Chapter 33 Section 33 Emperor Daoguang sent Zeng Guofan to deal with serious cases of classical history

This case happened in Baoding Prefecture in Zhili territory.The time was the twenty-sixth year of Daoguang (AD 1846), when Zeng Guofan was thirty-six years old. According to the Zhezi of Baoding prefect transferred from Zhili Governor’s Yamen, there is a butcher Gou Er outside the east gate of Baoding Mansion, who is omnipotent in slaughtering cattle and sheep. One day, he suddenly came to Shou County and reported that Li Chungang, a student in the county, had privately hidden the banned books of the dynasty and marked them with Counter-criticism, well-spoken.Shouxian had no choice but to rush to Li's Mansion outside the east gate of Chengguan.After searching, it was found that one copy was found from Li Chungang's private parts, with the words "Officials force the people to rebel, fight against the Qing Dynasty and restore the Ming Dynasty".The counter criticism is true.The traitor Li was immediately expelled from the academy and sent to prison. After an overnight interrogation in the magistrate's lobby, the traitor Li confessed to the crime he had committed.At present, the government government has completed the investigation of more than 50 members of Li Chungang's family, and the family property has also been confiscated; Li Chungang will be executed according to the law, and the others will be sent to the army for three thousand miles. Women under the age of 13 will be sent to Xinjiang as slaves for life.

According to common sense, such a case should be approved by the Ministry of Criminal Justice, but Li Chungang has an in-law, a local gentry, with five sons and three daughters, two of whom are promising sons: one is in the county school, and the other is a juren. To be appreciated by academics and politicians.The in-laws did not come out, and the two sons became angry. They even contacted more than 50 local gentry, and jointly went to the governor's yamen to appeal for Li Chungang's grievances.Naturally, the platform was not allowed, so these people came to the capital non-stop. Down.Looking at the case, it is strange, not to mention Li Chungang's private collection of banned books, but only to say that the magistrate is plotting to conspire with the Li family's millions of fortune, colluding with others to frame him.The Military Aircraft Department first stabilized the complainants and arranged them to stay in an inn, and then hurriedly presented the case to the emperor.

Emperor Daoguang didn't pay much attention to the written case, and he was determined to be a good emperor. After reading the case, he sent an order to the Zhili Governor's Yamen overnight, and the Governor's Yamen quickly dispatched the prisoner Li Chungang and others to the capital. trial. Baoding is the closest to the capital, and it will take half a day to arrive quickly.In less than three days, more than fifty prison cars entered the capital under the escort of the soldiers. Emperor Daoguang summoned a group of people from the Ministry of Punishment, the Metropolitan Procuratorate, and Dali Temple to hold a joint trial of the three judiciary in the lobby of the Ministry of Punishment to show judicial justice.Surprisingly, no injustice was found in the trial!Not only is it true that Li criminals privately collected banned books, but so is his counter-criticism.

The confession was again submitted to Emperor Daoguang's dragon case. Emperor Daoguang Longyan was furious, and immediately ordered the Ministry of Punishment to send his own soldiers to the inn to take all those who called out for Li Chungang into prison, and no one was allowed to slip through the net. There are scholars and scholars among people, but they can't take care of them. As for how to deal with these people, the scholars planned to make a decisive decision; Emperor Daoguang didn't want to kill because of a book, and Emperor Qianlong's Wenzhi was an approach that Emperor Daoguang most disapproved of.Ethnic conflicts were already intense, and Emperor Daoguang didn't want to add fuel to the flames.Emperor Daoguang's criticism was: "Others were dispatched to serve in the three-thousand-mile military platform, and only Li Chungang was asked to be executed after autumn."

The case was already settled.Unexpectedly, a censor who returned to his hometown to visit his relatives—who once let go of a Jiangnan Xuezheng, and also had a holy grace—had a rest in Baoding for two days on his way back to Beijing, and visited several old people who were recuperating from illness. same year.Xie didn't worry about it for the past two days, but when he returned to the capital, there was a report that "the governor of Zhili and the admiral accepted bribes, and Li Chungang was wronged", which complicated the case that had already been settled. After a lunch break one day, Emperor Daoguang summoned Zeng Guofan in the study behind the imperial garden.

