Chapter 197 Emperor: I want a revolution!

After the morning court session, the emperor specially summoned Tutor He to the Zhaoming Palace. When the emperor was still a prince, Tutor He had been his teacher. Now Emperor Zhaoming still trusts Tutor He.

"Taifu, I didn't hear you speak at the court meeting. What do you think about the selection of female officials?"

He Xiangru smiled and said, "Your Majesty, I think you agree in your heart, right? As a man, you have such a broad mind, which really surprises me."

"I think what Shen Su said makes sense. From a practical point of view, many places do need female officials, and I am also thinking about the country. Master, what do you think?"

The emperor had his reasons for agreeing to this. He wanted to be an emperor who would go down in history, develop maritime trade, select female officials, and reform the official selection system. He also wanted to make the Quanrong in the north, the Dongying in the east, and the Fanyin, Myanmar, and other countries in the south belong to Dazhao. Each of these was a step for him to leave his name in history.

However, as an emperor, one cannot just act according to his own ideas. What is more important is to learn to listen to the opinions of others.

"If this is done well, it will be a great success for generations to come. If it is not done well, as Lord Ma said, it is not impossible to shake the foundation of the country. The imperial examination system has been used to select officials since ancient times. In today's imperial examination system, only a few scholars can pass the imperial examination after studying for decades. There are many scholars who may not even be considered a scholar after studying for a lifetime. How can they not feel resentful?"

Grand Tutor He took a sip of tea and continued, "Your Majesty, you know that some people blame the heavens and the earth but never themselves. They have studied all their lives and taken exams all their lives. If you ask them to willingly admit that they are inferior to others, they can't do it. In the past, if they failed the exam, they would at most curse the examiner for being short-sighted and not appreciating their essays. Now that the selection of female officials has come out, those who curse the heavens and the earth and harbor resentment have suddenly found an outlet for their resentment. They will say that it is these women who have taken away their path to becoming officials."

"The selection of female officials is not part of the imperial examination."

It is not possible for men and women to take the imperial examinations together, at least for now. The Ministry of Personnel and Emperor Zhaoming himself are aware of this.

"You know this, I know this, and the adults in the morning court today also know this, but those failed candidates will not listen. They only know that women can become officials, but they cannot."

"From what the Master said, this is not going to work?"

Emperor Zhaoming was somewhat unhappy. Reforms, no matter what they were, would always make people dissatisfied. If he looked ahead and behind, he would not change anything and should just live off his ancestors' legacy. Now, even if he did nothing, he could still protect the throne of Dazhao. But what he wanted to do was never just to be a king who maintained the status quo.

He Xiangru shook his head. "I know you have your own ideas. I don't want to stop you. I just want to tell the emperor that you can't rush into this matter. You want to pass a special examination to select female officials. This is not wrong. But before that, you have to let the thousands of scholars in the world know that the imperial examination is not the only way."

What Grand Tutor He meant, after all, was that the Emperor should first come up with a way to appease the students of the country before embarking on the matter of selecting female officials.

Emperor Zhaoming knew that what Grand Tutor He said was right. If they were to start selecting female officials, the ones who would be most opposed would definitely not be the officials standing in the court today. After all, they had already passed the examinations and become officials. Even if women became officials, the court would not let them resign.

After Tutor He left, Emperor Zhaoming sat for a long time. The next day, he summoned the Minister of Personnel into the palace. The emperor and his minister talked for the entire morning, and all the officials left the palace after noon.

When Shen Su learned that he had to wait a while regarding the female official, he felt a little disappointed. This was the first big thing he wanted to do after becoming an official. He was full of confidence when he wrote the memorial, but now he was inevitably a little disappointed.

Ji Fengchang even went to Shen Su's duty room to comfort his subordinate and junior, "What we are doing is unprecedented, it is normal that it will not work out for a while, and the emperor only said to slow down, he did not say that we can't do it, so take your time."

"Yes, I understand."

…

When the family was having dinner in the evening, Shen Xu talked about what happened today and was in a low mood.

"Did the emperor say that this matter should be dropped and not mentioned again in the future?"

Shen shook his head, "Of course not."

"That's it." Shen Yuan comforted his brother, "If you didn't say no, then it's okay. The emperor is the emperor of all the people in the world, not just the emperor of all the women. What the emperor considers is not the situation of women, but the stability of the country. It's surprising that this matter is only postponed instead of directly rejected."

Shen Yun said to his son, "Your sister knows much more than you do. This is not an easy thing to do. From ancient times to the present, any reform has been difficult to do. You are discouraged now. There will be greater obstacles waiting for you in the future. What will you do?"

"Dad, you are not allowed to say that." Shen Yuan frowned, "Brother has only been an official for a short time, it is not easy for him, you have to encourage him."

Shen Yuan picked up a large piece of braised pork for Shen Su and said, "Brother, I believe in you!"

Shen Su was almost moved to tears. She really is his good sister, so thoughtful!

"Thank you very much."

He Ying did the same and picked up some food for her husband, "Husband, I believe in you too."

"Wow, Yingniang, you are so nice."

Shen Yun also accepted his daughter's criticism and reached out to pour a bowl of soup for his son. "Dad believes in you too."

The family smiled at each other, and the initial gloom disappeared.

Emperor Zhaoming did not go to the harem for three consecutive days. He stayed alone in the Zhaoming Palace and did not come out for three whole days. Apart from reviewing memorials, he was meditating.

Three days later, he made a surprising decision.

"Your Majesty, are you saying that we should teach the princes and princesses how to be a king?"

"Yes, Master, just as you taught me."

The princes and princesses in the palace were all together when they first started their education. When they grew older, around seven or eight years old, the princesses and princes were taught separately. The princesses also read classics and history, but their teachers would not teach them the ways of governing between a ruler and his subjects, or the arts of being an emperor.

"Your Majesty, do you want to..."

This matter was so shocking that the Grand Tutor did not dare to speak out loud. He had no idea how the Emperor had gone so far as to commit such a crime in just three days.

The matter of selecting female officials has been put on hold, the Emperor is going to directly select an empress!

"Why not? Whoever can do it can do it! The eldest, the second, and the third, which one of them do you think is a good candidate for the throne?"

The more the emperor thought about it, the more he felt it made sense. If the prince was capable, why couldn't the princess?!

He has to do what he is not allowed to do, and he has to do it well!

The Taifu was dumbfounded. The Emperor was not trying to make reforms, he was trying to kill all the ancestors!

If we gather the court officials and talk about this now, I'm afraid no one will object to selecting a female official...

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Emperor Zhaoming - the pioneer of the Great Zhao Pingquan