Nearly Qianjin Yiwei searched Zhejiang for several days. Not only did they plunder all the public and private collections of books in Zhejiang, but they also extorted thousands of wealthy households. Most of them were severely beaten, and the entire Zhejiang area fell into panic.
And this is just a microcosm of the provinces in the Ming Dynasty. From the moment the gentry and Confucian scholars were forced to hand in books and money, most people only had hatred for the Ming court in their hearts, and some people gritted their teeth and stamped their feet. Families fled, and some moved their families north, directly to the province of Beiping.
Ma Degong and other Jin Yiwei didn't care about this. They just took advantage of the opportunity of copying books to make money. Originally, they wanted to stay in Zhejiang for a few more days, but the capital sent people to carry out the edict. Because the book delivery team sent by King Runan They were robbed and the books they carried were missing. To be cautious, they were asked to protect the books and return to Beijing immediately.
"Brother Ma, my subordinates have counted and found more than 8.5 million volumes of various books. Excluding duplicates, there are still more than 1 million volumes, which can be loaded into more than 100 cars." Zhou De said early in the morning. When I came to find Ma Degong, he did not participate in the extortion feast, but was solely responsible for organizing the books. When the colleagues saw him, they applauded him, but in their hearts they called him a fool.
"So many?" Ma Degong frowned. The imperial edict was clear. In addition to all the pictures and the Five Classics, not a single one was brought back to Beijing. The more than one million books were packed into more than a hundred carts, and the eight hundred If tens of thousands of volumes cannot be loaded on a thousand carts, how many carts will be needed to pull them?
"Sir, the imperial court will definitely not be able to use those duplicates. Taking them back will take up space. In my opinion, it is better to gather them in one place and burn them on fire to save trouble." Zhou De suggested.
"Burn books?" Ma Degong frowned and shook his head: "This is a big deal, I can't make my own decision. Let's transport these one million books back to Beijing first, and save the rest first. Go to the warehouse and send people to guard it. I don't think anything will go wrong. As for whether these books should be kept or burned, we will wait for the order."
"That's fine, why don't you stay and take care of this batch of books to prevent them from being lost?" Zhou De said.
"You stay? How can this be done? You took the lead in copying the book. How can you not return to Beijing with me to receive the reward?" Ma Degong shook his head and disagreed. He trusted this subordinate very much, and because This little virtuous man has only become what he is today, so of course he must share in his blessings now.
"This is all due to your command, brother. Your subordinates are just following your instructions. What's the credit?" Zhou De quickly became humble and said: "These books are of great importance. It's better for my subordinates to stay and watch. .If it were anyone else, my subordinates would really be worried."
"Yes, that's what you said." Ma Degong is not stupid. He knows what his subordinates are. In short, they are greedy for money. Letting them guard the library is like letting a weasel watch a chicken. It would be strange if nothing happens. , maybe they will resell these books, which we have to guard against.
When he thought of this level, Ma Degong said: "Then I'll bother you, my dear brother. I'll go back to the capital first and I'll definitely speak well for you in front of the Holy Master."
"Then I'll thank you first." Zhou De's face was full of smiles, but he was laughing deep down in his heart: Fool, it's unknown whether you can return to Kyoto safely this time, so you're still saying nice things? What a ghost!
On the second day of May, the Jin Yiwei, who had been dominating Hangzhou for many days, finally left, along with more than a hundred carriages of books. The officials who saw them off looked at this locust-like team walking away, and they all secretly came out. They breathed a sigh of relief. Because of these books, they were tortured to the point of having trouble sleeping and eating. If the trouble continued, the people might be in turmoil.
In fact, these officials also wrote to the court to report the evil deeds of these Jinyiwei. However, these memorials were like meat buns beating dogs and never came back. They did not need to think about it to guess that the memorials they worked so hard to write were If he was admitted, he would be thrown aside as waste paper. However, the imperial court knew that the Jinyiwei was causing trouble and did not care. This clearly shows that they want books rather than the people's support.
Of course, these officials also knew that the imperial court wanted to collect these books to use them as bargaining chips in a showdown with the Peking Province. However, what the court did was obviously excessive. The Peiping Province also paid for them, and the imperial court not only It's really too much to bully people by extorting money for nothing.
While these officials and gentry were pouring out their sorrows, there were more than seven million books placed in an official warehouse in the east of the city. Although there were only four imperial guards led by Zhou De guarding them, no one dared to read them. Take half a step closer to here.
And just when no one was around, a hole suddenly opened in the floor of the official warehouse, and several men in black got out of it. Each of them used a backpack, packed a bag of books and left. A few minutes later, He went and came back again, packed up a bag of books and left again.
Going back and forth like this, these people were like ants moving, and they quickly emptied several book boxes. However, the Jin Yiwei outside had no idea at all, and was still drinking and chatting with their deputy Zhou Qianhu. I got drunk during the meeting.
Seeing these drunken subordinates lying on the table and not knowing what was going on, Zhou De sat on the side and shaved his teeth leisurely. He knew clearly in his heart: the more than one million books brought back to the court by Ma Degong They were not rare books at all, but some duplicates. The real rare books were packaged by him and hidden in this official warehouse. But now, these precious books are disappearing without anyone noticing.
