In this Western-style old building, time seemed to stand still for a moment, and Yang Du finished saying this, "The Qing Dynasty has something that has made the whole country lose face." After that, he didn't rush to speak, but turned his face out of the window, Wang Xinghui, Yang Xi and Lu Deming looked at his solemn expression, relying on the knowledge reserve in their stomachs, trying their best to search for the major events that had happened in the past thirty or even fifty years, and a few birds fluttered on the camphor branches, stirring the beams of light that slanted in between the leaves.

An old voice suddenly read word by word in the hall: "In the twenty-eighth year of Guangxu, in 1902 of the Western calendar, the old man was hired by Tingzhou County, Xiamen, Fujian Province to be in charge of the governor's office to compile and revise the "Continuation of Tingzhou County". The old man recorded the historical records with his pen, and naturally he had to compile them according to the facts, but he deleted them several times, and I finally couldn't write them into the annals. ”

Except for the elders who had already heard about it, the rest of the people in the hall looked at the voice together, and recognized it as the short old man who claimed to be Wang Zhaoyong.

Yang Du turned around and said: "Yes, this big case happened in the 28th year of Guangxu, but the cause was seven years ago, and it took a long time to be wronged, and no one was in charge, so that there was this unsolved mystery case, the Qing court was rotten to the bones, and it has been revealed everywhere, what is the use of deleting historical records? Alas, the person involved is innocent of death, but we never know whether this case was committed by Mr. Nanpu or not. ”

Wang Zhaoyong took the words again, shook his head and said slowly: "Unjust, unjust, that year, a foreigner in the concession died. This foreigner was none other than Thomas, the British envoy invited by the emperor to China to carry out the Westernization Movement. ”

"It is rumored that Thomas died at the hands of Mr. Nampo, and to this day, none of our close friends can ask whether Mr. Nampo killed Mr. Nampo!"

"Because of my responsibilities and because I have already had a good relationship with Mr. Nanpu, I have carefully investigated the ins and outs of this matter and tried to make no mistakes. It turned out that this Thomas was sent by the British to envoy to China in the 21st year of Guangxu, and came across the ocean. In the winter of this year, coinciding with Halloween in the West, Thomas sent a letter to the Tingzhou County Government in Xiamen for friendship, saying that he was going to hold a ballroom between Britain and China in the concession mansion to communicate Chinese and foreign feelings, and invited the family members of the county government officials to participate. ”

At that time, it was fashionable to implement foreign affairs, and the doorman who came to deliver the letter explained that it was ballroom dancing. The county magistrate didn't care when he saw it, so he told his wife. Madame is a modern girl who loves to catch up with fashion, so she invited several official wives and ladies to go to the meeting together. Who would have thought that after three rounds of drinking, the foreign devils were beastly and unscrupulous, and they locked the door, raped several official wives on the dance floor, and killed one of the official daughters. ”

Late the next night, several officials and wives came back dying. Mrs. Ling of the county was quite attractive, so naturally she was not spared. When the county order asked, his hands and feet were cold, and he was so angry that he trembled and couldn't speak. The next day, several masters and county officials in the county exploded, and their wives had participated in the party, but because of the large number of foreigners, they could not immediately arrest people in the concession, so the county order was sent to the government Yin. Seeing that there was a joint complaint of seven or eight officials in the book, which was very implicated, Fu Yin hurriedly reported the case to the Criminal Department. ”

Unexpectedly, this matter was later suppressed by the Ministry of Officials, saying that it was a matter of foreign affairs, and that the matter would definitely affect the diplomatic relations between the two countries, and it was appropriate to ask the Ministry of Rites to negotiate with the British, and the Ministry of Rites negotiated with the British ambassador, and finally got only one, because of the difference between Chinese and Western etiquette, there was a misunderstanding, and an apologetic reply. ”

Among these official wives, there was Mr. Nanpu's lover and Mr. Daoxi's younger sister, Mr. Nanpu happened to be serving in Xiamen at that time, in fact, with Mr. Nanpu's status at that time, he was far from being condescended to the position of a county official. Emperor Guangxu placed it in Xiamen, is another plan, at that time overseas Japanese rampant, the southeast island country, several times on the table for help, Mr. Nanpu at this time secretly went to Xiamen, naturally is a major task. ”

