Emperor Qianlong: the beginning of his glory

Chapter 18 Blind Wu Escorts Away the Rivers and Lakes
Seeing Li Wei coming out, Cui'er complained, "You guys are serving well! Master hasn't had a sip of soup till now! Did I serve you like this when you were sick? Men all go out, I and the mother and daughter of this courtyard Come here to serve you." Said and walked away with big feet.Fu Heng smiled and said to Li Wei: "Yes, the order has issued a strict decree! However, there must be guards here. It doesn't have to be guarded by everyone. It is enough for me and Liu Tongxun." Cui'er laughed with the mother and daughter Walking over, two fires were lit under the corridor, Fu Heng decocted the medicine, and the girl cooked the rice.After a while the water boiled, Tweet scooped up a bowl first, went in and stood in front of Qianlong with a smile and said, "Master, there is no sugar and no milk. We didn't walk with our houses on our backs, so you have to be considerate..." Seeing Qianlong nodding, she lied to sit Beside him, feeding spoonful by spoonful, his mouth was still busy: "Take two mouthfuls to moisten your heart. Just now I saw that the landlord's house still has a handful of Jinggui, and I will eat a bowl of it later. The doctor said, this The illness is fine. I didn't say it, Li Wei and I took this illness as a daily meal. Now—" She suddenly thought of Li Wei's body, and stopped talking.

"Okay, this water is good." Qianlong felt a little better, and breathed a sigh of relief, "I was careless. I sat in the cold water for more than half an hour in case of hail. If I walked around with a pair of shoes, I would As for the one who has this disease." Cui'er shook her head and said, "Master is still right, it's my man that old ghost can't wait. With so many tea baskets, can't you build a shed for Master?" Qianlong just said with a smile Saying, "Your talent is wronged——" Seeing the girl come in, the pupils in her eyes flashed, and Tweety couldn't help being taken aback.

Cui'er saw that she was holding a big bowl in her hand, she seemed to be standing under the lamp at a loss, and just about to take the bowl, she said with a smile: "I'll let you feed it. Master, this girl is called Wang Tingzhi, she is very quick, look Look at this figure, it looks so fresh, tsk tsk..." Actually, Qianlong had already noticed this, she just nodded solemnly, moved her body away, and said with a smile: "Anzhi Tinglan, Yu Yu Qingqing—— ——In "Yueyang Tower". This name is good." Ting Zhi was embarrassed by him, blushed and walked over timidly, bent over and picked some rice grains with chopsticks and put them into Qianlong's mouth, Qianlong couldn't help but praise loudly "It smells so good!" Cui'er knew the master's heart well, and said beside her: "Hey... hey, that's it, blow it gently before sending it off—you can eat, I'll go and see my mouth, see him Have you taken the pills you brought?" Qianlong asked her one mouthful at a time while he was feeding him:
"Your father went to Beijing to take the exam?"

"Ah."

"Is he educated?"

"it is good."

"Then why didn't you pass the exam several times?"

"Fate is not strong, the poem has been wrongly framed several times."

After a while of silence, Qianlong asked again: "Is your seventeenth uncle from the same family?" Ting Zhi's mother and daughter were originally generous to the group of merchants, hoping to pay a few taels of silver to pay off the debt, and Tweety's kind mouth, reluctantly agreed to come over. Help care for the sick.But it was the first time in Ting Zhi's life that she got so close to a handsome young man.Looking at Qianlong's flickering eyes, his talking eyes were always staring at himself, and he was already sweating from embarrassment.Ting Zhi replied softly: "The family from far away. It turned out to be my tenant. Now my family is ruined, and his son has donated an official position and wants to occupy my real estate. He said it was a usury, but in fact he thought about this house. He just paid him back." Money, maybe there will be some other schemes..." Just as he was talking, Fu Heng came in, glanced at Ting Zhi, but said nothing.Qianlong asked, "Is there something wrong?"

"The account statement was sent from the front station." Fu Heng replied in a low voice, "Please take a look at it. If you have any orders, the servants will do it." Qianlong struggled to lie down halfway, and when he looked at the lamp, it was the post station that transferred to Beijing. Zhang Tingyu's greeting book.In addition to asking for peace, please also ask whether Zhi Enke will open as scheduled.Qianlong thought for a while, and said: "Three days later, just say that I am a little upset, and ask them to ask again in three days." Fu Heng agreed and withdrew.Ting Zhi smiled and said, "I don't see you as a businessman."

