Linzhou is a small island located in the center of Xuanwu Lake, far away from Cuizhou from north to south, surrounded by a lake, and a little further away is the majestic Zhongshan Mountain and the tall and majestic city wall of Nanjing. The ancient city of lakes and mountains, located on Linzhou Island, can be seen at a glance. However, the lake and mountains are so beautiful, but because of the Yellow Book Library on Liangzhou Island in the lake, it has become a forbidden place, and it has been forbidden for idle people to visit the lake for more than 200 years.

However, on Xuanwu Lake today, dozens of boats, large and small, have appeared shuttling back and forth between the Taipingmen Wharf and Linzhou Island, which is close to the inner city of Nanjing. After a while, all the hundreds of Confucian scholars gathered outside the Taiping Gate were sent to Linzhou Island.

At this time, a circle of curtains had been erected on Linzhou Island, enclosing a large area of leveled open space. Feasts were laid out on the open space, and futons were placed on the feasts for people to kneel on. The Confucian scholars who came down from the boat were invited into the curtain by another group of Confucian young men who had been waiting on the island for a long time, and sat down on these futons, and some knelt upright, and some sat cross-legged.

In about a quarter of the area north of the curtains, a low wooden platform was erected, and dozens of tables and chairs were placed on the platform, which were arranged in the same way as the rostrum of the later general assembly.

The "rostrum" was empty at this moment, only a few tall Confucian scholars with swords were guarding there, looking at the chaotic "Donglin representatives" below.

This is the scene of the first Donglin Conference! The successors of Donglin from Nanzhili, Shandong, Henan, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Fujian, Guangdong, Hunan, Hubei, Guizhou, Yunnan, Sichuan, and other provinces that had not yet fallen or had not completely fallen, a total of four or five hundred people, all the vanguard of the landlord class, were now gathered together, all waiting for the moment when the congress would begin.

However, after waiting for a long time, the Donglin boss who should be sitting on the rostrum to speak did not appear for a long time.

I don't know what these Shilin leaders are doing at this moment? Are you sad and troubled by the grim situation faced by the feudal Ming Dynasty?

That's right, the situation is serious again!

On the Taipingmen Wharf, all the scholars and representatives who participated in the first Donglin Conference got a copy of the "Zunhuang Zhengyi Public Revelation", which clearly informed that the Tatars had 100,000 soldiers on the border of Shandong and Henan, and also threatened to slaughter Shandong, dig Konglin, break the Confucian inheritance, and punish the holy family!

Shandong is in danger! Qufu is in danger! Famous teachers are in danger! China is in danger!

The situation is so critical, of course Donglin in the world should abandon the previous suspicions, unite as one, and gather around the Ming court led by Prince Zhu Cihong...... This is also what most of the Donglin lifters who attended today's meeting think!

Well, that's not what I think, Zhu Cihong won't let them come to the meeting...... Those who can come, in addition to the Hunan people and Jiangxi people surnamed Zhu, are the "talents" from Shandong, and there are also Donglin Juzi who answered the papers seriously in the Enke exam and supported tax increases.

Those who hand in blank papers, those who make trouble, hehe...... It's all scumbags! Maybe they were all bought, how can they be worthy of being Donglin?

Of course, not all the "big Donglin" sitting on the rostrum are so easy to talk - since it is the Donglin Conference, there must be some Donglin Party members who can decorate the façade, right? For example, Qian Qianyi, Hou Xun, Shi Kecheng (on behalf of Shi Kefa), Zuo Guangxian (Zuo Guangdou's seventh brother), Wei Zaode, Zhu Zhiyu, Huang Daozhou, Liu Zongzhou, Fang Yizhi, Hou Fangyu, Mao Bijiang, Chen Zhenhui, Huang Zongxi, Luo Dagong, Ji Kun, Zhang Huangyan, Xia Yunyi, Chen Zilong, Xu Fuyuan and others, they are all now gathered in the Qilin Pavilion on Linzhou Island, in front of Zhu Cihong, the prince of Fujun, to speak freely and express their opinions.

And Prince Zhu was smiling and nodding frequently, looking like he was humbly accepting advice.

“...... It has been a bad rule for the gentry to help merchants avoid taxes for many years, and although the court has lost some taxes, it is not without benefits. Nowadays, the literary style in the southeast is flourishing, which is the benefit of the gentry and the businessmen. If there is no money provided by merchants, I don't know how many people and talents will be reduced to poverty.

The matter of dedication and treachery has been prevalent in the southeast for a long time, and learning and excellence are rich, and learning and excellence are expensive have long been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. The upper and lower are humble, the poor and the rich, and most of them are determined by merit. If the officials and gentry are suddenly implemented to pay taxes as a whole, and the fields and Qingtun are paid off, I am afraid that it will be chaotic and abolish human ethics...... Moreover, it will greatly weaken the human and financial resources of the scholars and doctors in the township, and the southeast chaos is probably imminent! ”

The old man with a white beard like Santa Claus, frowning, and talking eloquently is Zuo Guangxian, the seventh brother of Zuo Guangdou, one of the three gentlemen of Donglin in the past.

His Bagu essay was not as good as his elder brother Zuo Guangdou, and he studied hard until he was in his forties before he was lifted, probably because he lost confidence in the imperial examination. After the middle lift, Zuo Guangxian no longer continued to work hard to get into the Jinshi, but got a Jianning Zhixian to be. In the nearly 20 years that followed, he was mainly a magistrate, and he was also a rather ruthless magistrate, and he was quite successful in the field of anti-theft and banditry.

However, in the process of serving in the local government for a long time, Zuo Guangxian also deeply felt the sharp contradictions that existed in the society at the end of the Ming Dynasty.

In the view of Zuo Guangxian, who has been in contact with the grassroots for a long time, the root cause of social contradictions in the late Ming Dynasty was not in the imperial court. The imperial court collects 20 million stone grain and more than 2 million taels of silver a year, how corrupt can it be?

The root cause of social contradictions in the late Ming Dynasty lies precisely in the corruption and disintegration of the grassroots level!

The rise of Jianyi Juzhen was due to the collapse of the grassroots of the border army in eastern Liaodong, which was originally an important military town, with a total of 25 Wei and 2 states. If the grassroots level of the Liao army is not bad, these twenty-five guards alone can pull out more than 100,000 soldiers at any time! Is there a possibility of the rise of the Jurchens in Jianzhou?

And the thieves are chaotic in the northwest, which is the result of the collapse of the grassroots of the northwest border army! Like Liaodong, the northwest has always been an important military and defensive town. Guards were set up all over the country, and military households were widely distributed. And the backbone of the thief army is precisely the soldiers of the Northwest Frontier Army who have no food and clothing!

But it's not just the military grassroots that are disintegrating. After Zuo Guangxian served as a local official for many years, he already clearly felt that the grassroots level of the people's households dominated by scholars and doctors was also on the verge of collapse.

The slave mutinies that frequently occurred in the southeast are likely to be the harbingers of the collapse of the southeast people!

Zuo Guangxian looked worried, and then he continued: "Your Royal Highness the Prince, in recent years, the southeastern slaves have changed frequently, although they have not caused a major disaster, but there is already a trend of wind and rain. Last year's rebellion in Xudu, Zhejiang, involved a large number of slaves and poor people, which almost caused a catastrophe, and has not been completely calmed down until now. If the imperial court then pays taxes with the officials and gentry and weakens the scholars in Qingtian and Qingtun, I am afraid that after the scholars are weakened, the chaos in the southeast will follow......"