Emperor Yongzheng: Eagle Bow Sirius

Chapter 98
Nian Gengyao bowed his head and obeyed orders, and Yue Zhongqi personally sent him to Tongguan, and rushed to report to Beijing, Zhang Tingyu was relieved.The fire in Nianbu and Yuebu Qinghai that he was most worried about finally did not happen.Because of taking this [-]-mile speed-up report, he rushed to the Hall of Mental Cultivation to see Yongzheng.

"He is willing to obey, and I don't care about it." Yongzheng was playing chess with Fang Bao, and after hearing Zhang Tingyu's replay, he smiled and turned to Yunxiang who was sitting and watching the battle: "I lost this game of chess with Mr. Fang. I can afford to lose. I have won the game of chess with Nian Gengyao, and I will win." After finishing speaking, he smiled happily again.Yunxiang seemed to be in good spirits, but he was pitifully thin. Hearing Yongzheng's words, a smile appeared on his pale face, and he said: "Hengchen is careful. It is indeed appropriate for the inner court to go to the study to handle this matter." Yongzheng Standing up with a smile, he took a stack of memorials from the case in Huinuan Pavilion, handed it to Yun Xiang and said, "This is the original copy of Zhu Zhu's batch last night, and the text has already been distributed. You all have a look."

Yunxiang's long and slender fingers were so white that they didn't even have a trace of blood. When he took it over and looked at it, it was a letter of gratitude and apology sent by Nian Gengyao before his departure from Xining. On it was written:

After reading this performance, I am a little happy. If I can change it after passing it, there is nothing wrong with it.I'm afraid I can't be convinced.Encourage it.Another copy was exchanged, which was awarded to Gao Qizhuo, but it was:
I cherish Nian Gengyao's talent and sympathize with his achievements, and still use his strength to preserve him.Recently, he also deeply felt guilty and remorseful.Look at another copy, it's for Tian Wenjing:

A certain year is naughty and evil.Er Zhizhe Mingfa, his position has been downgraded, and a gentleman should not take it too far. From then on, he is no longer able to do politics, so he can do what he wants.There were a few others, all with vague words to excuse Nian Gengyao's serious crimes.Yun Xiang looked at it and forwarded it to Fang Bao.Fang Bao was speechless after reading it, and handed it to Zhang Tingyu.Zhang Tingyu, on the other hand, gave Yongzheng a thick stack of chapters from the Ming Dynasty, and then read Zhu's comments and edicts.Yongzheng took it and browsed through it. There were more than 100 excerpts in total, all accusing Nian Gengyao of rampant lawlessness, meddling in government affairs, arranging private affairs, and extorting and accepting bribes.He couldn't help laughing and said: "The wall is falling and everyone pushes it. Human relations in the world are as thin as paper. There is only icing on the cake. Who is willing to give charcoal in the snow? Just stay in it!"

Zhang Tingyu bowed and smiled in response: "Yes." Then he frowned and said, "This is the ammunition of more than 100 officials. It seems too much to keep the bullets of more than 270 officials. Nian Gengyao is so bold that he brought 400 soldiers to the In Hangzhou, there are 120 post sedan chairs, [-] post packs, and more than [-] carts. It was already a lot of money, but he also sent a letter to Hangzhou, asking the chief minister to build another [-] houses for him to settle down—— How can this not make people angry?" He reported so many numbers in one go, Yunxiang just shook his head.But Fang Bao knew that Nian Gengyao wanted to avoid the crime of "violating the rules" and was willing to pretend to be a miser begging for the land to let Yongzheng know that he had no ambitions, but this time Zhang Tingyu offended Nian Gengyao to death. If Nian Gengyao is not put to death, Zhang Tingyu will never end well if he is overthrown.Fang Bao opened his mouth, then sighed without words.

"It's going to rain, mother wants to get married." Yongzheng's face was green and pale, "He will not be a general, but a corrupt official! I removed him to clean up the government. He would like to violate this national code, but I can't." Save him." As he spoke, Yongzheng stood up and took out a booklet from the case, but when he saw it was Yang Mingshi's, he brushed away the chess piece, picked up the ink pen and wrote:

My heart is very comforted that the king ruled Yunnan to transform people with virtue.Da Fande can be relied on but talents cannot be relied on. Nian Gengyao is a role model, and he was killed in the end.After writing, he sneered and said, "It's up to you to decide whether it's a rabbit or a dog. Nian Gengyao pretended to be a miser and wanted to escape the name of 'benevolent and unfaithful'. In fact, I'm not afraid of his rebellion. The repression is over. I won’t punish him as a corrupt official, and all the officials in the world will follow suit, how can this official rule be done?” The three of them blushed and bowed their heads in silence.

