Emperor Zhengde

Chapter 235 Smash it! Burn it!
"I don't understand how the court's legislation to protect the rights of young children is torture and tyranny. In my opinion, this is good governance and benevolent governance. Could it be that Mr. Yan allows young children to be insulted and misled by vulgar and filthy content? If this is true, Mr. Yan's granddaughters and schoolchildren at home will all be insulted and defiled!"

Tang Bohu and other court writers also began to refute the remarks of Yan Hong and others.

Yan Hong and others, as representatives of the gentry group, were unable to successfully refute Tang Bohu and others because of the contradiction between their demands for benevolence, righteousness and justice and their inherent desire to maintain their own privileges. As a result, they could only stamp their feet in anger and curse Tang Bohu and others as traitors to the Confucian scholars.

But in fact, Tang Bohu and others became more and more famous, and were increasingly sought after by the lower-class people. Even many upright civil servants began to respect Tang Bohu and others.

As a result, Yan Hong and others became increasingly unpopular.

As a result, "Rulin Zhengdao" was increasingly despised by scholars and common people. Even some great Confucian scholars believed that this magazine did not advocate the words of Confucian saints, but was just doing shameful things by maintaining Confucian orthodoxy.

Not only did Yan Hong and others begin to be abandoned by mainstream public opinion, they also began to suffer attacks from the imperial court.

In order to prove to the emperor that they, the civil servants, could maintain a clear and lawless world without the intervention of the East Factory.

Therefore, after the Ministry of Rites issued an edict prohibiting the publication of vulgar publications and cracking down on vulgar publications, civil servants in government offices across the country all implemented it in earnest.

Local civil servants frantically confiscated all kinds of vulgar publications.

Yan Hong had just finished venting his anger on a young servant beside him, and then he walked out in a well-dressed manner, saying with great pride in his heart: "The court has banned children from playing, and wants to ban my elegant Confucian activities, but I insist on doing these elegant activities. I wonder what the court can do to me. Can they come to my house to arrest me?!"

"Master, it's bad! The government is coming!"

Just when Yan Hong was feeling proud, a steward from the Yan residence came running over.

Although the imperial court had issued decrees several times prohibiting slavery, there were countermeasures to every policy. Rich families would still own slaves in the name of adopting brothers and sisters, so "slave stewards" still existed.

After all, the people were still ignorant and productivity had not advanced to the stage where civilization could progress. Although the imperial court prohibited slavery, ordinary people were still willing to be slaves in wealthy families in order to live a better life. After all, this way they could wear silk and satin without working hard, and they could bully the common people of the same class by relying on their power.

Merchants can sell out their country for profit, and ordinary people will sell out their dignity for their own interests.

For example, the young servant in Yan Hong's mansion at that time did not feel that his dignity was violated. The twenty taels of silver reward given to him by his master Yan Hong made him feel that this was a good deal. He even felt happy about it. He was grateful to Yan Hong and thought that Yan Hong was a benevolent master.

Laziness is human nature, and the pursuit of benefits is also human nature. Therefore, what people like most is to get something for nothing. If they can get benefits that require years of labor or even never get even after years of labor by being a slave, some people will be willing to be slaves and become people with slave mentality, 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 insisted on benevolence and righteousness and respected human rights, if productivity has not advanced to the point where everything can be easily obtained without selling dignity, there will still be lazy people willing to be slaves, and no one can liberate them.

The current Ming Dynasty court 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 laborers are needed to participate in the emerging industries. These common people have no choice but to be liberated.

As soon as the Yan family's steward finished speaking, the officers and soldiers of the Shuntian Governor rushed in. One of the centurions of the Fubiao Camp directly ordered: "Capture Yan Hong! Take him away!"

"What are you doing! I am the former Left Vice-Chief Censor. How dare you break into a private house without permission? You are violating the law!"

Yan Hong shouted sternly.

