It turned out that Yang Chuncheng was a native of Hangzhou, and his family had practiced martial arts for generations, and his family was well-off, and he could also be called well-off.

He was born in the eleventh year of Xianfeng (1861), his father named him Chuncheng, nicknamed Anguo, and when he grew up to six years old, in addition to being sent to a private school for enlightenment, he also taught martial arts himself.

When he was sixteen years old, he was already seven feet tall, with extraordinary strength, and strong martial arts.

In addition to practicing martial arts, he also read a lot of Confucian classics, and held the heroic bosom of "learning literature and martial arts, goods and the emperor's family", so he took the nickname "Anguo" as the expression word, determined to serve the imperial court, and set the country and the country.

In September of the twelfth year of Guangxu (1886), it was time for the triennial martial arts examination.

He was twenty-five years old at that time, and he had already married and started a family, so he said goodbye to his wife and son, boarded the ship early, and went to Beijing by sea to take the exam.

After two days of examination, first compared to the horse step arrow, and then try the bow and knife stone, he won the Wugong Shi, and participated in the palace examination by the emperor, ranked eleventh in the second class, gave the Wu Jinshi background, awarded the five products of the garrison, sent to Hangzhou Mansion as a garrison, also regarded as the glory of the ancestors.

At that time, foreigners invaded repeatedly, and the imperial court blindly ceded land and paid compensation, and settled the matter, so that all industries withered and lives were ruined. Although Hangzhou is the land of fish and rice, a rich land, but also the people are not happy, plus bandits take advantage of the fire to rob, the situation is very turbulent, but a group of Eight Banners in Hangzhou Qiying only know how to loot the people's fat and ointment, so that the chaotic people swarm, gradually become a prairie fire.

After Yang Chuncheng took office, he commanded the battalion to arrest day and night, and in less than a year, there was public order in Hangzhou.

But every time he reported his success in the book, and the imperial court issued an edict and award, a group of Eight Banners disciples were on the list, but Yang Chuncheng had no reward, and he couldn't help but feel indignant in his heart.

Those Eight Banners disciples knew that he was not convinced, and regarded him as a thorn in the eye and a thorn in the flesh, and from time to time he wrote books and slandered him, so that he served as a garrison for eight years and was not promoted, but the children of the Eight Banners were soaring and proud.

Yang Chuncheng was bitter in his heart, resentful of the jackal in power, dark daylight, his temper became worse and worse, and he couldn't listen to his wife's advice, and gradually showed signs of cynicism.

In September of the twentieth year of Guangxu (1894), the Chinese and Japanese navies fought in the Yellow Sea, and the Beiyang Navy Division was defeated.

However, the tenth day of October was the 60th birthday of the Empress Dowager Cixi, and the imperial court spent countless silver to build Xihe Garden, to celebrate greatly, and also issued a holy decree to ask the local government to pay tribute to the rare treasures to Cixi on her birthday.

Yang Chuncheng received the order, scolded loudly, and at night took advantage of the wine, wrote straight, and made a fold, denouncing the Empress Dowager Cixi for only being greedy for pleasure and ignoring the suffering of the people.

After he handed over the fold, he was busy with business every day and didn't pay attention to it.

More than a month later, on the evening of October 20, he and a few friends went to the teahouse to drink and listen to the famous singer Gan Xing'er sing "Du Shi Niang".

After the banquet, it was already late at night, he said goodbye and went home, and as soon as he walked to the door, he collided with a family member who ran out in a hurry.

The man hurriedly handed him an envelope, saying that it had been sent by a stranger just now, and asked him to take a look at it quickly.

Yang Chuncheng saw that the envelope was not written with a name, and said, "What stranger?" ”

"This man is very strange, tall, dusty, speaks with a northern accent, and asks if the adults are at home." Jia Ding said, "The little one said that the adult was not there, so he handed over the letter to the little one, and told the little one to find the adult quickly, and there must be no delay." The little one was about to go out to find the adult, and the adult came. ”

"What about people?" Yang Chuncheng was taken aback.

