I'm really not doing business

Chapter 686: You want me to eat a boomerang? No way!

The Donglin Party is a historical entity, not an illusory concept. It is a political collective of the bureaucratic class composed mainly of literati from the south of the Yangtze River. At the same time, the Donglin Party is also a cultural phenomenon, the fruit of the Ming Dynasty's two hundred years of nurturing scholars.

The Donglin Party was an important political faction in the late Ming Dynasty. Its core proposition was to oppose the eunuch party, and it also took into account: "Political affairs are returned to the six ministries, and public opinion is handed over to the censors, and the world will naturally be happy for good governance." It locked the imperial power in the palace, with political affairs presided over by the six ministries and public opinion handed over to the censors. It opposed the emperor's dispatching mining supervisors to all directions to collect money, and advocated releasing the treasury to fertilize the dead trees in the world. It advocated loving merchants and caring for the people, not hindering work but benefiting the people, and abolishing the banknote offices to facilitate the people.

Every year on the third day of March, members of the Donglin Party would gather in the Donglin Academy for talks, which was known as the March 3rd Donglin Conference. The Donglin Party was organized on the seat-master system, and people at the time called it "the seat-master and his disciples are of the same mind." In cultural and political activities, members of the Donglin Party helped, sheltered and supported each other. Although no other political achievements were seen, the party's love for the same and hatred for the different, and its results were brilliant.

The activities of the Donglin Party were mainly carried out through lectures at the Donglin Academy. The Donglin Academy was a place for both lectures and political discussions. It mainly criticized current affairs and the specific government affairs of the dynasty, supplemented by advocating integrity, claiming to be a clear stream, and advocating various seemingly wonderful but definitely impossible to implement policies, thereby attracting disciples, forming a joint force, and influencing political decisions.

For example, Gao Panlong's favorite advocacy was to use the treasury to fertilize all the withered trees in the world. He exaggerated the size of the treasury to tens of millions of taels of silver and put all the blame for the world on the emperor. But when Lin Fucheng said that he really wanted to carry out the plan, Gao Panlong became afraid.

Many people think that the Donglin Party is a group of scholars who are eager to serve the country and are somewhat hasty. They showed integrity, courage, fortitude and tenacity in the political struggle. For the so-called ideals, for the so-called righting of wrongs, and for the so-called putting imperial power in a cage, they were fearless in the face of danger and were ready to die.

Are they really ready to die? On the list of Donglin Party members drawn up by Wei Zhongxian, how many people, like Qian Qianyi, surrendered to the Qing Dynasty during the transition between the Ming and Qing dynasties?
As for claiming to be a clean official, Qian Qianyi married the prostitute Liu Rushi. How many scholars and officials in the south of the Yangtze River lingered in the brothels on the Qinhuai River? Is this really a clean official? Liu Rushi was born into a family of prostitutes. A businessman married a leftover geisha like a treasure!

A clean reputation is a criterion for evaluating a family's honor and personal morality. The literati in the south of the Yangtze River who claim to be clean and like to visit brothels can definitely not be called clean. Qian Qianyi is not the only one like this. There was also Mao Pijiang, who married the famous prostitute Dong Xiaowan in the south of the Yangtze River.

Many people in later generations regarded the failure of the Donglin Party’s political activities as a tragedy, and believed that the tragedy of the Donglin Party was the tragedy of the times. However, Zhu Yijun felt that the emergence of the Donglin Party was the tragedy of the times. It was the greatest sorrow that a group of literati who had no political vision, lacked basic ability to govern the country, and were good at forming factions to attack dissidents and persecute factions could become the mainstream of the literati.

There were many reasons for the demise of the Ming Dynasty.

However, those party members who were obsessed with party struggles in the late Ming Dynasty, including the Donglin Party, all bear unshirkable historical responsibility.

The Wanli Emperor, who did not stop the Factions and even deliberately condoned them, put power and intrigue above all else and wanted the party members to check and balance each other, also bears an unshirkable historical responsibility. Of course, after liquidating Zhang Juzheng, expelling Qi Jiguang, and deposing the Beijing Camp, he had no means to stop the Factions and Insurgency.

Don't have that strength.

