Three hundred and eighty eighth chapter quality and clean
Eight years ago, Yan Song, who was the Minister of Rites at the time, received Jiajing's order to recruit young girls into the palace and handed the matter over to his son Yan Shifan.
Jiajing recruited girls between the ages of eleven and fifteen, and they wanted to be virgins.
I don't know which Taoist priest told him that using sunflower water from virgins under fifteen years old to make elixir into "red lead elixir" can prolong life and strengthen the body.
This damn statement actually tempted Jiajing, who was devoted to cultivating Taoism, and he asked for a beautiful girl.
The reason is very simple. Red lead itself is a bit disgusting. If those girls look too crooked, the psychological impact on Jiajing will be even greater.
Jiajing recruited young girls into the palace for the purpose of cultivating Taoism, but in the hands of Yan Shifan, it turned into a huge and extremely profitable business.
Yan Shifan assigned work to local officials at all levels who were attached to the Yan family.
Let people make a list of the rich people in each state, and then make a list of those who have beautiful girls between the ages of eleven and fifteen at home. Anyone whose name is on both lists becomes a fat pig waiting to be slaughtered.
.
There is no airtight wall in the world, and the rich naturally have their own channels for information. They know that their daughters entering the palace do not have the opportunity to become female officials and concubines, but to become medicine scum.
So they spent a large sum of money to visit the officials in charge of the matter. The general meaning was "There is no grass anywhere in the world, please look elsewhere."
After collecting the money, naturally you can no longer take away other people's daughters. You must be honest in doing business. So after the rich people have paid the money, those girls will naturally leave the poor people's homes.
Qiaoqiao's family is not very poor. Qiaoqiao's father is still a scholar, but he can't afford so much money. But there is no need for his family to panic.
Because Qiaoqiao's sister was only ten years old at the time and did not meet the qualifications. When the population was checked that day, it was Xiao Wannian who led the team to Qiaoqiao's home.
As the Deputy Qianhu of Jin Yiwei, this kind of errand did not require him to leave the capital. However, Jiajing attached great importance to the recruitment of young girls, and specifically gave Yan Song the right to temporarily recruit Jin Yiwei to prevent local troubles and prevent local officials from showing favoritism.
Hiding beautiful girls secretly.
This is not unfounded concern in Jiajing. Throughout the dynasties, as long as the emperor recruited a beautiful woman, it was almost always a good opportunity for local officials to take concubines. As for the means, they were countless.
At that time, the Strict Party was in full swing and was acting under the orders of Jiajing. The commander, Lu Bing, did not dare to neglect and sent almost all his personnel out to assist. Xiao Wannian was assigned here.
When he told the family in the book that their eldest daughter was under eleven years old and was not included in the recruitment, the family was extremely happy.
They saluted Xiao Wannian and the government officials, poured them tea, and gave each of the government officials ten copper coins.
Qiaoqiao, who is only two years old, is hugged by her sister and giggles happily. She is so cute.
Xiao Wannian had a nine-year-old son, his wife had passed away, and even the sparrows in the house were male, so he especially liked Qiaoqiao and even held him and teased him for a while.
But because all the daughters of wealthy families had paid to redeem themselves, there were not enough people, so the magistrate relaxed the conditions.
As long as they are beautiful, they are all big or small. Anyway, these days, the household registration information is all in the county and there is no Internet.
Sister Qiaoqiao is very beautiful. You can tell this by looking at Qiao Niang. Her daughter has inherited her appearance. But the Qiaoqiao family will definitely not do it. Her father went to court to complain, saying that his daughter was not old enough.
As a result, the magistrate pointed to the tampered household registration book and said that he was causing trouble and disobeying the decree.
In order to kill as a warning to others, and to silence the Qiaoqiao family, the magistrate ordered people to serve him with big sticks. He also imitated the posture of the eunuchs in the palace and put his two toes together, looking like an angry old lady.
This is a popular code, just like the finger pointing down in the Colosseum in ancient Rome, which allows the government officials to beat people to death directly.
When Xiao Wannian, who was maintaining law and order at the recruitment site, arrived at the county government office, Qiaoqiao's father had already been beaten to death, and the charge given by the county magistrate was resisting the decree.
