Jiayu Village of Red Mansions

Chapter 68

World.

Time flies, and it's the Dragon Boat Festival again. Liu Molin went to the palace early in the morning to go to the Hall of Mental Cultivation. Seeing Zhang Tingyu waiting there, he hurriedly went up and cupped his hands and said, "Zhang Zhongtang, you came so early! Has Your Majesty got up yet? "

"The emperor has been up for more than half an hour, you forgot, today is the Duanyang Festival, the emperor took the three princes to burn incense and worship everywhere early in the morning." Zhang Tingyu said.

"How can I forget it? It's just that I didn't expect His Majesty to get up so early. Didn't I come to the palace so early before? I don't know when His Majesty got up. I just came by order. I don't know what His Majesty summoned It's a matter, can you give me a little word of mouth?" Liu Molin said bluntly, this piece of Tingyu is notoriously tight-lipped, so I don't know if I can ask it out!

Zhang Tingyu smiled reservedly when he heard Liu Molin's cautious words, and said that it was not an important matter, and said, "Your Majesty wrote a few banners a while ago, and I want you to help him pick out the best ones. There are still many people coming today. Those who give banners, including the ones of Long Live, are not allowed to write their names. They are all posted on the Guangsheng Building for everyone to compare and choose the best one. I will leave the posting to you. I have to tell you, Your Majesty came out of the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests this morning, and talked to Prince An in front of me for a long time. His Majesty is rarely interested. .”

How can Liu Molin not know where this Guangsheng Tower is? Although it is not close to the center of Zijin City, it happens to be within sight of it. The Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests is unobstructed. Doesn’t this mean that the sleeping Prince An also felt it? Is this Duanyang Festival lively?As soon as Liu Molin turned his head, he knew where the joints were.

The emperor wants to choose who writes the best characters. It stands to reason that all the officials want to flatter the emperor. Of course, the emperor’s characters should be the leader, but these hundreds of characters are not signed. Wouldn't it lose the emperor's face if his character failed the ranking?What's more, the Holy Majesty clearly wants to show Prince An!If you lose face in front of Prince An, there is no guarantee that the Holy Majesty will not be annoyed.

Liu Molin rolled his eyes, cupped his hands to Zhang Tingyu and said, "Thank you Zhang Zhongtang for your guidance."

Zhang Tingyu nodded, and after a while Shui Zhan led the three princes back, and asked the two of them to go in. On a long and large case, there were more than a dozen written characters lined up. They were not the selected lines of Tang poetry and Song poetry that were expected. Liu Molin went up When I saw it before, I was shocked. What do you think Shui Zhan wrote that would shock Liu Molin so much:

"Scholars, farmers, and businessmen are all the people of the Celestial Dynasty, and books, millet, feet, and money are the foundation of governing the country"

"A half-way canal runs from north to south, and a commercial road runs from east to west"

……

All kinds of pairs, more than a dozen large characters are actually these pairs, you readers, you may feel strange when you see this, why Liu Molin is so surprised by these ordinary pairs, even with little literary talent. Let’s start from ancient times. In the land of China, people are divided into three, six, nine, and 360 lines. Not all lines are valuable. For example, being an official and studying. , not only because studying can become an official and can display one's own value, but also a considerable part of the reason is that all scholars, all officials, or landlords with more than two hectares of land enjoy privileges. Military service is not required.Scholars, farmers, businessmen, are talking about classes, with scholars at the head and merchants at the end, emphasizing agriculture and suppressing merchants. The world seems to think that merchants are opportunistic and do not engage in production, but they are burdened with huge wealth and disrupt social order. It is an idea that has been recognized by history for many years, and His Majesty the Emperor seems to want to equalize the status of scholars, farmers, businessmen, and developers. Wow!

This is a good thing, at least in Liu Molin's opinion, but it is not so difficult to implement. This undoubtedly violates the interests of the gentry. Although there are not many of them, they control most of the country's rights and wealth. The resistance to the display can be imagined.The emperor wanted to use this opportunity to pick whoever was the best to carry out the policy.

If officials want to flatter the emperor, they must say that the emperor's characters are the best, but by choosing the emperor's characters, they indirectly admit that they agree with the emperor's thoughts, which makes the so-called upright officials in the court suffer and cannot speak!

From this point of view, the emperor tacitly agreed to leak the emperor's calligraphy, Liu Molin thought, generously spared a pair with a clear meaning to Gao Wuyong, and asked him to give it out quickly.

Gao Wuyong went out on the front foot, Shui Zhan came in from the back foot, followed by the three princes, glanced at Zhang Tingyu and Liu Molin, and said, "Tanhualang, have you read my handwriting? All the Tanhualangs in my court are writers. Expert, tell me, did that picture hit your mark?"

