scourge the qing dynasty

Chapter 77

The sudden downfall of Tu Hai, who was already ranked third among the fifteen academicians, and the news that Tu Hai's entire family was also locked up and imprisoned, was like a gust of wind, which suddenly wiped out the festive atmosphere of the New Year in the capital's official circles. The officials of the Tuhai faction were so sad and fearful that they would be involved. Needless to say, most of the officials of the neutral faction were also terrified. Once again, they witnessed with their own eyes what it means to be accompanied by a king like a tiger, and what is called an accident For the first time, Fengyun saw Xiao Mazi's slightly immature but extremely sharp human-eating fangs!
There are also those who are both happy and surprised. Facing Xiao Mazi’s act of self-destruction, the officials of Oboi’s party, big and small, were inexplicably happy. It was to use him to deal with Oboi, and Tu Hai didn't embarrass Xiao Mazi. In the past year, he had made trouble for Oboi himself and his party members. But there was nothing he could do about him, why did Xiao Mazi cut down this pillar by himself now?This is too puzzling and incredible, right?

Since they were confused, Oboi's party had to jump up and down to investigate the reasons. Under the circumstances that it was destined not to find out the truth quickly, many people even suspected that Shang Tuhai was actually Aoboi's party. He was brutally murdered.However, Aobai quickly denied this possibility in person. At the same time, Aobai, who had long been displeased with Tuhai, took the opportunity to add insult to injury and ordered his party members to impeach Tuhai. Opportunity to get rid of this thorn in the flesh.

In this way, the result was very accidental and inevitable. Aobai's party members who were ordered to make trouble had to bring up the past events of Shunzhi's handling of Tuhai, and accused Tuhaian of "resentment against the former emperor", which proved Tuhai from the side. Deliberately leaking the news of Shunzhi's monkhood to Aobai, Xiao Zhuang and Xiao Mazi are more determined to clean up Tu Hai until his soul is out of his body, and he wants to die!And our poor Tu Hai Tu Tang completely cut off the last chance of life in a daze.

However, you can't blame Fatty Lu for making Tuhai like this. Tuhai's butt is indeed not clean, because Tuhai was arrested in the palace, and there was no time to destroy some sensitive things. In addition to copying a large number of gold, silver and jewelry of unknown origin, a large number of letters between Tu Hai and other governors and generals were also copied - such as the letters contacted by the monk Zhixiao, and a copy of the insiders that Tu Hai placed in the capital's various yamen The list——What makes Tu Hai want to cry even more is that the official in charge of ransacking the house is a fencer. In addition to handing over the original list to Xiao Mazi, he also secretly copied a copy and sold it to Aobai!As a result, it was natural that the officials of the Aobai Party, who had been placed inside the family, were out of their wits. They not only tried their best to kill the traitors in the family, but also joined hands to find Tu Hai to settle the old and new accounts together, causing the whole capital to be overwhelmed. The dog jumps, the miasma, and the mess.

At the same time that Tu Hai became a street mouse and everyone was shouting and beating him, there were also some minor events in the capital, which were not very eye-catching, but had a far-reaching impact, no less than the downfall of Tu Hai.And the first of these things is that Xiao Mazi promulgated the imperial decree, Nian Wangxu, the former Zuodu censor who was imprisoned for corruption, has been employed for many years and has made many meritorious deeds. — That is, the legendary release on bail pending trial.

After only four or five days in prison, Wang Xu realized what it means to be cold and cold in the world, and what it means to be warm and cold in human relationships. In the past, except for one or two of his subordinates and colleagues who said a few words of justice for him, the rest were not pretending to be deaf and dumb. Ignoring him and not asking is just adding insult to injury, wishing to put him to death.In this regard, Wang Xu's popularity is extremely unpopular. Although Wang Xu was prepared, he also cried many times in secret.What Wang Xu didn't expect was that on the morning of the third day of the Lunar New Year, an eunuch came to the palace to read out the imperial decree, asking him to go home and reunite with his family for the time being, and wait for the trial and conviction of the three judges.

Hearing this news, Wang Xu was very surprised, so he had to ask the eunuch Xuanzhi about the ins and outs of the matter. The eunuch Xuanzhi was quite honest, and told Wang Xu truthfully that it was Mr. Lu Yifeng, the magistrate of Qujing, who begged him in front of the emperor. In exchange for Wang Xu's release from prison, he exchanged the emperor's favor for him.Hearing this, Wang Xu couldn't help crying silently, his gratitude to Fatty Lu was beyond words.But when Wang Xu walked out of the prison of the Ministry of Criminal Justice, he saw for the first time Fatty Lu, who was smiling all over his face, leading a group of henchmen, who had been waiting in front of the prison for a long time, and his whole body was covered with snowflakes.

