Master Yuan, start!

If he doesn't want to go to Yantai, then let him go to Beijing!"

Everyone, go get your red envelopes!

You can receive the red envelope initiated by Yuan Shen on the Dudu Discovery page. Thank you for your support of this book.

Today's update has not been finished yet, so I'm sending a red envelope to express my apology. I will finish it tomorrow afternoon.

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Good luck to you in the Year of the Dragon!

Chapter 160: If an old man refuses to die, he is a thief!

The seventeenth year of the Guangxu period, the first year of the Baoqing period.

A small village called "Qingliuniwan" in the north of Lushunkou welcomed merchants from all over the country. Lushun was officially opened as a port and announced the establishment of a "duty-free zone".

Thousands of members of the Production and Construction Corps were also dispatched to Dadonggou, located at the mouth of the Yalu River and the southern end of Dandong Prefecture in Fengtian Province, to prepare for the opening of Dandong Port.

At the same time, in order to win the support of Britain, France and other countries, the southern court tacitly opened Wuchang and Chongqing as trading ports.

China, from north to south, is becoming increasingly involved in the capitalist world market.

While the economy was being exploited, the spiritual world of the Chinese people was also gradually being eroded by foreigners.

In the Wuhu Incident, French Catholic nuns were found to have abducted a child. People came to their door to demand justice, and the two ringleaders were executed. The magistrate who supported the people was replaced and ordered to pay a compensation of 13 taels.

In the Danyang Incident, over 70 infant corpses were found in the backyard of a French missionary orphanage. Upon learning of the incident, the people of Suzhou, Wuxi, and Changzhou were enraged and burned down the church. However, they were arrested and sentenced, and six county magistrates were dismissed and ordered to pay a compensation of 6 taels.

In the Yichang Church Incident, the French Catholic Church bought abducted children, and their relatives were shot dead when they went to the church to demand their children back. In the end, Zhang Zhidong ordered the arrest of the victims and ordered them to pay a compensation of 17 taels.

The world has suffered from missionaries for a long time. People from all over the country gathered to attack churches and demand justice, but they were all suppressed by the government. In the east, the Yangtze River Navy bombarded civilians, and in the west, the Green Camp in Wuchang executed people. The compensation in each case ranged from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of taels.

Countless county magistrates and common people in the south were exiled or executed because of religious incidents.

The situation in the north should have been similar, but Yuan Shikai entered the pass, and the White Tiger Group in Baiding Mountain rebelled, which led to "rioters" in Zhili, Shandong and other places, and the people spontaneously armed themselves.

The government was busy organizing troops to march north to the capital, so it did not suppress the gathering of the people. As for the missionaries, seeing that the situation was not good, they restrained their behavior and hid in the provincial capital.

Therefore, this year, there were no incidents of people attacking churches in the north, because the churches had long been empty.

However, after the riots gradually subsided, the local militias dispersed under the attacks or orders of the National Defense Forces. The church took the opportunity to revive itself and even connected with local powerful families.

This year, many villages in the central region of Shandong have reported the disappearance of young children. Rumor has it that they were sold to churches, but without evidence, no one dares to conclude that this is the case.

The people in the central Shandong area could only beg the county magistrate to uphold justice. After seeing the situation of his counterparts in the south, the local county magistrate knew that this was a hot potato and was unwilling to provoke foreigners.

Fortunately, there is another big Buddha in the central Shandong region, the Yanshenggong.

County magistrates and provincial governors from all over the country jointly requested Duke Yansheng to "borrow the name of a saint and preside over the holy way" to investigate the child trafficking incident.

Duke Yansheng investigates the case!

This incident quickly spread throughout central Shandong and even Shandong area. It was the biggest news of the year second only to Yuan Shikai's entry into the Pass.

When news came that the National Defense Army was marching into the capital, the Confucius Mansion also announced the results of the investigation.

That is, there is nothing wrong with the church.

After learning about this, the county magistrates from all over the country relayed the news verbatim to the local people. Although the people were doubtful, under the title of Duke Yansheng and the threat of war from the county magistrates if they did not retreat, they finally chose to return to the countryside.

Before the aftermath of this incident had passed, another incident spread in the countryside at an extremely fast speed, and in just a few days it spread from eastern Shandong to western Shandong.

Flying Lu

The Yansheng Duke judges the case!

It was really strange that the Governor of Jiaodong invited Duke Yansheng to go to Yantai to judge a case.

The people in Shandong area have long been familiar with the existence of Duke Yansheng. When conflicts arise, most of them will not choose to report to the police, but will seek arbitration from the people of the Confucius Mansion.

