The next day, early in the morning.

When Wang Yuan came to Li Dongyang's mansion, there was already a long line outside the door. After all, it is the first assistant to the official, and it is a major political event, and countless officials have come to visit him with various thoughts.

Some people were brought in by the servants of the Li family, but they had to leave after a cup of tea.

Some people, who don't even have the qualifications to drink tea, have to get out of the way if they hand over the famous thorns.

In these two categories, it is impossible to see Li Dongyang.

There are also some people who are also brought in to drink tea, but whether they can meet Li Dongyang in person depends on whether Li Dongyang is free.

After Wang Yuan handed over the famous thorn, he was immediately taken in to drink tea, and was arranged in the innermost position.

After waiting for about half an hour, the old servant of the Li family came over and said, "Master Wang, please come with me." ”

Li Dongyang was in the bedroom, and when Wang Yuan went in, he happened to meet Jin Wei's prospective father-in-law, Jin Gui, coming out.

"Master Jin!"

"Master Wang!"

The two greeted each other, both bachelors, but the level was very different.

Jin Gui belongs to Li Dongyang's number one confidant, and as soon as Li Dongyang retires, he will either take refuge in Yang Tinghe or be a lonely minister wholeheartedly. Judging from historical encounters, Jin Gui chose to be a lonely minister, and was finally forced to resign, and left Beijing with a sense of notoriety.

After all, the most effective way to attack a political opponent is to make the person's reputation stinky.

Wang Yuan came to the bedroom, Li Dongyang was lying on the bed, and the posture was still lying on his side, lying on his back and his buttocks hurt uncomfortably.

"Elder Li Ge!" Wang Yuan saluted.

"Just sit down." Li Dongyang's face was a little haggard, and it is estimated that he has not slept soundly in the past few months. The anal fistula thing is so torturous that Li Dongyang really can't stand it, so he resigns five or six times a month.

Wang Yuan said flattering words: "I was shocked to hear that the old man of the pavilion is really the pain of my Ming Dynasty." In the future, there is no elder at the helm, and I don't know how many storms and waves the ship will have to experience. ”

Li Dongyang said with a smile: "Little slippery head, don't pat yourself on the back, say something practical." ”

Wang Yuan also smiled and said, "What does Elder Ge want to hear?" ”

"What do you want to say?" Li Dongyang asked rhetorically.

Wang Yuan made fun of going around in circles, and said with a hippie smile: "It depends on what the elder wants to hear." ”

Li Dongyang laughed happily, and sighed after laughing: "Alas, when I was in Hanlin Academy, I was also so unorthodox. In addition to reading, he loves to tell jokes and smiles all day long. is old and has a high official position, but he can't joke, and he has to think clearly about what he says. ”

"It's just the norm of the world." Wang Yuan said.

Li Dongyang suddenly withdrew his smile and said with a serious face: "Do you remember your palace examination article?" ”

Wang Yuan replied, "How can you forget what you wrote?" ”

Li Dongyang admonished: "Yang Jiefu (Yang Tinghe) is in the court, you don't want to conflict with him." If you want to do what you do, at least get into the cabinet first, I just hope I can live until that day. ”

Wang Yuan was surprised and said: "The elder also wants to reform the system? ”

Li Dongyang said with a smile: "But if there are aspiring officials, who doesn't want to reform?" Even Yang Jiefu wants to change it, but he definitely can't change it! ”

"Why can't Elder Yang Ge reform?" Wang Yuan asked for advice.

"I know him too well," Li Dongyang sighed, "and he is a good hand at manipulating authority, and it is precisely because he is obsessed with manipulating authority that he cannot be a minister of reform." Even if he does the reform of the first auxiliary line, he will only attack the imperial power and nobles, and he will never dare to involve the interests of civil officials. ”

Li Dongyang, in addition to forbearance, really has no political ability at all.

It was because he couldn't withstand Liu Jin's pressure that Li Dongyang pulled Yang Tinghe into the cabinet. Li Dongyang also likes to exclude dissidents, but most of the time, this kind of dirty work has to be operated by Yang Tinghe, Li Dongyang can't play it himself, and he can't tear off his face to rectify people.

As early as Liu Jin's time, Yang Tinghe was already a de facto civil leader! What dirty things Yang Tinghe has done, Li Dongyang is clear in his heart, and some of them were personally instructed by Li Dongyang.

The two of them are entangled with the big members of the court, plus an uneasy emperor, don't think about reform in this life.

Li Dongyang took out a piece of paper from the jade pillow, handed it to Wang Yuan and said, "Take a look." ”

Wang Yuan held it in both hands, but it was a reform plan, which included: rectifying the tuntian, reforming the military system, reforming the salt administration, reforming the tax system, reforming the field system, cracking down on the nobles, and so on.

If this reform plan is successfully completed, the Ming Dynasty will usher in a prosperous era.

"What is this?" Wang Yuan asked.

Li Dongyang explained: "In the seventeenth year of Hongzhi, Liu Xixian (Liu Jian), Xie Yuqiao (Xie Qian) and I decided that the first emperor had already agreed to this plan at that time, and planned to complete it step by step. It's a pity that the opposition is too loud, it is difficult to carry it out, and the first emperor died half a year later. ”

Wang Yuan nodded and said, "I see." ”

Li Dongyang smiled bitterly: "Before the first emperor died, let the three of us assist the new emperor. And hinted that we can take advantage of the transfer of imperial power, and we can quickly cut through the chaos and carry out reforms as auxiliary ministers. Who knows how your majesty is today...... In the first year of his ascension to the throne, he forced us to resign, so how can there be any reform? ”

Wang Yuan pursed his lips, thinking that Zhu Houzhao was quite nonsense.

