After hearing this, Hao Rusong's face darkened, and then he had to put on his official hat: "Let's go, continue to go to Zhang Mansion to express condolences."
After Hao Rusong came to Zhang's house, he had to scream again when he saw Zhang Juzheng's mourning hall: "Yuanfu! Why did you just leave like this, wuwu! If you leave, who else in the world can help the emperor?" Ah, woohoo!"
After Hao Rusong cried for a while, he also saw that the memorial tablet of Zhang Juzheng had been replaced with the words "Zhang Wenzhenggong, Marquis of Jingzhou in the Qing Dynasty". He felt very uncomfortable in his heart, but he had to howl a few more times before standing up. Get up and express condolences to the Zhang clan.
"As an official, I should learn from my hometown Duke Zhang Wenzheng and serve the country and the people. Maybe I will be granted the title of Grand Master. I will pursue Wenzheng to the death!"
The young Xiong Tingbi seemed to have developed a bad mouth habit later in history, so he stood next to Hao Rusong and said this when the Zhang family came to express condolences.
Hao Rusong looked back and wanted to ask who was sarcastic about him.
At this time, another scholar, Huang Yanshi, echoed and said: "Imitate Wen Zhenggong, and dare to fight with the powerful and powerful in order to become the king of Yao and Shun!"
Hao Rusong saw that scholars like Huang Yanshi and Xiong Tingbi were very young, so it was hard to blame them too much.
Moreover, this is the Zhang Mansion, not a government office, and many people from the same hometown came to express their condolences. Even because the emperor exempted Jiangling from taxes and doubled the number of county students in three years, many people from Zhang Juzheng Township felt relieved. Complaints about Zhang Juzheng's restructuring came to the Zhang Mansion to express condolences to Zhang Juzheng, and began to praise Zhang Juzheng.
Therefore, Hao Rusong couldn't say anything more and just smiled.
However, Zhang Juzheng was posthumously named Wenzheng and was granted the title of Marquis. The guiding role he played among scholars not only made several young scholars begin to have the same ambitions as Zhang Juzheng, but also made the gentry who came to Zhang's Mansion also have the same ambitions. Greatly affected.
At this time, Li Zhi came to offer incense to Zhang Juzheng and bow to him, and said to Geng Ting-li: "I suddenly no longer despair about the world, and I have the idea of continuing to be an official."
Historically, Li Zhi, who had already decided to retire from the post of Yao'an magistrate and become a monk, and later committed suicide by cutting his neck because of his disappointment in the world, actually had the idea of becoming an official again.
"It would be more appropriate for you to study."
Geng Dingli smiled and said: "It would be better to let my brother do the work of inheriting Jiangling's ambition."
When Hao Rusong heard what Li Zhi and others said, he couldn't laugh even if he wanted to. He just told the few officials and gentry who talked to him that the yamen still had business and returned to the yamen.
It was only after returning to the government office that Hao Rusong lost his temper and complained to his close aides in the backyard study: "This official can't do anything! Send someone to Beijing to find out what's going on and why it hasn't been settled yet. Do you have to wait until the scholarly ethos also changes to the point where everyone advocates restructuring, and even starts to think that the three shortcomings are also justified?!"
"yes!"
…
News of Zhang Juzheng's death has begun to spread among the people through various channels such as "Di Bao".
There were those who celebrated, those who were sad, and even those who lamented that an era had come to an end.
At this time, Wang Changgeng smiled and walked quickly to Liu Quexian's residence, intending to tell Liu Quexian the news and see Liu Quexian's sad look.
However, Liu Quexian had already learned about Zhang Juzheng's death through other channels.
Therefore, when Liu Quexian appeared, he hugged Laidi and burst into tears.
Laidi couldn't help but ask: "What's wrong?"
"Master Zhang passed away."
Liu Quexian choked up.
Laidi was a little confused after hearing this, but she soon understood. She knew that Zhang Ju was a big shot that Liu Quexian admired, so she could only rub his back with her hand.
Liu Quexian quickly stopped crying, and suddenly said: "Call all the employees in the mansion, both men and women, to come to the hall. Then set up the memorial tablet of Grand Master Zhang Wenzhenggong in front of the hall, burn incense and paper."
"good!"
Laidi agreed.
Soon after, Zhang Juzheng's memorial tablet was placed in the Liu family hall, along with various sacrifices, incense burners, paper money and so on.
And the employees in Liu's major workshops also
When I came here, the lobby and the entire outside courtyard were filled with people.
Liu Quexian stood in front of Zhang Juzheng's memorial tablet, facing the hired workers, and said solemnly: "You all say that I am a living Bodhisattva, and I have given you food and clothing, so that you can all live more like individuals, but really The living Bodhisattva is not me, but the person on this tablet, Grand Master Zhang Wenzhenggong, the recently deceased Taiyue Jingzhou Marquis!"
