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

Chapter 89 Donglin’s reaction
During the Wanli period, because the emperor's lazy administration gave up the imperial power's control over public opinion, there was already considerable space for scholars to discuss in society.

Coupled with the background of the times at this time: maritime trade is becoming increasingly developed, the commodity economy is becoming more and more popular, at the same time, the government is gradually becoming corrupt, and middle-level tax officials are rampant all over the world...

All kinds of contradictions are becoming prominent, driving scholars to put forward various theories and argue with each other.

In addition to official battles, academic and theoretical disputes were also an important part of the party struggle that began during the Wanli period.

There are academic experts among the elites of each faction, who put forward various theories to refute the enemy's claims. If you can refute the opponent theoretically first, you can also gain a better position in the subsequent political struggle.

The world was in turmoil, and at this time "Tianyan Lun" came out.

Wang Wenlong directly proved from the source that empty arguments about Confucianism are useless. Whether a school of Confucianism is good or not depends on whether it can adapt to the times and make practical achievements.

On the contrary, if academics cannot guide practice, then no matter how sophisticated the theory is, it will just be empty talk with closed eyes.

Natural selection, survival of the fittest, is so cruel.

Such values ​​are really in line with the needs of Ming Dynasty at this time, and they naturally have communication value.

"Tianyan Lun" was first disseminated through the Baoshan Literary Society in Quzhou. However, after this article spread, almost every area it spread to caused discussions among local literati.

The popularity is so high that booksellers rush to keep up. Anyway, the number of words in "The Theory of Heavenly Evolution" is very small. Even if a book copying shop hires a few copyists, it can produce more than a dozen copies a day. Because of the convenience of dissemination, almost every copy comes. In a region, "Tianyan Lun" will be copied many times with the local prefecture and county as the center, and spread to surrounding areas.

In less than a month, this became the most popular article in the entire Ming Dynasty.

Wang Wenlong, who wrote "Tianyan Lun", together with Huang Daozhou, who copied it, and Ye Chengxue, who polished it, all became highly talked about figures at the time.

But being able to spread does not mean that everyone is happy to accept the emergence of "Tianyan Lun".

……

Gu Xiancheng closed a copy of "Tianyan Lun" and started writing a letter to Ye Xianggao.

"How could Ru Xi and Jianyang write this book?"

The Donglin Party was not very welcoming to "The Theory of Heaven's Evolution". In fact, Gu Xiancheng shook his head the first time he learned about the thoughts of "The Theory of Heaven's Evolution".

"According to this "Tianyan Lun", how can there be any orthodoxy in the world?"

That's how it was written, but in fact Gu Xiancheng was worried that the theory of "Tianyan Lun" would be used to attack Zhang Hong, who was currently in the cabinet.

The reason is very simple - the facts of the Korean War have proved that Zhang Hong's talents are really not suitable for the position of the cabinet. According to the standard of natural selection, Zhang Hong can neither win nor accomplish anything. What reasons can be used to keep it? Has he become a pavilion elder?
Not to mention natural selection, even human selection should come down.

But this also involves a political struggle. The Donglin Party wants Shen Yiguan to take the position of chief assistant. For the time being, Shen Yiguan must keep Zhang Hong.

But Gu Xiancheng was not ready to attack Wang Wenlong directly.

According to some Donglin party members' understanding of "Tianyan Lun": the Four Books and Five Classics of Confucianism have become the only correct knowledge in the world, which proves that Confucianism is the ultimate principle obtained through natural selection, and this thing can be protected Confucian orthodoxy.

But Gu Xiancheng also had to express his dissatisfaction with Wang Wenlong and his lack of support for "Tianyan Lun".

It is actually difficult to summarize what the Donglin Party’s ideology is historically.

Because they mentioned everything.

For example: he demanded that the government should be light on taxes, but he also demanded that the country be enriched and its army strengthened. He demanded that he should not compete with the people for profit, but he also rebuked the court for not being old enough, which would cause serious problems.

