After the inspection and removal of siege, the academy got a few days of respite. Xia Yuanlong roughly clarified the situation of the academy in this short period of time, stipulating that the expenses for each room should be set at a certain amount. If more money was needed, he would be notified
The accounting office was left to the dean to make a decision. He looked through the account books, paid the clerk's monthly salary in time, and assigned two or three Confucian scholars to take care of the library.
Those three Confucian scholars were the ones who had lost their ambition in playing with things. They had not even touched the lock of the library. They were eating, drinking and having fun. It was a warm day. They were wearing some tattered green headscarves and drinking heavily on the water pavilion.
Hot wine, sometimes singing and dancing, creating a noisy scene.
Xia Yuanlong and Song Zhang strolled by, glanced at the pavilion, their expressions immediately sank, and they walked over.
"Dean Xia wants to talk to you." Governor Song said coldly.
The group of people understood what was going on, poured the wine in their bowls, turned around and bowed to Xia Yuanlong.
"You don't care about the library anymore?"
The leader responded with a smile: "Why don't you take advantage of your free time to drink some wine..."
"Free time? You have time to go out and drink," Xia Yuanlong said dissatisfiedly, "See clearly, ours is not an ordinary academy. It is the Sihe Academy established by Mr. Wei. Can we do this?"
"If you break the rules, you will be punished!" Song Zhang was furious.
Xia Yuanlong waved his hand: "Governor Song, there is no such thing as private law here." He sternly rebuked these Confucian scholars: "We must not do this next time! Let's all go..."
The scholars nodded their heads in fear and walked towards the library.
"Have someone replace the three of them the next day." Xia Yuanlong lowered his head and said.
Song Zhang hesitated for a while and then said: "I don't dare to disobey the dean's order...but it's really hard to change."
"What?" Xia Yuanlong frowned.
"The errands of the academy are all entrusted to them. Even if they do badly, I would be embarrassed to drive them away," Song Zhang said.
"Okay, if you don't want to take action out of love, I will personally give the order."
Xia Yuanlong turned around and left. Song Zhang quickly stepped forward and held him down. He had to stop first and sighed: "Governor Song, except for me as the dean, everyone in this academy is focused on their own affairs. No one can control anyone else.
Then where does the authority of this dean lie? If the top and bottom can't be tied together, how can we even talk about reforming state affairs!"
Song Zhang heard his complaint and felt ashamed but refused to answer.
"Fortunately, I am still from Nanjing, so they are a little afraid; if Li Zhizhong was around in the past, I am afraid the situation would be worse..."
"Currently, the academy is not out of trouble. We should focus on uniting the overall situation..." Governor Song's face turned red and he did not dare to look at him.
"I understand very well. But if this matter is not resolved, I will never return to Nanjing." Xia Yuanlong put aside these words, leaving Song Zhang standing here alone.
This is still the first step of reform, but internal problems have become so serious. They are a group of scholars, a small team of thousands of people. Although they have won the support of some people, their strength is still too weak. Even the people who shook the city of Nanjing
I can't even do it at all, let alone
What about the academy system? Xia Yuanlong restrained himself from thinking about this, but sometimes he had to think about it. The most important thing is that they lack real power, and they can only hope for a little mercy from the big men in purple robes and gold belts - there is no way out, but there is a means of resistance.
Very little.
He stopped and was stunned for a long time. He was disgusted that such a hateful pessimism had emerged in his mind. He had always been incompatible with it. He could be called the helmsman of reform and needed to instill in himself the motivation that would never be lacking.
And when you resolutely abandon too much thinking.
He continued walking toward the lecture hall, but should seek reflection in this abhorrent pessimism.
Xia Yuanlong summarized the shortcomings he had heard and seen in the academy these days. There were roughly three types of disadvantages:
One is that some scholars are loose-minded and take advantage of the reputation of the academy to only drink and write poems all day long, thus corrupting the rules;
The second is that the academy here has no long-term policy, and everyone has nothing to do and only wants to be at ease;
The third is the most urgent task. The more than 40 people in the academy treat each other as colleagues. They entrust everything with affection and do not follow orders. Naturally, they lose their integrity and become a mess.
Unfortunately, Deputy Leader Xia had not yet come up with a solution, so he stepped onto the stairs of the lecture hall with his hands behind his back.
"Brother Zhu, what are you doing?" He asked curiously when he saw Zhu Che picking up an official document.
"Dean Xia, sit down." Zhu Che smacked his lips and said, "Futai really knows how to find a way."
Xia Yuanlong went over, scanned the entire document, shook his head and sneered.
"Reinstate Officer Li Zhizhong... The next step is to let that guy frame us." Zhu Che looked at Yuan Long with a frown.
"I'm afraid that it will be difficult to win over the people at once." Zhu Che counted on his fingers and found that only two or three days had passed since the day when the notice was posted.
Xia Yuanlong seemed to feel that the current predicament was nothing to worry about, and said with a relaxed smile: "Why don't you go to the street and take a look, and you will know what advantages we have."
Zhu Che still didn't believe it: "I heard what you said, I'll take a look." After that, he threw down the official document, picked up his robe and left.
"Please give me an explanation!" Yao Xiaogu pulled many people together, formed a long queue, and shouted loudly outside the Yamen, shaking the heaven and the earth.
"What's the noise outside?" Li Zhizhong, who was sitting opposite the magistrate, felt uneasy.
"Report to the magistrate, the people in the academy are inciting the unruly people to raise troops and investigate."
"Huh?" The prefect suddenly turned his head and looked at Li Zhizhong's face.
Li Zhizhong understood the look in his eyes. After all, he had also used such methods, so of course the prefect had to ask for help from him.
"This..." Li Zhizhong was nervous, "Although I have served as the dean and know the method of incitement, the matter has reached this point... I don't know how to alleviate it, so I still ask the government to make a decision."
"What kind of pretense are they using to trick so many people into following them?" the patrol inspector yelled, snapping the case.
"They said they said Li Pheasant was a criminal, so why did he use it again? They also said that he 'used the name of the academy to defraud people of their property and return...'"
"Needless to say!" The inspector was furious and knelt down in front of the magistrate: "At the front of the mansion, please allow me to arrest a group of people outside the door so that I can search the academy!"
Li Zhizhong was sweating profusely beside him, his eyes were wide open, and he was almost frozen there. The magistrate hurriedly asked someone to help him go to the second hall to rest, and Li Zhizhong nodded in agreement.
As soon as Ma Shu's office closed, the magistrate spoke: "Although Mr. Li is a member of the Confucian sect in Suzhou, he has failed in his virtue and offended too many people. There is really no reason for us to retaliate against Mr. Li. We can't tell the difference. If Qiang
It would be bad to use force and make the entire province aware of it."
The inspection was dull and speechless.
"Secretary Ma, please go out and comfort me and say that we are willing to 'make peace' with their dean, Xia Yuanlong."
The inspector suddenly raised his head.
"It would be humiliating to take the initiative to make peace." Ma Shuban muttered.
While the prefect was undecided, the inspector suddenly stood up and slapped his sword on the table: "Rather than make peace with those rotten scholars, it would be better to cause an uproar in Suzhou!"