It was also Mr. Nanpu who was obsessed with state affairs, so he naturally snubbed his wife, who originally expected Mr. Nanpu to only have a quiet position in the country and enjoy the years, but she did not expect that Mr. Nanpu would have great ambitions and go around. The two get together less and leave more, and her affection for Mr. Nanpu is no longer as good as before. ”

"Mr. Nanpu has traveled abroad to several countries, and he once said to me, foreign countries, don't look at the United States, England, France and other countries are now becoming stronger and stronger, and they claim to be civilized, but that is actually the result of having fewer people and more things, and bullying the weak and plundering everywhere. Foreigners are humble and gentlemanly on the surface, but in fact they are well-dressed beasts and wolf ambitions, and he will be overtaken by our China one day, but in the east of Japan, with our Chinese civilization of 5,000 years, the armed forces are also prosperous, and it will be a big disaster in the long run!"

Mr. Nanpu had already made up his mind, and if he had known that Thomas had sent a letter to the county government that day, he might have prevented his wife from going to the appointment, but the things in the world were so mistaken that it was a pity. Mr. Nanpu was worried about state affairs, and he came in secret, where would he bother with such a amusement, he did not know at all that the British envoy had sent a letter of friendship to the county office. And his wife, who lived in Tiannan, was bored all day, and at the invitation of Mrs. Naxian Ling, Mr. Nanpu's wife immediately went with her. ”

"After everyone signed the joint letter, they waited day and night, and did not wait for a reply from the Criminal Department and the Ministry of Officials, but only waited for a letter from the Ministry of Rites and Rites that the matter was too big and easy to affect diplomatic relations, and the British envoy had been instructed to apologize. ”

When several county officials saw that there was no superior in charge, their hearts had already softened. Several of the wives' wives even began to deny what had happened that night, saying that they were probably just drunken and had occasional physical contact with each other during the dance and socializing, and that there was no intrusion, but in the end they were reluctant to mention it. And only Mr. Nanpu, after the incident, he was heartbroken, first, he deeply blamed himself for not protecting his lover, and secondly, he vowed to be ashamed. ”

Because Mr. Nanpu came to Xiamen by Guangxu's secret order, it was inconvenient to leave his name in the joint complaint, so he quickly returned to the capital and first asked Emperor Guangxu to inform him of the matter. Emperor Guangxu was also shocked when he heard this, and immediately informed the British with the Ministry of Rites, and sent people to Xiamen immediately with the Ministry of Punishment to prepare for the arrest of the murderer. Mr. Nanpu was still not at ease, and personally went to the Criminal Department and the Ministry of Rites to supervise it. ”

"Who would have expected that the people who went to Xiamen would return halfway through, and when asked, they said that they were at the insistence of the Queen Mother and suspended the execution. How could Mr. Nanpu swallow this breath, he was above the court, and he made the reason clear several times, but the Empress Dowager Cixi just didn't allow it.

Mr. Nan Pu repeatedly appealed, but was reprimanded by the court for ignoring the overall situation, ignorance of the system, and insulting the national system, and was later sent to prison and sentenced to beheading. ”

Lu Deming had already heard it furiously, and he was furious, although it was a thing of the past, but the foreigners raped the official's family and family members with impunity, and instead sent the victim to prison. This sounds really infuriating. Lai Dascoo and several workers present had already taken turns scolding the mother of the foreign devil dozens of times, and they slapped the table with a sky-high price.

Although Wang Xinghui came to seek revenge against Liu Nanpu this time, he couldn't help but feel sorry for him when he heard that he was a big official and suffered this great humiliation.

