Chapter 46 torture conscience

Ma and Ruan walked towards the direction they came from while talking.Gradually, their voices became blurred, and their figures became farther and farther away. Finally, they disappeared into the blurred night. Now, the entire camp fell deeper into a deep sleep.As the bonfires far and near dimmed one after another, the mountains and fields were no longer as shadowy as before, but became as if covered by a boundless cloak, dark and gloomy.Only the Milky Way in the sky is still lying across quietly, protecting the scarred and endlessly fighting world with its eternal brilliance, allowing it to enjoy this rare moment of peace.But even the Milky Way is quietly moving westward.On the contrary, the damp and cold wind blowing from the Qiantang River gradually strengthened. It kept blowing, taking away the fatigue, sweat and nightmares of the homeless, and also took away the last bit of residual heat from the bonfire.As a result, the soldiers curled up tighter, buried their heads deeper into their chests, and unconsciously squeezed closer to each other's bodies.However, their sound dreams were not disturbed by this. On the contrary, they snored more loudly and sadly to show that they are accustomed to the difficult environment...

It wasn't until the eve of the military parade was about to pass, and when the crystal dew began to shine on the iron armor, gun body, and the fur of the horse, Huang Zongxi's master and servant rushed to the camp under Guanshan Mountain exhausted. They set off from Dragon King Hall yesterday evening, originally, there was no need to delay their arrival until now.However, due to the unfamiliarity of the route and the fact that it was getting late, it was not easy to inquire. As a result, we ended up on a wrong road twice.It takes a lot of time to go back and forth like this.Now, as soon as the impatient Huang Zongxi entered the camp, he immediately asked the soldiers on patrol where the Yuyao volunteers were stationed, and then went straight to the camp of the Chinese army.Fortunately, he finally arrived in time, because Sun Jiaji had already woken up and dressed, and if he was a little later, he would leave the camp to attend the court meeting before the military parade.

Hearing that Ma Shiying actually had some letter to him, and that it was sent to the Dragon King Hall in such a sneaky way, Sun Jiaji was also very surprised.He took it immediately and opened it in front of Huang Zongxi.So the matter was finally clarified, and sure enough, it was a shameful letter, and he was most afraid of falling into the hands of people like Huang Zongxi.Because in the letter, Ma Shiying not only stated that he had arrived at Fang Guoan's camp, but also said that his heart to serve the country was not dead, and his blood was still alive.As for the purpose of the letter, it was to ask Sun Jiaji to use his influence to try to help him, at least not to oppose him.There is a thick stack of letters together, in addition to the main text, there are several secondary letters.As usual, the main text is some polite words about daily life, and the nonsense is all in the subtitle.But it's nothing more than racking his brains to justify his crimes, saying that he originally wanted to work together with Donglin to achieve prosperity, but Donglin didn't understand his difficulties and difficulties, and made things difficult for him everywhere.Even so, he still kept the overall situation in mind, tried his best to tolerate and protect Donglin, and prevented several possible prisons.Unexpectedly, Donglin and Fushe still didn't give up, and even instigated Zuo Liangyu to send troops to the east, but the Qing army took advantage of the situation to enter, and made a fuss about Nanjing and failed to defend it.Of course, in order to win Sun Jiaji's sympathy and support, Ma Shiying also admitted a little "mistake", that is, he misused Ruan Dacheng.It is said that after Ruan Dacheng came back, he was only thinking of taking revenge on Donglin and Fushe, not on state affairs, and came up with a lot of bad ideas.But Ma Shiying still thinks that it was unwise for Donglin to force Ruan Dacheng too hard and do too much, so that the grievances were too deep to be resolved.Therefore, a certain responsibility must also be borne.and so on.And at the end of the letter, it says this——

"Well, what do you think brother?" Seeing Huang Zongxi frowned after reading the letter, Sun Jiaji asked inquiringly. Huang Zongxi didn't answer, nor did he move his eyes, but asked instead: "What do you think, my lord?" Sun Jiaji shook his head: "The southern capital was overthrown, and Ma Yaocao, as the prime minister, is really responsible for it! All pretense and excuses are not enough to reduce the crime. Now that the crime has not been investigated, how can there be any reason for a quick recovery? If this matter is brought to the court, it will definitely arouse public outrage, and if it is handed over for impeachment, the supervisor will not allow it."

"..." "Okay," seeing that Huang Zongxi was still silent, Sun Jiaji put away the letter and concluded, "He wrote this letter for nothing. How can I agree to him? Just throw it away! Brother, running around all night is enough." If you are tired, take a rest quickly. Seeing that the sky is about to dawn, my brother has to go to court to discuss matters!" Then he stood up. "But, is it enough to let go of this matter?" Huang Zongxi suddenly threw out a sentence with a gloomy face. Sun Jiaji couldn't help being startled: "Brother means..."