Gu Xiancheng and others still had their own basic ideas in the early days, but as the interests of more and more Donglin Party members were tied together, the Donglin Party's ideas became increasingly blurred.In the end, it can only become vague words such as "maintain justice and reject evil".

As for who is fair and who is evil, this boundary is drawn by the Donglin Party itself.

To put it bluntly, the Donglin Party is not an organization with a strict program and unified thinking, but a caravan of interests.

The Donglin Party members may have noble aspirations as individuals, but a group of people are united in forming a party just to allow the Donglin Party members to climb to a higher position in the court struggle.

As a caravan party, the Donglin Party inherently hates things like "The Theory of Heavenly Evolution".

If you use an objective rule to judge Donglin Party members, calculate merit for everyone, promote the capable and the wise, and act in accordance with objective laws, then many Donglin Party members will be dismissed, and many Chu Party and Zhejiang Party figures should instead promoted.

How can we engage in party disputes like this?
……

In early spring of February, Ye Chengxue hurriedly came to see Wang Wenlong.

"Jianyang, I don't need to go to Wuxi for the time being..."

Seeing Ye Chengxue's disappointed face, Wang Wenlong asked curiously: "What happened?"

Ye Chengxue shook his head, "The gentlemen seem to have some opinions on "Tianyan Lun", but Jianyang should not be discouraged. Some gentlemen still praised it quite a lot. The couplet Jianyang inscribed for the academy was also praised by the gentlemen. …”

Ye Chengxue actually comforted Wang Wenlong with good words. In the letter Ye Xianggao wrote to him, Ye Xianggao directly scolded him.

Wang Wenlong was completely indifferent when he heard this, and was even a little happy. He just didn't want to have too close contact with the Donglin Party.

The only surprise was that his fame soared after he wrote "Tian Yuan", and the couplet "The sound of wind and rain and the sound of reading" seems to be worthy of being hung at the door of Donglin Academy.

Ye Chengxue came to comfort Wang Wenlong, but he was even more disappointed than Wang Wenlong. Wang Wenlong in turn comforted Ye Chengxue and said: "Menglong, Wuya, and Zhou Ze are all here today. Come on, let's go in and talk."

Ye Chengxue was led into the house listlessly by Wang Wenlong. It was cold, so everyone did not go out to play in the rockery garden, but all went indoors.

The room was steaming with heat. When I went in, I saw four guys, Feng Menglong, Yuan Wuya, Ye Zhouze and Xu Shupi, gathering around to play horse crane.

When Wang Wenlong led Ye Chengxue in, everyone raised their heads. They noticed that Ye Chengxue's face was not good, so they became concerned and asked.

Ye Chengxue smiled bitterly: "We can't go to Wuxi."

Several people instantly understood that in order to make Ye Chengxue and Wang Wenlong feel relieved, Yuan Wuya stood up on his own initiative and said, "Don't think too much, I'm leaving the table, you come up."

Yuan Wuya forced Ye Chengxue to the card table, and Ye Chengxue could only pick up the cards and continue playing.

The remaining three people focused on giving him cards. After a while, Ye Chengxue's expression gradually improved.

Ye Zhou smiled nonchalantly and said, "You wrote your own article to clear up the turmoil, so don't worry about it."

Xu Shupi persuaded: "Just wait for a while and things will pass."

Several people took turns to comfort Ye Chengxue, but Mr. Ye was already a little discouraged.

Wang Wenlong just wrote "Tianyan Lun", and there were many discussions but he could not be killed. However, Ye Chengxue, as Ye Xianggao's son, was listed in the book, which brought great trouble to Ye Xianggao, and even almost affected Ye Xianggao and his family. Relations with the Donglin Party.

Now Ye Chengxue has been ordered by his father not to write articles for two years, and he cannot even let others correct the manuscript.

(End of this chapter)