Ming Dynasty: I, Yan Maoqing, am truly radiating auspicious energy!

Chapter 134: Emperor Jiajing's Private Visit?
Yan Maoqing felt that Zhu Houcong's methods this time were very crude, and even a bit childish.

After the Ming emperor imprisoned him, he didn't take any formal measures. He simply had Lu Bing arrange for him to live well in the back courtyard of the Northern Garrison Command, and supervise him to continue writing "The Record of Defeating the Japanese Pirates"...

Moreover, he was asked to write a custom-made story where Zhu Houcong made strict demands on the subsequent plot development!
The biggest requirement is a reversal!

It must be reversed!

The corrupt officials who have already appeared in the book can be ignored.

The third episode must immediately reverse to the Emperor learning of this matter and then going to great lengths, disregarding his own safety, to travel incognito to the southeast to investigate the people's conditions and impartially examine the officials' illegal activities...

Moreover, after it was written, it had to be submitted by Lu Bing to Zhu Houcong for personal review.

If it's not insightful, rewrite it!
The plot isn't engaging; rewrite it!

The Emperor was not satisfied after reading it and ordered it to be rewritten!

In short.

He'll be released from prison the moment he finishes writing it...

Upon hearing the request from the emperor, Yan Maoqing felt that what Zhu Houcong actually wanted was a story similar to the later "Kangxi's Private Visits".

Once completed, you only need to slightly change the name, such as changing "The Record of Defeating the Japanese Pirates" to "The Record of Emperor Jiajing's Private Visits," and it will be more relevant to the title.

However, if a book titled "Jiajing's Private Visits" had actually appeared at that time and become a popular read, it might have really influenced some people's views on Zhu Houcong.

After all, in many ways, the essence of humanity is simply to parrot what others say.

It's unclear whether Zhu Houcong truly had this intention, or if it was merely a whim, a deliberate attempt to punish himself...

However, this time Zhu Houcong couldn't punish Yan Maoqing.

He had no intention of writing it himself. He had a great writer like Wu Cheng'en behind him who wrote "Journey to the West," so why should he bother?

Now he's just waiting.

They waited for Bailu to send someone to visit them in the imperial prison.

Then he relayed Zhu Houcong's request to Wu Cheng'en, at most drawing inspiration from the later "Kangxi's Private Visits," providing him with some creative ideas, and then waited for the manuscript to be received.

After all, with the previous two installments of "The Record of Defeating the Japanese Pirates" already being excellent examples, his amateurish copying skills would likely be exposed as soon as he started writing due to the significant discrepancies between the beginning and end of the text...

"Oh dear Dr. Yan, why are you doing this to yourself?"

Lu Bing even personally ground the ink for Yan Maoqing, then picked up a brush, dipped it in ink, and, like a kindergarten teacher, coaxed and persuaded him.
"If you write it down, you can get out of prison, and I can report back to the Emperor. Isn't that a win-win situation for both of us?"

While they were talking.

A member of the Imperial Guard rushed in from outside and whispered something in Lu Bing's ear.

After hearing this, Lu Bing smiled and looked at Yan Maoqing:
"Dr. Yan, is Gao Gong the person you've been waiting for?"

"It's hard to say yet; we'll only know when we see it."

Yan Maoqing was also somewhat surprised to hear this. He did not expect that the first person to come to the prison to visit him after he "fell into trouble" would be Gao Gong.

This kid... shouldn't this count as skipping class?

Fine, I'll stop calling him a bastard from now on, and I'll share half of the goose leg with him...

……

Yanfu.

"Great! Great! That's wonderful!"

Upon learning of Yan Maoqing's imprisonment, Yan Shifan, who hadn't left his house for some time, clapped his hands in delight.

This was the only piece of news that Yan Song had heard recently since he was demoted to the position of magistrate of Datong. "That bastard Yan Maoqing certainly never imagined he'd end up like this," he thought.

"Dare to go against those guys in the Southeast? They're asking for trouble... Wait a minute!"

"Why don't I take advantage of this to both eliminate this eyesore of a bastard in one fell swoop, and also establish contact with that group in the Southeast, using their influence to help my father make a comeback?"

Yan Shifan never had the idea of ​​being ranked among the Nine Ministers.

Because his physical attributes were lacking... I'm referring to his one eye; the imperial court has always had certain requirements regarding the appearance of its officials.

Someone with a physical defect like him could never sit in such a position; otherwise, people who didn't know better would think that the imperial court couldn't find a single able-bodied person.

"Someone, prepare the sedan chair, we're going to Zhao Wenhua's residence!"

Yan Shifan immediately stood up and shouted to the outside.

"Yes, I will take care of it right away."

A servant quickly agreed and ran off to do as instructed.

Watching the servant's retreating figure, Yan Shifan couldn't help but recall something else:

"Speaking of which, Yan Liang has been in Jiangxi for almost two months now. The matter of Yan Maoqing's adultery without a husband has long been over, so why hasn't he returned yet?"

With these questions in mind, Yan Shifan boarded the sedan chair bound for Zhao Wenhua's residence.

Zhao Wenhua is Yan Song's only adopted son. Back when Yan Song was still the head of the Imperial Academy, Zhao Wenhua became Yan Song's adopted son.

In recent years, Yan Song has been promoted to Minister of Rites, and he has also been generous in promoting his adopted son. Now he has appointed him as the third-rank official, the Commissioner of the Court of State Affairs, whose duties include submitting and rejecting memorials from the inside and outside the court, and introducing officials and commoners to their opinions.

By leveraging this connection and bribing some palace officials, Yan Song was able to accurately understand the trends and situations in the court and always seize opportunities in time.

Yan Shifan has been encountering many setbacks recently, which is why he hasn't left the house for some time.

However, he was still somewhat confident in Zhao Wenhua, after all, he had received Yan Song's favor in promoting him over the years, and sometimes he would call him "sworn brother", so their relationship was quite close.

the most important is.

Zhao Wenhua was from Cixi in Jiangbei. He had always been close to the group in the southeast and had even previously acted as their envoy to offer gifts and lobby Yan Song.

With this connection, we should be able to get in touch with that group in the southeast through this person.

To Yan Shifan's utter surprise, the outcome was completely unexpected.

He waited outside Zhao Wenhua's residence for a full half hour, only to receive a cold reply from a servant of the Zhao family:

"My master is not at home right now, Young Master Yan, please return."

"That bastard who kicks people away after using them, doesn't he even think about how he got to where he is today?!"

Yan Shifan's eyes widened in fury.

If Zhao Wenhua wasn't at home, why would the servants make him wait outside for half an hour? This was clearly just an excuse!

In the past, he could never have tolerated such an insult; he would have already started cursing in front of the Zhao residence.

But now, he could only keep these words bottled up inside, filled with powerless rage, and dared not utter a single curse.

Because the Ming Dynasty Code included a crime of verbal abuse, commoners who insulted officials were punished with sixty strokes of the cane. If the insulted official was of the third rank or above, the punishment was increased by seventy to one hundred strokes of the cane, and they might even be sentenced to one year of imprisonment.

Given Zhao Wenhua's current attitude, if he were to utter any more arrogant words, he might just get into trouble.

Even a tiger fallen into a pit will be bullied by dogs!

Yan Shifan grew angrier the more he thought about it. As he lowered the sedan curtain, two tears unexpectedly welled up in his single, bloodshot eye. When had he ever suffered such humiliation before?
"You opportunistic bastards will all suffer the same fate as that bastard Yan Maoqing, I'm telling you!"

(End of this chapter)