"Oh! It's Guo Xiu! Kangxi's eyes lit up and asked Wu Dan, "How do you know him—well, I know!" He suddenly remembered that Guo Xiu was a Taoist and was impeached for bribery, and Duanyang Festival was punished by basking in the sun with Governor Yu Chengchan outside the noon gate, and he sent Wu Dan to pass on the edict for questioning. Kangxi himself had only seen Guo Xiu when he was introduced to the ministry, but now that he looks at it, he is too far away from the "corrupt official" Guo Xiu in his mind, so he turned his face and asked Mingzhu: "This Guo Xiu has been selected again, what official will the ministry put him?" ”

Mingzhu couldn't remember clearly, and was tilting his head to think, Suo Etu smiled beside him: "This is when the slave was in charge of the ministry, Guo Xiu was demoted to three levels, and he is now the Tongzhi of Shuntian Mansion, and he is the master who shook his head." ”

Kangxi didn't speak again, thought silently, called the proprietress and asked, "How many people are there in Sanhe County?" ”

"About 100,000 people!" The proprietress was a little inexplicable, and said with a smile, "Sanhe Town is a big wharf, with 36 lines on 72nd Street, more than 5,000 households, and it is lively!" - Yetai wants to walk around the town? Kangxi didn't answer her question, and asked with a smile: "How much fire consumption is donated here?" The proprietress was stunned and said, "One official and one king." In the past eighteen years, I have passed through five county officials, some of them are two dollars, three dollars, and some are four or five dollars, and the youngest one in front of the prince is the smallest, only one dollar and eight cents, but unfortunately Ding Wei has gone, and the new master has not yet arrived, where does the old woman know how much people want! Anyway, this place is a blessed land, just scrape it by the old men! He laughed.

Kangxi nodded, stood up and yawned, and said, "Okay! It is worthy of being a blessed land, the wine is good, and the food is also good. I'll bother you another day - Jiangcun, account! After that, he came out, because he saw Li Dequan and four or five little eunuchs eating and laughing in the shed outside, so he beckoned over and commanded in a low voice, "You take two people to Sanhe Town to see how that county is sealed." Don't make trouble, come back soon when you're done. After that, he turned his face and ordered Gao Shiqi and Wu Dan, "Ah Xiu, they have probably arrived at the post station, let's go back." ”

Sanhe County passes through the border because of the muddy water, the water and the Baoqiu River, because of the name, the post road extends in all directions, the water and drought two wharves, the real personal smoke is very lively. Li Dequan has been a first-class celebrity in the Heart Cultivation Hall since Xiao Maozi was killed. Staying in the palace for a long time, leaving Kangxi at first glance, like a sleepy bird out of the cage, suddenly felt that the sky was high and the earth was wide, this time he was ordered to enter the city to check the officials' situation, and consciously reached half of the Qincha, and brought two little Sula eunuchs to beat the horse and whip, and rushed into the city like a splash of wind.

Who knows that this West Gate is the bazaar, and the streets and two lines are full of trade, crowded and crowded. On the inside of the city gate tower, a monkey is playing in the field, and the old monkey pretends to be Wang Zhaojun, riding a sheep, and acting "out of the stopper" in a similar way. A large crowd of people watched in a daze, where to beware of these three tall horses suddenly rushing in? The old man and the child were squeezed down before they could dodge. Looking at the embarrassed faces of the people, the three eunuchs looked at each other, and they couldn't help but laugh at the male duck's throat. A blind old woman was kneeling outside the field, shaking her hands and begging for food, but she was already squeezed to the ground, and she was kicked by a horse that couldn't hold her reins.

People gathered around and stared at Li Dequan silently, seeing that the three of them were popular and richly dressed, but no one dared to come forward to ask. A middle-aged man who was in the corner of the wall and a few old men in a dragon gate formation rushed in a few steps, helped the old woman to sit, pinched the person, and beat the back. The little eunuch He Zhu'er had sharp eyes, and hurriedly leaned into Li Dequan's ear and whispered: "Master Li, this is the person who ate at the door of the shop." ”

Li Dequan was a little panicked when he saw that he had hurt someone, but he was afraid that the compensation would not be upside down, so he hurriedly took out a piece of silver from his waist, checked it, about one or two halves, threw it to the ground, and said to the middle-aged man: "Hey! Take this money and find a man for your mother to take a look - how to get here to the county office? ”