Those men in black moved from morning to midnight, and finally finished moving hundreds of boxes of books. At this time, Zhou De hoofed the drunkards and found that they were still sleeping like dead pigs. Looking around, he found that There was no one around, so he picked up a subordinate and entered the warehouse. Then he quickly changed his official uniform onto his.
"Black Panther, all the books have been moved. The chief has ordered us to move immediately." A man in black emerged from the tunnel and whispered to "Zhou De".
"Okay, you go first, I'll set a fire to cover you." Zhou De changed into black clothes, and his face finally returned to a tough look. In fact, he is not Zhou De, but a Jingzhong guard arranged among the Jinyi guards. There is a secret agent named Zhao Quande, but this time he has to be exposed as he has to carry out the task of changing the sky.
"Well, this is kerosene. If you set a fire, hurry up and catch up. Don't get caught by the official army." The men in black put a dozen bags of things on the ground and left quickly.
Zhao Quande waited in the warehouse for a while. When he saw that his people were almost gone, he started to pour the kerosene around. Then he took out a fire jar, blew it and threw it on the ground, and then he got into the tunnel. During the process, the tunnel entrance was sealed with a backhand, as if it had never appeared.
It was already early in the morning. In the past few days, the people in Hangzhou City had been tortured by the Jinyiwei. They finally had a good sleep. Naturally, they were not able to discover the fire in the warehouse in time. When the watchman discovered the fire, , the fire has spread, the entire reservoir area is in flames, and it is impossible to put out the fire. The personnel who come to put out the fire can only put out the surrounding fire to prevent the fire from spreading.
Just as the people in the city were busy putting out the fire, a dozen small fishing boats appeared on the Qiantang River in the south of the city. There were hundreds of fishermen on these small fishing boats, and they were moving the piles of things on the pier to the boats, and on the pier The officials also turned a blind eye, because they all knew that these people were smugglers, and they also received benefits.
With the connivance of the officials, these small fishing boats left the dock before dawn, went down the river, and disappeared into the vast sea, as if they had never appeared before.
In a small post station fifty miles north of Hangzhou City, Ma Degong, who was transporting books back to Beijing to ask for merit, spent the night in this small post station because he had to transport too many books and was traveling very slowly. When he got up in the morning, he After receiving the news of a fire in Hangzhou City, I immediately sent someone back to investigate. Only then did I learn that the fire broke out in the warehouse where they kept books, and that one of his subordinates was burned to death in the warehouse. Judging from the official uniform he was wearing, he looked like Zhou Fuqianhu.
As soon as he heard that his capable subordinate was burned to death in the warehouse, Ma Degong was heartbroken and did not dare to stay in the inn. He had seen the rampage of thieves. The last time he transported copper coins back to Beijing, he was beaten by a group of people. The thief robbed Tao, and he might be robbed again this time.
When he thought of this level, Ma Degong didn't even dare to walk through the waterway. Instead, he walked along the land road beside the canal. He also sent some people to clear the way to avoid being ambushed. At the same time, he also recruited some people from the local government. Officials and civilians protect each other all the way. In short, be careful and be careful again.
However, they were so cautious and ultimately suffered a tragedy. No one robbed anyone along the way, but when they passed a large stone bridge, a series of explosions suddenly came from under their feet, and the entire stone bridge collapsed. All the people on the bridge fell into the water, and only some people who were lucky enough not to get on the bridge escaped.
And these people who were lucky enough to escape were secretly grateful for the rest, but they found that more than 100 carts of books were missing more than 20 carts. There was no need to look for them, they must have been wasted. More than 20 carts of books were lost in one go. After winning the battle, he immediately sent someone into the water to fish it out.
However, after fishing for a long time, the wet books that were fished out were less than one in ten, and many of them were turned into "mushy". When Ma Degong saw it, he almost fainted out of breath. These were the treasures he used to ask for credit, and there was no difference at once. With more than 100,000 copies, the credit will be lost this time, and maybe he will be punished.
Just when Ma Degong was in panic because of the lost book, a dozen fishing boats approached a large ship on the vast sea. Thousands of cargo boxes were loaded onto the large ship, and in the bow of the ship, a man A man in a sky blue uniform was sitting in the living room, chatting and drinking with a group of people, and Zhao Quande was also present.
"Quande, you have done a great job this time. If you are transferred back, sir, you will definitely be assigned another important task." Seeing that Zhao Quande was speechless, the man in blue robe smiled. And he was from the navy, so his uniform was different from that of Zhao Quande. The black uniform of the Jingzhongwei.
"Well, I'm just a little regretful. I managed to break into Jinyiwei with great difficulty, and now it's really not worth it to be exposed for some books." Zhao Quande frowned.
"This is Mr. Wan's arrangement. It's not just you. In order to get the book, all the elite guards were dispatched. And after finishing this job, most of the elite guards retreated, leaving only a few to perform simple tasks. A latent mission." said an old man sitting above Zhao Quande.
"Sir, what do you mean?" Zhao Quande was even more puzzled.
"Because the Ming Dynasty will collapse soon, there is no need for us, the Jingzhong Guards, to spend too much time here. And this time, sir, when he calls us back, he must have another important purpose. According to Commander Zhang, it is very likely that we will be sent back. Selected to go to Nanyang."
"Nanyang? Why are you going to Nanyang?"
"Let's get some information, but I can't say for sure. Maybe we will be made generals in the Peking Army, or we may be sent to Liaodong as officials. In short, everyone is waiting for promotion."