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

Now there are only aborigines and some Japanese pirates' water villages on the island of Taiwan. When Shen Yourong went to Taiwan to fight the Japanese pirates a few years later, most of the island was still inaccessible, but in just a few years the Spaniards and the Dutch would arrive one after another.

The population capacity of Taiwan Island is crucial to Fujian. There are fertile fields and ports that the people in central Fujian dream of. Until the later generations when Wang Wenlong traveled back in time, the total population of the huge Fujian Province was only more than 40 million. In comparison, The population of Taiwan is over 23 million.

Historically, ever since Yan Siqi and Zheng Zhilong organized Fujian people to immigrate to Taiwan, the island of Taiwan has been relieving Fujian's population pressure for a long time.

If you want to develop Taiwan, you must also find a departure port in Fujian. The most suitable location is naturally Xiamen.

At this moment, Xiamen is just a coastal defense fortress with Xiamen City, with a population of less than a thousand people. However, as Fujian people begin to immigrate to Taiwan, Xiamen's importance will become highlighted: Xiamen is the closest good port to Taiwan in a straight line. At the same time, Xiamen Island and Kinmen Island are horns of each other and can guard the gateway to Taiwan's routes.

The development of Xiamen in history started in the hands of Zheng Chenggong. After owning Xiamen City, Zheng Chenggong had a solid fortress to log into Fujian. No matter how the Qing army encircled and suppressed it, as long as Xiamen City was in hand, the routes to Fujian and Taiwan could be firmly in his hands.

As long as you want to develop Taiwan, Xiamen is the most suitable preparation base for Fujian.

It is better to do it early than to do it late. Since the population pressure in Fujian will one day be relieved by developing Taiwan, it is natural to build the city of Xiamen first.

Xu Xueju listened to Wang Wenlong describe the geographical location of Xiamen for a while, then found a sea chart to look at it carefully, nodded and said: "This is a good method, it can not only expand the territory, but also solve the problem of refugees. Jianyang is really knowledgeable!"

……

In March of the 29th year of Wanli, when Wang Wenlong and others were actively organizing disaster relief in Fujian, Wuchang, which had become the center of the court in recent years, had another civil uprising.

Feng Yingjing, the Huguang official who was arrested by the emperor the year before last for preventing the tax supervisor Chen Feng, has been released from the imperial prison, but he has also been expelled from his official position.

Chen Feng had a strong tax collection ability and was deeply trusted by Wanli, so he still collected taxes in Huguang even after two civil commotions.

In February, an official wrote a letter to exonerate Feng Yingjing, which once again angered the emperor. With Chen Feng's instigation, Wanli finally ordered the arrest of Feng Yingjing, who had been demoted to the people, and the Xiangyang Tongpan, Zaoyang County Magistrate, and Wuchang Magistrate who had blocked Chen Feng's tax collection. Tongzhi and other officials.

Tiqi, who arrested Feng Yingjing, arrived in Wuchang, but was strongly obstructed by the people. A civil uprising broke out. Tens of thousands of people besieged Chen Feng's official residence. They did not catch him, but they threw sixteen of Chen Feng's tax supervisors into the Yangtze River and drowned them. Even Zhi Keda, the governor of Hubei who had been helping Chen Feng before, was blocked and cursed, and the people burned his camp.

In the end, Feng Yingjing, who was imprisoned in a prison van, dressed in prison uniform and persuaded the people, finally prevented any bigger troubles.

Chen Feng also fled into the Prince of Chu's Mansion to avoid death.

This incident once again caused the officials in the DPRK to evacuate. Wanli really liked Chen Feng. Facing the officials' ministers, he lost his temper for a long time and withheld all the memorials.

Even until April, Chen Fengxian still couldn't withstand the pressure.

What he did in Hubei was so immoral: he dug up people's ancestral graves, demolished people's mansions, and captured people's wives and daughters and kidnapped them for ransom. He was even more despicable than a bandit. Everyone hated him, and many people claimed to kill him. Chen Fengcai gave up.

