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Chapter 70 Donglin Conference
Tomorrow, on the fifth day of June in the fifth year of Qi, the annual Donglin Conference, the grand gathering of scholars in the south of the Yangtze River, will be held again in the Donglin Academy in Wuxi County, Changzhou Prefecture, Southern Zhili Province of the Ming Dynasty. There were thousands of scholars and literati rubbing shoulders, and it was too crowded.Because there were too many people coming, the vestibule and hall of the academy could not be fully accommodated. As a last resort, Gao Panlong, the current director of Donglin Academy, had to temporarily change the location of the venue. It should be located in the open space on the right side of Donglin Jingshe. The bow river, backed by the stone archway, is in the middle of the Zhengxin Pavilion, and the green willows in the courtyard are shaded. The scenery is elegant and the terrain is open, enough to accommodate four to five thousand students to attend lectures.

When the order was issued, the sweaty Donglin students and literati poured into the courtyard on the right side of Donglin Jingshe with cheers, and the road and corridors were crowded again.Seeing this scene, Mr. Qian Qianyi, the predecessor of Zuo Chunfang who accompanied Gao Panlong, was naturally overjoyed, and complimented Gao Panlong: "Mr. Jing Yi is indeed highly respected. He raised his arms, and the scholars and scholars in the south of the Yangtze River dare not refuse to obey." The Jiangnan scholars who came to participate in the Donglin Conference today, at least 5000 people, Donglin Academy has probably never been so prosperous in the past 500 years, all of which are due to the prestige of Jing Yigong.

"Mr. Yu Shan has won the prize, Gao Panlong doesn't have such great prestige yet." Gao Panlong kept calm, shook his head and said: "There are many people who are better than Gao Panlong at this Donglin Conference."

"Who else can be more face-saving than Mr. Jing Yi?" Qian Qianyi asked in surprise.Gao Panlong smiled and didn't answer, until a group of people walked in from the gate of Donglin Academy, Gao Panlong pouted and said with a smile: "Mr. Yu Shan, please look, the lord is here."

"Where is it?" Qian Qianyi quickly turned his head, but suddenly saw—Ye Xianggao, the former chief minister of the imperial court who served as the sole prime minister for eight years!With a smile all over his face, he led a large group of disciples slowly approaching the courtyard.Qian Qianyi immediately rushed up like crazy, rushed in front of Ye Xianggao, knelt down on his knees with a plop, and shouted loudly: "Qian Qianyi, the late student, has met Mr. Ye Ge, Mr. Ye!"

"Master Qian, please hurry up." Ye Xianggao, who is over [-] years old, waved his hand and said with a smile: "Biege, the old man is calling, the old man has been resigned and returned to his hometown for many years, and now he is a wild crane, and he doesn't care about political affairs. It’s Ge Lao Er.”

"No, Elder Ye Ge!" Qian Qianyi kowtowed respectfully, and said loudly: "In Wan Sheng's mind, there is only one adult in the Ming court who can be called an elder, and that is you, Ye Xianggao, Senior Ye, Elder Ye! "He shouted with joy, but Qian Qianyi was even more joyful in his heart than his mouth. He said in his heart that Zhang Haogu, Zhang Haogu, Ye Xianggao, the chief assistant of Wang Huazhen, the favorite student who was killed by you, has also come. He is in charge of the government alone. In 12, there were more disciples than Wei Laogou's lackeys. This time, you have a lot of fun.

