Wang Pu in the late Ming Dynasty

"The general is about to become a noble, so I really have to offend Xiang woman. I pity my young lady, who has become an abandoned woman because of a joke from the general. How can a young lady like you who was born in a boudoir and raised by a weak man bear all this? In the future, she will only be a foot of white silk and a cup of poisoned wine. She will leave this hell in shame and anger and beg for a decent grave." Xiaolan used this provocation to dance on eggs. She was betting that Wang Pu was good at reputation and abandoned a woman after having sex with her. The world would definitely laugh at him.

"I, I was just joking, what kind of joke?" Wang Pu heard that there was a lot of resentment in her words, and he didn't dare to neglect it, and asked.

"The general said that year that marrying my young lady would be a life without regrets."

"Then, what's the problem? It's not against the law." Wang Pu was confused. He was not sure whether the real Wang Pu had said this, so he could only smile bitterly under Xiaolan's angry eyes.

"Hehe, sir, you actually deny it in front of me. Today, rumors are spreading that you and my young lady have had an affair. Isn't it your trick?"

Wang Pu's face darkened. To abandon a woman after having sex with her is a small matter in the court, but it is a social death in the martial arts world. The creed of the warriors in the army and the chivalrous people in the martial arts world is similar. This rumor endangered Wang Pu's prestige in the army and was enough to shake his foundation.

"You stay first, I will send someone to inquire. If there is such a rumor, I will make arrangements." Wang Pu said coldly, and his heart was inexplicably angry. He had been socializing everywhere these days. It should be that he spoke without restraint at the banquet and was caught by others. This kind of rumor is very difficult to deal with and almost incurable.

Wang Pu called Wang Zong and asked him for his strategy. Wang Zong went out for a while and found out the rumor. It was a vivid and vivid story.

Wang Pu had a look of ashamed. What kind of trick was this? He was blocking both ends. If he ignored Miss Chi, he would be a heartless man who abandoned his lover. He would be despised by the rough men in the army and endanger the prestige of the army. If he took Miss Chi in, he would be cursed by Ximen Qing and become infamous in the circle of scholars and become a laughing stock.

Pu Zhen left the mansion and went straight to the shop to call a few servants, saying that he was going to question the general Wang Pu. He did this to boost his courage and momentum. But halfway through, the servant muttered that since ancient times, scholars could not explain their reasons to soldiers. It would be strange if he could get a good result from Wang Pu. Don't let Wang Pu's soldiers chop off your hands and ears and dig out your eyes and nose. He dissuaded Pu Zhen, saying, "As the saying goes, catch the thief and the stolen goods, catch the adulterer and the couple. If you go to confront him like this, there is nothing you can do even if he refuses to admit it."

Pu Zhen thought about it and regretted it as soon as he turned a corner. Wang Pu had soldiers, and he had nothing. If he couldn't beat him, he could only report to the officials, but he was a high-ranking official. Although the rank of a warrior was not valuable, it was more than enough to deal with him, a commoner. So he said, "Let's let him go today. When we prepare the troops and horses and catch him on the spot, we will not let him go."

After saying that, he turned around and walked back. He thought that if he went home now, he would miss his uncle. If he met his wife, he would scold her in front of everyone and restore some of his heroic spirit. The servants knewThe young master was in a bad mood, so he didn't dare to say anything and followed behind.

But he met his uncle's attendant at the gate of the mansion. Just as he was about to ask him something, the attendant shouted loudly, "Young Master Zhen, you're back."

This shout was so loud that Pu Zhen was stunned. He was really afraid that his uncle would hear the noise and come to catch him and punish him, so he said, "Why are you yelling? I'm going back to my own home, what can you do about it?"

"Hehe, what are you talking about? Why did Young Master Zhen come back at this time? Didn't you go to find Wang Pu and have a fight with him?" The uncle's attendant said with a smile and changed the subject.

Sure enough, Pu Zhen's mind was simpler. His face turned red and he mumbled, "As the saying goes, catch the thief and the stolen goods, catch the adulterer and the couple. I'll lie low for now, and I'll beat him up when I catch him later."

The attendant cursed inwardly, damn it, you almost ruined the matter, the master will definitely vent his anger on me when he returns, it's better to let this coward beat me up here, so that I can show my loyalty to the master, and maybe I can even ask for a reward afterwards. He said angrily: "That's not the point. If you went to find Wang Pu, even if you were beaten by his men, everyone would respect you as a man, but you retreated. You are not a man. Our Pu family will be laughed at when we go out in the future."

