After Chongzhen's reply was published in the Daming Times, public opinion in the capital was in an uproar. Both the students of Yenching University and some scholars thought that the gentry's request was too rude.

Everyone believes that the two words "representatives" of these gentry representatives originally referred to the representatives of the Ming people. Now they are opposed to the people listening to them discuss the affairs of the people, so what qualifications do these representatives have to represent the people of the world and sit in the meeting hall to discuss the affairs of the people?

After the fierce debate, public opinion in the capital faintly aimed at the question of whether these gentry representatives were qualified to hold meetings on behalf of the people. With the continuous fermentation of public opinion, the people, who did not care much about what was discussed at the gentry congress, suddenly changed their attitude and began to pay attention to the content of the discussion at the gentry meeting.

Before the Ming Times published the emperor's reply, the number of people in the capital who went to the venue every day was only about 2 or 300, which just filled the seats at the venue, and more than half of them were students of Yenching University.

However, after the emperor's article was published in the Daming Times, the number of people in the capital who went to the venue of the gentry representative meeting suddenly rose to nearly 1,000. Not only the auditoriums inside the venue, but also the windows and doorways outside the venue were full of people.

These people didn't really care about what the gentry were discussing at the meeting, they just felt that they should be there to support the students of Yenching University, after all, these students represented the people of the capital in the struggle against the gentry.

The people of the capital who live at the feet of the Son of Heaven have always been bolder than the people in other places, and they also have the habit of watching the excitement. In their eyes, even local officials are nothing in the capital, let alone a group of local gentry.

Before Chongzhen's reply was published, everyone did not think that the affairs discussed at the gentry assembly would be related to themselves. Since the beginning of the world, the Chinese people have never had it, discussing how to govern their own policies. The plan to govern the country and the plan to govern the people is not a meat eater's plan, when will it be the turn of the ordinary people to intervene.

However, Chongzhen's public reply in the Daming Times suddenly made some ordinary people from relatively wealthy families who could not step into the gentry class feel that the power they had never gained seemed to be being lost.

These people were small proprietors, who either owned a shop in the capital or were craftsmen who had a workshop. Compared with the lower-class citizens who have to work all day to make ends meet, they don't have to worry about food and clothing. But they are nothing compared to those who are truly propertied people.

In this era, all real entertainment projects are quite expensive. And the entertainment that these people can enjoy is nothing more than going to the teahouse to drink tea and listen to the story.

Once upon a time, there were low-end kilns and casinos in the outer city, where they could spend an afternoon or a whole night. But since the new emperor ascended the throne, the vigorous rectification of these two entertainment undertakings has made these people have to prolong the time of idle time in the teahouse.

And now, at last, these people have found a new way to pass the time, and that is to go to the meeting of the gentry congress and listen to the debates between the students and the gentry representatives.

On the one hand, there were many criticisms in the Daming Times, and on the other hand, the onlookers and coaxing of the people at the scene, and the gentry group, which was not very strong-willed, quickly succumbed.

The vote on whether or not to hold a closed-door meeting of the gentry congress and forbid the people to attend the vote was received 43 votes against and 36 abstentions, which means that there was not even a single representative who voted in favor.

This kind of fierce and timid performance of the gentry delegates not only greatly boosted the morale of the onlookers and the common people, but also greatly disappointed Chongzhen, who had been paying attention to the conference. The behavior of these gentry was not at all like the representatives of the so-called stubborn and reactionary feudal and conservative forces in his memory.

Chongzhen's idea is actually not correct, most of the stubborn and conservative forces he envisioned are still in the countryside at the moment, guarding their land. And these gentry, far from their homes and their own land, could not show their strength in a strange and malevolent city.

What's more, the gentry who have read the books of sages all their lives have encountered the situation of being bluntly reprimanded by the emperor for the first time. For some of the gentry who had just run away from their hometown, it was almost the same as the sky falling.

At the beginning of the meeting, the gentry, who had wanted to oppose the policies of the imperial court, were suddenly depressed after receiving such a blow.

"This set of primary school textbooks for the first, second and third grades has been well compiled, and the Ministry of Rites will continue to compile the primary school textbooks for the fourth and fifth grades in cooperation with the Hanlin Academy. Has the Ministry of Rites discussed the regulations for the management of seowon and gakutan? Zhu Youzhen put down the primary school textbook in his hand and asked Li Tianjing and Lai Zongdao in front of him.

Li Tianjing and Lai Zongdao glanced at each other before they opened their mouths and replied to Chongzhen: "After last year's investigation of academies and schools in various places, we believe that there are indeed some problems with the current academy education.

First of all, although the teachers hired by the academies in various places are all well-known scholars in various places, most of the content taught in the academies is only the Four Books and the Five Classics, and only a small number of academies have followed the orders of the imperial court and set up mathematics and natural sciences, but there are not enough teachers to teach these subjects.

