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At noon, the sparse shadows of the parasol trees are reflected on the window screen. The swaying green leaves of the past have all fallen, leaving only a curtain of thin branches.
The room was covered with thick carpets, with huanghuali wood tables and chairs, a gorgeous floor-standing screen with gilt patterns, a famous landscape painting on the wall, and a spotless zither on the table. Next to the zither table was a copper incense burner with plum blossoms and cranes, and the crane's beak was emitting wisps of sandalwood.
On the moon-shaped door canopy bed with a tasseled brocade curtain, a young woman was leaning on a soft white satin orchid-embroidered pillow, with her arms exposed, a touch of flirtatiousness, and a faint fragrance floating in the room... ... .
Looking closely at this young woman, her thin eyebrows are as light as distant mountains, her bright eyes are as clear as autumn water, she is leaning on the soft pillow and flipping through a few pages of a Song Dynasty thread-bound book, but she has no intention of reading any further, and her expression is somewhat sick and tired. This is none other than Liu Rushi who lives in seclusion in Jinling.
"Mr. Qian has a broad mind and his talent is known all over the world. When the country was destroyed, he returned to the Northern Palace, but he still holds a high position in the old Donglin." Liu Rushi looked out the window at the autumn scenery and murmured to herself. She had been worried about this poem written by someone else last night and couldn't sleep.
She was talented and arrogant, and every time she heard these poems satirizing Qian Qianyi, she felt ashamed and angry.
Qian Qianyi was a man of great talent, but he had such a mean character. She only regretted that she had misjudged him. It was also because of this that when Qian Qianyi was appointed as the vice president of the Ming History Compilation Committee as the Minister of Rites of the Qing Dynasty, she refused to go north with him and stayed in Nanjing.
Outside the window, the sun was already high in the sky, and the September wind was a little chilly. Liu Rushi lay in bed in boredom, not wanting to get up. Now everyone in the family was in a state of panic, and she was the only one who could not get up from her bed.
"Madam, are you up?" Qing'er, the personal maid, asked softly outside the door.
Liu Rushi sighed deeply and asked, "What's the matter?"
"Madam, the eldest master is outside asking to see you."
"No, no! Get him out!" Liu Rushi sat up and shouted angrily.
Qian Qianyi had only one son, Qian Sun'ai, who was born to Qian Qianyi's other concubine, Zhu. When the Manchus ruled Nanjing, Qian Sun'ai, relying on his father's merit in surrendering, bullied the good people in Nanjing and acted as an accomplice to the Manchus.
When Hong Chengchou was in charge of Nanjing, Qian Sunai even reported her to the government, saying that she had committed adultery with a scholar named Zheng, which was a disgrace to the family. She then beat the scholar to death.
At that time, Anqing was under siege, and Hong Chengchou didn't care about such things and let it go. However, the incident caused a sensation in Jinling City, and Liu Rushi never dared to go out after that.
Qian Sunai is 19 years old this year. She is thin and pale. Since the Qin army occupied Jinling, the front and back doors of the Qian family have been guarded by the Qin army. Except for the maids and servants who buy firewood and rice, no one is allowed to go out.
The Qian family felt as if they were facing doomsday. Every day, the door was closed tightly and they were startled three times a day. If there was any movement outside the door, the whole family would be so frightened that they dared not breathe. They were afraid that the Qin army was coming to confiscate their home and arrest people. They were really in a state of panic and anxiety.
What was coming finally came, and Qian Sunai asked his servants to go out and inquire. He just heard a piece of news that the Qin army was going to severely punish the officials who surrendered to the Qing Dynasty.
Qian Sun'ai was so frightened that he was scared out of his wits. With no other options left, he had to come to Liu Rushi for help again.
Hearing Liu Rushi's angry scolding in the room, he showed a look of fear in his eyes. He pushed Qing'er away and knocked on the door and begged, "Madam Liu, I was wrong. I kneel down for you. Please save our Qian family for my father's sake."