"Old Ye Ge is here! Elder Ye Ge is here too!" As Qian Qianyi expected, after the news spread that Ye Xianggao, the current chief assistant of the imperial court and former leader of the Donglin Party, had arrived at Donglin Academy, he came to participate in the Donglin Academy. The [-] Jiangnan students at the conference went completely crazy. They rushed into the front yard as if they were going crazy, rushed to Ye Xianggao and kowtowed desperately, saying hello, hello, hello, hello, hello, hello, self-reported family name, the crowd was full of voices, Complete mess.But Zhang Qing, Song Yingxing and others who disguised themselves in the crowd couldn't help but sweat coldly for Young Master Zhang, saying that Ye Xianggao, the old assistant of the imperial court who was highly respected and had a grudge against Zhang Haogu, also came to the Donglin Conference. If Zhang Haogu said a word when he showed up, the thousands of Donglin students present would probably tear Zhang Haogu to pieces immediately!Worried, Zhang Qing even planned to persuade Young Master Zhang to give up the plan, but unfortunately he and Young Master Zhang acted separately, and even he didn't know where Young Master Zhang was.

Surrounded by fanatical Donglin scholars for a long time, Ye Xianggao was finally 'rescued' by Gao Panlong, Miao Changqi and others. Gao Panlong said loudly: "All students, and disciples of saints, please go to Zhengxin Pavilion , Elder Ye Ge and we will give lectures to everyone at the Zhengxin Pavilion, please go there."

All the scholars applauded one after another, and rushed to the bank of the Bow River, striving for a good seat closest to the Zhengxin Pavilion.Gao Panlong and others helped Ye Xianggao through the Donglin Abode, took a small path to the Zhengxin Pavilion, and sat facing south in the Zhengxin Pavilion where tables, chairs and fragrant tea had already been set up. Ye Xianggao was of course the chief , Gao Panlong, Miao Changqi and others were seated in order according to their official positions, and the last two were Shi Hong, the prefect of Changzhou, and Liu Wuwei, the magistrate of Wuxi County. , and afraid that Wei Zhongxian's party will settle accounts after the fall, and take revenge on their fellow brothers and sisters.On the lawn outside the pavilion, thousands of literati and students had already sat down on the spot. Looking around from the pavilion, there was a large black mass in the front, back, left, and right, and the area of ​​the crowd was still expanding rapidly. There are also densely packed boats and small boats, and the momentum is really huge.Seeing such a scene, Qian Qianyi was naturally overjoyed, knowing that when the Donglin Conference ended, it must also be the time when Zhang Haogu's fundraising and disaster relief campaign had completely aborted.

At two o'clock in the morning, the Donglin Conference officially started. First, Gao Panlong, the host of the conference, spoke. , Naturally, the audience applauded and cheered like thunder, and then introduced Miao Changqi, Huang Zunsu, Liu Zongzhou, Qian Qianyi and other contemporary masters one by one.When it was his turn to introduce Shihong, the magistrate of Changzhou, the applause in the field suddenly fell away, and occasionally there were a few hisses, which made Shihong feel embarrassed. dare not have.But Shihong soon felt satisfied——when Gao Panlong finally introduced Liu Wuwei, there were boos all over the field, and the local Donglin scholars in Wuxi even yelled, "Get out! Dog official! Get out of Donglin Academy, don't mess with me!" Dirty the ground of Donglin Academy!"

Seeing Liu Wuwei's shameless appearance, Ye Xianggao was very surprised, and asked Gao Panlong: "Brother Jing Yi, what's going on? Is this Wuxi county magistrate Liu Wuwei's official voice very bad?" Gao Panlong nodded and replied : "The official voice is not very good, and the folks are quite critical of him. The local students think that he built the Furong Fair to waste people's money and take the opportunity to enrich his own pockets. His Excellency Guangshi Hengguang impeached him. Now he has been retained as an auditor. Well, Wansheng also sent an invitation card for him because he is the official of Wuxi's parents. Mr. Ge, if you also feel that it is not good for you to listen to the lectures at Donglin Academy, then please invite him out."

