The boss is generous!
The Jinyiwei commander looked at Xu Yanmiao in surprise: "Why Yangzhou?"
"Because I have observed that there are many salt merchants in Yangzhou, and they are very rich. I heard that the wall of the new city of Yangzhou was built with their donations, a total of 300,000 taels of silver. These people become extravagant and dissolute after they have money. There is a saying that goes... The salt merchants in Yangzhou, the one sitting in the carriage is a debt spirit, the one lifting the carriage is a bull spirit, and the one following the carriage is a fart spirit, The gatekeeper is a liar, and the one hiding in the house is a demon. There used to be many Chuguan and Qinlou there, and the salt merchants liked the places of fireworks such as Yuanshu, and then took the top beauties in their eyes into the room to play with. When they knew about foot binding in the future, they would not be able to sit still. "
And history has proved that Yangzhou did develop in that way, "Suzhou face, Yangzhou feet" is very famous -
disgusting! Dirty
!
Xu Yanmiao raised his hand: "In short, Yangzhou must be guarded!"
The commander of the Jinyiwei nodded thoughtfully.
Xu Yanmiao continued: "Moreover, Yangzhou is prosperous enough and has a strong literary culture. If they strongly oppose something, the students of Yangzhou will certainly support the policy of banning foot binding in the future imperial examinations. As long as there are many opposing voices among the officials who take office every three years, the trend of foot binding will not take off."
"But... Yangzhou City is right there, we can't run away, wouldn't it be exposed if we just go over and take a look?"
This point! Having experienced the modern era, Xu Yanmiao has a lot to say: "It's okay. It depends on the journey of carriages and ships. Even if someone goes to see it and refutes the rumor, it is difficult to stir up a storm."
Apart from other things, there are 1 billion netizens in the modern era. They still believe everything they hear. If something happens in a certain place, it will spread all over the country. It is useless for local people to come out to refute the rumor. Even if the official intervenes, there are still people who believe the rumor.
Of course, we can't use the modern era as an example.
Xu Yanmiao changed an example: "For example... if you say that an emperor has a straight face, no one will be interested. If you say that an emperor has a flat face, it will definitely spread quickly, and the rumor will not be refuted for hundreds of years."
The commander of the Jinyiwei: "..."
It sounds really hard to refute.
Xu Yanmiao changed another example. This time, he talked about the content of "History of Chu": "For example, the Great Chu after the migration of the elite to the south. You know Emperor Xuanzong of Chu, right? How does the history books record it? At that time, the Great Chu was controlled by eunuchs, and the emperor was at the mercy of the eunuchs. When Emperor Xuanzong of Chu was just a prince, he pretended to be crazy and stupid, shouting and yelling in the busy streets, snatching other people's food, and sleeping there for several days without waking up. Oh, and in the summer, he would sit by the fire and say he was cold, which led to the eunuchs despising him and pushing him to the throne. Then he secretly seized power, killed those eunuchs, and worked hard to govern the country, allowing the originally dying Great Chu to revive and prosper for several decades."
The commander of the Jinyiwei nodded: "That's true - but what's wrong?"
Is the record in the history books wrong? What inside information did Xu Yanmiao know with the help of the magic weapon?
Xu Yanmiao: "But now when people mention this emperor, the first reaction is the content in the unofficial history."
Xu Yanmiao: "The first reaction is that this emperor dares to eat shit."
- Unofficial history records that Chu Xuanzong pretended to be crazy and stupid to sleep in a pig pen and eat pig shit.
Xu Yanmiao: "The second reaction is that this emperor dared to run naked on the street."
- It is still unofficial history that says that Chu Xuanzong was particularly bold. In broad daylight, he ran around with his hair loose and barefoot in front of all the people in the capital.
Official history may not be authentic, but unofficial history must be wild enough.
The commander of the Jinyiwei understood.
So after spreading rumors about Yangzhou, when people mentioned Yangzhou, they would say "the city where scholars, merchants, and even peddlers like to torture women and make them bind their feet".
And the people of Yangzhou would definitely not let themselves be splashed with dirty water. They would definitely fight back.
As long as they fight back and lead the trend among scholars, the scholars would regard forcing women to bind their feet as a shame.
The voice of the commander of the Jinyiwei was obviously more excited than before: "I will write a memorial and ask for instructions from Your Majesty!"
Spreading rumors... no, fabricating charges is the specialty of the Jinyiwei!
＊
"Have you heard? Foot binding has been popular in Yangzhou for a long time!"
"I heard that there are a lot of wealthy businessmen and concubines there, and it is normal for wealthy people to go too far. Those dirty and smelly things in the backyard... Alas, it's just that it has not been exposed before."
"Not only wealthy businessmen! I heard that the literati there also like women with bound feet! It seems that they even write poems specifically for small feet! Saying things like 'Don't be sad about applying perfume to the lotus that follows your steps, for you will always worry about your silk socks floating on the water', wow, you can tell at a glance that they like them very much."
"Ah - and applying perfume! How fragrant can the feet that are wrapped in cloth strips with rotting flesh and sweat oozing out when walking be? Don't these people have strange tastes?"
Rumors spread and people were discussing it.
Due to various efforts in the past, foot binding is now looked down upon by the public. Suddenly, I heard that Yangzhou people like small feet, and everyone immediately had something to talk about.
A few words after tea and dinner.
A few words at the literary meeting.
Even in the mountains and fields, when farmers are taking a break from farming, they sit on the edge of the field, wipe their foreheads with a sweat towel, and start chatting with other farmers. The words they say are always: "Have you heard that people over there in Yangzhou like small feet?"
The people next to them will always be shocked and amazed, and keep asking if it is true. The farmer nodded without hesitation, as if he had visited Yangzhou himself.
