In an inconspicuous wing room of Xishan Charity Temple, Xu Yuanwen, the champion of the new department, and Fang Ai, the same list of tanhua leaves, each sat with their hands warming the hearth. Both of them are from Kunshan, and the Wu Yin of their hometown sounds quite pleasant.

Ye Fangwei came to Xishan with Xu Yuanwen yesterday evening, and the emperor was listening to the Buddha's interpretation at the great monk Tongxiu in Yulin, and the two of them were summoned here. has nothing to do, and he is the champion of the new branch and Tanhualang, and he is still a fellow villager, which naturally talks about his hometown.

"The imperial court spent a lot of money and food in the southwest, and Guangdong and Lianghu suffered from military disasters. I wonder what Champion Gong thinks about this? ”

Ye Fanghao said that the holy decree issued only the day before yesterday was to ask all parts of the Jiangnan to levy heavier taxes on the gentry than in the previous Ming Dynasty, so as to support the war in the southwest and the eight banners of the Beijing Division. Ye Fangwei and Xu Yuanwen are both children of big families in Kunshan, and as soon as the will of the department is reached, it is thought that his two families will definitely be extorted for money and food, which is related to their own interests, so they are naturally concerned.

Xu Yuanwen smiled and shook his head: "Just call me by name, what kind of champion is it, do you still want me to call you one by one?" ”

Hearing this, Ye Fangwei also laughed, and then changed his title, "Then what does Brother Xu think about the imperial court's urging of Jiangnan?" ”

"If you want to say something, there are some." Xu Yuanwen said.

"I want to hear about it." Ye Fangwei bowed his head and listened.

Xu Yuanwen signaled that the other party didn't have to be like this, and thought for a moment and said, "Brother Ye can know the "Five Tombstones"? ”

"The Tombstone of Five? The one written by Ximing Gong? ”

Ye Fangwei was stunned, and he didn't understand why Xu Yuanwen suddenly made a fuss about Zhang Pu, the founder of the Restoration Society. As a Jiangnan scholar, Ye Fangwei naturally knew the famous "Five Tombstones" by Xi Minggong, and the things described in the article were also roughly clear about the process.

In the sixth year of the Apocalypse, the Jingshi sent Jinyiwei to read out the edict of arresting Zhou Shunchang, a member of the Donglin Party, in the yamen of Suzhou. Suddenly, a large number of people gathered at the yamen, and then Zhusheng Wen Zhenheng, Yang Tingshu, Wang Jie, Liu Yuhan and others asked to meet with Mao Yilu, the governor of Jiangsu, and Xu Ji, the governor of Jiangsu, saying that they wanted to petition for the release of Zhou Shunchang on behalf of the people.

The arrest of Zhou Shunchang was carried out by the Jinyi Wei from Jingshi in accordance with the emperor's edict, and it was a holy order, and no one in Suzhou dared to disobey the holy decree to release Zhou Shunchang, so the request of the living beings was refused. During the controversy, the errand officer Jinyiwei accused the people of gathering the people to obstruct the handling of the case, and the people scolded the Jinyiwei for falsely transmitting the holy decree and arresting people. So the two sides clashed, and then a big fight ensued, and the scene suddenly got out of control, and the civil unrest broke out. Two Jinyi guards from Jingshi were killed and many were injured.

Governor Mao Yilu and Governor Xu Ji were on the side of the imperial court, and they were also affected in the incident, and Mao Yilu hid in the toilet to survive. The prefect Kou Shen and the county commander Chen Wenrui stood on the side of the sentient beings and were not impacted. After the incident, the emperor was furious, and five soldiers in Suzhou were arrested and beheaded by the government. Later, Zhang Pu, one of the two Lou Dong Zhang who founded the Fushe Society, personally made an inscription for the five people, which was widely recited for a while.

Of course, this matter can also be understood as the dictatorship of the eunuch Wei Zhongxian during the Apocalypse, covering the whole world and suppressing the Donglin Party with brutal means. In the sixth year of the Apocalypse, Wei Zhongxian sent people to Suzhou to arrest Zhou Shunchang, who had been the head of the Ministry of Officials and a clerk for the selection of scholars, which aroused the righteous indignation of the citizens of Suzhou and broke out in a struggle against the rule of the eunuchs. In this struggle, five righteous people were killed by the eunuchs, and Zhang Pu, the leader of the Restoration Society and a member of the Donglin Party, personally made tombstones for the five people.

The matter is very clear, but Ye Fangwei doesn't understand what this matter has to do with Jiangnan Urge.

Xu Yuanwen asked him, "Why did those five people die?" ”

Ye Fangwei said: "The people are indignant and resist the persecution of the eunuchs. ”

Hearing this, Xu Yuanwen shook his head and said, "At the beginning, I thought so too, but later my uncle told me that there was another article on this matter. I was puzzled, so I asked my uncle what article he had, but after he said it, he woke up like a dream, and it turned out that this matter was really inhumane. ”

Ye Fangwei is more and more confused the more he listens, the people are excited to persecute Zhongliang by the eunuch party and fight angrily, this matter is recited by the gentry in Jiangnan, how can Xu Yuanwen's uncle Gu Yanwu say that this matter is still inhumane?

