Emperor Kangxi: The First Rule of the Palace

Chapter 45
Not seeing Mingzhu for three days in a row, not only Wei Dongting had a murmur in his heart, but even Kangxi felt depressed.In the past two years, Mingzhu stayed with him day and night, and the relationship between the monarch and his subjects gradually deepened. He gradually felt that Mingzhu, like Wei Dongting, was indispensable to him.

Wu Ciyou once talked about how to get along with gentlemen and villains in a lecture.He compared water to a gentleman and oil to a villain. He said: "Water has a light taste, its nature is clean, and its pigment can wash clothes. After boiling, add oil without splashing. It seems that a gentleman is tolerant; while oil is The smell is strong, its nature is slippery, its color is heavy, and it can stain clothes. After boiling, water will splash everywhere, and it seems like a villain has no tolerance."

This passage impressed Kangxi deeply, and he often used this theory to study the people around him.Naturally, the first thing that comes to mind is Wei Dongting, thinking that he is loyal, witty, bold and forthright, as mighty as the water of a river.What about Pearl?Smooth and gentle, sweet and fragrant, it seems a bit like "oil".With Wei Dongting, he has a sense of security, everything is handled carefully by Wei Dongting, and what he enjoys is the dignity and authority of the emperor; while with Mingzhu, he has a sense of joy, hearing words makes him feel like a superhuman sense of superiority and honor.I remember one time when Wu Ciyou gave a lecture and asked everyone to write down an idiom with four voices.This seemingly simple question stumped everyone for a while.Wei Dongting thought for a while before saying: "Thousands of times and hundreds of turns." Wu Ciyou only commented on the word "barely".But Mingzhu raised her eyebrows and said loudly: "Sage of the Son of Heaven!" The two of them were clearly in love with each other.But since oil and water are incompatible and incompatible, why are Wei Dongting and Mingzhu so close?It seems that Wu Ciyou will also see things as wrong.

At this moment, he is sitting in the Hall of Mental Cultivation, holding a vermilion pen, reading the memorial sent from Obai, pondering the way of a gentleman and a villain that Wu Ciyou talked about, with a smile on his face.Aunt Su Ma waited on Bi Mo, saw him smiling thoughtfully, for some reason, she came up to add some incense, and asked softly, "Is Lord Long Live thirsty?"

Kangxi put down his pen and waved his hand, and suddenly asked with a smile: "Would it be nice if the emperor is always a gentleman?"

"'A virtuous minister, a humble man', this is a famous saying of Marquis Wu of the Han Dynasty." Aunt Su Ma was a little puzzled, and replied by quoting a sentence from the "List of Teachers", "Of course!"

Kangxi shook his head slightly and said: "I'm afraid it may not be true." He looked at Aunt Su Ma's face and continued, "How many virtuous officials can there be since ancient times? I think villains should be far away but must not be eliminated. Because there are also versatile talents among villains. Human beings are worthy of great use and should be reused. Even if it is oil, can you eat three meals a day without oil? Therefore, the way of the emperor is only to enable the gentleman and the villain to get their own place and do their best."

These words left Aunt Su Ma speechless.She thought for a long time, and finally felt that something was wrong, but she was unable to express herself in clear and concise words like Wu Ciyou.Then he laughed and said: "Even so, I still hope that the emperor will be close to the gentleman and neglect the villain."

Kangxi didn't answer, and lowered his head to approve a few lines of memorials. Seeing that Aunt Su Ma was still standing beside him, as if waiting for the next sentence, he raised his head and smiled and said, "Just like Qi Jinggong in the Spring and Autumn Period. Rule the country? If there is no Sima Zhuangju, who will resist foreign enemies? On the other hand, if there is no Liang Qiu to play with, wouldn’t he be suffocated to death? Those things of yours are useless, and they are not enough for me! Lord of the world, how can there be a gentleman among the common people? A villain should also give him a place to deal with. The talent of a villain is greater than that of a gentleman. If you don’t use it, it will be a waste of everything!"

"Long live," Aunt Su Ma saw that Kangxi seemed to be smiling, and these words did not sound like jokes, "Long live, can villains like Oboi and Bumbleshan be used by the Holy One?"

Kangxi's thoughts were fixed, and he calmly smiled: "Oboi is not a villain, but a hero today. When the first emperor was alive, he was a good minister; after I ascended the throne, he despised me and wanted to disrupt the people and harm the country, so we couldn't get along with each other. Rong—this is forced out of the situation.”

"Long live Lord must say that, and the slaves dare not refute it." The more Aunt Su Ma felt that Kangxi's words were irrefutable, the more frightened she became. If she continued to argue, she was afraid that the matter would become stiff, so she said in a trembling voice: "Long live just said that oil is indispensable. From today on, the servant will not eat meat or oil, so as to avoid today's talk."

Kangxi didn't want her to be so serious, but thought it was funny, so he said: "I'm just joking, but you are so serious, are you angry with me? Why bother?"

"Don't joke!" Lagu Su Ma said decisively, "I dare not joke, let alone talk with my master. I have come to take refuge in my Buddha, and it is good to abstain from these unclean things."

