national surname chiming

Chapter 140
October 24, Jiangling, Huguang governor's yamen.

Early winter has arrived, and the sky is getting darker and earlier every day.

The last year of Chongzhen was in the Little Ice Age, so the climate was even colder, and there were frosts in the morning and evening.On this day, it was the first snow in Chongzhen's 14th winter.

At the end of the day (3:[-] p.m.), it was not yet time for Sanya.

But the first snow fell today, and Fang Kongxuan's literati had a bit of a mood, and he was busy with military and government affairs a while ago, and he was worried every day. Seeing that it was snowing, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.

I ordered my staff and staff to disperse early, and went back to the house to cook wine and enjoy the snow with my family.

His sons are all working as officials in other places, and there are only female relatives around him.A few concubines also made fun of it, helping to prepare vegetables and having a drink with them: "Master is very interested, it seems that today is going to appreciate the snow and compose poems. Our sisters don't understand poetry, so we have to be a wine barrel."

Fang Kongzhang just smiled and said nothing, but he felt a little lonely in his heart: After all, it is long hair but short knowledge, so how can we know what we think in our hearts.

Seeing that he didn't speak, the concubines watched his words and expressions, and they all knew that they had misunderstood the master's intentions, and they all ate to cover up and ease the embarrassment.

The youngest daughter, Fang Ziling, who was still sweeping the snow from the plum trees, read a lot and often asked him about government affairs, so she already guessed what her father was thinking.

I saw her sweeping for a while, sweeping the superficial layer of snow on the plum leaves into a small urn, enough to make up about one or two liters.

I took it to the small red clay stove where the wine was being boiled, removed the wine urn, put it on a snow urn, added two more sticks of silver frost charcoal, and picked up a small fan to cook tea, in case my father and aunts sobered up from drinking too much.

Fang Ziling fanned it a few times, and when he had time to chat, he said ostentatiously: "Floods and droughts have continued in recent years, and it has become colder every year. It is an elegant thing to enjoy the snow, but the poor people don't know how to survive the cold winter. Father How can a diligent government and compassion for the people make poetry prosper because of the early snowfall?"

When the aunts heard the words, their expressions became embarrassing, and they quickly admitted their mistake: "Miss is still smart and clever, we don't study, but we can't see everywhere."

There are also a few young people with little knowledge, relying on the master's favor, pretending to ask the bottom line: "Master, why are you cooking wine and enjoying the snow today?"

Fang Kongxuan was relieved to see that his daughter understood him anyway, so he wanted to test his daughter, so he followed the concubine's wishes.

Fang Ziling stroked his hair on the sideburns to avoid being smoked by the charcoal fire, and then said politely: "What's the difficulty, since the snow is not good for the people, but my father can still be happy about it, it must be beneficial to the state affairs in other ways.

Before that, my father had been worried that Zhang Xianzhong would send stragglers to go out to burn, kill and loot.Now that it's snowing, the mountain road between Yiling and Zigui is definitely difficult, and this winter is probably over. "

Since the surprise attack on Xiangyang in August and the price of [-] cavalry were paid, Zhang Xianzhong's mobile force was also quite damaged.

In the past two months or so, Fang Kongxuan was no longer afraid of Zhang Xianzhong's reappearance to attack the city, but he was afraid that he would send out a small group of highly mobile troops, kill and loot a wave, and then run away.

There are also few cavalry troops in the southern army, especially Fang Kongxuan’s cavalry. There were only 1000 cavalry in the [-] direct-line troops before. .

It is impossible for him to pursue Zhang Xianzhong's small robbery force.

Seeing that his daughter was so smart, Fang Kongxuan felt very relieved, took a sip of rice wine, and said proudly: "Our Fang family should be so knowledgeable and talented. If you are a man, you are no less knowledgeable than your elder brother. It's a pity."

Fang Kongzhang drank and boasted, but it wasn't too much.Their family was a scholarly family with strong liberal arts and sciences, which was rare at that time.

