Yongli Ming Dynasty

Chapter 110: Submission
In the government office, Li Chengdong took off his crown and sash, revealing a bald head with a long, thin pigtail hanging down from the back of his head.
Li Chengdong looked at the braid hanging down the side of his face, and a trace of disgust flashed in his eyes

Li Chengdong sat behind the table, picked up the teacup and took a sip, then put the cup on the table with a bang.

The room was empty. Li Chengdong sat behind the table, thinking about something. After an unknown amount of time, he suddenly started to curse at the person in front of him.
"You old man, you can't even die peacefully"

Li Chengdong's face was gloomy. Now the whole government of Tingzhou had given him the power of life and death. He didn't know why he was still so irritable today.
Li Chengdong sat in the room for a while, and suddenly there was a knock on the door, and then Li Yuanyin pushed the door open and walked into the room.
Li Chengdong looked at the few bloodstains on the corner of Li Yuanyin's clothes, his face darkened slightly, and then he quickly regained his composure, without any trace of his previous irritability, and spoke softly
"Has Fu Guan been dealt with?"

"Reporting to foster father, it has been dealt with."

Li Chengdong was silent for a while before continuing to speak.

"Who did it?"

"When the jailers in the government office learned that they were going to punish Fu Guan, they all couldn't bear to do it, and even if they offered a reward, no one was willing to take it."

"In the end, it was a servant named Ding in the family of the former prefect Li Lanyou who was greedy for the reward and carried out the execution."

Li Yuanyin hesitated for a moment and said

"Hey, the prefect killed the cabinet minister. What a great prefect, what a great Ming Dynasty!"

Li Chengdong sneered and seemed to want to say something, but finally remained silent.

Li Chengdong sat silently behind the table, while Li Yuanyin seemed to be in a bad mood, and did not speak, but just stood quietly in the room.
There was silence in the room for a while, and then Li Chengdong came back to his senses and asked softly

"Did Fu Guan leave any last words before he died?"

"He wrote a poem on the wall, and then said nothing more, calmly going to his death"

Li Yuanyin spoke silently, then took out a folded piece of letter paper from his sleeve and placed it on the table in front of Li Chengdong.
Li Chengdong didn't even look at the letter on the table. He looked a little unwilling and couldn't help asking another question.

"I really didn't say a word"

"He had already made up his mind to die and said nothing from beginning to end," Li Yuanyin replied in a deep voice.

After listening to Li Yuanyin's words, Li Chengdong fell silent again. After a while, Li Chengdong recovered and waved to Li Yuanyin.

"Collect his remains and send them to Fuzhou City."

"Yes"

Li Yuanyin responded in a low voice

After Li Chengdong finished speaking, Li Yuanyin sat quietly behind the table again. Just as he was about to leave, Li Chengdong above him suddenly spoke

"What happened to the guy called Jiang something who kidnapped Fu Guan?"

"Jiang Henglong, this man kidnapped Fu Guan and brought him to the county government office, and then received a reward from the government office."

"I heard that this person is still in the city. He is said to be moving around, hoping to get a job in the city with this merit." Li Yuanyin's eyes flashed with disgust.

Li Chengdong's face flashed a hint of coldness when he heard this.

"It is said that Jiang Henglong once worshipped Fu Guan as his master, and sold his master for fame. I, Li Chengdong, cannot afford to use such a person, nor dare to use him."

A hint of coldness flashed in Li Chengdong's eyes, and he suddenly looked at Li Yuanyin below.
"It is said that Jiang Henglong has a lot of property in the countryside. You can go down and find a crime to confiscate the Jiang family and make up for the needs of the army."

"Now we are fighting for the Qing court and are short of food and money. Since Jiang Henglong is so loyal to the court, if he knew that his family wealth could help the court, he would definitely be willing to donate it."

"Understood, I will definitely take care of this matter." Li Yuanyin's eyes suddenly lit up when he heard Li Chengdong's words. He licked his lips and immediately responded.

In today's Tingzhou Prefecture, as long as they want to do it, there is nothing they can't do.

