When Zhang Mingwei heard this, he said to them: "Although it cannot change the world's old views at once, the court can guide and liberate as many women's productivity as possible. Over time, women's labor income will make money, Having achieved a good honor, old ideas will naturally change accordingly!”
In fact, women from poor families don’t have so many scruples at all. Everything is just for survival.
Only those with better living conditions are particular about women, such as not opening the front door or leaving the second door.
Generally speaking, the ancient values for women can be summarized as three obediences and four virtues. In this regard, later generations actually had misunderstandings.
Among the things advocated by Confucianism, the word "Three Obediences" was first seen in "Rituals·Mourning Clothes·Zi Xia Zhuan", and the term "Four Virtues" was found in "Li of Zhou·Tianguan·Nei Zai".
The so-called "three obediences" refer to: obedience to the father before marriage, obedience to the husband when married, and obedience to the son after the death of the husband.
This means that girls should obey their parents’ teachings before getting married, and should not refute the teachings of their elders, because the elders have rich social knowledge and have fundamental guiding significance;
After getting married, you must be courteous to your husband, run the household and practice business together with your husband, respect your elders, and educate the young;
If your husband unfortunately dies before you, you must stick to your duties, find ways to raise your children to adulthood, and respect your children's life philosophy.
"Cong" here means "assisting, assisting", but in later generations, many people understood it literally and thought it meant "obeying, following".
There is also the so-called "Four Virtues", which refers to: virtue, speech, appearance, and work.
That is to say, for a woman, the first important thing is moral character, being able to stand upright; secondly, "speech", which means having knowledge and cultivation, appropriate speech, and decent language; secondly, "face", that is, appearance, which means that one must be dignified, steady, and polite. Don’t be frivolous and casual; the last thing is “work”, which is the way of running a family. The way of running a family includes the details of life such as caring for your husband and raising your children, respecting the elderly and caring for the young, being diligent and thrifty, etc.
Likewise, in later generations, it will be misinterpreted.
Generally speaking, the traditional Chinese "three obediences and four virtues" are not that bad. Some bad habits slowly spread to women over time.
At this time, Zhang Mingwei proposed to liberate women's productivity and participate in the construction of Ming Dynasty, which did not conflict much with the three obediences and four virtues.
Just listen to Zhang Mingwei saying to Emperor Chongzhen and others: "General Qin is a very good example. The court should use this as an example to widely publicize it. Also, my wife is not bad, and so is Zhou Yuji's daughter-in-law. They are all girls' middle schools." The best among heroes..."
Upon hearing this, Emperor Chongzhen and others immediately laughed.
But to be honest, it is true that Princess Kunxing followed Zhang Mingwei in the north and south, controlled the female soldiers, and did a good job of assisting. She was able to calm the world so quickly, and she played a huge role.
The same is true for the Zhou Liu family. The guard Princess Kunxing also fought in the north and south, and her contribution was not small.
If we go a little further, Ma Xianglin’s daughter-in-law Zhang Fengyi also died fighting for her country. She is also a heroic woman and a heroine!
Zhang Mingwei didn't care whether they laughed or not, and continued: "In the officialdom, female officers are not limited to palace maids. Other yamen can also set up female officers as long as there are suitable positions. For example, hospitals, the Ministry of Science and Technology, etc..."
Having said this, he looked at Emperor Chongzhen and said with a serious expression: "Many new fields such as physics, chemistry, and biology require care, patience, and keen observation. In these areas, women have more advantages. Let them If everyone participates, maybe the court will have unexpected gains..."
Zhang Mingwei did not ask for one step at the beginning. If he directly said that women can also be county magistrates and magistrates, which are already existing officials, he would probably arouse opposition and there would be a huge repercussion, or boycott, in society; therefore, He would start with his most authoritative new discipline, the new yamen, so that there would be a lot less resistance.
Sure enough, when Emperor Chongzhen heard what he said, he immediately understood that this might be an example in later generations, so he was immediately moved. He immediately nodded and said: "I think these aspects mentioned by sir can indeed be used. Men and women are different and have different divisions of labor. As long as it is suitable for women, women can do it."
"In this case, can free official schools set up girls' schools? This would save a lot of things!" Du Yinxi, as the steward of the Ming Dynasty, naturally worried about daily necessities and the lack of talents, so he took the initiative to propose the idea.
Providing women and children with free access to school and employment arrangements will give many families a lot of peace of mind.
In fact, there were already women's schools in the Ming Dynasty, but they were small in scope and rare, so they were not the norm.
If the Ming Dynasty had always existed, the future would be hard to say. It was only after becoming the Qing Dynasty that many aspects began to regress, which led to the former world power becoming the target of bullying by the great powers.
