Chapter 45 Shocked to learn of the tragedy

Since the distance is not too far, the boat traveled through the rippling blue waves for a while, and arrived at the island in the middle of the lake.It was a secluded island decorated with green trees and rocks.In the middle stands a square pavilion, built in the style of Xiaoxuan.A gravel road meanders from the pier on the shore.It was midsummer, and looking from a distance, dozens of canna plants were planted under the ochre-colored window, and they were in full bloom.The clusters and nests of vermilion and deep yellow flowers, against the backdrop of plump and broad green leaves, look extraordinarily bright and pleasing to the eye in the noon sun.However, what surprised Zhou Bi was that the small pier was empty and quiet at the moment, and no one was there to greet him.It was as if the community members didn't even know he was coming.Gu Gao also discovered this situation.

"Hey, what's going on here? I told them clearly that Mr. Zhong has arrived!" He said strangely, turning his head to both sides at the same time. Zhou Biao didn't say a word, and when the boat docked, he was still supported by his servants and stepped onto the pier. "Hey, why didn't any of them disappear? Why didn't they come out?" Gu Gao was even more surprised and uneasy, "No, wait for Wansheng to see!" "No need!" Zhou Bi stopped, then raised his eyes, and stared at the pavilion from under his thick eyebrows.When he couldn't guess the reason for this obvious "cold reception", he took a step forward without making a sound.

Indeed, with Zhou Bi's status in the club and his poor health recently, it is rare to attend this kind of gathering on weekdays.Today he agreed to Xia Gu, firstly because of the important decision-making in the company, and secondly to give Wu Yingji a face.However, the members of the community knew that they had arrived, but they didn't come to the pier to greet them. This surprised Zhou Bi, and he couldn't help becoming suspicious: "Could it be that they invited me here today, and they didn't want me to host a big plan? Could it be that Chen Dingsheng suffered that setback?" He didn't give up, in order to win people's hearts and save face, he colluded with Wu Ciwei to hold a banquet; he also thought that I would never come, so he pretended to send me a post, and now that I came, he must be very embarrassing , so provoked the crowd, who refused to welcome me, and wanted to block me back? Huh, if this is the case, I won’t go back, but I want to attend the meeting, it’s up to you!” Because of this suspicion, the closer he got to the pavilion , Zhou Bi became even more annoyed and unbearable.

Now, Zhou Biao had already stepped over the threshold, and he couldn't help being startled again by the sight that met his eyes.I saw the members of the commune sitting in a mess, neither drinking at the banquet nor talking to each other. On the contrary, as if they had been shocked by some invisible shock, all of them looked dull, out of their minds, some showed a dazed look, some Some of them looked sad and about to cry, while others held their heads with their hands, as if they were enduring some terrible pain.It wasn't until Zhou Bi stopped by the door and Gu Gao followed in that some of them said "ah" and hurriedly stood up.Even so, they still didn't show the enthusiasm they should have. They only sent out a few short greetings here and there, and then paused wordlessly.

This situation made Zhou Biao even more suspicious.He then turned his head and searched among the crowd for Wu Yingji, the initiator of today's gathering—and of course Chen Zhenhui.Soon, he found out: Chen Zhenhui was sitting with her back to the door, and she was sitting with Hou Fangyu, mumbling something; Wu Yingji was sitting in another corner, with several servants gathered around him, probably waiting for orders.It wasn't until the other members were almost finished greeting that they turned their faces and pretended to stand up to greet them. Zhou Biao immediately looked away, "Hmph, didn't you expect me not to come in? I came in, let's see what tricks you guys are up to!" Thinking this way, he went to an empty chair nearby and sat down in a grandiose manner. down.

"Old Zhong...do you know? Zheng Chaozong, he is dead!" In the silence, a moaning voice came from behind, it was Mei Langzhong. Zheng Chaozong is Zheng Yuanxun, the president of Fushe's Yangzhou area.Zhou Bi remembered that Zheng Yuanxun was still in Nanjing in April this year, when the debate about welcoming the new monarch was raging.Later, I heard that he was eager to return to Yangzhou, and he left first because he couldn't wait for the result.At that time, Wu Yingji, Hou Fangyu and other members of the community seemed to have gone to the riverside to see him off.After all, that was just over a month ago.Now that he suddenly heard that Zheng Yuanxun was dead, Zhou Biao was taken aback, turned his head and looked at Mei Langzhong suspiciously.

"What did you say? Chao, Chaozong, he's dead?" Gu Gao, who was obviously taken aback, stepped up and asked with staring eyes. Mei Langzhong nodded, as if he wanted to speak in more detail, but after he squeezed his mouth several times, tears welled up in his eyes.Suddenly, he sat down heavily, covered his face with his sleeve, and wept mournfully.When the rest of the people saw it, they also showed dejected expressions, and some even shed tears. "Hey, don't cry! Tell me, how did Chaozong die? When?" Gu Gao shouted anxiously. "Chaozong was murdered on May 25th." Hou Fangyu approached with a sad expression, and at the same time, raised a stack of papers in his hand, "This is a letter from Mao Pijiang, which was brought by Fang Mizhi just now, brother himself Let's see."

