Chapter 68 dock kidnapping

I don't know if Taoist Pan's technique of guidance is not effective, or because she is too worried about Zhang Luo's sending people to sea, but in November, Liu Rushi's illness not only did not improve at all, but tended to worsen, which made Qian Qian Yi couldn't help getting busy.Although he hooked up with Daoist Pan again behind Liu Rushi's back, it was just out of sheer pleasure, and it happened by accident - Pan Lingfei's position in Qian Qianyi's life, of course, could never be compared with Liu Rushi's.He saw that staying in Changshu would not be able to make Liu Rushi feel at ease and recuperate. In addition, since he himself realized that he should change his goal and try to contact those generals who hold military power, he also wanted to go out for a walk. In the middle of the month, Qian Qianyi took Liu Rushi, Gu Ling, He Yun, Qian Zeng and other confidantes to Suzhou by boat, where they still stayed in Xu's East Garden outside Changmen.

Originally, Qian Qianyi thought that after the past six months of staying behind closed doors, the turmoil at the Huqiu Conference should have passed, and he could resume normal activities again.However, after arriving in Suzhou, he discovered that among the scholars, there were still many people who resisted him.Not only did they not rush to see this "Senior Donglin" as they did in the past, even Qian Qianyi took the initiative to visit, and several times he was turned away.This made him quite frustrated.Fortunately, not everyone is like this, not to mention Qian Qianyi does not regard the role of Shilin as important now, so on the one hand, he invites famous doctors to treat Liu Rushi's illnesses, and on the other hand, he continues to communicate with those who are like-minded. .The day is not difficult to pass.

On this day, Qian Qianyi heard that Zheng Qinyu, a famous doctor in Wujiang County, had arrived in Suzhou and now lives in Huqiu.Zheng Qinyu is a descendant of a famous family, and his medical skills are inherited from his ancestors, and he is called "bringing down medicine".In the hands of Zheng Qinyu, he studied this medical skill in depth and carried it forward. Now he has a high reputation in the Jiangnan area, and many famous officials and dignitaries are vying to invite him.In addition, this Zheng Qinyu also intensively studied Cheng Zhu Neo Confucianism, he was able to write poetry and prose, he was bold and hospitable, and he was also a famous person.In the past, Qian Qianyi also met him several times; this time, he was very happy to hear that he was here, and planned to visit first, and then invite him to come over to see Liu Rushi's illness.But Liu Rushi had been nesting in Xu's East Garden for many days, and he was already panicked. When he heard that he was going to Tiger Hill, he insisted on following him.Qian Qianyi couldn't resist her, so he had to order a big boat to be packed, and he asked Gu Ling, He Yun, and Qian Zeng to follow, and got off the boat at the pier of Shantang River, and slowly swayed towards Tiger Hill.

Now, Liu Rushi is placed in the inner cabin, served by two maids, Hongqing and Lvyi.Qian Qianyi sat in the front cabin with three guests, drinking tea and chatting, while looking at the scenery on both sides of the river. It was already early winter, and the originally emerald green and clear river water began to turn a little blue, and it was obviously shallow.The clear sky has become brighter and brighter.As the frost continued to exert its power, the leaves of the trees on both sides of the bank fell.The west wind blew over the bare branches, making a whirring sound.Fortunately, here and there on the embankment, beside the pier, or behind other people's houses, one or two maple trees will pop up unexpectedly, but they are still as red as fire, adding a little color to this desolate and lonely world.

However, even so, the guests in the cabin quickly tire of it.They start spending more time talking.They talked about the great victory at Qianshan Mountain some time ago, and also talked about Zhang Xianzhong's retreat to Qishui, Hubei, and his recent raids on Taihu Lake and Huangmei County again, and he is likely to make a comeback.Then they talked about Kaifeng, an important town in Henan Province. After being heavily besieged by Li Zicheng's peasant army for several months, the Ming Dynasty reinforcements dug the Yellow River embankment in mid-September, intending to flood the peasant army with water; When it rained cats and dogs, the river swelled.Within one day, Zhujiazhaikou and Majiakou collapsed at the same time. The flood flooded in from the north gate of Kaifeng and exited through the southeast gate. Nearly a million households in the city were swept away by the flood. Up to 20,000 people escaped by chance, and the peasant army was also swept away by more than 10,000 people, and it is said that they have already left the camp.When everyone talked about this appalling and unprecedented disaster, they all felt dejected and sighed repeatedly.Next, they talked about the case of Chen Xinjia. Unexpectedly, the emperor's attitude was so firm. Zhou Yanru, Xie Sheng and other cabinet ministers pleaded for mercy, but there was no result. In the end, they were sent to the market and beheaded in public. .Although everyone believed that Chen Xinjia's death deserved more than guilt, they couldn't help shaking their heads at the emperor's meanness and ungratefulness; it was only when they talked about the post of minister of the Ministry of War that Zhang Guowei, the minister of water transport, was appointed as his successor, and Zhang Guowei was Qian Qianyi's protégé, so everyone changed a lot gotta get active...

