Chapter 483 I Want to Change Grace
Zheng Qinghe couldn't answer him whether it was possible or not. After all, his father had mentioned in a letter before that His Majesty's personality had been capricious recently, and even his father was a little confused.
However, if I present this method to His Majesty and it proves to be useful, I will definitely receive some rewards.
Didn’t her previous contribution of papermaking and movable type printing earn her the title of county lady?
"If you have anything you want or want to do, just tell me and I'll see if I can help you. Salt is the economic lifeline of the entire country, but if you come up with a more advanced solution, it will affect the interests of others. Then, many people will make things difficult for you. I'm afraid you won't be able to handle it."
"For someone like Ye Yuntang, being forced to stay in Kyoto and unable to return home is already the best outcome. He might even lose his life."
He had also heard about Ye Yuntang's affairs.
A person who can create weapons of mass destruction will stay by your side no matter who is in power, as long as he is not stupid.
If you can control it, it will be the sharpest knife in your hand. If you can't control it, it will be nothing more than a useless corpse.
Speaking of Ye Yuntang, Gu Jiayue's mood became even heavier.
Ye Yuntang may not think that she is now a legitimate princess and has unlimited glory. But isn't this identity a kind of confinement for him?
And Yue'er, this body was clearly hers, but now she was confined to a cockroach simulation, unable to eat or drink. She couldn't even speak to her beloved. This torture was worse than if she had died directly.
"I know the treasury is out of money, right? So, if we master more advanced homemade salt technology, produce higher-quality salt, and sell it to neighboring countries at a high price, wouldn't that bring in more silver?"
"I also have the glassmaking technology I possess, which I can also donate to Your Majesty free of charge. It's not complicated to make, and the cost isn't high, as long as you understand the underlying principles. The finished product is incredibly beautiful, and I believe that as long as it's shown in large quantities, both the dignitaries of Kyoto and other countries outside of Daqian will be willing to pay for it!"
Zheng Qinghe's handsome brows knitted together. "So what do you want to exchange these for?"
"I want to change my grace, as I just said."
"What kind of grace?"
Faced with Zheng Qinghe's questions, Gu Jiayue chose to be honest.
First of all, she felt that Zheng Qinghe was different from ordinary dignitaries. He had ideas, ambitions, and his own bottom line. Most importantly, he could see the suffering of the people at the bottom.
If it was for the people, she felt that Zheng Qinghe would definitely help her.
So she told him directly about the big thing she had been planning since she opened the school.
"A woman can take the imperial examinations and serve as an official in the imperial court."
This idea was already there when Qiushi Academy was established and all the students in the academy were boys.
The small school stands there, and the door is open to the outside, so only boys should be allowed in.
It's not that she hadn't tried before. She had also thought about letting the girls in the village study in the same classroom with the boys.
However, various obstacles, customs, and etiquette forced her to take a step back, which led to the establishment of Jinxiu Tower.
At the beginning, Jinxiulou was actually a wolf in sheep's clothing. It was ostensibly a place to teach needlework, but it was more about learning textbook knowledge.
During this process, she discovered several girls who were very talented in studying.
But the good times didn't last long, and the girls left the school.
What did a girl say at the time? I remember now, she said that given her status, learning to read and write would not help her understand things, but would only bring her pain.
It made her understand more deeply that she was helpless and that her soul was imprisoned.
"Master Gu, when one's ability is insufficient to overthrow the mountain that is oppressing one, ignorance is also a form of protection."
These words suddenly made Gu Jiayue sober up.
She couldn't help but ask herself, was she doing the right thing?
She taught these girls knowledge, making them understand that the world was unfair to them and that various etiquettes shackled their souls.
She woke the girls up, but was unable to help them escape the quagmire that trapped them.
This will not make them happy, but will only increase their suffering.
They will not be willing to revolve around the stove every day, nor will they be willing to lie in bed like pigs giving birth to one child after another. They will think about whether they can take a different path?
For example, doing business? For example, being the head of a household? Or for example, taking the imperial examination?
But there are too many restrictions on them in this world. As long as they show the slightest sign of this, family, friends and strangers will flock to teach them a lesson.
tired.
It’s too tiring to fight against the sky.
They wanted it so they gave up.
Gu Jiayue also humbly absorbed everyone's opinions, reduced the arrangement of cultural courses, and allocated more time to various skill classes.
But even so, excellent people are still excellent.
During the two years, many girls graduated from the school. Some of them relied on the skills they learned to have a certain say in the family, and some opened workshops, but none of them were willing to get married.
Some even suggested that they could get married, but they would only accept a son-in-law!
The changes in the girls are so obvious that the number of girls enrolled in the school this year is much smaller.
