As soon as woodblock printing came out, it caused panic among aristocratic families.
Once poor families and common people flood into the court, their power will definitely be divided.
They tried to prevent the advent of woodblock printing, but this was not only promoted by poor families and great scholars, but also secretly supported by the Wu family.
After the Qiao family moved south, the Wu gentry and poor families saw clearly the ugly faces of these people.
In order to compete for power and influence in the south, these people have started fighting among themselves since the Eight Kings Rebellion - whether it is the people who have been displaced due to natural disasters or the refugees who have fled to the south because of the war.
They only think about themselves - these selfish people, why should they be allowed to monopolize all walks of life, and why should they be allowed to dominate power.
Because of this disapproval, coupled with the strong suppression of the local Wu family after the overseas Chinese family came to the south, they were simply annoyed.
Now that Xie Yuan has taken the lead, using woodblock printing to bring books to the world, and opening academies to break the monopoly of culture by the gentry, they are naturally happy.
Naturally, he is willing to secretly add fuel to the flames.
Furthermore, because they jointly contracted the grain industry in the Jiangnan area, the Wu gentry had the same hatred as Xie Yuan.
After learning that Xie Yuan had opened an academy to promote woodblock printing, the Wu family was the first to spend huge sums of money to help Xie Yuan open an academy and promote woodblock printing.
Not only the gentry with the surname Wu, but also the Cui, Huo and Luo families gave their full support.
At this time, the popularization of woodblock printing became a popular trend and could no longer be stopped by the gentry.
When it comes to opening an academy, another thing has to be mentioned.
At the end of December, Xie Yuan issued an edict asking the prefects of various counties in Yangzhou to recommend talents.
Some of the prefects were descendants of the local gentry surnamed Wu. They understood what Xie Yuan meant, and most of them selected and recommended sons from gentry surnamed Wu and poor families.
And some governors came from aristocratic families, so they naturally recommended the sons of noble families.
There were also some nobles who had reached the age, and because they did not want to have anything to do with Xie Yuan, they directly used their family's power and were internally recommended to Jiankang to become officials.
As for the academy, since it has just opened, there are no quarterly examinations.
On the contrary, Longgang Academy held a large-scale quarterly examination under the auspices of Qi Yan.
After the examination results came out, Qi Yan published a list and recommended the four top writers on this year's list to the prefect of Kuaiji County, who in turn recommended them to Xie Yuan.
Seeing a large number of recommendation lists, Xie Yuan directly ignored the letters of recommendation from the gentry children and selected many children from poor families and gentry families with the surname Wu.
Of course, there are also descendants of the Huo family and the Luo family.
When those noblemen saw that they were not chosen, they immediately became unhappy.
Why do you only choose poor families, Huo family and Luo family? It's so unfair.
Xie Yuan replied like this——
"Wang Dazai once said that I can do anything in Yangzhou as long as it does not violate the laws of the Jin Dynasty. Then whoever I choose is my freedom. If you are not convinced, you can be recommended as an official by the gentry and then file a lawsuit.
The imperial court, it is unfair to impeach me."
As soon as these words came out, it was exposed that he favored the poor family and the noble family with the surname Wu.
The nobles' sons thought about the engraving and printing, and were completely stunned after hearing Xie Yuan's words.
They wrote letters one after another to impeach Xie Yuan and asked the court to remove him from office.
When Wang Dazai received this overwhelming impeachment memorial, he also received memorials from the noble family surnamed Wu, as well as the Cui family and the Huo family.
This means that unless Xie Yuan breaks the law or resigns, if you dare to dismiss him from office, don't expect them to sell the food in the Jiangnan area to the imperial court in the future.
Yes, these grains are not only owned by Xie Yuan, but Cui and Huo also listened to Xie Yuan's words and became shareholders.
Therefore, they also have the right to control the Jiangnan grain industry.
Dazai Wang is in trouble.
Neither side can afford to offend, so Xie Yuan can do his own thing.
He then pretended to be dead and ignored no one.
And this is undoubtedly the tacit approval of all Xie Yuan's actions.
Realizing this, not only the gentry disciples in Yangzhou but also other places have completely figured out one thing.
The current Xie Yuan is not something they can move if they want.
To make him step down, he must either resign himself or let his political performance be stained.
Considering the latter point, some people with evil intentions decided to act secretly.
At this time, they knew that if they targeted Xie Yuan, they would target the entire poor family and the Wu clan.
But so what.
There will eventually be a battle between the poor family, the gentry surnamed Wu, and the aristocratic family surnamed Qiao, but it will only be a matter of time.
Now that Xie Yuan has provoked an open and covert fight between the three forces, he has just brought forward this war without gunpowder.
…
This year's New Year, everyone is spending a busy time.
Xie Yuan and Cui Heng were busy dealing with the disputes between the common people and the nobles; Huo Qubing was busy training the newly recruited soldiers; Qi Yan was busy preparing for the new season's admissions examination questions and sowing seeds for the new year, while far away in Persia
Luo Chen is even more busy with trade——
Everyone did not get together for the New Year’s Eve dinner.
But this does not prevent them from being high-spirited.
Because everything is going as they expected, they won't be unhappy even if they can't get together.
On the contrary, the city of Jiankang was in silence due to the recent rise of poor families and the Wu gentry.
…
In the third year of Yongkang, it was the third day of the first lunar month.
There was no snowstorm this winter, but the weather was still very cold.
At the entrance of the Jiankang Palace, a carriage stopped, and out came a young gentleman in official uniform and a black hat.
"Zhongshu Ling, the Sa family has been waiting for you for a long time." The waiter who was waiting here swept his whisk away and bowed slightly to this very young and handsome official.
"Please, father-in-law, please lead the way." Lu Zhong took out a silver coin from his waist and put it into the hand of the chamberlain.
There was a smile in the corner of the chamberlain's eyes, and he smiled flatteringly: "The queen and the prince are waiting for you."
Then lead the way.
Lu Zhong followed the chamberlain through the corridor and looked at the two high city walls with dim eyes.
When the chamberlain ushered him out of a magnificent high-rise building, the warmth of the burning silver charcoal hit his face, bringing back the young man's thoughts.
"Zhongshu Ling, the Queen is inside, so the Sa family won't go in." The chamberlain said in a low voice, "The Queen has been in a bad mood recently, Zhongshu Ling will take care of her carefully."
Lu Zhong nodded, took off his shoes and lowered his gaze inside, knelt in the hall, kowtowed to the high position in front of him that was covered by a screen, and said, "I will bow to the Queen, Queen Jin'an."
Behind the screen, a pair of shrewd phoenix eyes slowly opened and looked at the young man lazily.
She joined the official position last year and achieved the position of Zhongshu Ling in just one year. She also married Wang's daughter and was favored by her father. She was quite capable.