"You have been demoted to a commoner, yet you still think you are an official. However, I would like to let you know that we are not trespassing. We are following the order of the governor to arrest you, the lawless person who spreads vulgar content!"

The centurion said as he waved his hand: "Take it away!"

But at this moment, the young servant asked in a mysterious way: "Master, what happened?"

"Master? How dare you target a servant? Bring this boy here!"

As a military officer who was already dissatisfied with the civil officials, this centurion was also a fan of Tang Bohu. He was deeply influenced by the ideas of the Huangming Newspaper and was extremely disgusted with literati like Yan Hong who only knew how to protect the interests of the literati. Therefore, he was very serious about finding a crime for Yan Hong. When he had someone bring the boy over, he carefully observed him and saw that the boy walked in an abnormal way and had whip marks on his body, so he immediately said:

"Not only does he keep slaves, he also abuses children! I will report the truth to the governor when the time comes!"

After the centurion said this, Yan Hong also realized that if the matter of him keeping slaves was reported, the consequences would be serious, so he hurriedly shouted: "Wait! He, he is my nephew, not a slave!"

"Then we must arrest them, even our own sons and nephews will not be spared!" the centurion replied.

Soon, the officers and soldiers of the Shuntian Governor took Yan Hong to the publishing place of the "Yulou Xiangmeng" newspaper, which was not far from his residence.

At this time, the centurion directly ordered: "Smash it! Burn it!"

So, a team of soldiers rushed in and smashed the printing equipment in the "Yulou Xiangmeng" newspaper. All the newspapers and papers were thrown outside and burned, and even the pens and ink were thrown into the fire. "You, you should not go too far! You, you are oppressing the good and harming the people. I will sue you!"

Yan Hong shouted angrily. He was really angry and heartbroken because the newspaper "Yulou Chunmeng" brought him several thousand taels of silver every month. This was the capital for his romantic and unrestrained life, and it was also the source of funds for him to run "Rulin Zhengdao".

But Yan Hong naturally could not go against the imperial court.

Soon, Yan Hong himself was sentenced to death for crimes such as keeping domestic slaves, molesting young children, and publishing obscene publications. The sentence was eventually reviewed and approved by the Ministry of Justice and the Dali Temple, and Emperor Zhu Houzhao gave the final approval, and he was executed.

The Minister of Punishment, Gu Lin, was also arrested for participating in writing vulgar content and was fined 5,000 taels of silver. His generous treatment as a retired Minister of Punishment was revoked and he was demoted to a commoner.

Within a few months, starting from Shuntian Prefecture, it gradually extended to the two capitals and fourteen provinces (including Hetao). Many publications that spread vulgar content were closed down due to the order of the Ministry of Rites. At the same time, dozens of Confucian newspapers and periodicals also ceased operations, and dozens of literati were arrested.

In the entire literary world and the media circles of the Ming Dynasty, there were suddenly fewer and fewer speeches defending Confucian orthodoxy.

Zhu Houzhao naturally achieved his goal of combating public opinion that was unfavorable to his reform of the Ming Dynasty through the measures taken to protect the rights and interests of children and teenagers in the Ming Dynasty.

But the powerful and gentry were depressed about this.

Yan Hong’s death has made many people afraid to play with children anymore. After all, everyone knows that doing so is a crime.

What was even more difficult for the literati to accept was that the imperial court also banned women from foot binding. Even the official media accused them of causing women to suffer a lifetime of pain just to satisfy their own selfish desires of playing with their three-inch golden lotus feet, making it difficult for the literati to refute.

"Return the girl named Green Tea who was just taken into the house to her parents, give her family three thousand taels of silver, and let her leave the Wang family! Tell her parents to find a good family for her when she grows up!"

At this time, Wang Qiong, the Grand Secretary of the Cabinet, was very depressed and told his son Wang Chaoli that he dared not disobey the court's order and harm a thirteen-year-old girl again.

