Lin Gao Qiming

Chapter 1098 Zhang Pu
"With your brother's current reputation in the society, as long as you review the current literature, you will definitely be in high school." He said with a smile. Zhang Dai knew that Zhao Yingong was a talented person--you can feel it in his daily conversations. This Mr. Zhao Although knowledgeable, but the Four Books and Five Classics are very loose.

"Little brother just can't get Shiwen..."

Zhang Dai smiled, lowered his voice and said, "You are a member of my generation, why do you need such a deceiving thing? As long as you are well-versed in literature and reason!"

Zhao Yingong had heard about Fushe's manipulation of the imperial examinations for a long time—this was almost an open secret among scholars in the south of the Yangtze River.Since the Jinling Conference, the Fushe has gained a lot of momentum, especially the support of officials at all levels of the Donglin faction, making joining the Fushe a shortcut to the imperial examination.Before Zhang Pu's death, when the momentum of Fushe was at its most prominent, not only could it be determined who would win, but even the ranking could be arranged in advance.

At the end of the Ming Dynasty, many Qingliu who were known for their integrity had no scruples in this regard. Even Wen Zhenmeng, a lecturer and scholar who was always known for his integrity and respected by the emperor, had accepted the entrustment of Zhang Pu and others. Secretly arranging the ranks of the Fushe Scholars——Obviously, Zhao Yingong believed that the reason why Donglin's group of Qingliu were willing to do so was firstly influenced by the thinking of "struggling for power".

Above the imperial court, one cannot gain a foothold just by having integrity, not to mention implementing one's own political platform, even self-protection is very difficult.Donglin and Fushe have already seen this clearly from the fierce party struggles during the Tianqi years. To refresh the government, first of all, there must be enough "own people" in the court and localities.Manipulating the imperial examination is the easiest way to achieve this goal.The main members of Fushe are scholars, and it is not difficult to meet the standard of passing the imperial examination in terms of imperial examination articles.

Zhao Yingong's heart moved, he was already dissatisfied with his reputation as a scholar - he always felt a bit inferior when socializing, especially those Juren and Jinshi in the countryside, although they were very polite to him, but when they heard that he was just a "young Shirt", it is inevitable that there is a contemptuous meaning.

However, this matter probably cost money, and Zhao Yingong hadn't joined the Fushe yet, so from a work point of view, it was not appropriate for him to join the Fushe.

Zhao Yingong said: "My little brother is not a member of Fushe yet..."

Zhang Dai nodded thoughtfully.He knew Zhao Yingong's "true talent and real learning", and if he really wanted to join the club, "Er Zhang" would probably not agree--it would really be a joke.

But his eyes lit up, and he said, "It's okay, brother Zhao can be a member of the society." He closed his fan gracefully, "Your society friend is now famous in the south of the Yangtze River. Nothing inappropriate."

The two talked and talked, and arrived in Taicang smoothly.

Taicang is Zhili Prefecture, which was newly established in Hongzhi years from the three counties of Kunshan, Jiading and Changshu.Taicang is located by the Yangtze River, the land is sandy and the terrain is relatively high, so most of the cotton is grown.

Since the Qing Dynasty, Taicang has been a very wealthy place. Even in the three-year difficult period, many local farmers still have commodity grains to eat - relying on cotton.But at the end of the Ming Dynasty, the wonderful financial system made this cotton producing area impoverished. The reason is that there is very little grain in this area, but the annual tax has to be paid with grain. The local people have to sell cotton and buy grain from other places to pay. food tax.If food from other places is cheap, the burden is not too heavy, but once the price of food from other places rises, the burden becomes extremely heavy.

In the past two years, the cotton textile industry in Jiangnan has been very depressed, and even the cotton planting industry in Taicang has also been hit hard.The villages along the way are very depressed.

The boat arrived at Hebutou of Zhang Pu's house.The house is new, not old.The Jinshi and the first flagpoles in front of the gate are still newly erected, the paint is new, and there is a sense of joy.

Zhao Yingong knew that although Zhang Pu came from a typical "rich second generation" and "official second generation", life was very difficult when he was young.His uncle was Minister of Industry in Nanjing, and his father was a famous landlord in Taicang, but he was the only concubine among the ten brothers. His father didn't care either.As soon as Zhang Pu's father passed away, he and his mother moved out of the Zhang family when he was 15 years old, relying on his mother's spinning to earn tuition fees.

From the perspective of Zhang Pu's life experience alone, this passage from a contemptuous son of a wealthy family to a world-famous literary leader is not only a model of success, but also a wonderful subject for writing a novel.

Zhao Yingong took care of Cai Shi to post, while he and Zhang Dai waited on the shore.He knew that after Zhang Pu was selected as a concubine, because he showed his talents in the Imperial Academy and was not liked by Wen Tiren, he asked for leave and went home in the name of taking care of his relatives. Since then, he has been living at home and never returned to the court until his death.

However, his influence has grown day by day during his stay at home, to the extent that at one point he had influence over the government through the restoration of society.

Zhao Yingong thought to himself that Zhang Pu's idea was actually to manipulate the court situation behind the scenes - after all, as bureaucrats, he and Zhang Cai were too young and had insufficient qualifications. Senior bureaucrats: Zhou Yanru is his choice.

