Chapter 59 240 Zuo Guangdou goes to jail

In the later period of Ming Shenzong, there was an official named Gu Xiancheng, who offended Ming Shenzong because of his integrity and daring to advise, and was dismissed from his post.After he returned to his hometown in Wuxi (now Wuxi, Jiangsu), he invited a few like-minded friends to give lectures at Donglin Academy outside the East Gate.Some scholars in the vicinity heard that Gu Xiancheng was good at learning, and they all rushed to Wuxi to listen to his lectures, and the Donglin Academy, which was originally small, was full.Gu Xiancheng hated the darkness of the imperial court. When giving lectures, he would inevitably talk about the government and criticize some ministers in power.Everyone who had heard the lectures said that Gu Xiancheng's argument was right, and there were ministers in the capital who supported him.The reputation of Donglin Academy is getting bigger and bigger.Some bureaucrats and dignitaries who were criticized hated Gu Xiancheng terribly, and called those who supported Donglin Academy "Donglin Party members".

When Ming Xizong first came to the throne, some ministers who supported the Donglin Party took power, the most famous of which were Yang Lian and Zuo Guangdou. Once, the imperial court sent Zuo Guangdou to inspect the vicinity of the capital, and was also in charge of the imperial examination there. One day, the north wind was blowing hard, and there was heavy snow in the sky.Zuo Guangdou drank a few cups of wine in the official office, and suddenly became interested in you. He took several entourages and rode to the outskirts for snow walking.They walked and saw an ancient temple, the environment was very quiet, Zuo Guangdou decided to take a rest inside.

They got off their horses, pushed open the temple door, and entered the ancient temple. In the small room by the corridor on the left, a scholar dozed off on a table with several volumes of manuscripts on it.Zuo Guangdou approached, picked up the manuscript on the table and read it carefully.The manuscript was not only beautiful in handwriting, but also brilliant in diction, Zuo Guangdou couldn't help admiring it secretly after reading it.He put down the manuscript and was about to turn around and go back when he suddenly thought that it was snowing heavily outside and the weather was extremely cold. The scholar was dressed so thinly, so he would not catch the cold when he fell asleep, so he took off the mink cloak he was wearing without hesitation. Come down and gently cover the scholar.

Zuo Guangdou withdrew from the door and closed the door. He sent his followers to inquire with the monks in the monastery, only to find out that the scholar's name was Shi Kefa, and he had just come to the capital to take the exam.Zuo Guangdou secretly remembered this name. On the day of the exam, Zuo Guangdou entered the hall.The little officials in the hall chanted the candidates' names.When the little official sang Shi Kefa's name, Zuo Guangdou paid attention to the examinee who brought up the test paper. It was indeed the scholar he saw in the temple that day.Zuo Guangdou took the test paper and rated Shi Kefa as the first place on the spot.

After the exam, Zuo Guangdou met Shi Kefa in his official residence, encouraged him, and took him to the back hall to meet Mrs. Zuo.In front of Mrs. Zuo, he praised and said: "The children in my family have no talents. They will inherit my career in the future. It all depends on this young man." After that, Zuo Guangdou and Shi Kefa established a close teacher-student relationship.Shi Kefa's family was poor, Zuo Guangdou asked him to live in the government and personally taught him to study.Sometimes, Zuo Guangdou went to Shi Kefa's room until late at night when he was dealing with official business.

Zuo Guangdou and Yang Lian wholeheartedly wanted to rectify the government, but Ming Xizong was a fatuous person.He favored Wei Zhongxian, a very bad eunuch, and let Wei Zhongxian control the East Factory of the spy agency.Relying on the privileges in his hands, Wei Zhongxian formed a party for personal gain, sold officials and accepted bribes, and did all kinds of bad things.Some bureaucrats who opposed the Donglin Party took refuge in Wei Zhongxian and formed a group. They were called "eunuchs" in history. (eunuch yan, referring to eunuchs).Yang Lian was furious at the eunuch's misconduct, and boldly wrote a memorial to expose Wei Zhongxian's twenty-four crimes.Zuo Guangdou also strongly supported him.

This can be a leak.In 1625 AD, Wei Zhongxian and his eunuchs colluded to attack Yang Lian and Zuo Guangdou as the Donglin Party. After Zuo Guangdou was arrested, Shi Kefa was so anxious that he didn't know what to do.Every day from morning to night, he wandered around outside the prison door, looking for an opportunity to visit the teacher.But the eunuchs kept Zuo Guangdou under strict surveillance and did not allow anyone to visit him. Zuo Guangdou was in prison, no matter how tortured by the eunuchs, he still refused to give in.When Shi Kefa heard that Zuo Guangdou was tortured to the point of death, he took fifty taels of silver and begged the jailer, regardless of his own danger, to see the teacher for the last time.

The jailer was finally moved by Shi Kefa's sincerity, and tried to give Shi Kefa a chance to visit the prison.That night, Shi Kefa changed into a tattered short jacket, pretended to be a dung picker, wore straw sandals, carried a bamboo basket, and held a long shovel, and was led into the prison by the jailer. Shi Kefa found Zuo Guangdou's cell, and saw Zuo Guangdou sitting in a corner, his body was covered in cuts and bruises, his face was burned so badly that he couldn't recognize his face, and his left leg was so rotten that his bones were exposed.When Shi Kefa saw him, he felt sad for a while, and went closer, knelt down, hugged Zuo Guangdou's leg, and sobbed continuously.

Zuo Guangdou's face was bruised and he couldn't open his eyes, but he could hear Shi Kefa coming from the sound of crying.He raised his hand and pushed his eyelids away with all his strength, his angry eyes seemed to spew fire.He cursed and said: "Stupid! What kind of place is this, why are you here! Things in the country are so bad.I'm finished, you still ran in desperately, if they find out, who will do the future? " Shi Kefa was still sobbing endlessly.Zuo Guangdou said fiercely: "If you don't leave, I'll just deal with you right now, so as not to let the villain do it." He really touched the shackles around him, pretending to smash them over.

Shi Kefa didn't dare to speak any more, so he could only hold back his grief and retreated from the prison. After a few days, Zuo Guangdou and Yang Lian were finally killed by Wei Zhongxian.Shi Kefa spent another sum of money to bribe the jailer to bury Zuo Guangdou's body.Thinking of the scene in the prison, he couldn't help but shed tears, saying: "My teacher's heart is really made of iron and stone!"