Lu Ming

In other words, Master Feng has messed up to the point where he is today, but in fact, internal factors still account for the main factor.As a prison student, he has read a lot of sage books, but he lacks a bit of "smartness" that a prison student should have.

To put it bluntly, Master Feng just couldn't lose face.

Ordinarily, he is not a pedantic old pedant.But when it’s time to flatter, the strength is not in place, when it’s time to give gifts, it’s too much, and when it’s time to run an official position, it’s always half a beat behind others...

After so many years, Mr. Feng, who was somewhat enterprising at the beginning, got lost in the sea of ​​bureaucracy.In the end, Feng Jingjie transformed into a qualified boss, muddling along every day.

However, muddling along also comes at a price.

Zhu Baba, a poor beggar, won the world when he won the world, and his natural syndrome of hating officials and riches broke out.Therefore, Zhu Baba set the most demanding salary quota for the Ming bureaucrats.

With this salary, it is enough for a family to eat and dress.But officials can't do it. Officials have to support staff to have ostentation, socialize, welcome and send off. Ordinary wages are not enough.

As a result, there was a wave of corrupt officials who went on and on, and Zhu Baba couldn't kill them all.

Fortunately, after Zhu Baba, there were not many emperors who were ruthless, and they continued to "follow the good people" one after another, acquiescing to the unspoken rule of officials making extra money to subsidize their families.

Now, after hundreds of years, by the end of the Ming Dynasty, unspoken rules had already developed into clear rules, and there were fixed quotas for all kinds of shares and silver, both inside and outside the system.

Here, Master Feng will pay the price.

Normally, Beijing officials are clean and expensive, with little money but quick promotion.Everyone's basic routine is to go through a hard time and gain qualifications first, and when the qualifications are up, find a way to be a foreigner, then all the hardships of these years will be returned... Three years to clear the magistrate, one hundred thousand snowflakes, isn't it.

But Mr. Feng's skill in drilling and speculation is not good enough, and he has no chance to play outside, and he stays in a Qingshui yamen like Honglu Temple, so life is really hard.

"Oh, the official uniform is going to be dyed again."

While wandering in the sky, the sky is already bright.Standing on the square with the most political atmosphere in the empire, Master Feng didn't pay attention to the match between the monarch and his subjects at all. He lowered his head and looked at his official uniform worriedly.

The cyan sixth-rank official uniform has faded badly.Colorful color blocks even appeared on the hem of the robe.

The clothes had to be re-dyed in the dyeing workshop.

In the Middle Ages, the basic raw materials of the dyeing and weaving industry were vegetable dyes, which were easy to fade.Therefore, people will go to the dyeing workshop to recolor their robes after a period of time.

Master Feng knew that there were new-style tailors in both the West City and the East City that made high-quality gowns for dignitaries... It was said that they used cloth and dyes from the south, which would never fade.

But that kind of luxury tailor shop with glass everywhere and bright lights in broad daylight is not something that Mr. Feng has the courage to step into.

"It still has to be dyed!"

After weighing it over and over again, Master Feng finally decided that he would dye his official uniform on the holiday three days later.

The official uniform is the only thing that Master Feng can hold up to. No matter how tight the money is, he has to deal with it first.

At the moment when he made up his mind, a long and shrill voice came from Dan Bi above: "Back the court."

Even though his mind was still in the dyeing workshop, at this moment, Master Feng's body habitually advanced and retreated with the class, making the gesture of sending the emperor off, which can be described as very familiar.

From now on, the day of a petty bureaucrat in the empire will officially begin... The background board of the early dynasty does not count.

Master Feng is the tail of the crane when he goes up, but he is the vanguard when he goes down.However, most of the ministers came back in twos and threes, and the formation quickly became chaotic.

In this way, a large group of officials pulled out the long snake formation and left the imperial city by the same route.

Go out of the Meridian Gate on the front foot, and the staff of the Sixth Division Yamen disappeared on both sides of the back foot: the Sixth Division Yamen is just outside the Meridian Gate.

After leaving the Meridian Gate, walk south along the long brick trail, exit Duanmen, and then Chengtianmen (Tiananmen), and Master Feng will arrive at the station.

As early as the first year of Xuande in the Ming Dynasty (1426), in order to meet the order control needs of the Great Court Meeting and the court officials, sacrifices, etc., the imperial court established Honglu Temple on the east side of Chengtianmen to take charge of the court rituals.

