Chapter 42 Section 42 Offended Kuangzheng and was demoted

When Zeng Guofan returned to the mansion, he still couldn't figure it out: "Why do the common people buy a basket of chickens for one tael of silver, but they need one tael of silver for each when they arrive at the emperor's place?" Zeng Guofan tossed and turned and couldn't fall asleep in the middle of the night. He got up several times and read the books on architecture, but couldn't find any answers.Just as he was about to fall asleep in a trance, he saw Zhou Sheng running from the door again, saying repeatedly: "My lord accepts the order, my lord accepts the order." He sat up hastily, and heard Eunuch Cao say: "Follow the heavens, The emperor's edict said: According to Qi Xiangzuo, the left deputy governor of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, in order to repair the Confucian Temple, Zeng Guofan, the second deputy director of the investigation and a scholar of the Hanlin Academy, knew the stolen goods and did not disclose it. As soon as Eunuch Cao read this, Zhou Sheng took out a gleaming knife from nowhere, stabbed Eunuch Cao in the chest, and said, "My lord has worked so hard for this full of people, but the superiors don't treat him like a human being. No way! I will send you to see Kangxi first, and then enter the palace to send that light to meet Qianlong!"

Zeng Guofan yelled, "Zhou Sheng must not mess around!" When I hurriedly opened my eyes to see, there was no Eunuch Cao delivering the decree, let alone Zhou Sheng who rebelled.It turned out to be Nankeyimeng.He put on his clothes and got out of bed, wanting to give Daoguang an excerpt and hand it in together with the original note he had drawn up, but suddenly thought how could such an exposition Wenqing play for himself.According to the laws of the Qing Dynasty, officials below the fourth rank are not qualified to act alone. If there are rules or excerpts, the Shangxian who is above the second rank must act on their behalf, and foreign officials must be represented by the governor and fu. No one dares to break this rule. example.

Zeng Guofan thought over and over again, and then thought of the dream just now, and suddenly got an inspiration, why not submit it to the Metropolitan Procuratorate for the performance by the masters of the capital?It's really a little idea to wake up the dreamer.Without hesitation, he picked up the pen and began to write bit by bit on the eight-line paper. After daybreak, he first went to the official office to deal with the official business, and then he sleeved the notebook and original statement written last night—it was already sealed in a big envelope—and went straight to the Metropolitan Procuratorate.

When I arrived at the office of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, the porter on duty didn't know him, but he recognized his top hat, so he asked the adults what he was doing here as usual.Zeng Guofan took out the envelope from his sleeve and handed it over: "Please pass this letter on to the censor on duty." At that time, the left and right capital censors and the left and right deputy capital censors of the Metropolitan Procuratorate adopted a daily rotation system.Although the Metropolitan Procuratorate is one of the three legal divisions, few of the left and right censors and left and right deputy censors are full-time. Fu concurrently.Therefore, some university scholars are not only the ministers of a certain department, but also the left or right capital censors, and most of the assistants are left or right deputy capital censors.This is why some officials have to work in several yamen a day.

Leaving the Metropolitan Procuratorate, Zeng Guofan's mood brightened instantly, as if he had completed a mission, and he seemed to have accomplished a great cause, and he became much lighter and healthier. For three days in a row, the Imperial Academy was as calm as stagnant water.Zeng Guofan was a little strange. At this time, Guohua and Guohuang were about to leave the capital with their father Zeng Linshu because they were going to take the county school year exam.Zeng Guofan packed the axel for his father to take back, and hung it in the Golden Hall. He also bought many gifts for Xiangxiang family and friends in the capital, hired a car, and hired a sedan chair for his father.After everything was ready, he personally escorted him out of Beijing.Seeing my father and younger brothers go away before turning back, my mood has not been cheerful for several days.

On this day, as soon as Zeng Guofan walked into the office, he found that the officials on duty were whispering about something, and when he saw him walk in, he stopped talking.What made him even more surprised was that the procedure for subordinates to greet him in the past was gone today.When I didn't know it, I suddenly saw a message from the Ministry of Officials on the desk, so I hurriedly picked it up and read it. It was written for him. Wen said: "According to the order of the emperor, according to Kuang Zheng, the minister of the Ministry of Industry, since Zeng Guofan lived in Beijing, he has always been ashamed of making friends with Manchu ministers, especially when he was repairing the Confucian Temple, he was even more domineering. Extraordinary, self-righteous. From now on, I will be dismissed from the position of serving as a lecturer in the Imperial Academy, and will be punished by four levels, and will be given a review by the Imperial Academy..."

Zeng Guofan took the message in his hand, without saying a word, quietly packed up his own utensils on the desk, put them in a basket, walked out of Zhan Shifu's office, and walked to the review office. Huang Zishou, the editor-in-chief, and Chen Gongyuan, the reviewer, walked out of the inspection office. They must have seen the message from the Ministry of Officials. Zhao Ji, a bachelor's attendant, walked towards Zeng Guofan from the right. He must have come back from inspecting the studies of the good scholars. When he saw Zeng Guofan, he said from a distance: "Zeng Guofan, take a step slowly. I have something to say."

