Chapter 11 Chapter Eleven

Kangxi and Wei Dongting came to the embankment of Yongding River and saw a group of people gathered in front of them.They rode their horses and whipped their whips, and when they came closer to look, there were about 500 peasants standing on the frozen embankment.Because of the cold weather, he was clamoring and refusing to go down the river.Kangxi was taken aback, huh?The treatment of rivers began after the autumn floods, and work stopped in Lidong.Why is the river still being dug here at this time?Just as he was about to go up to interrogate, he heard another shout, and when he looked back, he saw a blue warm sedan chair being carried over.There are two tiger head plaques in front, followed by more than 20 guards holding water and fire sticks. One can tell at a glance that it is a guard of honor of the fourth-rank Daotai.

The official sedan chair stopped on the river embankment, and an official got out of the sedan chair with his waist bent.I saw him wearing a blue glass crown on his head, an official robe with eight pythons and five claws, and a purple lamb's sheepskin cape. He was in his forties, white and fat, and looked dignified.The official got off his sedan chair and stood on the river embankment. Seeing the peasants shy away by the river, unwilling to go down the river, he asked with a sullen face, "Who is the chief foreman here?" An official squeezed in from behind the crowd, gave Qian'er a big smile and said, "Zhu Guan. I'll pay my respects to you, little one!"

"Hmph! You slippery thief! You must have gotten drunk last night and fooled around with official affairs of the court! Look, what time is this? You still haven't entered the river!" "Old Mingjian, it's not that you are lazy, the water is really cold, you can't go down..." "Nonsense! In early autumn, the Dao ordered you to start work. You pushed three times and said three cents per person, and the wages were not enough, so you refused to work. Now that the price has risen to five cents, why are you still unwilling to do it? Come on, drag it on." Twenty lashes!"

The official's eyes suddenly panicked, his knees softened, he knelt down, kowtowed and said: "Jing Fei is a brave man, Mr. Yang ordered him to start work at the end of the day, and finish work before the end..." Zhu Daotai sneered , Said: "ah, Yang Mo is an upright official who loves the people like a son, are you here yet?" At this time, Kangxi has already heard that it is almost inseparable.For the wages of river workers, the imperial court has a uniform official price set by region, even in summer.No less than five points.This river actually deducted two cents of labor and silver, missed work, and forced the peasants to work through the ice in the cold.This slave's heart is really bad.

At this time, a young man in his twenties, wearing a red-tipped cotton shirt with one corner tucked in his waist, strode up from behind the civilian husband, bowed and said, "Master Zhu, what's wrong with you, my lord?" What are your orders?" "Oh, it's County Magistrate Yang. Why are you dressed like this? Just now, this slave said that you deliberately neglected the river workers. It is really abominable. The court has repeatedly issued strict orders about the river workers. Last year, when Lord Yebilong was patrolling the river, brother I have been condemned, and I know it. How do you deal with this matter today?"

Yang Me was a Jinshi in the sixth year of Kangxi when he was seventeen years old, and he was appointed as the county magistrate of Gu'an. The next year, Ye Bilong, the assistant minister, went to Wuhu to raise food.When Ye Bilong returned to Beijing, he visited Hegong.This Zhu Daotai was called Zhu Fuxiang, who was still a magistrate at the time. He received Wu Sangui's secret letter, neglected He Gong, and was slapped by Ye Bilong in front of all the officials. .Zhu Fuxiang became angry because of his shame, and he hated Yang Mo, which has been brooding all the time.Today, when Zhu Fuxiang said these words, of course Yang Mo knew that the surname Zhu was trying to use an excuse to attack him.He pondered for a while and said slowly: "What the official said is not to slander the subordinate officials, the time to go down the river and finish work is indeed determined by the humble position."

"Oh? Why?" "The humble official believes that driving the people into the water to control the river at this time of freezing weather is really a waste of money and people. We should ask the constitution to stop work immediately." Kangxi was listening to Yang Mo's eloquent speech, and he couldn't help but secretly praised: Well, this man is courageous. But Zhu Fuxiang scolded angrily: "Isn't your county magistrate too bold? Do you know that the river regulation is an explicit order from the imperial court!" "I know it's an order from the imperial court!" Yang Mo also raised his voice, his voice trembling slightly, it could be heard that he was trying to suppress his anger.Hundreds of civilian husbands were stunned to see them getting more and more stiff.Two elderly uncles caused trouble, and hurried up to persuade Yang Mo: "Master, don't fight with the Taoist platform. The little people just go into the water..." Saying that, they took off their shoes, rolled up their trouser legs, and dived into the river. All the migrant workers also took off their shoes, stomping their feet and going into the water.The folk women who push the carts and sell rice wine are also busy lighting the stove to light the fire, kneading the noodles to warm the wine.Standing beside him, Kangxi saw that the thighs of the peasants who went into the water had been pricked by ice balls, and some of them were still dripping with bright red blood. : "Come up, no one should go down!"