"Master, please don't let me go. I really have three-inch golden lotus! I want to serve you for the rest of my life!"

But the result was unexpected. Green Tea was unwilling to leave. She knelt in front of Wang Qiong and begged Wang Qiong not to drive her away. After all, she had finally entered the Grand Secretary's Mansion, which was considered to be entering a wealthy family. Now that Wang Qiong suddenly changed his mind and asked her to leave, she naturally didn't want to do so.

"Three-inch golden lotus! How dare you mention three-inch golden lotus! Take off her foot bindings for me and burn them in the furnace! Three-inch golden lotus is an evil custom that goes against family ethics. It is the emperor's decree to abandon evil customs and practice goodness. The whole country is changing. As a cabinet minister, I must change first! Take it off! Find a few maids to take it off for her! All the women in the mansion are not allowed to bind their feet anymore!"

Wang Qiong ordered in a depressed mood.

So, several maids in the palace forcibly took off Green Tea's foot bindings, forcing Green Tea to stand barefoot on the ground, looking at Wang Qiong aggrievedly: "Master, you, didn't you say you like three-inch golden lotus?!"

"Asshole! When did I ever say that?" Wang Qiong shouted angrily, but suddenly remembered that the emperor was willing to protect the young, so he changed his tone, suppressed his anger, and said kindly:

"I never said that, and you shouldn't call me master. There are no slaves in the Ming Dynasty. You are a sensible child. Take the silver and go home. Fortunately, I didn't have time to break your virginity. Then find a good family to marry, good child!"

"Master, sir, this is a good family!"

The green tea girl said this aggrievedly, thinking that she had finally entered the Prime Minister's residence, why did the Prime Minister 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 was the one who wanted to marry into a wealthy family and become a superior person, regardless of whether he was an old man or not. She was just the right girl for him to take into his room and play with. However, the current emperor advocated that the powerful and nobles in the world should keep themselves clean and not abuse children. Therefore, in order not to lose the emperor's favor, he could only turn around, close his eyes, and order his son Wang Chaoli: "Let her go, let her go!"

The girl named Green Tea left the palace sadly, but she did not use the money given by Wang Qiong to find a good family. Instead, she went to Yangzhou to learn music, chess, calligraphy and painting, and became a Yangzhou skinny horse.

Of course, people have different pursuits, and we cannot force this girl named Green Tea to become a civilian wife and a civilian mother.

A month later, Wang Qiong married an older woman from the countryside as his second wife. The reason she was an older woman was because she had big feet and was not bound. It was also because of her big feet that she was hired as Wang Qiong's second wife.

Wang Qiong did this to please Zhu Houzhao, showing that he, a widower of the cabinet, was taking the lead in marrying women who did not bind their feet.

Zhu Houzhao was very happy when he knew about it, and he immediately issued an edict to confer the title of first-rank imperial concubine on Wang Qiong's second wife. Thus, this older country woman became a first-rank imperial concubine lady in an instant.

When officials all over the country learned about this, they began to take women who did not bind their feet as concubines.

Lu Zhaoji, the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel who resigned from his post and was a famous scholar, could not help but lament: "The King of Chu likes thin waists, and many people in the city are starving to death. These officials in the court claim to like natural feet, but in fact they are all flatterers! Foot binding and chastity are the virtues of women, how can they be easily changed! The current empress does not cultivate mulberry trees and does not observe etiquette, so the emperor has no intention of promoting women's virtues. It can be said that the Queen is not virtuous and the Emperor's Palace is not wise!"

The author has been writing a lot, I don't know what happened, but recently he has been writing about the liberation of human rights and the liberation of women. Perhaps it is really time to change the backward social customs of the Ming Dynasty under the rule of Confucianism. After all, the Ming Dynasty in the novel has begun to enter the capitalist era, and thoughts must progress, civilization must progress, and some of the perverted pleasures of the literati must be banned and cancelled.

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(End of this chapter)