Using favors as a threat and demanding that the Xu family repay all favors immediately, Song Chengren's attitude may seem extremely rude, aggressive, and even a bit disrespectful, but in fact it reflects Song Chengren's cleverness and sophistication.
.
First of all, Song Chengren directly informed Xu Shengying of all the suspicious things about the seventh prince Zhu Hejian, which undoubtedly put Xu Shengying in a dilemma. Next, whether he reported this information to Emperor Deqing or not, it would be unpredictable for the Xu family.
At this time, Song Chengren asked the Xu family to do some "little things" that did not violate their principles to repay the Song family's various favors over the years. In fact, it was a means of compensation, and even left Xu Shengying room for bargaining, allowing the Song family to
In turn, he owed favor to the Xu family - Song Chengren was very confident that the favor of the Song family was quite valuable!
Secondly, Song Chengren was also implicitly hinting that Xu Shengying, Xu and the Song family were both behemoths in the south of the Yangtze River. After many years of interaction, and under the deliberate operation of the Song family, they not only tied up many interests, but also held each other against each other.
There are few clues, and at this critical moment, even if Xu Shengying is unwilling to share the same boat with Song Chengren, she should try to help one or two without harming her own interests;
In the end, Song Chengren knew very well that whether it was a civil servant like Zhou Shangjing, a gentry like himself, or a nobleman like Xu Shengying, they all hoped that the future emperor of the Ming Dynasty would be tolerant and treat his subjects well. At the very least, he should be like a virtuous man.
Emperor Qing took the overall situation into consideration and knew how to weigh the pros and cons. The last thing he wanted was to end up with an emperor who was extreme, vicious, mean and ungrateful.
Therefore, from the bottom of her heart, Xu Shengying certainly did not want Zhu Hejian to successfully take over the position of crown prince. Even if Zhu Hejian's extreme viciousness is just a guess of Zhou Shangjing, and no conclusive evidence has been found yet, Xu Shengying must also want to take precautions against it.
Not yet.
Song Chengren's statement at this time found a way out for Xu Shengying, which meant that Xu Shengying's subsequent actions were entirely to repay the Song family's favor, rather than deliberately targeting the seventh prince Zhu Hejian. The two were not the same thing at all.
Xu Shengying is also a smart person. After hearing Song Chengren's unceremonious statement, he was first shocked and secretly angry, but he soon understood Song Chengren's deep meaning, and his original cold and solemn expression softened slightly.
For some seemingly insignificant but far-reaching "little things", the point is not whether to do them or not, but in what name they should be done.
If these things are done in the name of repaying the favor of the Song family, then when Zhu Hejian stumbles due to these trivial things, Xu Shengying can also blame all the responsibilities on the Song family, saying that she was only deceived by the Song family, and try to ignore it.
Clear one’s own relationships;
Therefore, Xu Shengying took a deep look at Song Chengren and said slowly: "Over the years, Senior Song has either taken advantage of opportunities or actively set up traps to make my Xu family owe a lot of favors to the Song family. I have long known that Song
The old man must have had foresight to wait here... Tell me, what exactly do I need to do so that I can be indebted to the Song family!
But let me make it clear in advance that although I will seriously consider Senior Song's request, I will not necessarily agree to it. The premise is that Senior Song's request is indeed just a trivial matter that cannot violate principles and bottom lines, and cannot be tolerated on the surface.
If anyone finds any fault, I can't be allowed to come directly to the Xu family."
Seeing that Xu Shengying finally relented, Song Chengren was not surprised, but on the surface he was full of surprise and gratitude. He laughed and said: "Xu Shoubei, don't worry, it's really just a few small things! It's absolutely justified, and it will never violate Xu Shoubei's words."
The bottom line of principle!
First of all, among the Nanjing garrison, there is a military attaché named Tang Kun. The defense area is located in the southeast section of the Nanjing City Wall, where the Qingxi River meets the Nanjing City Wall. I now have good reason to suspect that it is because of this Tang Kun.
Secretly sheltering the gang of criminals who are wanted by the Nanjing officials, the traces of them have been missing for a long time. Therefore, I hope that Xu Shoubei can find a reasonable excuse to summon him to the garrison to meet him, and then take the opportunity to arrest and torture him.
Interrogate and find out the truth!"
