"Sit."

Zhang Rulin's fat body was stuffed in the circle chair, raised his hand and pointed to the official hat chair opposite the bookcase, and then moved his body and sat upright, the bottles and bookcases in this study are all made by famous artists, elegant and exquisite, but a little messy and dusty, because Zhang Rulin does not allow servants to clean casually, the bookcase is piled up with several large stacks of horizontal and vertical books, like the arrow stacks of the city wall, the morning sun shines through the glazed tiles, and countless fine dust floats in the pillar of light - Zhang Yuan sat down respectfully, waiting for the uncle of the clan to ask, I feel that the uncle of the clan has a more serious expression, and there should be something important to say.

Zhang Rulin coughed and said, "Zhang Yuan, my uncle said that there are two things to say about you today-"

Zhang Yuan bowed and said, "Please teach your uncle." ”

Zhang Rulin smiled and said, "I thought that your Han Society was just a literary meeting of a few like-minded scholars to discuss the art of making, but I never expected it to be so loud——"

Zhang Yuan looked sincere, waiting for the clan uncle to say the following-Zhang Rulin looked at Zhang Yuan from behind the stack of books, and continued: "I already know the spirit of the Han Society that you preached in the thousands of people in Longshan, and its ambition is not small, Gao Jingyi and Zou Nangao actually came from afar to support you, which I didn't expect——"

Speaking of this, Zhang Rulin changed his words and asked, "What did those two old gentlemen talk to you about last night?" ”

Zhang Yuan told the talking points with Gao Panlong last night, and Zhang Rulin said with a smile: "Gao Jingyi really values you very much, and he actually said this to you, a weak-crowned young man!" He added: "You answered Gao Jingyi's words well, but I want to ask you, do you know that since the 39th year of Wanli Xinhai Jingcha, Donglin, Zhejiang, and Chu have been the gateways?"

Zhang Yuan said: "The grandson of the clan has heard of it. ”

Zhang Rulin suddenly sighed: "Jiaomen Xianggong passed away in the land of the Buddha." Afraid that Zhang Yuan wouldn't understand, he added: "Jiaomen Xianggong is Shen Zheng, who died last month. ”

Zhang Yuan knew that Shen Zhengyi, the first assistant of the Ming cabinet ten years ago, the leader of the Zhejiang Party, advocated Buddhism, the people of the Ming Dynasty called Xiucai Xianggong, and the people in the officialdom called the first assistant of the cabinet also called Xianggong - Zhang Rulin said: "Shen Xianggong is criticized by Donglin people, do you know the reason?" ”

Zhang Yuan said: "Please ask my uncle for advice." ”

Zhang Rulin said: "I should let you know this, you are no longer a little talent, you are a figure that the parties pay attention to, and there will be no fewer ministers in the DPRK and the Central Committee who know your name - let me tell you, there are two main reasons why the Donglin Party people are attacking Shen Xianggong with all their might, one is that Shen Xianggong believes in Buddhism, and Donglin people respect Confucianism and drive Buddha, on the surface, this seems to be a private matter of their respective beliefs, but it is because of this reason that Donglin people are not used to Shen Xianggong, and they do not conspire with each other; Another reason is that the emperor was sick in the spring of the thirtieth year of Wanli, thinking that there was not much time, and summoned Shen Cheng into the palace overnight to entrust the future, saying that he wanted to recall the mine tax supervisor, Shen has always returned to the cabinet to draft the decree, unexpectedly the next day, the emperor's condition improved, regretted his decision to recall the mine supervisor, and successively sent internal officials to the cabinet to ask for the edict, Shen Xianggong was forced to have no choice but to hand it back, which made the Donglin party who advocated the removal of the mine tax supervisor extremely dissatisfied with Shen Xianggong, thinking that Shen Xianggong was cowardly and failed to insist, otherwise this malpractice would be abolished. ”

The Donglin Party's opposition to the mining tax and commercial tax is related to the primitive accumulation of capital, the budding capitalism needs primitive accumulation, and the anti-commercial tax has become the conscious or unconscious appeal of the thriving merchant class in the south of the Yangtze River. ”

