Li Bohan is twenty-three years old and a student in Qiantang County.
He was a junior student at the age of fifteen, and he is still a junior student now. He has never passed the provincial examination. Judging from his talent and learning, unless he suddenly becomes enlightened, it will be difficult for him to pass the examination in this life.
Li Bohan's grandfather was the top scholar, his eldest uncle was admitted to the imperial examination, and his second uncle was admitted to the imperial examination. His father was also an imperial examination, but now they are all working as officials in other places.
After the family separation, the uncle's family prospered, and the number of legitimate children and concubines reached double digits. Three of his cousins passed the imperial examination and are working hard to obtain Jinshi.
Although the second uncle's brother-in-law did not win the imperial examination again, his two direct cousins were both talented scholars, and there was also a concubine cousin who was very good at business.
Only Li Bohan's house is in a bad situation. His father only gave birth to him. And he himself has been married for six years and still has no children - it's a lot of pressure!
"Late-born Li Bohan, let's meet Mr. Wang." Li Bohan led his family to the door to greet him.
Wang Yuan did not look domineering at all, and said with a kind smile: "I have long heard that the Li family in Qiantang is from a scholarly family. I came here to visit you today. My friend Li will not turn away people, right?"
"How dare you, President Wang, please come in."
Li Bohan knelt down to greet him respectfully and accompanied Wang Yuan to enter from the main entrance. He stopped halfway and said, "There are many female relatives in this humble house. These soldiers under General Wang's command..."
Wang Yuan interrupted with a smile: "Except Yuan Er, everyone else is waiting outside!"
This move gave him enough face, and Li Bohan breathed a sigh of relief. He chatted all the way, and when he walked to the living room, he suddenly made a connection and said: "Speaking of which, I, the Li family of Qiantang, have some connections with Mr. Wang."
"I wonder what the origin is?" Wang Yuan asked.
Li Bohan said: "My grandfather, Dongya Gong, who was born late, was the number one scholar in the 20th year of Chenghua. Mr. Yangming's father, Shi'an Gong, was the Jinshi in the 17th year of Chenghua. Both of them are from Zhejiang, and they were Jinshi in two high schools in a row, which shows that I
Zhejiang is a land of splendid articles. Not only that, when the eunuch Liu Jin was in power, both of them risked their lives to remonstrate with them. At the same time, they were promoted to Nanjing and were secretly demoted to serve as officials. Shi'an was appointed as the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel in Nanjing. My ancestor Dongya
The Duke was appointed Zuo Shilang of the Ministry of Civil Affairs in Nanjing."
Li Bohan's grandfather and Wang Yangming's father had a close relationship.
Let’s not talk about the fellow countryman. He was still next to the number one scholar and was thrown to Nanjing by Liu Jin together. Moreover, his position was a superior-subordinate relationship.
As a disciple of Wang Yangming, Wang Yuan did not look at the monk's face when looking at the Buddha's face, and he had to raise his hand when meeting the Li family.
Wang Yuan sighed: "You are so willing. It seems that I should have come to visit you a long time ago."
Li Bohan felt stable and said with a smile: "Mr. Wang has a lot of things to do every day. It is not easy to find time in his busy schedule. What's the difference if it's a few days earlier or a few days later?"
Wang Yuan was invited to sit down in the living room, and the servants immediately brought him good tea. Wang Yuan used the lid of the bowl to hold the tea leaves and said: "I heard that Brother Li Shi is very happy to get a daughter. I like children the most. I wonder if I can bring him to see you."
See?"
Li Bohan's heart suddenly became tense, and he said with an abnormal expression: "Oh, he died less than a day after he was born."
Wang Yuan comforted him with a sad expression: "My condolences to Brother Li."
Li Bohan was also showing off his acting skills. He said with a sad face: "Everything is God's will. I should not have this girl in my life. What can I do?"
Wang Yuan asked again: "Has your concubine been buried?"
Li Bohan was even more frightened, his fingers trembled slightly and said: "Why does Mr. Wang ask this?"
Wang Yuan's face turned cold: "Brother Li Shi, you only need to answer my questions."
Li Bohan sweated on his forehead: "It has been buried."
"Where is it buried?" Wang Yuan asked.