Fang Bao pondered for a while, then smiled and said: "The words of the lord, even the ministers are ashamed to listen to them. But the people who lead the soldiers are rich, and everyone in the world knows it. Using this name to eliminate Nian Gengyao is not to cook dogs, but also Talking about cooking dogs. Nian is so arrogant and domineering, it is better to follow this line of thinking."

"What you said is true. You all hide your words. How can I not know the reason? But this is the law of nature and human nature, and I can understand it." Yongzheng said casually, then turned to the desk again, and found out that Nian Gengyao delivered a gift in Tongguan. Those who came, please An Zhezi, and wrote on it:

I have heard rumors early on: "The emperor came out of Sanjiangkou, and the Jiahu battlefield" was said.Guan Qing's actions seem to want to compete with me!I think, if you claim the title of emperor, it is a fate, and I will not be able to stop you.If you are not willing to act on your own, with you commanding thousands of soldiers, you will never allow Sanjiangkou to be called emperor!This is Zhu's comment on Nian Gengyao's "Zou Xie Tiao Bu Hangzhou General Zhe" in April of the third year of Yongzheng, see the 8th series of "Wen Cong Bian".The novel writes it before the adjustment and supplementation, which reduces the adjustment and supplementation process.After writing, he threw his pen and said to Zhang Tingyu, "publish all these chapters in Di Baoming, and write Nian Gengyao to play them one by one according to the facts. There are plays in the Ministry of Officials, the Ministry of Punishment, the Ministry of War, and the Ministry of Households. All of Nian Gengyao's excerpts are in original transcripts!"

Then on the fifth day of this conversation, Emperor Yongzheng issued an edict:

Nian Gengyao, the general of Hangzhou, was demoted to [-]th rank to listen.

Nian Gengyao finally walked into a desperate situation.There is no distinction between the top and the bottom of the capital. There is a crusade inside and outside the capital, and the snow-like memorials are sent directly to the study through the provincial governors, supervisory censors, and six departments.Anyone who had an acquaintance with Nian Gengyao or had a relationship with him, all of them turned against each other and made trouble. They added fuel and vinegar to write out the scriptures and sent them directly to the capital, and they were compiled into abbreviations and sent to the upper study in an instant.

The decree of "downgrading to eighteen levels" arrived in Zhejiang, and it was difficult to destroy the governor Zhe Erke.According to the Qing system, there are nine grades and eighteen grades for officials. Hangzhou generals are "from the first grade", and if they are lowered by another eighteen grades, they are "not in the stream".Zheerke could neither obey the order nor dare to disobey it, so he had to ask Li Wei, governor of Liangjiang, for instructions.Li Wei replied very quickly, and sent a note in a rolling order, which said, "You are so stupid! The emperor's intention is to dismiss him! Find a broken city gate for him to see! Tell him, in a few days I'll go and see him." Zhe Erke thought about it, Hangzhou didn't have a "broken city gate", there was only a small town called "Liu" [-] miles away from Hangzhou, and the north gate of the town was in disrepair for a long time, so he ordered people to kill him. Nian Gengyao, who was under guardianship, "please" go.

The supreme minister with power over the government and the public, who was famous at home and abroad, suddenly realized the preciousness of life the moment he put on the "Bing" gown with the size of a sesame seed cake again.He joined the army and became a fourth-rank guerrilla at the age of 22. He served as an escort during the southern tour of the holy ancestor Kangxi, and carried the flag to the family of Prince Yong. In the Battle of Khobduo, with a silver gun, he ran amok among the thousands of horses, swords and swords, as if he had entered the land of no one. Ge Li, the governor of Gansu, ensured the supply of food and fodder for the North Road army, and was favored by Kangxi. Headed down! ——Nian Gengyao suddenly felt unwilling to be reconciled to this slump, to end his life like this.

