scourge the qing dynasty

Chapter 32 The Hypocrite
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After crossing the Hanjiang River on the wooden bridge creaked by Fatty Lu, the ancient city of Chenghai, famous for its lychees and laver, appeared in front of Fatty Lu and his party.At the same time, there were also Chaozhou civil and military officials, such as Fu Honglie, the prefect of Chaozhou, Yang Guotai, the general of Chaozhou, etc., who appeared in front of the big fatty Lu and monk Wanyi.

Just like the legend, the Chaozhou magistrate kneeling at the front and wearing a fourth-rank official uniform is indeed a very attractive heroic man. He is in his thirties, with a moderate build and slender limbs. , the two mustaches are neatly trimmed, and he looks very energetic. A pair of black and white red phoenix eyes are piercing, looking around, as if they can go straight to the bottom of his heart-compared with him, our big county magistrate, Fatty Lu, is actually nothing. A little less dramatic.

What made Fatty Lu even more angry was that when Fu Honglie went to salute Shang Wanyi's car, Shang Wanyi, who was too lazy to move all day long, let alone talk to Fatty Lu, took the initiative to do so without anyone calling him. He got off the carriage and returned a salute to Fu Honglie.

"Master Fu, please don't be too polite, please hurry up." Shang Wanyi tried to squeeze out a little smile, blessed Fu Honglie, and said: "You are an official ordered by the court, and you are an upright official known to both the court and the public. How dare an ordinary woman who has not received a title be such a big gift to Mr. Fu? And all the adults and all the generals, please hurry up."

"Stinky girl, why don't you talk so much in front of me?" Fatty Lu suddenly sensed a sense of crisis, and after cursing secretly, he hurried forward, cupped his hands to Fu Honglie and said, "I'm an official, Lu Yifeng, the magistrate of Qujing County, to meet the magistrate.— — I don’t know how many wives and concubines Gui Geng, the magistrate, has?”

"Lu Yifeng, you are the only one in the world who visits Shangguan like this?" Chaozhou Counselor Yang Guotai jumped out and asked angrily, "As soon as we met, I asked how many wives and concubines Mr. Fu has. What do you mean?"

"Forget it, Mr. Lu may just be making an inappropriate joke." Fu Honglie smiled heartily, waved his hands to repel Yang Guotai, and said to Fatty Lu: "Actually, it's okay to tell Mr. Lu. This year, there are two in my family. There is only one wife who is poor and has never taken a concubine."

"Did you hear that? This kid already has a wife." Fatty Lu triumphantly turned his head to look at Shang Wanyan, but he saw Shang Wanyan's expression was cold, and he still turned a blind eye to him.

After the routine exchange of greetings and false courtesies in the officialdom, Fu Honglie began to invite Shang Wanyi and his party into the city, saying that he had borrowed a garden from a wealthy businessman in Chenghai City for Shang Wanyi's accommodation, and specifically told Li Tianzhi: " General Li, the people in Chenghai City are small and poor, I implore the general to restrain his subordinates and not let them harass the people, otherwise, the subordinate officials will not know what to do."

"Master Fu, tell others what you said." Li Tianzhi, who came from Shang Zhixin's faction, didn't have a good word for Fu Honglie, and said coldly, "When did my subordinates of Li Tianzhi harass the people?"

"General Li, what Master Fu said is right, you have to restrain your subordinates." Shang Wanyi probably wanted to be angry with Fatty Lu on purpose, but even supported Fu Honglie: "If you let it go and disturb the people of Chenghai, then my sins."

"The general obeys orders." Li Tianzhi agreed helplessly, then turned around and roared angrily from his subordinates: "The order will be passed on. After entering the city, soldiers are strictly prohibited from harassing the people. If there is any disobedience, don't blame this general for his ruthless military law!"

"Of order." All the soldiers in Guangdong agreed in unison, and Shang Wanyi got back into the car, and rushed to Xingxuan under the guidance of Fu Honglie. It was only at this moment that Fatty Lu was surprised to find that Fu Honglie, the magistrate of Chaozhou, had actually There is not even a sedan chair, and Shang Wanyan leads the way into the city on foot.

………………

"Fu Qingtian! Fu Qingtian is here!"

"Cao Min paid a visit to Fu Qingtian and kowtowed to Fu Qingtian."

