Chapter 35 Chapter Thirty-Five
The scenery on the shore of Taihu Lake is beautiful. The 36,000 hectares of blue waves are changing with the weather. Sunny, rainy, frosty, snowy, spring, summer, autumn and winter, day and night are mixed and organized. No matter what time it is, it is an ink painting, which is so beautiful that it is dizzying Yes, it is so beautiful that it is fascinating, and it is even more beautiful that people can integrate with the beauty of nature in their hearts.
Gao Panlong built a small building by the beautiful Cun Lake to live in, titled "Kelou" - he took the meaning of "omnipotent" and used it to encourage himself - he built the building here, he I plan to live here forever.
In his daily life, he still reads half the day and sits quietly for the rest of the day; sometimes, he takes the children to wander on the lake, either with the breeze and moon, or with the shadow of the sunset, thinking about knowledge and truth with a clear and peaceful mind.
He does not produce, and after he is dismissed from office, he has no salary income, and his daily necessities depend entirely on his parents’ inheritance—since he is an adoptive heir, after the death of his heir parents, he has all the property alone—this property is quite rich However, he was not good at management, so he just let it sit idle. Fortunately, his life was simple and his needs were not much, so it was more than enough to maintain food and clothing.
Not long ago, his biological parents also passed away one after another, and his will divided the property into seven shares—he had a brother in his own family, and his parents did not lose the inheritance because he adopted his mother’s family—but, in his heart, only He is educated but has no money, and he thinks he has an inheritance, so he refuses to receive any inheritance from his parents, so he sets up a "righteous field" for his own inheritance to support his relatives; Follow the consistent life of Fangxiang, and be a pure scholar.
But there are tens of thousands of volumes of books in the building. Although the rest of the furniture and furnishings are simple, they are completely his spiritual blissful place, giving him a solid sense of belonging.
However, he did not become a foreigner who "doesn't care about everything" because of this; besides reading, sitting quietly, and thinking, his heart was not isolated from the world, but he cared more about the people and the morals of the world; he and Gu Xiancheng, Shi Menglin and other teachers and friends have become closer. In the process of various lectures and research, he feels that his knowledge has improved a lot, and his aspirations are closer to these teachers and friends—especially Gu Xiancheng, The revelation to him and the resonance with him have already become one with himself.
Gu Xiancheng repeatedly appealed sadly: "The first priority of scholars is to save the morals of the world—"
This sentence has been said many times, but instead of being repetitive and wordy, the listeners feel that this sentence is like a bell every time, deeply shocking everyone's heart, and making this sentence almost become The common philosophy of this group of friends has been established.
On this day, Gu Xiancheng sent another letter of invitation, and he and every invited friend happily attended the meeting and arrived in Wuxi together.
Gu Xiancheng's figure is slightly fatter, and his face is also slightly round. A pair of eyes burning with ideals and that unstoppable enthusiasm combine to form a special appeal, influence and leadership; he is dressed in casual clothes, laughing Greeting his friends, he said to everyone: "Today's weather is fine and beautiful, which is really beautiful-I used to talk in a cramped room, so why not go out for a walk today, and explore it under the breeze and sunshine?" Learning, don’t you have a different feeling?”
Everyone laughed in unison and said: "It's rare that brother Xian has such a taste, of course we are happy to join him!"
So, a group of people filed out of the house, and Gu Xiancheng led everyone to the east, and they left the city in a short time; and Gu Xiancheng seemed to know the road well and had a clear destination, every step he took It is firm and resolute.
After the footsteps stopped, someone already gave a soft compliment: "Isn't this the remains of Donglin Academy?"
