Chapter 20: The Dead County Magistrate and the Giver
Magistrate Zhang Kuan of Fengqiu County, Kaifeng Prefecture, has had his eyelids twitching lately, and he doesn't know whether it's bad or good.
Zhang Kuan was a top three Jinshi in Yichou Branch in the 18th year of Hongzhi (1505). He was transferred to Fengqiu at the beginning of the year. He was brave enough to take on the task and showed no mercy in attacking the powerful gentry. He was called Zhang Qingtian by the villagers.
The sky is clear, but the official path is gone. After offending the gentry, do you still want to be promoted? Just dream.
Therefore, Zhang Kuan served as county magistrate year after year, year after year, and there seemed to be no end. The gentry gave him first-class evaluations every year, but they could not find a suitable candidate to kick him out, so they had to
Let this Qingtian harm Fengqiu's brothers.
Fengqiu is located on the north bank of the Yellow River, directly north of Kaifeng, and is an essential thoroughfare for people traveling from north to south.
On this day, a government official suddenly rushed into the county government office and ran in front of Zhang Kuan. His face was full of panic and he kept saying: "Heaven... heaven... heaven!"
Magistrate Zhang slapped the guy in the face with his big mouth, causing him to calm down and shouted in a deep voice: "Tell me! What's the matter?"
The yamen servant's teeth chattered, and he tremblingly said with a rattling sound: "Tian...Tian...Son!"
Magistrate Zhang was so shocked that he almost sat on the ground. Didn't the newspaper say that after the emperor inspected the Daming Martial Arts Academy in Baoding, he held the "Royal Donghai Company Auction Conference" in the capital?
How could it be possible to reach Fengqiu, thousands of miles away? But the government officials would not dare to lie about this kind of news. This is a serious crime of beheading.
But Di Bao cannot be said nonsense. After it was compiled, it was "disseminated to all directions" via postal mail, and it became the first political guide book of the Ming Dynasty.
"How do you know?" Magistrate Zhang slapped him again, causing half of the yamen servant's face to turn red.
The yamen servant touched both cheeks, then calmed down, and said repeatedly: "The emperor's guard of honor has passed Yanjin and is now heading to Chenqiao Town!"
Chenqiao Town? The ferry of the Yellow River! The only way to go to Kaifeng Prefecture!
How could the emperor go south? Are all the prime ministers and eunuchs eating white rice? How could the emperor go south? What a mess!
Wait a minute, there seems to be something that I didn't expect.
Zhang Kuan stood in the room like an ant on a hot pot, never letting the emperor cross the river! Never!
Going south? Going south! Yes, going south! Zhang Kuan's brain was suddenly struck by lightning, and everything connected together.
A month ago, Yushi Zhai led 1,700 students from the Martial Arts Academy to go south. When they passed Fengqiu, they came to beg for money and food, and stopped by to pay a visit to the senior magistrate Zhang.
The two Qingtian masters had a very happy conversation, and they seemed to have chopped off chicken heads and burned yellow paper to become good friends.
The emperor is about to go to war! Zhang Kuan knows that this matter is serious, and if it doesn't happen, it will be an earth-shaking political earthquake.
He would rather die with his head on the ground than let the emperor cross the river. Magistrate Zhang made up his mind in less than a tenth of a second.
He gritted his teeth, without saying goodbye to his family, and left the county office with his entourage, went to a coffin shop in the city to buy a thin coffin, and carried it straight to Chenqiao Town.
Chenqiao Town is located more than 20 miles southeast of Fengqiu County, facing the Yellow River in the south and facing the ancient capital Kaifeng across the river.
Hundreds of years ago, there was a general who wore a yellow robe here and established a three-hundred-year-old empire. His name was Zhao Kuangyin, and he was known as Taizu of the Song Dynasty in history.
Standing in the so-called "yellow robe plus body", Zhu Shou looked at the sad-looking eunuchs around him and said with a smile: "This place is quite interesting. Let's set up a monument to remember it."