"First of all, why did Wei Zhongxian arrest Zhou Shunchang?"

"Wei Gelding acts, what reason do you want, those who follow me prosper and those who disobey me die."

"If you want to say that, it's right, the problem is that Wei Zhongxian arrested Zhou Shunchang, not the people of Suzhou, let alone the five righteous people, why did these people rebel with all the living beings? Moreover, it was the Holy Decree of the Emperor of the Apocalypse who arrested people, and it was the Tiqi Jinyi Guard who came, what does this have to do with the people? Are the people really indignant and automatically gather at the yamen to fight against the government? ”

"What does Brother Xu mean?"

"That's not what I meant, it's what my uncle meant. My uncle told me that the people were not indignant, because the matter had nothing to do with the interests of the people, and that it was impossible for them to fight against an unknown official and the government. And to be able to gather so many people and provoke such a big popular uprising, behind this is someone to organize and instigate, otherwise, the people are fed and supported and risk the risk of killing their heads to fight against the government? ”

After hearing this, Ye Fangwei was stunned there, pondering what Xu Yuanwen said, and gradually found something wrong. Yes, if it weren't for someone instigating and agitating, how could the people have gathered so many people, and how did they know that there was a cavalry in the government to arrest Zhou Shunchang.

"I thought it was incredible when I heard it before, and then I re-read Xi Minggong's article repeatedly, only to find that Xi Minggong had already made the facts clear in the article. Brother Ye can remember that in the text, there is a sentence in the article that the ancestors of our society acted as soldiers, and they spoke out for righteousness, collected money to send them off, and cried to shake the heavens and the earth? ”

"That's the way it goes."

"What is our society? It is the predecessor of the resumption of the society! Yang Tingshu is the veteran of Yingshe, second only to Zhang Pu and Zhang Cai, Wen Zhenheng and his brother Wen Zhenmeng are both handsome and the backbone of the Restoration Society, and the great-grandfather of the Wen brothers is Wen Zhengming, one of the four great talents in Jiangnan, and the Wen family is extremely powerful in Suzhou. In addition, the letter asked for a thick burial of five people, and it was the Donglin Party who did it; Please be in charge, and the people who asked for a thick burial of the five people were Wu Yinzhi, the secretary of the Taifu Temple, Wen Zhenmeng and Yao Ximeng, who were edited by Hanlin. Wen Zhenmeng and Yao Ximeng are both members of the Donglin Party and the Fushe Society, and they are both members of the imperial court, and the two also served as the daily teachers of Emperor Chongzhen, Yao Ximeng is Wen Zhenmeng's nephew, these, you may not know. ”

"The younger brother really doesn't know the relationship between these people."

Ye Fangwei smiled bitterly, although they are all from Kunshan and their family backgrounds are also big, but for the relationship between those big people in the former Ming Dynasty, he is really not as good as Xu Yuanwen. sighed secretly in his heart, after all, it was the extravasation of the great Confucian Gu Yanwu, and he was really knowledgeable.

Xu Yuanwen didn't expect Ye Fangwei to be ashamed of himself as well-informed, so he only said there: "Who paid for the construction of the tombstones of the five people on Shanyun Street?" The tombstone is clearly engraved that most of Wu Yinzhi, Wen Zhenmeng, Yao Ximeng, Qian Qianyi, Qu Shiyun and others are Donglin Party members or pro-Donglin people, and Zhang Pu, the founder of Yingshe and Fushe, wrote for the five people. So from beginning to end, this matter was just the Donglin Party using the people to fight against Wei Zhongxian. In fact, Brother Ye should be able to guess the ins and outs of this matter, to put it bluntly, Zhou Shunchang, who was arrested, is the backbone of the Donglin Party, and the people who planned to rescue and instruct the people to attack the government are all Donglin Party members, and their purpose is to deter the imperial court from arresting the Donglin Party by creating ****. As Zhang Pu said in the article: "With the angry blow of our county, I dare not regain the rule of the plant; The eunuch is also afraid of righteousness, and it is very difficult to plan suddenly. ”

Speaking of this, Xu Yuanwen sneered suddenly, "Among the five so-called righteous men who took the initiative to die, Zhou Wenyuan was actually Zhou Shunchang's sedan chair man, and the other four were either tooth warriors, or buddies, or peddlers, all of whom were lowly people, and the lives of such people were not worth much. ”

Ye Fangwei sighed and said, "Perhaps, things are really as Brother Xu said, but in the final analysis, what does this matter that Brother Xu told me have to do with urging the department?" A matter of the past and a matter of the present, it seems that the wind and horses are not related, right? ”

"Why do the Donglin Party members desperately oppose Wei Zhongxian, and Wei Zhongxian is full of food and wants to arrest and kill people indiscriminately?"

Xu Yuanwen said and put down the warm pot in his hand, the pot was no longer warm.

