Some scholars originally wanted to stand up and oppose, but now they gave up trying to stop Fang Yun.
After Zhao Hongzhuang left, Fang Yun continued to handle official business. Within a quarter of an hour, great scholars came in one after another.
In the lobby, people in purple robes stood in rows, and the energy of righteousness was surging.
Fang Yun held the brush used for reviewing official documents, put it into the brush washer and shook it gently, lifted it out of the water and flicked it gently, then placed it on the pen holder and looked at every great scholar present.
More than twenty great scholars said nothing and looked at Fang Yun calmly.
Fang Yun remained calm and composed.
"Please take a seat." After Fang Yun said this, the bailiffs brought chairs over.
After the great scholars were seated, Fang Yun asked, "I wonder what brings you all together to do?"
Some great scholars laughed helplessly. Although Fang Yun did not want to be hostile, there was resistance between the lines.
Everyone looked at each other, and finally their eyes fell on the oldest scholar, Tian Songshi.
Tian Songshi has white hair and beard and a warm gaze. Although his skin is wrinkled, there is light in his eyes and he looks so friendly that people will not be on guard at first sight.
Tian Songshi smiled and said, "Since you are reluctant to speak, I will take advantage of my age and get straight to the point. Fang Xusheng, although it is strange to confer Zhao Hongzhuang as a female dresser, it is reasonable. However, today, granting her the title of Jinshi and promoting her to the position of the head of the Zhenjun Army is really against etiquette."
"Doesn't etiquette and law allow Zhao Hongzhuang to serve as an official Jinshi?" Fang Yun asked back.
Tian Songshi smiled and said, "Fang Xusheng, we are not here to argue with you. You can say these words to the Left Prime Minister's party, but they are useless to us old guys."
"Do you want to hear the truth?" Fang Yun asked.
The great scholars nodded slightly.
"If you want to improve every day, you must improve every day. When the etiquette and laws become old, they must be replaced with new ones. That's all." Fang Yun's tone was extremely leisurely, as if he was discussing which cabbage was the most juicy in the countryside.
"We all understand what Fang Xusheng is saying. But, this woman being an official and hens crowing at dawn are too new. They have gone beyond the old law and become new rituals. We need to re-establish the etiquette!" Tian Songshi said.
"If the old etiquette and laws are hindering the progress of mankind, if they cannot represent the development of the most advanced political system of mankind, what's the harm in re-establishing the etiquette and laws?" Fang Yun was still chatting as if he was in the vegetable garden.
"You can't say that!" a great scholar said in a deep voice.
Jiang Hechuan smiled bitterly and said, "Fang Yun, this step you took is too big."
"If you don't take big steps, the monster will catch up with you." Fang Yun said.
"Okay, then tell me, what exactly do you want to do?" Tian Songshi asked.
Fang Yun said, "I see that women are no less capable than men, and I promote them equally. What else do I want?"
Tian Songshi still had a smile on his face and said, "You don't have to hide it. Are you targeting the women's imperial examination?"
"That's not the case." Fang Yun replied.
"I'm not sincere. I hope you can tell me the truth." Tian Songshi said.
Fang Yun smiled calmly and said, "The imperial examination for women is a matter of great importance. It will definitely come to fruition naturally and it is difficult for human power to interfere. How stupid is Fang Yun to target the imperial examination?"
"Then why have your Fang's Academy and Library always accepted women to study, why did you support the Women's Society, and why did you let Zhao Hongzhuang serve as a high-ranking official?"
Fang Yun said: "Zhao Hongzhuang has made great contributions and possesses both talent and strategy. She is more than qualified to be the chief of the Zhenjun Army. If she is tempered, she can even be a frontier official. As for the word "support" in the "supporting the women's society", it is a bit inappropriate. It is nothing more than God helps those who help themselves, and I help those who help themselves. Those women have made enough efforts and have enough knowledge, but they do not have the corresponding status. I lent a hand, that's all. The so-called acceptance of women to study is even more ridiculous. Some of those women were abandoned by their parents, some were beaten and humiliated, some came from poor families, and some had nothing to do and wanted to study. What law did my academy and library break by accepting them? What's more, what does it mean to accept women to study? Do I stop men from coming to my academy and library?"
Tian Songshi said helplessly: "Fang Xusheng, there is no need to quibble in front of us."
The group of great scholars were also helpless. As great scholars, they were extremely sensitive to everything. It was obvious that what Fang Yun said was correct, but it was not the point.
"I'm just doing what I should do." Fang Yun said.
"But what you did has gone beyond the secular rules."
"Aren't worldly rules meant to be broken?" Fang Yun asked back.
"Don't talk nonsense." A great scholar objected.
Fang Yun said solemnly: "The morality of the human race may be different, but they all follow a basic bottom line, that is, do not harm innocent people. Any words and deeds that convict innocent people are immoral and beastly. They should be punished at the least, and should be eliminated from the human race at the worst, because they are not worthy of being human! Let me give you a very simple example. When the ten countries were in opposition, my Jing country defined Qing country as an enemy country. Everyone knows it."
Fang Yun glanced at everyone and continued, "In the war between the two countries, we did not formulate detailed rules, but there are some things that everyone knows. For example, when we encounter the enemy's soldiers, we will try our best to kill them. When we encounter civilians who attack us, we will also regard them as soldiers and should kill them. However, most civilians do not want to fight. Even if the food they grow helps the enemy, we will not start a massacre after we win. Some people will say that this is the law and morality. No, not killing innocent civilians has nothing to do with other things. The most fundamental reason is that the human race is protecting itself. Each of us must try our best to let the human race reproduce and try to avoid being killed. It's like saying, I won't kill you indiscriminately, and you don't kill our people indiscriminately. How about everyone making concessions? This sounds ridiculous, but it can really protect yourself and it is really effective."
"When trying a case, we pay the most attention to evidence and try to avoid convicting innocent people. Why? Because if we cannot implement the most basic concept of punishing evil and promoting good, if people are not held accountable for arbitrarily harming others and no one cares when innocent people are harmed, then the order of the human race will collapse immediately, and the human race will inevitably be exterminated in a short period of time due to infighting."
"So, we can say 'I hate Qing people', 'I just don't like Qing people', 'I just don't want to buy Qing things', and of course, we can also say 'I am willing to buy good things from Qing', and there is nothing wrong with that. We can be more ruthless and say 'Qing soldiers with weapons should die', 'Qing people who are hostile to Jing should die', and 'those who intend to hurt Jing should die'. Although these are not tolerant enough, they are understandable. After all, we Qing people have been hurt too deeply by Jing."
After Fang Yun finished speaking, he paused for a moment and continued.
"However, we cannot assume that 'all Qing people can be killed', nor can we assume that 'we can rob all Qing people of their property', and we cannot assume that 'I can rape all women, children or men in Qing'. No matter who spreads this kind of thing, our team will not forgive him. Such people are not worthy of being human. Any country or group that spreads this kind of thing should be destroyed! They should all be killed! Why? Because they have crossed the bottom line of morality, they have launched 'human self-destruction'. Even if such a country wins, it will soon split, and then each side will think that 'all the other side's people can be killed', which will eventually lead to the extinction of the human race."
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