Qianlong glanced at her vigilantly, and said with a smile: "Why don't I look like a businessman?" "A merchant walks with ease, how can there be someone who stands in the front? There are so many people around you, and you sell a little tea, won't you lose money? I'm looking at you... You must be a senior official visiting privately. But it doesn't look like it. How old can you be an official at your age? What should I call you?" Qianlong finished the last few mouthfuls of food with a smile, and said vaguely: "You You're so smart, you can call me Tian Sheng Gong—with a daughter as smart as you, your father must be very good at this subject." Then he looked at Ting Zhi, if it wasn't for the headache, he would definitely do it. love.Ting Zhi was embarrassed by him, turned around and went out, and asked, "Mom, I've eaten. Is the medicine ready?"

……

After three days in a row, Qianlong's illness has been greatly improved. Fortunately, Li Wei carried his regular pills with him.Tweety is "in charge" inside and outside, and the governance is orderly.These three women took care of Qianlong inside, and Li Wei and other three people took care of him outside.He is very enthusiastic towards Ting Zhi, but it hinders his eyes and ears, so he can only communicate with each other, and can only get close to Fang Ze.But it is precisely because of this that it makes him reluctant to leave.On the fourth day, Fu Heng came over to pay his respects as usual after breakfast. Taking advantage of Qianlong's joy, he tentatively said: "Master, we have been late here for three days. It's been a long time. If people here see that we can't hide Good; besides, the imperial examination in Beijing cannot be delayed. If the master can struggle and hire a sedan chair carefully, we can start our journey?"

"You're right." Qianlong said helplessly, "—but I'm still thinking about that blind man Wu, and I don't know how their affairs will end? After we leave, we have to send someone to check and report." Fu Heng said with a smile: "Blind Wu came here last night. Because the master has already fallen asleep, I didn't dare to disturb you." Qianlong said quickly, "Is that so? Tell him to come in." Blind Wu was already outside, so he hurried in and made a fuss, saying, "Slave Greet the master!"

Qianlong took a look at Blind Wu, saw that his left arm was in a bandage, and sighed, "You are still injured after all. At that time, you should pick two people to help. Why is that black monk making trouble in the store? Did he come for me?" ?”

"Compared to the pig iron Buddha, the slaver's injury is nothing worth mentioning. Both of his eyeballs were gouged out by the slave." Blind Wu said with a smile, "In the green forest, fighting alone is important, so the slave can speak loudly in the rivers and lakes. , based on this one - Pig Iron Buddha went to Yao's shop to provoke trouble, and it was actually aimed at Pan Shijie..."

It turns out that during the Yongzheng period, Luo Tongshou formed a big gang in the rivers and lakes called the "Green Gang". Most of the homeless beggars joined this gang. They also stole, robbed, and helped the poor. , or serve as bodyguards for merchants to transport goods and other things, get money and sit on the ground to share the difficulties equally.Luo Tongshou contacted beggar leaders from all over the country, and recommended the one with the best loyalty and martial arts as the patriarch.There are three apprentices below, Weng Yingkui, Pan Shijie and Qian Shengjing.Li Wei, governor of Shandong Province, was robbed many times because of grain in the canal. Knowing that this guy did it, he simply used poison to fight poison, and paid a lot of money to ask the three brothers to bring people to protect the grain.In this way, two years passed in peace, but in the third year, he was robbed again. When Luo Tongshou found out that it was the "Wanfa Yipin" sect in Fujian and Guangdong, he couldn't help being furious, and asked three apprentices to order: "Two, Guang, Fujian, and Zhejiang How many waterway businesses are there, why do they southerners come to the north of me to knock jobs? Shijie, next time you transport grain, you will lead the way yourself, and capture two live ones to show the master!" Last May, the two factions met again in Taihu Lake, and Xiao Yu'er and other disciples worked together to injure the pig iron Buddha and captured two disciples of the pig iron Buddha alive.Pan Shijie himself was injured, fearing that there would be many enemies, so he hid in Taikang County to recuperate.Xiao Yu'er entrusted her relatives to act as the shop's second waiter for the master.The pig iron Buddha blackmailed him by going to Yao's shop to beat iron fish, in fact, he wanted to seek Pan Shijie's bad luck.

"I've been worried about you. As long as you come back safely." Qianlong heard Wu Xiazi tell the reason, got up and walked on the ground with his shoes on, looking at the blooming passionflower and rose outside the window, and mused: "You have contributed a lot to escorting me this time." I will discuss it when I go back. Listening to what you just said, the power of gangs in Jianghu is horrific. If you don’t guide them in the right way, it’s still trivial to breed troubles on weekdays, but they may cause big things when you meet the scene. Li Wei’s "fighting poison with poison" 'The method is only to deal with a temporary situation, not a long-term safe policy. I don't think you, a guard, need to do other errands. You just wander among the various factions and set a rule for them: keep a loyal heart and serve the sanctified Dao, to help the imperial court to appease them. The imperial court also often takes care of them. For example, Luo Heshou's Green Gang can protect the safety of waterways and water transportation. The transportation of salt, grain, cotton, and hemp is simply entrusted to them. The poor can eat enough, and the treacherous evil Naturally, there will be fewer robberies. A robbery case will cost the government tens of thousands, 10,000+ silver, so it’s not good for this? ——As for those who have different ambitions and persist in evil, they can use the righteous members of the gang The soldiers contacted the government to wipe them out. But this matter is important, and it needs to be carefully considered. You pass this on to Li Wei and Liu Tongxun, and ask them to draw up a report." Seeing Ting Zhi coming in with a medicine bowl, he He waved his hand and ordered blind Wu to go out.

