Outside the Sanshan Gate in the inner city of Nanjing, on both sides of the Qinhuai River, there are many shops and cloth banners fluttering.

This area belongs to Shangyuan County, one of the eight counties under the jurisdiction of Yingtianfu, because the Qinhuai River flows into the Yangtze River here, so it has become the most prosperous area in the whole Nanjing. Moreover, unlike the equally prosperous area on both sides of the Qinhuai River in the inner city of Nanjing, the prosperity here belongs more to the merchants in the market and to the southeastern talents who live in Nanjing.

On the side of the Qinhuai River, which is close to the Yangtze River, there is a teahouse, although the area of the teahouse is not large, but it is extremely exquisite.

This teahouse is backed by the Qinhuai River, and guests can enjoy the beautiful scenery of the Qinhuai River while sipping tea.

Not far from the teahouse, there are more than a dozen inns connected together, and many talented merchants who have just arrived in Jinling will settle in these inns first, and then slowly look for a long-term residence.

Following Chongzhen, Zhu Cihong's father and son's "Southern Patrol Brigade" to Nanjing, the Zuoban Inspector Yushi Jikun did not allocate a place to live because he was brought to his family and his official position was low, but received a few taels of silver for accommodation and found a place to settle down by himself. He, a talented man in Yangzhou, was still very familiar with Nanjing, so he slipped to the Qinhuai River, which belonged to Shangyuan County, and found an inn to rent an upper room. That night, I went out to this rather chic teahouse to meet friends.

The friends who met with Ji Kun tonight were all found by Huang Zongxi, all of whom were Jiangnan talents who lived in Jinling, and Zhang Huangyan and Luo Dagong were also on the list. It turned out that Huang Zongxi and Ji Kun were old acquaintances, and when Prince Zhu's army entered the city a few days ago, Ji Kun also followed and happened to meet Huang Zongxi on the street. That's why we have tonight's tea party.

In addition, Huang Zongxi's friend Luo Dagong also invited a well-known Qing man on the Qinhuai River, known as Li Yulin, a talented woman in Suzhou, to play the pipa.

In the melodious and tactful sound of the pipa, a few merry geniuses who did not keep the door on their lips began to talk about the fact that the speech control in the late Ming Dynasty was almost none, and the scholars were used to being free, speaking very casually, and no one cared about them.

"Brother Taichong? Why do you always frown? Is it involved in the eunuch rebellion? Ji Kun looked at Huang Zongxi, who was frowning, and asked half-jokingly.

Huang Zongxi glanced at him: "Brother Chunfan, do you really think that this turmoil in Nanjing is related to the eunuch party?" ”

"This" Ji Kun smiled awkwardly, shook his head and said, "Becoming a king and defeating a villain!" However, the prince accused Xu Hongji of eunuchs, and finally showed his attitude of being close to Donglin. ”

"You want to use Donglin, right?" Huang Zongxi's face was solemn, "It's very clever to use it, Qian Muzhai and Hou Ruogu have all entered the cabinet, Shi Daolin has led the governors of seven provinces, and Gao Qizhai has also been sent to Shandong as a governor." The head of the Donglin lineage is now either being co-opted into the cabinet, or being sent to the frontier front, and he is also under the banner of protecting the name of the sect and Wei Konglin!

Now he has charged the nobles and ministers of King Qin in Nanjing with the charge of eunuchs, and he also claims to be the prince of Donglin, thinking that he is going to be imprisoned in Jiangnan in the name of the eunuch party."

Ji Kun's face also became gloomy, he actually saw Zhu Cihong's insidiousness, he himself was not to be appointed to the left class to supervise the imperial history, but also participated in the anti-corruption of the Huaiyang Wei Institute, and with his conscience, he seized the land of many military soldiers and doctors with Zhang Shize and others!

Of course, Zhu Cihong's policy in the Huaiyang Second Prefecture did not cover a wide range of areas, and was limited to the guards and salt merchants. With regard to the scholars who did not occupy the military land and were involved in the salt profits, the policy of co-opting was still adopted. Ignoring the fact that they used scheming land and sheltering merchants to evade taxes and evade taxes were the two major means of profit for scholars in the Ming Dynasty, and the principle was to expand the privileges of tax exemption and exemption from military service.

Tricks profited by helping Tada grain households evade servitude. The shelter of merchants to evade taxes is to take advantage of the three non-collection principles of the Ming Dynasty banknotes (that is, not to collect taxes from official households, not to collect taxes from eunuchs, and not to collect taxes from jinshi and juren), allowing merchants to operate in their own names in order to obtain certain benefits.

The Ming Dynasty's land tax and commercial tax were lost in large quantities through these two channels, and the financial difficulties of the late Ming Dynasty also came from this.

