Chapter 160: Bailu Academy

When Yin Qing was carried home, his face was pale and he was unconscious. Mrs. Yin was so frightened that she almost fainted and quickly called a doctor to treat him.

After feeling her pulse, the doctor sighed and said, "Young lady is too badly injured. I don't know if there is any blood accumulation in her brain. I can only prescribe some warming and nourishing medicine to take care of her. Even if she is cured, I am afraid there will be sequelae."

When Mrs. Yin heard this, she hugged her daughter and started crying again.

Not long after, Yin Bogeng also came back. Upon hearing that his daughter was seriously injured, he hurried over to ask the reason.

The maid who was accompanying him told him what happened on the street, and Yin Bogeng's face darkened.

"Master, you have to make a decision for Qing'er!" Madam Yin cried bitterly. Although she had three children, her eldest daughter was raised by the old lady since she was a child, and her youngest son moved out of the inner courtyard when he turned ten. Only her second daughter was closest to her. Now that her child's life or death was uncertain, how could she not feel distressed?

Unexpectedly, Yin Bogeng said, "If she hadn't stepped forward to argue, how could she have been injured? It's ridiculous for a girl to run outside all day instead of staying at home!"

Madam Yin widened her eyes and looked at him in disbelief: "Are we going to let Qing'er get hurt in vain?"

"You don't have to worry about this matter. Just take good care of our daughter. I know what to do." After saying that, he stood up and walked out.

Although Yin Bogeng was dismissed from office, he still had many connections in Suzhou, so it would be easy for him to find the person who hurt his daughter.

However, he did not pursue the matter, because he had a bigger conspiracy in his mind. He wanted to let students all over the world force the emperor to abolish the policy of women studying to become officials!

This was also the idea given to him by his mentor Lin Haiqiong. After being dismissed from office, he returned to Suzhou and encouraged local students to strike. Once the emperor admitted his mistake, these dismissed officials could be reinstated.

In order to return to Beijing, it doesn't matter if my daughter gets hurt a little. If it really doesn't work, it won't be difficult to support her for the rest of her life.

Yin Bogeng's laissez-faire attitude caused the already intensified conflict to boil over instantly. This premeditated farce was like adding fuel to a raging fire, which became more and more intense.

Half-grown children have an immature outlook on life and are easily led by others. With malicious teachers guiding them secretly, they become the fastest knives and rush to the front.

Classes in various academies and schools began to be suspended, and scholars took to the streets to protest against women studying to become officials. Some even tied up female students who refused to drop out of school and paraded them in prison vans like criminals, as if allowing women to study was a heinous crime.

*

Bailu Academy was the first traditional academy in Suzhou to openly recruit female students. The number of women in the academy was greater than that of other institutions of higher learning, and there were also special classes for women.

The impact of this turmoil was very great. Most of the girls in the class were forced to drop out of school and go home. Only about a dozen girls were left here and were protected by the dean Bai Hong.

Early this morning, thousands of students suddenly gathered outside the college. They raised their arms and shouted, demanding that the dean expel the female students and prohibit women from enrolling.

In the classroom, more than a dozen girls were huddled together and shivering. After Bai Hong comforted them softly, he walked out of the classroom alone.

He looked at the dense crowd and said calmly, "Dear students, the academy is a place for imparting knowledge and answering questions, not a place for you to shout and vent your anger. Don't gather here, go back to study!"

"Dean Bai, why are you so determined to keep those women?"

"Yes, women are of low status and have no right to study. Get them out now!"

"There shouldn't be any women in the academy!"

They shouted at the same time, with self-righteous expressions on their faces, as if they were doing something great.

Bai Hong raised his voice and said, "Your Majesty allows all people in the world to study, regardless of gender, age or status. Why don't you allow them to study?"

One of the men with a rat-like face said maliciously, "Dean Bai defended those women so much. Could it be that he has some hidden relationship with them?"

This person was the man who had argued with Yin Qing that day. His surname was Cao and he was a failed scholar. He was not very good at studying literature, but he was extremely cynical, as if women's education had affected his future.

When Miss Yin was injured that day, he was so scared that he hurried home, thinking that he was going to be arrested and brought to justice. Unexpectedly, after waiting for a few days, there was no further news about the incident. The Yin family neither reported it to the authorities nor contacted him.

Cao Xiucai gradually became bolder and these days he fanned the flames among the crowd, making the situation worse and worse.

Bai Hong's face turned red with anger, and he pointed at him and said tremblingly: "Studying should first establish morality and then establish words. You have no morality and no conduct, and your books have all gone to the dogs!"

Seeing him getting angry, the people around him started to mock him, saying, "I've always felt that he was not right in the academy. No other academy would accept girls, but he did. I didn't expect him to be such a traitor~"

"You are so shameless at such an old age, and you keep talking about some holy book. Ugh!"

"Why not just tear down the sign of Bailu Academy and turn it into Bailu Brothel!"

“Hahahahahaha…” laughter broke out in the crowd.

Bai Hong's face became more and more ugly. He covered his chest and looked at those ugly young people, many of whom were students of his academy. He didn't expect that they could say such unbearable words. There was a buzzing sound in his ears, a sweet smell in his mouth, and his eyes were spinning. He fell heavily to the ground.

Cao Xiucai was not frightened at all. Instead, he shouted excitedly, "Everyone, go in and drive those women out of the academy, and return the peace to Bailu Academy!"

"Return peace to Bailu Academy!" People crowded in, and no one looked at the dean who had fainted nearby.

