Ming Dynasty Road

Chapter 30 Assassination of Fan Wencheng

In Shengjing City, in a magnificent mansion, an old man in his dying years was scribbling hard on the desk in the study room. He was Fan Wencheng, the first official of the Qing Dynasty.

Fan Wencheng, courtesy name Xiandou, was demoted from Jiangxi to Shenyang in the early Ming Dynasty and "lived in Fushun".He was an important minister of the early Qing Dynasty. Most of the regulations at the founding of the Qing Dynasty came from him, and he was regarded as the head of civil servants.Some of the political strategies he suggested played an important role in the founding of the Qing Dynasty.Fan Wencheng was a well-known founding minister and leader of civil servants in the early Qing Dynasty.

At this time, Fan Wencheng was very annoyed. Firstly, Prince Duoduo was captured, and the Manchu Qing army suffered setbacks in Songshan, and now he got information that Daming's spies had infiltrated into Shengjing. Fan Wencheng has been busy these few days. He couldn't sleep all night. There was a roll of rice paper on the desk in the study, and he had written a lot of words densely. At this time, the note he rushed out overnight was aimed at the current plan of the Qing Dynasty to deal with the Ming army's spies who had sneaked into Shengjing. There is also a plan to attack Daming in the future, and it also proposes that the Qing army should import firearms used by the Ming army.

Fan Wencheng, who had been busy all night, rubbed his somewhat numb head. He pushed open the window, looked at the sun that had just revealed its white belly in the sky, and took a deep breath of the fresh morning air that still smelled of dew. His nose was suddenly cool. After a night of exhaustion, my tired body felt a little better.

"For the unification of the Qing Dynasty and the peace of the world, Fan will definitely devote himself to the last sliver of strength for the Qing Dynasty." Fan Wencheng's aging body could not withstand the fatigue of the day, and he coughed violently, and put the silk handkerchief in his hand. Take it away, and there is a bloodstain.

Nowadays, the older generation of civil and military ministers in the imperial court have all withered, Dorgon, Suksaha, and Sony have shown their loyal faces, but they are still young after all, and they need someone to help them walk for a while, Fan Wen Cheng thought silently in his heart.

There was a light knock on the door at this time, and a soft voice came in: "Master, the time has come, it's time to go to court." It was my concubine who came to remind me that it was time to go to court, yes, It's time to go to court, how many chances do I still have to go to the court, my body has already collapsed, and it is not as good as before.

Fan Wencheng opened the door of the study room, and the concubine timidly helped Fan Wencheng put on court boots and court beads, and put on the court uniform of a first-rank official embroidered with a crane patch. On his head was an official hat with three-eyed feathers and a horseshoe button Her sleeves were rolled up, some incense was sprayed on her body, and the concubine's tender hands were busy on Fan Wencheng's body.

Dressed properly, Fan Wencheng straightened his mind and boarded the big green sedan chair that had been prepared outside the mansion. With the order of the guards in front, Fan Wencheng's sedan chair set off under the guard of honor of the first-rank officials.

During the Qing Dynasty, civil and military officials from all provinces, from the governor to the county magistrate, had a guard of honor when they went out, and the guard of honor was graded according to their official rank.The guard of honor of the governor is the so-called "eight ceremonies", namely: the small red pavilion (the first pavilion) as the leader, followed by the red umbrella (for shelter from the rain), the green fan (for blocking the sun) and four people who ring the gong , followed by two wooden plaques for quietness, two avoidance plaques and official rank plaques, four red and black hat servants each, shouting and shouting, and then one rider and leader (commonly known as the top horse) and four incense burners. People, and then the official's green-enclosed red-barrier mud sedan chair, which is carried by four people and supported by four people from left and right (that is, eight large sedan chairs are carried). Behind the sedan chair are two Goshhas (patrollers) and two riders with horses.

There is a small stone bridge on the only way from the Fan Mansion to the Imperial Palace. Beside the bridge are some full-blown houses. Shi Xiaoqiang, who had been ambushing here early, rubbed his sore eyes. Shi Xiaoqiang was lying in ambush here last night. Near the small bridge, in order to avoid missing Fan Wencheng's passing time by dozing off, he stayed up all night abruptly.

"Be alert, it's almost time, have the gunpowder been properly placed as I said?" Shi Xiaoqiang turned around and asked the people behind him, these dozens of people were assigned to Shi Xiaoqiang by Zhao Yi, and they were specially trained by Shi Xiaoqiang In terms of blasting technology, Shi Xiaoqiang brought these effective stoppers to the assassination of Fan Wencheng.

"Brother Shi, don't worry, we have done everything according to your instructions, and we are just waiting for that old bastard Fan Wencheng to come." A subordinate said seriously, now Shi Xiaoqiang is no longer the same Shi Xiaoqiang as before, now he is The deputy captain of the armed forces team behind the enemy.

"Here we come" one of his subordinates said softly, only to hear the sound of orderly footsteps in the distance, that was the sound of Fan Wencheng's guard of honor marching, from a distance, one could already see the sign of quiet avoidance, and the soldiers opening the way in front up.

"Do it" Shi Xiaoqiang waved his hand lightly, several of his subordinates quickly ran to the designated positions, lit the gunpowder twister, and a fire snake quickly rushed towards the bottom of the small stone bridge.

Because Fan Wencheng is the most respected Hanchen by Huang Taiji, his status is very noble, so the guard of honor is also very majestic. There are as many as 200 people in the guard of honor alone. There are few pedestrians on the streets of Shengjing in the early morning, and the team is walking neatly , There was the sound of neat footsteps on the street.