"Folks, come and kowtow to Fu Qingtian—!"

Fu Honglie really won the hearts of the people in Chaozhou Prefecture. Along the way, wherever he went, there were countless people kneeling on both sides of the street, scrambling to kowtow to Fu Honglie, and many people even came from the roadside houses and shops. He ran out to salute and kowtow, but completely turned a blind eye to Shang Wanyi and Fatty Lu who were flying the banner of King Pingnan.Seeing this scene, Lu Da County Magistrate couldn't help but asked Liu Zhen and the others beside him: "You guys are from Cantonese, and you know the situation in Chaozhou Prefecture. Why is Master Fu so loved?"

"My lord, Mr. Fu is indeed a good official." Liu Zhen replied respectfully: "When I used to perform arts in Chaozhou, I often heard people say that after Mr. Fu came to Chaozhou to take office, he cleaned it up in less than three months. All the accumulated cases have vindicated many unjust prisons, and rescued countless wronged people. Also, Mr. Fu only received three points of fire consumption, and Mr. Fu also tried his best to reject the exorbitant taxes sent by the province. Even Prince Pingnan Dare to obey the order, the life of the poor people in Chaozhou Prefecture is getting better."

"But don't worry, my lord." Liu Xu said mysteriously: "You guys have heard what Erlang said a long time ago. Your lord, you are not as stupid as Mr. Fu. When you arrive in Qujing and prepare to collect seven coins, you will definitely do your best. Those who support you, if there are those unscrupulous people who dare to resist taxes and donations, the little ones will clean them up for you!"

"Shut up! Don't learn from that idiot Xiao Erlang!" Fatty Lu scolded angrily, and then turned his head timidly to look at the carriage beside him, only to see Shang Wanyi turning to look at him in the carriage.

"The fire consumption of seven coins of silver? It really is Lu Qingtian." Shang Wanyi smiled half-smile, her tone was full of sarcasm.

Fatty Lu felt aggrieved, and hurriedly said: "Little princess, don't listen to their nonsense, I have such a dark heart?" Unfortunately, Shang Wanyan quickly put down the curtains before she finished speaking, and did not I don't know if I heard Fatty Lu's cry for injustice.

While talking, Shang Wanyi and Fatty Lu arrived at the place prepared by Fu Honglie. After quickly settling down, Fu Honglie and others went to the front hall to arrange a welcome banquet. At a private request, he took four dog legs and guarded in the back hall where Shang Wanyi was, and finally got a chance to talk to and get along with monk Wanyi.

Taking advantage of this rare opportunity, Fatty Lu quickly dragged Liu Xu to Shang Wanyi who was drinking tea, and while giving Liu Xu a few kicks, he explained: "My lady, the slave who was talking nonsense just now. You brought it here! Madam Princess, you should ask clearly in person, what is the charge of seven qian and waste of money, it is definitely not taught by the lower officials, it is their own nonsense made by a few bastards."

"Mistress of the Princess, the little ones, the little ones can do anything!" Liu Xu, who had been kicked a few times, also knelt down obediently, kowtowed and said, "It's really not Master Lu who taught the little ones to charge seven coins for fire consumption. It’s Erlang, it’s your lord’s housekeeper Xiao Erlang who taught us to say this, it has nothing to do with our master.”

Fatty Lu and Liu Xu taught the servants a lesson, kowtowed and explained, which made the servant girls around Shang Wanyi purse their lips and snicker, but Shang Wanyi slowly sipped the fragrant tea and continued to hold on. Fatty Lu's usual attitude of turning a blind eye.Until Fatty Lu was tired from beating, Liu Xu was tired from kowtowing, and his voice was exhausted, Shang Wanyan put down the tea bowl, half-closed his big eyes, and asked Fatty Lu coldly: "What did you say to me?" What's the use of these words? Do I have to explain this?"

"This..." Fatty Lu hesitated for a moment, and said, "Of course the princess didn't ask for an explanation, but...but the humble official was afraid that the princess would leave a bad impression on him, so he took the initiative to explain."

"So what if you left a bad impression on me?" Shang Wanyan asked back, and said indifferently: "You are not my slave, and I am not your boss. How are you? No matter how good the impression you left on me, what can I reward you for?"

