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

Wang Wenlong said calmly: "Since according to the Book of Rites, virginity is not in line with etiquette and should not be promoted, I will elaborate on this. If young women encounter this in the future, they will no longer have to be widowed for the rest of their lives. Wouldn't this save many lives?" A woman's life? Kong Shi should not only look at the present, but also think about the women of the future generations."

Wei Dazhong shook his head: "Women gain a good reputation by keeping chastity. This is what they want. Jianyang is just asking those women who can keep chastity to marry others, so that they cannot become saints and there is no salvation..."

Wang Wenlong found that Wei Dazhong seemed to be able to only fit one thought into his mind. He had to get it first. Once he made up his mind, he could not change it no matter what others said. He could only change his mind after thinking it through.

It's useless to talk to this kind of person. Wang Wenlong shook his head and said, "That's fine if you don't accept it. I don't think I'm doing anything bad, and there's nothing to clarify."

Wei Dazhong was quite angry and wanted to continue persuading, but Wang Wenlong waved his hand directly to indicate that he did not want to talk anymore, and Wei Dazhong could not pester him. He felt sulky for a while and went by himself.

Looking back at Wei Dazhong's back, Wang Wenlong suddenly felt that the eunuch's "Donglin Dianjianglu" had a good evaluation of this gentleman: "Heavenly Killing Star, Black Whirlwind, and Li Ke are all in trouble, Wei Dazhong"

This friend is indeed very good at fighting, very brave, and very strong, but he is just a little reckless. He really looks like Li Kui...

At this time, the performance on the stage finally started. Today's performance is "The Mad Drummer and Yuyang Three Lanes" which is a variation of the Zaju play, in which Mi Heng beats the drum and scolds Cao Cao.

Wang Wenlong knew that the play was written by Xu Wei and that the famous Peng Tianxi played Cao Cao.

This gentleman is the most famous Chou Jing in the south of the Yangtze River. He specializes in playing villains and villains. Zhang Dai commented that the characters he performed "have swords in their bellies, knives in their smiles, ghostly auras and murderous intentions, and are eerie and terrifying."

Wang Wenlong couldn't understand the lyrics either, but after Peng Tianxi came on stage with a white face, Wang Wenlong's eyes were immediately attracted by Peng Tianxi's performance.

Peng Tianxi's facial features are extremely flexible, and with his winks, he can instantly express Cao Cao's cunning and cunning in the play vividly. Wang Wenlong sat too close, and Peng Tianxi smiled while looking at the audience. Although it was a smile, Wang Wenlong suddenly felt creepy and always felt Then Cao Cao must find a way to torture him.

The audience who sat down with Peng Tianxi's performance also praised him one after another, not only for the good acting, but also for the flavorful writing of Xu Wei's play.

"Yuyang Lane" appears to be about the sins of Cao Cao's life, but in fact it is a scolding of the reality of the Ming Dynasty's treacherous ministers trying to gain power.

The people present today are mainly from the weavers' guild and the Cao Gang. They are all low-level groups that were bullied by the Ming Dynasty officials. They really empathize with the criticism shown in this play.

After the performance of the play, the audience burst into enthusiastic cheers. Wang Wenlong also clapped and cheered along with everyone. A lively fighting scene followed. Not long after, Peng Tianxi came out again, this time playing An Lushan. .

Wang Wenlong was tired after watching the play until mid-afternoon, so he stood up and said goodbye. People from the Cao Gang and the weavers' guild accompanied Wang Wenlong out. Wang Wenlong brought Li Guoxian and Shen Yixiu to the banquet today. Wang Pingbao went to the female family members to call for help and waited. After a while, Li Guoxian and Shen Yixiu came out with the maid.

"Ms. sir, this play by Peng Tianxi is so good. I want to write a play after watching it." Li Guoxian said happily as soon as he came out.

Wang Wenlong smiled and said: "Okay, but we don't have the money to hire a troupe. Whether a troupe is willing to sing the play you write depends on your own level."

Shen Yixiu said with a smile: "As long as the play is well written, you can entertain yourself. It doesn't have to be sung by someone."

Shen Yixiu's family are all opera talents, and they are also very interested in writing operas.

Wang Wenlong walked outside with his two wives and saw that the crowd outside the auditorium on the stage was quite crowded. The leader of the weavers' guild quickly arranged for someone to clear the way for Wang Wenlong and his family.

While waiting, he suddenly heard a shout from a distance. The crowd crowded around the stage was also shocked. Wang Wenlong quickly pulled his two wives back and stood in front of them with Wang Pingbao to protect them. , waited for a while before the front became quiet.

Wang Wenlong and Chen looked at each other and hurriedly followed him forward. They saw an old lady and a child being pushed to the ground at the intersection of Bailong Temple in front of them. A basket of water chestnuts was overturned along with the stove, hot water and other items. One place.

In front of them, a gangster carrying the tax superintendent's list put his hands on his hips and said: "The emperor's list collects taxes. If you resist and don't pay the taxes and dare to cause trouble, I will beat you unjustly!"

……

It was not entirely a good thing for the people of Suzhou that Ge Cheng led the popular uprising and beat Sun Long away.

Sun Long is over sixty years old. He grew up watching Emperor Wanli. He has been a weaving eunuch in Suzhou since the fourth year of Wanli. He has gained a good reputation in Suzhou for more than 20 years. Sun Long himself spent money to repair the roads and temples in West Lake. When there was a famine, he even spent money to buy rice and porridge. When the silk fabrics changed color due to heavy rain, he also took the initiative to ask Emperor Wanli to explain the reasons and asked the emperor not to blame Orihu for this.

