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That night, under the behind-the-scenes instructions of the seventh prince Zhu Hejian, and under the direct orders of Nanjing's eunuch Xi Cheng, the imperial guards in Nanjing came out in full force to expel and kill anyone who violated martial law or caused any disturbances. People and others launched an almost unbridled repression.
Although this suppressive action cannot be said to be a bloodbath, it still caused hundreds of deaths and injuries and nearly a thousand injuries in just over half an hour.
In fact, Nanjing is currently under martial law, which has long restricted ordinary people from going out at will, and the Jin Yiwei's movement time is after dark, so there are even fewer ordinary people who dare to leave home at this time.
Therefore, most of the casualties caused by the Jin Yiwei were actually domestic servants, informants, thugs and other vassals of the major forces in Nanjing.
This will undoubtedly stir up a hornet's nest.
If the Jinyiwei just killed and injured a group of ordinary people, it seemed like a big deal, but in fact it was a small matter. The major forces would only condemn it on the surface, but privately they would make a deal, allowing the Jinyiwei to find a middle- and lower-level military attaché. If the scapegoat takes the blame, the matter will be covered up.
But the Jin Yiwei actually killed and wounded many vassals of major forces that night. These forces included the Jin gentry forces headed by the Song family, the noble forces headed by the Xu family, the merchant forces headed by the United Shipping Company, and even Even the government officials and patrolmen who tried to control the situation were driven and attacked by the royal guards.
Faced with such a situation, even if the Jin Yiwei represents the imperial power, the major forces will never make any concessions and must fight back with all their strength.
As for how to fight back, submitting a memorial to the imperial court to impeach Jin Yiwei for his perverse behavior and wanton behavior is naturally the intended meaning of the title, and it is also the most effective method. However, after all, this method cannot save the fire from far away, and the current top priority is It is still necessary to control the crazy behavior of the Jin Yiwei immediately to prevent the Jin Yiwei from causing greater chaos and harm.
As a result, the major forces quickly joined forces and approached the major yamen and high-level officials in charge of affairs, such as the Nanjing garrison Xu Shengying who was in charge of the military, the Nanjing garrison eunuch Xi Cheng who was in charge of the Jinyi Guards, and others... On the surface, Yin Xieqing, Yingtian Prefecture, is responsible for managing all matters in Nanjing.
During this period, the major forces in Nanjing also fully demonstrated what it means to bully the weak and fear the strong, and to be cowardly and suppress the small.
When contacting Nanjing garrison Xu Shengying, all the major forces in Nanjing city unanimously adopted a help-seeking attitude. As long as Xu Shengying is willing to send Nanjing garrison to control the situation and check the wanton behavior of Jinyiwei, then they will definitely be grateful and will be richly rewarded in the future.
After all, Xu Shengying was not only the Nanjing garrison in charge of the military power, but also a direct descendant of the Xu family of Wei Guogong. He was an example of the noble power of the imperial court. No one dared to force him to do anything. They could only state the pros and cons to him, win over and make promises, and ask for help. He stepped in to help.
When negotiating with Xi Cheng, the eunuch guarding Nanjing, all the major forces in Nanjing adopted a negotiating attitude. They seemed to have a tough attitude, but in fact, everything was still negotiable. As long as Xi Cheng was willing to withdraw his order and let the Jinyi Guards In their follow-up actions, their attitude was slightly milder, and all parties were also willing to make concessions on other matters.
After all, Xi Cheng is the representative figure of the inner court power and imperial power, and the Jin Yiwei he controls has the power to make decisions on an ad hoc basis. Even Nanjing garrison Xu Shengying is nominally under Xi Cheng's control, so the major forces in Nanjing do not dare to easily compete with Xi Cheng. Break the skin.
But when they came into contact with Yin Xie Qing of Yingtian Prefecture, the attitude of all the forces in Nanjing was completely different. To use two words to describe it, it was "pressure", and it was pressure without any room for negotiation. They just asked Xie Qing to Immediately adopt all means to control the situation in Nanjing, regardless of whether Xie Qing has the ability to restrict the actions of the Jinyiwei. In short, if Xie Qing cannot control the situation as soon as possible, then he will never be able to gain a foothold in Nanjing's officialdom in the future.
Facing pressure from various forces and watching the situation in Nanjing become more complicated and out of control, Xie Qing was just tired and felt weak and helpless.
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At this moment, Xie Qing was sitting motionless in the lobby of Yingtian Mansion, staring blankly at the thick piles of letters and famous posts from various forces on the table, his face illuminated by candlelight. He looked increasingly miserable.
