The literary giants of the late Ming Dynasty began by copying books

Just when Wang Wenlong left for Xiamen, Zhao Zhigao, the chief minister of the cabinet, passed away. Zhao Zhigao was so pitiful. He asked for leave for four years and wrote more than 80 resignation letters but was not approved by Emperor Wanli. In the end, he died of illness directly in the position of chief minister.

After Zhao Zhigao died, Shen Yiguan naturally became the chief minister. Wanli also recruited Shen Li and Zhu Geng as cabinet elders to form a new cabinet team.

Just by looking at this candidate, we know that Wanli can do the job.

Shen Li, a native of Henan, later tended to the Donglin Party. Zhu Geng, a native of Zhejiang, basically had no party or faction. Moreover, both Shen Li and Zhu Geng had been living in the mountains and forests for many years. This time, he was ordered to join the cabinet by former officials. Emperor Wanli obviously had The meaning of differentiation and suppression. Want to suppress Shen Yiguan, who has reached a high position in the DPRK by relying on the Zhejiang Party.

Immediately afterwards, Wanli agreed to Shen Yiguan's petition and made the emperor's eldest son Zhu Changluo the crown prince, allowing Shen Yiguan to take great credit. He is very good at balancing.

But these have nothing to do with Wang Wenlong. Wang Wenlong is worried about his family affairs. He wants to go to Xiamen. As soon as he said it, both Li Guoxian and Shen Yixiu wanted to go.

Both wives looked amiable, but they seemed to be competing behind the scenes. Wang Wenlong wanted to do it without them, let alone only one.

In the end, Wang Wenlong could only take two women and a group of officials from the Chief Envoy Si Yamen on the road.

In the final analysis, Wang Wenlong has a bottom line. If he can't cross that hurdle, he can't do anything to his two wives.

From Fuzhou to Xiamen, we still take the Fu-Pu Ancient Road, arriving in Quanzhou first.

Wang Wenlong received the message when he was in Quanzhou, but it was a cultural gathering held locally to celebrate the establishment of the crown prince. Li Guoxian was also on the invitation list for the cultural gathering.

Li Guoxian was Wang Wenlong's concubine. It was not a polite thing to attend the cultural gathering with Wang Wenlong in this era. Moreover, Li Guoxian's reputation has long spread throughout Fujian because he wrote "The Biography of Zhen Huan".

The cultural gathering was held at the home of a local maritime businessman. When Wang Wenlong and Li Guoxian arrived, there were already many guests.

The two of them first went to see the owner of the cultural association. When they arrived, they found out that the maritime merchant had also gone away to exchange ideas with scholars and could not find anyone for a while.

Wang Wenlong took Li Guoxian to search around the place, and finally saw an acquaintance and walked over with a smile.

"Mr. Jingshan, long time no see." Wang Wenlong greeted He Qiaoyuan, then pointed to Li Guoxian beside him and said: "This is Miss Li Er, whose pen name is Haizhongxian, and she is my concubine."

He Qiaoyuan was from Jinjiang. He was a Jinshi in the 14th year of Wanli. He resigned and went home to live idle, studying books and writing. Now he is the top local chronicler in Fujian and one of the four gentlemen in the country. Wang Wenlong had a relationship with Gao Yin before when he was working as an aide under him.

After writing "The Legend of Zhen Huan", Li Guoxian's self-confidence gradually increased, and now she is no longer shy in front of celebrities. She saluted He Qiaoyuan gracefully and said: "Hello, Mr. Jingshan."

He Qiaoyuan was quite happy. He looked at Wang Wenlong and Li Guoxian and nodded and smiled: "Jianyang's talent and learning, Hai Zhongxian's writing power, it is indeed a match made in heaven."

After He Qiaoyuan finished speaking, he turned around and introduced two friends to Wang Wenlong. He pointed at a young man in his twenties and thirties and a foreigner next to him and said: "This is Zhang Ruitu, courtesy name Changgong, a famous scholar in Jinjiang. This is the Spanish missionary Pang Di me.”

