Chapter 87 Section 87: Zeng Guofan was beaten with thirty mighty sticks

Pan Shi'en, courtesy name Zhixuan, was born in Wu County, Jiangsu Province.He has served as the chief master of various ministries, courtyard servants, and upper study rooms.During the Jiaqing period, Pan Zhuangyuan was already an official to co-organize the university. In the 26th year of Emperor Daoguang, he added the prince and Taibao.He is now eighty years old. Although he has little power, he is a university scholar who is unparalleled in the world, highly respected and enjoys a long life.Most of the Han officials were attached to his sect, and Mu Zhang'a also let him three points, not to mention Du Shoutian and others.

Such a person is willing to bow down to the prison to visit a convicted second-rank servant, how can Zeng Guofan not be moved! Pan Shien's snow-white beard trembled for a long time before he said: "Lisheng, it's hard to be an official, and it's even more difficult to be an official in Beijing! I'm like a rotten tree, so I can't help you much. But I want to send you a word: 'Gentleman! Slow in words and quick in deeds'. You have to take care! The old man has written the paperwork for returning home to recuperate, and I will hand it in tomorrow. Whether the emperor allows it or not, the old man is determined to leave!" After finishing speaking, he wiped his eyes , go out slowly.The prison door was padlocked again.

Zeng Guofan fell to his knees with a plop, kowtowed while looking at Pan Shien's back, and said, "Take care, old Zhongtang! Zeng Guofan kowtowed to you!" When Zeng Guofan raised his head again, Pan Shien was gone, but beside him, there was another kneeling person, the old man who was imprisoned first. Zeng Guofan collected himself, then stood up, and said to the old man, "Pan Zhongtang has gone far, you should get up too." But the old man said: "Little old man, it is you Master Zeng who is kneeling, and you are doing his Pan Zhongtang's business! Master Zeng, why did your old man come here?"

Zeng Guofan smiled wryly and said, "Old man, you should change your words. I am a fellow prisoner with you now, so it would be more appropriate for you to call me "Baisheng." The old man knelt down and said: "You are always an adult in the eyes of the common people! It's just a head on the left. The little old man calls you Mr. Zeng now. After going out, he will still call you Mr. Zeng. Who can do anything to me? " Master Zeng Guofan sighed, stretched out his hand to help the old man up, and said: "Old man, Zheng Zuchen killed innocent people indiscriminately, and you are not the only victim. How can the whole of Guangxi sue you for impeachment in Beijing? Now it has come to this situation again!"

The old man respectfully helped Zeng Guofan to sit down on the men's clothing, and then sat down opposite him, and then he started talking. The old man's surname is Zhang, and everyone in the village calls him Zhang Laowazi. He is from Guigang Prefecture, Guangxi. Hong Xiuquan and a group of people started an uprising in Jintian Village in Guiping. It is said that they even smashed the yamen in Guiping. Zheng Zuchen, governor of Guangxi, dispatched several battalions of Fubiao soldiers to encircle and suppress, led by a general, and the momentum was overwhelming.The team arrived in Guiping, but Hong Xiuquan had already got the news. Before the officers and soldiers arrived, he took people into hiding in the forest.The officers and soldiers rushed to nothing, and the generals were full of fire, so they set up a big camp and tried their best to search back and forth in the mountains and forests.After searching for more than ten days in a row, none of the ghosts were found, so they had to call gold and withdraw.

But the generals who led the troops couldn't swallow this breath, and when they set off, they had already patted Zheng Zuchen's chest and received a huge salary, not to mention that Mr. Zhongcheng had promised him a clear guarantee. And how did it end?Walking and thinking all the way, the more I think about it, the more angry I get. The officers and soldiers passed through Guigang when they returned to the province, and they passed by the village where Zhang Laowazi lived. At this time, the general did not know whether he heard someone say it or he had a whim. Yang Xiuqing, one of the "bandit leaders", had a party in Guigang. .So he hated the house and Wu, and actually sent an order to wash Guigang with blood, beheading more than two thousand people in one day, and every officer and soldier had two heads hanging from their waists.On another whim, I deliberately selected a few larger heads, stabbed them several times in the face, said they belonged to Hong Xiuquan, Yang Xiuqing, Feng Yunshan, Xiao Chaogui and other "bandit leaders", put them in a special wooden box, and returned to the provincial capital to report to the Ministry. The academy invited them to reward them, but luckily someone in the army who knew Hong Xiuquan and the others said that the heads were so different that they couldn't be confused at all, so the general gave up and ordered the heads to be thrown into the wilderness.

On that day, Zhang Laowazi happened to go to the mountain to collect herbs, and when he came back in the evening, his wife and children had all been beheaded. Those who escaped quickly also turned back at this time and told Zhang Laowazi what happened. Zhang Laowazi, together with hundreds of people from the same village, entered the governor's office with a complaint.It's a shame that Zheng Zuchen didn't know what's inside and what's inside, and blasted Zhang Laowazi and others out.What else to say, there are not many good things in Jintian Guigang!The crowd couldn't be more angry, so they asked someone to write the same five copies of Wanmin Zhezi, all of which were fingerprinted, and five people including Zhang Laowazi carried them to Beijing to sue the imperial court.As a result, only Zhang Laowazi entered the capital, and the other four, some died on the way, and some voted for "Long Mao①" halfway.

