At the beginning of the winter of the 12th year of Yongli, Huishan, Wuxi County, Changzhou Prefecture, was the day for the Yunmen Club formed by local scholars to hold the last poetry meeting of the year.

Wuxi is the location of Donglin Academy and the base camp of the Donglin Party. In the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, the scholars here were either Donglin Party or descendants of the Donglin Party. In such Yunmen Society, all the scholars here had a close relationship with the Donglin Party. Even the founder of this Yunmen Society was a descendant of Gu Xiancheng, the founder of Donglin Party.

"The Han family furnished the two capitals, and the dragon plate of the city is really magnificent.

The yellow house is cut into two clouds, and the rich family is closed for five days.

The boat is rolling with peach leaves and welcomes the sleeves, and invites the flute and plum blossoms to approach the eyebrows.

Don’t tell the battlefield in Jiangdong, Xu Chang will be defeated and clashed with talents.”

At the poetry meeting, Gu Zhenguan, the founder of Yunmen Club and the fourth-generation grandson of Gu Xiancheng, drank a glass of water and wine, and carefully savored the old works of the young scholar in front of him.

"Although Ji Zi's poem "Jinling" is an old work from the Chongzhen Dynasty, the crisis of prosperity is clearly seen. Whenever I read it, I am impressed by it."

Gu Zhenguan bowed his hand, and the talented Wu Zhaoqian, who called himself Ji Zi, also calmly returned the gift. Wu Zhaoqian was born in a family of eunuchs and his ancestors were the Minister of Justice. Since then, all the dynasties have been in court and local officials. Although they are not as famous as Gu Zhenguan's ancestors, they are also a wealthy family in Suzhou.

Wu Zhaoqian was once a predecessor, Wu Weiye, and Peng Shidu, Huating. Chen Weisong, Yixing, was called the Three Phoenixes of Jiangzuo, and regarded him as the rising star in the Jiangnan literary world. Gu Zhenguan was also quite talented. During the Kangxi period in history, he shared the reputation of "Three Wonders of Beijing and Hua" with Nalan Xingde and Cao Zhenji, and was a famous poet in the early Qing Dynasty.

When Gu Zhenguan was a teenager, he joined the Shenjiao Society of Wu Zhaoqian's brothers. The two met for a long time. This time, Gu Zhenguan invited Wu Zhaoqian to attend the Yunmen Club party, and also introduced this friend who had hit it off at the time to a familiar friend in the club.

"Yuanping is too famous. This work was inspired by the thoughts of traveling to Chu with my father. Youdao read thousands of books and traveled thousands of miles with Yuanping's talent. If you have this experience, your work will definitely be a hundred times better than your foolish brother."

As soon as they finished speaking, the two laughed loudly, then sat next to each other, sounding the new and old works of other scholars, commenting from time to time, but more of them were still talking about things that were interesting to each other.

"I have a lot of plans to enter the officialdom when I look at Ji Zi's works. I wonder if it is the civil service training class in the Qi Palace, or if I wait for the world to settle down and the imperial examination will be reopened?"

Learning civil and military skills, goods and imperial families is the only way for scholars to make progress since ancient times. Wu Zhaoqian is famous for his literary reputation and is a rising star in the literary world in Jiangnan. His uncle Wu Yi and Wu Risheng also raised an army to fight against the Qing Dynasty. His subordinate Qian Yingkui and Yu Shizhong's only son were all in the army and could speak well with the Qi Palace. If he entered the civil service training class and served the Qi King after he came out, his future would be limitless.

However, when Wu Zhaoqian heard this, he shook his head and then said to Gu Zhenguan: "I'm not hiding it from my good brother, I have plans to become an official, but it was not at this time."

"How do you say this?"

