Jiajing Chengming

Chapter 173: The dead and wounded, hidden in the dark

Ouyang Yu and others heard the voice.

But they don't take it seriously.

First, after crying in the temple, they were already full of anger and had already disregarded everything.

Second, they knew that the powerful bureaucrats in the southern capital also opposed the reform.

Plus……

They have always been arrogant and despise the royal power because they are too far away from the political center of Beijing. They also want to let the emperor know the power of them, the scholars in the south of the Yangtze River.

"Catch them! Anyone who resists will be killed without mercy!"

The visitor was not polite either. Seeing that they were indifferent, he issued a strict order.

The visitor was Liao Tang, the eunuch who was in charge of the Nanjing garrison.

Jinyiwei Zhu Qi was also surprised to see him behave like this.

But while he was surprised, the soldiers brought by Liao Tang had already gathered, semi-surrounded the Jiangning County School, and began to draw their swords.

Let’s talk.

Not so long ago.

Zhou Shangwen has led the main force of the Yongwei Camp to Nanjing Tongji Gate.

However, the commander-in-chief Li Qi, who was guarding Tongji Gate, ordered the city gate to be closed in advance.

Zhou Shangwen therefore asked loudly: "Why don't you defenders open the city gate?"

Li Qi said: "You brought so many soldiers here, who knows if you are rebelling? Without the order of our Lord, we dare not open the city to let you in!"

"I am the commander-in-chief appointed by His Majesty to supervise the discipline. If you don't open the door, are you going to disobey His Majesty's order?!"

Zhou Shangwen questioned loudly.

Li Qi said: "I don't care about the holy order. I only know that without the order of the Marquis, none of you can go in!"

"presumptuous!"

At this time.

Duke of Wei Xu Pengju came over accompanied by a Jinyiwei.

Li Qi immediately knelt down upon seeing this: "My Lord, why are you here?"

"Open the city gate for me now!"

Xu Pengju ordered.

Li Qi was quite hesitant.

"Why, I can't control you?"

"I am the one guarding Nanjing from inside and outside, and he, the Marquis of Baoding, is just assisting in the defense!"

"If you really want to disregard the lives of your nine clans and follow Liang Yongfu in rebellion, you don't have to obey my orders!"

Xu Pengju said sternly.

Li Qi had no choice but to say yes and went downstairs.

The garrison of Nanjing is usually carried out by the Duke of Nanjing.

But because the new garrison commander Xu Pengju was young, Zhu Houcong asked the Nanjing Ministry of War to let Liang Yongfu, Marquis of Baoding, serve as the assistant garrison commander.

However, Li Qi did not expect that Xu Pengju would appear with the Jinyiwei.

After giving the order to open the city gates, he whispered to his trusted military officer, "Send someone to tell the Marquis right away that the Jinyiwei has summoned the Duke of Wei. We can't stop them!"

"Take him!"

At this time, Zhou Shangwen led the cavalry into the city, and then ordered Li Qi to be detained.

Subsequently.

Zhou Shangwen led his troops to Jiangning County School first.

Xu Pengju looked at the Jinyiwei behind him, concentrating without saying a word.

It turned out that when Zhu Qi heard that someone was going to cry in the temple, he asked the Jinyiwei to find Xu Pengju, the Duke of Wei.

Because after Zhu Qi was ordered to station in Nando, the first thing he did was to find out who the military power in Nanjing belonged to. He also found out that the people guarding the city were Liang Yongfu's men. He asked the Jinyiwei to find Xu Pengju, a young and powerful man, in advance and ask him to assist the Yongwei Camp to enter Nanjing City at any time to maintain discipline.

Saying.

At Jiangning County School, when Liao Tang ordered the arrest of people, Zhou Shangwen and the Yongwei Battalion had already entered the city.

but.

After Liao Tang gave the order, his soldiers drew their swords but did not move.

Liao Tang could not help but loudly question the leader of his troops, Chen Pan, the captain of the Nanjing Jinyiwei: "Captain Chen, didn't you hear my order?"

That's right.

There were also Jinyiwei in Nanjing.

Moreover, all these Jinyiwei were controlled by him, the garrison eunuch.

But at this time, Zhu Qi and other plainclothes Jinyiwei saw that Liao Tang seemed unable to command the Jinyiwei under him.

At this time, Chen Pan knelt down and said, "Eunuch, we Jinyiwei only punish traitors and thieves, and deal with rebels, but they are not, they are scholars and common people!"

"presumptuous!"

Snapped!
Liao Tang slapped Chen Pan directly: "They are already traitors!"

"What a hero!"

"I didn't expect that there would be such a loyal and upright person among the Jinyiwei!"

At this time.

