In recent days, every page of the Song Dynasty Gazette has featured headlines about Yingtian Academy.

Zheng Hongyi instigated students to insult the emperor!

Zheng Dan raped Zhou Ling, a student at Yingtian University.

Furthermore, several students at Yingtian Academy have engaged in inappropriate behavior, defied the imperial court, and attempted to disrupt the new policies and poison the nation!

Large printouts of the text were printed and distributed in places such as Jingji Road, Jingdong Road, Jingxi Road, Jingzhao Prefecture, Hangzhou Prefecture, and Jiangling Prefecture.

The whole country was shaken.

Scholars across the land were also shocked to discover that the common people were showing unprecedented enthusiasm for the Song Dynasty's official gazette.

With the increasing popularity of the Song Dynasty Gazette in the past two years, reading it every day has become a necessity for everyone.

Those who were illiterate would go to teahouses to listen to storytellers who would first read the contents of the official gazette.

People used to think that ordinary people wouldn't care much about what the imperial court was doing, because they were only concerned about whether they had enough to eat.

But the situation is completely different now; people are not only paying attention, but also discussing it on the streets.

Because the contents of the Song Dynasty's official gazette were all closely related to their interests.

Take this recent incident, for example: Yingtian Academy criticized the new policies, and Zheng Dan raped a female student from Yingtian University.

What is the new policy?

Corvée labor has been abolished!

The poll tax has been abolished!

Reduce taxes to less than one-tenth of what they used to be!

Establish schools, promote encyclopedias, and build libraries.

A family of carpenters in the south of the city was suddenly visited by government officials. They thought there was trouble, but they were told that their son had been admitted to Chang'an University and that their son should go to study there.

Li Xiaolan, a renowned embroiderer from the Chengbei Embroidery Workshop, was invited to Chang'an University.

This is the new policy!

The new policy is designed to bring more benefits to ordinary people in almost every aspect.

At first, no one took it seriously, but now they're actually reaping the benefits.

So, how can ordinary people not pay attention?

When they tasted the benefits of this, and when the landless lower-class households needed to support their families, and someone happened to be recruiting workers in a certain column of the official gazette, they were naturally willing to read the gazette, wishing they could read it every day.

And now, Yingtian Academy is actually criticizing the new policies!

This is going to make enemies of ordinary people like them!

What have we, the common people, done wrong to offend you, the chosen ones, that you want to oppress us to death?

All we want is to have enough to eat, to be able to read, and to know more.

We neither steal nor rob.

The current emperor is trying every means to make our lives better, and you are trying every means to oppose it!

This is the voice of the people.

After Zheng Hongyi was imprisoned, the State Council and the Hanlin Academy were practically overwhelmed with memorials from all over the country.

On that day, Hanlin Academician Shi Xun said to the emperor in the court: "Your Majesty, the morals of the scholar class are now corrupt, which is contrary to Your Majesty's benevolence. I believe that we should clean up the whole country and thoroughly investigate the words and deeds of the scholar class in order to restore order to the social order!"

The emperor took this very seriously and ordered Liu Yanzong and Shi Xun to jointly investigate the case, with the Imperial City Guard assisting.

On the 28th day of the first month, a newspaper called Rulin Daily suddenly appeared in Tokyo.

The Rulin Daily criticized the new learning, saying that it was nothing but strange skills and tricks, and that it should not be included in the Hanlin Academy or opened as an encyclopedia alongside the sacred learning.

At the same time, he also denounced the despicable behavior of Liu Yanzong, Shi Xun, and others, calling them traitors of the Song Dynasty after Cai Jing.

However, the Rulin Daily was shut down in less than a day.

Immediately, all the owners of printing houses in Tokyo were invited for tea, and after that, only the Great Song Dynasty Gazette and the Tokyo Express were published; all other newspapers were prohibited from being printed.

On the thirtieth day of the first lunar month, the imperial court announced to the world the crimes of Zheng Hongyi and others from Yingtian Academy, and all of them were exiled to the Longyou Protectorate.

Zheng Dan shall be executed immediately!

Decades later, when historians recalled this period of history, they gave this assessment: the Zhang Yuan incident and the Yingtian Academy incident seemed isolated and unrelated, but in fact they were both struggles between new and old learning.

And this struggle has only just begun.

The implementation of new learning in the second year of the Jingkang era was repeatedly hampered, greatly restricting the development of academic disciplines such as engineering, agriculture, medicine, commerce, and military science. These disciplines were precisely the ones that could bring practical results to the emperor's new policies.

If the new policies cannot be implemented more quickly, the emperor will be unable to achieve his strategy of conquering Western Xia and destroying the Jin Dynasty.

Therefore, the emperor showed no mercy and began to sweep away the path of new learning with the fastest and most ruthless methods.

Starting in February, the imperial court began a thorough investigation of Yingtian Academy, Bailudong Academy, Yuelu Academy, and Songyang Academy.

You wouldn't believe it until you investigate; the investigation revealed something that even Liu Yanzong was shocked into breaking out in a cold sweat.

Each of the four academies criticized the new policies during their teaching sessions.

As a result, nearly half of the people in the four academies were arrested.

This was unprecedented since the founding of the Song Dynasty.

The Confucian scholars cried out: "Qin Shi Huang only lasted two generations before his death, and now our Great Song Dynasty is doomed!"

After thoroughly investigating the four academies, Zhao Huan reappointed their new heads.

The imperial court then issued an order to the prefects of various regions to fully implement the new learning, and anyone who disobeyed would be executed immediately!

In this way, the new school of thought quickly established itself in the Central Plains, the South, and the Northwest with swift and decisive measures.

But the emperor was not satisfied with just that.

At the morning court session that day, the emperor said to Xu Churen, "Before July, all prefects who fail to complete the task of building new schools within six months will be exiled to Qiongzhou!"

The government dared not contradict the emperor's decree. Once the decree was issued, officials in various regions began to vigorously promote the construction of new schools in order to keep their official positions.

From elementary school to middle school, things that were previously delayed are now being completed day and night.

Universities in several major cities are also working frantically to meet deadlines.

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