Zhu Fuxiang's face turned pale with anger, and he stammered: "You...you! Your eyes...are supreme, resist...resist the emperor's order...listen...listen!" He said, flicking his sleeves He was about to get into the sedan chair, but Yang Mo grabbed him and asked: "Zhu Fuxiang, where are you going?" Seeing that he dared to call his name directly, Zhu Fuxiang was even more furious, and roared loudly, "Go back to the Yamen to attend you! You... just wait!" Yang Mo is not afraid of them all.His face was flushed red, and he held Zhu Fuxiang back with a swearing-in attitude: "Master Daotai, it's almost noon now, your brocade robes are heavy and your fur is so cold that you stomp your hands and feet, but you want the people to break through the ice and go down the river Well then, I would like to ask my lord to have a taste of the glaciers today, and then order the common people to go down the river and go back to the Yamen to listen!" Then, he dragged Zhu Fuxiang, who was already stupid, and walked down the embankment together , set foot on the ice.

Zhu Fuxiang was startled, and when he hurriedly grabbed his hand to break free, he was held tightly by Yang Mo, almost slipping and falling.Seeing the county magistrate pulling the watchman down the river, the two masters exclaimed and went up to pull it together, but the river ice couldn't stand it and cracked with a "click".The ice water immediately did not reach the thighs of the two of them.Seeing that the matter was getting bigger and bigger, all the people's husbands surrounded them with a "huh", and hurriedly helped them up.Kangxi looked at the embarrassed Zhu Fuxiang, and couldn't help singing loudly: "Okay, well done!"

Zhu Fuxiang went ashore, he didn't know whether he was angry or frozen, his face was pale and blue, and his upper and lower teeth were chattering.He raised his eyes and saw a young man in common clothes and blue scarves standing aside, instead of trying to persuade him, he applauded instead.Immediately flew into a rage, pointed his finger and shouted: "Come on, take down this untrained bastard for me!" When several government servants heard Zhu Fuxiang's order, they grabbed the rope and rushed towards Kangxi. Emperor Kangxi grew up in a deep palace since he was a child, how pampered and respected he was.Even though Oboi waved his arms and fists at him in front of the throne, he didn't dare to scold him so recklessly.As soon as Zhu Fuxiang's words came out of his mouth, Kangxi felt a wave of anger and rushed to the door.He touched his waist subconsciously, only to realize that he didn't have any "Sword of the Son of Heaven" with him.He glared at Wei Dongting who was standing aside, raised his palm and "slapped" it was a slap in the face: "The master humiliated the subject to death, do you understand? Do you want me to do it myself?"

