Idle courtiers

Chapter 142

Wang Er said that Ding Qiguang, the magistrate of Shanyang, and Song Kongdang, the magistrate of Huai'an, were not only classmates, but fellow villagers.They are both natives of Guide, Henan. Both of them have literary names in the local area, and they are rising stars of the younger generation of scholars.

In ancient times, studying and studying was a matter that required a lot of money. Ding Qiguang saw that Song's friend was living in poverty, and he helped him from time to time.

Gentlemen have the friendship of making money, everyone is of the same line of scholars, and they read the books of sages, and they don't take these things to heart, so naturally there is no good manners.

And everyone will have to take the imperial examination to become an official in the future, and when they enter the officialdom, they sometimes have the opportunity to return favors.Whenever Song Kongdang was in distress, Ding Qiguang would generously send a letter to him.

Also because of Dingzhi County's help from time to time, Song Kongdang was able to continue his studies.In the ten-year cold window, two classmates passed the provincial examination in the same period, and also passed the Jinshi examination in the same period.

No matter how you look at it, Song and Ding are gay honeys who are too good to wear a pair of pants.

The reason why they became today's life-and-death enemies actually had a lot to do with their personality flaws.

It turned out that Ding Qiguang lost his head when he read "Spring and Autumn" and "Historical Records" when he was young.When he was a teenager, he liked to make friends with heroes from all walks of life, and his family was often full of friends.But if you have studied for a few years, you will get a few sentences called Shiyun, throw it at your door, compose a poem, and you will be warmly received by Xiaoding.Staying for ten days and a half months, and getting a lot of money when saying goodbye, he is simply the legendary Lord Mengchang.

However, because he was born in a rich family, he is very talkative and likes to show off. Every time he helped the poor fellows, he would preach widely on the scene: How much money did XX get from me today, and the last time XX went to XX school It's my letter of recommendation...

In this way, Ding Qiguang's reputation as a public-spirited and righteous man has been completely established.

Others are fine, and I am grateful for his help, but when I meet someone with strong self-esteem, it will backfire.

Every time Song Kongdang wrote a letter to Ding Qiguang for help, Ding would show his letter to the public without missing a word.Once or twice is enough, once more times, Friends Song will get bored.

In particular, the correspondence between the two involves a lot of privacy. For example, Song Kongdang often wrote in his letters that he recently traveled to Henan Province with three or five literary and poetic friends, and they needed money for socializing and entertaining. Please also invite Brother Ding Exchange 20 taels of silver for emergencies.

Another example: Miss Xiaocui in "Mianyuelou" is very knowledgeable and interesting, which is very popular with me.This person is kind and considerate, and his background is poor, I feel sorry for him.It is also a beautiful thing to buy a golden step shaker and give the pink powder to a beautiful woman.I also hope that brother Ding will give you ten taels of silver. The Bomei smiles and looks forward to it.

Another example: I feel unwell recently, and the valley road is itchy, and I feel anxious. I must have caused trouble during the last literary meeting.The Shutong of Yan Jiansheng's family in Kaifeng Prefecture is very handsome, he is really a person dressed in pink and jade.Life is short, like morning dew, fleeting.It means traveling to many places and meeting many people.Brother Ding will exchange ten taels of soup and medicine as soon as possible, and I am looking forward to it!

Anyway, when Song Zhifu asked for money, he was looking forward to it and asked for four words.

It is indeed embarrassing that such a letter has been widely publicized.

Song Kong was annoyed in his heart: Ding Qiguang, what do you mean by being a dog? Are you satirizing my family's poverty to show that you are the leading brother of Bo Yuntian?If you want to buy a name, you can't belittle me, so how can I meet people in the future?

The two turned against each other in a one-year examination, and both Song and Kong won Jinshi.

Song Kongdang was No. 30 in the second class. Later, after passing the assessment, he was selected as a good scholar, and he was on the fast track to promotion.Ding Qiguang was a bit miserable, and he was born as a Jinshi with the top three.