After the ceremony, Emperor Daoguang asked: "You don't know about Li Chungang's private collection of banned books, do you?" Zeng Guofan replied: "I heard what the people in the Ministry of Punishment said." Emperor Daoguang asked again: "You must also know about the joint trial of the three courts?" Zeng Guofan replied: "The tribunal of the Three Law Departments also knows." Emperor Daoguang said: "Yesterday, Fu Yushi gave me a report, saying that the governor of Zhili and the admiral jointly accepted bribes. Li Chungang was beaten into a trick, and he was wronged. I called you here to ask your opinion. The local government has wronged you." There are people, how can the three judiciary judges wrongly accuse people?"

Zeng Guofan replied: "The case decided by the emperor, not to mention the joint trial of the three judiciaries, naturally cannot be wrong. The censor is always heard and played without being convicted. The emperor does not need to pay too much attention to it." Emperor Daoguang sighed: "In the year of famine, I don't want to kill and punish too much. I personally intervened in this case because I was afraid that the Baoding Mansion's trial would not be true. But after reading Fu Yushi's notes, I submitted Baoding Mansion to Baoding Mansion overnight." I looked at the list of Li's private houses copied on the Internet. The person who appealed for Li's injustice said that Li's wealth was millions of dollars, and both Baoding and Tianjin had money houses. But the Baoding government only copied Li's 100,000 of his family's wealth, including More than four hundred acres of land. Zeng Guofan, tell me, what is going on here?"

Zeng Guofan was stunned for a while, before saying, "I don't understand either." Emperor Daoguang smiled suddenly, and said: "Zeng Guofan, you have to go. Go to Baoding Mansion and get the truth out of the matter. You leave overnight, don't make a fuss, and come back to clarify for me." Zeng Guofan kowtowed and said: "I thank the emperor for his trust, but... I don't know which lord and humble minister are going there?" Emperor Daoguang didn't wait for Zeng Guofan to finish, and said: "I still want Changshun to go with you. Changshun is a practicing family son, and he is very skilled. With him by your side, at least your safety will be no problem. You let the Imperial Academy be on duty. The official came to the mansion and said that he couldn't go back to the mansion due to urgent business. You and Changshun can pack up and go! Changshun is waiting for you at the Ministry of Internal Affairs. I just asked Eunuch Cao to notify the fourth elder brother. You can go down first."

That night, under the bright moonlight, Zeng Guofan and Changshun quietly left the capital after changing clothes.This time Zeng Guofan dressed up as a gentleman sitting in the library, while Changshun dressed up as a book boy, and the two acted like masters and servants.That night, the two of them stayed in an inn outside the capital city.Changshun called Zeng Guofan Zhangye or Dongjiaye, while Zeng Guofan called Changshun Xiaoshunzi, which means smooth sailing. The two got up early in the inn, followed the official road to Baoding, and stayed in an inn by the road that night.At noon on the third day, we entered Baoding City.

Changshun chose to settle down in a small inn not far from the magistrate's yamen, and the bearers were dismissed as soon as they entered the Baoding city gate.Where does the gentleman sitting in the hall have spare money to sit in a sedan chair?It is even more unheard of for a book boy to sit in a sedan chair. Zeng Guofan knew that Li Chungang's case was not as simple as the tribunal of the three courts, so he didn't dare to be careless.Zhili is the door of the capital, and non-competent personnel cannot be assigned. If you are not careful, you may lose your head at any time. Zeng Guofan and Changshun decided to sit in a tea shop for a long time to see how Baoding people viewed this matter.The two sat down to serve a pot of Botou tea at Xinglin Tea Shop.Bolt tea is a relatively cheap tea, and you can drink it for a day for a lot of money.There are quite a few people drinking Boltou Tea in Xinglin Tea Shop.

