It started to rain again in Suzhou City. I heard that the rain on the upper reaches of the river was even heavier. The court officials were all concentrated on the section of the river embankment that was riddled with holes in the upper reaches of Shazhou. Even though Fan Xian was in Suzhou, His eyes couldn't stop falling there. Yang Wanli has already gone to the governor's yamen of the river transport to take office. The internal treasury has transferred money, and the national treasury has also arrived. The money for the river transport has never been as sufficient as this year. It's just that the start of the river construction this year is too late, so I don't know if it can be met. survive the summer floods.
It was raining heavily, and the summer heat that first arrived in the south of the Yangtze River was immediately extinguished, leaving a desolate feeling of spring. For the people in the south of the Yangtze River, these rains only increased the depression and grief in their hearts, but not many people would think of the victims of last year's disasters in the upper reaches of the river who had no houses to live in and no clothes to wear.
Because the funeral of the old lady Ming is about to be held.
Fan Xian watched all this indifferently, without any reaction at all. After Deng Ziyue, the subordinates of the Supervisory Council of the Governor's Mansion and the Department of Neiku Transshipment all persuaded him that it would be best to burn incense in the mourning hall. Will continue to fight.
But Fan Xian rejected this proposal very firmly, because in his opinion, it was just a funeral for an old man, so what is it? It's just that one person died. If things in the upper reaches of the river are not handled properly, who knows how many people will die.
For this gesture of the imperial envoy, all the officials were sighing, wondering if the imperial envoy didn't feel the undercurrent surging among the people
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At the end of the month. There was a sound of mourning in the Ming Garden, white cloths were hung high, and the mourning hall was open, and it was the seven-day period for the coffin to rest.
After the seven-day mourning period is over, it is time to report the funeral. According to the funeral rules of the Qing Dynasty, after seven days, the news of the funeral must be spread widely to relatives, friends, and even enemies... No matter what enmity there was between the two parties before death, the rule of reporting the funeral is not acceptable. Free. The original intention of this ceremony is to wipe out all grievances and hatreds after death. Often the former enemies will go to the mourning hall to express their condolences when they learn about the funeral. Once the right and wrong in life are settled, Yin and Yang will be separated from now on, and the two will have nothing to do with each other.
The dignitaries who had been staying in Suzhou City waiting for Mingyuan's funeral, all received white notes from Mingyuan, and began to clean up their clothes and expressions, and headed for Mingyuan.
All eyes were fixed on Huayuan, because according to the rules and the status of the old matriarch Ming, the white post for the funeral should also be sent to Huayuan, and to the hands of the imperial envoy. As for what the imperial envoy is going to do, it depends on how to deal with this white post.
No one thought that when Ming Yuan sent the white post to Hua Yuan, Hua Yuan just politely received that third master Ming, drank a cup of tea, and then sent out the white post. confiscated!
Third Master Ming raged outside the Huayuan on the spot, cursed with obscene language, and then spat fiercely on the stone steps in front of the Huayuan.
Immediately, a servant came out and washed the phlegm away with clean water.
Everything in the world can't carry the word "reason", but in the hearts of ordinary people, the dead are the most important, which is the universal truth. The imperial envoy's lack of face to the dead made all the people feel a little bit of consternation and anger.
What made everyone even more unexpected and angry was that before the mourning hall of the old matriarch Ming was opened, the Overwatch Council took action again and arrested the Sixth Master Ming who was the leader in resisting the search in the Ming Garden. Namely, in this way, not only the Suzhou Mansion, but even the Governor's Mansion can't say much. Moreover, after the Overwatch Council secretly arrested Ming Liuye, he was immediately sent to the Shazhou Navy to guard him, but he was not handed over to the local government.
I don't know if there is anyone in the lead, anyway, from the second day onwards, people began to gather in front of Huayuan, cursing loudly, and shouting those unknown slogans, such as severely punishing the real culprits and releasing the innocent.
