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

Chapter 138 Wang Wenlong went through hardships

A large group of people poured into Changzhou Academy and saw several celebrities already standing on the high platform in front of the Academy's Holy Shrine.

Gu Xiancheng spoke loudly: "Today, changes are happening all over the world, and severe droughts are continuing. There is a reason for the drought, and the reason for it is to poison the people. There is a way to eliminate disasters, and it is for the purpose of protecting the people. This principle is clear and known to the world. It is only now that I have been deceived by villains. That is why we are gathering here today to express my words of justice to all living beings in Changzhou. Mr. Jingguan is famous all over the world. He came from Fujian to help and wrote epigraphic articles to analyze this principle. It’s the clearest... In this case, please listen to Mr. Jingguan Wang Jianyang’s words!”

Everyone in the audience cheered a little, but the cheers were not too fierce. After all, although Wang Wenlong was somewhat famous, it could not compare with the prestige of the Donglin bosses in the hearts of the Changzhou gentry.

Wang Wenlong walked up to the high platform and looked at the people below, waiting for everyone to quiet down.

There were 400 people in front of him. Even if the academy's podium was designed with a certain echo function, only the few hundred people at the front could hear him clearly. If the crowd was too noisy, he would not be able to speak at all. Useless.

Seeing Wang Wenlong on the high platform, Huang Zunsu couldn't help but be surprised: "So Mr. Jianyang is so young?"

Wang Wenyan on the side was also quite shocked.

Everyone also realized that Wang Wenlong was too young. They gradually stopped talking and looked at the stage curiously, waiting for what shocking words Wang Wenlong would say.

Everyone finally calmed down, and then Wang Wenlong spoke.

"The eunuchs and officials are so hateful. In the market, their tax collectors roam the streets, pointing at any shop and saying that the shop owes taxes. The harassed merchants are unable to do business. In the countryside, their mine supervisors usurp the gentry. If you point to a large house at random, it will be claimed that there are mineral veins under it. If you don’t pay, you will have people tear down the house and dig out the soil.”

"Everyone is outraged by this kind of behavior, and the people have long been intolerable. The reason why everyone is gathering here today is to take advantage of the severe drought in the north to submit a petition and reduce the burden on the people. Is that right?"

After Wang Wenlong's words, everyone in the audience nodded.

He made it clear what everyone was thinking. The gentry in Changzhou did not care whether the north was suffering from drought. The reason why they came here to gather was to make their voices heard, hoping that the emperor would remove the tax supervisors and mine officials.

"Why do I know so clearly about this matter? Because I just came back from the West a year ago. I wrote a novel that was not liked by the eunuchs, so I was forced by Gao Yin, the eunuch in charge of taxation in Yuegang, to work as an aide in his house and extort money to collect taxes. I saw it with my own eyes, and I even worked as a tax supervisor at Dianzi Wharf for a while, collecting a full 300 taels of tax silver for Gao Yin."

As soon as this statement came out, the audience was in an uproar. All the audience couldn't help but whisper, and then looked at Wang Wenlong on the stage in surprise.

An Xifan asked in surprise: "What does this guy want to do?"

Ye Chengxue was also stunned.

Gu Xiancheng never expected that Wang Wenlong would say such words when he came on stage.

Now that Wang Wenlong was under the spotlight, they couldn't pull him down and could only watch Wang Wenlong continue to perform.

Huang Zunsu in the audience couldn't help but whisper: "Although Mr. Jingguan's words are honest, won't they offend all the people in Changzhou?" Wang Wenyan next to him thought for a while: "If Mr. Jingguan really gave it to the eunuch Having worked as a staff member, this matter cannot be hidden from everyone. I believe that Mr. Jingguan will have a high-level talk next, and he is afraid that it will attract criticism and even involve his background, so it is a good idea to talk about it first. "

Wang Wenlong on the stage didn't care about the reaction of the audience at all. He was like a wild horse, relying on no one to stop him, so he continued:
"My ancestors were businessmen and grew up overseas. Even the household registration in Ming Dynasty was completed last year when we returned to our ancestral home. My family is not a wealthy family. We have lived in Jianyang for generations, doing nothing more than doing small jobs to make a living. The most fertile ancestor was just a sailor in the fleet of Eunuch Sanbao."

"Why do I say this first? Just because everyone gathered in front of the Ancestor Shrine today, you should also have heard the words of Confucius: There is no distinction between education and distinction. The Master's righteousness: People are not born to be noble, but because of their education. His words and deeds bring him greatness.”

"If it weren't for the ups and downs of my overseas life back then, and if it weren't for the strange situation I witnessed in Gao Yin's house this year, I wouldn't have the thoughts I have today, so I have to say this without feeling ashamed. If anyone in the audience I think what the boy said is very reasonable, but I can also attack him with flags and shouts after he finished speaking."

"You may say that I am a traitor in the sea, or that I am a slave of a eunuch. I have a clear conscience."

The people in the audience were dumbfounded. Wang Wenlong's armor was so thick that it had reached an absurd level.

"I grew up in the old port of Sumatra. When I was a child, I went to sea with my parents to do business. The first time I boarded a ship, I was still a baby in my arms."

Wang Wenlong continued to narrate his fabricated humble background: "European colonists came to the West only in the past hundred years. They were few in number and the local natives were too lazy to work, so they often needed to recruit Ming merchants to do the work for them. trading."

"Europeans have guns and cannons. Although merchants in the Ming Dynasty have money, they are not strong in force. In their eyes, they are no different than lambs waiting to be slaughtered. Europeans are also happy to let the Chinese do business and accumulate money, because they can harvest them in one fell swoop."

"When I was five years old, I saw scenes of Europeans robbing Chinese merchants. They first deceived Ming merchants into a place in the name of collecting taxes or doing business, defrauding them of their swords and weapons, and then encouraged local natives to rob Ming merchants."

"The natives were so stupid and stupid that they couldn't steal much. The majority went to the European colonists who commanded them."

"I have witnessed with my own eyes the merchants of my uncle's generation who were captured and beheaded one by one by the Europeans. I was very young at that time and managed to escape by hiding under a plank bed. The Spanish swords were very sharp and could be struck with one blow. I was held in my arms until I was a child. The big uncle's head fell on the floor and rolled around, looking straight at me with his eyes!"

"Not many businessmen even know about this matter, because this kind of small-scale massacre of China is so common in the West. Although I have known since I was a child that there is a Ming Dynasty that is my mother country. The Ming Dynasty is extremely powerful, and no other European country can compare with it. , but there are countries in small European countries that bring guns and cannons to support their merchants’ overseas trade, but the Ming Dynasty has never come to the West to protect us merchants!”

"We were killed and beaten all in vain. It is even sinful for us to do business overseas!"

"I was still young at that time and I really didn't understand why?"

"Why are merchants so lowly in the eyes of the Ming Dynasty!"

"We businessmen are also citizens, and the world should not be like this!"

(End of this chapter)