I

"The new Jinshi was knocked unconscious by the fruit?" Zhao Han couldn't help laughing.

Song Yingxing said: "It's not that he was knocked unconscious by the fruit, but that he fell off his horse due to fright and fell to the ground."

Zhao Han asked: "Is it okay?"

Song Yingxing said: "Nothing has happened."

After the imperial examination was reinstated, the minds of scholars were settled, even though many of them were not qualified to take the examination. But you can educate your children. The gentry, noble families, and wealthy businessmen all spend crazy money to train their offspring.

People across the country have also adapted to the new education system and official selection methods.

In their opinion, primary school is the former social studies, and primary school graduates correspond to children. Middle school is the former county school, and middle school graduates correspond to scholars. Universities are Fu Xue and Imperial College, and university graduates correspond to candidates.

The selection of officials is the same as before, except that they start from the eighth or ninth grade.

When selecting officials, they must be from Tongsheng or Juren, and they must take a public examination before they can take up their posts. Civil servants and civil servants, regardless of their superiority or inferiority, can all be promoted upwards and even become officials.

It may seem like a small change, but it is actually very important.

When a Jinshi is sent out to serve as an official, his rank will be reduced, which will make the official more capable of governing. The diploma and examination requirements for officials broke the control of the small official family over the local area, making it easier for the chief officials to administer policies, and also strengthened the court's control over the local area.

The price is increased administrative costs!

Many officials in the Ming Dynasty were not paid by the government. They make a living by taking bribes, bending the law, and exploiting the people. Now they all need to be paid by the government, which is equivalent to adding to the salary expenses of countless civil servants.

In addition, each county has many primary schools, and grassroots education expenditures are also very large. Some poor counties have complained to their superiors about their poverty.

Li Banghua said: "An additional 10% of taxes at the county level should be reserved for local governments. Especially in poor and mountainous counties where business is not prosperous, rural primary schools and county and town officials have already experienced salary arrears. In some places, salaries have been owed. It has been in arrears for several years, and only three to five months' salary is paid every year. This situation was reported by the integrity inspector, and local governments at all levels did not report it to the superiors."

Zhao Han also read the report of the anti-corruption inspector and agreed: "Then leave an extra 10% of taxes for the local government."

Zhao Han took out another secret report, which was sent by Liaodong Xizuo. It was sent directly to the emperor, bypassing the court: "Dorgon and Daishan are dead."

Pang Chunlai opened his eyes suddenly: "Internal strife?"

Zhao Han smiled and said: "Last winter, Daishan and Dorgon died of illness one after another. At the time when the fight between the puppet Queen Mother of the Qing Dynasty and Daishan was at its most intense, these two people suddenly died of illness, which made Man Dahai panic and lead his troops to flee Hun. The river basin became independent. Of course, Mandahai did not openly rebel. It only listened to the puppet Qing court and did not listen to propaganda."

The territory actually controlled by the Qing Dynasty was already very small, and now it was divided into two. It was like a grasshopper in the autumn.

Pang Chunlai said: "Your Majesty, we can use troops in the Northeast."

Zhao Han said: "Let all the ministries in Liaoning prepare to go out as soon as the rainy season is over."

It is still March, and it will take time to send orders to Liaoning, and it will also take time to transport military rations to Liaoning. Half a year is just right to prepare for the expedition.

Pang Chunlai added: "When the Tatars are destroyed, please allow your Majesty to allow me to serve as an official."

Zhao Han thought for a while, nodded and said, "When the time comes, I will send someone to escort the teacher back to his hometown."

Pang Chunlai has been in poor health for the past two years and really wants to return to Liaodong to enjoy his old age. Although Liaodong is bitterly cold and not a place for retirement, after being away from my hometown for many years, my dreams are all about fallen leaves returning to their roots.

Li Banghua then said: "Your Majesty, I am old and frail. After wiping out the Tatars, I also request to be appointed as an official and return home."

"Mr. Li will continue to grow stronger, please continue to work hard." Zhao Han expressed his symbolic solicitation to stay.

"Thank you for your consideration, Your Majesty." Li Banghua planned to offer three invitations and three resignations.

First of all, he is indeed older, he is 76 years old this year. Secondly, he knew the emperor's thoughts. Pang Chunlai stayed to check and balance the Jiangxi officials. When Pang Chunlai leaves, it would be best for him, Li Banghua, to follow him.

…

A few days after the Qionglin Banquet, the Shujishi examination began. From the 197 Jinshi in the second and third grades, 15 people were selected. They first went to the cabinet to observe the affairs and get familiar with the situation, and then became the lower-level Zhongshu Sheren, that is, the ordinary clerical staff of the cabinet.

