Before Qian Qianyi finished reading the cabinet edict, there was already an uproar around him.
Officials from various prefectures and counties in Jiangxi Province who had recently surrendered shouted loudly, wondering if they had heard correctly.
In the palace, only the officials who originally entered the customs from Liaodong remained silent.
"It's forbidden to bind feet? This is unheard of, how unbecoming it is!"
"How can such an unethical thing be regarded as the elegance of the new dynasty?"
"Only barbarians and lowly households do not tie their feet! How can Daqi do this? It is simply an insult to gentlemen!"
······
Liu Zhaosun Yun said calmly: "If you have any objections to the ban on foot binding, you can first discuss it with the academicians and editors of the Hanlin Academy. If there is anything you still don't understand, it's not too late to ask me again."
Qian Qianyi and Zhang Pu were pushed to the front.
Dongfang Zhu brought a pot of dragon well, and Liu Zhaosun sat on the dragon chair, drinking tea and leisurely watching the two sides bickering.
Qian Qianyi gritted his teeth and said bravely: "Everyone, everyone, listen to me."
"stop fighting!"
Yuan Jixian waved his hand to silence the officials behind him, and everyone looked up at the learned bachelor.
"The prohibition of women's foot-binding is not a new policy. When our emperor was guarding Liaodong, we had this policy. Women, regardless of age, were not allowed to have their feet bound. In this way, they could work like men. Later, this policy was implemented in Beizhili , all over Shandong, and all over the country. It has been implemented for more than ten years. Now that Jiangxi is under the control, all prefectures and counties are the territory of our Daqi, and the people are the people of our Daqi. Of course, my emperor must treat everyone equally and be impartial and selfless... "
Liu Wuyuan, the governor of Southern Jiangxi, couldn't help but said angrily:
"Qian Muzhai! After all, you are also the number one scholar in the previous dynasty! You are a person who reads the books of sages. You are not only shameless in confusing right and wrong! It is simply shameless! Women's feet have been bound since ancient times. In the Ming Dynasty, only beggars in eastern Zhejiang (Note 1) Men are not allowed to study, and women are not allowed to have their feet bound. Could it be that all women in our dynasty are beggars?!"
Zhang Pu and Qian Qianyi were on the same side, so naturally they could not remain silent at this time and immediately retorted:
"Since Governor Liu is a minister of the Qi Dynasty, why should he keep talking about going to the court and making analogies in the past? If you are obsessed with false Ming, you can go and join Zuo Liangyu now."
Liu Wuyuan was left speechless by Zhang Pu, his face was bruised and red, and he had to retreat angrily.
Liu Tongchun, the chief minister of Jiangxi Province, was very angry. He pushed Liu Wuyuan away and stepped forward and said:
"It is the custom in my hometown that boys aged ten years old are not allowed to stay in the house; girls aged seven years old are not allowed to go out. Since the Holy Emperor has said that people must abide by the old rules, this foot binding cannot be changed."
Hu Yousheng, the prefect of Nankang Prefecture, said:
"At the opposite pole, as the saying goes, there is a curve of soft jade with small rippling waves, and two red lotus petals falling lightly. Drinking with a prostitute's shoes, taking off the prostitute's shoes, placing a wine cup in it, and letting the guests pass the drink. It is called a shoe cup. This is It is one of the great pleasures in life (see "Yuji Manchao" for details, and also see "My Broom Studio Yu Tan" by Shen Defu)."
Another elegant Jiangxi official came out and said:
"The girls in Zhangzhou, Fujian Province, all have small feet and must rely on sticks to walk. When there is a wedding or funeral, if the girls go there, they must each hold a stick and gather together to form a forest. Do you know why this is?"
Qian Qianyi and Zhang Pu didn't speak.
The official continued: "It's all because the folk customs in Zhangzhou were rough, and women were naughty, promiscuous, and unruly women! When Zhu Wengong (Zhu Xi) became the magistrate of Zhangzhou, he felt that ladies were immoral and immoral, so he enacted a law ordering women to bind their feet. They are not allowed to walk smoothly, which is why today's Zhangzhou Chun Chun folk customs have come to pass! Could it be that you can't even tolerate Zhu Wen Gong and even violate the words of sages!"
When Zhu Wengong came out, Qian Qianyi and Zhang Pu were immediately shocked and speechless for a moment.
