Emperor Jiajing had a high IQ, but generally people with high IQs have a common problem, which is that they think too much. To others this might be an exception, but to Emperor Jiajing it was God's will.
An unexpected incident gave Zhu Ping'an a surprise.
It seemed as if he had become a loyal minister inexplicably. After listening to Feng Bao's explanation, Zhu Ping'an could not help but touch his chin and twitched the corners of his mouth. He really didn't have much interest in being a loyal minister.
My goal.
A capable minister.
A person who can benefit the country and the people.
No matter how honest and upright an official is, if he does not have the ability to govern the country and enrich the people, what use is there? He cannot create any value. In some ways, he may be worse than a corrupt official who creates 10 million for the people but embezzles 1 million.
However, with this unexpected help, he was more confident about his petition. Zhu Ping'an curled his lips slightly and bowed to Feng Bao to thank him, "Thank you for telling me, eunuch. If Ping'an is lucky enough to be safe in this petition, you will have made a great contribution."
"Master Xiao Zhu, you are joking. I didn't say anything..." Feng Bao smiled and shook his head, saying meaningfully.
"Haha, Eunuch Feng is right." Zhu Ping'an also smiled knowingly.
"Lord Zhu doesn't seem to be worried at all? Lord Zhu's memorial involves Lord Yan..." Feng Bao looked at Zhu Ping'an curiously and asked.
"I am a loyal minister..." Zhu Ping'an pointed at himself shamelessly, then smiled brightly, revealing a mouthful of white teeth.
Seeing this, Feng Bao was so amused that he pointed at Zhu Ping'an with his orchid finger raised, unable to speak for a long time...
"Okay, no more jokes. If Ping'an hadn't been prepared, he wouldn't have submitted that memorial. And with this favorable wind sent by my father-in-law, we have a better chance of success." Zhu Ping'an stopped joking and said seriously.
"Then I'll be waiting to see the show performed by Lord Zhu." Feng Bao smiled, as if he was full of confidence in Zhu Ping'an.
The Hanlin Academy was not far from the Ministry of Justice, and the two of them arrived at the Hanlin Academy while talking. Seeing the Hanlin Academy so close, Feng Bao stopped and glanced at Zhu Ping'an, seemingly wanting Zhu Ping'an to enter the Hanlin Academy, but his expression expressed many things.
A wise man is honest and upright, loves righteousness, observes people’s words and expressions, and considers others.
Zhu Ping'an took in Feng Bao's expression and understood what was going on. He knew that Feng Bao wanted to ask him something or wanted to talk to him, so he continued to accompany Feng Bao for a while on the pretext of going to the restaurant in front to eat.
Not far ahead, when they reached a secluded path, Feng Bao blurted out what he had been holding back for a long time.
"Although Lord Zhu's memorial has many twists and turns, they are all open attacks. I have suffered many hidden arrows in the palace. As the saying goes, it is easy to dodge an open attack, but difficult to guard against a hidden arrow. It's hard to put it into words..." Feng Bao sighed deeply.
Zhu Ping'an nodded upon hearing this. Since ancient times, the struggles in the palace have been the bloodiest and most intense. In modern times, Zhu Ping'an has also watched many TV dramas similar to The Legend of Zhen Huan, and he knows very well how fierce the group struggles within the palace are. Moreover, even the few records in history books can show the bloodiness of the struggles within the deep palace.
What everyone knows most about should be the open and covert struggles between the empress and concubines, but the struggles among eunuch groups like Feng Bao were even more intense and bloody.
There were only a few queens and concubines, but there were many more eunuchs, and the struggles were more numerous and fiercer.
Eunuchs have always been a group that is not welcomed and despised by people. They are castrated people, that is, people who have their penises castrated. As you can imagine, they are also pitiful. Those who are not normal in their heads and voluntarily become eunuchs, of course, some exceptions are not included. Most of the eunuchs who come to become eunuchs are of two types, one for power and the other for money. Most of them come from poor families. Poor families send their children into the palace under coercion and inducement.
Eunuchs have lost their normal physiological functions and personality and have become an outsider. They are at the bottom of the imperial palace. The emperor and his concubines have the power of life and death over them. In order to survive, they can only bow down and flatter, calling themselves slaves and suffering humiliation.
Low birth, physical defects lead to no offspring; if they love, they can't love because of physical defects, if they hate, who should they hate, their parents or the master in the palace? One can't hate, the other dare not hate; if they are palace maids, if they are lucky, they can be released from the palace after 20 or 30 years in the palace, but if they are eunuchs, forget it, it can be said that they have no hope and future, lack of love and warmth of the world, and can only die miserably in the deep palace.
But there must be something hateful about pitiful people.
In modern society, there is a group of people who have committed tragic things and turned to the opposite side to retaliate against society, such as the recent loud noise made in a park by an elderly, divorced and impoverished Self-Defense Force officer from a certain island country.
Most of the eunuchs in the palace were like this. They had lost their personality and physical defects, and most of them had distorted humanity, hating society and the people in society. Some of them gave up on themselves, became numb to being bullied, suffering, and victimized; some of them turned to the opposite side, taking revenge on others, ministers, and society, and using their advantage of being close to the highest power, their revenge was extremely destructive.
In fact, sometimes they have no choice.
Eunuchs each serve their own master, so how could they be immune to the fights between their masters? Of course, more often than not, the eunuchs relied on their masters and their own abilities to survive, get ahead, gain power and money, and they schemed against each other, defrauded and framed each other.
These eunuchs who have lost their personality and distorted humanity are often cruel and vicious in fights.
The eunuchs who can survive in the palace are not good people.
Therefore, although Zhu Ping'an could not empathize with Feng Bao, he could understand it.
"Oh, is there something that makes my father-in-law so embarrassed?" Zhu Ping'an asked curiously.
"Lord Xiao Zhu, you are joking. I am just a handyman in the palace, and there are many things that make me embarrassed." Feng Bao shook his head and smiled bitterly.
"I wonder if you have heard this sentence, sir?" Zhu Ping'an asked with a smile after Feng Bao finished speaking.
"Master Xiao Zhu, can you tell us something?" Feng Bao asked curiously.
"When God is about to bestow a great responsibility on a man, He must first make his mind suffer, his muscles and bones tired, his body hungry and empty, and his actions frustrated, so as to stir his heart and endure his nature, and increase his ability to do what he could not do before." Zhu Ping'an chanted softly with his hands behind his back, and after chanting, he smiled and bowed to Feng Bao and said, "The more hidden arrows you suffer, it means that tomorrow you will be given a great responsibility, so Ping'an would like to congratulate you."
"Master Xiao Zhu, please stop making fun of me..." Feng Bao smiled bitterly.
"Ping'an is not joking. When Ping'an was a child, his talent and fame were first revealed, and he was hated by many people. He wrote lyrics and articles, and received many criticisms..." Zhu Ping'an spoke like he was telling a story, and his words were very immersive. He immediately attracted Feng Bao's attention and he pricked up his ears.
"It's much more sarcastic, but Ping'an, remember one thing: no one will kick a dead dog on the roadside." Zhu Ping'an looked at Feng Bao meaningfully and said.
Feng Bao shuddered when he heard this, then he straightened his back. Yes, no one would kick a dead dog. (To be continued)