Volume 3: Dragon and Snake Movement Chapter 385: A gentleman is open and honest?
Fights and even armed fights on the canal due to disputes over waterways, loading and unloading, and even other disputes have always been commonplace. This is especially true in a place like Cangzhou where martial arts are very popular. At this moment, after the loud shout of "kill you", there were only noises of people watching the fun, and no one was heard shouting to stop it.
Zhang Shou didn't expect that he would see a fight on his first visit to the canal wharf. He glanced at Ah Liu and saw that the young man was very excited, as if he was looking forward to watching a high-level fight. He was a little worried that someone might get killed, but then he found that someone had snatched his reins.
"You are a kind-hearted man, you must be worried about something going wrong. I am familiar with this dock, I will take you there!" The man in the white turban had a flattering smile on his face, even ignoring his own business cart for the time being, especially when he saw that Ah Liu glanced at him but did not mean to stop him, he quickly led Zhang Shou's horse and walked into the crowd... To be precise, he squeezed in.
With such a local snake leading the way, Zhang Shou, relying on the advantage of being on horseback, soon saw the fight on the canal. Unlike the fight on land, here the two sides were poking each other with bamboo poles at the bow of the boat, one side was a flexible small boat, and the other side was an obviously fully loaded cargo ship.
However, the three boatmen on the cargo ship used bamboo poles together, but they were still unable to defeat the boatman on the small boat.
Seeing that there was only one person on the boat, and that the bamboo pole was used steadily and accurately, fighting with the three people over there, Zhang Shou became more and more curious about the reason for the fight - was it really just a trivial matter of who left first and who left later? Just as he was wondering, someone in the cabin of the boat shouted loudly: "Don't forget that you have already collected a deposit of 100 strings of cash from me, hurry up, and start the boat!"
Zhang Shou felt vaguely that the voice sounded familiar. Just as he was trying to recall where he had heard it before, he heard Ah Liu's cold voice behind him: "It's that damn prefect's son."
Zhang Shou laughed at first when he heard Ah Liu say the word "shit", but when he thought about how Manager Hua had sent Bi to the county government, and now Mr. Huang had paid a large sum of money to get on the ship, obviously to escape, he immediately raised his eyebrows. But just when he was about to ask Ah Liu to get involved, the man with the white turban holding the reins of his mount noticed something was wrong.
"Dr. Zhang, are the people on that boat your enemies?"
Hearing the word "old man" again, Zhang Shou was immediately amused. God has mercy on him, he is only seventeen now... No wonder the emperor couldn't stand being called grandpa by people in the palace and outside the palace every day, he is not even old yet, but he is called old!
But this was definitely not the time to correct the address, so he said lightly: "People treat me as an enemy, but I still look down on him. It's just that someone around him is still in the county government with a case that has not been cleared, but he can't get away so easily... Ah Liu!"
Ah Liu agreed and was about to dismount and jump onto the boat to catch the man, but the man with the white turban immediately dropped the reins of Zhang Shou's horse and walked forward, shouting, "Don't let the man on the boat go. He is the person that Doctor Zhang of the Imperial College specifically wants!"
Zhang Shou was almost stunned by the roar like a broken gong, and then he couldn't help thinking, as an imperial envoy, he hid behind Zhu Tingfang most of the time, what's the point of this guy reporting his name? However, to his surprise, it was this shout that made the boatman, who was just rowing alone and fighting with three opponents, suddenly stop.
"Bah! Damn it! If you knew this bastard was wanted by Dr. Zhang of the Imperial College, I wouldn't want him even if he had a thousand strings of cash, let alone a hundred strings of cash! I'll find him right now!"
However, when the man went into the cabin, the three boatmen who had just been fighting with him stopped fighting and rowed their boats closer. Two of them, who were skilled and brave, jumped to the bow of the opposite boat, as if to prevent the man from escaping. At this time, only shouting and yelling could be heard in the cabin, as if the man inside was unwilling to surrender and was still resisting.
The two boatmen looked at each other, and one of them started to make a scene, "Cen San, are you really capable? You just fought against three of us alone, and it seems that you still have the same prestige as before. How come you can't handle a weakling now?"
