Chapter 155 Humiliation
The Sun Mansion is not something that can be easily shaken by a few words. Spending these gold, jewels and treasures hastened the calming down of the situation. A few months later, it was as if this had never happened. Sun Jie once again led his troops to the battlefield - but this time he did not continue to chase Zhang Hu, who could no longer catch up, but went south - She'anzhi Chaos finally broke out. And those so-called "clean streams" soon suffered an unprecedented heavy blow. If there were no sudden changes, the dynasty might have been able to continue for a long time. Of course, history cannot be assumed, let alone what-ifs.
The political scene in the late Ming Dynasty was treacherous. Some people held a high position of chief minister under one person, but did not express their position on anything. They would say "good, good, good" to anyone who came to them. When asked about others, they would not say a word. They were nicknamed "Big Buddha". ": It looks very solemn, but in fact it is just a decoration. Some people are just sesame officials from the seventh rank to the seventh rank, but at the same time they are leaders of the Qingliu. When they raise their arms, they are answered like a cloud. The incident that Sun Jie encountered, its occurrence and resolution were all due to a few Sesame Officials - and the incident itself was just a small episode in a huge change that swept the Ming Empire.
The Sesame Officer who blamed Sun Jie and put him in trouble was one of several. The Sesame Officer who helped Sun Jie get out of his predicament was also a Sesame Officer named Ma Quan*.
Ma Quan is a very successful small-town problem solver. It is indeed a small town, because classmate Ma was born in a military family, and his father worked as a garrison in Lueyang, Hanzhong Prefecture. How successful is the problem? When you and I were seventeen years old, we were still in high school having to memorize by rote to the death, but we had already won the Jinshi (at the age of eighteen), and were selected as the Imperial Scholars! As we have said before, although people often praise Jinshi as being awesome, compared with Shujishi, they are nothing! The nickname of Shujishi is "Chu Xiang". Only the best Jinshi have the chance to become Shujishi - the first and second assistants of future bachelors must all come from here! This is not over yet. At the age of twenty-one (also a false age), he was reviewed by the Hanlin Academy!
Ma Kaifang, who seems to have an extremely noble status and a promising future, encountered a very worrying trouble not long ago: his father was imprisoned.
Ma Kaifeng's father is Ma Chengyue, who is guarding Lueyang. After Zhang Hu and Fang Ge pissed General Lu Guangyu, they directly sent their troops north to occupy Lueyang, but Ma Chengyue, who was on the defensive, escaped early. Being jailed is not unjust, right?
It's actually quite unfair.
Because on the same day that Lu Guangyu entered Yangpingguan in a grand manner, Ma Shoubei wrote a letter requesting to go home to recuperate, and then went to the capital to find his son. I don't know whether it's a real illness or a fake one - you say it's true, the journey back is more than a thousand miles away, there were no airplanes and high-speed trains in that era, the old man walked really slowly, you say he's pretending to be sick, Master Xiu is stationed in Lueyang, the soldiers gathered to raise morale Ruhong, if he defeated the local military attache, he would naturally get a piece of free credit. If the horse guard can predict the disaster before his eyes and apply oil on the soles of his feet, then his ability to predict the future is really powerful. But no matter what, there was nothing wrong with the procedure. Anyway, before Zhang Hu came to fight, the old man had already asked for leave and left.
But who can take care of you among the clear-minded people in Chao Li? Sun Jie, who has won the trust of the Holy Lord, can do so many tricks. With a small defense, he can do whatever he wants? It's not that they have any deep grudges. What these people are most afraid of is that they have nothing to complain about. As long as there is a chance, they can use them as cannonballs for anyone they catch. This is called the duty of the job. So Lao Ma was caught and thrown into prison before he could sit down on the city stool - whether he was unjust or not, you have to believe that the court knew everything. As for when it will be checked, there is no telling. The adults are busy, so just wait patiently.
Classmate Xiao Ma didn't know before, but now he knows so much what is going on in the imperial prison. I went to see my father in prison once, and he vomited as soon as he entered. Not to mention food and other things, that stinks! No one can get out of the house because of the excrement, the excrement bucket is full, and the ground is full of indescribable messes - the prison inmates won't prepare any toilet paper for you... You can make up your own mind about the situation. Xiao Ma saw with his own eyes a thirsty prisoner drinking his own urine! So I made up my mind to save my dad no matter what.