Seeing that she was suddenly stubborn and unreasonable, Kangxi thought that maybe something went wrong, and he thought she would be fine in a few days, so he stopped arguing now.Suddenly, Zhang Wanqiang poked his head outside, and hurriedly asked, "What's the matter? Is it time for dinner?"

Zhang Wanqiang originally wanted to call Lagu Su Ma to talk alone, but he didn't want to be caught by Kangxi, so he came in and said, "Long Live Lord, I can't go to study today, just now Xiao Weizi said that we must find the pearl to start the class!"

"Mingzhu is a flirtatious talent," Kangxi said with a smile, "I didn't see him for four or five days a while ago. I don't blame him, but he's become more and more lazy recently. Maybe he got stuck somewhere. Little Weizi has also become too lazy. I'm a little timid, and I simply don't even let me read the book."

"It's better to be cautious." Aunt Su Ma interjected, "It's not as good as before, and it's only been a few days since the mansion was searched. Does this mean the world is peaceful?"

"Forget it!" Kangxi sat down dejectedly, "I have some new ideas in reading recently, and I am going to ask Mr. Wu to correct them.—Mingzhu is really a cunning thief, where has he slipped off?" Zhang Wanqiang said: "Tell Xiao Weizi to search carefully. I'm going to see Mr. Wu tomorrow." Zhang Wanqiang had no choice but to agree to go on.

Mingzhu is now tied up in an empty house in the garden of Obai Mansion.Since he was kidnapped from Jiaxing Building that night, he was first imprisoned in Bumbleshan Mansion.That Bumble has a lot of kindness and eyes, and he was afraid that the news would leak out and hurt himself, so he sent him to Ao Bai's mansion.At this moment, Mingzhu was lying on the wet ground drowsily with her head resting on a square brick used as a cushion for a flower pot. The west sun shone through the roof, dazzling brightly.There was a dead silence all around, and the mournful cry of wild geese was heard from time to time.He tried to move his body, but was unsuccessful, and his lower body was completely unconscious.

When he was tied to the Bumbleshan Mansion, he made up his mind that he was ready to endure all tortures, and he had to keep his virginity even if he died.

But what kind of punishments are those!First they used fingers, then they changed to leather whips, and then they used tiger benches and sticks.Bumbleshan said this is called "eating sugar cane upside down, the more you eat, the sweeter it becomes".He passed out and was woken again by the splash of salt water.As soon as he woke up, he heard them ask again: "Where is Wu Ciyou?"But the most unbearable thing about this criminal law is that the urethra of the lower body is stabbed with bristles—this is really an unprecedented cruel punishment.Under the pain, Mingzhu couldn't help shouting: "God, hurry up, save me!"

Bumble, who was sitting on the sidelines watching the execution, sneered and said: "My class has read the biographies of cruel officials and is familiar with the functions of various criminal laws. Don't say it is you, even the Immortal King Kong will speak when he comes here." He motioned to loosen the sentence , slowly walked up to Mingzhu and said, "You are a smart person, don't you hear that 'if you keep the green hills, you are not afraid of no firewood'? You fell into my hands, and if you don't tell the truth, no one can save you!"

"I really don't know..." After finishing her sentence, Mingzhu saw the pulled out bristles shaking tremblingly in front of her eyes with blood, as if suddenly encountering a ferocious evil spirit in a wilderness under the moon, Mingzhu "Ah! "The ground screamed and howled: "You beast! You killed me, you killed me!"

"To kill you—with this bristle!"

"No, no, no—no, you use a knife!" Mingzhu shouted, eyes wide open, looking at the black bristles with horror.

"Since ancient times, I have never been able to punish a doctor," Bumble said with a smile, "How can I use a knife to kill a nobleman like you? If you tell the truth, I will send you out of Beijing and give you a sum of money—15 taels of silver." Is that enough? If you stop embarrassing me, I will never trouble you again, and you will never have to worry about it for the rest of your life!" As he said this, he waved his hand, and Liu Jinbiao was about to prick the bristle again.

"My God!" Mingzhu yelled, struggled for a while, then passed out... When she woke up again, she only heard the second half of Bumbleshan's words "...Since you are in Baiyun Temple, you don't have to worry about finding Shangu. shop. Don’t let this person die, send him to Ao Zhongtang!”

Lying here at this moment, thinking of this terrible scene, he still felt his heart beating violently.God!Could it be that I really told the place where the emperor studied in a coma?Why didn't I bite off my tongue in the first place?People, if you haven't fallen to this point, it's really hard to appreciate the love.After calming down and thinking about it, Mingzhu realized what a serious mistake she had made, and what terrible consequences were waiting for her.

In the hallucination, he seemed to see Wu Ciyou's contemptuous gaze, and saw Kangxi, Lagu Su Ma, and Wei Dongting approaching with sneers.These people who are with me day and night are pushed to the bottom of Jiuquan by my soft "White Cloud View".

Wu Ciyou doesn't believe in ghosts and gods, but his Mingzhu would rather believe in its existence than in its non-existence.With this loyal, upright, and knowledgeable Wu Ciyou, he was always a little apprehensive on weekdays, what should he do now?Meeting these people under Jiuquan, how to explain this matter?

(End of this chapter)