Late Ming Dynasty: Oops, I am surrounded by the Donglin Party

In the simple and elegant attic, Liu Rushi was sitting by the window, staring blankly out.

She was wearing a light pink gown, her white arms were like tender green onions, her long black hair fell down behind her like a waterfall, and the sadness between her brows could not hide her beautiful face.

As far as the eye can see, there is a pear tree full of pear blossoms, but the blossoms have already begun to wither.

Pear blossoms fall, apricot blossoms bloom, in the mist and rain, people are streaming in, but no white horse is seen.

Looking at the withered pear blossoms, she was still sad. She was already twenty-two years old and no longer young.

There was a guzheng in the room and the table was covered with rice paper. The words written on the rice paper could not express the sorrow in her heart, but made her even more depressed.

Even though she was well-educated and famous among the scholars in the south of the Yangtze River, this era was, after all, a man's world.

As a weak woman, even if she had the ambition to serve her country, she could not tell anyone.

The country is in ruins and there is nowhere to go. One's body is like a dead tree and one's heart is like an untied boat.

In the past two years, many talented men have pursued her under the pretext of discussing scriptures and philosophy and appreciating poetry. These people are well-dressed and have prominent family backgrounds.

But Liu Rushi only had to talk with them for a few moments to realize that these people were just outwardly beautiful. They spoke of being righteous and moral, but in secret they were despicable and dirty.

There is an exception among them, and that person is the great Donglin scholar Qian Qianyi.

The two of them had known each other as early as last year. Since then, Qian Qianyi has written many poems for her. At first, Liu Rushi just regarded it as a gentleman's friendship, after all, Qian Qianyi was already 58 years old this year.

Although the two did not meet often, Qian Qianyi would send her his poems for her to appreciate almost every few days.

Qian Qianyi's poems are of extremely high standard, especially the melancholy expression of concern for the country and the people in his poems, which made Liu Rushi feel that Qian Qianyi was a true gentleman who was dedicated to the country.

In addition, Qian Qianyi had previously repeatedly spoken of the darkness of the court, stating that his political ideals could not be realized because the emperor was incompetent and his ministers were oppressive.

A woman's feelings may come from admiration or pity. Putting herself in other people's shoes, Liu Rushi originally thought that she had met her true lover.

But this admiration has been rapidly collapsing in recent days.

Although Liu Rushi was just a woman, she always paid attention to current affairs and often discussed the country's bad policies with Confucian scholars.

Of course, she knew about the civil strife that was happening in the court. Qian Qianyi had told her more than once that the reason for this civil strife was all because of the traitor Zhang Shikang.

In Qian Qianyi's description, Zhang Shikang was a traitor who brought greater harm to the country and the people than Wei Yan, especially the lineage of Duke Yansheng, which was exterminated by this guy on false charges.

Liu Rushi once agreed with Qian Qianyi's words, until a month ago, when she learned some information from the newly hired servants in the house and began to doubt it.

The servant's name was Pei Lun, a refugee from Jiangbei. Liu Rushi felt sorry for him and hired him to do odd jobs in her home.

Pei Lun told us that the real reason why the traitor Zhang Shikang destroyed Duke Yansheng was because the Kong family had committed many illegal acts, including more than a dozen murders, and they also occupied fertile farmland and engaged in serious corruption and bribery.

If someone else had said this, Liu Rushi would not have believed it easily, but Pei Lun had just fled from Yanzhou Prefecture.

The lineage of Duke Yansheng, under the banner of Confucius, caused great resentment among the people of Qufu and even the entire Yanzhou Prefecture. This was completely contrary to what Qian Qianyi told him.

So she began to doubt.

We also learned from Pei Lun that the traitor mentioned by Qian Qianyi and other Donglin Confucian scholars had never oppressed the people during the entire southern expedition.

Not only that, the land occupied by corrupt officials was distributed to the lower-class people. It seemed that the entire north was measuring the land.

This was even more different from what Qian Qianyi said, but Liu Rushi did not quite trust this new servant after all.

