Chapter 21 Chapter 21 The Deformed World

Winter is here, and even the always warm and bright south of the Yangtze River is covered with snowflakes, and the sky and the earth are covered with a vast whiteness, so white that people feel flustered for no reason. Standing alone on the promenade with his hands crossed behind his back, Gao Panlong stared blankly at the fluttering snowflakes. After staring for a long time, his eyes dazzled, and there was nothing. There was an empty white hole in front of him. It's also like the world has come to an end, life has come to an end, and there is nothing left. His vision was lost, the sound of wind and snow that rang in his ears was gone, and his hearing was also lost—gradually, he lost all feeling; only a little bit of strength remained in his heart, struggling He condensed into a weak voice and told himself that the footsteps of disaster were approaching.Donglin Academy has long been banned and destroyed under the order of "nine thousand years old". Half of the teachers and friends who used to gather together to give lectures and discuss Taoism have come to the spring, and Wei Zhongxian will not let go of the remaining half...

He did not witness Yang Lian, Zuo Guangdou and others being tortured in prison, and their death was horrific, but he heard people talk about it many times; he also guessed the list of Yang, Zuo and others who were killed next. Including himself, those who are celebrities in Donglin, or those who have offended and criticized Wei Zhongxian in the past, cannot escape the arrest of Captain White Boots. Life will dance like snowflakes for a while and then become a vast white hole with nothing on it. The voice that said these words was very weak, and it became weaker and weaker, and soon disappeared completely, as if a person was trying his best to make a sound when he returned to the light, and soon died, and everything disappeared.

He stood there blankly, all stiffened. Captain Wei Zhongxian sent out to arrest the second batch of Donglin people who were imprisoned must have already been on his way. It is to kill himself first - he has already made up his mind. Only in this way can we avoid humiliation and destruction, and maintain our dignity as a scholar. "There is no second way!" He had thought it through many days ago. What lies before his eyes is like a white hole made of lifeless white snow, nothing at all. After thinking it through, my heart was filled with clarity. The only thing that still gently touches the heartstrings is a few thoughts:

He thought of Zhao Nanxing, who was sentenced to be sent to the garrison at an advanced age, wondering if he was safe?Thinking of Wei Dazhong's eldest son, Wei Xuelian, who had died because of mourning his father's death, would the only remaining second son, Wei Xuelian, be spared? Then, he thought about the future of the Ming Dynasty. "People, life is bound to die. The people in the East Forest, with a mere fate, in the ages, in the world, are just like mayflies, like grass, nothing to cherish, death is death! But just, let me count it all down." After the death, not only the government of the Ming Dynasty will fall into Wei Zhongxian's control, but also public opinion will be controlled by Wei Zhongxian, what kind of world will it be? It won't take long for the lifeblood of the Ming Dynasty to be cut off!"

His heart twitched slightly, but then returned to a semi-stiff state of rest, thinking about nothing. The ideals and missions of governing the country and the world that existed in his heart in the past have all disappeared, and the heavy responsibility of saving the world and people's hearts has also been let go. The fate of the Ming Dynasty is no longer something he can improve-he thinks about nothing, and finally The only remaining sliver of self-expectation is: "Look at death as home, so as to maintain the last dignity!" Wei Zhongxian, on the other hand, faced the civil and military officials of the Manchu Dynasty who were prostrated all over the ground with great ambition, let out a hearty laugh, opened his arms, made a gesture of flattery, and said loudly: "Everyone, get up!"

His voice does not take off the eunuch's true colors, high pitched and thin, a bit harsh, and also a bit female, and the tail rises, the more delicate and curly it is, and it is more different from ordinary people; especially when he utters it when his emotions are high, It also has a slightly more yin and yang smell. Fortunately, the ministers kneeling on the ground had already gotten used to his voice and tone, and they didn't feel any abnormality, but they didn't stand up according to his words—everyone seemed to have a collective tacit understanding, not only Continue to prostrate and kneel on the ground, and kowtow again, repeating the praise: "Congratulations to nine thousand years, blessings like the East China Sea, longevity than Nanshan—"

The sound of praise lingered and overlapped with the echo, and it sounded as if it would never stop. After listening to it again and again, Wei Zhongxian's mood changed from being very useful to quietly sneering: "This group of people, what do they call reading sage books on weekdays?" , who came from two ranks of Jinshi; now, in order to keep an official position as big as a sesame mung bean, he kneels in front of me, barking like a dog, barking endlessly—” Hearing a few words of flattering praises makes people happy, but if they keep shouting repeatedly for an hour, it will make people impatient.