"In the past, I didn't know where the two thieves Ma and Ruan fled, so we couldn't do anything to him. Now that they stick out their heads, they should go to Shujian Kingdom and put them to death immediately!" After a pause, seeing that Sun Jiaji had not made a sound, Huang Zongxi turned his head suddenly, and said loudly as if arguing, "Should I? Do you think it should? Ah!" Sun Jiaji knew Huang Zongxi's family background and experience very well, so he was not worried, but shook his head lightly, and said: "The two traitors Ma and Ruan have committed a heinous crime, and death is not worthy of death. But now they are hiding in Fang Guo'an camp I didn't see him. He said in his letter that Fang Guoan wanted to be recommended by the superior, so we know that he has protected them both. Now that the surname Fang has won the victory, he has the military power in his hands, and he is deeply relied on by the prison. Even if we want to Ma and Ruan are punished, but there is nothing they can do!"

After saying this, seeing Huang Zongxi still gritted his teeth and stamped his feet with grief and indignation despite being speechless for a while, he hesitated for a moment, and said in a low voice: "Brother may not know, there are more difficult matters right now. Well! After the king of Tang proclaimed himself emperor in Fujian, he always wanted to order the world with the dignity of the emperor. Recently, he sent envoys to announce his intention. However, the ministers here have different intentions. Some advocates rejecting it, while others Those who advocate accepting it. Hearing that Jian Guoda is not happy, he came to Guanshan yesterday. He planned to visit Dayue in person, but at night, he suddenly delivered an order saying that he would return to Taizhou. Ignore it. The news spread, which made all the ministers look pale and at a loss. Last night, they held an emergency meeting for half the night, and finally came to a conclusion. They want to play this morning. If Jian Guo refuses to change his mind , I still don’t know how to deal with this situation!”

The Taizhou mentioned by Sun Jiaji was the place where King Lu took refuge in the south.After the Eastern Zhejiang Uprising, Zhang Guowei and a group of gentry rushed there to invite him out to supervise the country.Now that he says he wants to go back to Taizhou, it means that he will quit from now on.This is indeed no small matter.Therefore, even Huang Zongxi couldn't help becoming nervous when he heard this: "Then, what was the result of the discussions among the ministers?" Sun Jiaji's expression became a little helpless, and said: "The matter has come to this point, for the sake of the situation in eastern Zhejiang, naturally we can only reject Fujian!"

"But if this is the case, will Fujian turn against us? If it causes trouble, I'm afraid..." Sun Jiaji waved his hand irritably: "Even so, I have to take one step at a time!" Saying this, he turned his ears to the outside of the tent, and got busy all of a sudden, "Oh, the horn is sounding, I have to hurry up Chao, any delay will delay!" After finishing speaking, he hurriedly cupped his hands, turned around and walked out of the tent door, and disappeared in the faintly whitening Cebu in a blink of an eye. ... "Master, don't you want to take a break? It smells like it won't be the official rehearsal until Chen Shi, at least I can sleep for a few hours!" Huang An walked in at some time.Seeing that the master was still frowning and standing motionless, he reminded him.

Huang Zongxi didn't say anything, just waved his hands, then walked past the servants and walked out of the tent. This campsite of the Yuyao Rebel Army is located on a small hillside.Standing in front of the tent, you can overlook the entire military parade site.Although the official rehearsal didn't start until Chen Shi, the soldiers who were still sleeping soundly in their respective positions had already been awakened by the sound of the horn just now, and got up from the ground one after another.As a result, on the hillside with a radius of ten miles, it became crowded again, and people shouted and neighed.Not to mention the camp in the distance, as the fog from yesterday had not cleared, the activities of the soldiers were still indistinct and could not be seen clearly. Judging from the camp of the Yuyao Rebels where Huang Zongxi was standing, it was already busy enough.Some of the soldiers hurriedly put on their clothes, some stood on the hillside and peed rustlingly, some helped to re-tie their crooked buns, some surrounded the cooks for water and food, and some cleaned up their knives and guns. Those who fiddle with armor, those who saddle horses, and so on.Along with their activities, all kinds of voices, footsteps, and the impact of utensils rang out noisily.Because he still remembered the conversation with Sun Jiaji just now and he didn't sleep all night, what he saw didn't make Huang Zongxi excited; on the contrary, it made him feel quite upset.But he didn't want to go back to the camp to rest, so he left the camp and walked along the hillside.