Fang Yizhi was able to write "Physics" later, not out of thin air, but because of his family background.His father, Fang Kongzhang, had studied mathematics, astronomy, and geography, and wrote "Book of Changes".

Don't look at the "Book of Changes" in the title of the book. It seems to be an interpretation of the Five Classics of Confucianism. In fact, it has a lot of astronomical and mathematical content.The youngest daughter, Fang Ziling, followed her father and brother, and she also read a lot of books, so she has extraordinary knowledge.

The father and daughter talked about the situation for a while, and the topic inevitably came to the prediction of the future of the thieves.

Fang Kongxuan took advantage of the opportunity to test his daughter, and asked her to talk about the predictions of the abilities of the various thieves and whether they can gain anything next year.

After Fang Ziling finished cooking tea, he poured out a cup for his father, frowned slightly and said, "Father, you often say that whether this traitor can be wiped out depends not on me, Daming and the traitor, but on the Tartars outside the pass.

Last year, the situation was already very good, but this year it happened again. Wasn't it because Hong Chengchou transferred all the elite from the Nine Sides to Liaodong to fight against Huang Taiji?The elite of Yang Ge's old man had to fill in the gap left by Hong Chengchou.

Fortunately, the few soldiers Yang Ge left behind were enough for their lives. This year, two or three of the rogue families were finally wiped out, Zhang Xianzhong was forced to retreat, and Huguang turned the crisis into safety.But Li Zicheng, Luo Rucai, and Ma Shouying have joined together, and there is still hope for the south next year, and the north is afraid that it will be even more corrupt.

What's more, we have to count on the fact that Hong Ge's department will be outside the pass next year, so that there will be no new mistakes.Otherwise, maybe the south can't even count on peace. "

After Fang Ziling finished speaking, Fang Kongyan twisted his beard and smiled, and the concubine next to him observed his words and quickly helped the sedan chair to carry him: "Second Miss is really smart, my daughter can speak such clear and logical principles, we don't read much , but only envy."

Fang Kongzhang wanted to prevent his children from being proud, so he hurriedly pretended to beating pamperingly: "Where, what she said is just a cliché with a slight improvement. Most of the opinions are not what I often say, or what Shen Bingbei said last time he came to the mansion. When discussing military affairs, I mentioned that she is just picking people's teeth."

Fang Ziling's face turned red, she didn't want to be accused of stealing from her father's colleagues' political and academic views, so she quickly clarified: "No way, my daughter's knowledge is completely different from Shen Daotai who came last time!
His brazen "Theory of Traitors" said that "only a bandit chief who has lost his sons and grandchildren can attract more people to be used by him"... What a fallacy!
When he wrote that book, the thief hadn't joined forces with Luo Rucai and Ma Shouying, right?He dared to categorically say that in the future, if the three thieves conspired to cause great troubles and there would be a firefight, it must be the intruders who would be able to win over the Luo and Ma tribes.

Now that the intruders broke through Luoyang and then attacked Kaifeng, Luo Rucai and Ma Shouying have only followed their lead, and it has been three or four months. Why don't you see them trying to harm each other?

At the beginning, I thought that he was really some kind of genius and visionary, but I didn't expect him to be a fool.Since ancient times, even the wise men who are proficient in easy reasoning and good at guessing, no matter Zhou Gong, Confucius, Zhuge, how can they be so arrogant and straightforward? "

The more Fang Ziling spoke, the more dissatisfied she became, but it could be heard that she was not completely dissatisfied, but she hated the details of Shen Shuren's predictions.

No matter how strong a wise man has been since ancient times, he would not speak in such detail, otherwise he would become a magic stick for gambling and prophecy, not for a prudent gentleman.

Fang Kongzheng listened, but he didn't take it seriously, and just continued to examine his daughter with his beard.

Seeing that Fang Ziling's heart was trembling, he thought to himself: I have fallen into my father's trick again!
Sure enough, seeing her flustered, Fang Kongxuan pierced through and said:
"Are you saying that your insight didn't come from Shen Bingbei? From what you said just now, not only have you read "On the Thieves", but I'm afraid you have also read through "Rizhi Shijian" published last year. Wrong? Academics have their own opinions, and it’s no big deal. Gentlemen are harmonious but different, and the group is not party.”