The scene presented in front of us is a bow stream, two or three old willows, and a lush forest; the "Donglin Academy" where the great Confucian Yang Shi of the Song Dynasty gave lectures was built in this forest, but the house has long been Dilapidated and dilapidated due to years of disrepair, the dilapidated walls are not only covered with wild smoke and weeds, but also inhabited by mice and foxes. The spiders have formed dense webs and combined with dust, turning what should have been in this ruins His scholarly temperament was completely destroyed; Gao Panlong sighed after seeing it: "Many people have disappeared here! The place where the great Confucianism lectured in the past has fallen into depression and decay—"
Shi Menglin also went on to say: "The Song Dynasty has only been around for a few hundred years. Scholars gathered together to give lectures and discuss the Tao. This academy is ruined!"
Everyone felt the same about these words, and it also caused everyone to express various emotions; and amidst everyone's emotions, Gu Xiancheng uttered an astonishing sentence: "Let this academy be abandoned, decayed, and solid. It is a disgrace to you and me!"
When he said this, everyone who heard it couldn't help being stunned for a moment, so they automatically stopped talking, and their eyes gathered on Gu Xiancheng, staring at him longingly, waiting for him to continue; many thoughts in Gu Xiancheng's mind have long been After thinking about it many times, it is even more powerful to say it at this time; he talked eloquently: "Although my generation is not a descendant of the Yang family, but I live in Wuxi and I am a scholar, and I sit back and watch the ancestors in my hometown. Isn't it a disgrace that the place where Confucianism is lectured has become a shelter for rats?"
As he spoke, his emotions had already risen first, his cheeks flushed, his eyes sparkled, and he simply continued talking: "Xiancheng has been thinking about this matter for many days; today I invited everyone to come, Being in the ruins, I really want to make my generation feel a sense of mission in our hearts after witnessing this decaying scene, and take it as our mission to restore this Donglin Academy, so that the style of lectures by great Confucians in the past can reappear—”
These words resonated, so everyone started to discuss lively; however, there were more words in Gu Xiancheng's heart that he did not say out——
In the past few years since he retired from the officialdom, he thought day and night over and over again that a plan had gradually matured and he had a concrete approach—since the officialdom was frustrated and unable to realize his ideals and ambitions, he decided to He had no choice but to influence politics as an opponent; the experience of several exchanges and agreements also gave him a lot of inspiration——
"Donglin Academy was restored, and scholars gave lectures on a regular basis. After the number of learners gradually increased, they gathered into a force, and the words they spoke became very influential public opinions, which can be used to improve the morals of the world and current affairs. ——Besides, lecturing is a long-term plan for a hundred years, and the students who come to study from all walks of life will pass the exam and pass the exam in the future, and they will become officials of the imperial court, so how is it different from us returning to the political arena?"
His considerations are long-term, and his goal is still political reform; the restoration of Donglin Academy is a basic and down-to-earth work-although his ideals are lofty, his approach is down-to-earth; not only is he not ambitious People, even far more than ordinary people, are a little more determined and calm. For the ideals he embraces, no matter what difficulties and setbacks he encounters, he will never give up and continue to struggle persistently; therefore, even in politics He failed on the battlefield of struggle and was forced to leave, but he was an eternal winner on the battlefield of human spiritual power and willpower; and this spirit has greater appeal and influence, and almost everyone with People he has been with for a while will be subtly influenced, and thus agree with his ideas and practices-the proposal to restore Donglin Academy has resonated with everyone, and everyone has set up a great ambition to work together.
A few days later, under the leadership of Gu Xiancheng, this group of like-minded friends who dismissed from office and served the people went to visit Ouyang Dongfeng, the prefect of Changzhou, and Lin Zai, the prefect of Wuxi County, and explained to the two local officials the plan to rebuild Donglin Academy. Ask for assistance.
Ouyang Dongfeng was a Jinshi in the 17th year of Wanli. He was nine years later than Gu Xiancheng in Ke Jia, so he was regarded as "backward". The first one is later than Gu Xiancheng, and when dealing with Gu Xiancheng on weekdays, he is always self-effacing as a younger brother and a follower, and the word "please benefit" is endless; this time, when he received Gu Xiancheng's name card and made an appointment to visit, Wu has been waiting with joy and anticipation for the arrival of Gu Xiancheng, whom he has always admired, and this group of famous celebrities who have been dismissed from office and lived in the countryside.
