In the 13th year of the reign of Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty, on the first day of the second lunar month, there was a visit to Yingtian Mansion, Jiangnan Gongyuan, Nanjing.
Because Emperor Kangxi never planned to continue this council from term to term, he did not build a long-term office for the council in the inner city of Yingtianfu, Nanjing. Since most of the gentry from Jiangsu, Anhui, and Zhejiang who attended the meeting were scholars and scholars, Emperor Kangxi allowed them to stay in the Jiangnan Gongyuan.
After observing Kang Mazi's sounding rocket the day before, more than 400 real and fake gentry gathered at Jiangnan Gongyuan to worship Confucius first and then discuss politics.
The place where political affairs are discussed is not indoors, but in the courtyard behind the entrance of Gongyuan, where candidates taking the Jiangnan Provincial Examination pay homage to the Holy Master. In front of the lobby where Confucius's tablet is enshrined, there is an empty throne with two high chairs beside it. Tu Hai, a great scholar, and Huang Zongxi, a commoner Confucian scholar, sat on the left and right of these two chairs.
Next to these two chairs, there are two desks and two chairs. The desk and chair on Tuhai's side are used by Huang Zhisheng, a scholar of the Hanlin Academy, and the tables and chairs on Huang Zongxi's side are owned by his son Huang Baijia. use.
Huang Zhisheng and Huang Baijia brought by Tu Hai will be responsible for the records of the consultative meeting. If any joint memorial needs to be drafted, the two of them can do it for them.
Opposite the throne and the throne are rows of chairs, with a total of more than 400 chairs. At this moment, there is a so-called gentry sitting on every chair... Among them, the gentry sitting in the front rows are all trembling, and looking around from time to time, as if they have done something bad. Likewise, a few simply closed their eyes and muttered words in their mouths, wondering whether they were reciting Buddhist scriptures or reciting the Analects of Confucius? In short, they dare not discuss politics.
Looking at the behavior of these people, you can tell that they are real gentry - these people don't know what evil they have done in their previous lives. Seeing that the soldiers of tomorrow are coming to Jiangnan, these miserable days of fear will be over, but Because Huang Zongxi, an old immortal, was arrested and brought to Nanjing to serve as a gentry...
What a nonsense!
Keeping silent, hiding a few books at home, and reading and playing with them, might lead to literary inquisition. Who dares to discuss politics in front of the court officials and more than 200 court eagles? Not to mention that they don't dare to do this, even Zhu and Ji Lai don't dare to do it!
And behind these real gentry, who were about to be frightened to death, were the more than 200 court eagle dogs. The purpose of Kangxi sending them was actually not to capture the literary prison, but to gather together for several northern provinces, as well as Manchuria and Mongolia. number.
In Kangxi's view, this consultative council should be held together by gentry from all over the country. It should not be just for the gentry from Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Huizhou provinces, and no one else should participate!
It seems like there are only three provinces left in the Qing Dynasty, which is outrageous!
But Kangxi didn't really have the heart to find so many people, and time didn't wait for us!
Zhu Heji will come to Jiangnan as soon as the second half of the year. Even if he doesn't come... aren't there still hundreds of thousands of "heavenly soldiers" from the New Eight Banners waiting to get paid?
Now the Qing Dynasty's finances are extremely poor! Only by paying flags, poaching employees, and asking the Eight Banners to rule the Yamen and the big slaves who owned a large number of farms to advance the "slave recruitment fees" could they barely get the manpower and equipment together.
But for hundreds of thousands of people who receive military pay and rewards and rice and grain every month, they have to spend hundreds of thousands of taels of silver!
This does not include the cost of accumulating sugar, saltpetre, gunpowder, guns, and arrowheads!
In addition, once the Ming army reaches the south of the Yangtze River, the income of the Qing court will definitely drop sharply... If he does not make a big profit before the war starts, when the war starts, Zhu Heji will use the "expense of military pay" to This fighting method can also defeat Kangxi.
That's why Emperor Kangxi endured the humiliation of being slapped in the face by Huang Zongxi and accepted Huang Laothi's obviously malicious suggestion - to decentralize the power of regiment training in exchange for military expenses and sugar.
In other words, this so-called consultation meeting is actually a trade fair... It is to reach a deal in which team training is exchanged for military expenses and sugar.
It was precisely because this deal was proposed by Huang Zongxi and now needed Huang Zongxi as a middleman to facilitate it that Kangxi suppressed his anger and did not kill Huang Zongxi's family, and even tolerated Huang Zongxi and several of his nephews risking their lives before the consultation meeting began. "Selling private goods" and distributing a copy of "The Record of Interviews with Ming Yi" everywhere...
