Under the dark sky, there was silence all around, except for a few loud snorts that clearly appeared in the stable.
Because he might have to leave overnight, Wang Liang's horse was taken out of the stable during the inspection of the capital camp and tied to the carriage. He was unable to sleep because of it and was slapped twice by his servant from time to time.
At dawn, Wang Liang, who was already sitting in the carriage, glanced at the green and white street outside the door, and asked Zheng Gu'an, a soldier from the Military and Horse Division who had arrived at this time: "How are you doing?"
"Sir, our people took a peek. No one came out of the official residence compound last night."
Zheng Guan replied.
After hearing this, Wang Liang let out a long breath and said, "That's good, go back to sleep!"
"yes!"
Wang Liang himself yawned and returned to his room.
Before that, in the second half of the night, when the moon was setting and the sky was about to dawn, the Yangxin Hall in the Forbidden City suddenly became bright due to the arrival of Shen Shixing.
After hearing Shen Shixing's reason for coming late at night, Zhu Yijun rubbed his eyes slightly, then glanced at Shen Shixing and said, "If that's the case, get him immediately!"
After Zhu Yijun finished speaking, he walked back and continued to sleep.
But Shen Shixing accepted it and went to serve the Imperial Secretary in person, and asked the night guard to draft the decree. After using the seal, he asked the clerk on duty to announce the decree.
Therefore, when Wang Liang was sleeping soundly here, he suddenly felt that he had fallen into an ice cellar, which made him open his eyes immediately.
When he opened his eyes, Wang Liang saw several Jinyi guards surrounding him, and the flag officer of the Jinyiwei was holding a basin in his hand.
Wang Liang winked and asked, "What are you doing?"
"According to the order, you will be arrested and sent to prison."
Yan He, the flag officer of Jinyiwei, replied.
Wang Liang's face suddenly turned pale and he asked, "Why?"
"Why do you think you don't know what you did?"
Yan He asked sternly, then waved his hand: "Take it away!"
Wang Liang didn't suddenly wake up until he was forcibly lifted up from the bed by Jin Yiwei. He couldn't help but said: "Why is this? You Jin Yiwei don't want to arrest people randomly. I shouldn't have done anything wrong?!"
"We will not arrest you indiscriminately. Xing'an Bo personally reported you and entrusted Yuan Fu to report it to the emperor."
"Think carefully about why you were reported by him."
After Yan He said that, he walked out first.
Now Wang Liang could no longer deceive himself. Feeling lost and frustrated, he simply cursed:
"Hey, Uncle Xing'an, why are you so insidious! How can the world believe in your nobles if you do this? I only made this deal with you to save you, but you sold me out, you are despicable ! You are shameless!"
Wang Liang seemed to have taken the moral high ground at this time and began to criticize Xu Rucheng crazily.
…
Xu Rucheng, who was about to take the generals Wang Jiying and Liu Dengtai to prison according to the order, was also asked by Wang Jiying at this time: "Why is Xing'an Bo doing this? Didn't my second master say that you are afraid of being punished because of the attack on Ji Guogong? !」
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"What does etiquette have to do with me!"
"Although Mr. Ji Guo has shortcomings in his personal ethics, it is because your old etiquette is out of date. What's more, in terms of public ethics, he is loyal and courageous, and he is also good at military strategy, so there is nothing wrong with him being in charge of the Privy Council."
"As for raising an army to conquer the country, it is our duty to serve as generals and soldiers. We are favored by the imperial court and should shed our blood for the imperial court."
"How can you abandon responsibility and conscience just for the sake of comfort?!"
"As for whether the people can live a peaceful life, isn't it just to see whether we dare to serve the country or not?!"
"You, like some literati, have lost all conscience after becoming high-ranking officials and studying. You only think about how difficult it is for you to climb this far, so you blindly ask for things, and forget about what you should pay for the country. Already."
After Xu Rucheng said this, Wang Jiying's face turned red and he just defended himself:
"If it's about suppressing bandits and suppressing rebellion, I, Wang Jiying, can say that I am absolutely willing to die in battle for the imperial court!"
"But what's going on now? Just because the female cadres control the government, mess with etiquette and bad governance, we have to go to the battlefield to fight for it. Who is willing to do this?!"
Xu Rucheng knew that he could not convince Wang Jiying, a general disciple who was loyal to the old etiquette.
Because in this era of alternation between the old and the new, it is very difficult to just convince yourself to accept the new etiquette concept of treating Han compatriots as individuals.
For example, accepting one's own daughter's feet to be bound, something that has been regarded as decency for hundreds of years, is now illegitimate.
Accepting that you should respect your children and not throw them away and kill them at will is in line with the benevolence advocated by Xinli.
Accept that all Han people in the world are of the same blood and species as you, so you must respect them, even if this Han person is a lowly slave, tenant, soldier, trafficker, or hired worker.
These concepts are not easy to accept, and even harder to put them into practice.
Wang Xijue practiced it, and Shen Shixing also practiced it. In the end, although they both accepted the new ritual, they only accepted it mentally.
In action.
They are still spending more money to maintain some old rituals that cannot be abandoned.
They just started to give more financial care to the tenant slaves and began to give some gifts, and in exchange for this, they felt at ease when they enjoyed the feeling of being superior to others, and they could euphemistically say that they paid for it. , respect their wishes, others are also willing, and are very happy and willing to be inferior to themselves.
As a member of the landlord class, Xu Rucheng also tried to respond to the call of the new rites, and could even be said to have implemented the imperial edict. However, like Shen Shixing, Wang Xijue, etc., he only accepted the new rites ideologically, feeling that it was for the sake of the country and the country. , it is indeed necessary to talk about the feelings of compatriots among the Han people, treat them more as individuals, at least respect the fruits of their labor, not cut their military pay, not arbitrarily increase rent, not wantonly beat and insult them, and not despise them.
But he had to admit that it was too difficult to be completely friends with them in action, to greet them with a smile and treat them with courtesy, mainly because it involved suppressing the sense of decency he felt when he was a superior person. , involves the suppression of desires.
Therefore, Xu Rucheng is still spending more money to maintain the peace of mind that he can continue to be a master.
But he knows that it is still difficult for everyone to be willing to spend money to maintain the status quo.
After all, not everyone is so generous and doesn't value material losses so much. What's more, many people have long regarded the concept in the old rites that a person with high moral character and respect should be a superior person as the truth, and they don't feel that they are wrong.
Therefore, Xu Rucheng said nothing more. He knew that to deal with this contradiction, the only way to deal with it was "if you follow me, you will prosper, if you go against me, you will perish."
He chose to comply with the new rites and became the defender of the new rites. What he could do was to physically destroy those who did not comply with the new rites, and also deny the morality of these people in the new rites evaluation system. .
"A disloyal and unjust person like you is not qualified to die in battle for the imperial court!"
"Gong Ji Guo can at least be the prime minister because of his merits. As for you, ask yourself, you are not doing anything by taking advantage of your empty salary and forming a clique for personal gain. Yu De, you have no right to say anything about Duke Ji Guo."
If you don’t deserve it, what about Yu Gong? Are you worthy of saying that Ji Guogong is unworthy? ! "
"What's more, since His Majesty issued an edict that those who were immoral and illegal before taking office would not be punished except for those who engaged in barbarism and betrayed foreign countries, Mr. Ji Guogong has really never done anything immoral again. As for you, have you followed His Majesty's edict? Do you take it to heart?!"
"So, you are not qualified to say whether Duke Ji is worthy or not!"
Xu Rucheng scolded.
