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

Chapter 173 Stirring the Pool

After being envious, Xu Xueju said seriously to Wang Wenlong: "Jianyang, don't say anything for now. We'll wait for a letter from the capital."

Wang Wenlong nodded.

He also knew that his letter was singled out by Wanli and he must have other intentions. He didn't know what kind of trouble it would cause in the capital.

……

At the same time, the cabinet, which had received oral instructions and proclamations a few days ago, was already shaken.

The young Ge Lao Shen Guanyi is sixty-nine years old this year, and the older chief assistant Zhao Zhigao is seventy-six years old this year. Emperor Wanli didn't pay much attention to the promotion and appointment of civil servants, and the same was true in the cabinet - these two old men were the only ones left in the Ming Dynasty's cabinet.

The chief assistant, Zhao Zhigao, entered the Wenyuan Pavilion in the east of the Forbidden City early in the morning, leaning on a walking stick.

He has been recuperating at home for four years. He basically relies on dozens of jobs in the past four years to work, and rarely shows up. In this era when people rarely live in their seventies, it is really difficult for the seventy-six-year-old Zhao Zhigao to handle the entire Ming Dynasty. The most complex and tiring work.

But today he still had to come to Wenyuan Pavilion.

After sitting down and panting for a long time, Zhao Zhigao asked Shen Yiguan: "Jianwu, what do you think of this appointment in Changzhou?"

Shen Yiguan smiled bitterly: "The Holy Spirit recommended this document, which can be regarded as a response to the ministers and workers of the Manchu Dynasty. The cabinet can only agree."

Zhao Zhigao picked up Wang Wenlong's book and read it again. He hesitated and said after repeated deliberation, "Can I just agree and disagree?"

Shen Guanyi asked: "What do you think, Mr. Ru?"

Zhao Zhigao said: "This approach is too biased. If our cabinet agrees, it will not be implemented on the one hand, and it will ruin our reputation on the other."

Emperor Wanli put Wang Wenlong's letter in front of the ministers, and it had the effect he expected. As soon as they arrived at the cabinet, they caused great trouble to Shen Yiguan and Zhao Zhigao.

The two of them have read over and over again Wang Wenlong's book in the past few days, and they have to admit that Wang Wenlong has something.

The three suggestions he wrote all hit the mark in a sense. Wang Wenlong had a vision beyond the times. He considered everything from a backward perspective and knew that allowing Wanli to continue collecting taxes from the Jiangnan gentry would definitely lead to a confrontation between the imperial power and the gentry class. .

It is also impossible for the Donglin Party to ask Emperor Wanli to withdraw the eunuchs. It is impossible for the imperial power to give up its own interests so easily.

The only way to satisfy the Jiangnan scholar-merchant class without offending the imperial power is to find a new economic growth point for the Ming Dynasty, so that both parties can benefit from this economic growth point, and the contradiction between the two sides will turn into cooperate.

The methods of opening up overseas trade to collect taxes, sell ships, etc. were not proposed by Wang Wenlong. This method has long been discussed countless times among the circles of Ming history enthusiasts in later generations. Many people in later generations feel that there is no better way to save the Ming Dynasty than this. Way to go.

As pavilion elders, Zhao Zhigao and Shen Guangyuan spent much more time dealing with the Donglin Party members and the gentry class behind them than Wanli, who did not work at all. The feeling is actually more profound than that of Emperor Wanli.

In fact, Zhao Zhigao, who read this article on his hospital bed, slowly sat up as he watched it. Seeing the brilliance of Wang Wenlong's argument, he couldn't help but praise it.

Shen Guanyi felt the same way when he read this essay. He was very surprised. If the policies in this essay can be implemented, they will definitely satisfy the wishes of the Jiangnan gentry, and they even subconsciously want to implement the policies.

But after thinking carefully, the two chose to give up.

——Satisfying the wishes of the Jiangnan gentry does not mean satisfying the wishes of Jiangnan officials. The Jiangnan scholar-merchant class hopes that the court will collect less taxes and interfere with their business, and the Jiangnan scholars rely on this simple wish of the Jiangnan scholar-merchant class to obtain The actual purpose of their support is to gain power in Ming Dynasty.

The former is the source of power for the latter, but the purposes of the two sides are different.

Policies that satisfy the scholar-business class may not necessarily win the support of the scholar-officials, but may actually attract their opposition because they weaken the power of the scholar-officials.

This is also the reason why the opening of the sea in the Ming Dynasty decades ago was clearly beneficial to the gentry class in Jiangnan, but for a long time the civil servants born in Jiangnan blocked the opening of the sea.

Shen Yiguan smiled bitterly and said: "As long as we second the proposal, it is no different from agreeing in the eyes of interested people. It is better to just live happily."

Zhao Zhigao frowned and thought, and finally had to admit that Shen Yiguan was right.

Shen Guanyi had already made an outline of the general content of the vote. After Zhao Zhigao read it, he repeatedly deleted it. The final general content of the vote was: support open channels of expression and allow courtiers to discuss the feasibility of selling ships and whether it should be dealt with. There are special taxes on overseas trade. As for the withdrawal of tax inspectors and eunuchs, Wang Wenlong did not mention it in his original briefing, and naturally it will not be mentioned in the cabinet's draft.

And when the Changzhou proclamation of the approval of the red queen was sent to the Sixth Section, the spokesperson of the Section was dumbfounded, and a heated discussion instantly broke out.