Therefore, it is not the imperial envoy who is in charge of monitoring the etiquette posture of the officials during the court meeting, but the officials of Honglu Temple.

Of course, these tasks have nothing to do with the boss, Mr. Feng, now.The rough work of patrolling and correcting people's etiquette all over the place is what young people should do.After all, Master Feng is also the fourth in command of my Dahonglu Temple, and he has long since stopped doing such troublesome tasks of offending people.

But today, when Master Feng was the first to step out of the Chengtian Gate, he shook his head and sighed deeply——sometimes troubles cannot be avoided.

What caught Master Feng's eyes were two people kneeling by the Jinshui Bridge.

These two were dressed in robes, and at first glance they were officials of the Ming Dynasty.However, if you look closely, this robe is somewhat different from the official uniform of the Ming Dynasty.

Master Feng has been able to hang out in a yamen like Honglu Temple for many years, so he must be unique in business: Master Feng can speak a little Annanese and Siamese, and can communicate with foreigners simply.

In addition, the business he was in charge of was to receive foreigners from Annan and other places, so the identity of the two kneeling by the Jinshui Bridge was ready to be revealed: Annan's envoys who came to petition.

In other words, since last year, the envoys sent by Annan urgently to complain to Emperor Chongzhen have been one after another.

As a result, not long after, the envoys who came before were called back by the envoys who came later.

The reason is very simple: Cao Zongbing and Annan Prime Minister signed a peace agreement, the "Fuyuan Treaty", and everyone is now a loving family again, so the Annan people withdrew the lawsuit.

Originally, this matter was over.Right now, the Ming court, which is running around everywhere, doesn't have the energy to take care of remote areas like Annan... Those who know the inside story, let alone fight against Nantian Yiba Cao XX because of this crap.

Therefore, the people in Annan withdrew the lawsuit themselves, and the court, from the emperor down, was actually happy to see this result.

However, but.

At the beginning of the crisis, the Annan court was able to urgently select officials who were "firm-minded, politically correct, and indomitable" officials.

Here's where things go bad: too firm.

The first envoy sent out was named Ruan Hong.This is the real hard-headed kind, who belongs to the die-hards who usually vigorously promote the Great Annanism.Even after Annan's envoy informed him of the situation and told him to go home, Ruan Hong stubbornly believed that the Annan court was kidnapped by the Cao thief, and all signed treaties were invalid clauses, and the current order is invalid.

Therefore, since Ruan Hong arrived in the capital last year, he stayed at Honglu Temple, arguing every day to sue the emperor.There is only one core appeal: to withdraw the troops surnamed Cao, and return Annan Lishu to a bright future.

A stunned young man like Ruan Hong is naturally not welcome to see him, let alone allow him to face the emperor.

On Ruan Hong's side, since hitting a wall at the beginning, he also changed his strategy and began to fight a protracted war, taking the miserable route.

Now every now and then, whenever the dynasty goes to court or the court disperses, Ruan Hong will bring his bare deputy envoy to appear beside the Jinshui Bridge, kneel down on the ground, lay blood on the ground, cry and complain that the Cao thief abused the people in Annan, and beg the Holy Son of Ming Dynasty Look down, come out and uphold justice.

This kind of performance art still has some effect at first sight.The hundreds of officials in the upper court must discuss it in private afterwards, which is somewhat pressured by public opinion.

However, after a long time, the officials who passed by the Jinshui Bridge turned a blind eye to it and only saw it as a joke.

But this does not include Master Feng.

All civil and military men in the dynasty can see the jokes of Annan's second-hand guy, but Feng Jingjie can't... He is the official in charge of Annan's tribute envoy at Honglu Temple. What Ruan Hong did, nothing happened. Feng Jingjie was taking the blame and couldn't even run away.

After lamenting a few times about the unfavorable time, Master Feng, with a bitter face, hurriedly walked to Ruan Hong who had already set up a stall, bowed his body, and said in a low voice, "It's almost over, and there are not many people going to court today."

It's different than imagined.In fact, the tributaries who were able to come to Ming Dynasty in this era were all aristocrats and wealthy businessmen in the middle school. Speaking Chinese and writing Chinese characters were basic skills, learned since childhood.

The next moment, the dark-skinned Ambassador Ruan Hong stretched out his hand familiarly to spread out the blood written on the white cloth on the ground, and at the same time replied in fluent Guangzhou Mandarin: "Thank you, Mr. Feng, for reminding me."

Feng Jingjie shook his head helplessly: "Oh, why do you say you are doing this?"

