Jiuhua Mountain, what we are talking about here is not the Buddhist holy land, but a small hill in the north of Nanjing. It is called Fuzhou Mountain at this time. It is close to the capital wall. Outside the wall is Houhu (Xuanwu Lake). The mountain is only tens of meters high. The top of the mountain is
There is a temple that echoes Jiming Mountain to the west.
Because it is close to the north city wall, and the back lake outside the wall is both the northeastern moat and the royal forbidden area, it is very secluded. Except for a few pilgrims on weekdays, there are few people. There is a village in the south of the mountain facing the sun, and a few households watch the sun rise and set.
But the rest is normal.
There is a family at the far west end of the village. It has a single courtyard with low walls and is elegantly decorated under flower fields and vines. At first glance, it looks like it is not an ordinary farmer's house.
This family had only moved here a few years ago, and there were fewer visitors than the villagers on weekdays, but its visitors kept coming and going. After asking, the villagers found out that a high-ranking official came here to live in seclusion. They only knew that his surname was Ruan, but they did not know his first name.
When asked, he was asked to call him Baizi Shanqiao. Behind his back, the villagers always ridiculed him for pretending. Even though he was a Shanqiao, he had never chopped a piece of firewood...
The villagers only knew that this man was hypocritical, but they did not know that he was Ruan Dacheng, who had bad conduct and everyone wanted to beat him up. They did not expect that he would control the affairs of the Southern Ming Dynasty in the future and make the city of Nanjing a mess, handing over half of the country to the Tatars.
Ruan Dacheng was not only a treacherous man but also of extremely low moral character. He had been a stranger since his debut. He was born in Donglin, but he clung to Wei Zhongxian in order to gain benefits from both sides. After Emperor Chongzhen came to power, he prepared two pieces of writing to accuse the Donglin Party and the Eunuch Party of being "parties."
"Attachment of eunuchs" should be abolished together, but it was later revealed that Emperor Chongzhen dismissed him as an eunuch. He first lived in Anqing and then lived in seclusion in Nanjing. He recruited knights to talk about military affairs and formed a literary society. Later, he also wanted to talk to the Donglin Party.
He was rejected by others, so he never had the chance to enter the official career again. Because of his bad reputation and poor conduct, even the people who returned to society were disgusted and he refused to interact with him, which shows that his character was extremely corrupt.
His reputation was so bad that the emperor did not use him, so Ruan Dacheng had no choice but to live in seclusion in Nanjing. However, Ma Shiying, who was recommended by him, rose to prominence and became the governor of Lufeng. He came to Nanjing from time to time to reminisce with him. Since ancient times, there are many villains with talents. Although Ma Shiying has a low character, his
He was indeed a literary and artistic person, good at playing chess, calligraphy and painting, and he also attracted many literati and poets to interact with him on weekdays.
In the evening, the light rain fell non-stop. When Ruan Dacheng was looking at the falling rain outside the courtyard and reciting a poem, he suddenly heard someone knocking on the door. The servant asked and came back to tell him: "Governor Ma has sent someone."
Governor Ma is Ma Shiying.
Ruan Dacheng was shocked. This was a good friend he had always been proud of. You should know that with his bad reputation, most officials would not look down on him, or even avoid him, but Ma Shiying was different. He was always grateful.
It was Ruan Dacheng's recommendation that led to his current glory, and the relationship between the two was extremely good. Moreover, in history, Ma Shiying knew how to repay his kindness, and recommended Ruan Dacheng during the Nanming Dynasty, making him the Minister of War and the Grand Bachelor of Nanming. The two worked together in collusion.
It didn't take long for the Hongguang court to be disbanded and the city of Nanjing handed over.
So he quickly asked his servant to invite the visitor in.
Two people came, wearing bamboo hats to protect themselves from the rain, but Ruan Dacheng quickly felt something was wrong, because he saw the white cloth tied around the waists of these two people, and his heart sank.
"I have seen Mr. Ruan." The two young men entered and knelt down to salute. Ruan Dacheng stared at the white cloth around their waists and couldn't help but trembled his lips a few times: "But, what happened?".
"Master Ruan, my master is dead!" As they said this, the two of them fell to the ground and cried loudly!
Ruan Dacheng stood up in shock and shouted: "How could it be possible? How could it be possible?" His hand touching the tea cup kept shaking. He was already sixty years old, but Ma Shiying was several years younger than him. She looked so strong and energetic, how could she suddenly become so powerful?
He's dead.
"How did Yaocao (Ma Shiying's nickname) pass away?" Ruan Dacheng was shocked to hear the bad news and was very panicked.
"My master slipped and fell on Fengyang City and died." One of them sobbed and said. Ruan Dacheng was even more surprised: "How could he have lost his footing on Fengyang City?" The person reporting the loss said that Ma Shiying had been drinking and eating a lot in the past few days.