"Okay, you slave, you dare to talk back to me like this, and you want me to beat you." Pu Zhenwan didn't expect that this slave dared to scold his master in person. He was so angry that he rushed to fight him. This follower protected his head and dodged a few kicks nimbly. He was still talking nonsense and said: "You have lost the face of the masters of the Pu family. As an old servant in the family, I , saying a few excessive words, it is the love that leads to the blame. "

It would have been better if he hadn't said it. After he said it, Pu Zhen became even more angry and hateful. His face was unusually brilliant, with red, purple, black, and blue veins crawling all over his neck. He was just a pretentious person, and he was actually dizzy after being provoked. He stopped unwillingly and called the servants behind him to beat him up, but these servants were all employees of the Pu family shop. How could they dare to beat the housekeeper of the eldest master's room? They hid aside, secretly complaining in their hearts. If they didn't obey, the people in the eldest master's room might not appreciate it, but they really offended Master Zhen.

After such a delay, the uncle and Chi Yinping came out of the room. Pu Zhen heard a sound of inhalation, and turned around to see that the servants he brought were all terrified. He turned his head to look at the door, and saw that his uncle was standing under the eaves, with a murderous look on his face, staring at him fiercely. Pu Zhen was so scared that his face turned pale. He didn't expect to see his uncle still in the house. He was panicked by the sudden encounter and knelt down to beg for mercy: "Uncle. My nephew went to Wang Pu to ask for an explanation, but he refused to see him. It can be seen that Wang Pu is guilty. Someone must want to harm my nephew." He said some incoherent words. But he was not stupid after all. Thinking back to the terrified looks of the servants just now, the more he thought about it, the more wrong it was. This matter had nothing to do with them. What were they afraid of? This doubt was like a poisonous snake killing itself, and the venom invaded the internal organs and could not be eliminated.

He looked up at Chi Yinping again. After all, the woman was guilty, and she was the person next to her, and they knew each other well. Pu Zhen saw that the woman's face was not right, but at this critical momentSeeing him raise his head with suspicion, the uncle did not allow him to think carefully, and shouted angrily: "You damned corpse, you slandered the general, who are you? You should know that he is the king in the city. You slander him, do you want our whole family to be buried with you? Come, tie him up and beat him with family rules." Pu Zhen was extremely frightened, and there was only one thought in his mind, that the uncle wanted to beat him to death so that he could occupy his wife. The eldest room's attendant smiled and asked the servants to arrest him, and pressed his head hard into the mud. Pu Zhen was out of breath, but his mind became clearer. The uncle and his wife were alone in the house for a while. If the news spread out, the two of them would be speechless. They turned their heads and took a deep breath, wanting to shout loudly. As long as they shouted, the mansion was not deep, and the passers-by outside would hear it. In the future, the uncle would be pointed at by thousands of people.

But the eldest wife's attendant had already prepared for this move, and grabbed a handful of mud and stuffed it into Pu Zhen's mouth, choking him and making him wail in pain, retching continuously, but unable to speak.

Chi Yinping saw her husband being abused and exclaimed, "Family, even if you have to beat him according to family rules, you should do it in front of the ancestors. How, how can you punish him privately? It's better to forget it." She was begging her uncle to let Pu Zhen go.

The uncle looked very proud and said, "Hehe, everyone in the mansion is my people, so what if I kill him."

Chi Yinping ignored him and ran straight to Pu Zhen to help him pick out the mud and water in his mouth. This scene made the uncle a little unhappy, and he said angrily, "If this beast is ungrateful and bites you back, it will be troublesome."

"No, don't." Chi Yinping was in pain. She had been well-read since she was a child, so how could she be so cruel as to murder her husband? She burst into tears and said bitterly, "Husband, our lives are in each other's hands, don't do that stupid thing."

Pu Zhen understood and nodded repeatedly. Seeing this, the uncle also smiled contemptuously and said, "That's fine. I can take his life at any time. Since he knows how powerful he is, I will leave his dog's life for now, as for the outsiders. Hmm?" The uncle turned his head and glanced at the trembling servants on the side.

These servants were so scared that their souls flew away. They kowtowed repeatedly and said, "Master, we know nothing and didn't see anything."

"Humph." The uncle's face turned green. These people said they knew nothing, which meant they knew everything. He turned his head, winked at the attendant, and left.

After the master left, a group of servants surrounded them with grim smiles, stuffed mud into the mouths of these poor servants, tied their bodies, and beat them to death with sticks. Pu Zhen watched the whole process with inexplicable horror. Chi Yinping couldn't bear it and turned his head to go into the house.

The attendant came to Pu Zhen and said with a smile, "Master Zhen, you have killed many people. Don't kill yourself too. That would be a shame to the second master."

"I, I, I." Pu Zhen repeated a string of "I" and didn't say anything else. He just trembled violently, and his lower lip was bleeding from his front teeth.

“Tell the public that these servants were thieves and were caught on the spot. When they were sent to the authorities, they were desperate and tried to grab the sharp knife to commit murder, but were beaten to death by everyone. Wei Xiaoqi, Huo San,Go to the storehouse and get 100 taels of silver to report to the authorities. "The attendant saw that killing a chicken to scare the monkeys was successful, so he ignored the coward and turned around to give orders.

