Volume 3: Dragon and Snake Movement Chapter 331: The filial son takes the blame?
The most shameless!
After cursing inwardly, Mr. Qi was suddenly stunned. When Mr. Jiang saw him just now, he was so startled, like a well-fed rich young man. How could he suddenly become so cunning? He actually took advantage of the situation and tried to establish a teacher-student relationship with Zhang Shou, the doctor of the Imperial College. Could it be that this kid was just like what Taizu once said, pretending to be a pig to eat the tiger?
Not only did Mr. Qi and other old men get angry, but even Zhang Shou couldn't help but glance at Mr. Jiang, who was completely different in age from the others and had an innocent look on his face just now. He never discriminated against playboys, after all, his Banshan Hall was once home to a group of playboys with the strongest backgrounds in the world.
Of course, he would not easily equate Young Master Jiang with these people. After taking a look at this impassioned young master from a wealthy family, he said slowly, "Then did you know that your father stopped the horse to complain before, and when Commander Du ignored him, he was so angry that he wanted to kill himself with a knife, but fortunately he was stopped by someone around me?"
Young Master Jiang was extremely thankful that Mr. Qi had mentioned this to him before, otherwise he would have been so confused and stupid again. He tried to calm down and said with a smile, "Teacher, my father must have been so panicked that he did something so irrational. Please be magnanimous and forgive him for his previous behavior."
Knowing that empty words would not have much effect, he made up his mind and said, "My father and the other uncles, as well as the Lord of Changlu County, Xu Xianzun, and the eldest prince, have done many wrong things. Although I am stupid and ignorant, as a son, I did not persuade my father to do good, which is also a great fault. Now I am willing to make up for my father's mistakes."
"I admit my father's fault... No, I admit my guilt and also accept the punishment! I will definitely make up for what I should pay, even if it means giving up everything I have. After all, this is the responsibility of the Jiang family! But please be lenient with my father... If there is any guilt, I will bear it all!"
Young Master Jiang finally figured it out during that moment. If anything happened to his father, the Jiang family would be ruined, and he would not be able to be the eldest master. Since the old man was strict with his eldest son, but was actually quite nice, he came forward to plead guilty for him and promised to pay compensation to avoid disaster.
He had finally realized that those old guys were all trying to push the blame onto the eldest prince and Xu Cheng, and he was desperately trying to escape the charges. As for compensation, he would probably agree to it only because he had no choice but to do so.
But he had to do the opposite, trying hard to show that he was willing to take responsibility... Not because he was so brave, but because he had no choice! In fact, he was also worried, but who made him a filial son? Besides, considering that he took the initiative to plead guilty and accept the punishment, the two imperial envoys from the capital would not be too cruel, right? At least he would not be beheaded or exiled to do hard labor, right?
Moreover, although Taizu hated paying for punishment, it has been less strict in recent years. Maybe there is still a way out...
Of course, it was impossible for others to guess the complex psychological activities of Young Master Jiang, but when people heard what he said, they felt different emotions. Zhu Tingfang felt that the son of the Jiang family was at least a capable person, at least better than the father of the Jiang family who died to show his determination; while Qi Yuanwai and others were shocked and angry that Young Master Jiang did something strange without even saying hello, and even said everything he could say.
As for Zhang Shou... he saw the common strengths and weaknesses of many dandy boys like Zhang Chen, Lu Sanlang, and Zhu Er in Jiang Da Shao, but that didn't mean he would really show mercy just because someone pleaded guilty and accepted punishment. He turned his head to look at his future brother-in-law, and asked with a smile: "May I ask General Zhu, what kind of crime is it to radicalize innocent people?"
Zhu Tingfang realized immediately that Zhang Shou was trying to change the concept. After all, the Ming Dynasty Law was something that only a master or a clerk who specialized in criminal law could understand, not to mention the wealthy families who relied on their family background and wealth to suppress the common people and were always high and mighty.
Meat eaters are vulgar. They are probably not as well versed in Ming Dynasty laws as their housekeepers and accountants!
Zhu Tingfang then calmly rubbed the scar on his face, as if he didn't know that this action looked a bit gloomy, even murderous: "Anyone who incites good people to rebel and captures the city will be beheaded."
He paused here, not even looking at the faces of the crowd, and added: "Although the palace is not a city, it is more serious than a city, so the crime should be similar." Of course, he would not say that this crime has a premise, that is, any official who fails to care for the people and acts illegally. As for the situation where the local chief officials do not excite the good people, then the judicial department will deal with it separately.
