Chapter 636 Interesting Places

If it weren't for the value of united front work, Shi Lun would have been dragged out of the city gate and thrown into the Han River to take a bath after dawn.

The label of Wuxi people is still very valuable, after all, Wuxi is the future base of the Donglin Party.

At this time, Lin Tailai already had some ideas of guarantor in his mind, but before making a decision, he must first clarify the matter thoroughly.

The so-called "fawning on the powerful" originally refers to the old calendar of Zhang Juzheng's era, so what does "bribery" refer to?

Shi Lun replied: "Since my boss took office, he has collected more than 10,000 taels of silver from various places for redemption and fire consumption, and this time he was also reported."

Lin Tailai asked: "Is it only this?"

Shi Lun answered very confidently: "It is indeed only these."

For the government, the fire consumption and loss of money and grain are often a mess. It's okay if you don't take it seriously, but it can also be considered a problem if you take it seriously.

More than 10,000 taels of messy accounts are not too large for a frontier official who has been working for several years.

If the crimes for which Qin Zhongcheng was impeached were only "fawning on Zhang Juzheng" and "more than 10,000 taels of muddled accounts", then he was most likely "struggled against".

Lin Tailai took the files of officials from various provinces along the way copied from the Ministry of Personnel and flipped through them, and he had a rough idea in his mind.

Five hundred years later, officials often did not know who had framed them when something happened, but in this era, it was much easier to judge enemies and friends.

This was mainly because in the context of an acquaintance society, the interpersonal relationship model was relatively simple, nothing more than blood ties, fellow townsmen, classmates, teachers and students, etc.

Especially in an environment where information flow is slow, personnel flow channels are fixed, and information disclosure is relatively low, simple models are sufficient.

When encountering a problem, as long as you look for it from these aspects, you can always find some clues.

Take the impeachment of Governor Qin Yao, for example, and now he is being held on by the censor Guo Shi.

Just now, Shi Lun also said that this censor Guo Shi is from the same county and hometown as Zhao Nanxing, and it is said that he is also a relative in law.

Among the high officials of Huguang Province, it just so happens that the Censor Hou Shiqing, Zhao Nanxing and Guo Shi all came from Zhending Prefecture. Is this a coincidence?

And the time when Hou Shiqing was promoted to Censor happened to be when Zhao Nanxing was the Deputy Director of the Ministry of Personnel. Is this a coincidence?

Regardless of whether others believe it or not, Lin Tailai believes that this is a coincidence, because he often has such coincidences.

So Lin Tailai said to Shi Lun meaningfully: "Qin Zhongcheng asked me for help, it seems that he has thought it through."

It is estimated that he has been studied thoroughly by Qin Zhongcheng and knows that the anti-Qingliu forces are his "political correctness".

And it is more practical for him to "take the initiative" to come to the door than the "powerful and noble" far away in the capital.

Thinking of this, Lin Tailai was also helpless.

Those in high positions will always be carefully studied by others, and then cater to them in a targeted manner. No one can avoid it.

Shi Lun did not dare to respond directly. The superior must hate the feeling of being guessed. He could only ask tentatively: "What do you think, Lord Jiuyuan?"

Lin Tailai thought for a while. Both of the charges against Governor Qin belonged to the situation where he would be fine if someone helped him, but he would be in trouble if no one cared.

So he said to Shi Lun again: "Wait until we get to Wuchang and meet your boss before we talk."

This means that he can agree to it tentatively, and we will see the fate when we get to Wuchang.

It is not a heinous crime or a bad crime, so it is relatively easy to guarantee someone.

And even if he can't guarantee someone, it won't bring trouble to himself, and there is no danger.

Shi Lun was overjoyed when he heard this, and asked: "I am willing to follow Lord Jiuyuan to Wuchang."

I don't know if he was afraid that Lin Tailai would run away and his lifeline would be gone, so he asked to follow.

Lin Tailai didn't care. He had more than 200 followers, and one more would not affect anything.

The next day, he continued to set off. Lin Tailai sat on the boat, enjoying the scenery on both sides of the Han River while chatting with Gu Bingqian and Shi Lun.

Lin Tailai, as the absolute core figure, suddenly said with emotion: "Today's Huguang, especially Hubei, is really the most interesting place."

Gu Bingqian was not surprised, because there were too many sudden strange talks in the daily life of the host, and there was no need to make a fuss.

But Shi Lun was determined to please Lin Tailai, and his brain immediately started to work at high speed.

But he was working so hard that he almost burned himself, and he didn't figure out what "the most interesting" meant.

At this time, he heard Lin Tailai continue to add: "It shouldn't be boring to be an official in Hubei in the next ten years."

Shi Lun's brain continued to work until it smoked, but he still didn't understand the deep meaning of Jiuyuan Gong, but he didn't dare to ask casually, for fear of violating the taboo of spying on the thoughts of the superiors.

Fortunately, Gu Bingqian asked: "Why does the host have such feelings?"

