Tianqi originally wanted to get some help from the queen and Feng Siqin, in case the prison court was not sure about something, and he also had a little bottom in his heart when he made a final decision, he knew that Feng Siqin didn't understand much about finding someone among the people to represent them, and the matter of the guard was not something that a woman in the palace could understand, so he only asked about things related to Feng Siqin's family. After reading Yang Lian's report, Tianqi felt that his idea of replacing a man with a woman to work in the workshop was feasible, who knew that Feng Siqin's meaning turned out to be impossible to achieve now, at most, it was to break it up and scatter it to various families to do things.

However, this can also be understood, because of physical reasons and other reasons, it is impossible for women to go out to work together, and if there is such a person, I am afraid that it will not be easy to marry after returning home, and no one will like to marry a woman who does not return home at night all year round. It seems that the matter of replacing men with women cannot be considered for the time being, and we can only wait for the opportunity slowly, but the prohibition of women's foot binding cannot be relaxed. A woman who does not bind her feet is equivalent to more than half of the male labor force, and a woman who binds her feet is estimated to be wasted, and the loss of half of the country's labor force is indeed a big loss.

Seeing that the apocalypse was a little sullen, Feng Siqin said: "The emperor doesn't have to be anxious, nothing can be done in a while, there is a lot of resistance just to stop the woman's foot binding, and it will take more than ten years to see the effect." At the beginning of the year, there were many palace maids who went home from the palace because they were eager to complete the mission of the emperor to stop women's foot binding, and as a result, many people besieged them. ”

Apocalypse asked in surprise: "Who else dares to besiege the palace maid?" How come I don't know about such things? What did they do later? ”

The queen said at this time: "This is the beginning of the year, when the emperor was sober and confused, and the government affairs yuan knew that it was related to the palace after receiving the report from the magistrate, so he let Tan Jing report in." The concubine was afraid that the night would be long and the dream would be delayed, so she asked Yang Gongchun to inform Wei Zhongxian in Nanjing, although Wei Zhongxian was bad, he was still good at this kind of thing, and the problem was solved in two days. It is said that when the locals made trouble, they didn't dare to directly say that it was because of the foot binding, but found a few other reasons to embarrass the palace maid, but fortunately, the local government protected it well, and Wei Zhongxian also found other reasons to deal with those talents to settle the matter, and it can be regarded as a wicked person who uses evil methods to treat the wicked. ”

Feng Siqin continued: "The concubines heard that the palace maids did not directly say that it was forbidden to bind their feet, but only said that the emperor's will was that it could be tied, but it must be agreed by the parties concerned, and what she said was only valid when she was fifteen or sixteen years old. The best time to bind your feet is before the age of nine, what do you still wrap when you are fifteen or sixteen years old? In the end, everyone didn't give up. ”

Apocalypse said, "I have said this, but those who heard it casually at the time will understand that there is a delay, and those who have objections can agree?" ”

Feng Siqin said: "The emperor of the Ming Dynasty is the biggest in the world, who dares to oppose the emperor?" At first, those people thought that the palace maids were angry because they made their own decisions, but later they knew that it was the emperor's intention and got off the donkey. And I heard that some people also told the people that Queen Ma was the foot of the sky when Taizu was the foot, and some people said that the emperor did not choose a concubine but only a palace maid because he liked the foot of the sky, so the people happily agreed not to bind the feet of the women in the family. ”

The queen was not very happy to see the apocalypse at the beginning, but now she smiled more when she said something, and wanted to make him happy and happy, so she said: "Speaking of palace maids and concubines, I think of one thing, at the beginning of next year, a group of palace maids will be released from the palace, and a group will be recruited at the end of this year, does the emperor have the interest to pick a few agreeable people at that time?" ”

Tianqi frowned and said: "Now that it is said that a twelve or thirteen-year-old woman will be recruited into the palace, even if she is so beautiful that she has beaten Yang Guifei Wang Zhaojun, is it not suitable in terms of age?" ”

