When Qian Qianyi heard the sound, he looked up and recognized his family members in Changshu. He couldn't help but frown. His intuition told him that it might be related to Zhang Pu.
But he was also a little strange. According to the previous decree, Changshu was not a place where Zhang Pu patrolled. How could he go?
While I was thinking about it, on the street, under the attention of everyone, the person came galloping forward, almost rolled off the horse, rushed to Qian Qianyi, panicked, and urgently reported: " Master, Zhang Pu...that dog official Zhang Pu suddenly arrived at the Changshu County Government Office, sealed the warehouse, and called in manpower. He came to target our Qian family. The family asked the master to go back quickly to deal with it. I'm afraid it will happen if it's too late. Suffer!"
When Qian Qianyi heard that it was indeed Zhang Pu who had gone, he couldn't help being extremely angry. At the same time, he was also a little confused and asked: "What did the magistrate Pan Xiuwen say? Is there any verification document?"
When Pan Xiuwen became an official in Changshu County, he naturally wanted to meet Qian Qianyi. It didn't matter, he also wanted to find connections to get close to Qian Qianyi. Therefore, he was Qian Qianyi's man. He believed that Zhang Pu would definitely come to Changshu County as soon as he arrived. He will tip off the Qian family, and he is on the side of the Qian family.
Hearing this, the family member quickly replied: "It was Pan County Zun who sent someone to inform the meeting, saying that the emperor's decree had agreed to Wu Xun's request, and the two of them had changed the jurisdiction of Xun Xun, and that Zhang Pudi In a short time, they extracted the land account books and other related documents of our Qian family, which are for our Qian family..."
"I'm so angry that two juniors secretly set up Chen Cang!" Qian Qianyi blew his beard and glared before he could finish his words, and said in an extremely angry tone, "I thought Wu Changshi was a wise man, but it turned out that he was also helping him secretly. , OK, OK, OK, when you see me being dismissed from office, you no longer take me seriously..."
Seeing him like this, Liu Rushi beside him became a little anxious, fearing that he would get angry again, so he quickly pulled off Qian Qianyi's sleeve and signaled to him that he was on the street and there were people watching.
After looking at Liu Rushi and then at the passers-by watching the excitement on the street, Qian Qianyi tried his best to calm down and immediately ordered his servant: "Prepare the boat immediately, I have to rush back as soon as possible!"
After he finished speaking, he looked at Liu Rushi again, and even managed to squeeze out a rare smile. He stroked Liu Rushi's hand and said, "This matter requires me to rush back in person. You go and tell Chaozong, just say that I can't I’ve gone to the appointment, see you another day!”
This time when he went out for fun, he took Liu Rushi with him, and Hou Fangyu took Li Xiangjun with him. Therefore, he has such an explanation.
At this time, Liu Rushi had not settled down with Qian Qianyi, so it was inconvenient to go with him. However, he also admired Qian Qianyi's literary talents, so he was a little worried about him, so he told him: "Be careful, sir, he has no official position now..."
How can he be looked down upon by the woman he likes? After hearing this, Qian Qianyi immediately interrupted: "It doesn't matter, it's a big wind and waves, I'm here, I don't believe what you can do to me this time!"
After finishing speaking, he was anxious about Changshu, so he didn't say any more. He immediately packed up briefly and hurried to Yangzhou Mansion Wharf. He had his own boat here and could go directly down the river to Changshu County.
But when he first arrived at the dock, he heard a shout from behind him. When he turned around, he saw that it was Hou Fangyu arriving. When he arrived, he immediately saluted Qian Qianyi, and at the same time said loudly and indignantly: "Mr. Yushan, Zhang Pu is your enemy. Please bring along your students and deal with him together!"
In the farce at Qiuyue Pavilion, both he and Qian Qianyi were severely punished by Zhang Pu. After the incident spread, their reputations were more or less affected. But this way, the relationship between the two of them became closer. Hou Fangyu heard the news and rushed over immediately, wanting to deal with Zhang Pu with Qian Qianyi.
In fact, Hou Fangyu also knew that based on his own words, no matter his background or ability, he could not be Zhang Pu's opponent. Only with Qian Qianyi could he avenge the humiliation of Qiuyue Pavilion. Therefore, he didn't even care about Li Xiangjun and rushed over immediately.