What's even more troublesome is that the students and scholars from Jiangnan have also joined the ranks. The young students are so passionate, and the recent actions of Mr. Xiao Fan have made these students feel disillusioned every time. Angry, shouting loudly, scolding.
Huayuan was as calm as usual, but the governor's yamen on Jiangnan Road was afraid of a civil uprising, so they dispatched a team of soldiers to guard in front of Huayuan, and drove the angry scholars to the end of the long street.
In the afternoon of the same day, Governor Xue Qing, under the heavy guard of soldiers, passed through the excited crowd with great difficulty and entered Huayuan.
In the study, he and Fan Xian argued for a long time, but no one could convince the other. Finally, Xue Qing had no choice but to ask, "If the people are so excited to surround the garden, what's the face of the court?"
Fan Xian said indifferently: "Besieging the prince, the intention is wrong, if you don't move troops, I will do so."
Xue Qing was stunned, and then remembered that there was still a third prince living in the Ming Garden, and let the citizens of Suzhou surround the Huayuan and send it back to the capital. There is no need for him to be the governor, and those leading scholars will probably have to pay for it. A few lives. And as the governor of Jiangnan, he absolutely did not dare to let such a terrible thing happen within his jurisdiction. After pondering for a while, he asked sincerely, "What should I do?"
With Governor Xue Qing's old-fashioned city mansion, it is a small problem to clean up some students who have been dazed by enthusiasm. The key is that he understands that this is obviously an atmosphere created by Fan Xian intentionally. He never knew what Fan Xian's real intention was. What, there is no need for him to forcefully intervene and plunge himself into this mess.
Fan Xian glanced at him and said, "They are all hot-blooded young people, and I don't want to embarrass them... It's just that it's raining, and the night is freezing, and the blood will be cold, so they will naturally disperse."
Xue Qing frowned slightly: "If they don't leave?"
Fan Xian sneered and said, "Indignation can't be eaten, and if it doesn't disperse at night, it means that some people surrounding the garden are not out of righteous indignation, but have other purposes."
Those people who hide in the dark want to achieve a very simple goal, not to mention stirring up a civil uprising, but just to make the people react more, and let the matter spread back to the capital, and His Majesty must react.
Xue Qing pondered for a while, and immediately understood what Fan Xian meant, and said, "Do you want the Governor's Mansion to take action on this matter?"
Fan Xian shook his head: "It's a matter of bad reputation, I'll take it on myself... Your Excellency, just take care of Huayuan. After all, the safety of His Royal Highness is the top priority."
Xue Qing understood, and a little strangeness and shock inevitably arose in her heart. According to the common sense in the officialdom, to suppress civil uprisings, everyone should always do it blindfolded, and Fan Xian put on such a lonely and stubborn appearance, which really relieved his pressure a lot.
After the discussion was over, Xue Qing left.
Fan Xian sat alone in the study in a daze, and then couldn't help laughing at himself. Haitang has been away for many days, but she still hasn't come back. If Mr. Zhou can't be caught, this change of Mingyuan will lose one-third of the benefits. As for those angry Suzhou citizens, Fan Xian didn't care at all... With Ming Qingda in charge over there, the matter would definitely not exceed the critical line of intensification. The problem is, it is obvious that behind this mass movement, there are many shadows of people hidden in the dark.
No one instigates us, the ordinary citizens of the Daqing Dynasty who are used to fear and cowardice, how dare they come to the imperial envoy's mansion to raise their voices
Regarding this matter, Fan Xian had already made full preparations, and now that he had Xue Qing's answer, he felt even more at ease.
※※※
As expected, things did not go as Fan Xian expected. As the sky was approaching dusk, the crowd outside had gradually dispersed, leaving only those students wearing square scarves and showing righteous faces, and some unidentified citizens mixed together. Guarded by the military force of the Governor's Mansion, these people can only sing the classics at the end of the long street, angrily accusing the imperial envoy of disregarding human life and harming the people in the south of the Yangtze River.
I don't know who started it, the crowd gradually became agitated and pushed towards Huayuan. The sergeants of the Governor's Mansion didn't dare to fight ruthlessly for a while, and slowly retreated.