Zhang Rulin applauded: "That's right, you are fair, but the Donglin Party will not see it this way, since then they regard our Zhejiang Party as an enemy, and they will be suppressed at every opportunity, and my uncle will suffer deeply." ”

Zhang Yuan asked: "I want to ask, how did the Donglin Party and the Zhejiang Party come into being?" ”

Zhang Rulin said: "Since Shen Xianggong entered the cabinet, there has been the name of the Zhejiang Party, so far it has only been 20 years, and the same is true of Donglin, after the 21st year of Wanli Guisi Jingcha, the portal began to divide, Yisi, Xinhai two Jingcha, Donglin and Zhejiang, Chu Zhudang gradually became a trend of fire and water, whoever is in charge of Jingcha will reject the other party——"

Zhang Yuan sighed: "The party is ruining the country." ”

Zhang Rulin said: "Everyone knows that the party is not good for the country, but if you don't fight for others, you will fight for you, like me, of course, if you retreat to the forest, you will see the party struggle as a floating cloud, but if you want to enter the court as an official, this cannot be escaped, I listen to your conversation with Gao Jingyi, you seem to have the intention of reconciling the party struggle——"

Zhang Yuan was sincerely convinced: "Uncle is wise. ”

Zhang Rulin smiled, then his face was solemn, and said: "But you are my Zhang Rulin's grandson, the brand of the Zhejiang Party can't be erased, don't look at Zou and Gao now value you, if they enter the government, they will still be promoted and reused by their Donglin Party, if you disagree with them, immediately reprimand, so it is extremely difficult to say that you want to hold the middle." ”

Zhang Rulin is a member of the Zhejiang Party, and his views on the Donglin Party are naturally a little extreme, but it is generally true, Donglin does not shy away from his own views on the door, and clearly divides the party against differences - Zhang Yuan said: "Uncle reminds that the clan grandson will act cautiously and avoid being displeased with both sides - the most important thing for the clan and grandson at present is to prepare for the township test, and the court party is still far away from the clan grandson." ”

Zhang Rulin nodded and said: "This is the second thing I want to tell you, it seems that you are determined to win the Yimao Township Test, but why are you entangled in women, don't you know that women are the most misguided?" ”

Zhang Yuanxin said: "It turns out that this is the second thing, the ancestor of the clan also knows, so this matter must have been passed on to Huiji, alas, I have to explain." Said: "The lesson of the uncle is that the grandson of the clan is about to explain this matter to the uncle and the father-" The moonlit night meeting in the West Lake will not be mentioned, and it will be directly from the meeting of Chen Meigong Sheshan Mountain Residence, and the same ship entered Nanjing, Wang Wei asked him for help in difficulty, and then went to Shanyin - After listening to Zhang Yuan's explanation, Zhang Rulin pondered for a long time and said: "This matter has been spread, at this time, it is not close to you to abandon the woman, but it makes people ridicule you for being frivolous and lucky, it is said that it is okay to take a concubine before marrying a wife, but scholars and concubines are generally successful, He didn't start to enjoy himself until he was forty years old, and he began to indulge in sensuality after he was fifty like his uncle, and he was very cautious when he was a teenager—"

Zhang Yuan was only on his face, and said in his heart: "There are really a lot of concubines of the clan uncle, all of them are young, and they can really be described as a pear tree and begonias everywhere. He didn't approve of this kind of practice of taking concubines for the sake of taking concubines, but at this time he could only listen to the teachings - Zhang Rulin said: "The young man is in the color, you are smart, old and steady, you don't need me to remind you more, so you can do it yourself, you go." ”

Zhang Yuan stood up, but heard the clan uncle say again: "Where does that girl live in the garden?" ”

Zhang Yuan hurriedly said: "The grandson of the clan took the liberty to let Wang Wei temporarily live in Plum Blossom Zen, and ask my uncle to forgive me." ”

Zhang Rulin waved his hand and said: "It's okay, just live there, and the ability of the Qi family depends on you." ”

