Chapter 237: Things Have Changed (Part 4)
Liangliang adjusted his uniform and walked into Qian Qing's office. Qian Qing patted the pile of documents on the table and said, "Liliang, do you want to be a judge?"
"Isn't the judge from the Ministry of Justice?"
"Yes. The Ministry of Justice needs to be specialized. It's no longer the prefect who decides cases. It's the Ministry of Justice who decides cases. The public security, procuratorate, and court here. Sir said that each should do their own job. There are so many cases. A judge is needed to sign these cases."
"Where do so many cases come from?" They were both puzzled.
"So many gentry are rebelling, and they need a judge to decide the case."
"Solve the case? Isn't that punishable by death?" They were both shocked.
Qian Qing nodded repeatedly, appreciating the accurate description of the two.
Both of them shook their heads quickly, "Sister Qing, forget it. I can't do it."
"You can fight in wars, but you can't solve cases? Haha." Qian Qing couldn't help but sneer. Liangliang was not the first one to refuse. Many useless men had refused before. The reason was exactly the same as that of the little girl. Fighting to the death on the battlefield with real swords and guns was definitely not a problem in the Han army. Not to mention the boys, the girls were brave enough.
However, being a judge and deciding the life and death of others is something that these guys are afraid of.
Then they heard the two sighing, "Sister Qing, I really can't do this. This... makes people hate me!"
"Whether you like it or not, you have to do it. The master said that a group of people will be transferred to the government. I don't feel comfortable replacing them with others. Besides, the female barracks in the army will also be disbanded. Many sisters have come to me and said that they don't want to go to the male army. If you don't want to go to other troops, you can go to the Ministry of Justice."
"Sister Qing, it's so nice to follow you. I don't want to leave." The two couldn't help but act coquettishly towards Qian Qing.
"Master said that he will issue an order soon to ban foot binding. Sisters don't bind their feet, so you can set an example when you go to other places. Only when others see that you can support yourselves can they understand that girls can live well without binding their feet and rely on themselves. Be a role model, a role model."
"Sister, is the master really going to issue an order prohibiting foot binding?"
"Yes! With bound feet, you can't even walk. How can you support yourself? Remember, if you can't even support yourself and don't want to die, is there any other way except getting married and living with someone else? If you live with someone, you have to be able to endure their bullying. If you are unwilling to endure their bullying and don't have the ability to rely on yourself, how can you have such a good life!"
The two thought for a while and said, "Sister, you are right. But I just don't like what I hear."
"It's right to be uncomfortable. It's just uncomfortable... You must first make his mind suffer, his muscles and bones tired, his body hungry and empty, and his actions frustrated, so as to stimulate his heart and endure his nature, and increase his ability to do what he could not do before."
"Yes, yes, sister. Don't say anything that I don't understand. It gives me a headache just listening to it."
Qian Qing sighed inwardly. Not many people in the army have read books, and even among the few who have, even fewer really understand what they read. It would be a happy thing if the two of them could read more and communicate with Qian Qing.
There was no way to reason with him, so Qian Qing could only give orders, "Li Li. Listen up and take on this task. You don't want to be looked down upon, do you?"
Under Qian Qing's pressure, the two agreed. However, she was of a higher rank, so she chose a job in the procuratorate instead of the court. The procuratorate was also in the Ministry of Justice, and was responsible for bringing public prosecutions, which seemed a little better than deciding life and death.
The content of the prosecution was basically the same this time. A large number of indictments were screen-printed, leaving blanks for names and other places. Different contents were filled in for different defendants. This greatly improved work efficiency.
We have all the witnesses here, and we can do it quickly. Everyone knows that rebellion will lead to death, and the gentry know this even more clearly.
Mr. Ding from Linzi had already told his servants that he would not see anyone. However, his servants reported that many people were kneeling at Mr. Ding's door and refused to leave. Mr. Ding had no choice but to invite them in.
As soon as they entered the room, they knelt down before Mr. Ding again and said, "Mr. Ding, you can talk to Governor Huo. Please help us beg Governor Huo to spare the lives of those people."
Everyone in the area made the same request. Mr. Ding felt sympathy and could only ask these relatives and friends to stand up. After everyone sat down, Mr. Ding sighed and said, "Everyone, you all know what those brothers did."
"Mr. Ding, they won't dare to do it again. They really won't dare to do it again!" the crowd continued to beg.