Yang Xi's mind was more delicate, and he suddenly shook his head and said, "I have something I don't understand. Liu Nanpu is an important position in the Qing court, and he is also shouldering the secret mission of the Guangxu Emperor, even if the court is confused, it will not kill General Liu Nanpu. ”

Yang Duyin coughed with compassion and sneered: "How can you juniors know the hidden secret? ”

"When Mr. Nampo was imprisoned, he was worried. His wife later went crazy and became separated, and her whereabouts are unknown. Mr. Nanpu, on the other hand, was imprisoned and could not save him, and he only hoped that his old friends or Emperor Guangxu would try to come to his rescue. But he didn't expect that although Emperor Guangxu had the heart to protect him, he couldn't make up his mind to settle a grudge with foreigners. Emperor Guangxu was bent on promoting the Westernization Movement, and many national affairs had to rely on Britain and France at that time, so he only superficially blamed the Criminal Department to arrest him, but in fact he did not dare to make further moves. Emperor Guangxu only hoped that Mr. Nanpu would slowly let go of his grievances over time, and the matter was over, in order to appease Mr. Nanpu, he also ordered me to write a holy order to add Mr. Nanpu as a co-founder of Wenyuan Pavilion in the second year. It was only later that the Queen Mother was furious at the court, Mr. Nanpu was imprisoned, and the matter of hand-picking and sealing was put aside. ”

And other colleagues in the Huai Army in the past, Nie Shicheng, Liu Mingchuan and others who were good friends with him were in high positions. In the Hunan army, it is even worse, Mr. Nanpu was born in the Tongcheng faction, and the Hunan army has been influenced by the Tongcheng school since Zeng Guofan, Li Hongzhang, and Zuo Zongtang. ”

"When the power of the Hunan army grew, there were quite a few Han generals who secretly planned to stand on behalf of the Qing court, and at that time, after the Hunan army captured the Taiping Army, it had been more than ten years to run half of the Jiangnan country. ”

"Li Hongzhang, Zuo Zongtang, and Zeng Guofan, the three giants, are all obedient to Cixi and the Qing court on the surface, but in private, they will inevitably support the army and be complacent, but they are just waiting and watching. If one party rashly claims to be the emperor, it will provoke several other parties to rise up and make it public, so on the one hand, it is false and wronged, and on the other hand, it is on the sidelines. ”

"How could their thoughts escape the eyes of the Empress Cixi?...... When the Taiping army rose, Cixi had no soldiers available, so she had to sit back and watch the expansion of the power of the Han army. The soldiers in the Hunan army were not the imperial court soldiers at that time, but the temporary recruitment of the Han green battalion soldiers, they fought as soldiers, and came for money, this order, Zeng Guofan's soldiers happily loaded with gold and silver stolen from Tianjing and returned to their hometown in Hunan, so that Zeng Guofan's army collapsed suddenly. ”

Immediately afterwards, Cixi set aside Emperor Guangxu and suppressed the Westernists, which is the second step, so putting Mr. Nanpu on death row is her third step. ”

"Yes, just like what the female doll said just now, at that time, even if Cixi didn't call the shots for Mr. Nanpu, there was no need to put a prominent court official on death row. ...... At that time, in the Jiangnan area, officials at all levels were basically warlords of the Hunan army. They did not have much knowledge, and they held important local positions at all levels with their military merits, and officials supported and maintained each other, and it was difficult for the Qing court to intervene, and Cixi had long wanted to find an opportunity to suppress the Hunan army's power in the south. And Mr. Nanpu has repeatedly committed a straight face in the imperial court, which happens to be the best opportunity. ”

"After Mr. Nanpu was imprisoned, several of us used to go to the book separately. Hehe, as expected by this demon queen, the Hunan army has been scattered to pieces, and it can no longer appeal jointly, and it can't make any waves. Cixi immediately dismissed us one by one on charges of rebellion. Sheng Xuanhuai was in the high position of Minister of Posts and Communications, and the Senate and Cabinet were not spared. ”

This Mr. Doshi saw that he couldn't help it, and he avoided Japan, and it was only after these years that he returned to his hometown. At that time, in the past six months, more than 100 officials of all sizes in the south of China have been removed. Alas, this Raushzi court is hopeless, and it is in vain that we have spent all our efforts to support, whether we are officials or not, what does it matter, but it is a pity that Mr. Nanpu ......"

