"My dear brother, do you also think that the Ming Dynasty is at the end of its rope?"
It's hard to find a confidant, so Huang Zongxi burst out with great enthusiasm and pestered Zuo Mengeng for advice.
Zuo Mengeng wanted to make friends, so he naturally spoke freely.
"In today's world, natural disasters are the first-class disaster. If the court operates properly and the monarchs and ministers are wise, there is still a way to solve it. However, the court today has been ill for a long time and cannot be cured."
Huang Zongxi showed his limitations.
"Hey, if Taizu comes to this world, maybe the country and the people will be in peace."
This idea is not advisable, Zuo Mengeng must resolutely get rid of it.
"Even if Taizu is reborn, the Ming Dynasty will not be saved. The current situation can only be broken and then established. The first thing to be broken is the dragon chair. If the person sitting on the dragon chair does not change, everything else will be Nonsense."
Huang Zongxi was shocked.
I never thought there was someone more radical than myself.
"The great ancestor was wise and mighty..."
This time Zuo Mengeng didn't let him continue.
"Brother Huang really thinks that throughout the dynasties, the monarchs at the beginning were wise, while the monarchs at the later stages were dim?"
As soon as this statement came out, not to mention Huang Zongxi, even Hou Xun, Liu Zongzhou, Cao Wenheng and others couldn't help but look over.
Zuo Mengeng's insights are indeed not meant for Huang Zongxi alone.
"The decline or even death of a dynasty actually has little to do with the wisdom of its rulers and ministers."
This statement is extremely novel, and it is almost equivalent to denying the theory of emperors being ignorant and virtuous advocated by Confucianism for thousands of years.
"What really led to the collapse of a dynasty was the lack of progress in social productivity and the solidified political system. Taking this dynasty as an example, the per capita production income was not much different between the Hongwu years and today. But the population has increased by countless amounts. times, the land cannot afford it, which will naturally lead to economic collapse. Even if Taizu is resurrected, can he solve this problem? "
Huang Zongxi was a little confused, but Hou Xun, Liu Zongzhou and others' eyes lit up.
These days, they often discussed "The Wealth of Nations" with Zuo Menggen. I have long been familiar with vocabulary such as productivity and production relations and understand their meaning very well.
At this time, it sounded like a sudden enlightenment.
After Zuo Mengeng explained these new terms to Huang Zongxi, the man also sighed.
"Come on. The greatest evil in the world is the annexation of land. It's a shame that Zhang Jiangling fell short of the goal and failed to achieve the full goal. Otherwise, how could there be today's disaster?"
Zuo Mengeng looked at him funny.
"Do you really think Zhang Jiangling can solve the problem of land annexation?"
Huang Zongxi asked back.
"Why not?"
Zuo Mengeng sneered.
"After Zhang Jiangling died, why did Wanli attack him? Do you really think that Zhang Jiangling oppressed the emperor too hard when he was in power? No. Zhang Jiangling's government was not deep enough, but it also touched the hearts of the landlords in the world. Benefits. After his death, how could these people not fight back? Just like the story of Shang Yang, it is just happening again today."
Huang Zongxi disagreed.
"I know very well that the landlords in the world hate Zhang Jiangling to the core. But why does the emperor do this?"
Zuo Mengeng chuckled and cleared the clouds to see the sun.
"Isn't the emperor a landlord?"
Huang Zongxi was stunned, his inherent knowledge was shaken to pieces.
This is not the end, Zuo Mengeng said again: "Zhang Jiangling's restructuring has not been fully completed, what is the root cause? It is not that he doesn't want to, but it is impossible. Isn't Zhang Jiangling a landlord? Looking at the government and the public, all over the world, scholar-bureaucrats are not landlords How many people are there?"
The people present were all elites. After hearing this question, their perceptions were overturned, and they felt that the whole world had changed.
But after tasting it carefully, I found that what Zuo Mengeng said actually made sense.
The so-called scholarly family and family tradition of farming and studying sound noble and elegant.
But if you think about it carefully, you don't all rely on mastering a large amount of land to support your family, study, advance into an official career, and then seize land. As a result, the family grew day by day, and its incense continued for hundreds of generations.
Since the court is full of landowners who rely on land to grow their families, what will they do when someone does not allow them to annex the land?
Just when they couldn't calm down, Zuo Mengeng's words became more and more harsh.
"If we want to solve the problem of land annexation, we first need the emperor, who is the leader of all living beings in the world, to set an example, so that the other landowners will have no excuse to resist. But think about it, is that long-lived master willing to dissolve the emperor's estate and distribute the land to the farmers? ?”
No one needs to answer, the answer is obvious.
Everyone present knew very well how much the number of royal estates had increased from the beginning of the founding of the country to the present, which is all well-documented.
