Gongsun Xun didn't get angry. He just walked up to the northern horse that had caused the death of two families and calmly stroked the mane on the horse's back:
"Brother Yi Gong, put him down. I will ask and let him answer."
Han Dang then angrily let go of his hand.
"Excuse me, Young Master." The man kowtowed again, and the woman next to him knelt down quickly.
"Are you Jia Chao or Jia Ping?"
"Jia Chao, he is also a younger brother." This man, Jia Chao, quickly lowered his head and replied.
"Then the one who was kidnapped and detained in the pavilion today is naturally your brother Jia Ping?"
"yes."
"Then who can kill the person?" Gongsun Xun suddenly turned around and stared at the other person.
"It's me!" Jia Chao replied without hesitation. "Brother, how can a farmer kill someone, or nineteen people?"
"I can probably understand your brother's love for his brother." Gongsun Xun asked expressionlessly. "But Jia Chao, tell me, why can you just sit back and watch your brother die for your crime?"
Han Dang also narrowed his eagle-like eyes. What he was angry about was actually this issue - Gongsun Xun brought his group here, no matter what, he wanted to try his best to lend a helping hand to this person.
, but the premise is that the person being rescued should not be a person who is greedy for life and afraid of death.
There is no way, since the Spring and Autumn Period, the folk custom has been to regard death as a sudden return... From the top to the ministers, down to the head of Guizhou, those who are greedy for life and afraid of death will be despised. Even if the eunuch and his relatives fail in the political struggle, they have to talk about it.
A person whose fate is determined by me cannot help but wipe his neck when he should, or jump into the river when he should, but he rarely hesitates!
Jia Chao's face turned red, as if he was extremely ashamed: "Jia Chao is definitely not a person who is greedy for life, otherwise he would not directly write his name on the screen wall after killing people..."
Gongsun Xun and Han Dang looked at each other, and their eyes softened a little. I have to say that these words were quite convincing.
"After I committed the murder, I wrote down my name. I was so disheartened that I wanted to leave. But I just returned home and really couldn't bear to leave my brother, so I secretly returned home to say goodbye to my brother and sister-in-law." Jia Chao lowered his head and said sincerely. "Unexpectedly.
…Unexpectedly, my brother stopped me after knowing what happened and had a conversation on the phone.”
"What did he say?" Gongsun Xun asked with a frown.
"He said...if I leave, according to Han law, those ruthless men like sheep will definitely come to confiscate the family property. By then, the family will probably be ransacked, and Mr. Ma is still alive, and he will die after he recovers.
He will not let my family go. In this case, I will be on the run and my life will be precarious, while he and his sister-in-law are at home, losing their land and money, and I am afraid that I will sit back and wait to be killed by husband Ma."
Gongsun Xun was speechless in his heart... This farmer probably only knows this. If you escape and leave your brother at home, then Mr. Ma and the local officials will be afraid, and they may not be ruthless. But if this is the case in front of you,
Now, if they find out that you, the murderer, are still here, they will kill you at the risk of their lives, right?! How can you mess around for what land and money?
You must know that if you save people and lose money, you will gain both people and money; if you save money and lose people, you will lose both people and money!
"This does make some sense." Han Dang urged impatiently. "Just tell me why it was not you who surrendered, but your brother who surrendered!"
"Brother said..." Jia Chao hesitated, and couldn't help but glance at his sister-in-law, who also buried her head lower.
"What did your brother say?" Han Dang urged again.
"Brother said that the three most unfilial things are not having an offspring... He and his sister-in-law have not had children for several years after their marriage. If I die, our Jia family will probably have no offspring!" Jia Chao was extremely embarrassed. "So I hope that I can use his name in his name."
I am left to take care of my sister-in-law, and if he pleads guilty in my name, then the dead person will be regarded as Jia Chao, and the living person will be Jia Ping. If he has children in the future, he will naturally be regarded as his descendant Jia Ping..."
At this moment, even Gongsun Xun was speechless.
How do you explain this reason? At first glance, it sounds like nonsense, but if you think about it carefully, considering the situation, status, and experience of the two brothers, it is really quite convincing.
"Young Master!" Jia Chao grabbed the ground with his head again. "I was a little flustered after killing someone, and I have always respected my brother in all important matters since I was a child, so I agreed in a daze last night. But now my brother has been kidnapped.
I'm afraid that I'll be killed in a few days, but now I'm in a state of confusion and at a loss... I beg you to be kind and help me, I'm willing to sacrifice my life in exchange for my brother coming back!"
After saying this, even Jia Chao's sister-in-law quickly kowtowed.
Han Dang's expression was greatly relieved at this time... After all, unlike the greed for life and fear of death just now, brothers fighting for death is very admirable.
