Late Ming sea owl

Chapter 283: Origin of Fushe
Zhang Pu was completely confused. The man in front of him kept talking about fame and fortune, and then he suddenly brought up the topic of justice in the world. Zhang Pu didn't know how to ask any more questions for a moment.

Lin Hai did not want to discuss in depth what his so-called justice in the world was. Even if he told him, Zhang Pu might not believe it.

But he also understood what Zhang Pu was thinking. He was simply afraid that if he accepted the funding, he would not be the one in charge of the society in the end.

In another time and space, the major sponsors of Fushe in Wujiang County all had strong say.

A typical example is that the son of the later powerful minister Wen Tiren wanted to join Fushe, but was rejected by Wu, the biggest financier of Fushe. It can be said that his words were law.

Wu was just a local rich man, with no reputation except for his wealth. But Lin Hai was different. If we really talked about reputation, even Zhang Pu couldn't compare to him. To put it bluntly, he was afraid that he would be used as a gun by Lin Hai and get nothing in the end.

Although Lin Hai didn't know about this, he knew the relationship between politicians and financiers too well, so he immediately understood Zhang Pu's concerns and said, "Don't worry, I will only sponsor the affairs of the literary society behind the scenes, and all the reputation will go to you, Brother Ximing..."

Zhang Pu asked, "Brother Deng Wan, don't you want to join the literary society?"

"I'm not a scholar, why should I join a literary society?" Lin Hai replied with a smile. In fact, it was not impossible for him to join the future Fushe. Fushe was not a literary society that was strict in accepting people. If he donated money to become a student of the Imperial Academy, he could also join.

However, he did not want to do so. Although the Fushe of the Chongzhen Dynasty had great power, it was also feared by powerful officials, including Chongzhen himself, who was very unhappy with such a national society.

A typical example is the case of Wu Changshi. Wu Changshi was also a veteran of the Yingshe and Fushe societies. He was later extremely active in impeaching the Prime Minister Xue Guoguan and in arranging for Zhou Yanru to be reinstated as prime minister. He was considered a prominent figure promoted by the Fushe society.

After Zhou Yanru's defeat, Chongzhen convened the most prestigious jury in the history of the Ming Dynasty, personally interrogated Wu Changshi in the Golden Hall, and ordered his legs to be broken on the spot.

This was the first time in the history of the Ming Dynasty that such an incident had ever happened. One of the cabinet ministers said: "The emperor's use of torture has never happened in the past three hundred years!"

As a result, Chongzhen said angrily: "Wu Changshi is a man who has not appeared in the past three hundred years!"

The so-called unprecedented in the past three hundred years is probably not referring to Wu Changshi himself, but the Fushe Society behind him. After all, such political brokers can be said to have emerged in endlessly in the history of the Ming Dynasty, but a national political group like the Fushe Society is really the first in three hundred years.

From this point alone, we can know that once Lin Hai stood in the open, Fushe would be a double-edged sword for him. In terms of business, Fushe could be a strong backing for him, but in terms of politics, it would put him at a disadvantage.

But if he was behind the scenes, the negative impact of Fushe on him would be small, and he could play a positive role in politics, such as helping Lin Hai and other members of the company to get official positions. After all, the Fushe of the Chongzhen Dynasty could even help the prime minister.

Zhang Pu was relieved when he heard that Lin Hai would not join the Fushe Society. He then asked, "May I ask, Brother Deng Wan, why did you choose me?"

"That's a good question. Of course, I have more than just you, Zhang Tianru, in my pocket. As I just said, Yang Weidou, Zhou Jiesheng, or other prestigious scholars are all OK..."

Lin Hai said as he sat back in his chair: "But I came to you first, Tianru, do you know why?"

As he spoke, he had changed his nickname to his courtesy name for Zhang Pu. This was generally how superiors addressed inferiors. Since Lin Hai was going to stay behind the scenes, he naturally had to let Zhang Pu know who was the boss in the cooperation between the two sides.