"There are so many thieves, 100 taels may not be enough." Wei Xiaoqi wanted to raise the price.

"Turtle, there is only seven in your name, you are really a turtle. I will reward you with what you deserve later, don't be greedy and break the master's rules."

"Yes, the butler taught me that. ”

The lotus pond in the general's camp was frozen, the flowers withered, and the trees were covered with shrubs. In the middle of the night, there were a few magpies singing. Wang Pu was annoyed by the rumors that Chi Yinping had an affair with him, which were getting more and more outrageous. He put down his pen and got up from the desk. On the table was a spy letter that had just been sent from Yanmen. It said that Zhuang Yueqing, the chief censor of Hubei Province, was active in Datong and Shuozhou, and was asking around for information about the Shenjia Camp. Some local gentry kept reporting this matter because they were good friends with Wang Pu. Wang Yan wrote to him and asked if he should send someone to assassinate this person.

Wang Pu paced a few times, thought about it, and still couldn't do it. , Behind Zhuang Yueqing may be the emperor, or the Huizhou merchants, or even the Huizhou merchants are working together with the emperor. Wang Pu does not want to force Chongzhen into a corner. When the Qing army was approaching the capital, this emperor threw Yuan Chonghuan, who was defending the emperor, into the imperial prison regardless of everything. It can be seen that he is a man who dares to fight to the death. As the saying goes, the ruthless are afraid of the desperate. Wang Pu is afraid that Chongzhen will be forced into a corner and issue an imperial edict to label him a traitor, making him lose face. As a result, the court and the Shenjiaying will both suffer losses and be taken advantage of by the Eastern Tartars.

"Be more cautious. The higher the position, the more afraid of death. The previous foolish youth is finally gone. "Wang Pu sighed. He had no taboos in his guerrilla post and dared to openly challenge the emperor. When the emperor asked him to return to Beijing to report on his work, Wang Pu casually said that he had beriberi and could not walk, which made Chongzhen very angry and hated him from then on. Today, Wang Pu did not dare to say such a thing. Instead, he was respectful to the emperor and did not dare to give the opposing faction an excuse.

"If Gu Huanchen was here, it would be great. His brain is too good. Compared with him, I have a pig brain. After two days, I still can't think of a way to break the deadlock. "Wang Pu slapped his head hard, but he had no idea what to do.

While thinking, he suddenly heard the sound of a gong. Wang Pu was very surprised and sent his personal soldiers in, ordering him to go out and inquire. After a while, he reported back that many people were standing at the door and wanted to see him. Wang Pu put on his armor and went out to meet the people. He heard from them that there was a good news from the north, that the Shenjia Camp had killed Lin Danhan on the grassland.

When Wang Pu heard it, he didn't believe it. These people were dressed in ordinary clothes and didn't look like local gentry. How could they find out about the battle in the north faster than the government? Then he thought about it carefully. The court had closed the post station, and the military report was not transmitted in time, but fell behind the word of mouth of the people. It seemed reasonable.

"It is a blessing for our Ming Dynasty to have a good general in troubled times. Please ask the general to conquer the bandits in the south and defeat the Donglu in the north to save the Ming Dynasty."

"If the general is alive, Qi Jiguang, our Ming Dynasty will be saved. ”

“The general protects the country and the people, he is a good man, the general’s soldiers are all good soldiers, they don’t harm the people.”

Facing the sincere patriotism of these people, Wang Pu was puzzled. Why were they still loyal to the Ming Dynasty? The Ming Dynasty was rotten to the core. Shouldn't ordinary people want to overthrow it and look forward to a change of dynasty day and night? Wang Pu was confident that he had seen through the darkness of this end of the world and was determined to help the rebel army overthrow it, but at this moment he was confused again. Which path was right? He really couldn't figure it out.

"Sir, take this opportunity to clear up the recent rumors." Wang Zong came over and reminded him.

Wang Pu suddenly realized and said loudly: "There are villains in the court. They humiliated and slandered me in every way, and framed me in front of the emperor, making it difficult for me to realize my ambitions. You have all heard about it. Even though I hid in Qizhou City, far away from the court, they still sent people to the city to spread rumors that I had an affair with someone's wife. Alas, such a Ming Dynasty is beyond salvation. There are too many treacherous servants and too few gentlemen and good generals."

"General, villains have been insidious and vicious since ancient times. We believe you and never believe those rumors. Whoever spreads these nonsense and opens the eyes of treacherous villains and becomes a running dog, we must, must deal with him."

"Yes, the treacherous ministers are so hateful. They harmed the Ming Dynasty. Only loyal ministers like you can save us. Please don't give up, general, and hold on."

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