From the perspective of protecting Zhou Yanru and benevolent, he is at least [-]% to [-]% sure.

"My master invites you two to meet in the study room." Mending who was already waiting in front of the door saluted and said, then led the two through the hall, turned right from the courtyard, entered a small door, and walked along the corridor. After zigzagging for a while, they came to a secluded courtyard.In the courtyard, there is a three-way study room with one light and two shades; some flowers and trees are planted along the base of the wall, and there is a pool on the west corner, surrounded by green tile railings. .
Zhao Yingong didn't care to look carefully, he tidied his clothes hastily, and after waiting for the notification from the yard, he lowered his head, arched his hands, walked lightly, and walked in through the door where the curtain was raised in the yard.
Zhang Pu, a concubine of the Imperial Academy, was already waiting for him in the room.

Zhang Pu is very young, only 30 years old, the same age as Zhao Yingong, with three strands of beard under his chin, he looks very mature.Zhao Yingong paid attention, and felt that his expression was quite generous, but the occasional gleam in his eyes showed that this person had a strong will, and he was definitely not just a useless good person.

It is said that when Zhang Pu was young, he used to bully his father because of Chen Peng and Guo Kun, the slaves of his uncle's family, and despised him many times because of his humble background.He wrote a letter written in blood and vowed to take revenge. Later, after the development of the imperial examination, he passed Lu Zhenfei and detained the two servants in Chongming County, where they were sentenced by the county magistrate and executed secretly.

Seeing the two of them coming in, Zhang Pu greeted them with a smile on his face.The two sides bowed and saluted, and Zhang Dai first introduced Zhao Yingong to Zhang Pu.The two sides exchanged courtesies again.

"I came to see Mr. Tianru today. I'm not hiding the truth. I want to ask for something." Zhao Yingong said straight to the point.

"The student already knows a thing or two," Zhang Pu looked into his eyes, quite captivating: he is worthy of being the leader of the literary world and someone who can influence the government behind the scenes, "Could it be about Sun Huodong?"

"Exactly." Zhao Yingong couldn't help being secretly surprised—although he had told Zhang Dai about his plan, but Zhang Dai was not interested in such things, so he wouldn't have sent someone to report to Zhang Pu first.Zhang Pu knew his intention as soon as he saw him coming, which shows that he also has an intelligence network.

"That's right, it's about Sun Huodong." Zhao Yingong nodded.

Zhang Pu didn't speak, seemed to be thinking about something, and said for a while, "Why do you think that the student is so capable and can help Li Sun Huodong?"

"Mister doesn't have it, but Fushe and Donglin do." Zhao Yingong said in a very positive tone.This is also a kind of equestrianism, which fully expresses the meaning of "whose responsibility is yours".

Zhang Pu said: "Sun Huodong is the son of Mr. Xu Ge and has children and relatives. Why don't you ask Mr. Xu Ge for help?"

"Because of this, Mr. Xu Ge shouldn't talk too much." Zhao Yingong said.

The other party was silent for a while, Zhao Yingong knew that although he was in Taicang, he knew the situation of the court clearly.At this time, he must be considering the pros and cons.He thought for a while, and said in a very sincere tone:
"Above the imperial court, Sun Huodong is just a small pawn. The one who wants to investigate Sun Huodong now is because of Prime Minister Zhou..." He paused in order to enhance the other party's impression, "If a Sun Huodong falls, Prime Minister Zhou may be afraid." You can't stand in the hall for long!"

What can impress Zhang Pu is Zhou Yanru's going or staying.How important Zhou Yanru is to the current Donglin and Fushe, presumably Zhang Pu himself has to weigh it.

"Why did you say that, sir?" The other party stared at him closely.

Zhao Yingong has done his homework on this issue. He has one advantage, that is, there are a lot of research materials on the entanglement between Zhou Yanru, Wen Tiren and Donglin in later generations, and there are also many historical materials in various aspects.The comprehensiveness and depth of mastery of materials may be stronger than that of people at that time.So he started talking about the case of Qian Longxi, and continued to talk about the recent Xue Guoguan instructing the censor to impeach Zhou Yanru as the chief examiner, and arranging various struggles in Wu Weiye's first class.Not only are the materials in all aspects detailed, but also the analysis is clear and logical.In particular, the entanglements and interests between the parties are clearly sorted out.

Zhang Pu has been listening attentively, but his eyes show surprise from time to time.It wasn't until Zhao Yingong finished writing this paper that he said, "I never thought that Mr. Liu knew so clearly about the affairs of the court in Guangli!"

Zhao Yingong could only respond with a smile: This is too sensitive.

Zhang Pu stood up and took a few steps, then turned his head and asked, "Sir, do you really think that if Sun Huodong falls, Prime Minister Zhou can't stay for a long time?"

"Yes!" Zhao Yingong said very bluntly, "The relationship between Sun Huodong and Zhou Xiang is well known in the world. If Sun Huodong can't make up for the crime in Dengzhou's great change, how can Zhou Xiang treat himself?" He then added He said, "Once Zhou Xiang is gone, and Xu Xiang is in his dying years, which of the other cabinet ministers is Wen Xiang's opponent?"

(End of this chapter)