It was late summer and early autumn, and the sun was shining on the roof of Ninghe Hall at noon, and it began to heat up. A servant of the Zhao Mansion used a waterwheel to draw clean water from the pond in front of the hall and poured it on the roof. It was like a timely rain, and the house suddenly became cool. Under the scorching sun, the sound of frogs croaking in the ears, the coolness on the body, and the good tea in the mouth, what a joy. However, Zhao Fuyi and several officials in Henan Province did not have such leisurely moods. They looked at the water drops falling like a bead curtain outside the hall, hoping that reinforcements would arrive.
Suddenly, a soldier under Zheng Rong quickened his pace and ran over, lowering his voice to Zheng Rong and saying, "Henan Governor Zhao Fude, together with General Zhenbei and Henan Jiedushi Wu Yan, have brought three to four thousand infantrymen and have surrounded the Zhao residence."
Zheng Rong deliberately raised his voice and said, "So it's Governor Zhao and General Wu who are here. They've come with 5,000 soldiers. I'm really flattered!" He then said to Qiu Yizhi behind him, "Do you recognize your uncle Governor Zhao?"
Because his mother didn't get along well with the two brothers of the Zhao family, Fude and Fuyi, they had never interacted with each other, but they still saw each other a few times during the holidays. Yizhi nodded and said, "I recognize you!"
Zheng Rong also nodded, handed the command arrow to Yizhi, and ordered him to take it together with the jade pendant given to him last night to invite Lord Zhao, the governor of Henan.
After hearing Zheng Rong's order, Qiu Yizi turned around and glared at Zhao Fuyi, followed by the white dog named "Lulu", and ran out like a fly. Zhao Fuyi hadn't seen Qiu Yizi for a long time, and today he changed into new clothes, so he thought he was a servant of Zheng Rong, so he ignored him, and said to Zheng Rong arrogantly: "You are a small centurion, a low-ranking official, how could you know that the current Henan Governor Zhao is my brother. Now that the army is approaching, I advise you to kowtow and admit your mistakes quickly. It would be refreshing to convict you of the crime of robbing a rich family. Otherwise, you will definitely be charged with the crime of treason, and it will be too late to regret it when you are tortured to death, your entire family will be implicated, and your bones will be crushed and scattered!"
Zheng Rongru acted as if he hadn't heard anything, and continued to drink his tea calmly without even looking up. This made Zhao Fuyi even more angry, and he secretly decided to teach this ignorant young officer a lesson.
Qiu Yizhi ran all the way to the south gate of Zhao's house, but was told that the governor of Henan was coming from the east gate, so he hurriedly ran to the east gate again. Along the way, the soldiers who were originally tense inside and outside drew their swords, some climbed the wall to look, some moved stones to block the door, and some ambushed in the bushes, all ready for a fight. Yizhi quickened his pace, passing through countless flowers, trees and rockery, and then ran to the east gate of Zhao's house. At the east gate, a leader under Zheng Rong was negotiating with someone outside the gate. The two talked in a high-pitched tone and the atmosphere was very tense. Yizhi hurriedly rushed forward, raised the command arrow with his right hand, and shouted loudly: "I want to see Lord Zhao, the governor of Henan!"
When the two parties saw this, they immediately fell silent and made way for Yizhi to pass. Qiu Yizhi saw this, straightened his clothes, adjusted his breathing, and walked out of the Zhao residence through the passage. After walking a few steps, he saw several civil and military officials surrounding a fat official and nodding and bowing. Qiu Yizhi recognized that the fat official was his uncle, Zhao Fude, the current governor of Henan. He walked up quickly, squeezed into the crowd, and stood in front of Zhao Fude.
Zhao Fude was startled. He felt that the child in front of him looked familiar. Just as he was about to take a closer look, he saw the child holding a command arrow, clumsily taking the jade pendant from his waist, and handed it to him, muttering: "Please come to the hall and speak to me, Lord Zhao!"