"Liu" town is a small town in the south of the Yangtze River with beautiful scenery; it is adjacent to Fuchun River in the north, Longmen Mountain in the south, and numerous rivers, lakes, ports and branches are everywhere along the city.Nian Gengyao, an "old soldier", lived in the mossy gatehouse under the luxuriant grass at the north gate of the city.No one in the city knew where he came from or who he was. They only saw him sweeping the floor silently every day, opening and closing doors, occasionally practicing Tai Chi, pulling grass on the city wall when he had nothing to do, and slowly using a broken shovel. Shoveling the moss on the wall... Nian Gengyao never talked to anyone. Every night, there was a mansion newspaper from the provincial capital, with his heinous crime written on it, and he used a bald pen to write it in the mansion. Write your own defense and confession on the reverse side, and hand it over to the person who delivered the residence newspaper to take it back.He was waiting for the court's final decision on his fate, and for Li Wei to come to see him.In the dark night, he looked at the dark city, listened to the gurgling sound of the Fuchun River outside the city, and hoped that he could "stay" and be a fisherman on the Fuchun River (he no longer dared to have Yan Ziling Yan Guang , with the word Ziling, was once a classmate with Liu Xiu, and after Liu Xiu became Emperor Guangwu of the Eastern Han Dynasty, he was appointed as an admonishing doctor.

But what was waiting was more and more harsh news. On May 22, it was enacted:
Nian Gengyao recruited power and accepted bribes, was good at being powerful, dared to bully others, endured the burden, and almost fell into my ignorance.Thinking painfully!Xiao Shuang: "Yong Xian Lu", Volume 208, page [-].Enactment on July [-]:

Since Nian Gengyao became the governor of Sichuan and Shaanxi, he has been arbitrarily doing good fortune and seeking personal gain, distorting right and wrong, citing bandits, rejecting those who dissent, recommending those who are going to go, and using the name of soldiers to fake military merits and support the evil party. In the name of the imperial court, favor one's own personal interests. "Life Registration in the Yongzheng Dynasty", Volume 1, page 532.On September [-]th, what came was not the Dibao, but Zhu Zhu's comment on the plea after the Dibao:

Er Shang wants to live?I have ordered Tu Lichen to go to Guangzhou to get your brother, and I will come to get you right away!Along with Zhu Pi, there is also an excerpt from the memorial to the impeachment of Nian Gengyao collected by hundreds of officials in the study room. The table of contents alone is a few large pages, five crimes of great treason, nine crimes of deception, 92 crimes of madness, six crimes of self-righteousness, and crimes of greed and corruption It is [-] articles and [-] paragraphs...a total of [-] serious crimes, which were jointly discussed by Dali Temple and the Ministry of Punishment, "Please set Nian Gengyao up for punishment".

Yongzheng hoped that Nian Gengyao would commit suicide, but Nian Gengyao's desire to survive became stronger and stronger.On the night of September [-]th, facing the broken window and the bright moon, and the desk lamp torn paper, he wrote "Death Pleading":
Today, the minister is [-] aware of his sin.If the master is gracious, I pity the minister and repent, and ask the master to forgive the minister.The minister is not old, so he is left as a dog and horse to serve himself, and slowly serves the master.Nian Gengyao wept with blood in his heart.After finishing writing, Nian Gengyao broke the unusable pen with a "click", and fell down on the bunk resignedly.

Zhang Tingyu received Nian Gengyao's begging for his life from Li Wei, and rushed to the Hall of Mental Cultivation without stopping.As soon as he entered the Hanging Flower Gate, Gao Wuyong greeted him with a smile and said, "The emperor just wanted me to call you, so here you are." Zhang Tingyu nodded slightly and entered the hall, but saw Yongzheng talking to Ma Qi, seeing him coming in, Yongzheng said He waved his hands and said with a smile: "Good time, this old horse is going to let go of the pick, so you can persuade me." Zhang Tingyu handed the folder to Yongzheng with both hands, and said with a smile: "Old Minister Ma talked to me, and the servant also persuaded me Don't move him. Since the emperor forbids him to rest, he will naturally not be able to rest."