Therefore, when Gu Xiancheng proposed to him to restore the old paintings of Donglin Academy, he not only agreed without hesitation, but also praised and praised: "This is really a blessing for the place! Restoring Donglin Academy , and Mr. Gu, who has both learning and morality and is well-known in the government and the public, presides over it, the prosperity of culture and education in Jiangnan is just around the corner!"
So we started to discuss the details. The first thing to do was to raise all kinds of funds needed to restore the academy, as well as the need and source of manpower and material resources for the construction, and the scale of the academy itself—a beautiful prospect. The initial foundation was laid during this visit and conversation, and not long after, all the people got busy—the plan to restore Donglin Academy began to be concretely carried out on the dilapidated old site First, the peasants first demolished the entire old house left over from the Song Dynasty, cleaned up the site, and then re-excavated the foundation and re-drilled the piles-the spiritual meaning of the whole work was as everyone expected. reform.
Gu Xiancheng personally supervised the work at the site, holding the architectural drawing of the academy in his hand, looking at the workers who were still sweating profusely in the snowy season, his heart was full of excitement, standing in the snow, his cheeks were hot but flushed, he I did not forget to write a letter to tell every like-minded friend living in other places and former officials, such as Sun Piyang, Chen Younian, Zhao Nanxing, Zou Yuanbiao, etc., to report in detail the plan to restore Donglin Academy And progress, every time he writes a word, the blood in his heart is more surging. Often, the burning heat of ideals makes him so excited that he writes a thousand words——
However, this most important matter in his heart is an extremely small local matter for the current Ming court, so small that it neither attracts attention nor makes any noise—— Ouyang, the prefect of Changzhou Of course, Dongfeng took it as a major event, and he also explained it in detail when he gave the memorial to Emperor Wanli. However, Emperor Wanli didn't read the memorial at all. The memorial from the local area was sealed, and it was such a trivial matter-not only the Wanli Emperor, but even the cabinet, the six ministries, and even the eunuchs who were in charge of documents for the Wanli Emperor. Willingly ignore it.
"Building an academy is a local matter—"
At this moment, everyone's attention is focused on the war—the war in North Korea has not yet ended, and new wars have broken out in other places. First, Yang Yinglong in the southwest rebelled again and plundered Hejiang and Qijiang; Then, there was also a warning message from Liaodong. The news correctly pointed out that the Asian Mansions were gathering troops and preparing for a large-scale invasion.
Now, the Ministry of War is busy again. It took a lot of effort just to get Emperor Wanli to know the situation in these two places. Finally, Emperor Wanli was willing to listen to the eunuchs recite for him while enjoying the blessings. Regarding the urgent memorials of these two places; then, the Ministry of Household Affairs and the Ministry of Industry also got busy, and the money, food, horses, and weapons necessary for the war had to be prepared first; At that time, Shi Xing, the former minister of the Ministry of War, who was convicted of improper handling of the war to aid Korea, and Shen Weijing, who was wrong, were executed.
On the day when the two were executed, the people in the capital were also very busy. Everyone helped the old and the young, and surrounded the entire vegetable market like a market. Everyone was vying to see the scene of Shi Xing being beheaded—— It has been many years since such a "grand occasion" that a dignified second-rank official of the imperial court was beheaded has happened. The hearts of the people are mixed with curiosity and gloating, and even turned into excitement and excitement—when wearing a red prison uniform, When Shi Xing, who was tied up with five flowers, appeared in front of everyone, the crowd screamed one after another from time to time, and his body rushed forward like a tidal wave, crowding the captains sent by the Ministry of Punishment. It was almost impossible to maintain the order of the execution ground; Shi Xing, who had a wooden sign with the word "cut" on his back, had long lost the prestige of the former "Master Shangshu". The school captain held his arms and marched forward. The sound waves and crowds in front of him told Tanan, whose spirit and will had collapsed because of the imminent execution, that he simply turned a blind eye to it, and did not hear it. Therefore, when he left this world, he still loved The cruelty and ignorance of human nature are not well understood.