"Gao Panlong, right? Are you in your twenties?" After Gao Panlong admitted defeat and sat down, Lin Fucheng asked a rambling question.

"Twenty-two years old." Gao Panlong took a deep breath and said.

Lin Fucheng then took a deep breath and said, "There is a smell on you, the smell of an old person, not old in age, but old in heart."

"They are just like those old rich men wandering around Beiya Hutong, carrying a bird cage and two walnuts in their hands, walking around all day long, looking at everything they see, pointing and yelling, wearing beads around their necks and hands, and always having a small room in their house as a Buddhist shrine with a big-bellied Maitreya Buddha, with no windows open. The smell of sandalwood and incense makes people dizzy. They look like they are worshipping Buddha, but they have never read a single Buddhist scripture."

"There are a few words hanging on the wall, most of which are "A bright future", "Peace leads to far-reaching goals", "Heaven rewards hard work", "Benevolence brings blessings". My favorites are rotten root carvings, fake gold and stone, fake rare books, and purple clay teapots. Most of these purple clay teapots are fake."

"Stubborn and paranoid, he only thinks and believes that he is right, but when it comes to doing something, he is timid and afraid, and dares not try. He likes to talk to people about how great he was in the past, but in fact, if you look closely, there is nothing good or remarkable about him."

“Do you know what this smells like?”

"The smell of aging, decay, and death. You are only twenty-two years old, and I smell the same smell on you as those old rich men."

Gatherings for discussions were a very common form of political discussion in the late Ming Dynasty. The Ming Dynasty's declining national strength was like firewood placed on a raging fire. Everyone could see that there was a problem, so it became so common, and eventually gatherings for discussions led to the formation of factions and party imprisonment.

In the gathering, there are few people like Lin Fucheng who curses people so directly, and without using a single dirty word, yet he curses people so hard that they feel ashamed and wish they could find a hole to crawl into.

"You!" Gao Panlong slammed the table and stood up, his face flushed, pointing at Lin Fucheng, but he didn't say anything more in rebuttal. When he denied his proposal to release the internal treasury, he was bound to face this humiliation. This was the price of losing the gathering.

"The funniest thing is that what you said was already done by Your Majesty." Li Zhi calmly put down his teacup and said, "From the second year of Wanli to the end of the ninth year of Wanli, the internal treasury, the national treasury, the Chu Party and the Jin Party invested a total of 3712 million taels of silver in Nan Ya and Nanyang. It was because of such a large amount of silver that we have the shipyards, weaving bureaus, cotton mills, iron smelting plants, etc., and the five major Maritime Customs Offices and the four governor-general's offices that are crowded with people today."

"On the other hand, in June of the 13th year of the Wanli reign, the Kaifeng-Jiayuguan highway began to be built. The construction period is nine years. Yes, the budget exceeded 30 million silver coins. This is just the budget. As various difficulties are encountered during the construction, additional funds will be added."

"You know nothing of His Majesty's frugality!"

"You are just imagining that your Majesty has tens of millions of taels of silver in the treasury, imagining that your Majesty is a Pixiu who only takes in and never spends out, imagining that the wealth of the Ming Dynasty has become the private property of one family. You shoot the arrow first and then draw a target. When you hit it, you say to everyone, I hit it, I hit it. It's just as ridiculous."

"Your behavior is ridiculous, and your supporters, the people who believe in you, are equally ridiculous."

Li Zhi's criticism was more direct. He used objective facts to slap Gao Panlong twice in the face. All the logic of releasing the inner treasury was based on a false fact, which would make one laugh.

"Do you want to release the treasury? You just want to put all the money in the treasury into your own pockets." Lin Fucheng took a sip of tea and calmly gave Gao Panlong a critical hit, making his purpose of clamoring clear.

Money always flows to places where it is not needed, and this is the primary problem in its distribution. Gao Panlong proposed to use the money from the imperial treasury, but after layers of exploitation, the money from the imperial treasury would eventually reach the hands of the soldiers, and the soldiers might even owe money to these powerful and wealthy people.

That is why the emperor was so persistent in building the highway. Only when the road was built could goods from all over the world flow, the basic economic structure of the Ming Dynasty be changed, the small peasant economy be transformed into a commodity economy, more people be able to read, and power would not always be held in the hands of a small group of people.

