Chapter 85 gangsters

Due to the imperial court's efforts to block the news, although the common people in Nanjing didn't know about Zuo Liangyu's raising of troops, the community members in the circle would soon know all about it through Huang Zongxi's disclosure.In the next few days, with excitement, but also trepidation, they split up to inquire about the latest developments in the situation.Of course, most of the collected information is fragmented, messy, and often even contradictory.For example, for a while, it was said that Zuo Liangyu had captured Jiujiang, and successively broke through Hukou, Jiande, Pengze, Dongliu and other counties; The part of the army that ascended to the prime minister retreated suddenly and did not know where it was going; for a while, it was said that Yuan Jixian, the governor of Hujiang, who was stationed in Jiujiang, also raised troops to cooperate with Zuo Liangyu's actions; Zuoying urged Zuo Liangyu not to advance, and stationed troops to wait for the order, but Zuo Liangyu refused to listen, and still marched. As a result, he broke through Jiujiang, burned, killed and looted wantonly; after a while, it was said that Zuo Liangyu had promised not to break through the city. However, his subordinates did not obey orders and acted without authorization, which resulted in the catastrophe in Jiujiang; there are even rumors that Zuo Liangyu died of illness when he was in Jiujiang, and now his son Zuo Menggeng is actually leading the army. What is true and what is false.Only one thing can be concluded: it seems that the Zuojia army is indeed getting closer and closer to Nanjing.Because the imperial court had abandoned the fortification on the front line of Huanghuai, Huang Degong, Marquis of Jingnan, Liu Liangzuo, Uncle Guangchang, and Liu Zeqing, Uncle Dongping, rushed in to defend against the left army.Then he ordered Ruan Dacheng to join Yingtian and Anhui governor Zhu Dadian to patrol the river upstream of Nanjing.At the same time, Nanjing implemented martial law throughout the city, and dispatched military officials to guard the thirteen gates of Nanjing's outer city.It was this last situation that made the community members feel nervous and excited that the long-awaited storm was approaching.In order to avoid unnecessary trouble, although they dare not reveal anything in public, they get together in private, and the topic is always inseparable from this big event.Especially when I read Zuo Liangyu's proclamation that was secretly copied, in addition to enumerating the rapes of Ma and Ruan, he also listed the arrest and persecution of Zhou Biao and Lei Zuo as one of their major crimes, which made the community members even more angry. He regards Zuo Liangyu as the savior who can turn the world around, and hopes that he will come to Nanjing as soon as possible.

Of course, some members of the community disagreed with this matter.Maoxiang is one of them.If he strongly opposed Wu Yingji and Huang Zongxi when they decided to send people to Hubei and Fujian to report and lobby, then the current turn of events made him even more astonished, with a fear of imminent catastrophe.However, when things got to this point, he knew that it was useless whether he opposed or agreed.So, even though he didn't plan to leave Nanjing yet, he was even less interested in mixing with his friends. This day is already the eighth day of April.For a whole morning, Mao Xiang ran around the city, asking for help, so that his servants could pass through the city gates that were already under martial law, and send a case of urgently needed money to his father, who was taking office in Haining County. .In the homes of those acquainted officials, they also talked about the current situation with each other as usual, some of them were panicked, and some of them advised Mao Xiang to try to leave the place of right and wrong as soon as possible, and stop messing around with fellow communes.As a result, he walked down several houses in a row. Although he finally got things done, Mao Xiang didn't feel at all relaxed in his heart. On the contrary, he became more bored.

It wasn't until after noon that Maoxiang led a long squad back in a hurry along the river from Zhuqiao to Baicunqiao.It's early summer now, and since yesterday, the sky has been gray and cloudy, and the sun is dark, but it still hasn't rained.That situation, just like the situation facing Nanjing, seemed chaotic and unpredictable.Sitting on the back of a donkey, Mao Xiang looked up at the sometimes dim and sometimes bright sky, and suddenly remembered the poem "Jinling Nostalgia" written by the poet Sadura of the Yuan Dynasty: "The sun is covered with banners, clouds and sculls, and bones are like snow! "Ah, this terrible picture that has been repeated so many times, is it really going to come again? Is it true that all of this must be experienced by our generation?" Mao Xiang could not help but shudder.He didn't dare to think about it anymore, he just gave the donkey a whip and walked straight to Taoyehe House.

Back at Taoyehe House, after Maoxiang handed over the reins to the head class, he hurried inside.He passed through the gatehouse and saw a few people—all residents of Benhe’s room, gathering in the courtyard in front of the main room, talking vigorously.When they found Maoxiang walking in, they all stopped talking.These few residents, in terms of their status, are gentry and literati, but Mao Xiang thinks their conversation is tasteless, their knowledge is superficial, and they don't have much contact with each other at ordinary times.Seeing them sneaking around now, he didn't even bother to say hello, so he lowered his head and walked towards the small courtyard on the east side of his rental.

