Wang Fuzhi is of course a great Confucian thinker, a great Confucian, and Ji Kun, a "legal thief and cruel official", cannot compare with him in terms of Confucianism. However, Wang Fuzhi's contribution to Confucianism mainly lies in the "Dao" aspect, such as the theory of Qi monism, the debate between mind and matter, the unity of name and reality, the theory of human nature, etc. Confucianism, which teaches Confucian disciples how to understand the world, is not an "official school". It not only has the way to serve as an official, but also has a great way, which is the Confucian world view. Wang Fuzhi, who said that human beings are what Confucianism considers to be everything in the universe, is mainly a great Confucian in this field.
Of course, he also has his own political ideals, which are mainly to equalize the world and fight against autocracy. Now Li Zicheng is quite suitable to be his wise king!
Gu Jiangze, Huang Zongxi, and Ji Kun, who was forced to become a cruel official, were on the same path, with politics, economics, and law as their main research directions. In addition, the three of them are scholars in the densely populated areas in the southeast, and of course they know the hardships of crowded areas and narrow areas.
Seeing the dissatisfaction on Mrs. Wang's face, Gu Jiang smiled and said: "Brother Nong only traveled between Huguang and Huguang. He has never been to Jiangnan or the Central Plains. Naturally, he doesn't know the density of the population in Jiangnan, nor does he know the density of the population in Jiangnan over the years. The Central Plains is becoming increasingly bitter and cold. The current disasters in the world are caused by natural disasters, man-made disasters and the overproduction of human beings. A Jingping haha, you Huguang has a wide land and a lot of food. Are you willing to give some to the exiled northerners Jingping? ?”
"this"
Wang Fuzhi was actually speechless by Gu Jiang after just a few words. In this era, people had a strong sense of region. Even the poor and lower-middle peasants in Huguang were unwilling to be equal to the fleeing foreigners.
In this world, everyone can only do this in their respective hometowns. What about areas with large populations or extreme climates? Now the people who are making trouble and causing chaos in the world are not the people of Huguang, Sichuan, and Guangdong and Guangxi, where the land is vast and the people are safe, or even the southeast, where there are more people and less land. But the Northern and Central Plains are under triple pressure from population, climate, and foreign invasion at the same time!
The collapse of the Ming Dynasty, to a certain extent, was due to the extremely uneven development of various regions and the lack of the ability of the imperial court to allocate resources and wealth.
If the Ming Dynasty could fully mobilize the power of Huguang, Sichuan, Fujian and Guangdong, it would be possible to pacify the Central Plains and even overthrow the Eastern captives.
For example, Huguang has a grain tax of 2 million per year, Sichuan has a grain tax of 1 million per year, and Guangdong, a wealthy place like Guangdong, has a grain tax of 990,000 per year. It is just nonsense. For these places, Chongzhen will impose an additional tax. It’s nothing, you have to increase it severely, even if it’s increased ten times, it’s still almost the same!
As for the provinces of Northern Zhili, Shandong, Shanxi, Shaanxi, and Henan, due to the disasters of the Little Ice Age and the invasion of the Eastern Barbarians, they urgently needed relief from the state, rather than endless pressure to impose additional taxes.
However, because the Ming Dynasty had its capital in Beijing, it lacked the ability to control distant provinces such as Huguang, Sichuan, and Fujian and Guangdong, so it was unable to mobilize resources there.
But now the Ming court has been dragged to Nanjing by Zhu Cixiang, and they have also formed the Nanming version of the Beifu Legion, and have formed an alliance and marriage with the Fujian pirate leader Zheng Zhilong, and formed a powerful navy that can fight on the Yangtze River. As a result, he had the ability to rely on the Yangtze River to deploy the Northern Army to suppress Southeast and Huguang. In this battle of Huguang, he also used Li Zicheng's sword to kill the landlords and gentry in Huguang, and his control over Huguang was also greatly enhanced!
Ji Kun sighed and interjected: "So many northerners followed the prince south with knives in hand, just to make Jiangnan, Huguang, Fujian and Guangdong rich and poor! We scholars in the southeast can only follow him, irreversibly, follow him, Maybe there’s something else you can do.”
Huang Zongxi on the side shook his head and said in a low voice: "Whether it is to equalize the rich and poor, or to beg for food is hard to say now!"
"Begging for food?" Ji Kun looked at Huang Zongxi, "What should I say?"
