Ming Zuo

Chapter 21 The Age of Possibilities
When we got back to the city, it was already bright.The city gate is open, and there is no need to go through the Ruyi Gate.

When we arrived at the city gate, we saw that people inside and outside were crowded with people, eagerly waiting for something.

Not long after, a team of Jin Yiti rode out, escorting several prison cars.

In each car was a unkempt prisoner, whose face was hidden by his tousled hair, making it impossible to see what was happening.

However, there are many enthusiastic people, and Zuo Fu knew everything when he asked in the past.

"Young master, great news. Cao Wenheng, the new prefect of Dongchang, came to us and arrested all the officials of the prefecture, Tongzhi, and chief clerk."

Zuo Menggeng was quite surprised to see the raging people taking care of the prisoners with rotten eggs and rotten vegetable leaves.

"Why is this?"

"It is said that these officials are remnants of the eunuch party, and the capital sent Jin Yiwei to assist Cao Wenheng in taking people. It seems that this eunuch party is really finished."

Zuo Menggeng frowned.

If you want to talk about eunuchs, no one else will talk about it, at least this Linqing eunuch guarding Feng Lun is the most hardcore.

His godfather is Li Chaoqin.

Why was Feng Lun fine, but the rest of the officials were arrested?
But soon, Zuo Menggeng wanted to understand.

To say that the most hated of the eunuch party is obviously the civil servants, especially the officials of the Donglin party.

Therefore, once these people regain their power and liquidate the eunuchs, they will definitely act resolutely and cannot wait.

As for Feng Lun, even if the Donglin Party hated it deeply, there was nothing they could do.

Those were the people in the palace, and the only one who could move Feng Lun was Chongzhen.

However, the liquidation of these officials affiliated to the eunuch party is already a very obvious signal.Zuo Menggeng believed that Feng Lun's death would never be far away.

"Do you know who the new Zhizhou is?"

Zuo Fu shook his head.

"It is said that the new Zhizhou has not yet been decided, and now Cao Wenheng is acting as the governor."

Zuo Menggeng could say anything, but just curled his lips.

The liquidation of political enemies in the imperial court is really a raging fire, and it can't wait even a moment.

But if you think about it carefully, you can understand it. After all, the eunuch party killed so many people in the Donglin party. With such a great hatred, the Donglin party will definitely be fighting for the revenge.

Back at the mansion, Zuo Liangyu was not there, and went out early in the morning.

Zuo Menggeng greeted the Huang family and returned to his small courtyard.As soon as she entered the room, she found that Xu Ruolin was actually in her own room.

She was sitting at the table, holding a few pages of paper in her hands and looking at it with relish.

"Why did I come here?"

Hearing the footsteps, Xu Ruolin began to complain.

"You little sister, come to me with Wang Fengzhou's poems when you have time..."

She said while shaking her head with a wry smile.

"I really don't know those sour poems, what's there to read?"

Zuo Menggeng was also amused, but did not expect Wang Shizhen's poems to be looked down upon by Xu Ruolin.

One thing to say, there are really not many good poets in the Ming Dynasty.

Seeing Zuo Menggeng, Xu Ruolin was quite anxious, got up and came over and put the manuscript in front of him.

"You wrote this?"

Zuo Menggeng glanced at it, it was The Wealth of Nations that he wrote last night.

"The work of the game, it is laughable and generous."

Xu Ruolin's eyes are very large, and when they are round, they look like plump almonds.However, his eyes were very clear, as if he could penetrate his soul.

"Oh, you are too modest. Do you know that if these things are seen by those merchants in Jiangnan, they will definitely be regarded as a standard."

This statement surprised Zuo Menggeng.

"Really?"

When I was thinking about this era last night, my mind was agitated, and I unconsciously wrote a part of "The Wealth of Nations".But Zuo Menggeng does not have much confidence in whether people of this era can understand the content.

Any academic thing must be understood by a literate person.

But these scholars in the Ming Dynasty have long been obsessed with the principles of nature and human desires, and have been obsessed with the struggle between the heart and the principles.

Going fast on the road of retreat, I really don’t know if this extremely pragmatic theory can be accepted by the cultural people of this era?

Xu Ruolin's words exceeded his expectations.

"Jiangnan is prosperous, and much depends on businessmen. There are workshops everywhere, and there are many scholars who work. Unfortunately, no one has ever explained labor and production so thoroughly like you."

The Wealth of Nations first talked about the issues of productivity, division of labor, and labor technology.

