Ping An Biography

()Since Emperor Yongle moved the capital to Beijing, the Forbidden City in Nanjing seemed to have lost its luster. Only some eunuchs left behind and officials who were left behind to eat and wait to die, or who were excluded from the capital and couldn't get along.However, when the King of Han came to Nanjing, the status of the power center was restored here.

In the corner of the tall red wall, two officials in red robes were talking in a low voice.One of the thin, middle-aged people was Mr. Wang who had a dispute with Zhu Heng, Shangshu of the Ministry of War yesterday; the other had a beard and was slightly older, and he was also an important official in front of the King of Han.Lord Wang said calmly, "There is an old acquaintance from the north who said that brother Li's daughter who stayed in Le'an was arrested by the government, and was... well, sent to the camp to serve as a chicken!"

The bearded man stomped his feet, raised his voice a little, and said angrily: "I thought she would kill herself to keep the chastity, but I didn't expect this to happen! It really embarrassed the old Li's family. How can I have the face to stand up to my colleagues in the future?" before?"

Master Wang hurriedly said: "It's not Miss Li's fault, it's only Zhu Heng's fault. If it wasn't for him, why would we have abandoned our family?"

"Zhu Heng, hum!" the bearded man said angrily, "This man puts on an ugly face all day long, which makes people uncomfortable, as if he is the only one in the world who cares about the country and the people." . .

"It's fine if you really worry about the country and the people, but I think you're actually a hypocrite." Lord Wang said still calmly, "When I was in Le'an, Zhu Heng and the current Huguang Zhang Ning hooked up shoulder to shoulder. Some people said that Zhu Heng had a double heart, but he was not caught at the time. This time he stirred up some mysteries in the court, and anyone with a discerning eye can clearly see what kind of medicine is sold in the gourd! The dignified King of Han and Huguang benefited the most from the alliance. Who is it? Isn’t it Zhang Ning who relies on us as the mainstay?”

Seeing that the bearded man kept nodding, Lord Wang said again: "I am contacting all my colleagues to write a letter to expose Zhu Heng's conspiracy. Lord Li must be a part of it."

"It should be, it should be. The old man has always vented his nostrils with the old brothers, and he will never turn his arms outward."

At this moment, I saw a young man in green robe rushing over to look for him. When he met him, he said: "Master Wang, you are here so that students can easily find you. There is something important!" ?”

The green-robed young man looked around, and then said mysteriously: "Just now, General Luo intercepted a person at the Sanshan Gate, with a secret letter in his pocket, a secret letter from Lord Zhu, Minister of the Ministry of War. General Luo told Lord Wang to go over quickly." make a decision."

The bearded man surnamed Li hurriedly asked, "Which General Luo?"

Darren Wang said: "Which General Luo is not important, it is ours anyway. What is the content of the letter?"

The green-robed official said: "General Luo didn't dare to open the seal, so why don't you tell the students in a hurry to invite the students to invite Mr. Wang?"

... Soon Zhu Heng also learned that his people had been detained, and it was none other than the slave he sent to Huguang to contact Zhang Ning not long ago.There was a rumor that the house slave was arrested because he had evidence of collusion with foreign enemies.What colluded with foreign enemies, Zhu Heng could guess with his toes that it might be Zhang Ning's reply to him.Now he also wanted to know what was in the letter.

In fact, he did not feel that this kind of letter was a criminal evidence before. Although Huguang's "King of Xiang" was not in line with Nanjing in terms of banner, he was obviously not the enemy of Hanwang. Now everyone's biggest threat is the imperial court of the capital.What's more, when Zhu Heng and Zhang Ning contacted each other, they just relied on their previous friendship to explore the way, and there was no real collusion; he, Zhu Heng, was a person who participated in the planning of the general plan, and he was also an important minister, so he couldn't even do this on his own?

Zhu Heng was a little worried, but he still held his breath.Early the next morning, he was going to go to the official office of the Ministry of War outside the imperial city as if nothing had happened, but he was stopped as soon as he walked out.

Zhu Heng was furious, and immediately reprimanded the sergeant who came to block the way, what dares to block the Minister of the Ministry of War, I haven't taken off my black hat yet.Unexpectedly, the sergeant leader said that he had obtained the permission of the King of Han to set up a defense here, and asked Mr. Zhu to rest at home for a few days and not to go out at will.

Although angry in his heart, Zhu Heng couldn't force his way in after hearing this, so he had to turn back to the mansion.The situation in front of him gave him a very bad feeling, and the king of Han probably saved face and leeway by not asking anyone to arrest him.What exactly did Zhang Ning write in his reply letter?

After a few days, one of his colleagues and friends finally came to tell the truth.The guards outside the door seemed to be staring at Zhu Heng not to let him go out, but they did not prevent officials from the same dynasty from visiting.

Friends told the truth that the letter had been delivered to King Han.What Zhang Ning meant in the letter was to make Zhu Heng unable to get along in Nanjing anymore, so he went to Huguang to vote for him, Yunyun is always welcome.

When Zhu Heng heard it, he thought it was very bad. Zhang Ning's words were probably out of good intentions, because Zhu Heng thought highly of him that he invited him like this, but at this juncture, the reply letter was poked in front of King Han, and I'm afraid it would be a big fuss.

At this time, his son Zhu Sheng said: "It's not unreasonable anymore. The letter can only prove that the king of Xiang asked for a virtuous man, and his father didn't agree. Can this still punish his father?"

Zhu Heng glanced at his son, and thought that his son was only in his teens after all, and it was not a big mistake to think that everything could be reasoned.He slumped back to the chair, feeling that everything was over for a moment.