After being full, he and Lu Zhenfei and others went to the city to climb up and look far away. After drinking too much wine, they supported the wall and vomited, but accidentally fell down. They did not fall to death at that time, but they knew that there was no hope of recovery. They came to report the funeral and asked Ruan Dacheng.
Write an epitaph for him.
Ruan Dacheng listened in a daze for a long time, with mixed feelings in his heart. How could he finally have a friend who could show off in the background and show off his skills suddenly die? And he even named him to write an epitaph for him even though he knew he was a bad person.
Very touched.
"Mr. Ruan, the corpse won't last long in this hot weather. There are busy funerals over there. If it's convenient for you to go to the funeral, let's leave the city quickly before it gets dark. Maybe we can catch up and take a last look at my master.
Since you are my master's best friend, it is up to you to take charge of the overall situation," the mourner said softly as he wiped his tears.
Ruan Dacheng nodded, then asked the maid to pack some luggage, and took some broken silver to give to the two mourners: "It's raining, let's hire a car. I'm old and can't bear the long journey."
"Back to Mr. Ruan, when we came we had hired a carriage and it was outside the courtyard. When we left the city and crossed the Yangtze River, there were carriages waiting for us." The mourner said quickly, and Ruan Dacheng cast an appreciative look: "You are very thoughtful in your work."
Before dark, a carriage left the city from Dinghuai Gate and went straight to the Yangtze River Wharf along the Qinhuai River. Ruan Dacheng sat in the car and opened his eyes to look at the cloudy sky outside and the continuous drizzle, which made him feel extremely depressed.
It was completely dark when we arrived at the Yangtze River. The mourner held an umbrella and helped him out of the carriage. The ferry had already been waiting for a long time. Ruan Dacheng was slightly surprised. Lao Ma's people were really thorough in their work, and the whole process was seamless.
According to this day and night journey, the trip to Fengyang, which is more than 400 miles, can be resisted in two days at most.
The ferry was not big and there were only two boatmen. However, the river was very windy and the boat was heaving up and down. This made Ruan Dacheng feel a little frightened, so he asked: "Why not hire a big boat?"
"The ferry is busy, and the big boat won't leave until everyone has gathered," the mourner said, looking at the other person and smiling.
Ruan Dacheng felt strange: "Why are you laughing?"
"It's nothing. I'll do everything carefully, so don't worry, Mr. Ruan." He laughed loudly, and the two boatmen also laughed heartily.
Ruan Dacheng felt more and more strange, so he winked at the servant who came with him. The servant could tell that something was wrong but didn't know how to deal with it. Just when he was about to reach out and touch his arms, he heard a muffled groan and was given a stick by the boatman.
He was knocked unconscious.
When the incident happened suddenly, Ruan Dacheng screamed in fear and hid in the corner of the cabin waving his hands: "You, who are you?"
"Brother-in-law, why did Mr. Ruan ask such a strange question?" Several people said with a smile. At this time, the boat had reached the middle of the river. It was windy and rough and the sky was dark. It was a good place and a good time to kill people and dump their bodies.
"Since you are a mourner, why did you commit murder...What do you want to do? I have the money, I have the money!" Ruan Dacheng did not doubt the identity of these people at this time. He just thought that they might want to take the opportunity to rob money. This kind of thing is not possible these days.
It's not surprising that it's common for servants to take advantage of chaos to rob their masters, let alone Ma Shiying's servant who was dying.
"How much money do you have?" someone asked with a smile, and Ruan Dacheng threw the package over: "I'll give it to you as much as you have. If you don't have enough, you can come with me back to Nanjing to get it. As long as you spare my life, it doesn't matter if you lose everything."
"Master Ruan is open." The man opened the parcel, dug out the silver and divided it, then threw the parcel into the river. The other man brought a large stone tied with a rope from the cabin and placed it at Ruan Dacheng's feet.
"You, you, what are you going to do? Are you Lu Zhenfei's people? Has Ma Shiying been harmed by him?" Ruan Dacheng struggled wildly. He was on good terms with Ma Shiying and naturally knew that he was at odds with Lu Zhenfei.
Several people held him tightly and tied the other end of the rope to Ruan Dacheng's feet: "Master Ruan said that we have done everything carefully, and of course there is no room for mistakes." One person said and tied Ruan Dacheng's hands firmly, and then ignored him.
Shouting and screaming, he was pushed into the river, causing waves on the surface of the river to surge.
"What should we do about this?" One person kicked the unconscious servant.
The other didn't say anything, he just threw the servant into the river and clapped his hands: "Let's go to the shore and drink some flower wine to warm ourselves up."