The literary giants of the late Ming Dynasty began by copying books

Chapter 134: Going to Changzhou to Visit the Emperor

When Wang Wenlong stepped down from the podium, Gu Xiancheng came up with excitement on his face and said, "What Jianyang said today was really wonderful."

Wang Wenlong said modestly: "It's just a little bit of miscellaneous knowledge."

Gao Panlong on the side sincerely requested: "Why don't Jianyang stay in Wuxi to give lectures? We are raising funds to rebuild Donglin Academy. With Jianyang's ability, we can occupy a lecture."

This is why Wang Wenlong received this treatment because his lecture today was so effective.

A few years later, when Donglin Academy was founded, the Donglin Party's thoughts were written down in the "Donglin Rendezvous": inherited from Zhou Cheng, followed by Zhu Xi, opposed Wang Yangming's Xinxue, and denounced it as "the late stream of Wang's school" .

In fact, this kind of thinking was already quite rigid in the general environment at this time. Of course, the Donglin Party itself did not implement the "Donglin Meeting" seriously.

For example, the "Donglin Rendezvous" stipulated that Donglin Party members should "eliminate nine defects"-eliminate nine kinds of shortcomings that often occur in lectures.

Just a few excerpts are as follows:
……

“Secondly, if the party agrees with each other and opposes differences, it is also secluded;
Third, pretending to be public and pursuing private interests is a thief;

Fourth, commenting on right and wrong is superficial;

……

Sixth, if someone has done something wrong and pretends to be wrong, he is also a bad person;

Seventh, talking too much is the fault of others, which is resentment;
Eighth, deacons argue, full of..."

The Donglin Party swore to eliminate the above items when it was founded, but in fact it did not miss any of them. It even used party members to oppose dissidents, discuss right and wrong, and talk about the faults of others as the main means of struggle.

But even so, it would be outrageous to allow Wang Wenlong to enter Donglin Academy.

Wang Wenlong's explanation is not even serious Confucian knowledge. It can barely match the "knowledge" of the four principles of Donglin Academy lectures: "knowledge, determination, respect for scriptures, and review". However, his lecture today is really The response was so good that I had the opportunity to be invited by Gu and Gao.

Wang Wenlong declined politely and said: "I have already accepted the staff in Xu Fantai's mansion. Mr. Fantai has promoted me to the wilderness, and it is really difficult to leave."

Hearing this, Gao Panlong was a little disappointed, but he still said sincerely: "Then please Jianyang come to Wuxi more often if you have the opportunity."

Wang Wenlong smiled and said, "Thanks for your respect, I will definitely come here often in the future."

Gu Xiancheng also said: "As soon as Jianyang arrives, Donglin Academy will sweep the couch to welcome him."

Then Gao Panlong asked Wang Wenlong to stay in Wuxi for two more days, firstly, to give more lectures. Although the invitation had been sent out long ago, due to the inconvenience of transportation at this time, some people still could not catch up with today's lectures. Secondly, Wuxi celebrities also wanted to Invite Wang Wenlong to travel to the scenic spots in Wuxi.

Wang Wenlong had already declined the two people's invitation to stay, thinking that if he didn't give them this face, he would really offend others. He wouldn't be short of a day or two anyway, so he nodded in agreement.

That day Wang Wenlong was invited by Gu Xiancheng to stay with Ye Chengxue at his house. Early the next morning, Wang Wenlong was preparing to go out to Wuxi with Gu Xiancheng for fun when he suddenly heard someone knocking on the door.

The servant boy of Gu Xiancheng's house opened the door and saw Xue Fuchiao hurriedly walking in wearing a ragged robe.

He entered the room and took a sip of water. Then he looked at Gu Xiancheng and said, "Something big has happened!"

Gu Xiancheng frowned: "Tell me in detail."

Xue Fujiao took out a letter and handed it to Gu Xiancheng: "In the military affairs department, Prince Chun was punished and dismissed from his post because of his remarks about the establishment of a reserve. Taken away by the state.”

Wang Wenlong was still thinking about which historical event this was, when he saw Gu Xiancheng standing up next to him, his face changed drastically, and he grabbed the letter and read it carefully.