If you resist the decree, your whole family will be implicated. If the man dies, the woman will be sold into slavery or sent to the Jiaofang Bureau.
Xiao Wannian is not a simple and kind-hearted person. It is impossible for such a person to be a member of the Imperial Guard and serve as a deputy to thousands of households. Although there is a reason why he saved Lu Bing on the battlefield, his mind and skills are not bad either.
He also knew that Yan Shifan was in charge of recruiting girls this time, so he watched indifferently from the beginning, just as a mascot that shocked the scene.
He said to the magistrate: "I know this family. The girl is just ten years old. Please show me your favor." As a member of Qianhu, he thought it was not difficult to be so polite to a magistrate. Although he could not save Qiaoqiao.
Dad, but it is still possible to keep this family.
Ke Zhixian smiled and told him: "Sir, if it's someone else's family, that's fine. Someone named this girl. Don't worry, she won't enter the palace. If her life is good, she can be the concubine of the elder in the future.
!”
Xiao Wannian was stunned. His first reaction was Yan Song. Although Yan Song was not the chief minister at that time, he had already joined the cabinet.
However, he immediately vetoed it. Yan Song did many evil things, but he was not lecherous. The lecherous one was his son. At that time, people said that Yan Shifan would join the cabinet sooner or later, and they all secretly called him Mr. Xiaoge.
Xiao Wannian was silent. With his ability, he had no problem suppressing the county magistrate, but if Yan Shifan really fell in love with this girl, he would not be able to protect her at all.
Just when he hesitated, he rushed to the hall to collect his father's body. Sister Qiaoqiao, who had already seen a glimmer of hope, finally despaired. She took advantage of the yamen servant's unpreparedness, rushed over and killed her father.
The hard-heartedness that Xiao Wannian had cultivated for many years broke through.
Xiao Wannian grabbed the tampered book, arrested the magistrate on the spot, took him back to the capital, and threw him into the imperial prison.
It is the prerogative of Jin Yiwei to arrest first and report later. He has the evidence in hand and firmly believes that he can administer justice. Even if he cannot touch Yan Shifan, he can still deal with this magistrate! Even if he deceives himself about justice, he must have justice for himself.
An explanation!
However, three days later, the magistrate was released, and Lu Bing told him not to cause trouble anymore.
Although the county magistrate is insignificant, Yan Shifan is worried that if the news is leaked, it will cause an uproar among the people in the court, which will be detrimental to Jiajing and Yan Dang. What's more, the girl Yan Shifan wants directly from the magistrate is a person who helps him do things. If he doesn't protect her, Yan Shifan will
The party will lose its prestige!
Since the county magistrate is not guilty, then the Qiaoqiao family is guilty. This is a black and white matter. Qiao Niang held Qiao Qiao and was sold as a sin slave by the court.
On the platform of the Sin Slave House, a group of people lined up, wearing iron shackles on their feet, and were surrounded by a group of people making comments.
Qiaoqiao huddled in Qiao Niang's arms, too scared to cry.
Normally, a sin slave could have at most ten taels of silver. Because Qiao Niang was so beautiful, many officials and gentry were willing to pay a lot of money to buy her. The final asking price reached one hundred and eighty taels of silver!
Just when everyone was competing to buy, Xiao Wannian raised his hand: "I will pay one hundred and ninety taels."
There were angry voices among the auctioneers, but after seeing Xiao Wannian's Jinyiwei Qianhu uniform, most people gave up.
Qiao Niang recognized Xiao Wannian, a blush appeared on her pale face, and a glimmer of hope appeared in her desperate eyes.
The person from the Sin Slave House smiled and shouted apologetically: "Is there anyone else bidding?"
A clan dignitary raised his hand: "I will pay two hundred taels!"
He tilted his head and looked at Xiao Wannian. No matter how fierce the Jin Yiwei was, he would not dare to embarrass the clan without the emperor's order. If the clan is not an official, as long as they do not rebel, no one can touch them.
Xiao Wannian has no money, this is all his savings.
After he bought the small courtyard with his salary and silver reward over the years, his wife fell ill and spent a lot of money, but she was not cured in the end. This was all he had left.