Zhang Yuan resigned out of the North Courtyard, and by the way, he went to the West Zhang Library to find a few volumes of poetry and essays of the ancients and the people of the time to prepare for Wang Wei to read, and suddenly turned to four volumes of Xu Wenchang's poetry and essays, which turned out to be Xu Wei's manuscript, and there were two unframed ink freehand paintings in the manuscript, one was "Chunlan Tu" and the other was "Banana Tu", both paintings were damaged to varying degrees, Zhang Yuan was both happy and regretful, Xu Wei and Xizhang were world friends, Xu Wei killed his wife, Zhang Rulin's father Zhang Yuanbian rescued him from prison, Xu Wei's calligraphy, painting, poetry and writing achievements are extremely high, but he is only fatal, The artistic value is not yet recognized by the people of the time - Zhang Yuan went to the servant in charge of the library to register what books he borrowed, carried the books across the Mash River, and returned to his own house, only then did he know that his sister Zhang Ruoxi and Mu Zhenzhen had gone to the garden, frowned, and said in his heart: "Wang Wei is smart and sensitive, empathetic, should be able to cope with my sister, my sister seems to be a little spicy, but in fact she is very good at talking, I know my sister." ”

Zong Yishan waited in the front hall, and Zhang Yuan went to the Confucian hall of the Fuxue Palace together, hundreds of colleagues from the Han Society gathered together, and they were discussing warmly, seeing Zhang Yuan's arrival, they invited Zhang She's first seat to speak, Zhang Yuan was not polite, and said: "The world is declining, the scholars are only eight shares, and they are not familiar with the history, even if they are lucky with the Chinese style, Dengmingtang can not lead to the king, Changjunyi does not know the people, the talent is said to be down, and the officials are bad, all because of this, Zhang Yuan is not talented, and he is willing to prosper with the monarchs of the same society.

Zhang Yuan's so-called revival of retro learning, in fact, is to borrow the banner of ancient learning, old bottles of new wine, the concept is new, he from reading the scriptures, reading history, talking about today's current affairs, talking about the new science and technology of the Western countries, the mouth is like a river, gushing, talking for more than an hour, Zhang Yuan talked about many things are unheard of by all the beings here, after lunch, continue to speak, this time in the form of asking questions, Zhang Yuan asked Huang Zunsu and Zongyi to help him, hundreds of people here asked Zhang Yuan three questions on the eight shares, economic history, people's livelihood, and current affairs, and the atmosphere was warm, It lasted until dusk before it dispersed, and it was only then that Zhang Yuan found that Gao Panlong was quietly sitting in a corner of the lobby to listen, Zhang Yuan hurriedly stepped forward to confess, Gao Panlong smiled and said: "Your society is full of talents, Zhang Gongzi said it very well, which opened Gao's eyes, 'through poor reason, history to prove things', as well as Taixi state affairs, Zhang Gongzi actually knows everything about it, Zhang Gongzi has dealings with Taixi missionaries?" ”

Zhang Yuan said: "Xu Zi, who was in Xiameng, gave books such as "Geometric Original" and "Taixi Water Law", and had a conversation with Wang Fengsu, the Jesus President of Nanjing, so he knew a little about Western studies. ”

Gao Panlong said: "Wang Fengsu once came to visit Donglin Academy, and his knowledge is not as good as that of Ligong. ”

Li Gong is Matteo Ricci, Donglin scholars have a good evaluation of Matteo Ricci, known as Taixi Confucian-Zhang Yuandao: "Mr. is right, that Wang Fengsu is only enthusiastic about preaching, and he is not very knowledgeable in moral knowledge. He also asked Gao Panlong and Zou Yuan to come to the Fuxue Palace to give lectures to the students of the Han Society, and Gao Panlong readily agreed.

