Chapter 15

"Xu Wenji?"

A voice of surprise and shock came from upstairs, and the crowd downstairs was in an uproar.

Storytellers often exaggerate, and when they speak of someone who has stirred the world, the audience usually doesn't take it seriously, considering it just a gimmick.

But when they heard the name "Xu Wenji," everyone was stunned.

Yang Yu's heart also trembled.

A person's name is like a tree's shadow.

Xu Wenji's name might not be particularly impressive in other places, but in the provinces of Qing and Yun, it was very well-known.

Few could compare to him.

Xu Wenji, originally named Xu Chong, was born in Xie Liang Prefecture, Yun Province. His father was a poor scholar who was not good at making a living, and although the family was not destitute, they were not wealthy either.

When Xu Wenji was three or four years old, his father passed away, and the family's land was seized by his relatives.

His mother threatened to die to prevent the family from being evicted, and she supported the family by spinning yarn and washing clothes, raising Xu Wenji.

Growing up in such an environment, Xu Wenji did not like reading and was fond of chivalry, spending his days loitering on the streets.

Until one day, his mother fell seriously ill and called him to her bedside, tears streaming down her face, saying:

"My child, when I die, you must not bury me with your father. Just set me on fire and scatter my ashes in the mountains!"

Xu Wenji was shocked and quickly asked why.

His mother, tears streaming down her face, said, "After your father died, I raised you for ten years. I don't expect you to bring glory to our family, but if you continue to loiter like this, the Xu family will eventually have no descendants."

"How can I face your father in the afterlife?"

Xu Wenji repented and began to study diligently from that moment on.

However, he had wasted many years, and his intelligence was only average. Even though he studied hard to the point where his teachers admired him, he only managed to pass the scholar examination at the age of twenty-six.

Nie Wendong, who had met Xu Wenji once, was only sixteen that year and had already passed three exams, becoming famous in the provinces of Qing and Yun.

After this incident, Xu Wenji realized he could not waste his life in the imperial examinations and decided to abandon his studies. He returned to his hometown in Yun Province and started from the bottom.

It took him thirty years to rise from a minor official in a small county in Yun Province to a position in the capital.

By then, Nie Wendong, who was ten years younger, had already become the governor of Qing Province, a high-ranking official.

However, it was only after he arrived in the capital, at the age of nearly sixty, that Xu Wenji's legendary life truly began.

He fought against corrupt officials, corrected the风气, reformed the bureaucracy, and even brought down the powerful chief minister, Wang Qinglin.

No one knew how he did it, but he did.

And his life was far from over.

Because he had made many enemies in the court, he was eventually demoted to the position of governor in You Province, which was on the border and frequently attacked by the Jurchen cavalry.

But in just seven years, he turned his jurisdiction into an impregnable fortress, and his influence spread throughout You Province.

With the limited troops at his disposal, he defeated the left khan of the Jurchen court, Naiyudu, who was feared by the court officials.

After this battle, he became famous throughout the land, rising to the position of Minister of War, and the late emperor called him the "pillar of the state."

Such a person was actually sent to Qing Province to quell the rebellion?

Could Qing Province have deteriorated to such an extent?

Or perhaps the new emperor did not like this two-term veteran, the pillar of the state?

"How could it be Xu Wenji?"

The door to the private room on the second floor was pushed open, and a young nobleman in a blue robe, accompanied by several servants, walked out, pointing at the storyteller with his fan:

"Xu Wenji is coming to Qing Province? How could I not know about such a big event?"

"This..."

The storyteller smiled bitterly and bowed: "The journey from the capital to Qing Province is so long. The news probably hasn't reached Qing Province yet..."

As he spoke, his face became stiff.

Storytelling is three parts truth and seven parts fiction, with two parts exaggeration. In the past, which audience member would have been so serious?

If it were any other audience member, he would have turned and left.

But...

"Pity, pity."

Seeing his nervousness, Liu Qingqing knew he had only heard some rumors and immediately lost interest, returning to the private room.

At this point, the storyteller finally breathed a sigh of relief.

He wanted to leave, but the other audience members would not let him.

They all shouted for him to continue.

The storyteller, seeing the bamboo basket almost full of copper coins, had no choice but to return to the stage.

"Since you all respect me so much, I will tell another story. Let me tell you about the famous Xu Wenji, Lord Xu!"

He slammed the gavel and began.

Yang Yu drank his tea listlessly, staring blankly, lost in thought, as the servant glared at him.

"Xu Wenji returned to Yun Province and became a minor official, but it was because he had offended someone and was deliberately demoted.

