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Feng Ze, a wealthy businessman from Hubei, personally took his daughter to the imperial examination.Since they arrived in Nanjing after the New Year, the inns near the Gongyuan were already full, so the father and daughter could only rent a private house outside the city.

"Hey, Ying'er, let's go back," Feng Ze looked at the pile of newspapers, and sighed, "There's a raging controversy, we can't go through this muddy water."

Feng Shunying lowered her eyebrows and was pleasing to the eye, not daring to express her opinion.

In fact, neither the father nor the daughter thought about taking the imperial examination to become an official.Feng Shunying came to take the imperial examination purely because her fiancé died and she was a widow, so it was difficult for her to find a well-matched husband's family.So I want to take the female Jinshi exam, no matter whether I can pass the exam or not, it can increase my social status, and then let the matchmaker look for a marriage.

This is the current mainstream. The vast majority of female students go to school to find a good husband!

As soon as they heard that someone's daughter had been admitted to a certain university, the matchmakers flocked to her immediately.Put it in the previous dynasty, this is equivalent to a female lifter.As long as you marry back home, not only will you spread the word, but your children will be smarter, and you don't have to worry about their education.

But if someone's daughter has graduated from college and is not married, or even wants to be an official or graduate student, the situation will immediately turn around 180 degrees.It's hard to get married!

The reason is that, firstly, after graduating from university, the age must be too old, [-] or [-] years old are already considered leftover women;

So the current situation is very embarrassing. Every year, many women go to college.But these female college students basically used the winter and summer vacations to get married before their junior year, and they were all married women when they graduated.

There are even more extreme ones who drop out of school directly after getting married, because it is inconvenient to go to school to hang out again.If you go back to school and find out that you are pregnant, it will be hard for everyone to argue.It is obviously her husband's flesh and blood, but some people say it is a bastard conceived at school.

Feng Ze asked his servants to pack his luggage and was about to check out when Feng Shunying finally spoke.

"Father, since you've come to Nanjing, you can't come here in vain." Feng Shunying felt unwilling.

Feng Ze pointed to those newspapers: "Daughter, you have seen it too. Women's imperial examinations have caused public anger. If you become a female Jinshi, you will never be able to find a husband's family!"

Feng Shunying lowered her head and said, "What my daughter means is that since I've come to Nanjing, I'll wait a little longer. At least... go to the Ministry of Rites to get the examination ticket before leaving."

"Yup!"

Feng Ze's eyes lit up and he thought it was a good idea.Although she did not take part in the imperial examination, she had an admission ticket for the examination, and it was very glorious to spread it out. The matchmaker could use the admission ticket to propose a marriage.

This year's general examination, there are less than ten female candidates.

Frightened by the public opinion in the newspaper, half of them were immediately scared back.Some female examinees left Nanjing ahead of schedule without even receiving their admission tickets, for fear of being stabbed in the back by others.

The pen stick on the newspaper can't be hit at all.

There were indeed women's publications, but they were only circulated on a small scale.Famous talented women can be famous far and wide, but also rely on talents to fuel the flames.

In this situation, very few talented people are willing to speak up.

The woman wrote an article to refute it, but she couldn't find a newspaper to publish it.Some newspapers are willing to publish it, but they are all tabloids with insufficient circulation.

Zhao Han's original intention was to let the people debate for themselves.

The current situation made Zhao Han very disappointed.But it is impossible for him and the "Datong Monthly" to end in person.

What should we do?

Zhao Han called Huang Zundu: "It is said that the emperor was influenced by the newspaper's public opinion and felt that women should not show their faces. From now on, even textile factories are not allowed to employ women as weavers."

This news will blow up the capitalists directly!

Chapter 803 [Experiencing the Holy Will]

Speaking of ancient commercial prosperity, many people subconsciously think of the Song Dynasty.

But the commercial prosperity of the Song Dynasty, to be precise, was the prosperity of the cities, relying on the crazy blood sucking from the countryside.The only business in the Song Dynasty that could beat the Ming Dynasty was the prosperity of sea trade. If smuggling in sea trade was included, the Song Dynasty might not necessarily win.