If these questions are given to readers who study the Four Books and Five Classics, they are guaranteed to be ignorant.

But in the late Ming Dynasty, especially in Jiangnan and other places, industry and commerce had entered a stage of vigorous development.

After accumulating initial wealth, many merchants and handicraftsmen also cultivated intellectuals who understand the way of merchants and manufacturing.

Perhaps these people did not form similar professional theories in the process of practicing.

The principle of industrial production is the same in different ways. As long as the business is operated to a certain extent, practitioners will inevitably reach a critical point of cognition.

This is like the five uniques in "The Legend of the Condor Heroes".

They may not have read the "Jiuyin Zhenjing", but after becoming top masters, they already have a certain understanding of martial arts.

At this time, when I saw the "Jiuyin Zhenjing" of the general outline of the world's martial arts, I immediately had the idea of ​​"Ah, so that's what happened" and "Oh, so that's the truth".

As for how much the "Jiuyin Zhenjing" has improved the cultivation of the five absolutes...

Anyone who has read the book knows that it doesn't.

The greatest effect of the Nine Yin Classics on the Wujue is to help them understand martial arts more systematically and professionally.

However, Xu Ruolin was able to understand "The Wealth of Nations" and recognize its value, which was beyond Zuo Menggeng's expectations.

"How do you know the art of merchants?"

Xu Ruolin tilted her head, very proud.

"Are you surprised? My family has a lot of businesses in Songjiang Prefecture and Suzhou City, and the fabrics produced by my workshop are the best in the south of the Yangtze River. Now my second brother is taking care of the business at home. He and I are the best. , There are some accounting and calculation problems, the second brother still wants to help me."

Now Zuo Menggeng understands.

It is hard to say how much land the family owns in these big families in the south of the Yangtze River, but they will definitely have a considerable scale of business.

Even if there is a large amount of land, it is not likely to grow food, but it may be crops such as mulberry and hemp with higher economic value.

Don't look at scholars, peasants and businessmen, businessmen have the lowest status in society.

But in any era, there are only two things that truly determine a person's status.

power or money.

By the end of the Ming Dynasty, the laws and regulations had been relaxed, and the wealthy businessmen had actually acted in a grand manner and had considerable influence.

The most important thing is that those high-sounding nobles, bureaucrats, and big families, on the surface, are family heirlooms, but in fact, no one has a small business behind the scenes.

Therefore, for merchants and production, especially for the top cultural people in Jiangnan, there are really few who do not understand.

This accident made Zuo Menggeng quite excited.

After all, many of the things learned in dreams are magical.He vaguely felt that in order to end this troubled world, he must find a way.

But the problem is that it is impossible to rely on him alone for such a big issue to bring peace to the world.

He must find enough and strong enough helpers.

If others don't understand your ideas and assumptions, how can you communicate?

Not only will people not help him, they may even treat him as a deviant.At that time, the world will be criticized and criticized all over the world, and I am afraid that there will be no place to stand.

Since the people of this era can understand and recognize these, then his chances and hope are great.

Of course, this bright and pretty girl in front of me was the first object.

"According to what you said in your article, the speed of human work can never catch up with the equipment. But the equipment is not driven by humans, how does it work?"

Zuo Menggeng was so happy that someone was willing to communicate.

He pulled Xu Ruolin to sit down and asked, "Have you ever seen a waterwheel in Jiangnan?"

Xu Ruolin nodded, not understanding why he asked that.

"The waterwheel is driven by the water flow to achieve rotation, and then the water in the lower part is sent to the higher place. But since the waterwheel can rotate, why can't it drive the machine to rotate besides taking water?"

Zuo Menggeng is an activist.

Just talking is not enough, he took the pen and paper and started to draw.

"Look, if you install such a gear on the waterwheel, then when the waterwheel rotates, the gear will also rotate. If the two gears are engaged in this way, does the other gear also rotate? Through such a rod, Is it possible to transmit this power to another place? You have a textile workshop at home, and you should have seen the appearance of those spindles. What if the way of manually pulling the spindles was changed to such a hydraulic drive?"

What makes Xu Ruolin better than many people in this era is that she is a person with practical experience.

If it was something else, she might not know why.

But when Zuo Menggeng mentioned the spindle for spinning and weaving, her mind was suddenly opened.

"Oh, waterwheels have been fetching water for thousands of years, why hasn't anyone thought of spinning it?"

Seeing her annoyed look, Zuo Menggeng chuckled lightly.

"Look, isn't this a way to increase productivity."

(End of this chapter)