"Brother, if you rebel, your entire clan will be killed. I don't know what these guys are thinking! More than 100,000 officers and soldiers have died, but they still dare to do it. They haven't even finished their work. What can I say?"
"Mr. Ding, they really don't dare to do it anymore. Just tell Commander Huo that if they dare to do it again, we will not care. Just this once, really just this once."
Mr. Ding didn't want to cause trouble for himself, but somehow he accepted everyone's request and went to see Huo Chong. Sitting in the waiting room, Mr. Ding felt inexplicably funny. He was actually willing to speak for these people. Was he crazy?
Although he didn't know why he went crazy, Mr. Ding understood that if he didn't do his part, he would go crazy.
As soon as he saw Huo Chong, Mr. Ding knelt down. The guard next to him immediately came over and picked up Mr. Ding, and shouted at the same time: "Be quiet, don't move!"
I didn't expect that kneeling wouldn't work! Mr. Ding smiled bitterly.
"Brother Huo, I'm here to ask you to have mercy. Can you please not kill those idiots?"
Huo Chong had already made up his mind and didn't want to waste time. "Brother Ding, if I let them go after they did this, I need to have an excuse."
"Brother Huo, what are you going to do?"
"If they want to live, they must suffer. Make them hand over the land. I will not force them to death. Their own family members, regardless of gender, age, newborns, and the elderly, will be counted as people. Each one will be given five mu of land. As for their family money and things, I don't want them. You go back and explain to them. This is all I can do. There are still some who would rather die than hand over the land. After killing them, I will have to confiscate their homes. Each person will be left with five mu of land, and the rest of the land will be taken away by me. That's all. You go back and explain to them."
"Brother Huo, can you not be so heavy?"
"Are you here to do business? To bargain? Haha!" Huo Chong was amused.
Mr. Ding did want to bargain, but everyone knew that the crime of rebellion was the confiscation of property and extermination of the whole family. In the end, Mr. Ding reluctantly said goodbye.
After explaining the conditions for survival, Mr. Ding felt that he had given an explanation to these people. After hearing this, a few people tried to plead for mercy, but Mr. Ding shouted, "That's it! If you dare to rebel, don't say anything. Mr. Huo rebelled and went to Beijing to kill the emperor himself..."
"Mr. Ding, is this true or false?" someone asked angrily.
Mr. Ding was shocked and looked around at the group of people carefully. He saw that they all looked unconvinced, which frightened Mr. Ding.
Huo Chong went to Beijing and killed Yongzheng half a year ago. Mr. Ding didn't believe it either, and he even asked through channels. Even the news that the Eighth Master had fled to Shengjing and established a new emperor was confirmed. But he didn't expect that these people still didn't believe it.
No wonder the relatives and friends of these birdmen dared to cause trouble. This... is really the ignorance of the fearless!
"It's not a big deal to go to Jinan. You can just send someone to Jinan to inquire and you'll know! I'm telling you, you're enough to scare me! You don't know anything, so you dare to scare me. Don't come looking for me in the future. If you keep doing this, I'll be implicated by you even if I die!"
After being driven out by Mr. Ding, the gentry really felt that something was wrong. In addition to telling the families of the gentry who participated in the riot the latest news, each family also quickly sent people on fast horses to Jinan.
Just as Mr. Ding said, in Jinan, which was still controlled by the imperial court, these people got the latest news. After learning the news in the past six months, the gentry in the territory controlled by the Han regime were stunned. It turned out that the murder of Emperor Yongzheng was not a rumor spread by Huo Chong.
Huo Chong not only killed Yongzheng, but also burned down the six ministries and killed many officials in the six ministries. This also led to the Eighth Master running to Shengjing to establish a new emperor.
Now all the gentry who had not yet committed suicide stopped working for the captured gang. Among the Shandong gentry, some finally began to remember what Huo Chong had said in his manifesto: "The barbarians will not have a country's destiny for a hundred years."
In the south, former officials also began to return from exile in Yunnan and Guizhou. When they left the capital, they brought Mujia with them and finally resumed their normal clothing. Although they were no longer in government, at least they were no longer in prison uniforms.
Passing by Jiangnan, some people with good memories even recognized these criminal officials and immediately stepped forward to question them.
Gao Pang hadn't been back to Jiangnan for a long time, so he invited his classmates to have a drink. He saw with his own eyes a former convicted official running away from the restaurant in disgrace. As he was looking at the convicted official's back, he heard his classmates laughing and saying, "These people don't dare to talk nonsense."