"It didn't take so long to shout long live to the emperor!" What's worse is that anyone who makes him impatient because of other things can be arrested and punished, but only people like this who make him impatient because of flattering him can't be punished... He couldn't bear it any longer, so he could only beckon Wang Tigan to come over and whisper in his ear: "Tell them to stop—I still have business to tell them!" And Wang Tiqian took a lot of effort to catch the gap in the chant, and ordered loudly: "Nine Thousand Years Yizhi, everyone, let's listen to the gold and jade in Nine Thousand Years' mouth!"

Finally, the sycophancy of flattery was suspended—but in fact, this celebration called Wei Zhongxian’s birthday was essentially a flattering event, and there was nothing else to say except for praise and flattery. Apart from fame and fortune, Wei Zhongxian has nothing else to do. The entire Ming Dynasty has also evolved into a situation where there is nothing to say and nothing to do except flatter Wei Zhongxian; The degree of political corruption that resulted has also hit a new peak, and the Ming Dynasty quickly entered a dark period that was on the verge of death. The phenomenon of people's poor livelihood and turmoil caused by political corruption has emerged all over the country-because of seeking an official position, one must first honor Wei Zhongxian's considerable property, and after becoming an official, he has to manage it from time to time, which exceeds the income of his salary Hundreds of times and thousands of times, so that no official can survive without corruption; and the source of corruption is of course that the big officials take from the small officials, the central government takes from the localities, and the small officials and local officials take from the people. The people cannot bear it or cannot survive. Those who became thieves became bandits, robbing counties, rich families...

Zhou Yingqiu, Minister of the Ministry of Officials, was the person Wei Zhongxian had considered for a long time after receiving 100,000 taels of official silver before deciding to appoint him. After taking office, he did live up to Wei Zhongxian's "grace" and sold officials for Wei Zhongxian to earn money. Regardless of whether it is the central government or the local government, as long as officials are dispatched, the price will be charged according to the size of the official rank, which is like collecting a "new official appointment tax". How about paying silver taels?In this way, he can earn more than 10,000 taels of silver every day, which has earned him the title of "Sunday Wan"...

