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Chapter 79 Donglin Academy 2
It is precisely because of the different interpretations, cognitive psychology perspectives and heights that irreconcilable contradictions arise between the Donglin School and the Taizhou School.

The Donglin Clan advocates that scholars govern the country, believing that power should be in the hands of knowledgeable people like them who are well-read in poetry and books, so as to assist the emperor in unifying the world and educating all mankind.

The Taizhou School believes that the great road is not in the hands of the emperor, officials, and gentry at all, but in the hands of the people at the bottom, and putting the people first is the foundation.It makes sense to first solidify the foundation and let the people live a good life, and then talk about imperial power.

To be fair, the Taizhou School's ideas are more advanced and closer to the ideas of later generations.But, there is a limit to everything, and being too far ahead can be troublesome.In a period when the idea of ​​the supremacy of imperial power was deeply ingrained, it would be unreasonable for the emperor not to be attacked unless power was given by the common people.

It is said that literature is not the best, but sometimes ideas are very single and exclusive.Everyone in Donglin Academy feels that there is him without me, and there is me without him. If they cannot refute the other party theoretically for a while, then let's simply destroy them physically!
This time, the Donglin faction took the lead. After all, they had a lot of support in the court, and Li Zhi was more like a knight-errant, leading by example. He looked down on the officialdom and disdained to take advantage of it.

As a result, the censor Zhang Wenda and several famous officials went to Shu to impeach him, and persuaded Emperor Wanli to send him to prison. If Chen Ju hadn't used the prince's translation of the Analects to mediate secretly, Li Zhi would have died in prison long ago, no matter how high-minded he talked. In vain.

When they thought that their old enemy might collude with the second-in-command in the inner court to seduce the emperor, everyone in Donglin Academy felt a chill in their backs. They wrote letters one after another and sent them to the capital by fast horses day and night. On the one hand, they wanted to thoroughly investigate the matter; He tried his best to prevent the idea of ​​reducing the vassal status.

But the plan did not change quickly. Just over ten days had passed, and before the Donglin officials in the imperial court were ready to attack in groups, a secret letter from the cabinet boss Shen Li came first. The content was very simple, and they fully cooperated with the emperor in reducing the vassalage. !

The reason, of course, cannot be told to ordinary members, and then several secret letters were delivered to Donglin Academy via fast horse relay along the official road.After receiving these letters, Gu Xiancheng read them for a long time and overnight, still in a dilemma.Then the servant was asked to invite the other five founders to come over and talk face to face about how the matter should be decided.

Gu Yuncheng, Gao Panlong, An Xifan, Qian Yiben, Xue Fujiao, plus Gu Xiancheng, are known as the Six Gentlemen of Donglin. They should be the Eight Gentlemen in history, as well as Liu Yuanzhen, a doctor in the Nanjing Ministry of War, and Ye Maocai, the director of the Nanjing Ministry of Industry.

However, due to Hong Tao's time travel, Emperor Wanli was killed in the 31st year of Wanli, allowing these two officials to avoid being dismissed. They are still in office and are relatively firm supporters of the Donglin Party, but they have no chance to give lectures at Donglin Academy. , let alone the core.

"Did you guys sleep well?" Following Gu Yuncheng to the West Cross Courtyard, Gu Xiancheng couldn't help but be a little surprised when he saw a few familiar faces.Why do they all look haggard and have bags under their eyes?

"Why should Jingyang ask questions knowingly?" The old man wearing a straight body and a square scarf patted the letter in his hand with a rather unhappy look on his face.

"Brother Qixin, don't be anxious, come here, let's figure it out while drinking tea." Facing the old man's question, Gu Xiancheng smiled faintly and greeted the other four people in the corridor to walk towards the main hall.

"I made a divination at dawn, and the divination was in chaos, and it was difficult to tell good or bad luck!" The old man known as Qixin was still unwilling to give in. As he walked, he rambled on about his thoughts on these secret letters, his expression becoming more solemn. .

This person's name is Qian Yiben, a native of Wujin. He was a Jinshi in the 11th year of Wanli. He served as a county magistrate and a censor of Fujian Province. He offended the Wanli Emperor by participating in the impeachment of Zhang Juzheng and was demoted to a civilian position.

He studied the Book of Changes very well, and was even more proficient in hexagrams. In later generations, these knowledge would at most be compared to that of a folk master, but in ancient times it was actually profound knowledge, similar to the philosophers of later generations. "Looking at what the current Saint has done, he is very diligent and generous to others, but it is a pity that he is not capable enough. He goes beyond following the rules and is not inspiring enough. The sudden mention of reducing the vassal is not the original intention, and there must be a driving force behind it.

After thinking about it all night, I got a little bit of information. Li Zhi and Chen Ju are the most suspects.One of them is the internal minister and the other is a great scholar. If they get together to seduce His Majesty, I am afraid something big will happen... What do you think? "

Gu Xiancheng did not express his position immediately. He waited for everyone to sit down and took a sip of hot tea to moisten his throat before he spoke out what was on his mind, tapping his fingers on the table in a very rhythmic manner.

"Wonderful! I also had this intention, but I didn't understand the person behind it, and I had an epiphany after hearing Brother Jingyang's words. There were very few officials who were personally promoted by the Holy Emperor after he ascended the throne, and few held important positions. Only Li Zhi was special. At the beginning, we also discussed After this incident, I thought it was the friendship between the East Palace, but now it seems that it’s not that simple!”

Gu Xiancheng's inference was immediately agreed with. The supporter was opposite. He was not tall, thin and withered. He looked older than Gu Xiancheng, but in fact he was a full round younger.

He is one of the Six Gentlemen of Donglin, Gao Panlong, a native of Wuxi. He was a Jinshi in the 17th year of Wanli. He was demoted to Jieyang, Guangdong due to the impeachment of Wang Xijue, the first assistant. He returned home less than a year after taking office and concentrated on studying knowledge. He was Gu Xiancheng's good friend and Lectured by Donglin Academy.

"Well, it makes sense. Li Zhi was well taken care of in Jinyiwei's prison. It was Chen Ju who said hello secretly. But I don't know how the two of them got together and calculated so clearly. If the late emperor had not died suddenly, Li Zhi I’m afraid I won’t survive for a few more years!”

Gao Panlong was not the only one who agreed with Gu Xiancheng's reasoning. The fat white man next to him immediately nodded in agreement. However, this man obviously had good logical thinking skills and raised a more complex question that was worth pondering.

"Hey, I'm a vegetarian, be careful what you say!" Hearing this, the tall old man sitting on Gu Xiancheng's left hand, who had been holding a tea cup and said nothing, raised his long eyebrows and couldn't help but speak out to stop him.

He understood the meaning of his companion's words. Li Zhi was already old, and he might not be able to survive the next year after this year. Without the power of foresight, it was difficult to say who would survive based on Emperor Wanli's physical condition at the time.

If he died in front of Emperor Wanli, it would be useless no matter how hard he tried to seduce the prince.This obviously makes no sense. Political investment requires cost accounting. Who would invest heavily in something with a low return rate or too high a risk?

The only possible explanation is that someone had anticipated that Emperor Wanli would die suddenly, and then tried to get close to the prince to join the East Palace clan. After the prince succeeded to the throne, he would naturally enter the palace as an old official of the Qiandi, and hide behind the new emperor to stir up trouble. .

However, whether you are an official or a citizen, privately discussing that the death of the late emperor may have been a contrivance without any evidence is tantamount to accusing the current emperor of having committed patricide and usurping the throne. This is too shocking and inconsistent with etiquette. Once word spreads, it will definitely lead to genocide and death.

(End of this chapter)