Wei Dongting also burst into uncontrollable anger.But Kangxi didn't speak, and he didn't dare to act rashly.But it might as well be that Kangxi slapped him in the face in anger, and this slap woke him up.I saw him rushing forward with a tiger's pace, snatched the rope from the yamen servant's hand with his hands, and danced like a soft whip.The two yamen servants in front turned their faces early, and rolled aside with a cry of "Mommy", covering their eyes.One of them was kicked on the heart by Wei Dongting head-on, and he spat out a mouthful of blood... Seeing that the situation was not going well, Zhu Fuxiang turned around and dived into the chaotic crowd. Lifting his chest, he swung his arms left and right and "slapped" two palms, which made his eyes spin like stars.Zhu Fuxiang yelled inarticulately while being beaten next to each other: "Okay, good! You beat me well!" Wei Dongting was afraid that he would swear even worse, so he slapped him continuously. Yang Mo was stunned by the sudden scene, and hurried forward when he woke up.However, Kangxi still couldn't let go of his hatred, he stamped his feet and shouted: "Xiao Weizi, besides slapping your mouth, don't you have any other skills?" This is the most convenient for Wei Dongting.He casually sent Zhu Fuxiang forward, followed by another chain kick, kicking him in the chest.Zhu Fuxiang fell down without even humming.Bright red blood flowed from the mouth. Seeing that these two people of unknown origin killed the imperial court official on the spot, the government servants were stunned, Yang Mo was stunned, and hundreds of civilian husbands were also stunned.They stood there like wooden sculptures, looking at Kangxi who was pale with anger on the embankment. "What... what should I do? He..." Yang Mo woke up startled, turned around Zhu Fuxiang, squatted down again, felt his pulse with shaking hands, tested his breath, rolled his eyelids, looked at his pupils, and murmured murmuring something.There was a commotion among the peasants, and then they shouted frantically: "Master, don't leave!" A few women next to them screamed even more sharply: "You have caused such a catastrophe, how can we people live!" Amidst the yelling, dozens of strong and strong peasants held poles and blocked Kangxi's way forward and back. .The wall of people is getting closer and closer, forcing them up.Wei Dongting saw the anger of the crowd, it was hard to stop, he took a step back and stood in front of Kangxi, with a horizontal sword in his hand, and shouted: "Whoever dares to speak up will kill him!" But hundreds of people yelled, yelled, scolded, quarreled, talked, and made a mess, how could they hear clearly!Kangxi's pleasure of "removing harm for the people" was completely swept away by this surging roar.He knew in his heart that people didn't hate him, but they were afraid of hurting the young county magistrate.But no matter how he waved his hands or shouted "quiet", no one would listen.The surging stream of people held picks, pushed forward and back with poles, and surrounded him and Wei Dongting in the core.He was really a little scared.At this moment, a piece of yellow dust was flying in the north, and a group of green cavalry came galloping with swords and spears.A few elderly people chanted the Buddha's name and shouted: "Amitabha, it's done, it's done. The officers and soldiers are here!" The noisy crowd suddenly became silent, and the civilian husbands around Kangxi silently stepped aside. The team leader was a guerrilla stationed in Gu'an County.He brought eight personal soldiers, walked through the silent human path with his waist knife in hand, and leaned over to inspect Zhu Daotai lying on the ground.The two masters came forward, talked and compared each other, and told how the "robber" beat and observed the adults.Others carried Zhu Fuxiang down.The eight personal soldiers didn't wait for orders, and came to Hengdao early to watch Kangxi and Wei Dongting. Wei Dongting watched the green battalion soldiers approaching with cold eyes, and said word by word: "Shangguan Guerrilla, are you here to get me?" The garden was quiet, and the words were clear and clear. Shangguan looked up and saw that it was his immediate superior.Shangguan Guerzilla trembled in shock, threw the knife to his feet, and hit a thousand children: "Ah, Wei Junmen! Why didn't the Junmen return to Beijing? The people in Zhu Daotai's mansion reported that the robbers attacked Daotai. Gathering crowds for rebellion is a humble job..." "Don't say these useless words. Take care of the affairs here, and write a Zhazi report to the Ministry of Officials with Gu'an County, except for the name and finish the job!" Because he did not get permission from Kangxi, he never dared to publicly reveal the identity of the emperor behind him . However, Kangxi ignored Shangguan Guerrilla, walked down the embankment calmly, patted Yang Mo on the shoulder and said: "You were the youngest one in the imperial examination in the Palace of Preservation, and it seems that you won the 2nd and 14th place. Right? It's only been two years, and you don't recognize me anymore?" "Zhen bow?" These two words seem to have a lot of force, and the young county magistrate is a little out of breath.His face became as pale as paper.Shangguan Guerrilla also seemed to be stupid, his mouth was open and he couldn't close it.After a long time, Yang Mo asked in a trembling voice, "Are you Long Live?" "It's because I came this far, and the slave surnamed Zhu was too rude to me, so I ordered the guards to execute the punishment." It has been three years since Yang Mo's speech.Three years ago, 200 outside Jinshi knelt down together to listen to the "sacred teachings". How could he dare to glance at Longyan from