During these conversations, Qian Qianyi just listened silently most of the time, rarely interjecting.For some reason, in recent days, whenever he heard such news, his mood always became very bad.And this kind of "evil" is not like in the past, just worried and anxious about the future of the Ming Dynasty and its own destiny.On the contrary, he has lessened his worries in this regard now, but has increased a little bit of resentment and a little bit of cynicism.He vaguely felt that if the current political situation was maintained unchanged, it would be difficult for him to have a bright future in his life; only when there were major changes, or even a serious disturbance, would he be able to In the process of restructuring power and redistribution of interests, reverse his current extremely unlucky situation.It is precisely based on such an increasingly clear idea that Qian Qianyi no longer regards the fate of the imperial court in Beijing as a matter of life and death, as if it would be impossible without its existence. "Hmph, if it is destined to be ruined, then let it be ruined! After it is ruined, we can use Nanjing as the center to re-establish a court in the rich and prosperous south of the Yangtze River, and once again create the revival of Ming Dynasty!" He thought deeply. Chu thought so coldly more than once.And in fact, as far as he knew, this kind of idea of ​​seeking to establish a peaceful situation in the south of the Yangtze River once the north fell, did not belong to him alone.People like Xiong Mingyu, Shangshu of the Nanjing Ministry of War, Li Banghua, the censor of the right capital of the Nanjing Metropolitan Procuratorate, and Huang Daozhou, the bureaucratic leader of the Fujian Gang, all had this idea.It's just that the goals they hold are not the same, and they are tacit for the time being.Therefore, when Qian Qianyi saw the few disciples in front of him, he was still blindly hoping that the situation in the north would improve, and that the Beijing court would do something extraordinary, he couldn't help but sneered in his heart, and wanted to wake them up. Feeling that it was not yet time, I had no choice but to remain silent, turning my face out of the window in boredom.

At first, he did it just for fun.However, gradually his gaze became focused.Because he found that the current situation on the shore was a bit abnormal. A group of people, at least thirty or fifty, were gathering on a pier in front of them, chatting about something, and looking back while talking.There were still people running towards the embankment in the distance. "Well, could something have happened?" Qian Qianyi thought, staring intently at the approaching pier.Suddenly, several people standing on a high place shouted in unison: "Come on! Come on!" The group of people suddenly became tense and scattered in all directions.Some even picked up their sticks, as if they were facing a formidable enemy.One of them, Tsing Yi Xiaomao, with thick eyebrows and big eyes, quickly jumped onto the stone steps by the water and called out loudly: "Boat, hurry up, come here!"

Now, Qian Qianyi's boat has reached a place parallel to the pier.Gu Ling and the others also noticed the situation on the shore, they stopped talking and looked out of the cabin together. At this moment, I saw two men rushing to the pier carrying a sedan chair.As soon as it stopped, the people next to it rushed up and hurriedly pushed a woman out of the sedan chair.The woman was tied hands and feet with a rope, and her mouth was stuffed with a cloth, but her face was not covered.Qian Qianyi took a quick look and felt that he was a little bit kind. While he was wondering, Liu Rushi who was in the cabin next door suddenly exclaimed:

"Ah, Xiao Wan!" Qian Qianyi was taken aback, and after a closer look, he really looked like Dong Xiaowan.I saw her being carried off from the pier by those people, and quickly stuffed into a small boat.The boat was obviously prepared in advance. After the thick-eyed man also boarded, the boatman immediately waved his long pole, quickly turned the bow of the boat, and then drove the big scull, and quickly swung towards Changmen. ... All of this happened in a short period of time. Before Qian Qianyi and his students came to their senses, the hijacker's boat had already sailed a long way away, and the group of people on the shore also whistled and dispersed one after another. are gone.

"Master, Mrs. Liu, please send someone ashore to find out what's going on." Hongqing's voice sounded from behind. Qian Qianyi was taken aback for a moment, then turned around.He looked at the maid hesitantly, but didn't express his opinion immediately.Because first of all, he didn't want to meddle in his own business - his own business was enough.Secondly, he also heard people say that Dong Xiaowan planned to marry Maoxiang.This reminded him of the Huqiu meeting more than half a year ago. In the end, it was because Mao Xiang took out the letter from Gu Linsheng, Zhou Yanru's behind-the-scenes agent, that he made a fool of himself on the spot and suffered a crushing defeat.For this reason, Qian Qianyi is still brooding and resentful.However, he also thought: Dong Xiaowan and Liu Rushi used to be handkerchief sisters, last time she was robbed by Tian Hongyu and hid in Xu's East Garden, because he was in a bad mood, he just drove her away.Liu Rushi has been unhappy about this matter.If I refuse this time...

