Red House Shoufu

Chapter 387

Nanzhili patrolled the censor's resident, and Jinling City was in the midst of autumn.

Recently, the provincial examination in Nanzhili this autumn has just ended, and most of the students who came to Jinling to take the examination have not yet left.

Ma Chunzhi was about forty years old, with a long beard and a Confucian shirt, elegant and square, and he was wandering around the Confucius Temple with his servants.Some time ago, the south of the Yangtze River was rainy and rainy, and there were disasters everywhere in the water town. He was afraid that someone would take the opportunity to occupy the people's fields, and he was afraid that the government would not be able to provide disaster relief, so he hardly stayed in the government office.

After everything was stable, I returned to Jinling City. First, I supervised the rural examination this autumn, and second, I also took a break. During this time, I obviously felt exhausted and often felt dizzy.

The Confucius Temple in Jinling has always been bustling, and the people who come to visit are jostling, the cries of hawkers and tourists bargaining are full of smoke and fire. Ma Chunzhi likes this kind of life very much, walking among the crowd with a smile on his face.

It seemed that the years were peaceful, but suddenly Ma Chunzhi, who was walking in the crowd, fell down on the ground clutching his stomach. The servant who followed him noticed it and hurried forward to check, only then did he see a dagger stuck in Ma Chunzhi's abdomen, and blood flowed from Ma Chunzhi's body. Flow out between fingers.

There were assassins in the street who were ordered to inspect the imperial censor, from Nanzhili chief envoy, to the Jinling mansion, and everyone was shocked.

Liubai Lijia hurriedly set off overnight, and the entire Jinling City seemed to enter the cold winter in an instant, and the whole city became depressed.

"Old Li, Lord Ma..."

Patrolling the Yushi's mansion, a strong man about forty years old sat in the room immediately. He was wearing a flying fish suit, frowning and looking at the old man who stood up from the side of the bed.

"Geng Chen, the poison has been suppressed for the time being, and the next step is to see if Mr. Ma can survive tonight."

If Lin Shu was here at this time, he would definitely recognize these two people: Qian Shi, the commander of the embroidered clothes guard, Geng Xiangnan, who is in charge of the Qianhu Office in Nanzhili, and Li Jingtong, a famous doctor in the south of the Yangtze River.

Li Jingtong sat down and began to draw up a prescription. Ma Chunzhi's wound was not deep, and the dagger was blocked by a piece of jade at his waist, and it missed the vital point.

The trouble was that the poison on the dagger came from overseas. If Li Jingtong hadn't been well-informed, Ma Chunzhi had almost no chance of surviving this time.

"Let's grab the medicine first. It's not just the poison on the dagger in Mr. Ma's body. Someone has secretly injected chronic poison for at least three months. If Mr. Ma can wake up before noon tomorrow, everything will be fine. Otherwise, it won't last three months." day."

Geng Xiangnan still recognized Li Jingtong's medical skills. This was the top imperial physician in the palace at that time. If it wasn't for the secrets involved in the palace, it would be impossible for him to return to his hometown to practice medicine.

He remembered the incident that Ma Chunzhi had told him before, and had some vague guesses about the murderer.It's a pity that there are too many people in the Confucius Temple, so many that there is no way to find out the suspects from the tens of thousands of tourists.

Li Jingtong saw Geng Xiangnan wandering in the sky, he shook his head helplessly and handed Fang Zi to the embroidered clothes guard next to him, and then sat down and drank tea and waited.

After a long time, Geng Xiangnan came back to his senses, with a little more anxiety in his expression, got up and bowed to Li Jingtong: "Mr. Li, Mr. Ma, please get old. Mr. Li should know a thing or two about the situation in Jiangnan. This is imitating the example of murdering Duke Lin back then... Sigh, wait for someone to go to the capital to see how the central government makes decisions. Mr. Li, please wake up Master Ma!"

"Do your best and obey the destiny. This old man is just a doctor, not a god!"