Ruan Hong, who was kneeling on the ground, had a calm expression, and his eyes were filled with enthusiasm: "Where righteousness lies... Master Feng, don't you know that Mencius has a saying, even if there are tens of thousands of people, I will go."

Chapter 704 The Daily Life of the Northern Trio ([-])

Standing by the Jinshui Bridge, saying a few words of comfort as usual, seeing that An Nan's spray was still stubborn, Feng Jingjie could only shake his head helplessly.

Turning around again, he saw a large number of officials coming out of Yemen, so Master Feng could only sigh and leave with his sleeves shaken.

Taking square steps, Master Feng returned to his yamen in a short time and entered the daily mode.

Working at Honglu Temple is naturally not a pleasant experience.Most of the public buildings nearby are the same buildings as the Chenghuang Temple in later generations, and they are old-fashioned.

It is a century-old building with a grand and cultural appearance, but it is dark and cramped inside. It does not consider the physical and mental health of civil servants at all, which greatly affects work efficiency.

The good thing is that Mr. Feng doesn't have any serious business to do now... Waiting for this superficial article, it can't be called efficiency, and it doesn't need efficiency.

The most popular era of the yamen of Honglu Temple can be traced back to the time when the Sanbao eunuch went to the West.After that, Honglu Temple, as a unit whose main job was to receive tributes from various countries, disappeared from the crowd, and it could only be said that it was barely kept in the sight of the officialdom.

However, by the time of the end of Ming Dynasty, Honglu Temple had completely withdrawn from the mainstream.

The reason why Honglu Temple became a little transparent is simple: no country came to pay tribute.

Today, the tributary system that the Ming Dynasty could maintain has collapsed.

In the north, the traditional tribute countries of the Ming Dynasty were Japan and North Korea.Today, in order to resist the cultural and trade invasion of the colonists, the Tokugawa shogunate has begun to close the country and cut off the official annual tribute by the way.

North Korea is equally difficult.As early as 1627, when Huang Taiji succeeded to the throne, he sent Amin to send troops to North Korea, and within three months he forced North Korea to sign an alliance under the city, which was known in history as "Ding Mao Huan".

Since then, official annual tributes from North Korea have come and gone.In history, just this year, after Huang Taiji proclaimed himself emperor, he sent troops again to defeat North Korea completely, and in fact snatched the suzerainty of North Korea from Daming.

This is the case in the north, and it is even more unbearable in the south.

Originally in history, with the weakening of the Ming Dynasty, the vassal states in the south lost official exchanges.But in this plane, the situation is even more strange: the news spread all over the capital city last year, and the big worm in the south brazenly dispatched private soldiers to destroy Siam and wiped out the small countries in Southeast Asia.

It’s said, it’s just said that this year, Da Chong’s palace in Siam is almost finished...Compared to the one built in the Forbidden City, hundreds of concubines and concubines presented by the natives are also ready. Wei.

In order to distinguish Cao Dachong from his Cao Wei ancestors, the literati in the capital have already used the title "Southern Wei" in private.

As a senior executive of Honglu Temple, Master Feng knows that the rumors may be false, but they are not necessarily all false - he has privately inquired with the businessman who came to the capital to pretend to be a tribute envoy, and the result is: whether the palace is built or not, Siam It was indeed wiped out by the worm.

All of the above, for others, is the stuff of conversation after dinner.But in fact, the tributes from various countries were cut off, and the unit where Mr. Feng worked became the final victim, losing its main business.

In this way, master Feng's so-called work can be imagined with a degree of leisure.

Sitting behind the official case, approving an official document, drinking two cups of bad tea, going to the hut three times, wandering around other offices with hands behind their backs, chatting with colleagues... the morning time passed.

Go out, look up, look at the sky, and find that it is the end of the hour, about eleven o'clock in the later generations.

At this point, Master Feng will naturally leave early.As for leaving early... the officials of Honglu Temple leave early, can that be called leaving early?That's normal get off work.

With his hands behind his back, he continued to take square steps, Master Feng left the imperial city, and walked towards his home along the more and more bustling streets.

The capital city of Ming Dynasty was divided into inner and outer cities.The outer city is not counted, the inner city is like a nesting doll, wrapping the imperial city and the most core Forbidden City.

During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, because most of the inner east city was government offices and commercial houses, while the inner west city was mostly private houses of the rich and powerful, so there was a saying in Beijing that "the east is rich and the west is noble".