"Congratulations to Mr. Wang for escaping from the sea of ​​misery and prison." Fatty Lu stepped forward to salute, clasped his fists and bowed deeply to Wang Xu, and said with a smile, "I believe it won't take long for Mr. Wang to clear up his grievances and return to his original post. Your Excellency congratulates you."

"Lord Lu." Wang Xu clasped his fists in return, with tears in his eyes. He wanted to say something to thank him, but he couldn't find the appropriate words to express his gratitude, so he could only choke up and said, "Lord Lu, don't say a word of gratitude." Thank you, Wang Xu will not thank you, from now on, if your lord has anything to use Wang Xu, as long as it does not violate the laws of heaven and the country, Wang Xu will definitely go through fire and water."

"Your Majesty Wang is too polite, I just respect you as an upright and good official." Fatty Lu continued to salute, and said solemnly: "That's why I did something that should be done, but it was not for the sake of my lord's return. The next official has something to say first, In the future, Mr. Wang, you will be restored to your original post. If the subordinate officials violate the laws and regulations of the country, Mr. Wang, please don’t be shy, and must handle the case according to the law, and severely punish the subordinate officials.”

"Master Lu, Lu Sanhao..." Wang Xu finally couldn't restrain the excitement and emotion in his heart, and cried out with tears, "A real gentleman—!"

"Your honor." Fatty Lu smiled modestly, then cupped his hands and said, "My lord, I'm really sorry. Logically speaking, I should send you home, but the spring plowing is about to start, and I have to rush back tomorrow." Qu Jing went to organize the people to carry out spring plowing, there are still many things to do today, Prince Pingxi is still waiting for the next official to do something at Xuanwu Gate, so the next official will not send you off, and I will bid you farewell here."

"Lord Lu, you're welcome, go get busy, Wang Xu can go back by himself." Wang Xu wiped away his tears again, cupped his hands to Fatty Lu and said, "Tomorrow morning, Wang Xu will definitely see you off in front of Yongding Gate, thank you Your saving grace."

"Master Wang is polite, you just got out of prison, you should rest more, you don't have to get up early in the morning to see me off." Fatty Lu was hypocritically polite, while Wang Xu insisted: "No, you must send me off. By the way, Wang Xu still owes Lu My lord, you have a picture, and Wang Xu will definitely send it to you tomorrow morning."

"If that's the case, I'll be ashamed to be an official." Fatty Lu couldn't resist Wang Xu, so he had to agree, and asked Xiao Erlang and Li Tianzhi to call a carriage, paid the money in advance, and asked the carriage to take Wang Xu home. Wang Xu left with tears and rushed to Xuanwumen to join Wu Yingxiong.And behind Fatty Lu, there were a series of admiring gazes. All the officials and guards in the prison of the Ministry of Punishment admired Fatty Lu. How many such good people are there in the world?

Today is destined to be a very busy day for Fatty Lu. After returning to the Stone Lion Alley in Xuanwumen, Wu Yingxiong and Lin Tianqing, who made an appointment to visit Oboi's house to pay New Year's greetings, have already made preparations and have been waiting for a long time.Fatty Lu didn't even have time to catch his breath, so he quickly changed his clothes, leaving the Liu family brothers and Li Tianzhi to pack their luggage at home, took Zhu Fangdan, Xiao Erlang and the gift for Oboi, and rushed to the place with Wu Yingxiong and Lin Tianqing Pay New Year greetings to Obai Mansion.

On the way, Wu Yingxiong deliberately asked Fatty Lu to sit in his carriage, and Fatty Lu knew that he must have something to say, so he followed the order honestly.Sure enough, after squeezing into the carriage, Wu Yingxiong only casually chatted a few gossips, then suddenly smiled and said, "To pick up Wang Xu from prison today, what did he say? Are you so moved that you almost shed tears?"

