The repeated secret decrees of the Nanqing Imperial Court made the entire Jiangnan chaotic, and the snow that was not big added countless coolness to thousands of people. All the giant businessmen and tycoons have felt the pressure and murderous aura from Kyoto, the Lingnan Xiong family and the Quanzhou Sun family have always been friendly with the Fan family, but under the pressure of the imperial court, they dare not move. As for the salt merchants who have been under the protection of the court magnates and stealing the world's wealth in the cracks, they are beginning to move.

The change in the way of attracting investment in the inner library has fundamentally hit the power that Fan Xian has, and everyone can see this clearly, especially as Fan Xian's spokesperson in Jiangnan, Xia Qifei, the head of the Ming family, feels the imminent danger. Of course, he believes that with the influence of the Ming family in Jiangnan, the most important thing is that the survival of the Ming family will affect the livelihood of the people in Jiangnan, which will make the imperial court jealous when it starts, at least it will not directly force the Ming family to death in the eleventh year of Qingli, if the Ming family really dies, the imperial court will not get any benefits.

It's just that such a trend has been set, and if the situation continues to develop like this, it won't take a few years for the Ming family to be gradually marginalized and gradually swallowed up by more than a dozen other Jiangnan merchants supported by the imperial court. There are tens of thousands of lives and deaths behind Xia Qifei, so he can't help but be vigilant, and the long conversation between Xue Qing, the governor of Jiangnan, and him that night made it clear what the imperial court required of him.

After that night, Xia Qifei fell into deep thought, he had to choose a side between Lord Xiao Fan and the imperial court, it was because of this very distressing thought that after he received the notice from the Qi Nian group, he did not choose to sneak into Kyoto to meet Fan Xian at the first time, not because he had already begun to sway, but because he knew that Fan Xian let him enter Beijing, he just wanted to evaluate his loyalty, and the current situation did not give Xia Qifei time to show his loyalty, the situation in Jiangnan was too dangerous, so he just sent Fan Xian a handwritten letter。 expressed himself as always.

If you change to other merchants, it is not an extremely difficult thing to choose between the imperial court and Fan Xian, who has lost power, the merchants are profit-seeking, and they do not have the real strength to affect the current situation, they must take the initiative or be forced to throw themselves to the stronger side. This is the natural attribute of businessmen, even if Xia Qifei abandons Fan and goes away now, he will not surprise and shame too many people.

However, Xia Qifei is not a businessman in the ordinary sense, which is why Fan Xian chose him as his spokesperson for Jiangnan back then. This illegitimate son of the Ming family has a very similar life trajectory to Fan Xian, he has been adrift on the rivers and lakes since he was a child, and he is the leader of the Jiangnan Water Village.

Xia Qifei knew that if there was no Lord Xiao Fan, he would never have been able to return to the Ming family. Not to mention retaking control of the Ming family and avenging his mother, Xia Qifei did not dare or forget, let alone betray Fan Xian.

The Ming family has been running Jiangnan for countless years, even when Fan Xian went to Jiangnan, it was also a little difficult, and now under the leadership of Xia Qifei. began to resist, resist the pressure of the governor of Jiangnan, the yamen, and resist the secret decree from Kyoto, and for a while the whole Jiangnan panicked.

At this time, Xue Qing, the governor of Jiangnan, who had a tacit understanding with Fan Xian back then, but was not very conspicuous, stood up, and this superb feudal official of the Nanqing Imperial Court began to suppress the Ming family indifferently, and very unexpectedly, once again helped the fourth master of the Ming family to the stage.

This was originally a trick that Fan Xian used back then. Now Xue Qing is very simple to draw a scoop according to the gourd, but he has achieved very good results. Mingyuan itself is divided into several factions, although the people of the old Ming family have not many shares in hand, but after all, they are people within the Ming family, and now that the differences between the two sides have been put on the table, it is extremely difficult for Xia Qifei to protect the interests of Fan Xian in Jiangnan again.

However, Xia Qifei is still insisting, and with the strong support of China Merchants Qianzhuang, he turned money into power and infiltrated the officialdom of the entire Jiangnan from the bottom up. obstructing the real implementation of the will of the imperial court at all costs. The head of the Ming family knew very well that the general situation was unstoppable, Lord Xiao Fan was just waiting for something in Kyoto, and all he needed to do was to try his best to preserve his strength. So that his wait in Kyoto can continue. But here's the problem. How long will it take? How long will it take for these people to suffer so desperately?