The letters and famous posts placed in front of Xie Qing all come from various forces in Nanjing. No one of them is something Xie Qing dares to offend easily. The contents are all about putting pressure on Xie Qing and demanding Xie Qing quickly took action.
But Xie Qing was in a dilemma when faced with these pressures and demands.
The reason is also very simple, because Xie Qing cannot afford to offend Jin Yiwei and the guarding eunuch Xi Cheng, not to mention that the seventh prince Zhu Hejian may also be controlling the situation behind the scenes.
Therefore, Xie Qing had no idea what he could do at this time, and he did not dare to take any action at all. In name, he was sitting in the Fuyin Yamen personally to take charge of the overall situation. In fact, he was just sitting here with nothing to do, just complaining about his bad luck.
Seeing Xie Qing's performance, Yi Ping, the general judge of Yingtian Mansion on the side, couldn't sit still and couldn't help but suggest: "Master Fu Yin, our top priority now is to do something, we must not remain indifferent! Otherwise, today In the late Nanjing chaos, those of us will definitely be held accountable by the court for dereliction of duty! Even if we dare not restrict the tyranny of the Jinyiwei, we should send people to maintain law and order as much as possible. For example, near the temporary residence of Academician Huo in the south of the city, currently A fire is breaking out, and we must arrange manpower to extinguish the fire as soon as possible, otherwise if the fire spreads more widely, it will be a major event that alarms the government and the public!"
After hearing this, Xie Qing raised his head and smiled bitterly: "Control the fire? Who to send? Patrol camp? Or the government officials? But now that the Jin Yiwei are out everywhere, no one can travel at will, otherwise they will be attacked by the Jin Yiwei. Do you want to Are the patrolmen and government officials allowed to put out the fire while facing the rain of bullets and arrows from the Jinyiwei? I also tried to arrange for manpower to go to Nancheng to put out the fire just now, but they were quickly driven back by the Jinyiwei... This fire, now We can only count on the people to save themselves!"
After hearing this, Yi Ping couldn't help but feel angry and couldn't help but cursed: "Are these Jin Yiwei crazy? Seeing that the fire is spreading, we want to organize people to put out the fire, but they have to restrict even this kind of thing. ? Do you want to watch innocent people being burned to death?"
The bitter smile on Xie Qing's face grew thicker: "Of course it must be restricted...because in the eyes of that eunuch, our Yingtian Mansion Office has already sided with the Song family and is an enemy of His Highness the Seventh Prince, so naturally we must be restricted. Take action to prevent us from taking the opportunity to harm His Highness the Seventh Prince."
After saying that, Xie Qing took out a letter from the desk and gave it to Yi Ping for review.
After Yi Ping received the letter, he found that the letter was written by the guard eunuch Xicheng. He was shocked and quickly checked the content carefully.
However, they found that Xicheng questioned Xie Qing in a tough manner in the letter, saying that earlier tonight, the Song family forces gathered a large number of people to break into a Nanjing garrison, nominally to assist the government in hunting down the gangsters. But in fact, it was not only a direct violation of martial law, but also suspected of gathering people to cause trouble. Among the large number of people gathered by the Song family, there were actually many Nanjing patrol officers and government officials, so Xi Chengcheng wrote a letter to question Xie Qing Why would Yingtianfu Yamen cooperate with the Song family forces? Has it decided to side with the Song family forces and become the enemy of His Highness the Seventh Prince?
After reading the contents of the letter, Yi Ping also smiled bitterly.
In fact, Yingtianfu Yamen is very aware of the large-scale operation after the Song family assembled a large number of people earlier today, and also knows that many Nanjing patrol officers and government officials participated in this operation, but whether it is Yingtian Fuyin Xie Qing, or Yingtianfu Yin Xie Qing, Tianfu Tongjuan Yiping was unable to interfere in such matters.
This is because Xie Qing and Yi Ping are both exiled officials and not locals, but the patrol officers under their jurisdiction are all locals. Therefore, these patrol officers are deeply penetrated by the Song family's influence. Once Yingtian Mansion The Yamen's order is contrary to the Song family's attitude, and they will definitely stand firmly on the Song family's side.
In this way, even if they knew that the Song family had obviously violated martial law, and even if they knew that the patrol officers had participated in the Song family's violations of court laws without authorization, they could only turn a blind eye. did not see it.
