Emperor Jianwen returned to the palace.
After hearing the news, cabinet ministers Xie Jin and Yang Shiqi immediately asked for a meeting.
Wuying Palace.
The chamberlain stopped the two cabinet ministers who wanted to enter, and said something incredible: "The emperor has an order, and the two cabinet ministers are also asked to take off their shoes and full clothes and enter the palace."
Xie Jin and Yang Shiqi's eyes widened, and they pulled Shuangxi, the chambermaid, and asked, "Why do you take off your shoes and clothes?"
Shuangxi wanted to say something, but he looked back at Wuying Palace, shook his head, and reminded in a low voice: "You two adults, don't ask any more questions, just go in quickly."
Xie Jin and Yang Shiqi were helpless. Since the emperor wanted to take them off, they should take off their shoes and footwear and go in barefoot. It's April and it won't be cold.
The two of them entered the palace to salute, and Zhu Yunwen asked them to stand up.
After Xie Jin and Yang Shiqi stood up, before saying hello, they heard the words "Pull up your clothes". Then they saw Zhu Yunwen walking over and had to lift up their clothes, exposing their big feet.
Zhu Yunwen "appreciated" the big feet of Xie Jin and Yang Shiqi, and whispered as if to himself: "These two pairs of feet are really too big. How wonderful it would be if they were wrapped into small feet..."
Xie Jin and Yang Shiqi shivered, looking shocked.
Yang Shiqi quickly put down his clothes and covered his feet. Just when he was about to ask, he saw Zhu Yunwen waving his sleeves, walked to the desk and sat down with some dissatisfaction, with a disappointed look on his face, and looked at the feet of the two people from time to time, as if he was thinking about it. What, I couldn't help but have a bad feeling.
Zhu Yunwen had a cold face, waved his hand and said, "I just returned to the palace. I'm a little tired. I'll come back tomorrow to do something else. Please step aside."
Xie Jin and Yang Shiqi were inexplicable. When we came in to pay our respects, they kicked us out and drove us away. The emperor was on a tour.
Why did it become weird? If you want to ask more questions, Zhu Yunwen didn't wait for the two of them to salute and left Wuying Hall first.
"How is this going?"
Xie Jin and Yang Shiqi looked at each other, confused. After they returned to the cabinet, they were even more puzzled.
Yang Shiqi looked down at his big feet and said to Xie Jin, "The emperor said our feet are too big?"
Jie Jin nodded, with a depressed look on his face: "He also said how wonderful it would be to have small feet."
Yang Shiqi shuddered, thought of a possibility, walked to Xie Jin's side, and whispered: "Your Majesty, who is incognito among the people, must have contracted some bad habits?"
Xie Jin's face changed, and he was a little unsure: "This, it shouldn't be possible, right?"
Yang Shiqi was a little uneasy: "Don't forget that lotus flowers grow every step of the way."
Xie Jin looked at the bold Yang Shiqi and stood up quickly: "You, as a minister, how can you speculate on the monarch like this!"
The so-called lotus blossoming step by step refers to the historical concubine Pan Yu'er, the concubine of Emperor Xiao Baojuan of Qi in the Southern Dynasty. The key is not Pan Yu'er, but Xiao Baojuan, who had an extreme foot fetish and was obsessed with Pan Yu'er's little feet.
Xie Jin paced and said sadly: "Pan Yu'er is a woman. There are many women with bound feet in the world!"
Yang Shiqi looked at Xie Jin's big feet and said: "According to records, in the past, King Ling of Chu was a good scholar and had a narrow waist. Therefore, the ministers of King Ling all took a meal as a festival, took a breath and then took it, supported the wall and then stood up. Every year, the court has Dark color. During the period of King Chu Ling, there were also women with thin waists, but King Chu Ling preferred the thin waists of officials..."
Xie Jin trembled. The King of Chu had such a slim waist that many of his courtiers starved to death. If Zhu Yunwen was as weird as King Ling of Chu,
Isn't it "Jianwen likes to have small feet, but courtiers often have their feet bound"?
Men don’t like thin waists of women, but they like thin waists of men. This perverted King Chu Ling! Men like men, and there are many like Long Yang in history. What if Zhu Yunwen dislikes the harem and is looking for excitement and likes men with small feet...
"This, this is absolutely not possible!"
Xie Jin's face was very ugly, and he gritted his teeth: "We will never let this happen!"
Yang Shiqi sighed: "If the emperor insists on having his own way, I'm afraid our feet will inevitably suffer. In the future, there will be officials with small feet in the court..."
Jie Jin thought about it again and again, but still had no solution.
By coincidence, Tang Buping came to the cabinet at this time, preparing to take away the copy of the memorial that the prince had approved, so that he could give it to the emperor to evaluate the prince's ability to handle government affairs.
Jie Jin pulled Tang Buping aside and asked in a low voice: "Tell us, what happened to the emperor while he was in hiding among the people, and why did his temperament change so much after he came back?"
Tang Buping said nothing.
After Tang Buping left, Xie Jin and Yang Shiqi received another shocking news. The eunuch with small feet in the palace was rewarded, and the eunuch with big feet was beaten.
The news that the emperor liked men's small feet spread like wildfire and was passed among the officials, causing an uproar. Some officials were even more worried when they looked at their big feet, fearing that the emperor would order officials to bind their feet. There was also an opportunistic petty official who also Without waiting for the news to be confirmed or not, he directly found someone to break off his own feet and bind his little feet in order to do what the emperor wanted...