Li Dongyang also said: "This reform plan was mainly formulated by Liu Xixian (Liu Jian), and I am just beating the side drums. Liu Xixian is a real minister of society, and as soon as he leaves the court, it is impossible to do reform. I don't have the ability, I don't have the determination, and I can't just keep the situation going. But I'm still unwilling, I can't watch Daming corrupt. ”

"The elder can have a heart." Wang Yuan comforted.

"If you are powerless, you are incompetent, I need to rely on Yang Jiefu to control the court, how can I have the courage to reform?" Li Dongyang sighed and said, "To be honest with you, it really scared me out last year." The northern border is constantly troubled, Zhili, Shandong, Henan, Jiangxi, Huguang, Sichuan, Guizhou are all in rebellion, and the building is about to collapse, I am afraid that I will become a minister of the country! ”

Wang Yuan said: "No. ”

Li Dongyang said: "As for! If it weren't for Emperor Xianzong's efforts to turn the tide, I'm afraid this Ming would have ......"

Xianzong is Zhu Jianshen, who favors Wan Guifei, and Zhu Houzhao's grandfather. At that time, there was really the appearance of a ruined country, millions of displaced people at every turn, and the country's finances were also in a mess, and Zhu Jianshen relied on various means to pull it back.

It's a pity that the historian's smear of Zhu Jianshen is not inferior to Zhu Houzhao at all.

The record of Wan Guifei in the "History of the Ming Dynasty" is outrageous, and the source comes from Mao Qiling's "Records of the History of the Sheng Dynasty Tong" in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties. And where did Mao Qiling's information come from? From the Wanli Dynasty Yu Shenxing's "Gushan Bilu". How did Yu Shenxing know this? When he was a waiter in the Hanlin Academy, he listened to an old eunuch in the palace chatting, and he was forced to resign for 16 years, and he wrote nonsense at home with nothing to do.

When the Qing Dynasty compiled the "History of the Ming Dynasty", it actually quoted three or four wild historical materials, and used the Spring and Autumn period penmanship to write it so carefully that even Emperor Qianlong felt ridiculous when he read it.

Some people say that the change of Tumubao has brought the Xungui group to a collapse.

However, with the change of seizing the door, the Xungui Group has risen again!

This kind of rise is not manifested in the court and military strength, but in the invasion of land and wealth. At the beginning of the drastic land annexation of the Ming Dynasty, just after the change of seizing the door, Xungui relied on the "merit of the dragon" to frantically ask for land, and civil officials, eunuchs, military generals, and even the emperor began to mess up.

Their reasons were quite valid, because at that time, there were millions of displaced people, and there were countless lands abandoned in the north, just in time to occupy these borderless lands—what a waste.

Once the opening was opened, land annexation intensified.

Zhu Jianshen was able to stabilize the situation and was already a very qualified emperor. However, many problems have not been substantively resolved, and they have been dragged on until now, and if they are not changed, they will not work, and officials with brains know about it.

It's just that, for various reasons, some people turn a blind eye, and some people only selectively see it.

For example, Yang Tinghe, he also wanted to reform, wanted the emperor to abolish the Huangzhuang and Huangdian, wanted to recover a large amount of land in the hands of nobles and eunuchs, wanted to cut the bloated Jinyi Guard, and wanted to rectify the Beijing camp that consumed countless grains but had no fart. Only, Yang Tinghe did not dare to attack the civilian clique.

Yang Yiqing was just the opposite, he came up and attacked the civilian clique, and he actually started by abolishing redundant officials, and he was blocked back as soon as he said it.

None of them are advisable!

Li Dongyang admonished: "You are still young, you must be patient, and it is not too late to reform after the age of forty." The most important thing now is to stabilize the situation, and the dilapidated house of the Ming Dynasty cannot withstand the toss. I give you this reform plan, and I hope you will always encourage yourself. ”

Wang Yuan said strangely: "Why did the elder choose me? ”

Li Dongyang said with a smile: "As I said, the last one or two decades have not been a good time for reform. The government and the world will definitely deteriorate step by step. When it's bad enough, it's almost time for you to enter the cabinet, everything is ripe, and then there will be less resistance to reform. To be an official is to be patient, and in the end, you will win. And you, who are more than ten years old, are a bachelor of the Hanlin Academy, and you have enough time to endure it. ”

Just let me be an old turtle.

Li Dongyang said: "No one else can't. For example, your teacher, he is already forty years old, and if he endures for another twenty years, he will be fifty or sixty years old. The ministers of reform need to live for a long time, otherwise they will surely perish. Let your teacher reform at the age of fifty or sixty, unless he can live to be seventy or eighty years old, he will definitely give up halfway. ”

Wang Yuan couldn't cry or laugh, and he didn't know how to evaluate Li Dongyang.

This old gentleman has lived for most of his life, and he can't do anything as a first assistant, and he also needs Yang Tinghe's help to control the court. That reform plan also came from the former first assistant Liu Jian, who didn't even dare to beat the side drum in recent years, and kept the reform book hidden in his pillow, and now entrusted the reform task to Wang Yuan.

You say he's great, but he's incompetent.

You call him incompetent, but he is the ultimate winner.

And they are also "incorruptible", not too greedy compared to other first assistants. He did care about the society, although he did not dare to reform, but he chose Wang Yuan before leaving office.

Li Dongyang also said: "Jin Gui is a credible person, Yang Yiqing is a usable person, and Fu Jue (Shangshu of the Ministry of Rites) is a person who can be handed over." The Cabinet and the Six Ministries, you need to know these three people. Remember, endure for twenty years! ”

Wang Yuan hugged his fists and said: "Younger generations remember! ”

"Go ahead." Li Dongyang waved his hand, he didn't want to talk anymore, because his butt hurt badly.