After hearing this, Zhang Mingwei immediately nodded in agreement and said: "This can be done. Similar to this, other industries can also have women-only ones instead of mixed men and women. This will reduce the concerns of many people."
Speaking of this, he listed some industries.
Emperor Chongzhen and others felt that it was okay.
So, we discussed how to open an opening from the women's side and use the power of women.
After the discussion was completed, the will was revealed to the world.
The people of the Ming Dynasty are no longer surprised that the Ming Dynasty has added a new Nanyang province.
Except for some people with interests, such as those who want to be officials or want to do business, others don't care at all and don't even talk much.
Instead, there was a lot of discussion about the imperial court's plan to add a free official school for women and ordering girls of school age from all over the country to attend it, which became a hot topic recently.
In "Ming Pao", the deeds of Qin Liangyu, Princess Kunxing, and Zhou Liu could also be publicized, and the deeds of ancients such as Huang Daopo and Hua Mulan were also reproduced to encourage women to come forward.
The women's liberation movement in the Ming Dynasty officially kicked off.
At this time, the court received another piece of good news, that is, Portugal's previous debt to Ming Dynasty had arrived. That is, the fleet from America, carrying gold, silver and rubber, mainly rubber, arrived in the Ming Dynasty.
Zhang Mingwei couldn't help but be overjoyed when he heard this.
Rubber is widely used in industry, agriculture, national defense, transportation and daily life, and its importance is self-evident.
However, Zhang Mingwei only knows about rubber vulcanization. As for other rubber products, different rubber products must have different methods. This needs to be tested.
Therefore, he immediately reported to Emperor Chongzhen and followed the example of others to establish a rubber group controlled by the imperial court and use social funds to produce rubber.
Because the rubber was shipped from South America in the early stage, it would take at least two years to harvest the rubber here in Daming. Therefore, the use of rubber can only be used in steam engines, ships, electricity, etc. where it is most important.
With this rubber, the performance of the steam engine will be greatly improved. This means that if the previous steam engines were first-generation products, then the steam engines and steam-powered warships with rubber would be second-generation products.
Also, one of the most important applications of rubber is electricity.
With rubber, electricity has the basis for large-scale application.
Otherwise, it would be unrealistic if the wires all have to pass through bamboo or porcelain tubes.
As a result, the construction of large hydropower stations has been put on the agenda again.
The good thing is that the previous cement formula was published to the world, and many people used it, and many people researched and improved it. Therefore, there are endless improvements to the cement formula. Among them, both the government and the private sector have tested cement suitable for water.
As a result, it is much more convenient to construct hydropower stations now.
However, the scale of hydropower stations at this time is certainly not comparable to those of later generations. The application of electricity is basically beyond the reach of ordinary people. Only when time goes by, when these infrastructures become more and more popular and the cost of electricity becomes lower and lower, can everyone in Ming Dynasty have access to electricity.
Although Zhang Mingwei no longer leads troops in wars, he is even busier than when he was fighting. Rushing around various research institutes and factories to provide guidance on various issues that cannot be left behind. In other words, without Zhang Mingwei's guidance, I don't know how much time, manpower and material resources would be wasted in practice.
No, when Zhang Mingwei inspected the steam engine factory, even if someone held an umbrella for him or stood in the shade, he would still be sweating from the heat.
He is like this, not to mention the craftsmen in various workshops in the factory.
No, when he was about to inspect the next workshop, there was a commotion. When he went over, he saw that a craftsman had fainted.
Seeing Duke Xingguo coming over, the craftsman explained helplessly: "It's hot today, but it's even hotter in the workshop. We work in turns, but people still often suffer from heat stroke!"
Zhang Mingwei looked at them and then at the environment. Although the door was open, the environment was indeed hot enough and everyone was sweating profusely.
"Oh, it would be better if there is wind. This weather without wind is really unbearable!" The craftsman sighed when he saw that Duke Xingguo was not angry.
"Why, do you still want to stop working?" Upon hearing what he said, the official from the Ministry of Industry who accompanied the inspection felt a little embarrassed, and quickly reprimanded, "No matter whether there is wind or wind, we must work. This is the most important thing to the emperor. steam engine!"
Hearing this, Zhang Mingwei's eyes suddenly lit up. It was difficult to make an air conditioner. Isn't it possible to make an electric fan?
Having an electric fan can greatly alleviate this situation, not to mention that in the south, electric fans are probably needed even more.
Thinking of this, he immediately smiled and said to them: "I will solve the wind problem!"
"..." Upon hearing this, everyone around him was dumbfounded. Could it be that the Duke of the country would still call the shots?