"I didn't drink any tea, so I left in a hurry."

Yang Chuncheng hurriedly walked into the study, opened the envelope and took a look, only to see three things drawn on a piece of paper, a piece of salt crystal, a pendant, and a wooden ruler, but other than that, there was not a single word.

He was stunned, as if five thunderbolts had hit the top, slumped on the chair, and lightning flashed in front of him, remembering a past incident in Beijing eight years ago to catch the exam.

In September of the twelfth year of Guangxu, he boarded a ship and set off to Beijing to participate in the martial arts examination, first taking a small steamer from Hangzhou to Shanghai, and then taking a steamer to Tianjin, and landing in the boat, it was early in the morning.

When he was eating at the restaurant, he asked the shopkeeper about the distance to Beijing. The shopkeeper said that this is not far from Beijing, and it will take four days to ride a horse.

He went to the horse market and bought a big horse and galloped away. Along the way, Xiaoxing stayed overnight, walked slowly and hurriedly, and it was quite peaceful.

On the morning of the fourth day, not far from Beijing, he was passing by a forest when he suddenly heard someone shouting in the dense forest on the side of the road.

A human: "Do you give money or not?" If you don't know each other again, don't think that your brothers won't dare to kill you! A person said: "If you don't want silver, if you have the ability, you will come up and search for it, what are you doing in a wordy way?" A person sneered: "Master Zheng, who doesn't know that your family is a huge rich man in Jinmen, and some are rich!" No matter how honest you are, be careful that your buddies tie you back to Tianjin, and see if your old man gives money! ”

When Yang Chuncheng heard this, he was taken aback, thinking that in broad daylight, someone had robbed him, and he hurriedly pulled the reins, beat his horse and rushed into the woods, only to see seven men in tattered clothes and poor appearance, holding the guy in his hands, and scolding a young scholar.

The scholar was handsome and handsome, wearing a long robe, carrying a burden on his shoulders, and holding his hands, but he was not in a hurry and looked calm.

When the seven men saw Yang Chuncheng rushing in, they were taken aback, and hurriedly retreated to the side, and when they saw that he was alone, with his bare hands, they immediately shouted and besieged him.

Yang Chuncheng sneered, did not speak, his right hand lightly stretched the ape arm, hugged the scholar's waist, and pulled the reins with his left hand.

He rode his horse and ran for more than two miles, leaving the robber far behind, before he put down the scholar and dismounted to meet him.

It turned out that the scholar's surname was Zheng, his name was Yixia, his name was Enming, a native of Tianjin, twenty-one years old, and he was about to enter Beijing to do business.

Yang Chuncheng saw that he was polite and polite, and he looked like a son-in-law, and just now he heard the robbers say that his family was a wealthy man in Jinmen, and said: "The road is not very peaceful, why don't brothers bring a few entourages, and they also have a care." ”

Zheng Yixia hugged his fists and said: "Thank you for your brother's rescue, and the younger brother won't hide it from you." The younger brother was born in the deep courtyard courtyard since he was a child, and he didn't know much about the difficulties of the world. This time I entered Beijing, just to observe the suffering of the people, who knew that I was tracked here by a few thieves, and wanted to rob, so I looked up to my brother and saw the injustice and rescued him. ”

"Did they rob the brother's entanglement?" Yang Chuncheng said, he was going to open his bag and give him a few taels of silver.

"The little brother's silver tickets are still there, thank you Brother Yang for your kindness!" Zheng Yixia hurriedly thanked him.

Yang Chuncheng was worried that he would encounter robbers again, so he invited him to hurry with him, and he smiled and said, "Brother Yang will take the first step, and I will walk slowly." ”

Yang Chuncheng had no choice but to say goodbye, hurry up, hurried, entered Beijing City at noon, went around everywhere, arrived at Xuanwu Gate when it was nearly dusk, then found an inn in Gongyuan East Street, and stayed.