However, Master Feng was not included in this definition.Although Mr. Feng is considered a native of the capital, and his house is also in the east of the inner city, the location of his house is not good. It is at the foot of the east city wall, between Chaoyangmen and Dongzhimen.

The base of the city wall belongs to the low-priced land.Not to mention the shadows, in case of war, it is easy to be cleaned up.

Feng Jingjie was just a student supervisor back then, not a scholar who was willing to invest without a bottom line from a wealthy family.

The person who betrothed his daughter to him was not a big boss, but an ordinary merchant.

Investing in a daughter and a house for Mr. Feng is already the biggest investment project in the merchant's life... Facts have proved that this project is not very successful.Master Feng spent half his life in the officialdom of the capital, and he didn't even have the ability to change his house to a better location.To this day, it is still the old house.

Because it was at the foot of the east city wall, after leaving the imperial city, Master Feng had to travel through the entire east city to get home.Fortunately, the release time was early and there was plenty of time, so Master Feng walked straight to the Chaoyang Gate without taking a stroll.

It is different from the world-famous Chongwenmen tax customs.Chaoyangmen, which is just across the corner of the city wall from the former, is used to transport grain and fodder from all over the country into the city on weekdays, commonly known as "grain gate".

When Mr. Feng walked near Chaoyang Gate, it was already the bustling time of the afternoon market.

Near Chaoyangmen, there are not only large state-level granaries, but also many government offices, large grain stores, and even the residences of grain merchants.It is matched with the bustling grain market, brothel street, Luoma market and other prosperous areas.

The antique street near the city gate is Master Feng's favorite section.On this street, Mr. Feng can see all kinds of cultural relics, antiques, old books and paintings.Playing with it casually when passing by, discussing with the shop owner for a while, is also a rare entertainment item for middle-aged crisis men on weekdays.

This is still the case today.Master Feng spent half an hour wandering all the way, and finally came out from the Antique Street.

After leaving the Antique Street, you will find Chaoyangmen.

The towering city walls, the overlapping city towers, below which are rows of commercial houses on both sides, and the main street full of traffic.

At this moment, the crowd on the street suddenly poured into the shops on both sides like a tide, even Master Feng was no exception.

The reason is simple: a team of knights riding tall horses, blowing copper whistles with unique sounds, and waving whips in their hands cleared Chaoyangmen Main Street.

Behind the knights who were moving forward at a constant speed, there were three or four rumbling carts.

These carts are unified four good horse-drawn carts, the body is both long and wide.Under the shelves shining with metallic luster, one can see coils of iron springs resembling mosquito coils, holding the shelves firmly and vibrating slightly.

"It's the spring team."

"I don't know what time it is to get lucky this time."

"About litchi again."

"It's nonsense. At this time of year, the lychees in Guangli haven't bear fruit yet!"

Master Feng listened expressionlessly to the random chatter of the idlers beside him.

I don't know when, the first cart carrying chilled lychees arrived outside Chaoyangmen from Tianjin Kuaima.

Tropical fruits from the southern country brought unparalleled enjoyment to the dignitaries in the capital.Afterwards, with the addition of various frozen seafood, the term "spring fleet" refreshed the cognition of the natives of the capital like the wind, making them know that as long as they have money, everyone has the opportunity to be Yang Guifei once. .

Of course, most of the natives of the capital will never have the chance to taste the seasonal fresh food brought by the spring convoy in this life.

This also includes Master Feng.He is a sixth-grade dick, with no power in his hands and no copper in his waist.Even though he passed by Chaoyangmen after get off work every day, and even though he could see the spring caravan from time to time, Master Feng had never seen what was in the cargo box so far.

Probably God heard Master Feng's dissatisfaction.The next moment, a sudden change occurred.

A donkey that had been led to the side of the road was inadvertently burned by the wormwood on the Chinese medicine stall under its feet. The donkey shook its head and broke free from its owner's hand, and ran across the road.

The coachman wearing a cotton cap pulled the reins immediately.But when the incident happened suddenly, the four horses pulling the cart rushed to the side of the road after emergency avoidance.

Before the horse was reined in, the cart bounced and ran over several stone bricks on the side of the street, eventually causing a box of goods to be ejected, leaping over half the street, and falling right in front of Master Feng.

Ignoring the chaotic motorcade and the unlucky donkey owner, Master Feng stared blankly at one thing at this moment.

Wrapped in the broken wooden crate is a large square of transparent ice.But what was wrapped in ice was a strange fish.