Li Jingtong also sighed and said: "Gengqian matter, I need your help, I escaped from Zhen's house, and I will help you again. The poison in Mr. Ma's body, whether it is on the dagger or the chronic poison, is all overseas. Especially the slow poison, from what I can see, it should be made from the juice of a plant in South Vietnam. I have seen this kind of poison..."

Geng Xiangnan's eyes lit up, and he quickly asked, "Where did you meet Mr. Li?"

"If I say it out, I'm afraid I won't dare to investigate Gengqian's affairs!"

Li Jingtong's tone was full of sarcasm and regret: "This old man once watched a patient die in front of my eyes. I know who the murderer is, but no one dares to investigate."

"Which royal family member?" Geng Xiangnan's first thought was the Zhen family and the faithful Wang Gao Yongyi.

But Li Jingtong shook his head, and whispered four words: "Qufu, the Kong family!"

……

Ninety-ninth Chongyang, with the assassination of Ma Chunzhi, the censor of Nanzhili, the festive atmosphere of the entire Jinling City suddenly disappeared without a trace.

A large number of officers and soldiers from the guard took to the streets. Since the Japanese invaders came ashore last year, Jinling City once again implemented a curfew policy.

When night fell, the chief envoy called all the chief officials of the yamen in the city to discuss how to deal with the assassination of Ma Chunzhi.

As a censor inspector, don't look at this official position as just a small grade seven, but there are two words in front of this official position: imperial order!

The emperor ordered Nanzhili to patrol the censor, that is, the imperial envoy who was stationed in Nanzhili.Assassinating an imperial envoy is a crime of conspiracy, and all officials in Nanzhili are guilty of negligence.

Nanzhili inherited and announced the political envoy of the Zuo Buzheng Feng Xiaoyun, the right Buzheng Dai Qinghai, the left political envoy Yang Xu, and the left counselor Zhen Yingxiao.

The procuratorial envoy Yuan Zhenyun, the deputy envoy Fang Dazhi, Yu Youren, the deputy envoy, Duan Qingyan, the prefect of Jinling, Zhao Zheying, the general judge, and Sun Zhehan, the official.

Also sitting in the hall were Xu Changyun, the first-class Boss of Yue State, who had been in charge of Jinling for several generations, and Kou Ji, the commander of the capital of Nanzhili.

Almost all the senior civil and military officials in Nanzhili gathered together, of course not only to discuss how to deal with Ma Chunzhi's assassination case, but also to discuss how to deal with the coming court reaction.

In the past few years, life in Jiangnan has been difficult. First, the imperial power has changed. Officials in Jiangnan who were originally sent by the Supreme Emperor were almost suppressed by the new emperor.

Then, before Lin Ruhai died, a letter of impeachment brought the first cleansing of the Jiangnan officialdom.Immediately after was the suppression of the Japanese, and the army crossed the border. Jiangnan not only had to bear the raising of food and grass, but also had to bear most of the military expenditure.

Nanzhili is the most prosperous area in the south of the Yangtze River, and the imperial envoys of the Governor Jiangnan to suppress the Japanese are stationed in Jinling Mansion almost all the year round.This also indirectly caused all the yamen in Nanzhili to be under the emperor's nose all the time.

As long as there is a slight mistake, there will be an imperial edict in the capital.These years they lived with trepidation, fearing that they would be the next one to confiscate their homes and exile them.

After all, the Japanese pirates left, and so did the imperial envoy. Before he could catch his breath and recover some of the money lost over the years, Ma Chunzhi came again!

After trying their best to deceive Ma Chunzhi, no one would have thought that he would be stabbed in broad daylight.

Feng Xiaoyun, as the most powerful official in Nanzhili, snorted coldly, scanned all the people sitting in the hall, and finally set his eyes on the first-class uncle Xu Changyun.

When Ma Chunzhi was assassinated, Xu Changyun was the first thing he suspected, because Ma Chunzhi had just clashed with the Yue government a few days earlier.