Here is the Yellow River to the south, and not far away is the ferry. The river is wide, the embankment is high, and it is majestic. Since the Song Dynasty, there has been a wonder of "hanging river", which is famous all over the world.
Boss Liu did not follow him. He was thrown by Zhu Shou in the capital to block the pursuit of Li Dongyang and others. With him, in addition to more than 20,000 personal guards, there was also a complete set of emperor's etiquette, countless eunuchs and maids.
….
When the emperor goes on patrol, even if it is an elopement-like patrol, there will never be less than 5,000 people following him. What's more, this time he is going south to Shaanxi, so Zhu Shou naturally brought enough people.
Admiral Zhang Yong, Governor Gu Dayong, Ma Yongcheng, Qiu Ju, Wei Bin and others were surrounding, while Yang Shen, Han Bangqi and others stood in the group of guards with grim faces.
It wasn't that the two young masters didn't want to report the news to the civil servants, but Zhu Shou wrapped them up in the patrol team under the pretense of going to Baoding for inspection, and headed south like the wind. The only people who knew about it in advance were the Eight Tigers who also had a grimace.
The county and government officials along the way were all frightened to death by the emperor's boldness. In just a few days, snowflakes flew towards the capital. There was only one thing in the center: The emperor went south!
Li Dongyang and others were angry and wanted to challenge Mr. Liu to a duel on the spot, but Mr. Liu had no choice but to play the no-fight card.
Under the instruction of Empress Dowager Zhang, Emperor's Master Yang Tinghe and his entourage traveled all night and quickly south from the capital. They had now passed Fengqiu County and were less than ten miles away from Zhu Shou.
Zhu Shou was not a very orthodox emperor, and neither was Zhu Houzhao.
To put it bluntly, the job of an emperor is not to treat yourself as a human being, because you are a god!
Since you are a god, you must learn to play with women, eunuchs, ministers and the world. You must know how to deal with the overt and covert fighting of ministers, the deception and abduction of eunuchs, and the killing of each other by your own relatives.
Zhu Shou was very lucky to have an unparalleled loving wife. Although his wives often killed each other, his feelings for them were not too deep or sentimental.
He is also very lucky to have eight loyal old dogs. Although these old dogs can turn into evil tigers in a blink of an eye, they will still be old dogs until Li Dongyang and others are defeated.
The Eight Tigers' unprincipled pandering, coupled with their respective outstanding talents, made Zhu Shou's troubles easy.
The eunuch Gao Feng of the Martial Arts Academy is the supervisor of Old Man Xu, the governor of the three provinces and nine prefectures. Likewise, he is also the supervisor of Zhai Peng's student army.
The Ming Dynasty had always used eunuchs as supervisors, otherwise the army would not be able to move forward. The news passed back by Gao Feng made Zhu Shou feel itchy: The war in Shaanxi went well, the war in Huguang went well, and the war in Sichuan went well! Liu Lie was surrounded by old man Xu's tactics from Hanzhong Prefecture.
He fled along the river to Yunyang, Hubei Province, and then rolled back to Sichuan from Yunyang over the mountains.
The student army also fought several small battles and killed dozens of bandits.
In Zhai Peng's Eight Hundred Miles Expedited Memorial, he described the battle as if he had witnessed it with his own eyes, which made Zhu Shou's heart burn even more.
I have decided! Go to Shaanxi!
Zhu Shou's homely nature and Zhu Houzhao's willfulness merged into one at this moment, shocking Boss Liu and others.
The Eight Tigers all know Zhu Shou's arrogant temper. The more you persuade him, the more energetic he becomes. Therefore, as long as the emperor wants to do something, they have to work hard to complete it, even if it means going up a mountain of swords and going down a frying pan.
After countless deceptions, Zhu Shou finally took his personal guards on the road south and arrived at Chenqiao Town on the bank of the Yellow River.
Neither Zhu Shou nor Zhu Houzhao were cruel and foolish kings, so when he saw a coffin on the bank of the Yellow River, he felt something bad: This damn man must be a loyal minister!
Sure enough, the one standing in the way was Zhang Kuan, the magistrate of Zhang County.