After half a day, Wang Wenlong finally figured out what was happening now.

Time came to May of the 28th year of Wanli. Li Hualong won consecutive battles in Bozhou, and Yang Yinglong's rebellion was about to subside.

At the same time, the situation in North Korea has stabilized. North Korea, which had just gone through war, could not afford the Ming Dynasty's large garrison. Therefore, except for leaving 8000 sailors at North Korea's request to help guard the sea, all Ming Dynasty troops began to withdraw from North Korea.

Seeing that the war was about to end, the civil servants and the imperial power began to fight again.

This year is still a bad year, and I am guilty of all kinds of crimes. Natural changes in the sky have become a weapon for the courtiers to attack the emperor and the tax superintendent.

Wanli had already conducted self-cultivation, self-reflection, and held prayers twice, and now he was discussing the suspension of executions in the autumn, hoping to appease the resentment, but of course it had no effect.

Therefore, Gongke fired the first shot at King Wang De in the matter, directly blaming the cause of the drought on Wanli's tax supervision system. He believed that the self-cultivation and self-reflection presided over by the emperor were "literary but not factual" and called for "removing the swindlers from all provinces." Once the mission is withdrawn, the province will be built with practicality instead of writing, and there will be drought and disaster!"

Emperor Wanli actually did it, and the tax supervisor was reluctant to withdraw, but announced that the land tax would be reduced or exempted.

The Little Ice Age could not have been avoided by reducing or reducing land taxes in Wanli. Wanli and the earth had their own dry affairs, and droughts would continue as they should.

So Wang Dewan continued to make appointments with people: God is still not satisfied, which means that you not only need to remove the tax supervisor, but also establish a reserve as soon as possible to solve the problem.

Wanli got really angry after doing this again and again. This guy probably had a bit of a rebellious personality. In the past, when ministers talked about establishing a prince, he would get angry when he got angry, but he was far from being so arrogant. This time he was really angry. He directly ordered Wang De to be dismissed from his post and returned to his hometown with a hundred sticks.This was Wang Dewan's standard deception. Then all the civil servants in the dynasty received combat orders and rushed to rescue Wang Dewan.

Wanli was also tired at this time, and finally replied to his ministers: Are you doing it for the eldest son of the emperor or for Wang Dewan?If it's for the eldest son of the emperor, then don't mess with me. If you must save Wang Dewan, "then wait one year longer!"

As soon as this statement came out, the world was shocked.

Although it was in such a dramatic way, the emperor finally said his promise to establish the emperor's eldest son, which was simply touching.

All the ministers in the court were silent for a moment, watching Wang Dewan being dragged and beaten with a hundred court sticks with the eyes of a martyr.

This guy was in good health, survived, and returned home contented.

But how could the ministers let Wanli go?

Wang Wenlong looked at the excited face of Gu Xiancheng next to him and knew that this guy's current thinking must be: "The dredging is effective, increase the intensity!"

Sure enough, Gu Xiancheng finished reading the letter with a face full of joy, turned around and said to Xue Fujiao: "Hurry up and gather everyone, prepare to go to Xuetai and the prefect to petition!"

If the situation were substituted, whoever sat in Wanli's position would probably hate this group of literati. These people follow the stick when they beat the snake, and Wanli will not give it back. As long as he takes a step back, more people will definitely catch up and make their own demands.

Then Gu Xiancheng warmly invited Wang Wenlong to attend the event.

Wang Wenlong didn't mind participating, because in his memory, the Qi, Chu, Zhejiang, and Donglin parties all participated in this great exhortation to Wanli.

Who told Wanli to be unlucky and encounter a sudden change of fate?

The fact that he could take a step back and verbally agree to establish the throne shows that he also has a guilty conscience. As long as the changes in nature are not resolved, the public will be determined to make him take a second step back.

On the afternoon of the day of the party's contact, a group of scholars from Wuxi took a boat to the north in a hurry.

The leading figures were naturally Gu Xiancheng and Gao Panlong, whom Jiangnan Shilin looked up to. Wang Wenlong was not conspicuous at all.