After Xu Shengying thought for a moment, he shook his head and said: "The general could have sent an order to his direct subordinate Qian Hu to summon him out of the defense area and put him under temporary house arrest, but he would not torture his military attache just because of some baseless speculations made by Senior Song.
interrogation.”
Obviously, Xu Shengying was worried that after her harsh interrogation of Tang Kun, she and the Xu family would be in a dilemma again.
It would be fine if Tang Kun was unjustly accused, but if Song Chengren's speculation is true, Tang Kun was indeed secretly protecting the murderers - and according to what Song Chengren just said, that group of murderers are likely to be the dead soldiers secretly raised by the seventh prince Zhu Hejian
——Then Xu Shengying will definitely know more inside information after interrogating Tang Kun. This is something Xu Shengying has been avoiding.
Song Chengren did not insist on Xu Shengying's attitude. He smiled and nodded and continued: "Secondly, at 3:30 tonight, there will be a small riot within the defense zone of Tang Kun Tang Baihu.
And I hope...Xu Defei can react a little slower and delay the situation a little longer, and then send troops and horses to control the situation."
In fact, this request was also the main reason why Song Chengren came to see Xu Shengying.
You must know that although Xu Shengying is the highest military general in Nanjing, within the scope of his authority, he is still under the supervision of Nanjing's garrison eunuch Xicheng.
Therefore, if Song Chengren arranged for people to round up Jiang Xiao and his dead soldiers, and the Nanjing defenders quickly dispatched to control the situation, then even if Song Chengren successfully captured Jiang Xiao and others alive, these witnesses would eventually fall into the hands of the Nanjing defenders
Here, it is equivalent to falling into the hands of the Nanjing garrison eunuch Xi Cheng, and this eunuch Xi fully supports the seventh prince Zhu Hejian. When the time comes, he will definitely kill people quickly and eliminate all human and material evidence. And Song Chengren and Zhou Shangjing’s
All kinds of arrangements will result in nothing.
After hearing this, Xu Shengying roughly guessed Song Chengren's concerns. He hesitated for a moment, and finally nodded: "In recent days, the whole city of Nanjing has been under martial law. The military attachés in the city are all very fortunate, so tonight I will
A banquet will be held to comfort them. When the time comes, cups will be exchanged, wine will be exchanged, and everyone will be out of their own defense zones, and they will all be a little drunk, so naturally they will not be able to react in time."
Song Chengren thanked him and said: "Finally, according to my speculation, Nanjing City will be particularly lively tonight, and the teams of Jinyi Guards stationed in Nanjing will also be particularly active, so I hope that when Xu Shoubei takes action to control the situation,
Pay special attention to the movements of the Jin Yiwei, and try to provide more support when the Jin Yiwei take action. This kind of thing will not put Xu Shouwei into trouble, right?"
Xu Shengying took a deep look at Song Chengren again and sneered: "Senior Song is very calculating. He said that he wanted our Nanjing garrison to support Jinyiwei's operation tonight, but in fact he wanted me to send troops and horses to accompany Jinyiwei.
, monitor and restrict the activities of the Jinyiwei, so that the Jinyiwei can restrain their hands and feet when doing things, and do not dare to be unscrupulous..."
After exposing Song Chengren's little thoughts, Xu Shengying nodded again: "Okay, after all, there is nothing wrong with this kind of thing, so I will agree to it, Senior Song!"
After a pause, Xu Shengying asked proactively: "Does Senior Song have any more requests?"
Song Chengren had achieved all his goals of visiting the Nanjing garrison, and he immediately shook his head and said: "I am overjoyed that Xu Shoubei is willing to help with these three things. Naturally, I don't dare to push further!"
Xu Shengying stared at Song Chengren closely and said slowly: "Although these three things are not big things, I have shouldered the responsibility after all, and it is more than enough to repay the Song family's previous favors... So, starting from tonight
, it’s your Song family that owes me the Xu family’s favor!”
Song Chengren stood up with a smile, cupped his hands and said: "Yes, from tonight onwards, the Song family owes the Xu family a favor. If the Xu family needs help from the Song family in the future, the Song family will definitely provide full support within its capabilities!
"
For Song Chengren, being indebted to the Xu family is not a terrible thing, but a good thing.
Owe a favor, repay a favor, owe a favor again, repay a favor again. The so-called exchange of favors is actually just this.
And with the constant exchanges of favors, the relationship between the Xu and Song families will become stronger and stronger, and the interests of the two families will become more and more deeply bound.