When leaving the gate of the palace, Zhang Yuan saw Mao Yuanyi and Wu Dingfang waiting for him, Mao and Wu were also listening to the lecture in the palace today, and now Mao Yuanyi invited Zhang Yuan to drink in his white canopy boat, Zhang Yuan politely said that there was something at home, Mao Yuanyi smiled and said: "What about Wang Xiuwei?" "Mao Yuanyi preached that Zhang Yuan and Wang Wei were not malicious, he really felt that this was a romantic affair, and there was nothing that could not be said - Zhang Yuan, Zong Yishan, and Lu Tao returned to the East Zhang Mansion It was already the time to hold the lamp, and after dinner, he entered the inner house, and saw that the study in the west building was lit up, Zhang Ruoxi was sitting in it reading, Mu Zhenzhen was sitting on the side, Zhang Yuan walked in, Mu Zhenzhen immediately stood up and shouted: "Young master——"

Zhang Ruoxi was looking through the ten or so volumes of poems and essays that Zhang Yuan borrowed from Xizhang, and asked, "Xiao Yuan, are you going to send it to Wang Xiuwei to see?" ”

Zhang Yuan looked at the poetry book and nodded, "Yes, I promised her in the morning." "Let Mu Zhenzhen cook tea for him, today he said that his mouth barely stopped in Shaoxing Mansion, and he said dryly-Zhang Ruoxi said: "I went to Lingyuan in the afternoon and saw that Wang Xiuwei-" After saying this, looking at Zhang Yuan's expression, he "hummed" and said: "You seem to be very sure?" ”

Zhang Yuan smiled: "You are my sister." ”

Zhang Ruoxi couldn't help laughing and said, "If Shang Ran is here, you will panic, right?" ”

Zhang Yuan didn't answer, and said, "Sister, tell me what happened to Wang Xiuwei?" ”

Zhang Ruoxi said eight words: "I feel sorry for me, I can't blame you." ”

Zhang Yuan smiled and thought, "Xiuwei has fascinated my sister-"

Zhang Ruoxi said again: "I told Wang Xiuwei to let her help me manage the Shengmei business in the future, and she agreed." ”

Zhang Yuan said "uh", and Zhang Ruoxi asked, "What, you don't want to?" ”

Zhang Yuan said: "No, as long as she is willing." ”

Zhang Ruoxi asked again: "Then how do you explain it over there?" Although it is not too much for a man to take a concubine, it is not okay without an explanation-" Speaking of this, he lowered his voice and said: "You must not say this to your brother-in-law, otherwise I won't be able to stand it if he brings one back." ”

Zhang Ruoxi's attitude should be the general mentality of women who were the wives of scholars in the Ming Dynasty, and they agreed with the concubinage system, but they would never be willing to fall on their own heads - Zhang Yuan said: "I'll write a long letter to Ran later." ”

Zhang Ruoxi said "um", and said: "They are all excellent women, you have met and have such a fate, then you have to treat them well." Zhang Ruoxi originally wanted to ask about that Senior Sister Wang, but she still didn't ask - that night Zhang Yuan hesitated to write a letter to Shang Qianran, which was a hundred times more difficult than eight strands of writing, all composition skills are useless, it is better to tell the truth, and it took two hours to write two letters, one for his brother-in-law Shang Zhoude, one for Tanran, and said in the letter that he would come to the door to explain in person - early the next morning, Zhang Yuan asked Laiwang to send the letter to Shang Zhoude, and asked Wuling to send the ten-volume poetry collection and a scroll of rice paper to Wang Xiuwei in Liyuan, wrote a short message, let Wang Xiuwei take good care of Xu Wei's manuscript, if he has time, hand-copy, he can give Wang Wei's manuscript to Yang Shixiang to take back to Qingpu to engrave and print, Xu Wei's two paintings were also sent to Wang Wei to figure out and study, and it was changed to be sent to the framing shop to be framed for preservation - Gao Panlong and Zou Yuanbiao taught two lectures for the students of the Han Society in Shaoxing Mansion, and promoted Donglin's practical learning, and on the sixth day of the first month of March, the members of the Han Society began to leave Shanyin and return to their hometowns one after another, but there were nearly 100 people left, these people were the backbone of the Han Society, He also has a close relationship with Zhang Yuan, and wants to stay to participate in Zhang Yuan's wedding next month, Gao Panlong and Zou Yuanbiao also returned to Wuxi by boat on the afternoon of the sixth day of the first month of March.

(To be continued)