Living in the south of the Yangtze River is not easy. How deep is the snow in the south of the Yangtze River? The successive secret decrees of the Nanqing court caused chaos in the entire south of the Yangtze River, and that small snowstorm added countless coolness to thousands of people. All the great merchants felt the pressure and murderous intent from the capital. The Xiong family in Lingnan and the Sun family in Quanzhou had always been friends with the Fan family. However, under the pressure of the court, they dared not move. As for those salt merchants who have been stealing the wealth of the world under the protection of the court dignitaries, they are starting to move around.
The change in the method of attracting investment from the internal treasury has fundamentally affected Fan Xian's power. Everyone can see this clearly, especially Xia Qifei, who is Fan Xian's spokesperson in the south of the Yangtze River and now the head of the Ming family, It felt like an imminent danger. Of course, he believed that with the influence of the Ming family in Jiangnan, the most important thing is that the survival of the Ming family will affect the people's livelihood in the south of the Yangtze River, which will make the court afraid when it starts, at least it will not force the Ming family directly in the eleventh year of Qingli. death, if the Ming family is really dispersed, the court will not benefit much.
It's just that such a trend has already been set, and if the current situation continues like this, within a few years, the Ming family will gradually become corrupted and gradually swallowed up by dozens of other Jiangnan merchants supported by the imperial court. There are tens of thousands of lives and deaths behind Xia Qifei, so he couldn't help but be vigilant and prudent, and the long talk with him that night between Xue Qing, the governor of Jiangnan, clearly pointed out the court's requirements for him.
After that night, Xia Qifei fell into deep thought. He had to choose between Mr. Fan and the imperial court. It was because of this very distressed thinking that he did not choose after receiving the notice from the Qi Nian team. The first time he sneaked into the capital to meet Fan Xian was not because he had already started to waver, but because he knew that Fan Xian had let him enter the capital just to evaluate his loyalty, and the current situation did not give Xia Qifei time to show his loyalty. The situation was too dangerous, so he just sent Fan Xian an autographed letter, expressing that he was as usual.
If it were any other businessman, it would not be extremely difficult to choose between the imperial court and the already-lost Fan Xian. Merchants are after profit, and they do not have the real power to influence the current situation. They must take the initiative or be forced to It is a natural attribute of businessmen to invest in the stronger side. Even if Xia Qifei abandons Fan Xian now, it will not surprise too many people or shame him.
However, Xia Qifei is not a businessman in the ordinary sense, which is why Fan Xian chose him as his Jiangnan spokesperson. This illegitimate child of the Ming family had a very similar life trajectory to Fan Xian. He had been wandering in the rivers and lakes since he was a child, and was the leader of the Jiangnan water village. In addition to the natural blood of a businessman, he also had a bit of loyalty from the people of the rivers and lakes.
Xia Qifei knew that without Mrs. Fan, he would never be able to return to the Ming family, let alone regain control of the Ming family and avenge his mother. Xia Qifei would not dare to forget this great kindness, let alone betray Fan Xian.
The Ming family has been running Jiangnan for countless years, and even Fan Xian was struggling when he went to Jiangnan. Now, under the leadership of Xia Qifei, he began to resist, resist the pressure from the Jiangnan governor's yamen, and resist the secret decree from the capital. For a while, the whole Jiangnan was in a panic up.
At this moment, Xue Qing, the governor of Jiangnan who had cooperated tacitly with Fan Xian but was not very conspicuous stood up. Extremely unexpectedly, the fourth master of the Ming family was once again put on the stage.
This was originally the trick that Fan Xian used back then, but now Xue Qing simply followed the gourd, but it achieved very good results. Mingyuan itself is divided into several factions. Although the members of the old Ming family don’t hold many shares, they are people inside the Ming family after all. Now that the differences between the two parties have been put on the table, Xia Qifei wants to defend Fan Xian again. Interests in the south of the Yangtze River are extremely difficult.