"Okay, let's stop talking about irrelevant things and get back to our strategy of stopping the offering and the wind force of the offering." Li Zhi stopped attacking and started the next round.

"If we surrender, the Ming Dynasty court can openly take away everything from everyone!" Gao Panlong began to state his point of view. The court, the emperor, and the authority are all robbers.

Lin Fucheng immediately asked, "Whose property did you take away? Are you representing everyone because of your fear? The poor coolies didn't have anything to take away. They had almost nothing. The Confucian scholars like to label the poor coolies as villains and create a treacherous image of them. They are honest on the surface but like to lie the most. They are stingy and cunning. They fight to the death for a little profit."

"But who made them like this? It was the powerful and wealthy who took away all their gains. They had no choice but to do this in order to survive."

"It is unreasonable to strip someone of his rights, and it is unreasonable to whitewash him no matter how much he whitewashes him."

The claims of limited liberals and absolute liberals are both based on freedom. Lin Fucheng believes that exploitation is a constraint, while absolute liberals believe that exploitation is part of freedom. This is actually the core content of the debate. It seems to be a discussion about contribution and cessation of contribution, but the essence of the discussion is whether exploitation is reasonable.

"It's ridiculous!" Gao Panlong shook his head and said, "It's fine to recover the money owed, but what's the point of imposing a fine? What a bullshit, it's just robbery, why bother to make it sound so high-sounding?"

"Even the powerful and wealthy cannot keep their property. The poor and the coolies had it, but it was taken away by the imperial court. If they don't rob now, it's just to avoid starvation."

Gao Panlong spoke out the inner thoughts of the literati in the Southern Court. They were afraid of the emperor losing control, so they wanted to put the imperial power in a cage. Now the emperor is not robbing, but he is not hungry. Once there is a huge deficit, the emperor who holds violence will kill pigs for the New Year. As for them, without violence, they are just pigs to be slaughtered.

Li Zhi waved his hands and said, "But the current situation is that the poor people have no labor. Even if the weather is good, they still have to eat grass. It is already a good year if they can mix some sweet potato vines with coarse salt. Their harvest has been taken away. Being robbed by the court is another matter. The key to the problem is: whether it is robbed or not, we have to have it first."

"The main contradiction at the moment is the land information and the unfair compensation for labor, not the fact that it was taken away by the court as you said."

Li Zhi's thinking was very clear. He believed that being able to become a pig to be slaughtered was a kind of luck. However, the fact was that the vast majority of people in the Ming Dynasty, more than 10% of the people, did not have this qualification. Only 80% of the people in the Ming Dynasty controlled more than 4% of the land, and 50% of the people controlled more than % of the land.

"No one will not be punished for making a mistake. Is it just a matter of spitting out what you have eaten?" Lin Fucheng looked at Gao Panlong and sneered, "It really smells like decay. After all, isn't it the same old story? Still dreaming that doctors will not be punished, openly and brazenly demanding the privilege of not being punished for making mistakes."

"No one?" Gao Panlong's mouth twitched. He found these two guys too difficult to deal with. He took a deep breath and said, "You said that no one will not be punished if they make a mistake. Then what about the high and mighty people in heaven? Who will punish them?"

"You mean the emperor? You are such a coward that you dare not even say these two words." Li Zhi smiled. After Lin Fucheng returned to Beijing from Suiyuan, he shared the emperor's romantic affairs in front of the emperor! At that time, Li Zhi's legs were shaking and he thought he was going to die.

But Your Majesty does not care much about this matter. If it is beneficial to the king's rule over Suiyuan, some romantic affairs are fine.

The gatherings in the Northern Yamen were very bold, as the emperor was not an untouchable topic. The gatherings in the Southern Yamen were even bolder, but after the emperor arrived in the Southern Yamen and displayed violence, the literati in the Southern Yamen lost their courage.

I dare not even mention his name. In fact, there is nothing that cannot be mentioned. The Emperor of the Ming Dynasty is a reasonable man. He is sitting in the top box. As long as what he says makes sense, he will not be furious.