"Bullshit, how can I not hold this young man who can't even lift a heavy load? I'm just afraid of bumping into him!" As he cursed, the boatman who had just fought three people alone had already dragged one person out of the cabin. Seeing that the two opponents just now were looking at him with ill intentions, he was not afraid of them snatching him away , and snorted and looked towards the shore.
"Who just said that this guy is the one wanted by Doctor Zhang from the Imperial College in the county government? Come out, I've already caught him!"
As he was talking, he saw a man in a white turban sweating profusely squeezed to the front of the crowd, and behind him, there was a man on a horse. He only took a glance and saw that the man on the horse was an elegant young man, and his eyes lit up immediately . At this time, the crowd on the side also shouted: "It's really Dr. Zhang! It's really Dr. Zhang!"
It was his first time to come to the canal wharf. Seeing countless hot eyes shooting towards him, Zhang Shou didn't expect that he would have such a great reputation, or popularity. After a slight pause, he simply smiled and waved to the crowds in all directions. When he saw the commotion in the crowd, with only the girls throwing handkerchiefs, he always felt like he had turned into a star.
Fortunately, as the crowd made way for him, the boatman who was holding Mr. Huang in one hand strode over, and he finally heard the voices of those people talking. A small number of people were talking about his marriage with the Duke of Zhao, and about how talented and beautiful he and Zhu Ying were, but most people's opinions were very simple.
What they were talking about was that he appeased the people who had filed complaints, that he had stepped in to get the Jiang family and other big families to reopen for business, that he had spared the lives of Xian Yunhe and others regardless of the reaction from the court, and that his voice of being the justice of the country was heard incessantly!
The boatman who had dragged Master Huang ashore said bluntly after bowing and greeting him: "Although I accepted the money from this guy, I have been wondering why he came to the capital for such an urgent matter that he was willing to spend a hundred strings of coins. It turns out that he committed a crime and was afraid of being chased by people on the official road, so he hired my boat!"
"Dr. Zhang, you are fair and just to the people of Cangzhou. Although I am an illiterate fool, I trust you! I will return this guy to you, and I will also return the 100-string reward in its original form!"
Seeing the boatman casually throw Master Huang to the ground and then take out the money from his pocket, Zhang Shou was touched and was about to say something, but Master Huang, who was lying on the ground like a dead dog, suddenly jumped up and tried to escape into the crowd. He was slightly startled, but before he could say anything, Master Huang was knocked to the ground by several people and was dragged back.
"Still want to escape? Do you know what kind of place our Cangzhou is? Even children in our Cangzhou know martial arts!"
"Beat you to death, you bastard!"
Seeing the crowd's indignation, Young Master Huang, who was shaking with fear, finally couldn't help but shout, "My father is the prefect of Hejian, my father is the prefect of Hejian, and I am a Confucian scholar! Zhang Shou, what to arrest me!"
As the words "Hejian prefect" fell , Zhang Shou found that the endless commotion around him suddenly subsided. He sneered and said, "Son of Hejian prefect? You dare to tell others what you, the son of Hejian prefect, did in Cangzhou? General Zhu and I finally appeased the officials, civilians and merchants and restored peace to Cangzhou. What about you?"
"You are using your father's name, the prefect of Hejian, to deceive people, lobby and instigate. You are just relying on your own grievances to stir up trouble and try to stir up another rebellion. You want to pin the words "Cangzhou civil unrest" on the people of Cangzhou!" Zhang Shou suddenly raised his voice and shouted angrily, "You just said that you are a Confucian scholar... Haha, let me ask you, what achievements do you have?"
When Zhang Shou revealed his whereabouts and purpose over the past few days, Master Huang's face changed drastically. When Zhang Shou suddenly questioned him about his achievements, he shut his mouth all of a sudden.
He was only forced to study by his father. He was lazy and doted on by his mother. How could he study hard and achieve any honor? Even being a student of the Imperial Academy was a gift from his father's official position... Wait, if he was a student of the Imperial Academy, didn't that mean Zhang Shou, the doctor of the Imperial Academy, could supervise him?
Seeing the man's face turn pale and blue, but he didn't say anything, Zhang Shou said coldly: "Since you keep saying you are a scholar, do you still remember that you were drinking and having fun on the second floor of a wine shop on Jile Street, and then because you were in a bad mood, you threw the wine glass from the second floor and injured someone?"
