Daming talker

Chapter 636 Interesting Place

If it weren't for his united front value, Shi Lun would have been carried out of the city gate after dawn and thrown into the Han River to bathe.

The label of Wuxi people is still very valuable. After all, Wuxi will be the future base of the Donglin Party.

At this time, Lin Tailai already had the idea of ​​​​guarantor in his mind, but before making a decision, he must first clarify the matter thoroughly.

The so-called "fawning on the powerful and wealthy" originally refers to the old calendar during the Zhang Juzheng era, so what does "bribery" refer to?
Shi Lun replied: "Since I took office, I have collected more than 10,000 taels of silver from various places for redemption and fire consumption, and this time I have also been reported."

Lin Tailai then asked, "Is this all?"

Shi Lun answered with certainty: "That's all."

For the government, the consumption and loss of money and grain are often a confusing matter. It's fine if you don't take it too seriously, but it can also be a problem if you do.

More than ten thousand taels of confusing accounts were not a huge sum for a provincial governor who had been working for several years.

If the crimes for which Qin Zhongcheng was impeached were merely "adhering to Zhang Juzheng" and "making up a confusing account of more than 10,000 taels of silver", then he was most likely "struggled against".

Lin Tailai took the files of officials from various provinces along the way copied from the Ministry of Personnel and flipped through them, and he had a rough idea in his mind.

Five hundred years later, officials often had no idea who had framed them when they got into trouble, but in this era it was relatively easy to judge friends and enemies.

This is mainly because in the context of an acquaintance society, the interpersonal relationship model is relatively simple, consisting of blood ties, fellow townsmen, classmates, teachers and students, etc.

Especially in an environment where information flow is slow, personnel flow channels are fixed, and information disclosure is relatively low, the simple model is sufficient.

Whenever you encounter a problem, as long as you look for it from these aspects, you will always find some clues.

Take the impeachment of Governor Qin Yao as an example. He is now being pursued by the censor Guo Shi.

As Shi Lun said just now, this Censor Guo Shi is from the same county and hometown as Zhao Nanxing, and it is said that they are also relatives by marriage.

Among the high-ranking officials of Huguang province, it just so happened that Censor Hou Shiqing, Zhao Nanxing and Guo Shi all came from Zhending Prefecture. Isn't that a coincidence?

Moreover, the time when Hou Shiqing was promoted to Censor happened to be when Zhao Nanxing was the Deputy Director of the Ministry of Personnel's Selection Department. Isn't this a coincidence?

Regardless of whether others believe it or not, Lin Tailai believes that this is a coincidence, because he often encounters such coincidences.

So Lin Tailai said to Shi Lun meaningfully: "Chancellor Qin asked me for help. It seems that he has thought it through carefully."

I guess he has been studied thoroughly by Qin Zhongcheng and knows that being anti-Qingliu is his "political correctness".

Moreover, those who "take the initiative" to come to the door like me are more practical than the "powerful and wealthy" who are far away in the capital.

Thinking of this, Lin Tailai felt helpless.

Those in high positions will always be carefully studied by others, and then catered to in a targeted manner. No one can escape this.

Shi Lun didn't dare to respond directly. His superiors would definitely hate the feeling of having their thoughts guessed. He could only ask tentatively, "What do you think, Lord Jiuyuan?"

Lin Tailai thought for a while and realized that both of Governor Qin's crimes fell into the category of being fine if someone gave him a hand, but being in trouble if no one cared.

Then he said to Shi Lun, "Let's talk about it after we get to Wuchang and meet your boss."

This means that we can tentatively agree to it, but we will see what fate holds when we arrive in Wuchang.

The charges are not particularly serious or of a bad nature, so it is relatively easy to find a guarantor.

And even if you can't save it, it won't bring disaster to yourself, so there's no danger.

Shi Lun was delighted when he heard this and requested, "I am willing to follow Lord Jiuyuan to Wuchang."

I don’t know if he was afraid that Lin Tailai would run away and his lifeline would be gone, so he asked to follow.

Lin Tailai didn't care. He had more than 200 followers, so one more wouldn't make any difference.

They set off again the next day. Lin Tailai sat on the boat, admiring the scenery on both sides of the Han River while chatting with Gu Bingqian and Shi Lun.

Lin Tailai, the absolute core figure, suddenly said with emotion: "Huguang today, especially Hubei, is really a most interesting place."

Gu Bingqian was not alarmed, because in the owner's daily life, there were too many sudden strange remarks, and there was no need to make a fuss about it.

But Shi Lun was determined to please Lin Tailai, and his mind immediately started working at high speed.

But even after it was running until it was about to burn out, he still hadn’t figured out what “the most interesting” meant.

At this time, Lin Tailai continued to add: "It shouldn't be boring to be an official in Hubei in the next ten years."

Shi Lun's brain continued to work until it smoked, but he still did not understand the deep meaning of Jiu Yuan Gong. However, he did not dare to ask questions casually, for fear of breaking the taboo of spying on the thoughts of the superior.