He was tired of saddle horses for days, very tired, and slept in the guest room before closing the door and going downstairs to eat dinner on the street, but he didn't expect to see Zheng Yixia in the crowd, and hurriedly stepped forward to say hello.

It turned out that Zheng Yixia had just settled in the store, and was about to go to the street to eat, and when they saw each other, they were all overjoyed, and they went to a "Mingyuesheng" restaurant to drink.

At the wine table, Zheng Yixia talked very well, talking about the current news, and did not mention what he did in Beijing.

Yang Chuncheng was inconvenient to inquire, and naturally he didn't say that he was going to Beijing to take the exam, eat out, and go back to the inn to rest.

The next day, he got up early, went to the inner gate of Xuanwu to catch the exam, after two days of competition, won the Wugongshi, to the third day of the fourth watch, and rushed to the Xuanwu Gate early to gather, led by the eunuch into the Forbidden City, to participate in the palace examination of the current emperor.

When the group arrived at the Baohe Palace, the sky was already bright, and Yang Chuncheng actually saw Zheng Yixia in the crowd again, and they were both surprised and delighted, and said, "I didn't expect you to come to catch the exam!" ”

It turned out that in the competition two days ago, the two were in different examination rooms, so they didn't meet each other, and they didn't expect to be both high schools.

After the court test, Yang Chuncheng won the eleventh rank of the second-class martial arts, but Zheng Yixia was the sixth-rank of the second-class, and the ranking was above him.

Yang Chuncheng was secretly surprised, he didn't expect that he had a stunt, and he hid it deeply, remembering the situation on the road that day, he secretly wondered: "Since he is skilled, how could he be robbed into the woods by a few scoundrels?" He was not afraid at the time, was he deliberately teasing those bastards? ”

He shook his head and smiled bitterly, thinking that the children of the family often acted unexpectedly, and it was rare for him to be so weak that he was going to enter the palace to guard the Son of Heaven.

It turned out that the Qing Dynasty official system, the martial arts would try the first and third, the martial champion awarded the first class guard, the martial arts eye and Wu Tanhua awarded the second class guard, and the top ten of the second class were awarded the third class guard, all of which were called "guards", and they all had to enter the palace as royal guards. Zheng Yixia ranked sixth in the second grade, so he was naturally among the palaces.

After the second class and ten and the third class of the warriors, they were all sent to the local area to serve as garrison officers, which was called "battalion position". Yang Chuncheng is the eleventh place in the second class, so he naturally has to be assigned to the prefecture, but he doesn't know where it will be distributed, and he is worried about this matter.

On the afternoon of the second day, the military department held a big banquet for the examination, and the banquet was very grand and lively, and even several fathers-in-law and imperial guards in the palace also came to entertain.

The leading father-in-law is called Cao Shichun, who is a big celebrity in front of the Empress Dowager Cixi, and among the imperial guards, Wang Chu, a four-grade guard with a knife, is the most eye-catching.

Not long ago, seven masters of the Jianghu gang "Heaven and Earth Society" lurking in the palace infiltrated Cixi in the middle of the night, but they didn't expect to be killed by Wang Chan alone, so that Cixi was unharmed.

Wang Chan was gloomy, his eyes were introverted, and he didn't say much, he walked to the front of the table with Cao Shichun, looked at Yang Chuncheng with a pair of triangular eyes, and said: "I heard the examiner say that Brother Yang's iron sand palm can be called the leader of the future, if it is a few years, not under Wang, it is really terrifying!" ”

Yang Chuncheng hugged his fists and said: "The adults are outstanding, just like the sun and the moon, and the later life is just the light of fireflies, how dare you compare with adults!" ”

Seeing that he was speaking modestly and interestingly, Wang Zhan raised his glass to him, and Yang Chuncheng drank it all.

