Chapter 671: A Clear Conscience

On the way back to Nanjing from Zhangyan Town, the group changed to a land route. At this time, Zhang Yue took the thick stack of papers handed over by Du Juan, flipped through it casually, and couldn't help laughing. Cui's mother, who was in the same car, didn't know why, so she quietly glanced at it, and couldn't help but ask strangely: "Young master, this is written in a straightforward manner, and there is nothing to interfere with, what are you laughing at?" ”

Gently flicking the pile of paper, Zhang Yue raised his head: "Father-in-law's question is, what is benevolence, righteousness and morality?" What is etiquette and shame? This topic is not difficult to say, it is not easy to say, but most of these Du family children think that this is to test their scriptures, so they don't know how many books they have turned over, so they have made up such things. If I'm not mistaken, I'm afraid that some people have consulted those famous old masters for this. It's a pity that they don't understand their father-in-law's personality, and those children include seven-year-old children and people in their early twenties. ”

Du Juan had already heard of what Zhang Yue used to impress his father in his early years, and couldn't help but smile: "My mother has long said that you know your father's mind best, and it seems to be true." Tell me, how should I answer this question? ”

was teased by his wife like this, Zhang Yue laughed more and more: "How to answer?" Naturally, I can answer how I understand it, why do I memorize so many sage books? Everyone has different benevolence, righteousness and morality in their hearts, and everyone has different etiquette and shame in their hearts, but if you only have a clear conscience, why not say anything to others? My father-in-law is not one of those pedantic Taoisms, and most of what he values is a word of sincerity, a word of wisdom, I just turned it so far, and barely two or three people answered it interestingly. ”

Although he didn't understand those big truths, Zhang Yue said it simply, and Cui's mother immediately understood. Seeing that Zhang Yue picked out two scrolls to talk to Du Juan, she whispered to Lingxi: "I heard that when Master Du was still a gentleman in Kaifeng Clanology, he once gave the young master a copy of the Analects. Now that Lord Du is so picky, there are ...... Well, that's the same thing. ”

Lingxi couldn't help but laugh at the last idiom of Cui's mother, and finally she had always been reserved, and she quickly held back her smile. In order to be less alarmed along the way, Zhang Yue only used such a carriage and brought four entourage guards, but when he arrived at Du's house, he caused chickens and dogs to jump, and she felt that Zhang Yue was sloppy in big things. As the carriage bumped, seeing that the two couples gradually dozed off with their heads together, she hurriedly covered a blanket, but in a blink of an eye, she found that Cui's mother was also asleep.

"Really, I don't know how to catch a cold when I'm old!"

Covering Cui's mother with a cloak, she thought of the autumn marks and amber that were still in Nanjing, and couldn't help but worry about whether something would happen over there. Although Zhang Yue asked for leave this time, but at the moment of such a big event, Zhang Yue had such leisure and leisure, but Du Juan would not have the heart to return to his hometown to sweep the tomb at this time. Judging from the previous situation, it was probably deliberately avoided.

Lingxi didn't dare to think any further, and lifted the curtain to look outside. Seeing that Peng Shisan happened to look at her and grinned again, she glanced at her angrily, immediately put down her hand, and simply closed her eyes to recuperate. With those men in everything, why should she worry so much?

After sleeping in the car for most of the day, Zhang Yue got out of the carriage and rode a horse because of the warmer weather, and observed the situation along the way. To get from Songjiang to Nanjing by land, you need to pass through Suzhou, Changzhou and Zhenjiang. This is the land under the jurisdiction of Nanzhili, which bears most of the wealth of the southeast, so in this early spring, farmers can be seen bending over the fields to cultivate.

In the evening of that day, everyone rested in Suzhou Mansion and found a clean inn to live in. Because Du Juan was not happy, he asked people to send the food to the top, and after dinner, while there was no curfew, he took Peng Shisan out of the inn to take a walk. At sunset, there were many fewer pedestrians on the road, and many roadside stalls were gradually closed, and everything was in order. When he passed by an open-air tea stall, he saw several people sitting inside, drinking tea and chatting loudly. He didn't pay attention at first, but when he heard someone talking about the local prefect, he pulled Peng 13 to find a seat inside and sit down.

"Su Song's wealth is half the world, and I don't know how much tax we hand over to the imperial court in this place every year, but Lord Fuzun has now been stabbed to the top because of such a little money, and I heard that he will be dismissed soon!"

