Feng Bao had been Wanli's senior attendant and the steward of Prince Yu's residence. For so many years, he had served Prince Yu diligently and conscientiously, earning deep trust.
Now that Prince Yu had ascended the throne as the Longqing Emperor, Feng Bao, an old retainer from his princely days, naturally rose with him. He was now a Brush-Holding Eunuch of the Directorate of Ceremonial, taking over Huang Jin's post and commanding the secret police and Imperial Guards.
"Oh, Grand Secretary Wang, honestly. Everyone could see that His Majesty had sent me to break things up. Why couldn't you just play dumb and let it pass? Why did you have to spell it out and provoke Grand Secretary Gao again?"
"The old fellow's getting a little too full of himself. Even the late emperor couldn't settle all affairs under heaven with a single word—yet he becomes Chief Grand Secretary and starts leaping about?" Wang Yan looked at Feng Bao with a genial smile. "Isn't that so, Eunuch Feng?"
"Why does it sound like Grand Secretary is talking about me?" Feng Bao smiled as well. "What Grand Secretary has done and said lately is no longer quite like it was under the late emperor. I must remind you as well, Grand Secretary: the late emperor was the master, and the present emperor is also the master. You must not slight either one."
"Your words make no sense. Under the late emperor, I whipped Yan Shifan, cursed Yan Song, cursed Xu Jie, and when we fought the Tatars, I cursed them right in the Grand Secretariat. I hadn't even entered the Grand Secretariat then. Now that I have, and can participate in policymaking, shouldn't that mean I get to curse them every day? Eunuch Feng, you're a man who understands reason. You