On this day, the city of Beijing seemed to have spent a crazy afternoon; however, the way and scene of the "crazy" of the most noble Emperor Wanli was still quite different from that of ordinary people.
Of course he would not rush to the execution ground to watch the beheading—in fact, he hardly felt anything about such a scene that the whole people thought was a big deal, it was just punishing a dereliction of duty official; When the report that the execution had been completed was sent into the palace, he listened to the eunuch kneeling on the ground narrating to him loudly. He only listened to a part of the sentence and he didn't bother to listen any more. He waved his hand to show that he already knew it. The eunuch also wisely ended the report on this matter.
However, this incident still affected his emotions after all—killing is always a bloody incident, he felt chest tightness for no reason, and his spirits were not good. , Massage, still ineffective, and even don't want to eat or drink; some eunuchs who waited on him began to question: "Could it be rushed to the evil spirit?"
The experienced eunuch guessed that because Shi Xing, who was executed, was in charge of the military department before his death, he had a "murderous aura", and since Shang Shu's official position was high, the murderous aura was of course heavy. Now that he is dying on the execution ground, it may be because of their evil aura. Shengjia—Of course this is just "talking", but for people who are at a loss what to do, this kind of "mysterious and mysterious" words are the easiest to get into people's hearts. Concubine Zheng came to make up her mind, and at the insistence of some people, she summoned the imperial physician to come for a consultation.
The matter was dealt with in a "two-pronged approach", but neither of the two parties could get any specific results - the imperial physician certainly couldn't diagnose what kind of disease Emperor Wanli's nameless depression was, and what to do, so he could only prescribe a tonic with all his heart The prescription of Qi Yishen came out; but Concubine Zheng was not sure about the idea of "calling Taoist priests into the palace" suggested by the eunuchs, and fell into hesitation for a while; After the first dose of medicine prescribed, he slowly calmed down, closed his eyes soon, and gradually fell asleep.
Unexpectedly, he fell asleep in the middle of the night, but he developed a fever. As soon as the eunuchs found out about this situation, they sent a message to the imperial doctor all night——after tossing until dawn, Emperor Wanli's face had become red due to the high fever, but his eyes were tightly closed , Muttering non-stop.
Of course, the harem was all in chaos, and even the Empress Dowager Cisheng was startled, and tremblingly, she came to visit—but, of course, all of this was of no help to Emperor Wanli, who really fell ill.
With this illness, of course, he didn't need to go to court or manage politics; therefore, in order to deal with the war between Yang Yinglong in the southwest and the barbarians in Liaodong, he ignored everything from personnel arrangements to strategic specifications, and let the Ministry of War propose.
However, there are not many capable people in the Ministry of War, and there is one less Xing Jie who went to North Korea to fight. There are even fewer people who really know "border affairs". Now that everyone was talking and arguing as before, things didn't go smoothly.
The final decision was that Yang Yinglong's rebellion was not yet critical, so it could be decided after a detailed review; but because the Tuman's strength was so strong that there were hundreds of thousands of people, it could not be ignored, so it was necessary to decide on the leader as soon as possible, and let him go as soon as possible. Leading the army to meet the enemy, therefore, the time for discussion was shortened.
"Familiar with Liaodong military affairs, none other than Li and his son—"
When someone put forward such an opinion, there were very few people who opposed it—indeed, among the candidates who were familiar with Liaodong in the entire Ming Dynasty, Li Chengliang and his son definitely ranked first; Li Chengliang guarded Liaodong for 20 years. , his sons grew up in Liaodong since they were young, and fought with him after they grew up. No matter how you look at it, "Li's father and son" are absolutely doing their part in Liaodong.