Although the Song family was the top wealthy family in the Ming Dynasty, the Xu family was even better. This kind of human relationship would naturally bring more benefits than harm to the Song family!
Song Chengren had more things to be busy with tonight, so after he finalized these things, he no longer delayed, and immediately said goodbye to Xu Shengying and left the Nanjing garrison.
Outside the Nanjing Garrison Mansion, Song Jicheng, the direct grandson of the Song family, had been waiting for a long time. After seeing Song Chengren leaving the Nanjing Garrison Mansion, he quickly came up to him and asked in a low voice: "Grandpa, have you convinced Xu Shoubei to help us?"
Song Chengren nodded and said: "Of course! Although the Xu family is a noble and military general, and we represent the gentry and civil servants, after all, we are ministers of the same dynasty and have the same interests in many things. All we need to do is remind him of a vicious person.
After the extreme person succeeded to the throne, he was very easy to talk about some seemingly trivial matters! After all, this time it was mainly our Song family who was leading the charge, so even if he did something secretly, it would not be easy to be noticed.
.”
After Song Jicheng hesitated for a moment, he asked again: "But... after much thought, my grandson is still worried that Xu Shoubei is hedging his bets! If he agrees to help us now, he turns around and leaks our plan to the Seventh Prince.
Or Eunuch Xi, so what?"
Song Chengren chuckled, glanced at Song Jicheng and pointed out: "Of course Xu Shengying knows how to hedge his bets. There is no need to doubt this kind of thing, but he is absolutely unwilling to get involved too deeply in the game, so it seems that he is unwilling to make unreserved decisions.
Just like supporting us, he will never support His Highness the Seventh Prince unreservedly. The details of the plan I revealed to him were not many, and he was unwilling to show that he knew too much inside information that could be revealed to the Seventh Prince.
Even less!
Therefore, the most he could do was to tell the Seventh Prince in a vague way that there was something strange going on here, but we have been moving frequently these days, and this bit of information cannot affect anything at all! However, just in case, he still explained that tonight
Take action in advance, and the time to take action is no longer three quarters of an hour, but a quarter of an hour!"
*
In fact, Song Chengren completely guessed Xu Shengying's reaction.
Not long after Song Chengren left, Xu Shengying thought for a moment and decided to bet on both sides, sending people to Nanjing to guard the eunuch's mansion and report the news to the guarding eunuch Xicheng.
About a quarter of an hour later, Xu Shengying's messenger had arrived at the Nanjing Guarding Eunuch Mansion, and was quickly summoned by Xicheng for questioning.
"I'd like to report to you for guarding. My guard has noticed some suspicious signs, so he arranged for someone to come and report to you! Since this afternoon, the people of the Song family have been moving frequently, and it seems that there is going to be a big move, and the head of the Song family, Song Chengren, was there not long ago.
I personally visited the garrison in secret, hoping that my garrison master could mobilize the Nanjing garrison to support him, but my garrison master flatly refused!
But at the same time, Song Chengren also hinted that several senior military attachés in the Nanjing garrison have expressed their willingness to support the Song family, so my garrison master will summon all the senior officers of the Nanjing garrison tonight just in case.
The military attache gathered them in the Nanjing garrison, nominally to host a banquet for them and to express their gratitude for the good fortune of the city during this period of martial law, but in fact it was to keep a close eye on them to prevent some of them from
Secretly cooperating with the Song family to cause trouble!
Finally, my garrison master has sent an order to all the Nanjing garrison, asking them to fully cooperate with your Jinyiwei in the next few days and assist Xi Zhenzhen to fully control the situation in Nanjing!"
It must be said that Xu Shengying is definitely a smart man. He hosted a banquet for all the high-ranking military attachés of the Nanjing garrison tonight just to delay the reaction time of the Nanjing garrison so that the Song family could calmly round up Jiang Xiao and his dead soldiers. And he arranged
The Nanjing garrison closely followed the Jin Yiwei's actions, entirely at the behest of Song Chengren, in order to restrict and monitor the Jin Yiwei's actions.
But just to put it another way, Xu Shengying's subsequent actions turned out to be that he was fully supporting the seventh prince Zhu Hejian and the guarding eunuch Xi Cheng.
However, it is precisely because Xu Shengying is a smart person that Song Chengren can roughly guess his subsequent reaction.
