is it something?" Feng Bao glanced at Wei Qing and said with a sinister smile, "Eunuch Wei, I reminded you that if the Queen Mother knew that the Emperor had left the palace, you would be punished."

"Ah?! What should we do then? Please give me some advice, Eunuch Feng."

"I'll turn a blind eye to it." Feng Bao smiled, took a sip of the tea beside him, crossed his legs and said, "I just said it casually. It's up to you to decide what to do."

"Anyway, we don't know about this matter. If you want to report it to the Queen Mother, it's up to you."

Listen and listen.

Wei Qing heard that Feng Bao had the intention of hiding something and he breathed a sigh of relief.

Everyone in the palace knew that Feng Bao was the eyes and ears of Empress Dowager Li. As long as his eyes and ears were not informed, how could Empress Dowager Li know?
"The younger one resigned."

"Go ahead." Feng Bao waved his hand, and Wei Qing stood up, stuck his butt out and walked out.

After he left, Feng Bao sighed, pinched his nose with his hands, and had a lot of thoughts in his mind.

In the last two or three years, especially in the last year.

As the emperor grew older, he felt more and more that the little emperor looked like an emperor.

His benevolence conquers the world, his power extends to the four seas. He is awe-inspiring without even getting angry, and his every move reveals the spirit of an emperor.

This is what an emperor should look like.

He felt both happy and fearful.

Happy little emperor growing up.

He has followed the emperor since he was four years old.

Looking at the little emperor, he was like looking at his own son or nephew. The friendship between the two had long surpassed the feelings between the monarch and his subjects.

They were also afraid that the emperor would seize power.

Feng Bao is also a ruthless person who must be in power one day.

When the emperor's authority came into conflict with his own power, he sometimes liked to treat him like a child and ask the great goddess Empress Dowager Li to suppress him.

In the past, when the emperor was young, he was consulted on all matters, big and small. Now that he is older, there are some things that Feng Bao cannot speak of.

Maybe he really should let go.

Suddenly, a cold wind blew in from the window, and Feng Bao shuddered.

He looked down at his palms, which were covered with wrinkles like chicken skin. Although he tried his best to maintain them, the passage of time could not be concealed.

He grinned, tears welling in his eyes as he murmured, "I'm old. It seems I'm really old. I'm really old."

Thinking of this, he stood up, walked to the duty room, and ran out of the palace in the night.

On the other side, Emperor Wanli walked out of the palace and headed straight to the southeast corner outside the imperial city with several eunuchs as agreed in advance.

There, Zhang Yunxiu had already brought his men, along with Han San and Zhang Fu, and was waiting.

When the two sides met, Zhang Yunxiu asked the emperor to change his clothes first.

In a moment, the emperor changed into a narrow-sleeved straight gown made of gold thread, an ancient jade hanging from his waist, and a pair of black leather boots on his feet.

He looks like a handsome young man in troubled times.

"Why did I call someone outside?" asked Emperor Wanli.

"Just call me Mr. Zhu." Zhang Yunxiu replied.

"Okay, then let's call him Master Zhu!" said Emperor Wanli, his face full of excitement.

The group of people cautiously escorted the emperor towards the downtown area of ​​the capital.

(End of this chapter)