"Alas, Lord Fuzun is a good official, over the years, he has persuaded the famine, loaned seeds, and stabilized prices, and has done a lot of good things, but he is so poor that even the official uniform is patched and patched! Now it's just because the old lady received a gift on her birthday, but the money is willing to be given by others. Even if you accept it, what kind of sin is this embezzlement! ”

"It's just that the court treats good officials too harshly! How many lands do those lords and nobles have, and how many lands do our lords have? Those officials who are staring at the lord of the mansion are really full of food, and they must be eyeing the fat shortage of Suzhou Mansion, and they are ready to scrape the ground! If you really dismiss the official of the Lord of the Mansion, the people in our Suzhou Mansion will jointly ask for their lives, and they must leave the people behind! ”

The capital of Nanzhili Prefecture is a famous place in the world, in addition to those farmers who own their own land, there are also many tenants of noble families. Since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, land has always been given together with tenants, for example, although Zhang Fu bought a lot of land in the territory of Beizhili, but there are still many fields in the south of the Yangtze River, and there are 700 tenants in all the granges, plus the farmers who have taken refuge, there are nearly 1,000 tenants in total. That is, relying on the production of these granges and the shops operated by the domestic slave stewards in Jiangnan, the British government can eat without worry, let alone stretch out their hands to other places.

Although Zhang Yue said that he didn't care about production and business, he had a father who was quite skilled in business, and he was not a public school, and the fields and shops under his name alone were not a small amount, so he didn't need to scrape the ground to get oil and water, so he could live a comfortable and relaxed life. However, ordinary officials are not like their noble families, relying on that pitiful fortune alone, even eating meat is difficult, and the poor family cannot even receive a place to be appointed, and the separation between the two places is commonplace, and even the heirs are a problem.

Therefore, hearing that this Suzhou prefect was deeply popular, Zhang Yue took advantage of the situation and asked curiously next to him. At this question, a middle-aged man who was talking energetically talked endlessly and counted the prefect's political achievements with his fingers, and finally said indignantly: "I heard that the complainant is the inspector of the imperial history...... Phew, just care about trivial things, don't look at the people's livelihood, the state capital is peaceful, what imperial history, it's just a big straw bag! ”

Hearing the word straw bag, everyone around echoed it, and for a while, the Nan Zhili patrol who didn't even know his name was scolded to the fullest, and Zhang Yue shook his head as he listened. At this moment, an incompatible voice came from the side: "Anyway, Lord Fuzun did accept other people's money, and these two words of greed are not slanderous ......."

Before he finished speaking, he only heard a bang, but a tea guest stood up suddenly, pointed at the man's nose and scolded angrily: "You have forgotten your roots!" Although our Suzhou Mansion is abundant, but in recent years, there have been natural and man-made disasters such as floods and droughts. Although the reduction is limited, Lord Luo has a heart! After many years of persuading farmers and supporting business, we have the current situation in Suzhou! What is greed, if you want me to say, if you are greedy for so little money, but do such a great deed, the court should be rewarded! The previous Fuzun didn't take a penny, but he only recited poems and painted, not to mention the rampant ruffians in Suzhou Mansion, and there was no hope for every disaster year! ”

Seeing that the other people around him also joined in the accusations, the person who spoke at first couldn't resist it, and left a few copper coins and walked away. As soon as he left, everyone became even more noisy, and I don't know which well-informed person revealed that those people in the Metropolitan Procuratorate are now more greedy than anyone else, and the crowd was excited for a while, until someone reminded that it was going to be a curfew, and a large group of people dispersed in a hurry.

Leaving the tea money to stand up, looking at these scattered people, Zhang Yue's brows had already stretched. He originally thought that the people would be indiscriminate and would only support those clean officials with clean sleeves, but now it seems that people have the ability to distinguish between black and white.

