Ming Jiajing: Starting from Immortality

Chapter 39 The magistrate disappears and Zong Xian kills someone!
As the folk proverb goes, "Strong winds do not last all morning, and heavy rains do not last all night." Floods often occur after heavy rains.

This was the case with the Peach Blossom Flood in Xin'an River in the 40th year of Jiajing in the Ming Dynasty. Heavy rain fell for three days and finally subsided.

But in the next few days, mountain torrents from the thousands of mountains and valleys upstream will pour into the Xin'an River, and the water level will continue to rise!
Chun'an County.

The night falls particularly early on a rainy day. It is dark before dawn. Only a white rain curtain remains between the sky and the earth, blurring the mountains and rivers and confusing people's hearts.

The rain became lighter and the waves became louder.

The sky was as dark as ink. Countless torches flickered on the Xin'an River embankment in Chun'an, flickering amid the roar of the waves. They seemed so powerless and weak.

Countless soldiers and many Chun'an people carried sandbags and ran towards the direction of the huge turbulent sound!

Along with the sound of waves, the roaring sound of turbulent water came from the sluice gate at the weir.

The floodgates were fully opened, and the flood in the river was violently hitting the levee, trembling in the face of the power of heaven and earth.

Under the light of a few torches, Qi Jiguang directed the soldiers and young and strong civilians to reinforce the levee with sandbags.

On the other side, under the light of a few torches stood the guards of the Governor's Office. In front of them, facing the embankment of the river, stood Hu Zongxian alone.

Fortunately, the imperial court spent two million taels of silver to repair the Xin'an River last year, and now it can be barely considered impregnable.

A middle-aged scholar quietly walked up to Hu Zongxian.

This scholar had no official title and was a juren who had failed in the examinations many times.

Although this person had no rank or title, his talent and reputation were extremely great. His surname was Xu, his given name was Wei, his courtesy name was Wenchang, and his pseudonym was Qingteng. He was from Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province. He was unique in poetry, drama, calligraphy and painting. It can even be said that even from the Ming Dynasty to the present, there are only a handful of people whose talent and learning surpassed Xu Wenchang.

His plays, poems and paintings are widely sung.

Although he did not enter the officialdom, he was hired by Hu Zongxian as an aide and was regarded as his confidant. When he was on the move, he was like the incarnation of the emperor.

"Have you found it?" Hu Zongxian felt Xu Wei walking behind him, still looking at the dark and turbulent river, his voice was very low.

At such an important time as the Peach Blossom Flood, the magistrates of the nine counties in Xin'anjiang could not be found.

This was clearly a premeditated and planned scheme to close the weirs, store water and destroy the dikes.

Before the magistrates of the nine counties disappeared, they were said to have gone to Hangzhou Prefecture. But Hu Zongxian came from Hangzhou Prefecture, so how could he have ever seen the shadow of the magistrates of the nine counties?
Without a county magistrate, the second-in-command county magistrates of the nine counties and officials at all levels did not dare to act rashly, or they simply did not think of acting.

Not only did they not dare to open the floodgates to release the water, they didn't even organize the people to reinforce the river embankment.

The people of the nine counties sensed that a disaster was about to strike, so they, led by gentry and elders, braved the rain and went to the Governor's Office in Hangzhou to petition.

After Hu Zongxian arrived, he asked Xu Wei to find the magistrates of nine counties.

"My Lord, no, but..." Xu Wei's mood was very strange. He seemed to have something to say, but did not continue.

In the past few days, he sent out a lot of people to search all the places in the nine counties, even to the point of digging three feet into the ground to look for him, but there was still no trace of the magistrates of the nine counties.

I didn't find the person I was looking for, but I got some unexpected news.

"But what?" Hu Zongxian asked.

Xu Wei gritted his teeth and said, "Before Chun'an County Magistrate Chang Boxi disappeared, the Third Young Master came to Chun'an County and met with Chang Boxi."