Seeing that the two ministers were speechless, Liu Zhaosun put down his tea cup and asked who this person was. Dongfang Zhu whispered:
"Your Majesty, this is Ni Yuanlu, whose courtesy name is Ruyu and whose nickname is Hongbao. She is from Yushang, Shaoxing, Zhejiang. She was originally from the Nanjing Imperial College to offer sacrifices to Jiujiu. When she led troops to rescue Jiujiang, she was captured by our army and has surrendered many days ago."
The Supreme Emperor nodded slightly. He did not expect to meet the famous cabinet figures of the late Ming Dynasty in Nanchang.
In the original history, after the fall of Beijing in the 17th year of Chongzhen, Ni Yuanlu hanged herself and died for her country, and was buried as a sacrifice to Emperor Chongzhen and the Ming Dynasty.
Such a person, more or less, has some character, but he unexpectedly surrendered to himself, which shows that Nan Ming's energy has been exhausted.
"To deal with him, we have to rely on the high priest, the high priest."
The high priest Francisco immediately stepped forward, respectfully waiting for the Emperor's order.
"You are no longer qualified to be a bachelor or a compiler in the Hanlin Academy. It's your turn to tell these Confucian scholars what the price of persisting in their faith is. Go ahead,"
Francisco nodded, his blue eyes flashing with wisdom.
He immediately walked out from behind the Supreme Emperor, walked to a group of Qi civil servants, looked up at Ni Yuanlu, and said in Henan dialect that was not very fluent:
"Dear gentlemen and believers of medieval Neo-Confucianism, I am Francisco, the high priest of Qi. You can call me Lao Fu. I am in charge of various religious affairs in our country, including but not limited to Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism, and this ·······”
The Portuguese thought for a while before he came up with the right words:
"And the Three-Inch Golden Lotus Sect that you believe in."
All the Jiangxi officials seemed to be dumbfounded, staring blankly at the red-haired barbarian with blond hair and blue eyes who spoke Henan dialect.
Although they knew that this man was the right-hand man of the Supreme Emperor, and his status was equal to that of the Grand Chief Eunuch Dongfang, some officials still couldn't help but curse out of the Celestial Empire's instinctive contempt for foreign barbarians:
"How do you, a barbarian, know the conditions of our country? You are not worthy of sitting and discussing with us scholar-bureaucrats!"
"Go down! The life of a saint is governed by nature. You are a red-haired barbarian! How do you know about saints? Get down!"
Lao Fu did not feel the slightest anger at the arrogant and provocative display of Jiangxi bureaucrats. He still stood where he was. At this time Qian Qianyi said:
"The high priest has made great contributions to the Qi Dynasty. You should be careful what you say. Even if you are discussing something, you should not insult Si Wen."
Ni Yuanlu also said: "The sage has something to say. If the barbarians and Di people enter China, then China will not need to care about the color of their hair and skin, or their accent. As long as what is said is the sage's words, they should listen carefully."
Lao Fu bowed his hands to Ni Yuanlu and was greatly moved by his etiquette.
He faced everyone and continued:
"In my hometown, heretics will be burned to death. Here, those who violate the laws of the Supreme Emperor will also be killed. I have checked the detailed information. The Zhu Wengong you are talking about is Zhu Xi, who has been dead for many years. His hometown is Huizhou Prefecture , according to local county records, it is just a Xiuning County. From the first emperor Zhu Yuanzhang of the Ming Dynasty to the last emperor Zhu Youjian, there were more than 400 "chaste women" and "martial women" in two hundred years."
Everyone had satisfied smiles on their faces, and they felt a lot more pleased with the red-haired barbarian in front of them.
In the Ming Dynasty, one of the criteria for evaluating the performance of local officials was the number of married women in their jurisdiction.
What is a "chaste woman"? To put it simply, it means that when a woman unfortunately loses her husband, she dies with her own body.
"There are more than 2,000 people who have never married. Gentlemen, do you know that these behaviors are contrary to Qi's national policy of encouraging population fertility?"
"Also, in Wuyuan County, Zhu Xi's hometown, there are more than a hundred memorial arches for "Jie Lie", "Jie Wu", and "Jie Xiao". From the Song Dynasty to the present, there are more than 7,000 "chaste and martyr women". Zhu Xi is an official In southern Fujian, including Tong'an, Jinjiang, and Youxi counties, there are nearly a thousand fiancées who observe festivals for their husbands and die in honor of their husbands, ("Fujian General Chronicle").
Francisco finally concluded: "The Zhu Wengong you are talking about has violated many legal provisions of our country. I don't know what kind of saint he is? If he lived in Daqi, he would be imprisoned and exiled to Seoul... "
Lao Fu didn't say anything about being a male prostitute. He knew more or less the temperament of these people and was afraid that overstimulating these people would be detrimental to him.