Seeing how enthusiastic he was, Qian Qianyi immediately nodded and said, "Okay, come on board the boat with me!"
At this point, he thought of something, and then added: "When this matter is settled, I will personally support the emperor. From now on, you will not be the fourth son of the restoration society, and you will be the leader of the restoration society. I believe you have this talent." !”
Upon hearing this, Hou Fangyu couldn't help but be overjoyed. This was an unexpected surprise! So, he immediately thanked Qian Qianyi.
After a quick polite exchange, the two got on the boat and headed straight to Changshu.
Two days later, Qian Qianyi arrived in Changshu, but he did not show up immediately. Just like when Zhang Pu first arrived, he stayed on the boat and sent people to learn about the latest situation.
Soon, someone from the Qian family came and reported to Qian Qianyi that under the threat of Dongchang, Magistrate Pan and others did not dare to disobey. In the past few days, the patrol officer has been personally supervising them, going down to the local area to check the grain fields. The family has been dragging them, but more than half of the checks have been completed.
He also told Qian Qianyi that this Zhang Xunjian was very cunning. He would watch it personally, even at the edge of the field. He was unable to do anything. The family was in a hurry and had already sent a third wave of people to find the money. So humble.
Because Qian Qianyi was in a hurry to come back, he missed two groups of people looking for him, but he didn't care about this anymore. After asking about the situation in Changshu in detail, he sneered and said, "Zhang Pu, since I'm back, how can I allow you to be arrogant!"
It is true that he is talented and learned. It is true that he has experience at such an old age. Some of the ways of officialdom are much clearer than Zhang Pu. Therefore, it didn't take long for him to think of a way, and he immediately sneered and said: "Zhang Pu kid, if you dare to come to Changshu to make trouble, this time you will be unable to leave!"
"Mr. Yu Shan, do you know what we can do to deal with this kid who gets mad when he succeeds?" Hou Fangyu, who was standing next to him, couldn't help but be overjoyed and asked quickly.
He also heard the conversation and knew what was going on in Changshu, but he couldn't think of anything to do.
Qian Qianyi had already thought of a way to deal with Zhang Pu, so he was no longer in a hurry. He stroked his beard and said coldly: "There is no need for any sophisticated strategies to deal with Zhang Pu's son, just follow the precedent. Speaking of which, haha, Zhang Pu Xiaoer still became famous because of this, this time, let him have a taste of it!"
"Getting famous by this?" Hou Fangyu couldn't understand and repeated something in a murmur. Then he suddenly realized it and said immediately, "In "The Tombstone Story of Five People", Mr. Yu Shan said that he should follow the example of that year and incite civil unrest. Blame the public?"
Qian Qianyi did not answer, he just stroked his beard and nodded with a little pride.
Thus, a conspiracy against Zhang Pu began.
Soon, private rumors began to circulate in Changshu County.
"Don't you know? This Zhang Xunjian is on an errand to collect all the back taxes. If someone fails to pay the back taxes, they will be forced to sell their fields, land, and houses."
"Why not? You don't know that this Zhang Xunjian was born of a lowly servant. He will do anything to climb up. No matter if he is the same age or a close friend, he will not hesitate if he gets in the way of his climbing up. The earth betrays you secretly.”
"Don't you know? Back then, Zhang Xun was of low status and couldn't even raise the money to take the exam. He was his confidante and gave him his ransom money. Guess what happened? After he won the Jinshi He abandoned his confidante and pretended that he didn’t know him, so that he went to find his confidante and ended up living on the street and eventually died miserably!”
"This time Zhang Xunjian issued a military order in front of the emperor. You know the military order, if it is not completed, you will be beheaded. In order to show off in front of the emperor, Zhang Xunzhong promised the emperor that he will definitely All the arrears are collected. So, if you think he will care whether you have money or not, he will definitely force the people to sell their sons and daughters to pay off the arrears!"
"..."
These rumors may be true or false, and it is difficult for people who usually only live in Changshu County and only move within a radius of one or two hundred miles to distinguish. Therefore, many people are worried.
The mentality that was originally just for watching the show quietly changed, and began to become hostile to Zhang Pu and his party, and further incited their confrontational mood under the rumors.
These are still among ordinary people. If they are ignorant and are deceived by these rumors, it seems not surprising.
