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

Wanli felt that his life was not long since about ten years ago. Since then, he has been recuperating in the palace for a long time, scaring himself every day. In February, just after the wedding of the crown prince, he suddenly felt unwell. He probably thought that the time had come, so He directly summoned all the ministers in the capital, and then asked the chief assistant Shen Guanyi to enter the Xinuan Pavilion alone to meet the saint.

The scene was huge. Emperor Wanli was in full court dress and crown, and the crown prince and princes knelt on the ground. Wanli feebly told Shen Guanyi that he was very ill, so:

From now on, the construction of the Third Palace and the Second Palace will be stopped; the mine supervision nationwide and the tax increase on Jiangnan weaving and Jiangxi pottery will be stopped; all tax eunuchs dispatched will be recalled; the three law departments will release the long-detained criminals; and people will be punished for being evacuated. All officials were reinstated.

Shen Yiguan was probably crazy with joy when he heard this. Emperor Wanli had abolished all the tyranny in one fell swoop.

After saying this, Wanli lay down. Shen Yiguan quickly drafted an edict and took it back to the cabinet according to the holy will. That night, all the cabinet elders and nine ministers ran to the court room to keep vigil.

Everyone in the capital was moved when they heard the words. Even though a man was about to die, his words were also kind. When Emperor Wanli came to visit, he finally did something anthropomorphic.

The atmosphere of joy and tension lasted all day, and the next day, Emperor Wanli found that he was not dead and had recovered from his illness.

Later it was deduced that he probably just caught the cold due to being busy with the Crown Prince's wedding.

Then Wan Li sent more than 20 eunuchs to the cabinet to pursue the edict. Shen Guanguan could not stop him. Wang Yi, the eunuch in charge of rituals, ran to Wanli and asked, "How can I go against what the king said?" He argued with reason, and Wanli immediately drew his sword and wanted to chop him down. He just took the edict back.

A day later, everything was the same as before.

A series of changes were so dramatic. On February 21, Wanli restored all policies and announced that because the palace was old, it was planning to rebuild the Qianqing Palace and Kunning Palace, and another tax would be collected.

Wang Wenlong guessed that after he escaped from death, he checked his account balance and found that there was still so much money that had not been used up. He thought that it would be a loss if he left before the money was used up, so he decided to increase his spending.

Everyone in the capital sighed with regret at this farce.

In the past, they may have thought that Emperor Wanli was a fool, but after this incident, everyone understood that this guy was not a fool at all, he was just pretending to be confused.

Emperor Wanli has made it clear that he knows what he has done is wrong, but he just feels that he is about to die and wants to be happy while alive. After death, he will not care about the flood.

But this guy can still live for more than ten years. He always says that he is sick, but compared with people who are really sick and can't work, the situation is much better. I don't know where this obsession of "being seriously ill and dying" comes from. Come.

After experiencing this, Wang Wenlong suddenly understood those officials. For such an emperor, who lays corpses, spends money, and displays them in the palace every day, who can see it and not be angry?

In the past few days at the end of February, there were probably countless people in the capital who were secretly thinking that it would be great if Emperor Wanli could really be the king of heaven.

As for Wang Wenlong, he did not stay in the capital just to watch this excitement.

On February 20th, Wang Wenlong hurried to the Lotus Temple and went straight into the wing. At this time, Li Zhi fell ill again and was in so much pain that he could not get out of bed. He had just written his suicide note and knew that he did not have much time left. Several disciples gathered around him. Beside Li Zhi.

After Wang Wenlong entered the room, Ma Jinglun stood up and said: "Jianyang is here, sit down quickly."

Wang Wenlong shook his head hurriedly and shocked everyone when he spoke: "Mr. Zhuo Wu, hurry up, King Wu is coming!"

A few days ago, Cai Yizhong, a disciple of Geng Dingxiang who was scolded by Li Zhi at the time, "You don't do what you say, and you don't say what you do." He was also a disciple of Zhang Wenda of the Donglin Party, Cai Yizhong, a scholar in the Hanlin Academy, instigated him. Shen Guangyuan, the leader of the Zhejiang Party, instructed the Donglin Party to impeach Li Zhi to Zhang Wenda during the incident.

The North Korean Zhejiang Party and the Donglin Party quickly united to jointly attack Li Zhi for "daring to promote chaos, confuse the world and falsely accuse the people". Now they have sent notices to Emperor Wanli.

It's not that Wang Wenlong didn't want to inform him earlier, but the Confucian scholar-officials had criticized Li Zhi for a long time, and there had not been much practical action before. Wang Wenlong could only wait until something started to happen before he could inform him, otherwise no one would believe him. .

Hearing this, several of Li Zhi's disciples looked surprised. Ma Jinglun quickly asked: "What did Jianyang learn in Beijing?"

Wang Wenlong told all the news he knew. Among the people present, many who had served as officials heard that the Donglin Party and the Zhejiang Party had united, and they instantly knew the urgency of the situation.

The timing of Cai Yi's election was perfect. At this time, Emperor Wanli had just been dissatisfied with the ministers of the Manchu Dynasty because of the "posthumous edict" he caused. At this time, all parties in the DPRK and China united to ask him to punish Li Zhi. He would probably die for joy. Li Zhi, a baseless madman, came to please the civil servants of the DPRK and China.

Wang Wenlong said directly: "There is no other way. Please escort Mr. Li Zhuowu out of Tongzhou as soon as possible."

Several of Li Zhi's disciples quickly came to the same conclusion and said to Li Zhi: "Master, let's leave quickly."

At this time, Li Zhi slowly opened his eyes on the bed, shook his head and said, "I won't leave."