"This..." Fatty Lu was completely tongue-tied.On the other hand, Liu Xu, who had been completely led by Xiao Erlang, raised his head and rushed to say: "Miss Princess, my master cares about you so much, of course it's because he likes you and wants to marry you..."

"Shut up!" Fatty Lu's fat face flushed, he raised his fat leg and kicked Liu Xu, finally stopping Liu Xu who had been led by Xiao Erlang from talking nonsense.

After kicking, Fatty Lu looked back at Shang Wanyi with a guilty conscience, and saw that the faces of the maids around Shang Wanyi already showed the contemptuous expressions of a fat toad wanting to eat swan meat, but Shang Wanyi still looked cold , There was no reaction at all, only a pair of big shiny eyes stared at Fatty Lu, looking up and down, staring at Fatty Lu until his heart beat wildly.After a long time, Shang Wanyan asked coldly: "So, it turns out that Master Lu likes me and wants to marry me?"

"This..." Fatty Lu never dreamed that Shang Wanyan would ask such a direct question, and his attitude was so terribly calm. Under the flustered state, Fatty Lu didn't know how to answer.

"If you really want to marry me, then you can go directly to ask my father to marry me." Shang Wanyi continued to throw a blockbuster indifferently, which made all the maids and servants present widen their eyes, as if watching It's like a white swan jumping into the mouth of a fat toad by itself.

"Really?" Fatty Lu couldn't believe his ears, and asked in surprise: "Princess, are you willing?"

"Since I was born in the Shang family, it's up to me to decide whether I want it or not." Shang Wanyan said blankly: "Father and mother don't allow me to become a monk, so of course they will marry me out in the future. Well, it’s up to them to decide whether to marry a dog, and I don’t count. So if you want to marry me, you can go to them to propose marriage. As long as they agree, I don’t care. Dog, marry a big fat pig and follow a big fat pig."

"Hahahahaha..." Everyone present, including Xiao Erlang, burst out laughing, while Fatty Lu's face was flushed, and he was so ashamed that he wanted to find a crack in the ground.

"How? Now do you understand what I mean?" Shang Wanyi glanced sideways at Fatty Lu, and said solemnly: "If you understand, please walk away from me. I'm a little tired and want to take a rest." Yes. As for our marriage, you can discuss it with my father, and don't bother me."

Amidst the sniggering of the servant girl, Fatty Lu shrugged his head and retreated dejectedly. Xiao Erlang and other unscrupulous servants immediately started another game over there. Will the old traitor agree? As a result, it was natural that no one dared to bet that the old traitor would agree to marry his daughter to Fatty Lu, and the bet quickly aborted.

"Princess, princess, something has happened, something has happened!" Just as Fatty Lu was downcast, a guard of Pingnan Palace suddenly rushed in shouting and crawling.Hearing this cry, Fatty Lu, who had been secretly warned by Li Tianzhi in advance, rushed to Shang Wanyi with one stride, and opened his arms to protect Shang Wanyi with his back.

Fortunately, the guard didn't come up directly to hurt Shang Wanyi as Fatty Lu imagined. He just rushed to Shang Wanyi five steps before knelt down on one knee, clasped his fists and said: "Hey, Gege, there are people outside Xingyuan. A large number of people gathered to complain to Mr. Fu, the prefect of Chaozhou, and sued our army officers and soldiers for forcibly robbing the people of fruit, and beat the people without giving money, and asked Mr. Fu to be the master for them."

"What a coincidence?" Fatty Lu was taken aback, thinking that when Fu Honglie entered the city, he had warned Li Tianzhi to restrain the soldiers and not to behave recklessly. How could there be a riot just after entering the city?
"Lord Lu, what are you stopping me for?" Shang Wanyan rolled her eyes to interrupt Fatty Lu's doubts, and after driving the county magistrate Lu away, Shang Wanyan stood up and frowned and said, "What did this Li Tianzhi do? I only warned him when I entered the city, telling him to restrain the sergeants and not to act recklessly. Why did people rob people’s property just after entering the city? Isn’t he usually like this? No, I want to go out and have a look.”

"Don't worry, princess, it's just a trivial matter, so you don't need to worry about it." The county magistrate Lu persuaded: "Just let General Li come forward. It's just a trivial matter to get the fruit first. It's a big deal to pay some money. Are you a princess?" Golden branches and jade leaves, don't show up in front of so many people."

