Outside Sanshan Gate in the inner city of Nanjing, on both sides of the Qinhuai River, there are many shops and cloth fluttering.
This area falls under the jurisdiction of Shangyuan County among the eight counties under the jurisdiction of Yingtian Prefecture. Because the Qinhuai River flows into the Yangtze River here, it has become the most prosperous area in Nanjing. And unlike the areas on both sides of the Qinhuai River that are equally prosperous in the inner city of Nanjing, the prosperity here belongs more to businessmen and the talented people from the southeast who live in Nanjing.
There is a teahouse built on the Qinhuai River near the Yangtze River. Although the teahouse is small in size, it is extremely exquisite.
This teahouse is backed by the Qinhuai River. Guests can enjoy the beautiful scenery of the Qinhuai River while sipping tea.
Not far from the teahouse, there are about a dozen inns connected together. Many merchants and talented people who first arrived in Jinling would stay in these inns first, and then slowly look for a long-term residence.
Ji Kun, the censor of Zuoban who came to Nanjing with the "Southern Inspection Brigade" of Chongzhen and Zhu Cixiang and his son, was not assigned a place to live because he was brought with his family and his official position was low. Instead, he received a few taels of silver in accommodation fees and found a place to stay on his own. . As a talented man from Yangzhou, he was very familiar with Nanjing, so he wandered to the Qinhuai River in Shangyuan County, found an inn and rented a room. That night I went out to meet friends at this rather unique teahouse.
The friends who met Ji Kun tonight were all brought by Huang Zongxi. They were all talented people from the south of the Yangtze River living in Jinling. Zhang Huangyan and Grand Duke Luo were also among them. It turned out that Huang Zongxi and Ji Kun were old acquaintances. When Prince Zhu's army entered the city a few days ago, Ji Kun followed him and happened to meet Huang Zongxi who was watching the excitement on the street. Hence the tea party tonight.
In addition, Huang Zongxi's friend Luo Grand Duke also invited Li Yulin, a well-known Qinghuan on the Qinhuai River, known as the talented girl of Suzhou, to play the pipa.
Amidst the melodious sound of the pipa, a few romantic talents who kept their mouth shut began to talk eloquently. In the late Ming Dynasty, there was almost no control over speech. Scholars were used to being free, and they spoke very casually, and no one cared about them.
"Brother Taichong? Why are you always frowning? Are you involved in the eunuch rebellion?" Ji Kun looked at Huang Zongxi, who was frowning, and asked half-jokingly.
Huang Zongxi rolled his eyes at him, "Brother Chunfan, do you really think that this incident in Nanjing is related to the Eunuch Party?"
"This" Ji Kun smiled awkwardly, shook his head and said, "The winner is the king and the loser is the bandit! But the prince accused Xu Hongji and others of being eunuchs, which finally showed his attitude of being close to Donglin."
"You want to take advantage of Donglin, right?" Huang Zongxi looked solemn, "The use was very clever. Qian Muzhai and Hou Ruogu both joined the cabinet, Shi Daolin became the governor of seven provinces, and Gao Qianzhai was also sent to Shandong as governor. Donglin The leaders of Lin Yizhen are either being roped into the cabinet or being sent to the frontiers, under the guise of protecting the famous religion and defending Kong Lin!
Now he has accused the nobles and ministers who worked hard for the king in Nanjing for being eunuchs, and he has also claimed that he is the crown prince of Donglin. It seems that he is going to build a prison in Jiangnan in the name of punishing eunuchs."
Ji Kun's face also turned gloomy. He actually saw Zhu Cixiang's insidiousness. He not only appointed Zuo Ban Supervisory Censor, but also participated in the anti-corruption campaign at the Huaiyang Guards. He unconscionably seized the throne with Zhang Shize and others. The property of many military and scholar-bureaucrats!
Of course, the policies adopted by Zhu Cihong in the Second Huaiyang Prefecture did not hit a wide range of areas, and were limited to the health department and salt merchants. The policy of co-optation was still adopted for the scholar-bureaucrats who did not occupy military fields or meddle with salt interests. They ignored the fact that they used land and sheltered businessmen to evade taxes and make profits. Confidentiality and sheltering businessmen to evade taxes were two major ways for literati to make profits in the Ming Dynasty. The principle was to expand the privileges of tax exemption and exemption for literati.
Guiji made money by helping Duota grain farmers avoid taxes and servitude. To protect businessmen from tax evasion, they took advantage of the Ming Dynasty's three-no-tax principle (that is, no taxes from official households, no taxes from eunuchs, and no taxes from Jinshi and Juren), allowing merchants to operate in their own names in order to obtain profits. Certain benefits.
The Ming Dynasty's land taxes and business taxes were largely lost through these two channels, and the financial difficulties in the late Ming Dynasty came from this.