Getting closer and closer to Huayuan, the crowd stopped, there was a lot of noise, and all kinds of ugly words were scolded, but the students were not all idiots. However, it did not involve the eighteen generations of Fan Xian's ancestors.
Everyone in the world knows that Fan Xian's ancestors are the ancestors of His Majesty the Emperor. It's okay to scold the Overwatch Council, which is hated by scholars all over the world, but scold His Majesty's ancestors for eighteen generations? The big guy just wanted to express his anger for the unjustly died old lady Ming, but he didn't want to take his own life to fill it.
The Huayuan is still quiet, and the lights inside can be faintly seen flickering, and the sound of silk and bamboo can be heard through the rain.
The soldiers of the Governor's Mansion stood ready, and lit torches in their hands, illuminating the hall outside the Huayuan.
The rain is like a thread, it has already wet the students who are still outside Huayuan, they look at each other, wipe the rain off their faces, and some can't believe their ears, Suzhou City is already like this, and these people are already like this Oh, the imperial envoy actually still has leisure time... like that!
I was drenched in the rain, but the imperial envoy was listening to the opera. The students became inexplicably angry, and the cursing voices that had stopped for a while due to exhaustion resounded loudly.
Amidst all the yelling, a man in gray single clothes caught in the crowd, rolled his eyes a few times, took out something from his bosom, and threw it into the garden!
When the thing fell into the garden, there was only a muffled sound, and there was no explosion or anything like that.
Instead, there was a thunderous scolding from Hua Yuan: "Who the hell is throwing a dog's blood bag!"
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…
Throwing dog blood, this is the most insulting trick, although some children are childish, but throwing it into Huayuan, where the imperial envoy is located, will make a big splash.
The students also froze, and the swearing stopped for a while, wondering which classmate this is, who has such courage
Just as he was thinking, three black shadows flashed above Huayuan. They were the swordsmen from the Sixth Office of the Overwatch Council, gazing coldly at the troublemakers in the street outside the garden.
Everyone was silent for no reason, and suddenly someone shouted violently: "The Overwatch Council is going to kill people! Let's...!"
A shadow rushed into the crowd, and the sound of fanning the flames stopped abruptly, like a duck being strangled by the throat of fate.
The crowd was startled and parted, only to see a big man in common clothes walking out coldly holding the throat of a man in gray clothes.
The burly man in civilian clothes was none other than the leader of the Tiger Guard, Gundam, who was ordered by Fan Xian to keep an eye on the instigators outside. With his ability, he could easily catch people with his hands. He threw the man in gray to the ground, and stepped on the man's chest, only to hear the man's breastbone crack.
Seeing this tragic scene, the students rushed forward with enthusiasm, surrounded Gundam, and shouted: "Kill it! The Overwatch Council has killed it!"
This scene frightened the generals of the governor's mansion around, and they forced the horses up as soon as they urged them, and there was a tendency to launch troops to suppress them at any time.
Gao Da coldly picked up the man in gray and shook it like a sack, jingling, so many things fell from the man.
"First, he's not dead."
It was the moaning voice of the man in gray that answered Gundam's words, and the students' emotions settled down a bit.
Gao Da said coldly: "Secondly, you are here to seek justice, and this person is here to induce the Imperial Envoy to kill you. There is a difference, so treat them differently... This is what the Lord said."
Only then did the students come to their senses, and when they looked at the ground, they couldn't help being startled. They saw not only bags of dog's blood on the man in gray, but also kindling and lamp oil on the ground. Only then did everyone understand. If this person is allowed to be caught in the crowd to do bad things, and really burn down the Huayuan, where the prince and imperial envoy live, people like myself will definitely be killed on the spot by the court in the name of thugs.
"My lord's original words two." Gao Da said coldly.
Frightened by his aura, everyone listened obediently.
"If there is grievance in the chest, it will be expressed. This is the nature of young people. I don't blame you."