Liu Rushi got up, put on her clothes, opened the door with her long hair loose, but saw Qian Sun'ai kneeling outside the door, kowtowing to her when he saw her come out. This scene made Liu Rushi think of Qian Qianyi. Like father, like son. For the sake of his life, he was so servile and fawning that she became even more angry.
"Get out! Don't let me see you again!"
Qian Sunai kept kowtowing and said, "Madam Liu, for the sake of father, please save the Qian family. Now only you can save the Qian family. Madam Liu, think about it, if the nest is destroyed, how can the eggs remain intact? If the Qian family is confiscated and exterminated, Madam Liu will probably die too."
"Death? I, Liu Rushi, have lived in shame until today, and the only thing I owe is death!"
Qian Sun'ai's forehead was black and blue from the knocks. With tears in his eyes, he said, "Madam Liu, I was wrong. I shouldn't have gone to the government office to sue you. Madam Liu, please save the Qian family for my father's sake. Please save the Qian family. I, Qian Sun'ai, will work like a slave in my next life and will definitely repay Madam Liu's kindness..."
Qian Sunai cried and complained, attracting everyone in the Qian family. Qian Sunai shouted to the whole family: "Why don't you kneel down and beg Aunt Liu, hurry up, or we will all die."
Hundreds of people from the Qian family, including Qian Sunai's biological mother Zhu, knelt down and begged Liu Rushi. Their despair, as if they were facing their last day, softened Liu Rushi's heart. She sighed, "If I had known this would happen, I would not have done it in the first place. The master is still in the Northern Barbarians. Even if I wanted to save him, how could I save the Qian family?"
The Qin army and the Qing army fought to the death. Now Qian Qianyi is a high-ranking official in the Qing Dynasty, but he wants the Qin State to treat his family well. Throughout history, has there ever been such a good thing
"Madame Liu, you used to have a wide circle of friends. As long as you are willing to save the Qian family, there will definitely be a way. Madam Qian, please..."
Liu Rushi was once a famous prostitute in Qinhuai and knew many prestigious people. In Qian Sun'ai's opinion, if she was willing to commit herself to him, perhaps the Qian family could escape this disaster.
Liu Rushi no longer had the heart to rebuke him. Seeing the Qian family kneeling on the ground and the situation precarious, she was filled with mixed emotions. Just as she was about to answer, she saw a servant running in through the second gate and shouting from afar: "Oh no, oh no, the soldiers are coming into the mansion..."
When this shout was heard, Qian Sun'ai, who was kneeling, collapsed to the ground on the spot. The whole family was in chaos, crying and shouting.
Liu Rushi's eyes darkened. She turned and went into the room, found a white silk, and planned to commit suicide.
The Qin army broke into the Qian Mansion in two columns in an orderly manner, but with swords and spears drawn and cold black armor, they shouted coldly and drove the Qian family members to a side room. The Qian family happened to be gathered together and were almost wiped out. There was crying and no one dared to resist. Qian Sun'ai, who was lying on the ground, was dragged by two Qin soldiers and thrown directly into the side room, where he fainted.
After a while, even Liu Rushi, who had hanged herself, was rescued and locked up in a side room.
Then, Wu Jiang, the censor of the Censorate, Chi Zengsui, the magistrate of Yingtian Prefecture, and a group of officials walked into Qian's mansion.
Seeing that the soldiers had taken control of the situation, Chi Zengsui asked Wu Jiang, "Sir Wu, where do we start?"
Wu Jiang replied bluntly, "I am here on orders to supervise. How Lord Chi conducts the confiscation is Lord Chi's business. I would like to advise Lord Chi that we should not try to get too close to each other as we are on official business. This will benefit both you and me."
