My life skills in Daming Liver

Ever since Zhang Juzheng allowed Zhang Jingxiu to contact Wang Shizhen, Zhang Jingxiu was out of control. He not only visited Wang Shizhen in person, but also participated in various cultural gatherings hosted by Wang Shizhen.

As of today, Zhang Jingxiu has personally left the event, held a cultural gathering in the Prime Minister's Mansion, and invited Wang Shizhen to attend.

Literary societies, scholars from both north and south, are keen on organizing such activities.

The earliest literary gatherings actually existed very early. Scholars met friends through literature and held literary gatherings at home or in restaurants and teahouses to talk about literature and current affairs.

But now, two different cultural societies have formed, one in the south and one in the north.

Literary societies in the south pay more attention to discussing politics, economics and other topics, which are often related to current affairs. Of course, literary discussions are also the main focus. However, under the general direction of promoting the popularization of literature in the southeast, there are almost no such literary gatherings to show off talents. .

In addition to gatherings of Confucian scholars, various gatherings also emerged in the southeast.

A geographical society composed of captains and explorers. This society will discuss the latest geographical discoveries, exchange the latest nautical charts, and discuss overseas geography and humanities.

Natural History Society, where the latest natural history, astronomy, and new developments in the southeast are discussed.

The Mathematical Society is a society that gathers researchers who are keen on using mathematics to solve problems. It is also the first society in the Southeast to have its own society journal. It has received strong sponsorship from the Southeast Governor Su Ze, who personally funded the creation of the book "Mathematics" The journal compiles the most cutting-edge mathematical results in the entire Southeast into a publication every three months and distributes it to all members.

There are also medical associations that discuss medicine, chambers of commerce that discuss business, and various societies emerge in endlessly.

But the scholar-bureaucrats in the north were not interested in these miscellaneous studies advocated by Su Ze.

When Gao Gong was in power, various cultural associations criticized the Ming court's policies, and some scholars who were dissatisfied with the Ming court's policies gathered together to complain.

Gao Gong often doesn't care about these criticisms from the opposition. As long as they discuss behind closed doors, Gao Gong doesn't care.

But since Zhang Juzheng came to power, the control of the government has become even stricter.

Even if it is a private gathering, if something bad is said about Zhang Juzheng at the meeting, once it reaches Zhang Juzheng's ears, everyone attending the meeting will be suppressed.

After several gatherings of young scholars were suppressed by Zhang Juzheng, at least in the capital, few people criticized Zhang Juzheng's power at public literary meetings.

Even for the sake of safety, few people criticized Ming Ting's policies at the cultural meetings that were attended by a relatively large number of people.

Even restaurants and tea shops that host cultural gatherings will put up warnings of "Don't talk about national affairs" in eye-catching places in order not to provoke anger.

Since there aren't as many societies as there are in the Southeast, and we can't discuss state affairs, the only thing that can be discussed on a large scale is literature.

The literary atmosphere in the north has been greatly enhanced. Under such circumstances, when Shi Wenzong and Wang Shizhen came to the capital, they were really at home.

Because Wang Shizhen's reason for refusing the Ming Dynasty's conquest was to observe filial piety, no banquets were held at the cultural gatherings that Wang Shizhen was invited to attend.

Zhang Jingxiu held a tea banquet in the back house, and invited all the children of officials and officials of similar age to him and young scholars with literary names in the capital.

However, the number of people at the Prime Minister's Mansion gathering this time was not large. These young people also have another identity, that is, young people studying new learning.

Nowadays, the thinking of the Northern Ming court is also very divided.

On the one hand, Zhang Juzheng also understood that without the New Deal, he would never be able to compete with Southeast Asia.

The strength of the new army has been demonstrated in the battle to extinguish peasant uprisings in various places.

Although it is still difficult to face the new army in the southeast, but against ordinary uprisings and bandits, the new army of the Ming Dynasty also has a crushing advantage.

This is also reflected in Jiubian.

In the past, the Mongols and various foreign ethnic groups in Liaodong were a serious problem on the frontiers of the Ming Dynasty.

The Oara people in the northern grasslands even had an astonishing record of Oara students studying abroad.

Before the rise of the southeast, the north had always been the number one enemy of the Ming Dynasty.

At that time, Gao Gong paid tribute to the border, exchanged war horses with the current grassland overlord Ada Khan, and signed an agreement to borrow troops with Ada Khan.

However, the recent sporadic plundering campaigns from the north have been blocked by the Nine Sides Army with artillery and muskets.

The Nine-Border Army of the Ming Dynasty was not yet a new army. It only used new equipment and weapons, and used new drills.

The balance of power between the Ming court and the northern nomads was also gradually changing.