And the turmoil that followed the incident of "increasing ten thousand silver every day" had already sprouted, and spread rapidly like wildfire out of control. As early as the second year of Tianqi, there was a riot in Shandong called for by the White Lotus Sect. Xu Hongru from Yuncheng, Zhang Shipei from Caozhou, Yu Hongzhi from Wuyi and others called on the people to attack the city, and the number of people who responded was as high as ten. Tens of thousands, it took more than a year to subside; now, Shandong is not the only place where turmoil has recurred. Rampant banditry stems from the decline of people's livelihood, and people who were originally peaceful and kind people also fell into poverty due to hunger and cold. Therefore, Shaanxi, which has always been barren, bears the brunt of it. Since the Wanli period, the continuous increase in taxes has made it impossible for the people in barren areas to survive. Once natural disasters, man-made disasters, corrupt officials, and harsh officials are encountered again, the problem will be worse; He served as the governor of Shaanxi, and since then, Shaanxi has been reduced to hell on earth.The hungry people who couldn't bear Qiao Yingjia's deprivation and being unable to make a living first left home for food by coincidence and became refugees; In the Ming Dynasty, it became more and more an ancient tree that was chiseled outside, worm-eaten inside, and sick. Most of the leaves have fallen off, the branches are broken and decayed, and the roots buried in the ground are full of holes. They are still constantly pushing each other - all kinds of vicious circles are going on repeatedly, the vitality is completely lost, and the remaining energy is just dying. Among the nearly 100 million people in the country, there are only two people who live happily and contentedly, and that is Wei Zhongxian and Emperor Tianqi. Wei Zhongxian is already the real master of the Ming Dynasty, but how can he care about Guozuo and Shengmin?Today, his personal power and wealth are unmatched by anyone, and his eunuchs are still singing praises to him and collecting money for him, and they will never make people's lives worse than death. The turmoil tells him that, every day, he enjoys only his supreme physical status. Moreover, since he abused Ke Qingfeng as if suddenly enlightened, the only thing that made him ashamed and sad in the past no longer exists; he is no longer afraid of sharing the bed with Ke Qingfeng, let alone He felt pain from his own inhumanity; the "real man" who was specially found for Ke Qingfeng to satisfy Ke Qingfeng had already been quietly executed by his orders; impossible. He often uses brute force that he can't even imagine. He is as brave as a wolf and a tiger, and performs all kinds of perverted actions. The tortured Qingfeng cries and screams, and he gains dignity from the bursts of screams. , self-confidence and false satisfaction. And when his perverted behavior exceeded what Ke Qingfeng could bear and endure, Ke Qingfeng simply chose court ladies to "serve" him as scapegoats; Feng has gone through many vicissitudes, and it is even more unbearable for his perverted behavior. Some people commit suicide overnight to avoid being abused again; and die. Often, he willfully display his torture on the corpse, and because he can kill people, his illusion of conquest is stronger, and the pleasure and satisfaction he gets can be as high as boiling point. He has thoroughly identified himself as an omnipotent superman, so he is very happy. The happiness obtained by Emperor Tianqi is another kind of illusion, so the realm and level belong to another deformed world. His craftsmanship of making woodware has reached the pinnacle, surpassing any ancient person; and in his heart, there is no other person, thing or thing other than making woodware; he has completely become a legacy An independent craftsman lives for his work, and his life has no meaning other than his own work. During these days, he focused on a new work—this time, although he also used the Daming Palace as the basic background of the work, he made a new breakthrough in spirit. The Daming Palace he created is no longer a realistic appearance of the present, and the characters are not limited to the current emperor, empress, eunuch, court lady, Wei Zhongxian, factory guards, and inner cao—what he wants to create is the time and space of the past, and the characters of the past . As if the sense of history suddenly came to his heart, which made him break through the existing pattern when designing works, his ambition expanded a lot, and he wanted to complete a set of the Ming Dynasty’s more than two hundred years of history. A masterpiece of palace history. The first one was of course the Taizu dynasty. Based on the portraits, he produced lifelike puppets of Ming Taizu, Empress Ma, the founding heroes, and kings. He had never been to the imperial palace in Nanjing at that time, but it was not a big problem; Written records and detailed drawings and picture books can all be used as a reference, and he can also create a Taizu Palace that resembles in shape and spirit. Then came Emperor Hui, then Chengzu, Renzong, Xuanzong... The ancestors of the Ming Dynasty were inherited in one line. The emperors of each dynasty had different appearances, figures, personalities, and deeds, and the organizational system of the imperial palace was also more or less different. He carefully researched each of them. Carve carefully, and strive to complete the works to the realm of truth, goodness and beauty. During the production process, he had the feeling of copying history, and because these ancestors and ancestors were his ancestors whose blood was thicker than water, he had a special feeling of nostalgia, so he unconsciously redoubled his efforts, not only all the Both energy and time are invested in it, and the mind is like a demon. When the first "Taizu Dynasty" was completed, he looked at this work for three days and three nights and smiled obsessively. It wasn't until his body couldn't support the drowsiness that he unconsciously fell asleep with a smile on his face. In the process, he felt satisfied and happy wholeheartedly. And since he is in such a situation, when he wakes up, of course, what he pays attention to is to continue to make the next work-what is Wei Zhongxian doing, what are his courtiers doing, what are his people sending out? He was completely unaware of what the sound was, and even his own country was about to disintegrate, and he had no intention of knowing. So, let alone the actions taken by the leaders of the enemy country at this moment.