Lin Tailai was not making up stories. In the middle of the Wanli period, Hubei was definitely one of the most fun places.

Then, bored Lin Tailai got a little excited and said, "First of all, this place has been flourishing in literature in recent years. Didn't the Sanyuan Gong'an School originate in Hubei?"

Shi Lun thought about it and thought that these people were very particular about liberating their nature and often indulged in alcohol and sex. It was not wrong to say that they were "interesting".

Then Lin Tailai continued, "Secondly, I heard that Li Zhi and Li Zhuowu have been giving lectures in Macheng in recent years, and there are thousands of listeners?"

Shi Lun was surprised and said, "Even Jiuyuan Gong has heard of Li Zhuowu?"

Lin Tailai nodded and said, "I have heard of the theory of crazy Zen for a long time."

This Li Zhi was also a well-known and extremely independent figure in the history of late Ming thought, and it can even be said that he was unique.

The main characteristic of this person is that he opposes traditional Neo-Confucianism. He once said a famous saying - "You don't need to regard Confucius's right and wrong as right and wrong." This is groundbreaking. Who among other scholars would dare to say this?

Moreover, Li Zhi once publicly criticized Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism as pseudo-Taoism, and he was even more of a madman among madmen.

Even though Lin Tailai was famous for his madness and privately disapproved of Neo-Confucianism, he never said so publicly.

Not in the relaxed folk environment of the late Ming Dynasty, people like Li Zhi would not have been born.

It's just that in history, Li Zhi's ending was not good. Later, he was repeatedly reported to the emperor by officials who extremely adhered to Neo-Confucianism.

Emperor Wanli ordered Li Zhi to be captured for questioning, but Li Zhi committed suicide after being imprisoned.

In an environment where thought and speech were loose in the late Ming Dynasty, Li Zhi was even labeled as a thought criminal. You can imagine how shocking his views were.

When Shi Lun saw Lin Tailai mentioning Li Zhi, a controversial celebrity, he carefully observed Lin Tailai's face and replied:

"Jiuyuan Gong doesn't know that this year Li Zhuowu was accused of being a heretic and promoting chaos and deceiving the public with his monstrous words. He is currently being taken to the feudal government office for refuge by Liu Dongxing, the chief envoy of the left."

The main reason is that Li Zhi is so controversial. Even within the Huguang officialdom, the attitude towards Li Zhi is very divided.

If it had not been for the fact that the biggest figure outside the governor, Liu Dongxing, the governor of the left, had not protected Li Zhi, there is no telling what the trouble would have been like.

Without knowing how Lin Tailai viewed Li Zhi, Shi Lun could only explain the situation as objectively as possible.

When Lin Tailai's fame and fame reached the point where he was the leader of the literary world with nine yuan in his left hand and right hand in his right hand, he no longer bothered to hide his cultural views.

So he said to Shi Lun: "So, isn't it interesting that there is a person like Li Zhi in Hubei?

If you can't protect Li Zhi, send him to Suzhou! I have built a Hengtang College and can invite him to give lectures there. "

"Hehehehe." Shi Lun laughed a few times and quickly made a note in his mind that Lin Jiuyuan tended to approve of Li Zhi.

When we return to Wuchang Mansion, we should remind the host Qin Zhongcheng not to disagree with Lin Jiuyuan on this controversial issue.

Lin Tailai, who was busy talking, continued: "As for the third interesting place in Hubei, Chu Fan is here. In the clan joke, Chu Fan has two out of three!"

Hearing this, Shi Lun laughed "hehehehe" again, as if he was cheering for the leader's joke.

Chu vassal refers to the King of Chu, who granted vassal status in Huguang, and the royal palace is in Wuchang City.

In the lineage of the Ming Dynasty vassal kings, the Chu vassal clan was relatively large. Although it was not as exaggerated as the Zhou vassal in Kaifeng, there were still more than a dozen princes.

Of course, the most important thing is that the Chu Palace is one of the richest palaces, at least much richer than the Zhou Palace.

But speaking of the Chu vassal, in the eyes of civil servants it was indeed quite enjoyable.

Forty-six years ago, the Crown Prince of Chu ordered a warrior to kill the King of Chu on the spot with a copper hammer at a banquet.

This was the only case in the history of the Ming Dynasty in which a crown prince killed his father, and it was quite explosive.

Then two consecutive generations of Chu kings succeeded to the throne at an early age and completely lost their prestige and binding force on other Chu clans.

Immediately, the Chu vassal clan fell into a state of chaos, and all kinds of messy troubles occurred one after another.

For example, when several clans were fighting for a certain family's wealth, they accidentally beat up King Tongcheng who was passing by.

This King Tongcheng was no ordinary prince. At that time, the King of Chu was young, and King Tongcheng took charge of the affairs of the prince's palace on his behalf, which was equivalent to the regent of the Chu vassal.

The regent was furious after being beaten, and then joined forces with civil servants to kill the clans and steal the wealth.