But don't be too happy Huang Zongxi, Emperor Kangxi has it all written down in his little notebook!
If Huang Zongxi's "business" is messed up, then the Literary Prison will come... A Literary Prison will beat up all the local tyrants and evil gentry in the Jiangnan area, and then there will be money. Even if it's "killing someone to get candy", you have to pass this level first!
If Huang Zongxi's "deal" is successful, let him live for a few more days... wait until the Eight Banners New Army repels Zhu Heji, and then attack his literary prison!
In short, Huang Zongxi is destined to die!
But it's not the time to die yet, so Huang Zongxi, who didn't shed tears even after seeing the coffin, can still laugh, and still laugh loudly.
"Hahaha... Why are you all crying and mourning? Are you going to bury me?" Gu
Tu Hai next to him chuckled after hearing this, and said in his heart: "Be proud of it, you just... the time hasn't come yet!"
Huang Zongxi also heard Tu Hai's chuckle, glanced at him, and said: "Tu Zhongtang, please stop watching from the side. The two of us did this business together. You are the emperor's confidant, It’s up to you to tell me what this group training license is, right?”
Tu Hai smiled and said: "Let's talk about it... This regiment training license is actually two things. One is the regiment training token given by the emperor. With this license, you can control the regiment training of a county, and you can practice in the county. By opening a regiment training office, you can also recruit regiment members and apportion the expenses of regiment training to all townships in the county.
The second is the official license of the Tuan Lian Envoy. Although the Tuan Lian Envoy is not a permanent position in the imperial court and has no rank, with this license, he has the power of Tongzhi within the county, and he can also control the health of the people of the county. You can also build a village in a strategic location in the county to serve as a government office.
However, this group training license cannot be issued easily. You, the wealthy gentry in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Anhui, need to spend money to donate! Does anyone want it? "
No......
Who can afford to pay for this?
We all are good scholars, and we don’t plan to change our careers to become military leaders, so why do we need this? Maybe he will be jealous of the court!
Isn't this courting death?
Tu Hai turned his head and looked at Huang Zongxi coldly - your idea doesn't work!
Huang Zongxi said with a smile: "Tu Zhongtang, you don't know how to do business...you didn't explain clearly the wonderful function of this group training license!"
Do you still blame me?
Tu Hai snorted: "Then Mr. Lizhou, let me tell you, this license plate has some wonderful uses."
Huang Zongxi smiled and said: "This license plate has only one use, which is to keep alive in troubled times!"
He glanced at the people below with burning eyes: "You won't forget what happened twenty-seven or eight years ago, right?"
Tu Hai became angry when he heard this, "Mr. Lizhou, what do you mean?"
Huang Zongxi pointed at Tuhai and said with a smile: "Look, look... how vicious it is! But the third prince Zhu and the third grandson of Zhu in Guangdong and Jiangxi are even more fierce than him! When the time comes, the rebel armies on both sides will In our land in the south of the Yangtze River, how can you avoid being burned and killed? You are all powerless scholars, how can you protect yourself?
This group training license is your self-protection! Even if there are only 1,200 regiment members, you can find a piece of land surrounded by water in your hometown, build a fortress, and hoard money and food to protect yourself... Even if the rebels come, seeing that you have Tuan Ding, who has a walled city, knows that it is difficult to take it lightly, so he leaves after asking for some money and food. "
The people below were a little tempted, but no one dared to stand up first.
And this will definitely cost a lot!
Tu Hai snorted again and looked at Huang Zongxi with an even colder look.
However, Huang Zongxi remained calm and said with a smile: "Don't think that a city with one or two thousand regiments is not enough to protect itself. Just think about it, if there are two counties, and the wealthy households in one county have already bought the license plate, They have their own city and regiment. But the local tycoons in another county have no license, no city, and no regiment..." He suddenly turned around and asked Tu Hai, "Tu Zhongtang, if you want to lead troops to rob , Who will they attack?"
Tuhai laughed loudly: "You still need to ask? Of course it's a persimmon that's soft and easy to squeeze!"
Huang Zongxi sighed, pointed at Tuhai and said: "After he has pinched the soft persimmon, he may pinch the hard persimmon again... But the probability of surviving as a hard persimmon is higher than that of a soft persimmon! And! Only one set of this license plate is issued per county. You spend a lot of money to buy it, and then you can distribute it to other gentry in the county when you go back.
This is a matter of survival. Wouldn't it be nice for everyone to contribute money together, organize a group together, find a place to build forts together, and survive this troubled world together? "
After hearing Huang Zongxi's words, Tu Hai also quietly gave a thumbs up.
A great scholar is a great scholar!
