In August of the third year of Wanli, the Songjiang area encountered a typhoon. Wang Yixiu hurriedly reported to the court that the sea water was overflowing, and the water surged more than ten feet, destroying three thousand hectares of farmland, and over 10,000 people's houses were floating. He asked the court to provide relief.
In the wind and rain in Taicang County, Suzhou, Wang Shizhen, who had moved out of the sealed house and rented a new apartment, looked at the bursts of rain in the courtyard, and the sadness in her heart was relieved.
After all, when the storm hit him, it happened to all people. However, hundreds of members of the Wang family have to bear the storms and thunders that the imperial court has dealt to his family alone.
Yesterday, the court issued its verdict regarding Wang Shizhen's cousins Wang Shiwen and Wang Shide and their three children, Wang Shiluan, the son of his brother Wang Shimao, and Wang Shiqi, Wang Shizhen's favorite eldest son:
Wang Shiwen and Wang Shide were hanged. Wang Shilu, Wang Shiqi and their three brothers were all exiled to Daning.
In the heavy rain, Wang Shizhen could still hear the wailing coming from the back room of the rented house.
"It's a total defeat, it's a total defeat! The Wang family is over, the Wang family is over!" The shouts were rolling in his heart. Wang Shizhen's breath was short because of the heat, which made his tears well up. Waves of sobs were stuck at the bottom of his throat, but he couldn't cry.
Wang Fengzhou, who is nearly half a century old, never imagined that this wealthy family, which has been passed down for thousands of years, would fall into an abyss in this peaceful era. Was it the incompetence of the two brothers Wang Shiwen and Wang Shide that destroyed the Wang family? Is it Hai Rui's dirty trick? Is it Zhang Juzheng, who lives in a temple and is in charge of the country? Or his good teacher, Xu Jie, Xu Huating, who fought back? !
While he was gritting his teeth, a low cough came from behind him. Wang Shizhen quickly wiped her face, and when she turned around to look, it turned out to be her younger brother Wang Shimao behind her, hesitant to speak.
Wang Shimao was formerly the Minister of Taichang Temple in Nanjing. He was dismissed from office at the same time as Wang Shizhen because of the Wang family's conviction. At this time, his eyes were also red. Seeing that there were still tears on Wang Shizhen's face, he whispered: "Brother, please don't be sad. The doctor said that Shijun is fine - he had convulsions and fever because he was frightened."
Wang Shizhen breathed a sigh of relief when she heard that her youngest son had passed through the gate of hell. He had been an official for many years and experienced many storms. At this time, he calmed down and said with pain in his words:
"The trouble for the Wang family was only caused by me. In May of this year, there was an earthquake in Yunyang. I overestimated my ability. I wrote in the "Earthquake Shu" to insinuate powerful officials and make enemies with them. That's why my family has changed like this! Zhang Juzheng, what a vicious heart!" After saying that, I shed tears again.
Wang Shimao sighed after hearing this and said: "Brother is indeed like Meng Lang. He cultivates his ambition internally and uses the tranquility of the Kun Dao as his teaching; he prepares himself externally and uses conspiracies and dangers as danger." What does it have to do with the earthquake? Not to mention, the three You also offended his brother-in-law during the month."
What Wang Shimao said was the beginning of the bad relationship between Wang Shizhen and Zhang Juzheng.
In the twenty-sixth year of Jiajing's reign, Wang Shizhen and Zhang Juzheng were awarded Jinshi in the same ranking. These two are of the same age, one is currently the chief minister of the empire, and the other is the leader of the literary world. He has been publicly recommended as the leader of the literary world for more than ten years. They are both top figures today.
In the same year as them, there is also the famous Yang Jisheng. At that time, Yang Jisheng was severely imprisoned, and the political leaders were as silent as a cicada. Only Wang Shizhen sent the decoction and wrote a grievance letter to Emperor Jiajing on behalf of his wife. After Yang Jisheng's death, Wang Shizhen collected his body and went to the execution ground to pay homage.