However, this situation falls in the eyes of Nanjing's guarding eunuch Xi Cheng. Ying Tianfu Yamen is actively cooperating with the Song family and has chosen to side with the Song family. Therefore, when the situation is sensitive tonight, Yingtianfu Yamen will also comprehensively restrict the influence of the Song family. any action to prevent more variables from arising.
Seeing that Yi Ping was helpless, Xie Qing's confidant Zhang Bo couldn't help but sigh bitterly: "Actually, although Jin Yiwei's actions tonight are a bit extreme, they are still worthy of their reputation!
After all, Nanjing is currently under martial law, but take a look at the situation these days. Where is the martial law? We can't control the United Boat Company's gathering of people to protest, nor can we control the Liang Gang gang members who break into homes and search for suspicious people. As for us people, we have done nothing in recent days, except to keep giving awards to the servants of the major wealthy families. The warrant of passage allows them to travel unhindered during martial law...
Hey! This city-wide martial law is only effective for ordinary people, but for those major forces with deep backgrounds, martial law is simply in name only! In this way, the majesty of our Yingtianfu Yamen can be said to be wiped out... No, it is simply the majesty of the imperial decree! "
After a pause, Zhang Bo couldn't help but suggest: "...Although Jin Yiwei's actions tonight are indeed excessive, they are nominally to safeguard the martial law we have promulgated, so that those who are still wandering around during the martial law period, All the forces that took advantage of the troubled waters suffered huge losses!
According to the students, in this case, we might as well just go ahead and state our position directly, requiring all forces to strictly abide by the martial law. At least before tomorrow morning, they must not go out for activities. As long as the forces of all parties are restricted If we act at will, the Jin Yiwei will have no reason to attack everywhere. We can also take the opportunity to obtain Xi Zhenshou's understanding, and maybe we can send people to control the fire. We can also make some excuses when the court is accountable afterwards..."
Xie Qingze smiled bitterly and shook his head again: "This letter was just received..."
After saying that, Xie Qing picked out another letter from the desk and handed it to Zhang Bo for inspection.
After Zhang Bo received the letter, he was even more surprised, because the signature of the letter was densely written with a large number of names, all of which were the leaders of the major gentry families in Nanjing.
Compared with the letter sent by Xicheng just now, the wording of this letter is slightly more polite, and the specific content is also extremely obscure. It just copied an article from the previous dynasty, called "The Tombstone Story of Five People", and asked Xie Qing to comment. Learn calligraphy.
But as long as you have a little understanding of the writing background of "The Tombstone Story of Five People", the specific meaning of this letter is terrifying to think about. It simply defines the actions of the Jin Yiwei tonight as "the government forces the people to rebel", and it also It shows the uncompromising stance of the major gentry families on this matter.
Under such circumstances, if Xie Qing's subsequent decision was even slightly biased in favor of Jin Yiwei, it would arouse the collective hatred of the Jin gentry in the world, and the serious consequences are self-evident.
Therefore, Zhang Bo immediately gave up his preference for the guarding eunuchs Xi Cheng and Jin Yiwei, quickly changed his position, and suggested: "In this case, let's support the local Jin gentry instead! The leaders of these Jin gentry families are the Song family, and Song Dynasty Behind the house is Zhou Shoufu. If you choose to support them, you will not suffer any loss! Anyway, without the support of the Jin gentry, we can't do anything! We can help the Jin gentry forces suppress the Jinyiwei. After all, the number of Jinyiwei is not large, and they will definitely be stretched. And we can wait for the opportunity to control the situation and put out the fire... In short, we must do something!"
Zhang Bo's change of stance was not unpleasant, but Xie Qing was still in a dilemma. He once again took out a few famous invitations from the desk and said with a wry smile: "These famous invitations are delivered to me sooner or later. The origins are also different. They come from Zhou Shoufu, the Seventh Prince, Xu Shoubei, and Wang Taishi. They are all important people that we can never afford to offend... When they sent me the famous invitations, they all sent me a sentence. , the content is roughly the same, that is, we hope that we must remain neutral when the situation gets out of control, and we must not intensify the contradiction, otherwise once the conflict between Jinquan and Imperial Power breaks out, we, Yingtian Mansion, will be the best scapegoat candidates!"
Jinquan! imperial power! Intensification of contradictions! A conflict breaks out!
After hearing these words, Zhang Bo was shocked again. He no longer dared to come up with random ideas. He just sat in his position with his head drooped like Xie Qing, shaking his head and sighing.
All of them knew very well that Ying Tianfu Yamen had to do something at this time, but under the constraints of all parties, they could not do anything, and they did not even have the power to choose their side.
