Ming Dynasty 1566

Chapter 103

Hai Rui has always hated Yamen policemen like Bantou Zhao.In his later years, he used the words "greedy, evil, bullying and obstinate" to summarize this kind of yamen messengers, calling them people of the five poisons.At this moment, seeing Bantou Zhao standing still like this, he was really angry, grabbed the gavel and patted it: "Kneel down!"

Zhao Bantou was pretending just now, but now he fell to his knees like a spring: "Master, what's your order?"

Hai Rui: "The county magistrate sent you an errand, didn't you hear?"

"What, what's the mission?" Team leader Zhao pretended to be confused, but quickly changed his words when he saw Hai Rui's knife-like gaze, "I, I heard it, and I'm escorting you. I'll go now, little one." Kowtowing his head, he stood up and immediately To several guards: "Let's go."

"You don't need to go." Hai Rui stopped him again.

Zhao Bantou will be there.

Hai Rui glanced at the officials in the hall with piercing eyes: "This team leader surnamed Zhao, in the market, he thought I was at home and turned a blind eye to him, but now he turns his face away when he sees that Tian Xiancheng has a relationship, which shows that this person usually treats me well. How vicious the common people are! As the saying goes, 'When you are in the palace, you hold your life in your hands'. If you are all like him, the people of Chun'an will suffer countless crimes! Prisoner Wang."

Prisoner Wang quickly replied: "The villain is here."

Hai Rui: "Didn't you complain that the prison is empty? Shut this squad leader surnamed Zhao in and wait for punishment."

"Yes." Prisoner Wang didn't dare to hesitate, got up and walked to the side of Bantou Zhao, "Let's go."

That Zhao Bantou: "My lord, if you make a mistake, you won't go to jail."

Hai Rui: "Ignore the orders of the gods and abuse the people. If you don't go to jail, the Ming Dynasty doesn't have to set up prison cells. Take it away!"

Prisoner Wang gave the two kneeling guards a wink, and the two guards got up, one by the arm of Bantou Zhao and pulled him up.

Prisoner Wang: "Let's go."

The three escorted Team Leader Zhao and walked out.

Hai Rui looked at the other policemen: "You and Tian Xiancheng go to the post."

Several guards responded loudly: "Yes!"

With Tian Youlu in front and several guards behind, they hurried out of the hall.

The head of money and food officials, the head of criminal officials, and the remaining group of guards and prisoners all stood in the hall with their heads bowed.

Hai Rui: "The entire county of Chun'an was flooded this year, and there was nothing left for the people. Many people lived in shacks after their houses collapsed. They all relied on the newly produced raw silk to survive the famine. You don't know about this? Arresting people everywhere, taking food from the people's mouths, looking at each other, are you still acting like a human being?"

A group of people waited even lower.

Hai Rui: "I have torn up the official documents of the governor's yamen chasing taxes, and I have submitted the official documents requesting tax exemption from the court. Some people don't want the people of Chun'an to live, and the court will not let the people of Chun'an die. From today, No one is allowed to ask for taxes from the people, especially not to arrest people. Anyone who dares to arrest people will go to the prison to accompany that Zhao Bantou. Did you hear that?"

Everyone: "Yes."

This sentence is really weak.

The sound from hundreds of looms is still roaring like that.It is still the weaving workshop, the same looms, and the same weavers, and the top-quality silk is still woven.

At this time, Zhao Zhenji was also an errand in the weaving bureau, and he would spare time to come here every day to promote weaving.The most unbearable thing is that the Qin case was clearly concluded, and the Jinyiwei and the other Jinyiwei still did not return to Beijing, and they wandered around several weaving workshops every day, which clearly showed that the emperor had been staring at the 50 people in Hangzhou. Thousands of silks.It's like this again today, the five Anhui merchants followed behind Zhao Zhenji and the two Jinyiwei, watching the pieces of silk being woven into pieces of silk on the looms in the passageway, but the faces of the five people were like covering dead bodies The cloth is also ugly.

In fact, why did Zhao Zhenji want the people under his rule to die?The anti-Japanese war in the front urgently needs military pay, but Shen Yishi's weaving workshop is reducing production every day due to the shortage of raw silk.What also caused Zhao Zhenji the most headache, and what worried several Anhui merchants the most was that silk was woven on one loom after another, and the capital was paid out one by two from the Huizhou merchants. points are still ambiguous.The contract signed by Zhao Zhenji was sold to five Huizhou merchants, but the emperor's decree stated that these weaving workshops had always belonged to the Jiangnan Weaving Bureau.The Huizhou merchants were eager to ask Zhao Zhenji for an explanation. Zhao Zhenji followed the people sent by the emperor day and night, how could he ask the emperor for an explanation?
"What is the amount of weaving every day?" Zhao Zhenji asked with a raised voice.

