Xu Guangqi, Zhang Yuan and others requested that the debate with Shen Yu be carried out under the auspices of the Ministry of Rites, so even if the emperor agreed to hold a debate according to Wu Daonan's vote, he had to send the approved chapter to the Yamen of the Ministry of Rites for execution through the Rite Section, and if the Rite Branch gave the matter that the cabinet's vote was contrary to the emperor's approval, it could be sealed and refuted, so this link in the matter of the Rite Branch became Fang Congzhe's last line of defense - Fang Congzhe was the first assistant of the cabinet. How can he resign himself to fate and completely hand over his face and dignity to the emperor's momentary joy and anger, if the emperor is confused for a while, then how can he, the first assistant, have face, and what will he do in the cabinet in the future, wouldn't the two ministers go their own way, so Fang Congzhe must find ways to make Wu Daonan's vote unable to be implemented, at this time, it is no longer a matter of right or wrong, it is completely a battle of face and spirit, and the party struggle in the late Ming Dynasty is probably like this.

On the evening when Wu Daonan submitted the ticket, Fang Congzhe asked the servant to invite the Like to his house in Yongfang, Qi Shijiao is Fang Congzhe's protégé, after Fang Congzhe served as the first assistant, the Qi Party of Qi Shijiao gave Fang Congzhe great support, Fang Congzhe has been in the field for more than ten years, the original party traces are not obvious, but as soon as he enters the cabinet, he is naturally close to the Qi Party and the Zhejiang Party, but it is because the situation is pressing, if the cabinet ministers can not encircle a group of Taiyuan officials, it is difficult to implement the decree, and it is easy to be hollowed out- Fang Congzhe told Qi Shijiao that Wu Daonan ignored him to prevent the matter of the blatant vote to be submitted, and said: "Zhang Yuan catered to the holy will with Binghe Theory, and his performance was clever and clever, and there was the support of the Han Society and the same party, and there was more support from Wu Daonan in the cabinet, and the emperor might agree to hold a debate, I had to guard against it, if Wu Daonan's vote was implemented, then I would be very difficult to talk in the cabinet after that, it can be said that you are in the matter of Like, and your friend Zhou Yongchun is in the matter of Like, these days are more closely watched, in case those few copies of the emperor's approval come down, If Zhang Yuan succeeds, this person will become more and more arrogant in the future, and it is this generation that will bring disaster to the country and the people. ”

Qi Shijiao and Zhang Yuan talked a few times, a little understanding of Zhang Yuan's mental skills and concepts, in general, Qi Shijiao is more appreciative of Zhang Yuan, at this time I heard Fang Congzhe's evaluation of Zhang Yuan very badly, so he slightly distinguished two sentences for Zhang Yuan, Fang Congzhe suddenly said nothing, two lying silkworm eyebrows erected, eyes staring at Qi Shijiao, not instantaneous, Qi Shijiao couldn't bear the teacher's forced gaze, said: "The student has no other intentions, but I just feel that Zhang Yuan's career should be able to be wooed, and should not be pushed to the enemy's side, which is not good for the teacher." ”

Fang Congzhe said lightly: "Now that Wu Daonan has bypassed me to submit the ticket, don't you know the stakes?" ”

Qi Shijiao sighed lightly and said: "Okay, the students informed Zhou Mengtai and Yao Tong, and if they received Xu Guangqi and Zhang Yuan's recitals from the palace, they would be returned." ”

Fang Congzhe nodded, his face softened, and said: "It can be said, if it is not for the teacher's narrow-mindedness, Zhang Yuan is less than twenty years old, and the teacher is nearly sixty years old, Zhang Yuan can't threaten my status, I can see from Binghe that this person's heart is not right, Dong Xuanzai and Yao Zongwen don't say anything, that Zhou Yanru and Zhang Yuan are both Hanlin officials, and they were elected as East Palace officials together, the two should have lived in harmony and educated the emperor's eldest grandson together, but Zhang Yuan looked for a gap to squeeze Zhou Yanru out, how can this kind of person win over- can be said, I know that Zhang Yuan has talked to you, but it is just his power trick, it is nothing more than the fear that you will join forces with Yao Zongwen and Liu Tingyuan to impeach him, think about it carefully. ”

Qi Shijiao only said yes, from the big time Yongfang out of the car back to the apartment outside Chaoyangmen, Chaoyangmen outside the city, no curfew, at night Qi Shijiao to see the villagers are given to Zhou Yongchun, although the other party Congzhe said a little disapproving, but from the overall situation, he still has to decisively support Fang Congzhe, if Fang Congzhe's prestige in the cabinet is frustrated, it is also the loss of his party, Zhang Yuan appreciates and appreciates, the principle can not be moved, and Qi Shijiao believes that this kind of debate has nothing to do with the national economy and people's livelihood, dispensable, he does not need to feel guilty about Zhang Yuan——... … At the beginning of the morning of August 23, the six sections on duty received the emperor's approval of the yamen and the chapters in the Huiji Gate, and they should be copied one by one after being audited and sent to the yamen for execution. ”

Zhou Yongchun returned to the Liuke Gallery and carefully reviewed Xu Guangqi and Zhang Yuan's recitals, because it is not necessary to return the emperor's criticism of the red recitals, not arbitrarily and can be returned, and the seal must also be refuted, that is to say, sufficient reasons must be put forward, otherwise it is dereliction of duty and contempt for imperial power, but the officials are all masters of the eight-strand literature, so many years of training in the imperial examination, it is not difficult to find the refutable place from Xu Guangqi and Zhang Yuan's two nearly 10,000-word recitals. Zhang Yuan's performance of the two was also handed back to the celebrant - the eunuch Li En was quite unhappy, after hearing about the emperor, he was issued again according to the original ticket, and the next time the duty of the rite department gave the matter to Qi Shijiao and sealed it back with a similar refutation opinion to Zhou Yongchun, Li En was helpless, before playing the Ming Emperor, he first spoke with Wang An of the East Palace, Wang An sighed: "It can be seen how corrupt the government is, it is so difficult to implement a little thing, it is just a debate, and it is not other major matters, and the old gentlemen in the outer court are all pushing back, Don't take the approval of the Long Live Lord in your eyes, just fight for your own will. ”

