Daming wolf ride

From Zhangde to Zhending, from Huaiqing to Nanyang, there are bandits everywhere, and bandit caravans are everywhere where there are no bandits.The price of food in Fucheng has risen to the point where ordinary people can't afford it at all. Even so, it is often impossible to buy food with money.

Because of the severe drought, the Yellow River, which used to have a lot of water, slowly dried up. Except for the middle part of the river, there are only shoals left, covered with withered grass and reeds, which are constantly undulating with the cold wind.

Frozen corpses are everywhere in the reed booth, including men, women and children. The color of the corpses has turned black, and the clothes on their bodies have been stripped long ago. Groups of wild dogs haunt the reed booth, dragging people's internal organs. Everywhere, seeing the cavalry appearing on the embankment, the wild dogs did not flee in surprise, but bared their white fangs at the cavalry.

Looking at the corpses eaten by wild dogs, the cavalry of the Liaodong Army choked their throats, and everyone felt pain in their hearts.

Cao Bianjiao stared blankly, and let out a long breath for a long time.

.....................

Jingshi, Dongchang.

Since returning from Gusu, Cao Huachun lived and boarded in Dongchang, and never went anywhere. Unless the emperor called, he would never enter the palace.My uncle Cao Xuan sent someone to send a letter saying that the old lady was ill. He thought it was not a serious illness, so he would go to visit after busy for a while. The old lady died unexpectedly.

Thinking of his grandmother's kindness, Cao Huachun regretted it. He cried bitterly in condolence and was scolded by his uncle. He promised to give the old lady a grand burial, but right now he couldn't do without it. The old lady's affairs had to be put aside first. Ask my hometown to put the old lady's coffin in Zhihua Temple first, and choose an opportunity to send out the funeral.

One day, an old acquaintance Zhou Yingbi sent 4 taels of silver, saying that he wanted to ask Cao Huachun to help an old man in Beijing. When Cao Huachun was wondering who Zhou Yingbi said the old man was, Jia Hong, who was in charge of thousands of households in Dongchang, came in and reported with a smile. : "Mr. Factory, two friends who played with me when I was a child came to my hometown. They came all the way from the south of the Yangtze River and wanted to meet the master. The humble worker sees that the master is busy with state affairs and family affairs these days. He is too busy to disturb him. , has been telling them to wait for the letter."

"Who?" Cao Huachun raised his head and asked.

Jia Hong heard that he did not refuse to see him flatly, and said with a charming smile: "The factory owner has met one person, and the other person may have heard of it."

Cao Huachun frowned and said, "You just say it straight! There is no one else here, why are you worried about being so evasive in the Dongchang yamen?"

"Yes, yes..." Jia Hong didn't dare to flash any more, and hurriedly said, "One is called Dong Tingxian, the other is called Wu..."

Before he could say anything, Cao Huachun interrupted him, "It's Wu Changshi? They are both guests of Zhou Yanru's house. You let them enter the city privately six days ago, hum..."

"The factory owner..." Jia Hong's legs felt weak. He didn't expect that Cao Huachun would find out about this matter, and he was panicked. It's their filial piety..." As he spoke, he took out a bank note from his sleeve and presented it respectfully.

Cao Huachun saw that it was a 3000 taels of silver note, which read "Pingyao Pigment Club of the Capital, Shanxi Rishengchang Old Store", which was issued by the most famous bank in the capital. After frowning, he took it and put it in his arms, and asked : "What are they looking for at our house?"

"There are too many people here, so it's not the place to pay a visit. Please, please condescend to visit Cao Huachun." Jia Hong was a little embarrassed, and it was obvious that the person who asked him wanted to meet Cao Huachun face to face.

"Go back and prepare first, and I'll be there later."