"I can't make others difficult." Yongzheng got off the kang with a sigh, paced slowly, and said, "People say that I am mean, but I don't want to bear this reputation. Ma Qi, you know best, you have guaranteed Yun to be the prince. , you were originally an out-and-out "Baye Party". For this reason, the first emperor put you in the sky prison, but I released you, entrusted you with great power, and bestowed you with a noble title. Why? For you I don't have any selfish intentions to do what I want, because you have a king in your heart, and you are an upright official. You don't control the matter of Changchun Garden. Who will decide what happens next? Therefore, you are a virtuous minister. The country has many things to do, I can't bear to ask you to go, so how can you bear to leave me?"

Ma Qi stood up old-fashionedly, bowed and said: "Since the emperor has said this, the minister is really reluctant to give up, but the minister is already in his 70s, and in this position, he can't do things in this position." , Isn’t that also a failure of the emperor? It’s time to withdraw and make room for younger ones, like Altai and Li Wei, who are young and strong, and are by the master’s side, which is beneficial to the emperor and the world.”

"Going to the study room is for literature and ink, Li Wei and Altai are not suitable." Yongzheng breathed a sigh of relief: "Renewing the administration of officials depends on the governors of the provinces, people like Tian Wenjing, Li Fu, Li Wei, and Altai, I want to set them as models. Because of the old rules and bad rules of the ancestors, Chen Xi is deeply ingrained, and the entanglement is not a sharp weapon..." Zhang Tingyu hurriedly said: "What the Lord said is very true. Even so, the servant thought that he could let Ma Qi live in the suburbs of Beijing, and he didn't have to go back to his hometown. It is also a way to consult at any time." Yongzheng nodded, and said: "Then follow Hengchen's opinion." After finishing speaking, he looked at Nian Gengyao's brochure, but only glanced at it and threw it on the table, just pondering .

Ma Qi looked at Yongzheng and said, "It's Nian Gengyao's book again? Now, why is there any hesitation?" Yongzheng sighed and said, "He won't commit suicide. He is different from you, he has a personal relationship with me, besides, his sister Nianfei is ill... When I went to see her this morning, she was already skinny and had only one breath left, and she didn't even have the strength to kowtow on the pillow. Looking at me, I can't speak... I have nothing to comfort me, but I am human after all, she has been with me for decades... I can't live without pity..." Yongzheng said, his eyes filled with tears .Seeing that he was so sad, Zhang Tingyu was also heartbroken, so she just bowed her head and said nothing.

"Long Live Lord." Ma Qi's face was wrinkled like a walnut skin and remained motionless: "Concubine Nian is Concubine Nian, and Concubine Nian Gengyao is Concubine Nian. Unparalleled and generous kindness. If the state and public objects are combined with personal friendship, nothing can be done."

Yongzheng raised his head, looked at the algae well on the top of the hall in thought, after a long time, took a heavy breath, said nothing more, walked quickly to the front of the case, pulled a piece of paper and wrote:

Begging for life.Since you are unwilling to commit suicide and apologize, I have no choice but to give you suicide.You are also a person who reads books. According to history books, has there ever been someone as rebellious and lawless as you?There have been lawless ministers since ancient times, but before they are exposed, they are all pretending to be reluctant and pretending to be courtiers.If you act illegally and without any scruples, has there ever been someone like him in ancient times?My kindness to you is as high as the sky and the earth is thick.And the kindness to your father and brother and your son and your family is as high as heaven and earth.I regard you as the country with sincerity, and I will never bully you, so I will do my best to remove suspicion and appoint you wholeheartedly.After you committed suicide, if you had a slight sense of resentment, then the Buddhist scriptures say that you will fall into hell forever, and ten thousand kalpas will not be able to erase your sins. It was December 1th in the third year of Yongzheng.See page 626 of Volume [-] of "Life Registration in the Yongzheng Dynasty".After Yongzheng finished writing, he handed the manuscript to Zhang Tingyu, and stared at Dongnuan Pavilion with slow eyes.Zhang Tingyu knew that the emperor was already thinking about how to deal with his younger brother Yun who lived in the east of the city.After Nian Gengyao left, Yun Jicheng took the fish on the anvil. Although it was easy to chop the fish, it was stained with blood and brought the notoriety of Brother Tu.But if this tumor is not removed, Yongzheng's ambition to turn the tide and revive politics will still be in vain.

None of them spoke, only the chiming bell on the hall chimed without hesitation.

(End of this chapter)