Chapter 77 Hearing the police sneer

The host and the guest were talking happily when suddenly the sound of "橐橐" official boots sounded outside the door, and then two guests walked in.The tall and thin one is Liu Mi, a doctor in the Ministry of War, and the other is of medium build, with a fair face and beardless, named Yang Shicong.These two are Ma Shiying's confidantes, and they often come and go in and out of the mansion.Probably they found out that the master had nothing else to do, so they didn't need to pass on the news, and went in. "Teacher, I think Liu and Yang are here on some business. It's better to resign for the time being and come to talk with the teacher some other day!" Seeing that Ma Shiying only bowed and motioned for the guests to sit down, he ignored them, while Liu Mi But he seemed a little eager to speak, so Ruan Dacheng arched his hands and said with a gesture.

"Oh, no need!" Ma Shiying waved his hand at the conversation just now, and then turned to Liu Mi, frowning and asked, "Well, is there something wrong?" "Reporting to the teacher is the Tang newspaper that Shi Daolin urgently delivered from Jiangbei. I just recorded a copy, so I will report to the teacher first to know." Liu Mi said, taking out a pocketbook from his sleeve. Ma Shiying's face was still sullen, and he didn't say to watch, nor did he say whether to look or not.After doing this for a while, he reluctantly said: "Then, you can read it—well, you don't need to read it all, just pick the important ones and talk about it."

Liu Mi promised: "Yes!" Then he unfolded his hand, glanced quickly, and then said: "Shi Daolin said in the Tang newspaper that according to Gao Jie's report from Xuzhou, Fuzhen, Henan Province has been alarmed one after another in recent days. It is said that there are northern soldiers on the upper and lower reaches of the north bank of Kaifeng, and it is very urgent to ask them to cross. It seems that there is no doubt that the Jian captives want to enter the south of the Yangtze River. Then he rushed to Baiyang River and ordered the commander-in-chief Liu Zhaoji and Li Qifeng to rush to Suqian. At dawn on the 18th, our division crossed the river. The northern soldiers Xia Gushan retreated without a fight, and our army recovered Suqian. The mountain surrounded Pizhou, and the Dun army was in the north of the city. The Liu and Li troops went to aid it, and the Dun army was in the southwest of the city. They held each other for half a month.

The Suqian and Pizhou mentioned in the Tang newspaper are two extremely important military towns located in the east of Xuzhou and on the north bank of the Yellow River. It can go south along the canal and go straight to Yangzhou, which seriously threatens the safety of Nanjing.So even Ruan Dacheng couldn't help becoming nervous when he heard this.The rest of the people, like Ma Xi, Wang Zhong, and Yang Shicong, who obviously didn't know about it beforehand, all changed their faces, and they all turned their eyes to Ma Shiying.However, to everyone's surprise, the old man raised his head and burst out laughing.

"Ah, Master." Yang Shicong, who was obviously confused by the actions of the chief minister of the court, arched his hands and asked cautiously, "Northern troops committed crimes in the south, and Pi and Su were lost. Although they recovered fortunately, they had a lot to do with it. I don't know the teacher. Why are you laughing?" At this time, Ma Shiying stopped smiling. "Did you think that such a thing really happened?" He asked lightly. "This..." Yang Shicong said hesitantly, "If you are not sick, why do you moan like this?" Ma Shiying sneered, and said contemptuously: "If you are not sick, you won't moan? You know, this is exactly where Shi Daolin is shrewd and cunning! Now that the new year is approaching, the generals and officials under him must be rewarded for their merits as usual; this year As usual, the money and food that he wasted should be sold to the Ministry of Industry, if he doesn’t find a topic and bluffs, how can he spend these two sums?”

After a pause, he continued: "Actually, although the northern soldiers stopped their troops in Hebei, the remnants of the rogues are still thinking about moving in the Shaanxi and Henan areas. How dare he go south when the troubles in his elbows and armpits are not cleared? Besides, our country is powerful and our troops are strong. It is a hundred times stronger than before, so why should the Northern soldiers be afraid! Now they are only afraid that someone will lie about the military and shake people's hearts, and the world will not be chaotic!" At first, the few people present had their eyes wide open and listened worriedly. Only then did they wake up like a dream, and the stone hanging in their hearts clearly fell to the ground. I criticized Shi Kefa's bluff and praised Ma Shiying's foresight.Only Ruan Dacheng sat aside, but did not make a sound.Undoubtedly, he has absolutely no affection for Shi Kefa.But he also knows very well that a dull Donglin boss like Shi Kefa values ​​fame more than life, so he doesn't dare to lie.Therefore, Ruan Dacheng would rather believe that the report of the Qing soldiers suppressing the border would be somewhat true.However, right now, what he is preoccupied with is not the future fate of Jiangnan, but he is worried that if the Qing soldiers come too soon, if Nanjing becomes chaotic and scares away the Donglin and Fushe gang, he will not be able to do so again. There is no revenge.It should be known that Ruan Dacheng has held back this deep-seated hatred for seventeen years. Even if tomorrow there will be floods and everyone will be ruined, as long as he has a breath today, he will still report it! "Well, looking at the situation now, we really have to do it quickly!" he thought.So, without waiting for the voices in the seat to stop, he stood up abruptly, and said loudly with an air of justice:

"Shi Daolin falsely reported the military situation and made alarmist talk, not just for paying for his merits! According to his humble position, he actually relied on the enemy's self-respect, threatened people's hearts, and his aspirations were unpredictable! The teacher responded to the Ming Dynasty and arrested him. Just like the example of Yuan Chonghuan in the previous dynasty, the concubine can almost make up for the big troubles. Otherwise, the safety of the south of the Yangtze River is really unknown!" The guests present all criticized Shi Kefa just now, just to please Ma Shiying, they were surprised to hear Ruan Dacheng utter such a strong proposition, and stared dumbfounded for a while, not understanding what was going on.