Cao Shichun took over the conversation on the side, and said sharply: "This little brother's surname is Yang, his name is 'Chuncheng', and the word 'Anguo' has an extraordinary meaning, and my father-in-law likes it very much!" Now it is an eventful autumn, and I hope that all the new jinshi will be like the name of Brother Yang, be my pure Cheng of the Qing Dynasty, and use all your good skills to serve the court and stabilize the country! ”

All the Jinshi stood up and lowered their hands and said, "Huh! ”

After the banquet, Zheng Yixia and Yang Chuncheng walked back to the inn and asked him when he would return to Hangzhou.

Yang Chuncheng said that he would go to the military department tomorrow to register his name, see where it was distributed, and then make a calculation, so he agreed to finish things tomorrow and go to Mingyuesheng Restaurant to drink in the evening.

The next day, when it was dark, Yang Chuncheng rushed to the Ministry of War to register his name, and he happened to be awarded the post of Hangzhou garrison, and he was promoted to the director of the government within one month, and he couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

He had been busy all day, and it was already dark when he returned to the inn, and when he arrived at Mingyuesheng Restaurant, Zheng Yixia had already arrived.

After asking each other about the situation, Zheng Yixia really awarded the third-class guard, and also went to the Internal Affairs Office to receive a waist card to enter the palace.

Yang Chuncheng borrowed the waist card and looked at it, and said with a smile: "'Xiao enters with the sky, and the evening provokes the royal fragrance.'" (1) The virtuous brother has to follow the Son of Heaven from now on, which is gratifying! ”

Who knew that Zheng Yixia smiled bitterly: "Don't hide it from Brother Anguo, entering the palace to serve the Son of Heaven is not what the younger brother wants!" ”

Yang Chuncheng was very surprised and asked what the reason was.

"If there are many events today, we have martial arts, and we should go into battle to kill the enemy and serve the country!" Zheng Yixia sighed, "Living in the palace like this, with brocade clothes and jade food, what is the difference between a corpse vegetarian meal!" ”

Yang Chuncheng saw that he was fierce and fierce, and he was greatly admired, and hurriedly raised his glass to toast.

After pushing the cup and changing the glass, after three rounds of wine, Yang Chuncheng smiled and said: "Brother Xian's kung fu, I don't know who taught it?" ”

"Don't hide it from Brother Anguo, it's passed on by my father." Zheng Yixia said, "My father was also an official of the imperial court in his early years, proficient in martial arts, and later he was stripped of his official position before he went to Tianjin to do business. ”

"It turns out that the virtuous brother has a family history, no wonder he is extraordinary."

"Brother An Guo has won the award! The father's discipline is too strict, although the younger brother has learned martial arts, from childhood to adulthood, except for learning kung fu, he has never fought a fight, and he doesn't know how to deal with the enemy. Zheng Yixia said with a smile, "On the way to Beijing that day, I encountered those scoundrels who robbed me, and my younger brother called them into the woods, and I was about to try it, but I didn't expect to meet my brother Tai and rescue me." ”

Yang Chuncheng remembered the situation that day, and couldn't help laughing: "It turned out that I was reckless and broke the virtuous brother's Yaxing!" ”

"Brother Anguo, where are these words, if it weren't for that, how could the younger brother get acquainted with Brother Tai!" Zheng Yixia raised a glass to him.

Yang Chuncheng drank it all and said with a smile: "The virtuous brother is still childlike, although it is good, but now that he has entered the officialdom, people are unpredictable, so it is better to be careful." ”

"Brother Anguo's words, my father also said it." Zheng Yixia was surprised, "In this way, the little brother really needs to be sharpened." No wonder this time to catch the exam, my father asked me to walk into Beijing to see that the world is difficult. ”

"It turns out that the virtuous brother walked into Beijing, which is the meaning of Ling Zun."

"My father often said that he had a heel in the officialdom back then, and it was because of his lack of experience and lack of secrets that he wanted me to have more experience and not repeat his mistakes."