As for the large number of middle- and lower-class scholar-officials who control the grassroots in the southeast, they cannot touch the salt and profit, and it is not their turn to devour the military land. In fact, when the scholar-officials in the Ming Dynasty became powerful and overwhelmed the nobles, the military settlements in the southeast had long been It was eaten up by honorable nobles, honorable ministers, and military literati. It was not the turn of civilian literati to eat.
Therefore, Zhu Cixiang only used salt and military land, which did not violate the fundamental interests of the majority of civilian scholar-bureaucrats. But it still made them feel a little unhappy!
Therefore, before the "Eunuch Rebellion" in Nanjing, most of the scholars in Nanjing actually supported "King Qin" spiritually.
"Brother Taichong!" Duke Luo, a talented scholar from Songjiang, interrupted Huang Zongxi's words. The fat judge said with a smile, "Why are you still talking about these things now? All the honorable nobles and ministers in Nanjing City are finished, and King Qin has become a member of the eunuch party. We are not involved in the chaos of civil registration, so why bother now? Take the time to read more books, and preparing to deal with Enke is the top priority!"
"Grand Duke, you know how to be an official!" Huang Zongxi looked at Grand Duke Luo's expectant expression and just shook his head.
"Of course we scholars must serve the imperial court," Grand Duke Luo said with a smile, "Brother Cang Shui, what do you think?"
Cang Shui is Zhang Huangyan's nickname. Zhang Huangyan nodded slightly and said, "Now that we are facing a formidable enemy in the southeast, we should put in some effort."
He turned his gaze to Ji Kun, "Brother Chunfan, now that you have an official status, are you still going to Kaunke?"
"I won't be allowed to take the exam!" Ji Kun sighed, "You will miss your life by joining the Procuratorate!"
"How do you say this?" Zhang Huangyan was stunned.
Ji Kun said, "This is the rule of Master Qiansui. Any official who joins the Procuratorate, except for the censors of the left and right capitals, no matter whether they are left or right class, can hold any official position other than the procuratorate. And except for the censors of the left and right capitals, no official of the procuratorate can be held by the censor." Officials of the imperial court are not required to be Jinshi, and their fame is limited to those who have been elected. Officials of the procuratorate are also not allowed to take the imperial examination."
Zhang Huangyan was taken aback again, "But the procuratorate's role as an official involves a wide range of things. How can we do it by just recommending people?"
Ji Kun shook his head and said, "The imperial censor will not care about so much from now on. He will only investigate officials for corruption. The left class will investigate civil servants, and the right class will investigate military attachés!"
Huang Zongxi took a breath, "This is to turn the procuratorate into an official whip! There is something wrong with this prince!"
"There is indeed something wrong!" Ji Kun lowered his voice with a solemn look on his face, "He is probably possessed by Emperor Taizu Gao."
"Nonsense!" Huang Zongxi shook his head, "Why did you believe it, Ji Chunfan?"
Ji Kun said, "I didn't believe it at first, but in the Procuratorate, the young censors from the right class who came from noble and honorable families in Beijing all said that something happened to the prince on the night of March 13th. His dream was all nonsense." On the fourth day, I slept again during the day, and continued to talk nonsense, saying things like 'Grandpa Taizu', and then he seemed to be a different person."
At this point in his words, the melodious sound of the pipa suddenly went out of tune, and then stopped abruptly.
Grand Duke Luo turned his head and looked at the lovely Li Yulin, who was as beautiful as a flower. He smiled and said, "Forgot the music score? Do you want Luo to teach you?"
Li Yulin was very familiar with Grand Duke Luo and glared at him angrily, "Thank you, Grand Duke. My little sister has never forgotten Qu'er. She just recalled the story about Xiaoling's sudden change that she heard on the Qinhuai River in April. She said it was in March. On the night of the 13th, for no reason, a long roar came from the sky above Xiaoling, as if someone was crying in the sky, and it stopped after a quarter of an hour."
"Is there such a thing?" Ji Kun was startled and looked at Zhang Huangyan, Huang Zongxi and Grand Duke Luo.
Zhang Huangyan and Huang Zongxi looked at Grand Duke Luo again. It turned out that they entered Nanjing after the news of the fall of Beijing came. However, Grand Duke Luo, a talented scholar from Songjiang, lived in Jinling for a long time and was a frequent visitor on the Qinhuai River.
"It seems that there is such a thing!" Grand Duke Luo thought carefully, "Yes, yes, I told the people of the Mei family and the Xiao family! Is the prince really the reincarnation of Emperor Gao, the great ancestor?"
Zhang Huangyan shook his head, "Isn't this too fantasy?"
Luo Dagong said, "I would rather believe that it exists. I would rather believe that it exists. If it is true, it would be a good thing!"
"What's good?" Huang Zongxi snorted, "Don't you know what kind of king Taizu Emperor Gao is?" He sighed, "If it is true, I'm afraid the disaster of Jiangnan Shilin is not far away! "