From now on, all the people in Zhongshushe will be the number one scholar, the second best scholar, the third best scholar, and the most successful scholar. Let them familiarize themselves with national affairs from a high position, and then be sent to other places to serve as deputy county officials, and then be promoted back to the central court step by step.

This is very different from the Ming Dynasty. These top scholars in the Ming Dynasty were directly thrown into the Hanlin Academy. The top three are those who compile books, read history, assist the cabinet or make government affairs, give lectures to the emperor and princes, etc. Then they wait for seniority promotion, and use Zhan Shifu as a springboard to be promoted to minister, minister, or minister. Cabinet minister. Among the Shujishi of the Ming Dynasty, the most powerful ones were academic officials, the second most powerful were those who passed the qualifications in the Hanlin Academy and entered the Sixth Ministry, and the third most powerful were sent to other places to serve as magistrates.

Both Zhang Cong and Zhang Juzheng were disgusted with this phenomenon. Among them, Zhang Cong was particularly stubborn. He once threw most of the common people into local officials and offended a lot of people. As a result, Zhang Cong was criticized in various ways and even became a villain in "Those Things in the Ming Dynasty".

The Shujishi assessment is over, and the path of the new scholars has basically been finalized.

In order to express themselves, the first thing they did was to explain their affairs to the emperor and put forward their own ideas on national policies.

"This Cui Wenxiu is interesting," Zhao Han said with a smile. "A North Korean official insisted that North Korea has been the territory of China since ancient times. Please first take back the three roads south of the Yalu River and say that they were the homeland of the Yuan Dynasty... Haha , but he is very loyal.”

Li Xiangjun said: "Fanbang scholars should be more radical."

Zhao Han picked up another memorial and after reading only a few paragraphs, he frowned and asked, "Are many women's feet bound among the people?"

Li Xiangjun replied: "When I was young, it was rare. I only heard that there were noble girls in my hometown who had their feet bound. Later, it gradually became more common, especially when they were sold into brothels. Many girls in brothels had their feet bound. When I was sold by my clan, it was already passed. Even though she is old enough for foot binding, her mother (the madam) still forces her to have her feet bound."

Zhao Han looked down and said, "I can't tell."

Li Xiangjun said: "I didn't pester him too hard."

"Take off your shoes and take a look." Zhao Han was quite curious.

Li Xiangjun blushed and said, "Are you here?"

"Yes." Zhao Han nodded.

The female officials and maids nearby all snickered, and Ding Shijing, who was in charge of daily care, quickly read a book.

Zhao Han asked the palace maid to bring a stool, and Li Xiangjun sat down and took off her shoes and socks.

Zhao Han stretched out his hand to pinch her ankle, raised her little foot and looked carefully. The big toe is completely normal, while the other four toes appear slightly smaller and somewhat buckled in. Overall, it is not a deformity, and even has a slightly strange beauty.

Zhao Han asked: "Is today's foot binding the kind that hurts the muscles and bones?"

Li Xiangjun's face turned red with embarrassment, and her chest became tense. She replied: "I have indeed heard that some people have bound the feet of young girls to the three-inch golden lotus. In severe cases, the bones will be sprained, or even dislocated and then allowed to grow abnormally. .”

"Is this common?" Zhao Han asked.

Li Xiangjun shook his head: "It doesn't seem like much."

Zhao Han picked up the memorial and sighed: "Now there are more and more."

This memorial, written by Zhejiang Jinshi Mao Fan, denounced the increasingly popular and deformed phenomenon of foot-binding, and requested the emperor to order a nationwide ban on women's foot-binding.

The formation and spread of foot-binding has nothing to do with Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism or Manchu rule.

Zhu Xi never talked about foot-binding, but his disciple Che Ruoshui denounced the phenomenon of foot-binding among women, and said it was pure nonsense to say that foot-binding originated in the Han and Tang Dynasties.

After the Manchus entered the customs, foot binding was banned many times. As a result, it became more and more common as the practice became more and more widespread, and in the end it had to be left alone. By the late Qing Dynasty, even Manchu women began to learn to bind their feet.

The phenomenon of footbinding can be viewed through the perspective of Western missionaries.

Matteo Ricci in the late Ming Dynasty was not surprised by foot binding. Perhaps it was foot binding in the late Ming Dynasty, which was not so deformed and still within the acceptable range.