"I am willing, do you want to take care of me?" Shang Wanyi rewarded Fatty Lu with a pair of hygienic eyeballs, and led the maid directly out of the back hall.Fatty Lu had no choice but to quickly follow up with four dog legs, always ready to protect Shang Wanyi from escaping.

The seriousness of the matter obviously exceeded Fatty Lu's expectations. When he arrived at the gate of Dexingyuan, the street was already crowded with people. Hundreds of people came to see the excitement after hearing the news. He was tied up and knelt at the gate, and beside him was a peasant with a fruit basket.In addition, Fu Honglie, Yang Guotai and other Chaozhou civil and military officials also rushed to the scene after hearing the news, while Li Tianzhi stood in front of the soldier who caused the accident with a livid face, kicking the soldier who caused the accident violently.

"Li Tianzhi, what happened?" Shang Wanyan walked out of the door and asked.Seeing her going out and being in public, the county magistrate Lu Da didn't dare to neglect her, so he quickly took a few dog legs and pasted her on it like a dog skin plaster, which naturally attracted Shang Wanyan's eyes.

"Little Gege, the general is incompetent in governing the army, I alarmed you, and the general is convicted." Li Tianzhi let go of the unlucky soldier who caused the accident, and dejectedly introduced the whole story to Shang Wanyi.

It turned out that just before the time for a cup of tea, one of Li Tianzhi's teams, a fire leader named Xiaoliuzi, led the team to stand guard at the entrance of the alley. Chenghai's specialty camphor forest tree is very rare. The little six went up to taste a delicacy. He thought it tasted good but was reluctant to give money, so he bullied others and snatched it. The peasants refused and was beaten by the little six. After being outraged by the crowd, hundreds of people ran to the gate of Xingyuan to appeal to Fu Honglie for their grievances. A trivial incident naturally turned into a big one.

"Forgive me, Little Gege, it's all because the general didn't lead the army well." After introducing the whole story, Li Tianzhi pleaded guilty to Shang Wanyi with his head downcast: "Please rest assured, Gege, the general will definitely deal with this little six son seriously, so as to correct the military discipline. "

"General Li, you don't have to feel guilty." Fu Honglie came over to persuade him, "Fortunately, it's not a serious matter. How about it? According to the officer, you should deal with this little six in public according to military discipline, and then ask this little six to pay for it." With the loss of this fellow, the matter is over."

After finishing speaking, Fu Honglie turned to the surrounding people and cupped his hands and said, "Folks, folks, please listen to what I have to say. What happened today, this Little Sixth Army Master was indeed wrong, but please remember that he is also ours." For the sake of the soldiers of the Qing Dynasty, let him compensate the fellow for the loss, and then let him apologize to the fellow. If you continue like this, General Li may be strict in his army, and he may be killed. It took the life of this little Sixth Army Master."

"Master Fu is right, we listen to you." A commoner took the lead in shouting.

"That's right, Mr. Fu is an upright official. He won't let our common people suffer, and he won't wrong a good person." The other common people shouted.

The crowd was so excited that even if Li Tianzhi wanted to cover up the soldier who caused the trouble, he was too embarrassed to say so, and immediately ordered: "Come on, push this little six son down, and beat him with twenty army sticks in public! After the beating, he will be removed from the rank of fire chief." , sent to the kitchen as a handyman, and started from scratch.”

"Decree!" Several soldiers agreed in unison, and were about to step forward to execute the punishment.But at this moment, Fatty Lu suddenly shouted, "Wait a minute, this is wrong!"

"Lord Lu, what's wrong?" Li Tianzhi asked in surprise.Fu Honglie, Yang Guotai and the others also looked at each other, and they really didn't understand what Fatty Lu saw was wrong.Shang Wanyan rolled her eyes, and then threw a pair of hygienic eyeballs at Fatty Lu.

Fatty Lu didn't answer Li Tianzhi's question, but strode up to the Xiangnong, took out a Ringo from his fruit basket, weighed it, and asked the Xiangnong sharply, "Where are you from?"

"My lord, the grass people are from Zhanglin." The peasant replied inexplicably.

"How far is Zhanglin from Chenghai?" Fatty Lu asked.