"God...... the blind old woman woke up at this time, spit out a mouthful of phlegm, and sighed weakly, "This ...... What's going on? I...... It's really useless...... Amitabha Buddha ...... "That middle-aged man is Guo Xiu, I saw his teeth clenched tightly, staring at Li Dequan with gloomy eyes, and suddenly roared: "You get off the horse!" Kicked down someone, and wanted to leave after dropping such a stinky silver? ”

Watching the lively morning crowd on the side, seeing Li Dequan's arrogant face, he couldn't get angry, and shouted loudly to cheer:

"Dismount, dismount! How can there be such an unreasonable person in the world! ”

"Buckle the horse for him!"

"Heal the person and then let the dog go!"

"Where did the turtle grandson come from to be so wild!"

"Yo-ho?" Li Dequan's two thin eyebrows were high, and he sneered and said, "I only rewarded the silver because of her pity, but there is one, right?" Are there people who kneel in the street begging for food? Horses are brutes, what does it know? What's the matter, uncle! With that, Huo Di jumped off the horse and said with a red face: "Do you want to lie to you?" ”

Guo Xiu saw that the old lady was gradually calming down, and asked the people around her to take her to a nearby teahouse to rest, clapped her hands and stood up and said, "Listen to the accent, you look like a Jingshi person." Those who are under the feet of the Son of Heaven must know the rules! What do you do? Li Dequan smiled: "You kid still has eyesight." The master is from Jingshi, and he has an errand to see Sanhe Zhixian! Guo Xiu smiled gloomily and said: "Sanhe does not know the county, and the new county has already been printed. Even if you see the county master, you have to finish the matter here first! ”

"Bastard!" Li Dequan spat and scolded in official language, "Don't say it's you, even the governor of Zhili has to give me three points!" Is the master a fool? The surname Mao arrived at noon, and it was only an hour before he was printed? - You want to play with you like a virtuous person? Saying that, a whip was struck on Guo Xiu's shoulder.

The corners of Guo Xiu's mouth twitched in pain, but he held back again, breathed a sigh of relief, and said, "Okay...... If you don't believe me, I'll take you! Li Dequan grinned: People are bitter worms, they can't fight it, this is really true! said in his mouth: "I knew each other so early, and many of them were whipped?" ”

The county government is not far away, Guo Xiu took the three of them to the west to walk a bag of cigarettes, and to the south of a fold, then see a piece of powder wall, according to the wall behind the house is a two-storey Xuanhua archway, the open space in front of the main gate is enough to have a wheat field, a pair of stone lions on both sides open their teeth and claws, look very majestic. However, due to the lack of officials, only four sides of the door were inserted to avoid the card, and there was no official title. Looking in from the gate, between the drums and the official boot box, the straight road is clean and dusty, the instrument door leads directly to the platform, the house layout is rigorous, the Xuan is tall and large, and the yamen of the idle house is not this magnificent.

Guo Xiu arrived at the entrance of the yamen, turned around and said to Li Dequan with a smile: "It's here, you wait for a while, I'll go in and talk to the steward, and then come out to pick you up." "Let's go away. Li Dequan stepped on the dismount stone and said to He Zhu'er with a smile: "This dog is only a gentleman, it turns out that he is a person who often walks around in the yamen and treats us as foreigners......" He Zhu'er grinned, and was about to speak, when the little eunuch Xing Nian next to him squeezed his eyes and stammered: "You always have to show your true identity, it's strange if he doesn't frighten down!" ”

While speaking, the big drum in the hall suddenly "knocked and knocked" and shook the sky three times in a row. The three of them waited for the inside to come out to greet them, but they saw more than a dozen officials holding black and red water and fire sticks, and rushed out with a "whoosh". Li Dequan and the three of them didn't even have time to ask, they were already caught by the eagle and thrown into the heart. Behind the case in the main hall, an official dressed in a robe of eight pythons and five paws, decorated with herons and complements, and wearing a white nirvana glass roof, sat half-sideways.