"Returning to my son, I really don't want to do such a hypocritical thing. I framed him into a prison, and then hypocritically rescued him, and received his favor." Fatty Lu is so clever, he immediately recognized Wu Yingxiong's words The ridicule and dissatisfaction in Li, he quickly argued: "In fact, in all fairness, the humble official admires Wang Xu's honesty and integrity very much, and he really wants to emulate it. The No. 1 proposal to reduce the salary of the Yunnan-Guizhou army, if the humble officer does not take advantage of Nan Huairen's case to get rid of him temporarily, he will definitely cause big troubles for the crown prince when the salary is discussed."

"Now that the humble officer has rescued Wang Xu again, one is that the salary negotiation is over, and it's too late for him to make trouble; the other is that the humble officer really admires him, and feels ashamed of him, and wants to do something to compensate him. As for Third, I want everyone to see how generous and magnanimous our Pingxi Palace is. Wang Xu is hostile to our Pingxi Palace. Helping you, my son, you and the prince did not care about the past, and you still allow the lowly position to rescue him, which is also very beneficial to the reputation of the prince and the prince."

"Hehe, with this mouth of yours, you can say that you are dead, so that the prince and I have to thank you." Wu Yingxiong smiled, waved and said: "Forget it, it seems that you are quite sensible." For the sake of some reason, and also because Wang Xu really didn't spoil our plan for salary negotiation, let's forget about it."

"Your Majesty Xie is magnanimous, and forgives the crime of arbitrarily making decisions." Fatty Lu kept flattering Wu Yingxiong as if he had put honey on his mouth.

"But did you leave in a hurry?" Wu Yingxiong said again: "Yesterday morning, you persuaded Brother Obai to stand by us by making up that story, but Brother Obai must investigate the source and reliability of the news. , and there is definitely an important matter to discuss with us about forming an alliance, can you stay for a few more days and help me deal with this important matter before leaving?"

"My lord, it's not that I don't want to serve you, but I have to leave. There are more important things waiting for me to do in Qujing." Fatty Lu smiled wryly, and said, "As for Ao Zhongtang, my lord, you Don’t worry at all, the humble job will give you a trick-no matter what Ao Zhongtang asks or does, you always push it on the prince. You can say that the source of the news is that the prince told you. It can be inferred that you can't be the master, and at most provide a channel for Ao Zhongtang to get in touch with the prince directly."

"But in this way, will father be unhappy?" Wu Yingxiong frowned.

"My lord, you don't need to worry too much about this." Fatty Lu said with a smile: "My lord, think about who Ao Zhongtang is and how powerful he is. He actively wants to get closer to the lord. It's too late for the lord to be happy." , what else can you be unhappy about?"

"That's true. Although my father and Ao Zhongtang have a normal friendship, they never had any quarrels. It is possible to walk together." Wu Yingxiong thought about it carefully—to get a strong ally like Ao Bai for his father, to the Pingxi Palace. He said that the benefits far outweigh the disadvantages, so Dad shouldn't be dissatisfied.Taking a ten thousand step back, even if my father is unhappy or unwilling, I did not decide to agree to Oboi's request privately. The authority is still on my father's side, and my father can still refuse straight away, or even pack Aoboi well. , Sell it to Xiao Mazi for silver.

"You are still clever and thoughtful." Thinking of this, Wu Yingxiong nodded first, and then said with emotion: "It's a pity that you insist on going back to Yunnan, otherwise, I really want to keep you by my side, so that I can relax a lot gone."

"Don't worry, my son, when you return to Yunnan, the humble job will still be under your command? To serve you like a dog?" Fatty Lu asked with a smile: "If you have a humble job, go back to Yunnan to lay a good foundation, and wait until you return. In Yunnan, wouldn't it be much easier?"

"You speak better than you sing, don't you think you have no power or power if you stay by my side?" Wu Yingxiong patted Fatty Lu on the head with a smile, and said, "But it's rare for you to have this kind of heart. Back in Yunnan, I can't treat you badly."

"Thank you for your promotion, but your son has orders. No matter what you do, you will go through fire and water." Fatty Lu replied with a pun: "Please rest assured, my son. When I return to Yunnan, I will definitely communicate with my son by letter. .”

"You are a smart person, you can understand everything." Wu Yingxiong nodded with satisfaction, and then smiled: "But sometimes you are a little too smart. My brother Wu Yingqi is different from Monk Zhixiao and Geng Juzhong. His ambition is not as great as these two criminals. Big bastard, back then, in case I misunderstood him, he even became a monk for a while. It was I who wrote a letter to persuade him, so he returned to his father and king to help, so I am very relieved of him. Of course, I am also a little afraid of him The people around are restless, but it doesn't matter much, with my father, Mr. Mao Xia, and the two generals Ma Bao and Gao Dejie around, those little loaches can't make big waves."