"Mr. Mao is back, have you seen the execution of Da Zhongqiao just now?" Mao Xiang looked back and found that the tenant who took the initiative to say hello was narrowing his eyes, showing a look of concern.He had no choice but to stop for a while, nodded, and then replied calmly: "I have never seen it, so I don't know who it is that killed?" "Oh, brother Mao didn't know! The ones being punished today are Zhou Zhong, Wu Su, and Guang Shiheng from your company!" Mao Xiang didn't intend to stay at first, but when he heard that these three acquaintances were killed, his heart was shocked, he raised his head, and looked at each other with suspicion.

"I heard that before they were executed, they all received sticks in the Ministry of Punishment, and they could no longer walk. They were carried by dustpans." The man shook his head, showing a look of compassion, but his eyes were flickering, clearly wanting to see Maoxiang. Terrified and embarrassed. "Accordingly," another tenant picked it up with a beating voice, "People like Zhou Jiesheng not only lost their lives and surrendered to the thieves, but also blatantly published "Persuading the Form" and "A Strategies to Jiangnan in a hurry" to Chuangni. , The crime is extremely heinous, and death is not enough to redeem it! It’s just that he has always pretended to be the leader of the celebrity team, but he ended up like this, but it is also amazing!”

"They are both thieves, but when I saw Guang Shiheng and Wu Su, they seemed to be guilty, but Zhou Zhong was the most abominable, and he screamed at sky-high prices along the way, saying, 'under the blue sky, there is such a thing. He also said, "If you kill me, the world will be peaceful!" It can be said that he wants to lie to the sky until his death!" The third person who interrupted seemed to be still angry. Mao Xiang never answered.Undoubtedly, because the three people who were killed, especially Zhou Bi's cousin Zhou Zhong, as one of the influential leaders in Fushe, had been hated by Ruan Dacheng for a long time.It is expected that the traitors must be put to death and then quickly.However, during the first month, Donglin and Fushe had gone through the doorway of Cifu Wang Duo, and requested the imperial decree to grant the suspension of sentence for the case of the thieves.Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.Unexpectedly, less than three months later, he suddenly started killing again, which Mao Xiang could not have expected.Undoubtedly, Mao Xiang was also very annoyed at Zhou Zhong and others' outrageous surrender, feeling that he had tarnished Fushe's reputation.However, a friend who was very familiar with him on weekdays ended up in such a tragic end. This incident still shocked him greatly, so that he stared blankly at the three people in front of him, unable to say a word.After a while, he lowered his head, turned around silently, and walked towards the courtyard where he was staying.

"It's only April now, and it's not the time for the Autumn Judgment. Moreover, Zuo Liangyu's soldiers are heading east along the river. Why did the court choose this moment to carry out the execution? It seems that it must be the horse and Ruan. Why! But why are they so confident? Could it be that they decided that Zuo Liangyu would not be able to fight? Or did they have a premonition that the doomsday was coming, and decided to kill and take revenge first? Well, if this is the case, I am afraid that we will not be spared!" Thinking about it, Maoxiang's heart couldn't help beating wildly "plopping", and all the muscles in his body suddenly tightened.Although there was rumbling thunder mixed with lightning from the clouds, and big raindrops hit his face, he didn't notice it at all. "However, at this point, even if you want to escape, I'm afraid it will be too late! Besides, the inner and outer city gates are all sealed, how can you get out? Yes, the current situation has reached this stage, and seeing that there is no hope at all, since sooner or later They are all dead, so if they want to kill them, let them kill them! Maybe this way, I don’t have to go through the tragedy of the corpses and blood flowing into the river, and I don’t have to suffer from the destruction of the country and family. Anyway, the younger brother in the family has already been born, and the parents will not have no one to support them!" After such a desperate resolution, Mao Xiang calmed down instead, and felt a sense of relief that was all over.At this moment, the raindrops had become denser.So, he took a few quick steps and stepped into the courtyard planted with plantains and gardenias.

"Ah, well, the uncle is back!" A familiar voice came.Mao Xiang looked up and found that the servant Mao Cheng was walking towards him from the West Room with an oil-paper umbrella in his hand, with a relieved expression on his loyal face. "Master," probably seeing Mao Xiang nod his head, intending to go inside, Mao Cheng hurriedly followed, holding up an umbrella to shield him from the rain, and said in a hurry, "Master Zheng is here, he said he has something important to do." Tell me, I have been waiting in the West Wing for a long time!" Mao Xiang was slightly taken aback: "Master Zheng? Which Master Zheng?"