"Yes." Gao Panlong was somewhat reluctant and expressed his meaning in a very low voice. He wanted to say it but didn't dare.

"You are wrong. Anyone who loses in the officialdom will have to pay a price." Li Zhi said solemnly, "Do you think that your majesty's southern tour went smoothly and that you came here for no reason?"

Li Zhi reminded Gao Panlong that the last time Emperor Shizong went on a southern tour, there were fires all the way south. Earlier, Emperor Wuzong fell into the water during his southern tour and died.

Political struggles have always been cruel, and the emperor is no exception. Even in class theory, Zhang Juzheng listed the emperor as a separate and exclusive class, but in fact the emperor is still a hereditary official class.

The ministers cannot escape, and the king cannot escape either.

Gao Panlong took a deep breath, closed his eyes and thought for a moment before saying, "The poor people and coolies are poor because they don't strive for excellence. They need to work harder and be more diligent to get rich instead of being trapped in poverty!"

Lin Fucheng frowned, tilted his head and said in disbelief: "Are you saying that the reason why the poor are poor is because they are too bad?"

Gao Panlong said with certainty: "They are lazy, they are cunning, they are sneaky, they even steal! In a free market, everyone will always be given a fair price! They are poor not because we make them poor, but because of their own price in the market, that's it!"

Li Zhi sighed and said helplessly: "This market is neither free nor fair. Labor and working time have become a commodity, and the interests are cruelly exploited by meat eaters. Without fairness, how can there be freedom?" At this point in the conversation, there was no longer any consensus.

Who is right, Gao Panlong, Lin Fucheng or Li Zhi? Actually, there is no right or wrong, it all depends on one's standpoint.

Lin Fucheng and Li Zhi sympathized with the poor and laboring people. Their doctrine of freedom was aimed at everyone, and everyone could become a saint. However, the doctrine of freedom advocated by Gao Panlong and other Jiangnan literati was aimed at meat-eaters.

"Your Majesty, we have to go. There's an unexpected situation. There's a strike. How about we go back to Nanhu Villa first?" Feng Bao whispered in the emperor's ear. He had just received news from the eunuch that the craftsmen suddenly started taking to the streets.

Zhu Yijun nodded and stood up. After taking two steps, he suddenly came to his senses and looked at Feng Bao and asked, "What did you say happened? A strike?"

"Yes." Feng Bao knew that the emperor was just looking for fun, so he immediately said, "Your Majesty, this is a bit of a big event, how about we go back first?"

"What a great occasion! Find me a safe place to watch the fun." Zhu Yijun did not intend to cause trouble for the imperial guards, so he chose to find a safe place to watch the fun.

Feng Bao said with an embarrassed look on his face: "Your Majesty, why don't you go back to Nanhu Villa first? Right now, there are only two hundred imperial guards in Fuxi Tower, and I am worried that something might go wrong."

"Two hundred Ti cavalry are enough. Two hundred Ti cavalry are enough for me to break through the city of Nanjing." Zhu Yijun glanced at Feng Bao. The more Feng Bao persuaded him, the more he refused to leave.

There's something going on here.

At the Hongyuan Dyeing Factory in Chongyifang, Shanghai County, the craftsmen and the workshop owners had a quarrel. The Ming court finally dealt with the situation in favor of the craftsmen. Since then, the Nan Ya had set a precedent for labor-capital conflicts caused by the influx of silver. When wages were not paid, or even insufficient, strikes naturally increased.

Of the five buildings in the Fuxi Building, the five floors in the north direction could be completely closed. Zhu Yijun went directly to that building and watched the excitement from a high vantage point.

The workshop that caused the commotion this time was not a dyeing workshop, nor was it a work of any particular type of trade. Rather, it was more than a few thousand craftsmen from all walks of life who came to the street. After watching for a while, Zhu Yijun realized something was wrong: the craftsmen had all gathered in front of Fuxi Tower.

At this point, Zhu Yijun finally tasted the flavor, it was directed at him!

"You knew that you were coming for me, so you wanted me to leave quickly?" Zhu Yijun looked at Feng Bao with some confusion and asked.