Confiscating property, this is a lucrative job!
After Li Chengdong finished speaking, he seemed to have lost interest and waved his hand.

Li Yuanyin bowed and left the room.

The room became quiet again. Li Chengdong sat behind the table in silence. After an unknown amount of time, he took the letter from the table.
The letter was opened, and several lines of black ink appeared.
"My hair has turned white,

Why bother looking for the wronged?
A skull is put together.

"Leave it for eternity"

"Don't be unfaithful, don't be unfaithful. You are unfaithful, but how could he be unfaithful?"

Li Chengdong looked at the handwriting on the paper and was silent for a long time.
After an unknown amount of time, he suddenly threw down the letter in his hand and cursed at the empty room.
"This old thief, this old thief..."

Li Chengdong paced around the room with an angry look on his face, but in the end he just kept cursing these words and could not say anything else.
Obviously, Fu Guan had been killed by him, but Li Chengdong was angry for some reason, and no one knew who had made him so angry.

Li Chengdong kept walking back and forth in the room, like an angry lion, but the more he walked, the more annoyed he became.

Finally he couldn't stand it anymore, he cursed at the air, took the whip from the table, and prepared to go to the barracks to relax.

In addition to asking him to deal with Fu Guan, the Qing court also brought him an order to prepare the army for war, so he went to see how the army was preparing.
Only when he is in the army, surrounded by countless soldiers, can he truly feel at ease. That is where his foundation lies.

Li Chengdong took the horse whip, put on the crown and belt, and then rolled up his braids and hid them in his hat.

Li Chengdong was ready and was about to go out when there was another knock on the door.
"What's the matter"

Li Chengdong looked at the guards standing respectfully at the door and spoke in a cold voice.

"Reporting to the general, the gentry of Chaozhou, Guangdong Province, and the former Ming Dynasty Household Department Secretary Gu Chaojian sent his son Gu Lin to the government office to seek an audience."

"Gu Chaojian? Hu Ke Jie Shi Zhong? Who is this person? Did he say anything?" Li Chengdong was slightly stunned and said

"He said he had top-secret information about Chaozhou to tell the Tingzhou prefect, but he didn't seem to know that the general was in charge of the government office now." The guards looked a little strange.
"Top secret information, I think this man is planning to join the Qing government."

Li Chengdong sneered. He had come all the way from Jiangnan and had seen countless former Ming officials who were hiding their true intentions.
"This man has been detained in the government office. General, do you want to see him?" the guard asked again.
"Since it's top secret information, let's meet it."

"I'd also like to see how top-secret his information is."

Li Chengdong was about to refuse, but he suddenly sneered and said
Seeing Li Chengdong's order, the guards left the room and went to bring Gu Lin.

Li Chengdong took off his crown and the rat-tail braid on his head fell down behind his head
Li Chengdong stood in the empty room and suddenly spoke to himself in the void.

"Fu Guan, this is your loyalty. You have a loyal heart, but what can you do about it?"

"The great trend of the world cannot be stopped by the power of a mere mortal. Only those who know the times are heroes. Only by moving in line with the times can one stay ahead of the tide. This is what heroes do."

Li Chengdong sneered, and the irritability on his face suddenly disappeared, leaving only a cold look in his eyes.

Gu Chaojian's real name should be Gu Chaojian. The Southern Records of the Ming Dynasty recorded that this person surrendered to the Qing Dynasty and informed the Qing army of the true situation of Guangdong Province, which led to a surprise attack on Guangdong Province.
However, some other historical records record that this person surrendered to Zheng Chenggong and served the Ming Dynasty. He followed Zheng Chenggong to Taiwan, but these historical records do not record his deeds before surrendering to Zheng Chenggong.

According to historical records, Gu Chaojian should have lived out his life in Taiwan, but his son returned to Chaozhou in his later years to participate in the Qing imperial examination and eventually became a county magistrate in the Qing Dynasty. It is difficult to distinguish the authenticity of the two historical records, so "荐" was changed to "鉴". If you are interested, you can check it out for yourself.
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(End of this chapter)