Wu Yingxiong's words had already involved the dispute between Prince Pingxi's sons. Of course, Fatty Lu, who proclaimed himself a loyal minister of Pingxi Palace, did not dare to intervene indiscriminately.But Wu Yingxiong's words changed, and he suddenly said: "However, I am quite worried about you."

"My lord, why are you worried about your humble position?" Fatty Lu was a little puzzled.

"Have you ever heard such a saying?" Wu Yingxiong asked with a smile: "In the previous life, you were not good, but in this life you are a county. In the previous life, you did evil, and the county magistrate attached to Guo. The evil is full of evil, and you attach to the provincial city of Guo. You govern that Qujing city, but there are still people. A yamen of the prefect of Qujing. The magistrate Li Suizu is the mortal enemy of our Pingxi Palace and a loyal lackey of the court. To investigate the case of Rulong, Li Suizu sold my father. My father has nothing to do with him. You are with him As an official in a city, can I not worry about you?"

"What else?" Fatty Lu scratched his head and said with a wry smile, "So, it seems that I did some evil things in my previous life in a humble position."

"It's not just the evil in the previous life, it's also full of evil!" Wu Yingxiong said with a sly smile: "There is accurate news that the governor of Yunnan and Guizhou, Bian Sanyuan, will expire at the end of this year, and his successor is likely to be Gan Wenkun from the Zhenglan Banner of the Han Army. People who listen to what my father said. Before Kangxi three years ago, the governor’s office of Yunnan and Guizhou was set up in Qujing City, and then moved to Guiyang. Its purpose is nothing more than to monitor and constrain my father more conveniently."

"If the imperial court really does this, then you will have a lot of fun! The governor's yamen of Yunnan and Guizhou, the Qujing magistrate's yamen, and your Qujing county magistrate's yamen are all in Qujing City. You, a seventh-rank magistrate, will have a lot of fun!"

After Wu Yingxiong finished speaking with a sinister smile, Fatty Lu's fat mouth was wide enough to stuff three eggs in, and he screamed after a while, "What did I do in my previous life? In the same city?"

"So, I advise you to stay in the capital to help me, and I also want to help you." Wu Yingxiong gloated and said, "You still don't appreciate it, and want to return to your one-third-acre land in Qujing to be the emperor?"

"My son, it's not that I don't want to agree. It's because the emperor wants me to go back to Qujing and keep an eye on the prince and Lord Lin Tianqing for him. If I don't go to my humble position, it will be a disobedience." Fatty Lu replied with a sad face.

Having said that, Fatty Lu still felt his scalp tingling, "I'm sorry, it's all my fault that I didn't study the Yunnan administrative system of the Tartars, and I was expecting to go back to Qujing to train troops, farm and make weapons. I didn't expect so many Tartar officials to be with me. In a city, how can I still do so many big things? Should I follow Wu Sangui, Wu Yingqi and the teacher's door, and ask them to transfer me to another place as a county magistrate?"

"Don't worry, it's useless to worry, just hope that you will be promoted and transferred after the three-year term expires, then you can relax a little bit." Wu Yingxiong said with a smile: "The Ao Mansion is coming soon, get off the car and fight with him. When you get rid of him, there seems to be another person waiting for you in my house who is even more troublesome to you?"

Note 1: In the case of Zha Rulong, Zha Rulong was originally an official of a certain department of the Hongguang regime in the Southern Ming Dynasty.In the early years of Kang Mazi, he forged letters from governors, governors, and admirals of various provinces across the country, falsely claiming that the governors of various places wished to enshrine Wu Sangui as emperor, and wrote blood letters to persuade Wu Sangui to rebel against the Qing Dynasty, but was accidentally arrested in Qujing. Zu burned the forged letter and sent the blood book and Zha Rulong to Beijing. Zha Rulong was executed by Ling Chi, and the Qing court became more suspicious of Wu Sangui.

Note 2: The Yamen of the Governor of Yunnan and Guizhou was originally located in Qujing. Kang Mazi moved to Guiyang in the third year. Gan Wenkun took over as the Governor of Yunnan and Guizhou in December of the seventh year of Kang Mazi, and moved the Yamen of the Governor of Yunnan and Guizhou back to Qujing 12 years ago.The book is required for the plot, or there is a time advance.

(End of this chapter)