The emperor just issued an imperial edict asking everyone to discuss the methods in this document, and now everyone has started discussing it.

The discussion shows that there are supporters and opponents. Unlike the previous protests against the eunuchs' tax collection, the civil and military forces of the Manchu Dynasty united to oppose Wanli's actions. Since there might be support, the Sixth Section, like the cabinet, did not have the guts to keep the first piece of information about the emperor's response to the tax inspector from itself.

So the ministry meeting passed, and this announcement asking everyone to discuss the issue of opening up the sea was openly released to the whole country.

This time, the anti-tax movement was accompanied by Wang Wenlong’s announcement and was directly led in a strange direction.

……

Datong, Shanxi.

A scholar in his thirties hurriedly walked into the study with a Di newspaper circulated in the capital.

"Dong Weng came to see this month's Di newspaper. This article clearly issued an edict and wanted people to discuss it. It really has some tricks."

The person who came had a rough voice, a tall build, and a majestic appearance. He had a big beard with splayed roots and a little black ash on his face. He could go directly to the opera stage to play Zhang Fei. But he was wearing the clothes of a Confucian scholar, and the contrast was extremely strong.

This teacher's name is Sun Chengzong, also known as Zhisheng. He has a good reputation as a civil servant, and his family conditions are average. After being admitted as a scholar in his teens, he went out to guest houses. Because of his good literary talent, he was able to work as an aide in various official houses or as a tutor in private schools. During this period, I also took the time to take the exam.

This time, he came with him to this important border defense town in the Ming Dynasty because Fang Shoushi was promoted to the governor of Datong. In addition to teaching Fang Shoushi's children to study, he often went to the border gate to meet with veterans and veterans when he had time. The officers chatted and asked questions about border defense, and were quite interested in military affairs.

His boss, the guard at the governor's office in Datong, took the newspaper and read the article under his guidance. After a little reading, he quickly became immersed in it.

"How could such remarks come out in the capital?" After reading, Fang Shoushi looked at Sun Chengzong in surprise.

At this time, Sun Chengzong was just a teacher in Fang Shoushi's mansion, helping Fang Shoushi with some matters, but Sun Chengzong's vision was sophisticated enough. When he heard Dong Weng's doubts, he smiled and said: "This is The Holy One issued a prevarication to the officials."

Fang Shoushi read Wang Wenlong's text again and wondered: "This...may be successful?"

Sun Chengzong smiled and nodded: "The discussion will not lead to results, but most of them can be successfully prevaricated."

"This is not a legitimate argument, how can it block everyone's mouth?"

Sun Chengzong laughed loudly: "Dong Weng thinks that if these three policies are implemented, will they be good or bad?"

Fang Shoushi nodded without hesitation: "Of course it's a good thing, but I'm afraid our Shanxi words won't reach the court."

Unlike the officials in Jiangnan who felt a headache when looking at this issue, the officials in the mainland were generally happy to see the content of this document.

Huguang, Shanshan and Shaanxi are not close to the sea at all, and collecting maritime trade taxes and selling ship leads will not cause them any loss. It can reduce local exploitation by eunuchs. In this way, the administration will not be restricted by eunuchs, and the suffering of the people will be reduced. Greatly relieved, what do they have to object?

Sun Chengzong nodded and pointedly pointed out: "It's not just us Shanxi officials who support it. Could it be said that Jiangnan relies on the sea everywhere? Collecting taxes from maritime merchants and issuing ship guides is really not a bad thing for many places. As long as it is not bad, there will definitely be support. If someone supports it and some opposes it, then there will be a quarrel first, and the Holy Spirit can get away with it."

Fang Shoushi couldn't help but laugh after thinking for a long time: "You can still see clearly."

For him, the governor of Shanxi, he had already seen the situation clearly. He no longer had the dream that Emperor Wanli would not make money. On the contrary, if the sea trade tax matter came true, there would be a real chance to remove the local tax eunuchs.

It’s okay for these eunuchs to cause trouble in the mainland. The key is to intervene in border defense affairs. The damage in Shanxi is not as serious as that in Liaodong, but it still causes endless disasters.

Damage to the border area is a fatal matter. It can trigger relevant discussions, and maybe there will be an opportunity to evacuate the eunuchs in the future. From Fang Shoushi's point of view, it is definitely a good thing.

As for those civil servants in the south of the Yangtze River, is there any point in using the eunuchs to collect taxes every day to scold the emperor?

The power in their hands is getting bigger and bigger, but the border security situation has not improved much. Those things proposed are far less practical than Wang Wenlong's document.

He smiled and said: "Zhisheng, this is really a good article, but it's a pity that we can't second it."

Inland officials such as Fang Shoushi and others were at the bottom of the party struggle and had lost much of their voice for a long time. The Qi, Chu and Zhejiang Party were either from the sea or were from the south.

As for Shanxi, if nothing happens, the Mongols will invade again. Otherwise, who in the court will take care of them?

Even the officials in the mainland were not allowed to jump too far to avoid being hurt by cold arrows, so they could only watch others fight in silence.

Sun Chengzong comforted him: "It's better to have someone discuss possible solutions than to keep talking about old words every day."

Fang Shoushi picked up the Di newspaper and read it again, nodded and said: "This article is illuminating, and its reasoning is precise, and it is rare to be targeted. Although it is not very gorgeous in terms of rhetoric, it is still a good article."

(End of this chapter)