In the early years of Wanli, the business of the Ming Dynasty reached a peak of the feudal dynasty!

Although many times looked down upon the Qing Dynasty, in the middle of the Qing Dynasty, China's business flourished again, and its scale also surpassed that of the Song Dynasty.

Why did Ming and Qing commerce prosper?

Agricultural development!

In the Ming Dynasty, rice and cotton were the main crops.In the Qing Dynasty, on this basis, sweet potatoes, corn and potatoes appeared.

In the Ming Dynasty, rice varieties from Vietnam really achieved wide-scale popularization.The flood discharge channel and reservoir system have solved the flood problem in the south of the Yangtze River that has lasted for thousands of years.The oil residue extracted from rapeseed and soybean oil is widely used in fertile fields. This is a new type of fertilizer popularized in the Ming Dynasty.Cotton planting methods were improved, and the imperial court guided the whole country to plant cotton.

The increase in rice production has solved the problem of food.

The promotion of cotton has solved the problem of dressing.

Thus, the population exploded!

Big cities can't accommodate so many people, and rural areas can't accommodate so many people, so emerging towns have emerged.These towns not only absorb the surplus labor force in the countryside, but also form one after another country market.The emergence of rural fairs gave birth to a group of small merchants living outside the city. They bought agricultural products at rural fairs and transported the means of production needed by farmers from other places.

Many wealthy merchants and gentry in the Ming Dynasty grew up from such small merchants, such as the Fei family where the queen lives!

Just talking about the six prefectures of Su, Song, Chang, Hu, Hang and Jia, the number of towns in the Ming Dynasty was more than four times that of the Song Dynasty.You know, that was the ruling core of the Southern Song Dynasty, and the prosperity of the countryside was far inferior to that of the Ming Dynasty.

The emergence of a large number of emerging cities and towns has completely transformed Chinese society.

Before the Ming Dynasty, the development of Chinese society was actually the same as that of Europe later.It is because the population is constantly concentrated in the big cities, and the wealth is also constantly concentrated in the big cities.Since the Ming Dynasty, although they also concentrated in big cities, more emerging towns were formed.The large towns are saturated, and countless small towns appear, and finally towns will appear in just a few villages!

As a result, the phenomenon of "oil-water separation" appeared in China: political power was concentrated in the cities and controlled by officials and dignitaries.Cities have become power and money trading centers, daily necessities consumption centers, and luxury consumption centers.The main economic forces are distributed in tens of thousands of towns. Towns are the centers of productivity in China, and it is difficult or even impossible for the government to effectively control them.

So in the Song Dynasty, it didn't matter if the imperial power did not come down to the county.In the Ming and Qing dynasties, it was fatal if the imperial power did not come down to the county, because the national economic center of gravity was not in the county.If someone travels back to the Ming and Qing dynasties, if you want to rebel, you don't need to rush to occupy the cities. It is the last word to occupy those towns with prosperous commerce and no city walls first.

This is China's unique rural model, which not only affects China's economic form, but also affects China's social form.It even has an indelible impact on Chinese cultural customs and even on Chinese people's thinking!

Rural China has been carved into the bones.

Zhao Han announced that folk merchants could weave brocade, and the number of merchants engaged in this thing increased rapidly.The city of Nanjing couldn't accommodate it at all, so it had to move outside the city to build a factory.The land outside the city is also limited, so move to the towns near Nanjing City.

Now there are three brocade production bases in Jinling Prefecture, one is outside Nanjing, the other is Jiangning Town, and the other is Chunhua Town.

Shen Yourong is in Chunhua Town, and he has recruited more than 1000 brocade weavers!

Not long after the Lantern Festival, Liang Xingdao, a wealthy businessman from Jiangning Town, came to visit Shen Yourong in person: "Mr. Shen, you know that His Majesty is going to ban women from entering factories to work as weavers!"

"What?" Shen Yourong thought she had heard wrong.

"Your Majesty is going to ban women from entering the factory to work as weavers!" Liang Xingdao repeated again.

