Under the scorching sun, an ordinary carriage slowly drove from the official road into the ferry dock. People were coming and going on the dock, and the ships were extremely busy loading and unloading cargo. No one paid attention to the two men in civilian clothes who came out of the carriage.
A short old man.
They looked like just two old men in ordinary clothes.
The two men walked through the crowd with their heads lowered and walked down the steps of the pier. There, a ferry was waiting for passengers to cross the river.
"Two old men, are you going to Nanjing?" Two young men in their prime on the boat asked after seeing the two old men.
"We can't wait. If I give you more money, you need to sail across the river immediately." The tall old man said in a deep voice.
"It's easy to talk about. There are not many guests at noon. Our brothers just went back to the house opposite to eat and rest. I don't need you to give me more money. Just get on the boat and leave." The man driving the oar said with a simple smile.
The tall old man glanced at the short, fat old man next to him and whispered: "Are you getting on the boat?"
The short and fat old man nodded and whispered: "Okay. It's best to get to Nanjing before dark."
The tall old man nodded, took out a piece of silver from his arms and threw it into the hand of the oarsman, and said in a deep voice: "Then I'll book your boat. Be quick."
The oar operator smiled and said, "Don't worry, you two, I'll keep it in time for the city."
After the gangplank was set up, the two old men slowly boarded the boat. The oar operator even stepped forward and stretched out his hand to help the two of them. When approaching the two of them, the man wrinkled his nose and brows unnoticeably.
"Brother, what are you doing standing still? The guests are on board, let's start the boat." The man driving the oar smiled at the man holding the oar at the stern of the boat.
"Let's go!" the man holding the hand shouted, stood up, picked up the long pole and moved it a little closer to the shore. The ferry then left the shore and slowly headed towards the middle of the river.
The sun was shining on the river surface, and the river was surging, reflecting the silver light. The two old men sat in the cabin and looked at the surging river water outside in trance. The ferry was moving very fast, and after burning an incense stick, it was close to the center of the river. The river surface was calm and open, and the left side was near.
Not a single ship passed by, only the surging river current and the bright blue sky.
The ship stopped.
The two old men in the cabin discovered this, and the tall old man asked loudly: "Why did the ship stop?"
There were sounds of footsteps at the bow and stern of the ship, and at the same time there was the sound of weapons being unsheathed. When the tall old man stood up in horror and got out of the cabin, two boat operators stood in front of him, one behind the other, each carrying a steel knife.
"You...what are you doing? In this bright and clear world, do you dare to be blatant bandits? Are water bandits so rampant in Nanjing?" the tall old man shouted loudly.
Wang Yue shouted in the cabin: "You two heroes, if you want money, we will give it to you. Don't hurt anyone's life."
"Hahaha. Eunuch Wang, Eunuch Fan, Eunuch Liu, the Chief of Ceremonies in the capital, asked us to say hello to you two." A man laughed, and the light and shadow reflected by the steel knife shone on his face, making his honest face look...
Eerie and terrifying.
"What are you talking nonsense about? What father-in-law? We don't know him." The tall old man was shocked and said calmly.
"Hahaha, Governor Fan, are you still arguing? Do you think you can escape from the clutches of Eunuch Liu? It took you quite a while from Beijing to Nanjing. The beards on both of your faces look very similar.
It's a pity that what's fake is fake. How can you two have beards if you don't have eggs? The beard looks very fake when it's attached to your mouth." Another man also laughed.
"Brother Zhao, it's not just his beard. His walking posture is wrong. He walks with his legs crossed and a diaper stuffed in his crotch. How can he walk so neatly? Also, when I just got on the boat, I smelled like this.
The smell is strange. People say that father-in-laws are prone to enuresis. It is true. On a hot day, the smell is particularly unpleasant. I don’t know how the emperor and his ladies could endure it when they were serving the emperor and his ladies in the palace."
"Hahaha, Commander Li really has a sharp eye. You can spot them as soon as they get off the carriage, and their noses are also very sharp."
"That's... hahaha."
The two men were talking and joking among themselves, trying their best to ridicule.
The tall old man's face was ashen. He stretched out his hand and slowly pulled off the fake beard stuck to his mouth and threw it into the river wind.
"Brothers, why push people too hard? Our family and the prince and uncle have been demoted to Nanjing to serve as pure soldiers, and we are at the end of the road. How about you, brothers, let us go a little bit? Take the property that I, the prince, and the father-in-law have brought.
Please go and separate yourself. Just pretend that you two have never seen us. Your Majesty and I will never show up again."
"Fan Heng, Governor Fan, you too have today. Weren't you very arrogant and arrogant in the past? When we see you, we don't deserve to see you seriously. Hahaha, there is a time when you beg us today. Fan Heng,
If I had known this, why did I do it in the first place? If I had left a way out for myself, how could I have today?" A man carrying a knife said with a smile.
"President Fan, we don't dare to let you go. We don't dare to disobey Eunuch Liu's order, so do we still need our heads? How much money do you have? Is it enough to buy the lives of our two brothers? Besides, you guys
Doesn’t the money on our body still belong to us? Can it still fly?”
"Hahaha, that's right. Your heads are valuable. If we take your heads to see Eunuch Liu, each of us can get a thousand taels of silver reward. If you are down to earth, why not do it? Hahaha
."