Chang Shun said at this time: "Grandpa, let's serve two more round sesame seed cakes to top it off. I haven't had anything to fill my stomach all morning, and now I'm so hungry that I'm flustered." Zeng Guofan sighed: "Little Shunzi, save yourself, you should buy the sesame seed cakes before going to bed. I only have twenty big coins in my hand, and I don't know when Li Chungang and Li Daguan will come back?" The master and servant two People's questions and answers are clearly for the people around them, and they want to draw some stories out. Sure enough, one of the tea drinkers said seriously: "Dare you two defect to that Li Daguan?" Chang Shun hurriedly said: "No! Someone introduced our master to the Li's mansion to sit in the hall to teach the young master, and also said that the Li family has a huge family business, and Shu Xiu has a lot of money. Who knew that when we came here, the master not only lost his fortune , and the little ones are also hungry. I really don’t know what kind of accident this Li Daguan committed, and his family was wiped out like this.” Dr. Cha① said at this time: "Speaking of which, this official Li deserves to commit this crime. He should spend more than 100,000 silver to realize the magistrate's church dream, and it will be a dark cloud covering the sky in an instant. Scattered? Cough! But some forbidden book was copied out, so who is to blame for it?" Zeng Guofan said at this time: "I heard my brother say this, and I don't understand. What does it have to do with Li Daguan whether to build a church? Besides, building a church is not a matter for the yamen, it is a matter for foreigners. No I heard that the magistrate is in charge of the officials and the people, and even builds churches for foreigners!" An old man who was drinking tea burst out laughing suddenly, and he continued Zeng Guofan's words: "Listen to what you said, I'm sure you are not from the local area. Do you think only foreigners build churches? Do Muslims have no churches? What about Islam? Mosque, which one is not more beautiful than Yamen!" Chang Shun asked: "How dare the official seal of our Baoding Mansion be Hui people?" The old man smiled and replied: "I don't know if the prefect is a Hui citizen or not, but it's true that his family doesn't eat pork." Dr. Cha said at this time: "Mr. Wu's eldest son is working in the yamen, so what he said can't be wrong." A few people were chatting with each other, when the door suddenly opened, and two people who looked like yamen servants walked in. When Dr. Cha saw it, he rushed up to meet him, and said, "Zhang Touting, Li Touting, what made the two elders so angry? Or Mao Jian? The water is running." The person known as Zhang Tunting said: "It's Maojian. You don't know yet, do you? Wan Dianshi swallowed opium early this morning... It's wiping corpses and piercing the mourning hall. No, I just finished my work." The person who was called Mr. Wu said at this time: "I saw Wan Dian Shi yesterday, he was alive and well, why did he swallow opium? Could it be that he didn't wake up after eating too much opium cream? The second son of the Li family who was abducted before, did not wake up after eating too much opium cream last month." Li Touting said: "Who can say for sure. Those who have no money like us kneel down and learn the tongue dream of money, but rich people like Wan Dianshi, I heard that a meal of ointment costs half a tael of silver." As soon as Dr. Cha brought the tea, Zhang Tunting also took off his hat and put it on the table, but a small yamen servant rushed in in a hurry, and when he saw Zhang and Li Tunting, he slapped his thigh and said, "You guys! You two gentlemen, it’s easy for the little one to find! Mrs. Wan’s family is making trouble in the lobby of the magistrate with a group of maids. I’m looking for you two old people everywhere, but I can’t find it! The Futai masters even took pictures of the tables in the signing room Already!" Upon hearing this, the two arresting halls stood up abruptly, and Zhang arresting hall hurriedly put a hat on his head and said, "Didn't the magistrate promise to give her money? What else is she doing? If you dare, you can still kill Lao Wan." Come alive?" Li Chuting also muttered, "Isn't it over yet?" The little yamen servant said as he walked out: "It's not too little! It is said that Wan Dianshi got several million dollars for the magistrate. If two ones are added to five, three ones and thirty ones will be added. Otherwise, no one will think about it." Have a safe life!" Seeing the three people walking out in a hurry, Mr. Wu sighed: "How can I say this? I died from eating ointment, and it's not anyone's fault. What's the matter with the yamen? It made Zhengtang anxious , take the board down to the prison, let's see what you can do!" At this time, a person sneered and said, "Master Wu is going to say something wrong this time. Don't look at the magistrate's yelling at Li Chungang, he is really afraid of Mrs. Wan!" Another tea drinker grinned and said, "Mr. Xu, what's going on?" At this time, the man called Xu Daguan said mysteriously: "Do you know what is the relationship between Mr. Wan and Mrs. Wan, who is the guardian of the governor's office? Mrs. Wan is the goddaughter of Mr. Huyin!" Everyone echoed in unison: "No wonder!" Zeng Guofan and Changshun drank tea for a while, seeing that it was getting late, Changshun paid for the tea, and the two of them walked out of the tea shop and returned to the inn for dinner. I heard some discussions at the inn, but they were all in the tone of outsiders, without knowing the root cause, and Zeng Guofan didn't bother to listen.After opening the room, Changshun was busy collecting water for washing feet, and the shopkeeper was busy changing the bedcloth.Zeng Guofan sat at the table, thinking of ideas alone. Before the break, Zeng Guofan chatted with the innkeeper and learned about Wan Dianshi's situation by the way.The storekeeper really knows a little about the history of Wandian, and told many unknown secrets.