"At present, we can still weave one hundred pieces per day." The young Huizhou merchant replied, "I'm afraid it will stop in a few days."

Zhao Zhenji stopped, and first glanced at the two Jinyi guards.The two brocade guards didn't seem to hear them, they walked towards a loom with butterfly patterns behind their backs, pretending to be watching.

Only then did Zhao Zhenji look at the Huizhou merchants, and amplified his voice so that the two Jinyi guards could hear: "Why the shutdown?"

The old Huizhou merchant accepted the words, and tried to let go of his voice: "To tell the truth, Mr. Zhongcheng, our capital is also limited, and we really can't afford to buy silk. Besides, there are so many people who need to start wages."

Zhao Zhenji replied in a loud voice: "You can't afford to buy silk at half price? Why did you sign the contract at that time? Tell you, Hu Butang can't protect you if you delay the affairs of the court."

The old Hui merchant immediately became excited: "We don't need anyone to guarantee our business, we only talk about credit. Zhao Zhongcheng, can you guarantee that we will honor the agreement?"

"Who said that the agreement was not fulfilled!" Zhao Zhenji's face sank, and he glanced at the two brocade guards again, "The loom cannot be stopped for a day, and this year's 50 silks must not be less. Whoever dares to stop, I will not stop." Arrest people, please send troops to arrest people from your family, Hu Butang." As he spoke, he strode towards the outside of the weaving workshop.

The five Huizhou merchants were left there, and they all wanted to vomit blood.

Only then did the two brocade guards slowly follow Zhao Zhenji to the gate of Zhifang.Before the party reached the gate of Zhifang, a clerk from the governor's yamen came up to greet him: "Master Zhongcheng, Chun'an County Chengtian Youlu is here, and I am eager to see Zhongcheng in the yamen."

Zhao Zhenji's face was even uglier: "A county magistrate wants to see me too, you really did a good job!"

The clerk hurriedly bowed his waist: "Zhong Chengrong said, Tian Youlu brought the son of Hu Butang. It is said that Hai Rui asked him to escort him here."

Zhao Zhenji was taken aback for a moment, and couldn't help looking at the two Jin Yiwei again.At this moment, the two Jin Yiwei did not avoid his gaze, and also exchanged glances with him.The three went out together.

Zhao Zhenji didn't meet Mr. Hu first, but called Tian Youlu in.

After Tian Youlu poked his head in, he saw Zhao Zhenji standing by the desk, and two imperial envoys from the Zhenfu Division were sitting on the chairs by the window.

Zhao Zhenji: "The magistrate of Hai County has already handed in his resignation letter. I said Chun'an will be represented by you. What happened?"

Tian Youlu replied with his head on his stomach: "Master Zhongcheng entrusted the task of recovering the food owed by the people of Chun'an to the humble officer. After some difficulty, the inferior officer sent some people to collect the silk, but the county magistrate called them back."

Zhao Zhenji: "Didn't you show him the official documents of the governor's office?"

Tian Youlu deliberately muttered without answering.

Zhao Zhenji turned around and stared at him: "Didn't you hear what I asked?"

Then Tian Youlu replied hesitantly: "Hi, I really don't know how to talk to Mr. Zhongcheng..."

Zhao Zhenji: "Tell me the truth."

Tian Youlu: "Hai, Haizhi County tore up the official documents of the governor's office."

Zhao Zhenji's eyes widened suddenly.The two guards in Jin Yi also moved, and they both looked at Tian Youlu who was lying there.

Tian Youlu: "The county magistrate of Hai said that the food from the Weaving Bureau was given by the emperor to the victims of the disaster in Chun'an, and anyone who wants to recover it would be insulting the holy name. He also said that Chun'an was the hardest-hit county this year, and he has already submitted a petition to the court to request that all County taxes."

Zhao Zhenji's anger boiled in his chest, and he couldn't speak for a while.The two Jin Yiwei also stood up.

Jin Yiwei: "Is there such a thing?"

Tian Youlu: "The words of the imperial envoy are absolutely true. This is what Haizhi County said and did."

The other Jin Yiwei looked at the other side of Jin Yiwei: "Maybe this person is really mentally ill?"

"What's wrong!" Zhao Zhenji finally said, with a stern voice, "It's the disease of fighting against the boss and against the court! Both of you have heard it here, and I'm going to attend him, and please report it to the palace."

Jin Yiwei said: "We will naturally report the truth."