"Mr. Xu, all the people sitting here are my own people, so I opened the skylight to speak frankly. Does Ma Chunzhi's assassination have anything to do with the Duke of Yue's mansion?"

Hearing Feng Xiaoyun's question, Xu Jingyun was also dumbfounded.He glanced dissatisfied at Feng Xiaoyun, who doubted him, and replied coldly: "Although I wish Ma Chunzhi would die, I'm not stupid enough to assassinate him in Jinling City!"

"Who would that be?"

Feng Xiaoyun turned his gaze to the others, and everyone in the hall shook their heads in denial.It's not that they don't want to, but they really don't dare.Assassination in the street, regardless of whether it will be found out at that time, just attracting the attention of the capital to Jinling Mansion is enough for everyone to drink a pot.

Zuo Counselor Zhen Yingxiao, as the leader of Jinling, coughed and expressed his thoughts: "Feng Gong, Xu Gong, my lords, in my opinion, is it possible that this matter was done by the Songjiang mansion? Isn’t it widely rumored that Ma Chunzhi holds evidence of the person who invaded the people’s land and smuggled pirates? Whether it’s true or not, it’s not impossible for him to take action. After all, we in Jinling are not stupid enough to trap ourselves.”

Zhen Yingxiao's words were a wake-up call to everyone in the hall. Although Songjiang Mansion is under the jurisdiction of Nanzhili, Kong Rencheng, the prefect of Songjiang Mansion, is a descendant of Yanshenggong Mansion and Qufu Confucian family, and a descendant of Confucian saints.

The yamen of the various divisions in Nanzhili ignored the affairs of the Songjiang Mansion if they could, and avoided them if they could.They even tried to cover up any cases that happened in the Songjiang Mansion these years.After all, they were still afraid of offending Yanshenggong Mansion.

The conflict between Ma Chunzhi and the Songjiang Mansion actually stemmed from a small case of land occupation.But after Ma Chunzhi visited Songjiang Mansion on the spot, he didn't find any problems with the verdict of Songjiang Mansion, so he let it go.

Unexpectedly, within a few days, rumors began to spread everywhere in the south of the Yangtze River. In fact, Ma Chunzhi did not let go of the case.

No one present in the hall knew whether this rumor was true or not. The guards patrolling the Yushifu were all imperial guards from the capital, and there were embroidered guards among them to secretly protect Ma Chunzhi.

They couldn't even hide, so how dare they take the risk of spying at this critical moment.Originally, he wanted to send Ma Chunzhi away safely in the past two years, but who would have expected that some lunatic would dare to assassinate the imperial envoy in the city.

Thinking of this, Feng Xiaoyun couldn't help scolding: "It's really a bunch of lunatics. It's not enough to calamity in Shandong, and they extended their hands to us in Jiangnan. Back then, the old man said that it is easier to ask gods than to give them away. For that little thing, is it worth it?"

Xu Jingyun took a sip of tea and said leisurely, "What's the rush? No matter if it's the Songjiang Mansion's work or not, as long as we think he is, he is!"

"Grand Xu's clever plan, according to the officials, why don't we take the initiative to expose the Songjiang Mansion, so that the court can focus on the Songjiang Mansion and the Kong family. When our affairs are settled, the court will If you want to check, what can you find out?"

Zhen Yingxiao complimented Xu Jingyun a few words, and said in a dark voice: "The Kong family forced their chopsticks into our plates in order to intervene in maritime trade. Since they don't know how to be cautious, let them go to court with the court, just right Attract the court's attention for us."

Whether it is Feng Xiaoyun or others, there is no other way to think of it for the time being.Although the murderers behind this incident were the Songjiang Mansion and the Kong family, but they still haven't cleaned up their own mess, so it's a good thing to have a scapegoat.

Anyway, the Kong family is powerful, let them protect themselves from disasters!
……

After Lin Shu's reminder came to his ears, Wang Qi went to Nanzhili, Songjiang Mansion and Xunyan Yushi Mansion and became suspicious.