Although Zhang Bo stopped talking, Xie Qing could no longer suppress the sorrow and resentment in his heart at this time, and couldn't help complaining to him: "Back then, the imperial court clearly wanted me to go to Fujian to take up my post, but you were always greedy for Jiangnan. Busy, you kept suggesting that I find connections and come to Nanjing to serve as Yingtian Prefecture Yin. I was also blinded by lard, but I was persuaded by you!
But what was the result? Yingtian Fuyin is simply the most difficult position in the world to sit in. Even Shuntian Fuyin at the feet of the Emperor is much better than this position! When Shuntian Prefecture Yin governs the capital, although there are intertwined forces from all sides and various dignitaries emerging one after another, no one can afford to offend him. But as long as he obeys His Majesty's holy will and holds His Majesty's thighs tightly, he will never be on the wrong team. , even if you accidentally take the blame and lose your official position, you can quickly recover again...
And what about Nanjing? It’s just that the situation is no less complicated than in the capital city. The point is that there are powerful people everywhere who can’t be offended, but we don’t know whose lap to embrace! In the past, there were the Six Ministries of Nanjing, the garrison of the eunuchs, the garrison of Nanjing, the Jin gentry forces headed by the Song family, and the merchant forces headed by the United Shipping Company. All of them were giant Buddhas, and we were the only monks who worshiped the Buddha. Moreover, they often had conflicts. , no matter who we support, we will offend the other party. We have been walking on thin ice these years!
In the past few months, the six divisions of Nanjing have collapsed one after another. I thought that there were finally a few giant Buddhas to serve. Who would have thought that the crown prince and grand master Wang Baoren, His Royal Highness the Seventh Prince, Zhou Shoufu, and the great scholar Huo Zhengyuan, these larger Buddhas, have successively appeared. On the stage, they are still in conflict with each other, and we are still the only monks worshiping Buddha... They are simply driving us to death! "
Hearing Xie Qing's complaint, Zhang Bo just lowered his head and said nothing.
After Xie Qing complained for a long time, he finally shook his head and concluded: "Especially the situation in Nanjing tonight. Although I haven't seen the truth clearly, I also know that the water is very deep. Whether it is the large-scale operation of the Song family's gathering of manpower, Or are the Jin Yiwei's unscrupulous suppression everywhere, there are other reasons, and they are even related to the future direction of the court situation. The dangers can be said to be shocking. We are not qualified to participate at all. Maybe if we just get involved a little bit, we will usher in a sudden disaster. Let us die inexplicably...
That's all, let's just sit back and watch the fight between tigers and tigers indifferently. If the court later investigates our dereliction of duty, let the court investigate us. Maybe it will be a blessing in the misfortune! As for the innocent people who were implicated, they can only ask for their own blessings..."
As he spoke, Xie Qing was completely disheartened and seemed to be thinking of quitting officialdom.
However, there are some things that Xie Qing cannot avoid if he wants to.
Under the current situation, Xie Qing not only does not have the power to take the initiative, nor does he have the power to choose a side, he does not even have the power to remain indifferent and remain neutral.
Just as Xie Qing finished speaking, a government official rushed into the main hall of Yingtian Mansion and reported urgently: "Master Qi Fu, something big happened! Mr. Song, the head of the Song family, actually made a breakthrough by virtue of his identity. The Jinyiwei surrounded and obstructed them and led a group of supporters to Zhanyuan where the Seventh Prince was staying temporarily. Now they have blocked the gate of Zhanyuan, saying that they want to confront the Seventh Prince! At this moment, including Xi Zhenshou, Grand Master Wang, Xu Shoubei and others have rushed to Zhanyuan to ease the situation, but..."
After hearing the report, Xie Qing's expression suddenly changed.
Will the conflict between the Jin gentry represented by the Song family and the imperial power represented by the Seventh Prince finally break out?
Xie Qing asked quickly: "But what?"
The yamen official said with a strange expression: "In such a situation, our Yingtianfu yamen should come out to maintain stability and guard the perimeter. But just now, after receiving the news, Mr. Fu Cheng He originally wanted to rush to Zhanyuan as soon as possible. , but because he moved too hastily, he lost his footing and fell from his horse and fainted. Master Zhizhong Ge lost control of his heart after receiving the news and became bedridden immediately. There was also Master Li from the patrol camp who accidentally broke his leg while rushing on the road. Legs... So, the only people in our Yingtian Mansion who can still take care of things now are you and Yi Tongpian!"
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