In response, Yangzhou people said:
"Who!!!"
"Who is spreading rumors!!!"
All residents of Yangzhou were extremely angry.
Supporting foot binding! Before the incident of Prince Fu broke out, they didn't even know what foot binding was!
Moreover! Foot binding is such a cruel and poisonous thing! They don't like it, okay! Their aesthetics are very normal!
- Now, regardless of whether they really don't like it, or they like it but dare not say it, these two kinds of people have united their front when they were slandered in their hometown.
Hundreds of wealthy families stood up on the spot and showed their agreement: they would never bind their daughters' feet, and their sons would not accept women with bound feet regardless of whether they were getting married or taking concubines! If anyone violated the agreement, they would fine themselves silver, and the silver would be distributed to women from poor families.
In addition, countless Yangzhou literati traveled around and held literary gatherings, where they either wrote poems, sang lyrics, or composed essays... The core values either denounced the idea of foot binding or despised the behavior of foot binding. People like Prince Fu who forced women to bind their feet were even more severely condemned. Many of the works became famous throughout the ages, and Prince Fu will be infamous for eternity.
——Affected by this, for the next thousand years, Yangzhou firmly refused to bind feet, and even highly praised women with big feet, believing that the bigger the feet, the more blessed they were.
After Yangzhou, the largest city outside the capital and the cultural center of Jiangsu, started to move, the impact it caused among literati and poets is difficult to estimate.
The Donglin School was the first to respond, severely criticizing foot binding from a moral perspective, and skillfully used the rising technique to say: "Binding one person will harm the whole family, binding a family will harm the whole city, and binding a city will harm the whole country. It is almost unreasonable and has been harmful for a thousand years."
The Changzhou School was not to be outdone, and started from the practical aspect of economy and society, saying: "Bound feet make women weak and prone to disease, polluting the body and harming their descendants. , if the mother does not bind her feet, it is easy for the offspring to be strong. If the mother binds her feet, the offspring will be weak. If there are too many weak people, the crowns will be weak and the soldiers will be unfit, which will make neighboring countries covet them. Therefore, foot binding is the reason for the country 's demise! "
The Taizhou School... the Four Masters of Wumen... the Eight Eccentrics of Yangzhou... either printed 500,000 copies of "On Foot Binding" at their own expense and distributed them all over the country, or painted the miserable conditions of women after foot binding to arouse people's sympathy...
"Anyway, any literati who dares to say that he likes small feet will definitely be attacked by everyone!"
Xu Yanmiao is very satisfied with this situation.
The popularity of bound feet can be attributed to the various poems and verses written by scholars. However, when foot binding was abolished, the contribution of scholars to the call for unbinding cannot be ignored.
So...
"I said that scholars are very useful! If you want to suppress something, you have to rely on the pens and mouths of scholars!"
The commander of the Jinyiwei came to him and said, "Xu Lang, His Majesty has invited you."
Xu Yanmo was sweating profusely.
[Is it overtime again? ! ]
When he gradually saw the Wuying Palace, he was already wailing in his heart about the upcoming workload.
The old emperor in the palace: "..."
Actually, it was not the case this time.
But... it cannot be denied that Xu Yanmiao is very serious about his work, very straight-forward, well-organized, and very useful. He uses him very well.
Of course, it would be better if he could stop complaining about the lack of overtime pay and too much work.
*
When the emperor noticed the young man coming in, he smiled: "You look silly, but you know how to use public opinion."
Xu Yanmiao: "..."
He muttered to himself: [How do I look silly? 】
He tried to show his joy and embarrassment at being praised: "I am just finishing this matter. If Your Majesty and the officials of the court had not established the criminal law related to foot-binding and denied the practice of foot-binding with etiquette and law, the reaction of those literati in Yangzhou after being wronged would not be so strong." The emperor
smiled and scolded him with a smile: "You water crab, you are so stupid today."
——Water crab is a nickname for people in Jiangnan. He was originally from Jiangnan.
He patted the chair next to him and said: "Come, sit next to me."
Xu Yanmiao had just sat down and hadn't said anything when suddenly a white shadow jumped onto his knees. Before Xu Yanmiao was startled and looked closely——
【Lion Cat!!! 】
The little white cat nestled on his knees had one golden and one silver eye, and looked up at him, then cried out in a coquettish voice.
Xu Yanmiao: “!!!”
Such a soft and warm ball nestled on his legs, Xu Yanmiao felt like he was being melted by the cuteness, and he didn’t dare to move, for fear of scaring the lion cat away.
The old emperor was nagging beside him: "You have also made a contribution this time. Money has been sent to your house. I see that you often invite cats and play with dogs. I think you like these things. This white cat never catches mice. It is a cat in vain. I didn't want to give it to you, but the queen said that you young people don't raise cats to catch mice, so she asked the palace maid to bring it to you. Do you like it? If not, I will change it for you..."
Xu Yanmiao suddenly came back to his senses and looked normal: "Thank you, Your Majesty, I am very happy."
[Cat!!!]
[I have a cat!!!]
[The company gave me a cat!!!]
The old emperor took a sip of the wine on the table with satisfaction.
Well, it can be seen that he is really happy.
He joked with a smile: "How about it, you don't have to deal with so much official business anymore?"
Xu Yanmiao guessed that it was because his expression was not right sometimes and he was noticed, and his face suddenly became hot: "Thank you for your consideration, Your Majesty."
In fact, he was not really dissatisfied, he just complained a few words when he was free.
As for now...
Xu Yanmiao lowered his head and touched the cat twice, feeling the furry touch, and his heart was crying and saying it was cute.
The boss is generous!
The boss is such a good person!