Song Zhifu was born in a poor family, now that he got what he wanted, he couldn't hold it anymore, and wrote to Ding Qiguang again.This time, he made a rather excessive request, saying that his wife had been married to him for more than ten years and had not yet given birth to a daughter, so he planned to divorce and remarry.Ask Ding Qiguang if he has a suitable recommendation for the wealthy Bai Fumei.

Ding Qiguang and Song Kongdang also knew Mrs. Song well when they were dating, and he thought that friend Song was really heartless. Your wife didn't think you were poor back then, and she worked hard to take care of the housework and take care of her in-laws. Now that you are successful and famous, you will abandon her Such as cheating, isn't that Chen Shimei?
As usual, he sent this letter to his circle of friends again, blackmailing Song Zhifu.

At this time, Song Zhifu is already a good scholar, how could he put Ding Zhi County in his eyes.The fate buried deep in his heart in the past broke out instantly, and he wrote a letter of breaking up friendship with Ding Qiguang immediately, severing friendship and loyalty.

Later, when Song Kong's term as a member of the Hanlin Academy expired, he became a spokesman for the Ministry of Household Affairs, while Ding Qiguang went to the local government as a county magistrate.

Song Kongdang was a grudger and a speech officer, and he often wrote to impeach Ding Qiguang.

Being targeted by the officials, life is naturally difficult, and there is no future to speak of.Lao Ding has been in the officialdom for more than ten years without being promoted, and he is still a seventh-rank sesame official.

On the contrary, Song Kongdang's reputation plummeted because of being so blacked out by Ding Qiguang, and he was appointed a county magistrate when he was overwhelmed by the matter.After more than ten years of mixing, he finally became the palm seal of a family, and he is considered to be the worst mixed person among the Shujishi.

The two young friends have been fighting for more than ten years, and the end result is that both sides suffer losses, and no one is in good hands.

Coincidentally, the two are now together.One is the magistrate of Huai'an, and the other is the magistrate of Shanyang County.The two yamen are only separated by a wall, and there is a small door connecting them.

……

After hearing Wang Er finish talking about the secrets in Huai'an official circles, Zhou Nan's head suddenly grew bigger.

I really didn't expect Ding Qiguang to be such a person when he was young. Yes, you have a good heart and want to help poor classmates.But, can't you learn from the red scarf to do good deeds without leaving your name? You have to tell people everywhere, causing a lot of trouble.You can't do this even if you buy fame and popularity. This method is too rough and unskilled.

If I were you, this kind of classmates and colleagues in the officialdom are much more important than the so-called reputation in the world.

Ding Qiguang was purely brain twitching, he lost the watermelon and picked sesame seeds.

Zhou Nan couldn't help shaking his head: "After all, it happened 20 years ago. Song Zhifu and Ding Zhixian are both old. Can't we just laugh about the past?"

Wang Er continued: "Actually, before Song Zhifu came to Huai'an, he considered that Mr. Ding was the magistrate of Shanyang County, and we all wanted to be officials together. We also intended to make peace with him, and wrote a letter to Shanyang County. Yang. Uncle, what do you think this old man Ding did?"

Zhou Nan: "You won't publish the private letter written by Song Zhifu again?"

"Not really." Wang Er said: "Before Song Zhifu came to Huai'an, he was the magistrate in Anqing. According to the rules of the court, a magistrate's annual salary is 50 taels of silver, and there is a lot of Lumi, which is uniformly distributed at the beginning of the year. Silver and Adding up the real objects, there are about 100 taels. The magistrate of Song Dynasty received it once in the first month, and Huai’an received it again half a month later. Ding Xianzun did not know where he heard about it last year, so he reported it to the prefect of Song Dynasty To receive double salaries is corruption and must be dealt with seriously. This old matter must be brought to light. In the end, Mr. Song returned 50 taels of silver and [-] shilumi to settle the matter. In the annual examination of the Ministry of Officials, the comments were also low. , making it very embarrassing."