Gao Da continued to state Fan Xian's words: "But being instigated by others without knowing the truth, how stupid? If you want to express your grievances, you must find a correct way. It's really a shame to make such a noise like a shrew in the market. I'm so ashamed."
The students were very dissatisfied when they heard these words. A student who looked like a leader came out proudly: "The Overwatch Council was unfair and killed people. The students also reported to the Suzhou government, but the officials protected each other, and the Suzhou government was afraid of the power of the Overwatch Council and did not dare to accept the paper. Dare to ask the imperial envoy, and What are the ways to allow students to relieve their grievances?"
Gao Da gave the man a cold look: "My lord said: If you have the courage to gather people outside the garden to make trouble, how dare you enter the garden to discuss matters?"
The students suddenly started arguing, some said they were not allowed to enter, some said they must enter, and they had different opinions. Finally, they all focused their attention on the student who was in his early years. This student was a student of Jiangnan Road Bailu College. His surname was Fang Mingting. Shi, who was born in a poor family, is extremely knowledgeable and has always been admired by his peers. He is hidden as the leader of the students.
Fang Tingshi thought for a while, gritted his teeth, took out the Wanmin blood books collected in the past few days from his arms, held them to the top of his head, and said: "The students are willing to enter the kindergarten to argue with the adults."
Gao Da gave him a blank look, and walked into the garden with the man in gray. Fang Tingshi felt a little uneasy, so he mustered up the courage to go in, and at the same time dissuaded the students from asking to enter together.
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…
Fan Xian sat on the teacher's chair with half-closed eyes, enjoying Sisi's gentle massage behind him, tapping his fingers on the table following the singing of the Qing opera master in the pavilion in the garden.
In front of him, Fang Tingshi, who was extremely daring and dared to enter the garden alone to seek justice from the imperial envoy, was flipping through something, his face was blue and white, and his lips trembled slightly, as if he was shocked by what was recorded on it. Living.
Fan Xian slowly opened his eyes, and said, "This is an imperial court secret, but it is inconvenient for many to be used as evidence by the Suzhou government, many of which are already dead without evidence, and many of which involve nobles in the court. Brightly punctured Mingyuan's pretense... However, since you have the guts to pull a group of students to seek justice, you are not an idiot. After reading so many things, you should have an independent judgment on what is going on in Mingyuan .”
What Fang Tingshi held in his hand was the result of the Overwatch Council's secret investigation of Mingyuan in the past six months, including the pirates on the East China Sea Island, the bizarre death of Ming Lanshi's concubine, the story of Xia Qifei and the Ming family, the Ming family's journey to Dongyi City, and so on. For smuggling, the masters of Jianyin's legacy went to the south of the Yangtze River to assassinate Fan Xian... One by one, the records are clear. Although, as Fan Xian said, these records cannot be presented as evidence due to the lack of circumstantial evidence, Fang Tingshi's heart Clearly, what is written above must be true.
His hands holding the file were trembling, and he said: "But... it shouldn't be like this. The old lady of the Ming Dynasty Huairou Jiangnan, I don't know how many poor students he has supported. Studying, how could I get into White Hart Academy."
His eyes were slightly red, and he glared at Fan Xian angrily and said, "Master Imperial Envoy, the students dared to enter the kindergarten today, so they didn't have any intention of getting out alive. The students didn't believe what was written on it. The Overwatch Council is the best way to blame people..."
Fan Xian looked at him coldly and didn't answer at all.
Fang Tingshi himself could not continue.
"Since I took over the Overwatch Council, when has there been any evidence of Yin people's framing?" Fan Xian said sarcastically, "As for you, as a student, you should have the ability to make independent judgments. Don't use people's words, don't see it with your eyes. Just look at how it's been going for years and your own head."
"Of course, you have no brains." Fan Xian scolded: "If you have brains, you won't be persuaded by others to surround Huayuan. Where is this? Even if you have three hundred heads beheaded, there is no problem, but in the end, you are dead, and the reputation of this official is gone, and those unscrupulous businessmen who broke the law will be dealt with."