Especially the current one, asking him to use the inner treasury is like killing his father, let alone not annexing the land.
Although the number of imperial villages continued to decrease after Zhengde, the amount of land owned by the entire royal family increased dramatically.
It can't be that the royal family has nothing to do with the emperor, right?
Anyone who says that is just being a hooligan.
"Haha, there is no royal land in the world. Because of this, the emperor regarded all the land in the world as his own, and occupied it at will without any psychological burden, and then rewarded it to nobles, bureaucrats, and eunuchs. Big and small landowners If you eat so much that you are so fat, who cares about the hardships of the people?"
At the pier, Zuo Mengeng fell into endless silence as he asked sharp questions one after another.
Around them, the entire dock was in full swing, with countless refugees working hard with satisfied smiles.
Although they were covered in dirty mud, when they thought about the food and wages that were waiting for them, they had no more demands.
Zuo Mengeng stayed at the dock to supervise the work until the afternoon before returning home.
There is an extra tail behind him.
After a heart-warming conversation, Huang Zongxi was shocked by Zuo Mengeng's remarks.
This man made an amazing decision.
I will stay in Linqing and will not leave.
In his own words, even if he goes back to Jiangnan, all he sees are people who are just like flies and dogs.
Let's go to the capital with Liu Zongzhou, but we can't bear to see the court's foul spirit.
After thinking about it, Zuo Menggeng is still the most suitable place.
He could see that Zuo Mengeng still had many things that he had not disclosed. For his immature worldview, these are treasures that are thirsty for knowledge.
The backyard of Zuofu was extremely lively.
Not only Xu Ruolin and Zuo Xianmei were there, but Zhang Haogu and Liu Yiyuan were also here.
In addition, the children beside Zhang Lingxi and Hou Xun were also surrounding Xu Ruolin, wondering what they were talking about.
By the way, that kid is Hou Fangyu.
The future one of the four young masters in the late Ming Dynasty, and his love story with Li Xiangjun will be famous throughout the ages.
Although he later regretted his shortcomings, he was still reviled and criticized by future generations.
"You surnamed Zuo, how dare you come back?"
Seeing Zuo Mengeng, Zhang Haogu was so angry that he tilted his buttocks and was about to come up to argue.
Liu Yiyuan stopped him funny.
"Brother Zhang, the doctor said that your injury is in a critical area and should not be touched lightly."
Everyone around them laughed and laughed, Xu Ruolin and Zuo Xianmei even spat softly and couldn't bear to hear more.
Zhang Haogu roared repeatedly.
"I'm going to get hurt, isn't it because of this guy? If he saved me, would I still have such bad luck?"
Zuo Mengeng spread his hands and asked with a smile: "Brother Zhang, tell me, in that situation, should I save you or Miss Xu?"
Zhang Haogu scratched his neck and let out a cry from the depths of his soul.
"I am your most beloved brother!"
Zuo Mengeng replied smoothly: "You don't want to add money."
It didn't feel right until he finished speaking. Fortunately, the muttering was not loud enough that Zhang Haogu didn't hear clearly, so he quickly changed his words.
"As a gentleman, you must be courteous to ladies when encountering danger. This is the basic morality. Is Brother Zhang in vain?"
Zhang Haogu was confused.
Is this matter that serious?
But he didn't give in so easily.
"Then why didn't you save me?"
The first time you want to save a woman, okay, I admit it.
Then why don't you come back to save me?
Zhang Haogu felt that he had caught Zuo Mengeng's fault and would never give up without giving him a reason.
If he knew who Zuo Mengeng was facing, he wouldn't be happy so early.
Zuo Mengeng chuckled and found the reason casually.
"I was stunned by the gunpowder explosion and didn't think about it."
"you……"
Zhang Haogu couldn't take a breath, his heart ached.
But considering the earth-shattering explosion, this explanation seems to make sense.
Afraid that Zhang Haogu wouldn't let go, Zuo Mengeng hurried to Xu Ruolin's side.
"What are you doing?"
Xu Ruolin pointed at the two children and said helplessly: "It's not just the two of them who eavesdropped on Mr. Ruogu's discussion and bothered me with difficult problems."
Hou Fangyu is quite alert, and his eyes are dark and spiritual.
"Jia Yan said that talking about literature and Taoism is all false. Only practical things like this are beneficial to the country and the people. I thought that if I can learn a thing or two from this matter, I can increase my knowledge and become a useful talent."
Zuo Mengeng looked around and realized that what Hou Fangyu and Zhang Lingxi were studying was actually the issue of dam construction.
A lot of places on the dock side were damaged by the bombing and must be rebuilt.
Hou Xun and others also participated in the reconstruction. Hou Fangyu probably overheard the discussion and asked Xu Ruolin for advice.