Before Zheng He came back, the foot-binding incident became more and more serious. The courtiers were panicked, and memorials were flying everywhere, but unfortunately they all fell into the sea and could not be ignored at all.
On the fifth day after Zhu Yunwen returned to the palace, news came from the chamberlain that the emperor was likely to order civil servants to have their feet bound soon, so that the civil servants would abide by etiquette and stay in the government office to do their work. Don't run around when there is nothing to do. Qualified to enter the palace as a eunuch.
Eunuch, your whole family!
The civil servants were completely panicked and consulted the cabinet ministers one after another to discuss countermeasures. If Zhu Yunwen insisted on going his own way and let the civil servants bind their feet despite the opposition of the ministers, no one would be able to escape this.
When everyone was at a loss, Yang Shiqi thought over and over again and said: "There must be a reason for the emperor's good soldiers to have small feet. If we want to save ourselves, we first need to understand why this is the case."
Jie Jin nodded, but also felt helpless: "But the Security Bureau didn't say anything."
Yang Shiqi said slowly: "Isn't there another person from Wuying Palace..."
Huang Huai was finally remembered and was "invited" to the cabinet to ask questions. Huang Huai added fuel to the fire and described Zhu Yunwen's changes, which roughly means:
A woman's feet are bound, which makes it difficult for her to walk. She can look after her husband and raise her children with peace of mind, while Hongxing stays behind the wall. However, some local officials are not doing their job properly and are very energetic. They run around everywhere all day long. There are even some who live in restaurants and brothels. There is no one in the government offices and the people have no way to complain.
The emperor intends to have the civil servants bind their feet, stop running around all day, and stay in the government office to resolve disputes among the people, handle government affairs, and have less to worry about.
The civil servants like women with small feet, and the emperor likes men with small feet. He also learned from the civil servants. Everyone is the same to each other.
Only then did Xie Jin realize that it was nonsense about men having small feet and that bound feet made it difficult to walk and stay in the government office. The emperor of ours felt sorry for women with bound feet.
and blamed the civil servants for binding women's feet, thinking of ways to torture the civil servants.
This is not unfair. In the past few years, there have been no women with small feet in official houses, and there are not even a few women who have their own daughters' feet bound. The reason is well known to everyone. In addition to good looks, it is the desire for control and servitude.
If the princes, nobles and scholars who hold the power of speech had not always admired small feet, how could there be widespread foot-binding?
The emperor struck this stick directly on the civil servants, which was not unfair at all.
This is true, but no normal man is willing to bind his feet. Women's feet are beautiful and comfortable to play with, but what the hell are men's feet? What is the beauty of them?
But the emperor's words were an imperial edict. He wanted to bind the feet of all civil servants and all members of the scholar class. There would be no room for resistance by anyone.
Before the husband guides his wife, the king guides his ministers.
If the king wants his minister to die, he must die. If you want you to bind your feet, you have to bind your feet...
Jie Jin looked at Huang Huai, who was talking eloquently, and then at Yang Shiqi, who was constantly cooperating with the scheming. He finally understood that these two guys must have received some kind of instructions from the emperor. They sang and prepared to fight against foot binding, but they happened to Not even pointed out.
Yang Shiqi raised his eyebrows at Xie Jin, which meant: We have all reached this point. As the oldest person in the cabinet and the emperor's celebrity, shouldn't you show off?
Xie Jin knew clearly that if he did not cooperate with Zhu Yunwen's arrangements, "Jianwen had small feet, but all the scholars had their feet bound" would definitely happen. For his own big feet, for his son's big feet, and for all
Scholars must stand up and speak.
Shoot the case.
Jie Jin suddenly stood up: "Whatever foot binding is, it's a bad habit! How could there be such a weird habit in the Qin and Han Dynasties? There was so much filth in the Five Dynasties, and this was left behind
Isn’t it enough to have been tortured by quirks for thousands of years? We should restore the style of the Han and Tang Dynasties, where men are magnanimous and heroic, and women are cheerful and lively. This is the right way. I would like to advise you to take health as beauty, nature as beauty, and completely abolish the bad habit of foot binding. "
Tie Xuan was the first to stand up and support: "Second the proposal! Not only should foot binding be abolished, but the ugly idea that small feet are beautiful should also be abandoned!"
As the father of two daughters, Tie Xuanke was also very worried. Just because his daughter did not have bound feet, she was not only disliked by scholars, but also by matchmakers. If it weren't for the eunuchs from the Imperial College who didn't care about big or small feet, it would be impossible to say that his daughter was not married yet. go out!
If you indulge in bad habits, they should not exist.
You despise big feet, but you don’t even look down at your own big feet! If you want to grab the feet of the three-inch golden lotus, just grab your own!
Tie Xuan is very firm on this point.
But other officials did not follow suit. Everyone is accustomed to the beauty of small feet and likes to touch the three-inch golden lotus on the bowed feet. You suddenly want to abolish foot binding. Isn’t this going to cost our lives? How can we find such pleasure in the future? The beauty goes?
What's more, binding women's feet has become a "custom". If you say it should be abolished, it will be abolished. The people are not willing to listen. The court does not need to interfere with what they want to do.
Opposition continued.
Jie Jin looked at the hustle and bustle of officials, picked up the tea bowl and threw it down. When everyone fell silent, he said sternly: "Those who oppose the abolition of foot-binding should have their feet bound first, and future generations will have their feet bound together! I, Jie Jin, don't want to be a little boy. What do you think?"
Dang, then just go for it. "