And for the middle and lower-level scholars and doctors who have a large number of people and control the grassroots level in the southeast, they can't touch the salt, and the military field can't be swallowed by them In fact, when the Ming Dynasty scholars and doctors became big and overwhelmed the nobles, the military tun in the southeast had already been eaten and wiped clean by the nobles, lords and military scholars, and it was not the turn of the civilian scholars to talk at all.

Therefore, Zhu Cihong only touched the land of Yanli and Juntun, and did not violate the fundamental interests of the vast number of civilian scholars. But it still made them feel a little uncomfortable!

Therefore, before the "Eunuch Rebellion" in Nanjing, most of the scholars and scholars in Nanjing actually supported the "King Qin" spiritually.

"Brother Taichong!" Grand Duke Luo, a talented man in Songjiang, interrupted Huang Zongxi's words, and the fat man said with a smile, "What are you talking about now?" The nobles and ministers in Nanjing City have all ended, and King Qin has also become a eunuch rebellion, and we are not involved in it, so what are you stirring up now? Hurry up and read more books and prepare for Enco is the top priority! ”

"Grand Duke, you know how to be an official!" Huang Zongxi looked at Grand Duke Luo with an expectant expression, and just shook his head.

"We scholars, of course we have to serve the imperial court" Grand Duke Luo smiled, "Brother Cangshui, what do you say?" ”

Cangshui is Zhang Huangyan's number. Zhang Huangyan nodded lightly and said, "Now that the southeast is a big enemy, we should make some efforts." ”

He turned his gaze to Ji Kun, "Brother Chunfan, now that you have an official body, do you still go to Kaunke?" ”

"Don't let me take the test!" Ji Kun sighed, "Once you enter the procuratorate, you will be wrong for life!" ”

"What do you mean by that?" Zhang Huangyan was stunned.

Ji Kun said: "This is the rule of the Chitose Lord, all the officials who enter the procuratorate, except for the left and right imperial history, no matter the left class or the right class, are not allowed to hold official positions outside the procuratorate." Moreover, except for the imperial history of Zuodu, the officials of the procuratorate do not need to be jinshi, and their fame is limited to people. Officials of the procuratorate are also not allowed to take the imperial examination again. ”

Zhang Huangyan was stunned again, "But the procuratorate is very involved, how can you do it just by lifting people?" ”

Ji Kun shook his head and said, "It doesn't matter so much in the future, only investigate the corruption of officials, the left class investigates the civil officials, and the right class investigates the military attaché!" ”

Huang Zongxi took a breath: "This is to turn the procuratorate into a whip of officialdom!" Wrong with this prince! ”

"Something is wrong!" Ji Kun lowered his voice and looked solemn, "He is likely to be really possessed by Emperor Taizu Gao."

"Nonsense!" Huang Zongxi shook his head, "Ji Chunfan, why do you believe it?" ”

Ji Kun said, "I didn't believe it originally, but the right class of the Xiaoyu Shi from the family of the Xungui and Xunchen in Beijing in the procuratorate said that the prince was wrong on the night of March 13, and it was nonsense in the dream, and it was a long sleep during the day on the 14th, and he also talked nonsense, saying something like 'Taizu Grandpa Yunyun', and then it was like a different person."

At this point in his words, the melodious sound of the lute suddenly went out of tune, and then abruptly stopped.

Grand Duke Luo turned his head to look at Li Yulin, who was like a flower and jade, and said with a smile: "Forgot the music score?" Do you want Luo to teach you? ”

Li Yulin was quite familiar with this Grand Duke Luo, and glared at him angrily, "Brother Xie, my little sister has never forgotten the song, but I just remembered the story of the Xiaoling Earthquake that I heard on the Qinhuai River in April, saying that on the night of March 13, there was a long howling sound over the Xiaoling for no reason, similar to someone crying in the sky, and the clock stopped." ”

"Is there such a thing?" Ji Kun was taken aback and looked at Zhang Huangyan, Huang Zongxi, and Luo Dagong.

Zhang Huangyan and Huang Zongxi looked at Luo Dagong again, it turned out that these two people had entered Nanjing after the news of the fall of Beijing came. And Luo Dagong, a talented man in Songjiang, has lived in Jinling for a long time and is a frequent visitor on the Qinhuai River

"Looks like that!" Grand Duke Luo thought about it carefully, "Yes, yes, I told the people of the Mei family and the Xiao family!" Could it be that the crown prince is really the reincarnation of Emperor Taizu Gao? ”

Zhang Huangyan shook his head: "This thing is too mysterious, right?" ”

Luo Dagong said, "I'd rather believe that it exists, and if it is true, it is also a good thing!" ”

"What's good?" Huang Zongxi snorted, "What kind of king is Emperor Taizu Gao, don't you know the eldest duke?" He sighed, "If it's true, I'm afraid that the disaster of Jiangnan Shilin is not far away!" ”