"Forget it, since you have posted an invitation card for him, it would be too rude to invite him out." Ye Xianggao shook his head, then turned back to Shihong, the prefect of Changzhou, and said, "Master, this Wuxi county magistrate is you." His subordinate, he made a mistake, you should correct it in time, participate when you should participate, and let it go when you should, don't condone and raise rape, let alone cover up and indulge, you know?" Shihong nodded with a smile, and peeked at Liu Wuwei sympathetically, but saw Tears flickered in Liu Wuwei's eyes, and Shi Hong felt pity, so he kicked Liu Wuwei quietly, and said in a low voice, "Don't be afraid, just bear with it and it will pass." Tears were already rolling down, wet the chest on the chest, although the breath was bitter, but there was no way to refute it.

After finally waiting for Gao Panlong to finish the long opening nonsense, and then Ye Xianggao's even longer nonsense - explaining his own new book "Cangxia Grass", this lecture lasted for more than an hour, and I was confused. Zhang Qing in the crowd was drowsy, but he had to strengthen his energy and pretend to listen to the class. He secretly regretted insisting on coming to Donglin Academy to listen to the class.Thousands of Donglin students and literati listened with great interest, fascinated, and applauded endlessly.Of course, quite a few of them are like Zhang Qing——the expressions are fake.After waiting on pins and needles for a long time, Gao Panlong finally stood up and said loudly: "Students, Mr. Ye Ge will stop here for the time being, and follow the usual rules, please discuss freely."

Amid the thunderous applause, Ye Xianggao sat back in his seat with a smile on his face, sipping tea and appreciating the compliments from everyone.Qian Qianyi took the opportunity to lean forward and said in a low voice: "Mr. Ye Ge, two months ago, Zhang Haogu, the detective of Xinke, retried Xiong Tingbi's case in Beijing, exonerated Xiong Tingbi from the death penalty, and sent Mr. Ge's favorite student, Mr. Wang Huazhen, to the court. Changing from death reprieve to autumn judgment, if you are not pardoned, how does Mr. Ge think about this matter? Do you think that Zhang Haogu's sentence was fair or unfair?"

Ye Xianggao is an old fox who has served as the prime minister of Ming Dynasty for 12 years. How could Qian Qianyi's little trick of sowing dissension be hidden from Ye Xianggao's eyes?Ye Xianggao only glanced at Qian Qianyi, then said calmly: "Wang Huazhen defected to Wei Xie, and has already been expelled from the school by the old man, so he is no longer a student of the old man. As for whether the retrial of his case is fair, it is up to the court to decide. In the future, there will be history to prove it, so there is no need for the old man to express his opinion."

"Old cunning, Tai Chi is really good." Qian Qianyi cursed inwardly, but said with a smile on his face: "What about Zhang Haogu? I wonder what Ye Ge thinks of Zhang Haogu?"

"Zhang Haogu?" Ye Xianggao twirled his beard and murmured, and said after a long while: "When the old man was in Fujian, he had heard of his name, and I heard that this Xinke Tanhua is very flattering and can please Wei Zhongxian." I like it, now I am a big celebrity in front of Wei Zhongxian."

"Zhang Haogu is not only a big celebrity in front of Wei Zhongxian?" Qian Qianyi finally caught the topic, and said loudly on purpose: "He is now Wei Zhongxian's right-hand dog. How many people will be ruined and homeless!"

"Is there such a thing?" Ye Xianggaohu asked.Qian Qianyi smiled and said: "Elder Ge has just arrived in Wuxi, and he doesn't know what happened in Jiangnan recently. Elder Ge can ask the scholar to see how Zhang Haogu gave him orders in the name of an imperial envoy?" Ye Xianggao turned back Looking at Shihong, Shihong dared not answer, and said bravely: "On May 50, the imperial envoy Mr. Zhang did indeed issue an official document, asking the state capitals in various places in the south of the Yangtze River to post notices, calling on the people in the south of the Yangtze River and the gentry and rich businessmen to actively donate money and raise money. [-] taels of silver to aid the disaster-stricken areas in Shandong."

"50 taels of silver? What a big deal he is!" Ye Xianggao laughed and said, "The annual income of the Ming treasury is only more than 400 million taels, and Zhang Haogu asked for 50 taels as soon as he opened his mouth. His appetite is really big." There is no limit. Then, my lord, how much money does Zhang Haogu want from you in Changzhou?"