"It's Mr. Zheng from the Zhen Fu Division." The "Master Zheng" that Maocheng refers to is Zheng Tingqi, an ex-clearer in Maoxiang's family, who is now a captain in the Zhenfu Division in Nanjing, and is in charge of arresting criminals.In August last year, after news of Zhou Biao and Lei Zuo's arrest and imprisonment came out, Mao Xiang led Chen Zhenhui and Hou Fangyu to visit Zheng Tingqi and asked him to take care of him.Later, because Zhou and Lei were transferred to the prison of the Ministry of Criminal Justice, Mao Xiang no longer contacted Zheng Tingqi.Now when he suddenly heard that the other party came to visit, and he did not hesitate to sit and wait, Mao Xiang couldn't help being puzzled, turned around quickly, and hurried towards the West Room.

Sure enough, when he raised the curtain and stepped over the threshold, he found that Zheng Tingqi had stood up and made a salute.However, what made Mao Xiang even more surprised was that today Zheng Tingqi was dressed as a commoner in a green coat and a cap. Looking at it, I almost didn't recognize it. "Hey, Shixiong!" Zheng Tingqi did not wait for Maoxiang to ask questions, he made a hasty bow, approached, and said in a low and nervous voice, "Brother, I came today to tell you something very urgent: Mr. Ma Ge and Ruan Da Sima was very angry because Zuo Bing went eastward; and because Zuo Liangyu mentioned Zhou Zhongyu and Lei Jiegong's imprisonment in his essay, he believed that the change was caused by them, and suspected that it was related to The businesses of Fushe want to be the internal response of the left soldiers, so today I have first asked for an order to kill Zhou Jiesheng and the three of them, and order Zhou Zhongyu and Lei Jiegong to die in prison at the same time. Now I have sent a letter to the Metropolitan Procuratorate , to arrest and imprison the elder brother, Huang Taichong, Gu Zifang, Wu Ciwei, Chen Dingsheng, etc. My brother learned about this from a friend of the book office in the courtyard this morning, and said that Master Zou, the head of the courtyard, approved: Tomorrow, I will write a letter to the Secretary. Now the situation is extremely urgent, Brother Shi should leave Beijing as soon as possible to avoid disasters!" Mao Xiang didn't expect things to happen so quickly.Especially when he heard that Zhou Biao and Lei Zuo had been sentenced to death in prison, it was like a thunderbolt sounded in the clear sky, which stunned him all of a sudden. "Ah, so, Zhou and Lei were also killed by them! However, Zhou Zhongyu was arrested in August last year. What evidence is there for him to link up with the left soldiers? How dare Mr. Ma be so lawless, Without being investigated by the third division, they randomly determined and murdered people? They still want to arrest us! What crime are we guilty of? Is it because we published the "Liudu Anti-Riot Public Exposure" and because we didn't buy Ruan beards? The reason is that we want to defend the crown prince? But what kind of crime is this? Even though Ciwei and Taichong sent people to Wuchang and Fujian to report the news, they never planned to let Zuo Liangyu raise troops. I know all about it! As ministers, they kill and arrest if they want to avenge their personal grievances! Is there any law in this imperial court? Are they reasonable or not!" Mao Xiang yelled angrily in his heart.The original premonition of despair had irresistibly approached his eyes, and the arrogance and anger in his heart broke out irresistibly! "No, I won't go! Why should I go? Why should I be afraid of them? If they want to catch me, they should come and catch me! It's nothing more than death! The state of the country has come to this point. Anyway, sooner or later, everyone will be finished. What else is there?" Scared? No, I won’t go, I won’t go!” Seeing Mao Xiang's impulsive appearance, Zheng Tingqi also seemed a little sad.He lowered his head, thought for a while amidst the sound of rain pouring in through the window, and then persuaded: "Death is nothing to fear, but a man deserves to die. In fact, there are many places to serve the country. For example, Shi Gong is recruiting talents in Yangzhou. Why don't you go there and show your talents? Wouldn't it be better to stay here and give them away for nothing?" Life is much stronger!" Zheng Tingqi had been a cleaner in Maoxiang's house, so he obviously knew this elder brother's temper quite well.So he was not passionate when he spoke, on the contrary he seemed very calm and calm.Sure enough, Mao Xiang was so awakened by him that he stopped talking immediately.In fact, he was not a reckless person.Although full of grief, indignation and despair, he was determined to fight against the power with his death, but when he found that there were more valuable choices, he became sober. "However, Brother Wan still has to inform Huang Taichong and Gu Zifang before they can make it. Or, everyone should leave together, and Brother Wan must not go alone and let them fall into a trap!" After pondering for a while, Mao Xiang said hesitantly. Zheng Tingqi breathed a sigh of relief.He immediately took out a command arrow from his waist and said: "It's not too late. Brother Shi decided to leave Beijing, so it must not be later than tonight. Although the inner and outer cities are under martial law, you can pass with this arrow. As for Mr. Huang Taichong and the others, Don't bother Shixiong to tell me, just leave it to my younger brother!"