Yang Du looked at the sturdy old man named Deng Haishan, Deng Haishan nodded, then stood up, and continued the matter: "Mr. Nanpu's prison term expires, and he will be beheaded after the autumn of this year," he took out a piece of yellow paper from his arms, held it up and looked around at everyone, and said: "This is the verdict of the Criminal Department in the 22nd year of Guangxu in conjunction with Dali Temple and the Metropolitan Procuratorate to sentence Mr. Liu Nanpu to be beheaded. Alas, the one who sent this question to Mr. Nanpu that day was the little old man and me. ”

"When the old man's family was poor, he became an executioner in the vegetable market in order to be greedy for money. We have always had a tradition as executioners that we cannot kill more than 100 people. If it is over 100, it will inevitably damage the yin virtue, but when you enter this industry, you can't be afraid halfway, because once you are afraid, the ghost who has been beheaded by us will come to the door, and it will inevitably bring disaster. Therefore, it is necessary to cut the number of ninety-nine in order to suppress the yin spirit, and when the number of ninety-nine is killed, the executioner will change careers. This is a rule that has been passed down for generations, and no one dares to disobey it. Mr. Nanpu is the number of the little old man's ninety-nine, so I can't forget this matter. ”

Gu Hongming suddenly interjected: "The strange thing is that Mr. Nanpu did not die in that time, half a month after the beheading, Mr. Nanpu suddenly escaped to the old man's house one day. I asked in amazement. Mr. Nampo did not answer, but only asked about his wife's whereabouts. I told the truth that during the year, although I tried to find him on his behalf, there was a vast sea of people, and the people I sent out were like looking for a needle in a haystack, and they found nothing. Before the incident, Mr. Nam Pu's wife was pregnant, and at this moment, he would be one year old. Without saying a word, Mr. Nanpu took some coils from me and put them on his body, and began a long-term journey to find a wife. ”

Deng Haishan shook his head and sighed, and said, "You may not believe it when you say this, yes, I didn't kill Mr. Nanpu with my own hands." Mr. Nanpu is really a heavenly opportunity, there are ghosts and gods unpredictable skills, he can't wait for his colleagues to rescue, he knows that foreign aid is hopeless, but he is unwilling to accept his fate, he is disheartened, and he began to think about saving himself. On the day of the execution, he finally relied on bribing a jailer with a large amount of money to escape the day before his execution!"

"Yes, that jailer is me. I am greedy for money by nature, and Mr. Nanpu actually told me a shocking big secret that day, and this secret is the secret about Shi Dakai's treasure. ”

"I didn't believe it at first, but I remember the situation that day clearly, and I will never forget a word of what Mr. Nanpu said. One day, the Empress Dowager Cixi personally went to the prison to interrogate the prisoner, Mr. Nanpu did not say a word, and after the Empress Dowager Cixi left, Mr. Nanpu actually asked me if I had seen the night pearl on Cixi's head. ”

"How could I not see, as soon as Cixi walked in, the walls of death row immediately lit up. I secretly looked up, and the Empress Dowager Cixi's head was engraved with a goose-egg-sized gem, shining brightly, and a dark and lifeless death row was instantly illuminated with spring. ”

"Mr. Nanpu said to me, after you go out, go to the Qianmen Hotel under the overpass, find the last room in the south of the ground room, move the bed, there is a brick loose, you go and take out the contents there, and you will know everything. ”

"I was puzzled and curious, so I searched according to what he said, guess what I found! A jewel that is exactly the same as the night pearl on the head of the Empress Dowager Cixi!"

"I was speechless in amazement. When I got back to my cell, I asked him what was going on, and I still haven't forgotten what he said.