Hu Zongxian was startled. Based on his years of experience as an official, he intuitively believed that the third son was related to the disappearance of the nine county magistrates and the plot to store water and destroy the dikes. He asked in a stern voice: "Where is the rebellious son?" "To reply to the minister, before Chang Boxi disappeared, the third son left Chun'an first and has not been seen since." Xu Wei said in a deep voice.

Also disappeared.

Hu Zongxian was silent.

In those days, missing persons were not uncommon. The government would handle a missing persons case every so often. In many cases, unless the missing person was wealthy, the detectives would just look for him and ignore him.

But the magistrates of the nine counties were different from his rebellious son. The former was an official appointed by the imperial court, while the latter was listed on the official list and was the kind of person who wanted to be seen alive or dead.

It is impossible for them to disappear for no reason, so where are they?
Are they separated in different places, or are they all in one place?
Hu Zongxian felt vaguely that he had grasped the key point, but he couldn't put it into words, so he asked Xu Wei again: "Wen Chang, have you searched all nine counties?"

"Report to Lord Minister, I found it!"

"The officials of the nine counties saw with their own eyes that the county magistrate set out on the road to the prefectural city. There was no sign of him in the county or on the road. This proves that Chang Boxi and others did not return to the county, but actually went to the prefectural city."

Hu Zongxian slowly turned around. His gaunt face looked even more haggard under the torchlight, but his eyes were getting brighter and brighter. "Wen Chang, have you looked in the city?"

Xu Wei was also startled, his throat rolled, and he said in a hoarse voice: "My Lord, the city is so big, it may not be easy to turn it upside down..."

"Why would I need to look for it over again?"

Hu Zongxian said word by word: "The Governor's Office, the Provincial Surveillance Office, and the Weaving Bureau, I think they are in these three places."

It should have been thought of earlier. The sluice gates at the weirs were closed to store water, which was an order issued by the River Office under the Weaving Bureau to all counties in Zhejiang.

Even if the Weaving Bureau doesn't know all the tricks, it knows a thing or two.

I heard that the situation in the capital was changing rapidly, the Imperial Household Department had lost the emperor's favor, and the Embroidered Uniform Guard had fought a brilliant comeback.

It was suspected that the emperor had succeeded in his cultivation and regained his youthful appearance. The Chaotian Temple, which had continuously presented elixirs to the emperor year after year, was therefore eagerly sought after by court officials.

But the decree of Chaotian Temple was not the emperor's decree after all. There must be deeper reasons behind the obedience of those greedy eunuchs in the Weaving Bureau and the River Administration.

and.

It has been such a long time since the people of nine counties went to Hangzhou Prefecture to petition, but the Provincial Government and the Censorate have not made any move yet. Who would believe that they know nothing?
It turns out that in all of Zhejiang, he, the Governor-General of Zhejiang, was the only one in charge who knew nothing.

"Sir, the one behind the Weaving Bureau is..." Xu Wei did not say anything else, but pointed in the direction of the north, and everything was said without words.

It might not be easy to find someone in the weaving bureau.

but.

Outsiders have joined forces with his son to want his life. Hu Zongxian determined that they were enemies. Since the enemy's knife was at his throat and he didn't know how to fight back, he might as well stop fighting against the Japanese in the southeast and just kill himself.

Hu Zongxian was not looking for someone, but to kill someone. The murderous intent he had accumulated over the years of fighting against the Japanese invaders swept out. "The matter of the weaving bureau and the river administration office is closely related to the matter of the sluice gate. Arrest them all. If they resist, kill them!"

If the Silijian behind the Weaving Bureau was the former Silijian, Hu Zongxian could still be more tolerant. After all, in the fight against the Japanese pirates, the Silijian had to refrain from causing trouble.

Now, the increased military pay has already been delivered to Zhejiang. The emperor's determination to pacify the Japanese pirates is known to everyone, so the Imperial Household Department no longer needs to worry about it!

"Yes!" Xu Wei accepted the order with great enthusiasm and followed the governor's order to mobilize troops to return to Hangzhou Prefecture.

(End of this chapter)