More than a dozen girls were pushed out of the classroom by them. When they saw Dean Bai lying on the ground, they screamed and rushed over like crazy. Unfortunately, Dean Bai had a heart attack due to anger and had already stopped breathing.

A girl named Zhou Fengxia glared with red eyes and said angrily: "If you force the dean to death, I don't want to live in humiliation. But I make this clear, when I die, my soul will turn into a ghost and follow you forever, and you will not die a good death!" After saying that, she hit her head on the stone pier next to her, and blood spurted out instantly, dyeing the stone pier red.

The noisy crowd fell silent instantly. They had never expected that this woman would dare to commit suicide by banging her head...

Two lives were lost at once, and some people became scared and planned to leave.

Cao Xiucai said with disdain: "They died on their own. It has nothing to do with us."

"Yes... it has nothing to do with us." Only a few people followed suit. Most people were silent. Is it really nothing to do with us? If they hadn't come to force him, would Bai Hong die? Would that girl commit suicide...

Seeing these people start to retreat, someone in the crowd started to loudly incite: "We are getting rid of harm for the people! Bai Hong secretly kept a woman in the academy, which is against etiquette and law. He deserves to be put to death!"

Some of these leaders were cynical people like Cao Xiucai, and some were people hired by Yin Bogeng just to make a big deal out of it.

"We are here to rid the people of harm!" Cao Xiucai also shouted, and the people around him instantly became excited and took the remaining women to prepare for a parade on the streets.

The girls bit their lips and looked at each other, seeing despair and determination in each other's eyes.

I don't know who started it, one, two, three... finally all twelve women crashed into the stone pier. The oldest of these girls was no more than thirteen or fourteen years old, and the youngest was only nine years old, just the age of blooming flowers.

They ended their lives in the most tragic way.

Blood slowly flowed down from the stone pier, dyeing the ground of Bailu Academy red.

The crowd dispersed. There were more than ten lives at stake. No matter how brave they were, they would not dare to take such a heavy responsibility!

Because so many people died, including Bai Hong, who was an official, the Suzhou prefect had to send someone to deal with the matter.

Originally, he planned to smooth things over by arresting a few students who were causing trouble and burying the dead woman properly. However, he did not expect that on October 28, the imperial court would actually send officials to deal with the matter specifically.

As early as the first day of the Suzhou students' strike, Song Yuzhu noticed something wrong from the map, and he sent Li Jie to Suzhou to deal with the matter.

He had been following the developments in Suzhou on the map these days, and he witnessed with his own eyes how those students forced the teachers and students of Bailu Academy to death, but he was powerless to stop them. He was so angry that he issued three edicts overnight.

The first imperial edict was to dismiss the prefect of Suzhou. What was the use of an incompetent prefect?

The second imperial edict is to arrest all the people involved and exile them all to Beidi. If you don't want to study, then don't study anymore and just go and open up wasteland and farm the land!

The third imperial edict was to comfort the families of Dean Bai and the twelve women who had died, and to build a monument at Bailu Academy to commemorate these women who bravely fought for their studies.

Song Yuzhu asked Xu Bing to go to Suzhou in person to handle the matter.

Xu Bing was also a little surprised when he received the imperial edict. This was the first time in all these years that the emperor sent him out on business. It seemed that the incident in Suzhou was quite a big deal.

*

Li Jie was leaning on the cushion in the carriage, resting his eyes. The long journey made him a little tired. But he could bear the physical fatigue, but he was afraid that the Suzhou prefect would make him even more tired.

The carriage entered the city. Li Jie lifted the curtain and looked outside. The streets of Suzhou were crowded with people, and it did not look like the scholars were on strike as the emperor had said.

However, what you see on the surface is not necessarily true. Since the emperor asked him to come all the way here to deal with this matter, there must be something wrong in Suzhou.

When they arrived at the gate of the government office, Li Jie handed over the official badge. Soon, Suzhou prefect Fang Mingzhang came out in person to greet him.

"Hey, what wind brings Brother Li here?"

Li Jie thought, don't you know what's going on? But he still put on a smile and said, "Your humble servant greets Lord Fang."

He held a fifth-rank official position, and although he was traveling here as an imperial envoy, he was still half a level lower than Prefect Fang, so he had to pay his respects to the other party.

Fang Mingzhang quickly supported him and said, "No need to be polite, just go in."

In fact, Fang Mingzhang had received the news of the imperial envoy sent by the court two days in advance. He was shocked and didn't understand how the news reached Shangjing. Now he could only shut up the people and appease the students so as not to let the imperial envoy find out.

After entering the hall, Li Jie got straight to the point and said, "I am here on the orders of the Emperor to investigate the student strike in Suzhou. I hope Lord Fang will cooperate."

"Cooperate, cooperate. It's not a big deal. It's just a few students messing around. They've already been taught a lesson."

Li Jie was skeptical: "Nonsense?"

Fang Mingzhang sighed and said half-truthfully, "It's embarrassing to talk about this matter. You should know Yin Bogeng, right?"

Li Jie nodded. The former Left Censor-in-Chief returned to his hometown after being dismissed from office.

"Many students heard that he was demoted for submitting a petition not to allow women to serve in the imperial court, and they took to the streets out of indignation."

"Who would have thought that his daughter would get hit on the head while arguing with someone on the street. This incident had a huge impact and the students no longer dared to strike or march."

Li Jie said: "I see, then I will visit the Yin family tomorrow."

Fang Mingzhang sighed with emotion, picked up the teacup and took a sip, but his mind was racing.

It was a fact that Yin Bogeng's daughter was hit, and he was not lying. As long as he could keep secret what happened at Bailu Academy, he would be fine.

(End of this chapter)