Li Bohan said: "In the bamboo forest behind the house."
Wang Yuan said: "Take me to have a look."
Li Bohan felt cold all over: "This...isn't necessary."
Wang Yuan stared at the other party: "It is very necessary! If the body of the baby girl is not found, the governor will punish her with drowning. Brother Li Shi, please lead the way."
Of course, it was impossible for Li Bohan to bury the dead baby himself. Even he and his wife did not participate in the drowning of the baby. After all, he had read the books of sages. A gentleman cannot bear to kill a living being when he is far away from the kitchen, let alone his own daughter.
The person in charge of burying the baby was an old servant of the Li family. He took Wang Yuan to the bamboo forest near the manor.
There is no tombstone, not even a grave. The hole was dug and buried and then filled up.
Wang Yuan did not go to supervise the exhumation. He wanted to stay at Li's house. While slowly drinking tea, he chatted with Li Bohan. The two of them talked about non-nutritious nonsense.
Not long after, Yuan Da came back with the baby girl's body, which was buried together with the swaddling clothes. The swaddling clothes were still standing on a lot of moist soil.
"Invite Zheng Wuzuo in." Wang Yuan continued to drink tea.
Wu Zuo and the soldiers were all outside the gate of Li's house, and were soon invited in.
Zheng Wuzuo inspected the body on the spot, pressed it around with his hands, and then pried open the mouth of the dead baby. He nodded slightly to Wang Yuan and then said: "Master Governor, we need to disembowel the baby for confirmation."
This implies that Wu Zuo has been able to determine that the baby girl died of drowning.
Wang Yuan said to Yuan Da: "Yuan Er, order the soldiers to surround the Li family and not let anyone go. Then send someone to call Chang Lun, the magistrate of Qiantang County, and Zhou Minglun, the chief bookkeeper. This is their Qiantang County matter. Zheng Wu made
, when the county magistrate arrives, you will disembowel and conduct an autopsy immediately!"
Li Bohan's legs and feet were already weak, and he said in a pleading tone: "President Wang, why is this happening? Why is it happening like this!"
Yuan Da immediately went out to do business. Before Chang Lun could arrive, the Zhejiang garrison eunuch Wang Tang, Zhejiang Zuo Buzong envoy Wang Shao, Zhejiang inspector Yuan Xuan, and Hangzhou prefect Xu Fan came one after another. Also present were Qiantang Li
The heads of the other two families of the family, as well as the heads of several other wealthy families in Hangzhou Prefecture.
"Sit down and don't talk!"
When one came, Wang Yuan asked them to sit down and was not allowed to speak casually. After a while, there were more than ten people sitting down.
Only Wang Tang, the Zhejiang garrison eunuch, spoke without authorization and tried to persuade him: "Mr. Wang, there must be some misunderstanding here. Why don't we be the peacemakers? Today's story will be over."
Wang Yuan did not give any face, and asked in front of everyone: "Whose are you? Zhang Yong, Gu Dayong, or Zhang Xiong?"
Any one of these three great eunuchs can confront the cabinet and the six ministries, and make all the civil and military officials in the court change their minds.
But Wang Yuan not only called him by his name, but also showed no fear.
Wang Tang smiled awkwardly: "President Wang, I am your Majesty's man."
"What a coincidence, I am also one of His Majesty's people." Wang Yuan stared at the palace, "Your Majesty has ordered that I will be solely responsible for Zhejiang affairs. Do you want to disobey His Majesty's order? Or maybe you are afraid that I will be too free.
Want to find some cases for me to investigate?"
Wang Tang instantly shrunk a few inches and said with a smile, "President Wang is joking, I'm just here to persuade him."
"Then you can leave. I won't listen to my advice." Wang Yuan didn't look good.
Wang Tang estimated that he had benefited from the Li family, but he still refused to leave. He lowered his body and cupped his hands and said: "Mr. Wang..."
"roll!"
Wang Yuan shouted angrily.
Wang Tang was so frightened that he trembled all over, cupped his hands and said: "President Wang, then... then I will leave first."