In the county school, some scholars have begun to praise Chen Pan's actions.

Ouyang Yu and others laughed triumphantly.

Officials such as Ren Jian and Fang Ning also smiled slightly.

"kowtow!"

"Apologize to Emperor Xiaozong Jing!"

Li Yi even became bolder because of this, and he directly ordered Li Bing, Zhang Bin and others who were forced to kneel on the ground.

Zhang Bin had a rather bad temper. He struggled in anger and yelled, "Damn it, you are not qualified to judge me!"

"presumptuous!"

Li Yi shouted.

"We are not qualified, but the Emperor is qualified!"

then.

Li Yi smiled coldly and said.

"presumptuous!"

Bang!
At this time.

A voice of "How outrageous" was heard from outside.

Then, there was a gunshot.

It turned out that the Yongwei Camp had rushed here.

Zhou Shangwen directly used a musket to clear the way and killed a scholar who was blocking his way on the spot.

"what!"

"Am I going to die?"

The scholar's shirt turned blood red and he started howling on the ground.

Liao Tang and Chen Pan were shocked when they saw this.

They didn't expect that the main force of the Yongwei Battalion would appear so soon.

Originally... Liao Tang knew that the people of Liang Yongfu, Marquis of Baoding, would block the Yongwei Camp from entering the city in advance, so he just wanted to show how much he hated these people crying in the temple on behalf of the emperor, and let Chen Pan show how much he sympathized with these people, rather than really wanting to severely punish these people crying in the temple.

But now, Zhou Shangwen appeared in time and forced their performance to be stopped.

"What's wrong with Marquis Baoding? Didn't they agree that his people would stop the people from the Brave Guard Battalion?"

Liao Tang muttered to himself with an unhappy look on his face.

Chen Pan hurriedly stood up and asked Liao Tang in a panic, "Eunuch, what should I do?"

"What else can be done?"

"Run away!"

Liao Tang said in a low voice.

Chen Pan said yes, and quietly withdrew with a few of his trusted followers. Because there were so many people, his other subordinates didn't even know he had left.

But Zhu Qi knew.

Because he was staring at Liao Tang and Chen Pan's reactions.

When he saw Liao Tang, who was furious at first because Chen Pan refused to follow orders, actually whispered to Chen Pan at this time, he felt suspicious, and then quietly left the crowd. He did not go to see the fight going on in the county school, but quietly followed with a bamboo hat on his head and a load of firewood on his shoulder.

Liao Tang was so frightened and anxious because the Yongwei Camp appeared so suddenly that he forgot to be on guard against the Jinyiwei who might be secretly present.

at this time.

At the county school.

Zhou Shangwen has already started killing.

There was a loud sound of gunfire.

White smoke filled the air.

All the soldiers and civilians who tried to block the way were killed.

The frightened soldiers and civilians fled in all directions, each of them terrified, and some women disguised as men even started shouting and screaming.

Many civilians who participated in the crying temple were captured alive.

Ouyang Yu, Li Yi and others also saw this scene.

The two were shocked for a moment.

"You two gentlemen, hurry up!"

The powerful servants who had been sent to protect them secretly pushed Ouyang Yu, Li Yi and others to leave the county school from the back street while the Yongwei Battalion was still sweeping the periphery, and took them into a garden.

There were many gardens owned by powerful officials in Nanjing, many of which were built next to the city walls and had direct access to the water gates.

At that time, Ouyang Yu, Li Yi and others also escaped.

"This is not over yet!"

"Although his army is powerful, we can see from this crying temple that the people are extremely angry!"

"We should go to Mingdao Academy to set up a council and call on more militiamen to unite and fight against these cruel treacherous officials and lackeys. We should also call on our classmates in various prefectures, states and counties to issue a manifesto and spread a notice to let the court know that until Zhu Xizhou is dealt with, we will not cooperate with the land survey and pay taxes and labor service fees!"

Note: In history, the scholars and people of Jiangnan during the Ming Dynasty were very bold. It was common for them to smash government offices and even set up new organizations. If you don't believe it, you can read the book "Ming Dynasty Under the Microscope". There is a story about a student named Cheng Renqing who occupied Ziyang Academy and set up a council because the Ministry of Revenue changed the silk tax and established an autonomous political system. However, this man was not executed in the end.

Let’s talk.

Ouyang Yu was standing by the Yangtze River at this time, looking at the surging river, and spoke to Li Yi and other scholars.

Li Yi echoed: "It should be so!"

then.

These people went to Mingdao Academy outside the city, and together they decided to set up a council, clearly intending to organize a confrontation with the government.

In the end, the council decided that Ouyang Yu would go to Suzhou, Li Yi would go to Songjiang, and Xu Cheng would go to Changzhou in order to create a bigger storm of confrontation.