Cao Huachun thought that his status was noble, so he didn't want to go with Jia Hong, and besides, it was a few thousand taels of silver, so it must be a confidential matter, so he was naturally more careful.Now Wang Dehua and Gao Qiqian are staring at him because of Jiangnan's affairs, even Wang Chengen wants to get in the way, he, the admiral and eunuch of the East Factory, has a hard time, so he should be careful in everything, so as not to slander others.

After dark, Cao Huachun changed into casual clothes, and came to the place Jia Hong said under the protection of several Dongchang fans. As soon as he entered the gate, Jia Hong, Wu Changshi, and Dong Tingxian were already standing inside the gate, and Cao Huachun had just left. In the sedan chair, the three of them surrounded him, greeted him and surrounded him into the hall.

Dong Tingxian presented Dahong's gift list, most of which were gold, silver and jewels, Cao Huachun didn't look at it carefully, but took it carefully, and asked: "Xinkui, why do you need to spend so much money, we and Mr. Zhou Ge are not outsiders, what is the difference?" Just say it."

Dong Tingxian smiled apologetically and said, "Ge Lao didn't see my father-in-law for a long time, and I missed him very much, so I specially sent the two of us here to pay my respects to my father-in-law. What's the matter? Besides, even if there are big things, when I come to my father-in-law, the big and small things will disappear."

"You flatter me, we don't have the ability to call the wind and rain." Cao Huachun knew that he was trying his best to flatter, but he felt that he was being flattered, and smiled happily, "Right now the Central Plains is full of bandits, you have come all the way here, I appreciate it. "

Wu Changshi cupped his hands and said, "Elder-in-law's eyes are as bright as a torch. We do have one matter for you to worry about. Eunuch is far away in the capital and lives in the palace. Have you heard about the Jiangnan incident?"

Cao Huachun's heart skipped a beat, and he said, "Our family is in the capital these days, how can we care about Jiangnan affairs?"

"Mr. Qian Muzhai, a famous scholar in the south of the Yangtze River, do you still remember?" Wu Changshi reminded.

"Why don't you remember? Back then our family saw him arguing with Mr. Wen Ge in the hall, his face turned pale... Besides, when our family went to the inner school to study, the husband came from his sect, so our family is actually his disciple." Thinking of it Four years ago, he visited Qian Qianyi at night at the Yunyan Temple in Huqiu, Gusu. When Qian Qianyi knew his purpose, he could not help but sneer with the unconcealable panic in his eyes.

Wu Changshi didn't know that Cao Huachun had been staring at Jiangnan for the past two years. Hearing his kind words, he hurriedly said gratefully: "Mr. Mu Zhai must be overjoyed if he hears what your father-in-law said. It's just that he has been framed recently and has been involved in lawsuits." , helpless."

"Oh?" Cao Huachun said in amazement, "Mr. Muzhai has many peaches and plums all over the world, why dare to provoke him?"

"Naturally, he must be someone with a lot of background." Wu Changshi looked out on purpose before lowering his voice and said, "This person is very powerful. Although he is in the capital, which one of the Jiangnan incidents is not manipulated by him behind the scenes? Seriously." You can't offend me! Needless to say, Mr. Mu Zhai is just a servant of the Ministry of Rites who has resigned and returned to his hometown, and he is the six ministers of the dynasty. Which one is not obedient and dares to complain!"

"You said it was Mr. Wen Ge, so you can't be so careful. The two have a deep grievance, but Mr. Mu Zhai lives in seclusion in the south of the Yangtze River and writes books for self-entertainment. How can he have anything to do with Mr. Wen Ge?" Wu Changshi said so much, Cao Huachun If he didn't know that that person was Wen Tiren, his life as the governor of the East Factory would really be in vain.

"Four years ago at the Huqiu Conference, Mr. Muzhai and his disciple Qu Shixu came to visit. Mr. Wen Ge must have feared that he would make a comeback with the help of the restoration of the society, so he instigated Zhang Hanru in Changshu to criticize and escort Mr. Muzhai and Qu Shixu to Beijing. Locked up in the prison of the Criminal Ministry."