He told me that they were the three supreme treasures in Shi Dakai's treasure. After the Tianjing Incident, Shi Da Kaiqin Wang was meritorious, Hong Xiuquan gave him a second one in order to appease and envelop Shi Dakai, but he didn't know that in fact, Yang Xiuqing was obtained by Wei Changhui in the chaotic army, Wei Changhui later besieged Shi Da to open the door, when Shi Dakai looked for him to take revenge, Wei Changhui once asked for help with this gem, Shi Dakai would not let go of the ruthlessness of destroying the door because of this small gem, he didn't know the origin of the gem, and after killing Wei Changhui, he handed over the gem to the pro-army guards for safekeeping。 It wasn't until Hong Xiuquan rewarded him later that Shi Dakai knew the preciousness of the orb. Later, Shi Dakai fled, Tianjing fell, and the third one was presented to the Empress Dowager Cixi by Zeng Guofan, which was the one on her hat, and Shi Dakai followed him to the southwest from then on. ”

"Mr. Nanpu said to me again: 'Do you know? I once went to recruit Shi Dakai on the orders of the Emperor when he was dying, and the secret of his treasure is with me. ’

As he spoke, he lifted his stomach, and when I looked closely, it was a secret tattoo. When he came in, I had already seen that he had a dense tattoo on his belly, but it was not uncommon for a person in the rivers and lakes to have a tattoo on his body, I only thought it was an ordinary pattern, but I didn't expect him to say at this time: 'This is half of the treasure map, you cut him off with a knife, as long as you try to get me out, I will definitely look for the treasure with you, if you kill me, the remaining half of the treasure secret, but only I know, if you manage to save my life, I will take you to find the treasure, and we will both of us and half.' ’”

"I didn't sleep all night, Shi Dakai's treasure has long been rumored by the folk, this is a treasure that a person can not eat for several lifetimes, and I am also afraid that he will lie to me, but with the treasure bead in his hand to testify, the credibility accounts for a large amount! I thought about it all night, and decided to take a risk! In this way, I was smoked by interests, and finally couldn't help but believe him, I spent five years of savings, and bought off a person who voluntarily sold himself to bear the guilt overnight, and secretly replaced Mr. Nanpu. ”

Everyone was amazed when they heard it. Gu Hongming nodded and said, "I see." Immediately after he escaped, he searched everywhere for the whereabouts of his wife and daughter, and for two years, he came to my place several times to retrieve the coils. Mr. Nanpu often lamented to himself that as long as he didn't look for it one day, his heart would be cut like a knife, and he almost wanted to die, but the whereabouts of his wife and daughter were unknown, so he held on and searched everywhere. I can't persuade you hard, but I have to dispose of my possessions as needed.

This winter snowed heavily, Mr. Nanpu did not come for half a year, I was not at ease, worried that something would happen to him, but I could not do anything except sigh all day, sent several groups of people to inquire about his Xiaoluo, but there was no news, and then I was disturbed by mundane affairs, and I had to go to Guanzhong on business, so the matter was slowly put aside. ”

"On this day I was outside Huayin County, I happened to meet Mr. Nanpu, alas, he is no longer human, dying, I quickly rescued him, along the way a good life, escorted him east out of Tongguan Sanmenxia, through Zhumadian, Xinyang took the road to the south, I was afraid that Mr. Nanpu would not be able to afford to be seriously ill and his life would be hindered, so he did not take the official road along the way, but took a shortcut to hurry, this day in Suizhou, Hubei, the sky was late, we asked the women working in the countryside on the edge of the mountain village to ask for directions, but also in the dark has its own providence, when the woman spoke, Mr. Nanpu sat up in shock in his dying illness, and he immediately heard that the woman was his wife. ”

Mr. Nanpu was so surprised that he couldn't believe his eyes, and he trembled all over his body, and said, 'Madam, I have finally found you, and I have finally found you!' Unexpectedly, his wife panicked, wept bitterly and shook her head at him, and said to him miserably: 'I have already remarried someone else, why do you want to harm me again?'"

"Mr. Nanpu was puzzled and asked, 'How can I harm you?' The woman said: 'On that day, more than a dozen women and ladies of the official family in the county government were insulted, and you were the only one, who did not forgive, and went to the capital, have you considered my feelings, my reputation is ruined, my family is disgraced, I have pleaded with you several times, but you will not forgive. Do you think of today?"

"Mr. Nampo said, 'Madame, what did you say, what did you say, what did I do this for?' and the woman said, 'What are you for, and you are not for yourself?'"

"Mr. Nanpu was stunned, and that night the sky was raining heavily and the thunder was shining, and Mr. Nanpu stood in the rain, his eyes were bloodshot, and his expression was very terrifying, and he said, 'What about our children?'"

