Optimus One Pillar of the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 159 Gao Gong joins the gang
After sending away Ma Fang and Qi Jiguang, who had bad intentions, Wang Daoqiu went to see Gao Gong again.

Gao Gong was quite unlucky this time, too, when King Zhu Guan of Lu took his henchmen to harm other people's wives and daughters in the refugee camps.Gao Gong and his officers went up to stop him and angrily scolded King Zhu Guan of Lu in public. He tried to reason with others, but he ignored the fact that when a scholar encountered a soldier, he could not explain it rationally.As a result, King Lu Zhu Guan, who was annoyed by Gao Gong's scolding, surrendered on the spot and enthusiastically invited Gao Gong to "drink tea" at Prince Lu's Mansion.

As an imperial envoy, deputy envoy for disaster relief, and a doctor in the Literary Selection Department of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, King Lu did not dare to kill Gao Gong, but he imprisoned Gao Gong in the dungeon of Prince Lu's palace, causing Gao Gong to suffer a lot.

What's even more unfortunate is that after the victims of the disaster broke out, Gao Gong, who was trapped in the dungeon of Prince Lu's Mansion, fell into the hands of Bailian's boss, the Sweeper King.Moreover, the Sweeping King and Gao Gong are fellow villagers in Xinzheng, Henan. Gao Gong also became a scholar in the Imperial Academy because of his good grades. He became the child of other people in the eyes of all their parents in Xinzheng, and was also the one whom the Sweeping King once looked up to.

So after Gao Gong fell into the hands of the King of Sweepers, the King of Sweepers began to do Gao Gong's united front work. Leaving Gao Gong in Prince Lu's Mansion was a courtesy first and then a soldier. Gao Gong refused many times, which hurt his face.The sweeper king changed Gao Gong's united front work to the original criminal laws of Prince Lu's palace, allowing Gao Gong to experience life and teach Gao Gong how to behave.So after Gao Gong was rescued from the dungeon of Prince Lu's Mansion last night, he was just skin and bones, with not a ounce of meat left in his body.

Because Gao Gong's physical condition was really bad when he was brought in last night, Wang Daoqiu ordered the doctor to treat him and let Gao Gong have a good rest so that he didn't worry.But there were some things today that he had to discuss with Gao Gong.

Walking to the Gao Gong tent, Wang Daoqiu asked the sergeant on duty: "Is Mr. Gao awake?"

"Yes, sir, Sir Gao is awake and has just finished a bowl of gruel."

"Um"

After saying "yes" to the sergeant, Wang Daoqiu went straight into the military tent. Gao Gong just heard Wang Daoqiu and the sergeant talking outside the tent. Now he was half lying down, looking towards the door.

As soon as Wang Daoqiu came in, Gao Gong gritted his teeth and asked, "Liangzhen, have those bandits been captured?"

"We caught a few, but the bandit leader, King Sweeper, died due to their own internal strife, so they took advantage of him."

"Hmph, that bastard, bullying me too much, the crime is too late."

"Okay, okay, Teacher Gao, let the students handle the matter here. The most important thing now is your future, Teacher Gao."

"My future future, what does Liangzhen mean by this?"

"Master Gao, you have been trapped in the enemy's hands for more than a month. The bandits even pulled you out in the middle and asked you to stand up for them at their ten thousand people meeting..."

"Liangzhen, I was forced to be a master. Every time, they gave me medicine in advance. I couldn't say anything and my whole body was soft. I had no choice but to let them control me."

When Wang Daoqiu mentioned the unbearable past events when he was trapped in the enemy camp, Gao Gong became furious.While defending himself loudly, he was about to get up from the bed.

Seeing how excited Gao Gong was, Wang Daoqiu immediately stood up and pushed him back on the bed, and said: "Master Gao, don't be excited, don't be excited. Students can trust Gao Gong's character, but you must return to Master Gao immediately." Beijing."

"What, you want me to return to Beijing immediately for trial. Liangzhen, you have such a trustworthy character as a teacher? Are you afraid of being implicated?"

"No, no, no, please don't misunderstand me, Teacher Gao. The students asked you to return to Beijing not because they don't trust you, nor because they are afraid of being implicated by you. But because you want to clean yourself from the suspicion of being a thief, so you must return now." Beijing."

"I must return to Beijing now! Liangzhen, as an imperial envoy, governor of the Central Plains, and governor of Shandong, can't you investigate and deal with this matter?"