In other words, if a group of gentry forces a group of good citizens to rebel, this situation does not apply to the law of radical change of good citizens.
When Zhang Shou saw Zhu Tingfang understood his intention and played a double act with him, he couldn't help but secretly praise Brother Zhu for being Brother Zhu after all - this Ming Dynasty law, let alone ordinary children of noble families, even scholars would not be able to say it. The reason why he mentioned it casually as if unintentionally was entirely because he remembered that during the Ming and Qing dynasties, there seemed to be such a clause because of the endless chaos of small rebellions .
At this time, seeing that Young Master Jiang's face turned pale, and that Qi Yuanwai and others were not much better, he said calmly: "Mr. Jiang, even so, do you still want to take the blame for your father?"
Young Master Jiang opened his mouth, words of regret already on his lips, and even rubbed his neck, as if to confirm whether his head was still on his neck. But after hesitating for a long time, he finally said hard: "Once the words are spoken, they cannot be taken back! I have to pay for my father's debt, I accept it!"
It's not that I'm really so righteous, it's just that without my father, the Jiang family is finished. Rather than living in poverty, it's better to fight! Emperor Taizu once told his attendants a story about a descendant of a noble who was beaten for the rich to make a living. If it were him, it would be better to die with the country in a grand manner when the country was destroyed, at least he wouldn't be laughed at!
Qi Yuanwai stared at Young Master Jiang as if he didn't recognize him. Not only him, but the other old men did the same. They were all in Cangzhou, and they knew each other's situation. Mr. Jiang was indeed a great man. He started from scratch and earned this big fortune from a well-off family. Even if he got the help of Suzhou Hua family by chance, he was still worthy of admiration.
But the Jiang family's sons... Haha, they were simply competing to see who was worse! When they discussed privately , they often made bets about which son Mr. Jiang would pass on the family business to, and how long it would take for that son to squander the family business.
But now looking at Young Master Jiang, they almost suspected that he was possessed by some ghost or god. Why did he suddenly change?
Zhang Shou was not surprised by Young Master Jiang's final statement. It is true that dandies are easily despised or even hated, but in the face of great changes, there are always one or two who will suddenly realize their mistakes and even make incredible achievements. Although the man in front of him may not have such ability, he at least knows the current situation and kneels when he should, and never insists on being stubborn. He is much better than those old-fashioned people.
He nodded slightly and said, "Very good. Ah Liu, take him down."
When Young Master Jiang heard this, his heart skipped a beat, and he felt indescribable bitterness. Were they going to put him in jail without even giving him a meal? But the big talk had already been said, and even though he was terribly scared, he could only blame himself for not persuading his father to do a good deed every day. Until his arm was grabbed, he inadvertently turned his head and almost fell down again out of fright.
Well, well, well... isn't the evil star that almost strangled him to death before?
Ah Liu noticed Young Master Jiang's gaze. Seeing that he looked extremely frightened, he even considerately added another hand and forced the man to sit up straight from the position where he was about to fall. Then he nodded and said, "Long time no see."
Long time no see you... We just met for less than an hour!
Jiang Da Shao suddenly felt a little regretful - he didn't regret confessing for his father... but that he had been rude to this person when he met him at home before because he was unhappy! He wanted to apologize so that he wouldn't suffer away from his seat and walked around to the main gate of the prison, but Ah Liu walked past the gate without entering.
This time, he was suddenly confused and asked stupidly: "Aren't we going in?"
"Go in?" Ah Liu looked at Master Jiang strangely, "You want to go to jail?"
"No, no, no!" Young Master Jiang quickly shook his head like a rattle, and his heart, which had almost sunk to the bottomless abyss, suddenly became active. It turned out that no one wanted him to go to the prison to exchange his father out! In ecstasy, he couldn't help but ask, "Then may I ask, little brother, where are we going now?"
"Go to the palace. Your father is imprisoned there."
Hearing the word "imprison", Young Master Jiang's high spirits suddenly fell. Not being imprisoned in the prison, but imprisoned in the palace, sounds like it would be better... but in fact, it's not much better! He took a deep breath and asked carefully: "So... are you going to imprison me and my father together?"
Ah Liu felt that the eldest son of the Jiang family was very strange. He frowned and asked, "Don't you want to see your father?"