Feng Siqin said with a smile: "Twelve or thirteen years old is indeed a little younger, just as the predecessors said in the book, 'Climb and pick the pity and leave it for the deep spring.'" 'It's better to wait until I'm older, I can't run in the palace anyway.' However, there were fourteen or fifteen-year-old recruits who were recruited into the palace last year, and this year it is already fifteen or sixteen, and a few Nirvana are really good, the emperor is interesting to take a look? ”

Hearing Feng Siqin say this, Tianqi couldn't help but feel a little moved, but after thinking about it, he said: "I'm not in the mood now, just like Siqin said, I can't run away in the palace for a while anyway, let's talk about it when I'm free." And this kind of thing depends on fate, everything just follows fate. ”

When Tianqi was doing a family meal in the palace, Gao Panlong in the Supervision Yuan was discussing several things in Yang Lian's report with King Xin and Liu Zongzhou, Xu Guangqi saw Yang Lian's proposal to extract sap from poisonous crops to kill insects, and felt that it was a good way to find someone to do the experiment and said that he would not come for the next few days, and if there was really something important, he could send someone to inform him. One is that the matter of insecticide is very important, the crop yield is reduced by at least one percent due to the insect plague, if the pests can be really killed, the grain harvest of Daming will be better, and the other is that Xu Guangqi usually rarely speaks, as long as it is not particularly important, it is the same with him or not, so everyone agreed.

After deliberating for a while, there was no progress, and it was not feasible for a woman to work in place of a man, and who would want to let his wife or daughter-in-law get involved with other men these days? Even if nothing happens, the reputation is not good, and the other people's attitudes can be imagined if they don't want to say it, and there is still a long way to go before this kind of thing can be implemented. The affairs of the army should be thought about by the people of the Military Affairs Yuan, and only the division of labor between the prefectures and counties and the need to find a few people among the people to enrich the auxiliary political institutions of the counties are still valuable.

Gao Panlong had just had dinner after returning home, and he heard the housekeeper say that Lord Zhao of the Holy Academy and Lord Liu of the Bo College came to visit together, Gao Panlong was about to write two words to be calm, and when he heard that **Xing and Liu Zongzhou were visiting, he immediately ordered to invite quickly, and he also dressed up to welcome out of the door of the second hall, and said in his heart that Liu Zongzhou had something to say, why didn't he say it during the day, and now what does it mean to come with **Xing.

Before he arrived at the door of the second hall, he saw the housekeeper leading **Xing and Liu Zongzhou in, and seeing that the two of them were walking in a hurry like thieves, Gao Panlong stepped forward and greeted loudly: "Lord Zhao, Lord Liu, what kind of wind blew you two here?" Come in, please. ”

**Xing hurriedly said: "Brother, be quiet, don't let people hear." ”

Gao Panlong was surprised but didn't show it, welcomed the two into the study and asked someone to watch tea, and then ordered his subordinates to go out and stay away, saying that he wanted to discuss important matters with the two adults and not to disturb. After everyone left, Gao Panlong asked, "What are the confidential matters for Lord Zhao and Lord Liu to come to me?" When we talk together, the emperor won't say anything, why are we afraid that people will hear it? ”

Xing thought for a while and said: "I'm afraid that people will hear it because I have a few words that we can only know, and in any case, Brother Gao can't say it to the fourth person." ”

Gao Panlong nodded and said, "Lord Zhao, please say, the little brother must not tell others about it." ”

**Xing said with satisfaction: "We are all our own people, I will get straight to the point, I think that back then, Mr. Gu Xiancheng and Mr. Qian Yiqian plus Brother Gao, people called you Mr. Donglin San, and you all put forward your own opinions during the lectures." I remember that Mr. Gu's main purpose was to disperse power, that is, to weaken the monarch's power, and Mr. Qian's purpose was to elect auxiliary ministers. Brother Gao's purpose is to be interested in the people, if it is beneficial to the people, even if it is harmful to the country, do you still remember these words? ”

Seeing ** Xing mention the events of that year, Gao Panlong couldn't help but miss the time when he and Gu Xiancheng established Donglin Academy, at that time, the people in the academy were either frustrated in the officialdom, or they were unhappy in the officialdom, everyone had a common language because they had a common experience. Generally speaking, this kind of person complains together at most, and eats and drinks by the way, but under the joint management of Qian Yiyi and Gu Xiancheng, they forcibly turned a complaining society full of grievances and decadence into a vigorous and energetic academy, and later attracted a large number of people with the same language and ambition to unite together.