After listening to Shui Zhan's words, Liu Molin knew that Tanhualang he was referring to was Prince An Jiahua, and said with a smile, "Your Majesty is joking. How can I dare to show off in front of the Fang family? In this world, only Prince An can do it." Standing shoulder to shoulder with you. Wei Chen and Zhang Zhongtang picked and picked, and they were all dazzled, so they picked out four characters. Please look at the emperor to see if the ones you choose are suitable, and then hang them on the Guangsheng Building. .”

Shui Zhan heard the words and saw that the four words could just sum up the policies he was going to implement. He secretly thought that Liu Molin and Zhang Tingyu really had eyes, nodded, and said, "Good."

Liu Molin handed over the selected emperor's calligraphy to the little eunuch, and ordered him to hang it carefully in the Guangsheng Building.

After a long while, the sun climbed to the middle road, and all the Beijing officials of rank six and above in the capital gathered on the Guangsheng Building, pointing at the writing on the Guangsheng Building, and it was extremely lively.The emperor's handwriting was also passed on under the behest, and almost everyone knew which one was the emperor's calligraphy.It's just that the content here is really a dilemma for the ministers who want to please the emperor. You say don't choose the emperor's words. If you are afraid that the emperor will be angry, choose the emperor's words. This content is really scary. After all, no one wants to Can't get along with silver.

After arguing and arguing, someone finally said: "Your Majesty chooses characters rather than literary talent, so why care about the content? If His Majesty uses this matter to promote administrative orders, we only care about the characters and not the content!" Make all the ministers and workers feel at ease to recommend the emperor's character.

Later, after hearing three whips, all the officials knew that it was the emperor who had arrived, so they knelt down and shouted long live.Shui Zhan walked up to the crowd and said: "Get up, everyone. Today we will meet friends through literature, regardless of whether you are a monarch or a minister. Everyone has read this calligraphy and painting for a while, how is it? Have you judged a manor?"

Hearing this, Zhang Tingyu stood up from the side and said: "Reporting to Your Majesty, all the adults have already written and submitted the characters they selected, and I have asked someone to count them, and the results will be available later."

After a while, Gao Wuyong put the result in a red cloth package and presented it up. Shui Zhan opened it and saw that it was really written by himself, "Half a canal runs from north to south, and a commercial road runs from east to west", which is the most important of the four couplets. The one that does not harm the interests of the gentry, after all, although the imperial court expressly prohibits officials from engaging in business, there are still people who "compete with the people for profit". The salaries of officials in the imperial court are very low compared to their expenses. Apart from accepting bribes, some people want to be honest officials Yes, the only option is to open a shop and do some small business.It can be said that these officials are very much in favor of the emperor's idea of ​​opening up business routes, and they are afraid that those so-called Qingliu literati will use the words of the saints to talk about things.

Thinking of this, Shui Zhan smiled, thinking to take it slowly, Yucun, although you are asleep, but one day I will carry out your ideas, even if you are scolded by the world, just so that you can show off your face when you wake up !

[-] times

How can Shui Zhan be a man of one word? These old emperors are not in good health, and they have already held the real power in their hands. No matter how fierce the reaction in the court is, they will all be suppressed by Shui Zhan.Thinking that the three sons were all grown up, and determined to practice and practice, he sent Shui Rong to Nanjing to implement the New Deal.

Along with Shui Rong, there is also Li Wei, a fresh Taoist who has returned to Nanjing to work.At this time, the edict to carry out the New Deal has already been announced to the world, abolishing low status, encouraging trade, tax and agriculture, officials and gentry pay food together, fire consumption is returned to the public, and the government and gentry business orders are conditionally lifted. This ban is not hindered by court pressure. , but to control the officials and gentry not to use their own privileges to develop too quickly and cannot be controlled.

Shui Rong and Li Wei traveled all the way, and along the way, notices were posted in the yamen, big and small, explaining the New Deal.Li Wei arrived in Nanjing, and after handing over the formalities, he began to vigorously promote the New Deal. Although he was not very literate, he had another unique way. Speaking of it, it was really his old profession: the way of a beggar.He compiled Shui Zhan's decree into two copies: one was bound into a book in its original package, and was sent to the schools in various prefectures and counties, so that the teachers and teachers would give lectures every three days, and then gathered scholars to listen together. Spread the word.Officials from various prefectures and counties had to deal with the examination papers sent by Li Wei and Yin Jishan every five days, in addition to taking the exam every one day to compare their talents. Slang words such as Lianhualuo and Jiaguancier.Li Wei ordered the following to distribute his popular writing everywhere.The Jiaguan opera sung at the opening of various theaters, "Ode to the Emperor" is sung before the storytelling in teahouses and restaurants, and even Fengyue on the Qinhuai River picks up guests' homes, and each guest is given a free copy.In this way, in Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces, even fishermen and woodcutters have become household names and everyone knows about Yongzheng's New Deal.

One day, Shui Rong and Li Wei went to the streets to secretly investigate the implementation of the decree, and there seemed to be disputes in front of them, and one of them looked very familiar. Once Jia Baoyu