Zhao Fude thought to himself: Where did this wild kid come from? He was so rude to the governor of Henan and the frontier official. He reached out and grabbed the jade pendant and looked at it carefully. It doesn't matter if you don't look at it. As he looked at it, a layer of sweat oozed out of his forehead. The governor of Henan has seen the world. The format of this order is very different. It is definitely not owned by the Jiedushi level. Even the front, rear, left and right generals who command the imperial army may not have it. I'm afraid it's at the level of the general of chariots and cavalry. This jade pendant is even more unpredictable. The various auspicious signs carved on the jade have a royal atmosphere. It is definitely not something that can only be worn by dukes and marquises. It is not an exaggeration to say that it is an item around the emperor. The more Zhao Fude thought about it, the more confused he became. He listed the dignitaries in the court one by one: it is not uncommon for royal relatives to be in military affairs at present, but the only ones with such high titles and military positions are Zheng Rong, the King of Youyan, and Zheng Hua, the King of Lingnan. I recently heard that Prince Youyan is coming to the capital to meet the emperor. He can go to the capital by water, and he must return by land through Henan. As the governor, I am still worrying about the arrangements for receiving the king. Could he arrive so soon
"If it's really the Prince of Youyan, then things will be troublesome!" Zhao Fude was uneasy and didn't dare to discuss it with the Jiedushi Wu Yan. He thought of a way to test Qiu Yizhi: "The Prince of Youyan only allowed me to see him?"
Qiu Yi disliked this uncle very much, so she was more cautious when she came. She didn't respond and said coldly: "Father will let you in."
"What adoptive father?" Zhao Fude's suspicion increased a little more. He thought that only by seeing it with his own eyes could he distinguish the truth from the false. So he turned around and gave a few instructions to the military and political officials under him, tidied up his appearance, and followed Yizhi into the courtyard of the Zhao Mansion.
Zhao Fude was so bloated that he couldn't keep up with Qiu Yizhi's brisk pace, and he lost her after a few steps. Fortunately, Zhao Fuyi's garden was no different from his own, so he just walked slowly and sorted out his thoughts. After finally entering Ninghe Hall, he glanced around the hall and saw a man sitting on the right side, sipping tea as if no one was around. He bowed down and shouted, "I didn't know that the Prince of Youyan was coming, and I didn't come to greet him. I'm really guilty!"
Zheng Rong was unmoved, but the three officials who had been sitting restlessly for a long time were shocked. They stood up and knelt down hurriedly, apologizing and asking for forgiveness. Especially Dengzhou Duwei, who was born as a military commander, was too violent and broke a good blue and white tea bowl, splashing tea all over himself. Zhao Fude prostrated himself on the ground, but when he looked up, he saw his brother Zhao Fuyi sitting in his seat like a wooden chicken, and he immediately scolded him: "The King of Youyan is here, why don't you bow?" Zhao Fuyi knelt down with a "thump".
Zheng Rong did not allow the five kneeling people to stand up. He held up the teacup and slowly sat down on the main seat that Zhao Fuyi had just given up. He pointed to the seat next to him and said to Zhong Likuang, "Sir, please sit here." Zhong Likuang was not polite and sat down on the auxiliary seat. Qiu Yizhi was about to stand behind Zheng Rong as before, but was pulled by Zhong Likuang and asked to stand beside him. He whispered, "The prince is about to punish the officials. You must listen carefully."
Zheng Rong took another sip of tea and asked Zhao Fude, who was still kneeling, "Have all the officials at all levels in Henan Province arrived?"
"Reporting to the prince, there are eight states in Henan Province, and five governors and seven commanders are waiting for orders outside the gate." Zhao Fude replied.
"I see." Zheng Rong answered casually, and then ordered his subordinates, "Go and invite all the adults to come to the hall to gather." After saying that, he drank another sip of tea, and then asked the people kneeling in the hall to stand up. Soon, except for the governor and governor of Dengzhou who were already present, the military and political officials of several states had gathered in front of the hall, standing in groups, waiting for the King of Youyan to speak.
Zheng Rong glanced around the hall, without a word of greeting, and directly summoned Mr. Zhao and Zhao Heizi, who had been waiting outside Ninghe Hall for a long time, to come up and ask them to state the grievances of Zhao Fuyi's seizure of civilian land in front of officials at all levels in Henan Province. Although Zhao Fuyi was a wealthy man in Nanyang County, Dengzhou, and even the entire Henan Province, he was only a juren in terms of fame and reputation, and could only stand at the end according to the rank. Now that he heard that what the two villagers of Zhaojiadai said was true, he couldn't help sweating. Zhao Fuyi relied on his wealth and the protection of his brother to do evil in Nanyang for a long time, and officials from all states had heard about it. The statements of the two villagers, one old and one young, in Zhaojiadai were not beyond their expectations.