But asking someone from the Confucius Mansion to make a ruling does not mean asking Duke Yansheng to judge the case personally. This year, Duke Yansheng seems to be particularly busy, as he has to deal with both foreigners and the governor.

...

In Yantai City, street vendors were discussing with each other.

"I don't know what happened this year. Duke Yansheng is actually doing the work of Justice Bao." After drinking a bowl of tea, the waiter wiped the sweat off his face and talked about the big news in recent days.

Someone nearby replied, "It's probably because Lord Song has just arrived and wants to use the Duke of Yansheng to help him stay in the fold."

The waiter disagreed: "You think this is a wedding reception? You're still trying to show off. Lord Song is the governor. Why does he need to put on airs in front of common people like us? Whether the Duke of Yansheng comes or not, you and I have to kneel when we see Lord Song. How can you say he's showing off? Who are you showing off to?"

The man was not angry at being insulted: "Of course it's the foreigners. There are more and more foreigners in Yantai in the past few months, and they don't take the government seriously at all.

Lord Song must be using the title of Duke Yansheng to pressure them."

The waiter finished wiping the table and threw the rag over his shoulder. "Come on, foreigners don't read the Four Books and Five Classics. Confucius' words don't apply to them."

“That may not be the case.”

Not far away, Zhang Taiyan, Lu Zhengxiang and Tan Sitong, who were drinking tea and eating in a restaurant, sat opposite each other and listened quietly to the debate among the local people in Yantai.

"Uncle Mei, the name of Zhang Taiyan, the current Duke of Yansheng, is coming to Yantai. Have you noticed anything?" Lu Zhengxiang asked, putting down his teacup.

"A clue?" The eccentric Zhang Taiyan smiled relentlessly. "It's nothing more than some superficial moralizing to fool the people."

Fu Fei? Skirt, 60*73 eight 045+Xiao Shuo qn: Road, W4 four

"Why is Uncle Mei so stubborn?" Tan Sitong smiled and poured Zhang Taiyan a cup of tea.

"Morality and literature are all learning. Even if the contemporary Duke Yansheng is not worthy of Uncle Mei's wisdom, Confucius' words are always worth learning."

The three people who originally belonged to the monarchists, the Beiyang faction, and the revolutionary party in their respective time and space, now, under the waving of Yuan Shen's wings, are sitting at the same table by accident and discussing political affairs.

It feels like a reunion of the first four classes of Huangpu Military Academy in Gongdelin.

Zhang, Lu and Tan are of similar age. They became friends in Beijing because they bought the same newspaper. Later, they encountered the war in Zhili and hid in Beijing to avoid the disaster.

It was not until the National Defense Army entered Beijing and sent troops to pacify the local area that they boarded a boat south to visit Seoul.

The ship set sail from Tianjin, passed through Seoul, and finally docked in Shanghai.

Today happened to be the day for maintenance, so the three of them had to stay in Yantai for a day. They got off the boat and wandered around the city. They happened to hear that Duke Yansheng was coming to Yantai to judge a case, which led to the scene just now.

Zhang Taiyan had been familiar with the stories of the Southern Song Dynasty and the Southern Ming Dynasty since he was a child. He had no good feelings towards the literati who surrendered to the Qing Dynasty, despised Confucianism, and even despised the Kong family who voluntarily surrendered to the Qing Dynasty.

After witnessing Empress Dowager Cixi's escape to the south and the coexistence of two emperors, he knew that the Qing Dynasty was beyond salvation, so he planned to travel to Korea, Japan and other places to seek ways to save the country.

Although Zhang Taiyan did not have any clear revolutionary ideas at this time, his revolutionary style had already begun to emerge, and he had considerable differences with Lu Zhengxiang and Tan Sitong.

Lu Zhengxiang was a pragmatist. His father was a Christian. He studied in a church school since childhood. When he grew up, he was admitted to the Translation Department of Shanghai Guangyan Academy and was later transferred to the Tongwenguan in Beijing.

He had no liking or disliking of the Qing court. He just wanted to find an opportunity to go abroad in the capital, and after returning, find a job in the Postal Administration in Jiangnan to support his father.

Tan Sitong was a reformist. He was very interested in Wang Fuzhi's ideas and believed that Confucianism had reached a dead end and needed to be improved. As long as the approach was appropriate, it might not be inferior to Western knowledge.

With this idea in mind, H strongly agreed with Guangxu's reform efforts and planned to take a boat south to Hunan, visit his mother, and then go to the capital to submit a letter.

UTherefore, after hearing Zhang Taiyan's contempt for the Kong family, Tan Sitong spoke out to defend himself.