However, Xia Qifei still persisted. With the strong support of China Merchants Bank, he turned money into power, permeated the entire Jiangnan officialdom from bottom to top, and obstructed the true implementation of the imperial court's will at all costs. The master of the Ming family knew very well that the general situation was unstoppable, Mr. Fan was just waiting for something in the capital, and what people like himself had to do was to try their best to preserve his strength so that his waiting in the capital could continue. But the question is, how long will it take? How long will it take for people like myself to suffer so desperately
It didn't take long, and the Qing court obviously lost patience with the non-cooperation of the gentry and merchants in the south of the Yangtze River. On the third day after the end-winter tea party held by the Neiku Transshipment Department, at the tea party, they sternly opposed the new bidding regulations of the Neiku Xia Qifei, the master of the Ming family, was assassinated outside Suzhou city!
The men in black who assassinated Xia Qifei actually exceeded 500 people. No one knew how these criminals passed through the strict security in Nanqing and came to the outside of Suzhou City, let alone how these murderers were fierce and military. Where did the murderer of color come from. Why did Suzhou Mansion and Jiangnan Governor's Mansion react so slowly when Xia Qifei was assassinated? Why didn't a single murderer be caught after the fact that there were tens of thousands of state troops on Jiangnan Road
Five hundred thugs in black engulfed Xia Qifei's convoy like a tide. Although Xia Qifei was the owner of the Jiangnan water village and had countless heroes willing to fight for him, in front of such an unexpected surprise attack, throwing With all his head and blood, he was finally broken through the defensive circle.
The new priest of the Jiangnan Water Village died in a fierce battle, and Guan Yumei, who returned to Suzhou to help with affairs, also died in this assassination. Xia Qifei had no luck at all, but at this critical moment, an inconspicuous Ming family member Ding Bei After he was seriously injured, relying on a cold sword in his hand, he came out from the siege and carried Xia Qifei back to the Ming family!
The Ming Garden was closed and closed for three days.
And when the state army arrived at the assassination scene, they found nothing except the lying servants of the Ming family guarding the corpses. Those black-clothed criminals didn't even leave a single corpse behind.
That night in Jiangnan Governor's Mansion, Governor Xue Qing and the two masters looked at the information in their hands and began to ponder. The court ignored the shock of the world and decided to act brazenly. It was already a desperate move. His Majesty the Emperor in the capital no longer wanted to play those games with Fan Xian again. The impatient thing has lost patience, but under such a thunderous blow, Xia Qifei survived. This fact made Xue Qing feel a little disappointed. Now that the Ming Garden has been sealed, the court will not It is possible that the garden of Jiangnan Ming's family was destroyed by open flames.
In the reported information, the swordsman flying away with Xia Qifei on his back caught Xue Qing's attention. Facing hundreds of elite Qing soldiers, he was able to break through the encirclement. A warrior with such ability must be a nine-year-old warrior. Rank-9 experts, and there are not many ninth-rank experts in this world, who can always lurk by Xia Qifei's side, and turn the tide in the end, can only be the disciples of the Sword Cottage sent by Fan Xian.
The matter in Jiangnan did not stop there. In this bloody storm, the assassination of the head of the Ming family was just an introduction. After the Ming family closed the garden, the Jiangnan Shuizhai Shazhou chief rudder began to mobilize experts to help Suzhou. However, this team of aiding the Ming family was intercepted and disarmed by the state army of the imperial court halfway.
The Jiangnan navy stationed in Shazhou, taking advantage of the empty belly of the Jiangnan water village, carried out the most ruthless cleaning work. The Jiangnan water village surrounded by lake water was burned by a big fire. I don’t know how many people died. The fire burned for three days and three nights without stopping. It was about to burn the lake dry, and the reed roots were burned into long incense for sacrificial offerings...
There could be countless reasons for the imperial court to suppress the Jiangnan water village, but what disappointed Xue Qing again was that the Jiangnan navy's attack was too aggressive, and the men in the water village intercepted on the way died or were injured. The people were also extremely stiff-necked, and no one was willing to speak, so the attempt to link the Ming family with the Jiangnan water bandits was forced to stop here.
On the third day after the Ming Garden was closed, the fourth young master of the Ming family died in the well. It was rumored that he committed suicide by throwing himself into the well out of guilt. Immediately afterwards, the manpower of the old Ming family began to wither. Xia Qifei, who had lost too many relatives and brothers, began to Cruel counterattack, at least for the moment, Ming Yuan finally stabilized under his iron and blood methods and with the help of Dongyi City's strong men.