They don't need a daughter-in-law who has her own ideas, is strong and independent.
What they need is a daughter-in-law who is obedient and sensible, who can be good at housework and cooking, who can do farm work and give birth to many children.
The women around her are awakening, and Gu Jiayue doesn't want to see this weak flame extinguished.
So she kept thinking about how to solve this problem.
Dagan was a feudal dynasty, and the monarch had a high degree of decisiveness in domestic affairs. Even if the decisions made would be blocked by the people, as long as the monarch agreed, there would be more hope.
So Gu Jiayue thought of using what she had to fight for more rights for these girls.
Salt is a good starting point.
Da Gan has very strict control over salt. Such control can greatly help popularize it and stabilize prices, but it also limits its development.
At this time, if someone can come up with higher quality salt, it will change the entire salt production industry in Dagan.
Salt has always been a very profitable commodity. If this high-quality salt could be sold abroad in exchange for various materials and silver, then Dagan would be able to achieve long-term development with these things.
If the people above have money, life will be better for those below.
Life is easier and everyone's creativity is improved.
Over time, this forms a virtuous cycle.
Zheng Qing and Qichun walked around the yard. He only needed to think about what Gu Jiayue said for a moment before he could figure out the connection between them.
It's just a few simple words to say, but it's extremely difficult and dangerous to do it.
This is not as simple as planting a few plots of mulberry and tea trees, raising a few cows and running a few literacy classes in Annan County.
He will leverage the interests of many people and even change the powerful structure of the upper echelons of power.
Even though his father was a tutor and the Zheng family was a wealthy and powerful family in Kyoto, he did not dare to interfere in this matter lightly.
What's more, the grace he wanted was something that cost his life.
There are only so many official positions in the entire court, and even men can't divide them all. How can women be allowed to get involved?
They misinterpreted the Three Obediences and Four Virtues taught by the saints, imprisoned women within high walls, clipped their wings that could allow them to fly outside, and blinded their eyes that could see outside the walls.
They need caged magpies, not hawks competing with them for aerial territory.
Zheng Qinghe rubbed his head with a headache. "Jiayue, do you know how difficult it is to do what you want to do?"
Gu Jiayue's expression was indifferent. "I know!"
Countless predecessors had worked hard for hundreds of years, but complete gender equality had not yet been achieved in his time. If she wanted to fight for a place for women in this feudal dynasty called Dagan, she had to pay the price and blood and tears, and she was mentally prepared.
But if everyone is afraid to do it, it will never be realized!
Gu Jiayue believed that there were many women who shared the same thoughts as Zhang Zhaodi!
"I know that we have to take one step at a time and eat one bite at a time. So let's start with the simplest thing. Fight for the right of women in Dagan to receive an education!"
"The right to education I'm talking about isn't reading Women's Rules and Women's Precepts in the backyard. It's about going to school, studying the same textbooks, and learning the same knowledge as you men!"
Zheng Qinghe's pupils trembled.
He was not surprised that Gu Jiayue had this idea, but he felt that she had perfected this idea to such a degree.
It is not an easy task to achieve.
"Okay, I support you. I'll help you figure out what you want to do."
The reason why Zheng Qinghe agreed to Gu Jiayue's wild idea so easily was not entirely because he liked Gu Jiayue and wanted to help his sweetheart solve her problems.
But he had a lot of feelings in Annan City in the past two years.
When I first arrived in Annan County, there were very few people in the county who could read. Even the county yamen runners could only write their own names.
But later, Gu Jiayue opened a school in Taohua Village. More and more children went to the school to learn knowledge, and then brought the knowledge out. They taught their parents and their families. Their parents and families then passed it on to their other relatives and friends.
Later, he discovered that Gu Jiayue's teaching methods and concepts were different from what they usually learned, so he introduced this difference to other academies in Annan County.
Later they opened a literacy class together.
As more and more people became literate, he noticed that the existing crime rate was steadily declining. Stealing and petty theft decreased, and even the chaotic family disputes and conflicts between mothers-in-law and daughters-in-law became less frequent.
He was finally able to free himself from trivial matters like who stole whose chicken or who took whose egg and do more important things.
He suddenly remembered what Gu Jiayue had said: A thoughtful, cultured, and well-educated woman could change three generations of a family.
He had some scoffing at it before, but after experiencing it himself, he found that it was actually himself who was narrow-minded.
Perhaps what Gu Jiayue proposed is simply impossible to achieve, and all their hard work may be in vain in the end.
But so what, at least they did it.
At least Gu Jiayue fought for women, for all the women in Dagan.
They have worked hard, and the rest will be left to future generations!
"If you want to accomplish what you just said, we actually have a better partner!"
The two looked at each other, and they both felt that they were thinking of the same person!
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