Huang Zongxi twirled his beard and said with a smile: "His Royal Highness borrowed Li Zicheng's sword to kill the gentry landowners and seize tens of millions of acres of good land in Hubei. However, at the same time, Li Zicheng planned a battle in Huguang that dragged on for too long. I don't know. When will it be completely settled? Now there is not much white rice in Wuchang that can be transported eastward, and the price of rice in Nanjing, Yangzhou, Suzhou, Shanghai, and Hangzhou is getting higher and higher day by day. The price of one stone of white rice has reached four or five taels of silver. Small people in the southeast He can still struggle to survive, but the exile from the north has no foundation, and he will starve to death before long!
His Royal Highness relies on the weapons of the Northerners to hold power, how can he ignore their life and death? "
Ji Kun patted his thigh, "That's right! Your Highness the Crown Prince cannot care about the life and death of those northerners, but how can he care about it? There is no food!"
"There is food!" Wang Euzhi said, "There is still food in Hunan."
"How many?" Ji Kun asked casually.
Wang Fuzhi actually thought for a long time before saying: "It's enough to save the day!"
"Enough to save an emergency?" Ji Kun asked, "In previous years, Hunan shipped no less than 20 million shi of rice to Dongdong! Will your Hunan have a good harvest this year? Can you fill such a big hole?"
"How can there be so much surplus grain this year?" Wang Fuzhi said with a smile, "But there was still grain in previous years. Which big household in Hunan didn't have a warehouse full of rice and grain? Don't you big households in Nanzhili have rice in their homes?"
"That's right!" Ji Kun slapped his forehead, "How could I forget that the rich man likes to hoard rice?"
He is not a local rich man, he is a litigant in Yangzhou. Although he is also a landlord, he actually does not go to live in the countryside. He is responsible for the housekeeper. He is free in Yangzhou city, so he temporarily forgets that the landlords and old rich people are hoarding food.
Huang Zongxi smiled and said: "This is great! The prince is now the leader of a beggar gang. He can clear the fields and inspect the land, but he can't directly steal the grain stored in other people's homes. He can only beg for it!"
Wang Fuzhi didn't understand again, "Why can't you just steal the food from a wealthy family?"
Huang Zongxi said: "He wouldn't do that! Otherwise, why would he borrow Li Zicheng's knife to punish the landowners in Hubei? Wouldn't it be easier to do it yourself? Our Highness, the Crown Prince, does things in a measured way and will not act recklessly!"
Ji Kun nodded: "Yes, although the prince cannot be called the master of benevolence, he is also reasonable, ethical, trustworthy and righteous."
It is true that Zhu Cixiang has a knife in his hand, and he is also a bit cunning and cruel, but he is not unreasonable, uncontrolled, untrustworthy, and ruthless.
He broke out from Beijing, and along the way he was treacherous and ruthless, and he kept his word and was kind and righteous to his followers.
Wang Fuzhi thought for a while, "Then His Highness the Crown Prince is a rare wise king in our dynasty!"
"It's more than rare," Huang Zongxi said with a smile, "It's simply unique. We have indeed met the Ming Master."
What he said was only half of what he said. It was true that Zhu Cihong was the Ming Dynasty, but after all, he was the Ming Dynasty of the Northern People. Huang Zongxi, Ji Kun, Wang Fuzhi and others could never enter the inner circle of Prince Zhu.
The more Wang Fuzhi listened, the more confused he became, "Does the master have to beg for food?"
Ji Kun and Huang Zongxi looked at each other and nodded. The two of them had been following Zhu Cixi for a long time and already knew his route.
Huang Zongxi said: "Yes, he has to beg for food!"
Ji Kun said with a smile: "Because the Ming Dynasty knows that it is necessary to control the tigers and wolves under his control, and cannot let them eat up all the fat sheep! What are the backgrounds of those northern nobles who followed the prince to the south? Aren't they the same as the great rats in the country when they were in the north? If there were no rules to restrain them and they were allowed to round up and eat all the fat sheep in the southeast, how could the prince's life be carried on? "
"But can I get it?" Wang Fuzhi was still a little hesitant: Why didn't Emperor Chongzhen want it when he was in Beijing? Could it be that this prince is better at begging than his father?
"I want it!" Ji Kun smiled half-heartedly, "He is the reincarnation of Taizu Emperor Gao, so of course he will beg for food!"
Zhu Yuanzhang originally wanted to have dinner
Ji Kun smiled and said: "Think again, let's think about it together for Master Qiantose, and then jointly submit a letter to show His Highness a clear way to beg for food!"
