I

The chief of the Procuratorate is the censor of the left and right, responsible for supervising officials. It is generally held by civil servants, and occasionally there are exceptions and special recruits. It mainly works with the cabinet and the Ministry of Punishment, and can also bypass the cabinet and be directly responsible to the emperor.

The chief of the National Security Council is also the censor of the left and right. Internally, he is responsible for postal stations and supervising tycoons, and externally, he is responsible for inquiring about the military situation, placing spies, and so on. It mainly communicates with the cabinet, the Ministry of War and the Inspectorate, and can also bypass the cabinet and be directly responsible to the emperor.

As the domestic situation stabilized, the spies Xu Ying recruited at the beginning, due to the quality of the spies, continued to have messy problems.

For example, extortion, fish and meat people!

They used to be called Black Clothes Guards, and some of them used their status to act recklessly, and the local officials didn't dare to interfere at all. Even the Inspector of Integrity did not dare to take action directly, so he could only make a small report to the emperor after returning to Beijing.

There were more and more such things, and Zhao Hancai decided to formalize the black guards.

Not only did the Black Clothes Guards change their name to the National Security Council, but they also put all the postal system across the country under the jurisdiction of the National Security Council. A large number of low-level spies were transformed into postmen at the post station. High-level spies, transformed into Yicheng, or simply transferred to the Inspectorate as a clean government official. Therefore, in the post stations all over the country, those postmen are basically part-time spies, and the postmen will sort out the information collected by the postmen every day.

In every important border area, the National Security Council will set up a branch to be responsible for foreign intelligence and foreign spies. The headquarters of the National Security Council is responsible for analyzing the intelligence sent by the whole country.

After losing its arrest power, the National Security Council was completely reduced to an intelligence organization and postal unit.

It was the inn boy in Huangjia Town who took over Xu Ying's control of the National Security Institute. The guy who could only write his own name and only recognize the names of dishes, now not only can read thousands of words, but also asked his husband to change his name - Huang Zundu.

Like that old man Huang, he is of the generation of "Zun".

"Have you ever found out who paid for "Scholarly Picking Up Interests"?" Zhao Han asked.

Huang Zundu said: "The Scholars has six major shareholders, three of which contributed the most. One is the Li family in Nanjing, the second is the Zhang family in Jiaxing, and the third is the Zhai family in Qingzhou."

Zhao Han felt very strange: "It is quite reasonable for the gentry in the capital and the south of the Yangtze River to run newspapers. Why are people from Shandong coming to Nanjing to invest and run newspapers?"

Huang Zundu explained: "The Zhai family's ancestral home is Anhui. In the early Ming Dynasty, a large number of immigrants first came to Zaoqiang, Hebei, and then were distributed to Qingzhou to settle down. During the Tianshun period, they moved to Xihe Village and multiplied into a large clan, known as 'Xihe Zhai'. During the Wanli period, Zhai Fengchong became a Jinshi, joined the Donglin Party, and was demoted and dismissed by the Eunuch Party. Chongzhen came back in the second year and became the right servant of the Ministry of War. He was promoted to the left servant of the Ministry of War. Taking pictures of schools, governor of Tianjin and other places. The front line was defeated, and Zhai Fengchong was dismissed and returned to his hometown."

Zhao Han sneered: "It turns out that I have supervised the Liao pay, no wonder I have money to go south to run newspapers."

Huang Zundu continued: "The person who went south to run the newspaper was called Zhai Wenben, who was the nephew of Zhai Fengchong. Zhai Wenben was elected during the reign of Chongzhen, but he did not go to Beijing for the test due to military disasters and plagues. After our dynasty recovered Shandong, Zhai Wenben volunteered to serve, but he only became an ordinary official. It is estimated that he felt that the official was hardworking and shameless, so he resigned and returned to his hometown to study. He was over six years old in the imperial examination three years ago, so he could not apply for the Shandong Provincial Examination. There was a riot in the provincial capital, and I was arrested and locked up in a cell for three days. After that, I went to Nanjing to hang out, participated in literary conferences, made friends, and co-authored "Scholars Picking Up Fun."

