There are people among the people who are willing to give up money, but in most cases these people only make friends with some black and white people, and there are only a few people like Li Zongfeng who are close to poor people.
Gu Zhengchen admired such a person, at least he had brought a stable life to the people here.
Shelter from wind and rain.
Maybe it's the past sufferings, maybe it's the fate of moving together, which makes the people here more united and helpful to each other.
Inn.
Xiao Cheng looked at Gu Zhengchen, who had arranged for the waiter to bring food and drinks, and was confused: "Are you hungry?"
Gu Zhengchen smiled and said, "It's not that I'm hungry, but someone is coming, so we can't prepare nothing."
Xiao Cheng didn't know why.
Gu Zhengchen waited quietly until half an hour later, there was movement outside the door. ..??m
"Li Chengyi visited Mr. Zhang late at night. I apologize for the inconvenience."
The sound entered the room.
Xiao Cheng glanced at Gu Zhengchen with admiration, stood up and opened the door.
Li Chengyi walked into the room with a package on his back. When he saw food and wine on the table, and Gu Zhengchen sitting there, he couldn't help but smile: "You knew I would come?"
Gu Zhengchen nodded slightly: "You don't know when I will leave tomorrow. Tonight is your last chance. I think you won't miss it. Please sit down, Brother Changge."
Li Chengyi sat down calmly and asked seriously: "Zhang San, is that your real name?"
Gu Zhengchen shook his head slightly and admitted, "No."
Li Chengyi put the package down and said seriously: "I don't care who you are, as long as you can help me get the files on the shipwreck case and help me find the real culprit who killed my wife, I, Li Chengyi, am willing to hand over my life to you and commit suicide." From now on, I am yours, even if you ask me to die, I will not hesitate!"
Gu Zhengchen stared: "The relationship between you and your wife..."
"We are childhood sweethearts. She lives in the south of the Yangtze River and I live in the north of the Yangtze River. Although we are separated by a river, we have known each other for a long time. She was killed, but the real murderer is at large. I will not die in peace!"
Li Chengyi was full of hatred.
Gu Zhengchen looked deeply at Li Chengyi and said seriously: "Three questions, as long as your answers satisfy me, I will hand over the dossier of the shipwreck case to you."
Li Chengyi stood up excitedly: "Seriously?"
Gu Zhengchen nodded heavily.
Li Chengyi clenched his fists. As long as he read the files, he would be able to find the flaws in them. Then he would be able to overturn the case and force the government to retry the case and find out the real culprit!
"Tell me what the problem is."
Li Chengyi calmed down.
Gu Zhengchen picked up the wine glass, blew on the wine, looked at the residue inside and said: "Mencius said: Fish is what I want; bear's paws are also what I want. You can't have both, give up the fish and take the bear's paw. That’s right. Life is what I want; righteousness is what I want. You can’t have both, and you have to sacrifice your life for righteousness. When faced with great right and wrong, will you sacrifice your life for righteousness?”
Li Chengyi took a deep breath, this is a question that tests human nature!
Since ancient times, I don’t know how many people have read these words of Mencius. However, in the long history, there are not many people who have truly sacrificed their lives for righteousness! Besides Yang Ye and Wen Tianxiang, who else can name five names?
Easier said than done.
Li Chengyi said firmly: "Before the shipwreck, I was afraid of death. After the shipwreck, I am no longer afraid of death. I am willing to sacrifice my life and die for justice."
Gu Zhengchen stared at Li Chengyi, not finding any falsehood in his eyes, and nodded: "The emperor banned people from going to sea. Do you think the emperor was wrong?"
Li Chengyi trembled and looked at Gu Zhengchen in surprise: "The emperor cannot make mistakes and cannot make mistakes."
"Then do you think it's right to ban people from going to sea?"
Gu Zhengchen's eyes became sharp.
Li Chengyi was speechless, hesitated and said: "People are not allowed to go to the sea, and they are not even allowed to catch fish in the sea. Many people who originally relied on the sea have lost their livelihood. They also lack other skills and do not know how to farm or stone carving. They have to bear two taxes, corvee labor, etc., and these people do not live a good life."
Gu Zhengchen shook his head: "I don't ask anything else. Tell me, is the emperor wrong?"
Li Chengyi didn't know how to answer.
Obviously, the emperor was wrong. Many fishermen in Quanzhou should have lived on the sea. They belong to the sea, cast nets to catch fish, and return with a rich harvest. This is the life they should have, instead of not being good at wielding a hoe, not knowing how to use a sickle, and not remembering the farming season. I don’t even know how to thresh rice…
But, who dares to say that the emperor is wrong?
The Emperor is not wrong, no matter how wrong he is, it cannot be said that he is wrong.
You must know that the emperor is the king's father, that is, the emperor's father. How can a son say that his father is wrong?
If you contradict your father, you will get a slap in the face.
If you say that the emperor is wrong, why don't you get stabbed?
Gu Zhengchen did not urge him. This problem is very fatal for people who are upright and insist on their own opinions. They clearly know that the emperor is wrong, but they can't say it is wrong. So is it wrong or right?
The emperor is not Schrödinger's cat who can live and die at the same time.
But the issues of right and wrong are intertwined like light and shadow in reality. Some are clearly right and wrong at a glance, but some parts are both right and wrong.
What Gu Zhengchen values is whether he has the wisdom to find out what is right and what is wrong, and whether he is right or wrong.
Li Chengyi suddenly remembered that the first question was about sacrificing his life for righteousness, but in the second question, just because the emperor was involved, he forgot about righteousness.