Therefore, the candidate was decided very quickly—the ministry decided to use Li Rusong as the commander-in-chief of Liaodong to deal with the local barbarians—this decision was sent to Emperor Wanli's bedside, and he personally nodded his head to be finalized.
And Xing Jie, who is far away in North Korea, also launched a new battle plan when the new year came. He observed that North Korea is a country bordering the sea, and the importance of the navy is very high; and the Japanese army has occupied several important towns in North Korea for the seventh year, and the size of the navy cannot be ignored; only The Ming army that came to aid from his own side did not have a navy lineup. This was not a long-lasting solution, so he began to recruit Jiangnan navy to help in the battle; Lin led troops from Guangdong and Guangxi, Liu Chen led soldiers from Sichuan, and Deng Zilong led soldiers from Zhejiang to arrive separately; he then made a deployment of the troops from the water and land, and divided them into four groups. The leaders of each route were Li Rumei, Ma Gui, and Liu Lin respectively. In charge, stick to one side and prepare for camera action.
Unexpectedly, in April, due to personnel changes in this complete plan, the main general had to be changed, and Li Rumei had to be replaced by Dong Yiyuan as the general in the middle.
That's because Li Rumei received an urgent order from the imperial court, ordering him to leave immediately to serve as the commander-in-chief of Liaodong—but this is not good news—he was promoted to be the commander-in-chief of Liaodong because his brother Li Rusong was fighting against the soil. When he was Man, Yu Fu died in battle, and the court decided that he would succeed his brother.He bid farewell to Xing Jie in grief, and hurried to Liaodong. Along the way, he had to listen carefully to the details and details of his brother's death in battle, but the main reason was only one thing, that is, he took the lead and underestimated the enemy bravely, and The situation of winning first and then losing in the old Battle of Bijuguan was the same - Li Rusong lost because of his rash, impetuous, and lack of composure.
On this day, Li Rusong relied on his many years of experience in fighting in Liaodong and his reputation as the "General of the Li Family" to think that the local barbarians who had been defeated by his father and son many times were nothing to worry about; even, he smiled triumphantly He said to the generals around him: "My father's commander-in-chief, the 'Uncle Ningyuan', was originally respected by the local barbarians-these thieves have not been killed enough. This time they are sent to the door again, and they will probably be killed." Let’s pay tribute to another title—let’s fight a good battle and slaughter a lot, so that these half-civilized savages will break their courage when they see our "Li" banner in the future!"
Moreover, since he was defeated in North Korea and returned home last time, he has been sitting on the bench, and has never had the opportunity to lead an army to fight. He is full of frustration and depressed; this time, he finally got such a Opportunity, and it was his father's old position as the "General Soldier of Liaodong", which moved him to tears several times for this "Long Live Lord Long En", and secretly vowed in his heart that he must take the lead and go all out to return with a big victory , to repay the emperor's favor.
Therefore, as soon as he received a report from the enemy that a barbarian team had appeared outside the Great Wall, and there were not many troops, he immediately decided that he would personally lead light troops out of the Great Wall to invite an attack, and must win first—— Amid the excitement, he didn't make any further careful thinking and judgment, and he completely forgot all the painful lessons of his defeat in the Bitu Pavilion.
Just like that, he never returned—the barbarian tribe was not the "semi-civilized savage" he thought in his heart, let alone a brave and foolish man. The traces of the few teams that appeared outside the Great Wall were simply a The trick to deal with him is to wait for him to lead a small number of light cavalry out of the fortress. The ambush set up earlier will be exhausted. After surrounding him, all the troops will be wiped out-he will fall off the horse after dozens of arrows in his body , the corpse was trampled into indistinguishable mud by the horses, and the whole life seeped into the wind and sand outside the Great Wall along with the muddy flesh and blood.
However, the battles in other places were not affected by his death in the slightest, and they continued to unfold——
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