Didn't stay up long. The Qingguo Imperial Court obviously lost patience with the uncooperation of the gentry and merchants in the south of the Yangtze River, and on the third day after the late winter tea party held by the Inner Treasury Transfer Division, Xia Qifei, the master of the Ming family, who sternly opposed the new rules of bidding for the Inner Treasury at the tea party, was assassinated outside Suzhou!

There were more than 500 black-clothed people who assassinated Xia Qifei, and no one knew how these murderers passed through the strict internal defenses of Nanqing and came to the outside of Suzhou, let alone where these fierce and military-colored murderers came from. Why was the Suzhou Mansion and the Jiangnan Governor's Mansion so slow to react when Xia Qifei was assassinated? Why did the state army of tens of thousands of people on Jiangnan Road not catch a single murderer afterwards?

Five hundred black-clothed murderers engulfed the Xia Qi enclave convoy like a tide, although Xia Qifei was the owner of the Jiangnan Water Village, and there were countless heroes under his hands who were willing to fight for him, but in the face of such an unexpected raid, he threw his head and spilled his blood, and finally broke through the defensive circle.

The new worship force of Jiangnan Shuizhai died in battle, and Guan Yumei, who returned to Suzhou to help deal with affairs, also died in this assassination, Xia Qifei was never lucky, but at this critical moment, an inconspicuous Ming family member was seriously injured in the back, and he relied on a cold sword in his hand, in the midst of the siege, the killing general came out, and Xia Qifei carried back to the Ming family!

The Ming Garden was closed and closed for three days.

And when the state army arrived at the scene of the assassination, they found nothing except the corpses of the Ming family's guards who were lying on the ground, and those black-clothed murderers did not even leave a single corpse. That night in the Jiangnan Governor's Mansion, the Governor Xue Qing and the two masters looked at the information in their hands and began to ponder, the imperial court was shocked by the world, and it was already a desperate move, His Majesty the Emperor in Kyoto no longer wanted to play with Fan Xian those vain things, and had lost patience, but under such a thunderous blow, Xia Qifei actually survived, this fact made Xue Qing feel a little disappointed. Now that the Ming Garden has been sealed, it is impossible for the imperial court to break the garden of the Ming family in Jiangnan with open fire.

In the information returned, the swordsman who was carrying Xia Qifei away attracted Xue Qingdi's attention, and in the face of hundreds of elite soldiers of Qingguo, he could still fight his way out of the encirclement. A martial artist who can have such an ability must be a nine-rank powerhouse, and there are not many nine-rank powerhouses in the world, who can always lurk by Xia Qifei's side, and turn the tide in the end, it can only be Fan Xian...... The disciple of the Sword Lu sent over.

The affairs of Jiangnan did not stop there, in this bloody storm, the assassination of the master of the Ming family was just an introduction. When the Ming family closed the park, the helmsman of Shazhou in Jiangnan Shuizhai began to transfer his hands and prepare to rush to Suzhou. However, this team to assist the Ming family was intercepted and disarmed by the state army of the imperial court halfway through.

The Jiangnan Water Division stationed in Shazhou took advantage of the opportunity of the emptiness in the Jiangnan Water Village to carry out the most ruthless cleaning work, and the Jiangnan Water Village surrounded by the lake was burned by a fire, I don't know how many people died, and the fire burned for three days and three nights. Before he stopped, he wanted to boil the water of the lake dry, and the reed roots were burned into long incense for sacrifice......

There can be countless reasons for the imperial court to clean up the Jiangnan Water Village, but what disappointed Xue Qing again was that the Jiangnan Water Division's shot was too ruthless, and the dead and wounded who intercepted the group of Water Village men who were intercepted in the middle of the road, and the captured people were also extremely stiff-necked, and no one was willing to speak, so they tried to get the Ming family involved with the Jiangnan Water Bandits. Here it was forced to stop.