Fortunately, Gu Bingqian asked, "Why does the owner have such feelings?"

Lin Tailai was not making things up. In the middle of the Wanli period, Hubei was definitely one of the most fun places.

Then, bored Lin Tailai became interested in talking, and said casually, "First of all, this place has flourished in literature in recent years. Didn't the Sanyuan Gong'an School originate in Hubei?"

Shi Lun imagined that these people valued liberating their nature and often indulged in alcohol and sex, so it was not impossible to say that they were "interesting".

Then Lin Tailai continued, "Secondly, I heard that Li Zhi and Li Zhuowu have been giving lectures in Macheng in recent years, and there are thousands of people listening to their lectures?"

Shi Lun was surprised and asked, "Even Lord Jiuyuan has heard of Li Zhuowu?"

Lin Tailai nodded and said, "I have heard of the theory of crazy Zen a long time ago."

Li Zhi was also a well-known and extremely independent figure in the history of thought in the late Ming Dynasty, and could even be said to be unique.

The main characteristic of this person is that he is against traditional Neo-Confucianism. He once said a famous saying: There is no need to judge right and wrong based on Confucius's opinions. This saying is earth-shattering. Who else would dare to say this?

Moreover, Li Zhi once publicly criticized Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism as pseudo-Taoism, and was a madman among madmen.

Even though Lin Tailai was known for his madness and privately disagreed with Neo-Confucianism, he never said so publicly.

If it weren't for the relaxed environment among the people in the late Ming Dynasty, people like Li Zhi would never have been born.

However, in history, Li Zhi did not have a good ending. He was later repeatedly reported to the emperor by officials who were extremely determined to maintain the orthodoxy of Neo-Confucianism.

Emperor Wanli ordered the arrest of Li Zhi for questioning, but Li Zhi committed suicide after being imprisoned.

In the late Ming Dynasty, when thoughts and speech were allowed in a relaxed environment, Li Zhi was labeled a thought criminal. You can imagine how shocking his views were.

When Shi Lun saw Lin Tailai mention Li Zhi, a controversial figure, he carefully observed Lin Tailai's expression and replied:

"Mr. Jiuyuan, you don't know that this year Li Zhuowu was accused of inciting turmoil and spreading rumors to confuse the people. Currently, he is being taken to the governor's office by the left governor Liu Dongxing for refuge." The main reason was that Li Zhi was too controversial. Even within the Huguang officialdom, the attitude towards Li Zhi was very divided.

If it weren't for the Left Provincial Government Liu Dongxing, the most important figure besides the governor, who protected Li Zhi, who knows what would have happened.

Since he had no idea how Lin Tailai viewed Li Zhi, Shi Lun could only explain the situation as objectively as possible.

Lin Tailai had achieved such fame and success, with Jiu Yuan in his left hand and the leader of the literary world in his right hand, that he no longer bothered to hide his cultural views.

So he said to Shi Lun: "So it is interesting that Hubei has a person like Li Zhi.
If you can't protect Li Zhi, send him to Suzhou! I have built a Hengtang Academy, and you can invite him to give lectures there."

"Hehehe." Shi Lun laughed along a few times and quickly took note in his mind that Lin Jiuyuan tended to approve of Li Zhi.

When we return to Wuchang Prefecture, we should remind the host, Qin Zhongcheng, not to disagree with Lin Jiuyuan on this controversial issue.

Lin Tailai, who was in high spirits, continued, "As for the third interesting place in Hubei, it is the Chu clan. Among the jokes about the royal family, the Chu clan accounts for two-thirds of it!"

Hearing this, Shi Lun laughed again, as if he was cheering for his leader telling a joke.

Chu Fan refers to the King of Chu, who was granted the fiefdom of Huguang and his palace was located in the city of Wuchang.

In the lineage of the Ming Dynasty princes, the Chu prince clan was relatively large in size. Although not as exaggerated as the Kaifeng Zhou prince clan, it also had more than a dozen princes.

Of course, the most important thing is that the Chu Palace is one of the richest palaces, at least much richer than the Zhou Palace.

But speaking of the Chu vassal state, it was indeed quite entertaining in the eyes of civil officials.

Forty-six or forty-seven years ago, the Crown Prince of Chu ordered warriors to kill the King of Chu with a bronze hammer at a banquet.

This is the only case in the history of the Ming Dynasty where a prince killed his father, which is quite shocking.

Then, two consecutive generations of Kings of Chu succeeded to the throne at a young age, completely losing their prestige and restraining power over other members of the Chu clan.

Immediately, the Chu clan fell into chaos, with all kinds of messy incidents emerging one after another.

For example, when several royal families were fighting for a certain family's wealth, they accidentally beat the King of Tongcheng who was passing by.

This Prince of Tongcheng was no ordinary prince. At that time, the King of Chu was young, and the Prince of Tongcheng took charge of the affairs of the royal palace, which was equivalent to the regent of the Chu vassal state.

The beaten regent was furious, and then joined forces with civil officials to kill those royal families and steal their wealth.