At that time, his passionate actions aroused the jealousy of the strict party, and his father Wang Yan was caught in the wrong and was arrested and imprisoned. At that time, two brothers, Wang Shizhen and Wang Shimao, knelt outside the Yan Mansion for several days. However, they failed to save their father. Wang Yan was eventually sentenced to be beheaded.
Wang Yan's death completely turned a literary young man who was interested in politics into literature, and he became a leader in the literary world in his middle age.
The reason why he was able to gain such a prominent position before he could hear it was partly because he was indeed talented, but also partly because the high reputation his family had accumulated during the process of "defeating Yan" played a role. Anyone who refutes Wang Shizhen's doctrines will not be as convincing as what he wrote.
The relationship between Wang Shizhen and Zhang Juzheng has been very good since the Jiajing Dynasty. After Zhang Juzheng entered the cabinet, Wang Shizhen once praised the visiting Qi Jiguang: "The Prime Minister of Jiangling is a true minister of the country. It is a blessing to the country and a blessing to all the people to be the Prime Minister today!"
Of course, he had another purpose in touting Zhang Juzheng in front of Qi Jiguang - to vindicate his father Wang Yan. In the early years of Longqing's reign, Gao Gong opposed Wang Yan's rehabilitation, while Xu Jie supported it. The successful rehabilitation in the end must be credited to Zhang Juzheng's coordination in the same year.
Zhang Juzheng was expelled from Houbingguo by Gaogong in the sixth year of Longqing, but continued to take care of Wang Shizhen. He was first assigned to take charge of the Huguang Provincial Examination and wrote a letter to Shu Nianting, the governor of Huguang, recommending his talents and learning: "The new Wang Lianxian of Fengzhou is good at diction. If he is entrusted with the Cheng Examination, he will definitely be able to do it for him and be of benefit to the grand ceremony."
It's a pity that Wang Shizhen didn't appreciate it. His ambition was to write the history of the country in Lantai, Hanlin Academy. This wish had been expressed to Zhang Juzheng many times before. However, Zhang Juzheng, as the Yuanfu of the state, also took advantage of Wang Shizhen's status as the leader of the literary circle to declare to the world's scholars a policy of enlightened politics and the use of all talents, so he was still assigned the actual position. official.
In just three years, Zhang Juzheng successively arranged for Wang Shizhen to be appointed as the envoy to Huguang, and within a year he was transferred to the imperial official of Taipu Temple. At the beginning of the third year of Wanli, he was transferred to a foreign official and appointed as the governor of Yunyang. The next people to welcome Wang Shizhen were the ministers and ministers. The road to the pavilion is smooth and smooth.
But Zhang Juzheng's charming eyes were exposed to the blind man, and Wang Shizhen was distracted at this time. He was conceited about his talent in the world, but had no intention of governing. During his tenure, he handled the land dispute case of Yunyang scholar Xu Shiyan extremely hastily. Behind Xu Shiyan stood Zhang Juzheng's brother-in-law Wang Hua, who was dealt with by Wang Shizhen, which was equivalent to giving Zhang Juzheng eye drops.
At that time, Zhang Juzheng looked at the matter from the perspective of Wang Fengzhou, a scholar who had sexual intercourse, and wrote a special letter to Wang Shizhen to explain it to his family. At the same time, he also understood Wang Shizhen and said that what he did was right.
In May this year, there was an earthquake in Huguang, and Yunyang was also affected. What puzzled the world was that when the Xu Mansion's retreat from the fields was causing a stir, Wang Shizhen actually published an article in "Earthquake Shu" to report the disaster and at the same time attack Zhang Juzheng, implying that the powerful ministers were in power and were responsible for the frequent disasters in the world. source.
The memorial was retained by Zhu Yijun, and Zhang Juzheng did not say anything to the emperor. But then there was a thunderstorm in the court, and the Wang family was uprooted and unable to recover.