However, Gongsun Xun had some other questions to ask: "Doesn't anyone in the entire village know you two brothers? Why didn't anyone point them out during the interrogation just now?"
"Report to Young Master," Jia Chao quickly replied. "After all, we are brothers, and we still look somewhat similar. Our hair is unkempt and covered in blood. It doesn't look easy to tell from a distance. Besides, my brother prayed for peace last night.
The immortal master of Taoism was grateful for my brother's love and care for me, so he persuaded the chief of Benli who also believed in religion, and also promised to bring the Taiping Tao believers in the village to cover for us.
There are more than 200 households in Mali, but 1,780 of them are willing to listen to the Immortal Master of Taiping Dao... Therefore, as long as Mr. Ma doesn't come out to identify it himself, there will definitely be no mistakes."
In an instant, Gongsun Xun's eyes flashed past the li leader who was lying on the ground cowering in front of Cui County Lord, and the Taiping Taoist who was holding a nine-section staff and leading the li people to bow to Cui County Lord... Of course, there are also
When the thief Cao ordered the fake brother and the real brother to be brought up for questioning, there was a terrifying moment of silence.
If the whole Julu countryside is like this, then Taiping Road is really scary. No wonder it can do such a big thing ten years later.
Even in Gongsun Xun's view, the Taiping Taoist's purpose of helping the Jia brothers was not very simple. He probably just took a fancy to Jia Chao's courage and bloodiness and wanted to use it for himself.
His heart...can be punished!
In other words, people in different positions have different views on the same thing. For Gongsun Xun, the focus of this matter has become worry and vigilance about Taiping Road, but for Han Dang
, but he was still thinking about how to save people. He hesitated to speak, as if he wanted to ask Gongsun Xun to help Jia Chao by the way.
Gongsun Xun naturally noticed the look on his confidant's face. Not only that he had reached this point, there was no harm in following the trend, but he could also make some gesture just to win over Han Dang.
However, after a pause, Gongsun Xun still asked another question: "Jia Chao, is it true that you are as fierce as a tiger, as ruthless as a sheep, and as greedy as a wolf? You killed someone last night because of the situation?!"
"It's absolutely true. I've heard it with my own ears!" Jia Chao pressed his fists against the hard soil on the ground and wiped out blood. "Young Master is in Youzhou. He doesn't know how tyrannical the eunuch's son is in Jizhou.
They don't look down on the nobles. Although this husband just became a disciple of a eunuch's son, it is enough to ruin a family like ours... If I don't kill him, I really don't know what else to do.
There was no way he could survive, but it was a pity that he didn't have enough strength after the killing and caused a stir, so he actually let him escape through a dog hole."
"Forget it, in that case, I will take you to see Mr. Cui County." Gongsun Xun did not believe that two thousand stones were ignored, but since there is indeed a reason for the matter, and there is also the concept of 'brothers fighting to death'
If he creates a routine, he can naturally help a bunch...
Of course, just helping a gang is enough, because for a rogue leader like Jia Chao, if no aristocratic child like Gongsun Xun intervenes, he may never be able to speak to Lord Cui County in his life.
of.
"Why are you so troubled?" Cui Xianjun, who had just settled down in the post house in the pavilion, was so anxious that he even spoke in Qinghe dialect.
"How can I not help my friend when he is in need?" Gongsun Xun held his head high and held his chest high, refusing to give in. Speaking of which, he also grew up in the county government. How could he not know that Lord Cui could not do anything to him?
"Then let his younger brother come and replace his older brother. Why do you want me to let them all go?" Mr. Cui County was still furious.
"Brothers fight to the death, that's where justice lies!" Gongsun Xun still refused to give up. "If Ming Gong doesn't make some gestures and is not afraid that the matter will be spread, will it be a disgrace to his name?"
"My dear nephew, why are you forcing yourself too much?!" County Lord Cui was speechless. "I am a county magistrate who has worked hard for many years."
"The county prince is my elder, and I am doing this for your own good." Gongsun Xun pretended not to hear the second half of the other party's words. "Even if the matter spreads and the superior officials investigate, the people in the world will say that you, elder, are loyal and loyal.
It belongs to a person who has a low salary."
The Lord of Cui County, Cui Min of the Cui family of Qinghe, was anxious and angry. He had no choice but to walk out of the pavilion, kicked out all the officials around him, and then closed the door of the pavilion with his backhand, and then said
In a nutshell:
"My dear nephew, since you call me elder, why can't you give me a way to survive?"
"What did the county gentleman say? How could he be on the road to survival?" Gongsun Xun was stunned.
"I will speak frankly in the dark room." Cui Min took the other party's hand with a sincere expression. "My nephew is young after all... Do you know that what I am afraid of is not some Shangguan, so what about Shangguan?