"This is resentment! Looking at the whole country, this generation is not ordinary." Zhao Han said with emotion.

Zhai Wenben was purely self-destructive. The Datong Army recovered Shandong quite early, and he was already an official at that time. If you can work hard and have a diploma from the Ming Dynasty Juren, you may have been promoted to the county magistrate by now.

But he disdained to be an official, and voluntarily resigned and went home. After finally looking forward to the imperial examination, who knows that the imperial court is stuck on the age limit, and now they can only run newspapers and take sour water.

Even if the age of the imperial examination is not stuck, even if Zhai Wenben succeeds in the entrance examination, his official position will not be higher than the honest promotion from the beginning.

Zhao Han asked again: "Who is that Cang Xuzi who wrote the article?"

Huang Zundu replied: "Zhang Tianzhi, from Xiushui, Jiaxing, has also passed the imperial examination period, and in the first imperial examination, his age was only over three years old. Since then, this person has been annoyed everywhere, writing articles complaining about the imperial court's imperial examination system .Because some articles were written too far, no newspapers were willing to publish them, so he partnered with Zhai Wenben and others to run his own newspaper.”

"Very good, you go down." Zhao Han approved of the intelligence work of the National Security Council.

In fact, this information can be obtained without leaving Nanjing, because Zhai Wenben and Zhang Tianzhi are too high-profile.

After Huang Zundu left, Zhao Han opened "Scholars Picking Up Interests" again.

This is not so much a newspaper as a magazine. The news is very small, and it is not market news, nor is it political news. It is all elegant and interesting stories among literati. In addition, there are all kinds of literary works, which are not for ordinary people to read at all.

However, the sales volume of "Schools of Scholars" is quite high, because the articles are quite out of the ordinary, often insinuating and criticizing policies, which suits the taste of traditional gentry.

This article against women's imperial examinations quoted classics throughout, and even quoted Zhao Han's "Gate Theory".

The theory of status was used by Zhao Han to advocate equality between men and women, but it became a theory against women's imperial examinations in Zhang Tianzhi's pen. He clings to the words "men and women have different positions and the same personality", and repeatedly says that he supports equality between men and women, but he must also pay attention to the actual differences between men and women. A woman should be in charge of the family, should be a husband and a child, and should not show her face, let alone take the imperial examination.

Judging from the article alone, there is no violation of regulations, nor is it disrespectful to the emperor, and there are many places throughout the article shouting "The Holy Son of Heaven is above".

Since he didn't violate the rules, Zhao Han didn't bother to take care of it. He didn't engage in crimes for his words.

The Chinese New Year has passed in a blink of an eye, the weather is still very cold, and there was a heavy snowfall on New Year's Eve.

It is estimated that it was discovered that "Ru Lin Pick Up Fun" was not punished, and other newspapers and magazines began to follow suit and publish similar articles. Some of these follow-up newspapers are venting their dissatisfaction, and some are purely for sales.

After all, opposition to women's imperial examinations is the current mainstream of public opinion, and newspapers must cater to readers!

One article after another was published, and back and forth on those few sets of rhetoric, "Book of Changes", "Book of Rites", "Nvjie", and "Geweilun" were repeatedly quoted. Moreover, every article must cite the "Gate Theory", making Zhao Han a vanguard against women's imperial examinations.

At the beginning, only newspapers and magazines were taking the lead, but gradually, folk discussions also increased. Teahouses, wine shops, theaters, brothels, wash houses... This matter is being discussed everywhere, and the public opinion is one-sided. Few people dare to speak openly for women anymore.

eastern suburbs.

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 court, 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 a graduate student, the situation will turn around immediately. It's hard to get married!

The reason is that, firstly, after graduating from university, the age must be too old, 18 or 19 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."

"yes!"

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 early without even receiving the admission ticket, 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 I do?

Zhao Han called Huang Zundu: "It has been passed down 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!