Shen Yourong was a little stunned by the fright, and thought with the remaining rationality: "Your Majesty has always given preferential treatment to businessmen. As long as you abide by the rules and laws, why have you ever felt sorry for businessmen? Even Yunjin, which was used by the imperial court in the past, was allowed to operate by private merchants. Will there be a sudden order to ban women from working?"

Liang Xingdao lowered his hands and stamped his feet: "Isn't it the good deeds of those pedantic scholars? After the Chinese New Year, many newspapers published articles against women's participation in the imperial examination. They said that women should not show their faces, and women are born to be husbands, children, and parents-in-law... This newspaper's public opinion It's one-sided, and no one dares to speak for women anymore. A few days ago, there was a servant of the Ministry of Rites, Cao or something, who asked His Majesty to ban female workers. Naturally, the officials in the court opposed it, but there were some who supported it. I heard people say it When His Majesty came to court, he showed hesitation, as if he wanted to ban female workers!"

"Those bastards, they are stupid when they study!" Shen Yourong cursed.

Liang Xingdao said: "Isn't it stupid? You can say such things."

Actually, they thought so too.

Shen Yourong's daughter has a high school graduation certificate. Although she cannot go to college at public expense, she is eligible to go to college at her own expense.He first sent his daughter to college at his own expense. After only one year of study, he found a good husband's family and immediately let his daughter drop out of school to marry.

In his view, going to college is just to increase his daughter's social status so that he can find a more powerful husband's family.

If his daughter dared to become an official, he would break her leg with his own hands!

But it's different now, and those scholars must not be allowed to talk nonsense.Brocade weaving is his lifeblood, and the female workers are all hens that lay golden eggs. How can scholars be allowed to splash dirty water?

Liang Xingdao sighed: "Oh, Your Majesty is willing to do anything, but insists on seizing the gentry's land and distributing it to those mud legs in the countryside. We gentry, now we have no land to collect rent, we can only do some business to live. If the recruitment of female workers is prohibited , from now on, I have to sit and eat.”

Shen Yourong sneered: "Do you think His Majesty won't attack powerful gentry without dividing the land?"

Shen Yourong is Shen Wansan's descendant, from his ancestor's notes, he knows what happened that year better than anyone else.

Long before Zhu Yuanzhang became emperor, Shen Wansan was dead, but the Shen family was indeed moved to Nanjing by Zhu Yuanzhang.In addition to the Shen family, there are a total of 6.73 wealthy gentry households in the south of the Yangtze River, which were moved to Nanjing twice by Zhu Yuanzhang (in addition to businessmen, there are many local gentry families).

Zhu Yuanzhang directly explained his purpose. He wanted to learn from Liu Bang, the great ancestor of the Han Dynasty, and move the rich households in the world to Guanzhong.

For the construction of the Nanjing City Wall, not only the Shen family contributed money, but tens of thousands of wealthy gentry contributed money.

Why did so many people die in the Sapphire case?

It was Zhu Yuanzhang who took the opportunity to eliminate the rich and powerful, deal with the very serious collusion between government and business at that time, and by the way, steal money from rich households.The descendants of Shen Wansan were involved in the Sapphire case, beheaded and exiled.

The "Yufu Miscellaneous Notes" of the Ming Dynasty also records that the wealthy businessmen who were relocated to Nanjing, during the several years of investigating the Lanyu case, either moved their families, were killed in connection with each other, or were exiled by their families. Almost none of them survived.

It is estimated that Shen Wansan was the richest man in the south of the Yangtze River, and his reputation is too great, so people condensed a few events before and after, and the experiences of tens of thousands of wealthy households in the south of the Yangtze River, on Shen Wansan, and the bizarre story of Zhu Yuanzhang and Shen Wansan appeared.

People like Zhu Yuanzhang often kill birds with one stone.

Killing Lan Yu can pave the way for Zhu Yunqi.Expanding the Sapphire case can crack down on the collusion between government and businessmen, eliminate the influence of the big clan on the court, and steal money from it.

Compared with other founding emperors, Zhao Han's forcible distribution of the gentry's property actually hit a wider range.Liu Bang migrated to rich households all over the world, and Zhu Yuanzhang migrated to wealthy households in the south of the Yangtze River. The method was similar to that of Zhao Han. They directly dug the foundation of local tyrants, and the next step was to kill them as they wanted.