"Old Mu, this place is not far from Dong Xiaowan's home, how about letting Wansheng go ashore to inquire about it?" Perhaps seeing the teacher still hesitating, Gu Ling volunteered to say. Qian Qianyi pondered for a while, and finally nodded: "Well, that's fine, so I'll bother Yunmei." So, when the boat approached Bantang, Gu Ling went ashore alone.After about half an hour, he came back after finding out the matter clearly.It turned out to be like this: Ten days ago, one of Maoxiang's worship brothers named Liu Luding, entrusted by Maoxiang, brought seven hundred taels of silver and a few catties of ginseng from Runzhou to Gusu, intending to pay off Dong Xiaowan's debts, Registered.At first, Liu Luding saw the matter as easy, but he didn't realize that this "yellow shirt guest" and "ancient Yaya" were not easy to deal with until he got the creditor to talk to him.Those creditors are all local snakes, fierce and tricky.They decided that Mao Xiang was a rich man, and they wanted to hit him hard.The two parties negotiated for several days, but failed to reach a plan for repaying the debt.Liu Luding couldn't help becoming anxious, relying on himself as an official, he slapped the table to scare them.This will be a bad thing.The group of creditors had obviously been prepared for a long time, and immediately dispersed in a crowd, and even kidnapped Dong Xiaowan before leaving, probably planning to hide her as a hostage.The scene that Qian Qianyi and the others saw just now was just like that.After listening to everyone, it suddenly dawned on us.Qian Qianyi twirled his beard, and said slowly: "Oh, I never thought that Mao Pijiang would really marry Dong Xiaowan. However, since he wants to marry her, he should let Liu Yuzhong bring enough money, and there is no need to make trouble. Such a person must fall on his back!" Gu Ling shook her head: "I see that Pijiang is actually half-hearted. It's nothing more than being forced by his friends, and he is a little helpless. I heard that he didn't pay a penny this time. Those few catties of ginseng belonged to Mr. Liu. It was brought from Beijing; the seven hundred taels of silver was paid for by a general surnamed Chen!" Qian Qianyi said "Oh" again, but then asked again: "I heard that Liu Yuzhong was the magistrate in Yulin in western Guangdong, how did he come here?" "Oh, because of his mother's death three years ago, he returned to his home in Zhangzhou to keep the system. Now he is fully served and is waiting for a vacancy, so he has time to walk around—by the way, he was at Dong's house just now, and he was at a loss. He saw me , as if he was so happy, he kept asking about the teacher. It seems that he wants to ask the teacher to mediate for him." Qian Qianyi glanced at him, frowned and asked, "Did you ever tell him I'm here?" "No. The students don't know what the teacher means, so naturally they won't tell him rashly." "Hmph, I think he deserves it!" Before Qian Qianyi could speak again, Qian Zeng suddenly said this, and then shut up again. "Oh, but why?" He Yun, who was sitting next to him, turned his face away and asked pretending to be puzzled. "Brother Shilong—" Seeing Qian Zeng gritted his teeth and remained silent, the obedient Gu Ling intervened, "Then there's no need to ask? If his surname Mao didn't deserve it, then it's our turn to deserve it!" he said as he spoke. , while sneaking Qian Qianyi with his eyes. However, He Yun picked up the cup, took a sip of tea, and said: "The past is already in the past! There is a way to say it" - don't worry about it anymore, it's hurtful!" When he said this, although Qian Qianyi and Gu Ling were both surprised, they didn't express anything, but Qian Zeng's expression suddenly changed.He turned his head slowly, stared at He Yun for a while with those eyes that could make people feel creepy, and at the end, he sneered with a "hehe": "Okay, you can just flatter the surname Mao, but I I have not forgotten that I am a disciple of Qianmen!" He Yun was not worried.He was still in a hurry: "That's not what I said. The so-called 'enemies should be solved rather than tied'! Besides, we are both in the Qingliu, so if we can solve it, it's better to try to solve it. According to my opinion, today's coincidence, It would be an opportunity... besides, the matter of Pijiang and Wanniang is now known to everyone and attracts attention from all directions. If it fails because of the fear of the creditor's arrogance, it may be too incompetent to see us famous scholars in the south of the Yangtze River! " While speaking, He Yun looked at Qian Qianyi meaningfully, obviously implying that the teacher should consider intervening in this matter, so as to win over Mao Xiang and further make peace with Chen Zhenhui's group.However, seeing Qian Qianyi's cold face and silence, He Yun couldn't figure out what the teacher was thinking.He was about to make further persuasion, when he suddenly saw Hong Qing coming out of it, so he stopped temporarily. "Master, Mrs. Liu, please speak in the cabin." Hong Qing said with her hands down. Qian Qianyi raised his head, glanced at the maid, then at He Yun who was still talking, showing displeasure, then stood up, bowed his hands to everyone, and walked to the inner cabin.

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