When Gu Zhenguan asked this question, Wu Zhaoqian glanced at the scholars around him without any trace, as if they were still immersed in the new work of the scholar just now. Seeing this, he lowered his voice and said to Gu Zhenguan: "A few months ago, Brother Yu had visited Qian Shuai. Qian Shuai was valued by his uncle at that time. Today, he also mentioned it to Brother Yu that it was said that His Highness King Qi had already planned to change the dynasty and asked my family to see the scenery clearly before making plans."

Wu Zhaoqian's meaning is obvious. Since his family has this relationship, they are not in a hurry. Instead of becoming a reputation for being disloyal to the Ming court when the dynasty changes, it is better to wait until the world is settled before taking effect. It is simple to be a minister of the new dynasty. Besides, whether the King of Qi can succeed is also a matter of two things, and he does not intend to suppress his career and reputation too early.

But as soon as this was said, Gu Zhenguan was shocked and was shocked to give up a gift when he saw that he was shocked and sat down again, but his voice was even lower than Wu Zhaoqian.

"This is true?"

"It's true. Qian Shuai told Brother Yu that this is what he said to Brother Yu, so Brother Yu is here to tell me."

The matter mentioned by Wu Zhaoqian is a crucial matter. Gu Zhenguan is still young, but after hearing this, he did not jump up to affirm or deny it. Instead, he sat there and began to think about what happened here.

When Chen Wen recovered Nanjing, he specially invited Qian Qianyi to the headquarters to gather. In recent years, Qian Qianyi's funding for Chen Wen and the risk of his life to collect information have been circulated in the circle of scholars in Jiangnan. The Jiangnan mansion newspapers also praised Qian Qianyi's righteous deeds. Even Chen Wen would visit Qian's mansion every time he came to Suzhou. He thought it was thoughtful and not as vulgar as the rumors.

Because of this, scholars in Jiangnan all said that Qian Qianyi was about to enter the cabinet as prime minister when he was old. Even in the government, there were rumors that Chen Wen mentioned that he would recommend Qian Qianyi to the cabinet to the emperor. However, it has been three years since Qian Qianyi still recited poems and essays at home. Not to mention entering the cabinet, the government affairs in Jiangsu and Zhejiang never interfered in a word.

Originally, they thought it was Chen Wen's ungratefulness or Qian Qianyi who was unwilling to give Chen Wen a favor in the court, so they were not recommended. Now it seems that it was Chen Wen who was preparing to leave this literary leader to him in the new dynasty, rather than the old era of the previous Ming Dynasty.

There are too many things to consider here. Although Gu Zhenguan has a lot of knowledge, he can't think of any reason. With this, the poetry meeting became boring. But just as he was thinking about whether to return home as soon as possible to talk about the matter with the elders in his family, the words of a scholar directly caused a huge wave in his heart that could no longer calm down.

"After getting the news on the way down, His Highness King Qi rebuked the officials of Susongchang Town at the joint meeting because of the ineffective land clearance of Zhangzhang. With His Highness King Qi's temper, this matter is probably going to be strengthened."

Commenting poetry and art of elegance is an indispensable program for scholars to gather. However, in the late Ming Dynasty, the evaluation of current affairs was inevitable, like Donglin Academy, and it was often the highlight of it. Gu Zhenguan was the fourth-generation grandson of Gu Xiancheng, and the Yunmen Club he founded was also indispensable. However, what this person mentioned was that Wu was just communicating about joining the officialdom and Chen Wen, but in the ears of Gu and the other two, it seemed like thunder.

"This has not changed the dynasty yet, and we will harm the gentry. Isn't this Huang Chao and Li Chuang emerging today?!"

Gu Zhenguan was furious and immediately shocked everyone present. Wu Zhaoqian looked at his friend in disbelief, swallowed, and whispered to him: "Yuanping, be careful."

"What's the point of being cautious about? Does Ji Zi think that anyone here will tell the warrior? Besides, when you go to the court to eliminate evil, the comments in the wild are real-time. Senior Donglin is like this, why should we be afraid of him as a warrior?"

