Along the way from Xianxia Pass, the group arrived at Qinghu Town.

It is different from what Lu Quexi and his son described, because the mine robbers on Xianxia Mountain are rampant, blocking the passage between Zhejiang and Fujian.

Coupled with the Japanese pirate turmoil in Zhejiang, the whole town of Qinghu is not as prosperous as imagined.

The boats were all leaning against the shore, the pier was full of idlers, and most of the shops in the town were closed. Occasionally, some merchants who carried burdens and sold North and South goods were just small grocery merchants.

Qinghu Town is the southernmost wharf of Quxi. The wide Quxi can be traveled by boat. The group of people should take a boat at the wharf and go to Xi'an City, the seat of Quzhou Prefecture. (Not from Shaanxi, now Quzhou City)

Su Ze rented five wave boats in one go. This is a medium-sized merchant ship that can be driven by sails and paddled. The owner of the ship has not seen such a big business for a long time, and he personally steers the boat for Su Ze and others.

Sure enough, water transportation is the ancient highway. After a group of people boarded the boat, the travel speed was much faster.

Su Ze secretly wrote down the hydrological routes during the day. Water transportation is the lifeblood of Zhejiang, and the entire Zhejiang waterway will converge in Hangzhou Prefecture, which is why Hangzhou Prefecture is the governing body of Zhejiang.

If they attack Zhejiang in the future, one plan is Huang Chao's method, cross Xianxia Mountain and enter Quzhou, and then march into Hangzhou by land.

The other way is to attack from the sea, break through Ningbo and then attack Hangzhou.

As long as Hangzhou Mansion is taken, it is equivalent to controlling the entire Zhejiang water system, and then Zhejiang can be completely broken.

Su Ze did not forget his original intention of rebellion, and when he silently recorded the geography of the surrounding mountains and rivers, a mountain suddenly appeared in front of everyone.

The owner said:

"My lords, please take a look. This is Jianglang Mountain. This is the most dangerous mountain in western Zhejiang. There is a line of sky high in the mountain, which can only accommodate one person."

Jianglang Mountain is really strange. Quzhou is located in a basin in the mountains of northern Zhejiang and western Zhejiang. Most of the terrain is flat, but this Jianglang Mountain rises like a pillar of heaven. People who are used to seeing mountains Also amazed.

Sure enough, it is a dangerous terrain. If we attack Zhejiang, we can set up an ambush on Jianglang Mountain.

After another half day, the wave boat arrived in Jiangshan County, and the number of business travelers here gradually increased.

It was getting late, and Su Ze also felt that the night flight was not safe, so everyone rested at the pier for one night, and set sail again the next day.

Su Ze and his party are big customers, and the shipowner brought the fruits bought from Jiangshan County to the shipyard.

After putting down the fruit, the shipowner asked with a smile, "Aren't you going to Quzhou Academy to participate in the Confucius Memorial Ceremony?"

"The Grand Ceremony for Confucianism?"

The ship owner nodded and said: "In the past, when Xianxia Pass was open, you Fujian scholars would go to Quzhou to worship the Confucius Temple when they went to Erjing. Qu Creek is full of boats carrying scholars!"

Recalling the grand occasion of the past, the shipowner sighed again.

It was only then that everyone remembered that Quzhou was still where the Southern Sect of Confucius lived.

This was after Jingkang was humiliated in the Southern Song Dynasty, when Jin soldiers went south, Zhao Gou summoned the then Yan Shenggong to Quzhou, where he established a Confucian family temple, which is the Southern Sect of the Confucian Temple.

After the founding of Mengyuan, Kublai Khan asked the Confucian family in Quzhou to return to Qufu, but the head of the Southern Confucian family at that time was unwilling to obey his order, so he gave up the title of Confucian descendant to the Biezong who stayed in Qufu. Confucian Temple.

After the founding of the Ming Dynasty, the Beizong was still canonized as Yanshenggong, but the status of Quzhou Nankong was also recognized. The specifications of the Nankong Family Temple in Quzhou and the Confucian Temple in Qufu are the same. Although Nankong does not have the title of Yanshenggong, it can still Leading sacrifices to the Confucian Temple has a detached status among scholars in the entire South.

Everyone was going to Quzhou Academy, but now that there is a grand ceremony in Quzhou, they naturally want to join in the fun. After dawn, everyone urged the ship owner to hurry and continue to Quzhou City.

Just as Su Ze was sailing towards Quzhou County, the Quzhou Academy outside Quzhou City was full of voices.

Scholars from the entire northern part of Zhejiang gathered together, and they were all candidates who were going to be imprisoned in the Northern and Southern Imperial Prisons this year.

The reason why they gathered in Quzhou was because Quzhou is where the southern sect of the Confucian Temple is located, and many scholars would go north after worshiping the Confucian Temple.

This time of year is also the busiest time for Quzhou Academy. It entertains scholars from all over the world, holds lectures, and prepares for the Confucian temple worship ceremony. The busy scholars of Quzhou Academy are busy.