We are all in the same camp and can always talk to each other. But this case vaguely involves the eunuch's children!"
Gongsun Xun nodded: "I did hear the real Jia Chao say some relevant words just now, but he is just a minion of a eunuch's son."
"That's enough!" Mr. Cui County replied immediately. "Don't be afraid of 10,000, just be afraid of the worst. If this case causes trouble, Mr. Ma will be dissatisfied and entangle him layer by layer, and finally provoke Zhao Chang.
If I serve a nephew from my clan, what should I do?"
"If there are not thirteen or five of Zhao Changshi's nephews, there may be seven or eight. Why is the county king so afraid?" Gongsun Xun frowned slightly.
"Didn't you mention Zhang Jian and Zhang Yuanjie when you met me before? How could you not understand the tyranny of eunuchs?"
"Don't hide it from the county lord." Gongsun Xun lowered his head and said. "I used Yuanjie Gong as an example today just because I happened to know him... He fled from Qingzhou outside the Great Wall the year before last, on my family's merchant ship, and even stopped at my house.
For a few days, I only knew that he had a great reputation, and then my family told some of his deeds. I only remembered that he killed people for his friends. As for the relationship between him and the eunuch, I, a boy from western Liaoning, really don’t know much about it.
.”
"Really?" Now it was Cui County Lord's turn to be stunned. "Then Mr. Yuanjie is now taking shelter in your house?"
"In the dark room, I won't recognize you outside the door." Gongsun Xun quickly reminded him.
"That's right, that's right!" County Lord Cui nodded repeatedly. "We're not talking about Duke Yuanjie, we're just talking about eunuchs... Do you know that the eunuch's children can regard two thousand stones as nothing? Not to mention me, a six hundred stone magistrate?"
"
This was the second time Gongsun Xun heard this today, and it was different from what Jia Chao heard from his mouth. He had no choice but to disbelieve this Cui County Lord: "How do you say this?"
"Let me tell you a few things." Cui Xianjun sighed. "Now there are ten permanent attendants. During the reign of the late emperor, there were five princes. These are all powerful eunuchs. One of the five princes is named Xu Huang.
A native of Xiapi, Xuzhou, his nephew is the commander of Xiapi. I will not say how he did evil. I will only say that there is a family in the local area. The head of the family is the official Liang Qianshi who served as the prefect of Runan. The nephew of Xu Huang fell in love with the prefect.
My daughter also took a fancy to the Runan Prefect’s family background, so she wanted to marry someone from this family..."
"Of course the prefect is unwilling to marry?"
"That's natural. Then how do you think Xu Huang's nephew behaves?"
"Break in, snatch someone away, and marry her by force?" Gongsun Xun could only think along this line of thinking.
"You've robbed it, but it doesn't matter if you get married later." County Lord Cui sneered. "It's just that Xu Huang's nephew took the two thousand stone prefect's daughter home and neither married nor accepted it. He just kept it to himself.
I was killed in public in my garden..."
"What does it mean to kill someone for fun?" Gongsun Xun suddenly broke into a cold sweat.
"He just let the prefect's daughter run for her life barefoot, while he and the guests held bows and arrows behind them, and killed them as if they were hunting... After killing them, they buried them directly and continued to do his orders as if nothing had happened.
.”
Gongsun Xun was stunned.
"This is far away, and there is also something close. Let's talk about the matter of Duke Yuanjie..."
"Didn't you say we won't talk about Duke Yuanjie's affairs?" Gongsun Xun hurriedly laughed. "Besides, Yuanjie Gong's affairs involve the issue of party imprisonment. People in the border counties don't care much about party imprisonment..."
"Is this what people in the border county think?" Cui County Lord asked disapprovingly.
Of course not, Gongsun Xun thought to himself, it’s just that my mother has a very high-level view on this matter, and I personally feel that what my mother said makes sense.
The so-called disaster of party imprisonment is very simple. It means that the scholars criticized the eunuchs for disrupting the government and praised each other. Then the eunuchs grabbed the latter and said that they had "formed cliques". In the end, the emperor personally punished the "clique" scholars.
People were killed, arrested, and dismissed. In the end, these "party members" and their relatives, disciples, and descendants were directly prohibited from serving as officials.
Aunt Gongsun's view on the disaster of party imprisonment is actually very simple. In fact, both parties involved in the struggle are not good birds. On one side, the imperial power wants to use the eunuch's knife to obtain its own employment channels. On the other hand, the scholars want to continue.
Monopolizing the right to recommend officials, in the end the two sides broke up, and the emperor directly played a game of 'your whole family is not allowed to be officials', which implicated the three clans.