The presiding judge of the case was Shuntian Mansion, and he went to Tang Youyi's mansion overnight. After the two discussed for a long time, the Secretary of General Administration received the memorial from Shuntian Mansion Yin Tang Youyi on the second day.

That day Lin Shu was standing outside the Hall of Qinzheng, and the emperor was talking about Xu Huairen's case with Crown Prince Gao Wancheng, when he heard Xia Shouzhong say that Lin Shu asked to see him, he asked him to come in.

"Lin Qing came just in time. What do you think about Xu Huairen's case?" The emperor gave Lin Shu a seat, and asked after Lin Shu Xie En sat down.

Without hesitation, Lin Shu expressed his thoughts.

"Your Majesty, in my humble opinion, it is impossible to judge the authenticity of Xu Huairen's case based on just one complaint and the testimony of one family. But the two contradictory memorials between the Songjiang Mansion and the Nanzhili Inspector Censor, That's the point."

The emperor nodded and said: "Wang Qing and Tang Qing both agree on this matter. They think that if the report of the Songjiang Mansion is false, then they are using the flood to cover up their embezzlement of people's land. If Ma Chunzhi is lying, then The Nanzhili inspector and imperial censor are protecting the magistrate of Shanghai."

"What the two lords said is my humble opinion. I think that since the Shuntian Mansion has taken over the case, it is better to only investigate the case of Xu Huairen. As for the conflict between the Songjiang Mansion and Mr. Ma, it should be dispatched as soon as possible." A special person will go to Nanzhili to conduct a secret investigation."

Lin Shu clenched his fists in his sleeves, and after a little hesitation, he spoke again: "Your Majesty, I dare you to go to Nanzhili to investigate this matter, it is best to be a clan relative or a general."

"Is Lin Qing worried about the Kong family?"

The emperor found out the identity of Kong Rencheng, the prefect of Songjiang Prefecture, after seeing Tang Youyi's memorial.The Confucius family in Qufu is indeed a headache.

Just as Lin Shu said, if you send civil servants there, nine times out of ten you can only let it go. The identity of the descendants of Confucian saints is too special, so special that few civil servants dare to stand on the opposite side with the Confucius family.

Even if the person he sent withstood the pressure, what about the people under him?What about the officials in Nanzhili?Someone will definitely report to the Kong family.

"Father, my son is willing to go!"

Ok?
The emperor and Lin Shu turned their gazes to the side of Longan almost at the same time, only to see the crown prince Gao Wancheng bowing down to the emperor, and said in a very solemn tone: "This matter involves the Confucian family, the only people in the world who dare to check Yan Shenggong's mansion are me. How many other people are there besides the royal family? As the heir apparent of the Great Chu, this son is the most suitable one. Please give me your permission!"

Before the emperor could respond, Lin Shu hurriedly got up to stop him: "No, this is not a good time for Your Highness to travel south..."

"Master Lin, what's the reason? Besides me, who can withstand the pressure of Yansheng Gong's mansion? You can't let the fifth brother go." Gao Wancheng looked at Lin Shu in surprise. In his heart, Lin Shu Shu's temperament, if the Kong family really shielded those who invaded the people's fields, the jealous Lin Shu would definitely put a knife on Yan Shenggong's neck.

Never thought that the emperor hadn't opened his mouth to stop him, but Lin Shu stood up first.

Lin Shu bowed and replied: "The south of the Yangtze River seems to be calm, but in fact, it is not an exaggeration to say that the undercurrent is turbulent. A gentleman does not stand under a dangerous wall. His Highness, as the heir, is responsible for the inheritance of the dynasty. Taking risks easily? Besides, the Confucian family in Qufu is a descendant of a sage, there are some things that a courtier can do, and the emperor should not be involved lightly. The heart of the scholar, Your Highness, without conclusive evidence, Your Highness must not easily get involved in the matter of the Kong family..."

(End of this chapter)