Wang Wenlong hurriedly walked to Li Zhi's bedside and said seriously: "Mr. Zhuowu, this matter is not trivial. If you are caught by the gang, I'm afraid you will never see the light of day again. Judging from your current body, can you still survive?" Withstand the pain of prison?”

Li Zhi was silent, and suddenly said to his young apprentice Wang Benchang: "Help me up." With the help of his two apprentices, he reluctantly sat up, held back the pain and smiled at Wang Wenlong: "I know my situation, even if I am not in prison. I can only live a few years. If I run away now, of course I can avoid prison, but from now on the world will only know Li Zhi as a fugitive. There are many people who hate me in the world. They have scolded me all my life, but no matter how many people there are Even if he scolded me, Li Zhi would still say the same thing: My knowledge is beneficial to the Holy Religion without harming it."

"They have scolded me for decades, but they have never been able to make me confess. Now I am afraid it is the last time. If I escape this last time, I will be known as a fugitive from now on, and my teachings will only be looked at by others from now on. The knowledge of Li Zhi, who became a fugitive, is not worth talking about. In this way, although I will not die in prison, everything I say and do in my life will be in prison!"

Wang Wenlong and Li Zhi's disciples were all silent after hearing this.

After saying this, Li Zhi's declining spirit seemed to have been lifted a lot. He suddenly looked at Wang Wenlong: "Has the manuscript of "Shu Zheng" written by Jianyang been completed?"

Wang Wenlong said: "I have only written half of it now. If you, sir, want to read it, I will finish it as soon as possible."

Li Zhi shook his head and said, "If I am imprisoned in the next few days, Jianyang must not send me books, otherwise I will be involved. I also ask Jianyang to inform my disciples of the follow-up content. If there is a visit, If there is a chance, let them talk to me. Jianyang - your safety is much more valuable than me, an old man."

After finishing speaking, Li Zhi looked at his disciples: "I have something to tell my disciples, please Jianyang to take care of me."

Wang Wenlong nodded, got up and walked out of the house. He had just taken two steps when he suddenly heard Li Zhi calling from behind him again.

Wang Wenlong turned around and saw Li Zhi looking at him with burning eyes: "...your method of research is a better way than mine."

Wang Wenlong felt his eyes were burning, and he suppressed the soreness in his nose and nodded, "Young man, you will never forget your teacher's instructions."

"Thank you."

Two days later, Emperor Wanli made a comment: "Li Zhi dares to promote chaos, confuse the world and falsely accuse the people. He will order the five factory guards to punish him severely. Those whose books have not been published will be searched and burned, and they will not be allowed to remain. If there are any party members The song is kept privately, and officials from the department and each department will visit and participate in the music, and punish the crime."

The factory guards arrived at the Lotus Temple. Li Zhi was already dying. They made full preparations. Several apprentices fetched a large bed board. Li Zhi lay on it and entered the imperial prison.

Li Zhi's body did not need to be tortured. The interrogation process by the Sanfa Division alone was already a great torture for him.

Son-in-law Zhuang Chunfu rushed to the capital day and night, and together with Ma Jinglun and Wang Benzao, they spent money to enter the prison to take care of Li Zhi's body.

But Li Zhi was almost running out of gas and the lamp was running out, and he was so groggy that he couldn't tell the difference between morning and dusk.

On March 15, under the coordination of Li Zhi's disciples, the results of Li Zhi's treatment also came out: because Li Zhi was old and frail, he would not be punished and ordered to be sent back to his hometown without being allowed to stay.

This is already the lightest punishment, but not punishing him also represents an admission of guilt.

Li Zhi's disciples asked everywhere for help, and even found Wang Wenlong to persuade Li Zhi to plead guilty.

Wang Wenlong knew that Li Zhi would die today in the original history, but Li Zhi did not die. Maybe things would really turn around and Li Zhi might change his mind?

So he immediately started writing a letter to Li Zhi. The letter was only half finished when Zhuang Chunfu found Guanyi.

Seeing that his face was still stained with tears and his hand was tied with a piece of white cloth, Wang Wenlong was stunned when he saw it.

Zhuang Chunfu said: "My father has passed away. He heard us talk about the contents of "Shangshu Ancient Prose" and thought it was a very good book. Before his death, he repeatedly asked Jianyang to publish this book, and also told Jianyang to be careful in case of trouble. Use more subtle ways to protect your reputation. He had no choice back then and had to fight. Jianyang has a good reputation now. Don't follow his path and make it difficult to speak out. The right thing to do is spread the word... My father said in Jianyang's "Shang Shu" After completing the manuscript of "Ancient Prosecutions", I asked him to burn a copy of it in front of his grave."

On March 16, the 30th year of Wanli, Li Zhi, a great master and enlightenment leader in the history of Ming thought, committed suicide with a razor in prison at the age of seventy-six.

Although Li Zhi died, due to his death, the Donglin Party and the Zhejiang Party did not dare to persecute him more for fear of losing the reputation of pushing literati to death. His reputation spread far and wide, and he used his death to protect the popularity of his works in the world.

Those who forbid self-forbidden, and those who hide themselves hide. According to Li Zhi's annotations in his lifetime, almost all of the eighty-seven kinds of the fourteen categories have been circulated in the world. Scholars rush to pass on and recite them, and they are popular all over the world.

Ten years later, when the dust settled, his disciples erected a monument for Li Zhi and repaired his tomb. Next to the tombstone were engraved a poem written by Wang Wenlong, evaluating Li Zhi's life's merits and demerits:

Confusing the universe and being brave, overturning the eternal nest of right and wrong!

(End of this chapter)