On the third day of the closure of the Ming Garden, the fourth young master of the Ming family died in the well, it is rumored that he was guilty and committed suicide by throwing himself into the well, and then, the manpower of the old faction of the Ming family began to gradually wither, and Xia Qifei, who had died too many relatives and brothers, began to fight back brutally, at least for now, Ming Yuan was finally under his iron-blooded means. Stabilized with the help of the powerhouses of Dongyi City.

The imperial court used this method to deal with the Ming family, a giant merchant in Jiangnan, and the impact was too bad, which could easily cause turmoil among the people in Jiangnan, and would also make the rest of the merchants feel distrustful of the imperial court. And don't forget that Xia Qifei now also has an official status. His status as the Jiangnan Supervisor of the Supervisory Yuan has not been removed. Therefore, of course, the Governor's Office refused to admit that this matter had anything to do with the government.

Under the angry accusations of the Ming family, in the Kyoto Public Prosecutor's Office headquarters may or may not have questioning. Headed by the governor of Jiangnan, Yamen, the governments of several major states began to unite and work hard to carry out an investigation into Xia Qifei's assassination. It is amazing that no one in the government, whether it is the government or the Ming family, mentioned the Jiangnan Water Village that died in the sea of fire, and it seems that the Jianghu force that used to be extremely beautiful in Jiangnan has never existed.

Compared with the inexplicable battle outside Cangzhou City and the great victory that determined the direction of history at Hongshankou, the turmoil and killing in Jiangnan are not so dazzling, there are not as many people as there are in those two places, and the impact does not seem to be as big as those two, and the powerful citizens of Kyoto only vaguely know that there is a very rich family in Jiangnan who does not seem to be very happy recently. However, the battle in Jiangnan is actually the real competition, because it bears a large share of the tax source of Qingguo, and one-third of the people live and work in peace and contentment.

And Jiangnan has always been happy, even if Fan Xian went to Jiangnan to make a mess, he was extremely careful to control the turmoil within a certain range, although it provoked a Jiangnan Shizi movement on the streets, but after all, it did not make Jiangnan chaotic. And this time Jiangnan is really in chaos, if it weren't for Xia Qifei who survived by luck and used more ruthless means to appease his sad heart, maybe Jiangnan has all fallen under the control of the imperial court. Regarding this point, it can only be said that Fan Xian's luck in this life is indeed good, and those cronies and subordinates he chose have completely exceeded the rewards for their trust in him.

The cold war between His Majesty the Emperor and Fan Xian turned into a hot war in three important places in the world, and in addition to these three places, there was also an incident outside Yingzhou City, but this matter did not attract too many people's attention. Deprived of his official position by the imperial court, Su Wenmao, an official of the Supervision Yuan and the chief officer of the Inner Treasury Transfer Department who was escorted back to Kyoto for trial, passed through Yingzhou, when the prisoner car team just walked out of Yingzhou City, encountered an attack by a group of bandits, that day, the criminal department officials responsible for escorting the prisoners suffered countless casualties, and Su Wenmao was cut off an arm alive, and finally his life and death are unknown, and his whereabouts are unknown.

"The bandits in Yingzhou back then were actually Guan Yumei...... That year, I took a boat down to Jiangnan, and she was the first person to start dealing with. Then through her relationship, she found Ming Qishao, that is, Xia Qi

On the twenty-eighth day of the twelfth month of the tenth year of Qingli, the information of Jiangnan finally reached the Fan Mansion through the way of Baoyue Tower, Fan Xian looked at the information in his hand and was silent for a long time, and said: "Jiangnan Water Village has long been secretly recruited. The center of gravity of the Hangzhou Association has always been in Yingzhou, and the tragic scene after the river burst that year has long been gone, and now the governor of Yingzhou is a good official I personally selected, how can there be so many bandits. ”

Fan Xian smiled, but his smile was a little bleak, he glanced back at Lin Wan'er, and said, "You and I have been tossing for so many years, but it turns out that we can't catch up with Your Majesty's unreasonable blind slashing and killing." ”

When Fan Xian went down to the south of the Yangtze River and passed by Yingzhou, he found that the people's livelihood here was difficult, and later Neiku rejuvenated. The imperial treasury was full, the inner treasury was abundant, and within the first time, the Hangzhou meeting, which Lin Wan'er presided over, began to put silver taels into the poor prefectures and counties on both sides of the river. The people's livelihood in Jiangnan should be better now than it was back then.