Zhao Zhenji looked at Tian Youlu again: "You brought in Mr. Hu Butang, what's going on?"

Tian Youlu felt confident, and at this moment he said with all kinds of grievances: "The state sent a greeting to Beizhi, saying that Mr. Hu Butang went to Taizhou to visit his father and passed through Chun'an to change ships. According to the usual practice, Beizhi received him. However, Haizhi County said that the humble official flattered his superiors, and that Mr. Hu was a fake, so he ordered the inferior officer to escort him to Hu Butang. If the inferior official did not follow his instructions, he would be punished by the Metropolitan Procuratorate for participating in the inferior official. Mr. Zhongcheng, I really can't do my job in Chun'an, Lord Zhongcheng, please let me transfer to another place." He wiped away his tears when he said this.

At this time, Zhao Zhenji suddenly fell silent again, healed his wounds, healed his wounds, and stepped forward with thorns, Tian Youlu's words suddenly reminded him that there was Hu Zongxian on his head, and this Mr. Hu sent here was not just an opportunity to let go of his shoulders?His face calmed down, and he called out the door: "Come on."

The clerk on duty hurried in.

Zhao Zhenji: "When will the last batch of military supplies for Hu Butang's barracks be delivered?"

The clerk on duty: "Return to Zhongcheng, this time there are tens of thousands of military supplies, and more than a dozen ships will arrive this afternoon. Once they arrive, they will be shipped immediately."

Zhao Zhenji: "The extermination of the Japanese pirates is the last battle. There must not be a grain of grain or a blade of grass in short supply. Go ahead and urge it, and it must be delivered three days after it arrives."

The clerk on duty: "Yes. The villain will pass the order."

"Slow down." Zhao Zhenji glanced at Tian Youlu who was kneeling there, "Take him and the man Hai Rui arrested, and send them to Hu Butang."

The clerk on duty: "Yes. Come with me."

Tian Youlu was still in a daze, raising his head halfway: "Lord Zhongcheng..."

Zhao Zhenji: "Get out!"

When the sea rain is white and covers the sky, the sky wind is gone.The turbulent waves of the sea were quietly crouching at this time, giving way to the continuous rain curtain to the roar of the earth shaking.

Qi Dazhu stood like a boulder on the curtain of the big tent of the Chinese army, holding his sword hilt motionless in the rain, and dozens of soldiers on both sides and surroundings of the big tent also stood motionless like a boulder in the rain.

In the big tent, there was only a small charcoal stove spitting out blue flames, urging the medicine soup in the medicine pot to boil, and the white gas rushed straight to the lid of the medicine pot resting on the two chopsticks, making a faint clicking sound.

Hu Zongxian's personal soldier captain stood guard in front of the medicine jar. At this time, he lifted the lid of the medicine jar, gently blew away the white steam from the cage, and then used iron tongs to grab a few pieces of red charcoal from the stove, and then put the medicine jar Put the lid on two bamboo chopsticks, let the small fire slowly fry the medicinal soup in the medicinal jar.Then, he looked in front of the major case of the Chinese army.

On the recliner before the big case, Hu Zongxian was half-lying and half-sitting surrounded by a quilt. In front of him was a low table, on which was a game of Go played to the middle game, and Qi Jiguang sat upright on the opposite side of Go.

Gently, Hu Zongxian placed a sunspot on the chessboard, and Qi Jiguang looked at the sunspot and thought hard.

"I don't know how to play this piece, do you?" Hu Zongxian covered the quilt that was half covered by the reclining chair and half covered his body, and lay down: "It seems that I told you about the classics of Go, remember? "

Qi Jiguang was holding a chess piece and looking at the chessboard thinking. Hearing Hu Zongxian's question, he raised his head and looked at him: "Yes. The Ministry once told his subordinates that Go is an ancient game when people saw Hetu Luoshu and were influenced by it. Revelation, figured out."

Hu Zongxian: "Then think about how to play this move from Hetu Luoshu."

Qi Jiguang: "The Ministry is making fun of my subordinates. Hetu Luoshu is a question written by heaven. No number of sages and sages can decipher it. How can a member of the army find ideas from heavenly scriptures?"

Hu Zongxian: "As long as you are willing to search hard, you can find it. There is only one reason for everything in the world. Everyone stands in a different position and has a different view. For example, if you look at the other side of a river, if you stand on the south side of the river, the north side is the opposite bank; It is on the north side of the river, and the south side is the opposite bank. I remember that I saw it in Wang Yangming's notes. He thought that Hetu Luoshu was just a record of when it rained and when it was drought by three generations of ancestors observing the sky. Driving cattle and sheep, chasing water and grass, just conforming to the weather to facilitate nomadism. This is the principle he read from Hetu Luoshu. The battle is imminent. Standing in the position of marching troops, look at the heavy rain outside the tent, and then Think about Hetu Luoshu, and then think about where to play this move?"