Classmate Xiao Ma has a pretty face and is recorded in the official history as "beautiful in appearance" - please read these words carefully - he is very popular among classmates in the Hanlin Academy. Well, he is "quite a quarrel in the same building"! What does it mean? It’s not hard to guess, right? In order to save his father, Ma Jiafang changed his mind and went to find Zuo Yizhi. This old Zuo was almost sixty, but he had been a classmate of Xiao Ma, who was in his twenties, for a period of time. He had also done self-criticism in the Hanlin Academy, and he showed great care for Xiao Ma, as written in history books. It's "especially so"...
At that time, Mr. Zuo was very happy. He could scold whomever he wanted in the court. When he went to court, there was a "charming" pony named "Qu Shi Zhi". Translated, it meant that Qu was flattering and attentive to all requests. Every day. The madness of life, oh, wrong, the peak. In fact, Xiao Ma made a typical scholarly mistake: you sacrificed yourself to save your father, which is understandable. But when dealing with those bastards who are able to confuse right and wrong with their eyes wide open, you should get everything you want! This is good, if Zuo Wangba keeps asking Zuo Wangba to unload the goods, of course the payment will be far away!
Then Lao Zuo got carried away and was held down by Liu Ziqi and beaten violently. Mr. Liu is also a public speaker, he is very powerful with his fists and kicks, and his ability to curse is definitely not inferior to that of Zuo Wangba. He beat and scolded at the same time, and he made it known in public!
There are many things in the Ming Dynasty that you can do but cannot say. Even though there is only a layer of window paper between them, everyone pretends not to see it, and if they can't see it, they don't. It's better now, the window paper has been pierced, and Mr. Zuo can't keep it on his face anymore. Even though Mr. Zuo has a low official rank, he is considered a leader of Qingliu. When he speaks, a large number of second- and third-grade ministers have to buy into his words. In order to show that "Xiao Ma and I are really just a working relationship", together with several Qingliu colleagues, Lao Ma was sentenced to "forty sticks and dismissed from his post and returned home" - the subtext is: the procedures are obviously in compliance, if there is really an affair, Can the sentence be that severe? Poor old horses and ponies.
It turns out that my father was really unjust, and he humiliated himself and got involved, but he ended up like this. How can Xiaoma not feel resentful? Her reputation spread far and wide, and she no longer had to think about her bright future. There were people pointing fingers wherever she went. Xiao Ma couldn't survive anymore, so she packed up and returned to her hometown in Zhuozhou with her father.
Then came an unexpected turn in life.
It is said that Li Shizhong, the eunuch of Bingbi, was worried when he saw the emperor's health deteriorating day by day. Fortunately, the two ladies were happy and decided to worship Buddha and offer incense. Eunuch Li was also from Zhuozhou, Hebei. He entered the palace halfway, and moreover, he came out of the palace with a sword. Purification is a technical job, and it is not as simple as closing your eyes and slashing with a knife. Otherwise, Hong Xiuquan of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom captured thousands of children and stabbed each of them once, and all of them died miserably without exception. As a last resort, he only used three thousand The female officials worked as eunuchs in his palace. There are many taboos and particularities in this industry, some of which are superstitious, but there are also some measures that vaguely comply with some simple scientific principles. For example, scalding a knife with boiling water is for disinfection; for example, after cutting, a straw is inserted into the urethra to conduct urine; and for another example, two people are required to walk in the yard without stopping, which is to allow the body to secrete the adrenal glands to the maximum extent. Su... Eunuch Li didn't know how to disinfect back then, so he endured the pain and grabbed a handful of incense ash to stop the bleeding. Of course he didn't know how to use a straw to catheterize urine (he knew he couldn't do it), so he resigned himself to his fate. Eunuch Li didn't know that he had to abstain from food and water for a period of time before purifying himself. He also drank a lot of wine to strengthen his courage. When his urine leaked out, he became infected and his body burned like charcoal. Seeing that he was about to die, he struggled to go to the Yaowang Temple built during the Jiajing period to worship Yaowang Bodhisattva. I don’t know whether it was due to psychological effects or strong resistance. It was probably both. Eunuch Li finally turned the corner and he is today. Eunuch Li was determined to believe that Medicine King Bodhisattva, who had blessed him in his hometown, was the most spiritual, so he asked for leave from the Holy Emperor and went all the way back to his blessed place to offer incense to Medicine King Bodhisattva.