"More than 30 miles." The farmer guessed and replied.

"Then what is your fruit called Ringo, and how much does it cost per catty?" Fatty Lu asked again.

"My lord, two Wen and one catty." The farmer replied again.

"That's weird." Fatty Lu sneered, and asked, "You, a man with arms and legs, why did you carry such a small basket of fruit into the city to sell? I weighed the fruit just now. The weight is very light, such a small basket, even if it is filled with this kind of fruit, I am afraid it will not be able to hold five catties? Even if the fruit in this basket weighs five catties, you can carry five catties of fruit that can only be sold for ten cents. Do you lose money if you go to the city for more than ten miles to sell it? Is it because you don’t have a big basket at home, or you don’t have a basket? Or is it because you have no food and no strength? You are worthy of a big man who brings such a little fruit to the city to sell it. Is your wife still worthy of your child?"

"This kid is so careful! He can see flaws in such a small place!" Both Fu Honglie and Yang Guotai were shocked, and their expressions changed a little.

"Caomin, Caomin..." The farmer was sweating profusely, not knowing how to answer Fatty Lu's tricky question.

"Also." Fatty Lu asked: "When did the little six snatch your fruit? How come so many people came to watch in such a short period of time? How do you explain this?"

"Too bad! There is still such a loophole!" Fu Honglie and Yang Guotai looked at each other again, only then did they realize that their so-called seamless plan was actually full of loopholes in front of Fatty Lu.

"Can't you answer?" Fatty Lu was even more proud when he saw that the farmer was sweating all over his face, but this time he was showing off in front of Shang Wanyan, and Fatty Lu immediately stood up straight and said loudly : "General Li, this is wrong. You can't just blame the sergeant now. You have to arrest this peasant and torture him for his real purpose! Also, those who take the lead in calling for grievances among the people are also very suspicious. It is best to take the lead Those who complained of injustice were also arrested and interrogated carefully."

"My lord, my lord, the grassroots are wronged!" The peasant panicked and shouted loudly.The surrounding people were also in a commotion. Some said that Fatty Lu was right, and some said that Fatty Lu was bullying others by taking advantage of the power of the government to bully the people. He was a typical dog official—from the perspective of the Qing Dynasty , The dog officer's judgment really did not wrong our Fatty Lu at all.

"Things are a little bit wrong." Reminded by Fatty Lu, Li Tianzhi also felt that something was a little strange.

Li Tianzhi was about to give an order, but the little six sons who were kneeling on the ground raised their heads and said to the county magistrate Lu with tears in their eyes: "My lord, your kindness to excuse the villain is appreciated by the villain. But it is true that the little ghost is obsessed. Robbing this fellow's fruit by force and beating him, the young man is willing to accept the crime and is willing to compensate the fellow for his losses, so as to rectify the military law."

"Fuck you!" Fatty Lu almost wanted to kick this little six to death.Over there, Li Tianzhi was extremely troubled, so he could only turn to Shang Wanyan and ask, "Little Gege, what do you think about this?"

"Since our people have already pleaded guilty, what are we talking about?" Shang Wanyi said flatly, "Just do what you want, don't take sides, it will hurt the hearts of the people."

"Strike!" Li Tianzhi clasped his fists in agreement, waved his hand again, and motioned for the soldiers to carry out the execution in public. After beating the little six with twenty army sticks, Li Tianzhi asked the little six to pay the copper coins for the fruit sellers, and finally shouted: "Go from today, Get rid of the post of fire chief, and go to the kitchen to take the blame and make meritorious service!"

"Is this really just a coincidence?" Facing the disdainful white eyes of the monks all over the street, Fatty Lu rolled his eyes and calculated, "If this is not a coincidence, but someone deliberately arranged it, then what is his real purpose? What is it? Also, that Yang Guotai next to Fu Honglie blinked just now, was he winking? Could it be that all of this was arranged by him?"

"This Lu Yifeng must be killed." Fu Honglie whispered in Yang Guotai's ear, "This fat man Lu is extremely sophisticated and cunning. If he is a thief, he will be a great harm to the court! If you don't follow a thief, you will treat him with four slaps." His appreciation and his own talent, the future will be ahead of you and me! So this operation, I will personally command, to get rid of this serious trouble for the court and us in advance!"

(End of this chapter)