Quzhou Academy is not a government school, but a private academy like Yanping Academy.

However, the difference between Quzhou Academy and Yanping Academy is that there is no school in the Academy, and the scholars who come here are almost all famous. The purpose of everyone coming here is not to study stereotyped writing and take the imperial examination, but to learn from each other and exchange knowledge.

Quzhou Academy used to be an important center of mind learning, and Wang Yangming gave lectures here three times.

Quzhou Academy does not set up the post of mountain chief. There are vacant houses in the academy where scholars can stay casually, and there is also the old site where Wang Yangming gave lectures for scholars to learn from each other.

Although Quzhou Academy does not have a headmaster, at this time everyone is sitting around the four scholars, waiting for them to assign work.

These four are well-known scholars in Zhejiang, and they are members of an association of scholars called "Ten Sons of Yuezhong".

However, the ten people did not arrive at all. This time, Xu Wei, Zhu Dashou, Lu Guangsheng and Chen He presided over the Quzhou Academy among the ten sons.

But the ten sons of Yuezhong are not all scholars with fame and fame. All the big scorpions are juren, Xu Wei and Lu Guangsheng are just scholars, but Chen He is a hereditary family of Jinyiwei, who doesn't even have a reputation.

In Zhejiang, where the literary style is prosperous, they can rule the roost, and the scholars present are all headed by them. This is because the ten sons of Yuezhong are the direct heirs of Wang Yangming's philosophy of mind.

Regarding Wang Yangming's philosophy of mind, the imperial court's attitude was also forbidden at the beginning.

But Wang Yangming's position is here, and it is impossible to directly prohibit Wang Yangming's academic work. Therefore, in the seventeenth year of Jiajing, Yan Song, the Minister of Rites at the time, figured out what he wanted and opposed free lectures. He once again destroyed all academies under the pretext of wasting money and disturbing the people. .

At that time, the center of mind learning in the whole world was Jishan Academy in Shaoxing Prefecture. Wang Ji, a direct disciple of Wang Yangming, gave lectures on the boat and set up a mobile classroom—Jianhu Painting Boat.

And the ten sons of Yuezhong studied the classics of Wangmen in Jianhu Huafang at that time, that is to say, they are the direct descendants of Xinxue.

As one of the base camps of Xinxue in Zhejiang, the status of the ten sons of Yuezhong has risen. Although Shen Lian is the only one among the ten sons who has passed the Jinshi examination and is now an official, their names are still more famous than other scholars in Zhejiang.

Among the ten sons of Yuezhong, Xu Wei and Zhu Dashou were the most famous, and they were the leaders of the ten sons of Yuezhong.

After arranging the ceremony of offering sacrifices to Confucius, the scholars surrounding the four of them dispersed.

Xu Wei is now thirty-two years old, and Zhu Dashou is thirty-one years old. Among the four, Xu Wei is not the oldest, but he seems to be the most vicissitudes.

Xu Wei has been selected as a scholar very early, but he has always been unsatisfactory in the provincial examination. Last year, he failed again in the Zhejiang provincial examination, and he was also a little discouraged about the imperial examination.

Zhu Dashou's imperial examinations are similar. He won the Juren at the age of 21, and he was still the second in the provincial examination, but today he has taken the general examination for ten consecutive years, and he has failed every time.

When the crowd dispersed, Zhu Dashou said, "Brother Wen, do you really want to be that man's assistant?"

The three of them looked at Xu Wei, who sighed and said, "The family is struggling, and if we don't do it for the sake of it, the whole family will go hungry."

Of course everyone knew that this was Xu Wei's excuse. Although he failed the imperial examination, he was by no means invincible.

Xu Wei is excellent in both calligraphy and painting, and he has profound attainments in folk art. He is also a miscellaneous learner from Wang Xue's heirs, and he knows everything about strategy, military law, and government.

Even if Xu Wei does not serve as an official, he will definitely not starve to death with his reputation.

The person Zhu Dashou mentioned was Hu Zongxian, the governor of Zhejiang who had just replaced Zhang Jing and became the governor of Zhejiang's anti-Japanese war.

Zhu Dashou did not hide his dislike for Hu Zongxian. Hu Zongxian was Yan Song's disciple, and the ten sons of Yuezhong had all experienced Yan Song's ban on destroying the academy. In addition, the position of Wang Xue's successor Qingliu made them like Hu Zongxian even more. stand up.

In fact, Zhang Jing's reputation in Zhejiang is not good. He transferred foreign soldiers into Zhejiang and used guest soldiers on a large scale, which made a mess of Zhejiang's public security.

But Zhang Jing won the victory against the Japanese after all, but Yan Song's party member Zhao Wenhua collaborated with Hu Zongxian to impeach Zhang Jing, and now Zhang Jing and Li Tianchong were killed, which made Zhejiang scholars despise Hu Zongxian even more.