First, Mr. Zhao detailed the plots of Zhao Fuyi's embezzlement of people's land over the years, and Zhao Heizi then painfully recounted the incidents of Zhao Fuyi bullying the people. After the two finally finished talking, Zheng Rong shouted, "Zhao Fuyi! You usually seize people's land, beat villagers, and run rampant in the village. Now you are taking advantage of the fire, taking advantage of the severe drought in Henan to lower the land price and forcibly buy good farmland. You are forcing good people to rebel, and you should be punished more severely!" As he spoke, he suddenly slammed the table and said sternly, "What crime should you be punished for? Why don't you kneel down?"
The sound of the table shaking and the word "kneeling" reached Zhao Fuyi's ears, startling him. His knees gave out and he knelt down, unable to utter a word. But his elder brother Zhao Fude came out to report: "There is solid evidence that Fuyi has occupied the people's land and humiliated the villagers, but he has not killed anyone. Therefore, I think he can be ordered to return the occupied land without compensation, apologize to the villagers, and compensate for the medical expenses as a punishment."
After hearing Zhao Fude's evasive remarks, Zheng Rong sneered twice and said, "When I came to the Zhao residence, Zhao Fuyi not only did not show any courtesy, but also attempted to murder me several times. May I ask, Lord Zhao, how should this crime of offending the vassal king be punished?"
Zhao Fude heard this and answered without thinking: "The prince's visit to the Zhao family mansion is a rare happy event in the Zhao family for generations. I believe Fuyi is also very happy. However, the prince is here to explore the people's sentiments. Even I have just learned about the prince's identity, not to mention Fuyi is just a juren. As the saying goes, 'Ignorance is not wrong'. Therefore, although Fuyi offended the prince, it is still excusable. Now he is in a panic, so I beg the prince to forgive him and pardon him for this crime."
Zheng Rong smiled and said, "I have always taken the emperor as my role model and treated people with kindness. So even though Zhao Fuyi was extremely rebellious and offended me repeatedly, I can pardon him. However, there is one thing that I cannot pardon." Then he called Qiu Yizhi and said, "Yizhi, what you said to me in the dilapidated temple yesterday, do you dare to repeat it again in front of the officials in Henan?"
Qiu Yizi stepped forward and said, "Of course I dare!" He then told them in great detail how Zhao Fuyi had bullied him and his mother.
Zheng Rong said "OK" and asked Qiu Yizhi to stand as he was. He said to the military and political officials of Henan: "Qiu Yizhi has an extraordinary background. His father saved my life. Yesterday, I considered him a son of a spoiled child. Now I want to avenge my adopted son. I wonder what advice you have for him, Governor?"
Zhao Fude thought it was not good. He did not expect that this familiar child was actually his sister's son, his own nephew, and now he was considered as the adopted son by the powerful King Youyan. He was no longer the same as before. Fuyi used shameful means to seize his sister's property and even forced his sister to death. He knew all these things. He felt guilty when he heard about it and tried to persuade him. But in the end, he half-covered it for the sake of his share of the land. He did not expect that the truth would be exposed at this critical moment. This is a serious crime punishable by death. So he racked his brains for a long time but could not think of any words to explain himself. He got hot-headed and plucked up the courage to argue, "Although Prince Youyan is in charge of the military and political affairs of Youyan, this place is Henan Province, and judicial trials are my jurisdiction. I would like to advise Your Majesty not to exceed your authority, lest you be impeached by the officials." Before Zhao Fude was appointed Governor of Henan, he had served as the Imperial Censor for several terms. Not only was he eloquent, he also had quite a few connections in the censor circle. If he really wanted to launch an impeachment by the Imperial Censors, it would be quite a trouble.
Zheng Rong was not afraid of these. He took off the sword from his waist and raised it in the air, shouting to the civil and military officials: "Can you recognize what this is?!"
An official immediately exclaimed, "Imperial Sword!" The appearance of the Imperial Sword, which was granted by the Emperor and could execute people first and report later, immediately shocked the whole hall. The well-dressed officials hurriedly knelt down, kowtowed three times and bowed nine times, chanting, "Long live the Emperor! Long live the Emperor! Long, long live the Emperor!"
After the ceremony, many senior officials were already confused. Zhao Fude could not be confused at this moment, and knelt on the ground for a long time and said: "The imperial sword granted by the emperor can kill officials below the fourth rank, and can be killed first and then reported. But Your Majesty is the King of Youyan, I am afraid that this imperial sword can kill the officials of Youyan, but not my officials in Henan!"
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PS. Since the Song Dynasty, ancient China has had a tradition of valuing civil officials over military officials. Civil officials are more respected than military officials of the same rank. Men who join the army are often looked down upon. The Water Margin, a book written in the Ming Dynasty that describes the story of the Song Dynasty, has a criminal law of exile. (To be continued)