After all, the brain circuits of fools are all kinds of strange, but the thinking methods of smart people are traceable.
But this method did successfully fool the guarding eunuch Xicheng.
After hearing the report from the Nanjing garrison messenger, Xicheng couldn't help but feel very satisfied and relieved.
As the representative figure of the inner court forces in Nanjing, although Xi Cheng was not yet a die-hard confidant of the seventh prince Zhu Hejian, he was still a reliable ally. Therefore, many of Zhu Hejian's actions were not hidden from him, but instead frequently requested his assistance.
Under such circumstances, Xi Cheng has roughly guessed the truth of the situation - the group of gangsters currently wanted by the Nanjing government throughout the city may be the dead men secretly raised by the seventh prince Zhu Hejian, and he also knows the two old foxes Zhou Shangjing and Song Chengren
They kept moving, just to capture this gang of gangsters alive and to find evidence that Zhu Hejian raised dead soldiers.
Because of this matter, Xicheng has been secretly worried in the past few days, and the Jin Yiwei under his command have also taken frequent actions.
But now, after hearing Xu Shengying's report, Xicheng couldn't help but feel relieved.
In Xicheng's view, Xu Shengying's briefing and reaction undoubtedly demonstrated the military's full support for the seventh prince Zhu Hejian.
With the full help of the Nanjing garrison and the Jin Yiwei under his command, Xi Cheng was full of confidence. He believed that no matter how many changes occurred in Nanjing, he could help Zhu Hejian control the situation.
So, after Xi Cheng nodded with satisfaction, his attitude was extremely polite and said: "Xu Shoubei is interested! When you go back, tell Xu Shoubei that His Highness the Seventh Prince and our family will remember Xu Shoubei's help and will do so in the future.
I will definitely wait for an opportunity to repay you! I also hope that Xu Defei will firmly control the Nanjing defenders. As long as the Nanjing defenders can stabilize themselves, the city of Nanjing will not be overturned!"
In this way, after sending away Xu Shengying's messenger, Xi Cheng also found a confidant and asked him to rush to Zhanyuan immediately to report the news to the seventh prince Zhu Hejian.
"Go to Zhanyuan and report the current situation to His Highness the Seventh Prince. Tell him that our side is fully prepared. The guards under his command have been deployed at key positions. We have also prepared strong bows and crossbows and are ready to assist His Highness the Seventh Prince at any time.
Eliminate all hidden dangers!”
*
And just when all the forces were preparing to take action, Jiang Xiao, who was secretly hiding in the southeast corner of Nanjing City, where the city wall met the Qingxi River, was also sensitive to the undercurrent of the situation in Nanjing, as if a storm was coming.
The calm before it comes.
First of all, the defenders Tang Kun and the grain gang leader Cai Tan, who provided shelter to Jiang Xiao and his dead soldiers, were summoned by their respective direct superiors and gradually left Jiang Xiao's control.
Although the Nanjing garrison and the grain gang headquarters summoned Tang and Cai for very legitimate reasons, and they could not find any fault, and Tang and Cai refused, Jiang Xiao still felt that this situation was too strange.
Secondly, the situation at nearby intersections suddenly became much quieter.
Prior to this, Jiang Xiao had always arranged for his soldiers to closely monitor the changes in the nearby area, and the "Chaofeng" soldiers had also been doing their duty, frequently reporting various abnormalities in the surrounding area to Jiang Xiao, and sometimes the Nanjing patrol camp
Patrols are sometimes carried out by government officials.
But on this day, since the evening, at several intersections around the place where Jiang Xiao and others were hiding, there were suddenly no more unusual situations to report, and no more random people were passing by or showing up.
This situation, which was not abnormal at all, made Jiang Xiao aware of the abnormality.
Finally, and most importantly, Jiang Xiao himself also felt strong uneasiness deep in his heart.
There is no reason for this uneasiness, it just stems from the instinct of danger. However, over the years, this instinct has been effective countless times and saved Jiang Xiao's life countless times.
Jiang Xiao has always been cautious and suspicious. At this time, he would naturally rather believe what he has or not, and start to consider the worst case scenario.
If you were a normal person, your first reaction at this time would naturally be to run away to protect yourself.
But... Jiang Xiao is not only cautious and suspicious, he is also a crazy person.
Therefore, Jiang Xiao finally made a decision that seemed extremely crazy!