However, among the literati in Changshu County, rumors began to spread. However, these rumors have different focuses.
"Don't you know? If Zhang Xun is found out according to the exemption limit in this inspection, he will not only pay back the arrears, but he may also be revoked!"
"What, you don't believe it? Have you heard about the Qiuyue Pavilion in Yangzhou? This Zhang Xunjian doesn't care about the tacit understanding in the officialdom. He is a cruel official. He just went to the land of wind and moon to recite poems and write poems, and he ran to the scene When arresting someone, he is so majestic, as if he is afraid that others will know that he was born of a lowly servant."
"I have also heard that the officials in Qiuyue Pavilion were all dismissed by him. He also remembered that the scholars present were dismissed from their positions in the administration, literature and administration, saying that they were You don’t deserve to be an official in the future!”
"Yes, I heard about it too, so if he comes to Changshu this time and is caught doing anything other than exemptions, he will definitely do the same. He is a real cruel official. In order to curry favor with the emperor, Lian Yu If everyone like Mr. Shan dares to do harm, how can they care about ordinary scholars like us!"
"..."
What do readers care about most? It’s nothing more than fame. These rumors tied up the fame. Even if some scholars didn't believe it, it was related to their future. How could they not care about it? Of course, they would rather believe it or not.
As a result, scholars in Changshu County and even surrounding counties began to worry. Many scholars who originally only had a mentality of watching dramas began to change their mentality and became hostile to Zhang Pu and others.
If these things can be discovered in time and measures can be taken in time, nothing will happen.
However, Zhang Pu and his party were all outsiders, so they were relatively slow to understand the local conditions. By the time they realized something was wrong, it was already serious.
"What?" Zhang Pu was so angry that he slapped the table and shouted loudly, "Is this really the rumor outside?"
The officer who came to report nodded and said with certainty: "The real situation may be even more exaggerated than what my subordinates said!"
In the past few days, Jiang Dong has keenly noticed that whether it is the government officials or the common people he sees on the road, whether they are wearing silk and satin or coarse linen, there are some changes in their eyes, and he feels that something is wrong. So I talked about this matter.
Zhang Pu was a little disapproving at first, and he said with certainty: "We have been here for many days. Qian Qianyi must have heard the news and came here. It is absolutely inevitable that he is doing something behind his back. But we are doing things according to orders, and Qian Qianyi What can I do to an idle savage who has lost his official position?"
Jiang Dong was still a little worried, so he sent his plainclothes men out to find out the news. As a result, they learned the situation.
At this time, after Zhang Pu got the confirmation and calmed down a little, he immediately understood what Qian Qianyi was planning. After all, he was on the opposite side back then and knew that if he left it alone, what would happen next? Something happened.
Therefore, he immediately said to Jiang Dong: "This matter must not be left unchecked. The Suzhou riots during the Wanli period are a lesson learned from the past."
Jiang Dong actually didn't know about this matter. First, he was from the north. Second, at that time, he was not from Dongchang, nor was he a member of the government. However, Zhang Pu knew it very well. For this reason, he wrote an article "Tombstones of Five People" to make himself famous.
After thinking about it, he immediately asked for red paper and started writing the announcement. Jiang Dong watched from the side and realized that Zhang Pu wanted to tell the people and the scholars that this time the emperor's decree stated that what was being investigated was more than one hundred acres of grain fields. This point is very important.
In fact, there was no need for Zhang Pu to write special notices to inform the emperor of the emperor's will in the north. People could know it on the streets and alleys. But the Jiangnan side was far away from the capital, and some local officials even deliberately blurred the minimum limit of one hundred acres for this grain field when conveying their orders. Therefore, the people did not know, and Zhang Pu did not pay attention to this for a while.
In his opinion, as long as this matter is told to the people and the scholars, there will definitely be only a few people with more than one hundred acres of grain fields in the south. But after there were so few opponents, he wasn't afraid at all.
However, after the notice was posted, the effect was not good.
This time, Jiang Dong sent his plainclothes men to secretly investigate the situation.
As a result, I found out that there were rumors saying that this was not true. It was Zhang Xunjian who saw that the situation was not good and was afraid of causing public anger, so he made up this content temporarily. I just want to follow everyone's wishes and don't fall in love with him. Of course.
