The literary giants of the late Ming Dynasty began by copying books

Chapter 195 Soft articles and writing

Wang Yude snorted coldly: "You must be fooling around outside again. I told you to read more books. How come you can't show up all day long? Go to dinner quickly, your mother has been waiting for you for a long time!"

His father pointed to the canteen and walked away with his back. Wang Zucai quickly followed him obediently. Wang Yude looked back at him as he walked and asked, "Where is Wang Xiang, the book boy?"

Wang Zucai lied and said: "He ate something bad and had a stomachache. He left through the back corner door first."

Wang Yude snorted coldly. He knew his son better than his father. He could tell at a glance that there was something wrong with his son. However, their family was from a wealthy family. They ate and slept silently. They were not allowed to talk during meals, so Wang Yude did not ask.

After dinner, Wang Yude asked his son to go back to the house to warm up his books, and then asked his servants to bring Wang Xiang.

When he read the article on the front page, he was quite sympathetic at first, but when he saw the content about the Women's Textile Factory at the back, he suddenly frowned.

"Since you are a widow and an orphan, you have to keep your integrity to be respected by others. Letting a woman go out to work will only attract gossip. How is this helping a woman? It is clearly harming others! This Hu Lienu is so confused!"

Wang Yude is also a wealthy family in Fuzhou. His father, Wang Yingshan, is a famous historian in Fuzhou. He is still compiling books in his sixties. He is also a famous calligrapher in central Fujian. His family has carved "Fujian Daji", "Hushan Jisheng" and so on. ""Fujian Chronicle" and other books that are very important for local chronicles.

Wang Zucai was too young to tell, but Wang Yude had such a sophisticated eye. After reading it twice, he discovered that although Wang Wenlong described the entire process in an objective tone on the surface, the whole article had been implicitly praising the women's textile factory.

The more Wang Yude read, the angrier he became. He felt that Wang Wenlong's thoughts were completely on the wrong track. Although this kind of women's textile factory had good intentions, it actually damaged women's honor. After thinking about it again and again, he lit a candle, unfolded the manuscript paper, and started writing. Article rebuttal:

"It is forbidden to drown women. If the local government imposes teachings and clears out the canons and punishments, then it is the right way. If women are to be exposed, work and plan, and mess with etiquette, it is not something that should be promoted. Even if you survive, chastity will be compromised and your reputation will be difficult to maintain. This is It’s harmful to women! Women don’t understand this, but famous officials like Wang Jianyang don’t defend themselves! Mr. Jingguan instead wags his lips and talks about it, what’s the point..."

With Wang Wenlong's production of ink and wax paper in Fuzhou, Fuzhou's wax printing technology caught up with others and became the production center of cheap printed matter in Fujian. Cheap printing promoted the iterative evolution of local newspaper companies.

At this time, there were already five newspapers on the market in Fuzhou with monthly sales of more than 300 yuan. They covered current affairs, weather and prices, overseas anecdotes, and Buddhist scriptures. The content of the newspapers also tended to be complicated, and citizens gradually developed the habit of reading newspapers.

As the largest circulation newspaper in Fuzhou, "Xunbao", Wang Wenlong's series of reports "Tracking the Phenomenon of Drowning Girls" immediately aroused discussion throughout the city.

Immediately afterwards, other voices appeared, the most vocal of which was an article written by Wang Yude, a famous official in Fuzhou, in Cangshan Poems, competing with Wang Wenlong.

The newspaper that published Wang Yude's article was run by the local Cangshan Poetry Society in Fuzhou. At first, it was just an in-house publication that published poems and essays gathered by members of the poetry society. However, due to its good sales, the newspaper has now begun to operate in a market-oriented manner, imitating "Xun Xun". The organizational model of the newspaper was divided into departments such as editing and printing, and the audience of the newspaper was the local scholar-bureaucrat class.

These scholar-bureaucrats had no objections to the prohibition of doting on women, but they firmly opposed the opening of women's textile factories and the behavior of women going out to work.

However, such quarrelsome articles did not cause Wang Wenlong too many problems, and there was no need to fear that the Chief Envoy Si Yamen would be implicated, because the young progressive forces had already organized to launch a pen war against Wang Yude and others.

The first to launch a counterattack against Wang Yude was the maritime business newspaper in Quanzhou. The business newspaper took a clear stand in support of women's work. The author pointed out: "There are many male workers in the Sanwu silk industry, while in Fujian, men farmed and women weaved in ancient times. Quan silk and Fu silk They are all purchased from farmers, and they are originally produced for women. Most of the products sold overseas are woven by women. They are originally produced by women, and women are not allowed to enter the machine room. Isn't this a contradiction? Organizing women to join machine workers is just a way to gather young people. It is a natural thing to gather sand into a tower, so why should it be strange?"

Quanzhou is a place with many open-minded people, otherwise it would not be able to cultivate people like Li Zhi, and there are quite a few disciples of Li Zhi. These people are all over the industry and commerce. It is difficult to find famous officials among them, but when they get together, they can make a lot of achievements. Novel discussion.

Even people from Suzhou came to participate. Han Qia, a newly minted official, directly criticized: "Dolting on girls is a bad habit and must be eradicated. If it can be beneficial for women to enter the factory, why not? Those who block it all kill women for the sake of ethical ethics. How is it different from a drowning daughter?"

Suzhou calligrapher Ma Zhide was even more powerful. He said that not only were doting on women and not allowing women to work a conservative idea, but even allowing women to remain chaste was problematic.