Gu Gao took it in a hurry, held it up to his eyes, looked at it eagerly, and suddenly turned pale.Then he looked at it again from the beginning, his hands were still shaking slightly.In the end, when someone asked him to pass the letter to Zhou Biao, he seemed to be completely unconscious, and sat down with his eyes straightened. It was only then that Zhou Bi figured out what had happened. It turned out that when General Gao Jie led more than 100,000 defeated soldiers to try to enter Yangzhou, but was resolutely rejected by Yangzhou scholars and people, Zheng Yuanxun, who had already returned home, saw that the quarrel would cause big trouble, so he went to Gao Jie's camp in person to understand the national crisis. In the lead, it should be the righteousness to help each other.After hearing this, Gao Jie had some insights, and agreed to retreat for five miles, waiting for a reply.Unexpectedly, the militiamen in the city attacked and killed Gaobing Ranger afterwards, and the relationship between the two sides became tense again.

Zheng Yuanxun had no choice but to ask the former governor of Jizhou Wang Yongji to give an explanation.Finally, it was agreed with Gao Jie that both sides would strictly restrain their subordinates to avoid further expansion of the situation.On May 25th, the governor and prefect of Yangzhou called the city's gentry to discuss matters on the top of the city, attracting a large number of scholars and people to watch.Zheng Yuanxun came forward and warned everyone: "Gao Zhen was stationed in Yangzhou by order, so it is unreasonable not to let him enter the city. I made an agreement with Gao Zhen a few days ago that after entering the city, he should immediately comfort the elders. There must be no crime in autumn, and Gao Zhen has also agreed. Why are you attacking and killing his cavalry again? If the perpetrators are not punished severely, I’m afraid there will be unforeseen disasters!” Everyone refused to accept, and listed Gao Bing’s various atrocities one after another.Zheng Yuanxun immediately pointed out that some of the atrocities were committed by Yang Cheng, and they cannot all be counted on Gao Bing's account.The "Yang Cheng" he mentioned was a battalion general in the city.It is also a fact that the pacesetters under this person are rampant.Unexpectedly, everyone misunderstood "Yang Cheng" as "Yangcheng", and suddenly became angry, shouting: "The surname Zheng colluded with high-ranking thieves, so I defended him against my conscience. If we don't strike, we will all be slaughtered!" So they swarmed up, and the swords and sticks came down, killing Zheng Yuanxun immediately.Yin Bao, Zheng's servant, was killed at the same time because he rescued his master.It is said that both the master and the servant were divided into corpses by the furious soldiers.Afterwards, the family cleaned up the remains and found only a few broken bones...

Zhou Bi folded the letter slowly.After figuring out that the members of the community did not go to the pier to greet him just now, it was not intentional neglect or other motives, and the anger and suspicion in his heart also disappeared.Moreover, Zheng Yuanxun's shocking and violent death also made him unable to remain indifferent.While handing the letter to Wu Yingji, he frowned and asked: "So, brother, what are you going to do?" "My younger brother plans to go to Yangzhou in person to lay a memorial ceremony in front of Chaozong's spirit and comfort his family. As of today, my younger brother has ordered someone to set up a spiritual seat here. Express condolences!"

Zhou Biao nodded.Although, at the Huqiu meeting the year before last, Zheng Yuanxun sold himself to Qian Qianyi in an attempt to excuse Ruan Dacheng in order to seize the position of the leader of the society. , and died so tragically, for this, Zhou Biao decided not to express any objection. "Well, then, let's salute first!" he said, and stood up immediately. While they were talking, Wu Yingji's servants had already arranged Zheng Yuanxun's coffin.Because things started in a hurry, everything had to be kept simple.Right now, a piece of white paper is temporarily pasted on the north wall of the pavilion, and the words "Dead Friend Zheng Jinshi and Yuanxun" are written on it, and a small square table is placed in front of it, and some fruits are offered on it.It happened that I had a stick of incense with me, so I also burned it with it.Another bowl of soil was filled in a sea bowl, which was used as an incense burner.It's just that mourning clothes can't be done urgently, so I can only make do with it, improvise a few plain sweat scarves and let everyone wrap them around their heads.Then, headed by Zhou Bi, everyone lined up, saluted, made a drink, and worshiped in front of the memorial tablet one by one.Among them, there are a few who have a close relationship with Zheng Yuanxun, such as Mei Langzhong, Shen Shizhu, Zuo Guofen, etc., but they can't stop feeling sad, and shed tears again...