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The imperial court used this method to deal with the Ming family, a giant merchant in the south of the Yangtze River, and the impact was too bad. It would easily cause turmoil in the hearts of the people in the south of the Yangtze River, and it would also make the rest of the merchants feel distrust of the imperial court. And don't forget that Xia Qifei also has a government status now, and his status as Jiangnan Supervisor of the Overwatch Council has not been revoked, so the Governor's Office of course refuses to admit that this matter has anything to do with the government.
Under the angry accusation of the Ming family, during the occasional or non-existent inquiries by the headquarters of the Supervisory Yuan in the capital, the government of several major prefectures, headed by the Jiangnan Governor's Yamen, began to unite and diligently carried out the investigation of Xia Qifei's assassination. Of course, who As one can imagine, this investigation will never have any results.
The strange thing is that neither the government nor the Ming family mentioned the Jiangnan water village that perished in the sea of fire. It seems that the Jianghu power that once had an incomparable scenery in the south of the Yangtze River never existed.
Compared with the inexplicable battle outside the city of Cangzhou and the great victory at Hongshan Pass that determined the direction of history, the turmoil and killings in the south of the Yangtze River are not so glaring. There are two big cities, and the noble citizens of Kyoto only vaguely know that there is a rich family in Jiangnan who seem to be living a life that is not very happy recently. However, the contest in the south of the Yangtze River is actually the real contest, because it bears a huge share of the Qing Dynasty's tax revenue, and one-third of the people live and work in peace and contentment.
Moreover, Jiangnan has always been peaceful. Even Fan Xian was very careful to control the disturbance within a certain range when he went to Jiangnan. Although it caused a movement of Jiangnan scholars to take to the streets, after all, Jiangnan was not allowed mess up. But this time Jiangnan was really in chaos. If Xia Qifei hadn't survived by chance and used more ruthless methods to appease his sad heart, perhaps Jiangnan had already fallen into the imperial court's control. Regarding this point, it can only be said that Fan Xian's luck in this life is really good. Those trusted subordinates he chose have invested in him with a return that has completely exceeded the return.
The cold war between His Majesty the Emperor and Fan Xian turned into a hot war in three important places in the world, and apart from these three places, there was also an incident outside Yingzhou City, but this incident did not cause too much trouble. people's attention. Su Wenmao, an official of the Overwatch Council and head of the internal treasury transshipment department who was deprived of his official position by the imperial court and escorted back to Kyoto for trial, was passing through Yingzhou. The officials of the criminal department who were in charge of escorting the criminals were killed and injured countless times, while Su Wenmao was cut off with an arm, and his life and death are unknown in the end, and his whereabouts are unknown.
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"The bandit in Yingzhou back then was actually Guan Yumei... That year when I sailed down to the south of the Yangtze River, she was the first person I started to deal with, and through her relationship, I found Ming Qishao, namely Xia Qifei."
On the twenty-eighth day of the twelfth lunar month in the tenth year of Qingli, information about Jiangnan finally reached the Fan residence through the Baoyue Building. Fan Xian looked at the information in his hands in silence for a while, and said, "The Jiangnan water village has long been secretly recruited, and the center of gravity of the Hangzhou meeting I have been in Yingzhou all the time, and the tragic scene after the river broke its embankment that year has long since disappeared, and now the magistrate of Yingzhou is a good official I personally selected, how could there be so many bandits again."
Fan Xian smiled, but his smile was a bit sad. He looked back at Lin Wan'er, and said, "You and I have been tossing and tossing for so many years, but it turns out that it is not as good as His Majesty's unreasonable hacking and killing."
When Fan Xian passed by Yingzhou when he went to the south of the Yangtze River, he found that the people's livelihood in this place was difficult. Later, the internal treasury was rejuvenated, and the imperial treasury was enriched. At that time, with Fan Xian and Princess Chen's reputation overwhelming, and the Overwatch Council's gloomy supervision, no officials dared to make money from it. The people's livelihood in Jiangnan should be better now than it was back then.
