The Prosperous Era of Longwan

Although he has not met the Shen family and has not gone to Baoan Prefecture, Wei Guangde has already made his own judgment.

Wei Guangde leaned back in his chair and recalled the complete story outlined in Ma Fang's letter.

Xuanda discovered and arrested a large number of White Lotus believers last year. Wei Guangde guessed that perhaps at this time Yang Shun thought of a way to deal with Shen Lian, that is, just add Shen Lian's name among the believers, and beat a few believers to identify him. crime.

After that, the report and execution were simple. According to what was said in the letter, the imperial court sent the Metropolitan Procuratorate to inspect the case and censor Lu Kai to review the case. Presumably, he was also ordered by the Yan family and was just going through the motions, so it was not until after Shen Lian was killed that , Lu Bingcai received the news and it was too late to protect him.

As for the reason why Shen Lian was killed, perhaps it was because of the grudge between him and the Yan family. After all, it was said that Shen Lian's impeachment had made Yan Song very embarrassed, and he hated Shen Lian deeply.

As for killing good people and taking advantage of merit, it has always happened in Bian Town, and it may not be the main reason for Shen Lian's death.

At this time, Wei Guangde suddenly felt that Lu Bing was such a serious person, but he only mentioned it briefly in the report to Emperor Jiajing to attract the emperor's attention, making the emperor mistakenly think that Shen Lian was in conflict with Yang Shun just to kill good people and take merit. Killed.

There is no need to investigate this case at all. As long as the crime is committed and the crime is committed, Yang Shun's crime will be considered dead.

And do we still need to investigate the matter of killing good people and taking merit?

The knives are all ready, all we need to do is report it, and we only need to send someone who does a little work to check it out.

In the future, when I impeach someone, should I also learn from it?

By this time, Wei Guangde was already thinking about what to do next.

He had planned to go to Baoan Prefecture before, if possible, to contact the Shen family to see if they had sufficient evidence, and to look for an opportunity to redress their grievances when he returned to the capital, but by this time he no longer wanted to go there. .

As for the fact that he asked Ma Fang to take his staff to the area of ​​Baoan Prefecture secretly, he was actually worried that his identity would be discovered and he would be killed here as rumored.

With Ma Fang, a powerful general, nearby, Wei Guangde felt a lot more at ease, but now that he thought about it, it seemed unnecessary.

In this matter, the only thing that needs to be confirmed now is the truth about Shen Lian's murder. He has already explained everything else.

Of course Wei Guangde would not refute Lu Bing's idea. It is true that killing good people and taking credit for meritorious deeds does exist, so it is inseparable from Yang Shun, and he cannot get rid of it.

Yang Shun has a close relationship with Yan Song and Yan Shifan, and he has nothing to do with Wei Guangde. Of course, Wei Guangde would not choose to publicly impeach Yang Shun. This would offend the chief minister of the dynasty so much that he could just find a way to sue him privately. .

Wei Guangde still understood clearly. He knew that if he wanted to live a good life in the Ming Dynasty, he had to become an official. If he wanted to be an official steadily, he couldn't offend the superior. What's more, the other party was the chief minister and the leader.

Just when Wei Guangde was waiting for the people sent to Baoan Prefecture to come back and bring the news before making the final decision, a guard previously sent to Baoan Prefecture had already returned to Yongning on horseback and hurried to find Wei Guangde. It seemed that something had happened. It seems like something extraordinary.

"My lord, my lord."

The guard went to the courtyard of the inn where Wei Guangde lived and rushed into Wei Guangde's guest room, shouting twice.

"What happened? What are you talking about in such a hurry?"

Wei Guangde raised his eyebrows and said with some dissatisfaction.

"Sir, everyone from the master to the servants of the Shen family has been moved to Yunzhou a long time ago. However, in the past two days, the eldest son of the Shen family has been escorted to Baoan Prefecture. I heard from people in the yamen that they are afraid that they will be sent to live He will die in prison in just a few days."

The guard immediately told the news he had learned.

Human lives matter.

In the eyes of these military men, it is normal to kill opponents on the battlefield, but the things these officials do in private are unacceptable to those who are used to killing people.

In the past, the soldier did not know who Shen Lian was, but after arriving in Baoan Prefecture, he inquired and found out that he was from the Jin Yiwei. He was demoted to Baoan Prefecture because he was not afraid of the powerful people impeaching the chief minister of the dynasty.

Well, the common people naturally have a favorable impression of people who are not afraid of the powerful. After all, they have been bullied by the powerful for a long time, and it is impossible not to have resentment in their hearts.

