Ye Yongjia stood in front of the house and knocked on the door several times, raising his voice to a higher pitch but trying not to lose his calmness.
After a while, I heard steady footsteps gradually coming from inside. When I reached the door, I stopped immediately.
"Who is it?" a voice like an old man asked, without opening the door.
"I am Ye Yongjia, the son of Ye Long, the censor of Zuodu in Jinan. I have something to ask of you." He lowered his voice.
"Mr. Cai is very busy and not everyone can see him. If you don't have letters from a few familiar adults, you'd better go back quickly. Seeing as you're from out of town and don't understand the market, I'll explain it to you; if The locals should have been scolded a long time ago!" As he said that, he seemed to walk away slowly.
Ye Yongjia looked at Kou Zhong. Seeing that things were not going well, he walked out of the alley and turned onto the street. "It is better to take your time for such a big thing," Kou Zhong said, "Master, there is no need to be impatient."
The further the two of them walked, the denser the crowd became. "Unfortunately, I don't know where Mr. Wei is. It would be better to talk to him about old times." Ye Yongjia sighed, raised his head casually, and suddenly saw that the large open space in front of him was crowded. It was full of people; the porter walking by also leaned on the edge of the port and raised his feet to watch. Out of curiosity, he pushed aside a few people and squeezed into the crowd, watching the crowd surrounding an old man. There was no one singing on the old stage, only a few Confucian scholars wearing hats were walking around in disorder. When they saw a carriage approaching from a distance, passers-by gave way and stopped the car in front of the stage. Suddenly there was a sound coming from inside the carriage. With a clear cough, all the Confucian scholars on the stage fell silent and lined up on both sides.
Someone walked straight off the stage, walked to the car, pulled the curtain, and was about to help him, but the person inside reached out his hand first and motioned for him to step aside; then he stretched out a cane and a cane, and then his body appeared. The man was leaning on a crutch with his left hand and pulled his collar with his right hand. He turned his face sideways and could not see his appearance clearly, but he felt full of aura and majesty. In the eyes of everyone, he looked like a savior of the world, and many pairs of eyes turned to him. Showing reverence, those shouts seemed to be paying homage to the figure of a hero.
In front of the chattering and noisy crowd, he limped across the stairs, and his face appeared impartially in Ye Yongjia's field of vision.
The handsome facial features and the piercing eyes immediately reminded him of this person's name - Wei Huai.
He was fully clothed in white clothes, breathed a sigh of relief, and then spoke loudly, his breath sonorous and powerful:
"Everyone, my surname is Wei and my name is Huai, but I am a Confucian in Nanjing. After observing that the laws have been abolished and the country is not prosperous, I have some opinions. I will tell you!" He hit the ground with his crutch and continued:
"I am determined to reform, and the first priority is to reduce taxes and servitude. Although this court keeps saying that corvee is light and taxes are small, once the court is in a hurry, it will exploit it wantonly. The livelihood of the world belongs to the capital, and the people have no right to independent decisions. It is taken by the court. The people couldn't bear the taxes, so they abandoned their fields and became refugees. The government counted 50,000 refugees, and if this continues, there will be more than 500,000!"
As soon as these words came out, everyone was shouting, and Ye Yongjia also secretly applauded him in his heart.
"Therefore, according to a certain plan, the imperial court should establish the law of 'living within one's means' to save the country's resources, firstly, to prevent rampant corruption, and secondly, to prevent excessive exploitation. This is a truly good law. Some people may say that the legislation is like this, but as time goes by, it will be abolished. Yes, so I have some new insights."
He paced, and people's eyes quickly followed his steps.
"Academies are built in various places to recruit talented people. If the government wants to do something, it will be judged by the academy. This is the academy system I am thinking about."
…
Ye Yongjia listened to him in the audience for a long time, but he never lost his energy. There was no moment of pause or hesitation. It could be seen that he had really worked hard for this speech.
"If one of you people believes in my ambition, he will live up to my great statement. My ambition is that all the people in the nine states will know the new policy and be enlightened, and then the country will be peaceful and peaceful.
.”