"Where are you to go to the town of Three Rivers to oppress the good? Speak! ”

Li Dequan was dizzy, looked up, and couldn't help but gasp, it turned out to be a middle-aged man who got off the donkey in the hotel and was the guardian of the city! In an instant, he was discouraged, but thinking of his identity, he suddenly became bold, jumped up with both hands, and scolded with his nose not his nose and eyes: "Bastard Wang Bazi, what's your name?" Ye is the one who worships before the long live today, do you know? I'm taller than you on my toes—dare you do that to me! ”

"Arrogance!" Guo Xiu was furious, and he struck the case with a "snap", and shouted, "The imperial court has already issued an edict that eunuchs are not allowed to leave Beijing without authorization!" Hmph, you Diao people dare to pretend to be the emperor and ruin the reputation of our emperor, come here! ”

"In!"

"Stick waiting!"

"Wow!"

Before the sound fell, the fire sticks had been thrown down—twenty canes per mane—and they had been dragged out and pressed down, and the robes were torn off, and there was a stinking beating.

The three of them are used to being pampered in the palace, and when have they suffered such hardships with fine skin and tender meat? At the beginning, he screamed and scolded hoarsely, and then there was just a dry howl, but his tone was not soft: "...... Good! - Ouch...... Hit the hell...... Good! Fuck your ancestors - ouch! When the torture was over, the three of them were in tears, disheveled, covering their backs and twisting their eyebrows.

Guo Xiu sneered and asked, "Do you dare to pretend to be the emperor?" ”

"We were originally emperors!" Li Dequan's neck stiffened, his body straightened, and he couldn't help grinning in pain, "The emperor called us to send your county official to ask!" When I was young, I let you know how many eyes Erlang God has! ”

Eunuchs are different from ordinary people, Guo Xiu looked at his appearance, distinguished his voice, and used torture, and he had already believed it. But the people around Kangxi are doing such evil outside, if they admit it, in front of so many officials, it will be equivalent to smearing the emperor's face, seeing Li Dequan's stubborn mouth, he sneered: "Since you are not afraid of fighting, okay, the big punishment is waiting!" He stretched out his hand and took the skewer again. When the officials saw that this Shuntian Eryin entered the Ya at noon, they couldn't help but take off the seal of Mao Zongtang, and let him sweep the floor and go out, and then entered the Ya Agency in the afternoon. The head of the punishment room had already come over and sprayed a mouthful of water on everyone's faces, and Li Dequan and the others slowly woke up.

"Is it still the emperor?"

The green tendons on Guo Xiu's forehead burst out, jumping and jumping, and while asking, his hand stretched out to the fire stick again, it seemed that as soon as Li Dequan opened his mouth, he would immediately be tortured again. The three eunuchs glanced at each other, and Xing Nian said with a sad face: "Good Uncle Li, don't ...... it" The corners of his mouth twitched, and he was so aggrieved that he cried loudly. Li Dequan looked up at this unreasonable cousin, secretly made a secret effort in his heart, swallowed a mouthful of saliva, and said after a while: "Even if it is...... Isn't it......"

"It's good if it's not!" Guo Xiu also breathed a sigh of relief, retracted his hand with a sneer, and ordered, "This department is too lazy to ask about the case today, first detain these three villains in the patrol hall, wait for the fate, don't indulge!" Retire! He sat and pondered for a long time, and knew that Kangxi must be living in Sanheyi, so he hurried to the back of the Qinzhi Hall to repair the watch, and sarcastically admonished the emperor that he should not send envoys to disturb the people.

Kangxi rested in the post for two hours. I slept very soundly this night, and when it was the end of Shen, Fang stretched out and sat up, rubbed his eyes, lifted his shoes and lifted the curtain to look inside, and saw that Ah Xiu and Han Liu were wiping dominoes at the table to relieve boredom, so they paced under the corridor. Because he saw Wu Dan and the two eunuchs holding a peeled chicken under the west corridor and feeding Hai Dongqing. That Hai Dongqing closed his eyes and didn't look at it, holding his wings to dodge the food, and refused to peck a bite. Kangxi couldn't help laughing: "It's so easy to adjust the eagle? That's an ancestral craft! You guys are going to toss the dead Hai Dongqing - it's weird, what time is this, Li Dequan, the minion, hasn't come back yet? Wu Dan rode a horse to Sanhe to have a look. Gao Shiqi, Mingzhu, and Suo Etu were all sleeping in the East Chamber, and when they heard Kangxi, they all rushed out, and Suo Etu smiled and said: "It's easy to let them out, these eunuchs love to play the most, maybe where to eat tea and listen to the story, right?" ”