"High Normal School, as an imperial envoy, I can investigate and judge your matter. But everyone in the court knows that you are Wang Liangzhen's chamberlain during the imperial examination. If you let me investigate and judge your matter, let me come to a conclusion. Then now It's okay, what about later? If, Master, you are just a small official of fourth or fifth rank in the future, probably no one will use this matter to frame you. But if you want to be in a high position and become the prime minister in the future, you said that when Those opponents who compete with you for your position will not use this matter to tarnish your reputation. Then they will not say that it was me, the student, who shielded you, the room master, back then?"

Gao Gong was a man who had a strong desire for power and strongly demanded progress every day. In order to gain power in history, Gao Gong even abandoned his consistent principles, flattered the emperor, colluded with charlatans and charlatans, and befriended Taoist priests and eunuchs.It can be said that Gao Gong does not love money or women, but power is his greatest love. Without power, he would be worse off than dead.

So now Wang Daoqiu is explaining the truth, thinking about the terrible consequences of leaving such a big handle to his political opponents.At this time, Gao Gong became anxious. He begged Wang Daoqiu anxiously: "Liangzhen, can you arrange a boat to send me back to the capital now? I want to go to the imperial court to defend myself, and I want to ask the three judges to interrogate myself." ." Smart, smart people really know everything. Seeing Gao Gong's sudden enlightenment, Wang Daoqiu was also pleased.He first said that he would immediately arrange a boat to send Gao Gong back to Beijing, and then reminded: "Master Gao, your current miserable appearance is the best evidence, especially your injuries. Your whole body is covered with old and new injuries. Yes, this is irrefutable evidence that you have been severely beaten by bandits, and it is also ironclad evidence that you are not a thief."

"After all, if you are really a thief, why would those thieves keep beating you? So Master Gao, after you return to the capital, whether you are in front of the emperor or at the trial of the Three Laws Division, you must take off your clothes and treat your Show your injuries to the emperor and all the princes in the court, and ask them to do an examination of your injuries, and ask them to write a testimonial to prove that you have been beaten severely by thieves this month. Teacher Gao, I remind you, don’t think that being naked in front of others is inappropriate. I'm sorry, but you must know that if you are embarrassed now, you won't be able to explain clearly in the future, and there will be endless troubles."

After speaking, Wang Daoqiu looked at Gao Gong, waiting for Gao Gong's reaction.Gao Gong did not disappoint Wang Daoqiu. After listening to Wang Daoqiu's words, he basically didn't think about it. He gritted his teeth and said fiercely to Wang Daoqiu: "The court is dangerous, I will risk it all, and I would rather not have this old face. I can’t leave any words for those little scrappers.”

Seeing that Gao Gong understood, Wang Daoqiu no longer hesitated and asked Gao Gong to rest here while he went outside to give orders to the boat.

But just when Wang Daoqiu finished speaking and was about to stand up to leave, Gao Gong grabbed him and said, "Liangzhen, don't be anxious. I have something to say to Liangzhen as my teacher."

"If the students don't leave, the Normal University has something to say, but it doesn't matter."

"Well, it's like this. I heard that our officers and soldiers captured more than [-] bandits in yesterday's battle. I have some thoughts on how to deal with these bandits. Liangzhen, I am trapped in a bandit den. In January, I know the bandits very well. The bandits are mainly young and strong people who were victims of the disaster. They were the first to rise up to kill officials and rebel, and they were basically all voluntary. Therefore, these bandits The will to oppose the court is the most resolute among the bandits, so this group of people must not stay."

"In addition to those bandits composed of disaster victims, there are also local bandits. Local bandits can be divided into two categories. One type is those who were instigated by the bandits to join in advance. These people are basically local rogues. .After all, an honest and decent citizen, no matter how dissatisfied he is with King Lu and the government, he will only nag behind his back. No matter how much you encourage him, he will not have the guts to do that thing with his head stuck in his belt. , the matter of killing officials and rebelling.”

"So Liangzhen, those who were encouraged by the bandits to join voluntarily before you led the army across the canal must not be left. Among the local bandits, except for those who voluntarily joined the bandits and wanted to take advantage of the chaos to make a fortune Besides, the rest are the people who were forced to join the bandits by the bandits after you brought the army. To be honest, the White Lotus cult did not force people when they first started to recruit people, but only sent some smooth-talking people. Yes, go door-to-door mobilization and agitation. Later, Liangzhen, you led the troops across the canal and made it clear that you were going to attack. Those White Lotus cultists recruited people to join their gangs, so they used force."