Seeing the people's disappointed expressions, mocking the former criminals and asking why they had lost their courage, Gao Pang couldn't help but smile.
For scholars, the mentality of the convicted officials is very easy to understand. The convicted officials were full of anger and grievances on their way to exile, and they just wanted to vent their depressed mood. This time they returned to Kyoto in order to be re-employed, so who dared to talk nonsense?
Gao Pang unscrewed the wine jug and poured wine for the students. Seeing the green wine and smelling the sharp aroma, the students were amazed. After taking a sip, they all grinned.
Gao Pang asked the store owner for a fire and lit the wine. As the flames spread, the aroma spread into the air. The drinkers around smelled it and showed intoxicated expressions on their faces. Someone even shouted, "Young man, you really know how to store wine. You still have this burning knife at this time." It was obvious that he was a drunkard.
When the fire was extinguished, the alcohol had less effect and the aroma was stronger. Gao Pang was about to chat with his classmates when he heard the people themselves start talking about recent events.
It seems that the gossipy spirit provoked by the criminal officials has been ignited, and there must be an explanation.
"Why did Emperor Yongzheng suddenly lose the favor of God?" asked a drinker.
Hearing this, Gao Pang looked at his classmates. He saw that they were all used to it and were not surprised at all by the meaning of the people's words. It seemed that this kind of discussion was not just one or two times, and it was not just a topic that a few people talked about.
Someone immediately echoed, "Yes! Emperor Yongzheng was not as blessed by God as Emperor Kangxi."
Just when Gao Pang thought that such anti-treason remarks were the most extreme, someone else joined in, "Speaking of Emperor Kangxi, wasn't his death quite casual?"
Puff! Gao Pang quickly covered his mouth to avoid laughing out loud at the words.
The classmates asked in a surprised and teasing tone: "Brother Gao, what happened?"
"The wine is too strong!" Gao Pang said, and poured himself another bowl of absinthe.
"Isn't this even more intense!" The classmates all had mischievous looks on their faces when they teased him.
The debate among the people behind Gao Pang also escalated at this time. After all, this is Jiangnan, and there is culture. Comparing misery is particularly stimulating. Someone said, "If you say death is arbitrary, then wasn't Emperor Chongzhen's death arbitrary? He was forced to hang himself by Li Zicheng."
"What about Li Chuang? His whereabouts remain unknown."
"If that's the case, then Shunzhi is pretty much as casual as well."
The purpose of Gao Pang's trip was to inquire about the situation in Jiangnan and win over some scholars in Jiangnan. At this time, Gao Pang could only cover the upper part of his face with his palms and shook his head.
How come national affairs suddenly became a competition of misery?
If we talk about comparing misery, there have been very few people who have died of natural causes in the past two hundred years.
Emperor Tianqi died young. Emperor Chongzhen hanged himself on Coal Hill.
Li Zicheng, who forced Chongzhen to death, disappeared without a trace after his defeat and ended up in an abysmal situation.
The emperor of the Southern Ming fled to Burma, but was still captured and killed.
It was not only the Ming Dynasty that died casually. In the Qing Dynasty, as the people said, people died casually as well.
Huang Taiji's death was inexplicable, and many people said that Dorgon killed his brother and took over his sister-in-law.
Although Dorgon's death was considered normal, all his titles were stripped away, his tomb was destroyed and his body was dug up two months after his death.
Emperor Shunzhi died at the age of 23. The cause of death is unknown.
Although Kangxi lived a long life, it is said that he was still alive and kicking on horseback hunting the day before, and then he lay down and died without hesitation.
Huo Chong said that Kangxi was killed by Longkodo, and many people really believed it.
Yongzheng's death was even more casual. According to the description of the soldiers who personally participated in the execution of Yongzheng, in order to avoid beating Yongzheng's body to pieces, they used strangulation. The rope was not long enough , so everyone hugged the comrades who were holding the rope and grabbed the belts of the comrades.
More than two hundred people worked together to strangle Yongzheng's neck.
In terms of casualness in death, Yongzheng was probably more casual than the Southern Ming emperor.
There was nothing wrong with the basic content of the discussion among the people, but the way the emperors died was described as "random". In the eyes of the people, the so-called emperors who were high above were a group of "random" people who had lost the favor of heaven.