The "On the Thieves" he mentioned is the recently popular work that previews Li Zicheng's annexation of Luo Rucai and Ma Shouying.

And "Rizhi Shijian" is a political philosophy work written by Gu Yanwu at the beginning of last year, before Shen Shuren was appointed to Huangzhou. Barbarism, the Northern Expedition can also win", "The rise and fall of the world, everyone is responsible" and other principles.

To put it bluntly, on the basis of the "Rizhilu" that Gu Yanwu himself would write many years later in history, he added a lot of private goods that Shen Shuren felt would be helpful in gathering the anti-Qing people and stabilizing morale in the future.

Fang Ziling was inevitably a little embarrassed when his father exposed him.

She was trying to find a way to turn things around, but fortunately the housekeeper suddenly came to the backyard and asked the maid to come in to report, it seemed that she had something to do with the government, and she was relieved by a coincidence.

The maid stepped forward eagerly and said in a low voice: "Master, Uncle Zeng said that there are important guests from the officialdom visiting outside, so you can decide whether you want to meet or not."

Before Fang Kongxuan could answer, the concubines around him were somewhat dissatisfied. They rarely went to the garden and had a drink with the master. The master has been busy with government affairs recently, so he seldom had any pleasure.

The concubine in the fifth room, relying on her favor, spat: "The governor's office is all gone, so what kind of small officials in Jiangling's territory are there to disturb you?"

Fang Kongzheng's face was serious: "Don't be presumptuous! What if it's an urgent matter. I'll ask."

There are female relatives in the backyard, so the housekeeper and staff are not allowed to come in, they just wait outside the Chuihua Gate.Fang Kongxuan followed the maid to the door of the hanging flower, talked with the visitor for a few words, immediately paid attention to it, and ordered the guest to be brought.

After giving the order, he turned around and went back to the plum garden. He sat with his fur beside the stove, and said to the concubines: "If you want to avoid it, you should avoid it for a while. A colleague is visiting from Wuchang, and he must not see you. This is the time to apply for it." Exactly, today is indeed a bit of frivolous government affairs."

Fang Kongxuan looked at the sky, Shen Shizheng was four o'clock in the afternoon, and at this time, he was drinking and enjoying the snow in the plum garden, and he was indeed passive and slowing down his work.

After giving orders to his wives and concubines, he turned to his daughter again: "Ling'er, it is Shen Shuren who came here. I haven't seen him for half a year. He also joined the imperial censor of the capital. He is only half a step away from being the governor of the father. unpredictable.

For my father, you are very dissatisfied with his knowledge. Do you want to ask him face to face?Or avoid it with your aunts? "

Fang Ziling bit her lip subconsciously, and decided to be more serious, avoiding with her aunts first, changing into a more formal scholar's uniform, and then having an academic debate.

It would be shameful to argue with someone in women's clothing.

Just as Fang Ziling dodged away, footsteps came from outside the Chuihua Gate, and it was Shen Shuren who was brought in.

"Futai is so elegant. This year, it has just snowed for the first time, and I have started to embrace the snow. It seems that I have disturbed Futai's elegance." Shen Shuren walked in on the snow, waved away the smell of barbecue in the air, and had fun laughed.

Fang Kongxuan didn't look away from him, and pointed to the vacant seat opposite: "It's okay, the old man is just playing around, it's not as good as you young people who are energetic and diligent day and night.

This time, do you want to ask for some support?Recently, there have been many people coming to this old man to sue you for being tricky. The old man saw that you were not easy, so he blocked you for you.You are so bold, you have the power to control civil affairs in Wuchang Mansion, yet you dare to criticize the civil affairs in such a drastic way! "

Shen Shuren sat down opposite, and frankly admitted: "In an extraordinary time, do extraordinary things. As long as we can work together, stabilize the place, drive out the rogues, often win battles, and behead the thieves, Your Majesty and the elders will understand us." It is urgent to follow the authority."

(End of this chapter)