"Ever since Your Majesty arrived at the Southern Court, there have been people who wanted to come and mourn for you. Li Le and Hai Rui handled some of them, and it wasn't inappropriate. The problem was that there were too many people. I heard that someone said that Your Majesty was in Fuxi Tower, so the craftsmen rushed over." Feng Bao did not dare to deceive the emperor and told the truth.

Zhu Yijun took a deep breath. He probably guessed what happened, but the reason was not important. What was most important now was to deal with the current situation. He nodded and said, "You're here at the right time."

"Your Majesty, why don't you move away?" Feng Bao still felt that it was too dangerous to continue staying here. The crowd was excited. Once someone took action and intensified the conflict, the situation would be absolutely out of control. At that time, there would be big trouble.

It’s not dangerous, because the Beijing camp is right in the city.

As long as Your Majesty leaves Fuxi Tower, even if there is a bloody conflict, it will not affect Your Majesty's wisdom.

"They organized these craftsmen to come before me. Those bad guys behind them just want to see me make a fool of myself. They just want to see me return to Nanhu Villa in embarrassment. They dare not rebel. They can stir up public opinion, but they cannot win over the writers I employ. These predators in the Southern Yamen don't want to force me to abdicate, let alone force me to submit. They just want to give me a boomerang." Zhu Yijun said with a smile.

The emperor's Nanhu Villa is a temporary palace. The area around the palace is full of spies. Their purpose is not to know what the emperor has done in order to prevent any unexpected accidents.

An incognito visit? It was just a performance in which one should cooperate with the performance and not turn a blind eye.

After all, the Southern Yamen is not the Northern Yamen, and the meat-eaters in the Northern Yamen are actually aware of this, but they all tacitly refrain from disturbing the emperor's interest.

In the case of Hongyuan Dyeing Factory, the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty stood on the side of the poor coolies. Now it is time for the emperor to know what kind of impact it has caused, to face these angry craftsmen in person, and to experience their suffering. It is also time for the emperor to realize as soon as possible that he is also part of the ruling class and the meat-eaters, and is one of the enemies of the poor coolies.

Everyone knew that the emperor could escape at any time. The carnivores in the Southern Court wanted to see the emperor escape in a panic, but Zhu Yijun refused to fulfill their wish and refused to leave.

You want me to eat a boomerang? No way!

"Your Majesty." Feng Bao wanted to continue persuading with an embarrassed look on his face. The Ming Dynasty had so many officials, and His Majesty did not need to go down and wallow in the quagmire himself.

Zhu Yijun waved his hand and said with a smile: "I am not afraid of the people of the Ming Dynasty. Did you see that? When the craftsmen came, they were all unarmed. The two hundred imperial guards in Fuxi Building are enough to ensure my safety. Look over there, they are the yamen runners of Yingtian Prefecture. Even if I stay in this five-story building and don't go out, I am still the strong party."

"When people get excited, the more they cover up the problem, the bigger it gets."

"Should we ask General Hai to come?" Feng Bao asked tentatively. Since the emperor refused to leave, Feng Bao could only think of more ways.

Hai Rui's reputation in Nanjing was too loud. As long as Hai Rui was there, the scene could not be chaotic no matter how big it was. The craftsmen who gathered together obviously had some demands. As long as they had demands, Hai Rui could appease the excited people. The people of Nan Ya still recognized Hai Rui's promise.

"Go ahead and invite them, but please ask General Hai to be a witness. I will deal with it myself." Zhu Yijun said without much concern: "Open the door, and ask the imperial guards to put away the long and short weapons, so as not to hurt the craftsmen."

"Zhao Mengyou, go down now and ask the craftsmen outside to find three people whose words can be trusted to wait outside. I will go over and take a look myself later."

"I obey your order." Feng Bao saw that he could not persuade them, so he obeyed the order anyway. He sent the eunuch to find Hai Rui and Qi Jiguang.

"Your Majesty, General Qi is here." Zhang Hong hurried in. Qi Jiguang led a cavalry battalion and two infantry battalions stationed in Nanjing city. Because of the issue of torture and pay, the Beijing battalion led by Qi Jiguang was in a state of combat readiness. As soon as there were some signs of trouble here, Qi Jiguang directly mobilized enough troops to come to support.