The hope in Qiao Niang's eyes disappeared. Both parties in the sin slave house did not want to offend, so they deliberately waited for three more breaths.
The clan was anxious and waved his hand dissatisfied, asking his servants to fetch him.
"He paid two hundred and ten taels."
Xiao Wannian turned around in shock. Lu Bing stood behind him, his expression was calm and not angry, and he put a hand on Xiao Wannian's shoulder.
Anyone who is not blind knows what this gesture means: I support him today, who would be dissatisfied?
No one is dissatisfied. Jin Yiwei is Jin Yiwei, and Lu Bing is Lu Bing. It is not just as simple as the commander of Jin Yiwei.
Xiao Wannian took the two of them home. Lu Bing sighed, but he didn't expect that this sigh was too early.
The county magistrate hated Xiao Wannian deeply. When he heard that Xiao Wannian had bought Qiaoniang and his daughter, he immediately obtained some black material and claimed that Qiaoqiao's family had been guilty of insulting Wanzai in court and should not be sold and should be sent to the church.
Si is a prostitute.
In a word, you have made me lose face, and I have made you disgusted. I will bring the woman you want to hold in my arms into the Jiaofang Division for you to hold in your arms.
It's a pity that the magistrate's affairs were not kept secret enough, and the local postmaster found out about it. And the other identity of this postmaster was Jin Yiwei, who was once a subordinate of Xiao Wannian.
That night, the magistrate died, and the black materials were burned. No one saw who did it.
But people would guess, especially Yan Shifan, that he had an extremely smart mind, which may have surpassed all of his contemporaries.
So Yan Shifan invited Lu Bing for tea and asked a question: "What would you do if your dog killed my dog?"
Lu Bing answered this way: "I have many dogs in my family, but there is only one that saved my life."
Yan Shifan questioned: "Dogs are dogs, and they should save human lives. Does it make any difference if a dog saves a human life? Do people still need to be grateful to dogs?"
Lu Bing said calmly: "A dog that has saved a person will be loyal to that person. This kind of dog is very rare. If you don't believe me, you can ask Banzai."
Yan Shifan stopped talking. In order to save Xiao Wannian, Lu Bing would rather treat himself as a dog. Everyone knows that in the eighteenth year of Jiajing, there was a fire in the palace, and it was Lu Bingfen who carried him out of Jiajing regardless of his own safety.
He compared himself to the dog that saved Jiajing's life. First, he explained what happened to Xiao Wannian, and second, he demonstrated to Yan Shifan to make him understand his identity and status.
Seeing that Yan Shifan stopped talking, Lu Bing smiled instead and said sincerely: "If your dog also saved your life, I will kill my dog to apologize to you."
Yan Shifan smiled: "That's not true, it's just an ordinary dog, but it's my dog after all."
Lu Bing replied: "How about being kicked out of the house and turned into a wild dog? I owe Brother Shi a favor for this matter."
Lu Bing's favor was very valuable, so Yan Shifan accepted it. At the same time, the two of them established the rule of "if you don't move, I won't help."
The next day, Xiao Wannian resigned from office and became a commoner. Xiao Feng also changed from a second-generation official to a second-generation civilian. After Xiao Wannian's death, Xiao Feng became a soft rice man.
As a result, today, this lazy old man became Cangjie's apprentice, Jiajing's junior brother, and Wenxuan Zhenren.
Yan Shifan looked at his father and said calmly: "This is the hatred between our two families."
Yan Song thought for a while: "Although Xiao Wannian lost his official position, you didn't take action directly, so the hatred is not insoluble. Now that Xiao Feng is rising, and with Lu Bing's support, can he turn the conflict into friendship?"
Yan Shifan closed his folding fan and sighed: "After Xiao Wannian lost his official position, he still couldn't find anything to do, and Lu Bing couldn't help him. He eventually died of poverty and illness. Does my father know why he couldn't find anything to do? I
I didn't take action, but he was forced to death by me, so I may not be able to hide this from Xiao Feng."
Yan Song was silent for a while and sneered: "Then trample him to death. How does a young boy still want to reach the sky in one step?"