Even though he knew that Huo Chong's attack on Yongzheng in Beijing would shake the world, and even though he saw with his own eyes to what extent the world had been shaken, Gao Pang was still shocked by the extent of the situation.
No one came out to criticize, let alone stop it. The people chatted for a while, then dispersed after the excitement.
At this time, Gao Pang's classmate whispered, "Brother Gao, did you see Mr. Huo's people?"
Gao Pang replied as he had prepared: "I couldn't escape at that time, so I had to stay there to survive. Fortunately, Master Huo was just as he said, and he never killed innocent people. I did a lot of hard work and earned some money."
After he finished speaking, the students seemed to believe him. Gao Pang felt a little disappointed, thinking that if he told his real experience to his classmates, they might not believe him.
Gao Pang was afraid that he would really do this, so he asked, "What is the situation in Jiangnan recently?"
"Some people say that Prince Zhu San is about to come out again."
Hearing this, Gao Pang laughed again. The classmate quickly asked, "Why are you laughing?"
"Even if Prince Zhu San was one year old in the first year of Shunzhi, from the Shunzhi period to the present, eighteen plus sixty-two plus six, he is eighty-seven. Do you believe it?"
After hearing Gao Pang's words, the students were stunned. They counted on their fingers and found that the number was correct. The students were surprised and said, "That's right! In the late Ming Dynasty, Prince Zhu San was only in his teens. Isn't he a hundred years old now?"
Gao Pang found that he could not accept such nonsense. One of the two basic points in Professor Huo Chong's Introduction to Logic is that the form of a proposition only matters whether it is correct or not.
If Prince Zhu San was not a superhuman being, it was very rare for a normal person to live to the age of 87. Even if they lived to this age, their physical strength would have long since declined and they would not be able to accomplish anything. If they wanted to do anything, they could only rely on their subordinates to work for them.
However, over the years, every time something happened, there were rumors about Zhu San Taizi. But no real subordinates of Zhu San Taizi have ever been seen. Therefore, the existence of Zhu San Taizi must be a false proposition. Since it is a false proposition, there is no point in discussing the proposition itself.
Since he didn't want to get involved in such nonsense, Gao Pang continued drinking and listening to his classmates' nonsense.
Soon, I heard the news that the Qing court had added an extra examination this year.
The imperial examination was held every three years. The second and fifth years of Yongzheng's reign both held big examinations. The next official imperial examination was held in the eighth year of Yongzheng's reign. Unexpectedly, the special examination was added this time, which meant giving scholars one more chance.
The classmates said that the matter of Prince Zhu San was just for fun, and when talking about this competition, they all became very excited.
Seeing Gao Pang eating and drinking silently, a classmate who had a good relationship with Gao Pang sighed, "Brother Gao, if you hadn't gone to Shandong, you wouldn't have been able to take part in the last imperial examination. Why don't you go see Mr. Banshan and ask him for help? Even if you can't pass the imperial examination, passing the imperial examination is also good."
Gao Pang smiled. The only thing you can do after passing the imperial examination is to become a Jinshi. Even if you are the top three in the first class, what does it matter? You can only continue to muddle along.
Under Huo Chong, Gao Pang had a promising future. Once Huo Chong could go south, he would eventually seize a piece of the situation. It would not be surprising if he seized the whole country in the future. At that time, as a great contributor, Gao Pang's status was not comparable to that of a Jinshi.
But thinking of Mr. Banshan, Gao Pang also missed him, so he went with the flow and said, "I will go to see Mr. Banshan."
Gao Pang had always felt very uneasy before meeting Mr. Banshan. The closer he got to Zhenjiang this time, the more he looked forward to it.
When he arrived at Mr. Banshan's door, he saw many people waiting outside. After handing in the visiting card, Gao Pang calmly found a place to sit down. Since so many people wanted to see Mr. Banshan, Gao Pang was ready to wait until the evening.
After sitting down, Gao Pang casually took out the "Book of Changes" and began to read. Since meeting Master Changxin, Gao Pang began to be interested in the Tao Te Ching and the Book of Changes.
I had just read a few pages when a servant came out and called out, "Where is Mr. Gao Panggao?"
When Gao Pang heard that the teacher wanted to see him, he put away his book and walked quickly to the door, bowed and said, "I'm here."
"Sir asked you to come back tomorrow afternoon." The servant replied.
