Emperor Jing's eyes were still fixed on the painting, refusing to move even a bit.
Yang Yingcai, who was standing aside, had sweat on his face.
As an elder in the court, he naturally sees the current situation very clearly.
Just based on this painting, many people have turned their hearts to Fang Zhengyi.
The girls' school is about abandoned babies, and the baby girl in the painting has captured everyone's heart. If anyone objects now, it would probably be tactless.
However, we can't let Fang Zhengyi go on smoothly just by relying on a painting.
The hall was still in silence for a long time, and then Yang Yingcai said, "Your Majesty, the baby girl in this painting is really pitiful. From this painting, we can see that abandoning a baby is a helpless act. But as officials of the court, we have to consider more than just individual cases."
"It would be unwise to disrupt the overall decision-making because of a painting. I personally think that the court should pity the people and find the parents of the abandoned baby. The court should provide substantial financial assistance to alleviate their plight."
Emperor Jing sighed and said, "What Yang Qing said makes sense. The family of the abandoned baby in the painting..."
"The family of the abandoned baby in the painting may no longer be found. Since her parents abandoned their daughter in a wasteland, they did not want anyone to know about it. On the other hand, they did not kill her directly, probably because they still had hope in their hearts. The matter is over now, and I don't think we should send anyone to look for her parents." Fang Zhengyi interrupted hurriedly.
"Even if the court is willing to help, there are tens of millions of other families that need to be helped. Can the court still favor one over the other?"
Emperor Jing nodded slightly and said regretfully: "Let's just leave it at that. Hang this painting in the imperial study!"
Fang Zheng was delighted and took advantage of the victory to continue his attack: "You all have a deep understanding of the plight of abandoned babies."
"If we want to alleviate the current situation, in my opinion, opening girls' schools is the best way to reflect the value of women and reduce the number of abandoned babies."
"Absolutely not! Captain Fang, I don't deny that the current situation of abandoned babies is tragic. But the court only looks at the overall situation when making decisions. You can't use a painting to confuse people. Girls' schools may alleviate the situation of abandoned babies, but what if it causes other problems among the people? You must not avoid the important issues."
Yang Yingcai retorted hastily, but the tension in his words had lessened a lot.
After all, the painting just now had a great impact on him.
Fang Zheng nodded and said, "Your Majesty, I cannot agree with what Lord Yang said. When judging cases in the government, we should give a lighter sentence if there is doubt, or even give the presumption of innocence. I don't think I should have too many concerns about how to balance an obvious benefit with a disadvantage that may not happen."
"Of course, I expect that some people will oppose my establishment of a girls' school based on those old customs, so I have a second thing to present to the hall."
"Present it!" said Emperor Jing.
Fang Zheng said yes, and soon a guard came into the hall carrying a huge wooden box.
When the wooden box was opened, it was filled with letters.
Everyone leaned over to look inside the box. The letter was filled with content and there were red handprints on the corners.
Fang Zhengyi casually took out a stack of letters and held them up high: "The letters in this box are from the people I ordered to collect opinions from the people in Beijing about establishing a girls' school."
"The reporter explained the interests involved to every citizen who pressed their fingerprints. He also promised them that for every woman Dongjiao University admitted, it would support ten abandoned babies!"
"During the visit, the newspaper's reporters came across many homes where babies were abandoned. Some of the stories were told orally by the local residents, who recalled how they regretted their actions, and every word was heart-wrenching!"
Emperor Jing picked up one of them and read it carefully.
This page of paper was printed in batches, and it described the girls' school and the abandoned baby in great detail. At the end, there was a red handprint and a crooked name.
I think it’s because the people are illiterate, so the reporter wrote it in advance and then asked the people to imitate and write it down.
Emperor Jing leaned over and took another one. This piece of letter paper was different from the others. It did not have a fixed content format.
It describes the memories of abandoned babies of the people. There are no names, time, or place...only endless regret and longing.
Since it was spoken by the people, the reporter described it truthfully and used straightforward and simple language.
But it was precisely these simple words, coupled with the occasional blurry spots between the words, that moved Emperor Jing.
Fang Zheng stretched his head and looked at the letter in Emperor Jing's hand, then licked his lips.
Everything is real, except the smudged ink spots on it are from the water he sprinkled...
Each of the other ministers took out a letter from the box and read it. After reading it, they fell silent again.
No one would suspect Fang Zhengyi of counterfeiting. It was impossible for such a large box of stuff to be counterfeit.
Just go out and ask around and you’ll find out.
At this moment, even Yang Yingcai felt like something was stuck in his throat.
He always said that girls' schools would influence public sentiment, but now this box of things just represents public opinion.
Could he say that Fang Zhengyi deliberately sent people to guide the people to press the fingerprints? If he did, I'm afraid His Majesty would be angry.
Slow down and think of countermeasures...
While everyone was still immersed in the content, Fang Zhengyi approached Yang Yingcai and said, "Master Yang, I admire the first person who ate mushrooms, because they might be poisonous mushrooms."
"Some things are like this, but once they are accomplished, they will be Fukuzawa's career for future generations!"
"Today, the biggest enemy in the north of Dajing has been pacified. Looking around the world, the biggest opponent of Dajing is myself."
"All the people of the world are your Majesty's subjects, but this woman is facing such a tragedy and such injustice, but she is delaying and not taking any action because of some unfounded excuses. How can she be responsible?"
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