Zhang Ruitu was dressed shabbily. After seeing Wang Wenlong, he hurriedly handed him over in greeting: "Mr. Jingguan's name is like thunder in my ears. I was reading Mr. Jingguan's "Treatment of Malaria" yesterday. It is really good."

"I am also famous for Changgong's calligraphy and painting. My husband introduced the monument to cursive writing, and everyone said that he was the best in cursive calligraphy in Fujian. My husband gave lectures in Quanzhou, and I also listened to Cheng Wen. He must be a high school student one day."

Zhang Ruitu smiled modestly when he heard this. He is only 30 years old this year and comes from a poor family. He has studied hard since he was a child. Because his family cannot afford to light candles, he goes to the temple in the village every night to read with a bright lamp in front of the Buddha. However, life at home was still difficult. This man's talent was indeed extremely high, and he had a special way of learning. Others would memorize the books, but he copied them by hand, copying the entire Five Classics and Histories, studying and practicing calligraphy at the same time.

As early as when Wang Wenlong was still working as a staff member under Gao Yin, Zhang Ruitu's fame had already spread throughout Quanzhou. Because the learning method he studied in the county school was so surprising, in order to write a good eight-part essay, Zhang Ruitu chose a topic from the classics every night to interpret it into a essay, which was equivalent to taking the imperial examination once a day. He was forced to answer the questions to develop his talent in the imperial examination. It is said that Zhang Ruitu has developed a conditioned reflex for the practice of eight-part essays, and when he sees a question, he can directly make up the structure of the eight-part essay in his mind.

In Wang Wenlong's memory, he would pass the Juren exam in two years, and then pass the exam in the 35th year of Wanli.

However, Zhang Ruitu's reputation in later generations was not good because he later voted for Wei Zhongxian. He even entered the pavilion and became the elder of the pavilion - most of the inscriptions in Wei Zhongxian's ancestral halls all over the world were written by him.

In the previous life, Zhang Ruitu's calligraphy and Dong Qichang were both called "South Zhang and North Dong". Because the personal ethics of these two people were not very good, they successfully became negative teaching materials for the phrase "Zheng Zhengren".

However, Zhang Ruitu also had difficulties. He was a Tanhualang who passed the examination in the last year of Wanli. After working as an editor in the Hanlin Academy for several years, it was already the Tianqi period when Wei Zhongxian was in power, and the first official position he took after leaving the Hanlin Academy was James Mansion. Less trouble.

The James Mansion was mainly engaged in the internal affairs of the prince and the emperor, while the internal affairs of the imperial palace of the Tianqi Dynasty were controlled by Wei Zhongxian, and none of the emperor's princes lived past one year old.

Therefore, Zhang Ruitu should stop working. If he wants to be a good official in James Mansion and get promoted, the only way is to curry favor with Wei Zhongxian.

Zhang Ruitu chose the latter, but also tried his best to dissuade Wei Zhongxian from murdering Queen Zhang's father, suppressed the eunuch's execution of ministers, etc. But he had no time. He became the elder in the sixth year of Tianqi, Zhu Youxiao died in the seventh year of Tianqi, Chongzhen came to the throne, and Zhang Ruitu was liquidated and returned home not long after.

Wang Wenlong greeted Zhang Ruitu, and Pang Di, a "monk", also came up quickly. The scholars coming and going around him always looked back at him, but they didn't dare to come up and talk to him.

Although Quanzhou is a crowded place, there are not many opportunities for people to see foreigners. At this time, people don't think Pang Di is good-looking, they just think he looks strange.

Pang Di came up despite the pressure of my gaze. As soon as he spoke, Wang Wenlong found that apart from the lack of tone in his speech, he spoke really good Chinese: "Mr. Jianyang, I have read your "History of Portugal" many times, but I didn't expect that he could speak Chinese very well. See you in Quanzhou."