"Oh, we don't know about this yet." Cao Huachun secretly admired Wen Tiren's savage methods, while asking calmly, "What evidence did they collect?"

"Don't be afraid of clear arguments, don't be afraid of clear opinions, suck people's blood, eat the country's righteous offerings, control the government, mess up official comments, and so on, there are no less than 58 articles. Zhang Hanru is the master of the yamen, and weaving criminal charges is his forte. "

"What's the point of this matter?"

"The governor of Yingtian, Zhang Guowei, and the inspector, Lu Zhenfei, both defended Mr. Mu Zhai. Mr. Mu Zhai also submitted two memorials in prison, but they were all suppressed by Wen Tiren and could not reach the hands of the emperor."

"Well, I know about this matter, it's not a big deal, you two go back first, and send a message to Mr. Mu Zhai, so that he can feel at ease." Cao Huachun said, took out a stack of bank notes from his sleeve, and pushed them in front of Wu Changshi and Dong Tingxian Said: "This is the 4 taels of silver that you entrusted Zhou Yingbi to give us a few days ago. Since it is Mr. Mu Zhai's business, it is difficult for us to accept it. You can take it back!"

"This, this... how to do it?" Rao Wu Chang had a great opportunity and had experienced in the officialdom for many years, but he couldn't say anything, which was very embarrassing.

Jia Hong grabbed the banknotes and stuffed them into their hands, persuading him, "Since the factory owner has agreed, you can go on your own." The two hesitated and looked at Cao Huachun blankly.

Cao Huachun said with a smile: "We also have something to ask Mr. Muzhai, ask him to write a Shinto inscription for Mrs. Tai with a stroke of a pen, and it is also a stone to mourn. In this way, the power should be evened out, and there is no debt to each other. account."

Wu Changshi and Dong Tingxian were elated, nodded again and again, and left with gratitude.

..........

Early the next morning, Cao Huachun got the inscription written by Qian Qianyi overnight.Qian Qianyi was trapped in a prison, and there was no place to dispel his grief, so he took advantage of this to express his chest, and wrote the inscription with emotion, sadness and beauty. Cao Huachun read it emotionally, as if his grandmother who had just died was right in front of him, and couldn't help but feel sad. Weeping loudly.While weeping, a young eunuch rushed in and said: "Long live Lord, Xuan Du Lord will enter the palace immediately."

Cao Huachun hurried to the palace and entered the East Nuan Pavilion. Chongzhen threw a piece of paper in front of his eyes and said, "Cao Huachun, you are getting more and more promising. It's 4 taels of silver. courage!"

Cao Huachun hastily picked up the piece of paper from the ground, it turned out to be an anonymous post, read it through hastily, it said that Qian Qianyi used 4 taels of silver to "pay Cao to hit Wen", broke out in a cold sweat, knelt down and kowtowed: : "Slave servants are definitely not doing such crimes. They must be framed maliciously by traitors. Long live the Lord knows!"

"There is nothing wrong with it, you don't know this truth."

Chongzhen's face was gloomy, and his voice was very severe.Cao Huachun thought carefully before and after giving Zhou Yingbi the bank note and returning it yesterday, he didn't know what was wrong, and it would be leaked to others, and thought that the emperor would reveal the post, it was really a great favor, and he had to take advantage of the emperor's doubts. Careful about confessing, he calmed down and asked in a soft voice: "Your maidservant is so bold, where did you get this post from?"

"Mr. Wen played it."

"The post clearly stated that the servant was impeached based on the appearance of Wang Fan, but the servant couldn't remember who Wang Fan was? Among the old and new knowledge that the servant knew, there was no one with this name. This person spoke convincingly, like It’s astonishing to see it with your own eyes!”

Cao Huachun scratched his head and thought hard, he felt that this matter was too strange and there were many doubts, but after sorting it out, it was a mess, and he didn't know where to start.

............

It's not good to write a few paragraphs of other things, and keep staring back and forth.