At this time, it was getting late, Peng Shisan followed Zhang Yue out of the tea shed, and muttered softly: "Now the policy of the imperial court is to give light taxes and heavy punishments, and to punish them harshly, the former is suffering from the people, and the latter is suffering from those officials from poor backgrounds. Moreover, even the Metropolitan Procuratorate can't be honest, so why should the officials below be as clear as a puddle of water? To say that the Zhang family is the most unlucky, they are stared at by the imperial history all day long, as if they can't find out the big crime of rebellion! The master has been so cautious a few times, young master, you are also a thorn in the side of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, and you still need to say that there is such a mere Suzhou prefect? However, young master, are you really going to take care of this? ”

"Tube? I am Ying Tianfucheng, and I am not the two chief constitutions of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, what can I do with this? Having said that, Zhang Yue had a good impression of the Suzhou prefect who won the hearts of the people, and after thinking for a while, he said, "Tomorrow we will go first, you go and inquire about what is going on, if the prefect really has a clear conscience, then the pigtails of this metropolitan procuratorate are really boring." There are some things that are better to treat the symptoms than the root cause! ”

Peng Shisan has been following Zhang for more years, and he can always guess his thoughts, and he suddenly realized after just pondering, and quickly followed Zhang Yue and said with a smile: "So, the young master wants to be ashamed?" ”

"If Liu Guan really came to Nanjing, I would like to shake him. I think that when Chen Ying was in the Metropolitan Procuratorate, a single chapter could knock down a person, what a scene, but in fact, they all relied on the holy will to act, once they offended the anger of the public, they would be imprisoned and killed, and now Liu Guan's favor is far from it. He is not a pure minister, not only has something to do with the King of Han, but also can't get along with me three times and twice, and the Metropolitan Procuratorate is now crooked on the upper beam and crooked on the lower beam, overturning him, not only can I and the uncle of the hall be less worried, but it is also good for others. ”

"When I came down this time, the master said that he would listen to the young master in everything, and if there was anything he wanted me to do at that time, even if the young master commanded me, I couldn't get used to those who could only stab me in the back!"

Seeing Peng Shisan's fist clenched, Zhang Yue couldn't help but laugh dumbly. Although Zhang Fu won Zhu Gaochi's personal praise for his observance of the national funeral before, the Metropolitan Procuratorate never gave up, and he was often piggybacked when impeaching the nobles, and it was not surprising that Peng Shisan was angry. At this time, the closed door drum sounded in the direction of the city gate, and the two of them could already see the inn where they were staying. At this moment, a person suddenly appeared in a black alley next to him.

Before Zhang Yue could react, Peng Shisan flashed in front of him with an arrow step. But the thin man with the hat did not make any abnormal moves, stopped a few steps away, and then clasped his fists and said, "Lord Zhang, can you take a step to speak?" He paused, ignored Peng Shisan's vigilant gaze, and said to himself, "You saved the life of the little one in Ningbo Mansion back then, and later recommended a benefactor for the little one, and the little one just wanted to repay it." ”

Hearing the words "life-saving grace and benefactor", Zhang Yue couldn't help but look this person up and down again, and his heart suddenly moved. Ordered Peng Shisan to take a few steps back, he strode forward, and when he got closer, he gently raised the hat, and found that it was indeed the face in his impression, so he moved his hand: "The girl said that the grace of saving lives is enough, where does this grace of recommendation start?" ”

"My lord, I don't need to deny it, I've been with Lord Yuan for so many years, if I don't even know the connection between the two of you, then I'll be a spy in vain." Lin Sha pressed down the brim of the hat again, and then whispered, "I just got the news that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is going to Nanjing to worship the filial piety mausoleum, and in addition to the avant-garde of the government army, there are also many civil and military ministers, among which Liu Guan, the left capital of the Imperial Palace, was ordered to come down to investigate the matter of Nanjing Jinyiwei after automatically asking for orders." Lord Yuan once took charge of the Jinyi Guard, and he said to his henchmen that he would start with Lord Yuan. This person is very hateful, Lord Yuan has not touched him, but he has raised tigers for trouble, so I just want to ask Lord Zhang for an order, I have many ways to put him to death. As long as he dies halfway through, then everything is over! ”

Zhang Yue really didn't expect Lin Sha to block himself here, but because of such a thing, his heart suddenly felt a little strange. After looking at the huge hat for a while, he quickly calculated in his heart for a while, but at the end he shook his head and said, "It's easy to kill people, but after killing people, it will only cause more trouble." At the end of the day, assassination was originally a trail. Since you know some things, then I might as well tell you the truth, although Liu Guan is in charge of the Imperial Procuratorate, it is still very early to call for wind and rain in Nanjing. ”

Thinking that he used the food box to make a fool of himself that day, but was embarrassed by Zhang Yue's few moves, Lin Sha was suddenly silent. After a long time, she spoke: "Well, I believe you...... But if something goes wrong, I'm going to kill you! ”