Chapter 235 Smash it! Burn it for me!
"I don't understand how the imperial court's legislation to protect the rights and interests of young children is torture and tyranny. In my opinion, this is good governance and benevolent government. Does Mr. Yan allow young children to be humiliated and misled by vulgar and filthy content? No, if that were the case, Mr. Yan would have a granddaughter and a schoolchild at home, and they would all be humiliated and defiled!”
Tang Bohu and other imperial literati also began to refute the remarks of Yan Hong and others.
However, Yan Hong and others who spoke for the gentry group were unable to refute Tang Bohu and others because of the contradiction between their claims of benevolence, justice and justice and their essential desire to protect their own privileges. Therefore, they could only stamp their feet in anger and curse Tang Bohu and others. He is a scholar traitor.
But in fact, Tang Bohu and others became more and more famous, and became more and more sought after by the lower class people. Even many decent civil servants began to respect Tang Bohu and others.
Yan Hong and others have become increasingly unpopular as a result.
As a result, "Rulin Zhengdao" was increasingly despised by scholars and people, and even some great Confucian scholars believed that this publication did not advocate the words of Confucian saints, but only acted in an attempt to maintain Confucian orthodoxy.
Not only did Yan Hong and others begin to be abandoned by the mainstream public opinion in this society, they also began to suffer attacks from the imperial government.
In order to prove to the emperor, civil servants like himself can maintain a bright and prosperous world without Dongchang coming forward.
Therefore, after the Ministry of Rites promulgated the Jun Order prohibiting the publication of vulgar publications and cracking down on vulgar publications, civil servants in various local governments implemented it effectively.
Local civil servants frantically copied all kinds of vulgar publications.
As soon as Yan Hong finished venting his anger on a young boy next to him, he walked out in well-dressed clothes and said proudly in his heart: "The imperial court forbids playing with children and wants to ban me from doing scholarly and elegant things, but I insist on doing elegant things here. I See what the court can do to me, maybe he can come to my house to arrest me?”
"Master, it's bad! The government is here!"
When Yan Hong was feeling proud, a housekeeper from the Yan Mansion came running over.
Although the imperial court has banned slave-keeping several times, there are policies and countermeasures, and wealthy families will still keep slaves in the name of adopting brothers and sisters. Therefore, there are still "slave stewards".
After all, the people's wisdom has not yet developed, and productivity has not advanced to the stage where civilization has progressed. Although the imperial court prohibits slavery, as ordinary people, in order to live a better life, they are still willing to work as slaves in wealthy families. After all, this way they can achieve success without any effort. You can wear silk and satin, and you can bully the common people of your own class with fake power.
Businessmen can sell their country for profit, and people can sell their dignity for their own benefit.
For example, the young servant who was in Yan Hong's house at this time did not feel that his dignity had been violated. The twenty taels of silver reward given to him by his master Yan Hong made him feel that it was a good deal and even felt happy about it. , and was grateful to Yan Hong, thinking that Yan Hong was a kind and generous master.
Laziness is human nature, and the pursuit of interests is also human nature. Therefore, what people like most is to get something for nothing. If you can get benefits that require years of labor or even years of labor by being a slave, some people will be willing to be slaves. A slave should be a servile person, even if the ruler does not require him to be a slave, or even prohibits him from being a slave.
Civilization really needs the advancement of productivity to make progress. Even if the ancients adhered to benevolence and justice and respected human rights, if productivity has not advanced to the point where one can easily obtain everything without selling their dignity, there will still be lazy people willing to go As a slave, no one can liberate him.
The current Ming Dynasty is obviously not a court that is willing to let the common people at the bottom become slaves of the landlords. The productivity of the empire has developed to the point where a large number of labor forces are needed to participate in the emerging industries. It is impossible for these common people not to be liberated.
As soon as the words of the housekeeper of the Yan Mansion were spoken, the officers and soldiers of the Shuntian Governor rushed in. One of the 100-household officials of the Fubiao Camp directly ordered: "Take down Yan Hong! Take him away!"