As the fourth generation grandson of Gu Xiancheng, Gu Zhenguan has always used Donglin's strength to show himself. In history, the Qing Dynasty created a series of major cases such as "Tonghai", "Ming History", and "Crying Temple" in Jiangnan, and massacred a gentry in Jiangnan, killing a mountain of corpses and seas of blood to scare him to be honest and became a minister in the Qing court. At this moment, these major cases are unlikely to occur. Even the final madness between Jiergalang and Ma Guozhu was soon targeted revenge from Chen Wen. Gu Zhenguan naturally jumped out like Gu Xiancheng possessed him.

When Gu Zhenguan vented this, Wu Zhaoqian's face was flushed and his shame and anger were beyond words. Seeing this, Wu Zhaoqian turned away, and he was too lazy to say goodbye words.

Wu Zhaoqian left, obviously to return to his hometown to deal with the matter. Although all the gentry present applauded Gu Zhenguan, they were all fighting against the little Jiujiu in their hearts.

The gentry in Susongchang Town was so powerful that it was the most powerful in China. At that time, Wei Zhongxian was so powerful that he was known as nine thousand years old. Most of the governors and governors in the world had party members. At that time, Wei Zhongxian killed Yang Lian, Zuo Guangdou and others in the court, which was like a counter-palm. However, even if the eunuch went to Suzhou, he would take Zhou Shunchang, and the governor and the Dongchang manzi could only end up bleeding. The five-person tomb outside the Changmen is a proof of that history!

Although Changzhou is not Suzhou, it is also the old nest of the Donglin Party. The location of Donglin Academy, the gentry resisted the land mu of Qingzhang. None of the gentry's homes did not participate in the boycott, and no one did not make any profit from it. Since Chen Wen's eyes have noticed them again, they naturally have to calculate their interests clearly.

"Yuanping, why not ask Mu Weng about this matter? He is an old friend of King Qi, and King Qi can always give him some thin faces."

In a trembling sentence, before others could react, Gu Zhenguan immediately shouted sternly: "That old man Qian Qianyi is just a lackey raised by the Qi Mansion. In the tenth year of Yongli, the Qi Mansion ordered the routine Zhejiang New Policy in Jiangnan. Qian Qianyi immediately asked the government office to clear the land for their Qian family, and even let his relatives, old masters and students do the same. How can such weak people be trusted?"

Seeing someone in the club retreating, Gu Zhenguan was so imposing. He immediately mentioned the old story of Suzhou's boycott of the eunuch party. He used this matter to boost morale and even more forgot to inspire him with subtle words and righteousness. At first glance, it was no longer as simple as Gu Xiancheng, but instead had a bit of Yang Lian's style.

"The sound of wind and rain sounds, and the sound of reading is heard; family affairs and national affairs are in the world, and everything is concerned. When my great-grandfather rebuilt Donglin Academy, he personally wrote this couplet to inspire scholars to participate in state affairs and not let evil people succeed. Now, the military people in the Qi royal palace are in chaos, so we as scholars do not stand up to resist, so who can expect to fight against the common people, and who can maintain justice in the world?!"

After a burst of motivation, the gentry attending the meeting also shouted and agreed, and for a momentum was quite shocking in the Huishan Mountain.

Chen Wenshen denounced officials, and must have stepped up their efforts. After discussing it, everyone quickly dispersed and as many as possible, they colluded with more gentry to boycott. The incident in Suzhou told them that there were many people and powerful people. Even Wei Zhongxian had to admit this truth.

Scholars, at this time of the late Ming Dynasty, studied for the sake of being an official, and it didn't matter who became an emperor. Even if the barbarians steal China, it didn't matter to many scholars. But if anyone dared to touch their interests, even if it was illegal, they would have to fight with them with all their might.

Gu Zhenguan knew very well how much these scholars were. He was so excited that he rushed back home with a high spirit. On the one hand, he told the things Wu Zhaoqian mentioned to the elders in the family, and on the other hand, he wanted to increase his efforts to clear the land and acres of Chen Wen, especially his performance in it, and he even wrote a lot about it.

