Although the Ming Dynasty examination was the same as the township examination, it only focused on the first one, the first test of the scriptures, and the first three articles, so the latter two exams were not mentioned.

After the third exam, Gao Pragmatic was relaxed, resting at home honestly, and even the news and instructions reported by various industries in Jinghua He only took a brief look at them, and most of them only approved for them to look at it.

Guo Pu and Zhang Siwei both sent people to ask him about the exam, and Gao pragmatic only replied "normal performance". He met Zhang Taizheng in the examination room that day and learned that Zhang Siwei refused to be the examiner, not only to avoid his high and pragmatic suspicion, but also to avoid his son's suspicion.

The so-called rest at home after the exam, in fact, this is not accurate, in fact, until the completion of the list of papers, there are many banquets that the lifters can participate in, a small banquet on three days, a big banquet on the fifth day, and they are all funded by the imperial court, and there are quite a lot of names, but it can probably be seen as the court's acquiescence to deepen the friendship between people, whether it is the friendship of fellow villagers or the friendship of the same year.

Gao pragmatic did not participate in all the banquets, but only participated in a small banquet in Henan as Henan Jieyuan, and a big banquet in which the three volumes of the north and south of the middle school would participate.

There is nothing particularly worth mentioning at the Henan Xiaoyan, Gao Shishi, as Xie Yuan, doesn't want to talk much, so as not to steal everyone's limelight as soon as he opens his mouth, he pretended to be a little sluggish, and said that he was too tired to prepare for the exam today, so he left early and went home.

However, during the three-volume banquet, he found some interesting people and things, in addition to a few pairs of brothers for reference, Gao pragmatic also found two noteworthy Nanjuan lifters.

These two people, one is called Huang Kezhang, the word Shaofu, a native of Meilin, Fujian, Gao Pragmatic only vaguely remembers that he will be called "Huang Wubu" in his hometown in the future, I don't know if he took turns to do five books; The other person is even more famous, called Gu Xiancheng, the word uncle, a native of Wuxi, Changzhou Prefecture, Nanzhili, is the initiator of Donglin Academy, the so-called head of the eight gentlemen of Donglin.

Gao Shishi doesn't remember their ranking in this spring festival in history, but it is almost certain that they are all undergraduate jinshi, so they are quite concerned.

Especially for Gu Xiancheng, Gao Pragmatic is very concerned. He had the historical experience of later generations, so he was quite disliked by the Donglin Party.

The decline of the Ming Dynasty, in addition to internal and external troubles, institutional rigidity, natural disasters, etc., another very important reason is the disaster of party strife. In the early years before his crossing, the eunuchs had been shouted and killed, but in the later years, the most disgusted was undoubtedly the Donglin Party.

Speaking of the Donglin Party, I am afraid that there are few people who have never heard of it, because whether it is in film and television dramas or textbooks, the name of the Donglin Party is very loud. There is also a "Tombstone of Five People" in Chinese textbooks, and the upright and unyielding images of a group of "Donglin gentlemen" such as Yang Lian and Zuo Guangdou make people have a good impression of the huge political group behind them. But people who are really familiar with the history of the Ming Dynasty, especially the history of the late Ming Dynasty, mostly scoff at the Donglin Party, and even think that the Donglin Party is the culprit of the fall of the Ming Dynasty, why?

In fact, the Donglin Party is a kind of political freak born under the special political and cultural ecology since the Wanli period. It was a group of frustrated activists in the political arena represented by Gu Xiancheng, who formed such a political group with a strong voice among the people in the name of lecturing at Wuxi Donglin Academy.

However, unlike other political groups, at the beginning, they did not have the support of a strong political force at the top, and completely relied on the link of the academy to integrate the merchants, landlords and scholars of Jiangsu and Zhejiang.

Compared with the clear demands of other political groups to fight for power, the Donglin Party has established a very high style since its inception, and has taken Kuang Fu Tianxia as a loud slogan. Its representative figures, such as Gu Xiancheng, Zhao Nanxing, Zou Yuanbiao and other banner characters, are all idol-level scholars with strong reputation among the people all year round, which makes people feel as if the sun is shining and the evil is not born at a glance.

What are the facts?

In fact, most of the Donglin Party members are admirers of Yangming Xinxue, but they flaunt the concept of conscience, but they cannot achieve the unity of knowledge and action like Wang Yangming.

From Wanli to Chongzhen, they are in the center of power, and in the face of the country's political predicament and crisis, they have hardly made any constructive methods and policies.

Since they could not come up with practical methods and policies, they threw their minds into "dismantling the platform." When Xu Guangqi put forward ideas such as technological reform, the Donglin Party suppressed it with scolding; When Xiong Tingbi made a big splash in Liaodong, he constantly attacked Xiong Tingbi with public opinion.

They talk big but have low eyes, they can't do it themselves, they can't do it, and they don't allow others to do it and change the country. It was this group of self-proclaimed and talented Donglin Party members who seriously hindered the reform and governance of the Ming Dynasty at the end of the Ming Dynasty, and made the Ming Dynasty miss the last opportunity to reform and save itself.

A political group must have its own interests, and the Donglin Party, as the representative of the new business and landlord scholars, does not hesitate to harm the interests of the country and the people in order to maximize their own interests.

In fact, since the Long and Wan years, new capitalism has sprouted, especially in the Jiangnan area, where commerce has flourished unprecedentedly. The fiscal reform that arose during the Apocalypse period introduced industrial and commercial taxes and mining taxes, which effectively alleviated the financial tension of the Ming Dynasty at that time.

However, such policies harmed the interests of the Jiangnan landlords and merchants represented by the Donglin Party, and when the Donglin Party came to power, it immediately abolished all these policies.

Originally, under the circumstances of internal and external troubles, fiscal taxation was particularly important, and if there was a sudden lack of industrial and commercial taxation, the financial shortage could be imagined. But the imperial court can't really drink the wind and pull the cigarettes, so the Donglin Party can only pass on the taxes to the ordinary people, and the people are overwhelmed and can only choose to rebel.

The Ming Dynasty, where capitalism sprouted and flourished, was unable to increase taxes through industry and commerce for a long time, which was unimaginable and strange in the ancient history of mankind.

What's even more interesting is that when the country really can't come up with money and needs them to donate, they flaunt their honesty and cry poverty everywhere. And when the city is broken, it is a great irony that they can find thousands of family wealth in their home. As for the Donglin Party, which has always believed in the patriotic idea of loyalty to the monarch, when the Ming Dynasty fell, it either fled, or raised its hands to surrender, making various farces such as "the water is too cold". Such a Donglin Party, how can it have a good impression of pragmatism?

Therefore, when he saw the young Gu Xiancheng for the first time, Gao Pragmatic even considered one thing: should you put this guy up and down in advance and step on 10,000 feet?

To tell the truth, Gao Pragmatic's overall impression of Nanjuan Jinshi is not very good, some Jin merchants in the late Ming Dynasty smuggled and fed the golden tartars compared to them, they are just scabies, and they can only be called symptoms in traditional Chinese medicine, which is an easy problem to deal with, and these "gentlemen" are the internal cause of the death of the Ming Dynasty, and it is difficult to deal with.

Gao Pragmatic decided to take a closer look before making a decision, but what he never expected was that although Gu Xiancheng had been talking to people during the banquet, he had been attacking Xinxue between his words!

What's going on? Is this still a disciple?

Gao Pragmatic was dumbfounded: I will not be dragged into the water by you in the future, right?