"Jianlu sent a total of six people to the south of the Yangtze River. I kept three in the internal treasury, because that is the most important thing, and the other three are mainly responsible for the safety of Xia Qifei and Su Wenmao. I don't want all the people who followed me to die. It's gone." Fan Xian said expressionlessly, "That's it, there is still such a big problem, I hope Wen Mao can survive."
Lin Wan'er looked at him quietly from the side, knowing that there was a lot of pain and pressure in his heart. Fan Xian lowered his head and pondered for a moment, then slowly raised his head, a flame seemed to start burning in his eyes, this flame was very much like a fire that had been burning in a lake for three days and three nights, it seemed that there were countless innocent souls in this Struggling in the fire, screaming and crying.
The situation in the capital is also full of hardships. Yan Bingyun is still in Dingzhou dealing with the matter of the Qingzhou War. Even though he has already left Dingzhou at this time, he will still be delayed on the road for a while. It was also during these days that the Metropolitan Procuratorate took the opportunity to start coercing the Overwatch Council. The current two presidents of the Overwatch Council have died and the other has been abolished. The dragons were leaderless. With His Majesty's connivance and the cooperation of Zhongshu, the censors of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, led by He Zongwei, launched the most brutal cleansing of the Overwatch Council.
The first thing to bear the brunt was one place. In just three days, more than 30 Overwatch Council officials were arrested and imprisoned in the Dali Temple. Be polite, all kinds of instruments of torture in the prison are starting to work at this moment.
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Lost, Fan Xian lost, he lost again and again, defeated to the ground, Fan Xian knew he was wrong, His Majesty the Emperor is like that big Dongshan, even if he creates countless wind and rain in the world, As long as this mountain does not fall, the court of Qing Kingdom will not be chaotic, no matter how heavy the storm is, it will still be ruthless.
And the very secret news that came out of the palace today was like the last straw on Fan Xian's heart, forcing him to make an immediate choice. A beautiful girl who was selected into the palace was said to be pregnant with a dragon seed. Hearing this news, Fan Xian couldn't help but sneered. It seems that the effect of eating celery to kill sperm is really not that big for a monster like the Grand Master. effect.
"Xia Qifei over there in the south of the Yangtze River is very difficult. If I don't make a move, he can't even protect himself, let alone support me." Fan Xian narrowed his eyes and said, "The more my strength is weakened, the more ruthless your Majesty's methods will be." , This is a complementary thing. At first he will come slowly, but my counterattack is getting weaker and weaker, his scruples are getting less and less, and his methods will become more and more crazy... until finally I become Be a loner."
"The court's actions in Jiangnan... are actually very unwise." Lin Wan'er said softly: "Everyone with a discerning eye knows what is going on with the Ming family's predicament. The court's actions this time are too obvious, and the methods used are too bloody. Merchants will be renounced from now on."
"Not only is it unwise, but it can even be called stupid, but it's obvious that His Majesty doesn't care about these things. He only cares about crushing me completely in the shortest possible time, and destroying any luck I have." Fan Xian's expression was blank, "No I know why, it seems that he is also a little anxious."
Lin Wan'er looked at him, her heart trembling slightly. Although the husband and wife did not say anything clearly, she only needed one look to know what was going on in his heart. Especially in such a situation, his expression was enough to prove that he thoughts.
Just like that, two lines of clear tears flowed from Wan'er's eyes. She stared blankly at Fan Xian and said in a trembling voice, "But what can you do?"
Fan Xian was silent for a long time, then gently embraced her, hugged her tenderly like a child, and said softly: "Although I have been defeated again and again, it seems that I have no power to fight back, but it has actually proved a point. Something I'd like to know."
"Your Majesty is old after all. He is no longer as patient as he was back then. He is so calm and indifferent to a terrifying degree that he doesn't give anyone any chance." Fan Xian lowered his head and whispered in his wife's ear, "Taking off the dragon body Robe, Your Majesty is more like an ordinary person, this... maybe this is my chance."
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Time has changed, and Fan Xian has no time to wait for the relative who is covered with a black cloth to come back from the world of ice and snow. If he really continues to wait like this, even if His Majesty the Emperor has been reluctant to kill him, even if he has waited. Uncle Wu Zhu came back, but at that time, all the people he cared about would probably die, just like those people in the Jiangnan Water Village, Guan Yumei, Su Wenmao, and those officials in the Overwatch Council.