"What are you doing! My officer, I am the former left deputy capital censor, how dare you break into a private house! You are violating the king's law!"
Yan Hong shouted sternly.
"You have been demoted to the rank of a commoner, and you still think you are an official. However, I want you to know that we are not breaking into private houses. We are following the order of Mr. Futai to arrest you, a lawless person who spreads vulgar content. Disciple!”
The official said, he waved his hand: "Take it away!"
But at this time, the young boy shouted out of nowhere: "Master, what, what happened?"
"Master? You actually dare to target a domestic slave! Bring this boy here!"
As a military attache who was already dissatisfied with civil servants, this Baihu official was also a fan of Tang Bohu. He was deeply influenced by the ideas propagated by the Huangming Newspaper. He was extremely disgusted with Yan Hong, a scholar who only cared about protecting the interests of nurses and doctors, so he also took it very seriously. Yan Hong found the crime, and as soon as he asked the boy to be brought here, he looked carefully and saw that the young boy was walking wrongly and had whip marks on his body, so he immediately said:
"Not only do you keep domestic slaves, but you also abuse young children! I will report the truth to the governor when the time comes!"
When the official said this, Yan Hong also realized that if the matter of raising domestic slaves was brought to light, the consequences would definitely be serious, so he hurriedly shouted: "Wait! He, he is my nephew, not a domestic slave!" ”
"Then we have to arrest him even more, even his own nephew!" replied the official of the hundred households.
Immediately, the officers and soldiers of the Shuntian Governor took Yan Hong to the publishing place of the "Jade House Fragrant Dream" newspaper not far from his residence.
At this time, the hundreds of officials directly ordered: "Smash it for me! Burn it for me!"
So, a group of officers and soldiers rushed in and smashed the printing equipment in the "Fragrance of the Jade House" newspaper. All the newspapers and papers were thrown outside and burned, including the pen and ink. . "You guys, don't go too far! You guys, you are oppressing good people and harming the people. I will sue you!"
Yan Hong shouted angrily. He was indeed very angry and heartbroken now, because the newspaper "A Spring Dream in the Jade House" brought him thousands of taels of silver every month. The source of funds for operating "The Scholars".
But Yan Hong naturally could not go against the imperial court.
Soon, Yan Hong himself was sentenced to death for keeping domestic slaves, abusing young children, publishing obscene publications and other crimes. It was finally reviewed and approved by the Ministry of Punishment and Dali Temple. Emperor Zhu Houzhao finally approved and was sentenced to Ming Zhengdian.
Gu Lin, the Minister of Punishment, was also arrested for participating in writing vulgar content and was fined 5,000 taels of silver. He was also revoked from the preferential treatment that led him to serve as Shangshu of the Punishment Department and was demoted to a commoner.
Within a few months, starting from Shuntian Prefecture and gradually extending to two capitals and 14 provinces (an additional Loop), many publications that spread vulgar content were shut down due to the orders of the Ministry of Rites. At the same time, Confucianism and Confucianism also ceased operations. Dozens of Lin newspapers and periodicals were shut down, and dozens of literati were arrested.
The entire literary world and the Ming Dynasty's media circle suddenly became less and less vocal in defending Confucian orthodoxy.
Zhu Houzhao naturally also achieved his goal of cracking down on public opinion that was not conducive to his reform of the Ming Dynasty through this attack method to safeguard the rights and interests of children in the Ming Dynasty.
But the dignitaries and gentry were depressed about this.
Yan Hong's death has made many people afraid to play child molestation anymore. After all, everyone now knows that doing so is a crime.
What was even more difficult for the scholar-officials to accept was that the imperial court prohibited women from binding their feet. The official media even accused them of causing women to suffer a lifetime of pain in order to satisfy their selfish desires of playing with the three-inch golden lotus, which made it difficult for the scholar-officials to argue.
"Return the girl named Green Tea who just took you into the house to her parents, give her three thousand taels of silver, and let her leave the Wang family! Tell her parents to find a good home for her when she grows up!"
At this time, Wang Qiong, a bachelor of the cabinet, told his son Chao Li very depressedly that he did not dare to disobey the imperial court and kill a thirteen-year-old girl again.