Before the words were finished, the three eunuchs Li Dequan, He Zhuer, and Xing Nian staggered in from outside the post house. All three of them were wearing forty-pound flails - staggering in and lying on the ground, unable to even knock their heads, and their buttocks were soaked in blood. The guards, eunuchs, and post house officials in the courtyard were all stunned for a moment. Li Dequan glanced at the stunned Kangxi, his lips trembled, and he cried loudly in a "woo" for a while, crawled forward two steps on his stomach, and cried silently: "Good master...... The minions are alive...... Come back......" Seeing that the master was back, Hai Dongqing flapped his wings, as soon as Wu Dan let go, he flew over and landed on Li Dequan's shoulder, took out a piece of beef jerky from the skin bag behind Li Dequan's back, and pecked it with his claws to eat violently.

Kangxi knew that something must have happened, so he was stunned for a moment, and scolded angrily and funny: "Where did you get this appearance of a living treasure, it's disgusting!" ”

Li Dequan cried so much that he was hoarse, barely knelt up, and pointed to the sky and the earth how to get to Sanhe Town and how to be lured to the yamen by Guo Xiu. He also rubbed his eyes and threw his nose, and said everything with oil and vinegar, only concealing that they were riding a horse and knocking down the blind mother-in-law. Kangxi couldn't help but be stunned, his face was white for a while, and then the blood gushed up, his muscles were tense, looking at Hai Dongqing's gluttonous appearance, his hands trembled slightly with anger.

"." Kangxi shouted angrily, "I can't see you like this!" - What about the people from Trois-Rivières, are they here? ”

As soon as the words fell, I heard someone outside the post station door reply loudly: "Long live the ministers of Tianfu and Guo Xiu!" ”

"Come in!" Kangxi flicked his braids, turned back to the steps of the middle hall, stared coldly at the door with his hands behind his back, and commanded.

"Wow!"

Guo Xiu agreed, walked in with his waist down, unhurriedly slapped the horseshoe sleeves, glanced at the angry Kangxi, knelt three times and bowed nine times, and shouted long live. Gao Shiqi couldn't help but secretly praise: "This person is very popular!" Mingzhu and Suo Etu also sweated for Guo Xiu. After a long time, I heard Kangxi say: "Guo Xiu, it depends on the owner to beat the dog!" You are very bold, who supports your waist? ”

"If you go back to Banzai!" Guo Xiu spoke with a thick Shandong accent and said loudly: "The ministers acted according to the legal principles of the imperial court, and they were originally bold. The body is the parent of the recipient, and the qi is the Confucius and Mencius - just because he has read the books of the sages, he does not dare to act rashly, and his heart is not ashamed, so why be afraid? ”

"Wu Dan!" Kangxi was so angry that his face was as white as paper, and he turned around and shouted, "Take a whip and whip him!" ”

Wu Dan came over in response, held the whip in his hand, looked at Kangxi's face, and gritted his teeth and whipped it over. Guo Xiu trembled, the robe on his back had been torn, the red blood had leached out, and then four or five whips, Guo Xiu was sweating profusely in pain, gritting his teeth and not snorting.

"Do you dare to say that you are justified?" Seeing that he was so stiff, Kangxi waved his hand to stop Wu Dan and asked coldly.

"It's justified!" Guo Xiu easily came through the anger and said loudly, "Long live regardless of the indiscriminate and whip the courtiers, the ministers are really difficult to obey!" ”

"You can also be regarded as a minister who studies and nourishes his spirit!" Kangxi sneered and said, "You tortured the eunuch with torture wood, and you have no monarch father, which book are you reading?" You are a scoundrel, corrupt and corrupt the law, my aunt remembers your first offense, and you are lenient, you dare to be so presumptuous! ”

"The minister blames people with official seals and sticks, and it is not a punishment!" Guo Xiu said in a loud voice, "The minister has been blamed for his sins since the seventeenth year of Kangxi, cultivating himself outside, introspecting the gods, and accusing the sky, clear water and water; I am willing to wash away the shame of the snow with the right deeds, for the great cause of governing the country and the people of the Holy God, and serving the work of dogs and horses. As he spoke, he played in detail the various episodes of the eunuchs beating horses and rushing into the streets, trampling on the people, whipping the officials, and roaring in the court, and said: "...... The lord and the slaves of the family are harming the people, the onlookers look at the people angrily, dare to be angry but dare not speak, the ministers are in the pastor, the responsibility is in the locality, the Confucius and Mencius Taoism, and the court law, what is the crime? Long live the ministers, before they have time to argue, that is, they are not tortured whips, I don't know what book Long Live reads? ”