He was very angry, pointed at Fang Tingshi's nose and cursed: "You are a bunch of idiots, I don't know where all the books I have read for so many years have gone."
Anger was a feign, because Fan Xian knew that these students liked it the most.
Sure enough, Fang Tingshi said nonchalantly: "What the imperial envoy taught me is..." He then thought, not only did the imperial envoy not take action to suppress the students, but instead invited himself into the mansion, his heart was really sincere, and he said with a wry smile: "My lord is open-minded."
Fan Xian closed his eyes and shook his head: "My heart is not open, but you are still young, I am not willing to use those methods... As for today I can tolerate you."
He suddenly opened his eyes and said: "You should know who the four sons of my Fan family are."
The four sons of the Fan Clan, Hou Jichang, Cheng Jialin, Shi Chanli, and Yang Wanli, all jumped up after the Chunwei case, and they are well known as Fan Xian's disciples.
Fang Tingshi nodded.
Fan Xian laughed: "The four of my students are older than me, but they all call me a teacher. In the past, Ji Chang also made trouble in Jiangnan, just like you are today."
Fang Tingshi was slightly taken aback.
Fan Xian finally said, "It's not because I cherish my talents, but maybe I feel a little nostalgic looking at you."
After Fang Tingshi withdrew, Sisi frowned and said, "Master, these people don't know what to do, why do you still..."
"Still so polite?" Fan Xian shook his head and said, "Reputation is really not important, but students still have to be cautious about it. In the future, after these people are elected, they will all be officials in the court. I don't think about myself, but Think about it for His Highness."
Sisi said again: "That's all for now."
A gentle smile appeared on the corner of Fan Xian's lips: "If Fang Tingshi can persuade the students to go back, it shows that he has the ability, and of course he must cultivate it well in the future. As for those ghosts who are in the crowd... I am waiting for them."
Ming Qingda has already sent someone to send a message, and Mingyuan has almost suppressed it. The problem is that it is inconvenient to suppress the rumors in Suzhou City, especially these troublemakers. There must be someone with a heart provoked.
"Don't use a knife." Fan Xian turned around, and confessed to Gao Da: "The wooden sticks I asked you to prepare a few days ago are more useful. For things like suppression, you need to hit them painfully, but not bleed."
What event, adding the word "bleeding" in front of it is always a little troublesome.
After Fang Tingshi came out of the garden, he got together with the students and talked for a long time. Unfortunately, he failed to convince everyone. Instead, some students suspected that he was afraid of the power of the court, and some yin and yang words in the crowd provoked him. After Fang Tingshi was furious, he felt ashamed again. For a while, he didn't know what to do, so he had to leave Mingyuan with his good classmates.
There were only half of the crowd expressing their anger outside the Ming Garden, and the generals of the Governor's Mansion were strictly guarded by what happened with the dog's blood bag.
I don't know how long it took, suddenly a large group of people rushed out of the Huayuan, holding wooden sticks, and beat the students who surrounded and refused to leave.
Although everyone in the Overwatch Council did not hit hard, and the students were not seriously injured, but the students who were immersed in the scriptures every day, who had not received this kind of stick education, cried and were driven away by the sticks, Huayuan Before that, he immediately returned to calm.
Only the rain fell slowly.
The chief soldier of the Governor's Mansion watched this scene dumbfounded, thinking that the Imperial Envoy is really cruel.
No one noticed that following the scattered students there were some furtive figures escaping in all directions, and behind these figures, some spies from the Overwatch Council dressed up as scholars or citizens, running in panic while Watch carefully.
Fan Xian stepped on the ladder and took the hand of the third prince to climb up the wall of Huayuan. Looking at this scene, he couldn't help laughing, and said: "According to the standard model, some gangsters should be allowed to pretend to be loyal to the emperor today." People with lofty ideals who love the people, come and beat these students."
The third prince asked curiously: "Sir, why didn't you do this today?"
Fan Xian scolded with a smile: "You want to use people from the Jiangnan water village? Now everyone knows that Xia Qifei is one of us, so why bother to have such a pink face."