The two men laughed loudly.
Fan Heng frowned, patiently trying to continue to plead. In the cabin, Wang Yue said in a deep voice: "That's it, Eunuch Fan, there's no need to beg them, they won't let us go. Now that the matter has come to this, we can only accept our fate."
."
Fan Heng gritted his teeth and shouted angrily: "You accept your fate, but I don't."
While speaking, Fan Heng reached out and pulled out a dagger from his boot, and shouted sternly: "We will fight with you."
The two men laughed, and Commander Li shook his steel knife and said with a smile: "President Fan, we can't blame you for this. Brother Zhao, get to work."
Fan Heng roared and rushed towards one of them. He swung his dagger and stabbed the man directly in the chest.
The man laughed loudly, flashed the steel knife, and Fan Heng was hit in the arm. The dagger fell to the ground, and his arm was dripping with blood.
"You're a three-legged cat, and you're still attacking us. You used to be the governor of the East Factory, and a bunch of people protected you, but you still think you're so proud. There's only one way to kill you." A man named Zhao
laughed.
Fan Heng cursed angrily, and suddenly stretched out his hand to tear off the bulging gauze belt around his waist and threw it into the river. He smiled ferociously and said, "You don't even think about getting anything. Take my leader's reward? That's unthinkable."
The two men were shocked. Fan Heng jumped up and rushed into the river with a splash. He floated and sank for a few times, then made no sound again.
The two men cursed continuously and turned around to hold the pale-faced Wang Yue tightly, fearing that he would also jump into the river.
Wang Yue said in a deep voice: "Don't worry, you two, our family will not jump into the river. We still have more than one hundred taels of silver on our waist, so I will give it all to you. You can also ask for our heads to receive the reward.
Our family just asks you to bury our bodies in the ground and find a piece of wood for our heads to bury. We don’t want to be headless ghosts."
The two men looked at each other, and Commander Li said: "Okay, Eunuch Wang, we promise you."
Wang Yue said softly: "Thank you both very much. Also, please give Eunuch Liu a message, saying that I, Wang Yue, am waiting for him below. His fate will definitely be worse than ours. Our family was beheaded."
, he is afraid that he will be quartered by five horses, and there will not even be a whole body. Our family is waiting to see his retribution."
Commander Li frowned and said, "I'm sorry, we can't bring you this."
Wang Yue nodded and said: "That's all, let's do that. Whoever has more strength, I'll give it a try."
Wang Yue sat on the deck, lowered his head and closed his eyes.
Commander Li nodded and waved his hand. The man named Zhao raised the knife and dropped it, and Wang Yue's head rolled down into the cabin.
…
July 29, Yangzhou Beishan Station.
Xu Zhi, a former eunuch who was also demoted to Nanjing, was attacked at Beishan Station. Xu Zhi paid a lot of money to bribe the killer, but his legs were eventually broken and he was thrown into the mountains. The next morning, he was rescued by soldiers and horses of the station and picked up.
A life. After arriving in Nanjing, he was abandoned because his legs were disabled. He committed suicide by throwing himself into a lotus pond six months later.
…
On the third day of August, Liu Jin announced the removal and reprimand of officials on behalf of Zhu Houzhao. More than thirty officials from the outer court who participated in the impeachment case were ordered to kneel under the scorching sun outside Fengtian Gate and wait. Two hours later, six people suffered from heatstroke and begged for water. Liu Jin
No. Later Li Dongyang, Yang Tinghe and others entered the palace to see him, and Liu Jin announced the imperial edict.
More than thirty officials were either dismissed or demoted and fined, and none of them were exempted. All those who were officials in Beijing were demoted from the capital and were given a three-day deadline to leave the city.
…
On the fifth day of August, Liu Jian, the former chief assistant of the cabinet, was attacked and killed by unidentified people on his way back home. Fortunately, Li Dongyang was prepared and sent people to accompany him to protect him. The two sides fought fiercely, killing and injuring more than ten people. Liu Jian's second son, Liu Dong, a driver of the Ministry of War, was seriously injured.
No cure.
…
…
In just half a month, Liu Jin vented his anger with various revenge methods. For a time, the government and the public were panicked, and everyone was frightened. Everyone knew that Liu Jin and his party members were responsible, but because there was no evidence, there was nothing they could do.
Under Liu Jin's power, more officials chose to take refuge in Liu Jin to protect themselves. Although Li Dongyang, Yang Tinghe and others were angry, they could only tolerate it and be patient.
And all this has nothing to do with Xungui. The Xungui Group naturally remained silent and refused to come forward to cause trouble at this time. Even Zhang Yanling believed that it was not appropriate to continue the confrontation at this time. Liu Jin's behavior was just an act to establish prestige.
, has little impact on the actual situation. Those who were killed and attacked have long been irrelevant to the overall situation.
Of course, some people still need to be protected.
On the morning of August 6th, after Zhang Yanling learned that Wang Shouren and his son would be demoted from the capital, he immediately ordered Zhang Yin to lead two hundred Zhenwei Battalion guards to Nancheng to see him off.
On the official road in Nancheng, Zhang Yanling and his entourage rode up to catch up with the carriage of Wang Shouren and his son. On the pavilion, Zhang Yanling placed the food and wine he had brought to honor Wang Shouren and his son.