Secondly, although the students recruited by the academy are claimed to be unclassified, few of the students they recruit come from the homes of ordinary people. Even if they come from poor families, there are quite a few of them.

Therefore, in order to encourage the trend of learning, the tax exemption system for learning fields granted by the imperial court has essentially become the tuition fee for the children of large local families who do not need to receive subsidies. Or, some big families simply use Xuetian as a means of tax evasion.

At present, the management of the school field is managed by the school officials sent by the imperial court (specifically referring to the official schools of the government, state, county, etc.), the second is managed by the gentry and landlords (mostly private schools), and the third is managed by the school students themselves.

There are too many disadvantages of this kind of management. The person in charge often goes up and down his hands and is greedy for money and food. Therefore, we believe that the seowon and school field system is indeed in need of a radical reform. ”

Chongzhen nodded and said, "This is a good reason, when issuing the policy of restructuring the academy and the school field, these specific examples can be added." So can you negotiate specific regulations? ”

Li Tianjing immediately said: "The minister has discussed with the Ministry of Rites and believes that in order to change this situation, it is necessary to limit the size of the school field and make it mandatory for the students to be enrolled in the academy. For example, it is stipulated that unofficial academies must admit 40% of poor students, and the size of the school field is determined according to the number of students in the academy..."

Chongzhen talked for a long time with the two ministers in charge of education, and discussed in detail the reform plan of the academy and the school field before ending the meeting.

Before the two of them got up, Li Tianjing suddenly remembered something, and said to Chongzhen: "Your Majesty, it will soon be the recruitment examination for the Prime Minister's Yamen and the supplementary personnel of various departments. The minister would like to ask His Majesty, the mathematics problem and some physical chemistry knowledge, the minister has already discussed with the professors of Yenching University. But in this liberal arts, in addition to Kumon and vernacular writing, is there a need for a main exam question? ”

Zhu Youzhen thought about it, and then said: "Then take Zhang Hongfan's destruction of the Song Dynasty as the topic, whether it is the Mengren Zhang Hongfan who destroyed the Song Dynasty, or the Song people Zhang Hongfan who destroyed the Song Dynasty, let those candidates use this as the topic to make a discussion..."

After Li Tianjing and Lai Zongdao left, Zhu Youzhen turned his head to Wang Chengen and asked, "Which official are you going to summon next?" ”

Wang Chengen bowed his head and replied, "Your Majesty, the morning's schedule has ended. Shall we go back to the palace to rest first and have lunch? ”

Zhu Youzhen closed the record book in front of him, pondered for a moment, and did not get up, but continued to ask Wang Chengen: "What is going on over there at the gentry meeting?" ”

Wang Chengen pondered carefully before he spoke: "Xu Hanwen, Gao Xuanguang, and Gu Yuanhui are no longer as aggressive as they were at the meeting.

Several gentry of the Li family of Foshan and Liangguang were willing to obey His Majesty's orders. As for the gentry representatives of Beizhili and Shandong provinces, they are all in the arrangement of Cui Chengxiu and Feng Quan, and there should be no variables.

As for the Shanxi gentry, although several representatives of the Shanxi gentry were a little wavering, they all had shares in the Shanxi Bank, and they were not willing to conflict with His Majesty because of the problems of the Henan gentry. The minister thought that these people would at most follow the crowd and would not have the courage to stand up against the policies of the imperial court.

As for the remaining gentry representatives, Wen Zhenheng and Zhu Hao are known as Jiangnan celebrities, and it is probably no problem for them to chant poems against each other and add some literary atmosphere to the banquet, but if they want to be like the Donglin Party, they will not have the courage to bet on their families and the same size as the imperial court.

As for the representatives of the gentry from other regions, they echoed the proposition of whoever had been loud in the meeting the meeting a few days ago.

In the past few days, the people and students in the capital have also made them even more afraid to express their stance easily, for fear of being refuted on the spot by the people and students who are watching and lose their face.

Thus, the first item of the conference, the discussion on the abolition of slavery, had almost begun to reach a consensus.

Xu Hanwen saw that the abolition of the slave system was already the trend of the times, so he simply proposed a gradual plan with Zhu Hao.

The two of them suggested that in order to avoid the release of a large number of slaves and maids, they would be left without food and clothing. Therefore, the release of slaves and maids should be carried out in stages, first suspending the slave trade and then releasing non-domestic slaves and maids in batches.

For a period of fifteen to twenty years, all slaves and maids who were in debt or sold themselves were freed. At the same time, since this year, a decree has been issued declaring that the children born to slaves and maids are not allowed to be used as slaves and maids, and after a generation, the slave and maid system will naturally disappear. ”