At this time, Wang Shizhen, who was suffering from the disaster, asked himself, was his memorial at that time intended to repay Xu Jie's kindness for redressing Wang Yan, or was he jealous of Zhang Juzheng to the point of losing his mind? Or both? He asked himself if he could not figure it out, and Wang Shimao beside him couldn't even figure out why his brother suddenly became confused.
At this time, Wang Shizhen was depressed to death after hearing Wang Shimao's accusation. A dignified leader in the literary world, he showed off his words and became a laughing stock in the world. It would be fine if Zhang Juzheng framed his family. As long as his name is clean, the family will one day recover.
However, the "Huang Ming Nanjing Daily" successively exposed the details of his family's participation in the civil uprising, and even published the conversations between them truthfully - this family's reputation has been spread ten miles away, what else does the Wang family have? Turn over?
In fact, Wang Shizhen wronged Zhang Juzheng at this time, and Zhang Juzheng did not participate much in the entire handling of the Songjiang Civil Rebellion.
All Zhang Juzheng could do was to keep Xu Jie. He didn't open his mouth and came to protect Wang Shizhen, otherwise he would be jealous of the emperor - Teacher, the same year was saved, you, Zhang Juzheng, are working together to fight against dissidents, what do you want?
What's more, Wang Shizhen had a brain attack and took the initiative to antagonize Zhang Juzheng. Zhang Juzheng would be worthy of him if he didn't add insult to injury. As for Zhu Yijun, he judged that Wang Shizhen was just trying to gain popularity, Qingliu - he specialized in slandering the people in power to earn his high reputation. Zhu Yijun has seen a lot in later generations, and the "public intellectuals" all over the Internet are full of such things. .
Therefore, I turn my palms down and show my respect to the scholars in Jiangnan and the world. No matter you are a third-grade official or a scholar leader, as long as you hinder the imperial court's new policy and want to obstruct the great government by forming associations, inviting names or even manipulating public opinion in Jiangnan, you will be punished. All will be ground into powder.
Wang Shizhen, who heard the storm coming heavily, shed two more tears in shame. Wang Shimao was afraid that he would commit suicide due to overthinking, so he advised again: "Brother, don't blame yourself. When Hai Rui was investigating this case, there were two families, the Xu family and the Zhuang family. I just regret that our family is not as discerning and clever as these two families." "
Let's not mention these two families. When mentioning these two families, Wang Shizhen's mouth is full of bitterness. The old man of the Xu family counterattacked, burying the four guilty families in a pit, and did not lose any reputation. Xu Jie's tail-cutting survival strategy worked. Public opinion in Jiangnan did not think that the Xu family participated in the slave rebellion. . If he really participated, how could he be beaten into the house by hungry people and almost escape?
The dealer was even more ruthless. Before Hai Rui could even finish the case, the dealer began to withdraw from the land. It turned out that his family occupied an area of 130,000 acres, but when Hai Rui's memorial came up, less than 8,000 acres were left.
Subsequently, the banker owner burned the usurious loans owed by his tenants and the unpaid land rent certificates. This move suppressed all the landowners in the south of the Yangtze River at that time. Although Shilin didn't react at all, the common people simply regarded the banker as the Buddha of thousands of families.
What's even more amazing is that the bankers will make up for the land tax that they have escaped through various methods such as deception and distribution over the years. With this alone, the money and grain of Jiaxing and Wuxian counties for the three years of Wanli can be completely collected.
What Jiangnan Shilin didn't understand at the time was that the banker did all this without contacting Shilin to make his name known, nor did he report it to the court through any channels. Because his family has supported the charity village for many years, and has a reputation for charity in Suzhou, the people do not know what it is, and they all sincerely believe that the land withdrawal and other things are the banker's good deeds.
If you do it with such diligence, you will certainly be rewarded. After receiving the intelligence from the Jiangnan area, Zhu Yijun, with a flick of his pen, excluded the banker from the decree issued.
But in a flash of thought, the emperor, who was in the ninth level, saw the subsequent encounters between the Zhuang and Wang families, which were nothing short of worlds apart.
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