This question made Ye Fangwei unable to answer for a while, he wanted to say that because Wei Zhongxian was a eunuch, and a eunuch was a great traitor, there was justice in the Donglin Party's opposition to him. But this seems to be untenable, the sage has never taught his disciples to discriminate against the disabled, and if he says so, he is afraid that it will violate the path of the sage. There are some things that can be thought in the heart, but it is not appropriate to say them.

Xu Yuanwen saw that he was silent, so he said directly: "The reason is very simple, the imperial court has no money, Jiangnan has money, Wei Zhongxian wants to get money from Jiangnan, but the Donglin Party people stop him, so he wants to kill people." ”

"Kill people for money?"

"It's not a small amount, it's not a matter of one family, it's a matter of one country. Can the court still be called the court if it has no money? If the big-headed soldier has no salary and no food, is he still willing to work for the court? The soldier is no longer willing to sell his life, he is not loyal to the court, isn't there a change in the world? Don't talk about the imperial court, it's a small family, the family is extremely poor, and there is no copper, so don't you have to think of ways to earn copper to support your family? Who doesn't let him earn money to support his family, you say, will he fight with that man? ”

"That being said, but the matter can't be blamed on the party, Wei Zhongxian can get the money himself, so why kill the party."

After Ye Fangwei finished speaking, he found that Xu Yuanwen didn't answer, just staring at himself. He was stunned, and then blushed a little, the party is a party member, the root of this party is not a big gentry in the world. And where in the world is the gentry with the most big families? Gangnam also!

Cutting off people's wealth is like killing his parents, Wei Zhongxian wants to get money from Jiangnan, which naturally moves the interests of the Jiangnan gentry, so the party naturally wants to oppose him. If the party is against him, Wei Zhongxian will kill people. Don't kill people, don't deter, how can he get money for the court.

Maybe the party still doesn't dare to pull the flag to create a rebellion against the court, but there are too many workarounds to do in private, so gathering the people in Suzhou to storm the government is not a disguised means.

This truth is too simple, I couldn't see it clearly before, and I really applauded the five righteous people, but now that I think about it, it's really ridiculous, ridiculous.

Ye Fangwei was silent, he thought of himself, and thought of his family for him to study and take the imperial examination, isn't the picture that one day he can become an official of the imperial court, and turn around to take care of the family and protect the family. Now that the imperial court wants to urge Jiangnan, how should he make a trade-off, whether to persuade the people to take out the money and grain and hand it over to the imperial court or let them continue to change their ways to resist taxes as before.

Say a thousand things and ten thousand, everyone is positive about moving other people's things, but who is willing to move the things in their own bags?

"Don't you think it's similar to back then, the same court has no money, and the same court needs money and grain from Jiangnan."

What Xu Yuanwen said and what Ye Fangwei thought in his heart were actually together.

"You and I both know how effective the will of the imperial court is. The Jiangnan gentry and the local government have been in collusion for a long time since the previous dynasty, and their interests are like the roots of a big tree, and I am sure that after the will of the urging department continues, most of the local gentry will be the transportation government, bribing the book office, secretly arrears of money and food, and will never hand over the things in their own pockets. ”

"It's a new dynasty now, do they still want to be the same as before?"

Ye Fangwei said this a little differently, because what he thought was the same as before.

"In the face of interests, there is no old dynasty and new dynasty to say, only my family's is still yours."

"What is Brother Xu going to do? Your family and my family are both the targets of urging. ”

"It depends on you whether I am on my own side or on the side of the court."

"What do you mean by that?"

"If you and I are on the side of the court and know the hidden situation, we will definitely tell the emperor the truth, let the court formulate a more severe urging than the Ming Dynasty, and send more effective people to do this. Even if Jiangnan provoked countless so-called popular uprisings, it should be carried out in a bold manner and never follow selfishness. But wouldn't it be funny if you and I were on our side and told the court how to use the money in our bags? ”

"Alas" Ye Fangwei really didn't know what to say.

"Actually, I'm not worried about my family, I'm worried about the people. If the court is in a hurry and ruthless, they will think about the good of the Ming Dynasty. Xu Yuanwen felt something, and his expression was a little worried.

Who are they?

Ye Fangwei knew who else could there be besides those Jiangnan gentry.

"I'm worried that as soon as the will of the urging arrives, the hearts of the people in Jiangnan will become clear again. If it was in the past, if something happens in Jiangnan now, I'm afraid that it will be more difficult in this world. ”

"People's hearts are still towards the Qing Dynasty, and they are not confused."

"Is the human heart a thing, in front of interests? If they understood people's hearts, the Ming Dynasty would not have died. ”

Ahem, the bones are more interested in the history of the Apocalypse, so I wrote some by the way, don't think that the bones are making up the number of words, in fact, this matter has a lot to do with the three major cases in Jiangnan, and the three major cases in Jiangnan have a lot to do with the Jiangnan gentry's anti-Qing restoration of the Ming Dynasty, and it has something to do with the surname of the country, indirectly, and it is also related to Xiucai, who is bent on picking the fruits of the southeast. This chapter is a foreshadowing.

Writing a novel is not about depicting fights and killings all day long, a story needs a lot of plots, a lot of scenes, and a lot of screen switches. (To be continued.) )