Li En felt the same way, and said: "The foreign officials have repeatedly attacked the long-lived lord for neglecting the government, and this is not all forced by the foreign officials, just from this matter, it is difficult for the government decree to leave the palace." ”

Wang Andao: "Xu Zanshan and Zhang Xiushu also took this situation into account, Zhang Xiushu said that this performance does not have to be issued through the six branches, this is not a decree, but the emperor agrees to hold a debate, which can be held by the James Mansion and the Hanlin Academy." ”

Li En smiled: "Good idea, the miscellaneous family will go and tell the long live lord." ”

After so many years of fighting with foreign ministers, Emperor Wanli's anger has almost dissipated, so I heard that his imperial pen approval was returned by Like twice, but it was just that Long Yan was displeased, and he would not be angry, so he listened to Li En's suggestion and nodded: "Then the East Palace James Mansion will preside over this debate, and the Hanlin Academy will co-organize, and the number of debates will be determined." ”

As a result, Xu Guangqi and Zhang Yuan's recital bypassed the Six Departments Corridor and was directly sent to the James Mansion and the Hanlin Academy, Fang Congzhe still felt that he had lost face, and let Qi Shijiao and Zhou Yongchun go up, thinking that the edict bypassing the six branches was a violation, so as to impeach Wu Daonan, Xu Guangqi and Zhang Yuan - Emperor Wanli did not stay in the middle this time, but blamed Qi Shijiao and Zhou Yongchun for not having sufficient reasons for refuting the edict, and deliberately blocked the issuance of the edict, and the two of them were each fined half a year, that is, fined dozens of taels of silver.

Through this open and secret battle, Wu Daonan and Zhang Yuan's side can only be regarded as a small victory, and the debate edict can only be regarded as a big victory through the issuance of the Six Science Corridors, and it is not easy to win a big victory over the cabinet chief, but Zhang Yuan is already satisfied with the result, as long as the debate can be held, it will be a victory.

Qian Longxi, a young scholar of the Jamesburg Mansion, discussed with Guo Shu, a scholar of the Hanlin Academy, and sent a document to the Nanjing Ministry of Rites on August 28, asking Shen Yu and Xu Ruke, the attendants of the Nanjing Ministry of Rites, to send people to Beijing to participate in the debate before the end of October, whether it is an official of the DPRK and China, a Confucian in the opposition or a virtuous monk, limited to four people per party, and the debate period is the first day, the third day of the first month, and the fifth day of the first month of the winter, and three sessions are said to be three, and the crown prince will come to the scene of the debate in person - the debate date and number have been set, and Xu Guangqi, Zhang Yuan and others must also step up preparations. On their side, they agreed on the following four names to participate in the debate:

Zuo Chunfang Zuo Zanshan Xu Guangqi of James's Mansion, Li Zhizao, Shaoqing of Nanjing Taifu Temple, Zhang Yuan, Hanlin Academy, and Xiong Sanba, a Western courtier - Li Zhizao, Shaoqing of Nanjing Taifu Temple, Xiaochang Art of War, proficient in the study of Taixi, and Xu Guangqi had a deep relationship, and was also the first batch of enlightened gentry who Matteo Ricci made friends with after coming to China. Xiong Sanba is a Germanic people, in the 34th year of Wanli came to the Ming Dynasty as Matteo Ricci's assistant, learned in Long Huamin, Pang Di'e, proficient in astronomy, mathematics, water conservancy, ancient Greek philosophy and art, music have a special study, "Jian Pingyi Said" and "Taixi Water Law" is Xiong Sanba and Xu Guangqi co-translated and completed, this person is well-read and strong, came to the Ming Dynasty for ten years, speaks fluent Nanjing Mandarin, can read the ancient books of Chinese and other sentences, and has dabbled in the knowledge of the pre-Qin princes. This debate is about the survival of Catholicism in Daming, how dare the Jesuits in Daming slack off, naturally they want to nominate the most outstanding talents to participate in the debate - Li Zhizao, Xiong Sanba, plus Xu Guangqi and Zhang Yuan, this can be said to be the strongest debate lineup in favor of the Western Studies, now it depends on who Shen Yu will recommend to enter Beijing to participate in the debate, the debate has been spread, Shen Yu will not refuse to participate, otherwise his purpose of expelling the Taixi missionaries will also come to naught, who is willing to bear the name of cowardice?

…… On the sixth day of the ninth month, this day was the rest of the Ji Shi, Zhang Dai was not studying in the Hanlin Academy, but when Zhang Yuan came out of the gate of the Hanlin Academy in the evening, he saw the eldest brother Zhang Dai standing at the north bridge of the Yuhe River waiting for him.

Zhang Dai said with a smile on his face: "Jiezi, go drink with me by the bubble." ”

Zhang Yuan asked: "Big brother is beaming, what's the happy thing?" ”

Zhang Dai said: "August 25 is my birth, I forgot to celebrate my birthday in a daze, and I will make up for it today." ”

Zhang Yuan saw that the eldest brother Zhang Dai's uncontrollable joy did not look like he was celebrating his birthday, and suddenly remembered something, patted his head and said, "Brother, is Li Ko'er in Beijing?" ”

(To be continued)