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

Chapter 155 The Li family holds a banquet

Li Dan asked Li Guoxian, "Does he have an eternal alliance with you?"

Li Guoxian blushed and whispered shyly: "We are just friends, and Brother Wang has never mentioned such a thing."

Good guy, I didn't make any promises, and my daughter's wonton picks were hot.

The more Li Dan thought about it, the more he felt at a loss. He turned to Li Guoshu and asked, "Is Wang Wenlong valued in Xu Fantai's mansion? Is he a real aide or just a sworn husband?"

Li Guozhu quickly replied: "Jianyang is very important. Last year, he was responsible for promoting new crops for Xu Fantai. This year, he also received the assignment of the Chief Envoy Si Yamentang to report housing. He is actually in charge of dozens of people. Recently, Fuzhou's famous "Xunbao" was published by Si Yamen, the chief envoy, and edited by him."

Li Dan felt relieved when he heard that Wang Wenlong did have power and was not just a guest who sang and responded to songs for others.

He said to his daughter: "Since you have made up your mind, I will handle the follow-up matters."

Li Guoxian was overjoyed, with a bit of expectation in his eyes.

But she quickly said distressedly: "I'm afraid that Brother Wang doesn't like me. Every time I interact with him, he always seems distant."

Li Dan asked his son Wang Wenlong about his usual words, and after hearing this, he smiled contemptuously:
"Then Wang Wenlong is pretending to be serious, but he has so many thoughts going on in his heart!"

"Is it true?" Li Guoxian was quite surprised, "But why does he never say it?"

Li Dan said speechlessly: "I'm not afraid of saying that our Li family doesn't agree, so I just won't provoke him."

"It's true that this scholar is not affectionate, but he respects you quite a lot, and he didn't deceive a woman with random promises. He is said to be affectionate, but he is so timid. I really don't know if he is a good match..."

After listening to Li Guozhu talk about the contact pattern between Li Guoxian and Wang Wenlong, Li Dan had already seen through Wang Wenlong's melancholy character. Although he felt that it was not suitable for Li Guoxian to find a famous official, but now seeing Li Guoxian's appearance, he had already made up his mind. Li Dan was only a father. Can rely on her.

……

On the eighth day of October, the Li family decorated a banquet with lanterns and colorful decorations to entertain the officials and gentry of Fuzhou.

The Li family started boasting at dusk. A row of official lanterns filled the street outside Li's house. There were more than 80 pairs of lanterns with names and surnames.

Li Dan was also extremely extravagant. It rained a lot in Fuzhou in this kind of weather. In order to provide lighting, every pair of lanterns outside Li's house were covered with fine silk rain curtains. There were maids and servants coming and going to add lanterns, illuminating the whole house. Like day.

Wang Wenlong and Xu Xueju came to the Li family's house together. As soon as they got off the sedan, two pairs of servants followed with gauze lanterns. When they came to the door, Emperor Weng Yi smiled and stuffed two gifts into Wang Wenlong's hand.

One thick one is for Xu Xueju, weighing at least 20 taels, and one light one is for Wang Wenlong, which is about [-] taels.

When ordinary people come to Li's house for a banquet, it is good enough to be treated to a meal and a meal. It is already on the table to pay money for carriages and horses. The fee for ten carriages and horses is already the treatment of a magistrate and county official. Even a new Jinshi who returns to his hometown usually does not pay. Such a generous act.

However, Wang Wenlong naturally accepted such a regular amount of money, and let Wang Pingbao keep Xu Xueju's share.

Wang Wenlong is definitely a very prestigious figure in Fuzhou now. It is not a shame to accept such a red envelope. Because of the popularity of the "Xunbao" he runs, Wang Wenlong's reputation is even more resounding in the literary world. If the organizer of this banquet is from the literary world I'm afraid the middle-aged man will give more.

The Li family entertained officials and gentry in Fuzhou very lavishly, with more than 30 tables at one time.

Li Dan and a group of his men greeted everyone at the door. Low-level officials and ordinary business partners were entertained under the colorful pavilion on the patio. Wang Wenlong and Xu Xueju were led into the inner hall, where several tables would be served in person. Li Dan accompanied him to eat and drink.

