The chief of the Supervisory Yuan is the censor of both the left and right, and is responsible for supervising officials. Generally, he is a civilian official, and occasionally he is specially recruited as an exception. He mainly works with the cabinet and the Ministry of Punishment, and he can also bypass the cabinet and report directly to the emperor.
The chief of the National Security Agency is also the censor of both the left and right. Internally, he is responsible for postal stations, supervising the powerful, and externally, he is responsible for inquiring about military intelligence, planting spies, etc. He mainly interfaces with the cabinet, the Ministry of War and the Supervisory Council, and can also bypass the cabinet and report directly to the emperor.
.
As the domestic situation calmed down, the spies recruited by Xu Ying continued to have messy problems due to their uneven quality.
For example, extortion and preying on the common people!
They used to be called black guards, and some acted recklessly because of their status. Local officials did not dare to interfere at all. Even the anti-corruption inspectors did not dare to take action directly. They could only report to the emperor after returning to Beijing.
This kind of thing happened more and more, so Zhao Han decided to regularize the black guards.
Not only did the Black Guards change their name to the National Security Agency, they also placed all postal and postal systems across the country under the jurisdiction of the National Security Agency. A large number of low-level spies were transformed into postmen at the post stations. Senior spies were transformed into post agents, or simply transferred to the Inspectorate to serve as anti-corruption officials.
Officials. Therefore, in the post stations across the country, those postmen basically work part-time as spies. The postmasters will sort out the information collected by the postmen every day.
In each important border area, the National Security Agency will set up a branch, responsible for gathering intelligence from the outside world and placing spies abroad. The National Security Agency headquarters is responsible for analyzing intelligence sent from across the country.
After losing its arrest power, the National Security Agency was completely reduced to an intelligence organization and postal service.
The person who replaced Xu Ying in control of the National Security Agency was the waiter at the inn in Huangjia Town. The guy who once could only write his own name and only recognize the names of dishes now not only knows thousands of words, but also asked his husband to change his name to Huang Zundu.
Just like Mr. Huang, he comes from the "Zun" generation.
"Have you ever found out who paid for "The Scholars"?" Zhao Han asked.
Huang Zundu said: "There are six major shareholders in "The Scholars", three of which contribute the most. One is the Li family of Nanjing, the second is the Zhang family of Jiaxing, and the third is the Zhai family of Qingzhou."
Zhao Han felt very strange: "It is quite reasonable for the gentry in the capital and Jiangnan to run newspapers. How come people from Shandong also come to Nanjing to invest in running newspapers?"
Huang Zundu explained: "The Zhai family was originally from Anhui. They immigrated in the early Ming Dynasty. They first arrived in Zaoqiang, Hebei Province, and then were distributed to settle in Qingzhou. During the Tianshun period, they moved to Xihe Village and multiplied into a large clan, known as the 'Xihe Zhai family'. During the Wanli period,
Zhai Fengchong became a Jinshi, joined the Donglin Party, and was demoted and dismissed by the eunuch Party. He came back to power in the second year of Chongzhen and became the Right Minister of the Ministry of War, and was promoted to the Left Minister of the Ministry of War. He also served as the censor of Zuo Qiandu of the Supervisory Council, and was in charge of Liao's pay.
Photographed the school, patrolled Tianjin and other places. The front line was defeated, and Zhai Fengchong was dismissed from his post and returned to his hometown."
Zhao Han sneered: "It turns out that I have supervised Liao's salary, no wonder I have money to go south to run a newspaper."
Huang Zundu continued: "The man who ran the newspaper in the south was called Zhai Wenbi, and he was the nephew of Zhai Fengchong. Zhai Wenbi passed the imperial examination during the Chongzhen period, but due to war and plague, he did not go to Beijing to take the exam. After our country regained Shandong,
Zhai Wenben took the initiative to serve, but only became an ordinary official. He probably felt that being an official was hard work and was embarrassing, so he resigned and returned to his hometown to study. In the imperial examination three years ago, he was six years old and could not apply for the Shandong Provincial Examination.
There was a riot in the provincial capital, and he was arrested and imprisoned for three days. After that, he went to Nanjing to hang out, participated in cultural gatherings, made friends, and co-organized "The Scholars"..."
"This is resentment! Looking at the whole country, there are so many people like this." Zhao Han said with emotion.
Zhai Wenbi simply ruined his future. The Datong Army recaptured Shandong quite early. He was already an official at that time. If he could work diligently and had a diploma from the Ming Dynasty Juren, he would probably have been promoted to the county magistrate by now.
However, he disdained being an official and took the initiative to resign and go home. He finally looked forward to the imperial examination, but unexpectedly, the court was stuck with his age, and now he can only run newspapers to make trouble.
Even if the age limit for the imperial examination is not blocked, even if Zhai Wenbi successfully passes the examination, his official position will not be higher than if he was honestly promoted from the beginning.
Zhao Han asked again: "Who is Cang Xuzi who wrote the article?"
Huang Zundu replied: "Zhang Tianzhi, a native of Xiushui, Jiaxing, also passed the imperial examination period, and during the first imperial examination, he was only three years old. Since then, this man has been angry everywhere and written articles complaining about the imperial examination system.
.Because some articles were too over-the-top and no newspapers were willing to publish them, so he teamed up with Zhai Wenbi and others to set up their own newspaper."
"Very good, you can go down." Zhao Han expressed his approval of the National Security Agency's intelligence work.
In fact, you can get all this information without leaving Nanjing at all, because Zhai Wenbi and Zhang Tianzhi are too high-profile.
After Huang Zundu left, Zhao Han opened "The Scholars" again.
This is not so much a newspaper as it is a magazine. There is very little news, and it is neither market news nor political news. It is all elegant and interesting stories among literati. In addition, there are various literature
The work is not for ordinary people to see at all.