Chen Feng hid in the Chu Palace for more than a month, not daring to go out at all. If he did, he would be beaten to death. In April, Chen Feng himself saw that the public sentiment in Wuchang was so fierce that he actually went to Shuwanli and asked to return to the capital to escape.

Emperor Wanli did not agree even with this, which shows that Chen Feng did have a way to make money.

In the end, it was Hukou tax superintendent Li Daoshangshu's impeachment of Chen Feng that made Wanli make up his mind.

Li Dao is not a good guy either. He was able to arrest Wu Baoxiu, the prefect of Nankang, to collect taxes, causing Wu Baoxiu's wife to commit suicide, causing the Nankang civil uprising. He is also a greedy and dead eunuch, but even he can't stand Chen Feng. as.

Because Chen Feng was collecting taxes in Wuchang, he directly blocked the shipping routes. Li Dao's Hukou Chaoguan was unable to collect taxes even if he tried to collect them. Chen Feng not only exploited the people, but even the business of Li Dao, a tax official and eunuch. Want to grab.

Li Dao directly reported to the emperor: Chen Feng blocked merchant ships on the waterways, and forced land merchants not to traffic goods, exploiting the people and ruining the country. What probably made Wanli most determined was the sentence in Li Dao's impeachment: Chen Feng The tax is "levied three times and one added". This guy has enriched his own pockets too much, stretched his hands too far, and even his colleagues can't see him.

Under internal and external pressure, Wanli finally agreed to Chen Feng's return to Beijing and asked Du Mao, the Fengtian garrison eunuch, to replace Chen Feng in supervising Huguang's taxation.

Chen Feng stayed in Huguang for two years and plundered a large amount of gold and silver. When he returned to Beijing, the motorcade stretched for several miles. The governor was afraid that the people would rob Chen Feng's team, so he could only use guardsmen to escort Chen Feng out of Hubei.

But before Chen Feng left Hubei, Zhi Keda had been impeached and removed from office. The first thing Zhao Kehuai did when he took office as governor of Hubei was to take over Zhi Keda's work and continued to send envoys to escort Chen Feng's motorcade. Finally, this The god of plague was sent out of Hubei.

Zhi Keda was also unlucky. He was the first scholar in the second class during the palace examination. History books have said that he was "a self-reliant and noble character". He was even recruited by Zhang Juzheng because of his good reputation for being able to work hard.

When Chen Feng came to Hubei, Zhi Keda also tried to confront Chen Feng. When Chen Feng wanted to build a prison, Zhi Keda tried his best to stop him.

But Chen Feng was too crazy. When Zhi Keda saw that Chen Feng sent troops to conflict with the people and littered the streets with corpses of the people for intimidation, but Emperor Wanli didn't care at all, Zhi Keda knew that there was nothing he could do. In order to be able to He continued to be an official, so he could only cope with Chen Feng's requirements.

In the end, Chen Feng had enough and returned to Beijing safely, but Zhi Keda gained a bad reputation, was thrown away after being used by Wanli, and was dismissed from office. Fortunately, the resistance of the people in Hubei also played some role. Du Mao, who succeeded Chen Feng, was an old man who entered the palace during the Jiajing period and grew up watching Wanli.

Wanli also knew in his heart that Hubei was so messed up by Chen Feng, and sending another eunuch with no moral character would probably cause big trouble, so he sent Du Mao to collect taxes.

After Du Mao took office, he applied for "half of the total tax amount of Chu, please avoid the disturbance of the comprador, and please keep the money to pay for relief." He also used his identity to help local people clear up their unjust cases and supervise the construction of road stations. It left an excellent reputation in Hubei and finally restored Hubei's economic order to normal.

But what happened in Hubei was just a preview of the nationwide tax supervisory chaos - Shanxi and Suzhou both had signs of civil unrest because of excessive extortion by eunuchs.

At the same time, changes in the weather were happening silently. Since January last year, it had not rained in the capital. In the capital, Shanxi, and Henan, "the ground was bare for thousands of miles, and no seedlings could grow." People at the time recorded: "The grass and trees were all gone, and the trees were peeled off." The village is empty and smokeless. "There are 180,000 people sitting there waiting for relief."

