After Songjiang Magistrate Huang Guoding waited for the students to disperse, he quickly took a sedan to Dong's Mansion to visit Teacher Dong. Huang Guoding had been to Dong's Mansion the day before yesterday. Only two days later, the scene was completely different. It used to be a scene of a wealthy family with crowds of servants. Now it is as deserted and deserted as an ancient temple. It is already the time to turn on the lanterns, but the lights are sparse. The huge Dong Mansion seems to have been deserted——
Dong Qichang's third son, Dong Zuhe, came to welcome Huang Guoding in. Dong Zuhe was not good at words and had a sad look on his face. He led Huang Guoding to his father's bedroom in the inner house. Huang Guoding saw Dong Qichang half lying on a bed with a tortoise shell screen. In addition to the two maids, there was also Dong Qichang's cousin Dong Qian'an——
Dong Qichang, whose face was ashen and defeated, burst into tears when he saw Huang Guoding, and said sadly: "Brother Dunzhu, what crime did Dong have to suffer from this disaster? Even if the younger generation has some faults, they are all famous, and they are bound to see him." Officer, Dong will die with his eyes closed."
Huang Guoding hurriedly stepped forward and took Dong Qichang's hand, sat down beside the bed and comforted him: "Teacher, don't worry, both brothers are fine for the time being and have not been jailed. They are both waiting in jail. The student has ordered them to go down. The officers must not be rude——"
Dong Qichang couldn't stand listening anymore and said in a hateful voice: "Zhang Yuan of Shanyin is really vicious. Because he often had old grudges with Xiao'erzu, he even incited the officials and people to frame Dong as a villain from the three counties, incited the people, and oppressed the government. Such... Shouldn’t people be arrested?”
Huang Guoding wondered: "Teacher, that Zhang Yuan is extremely cunning and does not leave any clues. Liu Tongzhi and Jiang Tong were confused and were taken advantage of by Zhang Yuan. Students cannot convict Zhang Yuan, and he is a student in Zhejiang Province." ——”
Dong Qichang was furious: "Zhang Yuan destroyed my whole Dong family. As soon as my two sons were captured, those cheap slaves and maidservants thought that my Dong family was at the end of their rope. They all had different intentions, stole property, and escaped quietly. There were dozens of them. , I can’t take care of any of this. Also, my boat sank by the river. I just ordered people to drag it ashore. The twelve large wooden boxes on the boat were gone. Dong’s life collection and most of his family property were inside. Ah, how is this different from confiscating a house? Brother Shou Zhu, what is Dong’s crime? To actually confiscate the house, where is the national law! Where is the law of heaven!”
Huang Guoding remained silent. He could do nothing to help Mr. Dong. Let alone arresting Zhang Yuan, he did not dare to protect Dong Zuyuan and Dong Zuchang. Fan Chang died suddenly, and the public resentment boiled. If he mishandled it, Dong was surrounded. The scene of the Songjiang Prefecture will happen again, and it will be his Songjiang Mansion Yamen who is besieging him——
Dong Qichang's cousin Dong Qian'an on the side said: "Huang Fuzun, Zu Yuan and Zu Chang, Huang Fuzun, please take good care of me."
Huang Guoding said: "It would be very disadvantageous for the two brothers to be tried in Songjiang. The student thought it would be better to send the two brothers to Nanjing."
The so-called "sent to Nanjing" refers to being escorted to the Nanjing Criminal Department for trial. Huang Guoding was shirking his responsibility. If Dong Zuyuan and Dong Zuchang were tried in Songjiang, he would not be able to give a heavy sentence and would not dare to give a light sentence. It was a dilemma. But for Dong Qichang, he was in a dilemma. The two sons were sent to Nanzhili for trial. No matter what the verdict was, Dong Qichang would lose his face and be ashamed of being a scholar——
The house was very quiet, and several people in the bedroom were silent. The only sound was Dong Qichang's rapid and sick breathing. After a while, Dong Qichang said: "Brother Dunzhu, is there really nothing we can do?"