He had to fight back, and he did have a secret that the emperor didn't know, but he knew that once the counterattack on the inner treasury really started, there would be no turning back between the forces of the Fan family and the one in the palace. There is a margin, maybe the entire Qing Kingdom will fall into turmoil because of this, and if Fan Xian loses, countless people may die behind him.
Fan Xian didn't have the confidence to defeat his own emperor, Lao Tzu, so when he bravely stood up at the cost of his life, he had to save the way for the relatives and friends he cared about. After that autumn rain, he didn't care about his own life or death. but still caring about the life and death of others.
For this back road, the Fan Mansion after the 28th of the twelfth lunar month was quiet for a long time, and the atmosphere was suppressed for a long time, even the two young ancestors seemed to have noticed their father's strange emotions, and they no longer dared to shout anything loudly.
After an extremely tasteless New Year's Eve, Fan Xian ate some dumplings casually, and locked himself in the study room for seven days. He didn't come out of the study room until the seventh day of the lunar new year.
The whole family was waiting outside the study, Lin Wan'er looked at him worriedly, Sisi took a bowl of ginseng soup and handed it to him.
Fan Xian took the ginseng soup and drank it down, and said with a smile: "The four maids of Danzhou, your soup is the best."
Sisi thumped in her heart, and suddenly felt some ominous omen, but she clenched her lips tightly and didn't make a sound. She believed that the young master she watched and grew up was not a mortal man in the first place, no matter what kind of difficulties she faced The situation will be easily resolved, just like the past twenty years.
Today, on the seventh day of the lunar new year, the Taixue class started. After washing up, Lin Wan'er tidied his clothes and sent him to the main entrance of the mansion. Her hands were trembling slightly along the way.
The early morning sunlight broke through the cold clouds that had blocked Kyoto for a long time, and shone down coldly. Lin Wan'er stared at Fan Xian's beautiful side cheeks, wondering if she could see them again in the future, when she suddenly saw a white hair growing out of Fan Xian's temple, reflecting the light in the morning light, she couldn't help but feel a twinge of pain .
She tried her best to calmly ask: "I've been thinking about it for seven days, but have you figured out anything?"
Fan Xian sighed, replied to the laziness and helplessness when he first entered the capital, and said with a smile: "I want to be a great master for seven days, do you think I'm too delusional?"
Lin Wan'er covered her lips and smiled, "It's really wishful thinking."
"Your Majesty asked me to enter the palace in the afternoon when you asked Eunuch Dai to enter the palace a few years ago. His Majesty asked me to enter the palace this afternoon." Fan Xian glanced at his wife pityingly, and said, "Your Majesty has always loved you, and you are old, so I think it will not make things difficult for you." , if you feel uncomfortable in the capital, go back to Danzhou, Your Majesty always wants to see grandma's face."
Lin Wan'er still covered her lips, and asked with a smile: "I'm too lazy to leave, I'll just wait for you at home, but you, have you really come up with something?"
Fan Xian shrugged his shoulders, and said like a rascal, "How can there be any way? Your Majesty has no holes in his body... Ah, I remembered that a man named Xiong said that since he has no holes in his body, then he It's an empty door."
"Laughing again." Lin Wan'er covered her lips and smiled, laughing so hard that she was about to cough up tears.
"It was just a joke." Fan Xian lowered his head and kissed Wan'er gently on the forehead, then got into the carriage without looking back.
Watching the carriage drive towards Taixue on Dongchuan Road, the smile on Lin Wan'er's face suddenly turned desolate. She put down the sleeve covering her lips, and there were two spots of blood on the white sleeve. The work is very hard, and the old disease recurs, which is very sad.
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"Confucius said to be benevolent, and Mencius said to take righteousness, only when his righteousness is exhausted, so benevolence is the ultimate. Read the holy book, what is learned... I have no shame, since ancient times, people with lofty ideals, who want to believe in righteousness in the world, do not use success or failure to dull their hearts..."