If Emperor Wanli hadn't been too anxious to get money, with Sun Long's caution, even tax collection would not have triggered a civil uprising. After the Gecheng uprising, Sun Long's tax supervisor's job was removed, and Emperor Wanli sent a new one. The tax supervisor and eunuch Liu Chenglai was in charge of the tax supervisors of the four prefectures in Su Songchang Town.

There is a huge difference in life between Liu Cheng and Sun Long. Just look at one thing: after Liu Cheng arrived, the people of Hangzhou felt that Sun Long had done a lot of good things without disturbing the people, so they built a shrine for Sun Long on Gushan. In the original history, until the Qing Dynasty, there was still a statue of Sun Long on Gushan, and the incense was pretty good. It can be seen that this temple was not just built to flatter Sun Long.

There really is no harm without comparison. Many years later, Liu Cheng would appear again in the history books. Zhang Cha, who entered the palace to kill people during the attack, confessed that the two eunuchs who ordered him to kill Zhu Changluo were Pang Bao and Liu Cheng. Liu Cheng was a confidant eunuch of Concubine Zheng, and was secretly executed by Emperor Wanli for the assassination case.

This guy even dared to participate in the murder of the prince, so collecting taxes was no problem. After Liu Cheng arrived in Jiangnan, the minions that Sun Long recruited to commit crimes were replaced, but the new tax supervisor did not exploit the people. Reduced, and they are more arrogant than when they were under Sun Long.

At this time, the tax supervisors were very excited after injuring the hawkers, and said loudly: "Eunuch Liu collects taxes, who dares to disobey it?"

The gang members who were watching all had angry faces, and they immediately surrounded those people.

"You collect taxes as long as you collect taxes. Which rules do you follow when overturning other people's stalls?" A soldier came up and asked.

In fact, these guardsmen and weavers standing on the periphery are also at the bottom of society. Normally they would not dare to stab the tax inspectors when they encounter them. But now everyone gathered in one place. Some people took the lead, and the rest plucked up the courage to follow. They shouted together, "Yes, which rule do you follow?"

Someone else grabbed the tax inspector holding the sign and said, "You used to be an ordinary citizen, but now you have changed your skin and come to bully other people, young and old?"

The crowd swarmed up and surrounded the tax wardens, some calling for beatings and some calling for sentencing. The tax supervisors also became frightened. One of them suddenly took out a knife and said with a serious expression: "Who dares to come up?"

"Are you bullying any of us?"

While everyone was making noise, Mr. Chen from the weavers' guild hurriedly ran forward. If the weavers' guild wanted to call for a break or to protest against the customs, it would need to be organized in advance. If you cause trouble like this, you will definitely suffer a loss if you are held accountable.

He stopped between the crowd and the tax inspector with the knife, looked at the person on his side and asked, "What's going on?"

The Caobang gang members who were familiar with the two people nearby responded: "Botou Chen, this grandson is an orphan in our guard house. The baby's father was originally a guard soldier. He died of illness a year ago. I'm waiting for you to take pity on him." His old woman and her baby were having a hard time, so today they taught him how to carry a load of water chestnuts and sell them in the market. When these tax inspectors saw this, they wanted to eat and drink first, but they took several large bowls of water chestnuts from his grandfather and grandson in vain, waiting to break up the show. Then he grabbed the old woman to collect money. When he heard that he had no money, he raised his hand and beat her. When the little kid wanted to save his grandmother and went up to tear her apart, the bowl was smashed, the stall was overturned, and he was beaten like this!"

Chen Baotou felt a chill on his face when he heard that. Although the Weavers Guild was an organization of lower-class people, it was also a well-known name in Suzhou. He thought it was nothing, but he didn't expect that several rogues who wanted to deceive others would actually do it. He also dared to come to Bailong Temple to cause trouble.

He turned directly back to the person behind him and said, "Go and invite Team Leader Wang who is at the table to come over."

After hearing this, the gangsters didn't want to make things worse, so they tried to run away, but were caught by a few weavers.

The textile machines of this era were all made of wood, and the machinery used for large-scale weaving was very heavy. The weavers who had been operating the textile machines for a long time were very strong, and a few men with big hands and feet were able to handle the rogues in one go.

Soon Team Leader Wang arrived. After hearing what happened, he immediately said: "Take us back to the Yamen first and then discuss it."

Seeing that the matter was resolved, Wang Wenlong also breathed a sigh of relief. Just as he was about to leave, he saw Wei Dazhong suddenly running out from behind, and was about to leave with the gangsters and weavers.

Wang Wenlong asked him out of curiosity: "What is Kong Shi going to do?"

Wei Dazhong said excitedly: "I want to see these tax inspectors being beaten so that I can vent my anger!"

Wang Wenlong was speechless for a while.

How could Team Leader Wang offend Liu Cheng? Most of the time they would take the person to the yamen and give him a education and then let him go, or even let him go without saying a word. Even if Lin thought about it, he would make the big deal as small as possible and would not want to conflict with Liu Cheng.

……

A few days later, Wang Wenlong was reviewing manuscripts in the editorial office of "Suzhou Xunbao" when he suddenly heard Pan Xiu say that a scholar named Wei Dazhong came to him outside.

Wang Wenlong asked Pan Xiu to bring the people in. Before Wang Wenlong could say anything, Wei Dazhong said angrily: "Mr. Jianyang, guess what happened at the White Dragon Temple that day?"

Wang Wenlong said: "Those tax supervisors were probably released, right?"

"How do you know?" Wei Dazhong looked surprised. "Not only did they let the person go, but the tax supervisors also went back to harm the grandfather and grandson. The people who were driven out could not survive in Suzhou, and now they have to live in a foreign land. went."

(End of this chapter)