Chi Zengsui did not expect that Wu Jiang, who was quite easy to talk to outside the government office, would become a completely different person as soon as he entered the government office. He looked at the Qin army soldiers who stood as straight as pine trees and were as cold as iron, and his heart skipped a beat. He quickly bowed to Wu Jiang in a serious manner, then turned around and shouted to the clerks behind him: "Listen carefully, immediately classify all kinds of property and make a list, and record them one by one. Anyone who dares to hide them will be severely punished."
The clerks who came to search the house thought they had gotten a good job, but after hearing Chi Zengsui's cold rebuke, they became nervous and began to search the house with account books in hand, walking on thin ice.
Outside the Qian family's gate, many people gathered to watch. No one was surprised that Qian Qianyi's house was searched. It would have been strange if it had not been searched.
It was Qian Qianyi who took the lead in shaving his head and opening the gate of Nanjing to surrender to the Tartars. Now he is still a high-ranking official of the Tartars in Beijing. This big traitor has long been scolded by the people. When the Qian family was raided at this time, most people thought that he deserved it and applauded.
On that day, it was not just Qian Qianyi's family that had their property confiscated. Those who had surrendered to the Tartars with Qian Qianyi, or those who had been selected as officials by Qian Qianyi and served as running dogs for the Tartars, all had their property confiscated.
In addition, the homes of high-ranking officials who surrendered to the Qing Dynasty, such as Liu Kongzhao, the Earl of Chengyi, Zhu Guobi, the Duke of Baoguo, Li Guofu, the eunuch, Wang Duo, the former Dongge Grand Secretary of the Hongguang Dynasty, and Zhao Zhilong, were also confiscated. It is said that in Jinling alone, there were more than a hundred families whose homes were confiscated.
People on the street were talking about this. Some people made hindsight comments, saying that the King of Qin went to Jiangyin a few days ago to pay tribute to the heroes who died in the battle, and then went to Yangzhou to use the heads of thousands of prisoners to pay tribute to the hundreds of thousands of people who were killed in Yangzhou. At that time, they expected that the King of Qin would not be lenient towards traitors.
This statement was supported by many people, even some shrewd scholars believed that the King of Qin had launched a set of political combinations this time.
He went to Jiangyin to pay tribute to the heroes who died in the war in order to awaken people's integrity, and went to Yangzhou to pay tribute to arouse the people's hatred for the Tartars and disgust for the traitors. Then I will immediately raid the traitors' homes to win the support of public opinion.
Not only will the people not be disgusted by such searches, they will also applaud them. The best proof of this is the reaction of the people of Jinling.
Scholars also supported this. People like Qian Qianyi, Wang Duo, and Zhao Zhilong were too shameless. When the Qing army marched south, they massacred Yangzhou and hundreds of thousands of civilians. The corpses piled up like mountains and the blood flowed like rivers. Qian Qianyi ignored such bloody facts and not only organized a grand ceremony to welcome the executioner Yu Wang Duoduo into Nanjing; he also published a public article to praise the Qing Dynasty: "Since the Liao, Jin, and Yuan dynasties, those who came to rule China from the northern desert, although they used the right way to fight the wrong way, all abandoned the traitors and provoked provocations, and called up troops to ask for punishment. Has anyone ever raised an army to fight against the enemy, to seek help and to fight for justice, to drive out the sworn enemy of China, to avenge the hatred of our former emperor, to avenge the humiliation and eliminate the evil, and to be superior to the Qing Dynasty in the ages?"
The gist of this statement was that since the Liao, Jin and Yuan dynasties, none of the foreign races that came to rule China from the north had been as righteous as the Qing Dynasty, which helped expel China's sworn enemy (Li Zicheng) and avenge our late emperor (Chongzhen). Such kindness is simply unprecedented in history!
This public statement was signed by Zhao Zhilong in cooperation with Qian Qianyi and Wang Duo. It was so shameless that anyone with a bit of backbone would be filled with righteous indignation and hate him to the core. Not to mention confiscating his family property, even killing all nine generations of his clan would not be too much!
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.(To be continued..)
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