Without waiting for Zhang Pu to answer, Lin Hai continued, "Because Yang Weidu and Zhou Jiesheng are both from noble families, while you, Zhang Tianru, are from a poor family." Zhang Pu was ashamed and angry when he heard this, but he did not dare to get angry, for fear that if he said something wrong, Lin Hai would abandon him and go find Yang and Zhou to cooperate.

Yang Tingshu's grandfather was the Nanjing Minister of War during the Wanli Dynasty, and Zhou Zhong's uncle was the Minister of Personnel during the Tianqi Dynasty. In terms of family background, Zhang Pu really can't compare with these two people. He can have his current fame entirely due to his magical operation when organizing the Yingshe.

Yingshe was founded in the fourth year of the Tianqi reign. At that time, there was an old scholar named Gu Menglin in Taicang. He later moved to Changshu and became good friends with Yang Yi, a disciple of Qian Qianyi. The two studied together in Yang Yi's private garden, Yingting.

Yang and Gu were both in their forties and had never passed the imperial examinations. They were both mediocre in their studies. But Zhang Pu was attracted by Yang Yi's status. He was from the same hometown as Qian Qianyi and had studied under the latter in his early years.

So Zhang Pu and Zhang Cai found their fellow villager Gu Menglin, through whom they were introduced to Yang Yi, and then proposed to organize a reading club in Yang Yi's home.

After that, Zhang Pu started to recruit people. He used Yang Yi's identity and declared that the reading club to be established was the successor of the Fushui Shanfang Society.

The so-called Fushuishanfang Society was a reading society located in Fushuishan Villa in Changshu during the Wanli period, which was disbanded more than 20 years ago. Qian Qianyi once participated in this reading society when he was young, but he soon withdrew from it. However, he later bought Fushuishan Villa, so many people think that the Fushuishanfang Society was organized by him.

Qian Qianyi was already a great scholar in China during the Tianqi period, so Zhang Pu's announcement immediately attracted several bigwigs, including Yang Tingshu and Zhou Zhong.

Zhou Zhong was already the leader of the Kuang Society at that time. The reason why he joined Yang Yi's New Literary Society was largely because he was attracted by the Donglin label on the latter.

In this way, Zhang Pu brought in seven more people to form an eleven-member founding team. Yingshe was thus established. Its name came from Yingting where Yang Yi lived.

With the golden signboard of Fushuishanfang Society, Yingshe developed rapidly, and Jiangnan Yingshe and Jiangbei Yingshe began to emerge. During this process, the reputation of Loudong Erzhang naturally rose, but it was still far behind Yang Tingshu and Zhou Zhong.

It was not until the winter of the seventh year of the Tianqi reign that Gu Bingqian, a core member of the eunuch party, came to Taicang. Zhang Pu seized the opportunity to lead a movement to drive Gu out in his hometown. After this incident, the two Zhangs of Loudong truly became top figures.

Looking at the establishment and development of the entire Yingshe, Zhang Pu can be regarded as a top personal IP marketing master, and every step he took was perfect. Of course, Loudong Er Zhang also has enough hard power, and Yang Tingshu and Zhou Zhong both recognize their character and articles.

Lin Hai didn't know much about these things, but he knew that Zhang Pu's reputation after the establishment of the Fushe Society was unmatched, so he smiled and said, "Don't get me wrong, I'm complimenting you. With your family background, you can have such a reputation today, which shows that you are very capable. Tianru, am I right?"

Zhang Pu said awkwardly, "Brother Deng Wan, thank you for your compliment."

"Don't be modest, Tianru. To be honest, I haven't decided on the final candidate yet." Lin Hai said, "If you want to get my funding, you have to make me believe in your ability."

Zhang Pu had been completely led by Lin Hai by the nose at this time. Hearing this, he hurriedly asked, "Brother Deng Wan, what do you want me to do?"

Lin Hai said: "I need you to explain how you plan to unify the Tianxia Literary Society if you get my funding. Also, how are you going to overwhelm Yang Weidou and Zhou Jiesheng and become the leader of this great literary society?"

(End of this chapter)