This time, Ma Shiying seemed more sober.At the moment when Ruan Dacheng uttered nonsense, although there was a trace of surprise in his eyes, he calmed down, stroked his beard, and said disapprovingly: "Shao Sima's discussion is too much. The old Shi has never been convinced of the students' return to the court and upholding the government. Therefore, it is difficult to confide in the assistant governors in order to seek the country's interests. The students are also familiar with this point, and often I think it's a pity. However, if he is said to have a different ambition, at least he has not yet been seen. What's more, with the four towns in Jiangbei, he can make a difference!"

"But," Ruan Dacheng argued, "Gao Jie among the four towns has turned against him and is willing to sacrifice his life for Lao Shi. A few days ago, he openly went to court and spoke rudely to his teacher. He is a warrior, if Lao Shi hadn't instigated him behind his back. How dare you be so rampant!" Indeed, since Gao Jie obviously changed his original attitude and became Shi Kefa's powerful military support, Ma Shiying really felt very headache, but there was nothing he could do about it.After being silent for a while, he still shook his head and said with pretentious generosity:

"Gao Yingwu wants to overthrow me, but it's just a cockroach shaking a tree! As long as he—and Lao Shi, can still guard the door for me? I don't care too much about them!" Seeing Ma Shiying like this, Ruan Dacheng knew it was useless to say anything.Moreover, he proposed Shi Kefa in the first place, just as a pretext, and he didn't intend to really do it.So, at this moment, he immediately saw the wind and turned the rudder, pretending to be helpless: "Since the teacher has his own clear judgment, he dare not disagree with his lowly position. The only thing is to guard against the outside, but must guard against the inside. The demon monk Dabei who was taken outside the Shuixi Gate a few days ago was questioned by a secretary, and he has confessed that he is the younger brother of King Lu. The purpose of coming to Liudu this time is to go to the homes of Qian Qianyi and Shen Shaofang to make contact; and he swears that Lu Wang is wise and should be established as the son of heaven, and he wants to force Jin Shang to abdicate, which is undoubtedly treason! A copy of the name card, on which there are titles of 'Eighteen Arhats', 'Fifty-Three Candidates' and 'Seventy-two Bodhisattvas', all of which are attached with the names of government and field officials. I am afraid that they are all those who participated in this treacherous conspiracy. The humble official has copied a paper Here, please take a look at the teacher!"

As he spoke, he took out a handfold from his bosom, and put his hands over it. This move should be said to be what Ruan Dacheng wanted to achieve when he came here today.As early as ten days ago, after learning that a monk who falsely claimed to be King Ding, the third son of Emperor Chongzhen, had been captured, Ruan Dacheng immediately conspired with his buddy Zhang Sunzhen to use this incident to set up a big prison and take Fan Fan with them. Those who have done wrong will be wiped out.For this reason, they drew up a batch of lists overnight, bribed the jailer guarding Dabei, and asked him to secretly stuff him into Dabei's sleeve before interrogation, so as to serve as "criminal evidence."In this long list of more than 140 people, from Shi Kefa, Gao Hongtu, Jiang Yueguang, Zhang Shenyan, Xu Shiqi, Lu Daqi, Liu Zongzhou, to Zhou Bi, Lei Zuo, Chen Zhenhui, Wu Yingji, Huang Zongxi, Gu Gao , Mao Xiang, Hou Fangyu and others are all included.Now, just waiting for Ma Shiying to nod his head, Ruan Dacheng will start working hard without mercy.So, while watching Ma Shiying's expression changes, he felt both nervous and excited.For a while, Ruan Dacheng even wanted to step forward, pry open the old man's mouth, and immediately dig out the word "good" from it. Finally, Ma Shiying finished watching.He refolded the list, tapped it lightly in his palm, then stood up and said with a blank expression: "According to a secretary's report: During the interrogation, the man who was insane with great grief first stated that he was the king of Ding, and he also called himself the king of Qi; after the interrogation, he said that he was the younger brother of King Lu and was appointed Duke of the county; It was said yesterday that he was actually a Xingtong boy of the Great Compassionate Monk, who used to go to the house of Qian Qianyi and Shen Shaofang with his teacher. The words were repeated, all incoherent, and it was hard to believe..." Ruan Dacheng was originally full of hope, but when he heard the other party's tone, he couldn't help becoming anxious, and interjected, "This—" "Well, listen to me!" Ma Shiying raised his hand to stop him, and his tone became resolute, "According to this list, there are more than a hundred people involved, and all of them are people from all over the world. Right now, the court has made a preliminary decision. , before the foreign enemy is gone, the sudden establishment of the Great Prison will cause people to be terrified, and it is not appropriate to bring chaos back to life. Let’s put this matter aside for now, let’s talk about it later!”