Qi Jiguang's eyes brightened immediately: "According to my subordinate's experience of fighting Japanese pirates in the coastal area for more than ten years, there should be a day or two of heavy fog after the heavy rain at this time of year, which is conducive to surprise raids."

Hu Zongxian seemed to be praising or sighing, and let out a long cry: "Yes, it is a rare fighter. Living by water and grass, and changing according to the weather, this is the greatest reason!"

Qi Jiguang: "Should this subordinate put this chess piece here?" With a snap, he placed the white chess piece pinched between Shi Zhong's two fingers on a chess eye on the chessboard.

Hu Zongxian slowly glanced at the position where Qi Jiguang's chess piece was placed, but there was no expression on his face. Instead, he lay down completely and slowly closed his eyes.

However, Qi Jiguang seemed to hear the clang of gold in his heart, held his breath and just stared at him quietly.

A few days ago, a letter from Yan Song was still pressed under a paperweight on the major case of the Chinese army, and Hu Zongxian seemed to hear Yan Song's old voice lingering in his ears: "The overall situation of the world, there is a trouble in the heart, and there is a disease of the limbs. The treasury Emptiness, frequent famines, unrepaired royal palaces, and long-lost salaries for all officials. This is a serious problem for the imperial court. The Japanese pirates harassed the southeast, and my younger brother, the master of Pixiu, even fought huge damage. It is no longer a concern. This limb disease is also I hope that my brother will take into account the overall situation of the imperial court and temporarily suspend the army to stop the war to solve the difficulty of the treasury. After Yan Maoqing goes south to inspect the salt and collect the salt tax, the imperial court will allocate military funds to find out about the Japanese pirates..."

"Butang." Qi Jiguang's soft call opened Hu Zongxian's eyelids, "Ten years of hard work, eight victories in Taizhou, and the gathering and annihilating of Japanese pirates should be in this fog that fell from the sky. Does the Butang want to tell his subordinates that they can't?" Against God!"

Hu Zongxian was already seriously ill at this time. He sat up quickly while leaning on the armrest of the recliner, but suddenly felt dizzy.

"Butang!" Qi Jiguang stepped over, supported him, and looked at the captain of the soldiers who also rushed over, "Soup and medicine."

The captain of the bodyguard ran back to the stove, wrapped a piece of cloth around the handle of the medicine pot, and slowly decanted the soup into the medicine bowl.

Hu Zongxian gasped for a moment, looked at the captain of the personal army: "Move the stove over here."

"Yes." The captain thought he was afraid of the cold, so he hurried to the stove, added a few pieces of charcoal, and blew on the open flame, then moved the stove to his side, turned around and picked up the bowl of soup and medicine Blow gently.

Hu Zongxian said to Qi Jiguang who was still supporting him, "Sit back."

Qi Jiguang slowly let go, sat back on the stool opposite, and looked at him expectantly.

Hu Zongxian's left hand slowly stretched out to the big case, moved away the paperweight that was pressing the envelope, picked up Yan Song's letter, did not read it, just stared blankly for a while, and suddenly stretched the letter towards the stove .

A corner of the letter was lit, and then the flames slowly devoured it, until the words "Yan Song" on the envelope were also burned to ashes!

Hu Zongxian waited until the flame on the envelope reached his fingers before putting the last corner into the stove, and suddenly shouted: "Qi Jiguang!"

"The end is here!" Qi Jiguang stood up abruptly.

Hu Zongxian: "Immediately order reinforcements from all walks of life. When the rain stops and the fog begins to rise, attack from all fronts to gather and wipe out the Japanese pirates in one fell swoop!"

"Follow the order!" Qi Jiguang's excited reply echoed with the sound of the rainstorm outside the tent, spreading to all directions in the rainy sky!

——In the 40th year of Jiajing in the Ming Dynasty, the Ninth Taizhou War began.This battle wiped out the remnants of the Japanese pirates who had plagued Zhejiang for ten years, and the suffering of countless people in the southeast coast, who had suffered from burning, killing, and prostitution, finally came to an end.

The huge parade welcoming the triumphant return gathered the huge Hangyun Wharf with banners and hunters.

Zhao Zhenji stood in the middle where the officials stood, Tan Lun stood beside him, on both sides were officials from various departments and the two Jinyiwei.

(End of this chapter)