Shen Yourong recalled what happened to her ancestors, and felt more and more that the current emperor is the reincarnation of Zhu Yuanzhang.

He ignored Liang Xingdao who was walking back and forth, and forced himself to calm down and think.Closing her eyes and meditating, after a long time, Shen Yourong opened her eyes and said, "This news should have been intentionally released by His Majesty. Prohibiting the use of female workers is not something His Majesty can do."

Hearing this, Liang Xingdao also began to think, and then said happily: "Then don't worry!"

Shen Yourong said, "But if we don't accept the move, His Majesty is very likely to do so."

"Accept the move?" Liang Xing said puzzled.

Shen Yourong explained: "Your Majesty must be very dissatisfied with those rotten scholars. But as the emperor, it is inconvenient for him to come forward in person, not even the court. So, His Majesty wants us to be pawns, rolling up our sleeves and playing pen sticks with those rotten scholars. If you don’t believe me, just watch, as long as we make a move, next month, or the next month, the "Datong Monthly" will stand up and make a decision and judge us to win."

Liang Xingdao wondered: "Since Your Majesty has already made a conclusion, why don't you just explain it directly?"

Shen Yourong said: "Both the emperor and the court should be impartial, and the Datong Monthly is the same. A few rotten Confucians jumped up and down and alarmed the emperor to come forward. What is the majesty of the court? Moreover, the emperor's immediate exit has become a defense against the people." Worse than Fangchuan. Not only those rotten scholars are not convinced, but even us merchants are not convinced. If there is no such thing, do you agree with women's imperial examination?"

"I don't agree with this matter." Liang Xingdao said.

Shen Yourong said: "But with this matter, we don't agree with it in our hearts, but we must agree with our mouths. Not only must our mouths support it now, but it will continue to support it in the future."

"I see!" Liang Xingdao was no fool.

Shen Yourong said: "Let's connect the entire Jinling Mansion's merchant gatherings together, and even those who sell cloth should be invited together. We don't have female weaving workers, where can they buy it? Several companies jointly run a newspaper office and run dozens of them." Home, the government will definitely issue the license quickly. Before getting the license, you can pay for a pen and write articles to refute the remarks of those corrupt scholars. The bigger the trouble we make, the happier the emperor will be."

Chapter 804 [Already read: Bullshit is unreasonable]

"Mr. Gu, "Jinling Gongbao" is willing to give 50 silver dollars. Please correct the names of women in the world! If you want to sign your real name, the retouching fee can be increased to 100 silver dollars."

Before a newspaper got its license, the editor-in-chief had already come to ask for a manuscript.

Gu Yanwu was not interested in this: "I'm not in the mood to write, please ask someone else to be smart."

The editor-in-chief thought that the money was not enough, and said: "Mr. Gu can set the price himself, no matter how much money, I can go back to Bingming's owner."

"Don't write, don't write, see off the guests!" Gu Yanwu called the long follower to chase them away.

After driving away the editor-in-chief, Gu Yanwu went back to his study alone, staring at his original manuscript of "On Counties and Counties" in a daze.

Although he served Emperor Zhao very early, he has been compiling books in the Imperial Academy.

Just a few days ago, he submitted his masterpiece "On Counties and Counties" to the emperor for review.

Zhao Han's Zhu Criticism is: I have read it, but it doesn't make sense.Order the Ministry of Officials to find a vacancy for this guy and send him out to be a county magistrate.After serving as magistrate for three years, I will revise the "On Counties and Counties".

These few instructions hit Gu Yanwu hard, and his confident masterpiece was actually reprimanded by the emperor as "nonsense".

During the Tang Dynasty, Liu Zongyuan wrote an article "On Feudalism", refuting that some people at that time wanted to abolish counties and restore feudalism.

The general content of "Feudalism" is as follows:

In the primitive stage, human beings lived together with wild animals and had to rely on tools to survive.At this time, it is necessary to find someone who can distinguish right from wrong and lead people to resist natural disasters and wild animals.Surrounding this leader, ethnic groups are formed, and when the size of the ethnic groups becomes large, armies, leaders, laws, and government orders are produced.

