Butcher Zhang's mourning hall is located in the main hall of Guowei Mansion.
In the past few days, more and more people have come to express their condolences, and the crying in the main hall has almost never stopped.
The old Zhang family was a single generation of three generations, with few relatives. The only ones who came were Zhang Butcher's former subordinates and ordinary people who had benefited from his kindness.
Most of these people came from northern Xinjiang and southern Xinjiang. They traveled thousands of miles across mountains and rivers just to see the old man off and thank him for their kindness.
Zhang Guangyao ordered people to clear out all the habitable rooms in Guowei Mansion for those who wanted to stay for the funeral of the old man.
The Guowei Mansion is huge, and it is the most extensive residence in the imperial capital besides the imperial palace.
If all the rooms were full, it could accommodate ten thousand people, but in just a few days, they were filled with guests who came to express their condolences.
Then we can only lay floors in various courtyards, even gardens and martial arts training grounds, but even so, people are willing to stay.
This scene made the people of the imperial capital very surprised. They never expected that so many people would volunteer to attend the funeral of Butcher Zhang, because all they knew about Butcher Zhang was his reputation.
So much so that some people even doubted whether these people were hired by Zhang Guangyao to make the scene more beautiful.
However, if one were to count the notoriety of Butcher Zhang, it would not be difficult to find that most of the people who scolded him the most were landlords, gentry and sect families. For no other reason than Butcher Zhang had robbed them.
In the eyes of these people, Butcher Zhang was simply the reincarnation of the devil, committing murder, arson, plundering homes, and committing all kinds of evil.
But for many poor people who lived in that war-torn era and were about to starve to death, Butcher Zhang was a living Bodhisattva who saved the suffering, because Butcher Zhang gave them food and kept them alive.
Butcher Zhang led his Zhang family army to plunder all the way from the southern border to the northern border, plundering countless grain supplies and gold and silver treasures.
But when Zhang Jiajun finally settled in Eternal City, he and Zhang Jiajun were so poor that they only had one meal a day, and it took them a whole year before Zhang Jiajun had enough to eat.
As for where the wealth he looted went, only he, his Zhang family army, and the people who benefited from him know the answer.
During those two years, Dasu was too poor and too difficult. Starving people were everywhere. Butcher Zhang couldn't think of a better way besides robbing the rich and giving to the poor. Su Hanlin couldn't think of any other way, so in the end Butcher Zhang and his Zhang Jiajun turned into bandits. .
Butcher Zhang was willing to bear the curse because he knew that he had indeed done evil things and deserved to be scolded. He had nothing to defend himself and he had never defended himself.
Good is good, bad is bad. He thinks that a man should be brave enough to take responsibility, and it is not beautiful to try his best to defend.
"Your Majesty, although General Zhang was the founding general of the country and had great military achievements that no one can match, he is still a king with a different surname. How can he be buried with a prince's funeral?"
"Your Majesty, I feel that the specifications of the mausoleum must be lowered by one level to distinguish it from the prince's mausoleum."
"Your Majesty, funeral rituals have been passed down since ancient times. Don't mess with the rules of your ancestors."
"His Majesty……"
In the Jinluan Palace, more than a dozen ministers successively advised Su Hanlin to lower Butcher Zhang's funeral standards by one level. Because the standards specified by Su Hanlin were those of a prince, and Butcher Zhang was a king with a different surname, so the ministers felt that it was inappropriate. Etiquette and rules.
"You guys..." Su Hanlin glanced at the ministers who were out to remonstrate, shook his head, smiled, and sighed: "You really hold a grudge!"
"Your Majesty, I have no grievances or grudges against General Zhang——"
"In the first year of the Kaiyuan period of Da Su, General Zhang led 300 personal guards to break into your home and looted everything, leaving only enough food for your family to eat for a year. Is that true?" Su Hanlin asked.
"Your Majesty, in the first year of Kaiyuan, the minister was only a three-year-old child and has no memory."
Su Hanlin sighed, glanced at the others, and said, "And you, too, were robbed by General Zhang and his Zhang family army. There is no need to deny it, because I know it all."
"Your Majesty is wise!" More than a dozen ministers suddenly felt embarrassed.
"Do you know why I remember it so clearly? You must not be able to figure out the reason even if you try hard, because General Zhang once wrote a special letter to remind me."
As he spoke, Su Hanlin gestured to the eunuch delivering the order.
The eunuch who conveyed the order knew what he meant and walked to the main hall carrying a red lacquer tray with a dozen thick yellowed papers on it.
"This letter will waste a lot of General Zhang's writing, because it has more than a hundred pages. Each of you should take one and circulate it to each other." Su Hanlin ordered.
The ministers curiously picked up a page of paper from the tray and read it in front of them, with shocked expressions on their faces.
Because what was written on the paper was an account, which year, month and day, where and how much stuff was robbed from whose house.
The ministers thought for a moment and understood that what was recorded here was Zhang Butcher's account of robbing other people's property.
"The old general told me that this was a debt he owed and asked me to help him repay it.
In the third year of the Kaiyuan period of the Su Dynasty, Wang Siyuan and Wang Aiqing got drunk and wrote a poem called "Remembering the Former Dynasty". On the same day, they were sued to the government and then sent to death row. I don't know why they were only slapped for twenty years. Have you been released?
In the ninth year of the founding of the Soviet Union, Liu Fenggong and Liu Qing, you failed to pass the exam. Do you know why you were accepted as an exception?
There are many more, I won’t go into details one by one.