After finishing speaking, he swallowed a mouthful of saliva, bowed to everyone, and walked down the stage; everyone cheered in unison like a mountain roar and a tsunami, and Ye Yongjia couldn't help but echoed; he wanted to run up to stop him, but in the crowd,
Being crowded, it was difficult to move forward, so he and Kou Zhong had to retreat.
When Wei Huai returned to his house, it was almost night. He had been busy all day and felt a little sleepy, so he immediately entered the house and asked his servants to take his clothes.
"Sir, when it was still daylight, two people handed over a letter and said that they must let you see it." The servant came over with clothes in his hands, and Wei Huai took them easily, "What's your name?"
"The surname is Ye, and the name is... it seems to be Yongjia."
Wei Huai put on his clothes and said, "I actually taught this student. Bring it to me to see."
The servant left the room, and Wei Huai sat by the bed and trimmed his beard.
"Look, my lord."
The servant opened the letter and put the paper on the table. Wei Huai pressed it with his hand, picked up a corner, and looked at it slowly:
'Ye Yongjia from Jinan paid homage to Wei Huai at the Imperial Academy in Nanjing: Sir, he helped the people and saved the world. He received his teachings in the past and admired his elegant treatises. It was like sitting on the spring breeze. Although he was a teacher for thirty years, he was still like a saint, and it was of great benefit. Today, Quan Quan
Living in Nanjing, I don't know where Mr. is and I can't find him. I'm almost worried. Fortunately, Mr. gave a lecture in the market. I asked him about it and found out where he is, so I sent him a letter. When Mr. Wang comes back late to read the letter, please choose a day to describe it.
, then it is a great good thing. Kowtow.'
"The pursuit is quite far." He sneered a few times, turned around and told the slave: "Ask where this man lives, and invite him to come to the house tomorrow to talk."
…
"Please," the servant smiled thoughtfully and greeted Ye Yongjia and Kou Zhong. They bowed and walked to the living room, where they saw Wei Huai sitting upright on a chair, holding a cane in one hand.
"Ye Tinglong, I haven't seen you for a long time." Wei Huai still didn't smile. Ye Yongjia had never even seen him smile before.
"Mr. Wei, should I also call you Brother Jimin?"
"It's up to you." Wei Huai showed an indifferent attitude.
"Mr. Wei, you invited us here. Isn't this the etiquette of hospitality?" Kou Zhong said angrily.
"Who is that?" Wei Huai looked at Ye Yongjia.
"The slave in the mansion..."
"How dare you interrupt, my slave? I'm going to tell your master."
Kou Zhong stopped talking dissatisfied.
"Why did you arrive in Nanjing?" Wei Huai raised his head and asked.
"My father died and his mansion was confiscated."
"Dead..." Wei Huai's eyes showed sympathy and a little surprise, but his tone seemed indifferent.
"The official was gone and the Jinshi was taken away, so we arrived in Nanjing." Kou Zhong added from the side.
"Come to see Cai Xianqing?" Wei Huai glanced at Kou Zhong, who nodded.
"Why didn't you say it?" He looked at Ye Yongjia and immediately called the slave outside the hall: "Bring paper and pen!"
"Mr. Wei, you originally said you were Lu Fangxuan's secretary-general, why did you suddenly end up in the Imperial College? There are so many... people following you?"
"That was a year or two ago," Wei Huai said as he wrote on the paper. "At that time, Mr. Lu was still in Nanjing. He treated me very well and allowed me to serve as a wine sacrifice for the Imperial College; because I was good at talking about it everywhere.
I also recommended several policies to benefit the people in the way of reform, so the people have some expectations of me, which is a good thing. Later, Mr. Lu was transferred by the emperor and appointed Duke of Jing, and Prince Wan Heshun took charge of the military affairs here. "
Wei Huai sealed the letter and handed it to Ye Yongjia: "This Cai Xianqing has always respected my name and is a very interesting person. If you give him the letter, he will definitely come to see you and help you with something."
Ye Yongjia received the letter, and Wei Huai wanted to talk about the raid on Ye Mansion, but seeing that he was reluctant to mention it, he had to use his stick to watch them leave the house.