"Jianlu sent a total of six people to Jiangnan, and I left three in the inner library, because it is the top priority, and the other three are mainly responsible for the safety of Xia Qifei and Su Wenmao, I don't want these people who follow me to die. Fan Xian said expressionlessly: "That's it, there is still such a big problem, I hope Wen Mao can survive." ”

Lin Wan'er looked at him quietly from the side, knowing that there was a lot of pain and pressure in his heart. Fan Xian lowered his head and pondered for a moment, then slowly raised his head, and a flame seemed to begin to burn in his eyes. This flame is like a fire that has been burning in a lake for three days and three nights, and it seems that countless souls are struggling and crying and crying in this fire.

The situation in Kyoto is also full of bitter wind and rain, Yan Bingyun is still in Dingzhou to deal with the Qingzhou War, even if he has left Dingzhou at this time, he still has to delay on the road for a while. It was also during this period that the Metropolitan Procuratorate took the opportunity to start the coercion of the Supervision Yuan, and now the two presidents of the Supervision Yuan have died and abolished, but Bingyun has not been able to obtain the obedience of the Supervision Yuan from the heart, and the dragons are leaderless, relying on the connivance of His Majesty. With the cooperation of the subordinates, the imperial historians of the Metropolitan Procuratorate began to launch the most brutal purge of the Supervision Yuan under the leadership of He Zongwei.

The first one bore the brunt was one, in just three days. More than 30 officials of the Supervision Yuan were arrested and imprisoned. was arrested in Dali Temple, and those seemingly mild civil officials rarely had the opportunity to take action against the Supervision Yuan. Naturally, you will not be polite, and all kinds of torture instruments in the prison are beginning to play a role at this moment. Defeated, defeated to the ground, Fan Xian knew that he was wrong, His Majesty the Emperor was like that Dadong Mountain, even if he created countless storms in the world, as long as this mountain did not fall, the court of Qingguo would not be chaotic, and no matter how strong the wind and rain were, it would still be cold.

And the very secret news coming out of the palace today was like the last straw that pressed on Fan Xian's heart, forcing him to make a choice immediately. A show girl who was selected into the palace was said to be pregnant with a dragon seed - hearing this news, Fan Xian couldn't help but sneer, it seems that the effect of eating celery and killing sperm does not have much effect on a monster like the Great Grandmaster.

"It's very difficult for Xia Qifei over there in Jiangnan, if I don't make a move, he can't even protect himself, let alone support me. Fan Xian narrowed his eyes slightly and said, "The more my strength is lost, the more ruthless Your Majesty's methods will be, this is a complementary thing." At first, he will take his time, but the strength of my counterattack will become smaller and smaller, and his scruples will become less and less, and the means will become more and more crazy...... Until finally I was left alone. ”

"The imperial court's measures in Jiangnan...... Actually, it's very unwise. Lin Wan'er said softly: "Clear-eyed people know what is going on in the predicament of the Ming family, the imperial court has done it too obviously this time, and the methods used are too bloody, I am afraid that the merchants in Jiangnan will be centrifuged from now on." ”

"Not only is it unwise, but it can be called stupid, but it is clear that His Majesty does not care about this, he only cares about completely crushing me in the shortest possible time, and crushing any luck I have. Fan Xiandi's expression was very blank, "I don't know why, it seems that he is also a little anxious." ”

Lin Wan'er looked at him, her heart trembled slightly, although the husband and wife didn't say anything, but with just one look, she knew what he was thinking, especially in such a situation. His expression like this is enough to prove his thoughts.

In this way, two lines of tears flowed out of Wan'er's eyes, she looked at Fan Xian in a daze, and said in a trembling voice: "But what can you do?"

Fan Xian was silent for a long time, then gently hugged her body, hugged her gently like a child, and said softly: "Although I have been defeated again and again. It seems like there is no way to fight back, but it actually proves something I want to know. ”

"Your Majesty is old after all, and he is no longer as patient as he was then, calm and indifferent to a terrible degree, and does not give people any chance. Fan Xian lowered his head and said in his wife's ear: "Take off that dragon robe, Your Majesty is more like an ordinary person, this ...... Maybe it's my chance. "Go and wait for that loved one who is covered with a black cloth to come back from the ice and snow, if he really continues to wait like this, even if His Majesty the Emperor has endured not to kill him. Even if he waited for Uncle Wuzhu's return, at that time, the people he cared about were only afraid that all of them would die, just like those people in the Jiangnan Water Village, Guan Yumei, Su Wenmao, and those officials in the Supervision Yuan.