Zhang Qingtian, dressed in the official uniform of the county magistrate, sat on the coffin. Behind him were countless burnt ferries, and thousands of gentry and villagers with earth-colored faces and trembling legs.
The gentry wanted to stab Zhang Qingtian to death, but Zhang Kuan did not grow up on a free diet. He had a group of wolf-like government servants who looked down upon these guys who wanted to cause trouble.
It was finished. Seeing the emperor's personal guards coming in like a tide, the gentry had no choice but to close their eyes and stand on the river embankment, wishing they could jump into the river behind them immediately and be done with it...
Ten thousand people, boundless.
More than 20,000 emperors accompanied him, and the ground was covered with darkness for several miles, but Zhang Kuan was not afraid. Although his official uniform was a bit old, it was very straight, his hat was worn neatly, and there was no expression on his face.
All the ferries within a hundred miles along the river were driven to the south bank by Zhang Kuan's men. Those who dared not leave were all burned on the spot.
Although Magistrate Zhang is a man of the sky, the more honest an official is, the more ruthless his methods will be.
Looking at the countless personal guards of the emperor, he was also very nervous, but he forcibly controlled his trembling hands, because what was going to happen today would make him famous in history!
The emperor's personal guards stopped by the Yellow River, parted a road, and a burly man walked out. He had a rugged appearance, and his features were like swords. He was wearing a high-quality eunuch's official uniform. He was Admiral Zhang Yongzhang.
"Who burned the ferry?" Zhang Yong's voice seemed to come from outside.
Zhang Kuan said in a deep voice: "It's the lower official!"
Zhang Yong smiled slightly: "Aren't you afraid of death?"
Zhang Kuan shouted loudly: "Confucius said to become benevolent, Mencius said to seek righteousness, if you die, you will die!"
Zhang Yong waved his hand and ordered the guards around him: "Take him under custody and send him to prison."
Zhang Kuan suddenly pulled out the sword from his waist and raised it in his hand. The officials behind him also shouted in unison. Although their voices were trembling, they were quite powerful.
Zhang Yong frowned, stopped the wolf-like guards, and sighed: "Zhang County Zun, why are you doing this?"
Zhu Shou asked him to come over to drive people away and collect ferries on the south bank, but he was strictly ordered not to kill anyone or embarrass Zhang Kuan.
Since the other party is not intimidated, the only choice is to play the favor card.
Zhang Kuan put his sword across his neck and replied: "Only the county magistrate died, and no one gave way."
He did not dare to attack the emperor's personal guards, and there was no dangerous ground to defend, so he had to use his own life as a bargaining chip and solemnly pray for Zhu Shou to change his mind.
Admiral Zhang still admired this kind of man, so he said: "This is the emperor's intention."
A few years later, his technique was used again to attack the Great Wall Pass, but the result was the same both times: no success.
Zhang Kuan's answer was the standard answer: "There is a rumor in the Di report that the emperor is in the capital. This must be a false report!"
After hearing this standard reply from the civil service group, Admiral Zhang had no choice but to smile bitterly and go back to resume his duties.
Gu Dayong was furious and said to Zhu Shou: "Your Majesty, these villains must be killed to bring peace to the world."
Zhu Shou picked up a folder next to the dragon chair, threw it into Duke Gu's face, and cursed angrily: "Get out!"
Gu Du Gong slapped the horse's leg with his flattery, so he had to hide his face and come out in despair.
Zhang Yong and Lao Gu were temporary allies. Upon seeing this, they quickly came up with an idea: tie up Zhang Kuan at night when no one was around, and release him after crossing the river. Anyway, there were many ferries on the south bank.
Zhu Shou thought about it for a while and realized that it was the same. I had already crossed the river, so Zhang Qingtian shouldn't have committed suicide?
Just as he was about to agree, he heard a friendly and familiar voice coming from outside the palace tent: "This is to force Magistrate Zhang to commit suicide and die in the line of duty."
The person who came in was none other than Imperial Master Yang Tinghe.
The normal course of history was finally reversed by Master Yang.
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