Although the Donglin Party had not yet taken shape, the Eight Gentlemen of Donglin already had power, background, and reputation at this time. When the ship arrived at Changzhou Prefecture, carriages, horses, and sedan chairs were already prepared on the pier according to the number of people arriving.

All the distinguished ministers and scholars got on the sedan one after another, and headed towards the Changzhou government office like a train.

The officials of Changzhou Prefecture did not dare to stop them at all. They stood aside to help the scholars maintain order, separated the people watching the excitement, and gave them the center of the street.

Gu Xiancheng walked up to the crowd and shouted bitterly at the eight-character door wall: "In recent memorials, the emperor has ignored all matters involving mining taxes. God has changed. The survival of this sect is crucial. Once the people rebel and collapse, all the common people will be destroyed." As an enemy country, what should we do then?"

Gu Xiancheng yelled a few times, and all the scholars present agreed. That performance was really good. Next to Wang Wenlong, a middle-aged civil servant who had been talking to Wang Wenlong just now rolled up his sleeves and started working. After shouting a few words, he went to work. He started reciting poems, tearing his hair out and crying.

Others rushed to the Dengwen drum in the Yamen, pasted their own articles on it, and then beat it with their hands.

Needless to say, as soon as these people started making trouble, the emotions on the spot were instantly raised to a high point.

The people watching on the sidelines didn't know any major national events, so they knew that their lives were getting more and more miserable. Seeing that it wasn't raining, these scholarly scholars said that it was because of the emperor's inaction, which was correct, so they simply joined in the shouting.

These Donglin Party members dared to do this because they were sure that the Changzhou magistrate did not dare to touch them.

The background of the Donglin Party was the scholar-merchant class in Jiangnan. The three main propositions of Donglin Gentlemen: open up the channels of speech and listen more to the voices of scholars; remove tax supervisors; and reduce interference in business, all of which are beneficial to the scholar-merchant class in Jiangnan.

Donglin Party members' lectures in Jiangnan have long been supported by people in Jiangnan. If anyone dares to touch Gu Xiancheng, not to mention countless Jiangnan big shots will come to save him, even ordinary Jiangnan people will fight for their lives.

Later, when the Eunuch Party and the Donglin Party fought, we could see the support of the people in Jiangnan for Donglin figures. Read "Tombstones of Five People". The description in it is the most typical case. If the Eunuch Party wants to arrest Zhang Pu, they can directly It became a civil uprising.

The eunuchs and cavalry were useless for protection. A large number of people directly dragged the cavalry off their horses and beat them to death.

The thoughts of these people were immersed in the Jiangnan environment for a long time: they straightforwardly agreed with the Donglin Party's propaganda that collecting less commercial taxes and removing eunuchs would make their own lives better.

They don't care about the commercial taxes in Jiangnan. After they collect the money, they can send it to the north to fight against the enemy, or they can send it to the northwest to stabilize the frontier. If they don't pay for it for a while, they can live a better life, but it will be over when the Qing troops go south.

Some Donglin Party members really don't know, and some do it to gain the support of the people in Jiangnan. Even if they know, they don't tell the people these truths.

The former is stupid, the latter is bad.

Later, what these Qingliu did was: Can't those northern soldiers defeat Hou Jin if I just scold them?I cursed hard enough!After being scolded by me, you still want my money. How can such a good thing happen?
Gu Xiancheng yelled for a long time, and when he finished his performance, Changzhou's academic administrator finally walked out of the government office.

He bowed his hands to Gu Xiancheng with a respectful look on his face: "Mr. Jingyang is a righteous man, please bring famous people from Wuzhong to the government office to discuss!"

Wang Pingbao stood next to Wang Wenlong and saw Gu Xiancheng holding his head high and intimidating the officials, so that the officials could only salute him. He instantly admired Gu Xiancheng. As a commoner, Wang Pingbao, like others, only regarded Gu Xiancheng as a truly upright and upright celebrity.

Looking at this abstract scene, Wang Wenlong really didn't know how to complain.

(End of this chapter)