I heard that Shen Lian was demoted here because he offended the powerful, so I naturally admired him very much. Shen Lian's reputation in Baoan Prefecture was very good.

Obviously, such a reputation has also affected Dong Yiyuan's servant, so after knowing that Shen Lian's eldest son was about to be caught and killed in Baoan Prefecture, he rushed back to report the news in such a hurry. The purpose is self-evident, hoping that Wei Guangde can save him. His life.

Shen Xiang?

Wei Guangde remembered that Ma Fang had mentioned this matter in the letter he sent before. Yang Shun, the governor of Xuanda, issued an official document asking Zhejiang to arrest Shen Xiang and escort him here.

Therefore, although Shen Xiang was already a Linshan scholar, the people who handled this matter were all officials of the Yan family. Naturally, the Zhejiang Tixueguan removed his last source of support, his reputation as a scholar, and arrested and imprisoned him, and sent officers to escort him to the Xuan Mansion. Come to the case.

Can Shen Xiang be saved?

Wei Guangde himself was not sure, because now his responsibility did not lie in Xuan Mansion.

The imperial court's orders to him and Tang Shunzhi only involved inspecting Jizhen to understand the situation of military households and civilian households fleeing and the impact on the construction of the border wall. The secret investigation of Xuan Mansion was just a word that Emperor Jiajing asked Chen Ju to bring. It showed that the emperor seemed to have intentions, but he still He was not determined to capture Yang Shun.

If you want to save people, your identity must be exposed. What will happen next?

It's hard to say whether he can be saved or not. Even if he stops him and saves the person, he will completely break up with Yan Shoufu.

Although Wei Guangde never meant to seek refuge there, he did not want to offend this fellow in power by committing suicide.

He was not Wu Shan, and he had offended the Yan family long ago, but he could still sit firmly in the court and was promoted to the high position of Minister of Rites, because he had always been upright and had a good impression on Emperor Jiajing, which was also a way to balance the court.

There is no more suitable candidate than Wu Shan. Even if he is from Jiangxi and is at odds with Yan Song, it is too rare.

Wei Guangde doesn't have Wu Shan's confidence now and dares to directly oppose the Yan family.

If you can't save him, then everything you do will be in vain.

Wei Guangde was unusually calm at this time, with the aura of not changing his face despite the collapse of a mountain. However, in Na Ding's view, this was Wei Guangde's statement that he did not intend to get involved in this matter, and he couldn't help but feel a little anxious.

"Sir, Lord Shen Lian has been killed by a traitor, and his youngest son has been sent to Yunzhou with his mother. That is the border. He has a narrow escape from death.

Mr. Shen is the only one left. If he is killed again, Mr. Shen will be dead.

I heard from my family and fellow villagers that Mr. Shen is a good man. He often stood up for the villagers because of his official duties, and offended corrupt officials for the villagers' affairs. Those people hated him to death. Mr. Shen entered Baoan Prefecture. It will definitely not last long.

Please take action to save him and leave a trace of blood for Master Shen. "

After saying this, the servant knelt down and kowtowed to Wei Guangde.

"Get up, why are you kowtowing?"

Wei Guangde felt a little unhappy when he saw the servant's behavior. Do you have any say in these things?

"Sir, I brought the villagers to kowtow to you. I didn't know this Master Shen before, but my parents and neighbors all said that Master Shen is a good man and a very loyal man. Please save Mr. Shen, sir. "

The servant was still kneeling there and talking without caring about himself, looking very excited.

"The imperial court has noticed Master Shen's death, and there are some things that should not be said to you."

Wei Guangde was a little hesitant when he said this, but he continued: "These are all evidence of the traitorous officials, and they will have their retribution sooner or later.

Justice will only be late, but it will never be absent.

Those people will pay the price sooner or later for the evil they did today. Isn’t there a saying among the people, ‘If you don’t retaliate, the time has not yet come’? "

Wei Guangde still didn't want to intervene, because he had no reason to intervene in this matter. If he was in Jizhen, he could still take care of it. After all, it was within the scope of his duties, but this matter happened in Xuan Mansion.

How long did it take for you to recover from your illness?

He also traveled all the way to Xuanfu to intervene in local government affairs. How could Tang Shunzhi interfere with his own affairs?

Thinking of this, Wei Guangde became more determined not to interfere with the Shen family's affairs. He would never touch it. Even if Shen Xiang did encounter something unexpected because of this, he would just avenge him in the future.

Justice will only be late, but it will never be absent.

"But everyone is gone. Even if there is retribution, we can't save people. This is directly exterminating Zhongliang. Sir, you can't do this."