the stage?At this moment, how can you recognize it?After hesitating for a long time, he hurriedly asked, "Excuse me for being bold, but do you have any evidence?" "Haha, I have seen that you are so brave! Well, I don't blame you, this is something that should be asked clearly." Kangxi took out a jade seal the size of a walnut from his bosom and handed it to Yang Mo. Yang Mo holds it in his hand and examines it carefully, and sees that there is a golden dragon on the top as a seal button, and the seal script on the bottom is "Tiyuan Master".Ah, it is indeed the imperial treasure that Kangxi carried with him!Yang Mo no longer had any doubts at this time, he knelt down on the ground with a plop, held the jade seal high in both hands, and cried out loudly: "My lord will live forever!" He took a piece and shouted "Long live, long live!" "You are all my good people. Hmph, the weather is so cold, and Zhu Fuxiang forced the peasants to go to the river to control the water. Why doesn't Zhili Governor Gu Gu participate in the performance according to the facts? Get up! Yang, I ordered you to go to any Governor of Baoding, the matter here will be handled by Shangguan appointees for the time being." Suddenly, an old man came forward and knelt down and begged: "Long live Lord, since we know that our Gu'an county magistrate is a good official, we should leave him to take care of the people. Long live Mingcha, we are very sorry to meet such a good official." Easy!" "This is to promote him! How about I send another good official to Gu'an?" This question made people look at each other in blank dismay.The middle-aged woman who sold wine took the opportunity to pour a bowl full of rice wine, held it to Kangxi with both hands, and said, "It's so cold, please use a bowl of wine to warm up your body!" Lianxi did not hesitate , picked it up and drank it down, and praised loudly: "Good wine!" "Long live God said that the wine is good, it is the dignity of our Gu'an people! Long live God just said that he would appoint another good official to Gu'an, which is good, but it seems too troublesome. Why not appoint that good official to Baoding and stay there?" Xia Yang is here with us. If you are promoted or not, is that not a word from Long Live?" "Okay, okay! You are worthy of a censor!" I agreed!How about Yang Moshi's five-rank salary, plus the title of Daotai, and still staying in Gu'an?I eat your bowl of wine for nothing, so I want to give you a favor! " There were thunderous cheers on the river beach, shouting in unison: "Long live the Holy Spirit!" The original date of returning to Beijing had to be postponed by another day.That night, Kangxi stayed in the study of Yang Mo, the Gu'an county government.Although Zhu Fuxiang was dealt with, the common people praised and supported him, but he felt a little restless. He sat down in the study for a while, got up for a while, asked for tea, but refused to eat; took out a book from the bookshelf, and turned a few page and put it down again.Suddenly, he waved to Wei Dongting and said: "Dongting, come to the lamp." Although Wei Dongting was a little confused, he still walked over obediently. Kangxi looked at Wei Dongting's cheek and sighed, "Oh, I have always treated you with kindness, but I don't want to hit you by mistake today in a fit of anger!" Wei Dongting suddenly felt a sour and hot passion rising from his dantian, and he couldn't hold it back anymore.His face was flushed, and he knelt down and said: "The master is humiliated for no reason, it is the slave's fault!" "If you feel wronged in your heart, just cry here!" "No...! How could this slave feel wronged? The filthy words surnamed Zhu insulted the Lord and offended Tianwei. As the escort and bodyguard, how dare you say that you are innocent?" As he spoke, tears rolled down his face. "I blamed you wrongly. You were afraid that those crazy slaves would hurt me, so you refused to take action easily. Look, your tears are coming out, and you still say you are not wronged?" "The slave really doesn't feel wronged!" Wei Dongting kowtowed repeatedly, and said with sobs, "The slave is grateful for the kindness of the master. It's hard to report what happened..." "You're telling the truth." Kangxi said, holding Wei Dongting's arm, "But I did wrong you—don't you think I've treated you a little less these days?" Wei Dongting couldn't figure out the meaning of these words, he trembled all over in shock, and hurriedly said: "The slave never thought about this, the master never treated the slave poorly." "Ah, are you capable or have you learned to skate? I have deliberately touched you these few months!" "How dare a slave pretend to be a lie! Thunder, rain and dew are all the grace of the king. Slowly say that the master has no alienation from the slave. Even if there is, the slave should blame himself and make up for his mistakes. How can he have a heart of resentment?" "Well, it's good that you are like this, but you don't know what I mean after all - you are different from Suo Etu and Mingzhu. The third child of Suo is a relative of the emperor, and sometimes he does things wrong. As long as it is not in the interests of the overall situation, I have to give him some face; As for Mingzhu, she has talent, but she is just a fellow Jinshi. What is there to envy? I treat them far less highly than you. You have asked several times to give up martial arts and study literature, but I have not agreed. Isn't it the time! Now! , the world is not stable, the country is in dire straits, I cannot live without you by my side, you have to afford this—— Wei Dongting was meditating, when he suddenly heard Yang Mo announce from outside the door: "Long live Qi Zuo, Mu Zixu, the guard of Qianqing Palace, begs to see you!"