"Master, please, don't let me leave. I really have a three-inch golden lotus! I want to serve you, Master, for the rest of my life!"
But the unexpected result was that Green Tea was unwilling to leave. She even knelt in front of Wang Qiong and cried, begging Wang Qiong not to drive her away. After all, she had finally entered the bachelor's palace, and she had entered a wealthy family. Now Wang Qiong suddenly changed her mind and let her go. Of course she didn't want to leave.
"Three-inch golden lotus! You have the nerve to mention the three-inch golden lotus! I took away the foot-binding cloth from her and put it in the stove to burn! The three-inch golden lotus is an evil custom that goes against family relationships. It is the emperor's decree to abandon evil customs and practice good things. The whole world is changing. As a cabinet minister, I have to change it first! Find some nuns to remove it! All the female relatives in the house are not allowed to have their feet tied!"
Wang Qiong ordered in a depressed mood.
So, several nuns from the palace forcibly removed Green Tea's foot-binding cloth, causing Green Tea to stand barefoot on the ground and looked at Wang Qiong aggrievedly: "Master, you, didn't you say you like it?" Three-inch golden lotus? ”
"Bastard! When did I say this?" Wang Qiong shouted angrily. Suddenly thinking that the emperor wanted to protect young people, he changed his tone, suppressed his anger, and said nicely:
"I never said this, don't call me master. I didn't have slaves in the Ming Dynasty. You are a sensible boy. Just take the money and go home. Fortunately, I didn't have time to break your body. It’s time to find a good family to marry! Good boy!”
"Sir, sir, you are a good family here!"
Green Tea said aggrievedly, thinking that he had finally entered this mansion, but why did he change his mind in the blink of an eye?
Wang Qiong himself was also very depressed. He knew that the girl in front of him wanted to marry into a wealthy family and become a master, regardless of whether she was an old man or not. She was suitable for him to take into his house and play with. However, today's society advocates that the world's rich and powerful should keep themselves clean. Abusing children, therefore, in order not to lose the emperor's favor for him, he could only turn his head and close his eyes now, and ordered his son Wang Chaoli: "Let her go, let her go!"
The girl named Green Tea left the palace sadly, but instead of taking the money given by Wang Qiong to find a good family, she went to Yangzhou to learn chess, calligraphy and painting, and became a Yangzhou thin horse.
Of course, people have different pursuits, and this girl named Green Tea cannot be forced to become a civilian wife or a civilian mother.
One month later, Wang Qiong married an older woman from the countryside as his second wife. The reason why she was an older woman was because her feet were big and her feet were not bound. It was also because of her big feet that Wang Qiong hired her as his second wife.
Wang Qiong also did this to please Zhu Houzhao, saying that he, a widowed cabinet bachelor, would take the lead in marrying women who did not bind their feet.
Zhu Houzhao was also very happy when he found out, and immediately issued an order to confer Mrs. Wang Qiongxuxian as a first-grade imperial concubine. As a result, this rural elderly woman suddenly became a first-grade imperial concubine.
After officials all over the world learned about it, they all took women who could not bind their feet as concubines.
Therefore, Lu Zhaoji, the left minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, who was a famous official in Principles of Science and resigned, lamented: "The King of Chu is so thin that many people in the city starve to death. These officials in the court are called good people, but in fact they are just people who want to please." Ear! Bind your feet to keep the rules. It is a woman's virtue, how can it be changed lightly! Today's queen does not control the thorns and does not observe etiquette, so that the emperor has no intention of promoting women's virtue. It can be said that Jiao Fang (referring to the queen) is unworthy and the imperial palace (referring to the emperor) is unclear! "
The author is so lost in writing. I don’t know why, but I have recently written about liberating human rights and liberating women. Maybe it’s time to change the backward social customs of the Ming Dynasty under Confucian rule. After all, the Ming Dynasty in the novel has begun to enter the world. In the era of capitalism, ideas must advance, civilization must also advance, and some of the perverted fun of scholar-officials must be banned and eliminated.
(End of chapter)