Eight large sedan chairs were walking steadily on the street. Fan Wencheng dozed off amidst the shaking of the sedan chair due to a night of fatigue. At the moment when he seemed to be asleep, a heat wave suddenly surged from the bottom of the sedan chair, shaking the elderly Fan Wencheng was lifted high in the air, and the blasted gravel from the small stone bridge flew towards the soldiers of the guard of honor like countless sharp blades.

Shengjing is the capital and its defenses are strict, so the guard of honor did not wear armor with a high safety factor, but a thin uniform. At this moment, the thin uniform can withstand the impact of sharp gravel. After the loud noise, wailing everywhere, the guard of honor Some of the soldiers rolled on the ground in pain after being hit by the gravel, and some were seriously injured lying motionless on the ground, obviously dead. The surviving soldiers fled in all directions, shouting for help while running.

Shi Xiaoqiang looked at the Qing army who was rolling all over the ground and was about to evacuate. At this moment, an old man climbed out of the bombed sedan chair, and Shi Xiaoqiang knew that the person in the sedan chair must be Fan Wen. Cheng, waved at his subordinates and said: "Brothers, that is Fan Wencheng, I didn't expect this old bastard to be so fateful, take him back." A group of subordinates picked up the swords placed beside them and rushed up.

Fan Wencheng's soldiers were busy calling for help, and some soldiers were rescuing the wounded and searching for assassins. They were in a mess for a while, and suddenly rushed out from the vicinity of the small stone bridge. The two sides immediately fought together. The Qing army They could have repelled the assassins by taking advantage of the large number of people, but they had just experienced a big explosion, and everyone was terrified, and several people were cut down to the ground in less than a moment.

Although a few people were cut to the ground, the Qing army was not a coward. With so many dead brothers still rushing forward, Shi Xiaoqiang had no choice but to order his subordinates to take out the firecrackers they carried and shoot at the Qing army. The team of dozens of people moved slowly towards the sedan chair. Pushing forward firmly, the area around the already narrow small stone bridge was crowded with people. The Ming army fired with firecrackers while hacking at the approaching Qing army with knives.

The spies of the Ming army advanced all the way, and finally hacked near the big sedan chair. Shi Xiaoqiang was the first to bear the brunt, and used firecrackers to repel the still resisting Qing army, and raised the unconscious Fan Wencheng and shouted: "Success, retreat. "He shot the chasing Qing soldiers with firecrackers, and retreated smoothly with a group of men.

Half an hour later, Shi Xiaoqiang and the others returned to the previous small courtyard. Fan Wencheng's official hat had already fallen off, revealing his livid scalp and a full-grown head with money and rat tails. It was bombed to pieces, with some dry blood stains on it, and it has long lost the prestige of a first-rank official.

A basin of icy cold water was poured on Fan Wencheng who was still in a coma. Fan Wencheng was shocked by the icy cold water and woke up faintly. Looking at the people holding steel knives around him, Fan Wencheng was not timid at all. Then, Fan Wencheng flicked back the braids in front of him, coughed a few times, and said calmly: "You are the secret agents of the Ming army, right? Now the court must have heard the news that the old man was assassinated, and must have put All the gates of the city have been sealed off, my Majesty of the Qing Dynasty is a wise monarch, if you let me go and seek refuge with my Daqing, the Majesty will definitely forgive me." Fan Wencheng said calmly, and found a chair by himself after finishing speaking He sat down, as if all the menacing people around him with steel knives were just decorations.

Zhao Yi smiled instead of anger: "You are Fan Wencheng, the first Han official of the Tartars. I heard that you are also a descendant of Fan Zhongyan, a famous official in the Northern Song Dynasty? If your ancestors knew that you were a traitor and a thief as your father, you would be killed under the nine springs." Feel ashamed to see people."

Fan Wencheng sneered: "This old man is just following God's will, how can there be a traitor? The Ming court is fatuous, the eunuchs are in power, and they impose excessive taxes, making the people miserable. The people live a life that is worse than pigs and dogs, but this old man is full of money. The imperial court doesn’t recognize the talent of the old man, and I am still the sage of the Qing Dynasty, and I treat the old man as a guest, and the Qing Dynasty is the master of the Ming Dynasty to recognize talents, so there is nothing wrong with the old man’s submission to the Qing Dynasty.”

Seeing Fan Wencheng's impassioned words, everyone in the hall was so disgusted that they almost vomited out. Who would have thought that the loyal minister Fan Zhongyan would have such a brazen descendant.

"Old bastard, you're looking for death. I want you to speak nonsense here." Sitting on the chair, Zhou Tong couldn't bear it any longer, and swung his iron fist at Fan Wencheng's stomach. They were all punched out, and the severe pain slid him off the chair, and he fell on the ground in a lump. Kicking it up, Fan Wencheng managed to breathe a sigh of relief, and was about to get up when Zhou Tong stepped on the ground again.

"Stop it, this old bastard is still useful." Zhao Yi saw Zhou Tong stepping on Fan Wencheng's body, and Fan Wencheng, who had been blown up by gunpowder and had only half his life left, had nothing but breath. Out of anger, if Zhao Yi hadn't stopped Zhou Tong in time, Fan Wencheng would have been beaten to death by Zhou Tong.

At this moment, Feng Er and the brothers who went out with him returned safely to the courtyard. Feng Er looked at Fan Wencheng covered in blood, and then clasped his hands together and said, "My lord, I got it."

(End of this chapter)