"Not to mention the forced conscription in the city at that time, for those farmers outside the city, the bandits ate up all the crops and farmhouses in their fields, leaving the farmers without food or shelter. They could only follow the bandits into the city to beg for food. Forced farmers After the people entered the city, the bandits forcibly dispersed these peasants and divided them into various groups of bandits to serve as cannon fodder. Precisely because these people were forced and they had no intention of resisting the imperial court, Liangzhen, you were able to break into the city so easily this time and capture more than [-] of them with more than [-] soldiers and horses. Therefore, Liangzhen, I would like to suggest to you that you treat the captured bandits differently. . As long as you lead the troops to cross the canal, if you join the bandits before you lead the troops to cross the canal, you will be executed immediately. If you are forced to join the bandits after you lead the troops to cross the canal, you will be pardoned."

Different treatment, taking the time line of leading troops across the canal as a timeline, he was "beheaded" by the bandits before, and he was "pardoned" by the bandits later.This is reasonable!After all, when it comes to killing officials and rebelling, for flower growers, ordinary people who have a stutter can survive. Even if you explain the truth to the sky, even if you mobilize them, they still don't have the guts to do it. This kind of head-scratching Don't worry about the waistband.

The only people who can be mobilized to kill officials and rebel are those bold local gangsters who want to take advantage of the chaos. Therefore, killing these people is tantamount to eliminating harm for the people and cleaning up the local area. .

After thinking about this, Wang Daoqiu was deeply grateful for Gao Gong's reminder. He stood up and bowed to Gao Gong.

After coming out of Gao Gong's military tent, Wang Daoqiu immediately arranged a boat to send Gao Gong back to Beijing.Then he asked his soldiers to call Ma Fang and Qi Jiguang, who were busy distributing money to his men, and arrange a massacre of the prisoners.

After Ma Fang and Qi Jiguang were called over, Wang Daoqiu mentioned Gao Gong's suggestion. Ma Fang and Qi Jiguang immediately agreed. Based on their many years of experience in the army and handling prisoners of war, they gave Wang Daoqiu a method to screen prisoners.

The three of them discussed it, and Ma Fang and Qi Jiguang mobilized the officers and soldiers. After surrounding the tied prisoners, they first deceived the prisoners that they wanted to be sent back to their place of origin, and asked the prisoners to raise their flags according to their official duties, and the officers and soldiers reported. The name of such-and-such town in such-and-such county, gather under that flag to separate the original victims from the locals.

After the two groups were separated, the group that had turned from disaster victims into a mob was immediately escorted away by the officers and soldiers.As for the locals, the officers and soldiers asked them all to sit down, and then each one told them when they joined the bandits and who could testify.

In this way, Wang Daoqiu, Ma Fang, and Qi Jiguang first deceived the group of bandits who had turned from disaster victims to the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal on the pretext of deporting them back to their places of origin.Then the officers and soldiers surrounded these more than 2 former victims of the disaster who had been turned into bandits with their hands tied, and they started slashing and killing, and all of a sudden they were killed with heads rolling in their faces, screaming in agony, and the sun and the moon were dimming.For a time, the blood turned the Grand Canal red, and more than 2 corpses blocked the Grand Canal channel.

As a result, the government on both sides of the canal later condemned Wang Daoqiu for controlling the killing without burying it. As a result, corpses floated over in the canal from time to time, causing them to become corpse hunters and harming the people on both sides of the canal. , I no longer dare to eat fish and shrimps in the canal, which is irresponsible and does not pay attention to environmental protection.

The local governments on both sides of the canal were extremely angry. However, after Emperor Jiajing received the notification of the incident, he praised Wang Daoqiu privately, thinking that Wang Daoqiu was killing a chicken to scare the monkeys and letting those young people know the consequences of rebelling against the imperial court.

Of course, after this incident, Emperor Jiajing felt more at ease with Wang Daoqiu. After all, there is an old saying: He who wins the hearts of the people wins the world. People with that kind of thinking in ancient times would pretend to be "Liu Bei" in front of others in order to win people's hearts.He would not massacre prisoners on a large scale like Wang Daoqiu, making people think that he was unfaithful, cruel and a beast.Therefore, in the eyes of Emperor Jiajing, Wang Daoqiu's behavior of killing prisoners, which could arouse the anger of heaven and earth, was a sign of great loyalty without any such thoughts.

So Wang Daoqiu started killing the prisoners. Afterwards, Emperor Jiajing openly issued an order to appeal to Wang Daoqiu, asking Wang Daoqiu to be a good man and love the people like his son, so as to show to the world that Emperor Jiajing was a benevolent king who loved his people like his son. .But privately, Emperor Jiajing asked his eunuchs to go to Shandong and give Wang Daoqiu oral instructions, telling Wang Daoqiu to act expediently and not to be merciful in dealing with the prisoners.

(End of this chapter)