After hearing this, the employees all stared at the tablet and the portrait of Zhang Juzheng that Liu Quexian had paid a high price to hang behind the tablet.
Some of these people knew Zhang Juzheng, and some did not, but at this moment they were all curious about Zhang Juzheng.
Liu Quexian continued: "Master, I can have the current family business, and now I can become a filial and honest person. I can be prosperous and wealthy. I can make you no longer slaves, and even let some of you marry and have children. I can also support the high school, and I can also provide education for my children. These are not because I am really a literary star, sir, nor because of my personal ability, but because of him, Grand Master Zhang!"
"He brought good governance."
"It can be said that he is the one who made me successful and saved you. Otherwise, I would have starved to death in prison, and you are still the domestic slaves of someone's family. Your greatest fortune is just to be an aunt or a steward. .”
Liu Quexian choked up when he said this: "But now he is old."
Everyone's eyes showed disappointment for a moment.
"There may be no such Master Zhang in the world."
"Our good days are probably coming to an end."
Liu Quexian suddenly said something very sad, and then said with a sad smile: "So, you all kneel down and kowtow to him, he is the true Bodhisattva! Let him see in the spirit of heaven, there are people in the world who are grateful to him .”
The hired hands, both men and women, knelt down.
The emotional ones even started sobbing and wiping away tears.
"Having said that, I have to kowtow. It was him who saved me. If it weren't for the Grand Master, I wouldn't have been able to see Brother Xian again."
Laidi said, then she knelt down with her child in her arms, her eyes red and she kowtowed.
Then, Laidi looked at the two Liu Quexian cousins who were following her and said with a smile: "Little girls, you should kowtow too. If it weren't for him, you would have been in the tower by now."
The so-called tower is the Drowning Infant Tower.
During this era, poor families in the south often drowned their female infants.
Due to the Wanli New Deal, the people in Dasu were in dire straits, and the number of infant drownings was greatly reduced. Therefore, Liu Quexian's two cousins were able to survive.
"Zijing! Let me tell you something that will make you sad."
Wang Changgeng came over at this time. Seeing Liu Quexian talking to his employees, he stopped and listened outside.
For a moment, when he heard Laidi telling the two girls from the Liu family that without Zhang Juzheng's reforms, the two girls in front of him might have gone to the tower, he couldn't help but calm down, walked over, bowed to Zhang Juzheng, and had a kiss. Zhuixiang: "That's right. Seeing that he didn't let more tragic situations that destroy human relations happen, I respect him too."
When Liu Quexian saw Wang Changgeng coming, he sent the employees away, took him to the study room in the backyard, and asked, "Why are you here?"
Wang Changgeng smiled and said, "Of course I came to drink with you."
Liu Quexian said: "When Jiangling gets old, the situation is likely to change drastically. Businessmen like you and me, who are not high-ranking officials in the court, had better stop expanding their industries, take back their money, and rather hide it in the cellar." , and don’t show it out to make others conspicuous, lest you be guilty of harboring a treasure at some point, it’s better to work hard on your career.”
Wang Changgeng also nodded after hearing this: "Yes, maybe the ten years of Wanli will be the best years in the next ten years, unless we can reach the top, but it is not easy for the carp to jump over the dragon's gate. It is best to stop expanding the industry first, people I also don’t want to recruit them, and let those refugees who have not yet been hired be left to fend for themselves or continue to be slaves of wealthy families.”
Although the scholars and people of the Ming Dynasty did not learn any financial knowledge from later generations, as Han people in a country with thousands of years of ancient civilization, they have long understood that politics and economics are closely related.
After all, the ancients knew how to use work as early as Guan Zhong's period.
Relief was a way to solve the economic crisis. Therefore, the death of the reformer Zhang Juzheng also caused many astute gentry and businessmen to quickly change their production and lifestyle.
Some began to reduce consumption;
Some began to reduce production and bury money and food;
Some thought that the haze of being big bureaucrats and big landowners was about to end, and they began to need a large number of slaves, and they were ready to plunder them. Others were still waiting and watching, and just started to deliberately default on taxes.
As a result, the private commodity economy is not as active as before.
It seems that after Zhang Juzheng, the Bodhisattva, leaves, Ming Dynasty will really enter the world of sin.
…
"I am the true Bodhisattva of the Ming Dynasty. I am the one who can truly protect the Ming Dynasty. I must let people in the world continue to see hope."
Zhu Yijun also learned about this situation among the people through Jin Yiwei, so he looked at the names of reformist officials on the screen and murmured to himself.