The surroundings suddenly became deathly silent. While the officials were accumulating their ultimate moves, the high priest decided to use his ultimate move first.
He took out the account book from his black robe, gently opened two pages, looked back at the densely packed Arabic numerals on the account book, looked back at the Supreme Emperor, then put his finger on the account book and prayed devoutly:
"The empire below you and me all relies on the King of Liaodong, the ruler of Mongolia and the guardian of the grassland, the uncle of the King of Korea, the Eternal One, the master of the Japanese country, the abolition of private property, the ruler of the thirteen provinces, the owner of Australia, The guardian of order in the Eastern Hemisphere, the master of Sakhalin Island, the King of Kings born in the firestorm, and the Supreme Emperor of the Great Qi Empire. I rely on His Majesty the Supreme Emperor to create it!"
"The empire currently has thirteen provinces, including one province in Jiangxi and two provinces in Jiangnan that were recently annexed. The country has a population of more than 85 million people. Among them, three provinces in Liaodong, Henan, and Shandong have a large number of boys and girls due to long-term wars. , in Jiangnan and Jiangxi provinces, men and women account for half.”
"If now, you allow women to continue to bind their feet, allow this inhumane custom to continue to exist, and allow this appalling punishment to continue to torture our sisters, regardless of whether this strange artistic taste of drinking with women's small shoes is reasonable, regardless of whether it is reasonable or not. Regardless of your so-called tradition and culture, if you really do that, half of the 80 million subjects of the Supreme Emperor will become disabled! Women in our country will live in three bedrooms centered on the bedroom throughout their lives. Within the narrow range of a hundred steps, from bound feet to death. If that happens, the future of the empire will be gloomy: the country will be poor, there will be insufficient soldiers, there will be insufficient labor, there will be no female workers in the workshops, there will be no female students in the schools, disabled women will not be able to educate their children, and infanticide will The wind will continue to appear...In the end, Daqi and her people will be called the "sick men of Eastern Qi" by the enemy."
Francisco finished speaking in one breath, and because he was so full of emotions, the account book was wet with tears.
A group of officials wanted to refute, but they didn't know where to start. They stretched their necks one by one, like ducks being held up by their necks.
Seeing that the time was right, Liu Zhaosun stood up and left the dragon chair. He slowly scanned the crowd and said:
"Everyone has heard what the bachelor and the high priest just said. What they meant is what I mean. Women from Liaodong have stopped binding their feet for a long time. Women from Jiangnan and Jiangxi can also do it."
Jiangxi officials looked at each other in confusion, and finally everyone looked at Yuan Jixian. Inspector Yuan stepped forward bravely and said:
"Your Majesty has good intentions, and I can understand it. However, if you really want to abolish it, you have to give time. You can start from the upper class of scholar-bureaucrats, promote education, and slowly follow it, and then let the people follow suit. You must know that these stupid men and women at the beginning were also Imitating Li Yu, the empress of the Southern Tang Dynasty, Li Yu made a six-foot golden lotus for the dancing girl Yao Niang, decorated it with jeweled silk ribbons and tassels. He ordered Yao Niang to wrap her feet in silk, make the slender feet curl into a crescent shape, and then wear plain clothes... ·”
Liu Zhaosun interrupted with a wave of his hand: "I don't care where or when footbinding came from, or whether it came from the palace or the countryside. Governor Yuan's plan is so long-lasting that it makes people feel dizzy. I wonder how long it will take? Ten years? Two ten years?"
"Could it be that thirty years from now, Emperor Guangde should ask me why he couldn't help but bind his feet in the first place, causing the country to wither and no one to use it?"
The Supreme Emperor thought of the Qing Dynasty's order to shave his hair, so he said categorically:
"Time waits for us not. If we delay for a moment, we will lose hundreds of female laborers. In the future, Daqi will fight in all directions, and the battlefield cannot be without women. The reason why I can defeat so many enemies is nothing more than using men as cattle and women as men."
Yuan Jixian was speechless.
"I'm just afraid it will spark a civil unrest."
"Then change. I have never been afraid of betrayal. Anyone who dares to obstruct it will be killed! Send an order to all the state governments in Jiangxi to prohibit foot binding. Leave the feet but not the head, and leave the head but not the feet!"
Note:
1. "Wanli Yehuobian" records: "In the Ming Dynasty, among beggar households in eastern Zhejiang, men were not allowed to study, and women were not allowed to have their feet bound."
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