Old Wazi Zhang scolded and said, "A dog official like Zheng Zuchen won't be able to stay in Guangxi for a few days, and those who don't rebel will also rebel! Let such a bastard be the governor, does the Qing Dynasty still want peace?" After listening to Zhang Laowazi's narration, Zeng Guofan didn't say anything, but what he thought in his heart was: I'm afraid this is the ancient form of government coercion and rebellion! Seeing that Zeng Guofan was silent, Zhang Laowazi suddenly said to himself: "It's already this hour, why haven't you delivered food?"

It was only then that Zeng Guofan remembered that he hadn't eaten a grain of rice for a long time, so he shouted: "Come on, why don't you have dinner!" Seeing that there was no response, Zhang Laowazi stood up and lay down on the wooden gate and shouted, "Let's eat, let's eat! They're all dead!" The jailer got impatient with the noise, and finally came out angrily, roaring like thunder: "No! What's the noise, wait to be stabbed!" Zeng Guofan said, "Brother, why are you not serving dinner at this hour?" The jailer glanced at Zeng Guofan, and replied: "You ask us, who should we ask? Our stomach is growling, who should we talk to? Save your energy." After speaking, he returned angrily.

Zeng Guofan was so choked that he trembled for a long time, but there was nothing he could do about it, so he sat down on the men's suit in frustration, forced himself to close his eyes and think about nothing, thinking that if he fell asleep, he would feel better. But a string of lanterns and torches walked over brightly, hearing the sound of footsteps, there were quite a few people.From his feeling, Zeng Guofan knew that these people were targeting him again, but he didn't know if it was good news or bad news. Zeng Guofan stood up subconsciously, subconsciously put on the men's suit, fixed his eyes on the wooden door and the torch.

The wooden door was opened, the jailer stood aside as usual, an official with a blue top came in with a lantern, and there were five or six people who looked like military officers with swords outside. Zeng Guofan didn't have much contact with the Ministry of Criminal Justice, so he couldn't figure out the identity of the person who came, so he just stared blankly.The visitor shined a light on the lantern and said, "Zeng Guofan, Chen Zhongtang asked you a question! Let's go." Chen Zhongtang was referring to the co-organizer, Chen Fuen, Minister of the Ministry of Justice, who was promoted by the chief military officer Mu Zhang'a, and was a relatively tough figure in the Mu party. Zeng Guofan habitually dusted off his clothes with his hands, put his hands behind his back, and walked out of the prison without saying a word. There is still a stone's throw between the prison of the Ministry of Justice and the lobby of the Ministry of Justice. Zeng Guofan didn't know until he walked out of the prison that it was already dark, and it was probably dinner time. Zeng Guofan swallowed his saliva and forcibly moved forward.Walking into the lobby of the Ministry of Criminal Justice, I saw five or six instruments of torture had been placed on both sides of the lobby at some point, and there were four people standing shifts on both sides, saying that the yamen servants were not yamen servants, and that the jury was not a jury. Zeng Guofan gave a deep salute to Chen Fuen who was sitting in the lobby and said, "Zeng Guofan in Xiangxiang has seen the chief criminal." After the ceremony, he stood with his hands down, waiting for Chen Fuen to ask questions. Chen Fuen patted the gavel, and shouted: "Bold! As a key criminal of the imperial court, you dare to stand up and not kneel when you see the Benbutang, and you keep saying that Zeng Guofan in Xiangxiang will not kneel for the Benbutang!" Zeng Guofan was shocked. He didn't expect Chen Fuen, who usually has a flattering face, to have such a terrible attack, but after all, he is a court official who has seen the world and tried cases. He quickly calmed down and replied with courtesy: Listen to me, although I have been removed from the crown, I have not been dismissed. According to the laws of my Qing Dynasty, scholars are not allowed to kneel when they go to court, let alone Jinshi!" The last sentence made Chen Fuen's face swell with anger, and he roared: "Come here, drag the criminal Zeng Guofan out of the court and beat him thirty times!" Indiscriminately, Zeng Guofan was pinned down in the hall by the wolf-like yamen servants and beat him up one after another.When I counted to thirty, when I looked at Zeng Guofan, his back was bloody and he had passed out for a long time. Chen Fuen had to sneer in the hall, and said to himself: "I don't care if you are a Jinshi or a retired scholar. When you go to the lobby of the Ministry of Punishment, the old man will first peel off your skin to see if you are still crazy?" Chen Fuen, from Xincheng, Jiangxi Province, was Mu Zhang'a's book boy.Because he is smart and able to handle affairs, he was highly appreciated by Mu, so he donated a Bagong background for him, and recommended him to Shuntian Mansion as a county official historian, earning some money.After returning, he began to be promoted year after year, until he was promoted to be the servant of the storehouse.In the twenty-eighth year of Emperor Daoguang, he was recommended by Mu Zhang'a Yili and transferred to the Minister of Punishment.At the beginning of the twenty-ninth year of Emperor Daoguang, taking advantage of the opportunity of Emperor Daoguang's illness and Mu Zhongtang's exclusive power, he was promoted to Minister of the Ministry of Punishment.When Yi ascended the throne, the Manchu and Han officials each received a higher level, so he naturally became the minister of the Ministry of Punishment, co-organizing the bachelor's degree, and became a real shortage.Chen Fuen has been in the prime minister for less than two months. Because of his humble background, Chen Fuen did not go to school, so he hated and avoided words such as "Xiucai", "Juren", and "Jinshi" the most in his life.