Huang Daozhou hurriedly stood up and cupped his hands and said: "Stop being angry, Mr. Ge! The students asked Ye Gong the same thing at that time, but Ye Gong specifically said to me at that time, it is precisely because you are now the second minister of the cabinet, and the emperor relies on you. He is an official and a gentleman who has become an official in the countryside. How dare you drive the cabinet ministers! Therefore, I did not dare to write to you, but just asked the students to say hello to you on his behalf and listen to the teachings of the cabinet minister."
Han Xu was a little surprised. He did not expect that Ye Xianggao, the respected former chief assistant, would respect him so much and take the initiative to lower his profile.
This made Han Xu feel a lot better.
Originally, Han Xu was depressed because he could not take advantage of the scholar's boycott of exams to rectify Fang Congzhe, so when he learned through secret channels that Ye Xianggao had only written letters to Zhao Nanxing, Zheng Sanjun, and Qian Qianyi but not to himself. He became even more angry and lost his temper.
But now when Huang Daozhou said this, Han Xu felt relieved and said, "I just lost my temper!"
With that said, Han Xu continued to ask Huang Daozhou: "Do you have anything else that Mr. Ye would like you to convey to your servant?"
"Ye Gong said to himself, now that Donglin has lost power, and even the entire Shilin cannot control the emperor, it is because people's hearts are not unified, and there is no order at the top and bottom. Especially, I, the kings of Donglin, act without rules. Liu Jihui (Liu Yishen) is in the cabinet. At that time, you and Mr. Ge were listed in the ban. However, at that time, all the gentlemen in Donglin relied on the power of admonishment and underestimated the dignity of Mr. Ge. Therefore, they acted recklessly in everything and never followed the advice of Mr. Ge. They were even rude and arrogant. Not only were the elders unable to use their power to admonish and hinder the king, but they were also implicated by him."
After Huang Daozhou said this, Han Xu nodded repeatedly.
He also had to admit that the Donglin Party was too loose. Cabinet ministers such as himself and Liu Yishui were often unable to control the Donglin Party's spokespersons, and were even dragged down by the Donglin Party's spokespersons.
"The one who knows me is Mr. Ye!"
Han Xu sighed and said something.
"So, Mr. Ge hopes that you can become the leader of our Donglin. He wrote to Duke Zhao, Duke Zheng and Duke Qian. His intention is to entrust all his disciples and former officials to Mr. Ge, and to ask all the gentlemen of Donglin to From now on, everyone will listen to the words of Mr. Ge. In addition, Mr. Ye also said that he hopes that Mr. Ge will not get too discordant with Fang Daxing and follow the example of Mr. Xu Huating (Xu Jie) and Zhang Puzhou (Zhang Siwei), and be patient before taking action."
Zodiac Zhou spoke.
Han Xu was very impressed after hearing this, especially when he thought that he had failed to make Fang Congzhe suffer due to the fact that the scholars had stopped taking exams. He had to admit that Ye Xianggao was the former chief minister after all. The bureau’s understanding is clearer than one’s own.
Therefore, Han Xu couldn't help but say: "If Mr. Ye returned to the cabinet, the court would not be in such a situation, but your Majesty just doesn't use Mr. Ye, alas!"
Huang Daozhou did not continue the conversation on the topic of Emperor Zhu Youxiao not letting Ye Xianggao return to the cabinet, because he knew that Han Xu was actually just talking about wanting Ye Xianggao to come back.
Huang Daozhou only said: "Zhao Gong, Zheng Gong and Qian Gong have begun to persuade the scholars not to give up the exam, and even persuaded them to let more officials and officials in Beijing come to the capital to take the exam. There are also many disciples of the second assistant. At that time, I also asked the elder to persuade the subordinates who want to stop taking the exam."
Han Xu nodded: "Of course, I have asked people to go and say hello overnight. I don't even plan to take the exam this year, so as not to let non-Donglin scholars take the spotlight."
at the same time.
Fang Mansion.
Qi Shijiao came to see Fang Congzhe and said: "Yuanfu, as per your instructions, I have ordered the northern scholars who are close to us to immediately notify the northern scholars so that they can actively take the exam. Even those who have not planned to take the exam this year can come and take the exam." Strive to get a larger share of the one hundred more Jinshi places."
Fang Congzhe nodded after hearing this: "I don't know if those nearly a thousand southern scholars who have stopped taking the exam will still give up."
…
This day is the day when the Sunchon Township Examination begins.
There are many examples to take the exam.
The entire examination room was crowded with people, shoulder to shoulder, and clouds of crowns and ribbons.