Yang Chuncheng just heard that his father was stripped of his official position, and only then did he go to Jinmen to do business, and he was curious, but it was inconvenient to inquire, and now he was drunk, and when he saw him talking again, he said: "Brother Xian, what did Ling Zun do back then, can you tell me about it?" ”

"This was more than ten years ago, and it's nothing to listen to my brother, but it's just not enough to communicate with outsiders."

"It's nature." Yang Chuncheng nodded.

"During the Tongzhi period, my father served as the left attendant of the military department in the imperial court, and became friends with Lord Zhao Zhenlin, who supervised the imperial history. Lord Zhao was upright, and he was brave and outspoken, and he was deeply hopeful for a while, but later he was convicted for his words, angered the Empress Dowager Cixi, and was demoted to Hebei as a magistrate. Zheng Yixia said, "In the early years of Guangxu, the 'Margaret Incident' occurred in Yunnan, does Brother An Guo know? ”

"Lonely and unheard, please also ask the virtuous brother to teach."

"A British interpreter named Margaret led a group of British troops from Burma to Tengchong in Yunnan, burned, killed, plundered, and did all kinds of evil, and was beaten to death by local officials and people, and beheaded for public display." Zheng Yixia said, "The British minister has ill intentions, claiming that this matter is instructed by the government, not only to ask the imperial court to send the governor of Yunnan and Guizhou to Beijing for trial, but also to reduce taxes to the British, increase the opening of commercial ports, and open border trade. ”

"The foreigners rely on the strength of the ship and the artillery, and they are quite unreasonable, it has not been a day or two!" Yang Chuncheng sighed.

"The imperial court was afraid that the foreigners would start a war, so they had to behead the officials involved, dismiss them, and send them to prison, negotiate peace with the British, sign the "Yantai Treaty", and also sent ministers across the ocean to make a special trip to apologize to the British king, which opened a precedent for our Qing Dynasty to send envoys abroad."

"Since Daoguang, I have been defeated repeatedly, blindly seeking peace, no wonder foreigners are insatiable, I don't know that there is still the word 'shame' in the world!"

"Lord Zhao is far away in Hebei, and I heard that the British are extremely unreasonable, and the court only knows how to retreat. Zheng Yixia said, "It's just an excerpt, there are even more powerful ones!" ”

"What's wrong?"

"Lord Zhao said on the excerpt that the imperial court fears the enemy like a tiger, does not think of resisting, and makes an alliance with foreigners at every turn, so losing power and humiliating the country, what is the difference between Shi Jingtang, the child emperor who abandoned Yanyun Sixteen Prefectures, is he not afraid of falling into infamy!"

"Isn't this a catastrophe?" Yang Chuncheng was taken aback.

"Why not! When the Empress Dowager Xi saw the excerpt, she was furious and issued a secret decree, ordering the imperial court to arrest Lord Zhao, execute Ling Chi, and make the whole family a military slave. Zheng Yixia said, "At that time, there was a father-in-law in the palace who knew his father well, and he knew that he was good friends with Lord Zhao, so he quickly revealed the news." ”

"He has good intentions, but what about Ling Zun?"

"My father wanted to send someone to tell Lord Zhao, but he was afraid of provoking the fire, so he hurriedly sent someone to hurry up and send a small cardboard box to Lord Zhao, which contained a piece of salt crystal, a pendant, and a wooden ruler, which meant that he was convicted (fallen) by words (salt) and executed by Ling Chi (ruler), and asked him to arrange the funeral as soon as possible! ②”

Yang Chuncheng was shocked when he heard this, and hurriedly said, "What happened later?" ”

"Lord Zhao received the carton, and before he woke up, the official errand arrived, and no one in the family ran away!"

"It's miserable!" Yang Chuncheng sighed.