In short, I helped the old general pay off all his debts.
Haha, it’s shameful to say that this debt is not owed by the old general. It is clearly owed by me, but the infamy has been borne by the old general alone.
I feel guilty!
There is no need to argue anymore about the funeral specifications of the old general. If anyone is dissatisfied, I will immediately arrange an unprecedented funeral for him, so that he can enjoy himself. "
As soon as this statement came out, there was no objection in the main hall, because Su Hanlin always kept his word, and they did not want to steal this limelight from Butcher Zhang.
…
"The unfilial daughter-in-law has come to kowtow to you..."
With anxiety and sadness, Shen Wenjun followed Niu Dawa to the main hall, knelt in front of Butcher Zhang's coffin, kowtowed and cried.
She knew very little about secular funeral rituals, but it was always right to kowtow.
"My grandson is unfilial and failed to protect you. My grandson... has no face to see you..." Niu Dawa knocked her head in front of the coffin and choked up before she could finish her words.
Butcher Zhang was killed in the ruins. Niu Dawa has always felt guilty and felt that she failed to protect the old man.
Zhang Xiaobing and Jin Zhihui also kowtowed in front of the coffin.
Zhang Guangyao was kneeling in the mourning hall, wearing sackcloth and mourning. When he saw guests coming to express condolences, he conditionally got up and stepped forward to answer the guests.
The pain of losing his father and being on his knees for days made him extremely tired physically and mentally.
At the moment, his consciousness has become drowsy and his vision has become cloudy and blurry. Getting up to answer customers has almost become a mechanical reflex action for him.
He staggered forward, just when he heard Shen Wenjun calling himself, his groggy brain was conditioned to wonder whose daughter-in-law this was, and he thought about it for a long time before he suddenly woke up.
His body trembled, as if he had been struck by lightning.
Then his pale and haggard face suddenly flushed with excitement. He stared down at Shen Wenjun who was kneeling on the ground, and asked in disbelief: "Wen... Wenjun? Really... really... it's you. ?"
When Shen Wenjun heard Zhang Guangyao's voice, his body trembled. He raised his head and saw Zhang Guangyao's thin and haggard face. Tears burst into his eyes. He sobbed guiltily: "Brother Yao, it's me, I... I'm sorry for you, I've caused you such pain." ah……"
"I don't blame you, I don't blame you. I am useless. I failed to protect you and your son. I am useless..." Zhang Guangyao knelt beside Shen Wenjun and shook his head repeatedly, then hugged him into his arms, and shed tears of guilt and self-blame.
The appearance of Shen Wenjun made him feel sad and happy, and his fragile spirit was greatly impacted.
Jia Zhongmou, Hu Buhu and Wan Qingqiu came forward and helped Zhang Guangyao and Shen Wenjun to the back hall.
As the adopted grandson, Niu Dawa put on mourning clothes and knelt down in the mourning hall to keep vigil.
Zhang Xiaobing and Jin Zhihui were called to the back hall by Wan Qingqiu and asked to accompany Huang Daoer.
"Mother-in-law, my daughter-in-law is guilty and has brought disaster to the Zhang family. Please punish her severely." Shen Wenjun went to the back hall, saw Huang Daonv, knelt down in front of her and said guiltily.
"Good girl, get up quickly. No wonder you have been suffering all these years." Huang Dao Nu immediately stood up and helped her.
Compared to Zhang Guangyao, Wan Qingqiu and others who looked tired and haggard, Zodiac Girl's complexion was obviously much better, and there was no strong sadness in her eyes.
She took a relatively open view of Butcher Zhang's death.
After receiving Huang Daonv's understanding, Shen Wenjun burst into tears. She had suffered too much over the years, and Huang Daonv's words touched the grievances in her heart.
"How did you get here? Did the Shen family let you go?" Huang Daonv asked Shen Wenjun with concern as she pulled Shen Wenjun to sit down on the couch.
This is also the question Zhang Guangyao wants to ask.
Shen Wenjun's face paled after hearing this, and then he realized that Huang Daonv didn't know about the Shen family's wanted order, which meant that Huang Daonv didn't know what kind of trouble she had caused to the Zhang family.
This made her heart relax again. She looked at Zhang Guangyao, and her heart suddenly sank again, because she saw Zhang Guangyao looking at her with questioning eyes. Obviously, he didn't know about the Shen family's wanted order. thing.
She looked at Wan Qingqiu, who was frowning, and cast a questioning look, meaning to ask if she could tell him the truth.
Wan Qingqiu nodded.
The reason why she kept the Shen family's wanted order secret and did not tell Huang Daonv and Zhang Guangyao was because she was afraid that they would be frightened, anxious, and frightened when they found out, which would make their haggard and tired spirits worse.
But Shen Wenjun's arrival made it difficult to hide this matter any longer, because Huang Daonv had already noticed that she was hiding something from her, and cast an inquiring look at Wan Qingqiu.
"It was Zhu'er who rescued me from the Shen family." Shen Wenjun saw Wan Qingqiu nodding, so he told the truth.
Huang Daonv was startled when she heard this. She glanced around and did not see Zhang Xiaozu's figure. She immediately asked anxiously: "Where is Zhu'er? Where is he?"
The Shen family is like a dragon in a tiger's den, and she is worried that Zhang Xiaopou will be harmed.
"Zu'er is on his way back. It will take a few days before he comes back." Shen Wenjun replied.
"Why didn't he come back together?" asked the female fox of the zodiac, "Don't lie to me, old lady, pawn... did something happen to him?"