However, the sales volume of "The Scholars" was quite high, just because the articles were quite outrageous, often making insinuations and criticizing policies, which suited the taste of the traditional gentry.
This article against women's imperial examinations quoted scriptures throughout, and even quoted Zhao Han's "Gate Theory".
The theory of status was used by Zhao Han to advocate equality between men and women, but in Zhang Tianzhi's writing, it became a theory that opposed women's imperial examinations. He insisted on the words "men and women are not equal in status, but have the same personality" and repeatedly said that he
We support equality between men and women, but we must also pay attention to the actual differences between men and women. Women should take charge of the house, support their husbands and raise children, and should not be exposed to the public, let alone take part in imperial examinations.
Judging from the article alone, there is no violation of regulations and no disrespect to the emperor. The whole article shouts "The Holy Emperor is Above" in many places.
Since there was no violation of the rules, Zhao Han didn't bother to take care of it. He didn't try to get punished for his words.
The New Year is here in a blink of an eye, the weather is still very cold, and there was a heavy snowfall on New Year's Eve.
Probably because they discovered that "The Scholars" had not been punished, other newspapers and magazines began to follow the trend and publish similar articles. Some of these newspapers that followed the trend were venting their dissatisfaction, and some were purely for sales.
After all, opposition to women’s imperial examinations is the current mainstream public opinion, and newspapers must cater to the broad readership!
One article after another was published, and the same set of rhetoric was repeatedly quoted from the "Book of Changes", "Book of Rites", "Nvjie", and "The Theory of Ge Position". Moreover, every article must quote "Ge"
Position theory" made Zhao Han become a pioneer in opposing the imperial examination for women.
At first, only newspapers and magazines were setting the pace. Gradually, there were more and more public discussions. Teahouses, wine shops, theaters, brothels, tile houses...the matter was discussed everywhere, and the public opinion was one-sided. Few people dared to openly identify as women anymore.
Speak...
Eastern suburbs.
Feng Ze, a wealthy businessman from Hubei, personally took his daughter to take the imperial examination. Since he arrived in Nanjing after the Chinese New Year, the inns near Gongyuan were already full, so the father and daughter could only rent private houses outside the city.
"Oh, Ying'er, let's go back," Feng Ze looked at the pile of newspapers and sighed, "Things are so fierce that we can't go into this muddy water."
Feng Shunying lowered her eyebrows and did not dare to express her opinions.
In fact, neither father nor daughter had ever thought about taking the imperial examination to become an official. Feng Shunying came to take the imperial examination simply because her fiancé died and she was an outcast, so it was difficult to find a good husband-in-law who was well-matched. So she wanted to be a female Jinshi, regardless of Whether you can pass the exam or not, you can increase your worth, and then let the matchmaker find a match.
This is the mainstream today. The vast majority of female students go to school to find a good husband!
As soon as they heard that someone's daughter had been admitted to a certain university, matchmakers immediately flocked to her. In the previous dynasty, this was equivalent to a female candidate. As long as she married back into the family, she would not only be known to have face, but also the children she would have in the future. They are also smarter and don’t have to worry about their children’s education.
But if someone’s daughter graduates from college and has not yet gotten married, or even wants to be an official or a graduate student, the situation will immediately turn around and it will be difficult for her to get married!
The reasons are: First, after graduating from college, you are definitely too old, and you are already considered a leftover woman by the age of eighteen or nineteen; second, when a woman becomes an official or a scholar, it is considered unruly, and she will definitely not stop marrying into the family.
So the current situation is very embarrassing. Every year, many women go to college. But these female college students basically use the winter and summer vacations to get married before their junior year. They are all married women when they graduate.
There are even more extreme cases of dropping out of school directly after getting married because it is inconvenient to hang out in school. If you go back to school and find out that you are pregnant, it is really difficult to argue. It is obviously your husband's flesh and blood, but some people say that you were conceived at school. Wild species on.
Feng Ze asked the servant to pack his luggage and was about to check out when Feng Shunying finally spoke.
"Father, since you have come to Nanjing, you can't come in vain." Feng Shunying felt unwilling.
Feng Ze pointed to the newspapers: "My dear daughter, you have also seen it. The women's imperial examination has aroused public outrage. If you become a female Jinshi, you will never be able to find your husband's family in the future!"
Feng Shunying lowered her head and said: "What my daughter means is that since she has come to Nanjing, she should wait a little longer. At least... go to the Ministry of Etiquette to get her exam ticket before leaving."
"yes!"
Feng Ze's eyes lit up and he thought it was a good idea. Although he did not take part in the imperial examination, he had an admission ticket for the general examination and it was very glorious when it was spread. The matchmaker could use the admission ticket to propose marriage.
There are less than ten female candidates in this session's general examination.
Being frightened by the public opinion in newspapers, they were immediately scared off. Some female candidates even left Nanjing early without receiving their admission tickets, for fear of being poked in the back by others.
The pen stick on the newspaper couldn't be used at all.
There are indeed women's publications, but they are only circulated on a small scale. Talented women with great reputations can become famous far and wide, and it is also because of the promotion of talented women.
In this situation, few talented people are willing to speak out.
The woman wrote an article to refute it, but could not find a newspaper to publish it. The newspapers that were willing to publish it were all tabloids with insufficient circulation.
Zhao Han's original intention was to let the people debate for themselves.
The current situation makes Zhao Han very disappointed. But it is impossible for him and "Datong Monthly" to end up personally.
What to do?
Zhao Han called Huang Zundu: "If this is passed down, it will be said that the emperor was influenced by the public opinion in the newspapers and felt that women should not be exposed in public. From now on, even textile factories will no longer be allowed to hire women as weavers."