"When the official was copying the house, he saw the small cardboard box and three tokens, copied them together, and returned to Beijing to play the Ming court. The officials of the Criminal Department knew that his father and Lord Zhao were friends of each other, and suspected that he was secretly delivering the news, but there was no evidence, and no one in the Su family had slipped through the net, so they soon found a reason to remove his father from office and expel him from the capital. Zheng Yixia said, "My father was tired of the sinister officialdom, so he went to Tianjin to do business, and never asked about the affairs of the sea again." ”

"I see." Yang Chuncheng said, "Ling Zun Guangxu went to the sea to do business in the early years, but after eleven years, he is now a huge rich man in Tianjin, which is admirable. ”

"My father is originally from Fuzhou, Fujian, and has a few friends in Nanyang, and after going to the sea, he is doing the business of trading local products and foreign goods, and now he has a branch in the northern provinces." Zheng Yixia said, "It's just that he sees that the state affairs are wrong, he is disheartened, he often scatters money, gives alms to the people, and does not allow people to be grateful, always saying that good deeds should not be known, and those who receive charity will be grateful, and those who give will add a point of blessing, which is not his original intention to do good." ”

"Ling Zun is really a bodhisattva, but the state affairs are difficult, and the sorrow is everywhere, even if Ling Zun scatters all his family wealth, I am afraid that he will not be able to save a lot!"

"Why not! My father's friends persuaded him to go to Nanyang several times, but he couldn't make up his mind. ”

After drinking a few more glasses, Yang Chuncheng said: "Brother Xian, we are also in the officialdom now, I just hope that what Ling Zun and Lord Zhao encountered, let's not run into it." ”

Zheng Yixia came up and said with a smile: "Brother Anguo, there is really such a day, let's not play any dumb riddles, just send an urgent letter, the envelope is only written with six words, 'Brother Yan is drunk and late', wouldn't you just understand!" ”

"What's 'Brother Yan is drunk'?" Yang Chuncheng was puzzled.

"It's salt, pendant, and ruler, why did Brother An Guo forget?"

"I see, it's a good name!" Yang Chuncheng laughed.

"Speaking of which, the younger brother still has an idea." Zheng Yixia said with a smile, "The sages all take the sage aphorism as their motto, our brothers simply don't make a difference, put this 'Brother Yan drunk late' name as the motto, and quote it as a mirror, what do you think?" ”

"What do you mean by that?"

"Lord Zhao's business, the future is not far away, as long as we remember these words, we will naturally know how to clamp our tails and be a man!"

"What the virtuous brother said is extremely true!" Yang Chuncheng nodded.

Zheng Yixia thought for a while, and said: "It's just that the word 'drunk late' doesn't seem to be appropriate, there is a suspicion of being greedy for a cup and making a mistake, so the younger brother simply gave him another word 'taboo' - this brother's surname is strict, his name is taboo, and the word is drunk, what does Brother Tai think?" ”

Yang Chuncheng said with a smile: "I understand what the virtuous brother means, as long as we have the laws of the court in our hearts, we dare not drink and be greedy for cups, and behave as a person and an official in the way of a saint, even if we are in the officialdom, we will be safe and sound." ”

"That's exactly what it means!" Zheng Yixia laughed, "Come, drink!" ”

That night, the two drank happily until midnight, and then went back to the inn to rest.

Early the next morning, Zheng Yixia sent him out of Beijing, and went his own way, and he didn't communicate with him for eight years.

Now Yang Chuncheng suddenly received this urgent letter, exactly the same situation as Zheng Yixia said back then, thinking that he was on an errand in the palace and well-informed, it must be that he presented a recital last month that angered Cixi, he got the news and sent someone to send a letter thousands of miles away.

He was both grateful and angry, and thought: "I have been loyal to the country for eight years, but I have not been promoted, and now I have a letter, but the disaster is coming, it is really a demon in the country, and there is no daylight!" My wife and I are middle-aged, and it is not a pity to die, but my son Lianpo is only fourteen years old, not yet an adult, and the little girl Yifang is less than two years old. Thinking of this, I can't help but feel like numbness and tears.