He had to fight back. And he does have secrets in his hands that the emperor never knows, but he knows that once the counterattack on the inner library really unfolds, there will be no room for reversal between the forces of the Fan family and the palace, maybe the entire Qingguo will be in turmoil because of this, and if Fan is defeated, he is only afraid that countless people will die behind him.

Fan Xian did not have the confidence that he could defeat his emperor Lao Tzu, so when he bravely stood up at the cost of his life, he had to save a way back for his relatives and friends who cared about him. After that autumn rain, he didn't care about his own life and death, but he still cared about the life and death of others.

For this back road, after the twenty-eighth day of the lunar month, the Difan Mansion was quiet for a long time, and the atmosphere was depressed for a long time, that is, the two little ancestors seemed to have discovered their father's strange emotions, and no longer dared to shout loudly.

After an extremely tasteless New Year's Festival, Fan Xian locked himself in the study after eating some dumplings at will, and this level was seven days. It wasn't until the seventh day of junior high that he came out of the study.

Everyone in the mansion was waiting outside the study, Lin Wan'er looked at him worriedly from the side, and Sisi took a bowl of ginseng soup and sent it to him.

Fan Xian drank the ginseng soup and said with a smile: "Let's take the four big girls in Shanzhou." It's still your best soup. ”

Sisi chuckled in his heart. Suddenly, he felt some ominous signs, but he bit his lips tightly. didn't say anything, she believed that the young master she watched grow up was not a mortal person, no matter what kind of predicament she faced, she would easily solve it, just like the years in the past twenty years.

On the seventh day of today's new year, Taixue started class, and after washing, Lin Wan'er tidied up his clothes for him and sent him to the main gate of the mansion, her hands trembling slightly all the way.

The early morning sunlight broke through the cold clouds that had blocked Kyoto for a long time, and the cold sprinkled cold. Lin Wan'er looked at Fan Xian's good-looking side cheeks stupidly, not knowing if she could see it in the future, and suddenly saw a white hair growing on Fan Xian's sideburns, shining in the morning light, and she couldn't help but feel sore in her heart.

She asked as calmly as possible, "I've been thinking about it for seven days, but have you figured out anything?"

Fan Xian sighed, replied to the laziness and helplessness when he first entered Kyoto, and said with a smile: "I hope to become a great grandmaster for seven days, do you think I'm too delusional?"

Lin Wan'er covered her lips and smiled: "It's really wishful thinking." ”

"A few years ago, I asked Gonggong Dai to hand over the words to the palace, and His Majesty asked me to enter the palace in the afternoon. Fan Xian glanced at his wife with pity, and said: "Your Majesty has always loved you, plus you are old, I won't embarrass you, if you don't feel well in Kyoto, go back to Shanzhou, Your Majesty always wants to see *** face Lin Wan'er still covered her lips, and asked with a smile: "I'm too lazy to go, I'm just waiting for you at home, but you, what can you really do?"

Fan Xian shrugged his shoulders and said like a ruffian: "What is the way? Your Majesty has no empty door in his body...... Ah, come to think of it, a person surnamed Xiong said that since there is no empty door on his body, then he is an empty door. ”

"Laughing again. Lin Wan'er covered her lips and smiled, laughing as if she was about to cough up tears.

"It's meant to be a joke. Fan Xian lowered his head and kissed Wan'er lightly on the forehead, and then got into the carriage without looking back.

Watching the carriage drive in the direction of Taixue on Dongchuan Road, the smile on Lin Wan'er's face suddenly turned desolate, and she put down the sleeve that was hidden on her lips. There were two blood stains on the sleeves of her white lichen, and she had a hard time in the past seven days, and she was very sad that her old illness had recurred.