Guo Xiu's face did not change, and he accused Kangxi in person, and said it eloquently, how could everyone have ever seen such a person? For a moment, his face was scorched with fright. Only then did Kangxi know that the matter was caused by the eunuch's unreasonableness, but Guo Xiu was so stubborn that he didn't give face at all, it was really difficult for him to step down, he wanted to laugh, but he couldn't laugh, and twisted his face and said: "I have always allowed courtiers, but I didn't expect that there are really people with a face, you ...... What do you think I'm for! "Suo Etu has been with Kangxi for a long time, and he knows that as long as Guo Xiu admits his gaffe, this matter will be over, and he will be busy asking Guo Xiu to make amends. Unexpectedly, Guo Xiu held his hands on the ground, knocked down with one head, and said loudly:

"The emperor is the lord of the Emperor!"

Kangxi seemed to have been shocked, his facial features were misplaced, his eyes burst out with terrible sparks, and he smiled viciously: "What a Guo Xiu, he really has one eye!" I am eight years old at the age of Yuji, the inner Jing is a traitor, the outside sweeps the wolf atmosphere, the four seas return to the heart, the eight directions come to the dynasty, the Tang Dynasty and Song ancestors are just like this! Hum! I'd like to hear your opinions! ”

"Your Majesty!" Guo Xiu snorted in pain, knocked his head a few times, and said, "Chen Kangxi should have died in seventeen years, and it is too late to die today." Now that he has been inquired, he simply said everything and then died - the emperor is wise and decisive, that is, he does not speak to himself, and the world knows it. However, since his accession to the throne, the emperor has not regarded himself as the co-lord of the world, but has been fortunate enough to be full of ministers, excluded Han officials, favored eunuchs, and despised courtiers. So much so that Tang Zong, Song Zu, that is, the king of the Emperor, did not have all of them-" "You fart! Kangxi roared frantically, "In order to raise money for the soldiers to control the river, how can you be greedy?" I regard the four seas as a family, how can I have the view of the Manchurian and Han people? You speak, you speak! Guo Xiuquan didn't seem to know what to do, and kowtowed: "Yes!" Long live the wrath of the thunder, Rong Chen finished. Although the donation is to raise wages, it is also to drink to quench thirst, this case is opened, the future is endless, the sick people of the beetle country, the harm is beyond words! When Tang Zhen was observing, the Son of Heaven asked the similarities and differences between the talents in Shandong and Guanzhong, and Wei Zhengzuo said: "The king takes the world as his home, and it is not appropriate to show the similarities and differences in the world." 'Today, since the three princes and nine kings, most of the people who are the emperor's assistants are Manchurians, and the Han people are only 23 out of 10 - you are the lord of the world, and you should collect talents from all over the world, and the land is not divided into north and south, and people are not divided into Han and Manchu. Now that the emperor is biased towards Manchurians, how can the Han people be loyal to the court? Now the people of the Quartet have not yet been fully convinced, and the people of the world still have those who are in love with the former Ming, all because the emperor himself always sees himself as a manchurian......" He said from the bottom of his heart. In fact, Guo Xiu, who is upright in nature, was deposed for corruption and bribery in the seventeenth year of Kangxi, because he saw that the hearts of the people were towards the Han and it was difficult for the Manchurians to gain a foothold.

Kangxi smashed his errand because Li Dequan violated the law, and he had no intention of punishing Guo Xiu again, but he led out such a big article, which was really like adding fuel to the fire, and he was already mad with anger, and he was suddenly dizzy, and he hurriedly held the pillar with his hand. When Mingzhu came to help, he was pushed aside by Kangxi, pulled the sword in Su Lun's waist next to him and threw it to Wu Dan, and said with a cruel smile: "Good, good, good!" I'm a dumb king, how can I afford to use a sage like you? - Fulfill you,—— drag him out and tell him to be a dragon and a fight! ”