Everyone sees the benefits of new services, and Zhang Juzheng is no exception.

This is why Zhang Juzheng also wanted to promote the New Deal, and even transformed Su Ze's "New Commentary on the Three Classics" into a publication and promotion of his own theory.

But the limit that Zhang Juzheng could accept was the New Commentary on the Three Classics.

Su Ze's theory is also making continuous progress.

In his public speech at the World Expo, Su Ze blatantly said that "the sages are not enough for the law." This has denied the sanctity of the sages' documents. Su Zexin's article no longer seeks legal rationality and rationality from the sages' statutes. .

This is actually normal. The legal principle of the Southeast is that "sovereignty belongs to the people." Since sovereignty belongs to the people, what the sages said is no longer the eternal truth, nor is it a holy word that is regarded as a guideline. It is just what the sages said based on their opinions. In his own era, he proposed methods and theories to solve the problems of that era.

Today's era is completely different from the era in which the sages lived. The sages did not encounter the current problems, and their guidance is no longer absolutely correct.

Of course, Su Ze's new theory was also radical in the Southeast, but it did have a subtle influence on the scholars in the Southeast.

And he himself was a literary scholar of the time, and his theory was also sought after by many young people.

But for the northern Ming court, which was conservative in background, Su Ze's theory that sovereignty lies with the people was unacceptable to them.

And scholars who have spent their whole lives reading sages' books for the imperial examination cannot accept the theory that overturns the sages' words.

Therefore, the new learning promoted by Zhang Juzheng ended with the "New Meanings of the Three Classics", which deleted the discussion about "sovereignty lies with the people" and only added some contents that restricted the power of the monarch.

This was the new learning improved by the Ming court in the north. Su Ze paid no attention to Zhang Juzheng's tampering and plagiarism of his own doctrines, and openly ridiculed Zhang Juzheng's so-called "new learning" as painting a tiger instead of a dog.

Zhang Juzheng didn't care about Su Ze's evaluation.

Naturally, the main content of discussions at a small-scale literary gathering like Zhang Jingxiu’s was not literature.

This kind of literary meeting is actually a gathering to discuss politics behind closed doors. Zhang Jingxiu is the initiator of the literary meeting, and Wang Shizhen was invited to come. On the one hand, Zhang Jingxiu admired Wang Shizhen's literary reputation. On the other hand, it was also because Wang Shizhen came from Suzhou, and Zhang Jingxiu was going to invite Wang Shizhen to the meeting. He asked about the situation in the southeast.

Wang Shizhen entered the back hall, where several young people were already sitting.

One of them, Wang Shizhen, also knew him. This young man was called Tong An, and he was the youth leader of the study group who wrote on the Zuoshunmen bus.

Writing on the bus was the trigger that led to Gao Gong's resignation and Zhang Juzheng's rise to power. After Zhang Juzheng came to power, preferential treatment was given to the young scholars who participated in the writing on the bus. Many of them participated in the imperial examination and entered the officialdom, and were promoted by Zhang Juzheng.

However, Tong An refused to take part in the imperial examination, let alone become an official. Instead, he stayed in the capital to study new learning.

After the public letter was sent to the school, the study club became famous, and many aspiring young scholars asked to join the study club.

The former leaders of the study association gave up the affairs of the study association because they entered officialdom. Tong An ran the study association while studying, and became the leader of the young people in the capital.

Although Zhang Jingxiu is the son of the prime minister, he was also admitted to the imperial examination. Now he is studying in the Imperial College, so he will naturally get to know Tong An, who is studying in the Imperial College.

Wang Shizhen was also invited to give lectures at the Imperial College, so she naturally knew Tong An.

Tong An is also on the focus list of Lu Er, the head of the Beijing Intelligence Station, and Wang Shizhen is also in contact with the young people on these lists.

Looking around, Zhang Jingxiu’s invitations to this literary conference were all relatively progressive young scholars from the capital, mainly students from the Imperial College, as well as some officials’ children with progressive ideas.

After Wang Shizhen sat down, Zhang Jingxiu ordered the book boy to close the door and take out a newspaper.

Wang Shizhen took a look and saw that it was a "Jingshi Bao" issued by Southeast China.

According to the latest decree of Zhang Juzheng's cabinet, hiding Southeast's newspapers in the capital is punishable by jail time, and gathering a crowd to read Southeast's newspapers is a serious crime that requires exile to the frontier.

However, this ban obviously did not apply to the prime minister. Zhang Jingxiu picked up the newspaper and started reading.

Wang Shizhen frowned. What Zhang Jingxiu was reading was Su Ze's speech at the opening ceremony of the World Expo, but this was a newspaper from fifteen days ago, and Wang Shizhen only read it from Lu Er's intelligence station yesterday.