Entering the inner hall, Wang Wenlong, Li Guozhu and others bowed and took their seats. A drum group had been prepared on the stage of the Li family mansion. The actors came up to join the hall, and then began to sing. Not long after, Shen Yourong also came. He first went to Xu Xueju's table to chat, and then sat down on the table beside him.

Shen Yourong was a close associate of Jin Xuezeng, the current governor of Fujian, but today he came in place of Jin Xuezeng.

Because Jin Xuezeng was ill.

Jin Xuezeng was quite prestigious as the governor of Fujian. In addition to promoting sweet potato cultivation, Jin Xuezeng also did many good things.

When the Korean War was raging two years ago, Japan wanted to harass the Ming Dynasty's rear in order to share the pressure on the Korean battlefield, so it once sent many Japanese pirates to harass the coast of Fujian.

At that time, Jin Xuezeng requested the imperial court to add a general military officer in Fujian and added a Fujian army. The effect in fighting Japanese pirates in Fujian was very good.

Jin Xuezeng not only settled matters in Fujian, but his subordinate Shen Yourong also led the Fujian soldiers across the sea from the south to attack the Japanese pirates in Korea, and inquired about the domestic situation in Japan through the merchants trading in Ryukyu.

When the Korean War came to an end and Toyotomi Hideyoshi died, Jin Xuezeng immediately went to the imperial court to introduce the situation in Japan.

When Toyotomi Hideyoshi died, he judged that there was internal discord between Konishi Governor and the Japanese army. Once Toyotomi Hideyoshi died, there would be internal civil strife in Japan. This was the best time for the army to attack the Korean Japanese pirates.

Although there was internal discord within the Japanese army at that time, they made suspicious moves to the outside world, which made some Ming officers on the front of North Korea think that the Japanese army was prepared and did not dare to attack rashly.

Jin Xuezeng's intelligence from Japan strengthened the court's determination to attack, and finally defeated the Japanese army in North Korea in one fell swoop.

From these measures, we know that Jin Xuezeng was a capable official, but Jin Xuezeng also had his own problems, that is, his hands and feet were a little dirty. He gained a lot of power in Fujian while also making a lot of money for himself.

Jin Xue had been impeached several times by his ministers, and last year he was under investigation by the Ministry of Civil Affairs and Beijing Police. He tried every means to get the chance to stay as governor.

This year, the imperial court deployed troops against Bozhou and mobilized various provinces to provide "Guizhou wages." In the past few years, during the Korean War, Fujian had been preparing to fight Japanese pirates on the coast, and it also suffered from famine, so the tax revenue situation was not very good.

When Jin Xuezeng went to Guizhou to distribute the salary money for Guizhou's timber harvesters and soldiers, he took the opportunity to ask the court to reduce the amount of Guizhou rates for Fujian this year. The ministry proposed Fujian Guizhou rates of 10 taels, but Jin Xuezeng directly requested a half reduction, and only wanted to give [-] taels.

No one could bear this quota reduction. The superiors refused to allow it and even came to trouble Jin Xuezeng.

Jin Xuezeng was also tired and claimed that he was ill when he returned to Fujian.

At this time, Jin Xuezeng was making a fuss about "causing illness and begging for health" and wanted to resign and go home, but the emperor refused to approve it.

Because this was not the first time that Jin Xuezeng had done this. He had said a few years ago that he was ill and would resign when he had nothing to do. Sometimes he used it to resist attacks in the court, and sometimes he used it to express his attitude.

So much so that Wanli pretended that he was not sick even though he was really sick this time.

Now Jin Xuezeng no longer goes to work and recuperates at home every day, but it is not a big deal for such a big Fujian Futai master to miss work.

In July, the Ming army in North Korea gradually withdrew. Emperor Wanli took advantage of the opportunity to commend Jin Xuezeng for his achievements in capturing Japanese pirates in the Fujian Sea and ordered Jin Xuezeng to return to his Yamen office in time.

Jin Xuezeng is still dawdling and is still absent from work.

After watching the play for a while, Xu Xueju turned to Wang Wenlong and asked, "Jianyang, what do you think of Jin Dafu's condition?"

(End of this chapter)