Even according to Mrs. Gongsun’s self-righteous interpretation, from a long-term perspective, the self-righteous monopoly of the scholars cannot support a strong national power. On the contrary, the emperor’s feeling of being a tyrant and a thief of the people can help maintain a centralized state.
run.
Of course, when Mrs. Gongsun said this, she probably had never seen what she called the ‘extensions of imperial power’, that is, how arrogant and lawless eunuchs can be!
"I believe that the people in the border counties have not been implicated in the disaster of the Party." Cui Xianjun shook his head and said. "The Liao general Huangfu Gui was ashamed that he was not listed as a Party member, so he asked himself to be imprisoned. As a result, the late emperor could not
I just ignored him. It can be seen that the imperial court is very aware of the role of your border counties and absolutely does not want the border counties to be affected by these things. In addition, the border counties are bitterly cold and the population is too small. The power of the eunuchs cannot reach there at all.
I have done evil in your place, so you are a little fanciful... But nephew, isn't this in the mainland? And we are talking about me, not you!"
Gongsun Xun laughed dryly.
"Anyway, if you don't want to hear me, I won't say more." Cui County Lord shook his head and said. "But you have to understand my difficulty... First, the eunuchs are so powerful that they destroy families and destroy families as usual, and these eunuchs' children don't even know how to deal with it.
There is no knowledge or morality at all. If the matter gets serious, who knows which of the nephews of Zhao Zhong and Zhao Changshi will think that I am humiliating him and hate me for no reason? Secondly, as a scholar, if the matter is true,
The commotion is so big, and it involves the eunuch's family and minions doing evil, and there is such a righteous thing as brothers fighting to death. If I don't help, I'm afraid I will be despised by the scholars! So, in the dark room, can I kindly ask my nephew to let him go?
Over me? I am only over thirty this year, if I have the opportunity in the future, I will definitely be rewarded generously!"
Gongsun Xun wanted to retort, but the story of the 'playful killing' of the two-thousand-stone girl was right in front of him, and what the county prince said was sincere, so he felt a little embarrassed: "Actually, the county prince doesn't have to be like this.
…I have an idea to get the best of both worlds.”
"oh?"
"The county prince released the brother who was in custody and let him go back to be his Jia Ping and live his life. As for the murderer's brother, I will take him away... Then, county prince, you go and find him in prison.
A criminal of similar stature, who had his mouth gagged, his hair spread out, and made dirty, he was beheaded immediately after receiving the official document from the county magistrate, saying he was Jia Chao... Could it be that Zhao Changshi's
Will the family and Husband Ma go to the autopsy specifically?"
"That's true... that's true!" Mr. Cui County suddenly realized. "But my nephew, you are an uncrowned boy, how can you be so bold?"
"The people from the border counties are best at killing people and setting fires." Gongsun Xun laughed dryly again. "It makes the county king laugh."
"Those who are good at murder and arson still have to go to Luoyang to study... Gongsun Xun, right? You will definitely become a great person in the future!" Cui Xianjun praised, or mocked.
"In that case, I won't disturb the county prince." Gongsun Xun stood up. He also knew that his trip was very annoying. "Please send the person away, I will take him away, and he will never be in front of the county prince again.
It’s an eyesore…”
"That's fine." Mr. Cui County nodded. "This will be convenient for everyone... But my dear nephew, I have a message for you before I leave."
Gongsun Xun had already reached the door and was about to open it, but stopped again.
"Good nephew." Mr. Cui County pinched his beard and said. "Don't think that just because you are from a border county, you can watch the fire from across the river. In today's world, eunuchs and scholars are at odds with each other. Since you have come to the mainland and want to go to Luoyang, you have to
Pick a side to stand on! Let me ask you, you people from the border counties, as long as you pick a side to stand on, instead of standing on the side of the scholars, can you still stand on the side of the eunuchs? Back then, General Huangfu asked himself to be a "party member"
, is it really making a lot of trouble out of nothing?! You are a smart person, you have to think carefully..."
Gongsun Xun was horrified. He stood at the door in astonishment for an unknown amount of time. He turned around and bowed seriously to Lord Cui County before turning back and pushing the door open.
"When Taizu passed by Jizhou, there was a famous scholar from Julu Nan and his commander Cui Min, who was a famous scholar in Qinghe. When he saw Taizu, he was shocked. He said: 'I have seen many famous people in the world, but none of them is like a king! If you are good at self-control, you will be sure to do so in the future.
I will become a great weapon. I am willing to trust my wife!'" - "Old Book of Yan". Volume 1. The Chronicles of Emperor Taizu Wu
PS: Thanks to Mao Buhuai for being so popular, and also for the new book group. Interested students can add it, 684558115.