"Fusheng, this is wrong." Upon hearing this, Zhang Taiyan was about to refute Tan Sitong.

"My two gentlemen, a great Western scholar once said, 'If you disagree with someone, you will defend their opinion.'" Seeing the two men about to argue, Lu Zhengxiang stepped in to smooth things over: "Gentlemen are harmonious but different. The three of us are fortunate to be friends, so we don't necessarily have to decide who is right and who is wrong."

Upon hearing this, Zhang Taiyan thought that Tan Sitong was quite accomplished and that there would be no result even if he argued with him, so he simply listened to Lu Zhengxiang and stopped talking.

After Tan Sitong had experienced being imprisoned, he knew very well that he could not be punished for his words, so he simply stopped speaking.

N arguments that were doomed to be fruitless were nipped in the bud. The three of them finished their tea and decided to go somewhere else for a walk.

: Just then, the sound of gongs and drums came from downstairs.

The three looked down and saw a team of several hundred people marching through the street. The leader was holding a gong to clear the way and beating it with a stick from time to time.

when!

He was shouting on his mouth, "Civil and military officials, dismount, scholars and common people, please stand aside," and behind him he was holding a sign saying "Silence" and "Stay away."

Further back, there is a plaque with a high-ranking official title inscribed with gold letters on a red background, which reads "Inherited the title of Duke Yansheng, and awarded the double-eyed peacock feather."

In the middle is the sedan chair of Duke Yansheng, a genuine sedan chair carried by eight people.

Behind the three sedan chairs followed many other items of procession, including golden melons, sky-stepping stirrups, sugarcane sticks, curved spears, sparrow spears, linked spears, drums, dragon flags, phoenix flags, tiger flags, and yellow umbrellas and fans.

Seeing such a grand scene, even Lu Zhengxiang, Tan Sitong and others who were well-informed in the capital could not help but be amazed.

When high-ranking officials in the capital travelled, there was no such grand ceremony. They would just carry a large banner. Even when the Empress Dowager went to the Summer Palace, there were not so many ceremonial guards.

"To be honest, this is the first time I've seen the style of the Duke of Yansheng," Lu Zhengxiang couldn't help but exclaim. "If we compare the two, none of the princes and governors in the capital can compare to him. Only the ceremonial procession at the Emperor's wedding last year can surpass this."

Among the three, Lu Zhengxiang had stayed in the capital the longest. Even he had never seen such a scene. The other two had a new understanding of the travel ceremony of Duke Yansheng.

It seems that under the emperor and above everyone else, there is only Duke Yansheng.

The ceremonial guard was so large that even the people of the small city of Yantai were attracted to the roadside and stopped to watch.

The waiter and the diner who had been waiting in the restaurant just now stopped arguing and leaned against the door frame to look out.

On top of another teahouse, Yuan Xiangcheng and Xu Shichang were also looking down, wanting to see what tricks Duke Yansheng was up to.

"Juren, look at these large and small banners and plaques," Yuan Xiangcheng said, pointing to the ceremonial procession downstairs. "Even when I was promoted to Governor-General, my travels were never as grand as this."

"Weiting, it's Duke Yansheng who's traveling after all," Xu Shichang explained, "Duke Yansheng is like the Son of Heaven in Shandong. As the saying goes, when there's no tiger in the mountains, the monkey becomes king.

Since the emperor doesn't meet with the common people, the Confucius Mansion naturally has no scruples, so the ceremonial procession is inevitably a bit complicated."

"Complex? I'm afraid it's beyond the rules!" Yuan Xiangcheng stopped talking and looked carefully at the guard of honor.

Only then did he realize that at the front of the team was a group of servants from the Confucius Mansion, holding a wooden tablet of the Great Sage and Teacher, and leading the ceremonial procession of Duke Yansheng slowly forward.

The Qing Dynasty did not give preferential treatment to scholars like the Ming Dynasty did, so the method commonly used by Ming Dynasty scholars to hold up Confucius' tablets to resist the government was rarely seen after Kangxi.

I didn't expect to see such a scene in Yantai today. It seems that Duke Yansheng is not unaware of it.

Yuan Xiangcheng raised the corner of his mouth: Do you think you can escape today's disaster by holding up Confucius' tablet?

The procession of Duke Yansheng on the street seemed to have heard Yuan Xiangcheng's thoughts and stopped moving forward.

Looking carefully, I found that there was also a ceremonial guard in front of me.

"Song Qing, the governor of Jiaodong, respectfully welcomes Duke Yansheng." Song Qing walked out of the sedan chair and bowed slightly to the eight-man sedan chair in front of him.

The governor is here too?