When Blind Wu came out, he saw Fu Heng writing a letter at his desk, so he asked, "Where's Yu? The master has something to pass on to him." Before Fu Heng could answer, Tweet, who was in the west room and Wang's family, separated the curtain and said: " He is the third door to the south of the East Wing." Blind Wu went out without saying anything.Here, Cui'er continued what she said just now, and said to Wang: "...You were right to suspect that our Mr. Long is not an ordinary merchant, but an imperial merchant (part [-]). He came to Xinyang to buy tribute tea. Now that he lives in your house, this It's also fate. Sigh! We're leaving now... After spending so many days together, I really miss you and Miss Tingzhi!"

"Looking at this faction, I thought I was a thieves trying to escape!" Wang said with a smile, "Since we are an imperial merchant, we still have chances to meet each other, half a mile out of the village is the post road, don't you think you will come here in the future? Cui'er was preoccupied with asking Ting Zhi if she had someone else, when she suddenly heard Qianlong in the East House say "Ouch", stood up and rushed over a few steps.Fu Heng also quickly put down his pen and rushed over, seeing that the medicinal soup had scalded Qianlong's hand.Ting Zhi was holding a big medicine bowl, her face was red up to her ears, she lowered her head and said nothing, when she saw Mrs. Wang coming over, she said, "I accidentally..." "I burned my own hands and feet. Seeing the three of them staring at himself and Ting Zhi, Qianlong couldn't help but feel embarrassed, and said with a smile, "It's all right, you go about your business." Seeing that everyone had left, Qianlong smiled and said, "What's wrong with you? Twitchy, does it burn you?"

Ting Zhi turned her face away, and after a while she spat: "You're burning yourself, so ask me... who told you that you're not serious!" Qianlong saw her smiling lightly, fainting, seeming angry and charming, she was as graceful as a begonia with rain , getting softer and softer, grabbed the medicine jar and put it on the table, just about to warm it up, when he heard the noise in the outer courtyard, his face immediately sank.When I went out to look at the house, it was Wang Zhaoming, the debt collector "Seventeenth Uncle", who came with a dozen Zhuang Ding.Qianlong stood in front of the steps and scolded the guards: "What do you eat? You let this kind of person break in!"

"'This kind of person'? What's wrong with this kind of person?" Wang Zhaoming put on an air of trouble, staring at the dead sheep and said: "This is our Wang family's house. Are you violating the king's law?" Mrs. Wang hurried out and said, "Uncle Seventeen, what do I owe you?" Wang Zhaoming sneered and said, "You paid back the money. The patriarch asked me to ask you What do you mean, you are alone in two women's families, taking so many men to live in the house without telling the family? You don't observe women's festival yourself, and our royal family still has family rules!" Pointing at Li Weiyi, he said humanely : "They destroyed the temple as soon as they entered the village, pulled down the wooden fence in front of the gods, and warmed themselves by the fire. They have already offended the gods. The patriarch was too sick to get up, and he saw the gods angry in his dream! This account is not counted, so you want to walk?"

"Take it!" Qianlong shouted suddenly, already so angry that his hands and feet were cold.None of the dozen or so guards hated this nouveau riche, bad old man, and twisted the arms of the dozen or so people who came in in a blink of an eye, so that each of them grinned in pain.Qianlong gritted his teeth and said with a smile: "It seems that you can't give up on this house? I am the one who lives in Wang's house, and I am the one who broke down the Zhenhe Temple. Not only that, but I also want to demolish this temple. Forget your son." official!"

Surprised and angry, Wang Zhaoming raised his face and asked, "Who are you?"

"Today!" Qianlong sneered slightly, turned to Li Wei and said, "I will drive back to Beijing from now on, and I will inform all the officials along the way to abide by their duties, and there is no need to deal with the matter of seeing you off - send a decree to Zhang Tingyu urgently within six hundred miles, I am here Just go back to Beijing and don’t stop along the way—hand these bastards over to Zhengjie County here, and charge him with fraud and embezzlement!" After saying that, he lifted his feet and left, only looked back at Ting Zhi who was full of astonishment, and nodded knowingly , the crowd went surrounded by stars like holding the moon.

(End of this chapter)