The friend comforted: "The King of Han should be able to remember Brother Zhu's hard work, so you don't need to worry too much."

"With such a good opportunity, the group of people surnamed Wang will easily stop?" Zhu Heng said coldly.

His friend said again: "I think the King of Han may not have made up his mind, and he did not immediately veto the alliance with the King of Huguang and Xiang. We will wait for the result of this matter. The prince has been fighting for many years and is good at military affairs. Maybe he Can have the long-term insight of King Zhao Hufu riding a she."

Zhu Heng shook his head and sighed, and said dejectedly: "Brother, you don't have to come here again, you might be implicated, but I can't bear it."

"With Brother Zhu's words, what am I afraid of?"

The two had a conversation, and the friend left, but Zhu Heng didn't see him off, but his son saw off the guest for him very politely.

Zhu Heng didn't say a word in front of a pair of calligraphy on the wall. There were two rows of cursive script flying on it, "Quietness can cultivate one's morality, and frugality can cultivate one's morality".To this day, he can't help but reflect: Could it be that his way of being an official has always been wrong?

But he turned out to be an unknown person, and he was able to reach the rank of the minister in front of the King of Han. He really couldn't rely on being cautious and promising;

Just when Zhu Heng was helpless, a servant suddenly came to ask in the evening: Did the master order a batch of jewelry before the day?

Zhu Heng was upset and said, "Why do I order jewelry? Just tell Madam about this kind of thing."

But the servant said: "The villain has already sent someone to ask Madam, and Madam said she didn't know. The villain wanted to send those people away, but they insisted that the master ordered things for Madam. The villain saw that what they said was true, I don't dare to make a claim, so I have to ask the master...or should the villain send them away?"

"Wait." Zhu Heng raised his hand to stop the servant.He thought to himself that since the incident happened, in the past few days, except for a good friend who came to visit, others were afraid to avoid it. What kind of jewelry store people, seeing that there are soldiers outside the house, why did they come here to do business?

Zhu Heng felt strange, so he asked someone to invite the businessman to meet him in the teahouse to see the situation.

When people came, I saw four servants in green clothes and square scarves and a woman in a peach red skirt. The woman was wearing a veiled hat, and she walked gracefully.A group of people is indeed a bit like people in a jewelry store, because there are many women who patronize such places, and it is common for jewelry shops to have women as deacons.

The woman took a box from the boy servant, opened it, and saw a few items of gold and jade inside: "Greetings to Zhu Butang, please take a look, are these things suitable?"

Seeing that they really came to sell jewelry, Zhu Heng became impatient and waved his sleeves to ask someone to see them off.Unexpectedly, the woman rushed to say: "If these things are not satisfactory, we have brought a rare treasure, but..." She turned her head to look at the servant of the Zhu family standing at the door of the teahouse, "Since Zhu Butang has already You have received us, why don't you take a moment, I promise you will be interested in that thing."

"Oh?" Zhu Heng stroked his beard, turned his eyes to the servant, and retreated, "I want to see what I'm sure I'm interested in."

When the servant walked away, the woman lifted the veiled hat, and Zhu Heng was stunned for a moment, only to see that there was a facial line on the woman's left cheekbone, which was a butterfly with deep red eyes, and asked her to apply some makeup The face looked extremely alluring, but it didn't resemble the aura of that decent woman.Zhu Heng suddenly had a feeling that he seemed to have seen this woman somewhere before, but he couldn't remember it at all after thinking about it; maybe it was the strange singer he had seen in some romantic place, which gave him the illusion of deja vu.

This woman was Peach Blossom Fairy, Zhu Heng couldn't remember her, but she remembered Zhu Heng.They did meet once. In Le'an, Peach Blossom Fairy was by Zhang Ning's side.

The woman said: "We are not here to sell jewelry, but to save Zhu Butang."

Zhu Heng was surprised, and said calmly: "The old man is at home well, why do you need someone to save him?"

The woman smiled without saying a word, just looked at Zhu Heng.This look made him feel as if he had said something nonsense; since everyone has made it clear, there is really no point in using bureaucratic accents.Zhu Heng paused for a moment, then said in a deep voice, "You are..."

"Mr. Jianwen." The woman said solemnly.

Zhu Heng thought for a while and asked, "The King of Xiang sent you here?"

The woman shook her head and said: "Jianwen Lord is Jianwen Lord, and the King of Xiang is the King of Xiang. Although we are all one family, those who run errands under us have their own decisions. As far as I know, the eyeliner of the King of Xiang has not yet managed to reach Nanjing. Come; but our people have found out that Zhu Butang is the person the King of Xiang is looking for, so we should help you nearby."

"Do you have a seal of proof?" Zhu Heng asked.

The woman said: "What seal do you want? Zhu Butang has never seen the proof of contact between us, and he can't recognize it. What's the use of getting it in front of you?"

"There is no proof, why should I believe you?" Zhu Heng said coldly.

The woman said: "Based on Zhu Butang's current situation, let's take the risk to save you. If there is a fake, what good will it be?"

Zhu Heng said in his heart: If someone from a political opponent pretends to be him, isn't he the real evidence that he wants to defect|flee?This kind of trick is very common in Zhu Heng's knowledge. The yamen want to catch criminals who commit crimes, and the methods include this kind. The knife and pen officials call it "fishing".

At this moment, the woman urged: "The king of Han hasn't taken you to prison yet, so we have a chance; if it really comes to that point, Zhu Butang probably has no chance of being rescued."