Chapter 4 Surprised by the national change

Located in the middle reaches of the Yaojiang River, Shaoxing Fucheng can be called a unique city.It controls the traffic between Hangzhou, the provincial capital, and eastern Zhejiang. The water network in the city is criss-crossed. Almost every street is connected to it by inland rivers. It is very convenient for boats to enter and exit.And because the local area is rich in famous tea and fine wine, teahouses and hotels have become recreational places that can be seen everywhere in the city.All year round, business is so booming... Right now, Liu Zongzhou, the former censor of the left capital of the Metropolitan Procuratorate of the Ming Dynasty, is resigning from his post and living in the city.He is an old Donglin faction and a well-known university scholar in the government and the public. He is upright and upright, resolute and outspoken.For a long time, he was hated by the dignitaries in the court and repeatedly offended the emperor, so he was repeatedly dismissed from office.However, this greatly increased Liu Zongzhou's reputation.As for the "Jishan School" founded by him, it is even more respected and enjoys a high reputation in the academic forest.

Huang Zunsu, Huang Zongxi's father, was a close friend with Liu Zongzhou during his lifetime.Later, Huang Zongxi officially worshiped under this father's sect and became a disciple of the Jishan School.Not long ago, Huang Zongxi's second daughter was betrothed to Liu Zongzhou's eldest grandson Liu Maolin, and the two families became in-laws.Because of this relationship, when the boat passed through Shaoxing, the Huang brothers stopped for a while as usual, and went to visit the old man together. Huang Zongxi and his younger brother disembarked at a wharf in the Neihe River, walked through a stone-paved yard wet with dew, and came to the gate of Liu's residence where a pair of stone lions stood.At this moment, the sun had just dawned, and the streets were still empty, with only a few pedestrians walking in the faint morning light.The two brothers felt that they had come too early to knock on the door immediately, so they lingered outside for a while, guessing that the teacher should be up, so Huang An took the greeting card and went to the door to call for someone to announce.

Seeing the uncle in-laws coming, the Men Gong naturally did not dare to neglect.He graciously invited the guests to sit down in the hall, and then hurried in with the post.After a while he came back and said: "My master has invited the uncle and the third master!" Huang Zongxi nodded, got up together with his younger brother, and walked straight to Liu Zongzhou's living room according to the doorman's prompt. Since returning to Huangzhupu to live in seclusion, Huang Zongxi has not been to Shaoxing to meet his teacher for more than a year.Walking under the familiar verandah with lush flowers and trees again, the urgency and joy in his heart became even stronger. "Yes, for more than a year, I was too lazy and disrespectful to the teacher. I didn't even come to celebrate the New Year. It's really unreasonable! Logically, no matter what, I shouldn't be like this. Although the teacher never cares about these things, But..." As he walked, he felt both excited and ashamed, and for a while, he even forgot about his younger brother who was silently following behind.It wasn't until he stepped into the living room and stopped respectfully as usual, but accidentally bumped into Huang Zonghui's body, that he suddenly came to his senses.

Because of the collision, Huang Zongxi looked back instinctively, at the same time, he heard his younger brother whisper in surprise: "Hey, what's the matter?" Huang Zongxi mechanically turned his face away, and then he saw clearly that there was a person who looked like a teacher sitting in the room, but it was not Liu Zongzhou, but the teacher's son Liu Bi.As the in-laws of the sons and daughters, it was normal for Liu Bian to come forward to receive him first.However, just as the younger brother was surprised, Liu Bian's expression at the moment seemed a bit abnormal: he was wearing a big overcoat for visiting visitors, sitting on a chair in a daze, his square face was extremely pale.He supported his knee with one arm, unconsciously clutching a folding fan with five fingers, and seemed unaware of the presence of the Huang brothers.Beside him, there were two familiar Confucian scholars, one named Chen Gang and the other Wang Yuzhi.They are all Liu Zongzhou's sons-in-law, and for some reason they also came to his father-in-law's house early in the morning.Moreover, these two people also looked terrified, kept silent, and did not show due courtesy and enthusiasm to the visitors at all.

"Well, what happened?" Huang Zongxi wondered, then took a step forward, saluted with his younger brother and said: "My in-laws, two brothers, it's been a long time!" Liu Bang still didn't respond.The father-in-law, who claimed to be the natural heir of the Jishan School, was obviously frightened by some kind of extreme.His gaze, which was originally stable and confident, became empty and blank, as if he was staring blankly at something in front of him, but in fact he didn't see anything.His whole mind was floating in some kind of terrible state, his expression was dull, his mouth was half open, but he couldn't say anything.