Yes, I don't want to see you... Wait, I don't want to see you, that's weird! Why do I always feel that the questions I ask and the questions you answer are not the same? Young Master Jiang asked himself in his heart with some entanglement, but he didn't dare to show it on his mouth. He had to nod hard and said, "I want to, I want to! I have a lot of questions, brother, please bear with me, bear with me..."
Ah Liu took Young Master Jiang to the palace, but in the eyes of others, Young Master Jiang, who had confessed his guilt and accepted punishment, was not treated leniently, but was instead thrown into prison. Now, everyone who had been prepared to be punished became a little restless. Especially Mr. Qi, who had originally planned to use Young Master Jiang as a vanguard, felt even more uneasy.
Without Young Master Jiang to shield him, he who had just knelt first could only say with a sad face: "Such a big thing has happened, I know I was wrong... No, I know I was guilty, but now that things have come to this, I hope you can give me a chance to atone for my crime."
He did not mention at all that he had any sons or nephews serving as officials in the court, or that he was related to so and so by marriage - after Zhang Shou revealed the truth about the destruction of the workshop that they staged and acted out, and then pulled out the charge of radicalizing the people, only a fool would involve those with promising futures to protect himself from disaster.
As he took the lead, the other four old men also hurriedly joined the ranks of apologizing with fear and trepidation. They knelt even more thoroughly than Mr. Qi, and in addition to honestly calling themselves common people, the four of them also rushed to come up with the conditions for atonement.
One said he was willing to donate several million to renovate the palace; another promised to spend several million to build roads and bridges; some probably thought that Zhang Shou was a doctor of the Imperial College and was willing to donate to support education; the last one was the most well-informed and actually knew that Zhang Shou was Ge Yong's last disciple and Zhu Tingfang's future brother-in-law, so he said bluntly that he was willing to help Ge Yong and Zhang Shou print tens of thousands of books!
However, no one mentioned how to reopen the workshop and how to resettle the spinners and their families.
Glancing at these old men who were all trying to please him, Zhang Shou felt that Young Master Jiang, who was willing to plead guilty and accept punishment for his father, was at least a little cute. He stared at everyone for a long time, and finally said in a deep voice: "Since you know that radicalizing innocent people is a crime, not a fault, then don't act like you are happy to lose when the government assigns you money."
"Build roads? Build bridges? Aid students? Publish books? You want to say that you are kind people, don't you? Although I just arrived, I have heard that you give out porridge, money, winter clothes, and run charity halls every year. But the porridge you give out is just rice soup, and people who drink the rice soup still don't have the strength to work. The winter clothes you give out are all rags, and some are even clothes stripped from the dead."
Seeing that everyone including Mr. Qi's face suddenly turned pale and had to support themselves with their hands, and no one dared to look at him anymore, Zhang Shou continued: "As for giving money, that's when your family celebrates birthdays or gets married, and they throw it out with a big winnowing basket for fun. The ones who can grab it are all strong bullies and thugs. As for the common people, many people are injured every year because of fighting for it. As for the charity, huh..."
Zhang Shou seemed to glance at the little peanut standing behind Zhu Tingfang with his head down, and thought of the boy's tearful self-narration of his life story, and suddenly roared: "Those illegal activities in the charity hall, do you think everyone else is blind and deaf and knows nothing? They say they are adopting orphans, but they should screen them before sending them in. If there are any with good qualifications..."
"They'll claim they died of illness first, and then send them to some shameful places! As for those with average looks, they'll be barely fed. As soon as they're a little old, they'll be forced to make hemp ropes and fish nets, and forced to work. That's why many boys and girls in the so-called charity halls don't live past the age of fifteen! But the money you've squeezed from them is already ten or even a hundred times more than the food rations!"
It was the first time that Zhu Tingfang saw Zhang Shou so furious. However, even though he was a cold-hearted person, he only felt disgust and hatred when he heard Zhang Shou's retelling of the story before. But now, when he looked at the old guys in front of him who were trembling like sieves, he revealed a bit of murderous intent.
He, who had not drunk a drop of wine from the beginning to the end, suddenly raised his glass and took a sip, then threw the glass violently. When this third glass of the day smashed heavily to the ground and shattered into pieces, he stood up and said word by word: "If you do too much evil, you will perish... Come on, take down these old guys who are rich and unkind!"