"Kong said to be benevolent, Meng said to take righteousness, but his righteousness is exhausted. So benevolence. What do you learn when you read the book of Shengjian...... Shu is almost worthy of it, since ancient times, those who want to believe in the righteousness of the world, do not move their hearts with success or failure......"

Calm and even a little cold, the voice sounded in front of the small lake of Taixue, more than 100 students of Taixue listened to Xiao Fan's lecture quietly, and many people felt that Xiao Fan's mood was strange today, because today he seemed to like to laugh a little, and those naughty jokes were not so funny. Many people feel that Xiao Fan has something on his mind.

Scholar Hu watched quietly under a large tree. Lao Huai comforted, he thought he knew where Fan Xian's heart was, so he comforted. Today is the seventh day of the new year, the first lesson of Taixue is opened, and in the afternoon, His Majesty will summon Fan Xian into the palace. The above-ground figures in the Qingguo court all knew that Fan Xian invited him to enter the palace this time. Therefore, Scholar Hu naturally thought that under His Majesty's repeated blows, before the great results achieved by Qingguo, Fan Xian admitted defeat.

Thinking of the future Qingguo monarchs and ministers concentric, father and son working together, dominating the world, and harmony, Scholar Hu felt extremely comforted, and he didn't even pay attention to the specific content of Fan Xian's lecture today.

"Kong is not the nine holes that pretend to be Wang Leehom, and it is not Kong Ming, who shakes a fan. It is even more unlikely that it means to punch the eye. Eminent...... Well, I don't really like this guy, because he likes to debate so much, and he is kind of like me. ”

Fan Xian smiled and preached to the more than 100 Taixue students by the pool, he didn't care if these Taixue students could understand it, there was indeed a subset of scriptures and history in this world, but there was no Confucius, Mencius or even many sons, there was benevolence and righteousness, but it was rarely as clear as Confucius said.

"This kind of thing is to be done occasionally. But...... I'm not that kind of person, I've always been afraid of death. ”

As soon as these words came out, all the Taixue students laughed, and felt that in Master Xiao Fan's messy lecture today, there was finally a joke that they could understand.

"But!"

Fan Xian's expression suddenly became indifferent. Wait until it's quiet. Word by word, he said: "How many people are different from beasts, but only the ears of those who value righteousness are not necessarily...... Human instinct. Tend to live and avoid death, but the respect of human beings lies in the fact that they can die generously at a certain time, why do they go to death? Naturally, there are things in this world that are more important than life and death. ”

"It's still none of my business. He laughed, and then there was silence all around, and everyone felt strange, and all the students looked at him by the pool in a daze, and no one laughed out loud.

"I always thought that nothing in the world was more important than my life and death, but then I realized that man's desire is a great thing, and it is a great thing for man to have the right to choose. Fan Xian was silent for a moment and then said: "Since we always have to die, then we have to choose a more enjoyable way to let ourselves die. ”

"How should a man spend his life?"

Fan Xian looked around and asked this question, but naturally no one answered. After a moment of silence, his voice echoed in the quiet Taixue.

"I've thought about it all my life and I haven't figured it out, I copy a lot of books, earn a lot of money, marry a lot of wives, and have a lot of children...... Well, it seems that it did, and then I thought about it for a long, long time, and came to the conclusion that I could live as I wanted, as long as I lived in peace. ”

"That's probably what I'm trying to say today. After saying this, Fan Xian left Taixue and got into the lonely black carriage, leaving behind a young student from Taixue who didn't know why, inexplicably, and looked at each other, as well as the scholar Hu who finally understood what Fan Xian was saying, so his face changed drastically.

Scholar Hu left Taixue in panic and rushed in the direction of the palace, it was still early at this time, and Fan Xian would not be able to enter the palace until the afternoon, he hoped that he would still have time to say something to His Majesty, persuade something, and prevent something from happening.

Fan Xian's rambling speech in Taixue was spread out in the shortest possible time, and there was no need for someone with a heart to help it, in fact, in the whole of Kyoto, those sensitive people have been waiting for the reaction of this Kyoto idler.

Unlike all these people who were in a hurry and nervous, Fan Xian was calm, and it was still early before he entered the palace, he came to the Xinfeng Pavilion, and began to enjoy the rare and perhaps last enjoyment of winter—the steaming steamed buns and the big treasure with a steamed bun face next to the table.