During the long-term war, the people of various ethnic groups needed stronger leaders, so princes were born.The emergence of a large number of vassals triggered a larger-scale war, which required a stronger leader to settle it, so there appeared vassal leaders such as Fang Bo and Lian Shuai.By analogy, the Son of Heaven finally appeared.

Liu Zongyuan also proved that feudalism was the primary stage of political form through his discussion from ancient times to the Han and Tang Dynasties.Feudalism is not the original intention of the sage, but follows the state of society at that time.The emergence of the county system is the result of the collapse of the feudal system and is in line with the law of social development.

Gu Yanwu's "On Counties and Counties" is obviously based on Liu Zongyuan's "On Feudalism", and further discusses that the system of prefectures and counties has reached the verge of collapse.Needs to be reformed again!

Gu Yanwu said that the outbreak of the ills of the feudal system led to the emergence of the county system.Now, the ills of the prefecture and county system also broke out in the late Ming Dynasty, and it can be speculated that the prefecture and county system will also collapse.But to go back to feudalism?No, the feudal system is a backward thing, and if it is to be changed, it should be changed forward, not backward.

It also discusses that the disadvantage of the feudal system lies in the excessive dispersion of power.The disadvantage of the county system is that the power is too concentrated, and the emperor is highly centralized and separated from the masses.Therefore, we must take the county system as the foundation and add some feudal elements.The two phases are reconciled to achieve a balanced state of centralization and decentralization.

There is nothing wrong with the above content, but the next details unfolded, and Zhao Han successfully received the comment of "shit doesn't make sense".

Gu Yanwu said that the county magistrate should be changed to a county magistrate, from the seventh rank to the fifth rank.The county magistrate must be familiar with the local customs, and there is no need to stick to the rules of being an official in a different place.Let the county magistrate try to do it for three years, and then he will be corrected after being evaluated for competence.After another three years, if you pass the examination, you can be called a parent officer.Do it for another three years, and if you are qualified, the emperor should reward you.After another three years, if he is still competent, the county magistrate will be given a salary increase and appointed as the county magistrate for life.If you retire due to old illness, you can recommend the next county magistrate.The retired county magistrate worked as a consultant in the county and was paid until his death.Those who are recommended also have a three-year probationary period.Several counties were merged into one county, and the prefect was also elected every three years...

After reading this article, Zhao Han didn't want to read any more, and ordered Gu Yanwu to be thrown out to be the county magistrate, so that he could get a good feel for the specific situation.

His dignified Ph.D. from the Imperial Academy was released to be the county magistrate.Gu Yanwu was extremely depressed about this, not because his official position was too small, but because he was treated like an idiot by the emperor.

Because in "On Counties and Counties", Gu Yanwu himself said that most of the former Ming scholars were idiots, and the preferential policies must be cancelled. Even if they passed the imperial examination, they could not directly become county magistrates, and they had to start from miscellaneous officials or small officials.He looked down on the scholars of the former Ming Dynasty, and the emperor obviously didn't like him either...

Holding the original manuscript of his article, Gu Yanwu went out to visit friends, and soon found Huang Zongxi who was on vacation.

Huang Zongxi couldn't laugh or cry after reading "On Counties and Counties", and commented: "Brother Ning, you are building a car behind closed doors. Let a county magistrate who is familiar with the local customs and customs, and all relatives, clansmen and friends are under his rule. What's more, let the county magistrate hold this position for life, even if he retires, he will also serve as a county sacrificial wine (consultant). He can only be a county magistrate all his life, and he cannot be promoted. "

Gu Yanwu explained: "First, county magistrates must have both virtue and conduct; second, the imperial court must constantly evaluate their political achievements."

Huang Zongxi asked: "Even if the county magistrate is virtuous, all his clan friends are also virtuous? What if his clan friends use the guise of the county magistrate to corrupt the law in the county? Besides, how does the imperial court assess? How does Shi supervise? It’s unrealistic!”

The political structure Gu Yanwu envisioned is based on the county as the basic unit, and the power of the center is distributed, so that the ills of centralization can be improved.

Good idea, that's all.