Jiuhua Mountain, what we are talking about here is not the Buddhist holy land, but a small hill in the north of Nanjing. It is called Fuzhou Mountain at this time. It is close to the capital wall. Outside the wall is Houhu (Xuanwu Lake). The mountain is only tens of meters high. The top of the mountain is There is a temple that echoes Jiming Mountain in the west.
Because it is close to the north city wall, and the back lake outside the wall is both the northeastern moat and a royal forbidden area, it is very secluded. Except for a few pilgrims on weekdays, there are few people. There is a village in a sunny place in the south of the mountain. There are only a few households where the sun rises and sets and they rest in peace.
There is a family at the far west end of the village. It has a single courtyard with a low wall and a flower field neatly arranged under the vines. It is full of elegance. At first glance, it is not an ordinary farmer.
This family moved here just a few years ago, and they rarely move around the village on weekdays, but they have visitors coming and going all the time. After asking about it, the villagers found out that a high-ranking official came here to live in seclusion. They only knew that his surname was Ruan, but they did not know his first name. When asked, he was asked to call him Baizi Shanqiao. Behind his back, the villagers always ridiculed him for pretending. Even though he was a Shanqiao, he had never chopped a piece of firewood...
The villagers only knew that this man was hypocritical, but they did not know that he was Ruan Dacheng, who had bad conduct and everyone wanted to beat him up. They did not expect that he would control the affairs of the Southern Ming Dynasty in the future and make the city of Nanjing a mess, handing over half of the country to the Tatars.
Ruan Dacheng was not only a treacherous man, but also had extremely low moral character. He had been a stranger since his debut. He was born in Donglin, but he clung to Wei Zhongxian in order to gain benefits from both sides. After Emperor Chongzhen came to power, he prepared two pieces of writing to accuse the Donglin Party and the Eunuch Party of being "parties." "Attachment of eunuchs" should be abolished together, but it was later revealed that Emperor Chongzhen dismissed him as an eunuch. He first lived in Anqing and then lived in seclusion in Nanjing. He recruited knights to talk about military affairs and form a literary society. Later, he also wanted to talk to the Donglin Party. He was rejected by others, so he never had the chance to enter the official career again. Because of his bad reputation and poor conduct, even the people who returned to the society were disgusted and he refused to interact with him. This shows that his character is extremely corrupt.
His reputation was so bad that the emperor did not use him, so Ruan Dacheng had no choice but to live in seclusion in Nanjing. However, Ma Shiying, who was recommended by him, rose to prominence and became the governor of Lufeng. He came to Nanjing from time to time to reminisce with him. He is indeed a literary and artistic person, good at playing music, chess, calligraphy and painting, and he has attracted many literati and poets to interact with him on weekdays.
In the evening, the light rain fell non-stop. When Ruan Dacheng was looking at the falling rain outside the courtyard and reciting a poem, he suddenly heard someone knocking on the door. The servant asked and came back to tell him: "Governor Ma has sent someone."
Governor Ma is Ma Shiying.
Ruan Dacheng was shocked. This was a good friend he had always been proud of. You should know that with his bad reputation, most officials would not look down on him and would even avoid him, but Ma Shiying was different. He was always grateful. It was Ruan Dacheng's recommendation that led to his current glory, and the relationship between the two was extremely good. Moreover, it is said in history that Ma Shiying repaid his kindness and recommended Ruan Dacheng during the Nanming Dynasty, making him the Minister of War and the Bachelor of the Ministry of War in Nanming. It didn't take long for the two of them to work together to break up the Hongguang court and give up the city of Nanjing.
So he quickly asked his servant to invite the visitor in.
Two people came, wearing bamboo hats to protect themselves from the rain, but Ruan Dacheng quickly felt something was wrong, because he saw the white cloth tied around the waists of these two people, and his heart sank.
"I have seen Mr. Ruan." The two young men entered and knelt down to salute. Ruan Dacheng stared at the white cloth around their waists, and his lips couldn't help but trembled a few times: "But, what happened?".
"Master Ruan, my master is dead!" As they said this, the two of them fell to the ground and cried!
Ruan Dacheng was startled and leaned forward and shouted: "How could it be possible? How could it be possible?" His hand touching the teacup kept trembling. He was already sixty years old, but Ma Shiying was several years younger than him. He looked strong and energetic, so how could he die suddenly?
"How did Yaocao (Ma Shiying's nickname) pass away?" Ruan Dacheng was shocked when he heard the bad news.