The officials present were dumbfounded. As the eunuch guarding Zhejiang, Wang Tang was usually very domineering and arrogant, which made the local officials in Zhejiang miserable. Who would have thought that he would be scolded by the governor as if he were his grandson, and he would leave without even daring to say a word?
Already.
Yuan Xuan, Xu Fan and other officials, who originally wanted to intercede for the Li family, immediately looked at their noses and hearts, like eminent monks practicing Zen, sitting in silence with their mouths closed.
Wang Shao, the chief envoy from the left, had to speak because he had an old relationship with Li Bohan's grandfather and had a close relationship. It was unjustifiable not to help. Wang Shao cupped his hands and said: "Mr. Wang, the Li family in Qiantang is a scholarly family..."
"A scholarly family?" Wang Yuan interrupted directly, "They drowned their baby girls, killed their flesh and blood, and even read until they were as good as dogs! If this is a scholar, then I am ashamed of myself as a scholar!"
Wang Shao said: "This baby girl probably died of illness and was not caused by Li."
At this time, the county magistrate Chang Lun and the chief bookkeeper Zhou Minglun had arrived. Wang Yuan said expressionlessly: "What are the facts? We will tell after the autopsy. Zheng Wuzuo, let's get started!"
Zheng Wuzuo put down the wooden box and took out some professional equipment. He used a knife to cut open the belly of the dead baby, fiddled with it, and said with his hands in his hands: "Mr. Governor, this baby was indeed drowned."
"You're talking nonsense!" Li Bohan jumped up and yelled.
Wang Yuan was the first to stand over and watch, and the others also came closer with their noses covered.
Zheng Wuzuo pointed to the cavity and said: "The surface of the lungs is moist, light in color, gray, mixed with light red blood spots. This kind of blood spots are called 'drowning spots' by the monks, which are the only unique features in the lungs of people who drown."
There are some spots.”
Wang Yuan ordered: "Zheng Wuzuo, if you arrest me, sign the autopsy document. Changzhi County, you are responsible for hearing the case. The court has a decree that anyone who drowns an infant will be exiled to the army. Anyone who knows and fails to report is guilty of the same crime and cannot be let off.
Anyone who knows!"
"Yes!" Chang Lun and Zheng Wuzuo accepted the order in unison.
Wang Shao looked at Li Bohan in surprise: "He really drowned, my nephew... you are so confused!"
Li Bohan slumped to the ground, suddenly jumped up, pointed at Wang Yuan and shouted: "My grandfather was the number one scholar, my Li family has countless relatives in the court, and all the prominent families in Hangzhou are my Li family's in-laws, you can't just treat me like this
I'm in exile!"
Wang Yuan looked at everyone: "Do you want to intercede for him?"
No one answered, even the eldest and second housemates of the Li family in Qiantang remained silent. Even the eunuchs who guarded Zhejiang Province left. Anyone who dares to step out to take over the affairs is not asking for death.
Seeing that no one was speaking for him, Li Bohan said hysterically: "I am a junior student, I have fame, I have fame..."
Wang Yuan kicked him down: "The imperial decree only states that officials who drown babies should be reported to the imperial court for processing. You only have a title, but no official status. According to the regulations, you will be exiled to the army."
"I, I...I don't accept it. I'm not the only one who drowns babies in Zhejiang. Why do you only come to my Li family to arrest people!" Li Bohan has completely lost his mind and vomited out everything. Everyone present wanted to kill him.
strangle to death.
Wang Yuan sneered and said: "Everyone knows that I am strictly investigating the evil custom of infant drowning. The monks and Taoists have made such a big fuss, but you still dare to go against the trend and commit a crime. You will not survive if you do it yourself!"
Li Bohan climbed up to Wang Yuan, hugged Wang Yuan's legs, and cried loudly: "President Wang, please spare my life. I will definitely not dare to do it next time. Please, spare my life. I
My father is an official in Guizhou, so he must take care of the Wang family in Guizhou..."
When everyone heard this, they all shook their heads.
Chang Lun took the county government officials and dragged Li Bohan out for interrogation, and Wang Yuan also started the real performance.
Wang Yuan looked at the body of the baby girl, suddenly knelt down on his knees, kowtowed and said, "I'm here, the Imperial Concubine. I'm a little late here. I hope you'll forgive me!"