She felt that Pei Lun knew too much and seemed to be intentionally revealing things about the north. He did not seem like a poor refugee.

In this contradictory situation, Liu Ru really wanted to figure out who was lying.

So he agreed to Qian Qianyi's invitation a few days ago.

Dangdangdang——

There was a knock on the hall door.

"If so, it is Qian."

Upon hearing that Qian Qianyi was coming, Liu Rushi withdrew her thoughts and quickly stood up to greet him.

Qian Qianyi was a great scholar of Donglin School and had served as an official in the court, so she did not dare to neglect him at all.

After opening the door, Qian Qianyi was looking at her with a smile, and she had no choice but to smile back.

"If so, Qian, I am sorry for bothering you."

"Mr. Muzhai, that's not the case. It is such a blessing for you to be here. Please take a seat.

Qing'er, serve the tea."

After the two sat down, Qian Qianyi took out his new poem and handed it to Liu Rushi, and he also picked up the scattered poems on the table and kept praising them.

Liu Rushi just looked at it out of respect, said a few perfunctory words, and then put Qian Qianyi's lyrics aside.

She just wanted to know the truth now. After talking about poetry for half a quarter of an hour, she finally asked:

"Mr. Mu Zhai said before that Zhang Shikang was a traitor who brought disaster to the country and the people.

But what I have heard recently does not seem to match what Mr. Mu Zhai said. I invited you here to ask you for advice and to clear up some of my doubts. "

Her expression was calm and her voice was very pleasant. Qian Qianyi was startled at first, and then said in surprise:

"If so, you can just call me Mr., but calling me Mr. always feels a bit strange.

I dare not give you any advice, but if you have any questions, just ask. "

Mu Zhai is the name Qian Qianyi gave himself. Adding the word "Mr." to it makes it seem more respectful, but it is a respectful title for elders.

Qian Qianyi did not want to be the elder of the woman in front of him.

“I have heard that Zhang Shikang is measuring the land in the north, intending to nationalize all the land and redistribute it to the suffering people.

It is believed that although Zhang Shikang handled the matter in a rough manner, he was unfair to the gentry and scholars throughout the world.

However, if this person truly serves the people, it may be inappropriate to call him a traitor.

"What do you think, Mr. Mu Zhai?" Liu Rushi asked.

Qian Qianyi's expression suddenly fell, but he soon realized that he had lost his composure, and his expression softened as he replied:

“The wealth of the gentry was also earned through hard work, which is no different from the wealth of the common people.

If the imperial court plundered civilians, you would think it was absurd, but now that the imperial court is plundering the gentry, can't that be called unjust?

The tax system reform is the result of the traitors imposing additional taxes on the people. The people's lives are already suffering, which is why there is the current chaos.

What Qian, Shangshu Zhang, and Duke Wei are planning is to clear the emperor's entourage, get rid of this traitor, and restore order."

Qian Qianyi's righteous words made Liu Rushi at a loss as to how to refute them.

But she always felt something was wrong, but she couldn't figure it out yet.

Seeing that Liu Rushi remained silent, Qian Qianyi thought he had convinced her and felt somewhat proud.

"Qian doesn't know where Miss Rushi heard this nonsense from, but rumors stop at the wise, Miss Rushi should have her own judgment."

“But the reason why bandits are everywhere in the world is because the people have no land to farm. They have no way to survive, so they choose to rebel.

I know that Mr. Mu Zhai's family owns hundreds of thousands of acres of fertile land.

The homes of the great scholars and gentry in Nanjing owned tens of thousands of acres at the least and hundreds of thousands of acres at the most, and the amount was still increasing.

Mr. Mu Zhai and the gentry controlled more land, and the common people had even less arable land. As a result, even more people were displaced.

Isn’t this very contradictory?

The common people had no land to cultivate, so they rose up in rebellion. Now Zhang Shikang has abandoned the gentry to save the common people.

How many gentry are there in the world? But how many common people are there in the world?

Can this also be called unrighteousness?"

Liu Rushi launched a series of soul-searching questions.

……