Seeing that the servant was getting more and more outrageous, the captain of the servant sent by Dong Yiyuan felt that something was wrong, especially when he saw that Wei Guangde's face was getting worse and worse. He quickly waved his hand, and the two servants who came up from behind took care of the servant. The person set it up and took it out of the house.

The servant struggled and begged: "Please save Mr. Shen, his family will be killed by traitors, please."

Dong Yiyuan's servants are naturally strong, but at this moment they were unable to struggle under the forceful dragging of two companions.

After all, I went from Yongning to Security Guards and rushed back after only two days. My body was a little overwhelmed. Even veterans who are accustomed to long-term battles will be slightly affected physically. Naturally, they can't resist two companions who have been recuperating for many days. .

The servant was forcibly carried to the next room. The captain of the servant just hugged Wei Guangde in embarrassment and followed him out.

Wei Guangde got up and walked back and forth in the room.

Although he had made up his mind not to interfere in this matter, Wei Guangde felt panicked as the person was being dragged away.

"Justice will be late, but it will never be absent."

This sentence was also very popular in later generations. After all, there will be injustices in any era.

Now in the Ming Dynasty, information transmission is not smooth, so some things that happen will only spread in small places, but it is difficult to spread on a large scale.

Unless officials heard about it and complained about it, they wrote a memorial and participated in the matter. After the emperor approved it, it was published in the imperial newspaper, and it would spread quickly across the country. However, this time is far from the time when the incident happened.

That passage seems quite appropriate to say in this era.

After all, times have their own characteristics, and some things cannot be forced.

But in later generations, Wei Guangde vaguely remembered seeing a view on the Internet, that is, delayed justice is not justice.

Justice is the basic requirement of social morality; justice is not the basic requirement of social morality that is late.

This is the core of that article. When an unjust, false and wrong case is corrected, many people will celebrate it and say such a paragraph.

However, the article explains that the original intention of "justice will not be late" is not to correct afterwards, but a purely literal meaning. Justice that is late is not justice, because justice will not be late.

For example, when a person is acquitted after being wrongly imprisoned for 20 years, it is not that justice 20 years ago came too late, but that justice 20 years later came on time.

This is the correct understanding of this passage, because the person who said this seems to be an American justice, so when it was translated, it seemed to be misled by the packaging.

In fact, the original intention of this sentence, which seems to be full of positive energy, is not to praise delayed justice, but to criticize delayed justice, and to condemn those who created unjust prisons 20 years ago for trampling on human justice.

Just like in some movies and TV shows, when the police face arrogant criminals and cannot bring them to justice due to insufficient evidence, they can only use "justice will never be absent" to persuade criminals and comfort themselves.

Or like some movies and TV dramas, hypocritical bad guys whitewash the peace, do bad things but enjoy all the glory and wealth. In the end, they are caught because of a mistake. The righteous people will also shout "Justice may be late, but it will never be absent." "Come and feel happy."

Readers have mistakenly taken the quote out of context, completely overturning the original idea, and instead praising delayed justice. Is this unintentional or intentional?

Thinking of this, Wei Guangde couldn't help but be horrified. When he said this casually before, what was his state of mind at that time?

The capital did not know what happened in Xuan Mansion. Wei Guangde was sure that maybe after Shen Lian's death, Lu Bing no longer cared much about Shen Lian's family. Maybe in his eyes, everyone was dead. It's time to put an end to the grudges he had made during his lifetime. Maybe he was simply indifferent.

Shen Lian, who was alive, might attract Lu Bing's attention with his talent, but if he was gone, it would be meaningless.

But now that I know it, what should I do?

It is to delay justice, just like the popular belief that "good deeds will be rewarded with good deeds, and evil deeds will be rewarded with evil deeds" or "the cycle of cause and effect and unfavorable retribution" should be avoided.

Just like the soldier said, "But everyone is gone. Even if there is retribution, we can't save people."

For no reason, Wei Guangde felt dissatisfied with that servant. It would be great if he reported it afterwards and he would clear the grievances of the Shen family.

It's fine now, I knew it beforehand, but I don't know how to deal with it.

In my previous life, I was an ordinary person. After seeing such things, I could do nothing except beep a few words on the Internet.

That's not a matter of being wise and protecting yourself, but of being powerless.

Things are different now. He is now a Jinshi and an official in the Ming Dynasty. Should he still use the previous method to deal with such "life-related matters"?

Wei Guangde's heart was confused at this moment, and there was a crack in his already unstable heart.

Footsteps sounded outside the door, and Captain Ding was back too.