"...Yes, even traitors like Ma and Ruan dare not punish. What kind of righteousness does this court have? , and still want to fight against the Tang Dynasty, and compete with each other, just relying on this useless energy, it is enough to chill the hearts of people with lofty ideals, how can they call the world? It is difficult for Ma and Ruan to be in Fang Guo's camp now. Doing him is all the result of too much indulgence! Thinking so, those villains will die for us. Watch, one day will suffer! Maybe they will lose this idea in the end hand!" Thinking so resentfully, Huang Zongxi's mood became gloomy again, his feet became more and more weak, and finally he stopped altogether and stopped moving forward. "Woo--woo-woo--" the long trumpet sounded again.Huang Zongxi looked up and found that Guanshan was close in front of him.It was probably used for military parades and general worship, but now a huge earthen platform has been built high next to the foot of the mountain.Since the Cebu has dispersed, it can be clearly seen that the curtains and seats have been placed on the stage.The left and right sides are filled with many large and small flags.A wide step extends diagonally from the front to the ground.In front of the left front of the altar, there is also a giant flagpole.A large banner with the word handsome is unfurling against the morning wind, making a hunting sound... "It's wronged! It's wronged! We are not Tartars, we are all good people!" Suddenly, a cry came. Huang Zongxi was slightly taken aback, and turned around, it turned out that several prisoners in shackles and chains were being escorted and staggering towards them. "Yes, we are all good people! We are the people of Meijiawu!" The rest also cried in unison, hearing the accent, they really looked like locals. Huang Zongxi watched suspiciously, not knowing what was going on.On the other hand, the escorting soldiers heard the shouts and yelled viciously, "Shut up! What good people? Since you have your heads shaved, you are Tartars! You deserve it!" Cursing, they turned their guns upside down and beat them head-to-head.However, even though the prisoners were beaten and yelled, they still refused to stop pleading. On the contrary, they yelled even more fiercely: "It's wrong, it's really wrong!" "It's not that we want to shave our hair, it's the Tartars who forced us to shave!" "We are wrong, we know we are wrong! Please forgive us!" "Don't take us to sacrifice the flag, we don't want to sacrifice the flag! We don't want to die!" Huang Zongxi opened his eyes wide, and finally understood a little bit: These prisoners who shaved half of their heads but dragged an ugly long braid behind their heads were originally prepared to sacrifice the flag during the military parade.But they said that they were not Tartars, but good people.Well, it was probably because they were afraid of the beheading of the Qing soldiers a few days ago, so they shaved their heads, but this time they met the rebels who were fighting across the river and were captured... "I'm wronged..." the prisoners shouted again heart-piercingly.However, no one cares after all.As they were escorted away, the cry finally became low and could not be heard. "Well, after all, these country folks are the people of our Han family. They shaved their hair and put their braids on. They are nothing more than cowardly and fearful of death. They may not take it seriously. Now they are believed to be betraying their ancestors and deceiving their ancestors. They kill them when they are caught. It's too much!" Looking at the backs of the prisoners going away, Huang Zongxi couldn't bear it in his heart, and felt that he should try to advise the prison country to stop this practice.However, when he turned around and cast his eyes on the assembled army running all over the mountains and plains, he heard another voice retort in his heart: "Well, no, it is because most of the peasants in the countryside are afraid of death, that's why they should be afraid of death." Severe punishment! If he is allowed to shave his hair and change his clothes without punishment, other foolish people will regard me as gentle and benevolent, and will follow suit. Within a month, people will definitely change their minds. Everything!" These words were so forceful, Huang Zongxi felt stunned and couldn't help being stunned.It is true that he has always hated to separate the children of the world and destroy the flesh and blood of the people for the sake of the survival of the family. But the current situation is precisely that, whether he wants to or not, he has to do his best to maintain the Zhu family dynasty. And for this purpose, all acts of treachery must be severely punished, even if the other party is an innocent citizen who shaved his hair off just because of the Qing army's lust! "Ah, what's the matter? What's going on here? How did it become like this?" He opened his eyes wide and asked himself in a daze, "Could it be, could it be that I made a wrong decision when I got involved? But if I didn't get involved, no matter what How can the Tartars retain our Huaxia education when they enter the Middle Land? In order to preserve the Huaxia education, under the current situation, the only way is to try our best to maintain the Zhu surname court; and in this way, we cannot tolerate any harm to it. Behavior. However, this imperial court has actually reached a point where it is hard to return. Even if it is lucky enough to be "revived", at best it is just a replay of the old song, causing the people to suffer another round..." Thinking like this, coupled with these days Huang Zongxi felt that he seemed to be falling into a whirlpool of stupidity, blindness, and cruelty without any morality or nobility at all. No matter whether he succeeded or failed in the end, the result might be extremely tragic and embarrassing. Ridiculous, not what I expected at all.He shook his head, intending to get rid of this feeling, but instead he was gripped more tightly by this feeling.He couldn't help being frightened, and tried to escape, but he didn't know which direction to take his feet. When he was flustered, his legs went limp, and he sat down on the ground as if falling apart. boom!boom!boom!Three loud bangs came from the opposite hillside.This is the cannon.It announces to all the soldiers and horses assembled at the foot of the mountain in full force: the military parade is about to begin...