The disaster situation in Fujian, which has improved slightly since spring, is not much better at this time.

The money and food provided by the yamen were not enough for disaster relief. Wang Wenlong's plan of "relief for work and developing Xiamen" could not even squeeze out the upfront investment, so he could only do his best to provide life-saving food to the victims.

The Trinity Church's disaster relief funds have almost been exhausted, and the food platform has been abandoned. The main work of the believers has turned to treating diseases and collecting the corpses of people who fell on the road.

……

The Southern Zen Temple of the Trinity Church in Fuzhou is filled with incense and many dignitaries gather here to give lectures. It is like a world away from the hellish scene outside the city.

Chen Biao, head of the Fuzhou Diocese of Trinity Church, read the ceremonial text on the high platform:

"Summer blooms in the middle of the sky, and the earth turns into glass. Five hundred and three dragons gather together, and it's time for humans and heaven to celebrate."

Along with the disciples holding eight bright oil lamps, Chen Biao drew the Eight Diagrams with his hands. The disciples beside him struck the rattle, and hundreds of believers recited scriptures together:

"Come up and worship the Eight Trigrams. It will be in all directions. It will eliminate all disasters. It will be a celebration of prosperity. The Eight Trigrams and the Eight Gods will be in all directions. It will bring good luck to all directions."

After reciting a section of the Fenglao Bagua ritual, everyone in the audience loudly praised, "Xia Jiao's great merits." "The disaster will never be eliminated..."

During his lifetime, Lin Zhaoen wrote a book called "The Uncensored Conference of the Three Religions" in order to promote the integration of the three religions and mutual exchanges and discussions. Nowadays, this kind of unobstructed conference is held every year in the Trinity Church in Fuzhou. Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism are all welcome. Participate. This year’s conference is particularly grand. The main purpose is to persuade everyone to donate money for disaster relief.

At the end of the ceremony, many people gathered around the merit box. People either wanted to do meritorious deeds for disaster relief, or wanted to ask for a blessing, so they dropped some copper plates into the box with a clanking sound.

In the guest room next to him, there were also people from high-ranking families talking to their servants, asking them to report the amount of their donations.

Chen Biao walked down from the stage and first went to meet the distinguished guests where Fuzhou celebrities and gentry gathered.

"Mr. Jianyang is here for your hard work," Chen Biao greeted Wang Wenlong with his hands raised, and then looked at Li Guoxian aside and said, "Thank you, Miss Li Er, for coming."

Although Wang Wenlong and Li Guoxian did not sit together, they came together and had a casual conversation as soon as the ritual was over. Chen Biao knew their relationship just by looking at them.

"Hello, Mr. Chen." Li Guoxian returned the greeting with a smile. She stood next to Wang Wenlong and was not shy at all when she was seen.

The two have not yet decided to get married, and Wang Wenlong was a little surprised that Li Guoxian was so free and easy.

Celebrities in this era were treated well, and as long as they had status and fame, women were willing to treat them the same.

It's just that Li Guoxian is the second young lady of the Li family after all. After the ceremony, Chen Biao invited the dignitaries who stayed behind to go to the dining hall to prepare for dinner. Many people looked sideways when they saw Li Guoxian sitting next to Wang Wenlong. The invited celebrity Chen Di was quite surprised: "Isn't the person next to Jianyang the second young lady of the Li family?"

"Which Li family?"

Mr. Chen said: "Li Dan's family."

Shen Yourong took a look, nodded and said, "She is the second young lady of his family."

Chen Di couldn't help but murmur in a low voice: "Didn't Wang Jianyang marry the Shen family? Why is the second young lady here so close to him? This young man is indeed a celebrity..."

Shen Yourong and Chen Di were talking lively. Xu Xinggong, who was sitting at the same table, said hurriedly: "You two should keep your voices down. We are talking behind our backs. Wouldn't it be embarrassing if Jianyang heard it?"

Chen Yiyi smiled: "That's right. Why should I care about his Li family's affairs?"

(End of this chapter)