After Zhou Shangwen led the Yongwei Battalion to occupy the county school, he temporarily locked up the captured people who participated in the crying temple in the jail of Jiangning County Government, while those who were killed were placed outside the county school to be taken away by their families.

Ren Jun, Fang Ning and other officials and gentry also came to their senses at this time.

Even Liao Tang came to his senses at this time.

Looking at the scene of numerous casualties, they were shocked and angry, but they couldn't show it too obviously, so they could only pretend to be regretful.

and……

They all came over to greet Zhou Shangwen, then said something about how it was useless to persuade him, and finally left one after another.

Li Bing, Zhang Bin and others were naturally rescued by the Yongwei Camp who arrived.

The two injured cavalrymen were also carried away to be treated by the military doctor.

The cavalryman who was shot was also carried in front of Zhou Shangwen.

Zhou Shangwen touched the wound of the slain cavalryman and said, "The archery skills are so good. It seems that the elite servants of the military meritorious service are involved!"

"What the commander said is correct. When the leading scholars who were crying in the temple took advantage of the chaos to escape, they were escorted by strong men, and they were very fast, and they had good horses ready!"

Li Bing replied at this time.

After hearing this, Zhou Shangwen put his hands on his hips and muttered, "Damn it!"

then.

He then instructed the official Zhu Jinggu: "Submit all this to your majesty in secret!"

Zhu Jinggu bowed and said yes.

Zhou Shangwen himself told Li Bing, "Return to camp!"

Li Bingze then asked, "Marshal, aren't we going to hunt down those bastards?"

Zhou Shangwen stopped and looked at Li Bing: "How can we catch them? This is their territory. They are more familiar with water and land transportation, local customs and practices than we are! We are all outsiders, and our accents will be exposed as soon as we open our mouths!"

"But the brothers couldn't stand this rage any longer. We were so tolerant and restrained, but they didn't treat us as human beings. They killed our people and humiliated us as traitors and running dogs! We just beat them away. What's going on?"

Li Bing replied with a sullen face.

"Commander Li is right. We should kill them all and wipe out the entire Jiangnan area!"

Zhang Bin echoed.

Snapped!
Zhou Shangwen directly hit Zhang Bin with a horsewhip: "What nonsense are you talking about? You are not a Mongolian, nor a bandit. Are you a lieutenant of the imperial army?"

Zhang Bin also regretted his slip of the tongue. He did not argue, but just puffed out his cheeks, clenched his fists, and tried hard to swallow his anger.

Li Bing continued to question: "Doesn't the Marshal think that we are treacherous officials and lackeys? Do you think they are right?"

Zhou Shangwen blushed, and he could tell that the officers and soldiers were very resentful, especially after seeing their comrades being humiliated.

Therefore, he spoke again: "It's not that we won't hunt them down, nor that we will really let them go, but we will do it according to the will of the emperor. If they incite the rich, we will unite with the poor!"

"What do you mean?"

Li Bing asked.

Zhou Shangwen said: "Before leaving Beijing, His Majesty told me that this reform will not benefit the rich but the poor. The poor are the real people, but they have always been ignored and not treated as real people!"

"When I asked you to treat the people as human beings at the beginning, you certainly couldn't stand it. You felt that as a personal guard, you also had your own pride. How could you do things for the lowly!"

"But when you find out that the gentry and wealthy families here do not treat you as their personal guards, do not respect you, and look down on you, you will be willing to treat the common people as human beings and get in touch with the poorest people. Your Majesty said that fish only know the benefits of water when they are thirsty!"

"Go back to camp!"

"From now on, we should change our approach. If you want to take revenge, you should lower your pride first. Help those who are suffering and those in trouble! We should also learn from the scholars. They develop literary societies. We should organize agricultural societies, industrial societies, and commercial societies, and then wait for the new decree to come!"

Next.

The officers and generals of the Yongwei Camp didn't say anything else. They all obeyed the orders obediently and returned to the camp. However, many of them looked as if they were thinking seriously.

Because they still need time to understand the oracle.

Let’s talk.

Jinyiwei Zhu Qi has been following Chen Pan and others.

Even in the afternoon, when heavy rain suddenly fell, he did not leave. He just waited at the entrance of an alley where Chen Pan and others suddenly entered. When Chen Pan came out, he took out a letter from his lapel and read it. The letter was not thick, and it came from the palace, with the postmark of the Imperial Household Department.

He did not open it, but just touched it, then put it back. When he heard footsteps approaching, he suddenly pulled out the Embroidered Spring Sword hidden in the firewood pole.

Soon, a string of crystal clear water droplets appeared on the blade, gathering into a line.

(End of this chapter)