Qi Jiguang arrived very quickly, and even without suppressing the rebellion, he was able to maintain order.

"Your Majesty, I pay my respects to you. I hope your Majesty is in good health." Qi Jiguang, dressed in military uniform, hurried in. Seeing that the emperor was safe and sound, he breathed a sigh of relief and bowed his head in greeting. As long as the emperor was fine, everything would be fine.

"General Qi, do you want to persuade me to go back?" Zhu Yijun asked Qi Jiguang curiously for his opinion.

"Your Majesty cannot hide. This world belongs to Your Majesty. You can go anywhere, but you cannot hide." Qi Jiguang expressed his attitude very clearly. Your Majesty is already the young emperor. No one can stop Your Majesty from doing anything. If the emperor hides, there is no need to continue to implement this new policy.

"Okay." Zhu Yijun smiled and began to instruct Feng Bao to make specific arrangements.

The meat-eaters in the Southern Court thought that the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty would not meet with craftsmen, after all, the emperor was above the nine heavens. But Zhu Yijun had rich experience in meeting with craftsmen, and he knew how to face these craftsmen. The ancestral rule of meeting with foreign officials and elders, which had been passed down since the Hongwu period and had been dormant by the Zhengtong period, made Zhu Yijun know how to face the poor people and laborers.

Zhu Yijun gave very detailed instructions. He had the door opened and asked Zhao Mengyou to ask the craftsmen to recommend a person in charge. At the same time, all the chairs in the entire Fuxi Building were moved in front of the door. In addition to the three people in charge who would directly face the emperor, another 300 people from all walks of life had to be found to attend the meeting as observers.

In broad daylight, in public, and aboveboard.

If there had not been these three hundred people in the audience, it would have been easy to create the impression that the emperor and the labor traitors had reached some secret agreement, but with the audience, there was evidence.

At the same time, the yamen runners from Yingtian Prefecture also arrived. These runners were responsible for maintaining order among the crowd and preventing unnecessary bloodshed.

Zhu Yijun's order spread like running water from Fuxi Tower to Yingtian Prefecture and to each yamen runner. This was the emperor's order. Whether it was over-executed or under-executed, they might face the emperor's wrath. This was definitely not a crime that a specific yamen runner could afford to bear.

The Ming Emperor straightened his clothes and strode out of Fuxi Tower. He came to the door of Fuxi Tower and sat on the dragon chair. He looked at the long street in front of the door. There were crowds of people. Zhu Yijun waved his hand and said, "Master Xuan, please come to see me."

There were three big bosses, two men and one woman. The appearance of the woman was extremely unexpected to Zhu Yijun. Then three hundred big bosses from all walks of life who were attending the lecture also entered the venue together. The whole process was in an orderly manner.

"Your Majesty, I pay my respects to you. Long live Your Majesty." The craftsmen came to the door of Fuxi Tower nervously. It was obvious that they had not been trained, so their voices were not in unison.

"No need to be polite, sit down and talk." Zhu Yijun waved his sleeves again and said with a warm smile: "Don't be nervous, sit down."

When the three leaders saw the chair less than ten feet away from the emperor, they were stunned for a moment and no one dared to sit down. When they went to file a complaint with the officials, they all kowtowed, and were afraid of severe punishment if they raised their heads. But when they came to see the emperor, not only were they exempted from the formalities, but there was even a seat. For a moment, no one dared to sit down.

"Just sit down and talk." Zhu Yijun was not in a hurry, nor did he let others scare them. Instead, he waited quietly for the three to sit down.

This is a posture, a posture of dialogue. It is difficult to express oneself clearly while kneeling.

Zhu Yijun waited until the three hesitant people sat down before he spoke: "I have been on the throne for so many years, and I feel ashamed of you and General Qi. I am not good at literature, nor am I good at martial arts. I can't pass the imperial examination, and I can't lead the army."

"But there is one thing I am very proud of. I am very good at farming! The sweet potatoes you eat now are all bred by Baoqisi. I am personally involved in this. Some of them are bred by me. This is the only thing I have done over the years that is worth showing off."

"If you have anything to say, just say it. We will do what we can. If we can't, please write it down and we will definitely do it in the future."

(End of this chapter)