Xu Wei also knew that this was an indelible stain on Hu Zongxian, he sighed and said: "Hu Ruzhen is a contingency technique, and it is better for him to preside over the anti-corruption than to let other people preside over it?"

Everyone was silent, and now Hu Zongxian is indeed the number one when it comes to understanding the situation of the Japanese pirates.

Since Hu Zongxian accepted the dominance of fighting against the Japanese, he has been enlisting local scholars who are familiar with Japanese conditions to help him fight against the Japanese. Local recruitment.

These actions also made Zhejiang scholars change their views on him. Xu Wei and Hu Zongxian had old friends. At Hu Zongxian's invitation, Xu Wei agreed to Hu Zongxian to be his staff some time ago.

Xu Wei said: "It is my great wish to fight the Japanese. I, Xu Wei, will support whoever can fight the Japanese. I have already agreed to join the curtain to assist Hu Ruzhen to praise the painting to fight the Japanese. Please don't persuade me any more."

Everyone fell silent, Hu Zongxian held up the anti-Japanese flag, and everyone couldn't say anything more. After all, Zhejiang is also the area where the Japanese pirates have suffered the most. In the past two years, several major disturbances have occurred in Zhejiang, and Zhejiang scholars also hate the Japanese pirates the most.

Xu Wei said to Zhu Dashou: "After this ceremony of offering sacrifices to Confucius, Brother Duanfu will be going to Beijing to take the exam. I wish Brother Duanfu this time to be the first in high school!"

Everyone echoed, but Zhu Dashou sighed a long time and said, "I don't want to be on the top list, I just want to not lose my name."

Everyone also fell silent. This is the cruelty of the imperial examination. Even a genius like Zhu Dashou, who was successful at the age of 21, failed in the imperial examination for several years in a row.

Xu Wei simply couldn't even pass the exam.

This topic was a bit stiff, Chen He said: "I'm going to give lectures at Quzhou Academy these days, brothers, you should decide on the topic as soon as possible, so that the scholars gathered in Quzhou can prepare early."

The "lectures" of Quzhou Academy are actually debates, and the tradition has always been closely related to current affairs. In today's words, the lectures are actually the gathering of scholars from a province to "key politics".

However, for scholars, Jianzheng is not a complete waste of time, because the questions in the palace examination are to answer policy questions, that is, examination policy theory.

When it comes to the imperial examination, it is not just the ability to write stereotyped essays that needs to be examined.

Those who can participate in the palace examination have already confirmed the qualifications of Jinshi. These are all to be released to become officials, so it is normal to test the theory.

Many of the scholars who participated in the lectures at Quzhou Academy this time were candidates who were going to Beijing for the exam. Gathering together to discuss current affairs could be regarded as preparation for the palace exam in advance.

Everyone looked at Xu Wei, Xu Wei said without hesitation: "Let's take the sea ban as the topic."

Everyone nodded. This topic is also a topic that Zhejiang scholars have discussed badly, but it is this kind of controversial topic that can trigger better discussion results.

People from Zhejiang have a more entangled attitude towards sea bans than people from Fujian and Guangxi.

The people in Fujian and Guangzhou naturally hope that the imperial court can open the sea ban. For example, Zhu Wan, the governor of Fujian and Guangzhou who strictly enforced the sea ban, was attacked by officials from Fujian and Guangzhou. In the end, Zhu Wan committed suicide after being dismissed from his post and took charge of Fuguang. Officials in the country no longer dare to talk about insisting on the sea ban.

However, the scholars in Zhejiang are very divided about the sea ban.

Although there are many mountains in Zhejiang, the vicinity of Hangzhou and Shaoxing is still a land of fish and rice. In addition, Zhejiang's silk and other industries are also developed, and it does not rely on maritime trade like Guangzhou and Fujian.

The Japanese invasion did even more damage to Zhejiang. The gentry and people in Zhejiang hated the Japanese pirates, so naturally they were not so enthusiastic about opening the sea.

However, Ningbo was the port where the Wa Kingdom paid tribute before. When the Wa Kingdom paid tribute normally, Ningbo was the largest port in the southeast region, and it even overwhelmed the ports of Fuzhou and Guangzhou.

The coastal areas of Fujian also have a tradition of fishing, and when the sea is strictly prohibited, it will also affect the fishery. Therefore, scholars in Zhejiang are very entangled in whether to open the sea ban.

Now that the topic was decided, everyone asked Xu Wei to hold a pen again and write down the four words "Pingwa Forbidden Sea" as the theme of this lecture.

The topic was hung on the Tongfang of Quzhou Academy, and all the scholars in Quzhou secretly wrote down the topic. During this period of time, they prepared the topic carefully, waiting to become famous in the "lecture" after the ceremony of offering sacrifices to Confucius.

In such an atmosphere, on March 10th, Su Ze and his party arrived in Quzhou by boat. Before they docked, they saw the tall archway of Quzhou Academy.

Except for Su Ze, everyone on the boat was gearing up and preparing to join in the grand event.

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