"The woman said, 'You do not see him, he has recognized another man as his father, and we mother and son, who have wandered thousands of miles here, and have been loved by my husband, have a place to settle, and you must not let anyone know about my past, or I will die before you.'" ’”

Mr. Nanpu was so angry that he was about to go forward to look for him, but the woman took out a sharp knife, pointed it at her chest, and said, "I beg you, go away!

"Mr. Nanpu stood trembling in the rain and said, 'But my child, my child, how can you not let me see him, I have been looking for you for six years!'"

"The woman was also in pain, and cried to the ground, and Mr. Nanpu stepped forward to help, and the woman raised her head, and there was no hope in her eyes, but she said only a few words: 'Why, why do you still refuse to let me go......?' and waved the sharp knife into the neck. She had already made up her mind, but there was no room for her attack, and the blood suddenly sprayed on Mr. Nanpu's face like a spring, and he immediately died of anger. ”

"At this time, we were all unexpected, Mr. Nanpu paused his head and cried in the rain, and the blood on his forehead flowed profusely, as if he was going to knock himself to death. He buried his wife's body, ignored me, and disappeared like mad in the torrential rain. ”

Half a year later, the newspaper published that Thomas, the British envoy to the Qing Dynasty, died violently, and died mysteriously in the embassy. The foreign envoys asked the Qing court to thoroughly investigate the cause of death, and the Qing court found several groups of officials, but they could not find the murderer, and the people in the market said that it must be Mr. Nanpu who took revenge, but it was just speculation. We learned the news and believed that Mr. Nanpu had done it, but since then, Mr. Nanpu's whereabouts have not been seen in the world. ”

"Every day of life, the sun rises and sets, day and night, but it does not rise at a fixed time and set at a fixed time, like the sun. Some people have been living under the sun all their lives, while others have to live in the dark of the night. Buddhism has a saying that in the past, the Peacock Wheel King swallowed the Buddha into his belly, and the Buddha used all his strength to break out of the abdomen, but the Buddha left the Peacock Wheel King. The Buddha said, 'If I kill him, it will be like killing the mother of the living body.' ’...... The pain in Mr. Nanpu's heart is indescribable, and if he recognizes his beloved son, it will inevitably increase the pain of both of them, and he will suffer all his life; if he does not meet his beloved son, then he will be the only one who will endure endless weeping. For forty years, he has not been seen again, but we are convinced that he must still be alive. ”

Gu Hongming relayed this paragraph, and Yang Xi had already cried so much that his liver and intestines were broken. She was kind-hearted and sympathetic to the misfortunes of others, not to mention that this Mr. Nanpu had great kindness in his family, and when she heard about what happened to him, she felt great pity in her heart, and she was unable to help herself.

Wang Xinghui comforted Yang Xi on the one hand, and on the other hand, he was also nostalgic in his heart, although Wei Yihu said that he had found Liu Nanpu for a lifetime, but Liu Nanpu's suffering was far beyond the ability of people to bear, after listening to the narration of several old men, this Liu Nanpu did not seem to have any great evil, although he had served the imperial court, but it was still the Qing Dynasty at that time, and it was understandable that he served the country.

When Deng Haishan talked about Liu Nanpu's escape from prison, Wang Xinghui touched the night pearl in his arms that he got from the crack in the mountain, and his heart moved: This jewel is rare in the world, and it is by no means an ordinary ordinary product.

He didn't have time to think about it carefully, but he saw that Sheng Xuanhuai and the following elders were still immersed in the past, with tears in their eyes. Wen Daoxi said: "Several of us are close friends of Mr. Nanpu, we can't save each other that day, we feel very guilty, after Mr. Nanpu disappeared, we tidied up his old apartment, retained the appearance of the day, and took care of it year after year, just hoping that he would have great powers and suddenly come back one day." After the dismissal of a few of us, we had nothing to do, so we simply set up this Qingming meeting, so we agreed that on the day of Mr. Nanpu's last departure, we agreed to meet here, first, to talk about the old friend, and second, to remember this old friend, and wait for him to come back. ”