Therefore, when he heard Lin Tailai mention Chu Fan, Shi Lun really thought he was telling a cold joke.

He laughed and then said: "Actually, Chu Fan should be fine now. After all, this King of Chu has reached his thirtieth year and has grown up. He is in good health and does not look like he will die young."

There were a lot of troubles in the Chu vassal in the past, mainly because in the past few decades, most of the time, the King of Chu was young and weak, and the clan completely lacked control, which was similar to a big family without a patriarch.

Now that the King of Chu has grown up, as long as he re-establishes the prestige of the clan leader, the chaos should be reduced.

At this time, Lin Tailai smiled instead and said cryptically: "The King of Chu's adulthood is not the end, but the beginning."

Where are we now? You all thought the farce was over? In fact, the real fun of Chu Fan is about to begin!

Anyone familiar with history knows that there were three major cases in the Ming Palace in the late Ming Dynasty. In fact, in the middle of Wanli, the Chu vassal also had a vassal version of the three major cases, each of which was more interesting than the last.

The core elements of the three major cases of the Chu vassalage are centered around the family property of the fat sheep King Chu, which fully illustrates what it means that people die for money and birds die for food.

There was also a governor who was booed and beaten to death by a group of clan members when he was ordered to interrogate the clan members during the three major cases of the Chu vassal state.

If the Ming Dynasty clan had a stone, eight of them would be in the Chu vassal. Working as an official in Hubei, especially Wuchang, during the mid-Wanli period would never be lonely.

After chatting more and becoming more familiar with each other, Shi Lun became bolder and asked, "Why did Duke Jiuyuan say that? Is there anything wrong with Chu Fan?"

When it doesn't matter, Lin Tailai doesn't mind showing off his "prejudgment ability."

This is also a kind of character-building technique. When others see that their predictions have been successful many times, they will naturally become convinced of themselves when they encounter things.

So Lin Tailai prophesied: "The king of Chu has been weak for decades, and the clan has not been restrained for a long time. The unruly and unruly has been deeply rooted. How can there be no chaos if the branches are strong and the branches are weak?"

And another key point is that the King of Chu is too wealthy, and the lives of other clans are not easy. The gap is too big, and they are not worried about the lack of numbers but the inequality.

You see, the civil strife in the Chu vassal will only become more and more intense. The clan and the King of Chu will definitely be like enemies. As for when it will calm down, only God knows. "

Believe it or not, Shi Lun could only say "Jiu Yuan Gong has great respect" at this time!

We go all the way, turn into the river at Hankou, and arrive at the pier outside Hanyang Gate of Wuchang City.

At this time, Wuchang City had nine gates, each with different main features.

Hanyang Gate faces the river and is the main gate to the west and the most important city gate.

Distinguished guests boarding and disembarking and entering the city all go through Hanyang Gate, and the famous Yellow Crane Tower is right next to Hanyang Gate.

When the boat stopped at the pier and was about to go ashore, Shi Lun, a half-landowner, glanced at the shore and asked Lin Tailai strangely: "Has Jiuyuan Gong notified others?"

Lin Tailai replied: "As long as you are the official official, no one else has been informed. But I have some personal relations with the Yuan family in Jingzhou, so I informed them."

Shi Lun suddenly realized that it was no wonder that there were a large number of half-Confucian and half-business people on the shore.

The Yuan family is the largest grain merchant in Hubei today. Its strength does not only refer to its scale, but also its ability to trade over large distances across regions.

The Yuan family can steadily transport tens of thousands of shi or even 100,000 shi of grain to Suzhou every year. This ability is not possessed by other grain merchants of the same scale.

Business spanning thousands of miles is completely different from business in this region.

Now Shi Lun understood why the Yuan family could safely transport large quantities of grain to Suzhou for sale.

After landing on the shore, Lin Tailai said to Shi Lun, "I won't bother you tonight. I'll meet with the Yuan family first."

Shi Lun was a little surprised: "Ah, this..."

Lin Tailai said: "Don't worry, it will be the same tomorrow."

Then Lin Tailai turned to the Yuan family, and Shi Lun quickly said: "No matter what, we have to send Mr. Jiu Yuan to his residence."

An elderly scribe from the Yuan family had already come up to him and said respectfully: "Your Excellency, Yuan Shiyu, has admired Lord Jiuyuan for a long time, and today I finally get to pay my respects!

Quanzi has been taking photos of Jiuyuan PR for several years, and I am always grateful! "

Lin Tailai sighed: "My son Yuan Hongdao is good at everything, he is excellent in literature and has a good character, but he is too negative in life and always wants to retreat bravely.

He has been promoted to the Suzhou Prefecture in charge of grain management, and is still thinking about how to resign and return to the mountains. "

Yuan Shiyu replied: "I already admonished him again last month! Tell him to be an official in Suzhou with peace of mind, otherwise the family will have no place for him!"

Lin Tailai nodded with satisfaction: "Now Suzhou has changed its governor again. We need stability, and my son must not leave."