Huang Guoding said: "Teacher, it's not that the students are unwilling to do their best. Those students have threatened to supervise the case every day. This case is known to all women and children in the three counties of Songjiang, and more and more people are coming to accuse your government. This pair of two It’s very disadvantageous for a senior brother.”
Dong Qian'an said: "For those ministers who interfered with official affairs, Huang Fuzun could punish them according to the inscription on Taizu's lying stele. Naturally, he would not dare to harass them again."
Huang Guoding said in his heart: "You can say it easily. There were not one, two, but dozens of those students, as well as a large number of people watching. The victims were not only Fan Chang's family members, but also the Qingpu Lu family and Huating Changsheng Bridge. Dozens of households, health officials in Shanghai, and health officials in Jinshan Health all came together to accuse Dong." He said: "Gong An, it is now common for health officials to interfere in official affairs. I want to punish them with reason and evidence. "Today's incident, because Fan Chang's family took the lead, Liu Tongzhi's confused official was involved, and the students and the people did not act excessively, it is really difficult to punish them."
Dong Qichang was silent for a while, then suddenly said: "If those students and unruly people behave excessively, Brother Dunzhu should be able to punish them."
Huang Guoding didn't know what Dong Qichang meant and didn't dare to answer.
Dong Qian'an said: "Today in the river, the boat leaked and was about to sink. Those unscrupulous people threw rocks like rain and refused to let the boat dock. They wanted to force Xuanzai and his son to death. Isn't this an extreme act?"
Dong Qichang waved his hand, smiled coldly, and said: "That's not what I'm talking about. If the shipwreck involved a human life, that would be considered extreme. Brother Dunzhu, don't you think so?"
Huang Guoding Weiwei.
Dong Qichang asked all the maids around him to go out, and asked Dong Zuhe to go out as well. There were only three people in the room, namely him, Huang Guoding and his cousin Dong Qian'an. Dong Qichang said: "Brother Dunzhu, this is the Zhejiang Party of Zhang Rulin's faction who wants to kill me. , the Zhejiang Party is worried that once Dong Gong succeeds to the throne, their Zhejiang Party will lose power. Now that Emperor Wanli is in his prime, the imperial court and party struggle will intensify. Dealing with me, Dong Qichang, is a test. If we are unable to fight back, then the Zhejiang Party will become more and more arrogant."
Huang Guoding did not dare to interrupt, thinking: "What does Teacher Dong mean by this? Do you want to ask for help from the East Palace? Because the East Palace is not favored by the emperor, it has been cautious these years for fear of making mistakes. It is not much better than the Clay Bodhisattva crossing the river. You can only succeed until the day you succeed to the throne, and now, there is definitely nothing you can do to help."
But Dong Qichang said solemnly: "If we don't have the determination of a strong man to cut off his wrists today, it will be difficult to escape from this predicament. In the middle of the night, my house will be set on fire by the unruly people headed by Zhang Yuan. Hehe, this can be regarded as an extreme act, right?" , most of the wealth of my servant Dong’s family has been dissipated, so I might as well burn the whole house to nothing."
Huang Guoding's heart trembled. This was indeed a good plan, and he could use it to reverse the defeat. However, it was a big deal, and it was not good for him as the Songjiang prefect. However, things had already happened. How to deal with the case of the second director gave him a headache. , if the incident of burning down Dong's house is used to punish the relevant officials and unruly people, he will not be constrained by these officials in the future. He said: "Then the student will go back and arrange it first. When the fire breaks out here, I will send the government officials to arrest Zhang Yuan." If you wait for a cadre officer, at least Zhang Yuan's title will be removed."