"Old Ye Ge, Mr. Zhang didn't set the amount of donations for us. He only said how much we can raise. Don't use the name of donations to take the opportunity to extort money from the people." Shihong said a fair word to Young Master Zhang.Ye Xianggao was really stunned for a moment, and said with a smile: "Then how does he raise it? The silver and copper coins of the people in the south of the Yangtze River are all exchanged for a drop of blood and sweat. Will you give him 50 taels of silver for nothing?"

"Ge Lao, you must not be deceived by Zhang Haogu's rhetoric." Qian Qianyi slammed down the bad medicine and said with a big smile: "He still pretended to say that local officials are not allowed to extort money? You just wait and see, Ge Lao." Well, in a few days, he will definitely show his true colors, forcibly apportioning 50 taels of silver to the heads of the states and governments, forcing local officials to forcibly extort the people, and get together the 50 taels of silver he wants. At that time, At least 50% of the [-] taels of silver must fall into his pocket, [-]% will be used by him to bribe officials at all levels, and the remaining half will fall into the hands of the servants who work for him, and the remaining less than half will be used by him. It will be used on the disaster victims!"

"Master Qian is right. Zhang Haogu is really not a good guy. He came to Jiangnan this time just to make money!" Qian Qianyi's words won the response of many people—although most of them They were all disciples of Qian Qianyi's same family, but under their incitement, Donglin students and Jiangnan gentry responded in groups and condemned Young Master Zhang.But Ye Xianggao was silent, and after a while he said slickly: "If Zhang Haogu is really that kind of official, you can't just sit idly by and discuss and join forces to present to the court and impeach him."

"Students, all sages and disciples, have you all heard?" Qian Qianyi hit the snake on the stick and shouted loudly: "Mr. Ye Ge also said that if Zhang Haogu dared to extort money in the south of the Yangtze River and search for people's wealth, then We can't sit idly by, we must unite and present to the imperial court to impeach Zhang Haogu for his numerous atrocities in the south of the Yangtze River!"

"Old Ye Ge is too right. We should unite as one to prevent Zhang Haogu's plundering from succeeding!" Qian Qianyi's relatives continued to take the lead in agitating, and once again won quite a lot of response.Ye Xianggao secretly hated Qian Qianyi for using the tiger's skin as a banner, and turned to Gao Panlong and asked, "My dear brother Jing Yi, Zhang Haogu is raising funds for disaster relief in the south of the Yangtze River. How did the gentry and wealthy businessmen in the south of the Yangtze River react? Are there any enthusiastic supporters?" "

"Most of them are on the sidelines, doubting whether Zhang Haogu is sincere about saving the refugees." Gao Panlong answered truthfully, "But there are also some who are particularly enthusiastic about their support. I heard that the Wanli Dynasty donated 22 taels of military pay to the court during the Anti-Japanese War. The Wu family in Huzhou intends to raise 3 taels and donate it to Zhang Haogu to help the victims."

"The Wu family in Huzhou? The Wu family in Huzhou where the father and son are four Jinshi?" Ye Xianggao, who was worth more than one million, snorted coldly. It’s a lot of money. By the way, is there anyone from their Wu family to participate in the Donglin Conference this time?”

