Late Ming sea owl

Chapter 282 Justice in the World
Zhang Pu then dismissed the servants who were serving on the side and took Lin Hai to his study.

After the two parties sat down as host and guest, Zhang Pu asked, "I wonder if Brother Deng Wan has any advice for me? I am all ears."

Lin Hai asked in return: "Why do you want to expel Gu Bingqian?"

Zhang Pu was stunned for a moment, then replied: "Of course it is for justice in the world."

Lin Hai smiled and blew away the tea leaves floating in the tea bowl in his hand, and replied slowly: "Is it really for justice in the world? Or is it for personal reputation?"

Zhang Pu did not expect that he would ask so bluntly, and his face immediately changed: "Brother Deng Wan, are you doubting Zhang's character?"

Lin Hai smiled and said, "I'm not doubting you. I'm very sure that you did this for your personal reputation."

Zhang Pu stood up immediately and said, "Since General Lin said so, I can only see you off. After all, people with different ideals cannot work together!"

"Why are you so excited? There's no one else here, and no one can verify what you and I said today..."

Lin Hai still sat on the chair and did not get up: "Brother Ximing, I am not afraid to tell you that I destroyed the ancestral temple for my own reputation. What's the big deal? If a man cannot make a name for himself, wouldn't it be a waste of his eight-foot body?"

Zhang Pu said with great righteousness: "I only know how to make achievements, establish words, and establish virtues, but I don't know how to become famous!"

"Is that so? Then we really have different ideals and cannot work together." Lin Hai said as he stood up and pretended to leave. "What a pity. I wanted to give you great fame, but you didn't want it... Then I can only look for someone else. Wumen's Yang Weidu, Jintan's Zhou Jiesheng, who can be so lucky?"

The two men Lin Hai mentioned were the same as the two Zhangs from Loudong, and were also leaders of Yingshe. Yang Weidou was Yang Tingshu from Changshu County, Suzhou Prefecture, and Zhou Jiesheng was Zhou Zhong from Jintan County, Zhenjiang Prefecture.

Yingshe has developed very fast in the seventh year of Tianqi, and now has 600 to 700 members. Lin Hai came here to learn that the most popular people in Yingshe are these four, and Yang Tingshu's personal reputation is even higher than the two Zhangs in Loudong.

Because Yang Tingshu not only participated in the expulsion of Gu Bingqian, but also made great efforts to rescue Zhou Shunchang in the sixth year of Tianqi, it was rumored that he was the mastermind behind the Suzhou uprising.

In the seventh year of the Tianqi reign, this stubborn and fearless leader of the Yingshe Society submitted a petition requesting the removal of Wei Zhongxian's right to be enshrined in the Confucian Temple, and he almost lost his life.

Yang Tingshu did both of these things when Emperor Tianqi was still in power. In comparison, the movement to drive out the rebellious officials led by the two Zhangs took place after the new emperor ascended the throne. In terms of courage, they cannot be compared with the former.

As for Zhou Zhong from Jintan County, the reason why he is so famous is that he is one of the best political experts in the country, that is, a famous editor who selects and compiles current affairs.

Shiwen is the eight-part essay required for the imperial examination. Later, one of the important activities of Fushe was to select and engrave Shiwen. To put it bluntly, Zhou Zhong is similar to the famous teacher of real questions in later generations, and is a god-level figure in the minds of all candidates.

The reason why Yingshe expanded rapidly in the seventh year of Tianqi was largely because Zhou Zhong merged the Kuangshe he led into it. The scale of Kuangshe was much larger than the previous Yingshe. After the merger of the two, Yingshe was also called Guangyingshe.

But this Zhou Zhong had a fatal black spot. His uncle was Zhou Yingqiu, the Minister of Personnel in the late Tianqi period, and was listed among the ten dogs of the eunuch party.

Zhou Zhong has always been closer to the scholars of the Donglin school. The reason why he wanted to merge the larger Kuangshe into Yingshe was, to some extent, to reduce the family burden on him.

In another time and space, Zhou Zhong surrendered to Li Zicheng after Chongzhen hanged himself, and drafted the edict for his ascension to the throne. Later, Ruan Dacheng, a remnant of the eunuch party, seized this opportunity to fabricate the "Shun case" in revenge for the Donglin party members who made him bear the "rebellion case" during the Chongzhen period.