"My master slipped and fell on Fengyang City, and later died." One of them sobbed and said. Ruan Dacheng was even more surprised: "How could he have lost his footing on the city?" After being full, he and Lu Zhenfei and others went to the city to climb up and look far away. After drinking too much wine, they supported the wall and vomited, but accidentally fell down. They didn't fall to death at that time, but they knew that there was no hope of recovery. They came to report the funeral and asked Ruan Dacheng. Write an epitaph for him.
Ruan Dacheng listened in a daze for a long time, with mixed feelings in his heart. How could a friend who could show off his skills in the background suddenly die suddenly, and he named him to write an epitaph for him even though he knew he was smelly? Very touched.
"Mr. Ruan, the corpse won't last long in this hot weather. There are busy funerals over there. If it's convenient for you to go to the funeral, let's leave the city quickly before it gets dark. Maybe we can catch up and take a last look at my master. Since you are my master's best friend, it is up to you to take charge of the overall situation," the mourner said softly, wiping his tears.
Ruan Dacheng nodded, then asked the maid to pack some luggage, and took some broken silver to give to the two mourners: "It's raining and we'll hire a car. I'm old and can't bear the long journey."
"Back to Mr. Ruan, when we came we had hired a carriage and it was outside the courtyard. There was also a carriage waiting for us on the other side of the Yangtze River when we left the city." The mourner hurriedly said, and Ruan Dacheng cast an appreciative look: "You are very thoughtful in your work."
Before dark, a carriage left the city from Dinghuai Gate and went straight to the Yangtze River Wharf along the Qinhuai River. Ruan Dacheng sat in the car and opened his eyes to look at the cloudy sky outside and the continuous drizzle, feeling extremely depressed in his heart.
It was completely dark when we arrived at the Yangtze River. The mourner held an umbrella and helped him out of the carriage. The ferry had already been waiting for a long time. Ruan Dacheng was slightly surprised. Lao Ma's people were really thorough in their work, and the whole process was seamless. According to this day and night journey, the trip to Fengyang, which is more than 400 miles, can be resisted in two days at most.
The ferry was not big and there were only two boatmen. However, the river was very windy and the boat was up and down. This made Ruan Dacheng feel a little frightened, so he asked: "Why not hire a big boat?"
"The ferry is busy, and the big boat won't leave until everyone has gathered," the mourner said, looking at the other person and smiling.
Ruan Dacheng felt strange: "Why are you laughing?"
"It's nothing. I'll do everything carefully, so Mr. Ruan can rest assured." He laughed heartily as he spoke, and the two boatmen also laughed heartily.
Ruan Dacheng felt more and more strange, so he winked at the servant who came with him. The servant could tell that something was wrong but didn't know how to deal with it. Just when he was about to reach out and touch his arms, he heard a muffled groan and was given a stick by the boatman. Passed out after being smashed.
When the incident happened suddenly, Ruan Dacheng screamed in fear and hid in the corner of the cabin waving his hands: "You, who are you?"
"Brother, why did Mr. Ruan ask such a strange question?" Several people said with a smile. At this time, the boat had reached the middle of the river. It was windy and rough and the sky was dark. It was a good place and a good time to kill people and dump their bodies.
"Since you are a mourner, why did you commit murder...What do you want to do? I have the money, I have the money!" Ruan Dacheng did not doubt the identities of these people at this time, but thought that they might want to take the opportunity to rob money. This kind of thing is not easy to do these days. It's not surprising that it's common for domestic servants to take advantage of chaos and rob their masters, let alone Ma Shiying's servant who is dying.
"How much money do you have?" someone asked with a smile, and Ruan Dacheng threw the package over: "I'll give it to you as much as you have. If you don't have enough, you can come with me back to Nanjing to get it. As long as you spare my life, it doesn't matter if you lose everything."
"Master Ruan is open." The man opened the parcel, dug out the silver and divided it, then threw the parcel into the river. The other man brought a large stone tied with a rope from the cabin and placed it at Ruan Dacheng's feet.
"You, you, what are you going to do? Are you Lu Zhenfei's people, and has Ma Shiying been harmed by him?" Ruan Dacheng struggled crazily. Naturally, he was on good terms with Ma Shiying and knew that he was at odds with Lu Zhenfei.
Several people held him tightly and tied the other end of the rope to Ruan Dacheng's feet: "Master Ruan said that we have done everything carefully, and of course there is no room for mistakes." One person said and tied Ruan Dacheng's hands tightly, and then ignored him. Shouting and screaming, he was pushed into the river, and the waves on the river surged.
"What should I do about this?" One person kicked the unconscious servant.
The other didn't say anything, he just threw the servant into the river and clapped his hands: "Let's go to the shore and drink some flower wine to warm up."
:. :