The newspaper on Lu Er's side was delivered from Shanghai by Southeast on a fast ship, and was delivered along with Southeast's highest-priority order.

Zhang Jingxiu actually had the "Warning World News" in his hands. It seemed that the upper echelons of the Ming Dynasty had a stable channel to obtain information from the southeast, and the speed was no less fast than the express ship transportation from the southeast.

Although he had read Su Ze's speech, Wang Shizhen still pretended to be shocked.

After finishing reading, Zhang Jingxiu said:

"Father said that Su Rulin is the most knowledgeable person he has ever seen in his life. If he does not rebel, he will definitely enter the Confucian Temple in the future."

"Although this speech is in vernacular, it reads with great majesty. It is indeed a world-class speech."

After saying this, Zhang Jingxiu glanced at Wang Shizhen and then said:

“In inviting Mr. Wang here today, on the one hand, I want to ask Mr. Wang to comment on the popular vernacular movement in the Southeast, and on the other hand, I want to ask Mr. Wang to talk about the changes in the Southeast.”

Wang Shizhen looked at it and said calmly: "I do not approve of the vernacular movement advocated by Su Rulin."

In terms of literature, Wang Shizhen and Su Ze did have differences. What he said next came from the bottom of his heart. After he finished speaking, everyone nodded.

Most scholars are still opposed to the reform of the vernacular. Confusing classical Chinese with spoken language is tantamount to canceling the cultural privileges of scholars.

The north is more conservative than the south. Everyone nodded after Wang Shizhen's words.

Wang Shizhen was also observing Zhang Jingxiu. Although Zhang Jingxiu respected him, after all, he was the son of the prime minister of the Ming Dynasty, so Wang Shizhen naturally had to be cautious in his words and deeds.

Then Wang Shizhen talked about the changes in Suzhou city during the three years of his mourning.

Everyone listened attentively. After Wang Shizhen finished speaking, Zhang Jingxiu took over and said:

"Thank you Mr. Wang for telling us the real situation in the southeast."

Wang Shizhen understood that dinner was coming next, and as expected Zhang Jingxiu said:

"Mr. Wang, in your opinion, where does the prosperity and prosperity of the Southeast come from?"

Wang Shizhen thought for a while and chose the least taboo answer: "The prosperity of industry and commerce in the Southeast comes from the wealth of the Southeast."

This argument can be regarded as the mainstream of public opinion in the capital today. After all, no matter how strict the Ming court's control over public opinion, the news that Li Chengliang was busy fighting fires in Shandong would still spread to the capital. If he denigrates the southeast, it will make the Ming court even more incompetent.

Therefore, this view often appeared in the official newspapers of the Ming Dynasty, and was a common answer to discussions about southeastern issues.

Zhang Jingxiu said: "My father also thinks it is for this reason. The workshops in the southeast are technologically advanced and have a good location for sea trade. It is precisely because of the wealth in the southeast that we have such a strong army."

“My father believed that the strength of a country lies in gathering wealth.”

Everyone nodded, even Tong An nodded in agreement. After all, Southeast was famously wealthy when it was still under the control of Ming Dynasty.

"Father believes that Su Rulin is right about one thing. Times have changed."

"In the past, gentlemen talked about righteousness, and villains talked about profit. Gentlemen did not bother to talk about profit."

"But now the villain talks about profit, and the gentleman has to talk about profit. If you want to make the country rich, you must develop industry."

Wang Shizhen, who came from the southeast, naturally understood what Zhang and his son meant. He attributed the prosperity of the southeast to economic advantages, but rejected the idea that sovereignty belongs to the people. This was a bit more advanced than Gao Gong's Xinwu Movement, but it was not an improvement. many.

But what Zhang Jingxiu said next made Wang Shizhen look sideways.

I only heard Zhang Jingxiu say:

"I think we in the north also have advantages and are not completely behind the south."

"Su Rulin organized a constitutional meeting because he won the country unfairly, so he could only claim that sovereignty lies with the people."

"But our Northern Emperor Ming Orthodoxy has the institutional advantage of concentrating our efforts on big things."

"So I thought that as long as our court opened workshops and larger workshops, we could compete with Southeast."

"More importantly, I just heard from Mr. Wang that a weaver in Suzhou Prefecture in the southeast costs more than ten taels of silver a year!"

"Nowadays, the southeast has many workshops and advanced technology, so we can pay weavers more than ten taels of silver. In the north, we have a vast land, rich resources, and a large population. Our people are hard-working and can work in factories for just one tael of silver a year!"

"Not to mention that the Southeast will introduce any bill to protect employees, it is simply tying its own hands!"