Huang Zongxi became even more suspicious.He figured something unfortunate must have happened. "But what exactly is it?" For a moment, some ominous guesses flashed in his mind: "Is it the teacher? Is it the teacher's wife? Or other family members?" But it doesn't look like it, because just now all the way in, there is nothing unusual atmosphere of.He was about to ask, when suddenly, Liu Bian spoke up: "Brother, do you know?" He murmured, without moving his eyes, "The capital—was breached by thieves. The emperor committed suicide on Long Live Mountain. Daming—it's over. This time, it's really over!"

Huang Zongxi looked at Liu Bian suspiciously, for a moment he didn't understand what he was talking about.However, then he felt that something heavy and terrifying hit his heart hard, making him startled suddenly. "Wh... what?" He asked hoarsely, his throat became very dry all of a sudden, and his eyes were rounded due to extreme panic. "Your majesty, the capital, it's all over!" Liu Pan gritted his teeth in grief and anger, and said every word, then lowered his head and closed his eyes in pain. Huang Zongxi felt that the roof above his head was spinning, and the floor under his feet seemed to be shaking back and forth.Instinctively, he stabilized his body with all his strength, and asked, "Where did this news come from? Could it be a rumor?"

Liu Bian shook his head: "Last night at four o'clock, the prince of the Fuzun sent someone to call the door, and told the whole city to gather in the yamen immediately. In the secret room, he passed and read the one hundred thousand urgent documents sent by the province, saying that the intruder committed suicide in mid-February. Shaanxi poured its nest eastward, and even fell into Taiyuan, Datong, and Xuanfu. By the middle of March, the guards of Juyong offered the pass to surrender to the bandits, and Changping also fell. On March 17, the bandits besieged with hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses. The capital. On March 19th, the traitors in the city opened the gates to welcome the surrender. The Holy One and the Queen Mother refused to fall into the hands of the thieves. A new king has been established!"

Liu Bian spoke in a sad tone, but never opened his eyes.His expression became more and more sad and indignant, more and more miserable.When talking about the martyrdom of the emperor, his voice was choked up, and tears gushed out from the slits in his eyes, flowing down his pale, not young cheeks. Huang Zongxi, however, seemed to be choked by someone's throat, and his body began to shiver.Indeed, the catastrophe had come so suddenly and so mercilessly that he could hardly accept it, or even believe it to be real.Now, he seemed to have fallen into a ten thousand zhang ice cave, and he only felt waves of piercing chills, and even the blood in his whole body seemed to be frozen.For a moment, he completely lost the ability to think, and only felt a loss in his heart...

"Then, what should, what should we do now?" After a long while, a trembling voice asked beside him.That was his younger brother Huang Zonghui. This is undoubtedly a very real problem.But at this moment, obviously no one can answer.So, just as a bubble rises in a stagnant pool, after only a lonely soft sound, the surroundings return to dead silence again. How long has this state lasted? No one seemed to notice the people who were immersed in unprecedented shock and mourning.However, gradually, there was a faint voice again.It was a gasp from the heart and lungs.At first, it only thumped slightly, then it became heavier and faster, and finally turned into a long howl of grief.Huang Zongxi turned his head in panic, and when he found that the crying mixed with the sound of "bang bang" came from the study on the east side of the living room, he called out in surprise: "Teacher!" past.

Liu Zongzhou was indeed in the study.It's just that this generation of Confucianists who usually behave solemnly and dress cleanly have changed drastically.He had taken off his hat, leaving his thinning white hair disheveled.A pair of black and dirty feet were exposed under the skirt, and the cloth shoes and socks were thrown out of nowhere.Extreme grief made his wrinkled square face swollen and flushed, tears and snot pouring out constantly, covering his beard and cheeks.He knelt down tremblingly on the brick floor, knocked his old, huge head towards the north direction, knocked it down, and at the same time let out a heart-piercing cry: "Holy Majesty! Master Chongzhen! Daxing Emperor! Why did you just let go and die! The lone minister Liu Zongzhou, without virtue and incompetence, is far away from the border, unable to share the worries of the Holy Majesty, to this day. He deserves death! He deserves ten thousand! die..." For a while, Huang Zongxi was stunned by the teacher's almost unrecognizable appearance, and he just looked at it with anxiety.However, when Liu Bi, Chen Gang, Wang Yuzhi, and Huang Zonghui all cried and knelt down, a sudden burst of great grief, like an overwhelming tide, completely submerged him and made him fall down involuntarily. He fell to the ground, and together with everyone, burst into tears...