So when Shi Lun heard Lin Tailai mention Chu Fan, he really thought he was telling a joke.

After laughing, he said, "In fact, Chu Fan should be fine now. After all, the King of Chu has reached the age of thirty, has grown up, and is in good health. It doesn't look like he will die young."

There were many troubles in the Chu vassal state in the past, mainly because the King of Chu was young and weak most of the time in the past few decades, and the royal family was completely lacking in discipline, which was like a large family without a patriarch.

Now that the King of Chu has grown up, the chaos should be reduced as long as the prestige of the clan leader is re-established.

At this time, Lin Tailai smiled instead, and said cryptically: "The King of Chu's coming of age is not the end, but the beginning."

What is this? You all thought the farce was over? In fact, Chu Fan’s real fun was just about to begin!
Those who are familiar with history know that there were three major cases in the Ming Palace in the late Ming Dynasty. In fact, in the middle of the Wanli period, the Chu vassal also had a vassal king's version of the three major cases, each one more interesting than the last.

The core elements of the three major cases of the Chu vassal state are centered around the property of the fat sheep King Chu, which fully illustrates what it means that people die for money and birds die for food.

There was also a governor who, in one of the three major cases of the Chu clan, was ordered to interrogate a member of the royal family, but was beaten to death by a group of royal family members.

If the Ming royal family has one stone of entertainment, eight buckets of it are in the Chu vassal state. Being an official in Hubei, especially in Wuchang during the Wanli period, you will never be lonely.

After chatting more and becoming more familiar with each other, Shi Lun became bolder and asked, "Why did Lord Jiuyuan say that? Is there something wrong with Chu Fan?"

When it doesn't matter, Lin Tailai doesn't mind showing off his "predictive ability".

This is also a technique for shaping personal image. When others see that your predictions are successful repeatedly, they will naturally believe in you when they encounter things.

Lin Tailai then predicted: "The King of Chu has been weak for decades, and the royal family has been unrestrained for a long time. Unruly and unruly people have become deeply rooted. With such a weak trunk and strong branches, how can there not be chaos?
And there is another key point: the King of Chu is too wealthy, while the other members of the royal family are having a hard time. The gap is too big, and the problem is not the lack of wealth but the inequality.

You see, the internal strife in the Chu vassal state will only get more intense, and the royal family and the King of Chu will become enemies. As for when it will be quelled, only God knows. "

Believe it or not, Shi Lun can only say "Mr. Jiuyuan has a great idea" at this time!
We continued on this path, turned into the river at Hankou, and arrived at the pier outside Hanyang Gate in Wuchang City.

At this time, Wuchang City had nine gates, and each gate had different main features.

Hanyang Gate faces the Yangtze River and is considered the main western gate and the most important city gate.

Distinguished guests boarding and disembarking ships and entering the city all went through Hanyang Gate, and the famous Yellow Crane Tower was right next to Hanyang Gate.

When the boat stopped at the dock and was about to go ashore, Shi Lun, who was half a landlord, looked at the shore and asked Lin Tailai curiously, "Did Lord Jiuyuan notify others?"

Lin Tailai replied: "Officially, you are the only ones who have been notified. But I have some personal connections with the Yuan family in Jingzhou, so I notified them."

Shi Lun suddenly realized that it was no wonder that there were so many half-scholars and half-businessmen on the shore.

The Yuan family is the largest grain merchant in Hubei today. Their strength does not only refer to their scale, but also their ability to engage in large-scale cross-regional and long-distance trading.

The Yuan family can steadily supply tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of shi of grain to Suzhou every year. This capability is not possessed by other grain merchants of the same size.

Business that spans thousands of miles is completely different from business in the local area.

Now Shi Lun understood why the Yuan family could safely transport large quantities of grain to Suzhou for sale.

After landing, Lin Tailai said to Shi Lun: "I won't bother you tonight. I will meet up with the Yuan family first."

Shi Lun was a little surprised: "Ah, this..."

Lin Tai said, "Don't worry, it will be the same tomorrow."

Then Lin Tailai turned to the Yuan family, and Shi Lun quickly said, "We must send Jiu Yuangong to his residence."

An elderly scholar from the Yuan family came forward and said respectfully, "I am Yuan Shiyu. I have admired Lord Jiuyuan for a long time, and today I finally get to meet him!

My son has been very grateful for the care provided by 9 Yuan Public Relations over the years! "

Lin Tailai sighed, "Your son Yuan Hongdao is good in everything. He is good at literature and has a good character. However, he is too negative in dealing with people and always wants to retreat at the right time.

He has been promoted to the position of the grain magistrate of Suzhou Prefecture, and is still thinking about how to resign and return to the mountains and forests. "

Yuan Shiyu replied, "I already gave him a warning last month! I told him to stay in Suzhou and be an official, otherwise there will be no place for him in the family!"

Lin Tailai nodded with satisfaction: "Now Suzhou has a new governor. It needs stability, and your son must not leave."

(End of this chapter)