Gao Panlong thought for a while, looked at ** Xing and said: "Lord Zhao's words reminded me of the past, although it has been many years, but it is like yesterday, Mr. Gu and Mr. Qian are also my predecessors in terms of age, and we are duty-bound to their unfulfilled wishes." It's just that now the emperor has done more than we wanted back then, just talking about the matter of dispersing power, not only does he not control all the power but all of it goes out, although we are wary of the people of Donglin Academy, but we are not very suspicious, you see how many middle and senior officials in the two capitals and thirteen provinces are from my Donglin sect? How can we go any further? ”

**Xing said: "Yes, the emperor has completely delegated power, and the selection of officials is also trying to listen to our opinions, even the form of court push can be saved, and the care for the people is more concerned than that of our Donglin Academy." The emperor has already put these words into action, just like the measures of immigrating out of pocket, forcibly demanding the return of large households, restricting the landlords' land rents, and restricting the profits of merchants. However, these are all based on his personal authority, not on a system, does Brother Gao think it is normal to do this? ”

Gao Panlong folded his eyes and said: "I don't understand what Lord Zhao said today, and now that this is the case, we should assist the emperor to make things more complete, and we shouldn't think about anything else." To put it mildly, what do you and I think about at such an old age? Can you still be Wang Anshi and Zhang Juzheng? ”

**Xing said: "I know that my brother is sincere, it is said that you and the emperor have privately talked about the relationship between Donglin Academy and the imperial court, and you may have promised each other something, and now I feel embarrassed to regret it." But I don't want my brother to do anything rebellious, I'm seventy-eight this year, my body is not as good as a day, and I don't think about living long, and I definitely won't think about doing anything to disrupt the country. I just don't think any system can be built on the authority of an individual, even if that person is the emperor. ”

Gao Panlong thought about it and turned his head and asked Liu Zongzhou: "What does Lord Liu mean?" It's all your own people, and there's no need to hide it and not say it, we have been friends for many years, and it's almost like a brother. Now we are discussing the recital sent by Lord Yang Lian, and today we have written to go to Nanjing to ask Lord Yang and them to continue to inspect the surrounding provinces, which shows that the emperor and everyone in the Supervision Yuan are willing to listen to the voices of the people, rather than only getting information from the official recitals. The two of you came to my house today to talk about this, I'm afraid it has something to do with Yang Lian's report, right? ”

Liu Zongzhou said: "That's true, there are some things I haven't figured out in the Prison Yuan, and the more I think about some things, the more I feel that I have other ideas, and when I returned to the Holy Academy, I discussed with Lord Zhao for a while≡ and I discussed for a while and felt that I could take this opportunity to make some changes, this change does not mean to oppose the emperor, but just to form a system based on the authority of one person, so that even if there are any personnel changes in the future, the system will not be shaken." I remember that the emperor once said that the short-lived dynasties of Qin and Sui were not short-lived because Qin Shi Huang and Emperor Yang of Sui were incompetent, but because they did not have a strong successor. ”

Gao Panlong thought for a while and said: "What Lord Liu means is that it is better to have a good successor without a strong successor, and a good successor is better than a good system, because no one dares to guarantee that every successor is a wise person, and as long as one of them goes wrong, a great disaster will occur." If there is a perfect and perfect system that everyone abides by, even if there is a less qualified person sitting on the dragon chair in the future, the Ming Dynasty will not be much chaotic, just like Taizu decreed that future generations should not change it after setting the law of the Ming Dynasty, although it is becoming more and more unsuitable for the status quo, but it also ensures the stability of the Ming Dynasty for two hundred years, Lord Liu said that this is not the case? ”