Eunuch Li came out of the temple gate and saw Ma Quan kneeling at the foot of the steps. When I saw the scribe's scarf, my heart moved and I asked Student Ma to come forward and talk. Objectively speaking, Eunuch Li is a kind man. First, he knows the hard work of farming, so he never feels sorry for the farmers. Second, he always takes good care of the fellow villagers. After listening to Ma Quan's story about his grievances with his father, and then learning that this handsome young man was actually a scholar and a member of the Hanlin Academy, Li Gonggong was heartbroken: He had just found a treasure! Those guys in the court are just making trouble all day long instead of doing serious things. It's not because they have read books and can explain their lies! The man in front of me is an outstanding scholar. Whoever makes trouble out of nothing in the future will surely have a useful talent in our family!
Returning to the palace, he reported the incident of offering incense to Emperor Sheng, and then Eunuch Li told Emperor Sheng what happened to Sun Jie, who "heard rumors from the people on the way." The Holy Emperor was also a kind man. Because of the grief of losing his beloved son, he once ordered to withdraw from the court and not see the officials for a period of time. All memorials were handled by the cabinet. When he heard that his beloved general was being unfairly excluded, he became furious and immediately sent an order to the cabinet. Comments will be processed immediately by voting. The old foxes in the cabinet all understand: Sun Jie was bitten because of those bastards who were nitpicking and talking about Hu Chai. Anyway, Sun Shuai is now living in Chengdu Mansion and has been quiet for a while without suffering any trouble. Sooner or later, he will continue to do it. Da Ming worked hard and couldn't afford to break up with those mad dogs, so no one mentioned what to do about this matter, and it just hung in the air. Now the Holy Emperor is directly interrogating. All the military reports, the prisoners' confessions, and the official documents of the three departments of Sichuan Province are all irrefutable evidence. Of course, they immediately draw the conclusion that "there is no solid evidence, and the general is unparalleled in loyalty and bravery." So Sun Jie was fine, and the Holy Emperor rewarded him with some scraps. Just as the She'an Rebellion finally broke out, Sun Jie followed the order and went south, becoming the first batch of Ming troops to go to the battlefield.
Eunuch Li talked about Ma Chengyue's experience from Sun Jie's pursuit of Zhang Hu. Of course, Ma Quan's "sacrifice" was not mentioned at all. As expected, both father and son were reinstated. From then on, Eunuch Li received a powerful and determined Austrian aid from the outer court, and was about to set off a bloody storm that would sweep across the Ming Dynasty.
As a military general, it is taboo to pry into the court's secrets. Sun Jie took it for granted that since he was fine, Brother Ma would be fine, so he led his troops south. However, what he didn't know was that Eunuch Li only talked about him in front of the Holy Emperor, but did not mention Ma Qiancheng - because Qiu Chengyun was the person recommended by Eunuch Li to be sent out by the late emperor.
The chaos in She'an suddenly attracted everyone's attention. At this time, Zhang Hu and Fang Ge had already led the army north, while Cheng Xi led his group of people, pretending to be refugees from northern Sichuan, back to Shunqing Mansion, and continued to stay in Sichuan Province to support Zhang Hu. Shunqing Mansion was in dilapidated condition after being conquered, and the local officials were worried that they would not see a single living person for dozens of miles. Thousands of refugees came over at once, and they were overjoyed to settle them down.
*It is not difficult for everyone to see that what I am talking about here is about Feng Quan. Because it is an imaginary novel, under the premise that all major events and characters have their origins and prototypes, it will have its own chronological order and will not be 100% consistent with history. That wouldn't be a novel.
Although the words in double quotation marks in this chapter can make many people drop their jaws, they are indeed the original texts recorded in black and white in the official history - of course, the characters are fictional, such as Zuo Yizhi, who is "especially evil", in real life In history, the prototype of this incident is Miao Changqi, who ranked fourth in "Donglin Dianjianglu" and was known as "Wise and Many Stars".
BTW, Feng Quan is not a victim in the complete sense. For example, he has a good gay, oh, friend - the famous Zhou Yanru! How good are the two of them? Sleep on the same bed and get under the same quilt!
This is called "the beauty of being in the same quilt"!
Is there more strange knowledge added? ^_^