Zeng Guofan hurriedly stopped, and bowed deeply: "I have seen Mr. Zhao. I don't know what else you can order?" Zhao Ji said with a stern face: "The palm prints you left behind are missing, Mr. Wen will temporarily let me act as the official. You can hand over to the official in a while." He deliberately did not talk about handing over but said handing over. Zeng Guofan promised, "I know", and walked into the review office with Huang Zishou and Chen Gongyuan. As soon as he entered the office, Huang Zishou spit at Zhao Ji's back: "Bah! The villain has gained power!" Chen Gongyuan said disdainfully: "A good dog!"

Back at the mansion, Zeng Guofan asked Ouyang to put away the fourth-rank supplementary clothes on his body and the fourth-rank topwear on his head, and asked Zhou Sheng to dig out the seventh-rank topwear from the old bamboo box, and gave them to the bearers overnight. After paying the wages, he claimed that he was already a seventh-rank sesame official and could not afford to use the bearer, so he said that the bearer was about to cry. One of them, Gou Si, helped the sedan chair first, then lifted it again, and said first, "My lord, our brothers are determined to grow old with you. From now on, the brothers don't want a penny of your old wages. Just enjoy the food. If you resign and return to your hometown, the brothers will follow you to farm."

The other three immediately echoed: "It's the fourth brother Gou's words, it's the fourth brother Gou's words, the adults will reward you with some pocket money, and the brothers will not be picky." Zeng Guofan thought for a while and said: "Since you say that, I have no reason to force you to leave. Then I would trouble you to change the sedan chair, or cover it with a layer of tweed cloth. You can only serve the young lady, I I can’t take a sedan chair anymore. The wages are still the same, sometimes it’s unavoidable to be delayed a few days.” The bearers agreed with a "yes" and happily went to the servant's room.

The butler Tang Xuan didn't wait for Zeng Guofan to speak, and said first: "My lord, Tang Xuan is also the same as Brother Gou. The younger ones are destined to be with you forever." Zeng Guofan didn't say a word, and walked into the inner room alone, only to see Ouyang Yuying hugging her youngest daughter Ji Fen and her son Jize, crying silently. Seeing Zeng Guofan walk in, Ouyang hurriedly pushed Jize away, wiped away tears, arranged for Hei Ni to notify the cook to prepare the meal, and chatted with Zeng Guofan a few times, pretending to be nonchalant. Zeng Guofan knew that Ouyang was worried for himself, so he didn't say much. He only asked about Jize's homework, then left the inner room and walked slowly to the back hall. The students who studied in the Zeng's mansion soon knew about the teacher's demotion, and some of them began to leave the Zeng's house one after another and join other teachers.In the end, only Li Hongzhang was left, and the other Guo Songtao, although he did not join another school, had already moved out early.Zeng Guofan didn't say anything, but he paid special attention to Li Hongzhang and Guo Songtao in his heart. Because of the high expenditure and the large number of people eating, Zeng Guofan's income began to be greatly reduced again, and the life of the entire Zeng family soon fell into a predicament.In his notes, Zeng Guofan wrote: "If you are not valued by the big mansion, you must endure the cold; if your salary is outdated and embarrassing, you must endure hardship; If you want to be honored, you must be patient." Afraid of Yuying's suspicion, Zeng Guofan still had a smile on his face, but he was thinking about which bank he could borrow the money from. Yuying didn't want her husband to be too difficult, so behind Zeng Guofan's back, she secretly asked Heini to pack her bags and prepare to return to Hunan. Li Wen'an, a doctor in the Ministry of Justice, learned of the plight of the Zeng family from Hongzhang, and sent five hundred taels of silver to Zeng's mansion first, saying that it was for Zeng Guofan. It's just an excuse for the Zeng family's urgent need.Because Huang Zishou had no family and grew up in Beijing, his expenditure was relatively small, and because of his good handwriting, those who asked for calligraphy, no matter how high or low, would offer Runge, so he also gave Zeng Guofan two hundred taels of silver, and asked Zeng Guofan to make an IOU, stating that Interested, in fact, because Zeng Guofan was afraid that he would be embarrassed to accept the money, so he did it on purpose. Zeng Guofan started to walk to the Imperial Academy to do business again. In the first few days, there were still people pointing and disseminating news.One day not long after, Wen Qing, the academician in charge of the academy, summoned Zeng Guofan into his secret room alone.Wen Qing said: "Disheng, I heard that your dismissal is the result of Kuang Shilang. How did you get into trouble with this person? Mu Zhongtang also wants to let him?" Zeng Guofan thought for a long time before saying: "Returning to my lord, I really have nothing to offend Mr. Kuang." Sending Zeng Guofan away, Wen Qing couldn't help saying to himself: "Didn't you just see the hell? It's true that such a story came out of nowhere. ..." A few days later, Zeng Guofan went to pay his respects to Mu Zhang'a, and Mu Zhang'a also said to him: "Disheng, that rectified top is just right, and my ancestors have made great achievements, so we have to be careful in the future." Zeng Guofan kept saying that he still didn't know where he was wrong. It couldn't be that the documents sent to the Metropolitan Procuratorate were sent to Kuangzheng, right?