During the Qianlong period, when the British envoy Macartney visited China, the British man seemed shocked. After investigation and inquiry, he learned that footbinding was a fashion among upper-class women. For the convenience of working, lower-class women had very few footbindings, and it was similar in the northern and southern provinces. However, the closer we get to Beijing, the more common women engage in foot binding, which has become a pursuit of status and fashion.

From Macartney's records, two points can be inferred: First, footbinding had not completely spread to the middle and lower classes during the Qianlong period; second, at least since the Qianlong period, footbinding had spread to middle- and lower-class women, and It is a symbol of the family's entry into the upper class.

Only a few decades after Macartney's visit to China, the phenomenon of footbinding in the late Qing Dynasty had become widespread, and even the daughters of rural landlords had small feet.

In other words, it only took a few decades for foot binding to become popular from top to bottom. Don’t talk about foot binding being against the Qing Dynasty. There may have been this factor in the beginning, but the great development of foot binding was in the middle and late Qing Dynasty. This has absolutely nothing to do with being against the Qing Dynasty.

Zhao Han carefully read the memorial and found that the specific situation was not clearly stated, so he asked Mao Fan to come for an audience.

"Your Majesty, Mao Fan, pay homage to your Majesty!" Mao Fan bowed his hands and was very excited. He never expected that he would be summoned for requesting a ban on foot binding.

Zhao Han asked: "Are you from Zhejiang?"

Mao Fan replied: "Reporting to Your Majesty, I am from Jiashan County, Jiaxing Prefecture. I graduated from Hangzhou University. My current ranking is sixteenth among the top three."

Zhao Han suddenly smiled. He liked the scholars cultivated by the new education: "Are there many women with bound feet in Jiashan?"

Mao Fan replied carefully: "Jiashan County is located between Jiaxing Prefecture and Songjiang Prefecture, and the county seat is located on the edge of the canal. After Shanghai opened the sea and built a port, countless goods from northern Zhejiang had to be transported to Shanghai through Jiashan, so the business increased. Prosperity. There are also many people who have become rich due to business. Those families who are suddenly rich will imitate the gentry and bind their daughters' feet, and follow this as a high-class family education."

Well, there will be trouble if you have too much money.

Mao Fan continued: "I don't know where it came from, but the foot binding became tighter and tighter. These wealthy merchants were very proud of their face and believed that the smaller they bound their daughters, the more authentic they would be, so they all learned new foot binding methods. Even, Mother-in-law binding also occurs in the county. Rich families pay a lot of money to bind their daughters' feet. I once saw with my own eyes that the young sister of a classmate was so tied that her foot bones were completely dislocated, and her feet were red, swollen and pus-filled. Her father used it to show off. His family education is strict and his family background is elegant."

"How abominable!" Zhao Han said angrily.

Mao Fan said: "It is an elegant thing to bind feet. Everyone loves the little golden lotus feet. But it hurts the bones and muscles. It not only ruins the scenery, it is simply disgusting!"

The mainstream foot-binding methods in the Ming Dynasty were divided into two schools: northern and southern.

In northern foot binding, you don't even need to bend your toes, you just need to bind them more slenderly. Foot binding in the South requires the four toes to be buckled inward, which may appear slightly deformed, but will still not damage the body.

The wrapping method that hurt muscles and bones began in the late Ming Dynasty and spread widely in the mid-Qing Dynasty.

Zhao Han asked: "What reasons do you think should be used to ban women's foot binding?"

Mao Fan said: "It will hurt Tianhe."

Zhao Han shook his head: "Haven't you read the "Book of Filial Piety"? The hair and skin of your body are received by your parents and do not dare to be damaged. This is the beginning of filial piety. Xiangjun!"

"I'm here." Li Xiangjun stepped forward.

Zhao Han said: "An edict is being drafted. Women who have their feet bound to the point of damaging their bodies will be regarded as unfilial daughters. They will not be allowed to study, serve as officials, or marry an official! Her husband will not be able to obtain a franchise license. Once discovered, it will be taken away immediately!"

Zhao Han likes to use magic to defeat magic. He uses Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism very smoothly, and he also uses Confucian classics very smoothly.

The "Book of Filial Piety" says so, of course it is an unfilial daughter who binds her feet, even if her parents allow it.

Nowadays, foot binding is still limited to wealthy families. Once foot-bound women are not allowed to study, work as officials, marry officials, or even marry businessmen with franchises, do you think those bastard fathers will still dare to bind their daughters' feet?

Moreover, if they are labeled as unfilial women, it will be difficult for them to get married.

As for the women who have had their feet bound and become disabled, I'm sorry to say that we have no choice but to sacrifice them, but fortunately there are only a few of them at this time.