Dong Qichang asked his cousin Dong Qian'an to escort Huang Guoding out of the house. At this time, he had already handed over Ergu. Dong Qichang forced himself to be ill and summoned his close family members to pack up the paintings, calligraphy and antiques from Xuanshangzhai and the painting Zen room. After transporting it to the east of the house, prepare to use reed mats to set fire to the rice warehouse and burn it from west to east, so that the valuables and rice can be easily transported to Dong Zu and his house on the other side -
Dong Qian'an was worried that many people would spread the word and leak the news. Dong Qichang sneered: "What time has this happened? Even if the news is leaked, so what? As long as the fire breaks out, Zhang Yuan and others will have a hard time talking about it. What I want is for the house to be burned down." Ironclad proof." After thinking for a while, he whispered: "If there are no casualties, the matter is not serious. I will not stop doing anything and let people tie up Zong Yishan and his parents and throw them into the rice warehouse. The slave has brought shame on me, so I would like to take this opportunity to get rid of him."
…
There was a big chaos in the Dong's house today. Zong Yishan quietly took his parents, who were working in the kitchen of the house, outside in the evening and found an inn in the north of the city to settle in. Zong Yishan was most worried about his parents, otherwise he would have died last year. He would not come back from Nanjing. The insults the Dongs and his sons had given to him and his parents in the past six months had completely cut off any nostalgia he had for the Dongs. After settling his parents' affairs, he was ready to look for Zhang Yuan. He didn't know Zhang Yuan for a while. Where was Yuan? He expected that Zhang Yuan would also look for him, so he returned to the vicinity of Dong Mansion and met Wu Ling and Lai Fu. Wu Ling invited Zong Yishan to Wuhe Inn. When Zong Yishan and Wu Ling and Lai Fu left, they met Zheng Yuan. The sedan chair of Songjiang Prefect came out of Dong Mansion——
Zong Yishan came to Wuhe Inn and met Zhang Yuan and others. Zhang Yuan held hands and exchanged greetings. Everyone saw that Zhang Yuan respected Zong Yishan very much, so they all treated him politely and did not dare to take Zong Yishan seriously. As a servant, when talking about Dong Qichang's possible evil plan, Zong Yishan said: "Then I will go back and take a look."
Zhang Yuan said: "No need. If the Dong family wants to use poisonous tactics, Brother Yishan will be like a sheep in a tiger's mouth and never come out again. I will send another person to investigate." Let Mu Jingyan and Laifu go and bring some money with them. After bribing Dong's servants, Zhang E wanted to go with him. He and Neng Zhu brought their binoculars, and Zong Yishan also went with them.
Zhang E and the other five came to the back door of Dong Mansion. After waiting for a long time, no one came in or out. Zhang E climbed to a big tree by the river and looked at the house with a telescope. There was a bit of moonlight tonight, but how could such a telescope be used in the house? When looking at things at night, although there are lights in the house, it is just dark shadows from the telescope. It is better to see clearly with your eyes. Mu Jingyan has good eyesight, so he asked Mu Jingyan to climb up and take a look. Mu Jingyan stared at it for a while. Said: "People are coming and going in Dong's house, they are busy moving things from west to east."
Zhang E slapped his thigh and said: "That's it, Dong Qichang really wants to use this poisonous trick!"
Zhang Yuan, Lu Tao, Yang Shixiang and others were also waiting for news not far from Dong's Mansion. After receiving Zhang E's report, Zhang Yuan immediately asked Weng Yuansheng, Jiang Shiqiao and others to summon students to the Songjiang Mansion Office. There were dozens of students. The members lived in an inn near Wanghai Tower and would arrive as soon as they were called. At the same time, Zhang Yuan also asked his servants to spread the news throughout the city, saying that Dong was going to burn down the house to frame the members and the people——
Jin Langzhi was a little worried and said: "Brother Jiezi, if Dong Huan just packed up his belongings and wanted to move to the manor outside the city, wouldn't we be suspected of slandering him?"
Zhang Yuandao: "It is better to believe that this matter is true than not. Even if Dong Huan has not thought of this plan yet, we will expose it to him first and block Dong Huan's path. It doesn't matter if it is slander. We can say that it is Dong didn't burn the house because he knew his plan was defeated, and Dong Huan couldn't defend himself in this matter."
Zhang E smiled and said: "Wonderful, this is called whether there is or not, if we say there is, you will, haha."
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The first update is here, and there will be a second update around the early morning. Please give me a monthly ticket for encouragement.