Fang Congzhe couldn't help but frown and asked Li Ruhua, Sun Ruyou and others: "Everyone, didn't you say that many scholars stopped taking the exam? Why does it seem that there are more people taking the Shuntian Provincial Examination this year than in previous years?"
"Presumably His Majesty's method of increasing the number of rural examination places really worked. According to regulations, the children of officials in Beijing are allowed to participate in the Shuntianfu Township Examination. Now it seems that the officials have stopped their own children from boycotting the examination, and even allowed their own children to take the examination." The children are taking the exams actively.”
Li Ruhua spoke.
Fang Congzhe nodded and said: "It hasn't been long since the imperial edict was issued. To be able to increase so many people to participate in the provincial examination at once shows that it is not just because of His Majesty's kindness, but also because someone behind the scenes took action first."
After hearing this, Li Ruhua suddenly realized: "Yuan Fu is right, who do you think it could be?"
"It can only be the one who is recuperating in Fujian, otherwise who would have such ability."
Fang Congzhe replied with an unhappy expression.
He knew that his plan to take this opportunity to let more northern scholars enter the court had been blocked by Ye Xianggao, so he felt a little unhappy.
…
"Fang Congzhe has also met his opponent. He should thank me for not letting Ye Xianggao return to the cabinet."
Zhu Youxiao laughed because of this when he learned that the number of candidates for the Shuntian Prefecture Township Examination was not less, but more scholars than in previous years.
certainly.
Zhu Youxiao had already guessed from the beginning that the gentry in the south would not be so honest and give up the exam after he introduced such a harsh policy.
Therefore, Zhu Youxiao did not expect that the northern gentry could suppress the southern gentry by relying on the scholar's strike and the Shuntianfu rural examination and next year's general examination.
After all, the southern gentry were not stupid. They foolishly stopped taking the exam even though they knew that the emperor was wooing the northern gentry and were not afraid of the scholars stopping their exams and severely cracking down on them.
Zhu Youxiao had only one purpose, and that was to use the contradiction between the northern and southern gentry to achieve his own goal of stabilizing imperial power.
This time, due to the rioting of the Li Sancai clan and the killing of eighty-seven scholars who made a fuss about the Jinyiwei, the scholars stopped taking the exams because of the active compromise of the southern gentry, or rather the Donglin gentry, which did not happen.
Therefore, this undoubtedly means that Zhu Youxiao's uncompromising or even tough treatment of scholars will not affect the motivation of scholar-officials to continue serving the court.
Who makes the Ming Dynasty the only court in China that can serve as an official?
Fang Congzhe returned home feeling a little disappointed.
But as soon as he returned home, he saw cars parked in front of his house and people standing in the east courtyard of his house.
Fang Congzhe simply walked around from the west side of the hanging flower gate for fear of being disturbed, then came to Liu's room and asked, "What is that traitor doing?"
In wealthy families, the eldest son usually lives in the east wing. Therefore, when Fang Congzhe saw that there were many people in the east wing, he guessed that his son had invited so many people.
Mrs. Liu hurriedly replied: "Now there are people coming to the east courtyard every day, saying they want to open a bookstore."
"Bookstore?"
Fang Congzhe was a little puzzled, but he soon understood, and he laughed and said, "Leave it to him, so that he can be happy."
…
"The second assistant is the second assistant! As long as my father is still the first assistant, Han Xu will always be a decoration, so he is nothing to worry about. The real difficulties are people like Ye Xianggao, Zhao Nanxing, and Zheng Sanjun;
Especially Ye Xianggao. Although this person has become an official, his qualifications are higher than those of his family father. He is also good at using power and has clever methods. Now that he is outside the temple, it is even more difficult to get hold of him. But these people below never obey discipline. Donglin officials are easy to deal with;
What I mean is to expose the ugliness of these Donglin officials first. This book "Revelation of Donglin Clique Disasters" written by Feng Qiandu was printed immediately, and the highlights were excerpted and written anonymously and posted everywhere! Let the world know about the scandals of the Donglin people, and even ask storytellers to tell them, and turn them into nursery rhymes for children in the streets to sing! In short, the purpose is only one, to discredit these Donglin gentlemen so that they will no longer be embarrassed to call themselves gentlemen! "
At this time, Fang Shihong spoke to Gu Bingqian, Feng Quan and other civil servants who came to his east courtyard.
These civil servants were all a group of close literati who had been befriended by Fang Shihong in the form of literary friends. Their main task was to write articles for Fang Congzhe to undermine the Donglin Party.