However, when he returned home, he told the whole story of the matter in a vain, but what he received was not praise from his elders. Instead, his father Gu Shu gave him a loud slap after hearing this crazy remark.

"You rebellious son, who is the King of Qi? The hero of hundreds of thousands of tigers under your command is still in troubled times. The sword handle of a warrior is the truth. Besides, if it is true as Wu Zhaoqian said, the King of Qi intends to get involved in the supreme position, then it will be the future Tian Family. How can you teach you for your father on weekdays? Don't force yourself to stand up. The rafters that stand up will rot first, and you just don't listen. Now the entire family will be implicated by you."

Gu Shu was Gu Xiancheng's grandson. He studied at Gao Panlong, another leader of the Donglin Party, in his early years. He was successful at a young age. He was awarded the title of Jingkui at the age of nineteen. However, he was called Jingkui after the "eight tests" of the imperial examinations. He suffered repeated setbacks and became increasingly conservative and weak.

Gu Shu was just a juren for life, not like his grandfather, his father was both Jinshi, and he became an official in the court. The exemption that he could enjoy was far inferior to his elders. Although there were public land in the clan, he still had to rely on tax avoidance to ensure the luxury of his family.

This is the most common phenomenon among gentry. According to the explanation, there are not many preferential and exemption given by the court, but they cannot stand the need to be vacant. The scholars used the amount of preferential and exemption to accept investment and concealed the land, thus achieving unlimited duty-free exemption with limited preferential and exemption. The number of land acres in the Ming Dynasty was recorded less and less, and most of them disappeared in this way.

The Gu family was not very rich when they were the fifth generation ancestor of Gu Zhenguan, but his fifth generation ancestor had four sons, two of whom passed the imperial examination and entered the court as officials. One of them was Gu Xiancheng. When he got his generation, the Gu family had become a wealthy family in Wuxi. Otherwise, later, with his prescription and personal relationship with Nalan Xingde, he could incite the powerful prime minister Mingzhu to open his eyes for him and rescue Wu Zhaoqian, who was sent to Ningguta, who was involved in the Dingyou imperial court case. It was nothing more than that the Gu family and the Wu family had money in place.

It is hard to give up the good fortune. Gu Shu is not angry with Gu Zhenguan instigating the boycott of Qingzhangtianmu. He is so angry that he takes the initiative to take the lead and puts the Gu family in the opposite direction of Chen Wen.

When he opposed Chen Wen, although Gu Shu was the leader of Donglin, he was a little afraid of his character. However, if the Gu family retreated, their reputation in the Shilin would be completely destroyed.

"You unscrupulous son, this is putting our Gu family on the fire and baking it."

Having said that, Gu Shu had to wipe his butt for the recklessness of his youngest and most favored son, and at this moment he had to take Gu Zhenguan to the clan to discuss countermeasures. Fortunately, resisting government orders was the skill of the gentry in Jiangnan for many years, and he could be said to be very familiar with it. The only difference was how to calm things down.

The Gu family, Gu Xiancheng, had played the role of Gu Gao, but most of them remained relatively low-key. However, the interests of the Confucian scholars and officials were involved in this matter, so they had to work together to fight against the "military rioters and chaos" in the Qi royal palace.

After obtaining Chen Wenyouyi's intention to vigorously promote the work of clearing the fields of Zhangzhang, the gentry of Susongchang Town started the most intensive connection. Some gentry who had already cleared the fields of Zhangzhang were forced to go out of the mountain to fight against the powerful enemy due to the rhetoric of relatives and friends.

However, the intensity of this time was far better than their imagination. Chen Wen's will was unshakable. The civil servants under the Qi Prince's Mansion were all looking forward to the hidden land that could start paying taxes again, so that their political achievements would be better.
Chapter completed!