"Don't think that the injury is just an ordinary citizen who rarely goes to Jile Street to watch the excitement, and don't take it seriously! Scholars are often respected by the people as gentlemen. A gentleman has three things to do: to establish virtue, to establish words, and to establish merit. What virtue do you have, what words do you have, and what merit do you have?"
Just when Zhang Shou was cursing and making trouble, there was another small commotion among the crowd around him. At this time, Zhang Shou mentioned the wounding incident in Jile Street again, and the onlookers were immediately in an uproar.
Most of the small vendors at the canal wharf in places like Jile Street don't have money to patronize, but not having money doesn't mean you can't go for a stroll. And people like them are often pushed around on Jile Street, scolded by the slaves, and even driven away and kicked. It is conceivable that those who were injured by the cup smashed by the prefect's son are mostly the same as them!
Now that Zhang Shou said that the injured person was indeed a commoner, people were immediately furious. The son of the prefect of Hejian, if it were in the past, it would be enough to make the most willful and chivalrous martial arts retreat, and the most arrogant and arrogant wealthy families lose their temper. The common people could only look up to him and stomp their feet and curse behind his back, but now it is different.
Because there is Dr. Zhang who dared to kill Xu Cheng together with General Zhu Tingfang of Ming Dynasty, there is Dr. Zhang who dared to spare the lives of Xian Yunhe and eight others, and there is Dr. Zhang who dared to speak up for the landless and jobless people!
Someone suddenly shouted, "Dr. Zhang is right. What else can you do except swindle people under your father's name?"
Zhang Shou saw that the crowd was noisy and cursing, as if all the resentment that had not yet been vented due to being exploited by corrupt officials burst out at this moment. He sneered and calmly changed the topic.
"Besides, if you really have a clear conscience, why would you run away? If you had run away quietly, it would have been fine, and you had to wait on the boat for departure, but you had to yell about your deposit of one hundred taels, as if you were afraid that others didn't know you had money!"
"You have no restraint when you go out, and you flaunt your wealth. Do you know that there are large sections of the Caohe River in the wilderness, and there are people who are greedy for money. Even if you are a boat lady who is righteous and has high martial arts skills, can you resist a dozen or so bandits who are greedy for your money?"
Hearing this, the boatmen who had just fought the boatman Cen San on equal terms and jumped onto the shore burst into laughter. One of them said loudly, "That's right. I don't know where you heard that Cen San is a master... He is a master, but there are many pirates on the canal. They know you are rich and alone, so who else can they rob?"
Mr. Huang's face gradually turned pale. When he heard that Bi Shiye was taken to the county government, he knew something was wrong, and immediately ordered a few guards to take the scholars who had traveled with him on the road, and fabricate evidence that he had left in a hurry by land, but intended to go to the capital by water, and then ask his uncle who was an official in the six ministries for help.
But now after hearing what Zhang Shou said, he realized that he was a fat sheep with a large stack of banknotes on him!
He was so stupid. He was just taught a lesson by Zhu Ying. It is never too late for a gentleman to take revenge. He should have gone back to his father to cry and complain instead of staying in Cangzhou City to prove himself...
Zhang Shou said calmly, "Well, in case you are worried that General Zhu and I, or the officials in the county government, are coveting your money, you might as well tell the truth in front of all the elders of Cangzhou about how much money you have on you. I will not give your father, the prefect of Hejian, a single cent less!"
"Dr. Zhang is so righteous!"
No one knew who shouted like that, but the people around him were all praising Zhang Shou for his gentlemanly conduct. Mr. Huang was confused by all these words, and he was really worried that others would be tempted by his money, so he made up his mind and said in a deep voice, "I brought 8,000 coins!" It was all his mother's private money...
As soon as he said this, he noticed that the crowd was in an uproar again, and then he saw a smile on Zhang Shou's face. At that moment, he suddenly realized that he seemed to be wrong, but when he thought about it carefully, he didn't understand what he had said wrong at all, and hurriedly added: "That was all given to me by my mother, every penny is clean!"
Only Zhang Shou himself knew that if the amount of money that the prefect's son revealed was a considerable amount, then his father would really be cheated to death by this son! He had specially asked people a long time ago that the prefect of Hejian was from a poor family, and his wife's family was also ordinary. With his salary, he accumulated so much wealth. How could his son take out 8,000 strings of cash when he went out? Haha!