"Hello." Wang Wenlong nodded to Pang Di and I. He was also quite curious about this famous Catholic missionary to China in later generations. After asking, he found out that Pang Di and I were going to Beijing to help Matteo Ricci in his missionary work. On the way, I took a detour from Guangdong to Fujian at the invitation of Fujian scholars.

Historically, Fujian celebrities such as Zhang Ruitu, He Qiaoyuan and Ye Xianggao all supported Catholicism. The first Catholic church in Fuzhou, Sanshan Church, was built by Ye Xianggao at the invitation of Ai Julius.

This is not because Ye Xianggao believed in Catholicism, because Ye Xianggao built all kinds of temples and donated a lot to Taoist temples. If he was a true Catholic, he probably wouldn't do such a thing.

After the four people met each other, He Qiaoyuan learned that Wang Wenlong was going to Xiamen, and he said to Wang Wenlong with admiration: "This time Jianyang called on maritime merchants and Xiajiao to pay to immigrate to Damuan Island, it really solved Fujian's urgent need. This is a great contribution to the people of Fujian."

Wang Wenlong said: "It's a pity that the distant water cannot solve the near fire. In recent years, the immigrants have only invested purely. It will take long-term development before the immigrants can produce food to feed more Fujian people."

"That's better than doing nothing at all."

While the two were talking, they saw a group of people dressed as businessmen approaching hurriedly. The leading businessman first glanced at Pang Diwo curiously, then smiled at Wang Wenlong and Li Guoxian:

"Mr. Jianyang, Second Sister Li, I am honored to have you two here."

He Qiaoyuan introduced Wang Wenlong: "This is the proprietor of today's literary society."

Wang Wenlong then nodded and said with a smile: "Thank you sir for inviting me to the meeting."

And the maritime merchant was already smiling. He organized today's literary meeting because he originally wanted to educate the celebrities in Quanzhou, but he didn't expect Wang Wenlong and Li Guoxian to come.

Now Wang Wenlong has the ability to manage the immigration of high-ranking officials and has great influence among Fujian maritime merchants, not to mention that Li Guoxian is the second young lady of the Li family.

The merchant directly extended a warm invitation and said, "Please take a seat, Lord Jianyang. Please come to the pavilion for a feast."

Wang Wenlong didn't want to go in to eat, but wanted to chat outside, so he waved his hand and refused and said: "I don't have much preparation today. How can I go and sit down? No need, no need."

The merchant refused, and Wang Wenlong refused. Finally, Li Guoxian smiled and said, "It's hard to refuse such kindness. I'll just go to the back house to talk."

The sea master nodded and quickly led Li Guoxian to the back house where the women gathered. He also ordered the female family members behind the screen to take good care of Li Guoxian, and then asked his men to prepare Cheng Yi for Wang Wenlong.

He Qiaoyuan and Zhang Ruitu on the side looked at it and sighed. Even if they were famous among the Fujian scholars, they would not be cared for so diligently.

Li Guoxian also helped Wang Wenlong to persuade him. Although she was a woman, she had the ability to keep her word, which made the two of them feel that Wang Wenlong was very lucky.

After the merchant left and Li Guoxian went behind, Wang Wenlong and the three of them started talking again.

Pang Di curiously asked Wang Wenlong: "Has Mr. Jianyang ever believed in the Lord in the West?"

Wang Wenlong shook his head: "What I believe in is the Taoism among the Han people."

"That's such a pity," Ponti shook his head and said, "Mr.'s "History of Portugal" has also attracted widespread praise in Macau. Father Varian praised him as a better European historian than Europeans, and he also hopes to communicate with you in person. I thought you must have had a strict Catholic upbringing."

He said: "Since you know the history of Europe, you must also understand that the concepts promoted by Taoist sects are harmful, and the gospel of the Lord is absolutely correct."

Wang Wenlong curled his lips when he heard this. At this time, the Jesuits had obviously not yet grasped the essence of missionary work to China. They were still thinking of monotheism, trying to suppress other ideas in China and elevate the status of Catholicism... This approach would definitely not work.

(End of this chapter)