Zhu Youxiao couldn't help but feel strange, Ye Xianggao's reaction seemed to be a little wrong, it turned out to be a picture of opposing strange tricks and tricks. In fact, this is an intellectual who does not understand this era very well. In fact, many of them have begun to open their eyes to the world, and Ye Xianggao is one of them. They themselves are aware of the problems of Confucian culture itself, and know that if they do not reform, it will lead to some serious consequences, but reform is okay, and it is impossible to accept the complete overthrow of Confucianism, because Confucianism is their roots, pruning branches and leaves, and digging roots is intolerable. Therefore, Zhu Youxiao's disagreement with Confucius's views revealed in his discourse is tantamount to offending his counter-scales, and he reacted so violently.

And when Zhu Youxiao said that the birth date of Confucius should be set as the first year of the new calendar, he was so excited that he lost his temper.

Since Ye Xianggao has made it clear that he should completely defeat the theory of strange tricks and ingenuity, Zhu Youxiao naturally understands that he supports his reform of Confucianism. As for how to solve problems such as strange tricks and tricks, it is naturally better to leave them all in their hands.

He smiled and said, "As for how to carry out the Confucian reform, I will leave it to Master Ye, and my familiarity with Confucianism is obviously far from being comparable to that of the other Qing families. I just mentioned a few things that need to be revised, one is the problem of strange skills and ingenuity, the second is the problem of foolishness and filial piety, the third is the problem of evasion, and the fourth is the problem of the gentleman not speaking for profit, these are the aspects that I feel hinder the perfection of Confucianism, and we need to build a new Confucianism and absorb the beneficial parts of other schools. For example, the problem of strange skills and tricks can be combined with the ideas of the Mohists, anyway, now that the Mohists are gone, it should be no problem for us to add some of their ideas to Confucianism. ”

Fang Congzhe thought to himself, you think simply, this project is not something that can be solved with just a few words, you must consult a large amount of information, choose what is in line with your heart in various interpretations of Confucius's remarks, and remove what is not in line with your heart, which is not something that can be effective in a short period of time.

Sure enough, Ye Xianggao said: "Your Majesty, this is not a day's work, the old minister has to borrow the bachelors of the Hanlin Academy to participate together." In addition, His Majesty is inclined to which faction of Confucianism, so that the old minister can establish the focus. ”

Zhu Youxiao thought for a while and said: "First of all, the previous school of thought was inclined to Xunzi's theory of sexual evil, but now I think it is very good, and it is best for Cheng Zhu to not do it all." ”

Ye Xianggao was dumbfounded and said: "Your Majesty, the ministers have always been learning Cheng Zhu Lixue, and if this makes the old minister give up Cheng Zhu Lixue completely, there is really no way to start." ”

Xu Guangqi interjected: "Cheng Zhu Lixue is just an interpretation of the sage's remarks, we take other people's explanations or reinterpret them ourselves, and change what His Majesty thinks is inappropriate in Cheng Zhu Lixue, so is it okay." ”

Zhu Youxiao said: "Yes, that's what I mean." By the way, speaking of which, we must strongly oppose the remarriage and binding of widows. The chastity archway should also pay attention to the fact that only the older ones can be praised, and the young widows will no longer be praised. ”

Fang Congzhe said with a difficult face: "Your Majesty, the matter of the chaste archway, my dynasty has always vigorously advocated it, and it still has an effect on educating the people." The widow's remarriage and foot-binding are only required by the law. ”

Zhu Youxiao nodded: "Yes, this will soon be promulgated first to promulgate the holy decree, and then make a decree to strictly prohibit women from binding their feet, advocate widows to remarry, and their husbands' families must not stop them." As for the chastity archway, there are indeed people who are determined to stay widowed for life because of the deep love between husband and wife. But there are also many cases caused by family persecution, and if the chastity archway is no longer granted to young widows, many cases of persecution of widowhood can be reduced. Zhongqing's family also has children, if it is their own daughter, young widow and unmarried, and living for decades with green lights and ancient Buddhas, will it not hurt in their hearts? ”

Fang Congzhe felt that this matter should not be said like this, but this matter was not a festival, after the emperor decided on a new dating method, such a small concession was not important in his opinion.

After everyone discussed for a while and assigned their respective tasks, the clerk brought paper and pen, Ye Xianggao took the pen, and Zhu Youxiao dictated and wrote the holy decree.

The next day's newspaper issued a new decree: ...... A woman's foot binding is not conducive to walking and is harmful to health. Therefore, it is strictly forbidden for women to bind their feet. The remarriage of widows is conducive to increasing the population of the country and the nation, so the remarriage of widows is advocated. Neither the husband's family nor the woman's family shall obstruct it. The arch of chastity is no longer granted to women who are widowed before the age of 30......

After the promulgation of this decree, it caused a great repercussion, and a large number of letters poured into the newspaper office. According to Wang Chengen's statistics, more than ninety percent are aimed at widows remarrying and chastity archways. And the meaning is surprisingly unanimous, believing that widows remarrying will bring about bad social morals, and the court should encourage widowhood in order to fulfill their chastity.

As for the matter of foot binding, there is no objection to it, but some people think that it is a good thing to strictly prohibit it. Because the phenomenon of foot binding is not serious at this time, even if there are foot binding, it is only in the homes of some rich and noble.

Zhu Youxiao had no choice but to organize people to fight back, listing the disadvantages of widowhood and the benefits of remarrying. It is believed that people who agree with widowhood do not want their mothers or wives to remarry after losing their husbands, but just to save face. And to hinder the happiness of others because of his own face can be described as selfish to the extreme.

He also pointed out that when a man is widowed, why don't he not marry again, like a woman? Doesn't it feel ridiculous to use things that you can't do yourself to ask others? Haven't you all read the sage's words, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you"?

After this counterattack article appeared in the newspapers, it finally caused a great controversy that later generations called "the pioneers of the women's liberation movement". Zhu Youxiao told Wang Chengen that as long as there was no scolding of the emperor in the letter, no matter what his point of view, he would choose to publish a representative one in the newspaper as it was.

The support of women's widowhood first had an absolute advantage, but gradually, the situation began to change, and the opposition to widowhood slowly rose from less than 10 percent, and finally accounted for 30 percent after two months.

The Central Cabinet once put forward an opinion to Zhu Youxiao, saying that such an argument was too unorthodox and that the publication of letters from the two sides should be stopped, but Zhu Youxiao refused.

Zhu Youxiao said: "The more the truth is debated, the clearer it becomes, and I like this way." It's good to argue, because we can see what the people of the world really think, so that we can guide it correctly. And the growing opposition to widowhood illustrates the effectiveness of this method of debate? ”