As for Yang Tingshu, he was determined to fight against the Qing after the fall of the Ming Dynasty. He refused to surrender after being arrested, wrote a letter in his blood and went to his death bravely, maintaining the same courage and righteousness as before.

This is all later. At present, Yang Tingshu's reputation in Yingshe is higher than Zhang Pu, while Zhou Zhong is on par with the latter. Zhang Pu's face suddenly changed when he heard the names of these two people. Seeing that Lin Hai was about to leave the study, he suddenly shouted: "Wait! Brother Deng Wan, please stay!"

Lin Hai stopped and turned to look at Zhang Pu: "Brother Ximing, are you finally willing to tell the truth?"

Zhang Pu avoided answering and just asked, "May I ask what you mean by the great reputation you just mentioned?"

"Listen carefully, I will realize your greatest wish in life and unify all literary societies in the world!" Lin Hai's gaze was like a sharp sword, as if it could penetrate people's hearts.

Zhang Pu's face changed drastically when he heard this. This was exactly his long-held ambition, but somehow the man in front of him saw through it. For a moment, he felt uncomfortable as if he had been stripped naked.

He managed to calm himself down and continued, "Brother Deng Wan, you are so arrogant. How easy is it to unify all literary societies in the world?"

Lin Hai said: "Of course I can't do it, because I'm not a scholar, but Brother Ximing, you have a good chance of accomplishing this. Yingshe already has a solid foundation, and you are one of the leaders of Yingshe, and your reputation is enough. The only thing missing is money, and I have plenty of money."

In fact, Lin Hai was not very clear about how Zhang Pu organized the Fushe Society in history. He just inferred from common sense that organizing such a large national society must have considerable financial support.

Not to mention anything else, just take the three most famous national conferences in the history of Fushe as an example. Thousands or even tens of thousands of people came from all over the country to participate. The amount of money spent on eating, drinking and having fun during the conference alone was not a small number.

Moreover, the organizers also need to send people to various parts of the country to make advance contacts, and the travel expenses are of course indispensable. This kind of communication is not only necessary when organizing a conference, but also necessary at ordinary times, otherwise the Fushe will not be able to have cohesion.

In fact, Lin Hai’s inference was not wrong at all.

The funding sources of literary societies in the Ming Dynasty generally came from two sources: one was membership fees paid by members, and the other was fines imposed on members. The latter usually meant that members had to pay a fine if their essays were not submitted during the essay solicitation.

The amounts from both sources were not large, because literary societies at the time were generally reading clubs for the purpose of preparing for the imperial examinations, and their members were all young scholars who had not yet entered society. Even if their families were wealthy, they did not have much pocket money.

Moreover, the property of officials and nobles is actually mostly land, and they don’t have much cash. For example, the masters of the Ning and Rong mansions in Dream of the Red Chamber usually have fine clothes and delicious food, but they don’t actually receive much monthly salary.

Another typical example is Zhang Zongzi of Shanyin, the most dissolute man in the late Ming Dynasty. He was born into a family of scholars, and his ancestral hall had five flags of the Jinshi degree. But in order to bury his disciple's father, he had to pawn his mink coat for a few taels of silver.

Therefore, the reason why the Fushe Society was able to be established later was thanks to the funding from three prominent Wujiang families: Wu, Shen Yingrui, and Pan Kai. These three families eventually lost everything they had in order to support the Fushe Society.

At the same time, after Zhang Pu became the leader of the Fushe Society, he had five servants under him, known as the Five Dogs, Huang, Cao, Chen, Zhao, and Tao, who were specifically responsible for the finances of the Fushe Society.

Sure enough, after Lin Hai said this, Zhang Pu was delighted and said, "I heard that Brother Deng Wan is a big sea merchant. Is this true?"

Lin Hai didn't waste time talking to him and said directly: "In order to unify the Tianxia Literature Society, I can pay 100,000 taels every year!"

"Really?" Zhang Pu was overjoyed when he heard that, but then he became alert and asked, "Brother Deng Wan, why are you so generous?"

Lin Hai said: "Whether you believe it or not, everything I do has only one ultimate goal, and that is justice for the world!"

(End of this chapter)