A voice so calm that it was even somewhat cold sounded in front of the small lake of the Taixue. More than a hundred students of the Taixue quietly listened to Mr. Fan's lecture. Many people felt Mr. Fan's strange mood today, because today he It seems that he likes to make some naughty jokes, but those naughty jokes are not very funny. Many people felt that Master Xiao Fan had something on his mind.
Under a big tree, Master Hu quietly watched this scene, feeling comforted. He thought he knew what was on Fan Xian's mind, so he comforted him. Today is the seventh day of the lunar new year, the first class of Taixue opens, and in the afternoon, His Majesty will call Fan Xian into the palace. The upper echelons of the court of the Qing Dynasty knew that Fan Xian had invited him to enter the palace this time, so University Fellow Hu naturally believed that Fan Xian had surrendered before His Majesty's repeated blows and before the great achievements of the Qing Dynasty.
When he thought of the future Qing Kingdom, where the monarch and ministers would be united, father and son would unite the world, and live in harmony, Grand Master Hu felt so comforted that he didn't even pay attention to the specific content of Fan Xian's lecture today.
"Kong is not Jiu Kong pretending to be Wang Leehom, not Kong Ming who is waving a fan, and it is even more impossible to mean punching eyes. Meng... Well, I don't like this person very much, because this guy likes to debate too much, and he is somewhat similar to me."
Fan Xian smiled and preached to more than a hundred Taixue students by the pool, and he didn't care if these Taixue students could understand or not. There are indeed collections of classics and history in this world, but there are no Confucius, Mencius, or even many disciples. Confucius said so clearly.
"Things like sacrificing one's life for righteousness are still done occasionally, but... I'm not this kind of person. I've always been afraid of death."
As soon as this remark came out, all the Taixue students laughed, thinking that in Mr. Fan's messy lecture today, there was finally an understandable joke.
"but!"
Fan Xian's expression suddenly became indifferent, and after the surroundings were quiet, he said word by word: "How different is a human from a beast, but only those who value righteousness? Not necessarily... Human instinct is to seek life and avoid death, but human Respectable lies in being able to die generously at a certain time, why die? Naturally, there are things in this world that are more important than life and death."
"It still has nothing to do with me." He laughed, and then the surroundings were quiet, everyone felt strange, all the students looked at him by the pool in a daze, and no one laughed out loud.
"I always thought that nothing in the world was more important than my own life and death, but later I discovered that people's desire is a very great thing, and it is a great thing that people have the right to choose." Fan Xian said after a moment of silence: " Since we are always going to die, then we have to choose a more enjoyable way to die, although the word no regrets is a bit vulgar, it is still a very real word after all."
"How should one live one's life?"
Fan Xian looked around and asked this question, but naturally no one answered. After a while of silence, his voice echoed in the quiet Taixue.
"I've been thinking about it all my life, but I haven't figured it out. I copied a lot of books, earned a lot of money, married a lot of wives, and had a lot of children... Uh, it seems that I have done it all. Then I thought about it for a long time, and I probably came to a conclusion, that That is, live as you want, as long as you live with peace of mind."
"This is probably what I want to say today."
After saying these words, Fan Xian left the Taixue, got into the lonely black carriage, and left behind the young students of the Taixue who looked at each other for no reason, and the one who finally understood. Fan Xian was saying something, and the complexion of Hu Dashi changed drastically.
Master Hu left Taixue in panic, and rushed towards the palace. It was still early in the morning, and Fan Xian could only enter the palace in the afternoon. He hoped that he would have time to say something to His Majesty, to persuade him, to stop him. occur.
Fan Xian's rambling speeches in Taixue were spread in the shortest possible time without the help of interested people. In fact, in the entire capital, those sensitive people have been waiting for the answer of this idler in Kyoto. reaction.
Different from the rush and nervousness of all these people, Fan Xian was very calm. It was still early before he entered the palace. He came to the Xinfeng Pavilion and began to enjoy the rare and perhaps the last enjoyment in winter—the steaming cages Baozi, and Dabao with a bun-faced face next to the table.
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(The monthly ticket has fallen to the fourth place, and it is only one day before it doubles. Please help me to support the ticket market. I can only say that I am writing hard. I am ashamed.) (, If you want to know what will happen next , please log in, more chapters, support the author, support genuine!)