Ma Zhide wrote a special article and sent his servants to Fuzhou to publish it. In his article, he criticized women's chastity as contrary to ethics and natural human emotional needs.

"There are great desires between a man and a woman. Love cannot be suppressed. Even though a saint cannot restrain it...how can we blame the woman?"

Ma Zhide talked about how it is normal for a woman to want to find another man after her husband dies, and the love between men and women is a natural need. He even asked Confucius, wasn't he also born in a wild union?

His article was obviously a manifestation of the "lustful" thoughts at this time. At the beginning, he was still talking about the issue of women's work, but later he couldn't contain it. It was much more powerful than Wang Wenlong's article. After sending it to Fuzhou, he wanted to read it again in "Xunbao" Deng Zhimo rejected the article directly, but it was eventually published by a tabloid in Fuzhou, causing a huge sensation in an instant.

During the Wanli period, the commercial society in the south of the Yangtze River gradually developed, and a group of dissolute characters appeared. They pursued fancy clothes and had little respect for Taoism, thinking that their free thoughts were the essence of Confucianism.

However, this group of people is still an absolute minority in society. Even the Donglin Party members still use the guise of Zhu Lixue to stand up for themselves at this time. Ma Zhide and others are scolding the world, but they cannot get the mainstream at all. support from public opinion. Even Wang Wenlong was too cautious to stand up for himself, otherwise it would be difficult for him to do anything in the future after being labeled a "madman".

But Xiangfei yarn became popular anyway, and the third article appeared, which used pictures to show realistic scenes of women wearing narrow clothes working in women's textile factories, which even made the people of Fuzhou click their tongues.

How can any man these days see this? Even though he said that the world was in decline, this issue of "Xunbao" actually sold more than 500 copies, and even after printing three more editions, the supply still exceeded the demand.

Many people bought the newspaper and hid it at home to enjoy it, not daring to let others see it. Some people even asked people to find Wang Wenlong to interview the author of these prints, meaning they wanted to pay a high price for the author to help draw other content.

In Hengjin Lane, in Xiangfeisha's shop, Wang Wenlong was instructing the shop assistants to hang up a pair of new water signs.

Many fabrics were given nice names by him, such as "Xiangfei Green", "Wanqing Sha" and "Mulan Silk". There was also a discount area next to it, with stacks of beautiful handkerchiefs with "off-price" and "off-the-shelf" items. ""Highly recommended" and other brands.

Nowadays, many people come to Hengjin Alley to watch the excitement after reading the declaration. Their money is not enough to buy a whole piece of cloth, but these small embroidery works, handkerchiefs, etc. are sold cheaply, and most people who have time to wander around spend it. But it was easy.

A middle-aged man in his forties or fifties walked into the store wearing a Confucian shirt and looked up and down. He was not at all as cramped as other people entering a store filled with women.

"Does this gentleman want to buy cloth?"

The man smiled and said, "Let me take a look first. I dare you to ask if you still want to sell the goods?"

The female saleswoman in the store was afraid that someone was harassing her, so she hurriedly called Wang Wenlong. Wang Wenlong came over and looked at the person carefully, and found that the person's eyes only glanced at the goods, and did not stare at the person like those idle children. , then he felt a little relieved, smiled and said forward: "Is this gentleman coming to deliver goods?"

The middle-aged man looked at Wang Wenlong in front of him, raised his hands and asked, "Is it Mr. Jianyang's face?"

Wang Wenlong nodded, and the middle-aged man smiled and said: "I don't have many goods at home, but I am also a businessman. I am willing to cut some cloth and go to Quanzhou to express my feelings."

Wang Wenlong was a little surprised to hear that this person actually took the initiative to support the women's textile factory. There are also large sales of Xiangfei yarn these days, but most of them want to make money with the recent fame of Xiangfei yarn. Very few people are doing it to help. Only women do big business.

Especially when Wang Wenlong saw the middle-aged man in front of him who was wearing simple clothes and was obviously not too rich. Knowing that this man was probably just a small businessman, it was especially rare that he still had such a heart.

Wang Wenlong said: "Sir, you are so righteous. May I ask your name?"

"My name is Zhuang Chunfu, and my courtesy name is Fengwen."

Wang Wenlong was stunned: "I dare you to be from Mr. Zhuo Wu's family..."

Zhuang Chunfu smiled and said, "I am the son-in-law of the Lin family. I heard about Mr. Jingguan and came here to meet him."

Wang Wenlong hurriedly greeted him and said, "It turns out that Zhuang Fengwen is here. Sir, please go to the back and have some tea."

Zhuang Chunfu said that he was a surrogate son-in-law, but Wang Wenlong did not dare to neglect him at all, because Zhuang Chunfu's father-in-law was Li Zhi.

The local Lin and Li families of Li Zhi's family were originally from the same clan. Li Zhi's original family name was Lin, and his original name was Lin Zaizhi. Later, he changed his surname to Li, probably for scientific research reasons.

Li Zhi's eldest son died when he was in his twenties. Later, his two sons and two daughters died of starvation due to poverty and illness, leaving only one daughter by his side. At that time, his wife was also too old to have children.

According to the concept at this time, Li Zhi should have a son or at least adopt a son to continue the family life, but Li Zhi did not consider this. He said, "If you have a good woman, you will start a family, why bother with a man?" So Li Zhi left all the family property to his wife and daughter. He recruited his son-in-law Zhuang Chunfu and treated him as his biological son, allowing his daughter and son-in-law to support their family in Quanzhou.

(End of this chapter)