"I stand in Luoyang Town and see that the emperor is wrong. Such arbitrary decisions have harmed many people!"
Li Chengyi finally gave in.
Xiao Cheng stood up, his face cold.
Gu Zhengchen raised his hand to signal Xiao Cheng to stay where he was.
Li Chengyi continued: "I stood in front of the graves of those people who were killed by pirates and saw that the emperor was right, because his actions protected many people."
Gu Zhengchen smiled.
This is not a Hai Rui type of person. Hai Rui sees black and white, not even color, but he knows very well that you can’t just look at things from one side. There are indeed problems with some government orders, but this does not mean that this order is beneficial at all. Nowhere.
"The third question is, do you dare to go to sea to kill pirates?"
Gu Zhengchen asked.
"dare!"
Li Chengyi did not hesitate.
I am not even afraid of death anymore, I even dare to say that the emperor is wrong, why are I afraid of pirates!
Gu Zhengchen filled the bottle with wine and served it to Li Chengyi: "I will help you get the shipwreck case file and punish the real culprit. But you have to think clearly. If you follow me, you will probably not be free for the rest of your life. Besides, although I am He's easy to serve, but he offends people easily, and he might be beaten to death someday, and you won't be spared by that time."
Li Chengyi raised his glass, drank it all in one gulp, and then smashed the glass into pieces: "A gentleman's words are resounding, but his body will never change even if he dies."
Gu Zhengchen felt a little distressed. As for you throwing a cup, it cost at least two cents.
"I still need a master by my side. Seeing that you have some eyesight and are good at observation, you can work with me."
Gu Zhengchen agreed to keep Li Chengyi.
Li Chengyi was overjoyed.
Then, he and Xiao Cheng laid the floor together.
It was still dark before Gu Zhengchen and others got up to clean up.
Li Chengyi was very familiar with Luoyang Town, but in order not to reveal his whereabouts, he wore a curtain hat.
"Master, where are we going?"
Li Chengyi asked.
"Jinjiang City."
Gu Zhengchen strode forward to the riverside and couldn't help but be a little shocked when he looked at the wide Luoyang River.
The width of the river is at least two miles away, even comparable to the width of the Yangtze River outside Jinling.
"There is?"
Xiao Cheng raised his finger to swim upstream.
Gu Zhengchen looked around and saw a long stone bridge on the river not far away, like a giant dragon crossing it, connecting the north and south banks.
bridge?
Gu Zhengchen was a little unbelievable. There was no stone bridge on the Yangtze River that could connect the two sides. The north-south passage was all by ships, but there was a stone bridge here?
Li Chengyi looked at it and said, "That's Luoyang Bridge, also called Wan'an Bridge. It was built by Cai Xiang, the prefect of Quanzhou in the Northern Song Dynasty, who led the craftsmen and the people, and it took seven years to build it."
"Is it Wan'an Bridge?"
Gu Zhengchen remembered that this bridge was the "No. 1 bridge in the country". Together with the Marco Polo Bridge in Peiping, the Zhaozhou Bridge in Hebei, and the Guangji Bridge in Guangdong, it was also known as the four famous bridges in ancient China.
“Why take a boat when there is a bridge?”
Gu Zhengchen thought of the shipwreck case and looked at Li Chengyi.
Li Chengyi lamented: "The bridge is open and you can walk across it, but ordinary people can't afford it. There are people guarding the other side of the bridge. Whether they are merchants or ordinary people, as long as they pass by, they will charge ten cents as a bridge tax. If you don't pay Money will not be allowed to pass."
Gu Zhengchen laughed angrily: "Prefect Cai built the bridge back then just to make it easier for the people to pass. Three hundred years later, the bridge is still there, but the toll tax has been collected. It's really funny and ridiculous. Changge , do you know who is collecting taxes?"
"The tax collector's name is Zhou Yu, and he is surrounded by thug No. 20."
Li Chengyi did not hide anything.
Gu Zhengchen frowned: "He has connections in the government office. If he collects taxes so blatantly, the government office must take care of it, right?"
Li Chengyi shook his head slightly: "According to my father, Zhou Yu is not from the government office, but from the Quanzhou Guard. Of course, this information is just what I heard and cannot be accurate."
"Quanzhou Guard!"
Gu Zhengchen's heart sank.
If this is true, then it is true that both the military and the government are corrupt, and Quanzhou Prefecture is completely rotten to the core.
Xiao Cheng moved his wrist and said with disdain: "Just hit them. As long as you hit them, the people behind them will always jump out."
Gu Zhengchen stopped Xiao Cheng and said, "This matter is not urgent. Don't disturb the situation."
Xiao Cheng was a little surprised.
Gu Zhengchen did not explain. The situation was a bit complicated at the moment.
Are the government officials and the Quanzhou Guards engaged in corruption separately, or are they colluding together? You are playing with yours, and I am playing with mine, or they should look out for each other and call each other brothers. Gu Zhengchen can't hit him with one stick, and he will be knocked down on both ends.
He is now alone. Lao Zhu said that he would call someone for him, but he has not seen it yet. Don't let others join forces to kill you before the help arrives.
"Go to the ferry and take a boat to Jinjiang City."
Gu Zhengchen did not take the Wan'an Bridge, but chose to go to the Wan'an Ferry.
At the ferry, there are small boats with awnings and larger boats. A small boat costs two cents a trip, and a larger boat costs three cents a trip.
The big ship moved slowly, making waves.
The sun rises in the east.
Gu Zhengchen stared at the sun, which rose from the dark depths of the East China Sea and began to dispel the haze in the world bit by bit.
Jinjiang City, it’s time to shine.