"I am willing to degenerate, no one came." Gao Panlong sneered, and then asked in a low voice: "Mr. Ge, shall we send a message to the gentry and wealthy households in the south of the Yangtze River, let them continue to wait and see, and don't rush to donate? "

Ye Xianggao sipped his fragrant tea and said lightly: "You can figure it out. Even if a villain like Zhang Haogu has made great achievements and ascended to a high position, the common people will only suffer more." With Ye Xianggao With these words, Qian Qianyi acted as if he had received an imperial edict, and quickly gestured to the relatives of the disciples outside the Zhengxin Pavilion, ordering them to do it.Qian Qianyi's relatives understood, quickly entered the gathering place of the crowd, and began to spread the remarks prepared in advance.After a while, the Donglin students and the Jiangnan gentry who were chatting freely heard such remarks-you can't donate money to Zhang Haogu, you can't take advantage of Zhang Haogu, the world's largest corrupt official, and let Zhang Haogu live in the city. Jiangnan can't raise a penny, let the court hold him accountable, and chop off the dog's head of Zhang Haogu, the world's most corrupt official!
"Yes, yes, we don't donate a penny!" Countless people shouted, "We can't take advantage of Zhang Haogu, that stupid official, let the court know that he is ineffective, dismiss him, and dismiss him!"

"Don't donate! Don't donate to that dog official Zhang Haogu!" As time went by, more and more people shouted like this, and in the end it was unanimous.Seeing this scene, Zhang Qing, Song Yingxing and others who were mixed in the crowd were naturally very anxious, while Qian Qianyi couldn't close his mouth with a smile - it was as if he had just picked up a few big ingots and married a famous Jiangnan prostitute as his concubine.But Ye Xianggao, Gao Panlong and others remained calm, just sipping fragrant tea and observing the appearance and expression of Donglin scholars.But at this moment, a hearty laughter suddenly sounded from a small boat on the bow river, and he laughed loudly: "Hahahaha, who is calling me a dog official?"

"Who?" Qian Qianyi heard a familiar voice, and turned his head to look quickly, but saw more and more boats approaching the shore, and in the cabin was a young scholar dressed as a Confucian scholar, with a face like a crown jade, delicate features, and a slender figure.Seeing the handsome face of that young scholar, Qian Qianyi couldn't believe his eyes, jumped up and shouted loudly: "Zhang Haogu?! How dare you come to Donglin Academy?! "

"Zhang Haogu?" Wuxi County Magistrate Liu Wuwei also stood up, and could hardly believe his eyes and exclaimed: "You are the imperial envoy Zhang Haogu?!"

"Master Liu, it's been a long time." Young Master Zhang stood on the bow of the boat with his hands behind his back, greeted Liu Wuwei first, and said loudly: "Master Liu, please rest assured, I will clear up your grievances and recommend you to be the head of the Ministry of Industry. Memorial, I have sent people to Beijing quickly."

Liu Wuwei couldn't believe his eyes at first, and now he couldn't believe his ears. It took him a while to come back to his senses, and he kowtowed to Young Master Zhang and said, "Your Majesty Liu Wuwei, thank you for your kindness." Young Master Zhang laughed and waved his hand Said: "Master Liu, I can't bear your courtesy for a good official like you-didn't you hear it just now? I am called the world's largest corrupt official, the world's first dog official, so what Dare to be a gift to you, the best parent official in the world?"

Liu Wuwei smiled wryly, not daring to answer.On the other side, Qian Qianyi jumped up again, and roared with a livid face: "Zhang Haogu, you are so courageous, what are you? You deserve to set foot in this Holy Land of Donglin Academy? Get out of here! Don't tarnish Donglin!" Holy Land!"

"Qian Qianyi, don't be arrogant! After a while, I will ask the Donglin students present to help you to taste whether the water of the Gonghe River is cold or not." First Young Master Zhang uttered a wild word, and strode onto the boat that the boatman let down. On the springboard, they landed steadily, followed by Lu Wanling, the dog-headed military strategist, and Zhang Shitou, who embraced Shangfang's sword, and also abandoned the boat and landed, and accompanied Young Master Zhang to the land of Donglin Academy.

Looking at the thousands of Donglin students and Jiangnan literati with different expressions in front of him, Young Master Zhang smiled and said loudly: "Donglin students, all young brothers in Jiangnan, hello everyone, I am the number one in the world you just scolded." Corrupt official—Zhang Haogu, imperial envoy.”

(End of this chapter)