Chapter 73 Encounter with Fang Zhenghua

However, despite its simplicity, Wang An imagined the scene in his mind: under the dim light, several old faces huddled together, trying sinisterly to guess the young emperor's intentions, and conspiracies or decrees that would determine the fate of the empire were conceived here.

For a moment, this simple room was inexplicably filled with a certain solemnity and majesty.

The heavy sense of history made Wang An's breathing slow down a little.

"Sit down!"

However, a slightly cheerful voice suddenly broke the heavy atmosphere surrounding Wang An, adding a hint of lightness to the air.

Wang An looked in the direction of the voice and saw the young eunuch with red and swollen cheeks looking at him curiously. Wang An quickly bowed and said, "I am Wang An, your humble servant, and I am honored to meet you, Your Excellency!"

"The common people dare not sit in the palace."

Although the young eunuch asked Wang An to sit down, Wang An still knew his own weight.

As the saying goes, once you enter the palace, it is like entering a deep sea. Although you haven't entered the palace yet, you still have to abide by the rules and not violate them.

After all, I am just an ordinary citizen, so there is nothing wrong in being cautious.

However, the young eunuch was extremely enthusiastic. He pulled Wang An over and pressed him down on the chair. With the corners of his mouth slightly deformed due to the swelling of his face, he started chatting with a smile.

The questions were mostly casual, asking about Wang An's name, where he was from, and where his ancestral home was, but they did not ask about what injustice he had suffered.

Wang An found that the young eunuch was quite talkative and very kind, which broke Wang An's inherent impression that eunuchs loved to pinch their fingers and speak in a sissy voice.

In fact, this young eunuch was quite tall and strong. Wang An thought that if a fight broke out between the two of them, even if there were five of them, he might not be their match.

I also remembered that when Li Zicheng broke through the city of Beijing, the last group of armed forces who swore to defend the Ming Empire to the death, who were known as the last real men of the Ming Dynasty, were a group of eunuchs holding knives and swords!
Although during the Southern Ming Dynasty, there also emerged famous civil officials and generals such as Li Dingguo, Zheng Chenggong, and Shi Kefa who swore to die rather than surrender, and countless loyal and righteous people such as the "81 Days in Jiangyin" who fought against the Qing Dynasty and died in battle all over the city...

But in the end, the Southern Ming was not recognized by later generations as the continuation of the Ming Dynasty, so it is well-deserved to call these eunuchs in the Forbidden City the last real men of the Ming Dynasty.

Thinking of that tragic history, Wang An couldn't help but feel a little emotional, and he also had a little more affection for the young eunuch in front of him, so he bowed and asked for the other's name.

The young eunuch grinned. He was also quite curious about Wang An.

In addition to being curious about how this commoner had the courage to go to the Meridian Gate to file a complaint to the emperor, it was mainly because Wang Chengen had repeatedly warned him not to neglect the person in front of him.

Wang Chengen was a very popular figure around the emperor. The fact that he could attract such attention from such a person showed that the young man in front of him was definitely not an ordinary person.

Therefore, he also wanted to make friends with her, and said with a smile: "Okay, my surname is Fang and my given name is Zhenghua. I am highly valued by the emperor and I help him sort out memorials on a daily basis."

Wang An couldn't help but raise his eyebrows when he heard this.

I was just sighing that the eunuchs in the late Ming Dynasty were all real men, and now here comes a man among men!

Although he was just a eunuch, he led troops to garrison a place many times and had fought several battles with slaves and bandits.

Especially in the 17th year of Chongzhen, he was ordered to guard Baoding. When the rebels attacked the city, they shot two letters of surrender, but Fang Zhenghua ignored them and insisted on defending the city to the death. When the rebels broke into the city, they saw Fang Zhenghua wearing armor and killing the enemy with unparalleled bravery, so they asked him his surname and name.

Fang Zhenghua shouted, "Director, it's Lord Fang." He then raised his sword to fight against the bandits, killing dozens of them before finally being killed by the bandits. All the eunuchs who followed him also died in the battle, without a single one being spared!

At that time, Emperor Chongzhen, to whom he had served for half his life, had already died in Coal Hill...

Compared with those so-called civil and military officials who hurriedly opened the city and surrendered when they saw the rebels and the Qing army, they were much more loyal and courageous!
Knowing the identity of the young eunuch in front of him, Wang An immediately stood up and bowed solemnly to Fang Zhenghua, "So it's Eunuch Fang, my apologies!"

Fang Zhenghua scratched his head embarrassedly, "Brother, do you know me?"

Wang An smiled but said nothing, but his mind was full of thoughts.

The honest young eunuch in front of him seemed to be about the same age as Emperor Chongzhen, but who would have thought that it was such a eunuch, looked down upon by everyone, who actually held up the last bit of dignity of the men of the Ming Dynasty.

After giving Fang Zhenghua's instructions, Wang Chengen hurried back to Wenhua Hall and shouted "something is wrong" as soon as he entered the door.

"Your Majesty, today is really weird! Guess who is the one who filed the complaint?"

Although Wang Chengen was horrified, he did not let Chongzhen guess and immediately said, "It's Master Tang, Wang An!"

Chongzhen opened his eyes wide when he heard this and asked in surprise, "Why did my brother come to file a complaint with the emperor? Have you asked why?"

Wang Chengen shook her head repeatedly, "Young Master Tang recognized me. I didn't dare show up, so I asked Fang Zhenghua to take Young Master Tang to the waiting room for a while, and then I hurried back to report the news!"

"You have done very well. Now is not the time to let my brother know my identity." Chongzhen stroked his short beard, looking very embarrassed: "My brother is such a god, who has the ability to force him to file a complaint with the emperor?"

"But since you've come to file a complaint, it must be no small matter. My brother has made great contributions to the country, and I cannot ignore this matter! It's just a little troublesome..."

The trouble that Chongzhen mentioned naturally refers to how to attend the trial in front of the emperor without revealing his identity.

Of course, Chongzhen could also not show up and directly appoint someone to handle Wang An’s grievances.

But in Chongzhen's mind, Wang An was a figure like Liu Bowen. If such a god-like person could be forced to file a complaint to the emperor, then the injustice must be great, or Wang An's enemy was not an ordinary person.

If he lets his subordinates go, he is afraid that they don't know Wang An's background and won't be able to handle things fairly, which will make Wang An feel disappointed with the Ming court.

After thinking over and over, I realized that my brother's matter was no trivial matter and I had to show up. But how could I avoid exposing my identity?

Wang Chengen saw Chongzhen's concerns and rolled his eyes twice, suggesting: "If His Majesty summons you to the court for trial, even if you dare not look up and look directly at him because of the majesty of the emperor, you will inevitably catch a glimpse of him out of the corner of your eye. And if you hear the emperor's accent, how can you not guess the emperor's identity with your intelligence?"

Chongzhen nodded in agreement: "This is the difficulty..."

"I do have a plan, but I'm afraid it may offend the emperor..." Wang Chengen hesitated.

Chongzhen said impatiently: "It's already this late, my brother still has grievances to be redressed, how can he care about whether he is offended or not?"

Wang Chengen was relieved and said boldly: "In my opinion, Your Majesty should go to the Loufang Room to listen to the injustice!"

(End of this chapter)