"Since then, the two yamen in the prefecture and county have turned against each other, and they have never communicated with each other. Whenever the superiors dispatched them, such as receiving court officials and other good things, Song Zhifu directly snatched them over, and did not bring Ding County magistrate for fun."

Zhou Nan was dumbfounded after hearing this: Ding Qiguang, crazy!
That's right, you did things a little too much back then. It was a slap in the face. Anyone who was Song Kongdang would cut off ties with you. To put it bluntly, you belonged to the kind that even people can't do it.

But these are all things from the early years, when everyone was a young man in his twenties.Having experienced so many people in the officialdom, they understand more or less human affairs.In this way, everyone gets together to be an official again, and Song Zhifu is your immediate boss. Wouldn't it be good for everyone to meet and laugh at each other?
You guys are accusing others of embezzling 50 taels of silver salary, which is a joke in the officialdom.

In three years, the prefect was cleared, and one hundred thousand snowflakes were awarded.Those 50 taels of Song Kong Dang were probably still despised, probably because he left in a hurry when he took office and didn't think of this level, even if he thought of it, he didn't take it seriously.

It is not the political ecology of the Jiajing year to go online for trivial matters, shouting and shouting. Is it possible to return to the era of Hongwu years when officials were not satisfied with life?
It's no wonder that when Wang Ruoxu, the head of the Ministry of Officials, came to Huai'an last time, he was greeted by Song Zhifu, and Ding Zhixian showed up from the beginning to the end.

Unfortunately, the magistrate Fuguo of Sansheng County is full of evil, and the provincial capital of Fuguo is full of evil. You Dingzhi County is the magistrate of Fuguo County. Ben and the Song Zhifu have old grievances, and they don’t want to resolve them.

Zhou Nan originally thought that Song Kongdang and Ding Qiguang were the same year, and he became the niece and son-in-law of Dingzhi County. With this kind of affection, life in the government office would be prosperous in the future.Unexpectedly, there is such a story in it. To be honest, if I am the prefect of Song Dynasty, I know that one of the prefects under him is a relative of the big enemy, so I have to rectify it.

Thinking of this, Zhou Nan couldn't help but want to slap himself: Zhou Nan, Zhou Nan, you are so clever that you were mistaken by your cleverness, and you want to cling to Ding Qiguang.If he had known this earlier, the best policy would have been to make a deal with him that day, using Xun Juren's suicide note as an excuse to knock down the Xun family.The best strategy is to directly publish the letter to the public, making Mrs. Ding go bankrupt and dispel the hatred in her heart.

In the end, he chose the bad idea of ​​selling Ding Qiguang's favor and became his nephew and son-in-law.

It would be fine if Miss Xun Liu was born with a beautiful face, but she just looks disgusting.

Finally, he looked up to the sky and sighed, "What am I trying to figure out?"

Seeing Zhou Nan's desolate expression, Wang Er comforted: "Master Uncle, even if the people in the government office want to punish you, it's okay, at most they won't send you an errand, and no one can drive you away. You are also a member of Dingzhi County anyway. Relative, with his support behind you, Uncle and Master, your life in Shanyang County is just as majestic. By the way, Ding Xianzun said that if you have nothing to do, you can talk to him. Anyway, the government office and the county office There is a wall between them, so it is easy to come and go.”

"My dear nephew, you think I didn't die fast enough, how dare you go to the county government again? You know nothing, Shanyang is Fuguo County, and with such a magistrate boss, all the power in the county will be ruled by the government. Ding Qiguang is afraid that he will get average in the exam every year, and he will pack up and go home in a few years. At that time, although I will not have a good life, I guess you will not be able to be the deputy team leader."

Feeling sad in her heart, Zhou Nan still gave Wang Er a high look.This guy has only been in the county government for half a day, but he actually inquired about this kind of thing clearly.

(End of this chapter)