But did Lord Xu care about these things? Scholars are supposed to be well-rounded, excelling in both literature and martial arts, but he was clearly not an ordinary scholar.

His literary skills were far inferior to those of Lord Nie, but his other abilities were even greater. In just two years, he cleared out all the bandits in his jurisdiction, catching the attention of the Six-Fan Gate and was promoted to the chief of the eight prefectures in Yun Province."

...

The storyteller spoke calmly, much more composed than before.

Perhaps he knew a lot about Lord Xu's deeds, and his storytelling made the audience alternately excited, sighing, and blushing.

"One day, Xu Wenji was ordered to capture a notorious bandit who had killed several officials.

He didn't know that this mission would become the biggest stain on his life..."

The storyteller paused, and the audience, eager to hear more, threw more coins.

"Let's eat, shall we?"

The storyteller smiled, slammed the gavel, and continued.

"Xu Wenji, leading a group of constables, captured the bandit who had been terrorizing several prefectures in just half a month. However, many of his constables were injured or killed, and he had to return alone with the bandit."

"One day, the official and the bandit arrived at a small county. The county was picturesque, but as they entered, they saw few people, and those they did see looked sad."

"Xu Wenji, puzzled, heard a woman crying in the distance. He went to investigate and found a woman in white, kneeling on the ground, selling herself to bury her relatives."

"Wow!"

The storyteller's vivid description made the audience feel as if they were seeing a beautiful woman crying, evoking their sympathy.

Yang Yu, lost in his own thoughts, was also drawn in.

"Xu Wenji was curious. The woman was beautiful and only asked for two taels of silver, enough to buy a straw mat.

But the passersby avoided her like a snake or a scorpion. He grabbed one and asked, and the man, unable to resist Xu Wenji's questioning, soon told the whole story."

"It turned out that there was a tyrant named Han Si in the county who colluded with the officials and terrorized the people. He was insatiable and a lecher, and almost every woman in the county had been violated by him!"

"The woman had been forced to watch her parents and children die, and now she was selling herself to bury her entire family and her husband's family!"

"Wow!"

An audience member exclaimed, "In our great Ming, a county must have at least ten thousand households. A large county can have up to a hundred thousand. How many women are there in a city?

Even if the tyrant had three heads and six arms, he couldn't possibly have had them all, right?"

"Ha!"

The audience laughed, but some were concerned about the woman and asked what Xu Wenji would do to the tyrant.

The storyteller slammed the gavel and said,

"Xu Wenji was furious and declared he would arrest the tyrant. Suddenly, he heard a loud laugh. He turned to see the bandit, shackled and with his shoulder bones pierced, laughing."

"Xu Wenji!" The bandit sneered, "Even if you have a thousand ways, you're just a constable. By the time you act, how many more people will suffer? How many more will die unjustly? Officials and bandits collude, ha, they collude."

"What can you do?" Xu Wenji looked at the bandit coldly. He knew the bandit had a reputation for chivalry but had committed a grave crime by killing officials.

The bandit grinned, "Remove my shackles, and in one night, I will bring you the heads of the three tyrants!"

"The bandit has a good heart?"

"Probably trying to escape?"

"Likely."

The audience whispered.

The storyteller, unusually, did not leave them in suspense.

"Xu Wenji ignored him. He broke the woman's straw sign, bought a coffin for her family, and arranged for a security company to send her to a safe place before returning to the inn."

"The bandit, shackled, followed and watched, but only sneered. Sure enough, the next day, as they were about to leave the city, they saw a naked woman's body hanging at the city gate!"

Boom!

The audience was stunned.

Even Yang Yu felt a surge of anger.

"Ha ha ha! Xu Wenji, what will you do?" The bandit laughed, "I was being kind, and you doubted me?"

Xu Wenji was silent for a long time. He looked at the cowering people in the city and the woman's body on the city wall, then closed his eyes.

"Then, in front of everyone, he opened the shackles! It seemed he agreed to let the bandit kill the tyrant!"

"Good!"

Someone cheered.

From the second floor, a gold ingot was thrown down.

Liu Qingqing, gripping his fan, shouted, "That's right, that's right."

But then he shook his head,

"Lord Xu made a mistake. If he had waited for a dark and stormy night, who would have known he had released the bandit?"

"Thank you, sir!"

The storyteller accepted the gold ingot and said,

"The bandit asked the same question. What do you think Xu Wenji said?"

"Xu Wenji covered the woman's body with his robe, looked at the people in the city, and said proudly,

'A man has nothing to hide! Today, in Anping County, the one who allowed the bandit to commit this crime is Xu Wenji of Yun Province!'

Next, he said,

'Today you act as a hero,

Tomorrow I will enforce the law!'"