I have a cornucopia

Chapter 228 Teacher Yang and his female students
Li Zicheng responded quickly.

Agree to a temporary ceasefire and then convene a conference of the four peoples in the manner he proposed.

This was the choice of the vast majority of generals when he returned to discuss with his men.

They wanted too badly to escape their bandit past.

Especially after they held the emperor hostage to force the princes to complete the transformation from bandits to officials, they wanted to whitewash their past, just like the barbarians wearing silk and satin, they wanted others to forget their past of eating raw meat and drinking blood in the mountains...

You should know that some old bandits have now begun to learn poetry and songs, and more and more of them are marrying with the old gentry in Shaanxi, especially the old and famous families.

Can understand.

Marriage between the nouveau riche and the fallen aristocrats has always been standard.

The capitalists in the New World also like to go to the Old World to marry a poor noble lady who only has a title and is about to be sold, but it is actually a way of selling. The generals under Li Zicheng are all experiencing a kind of historical inevitability. They used to torture nobles, but now they are becoming nobles. In the past, they used to treat noble ladies as camp prostitutes and tortured them to death, but now they have begun to treat them with respect...

Everything is developing normally.

By this calculation, the speed at which they fall is still very standard.

This is also inevitable for a group like theirs. In a sense, they are not even as good as Hong Tianwang. Hong Tianwang at least has something. No matter whether this thing is good or bad, it is better to have it than not to have it.

The only thing that they cannot let go of now is their own origin.

Their bandit origins have become what they most want to get rid of.

The theory of public opinion was tailor-made for them. According to this theory, they were no longer rebellious bandits, but heroes who had to rise up against tyranny because the emperor and the court had done something wrong. Similarly, they did not attack the capital to control the emperor, but marched into the capital to show the emperor the public opinion, so that the emperor would wake up, admit his mistakes to them, and save the country...

Let Chongzhen make another edict of repentance later, since he has already issued many of them.

More importantly, this time it was not them who made the excuse.

But the gentry.

But they are the gentry who truly hold the power to interpret the scriptures.

It was even explained by Duke Yansheng himself, who exists as a special symbol of Confucianism.

The tone can be set.

Future history books will also record all of this from this standpoint...

Nanjing.

“This is the right to interpret the Bible!”

Yang Feng said to Her Royal Highness the Princess.

“Or you can say they have the right to speak, and what they say is right.

Although the truth is another matter.

This time, the gentry's interpretation of the scriptures explained that the people are more important than the king. When necessary, they could also explain that the king is the one who speaks the law of heaven and his words are the laws. They could even explain that the Jianlu's rule over the world was also the will of heaven.

It just depends on what they need. There are many contents in the classics. They can take them out of context and distort the facts. They can release whatever they need. Then, they who have the right to speak can instill these to the people, and it becomes the public opinion they need. Li Zicheng is still a little naive compared to them. He is indeed very smart and has even taken preventive measures, but it is useless after all.

He has no authority to interpret the Scriptures.”

he continued.

The method Li Zicheng proposed to recruit the four classes of people was random selection.

This was the only fairest way to choose in this era. There was no need to consider other things. Any election result would become a game played by the gentry, and it would not be completed in a short time. Because Li Zicheng set a truce period of only one month, he probably calculated that one month was enough time to prepare the warships. Yang Feng could accept this time. It was the first month of the year, and one month was just right. Then he would quickly resolve the war and not delay the summer harvest in the south.

So now Li Zicheng is sending his cavalry to various counties in Jiangxi, and then taking out the tax records from the county government, they arbitrarily designate people according to the household registration, such as scholars, farmers, merchants and artisans, but the scholars will be changed to military personnel, and four people will be selected from each county. After being selected, these four people will follow his men, and then they will hold a meeting after they gather in Nanchang.

It was obvious that he was also on guard and wanted to use this method to avoid these people being bribed. For him, if he could really resolve the resistance in this way and unify Jiangnan under the banner of public opinion, that would undoubtedly be perfect.

But the Jiangxi Elders Association had no response to this.

So calm as if mocking.

It was as indifferent as watching a clown's futile performance.

“No matter how he chooses, there will be no surprises in the results.

You must understand that public opinion is most easily manipulated by those who hold the power of discourse, and in the current Ming Dynasty, those who hold the power of discourse are the gentry who control the local areas. They have already demonized Li Zicheng, saying that he was cruel by nature, and even said that he killed Prince Fu and cooked him with a deer, and named it the Fulu Feast. They said that the flooding of Kaifeng was caused by him digging up the Yellow River, and that he massacred tens of millions of people in Henan, although the entire Henan Province may not even have 10 million people.

It is also said that he has sex with hundreds of women at night.

It was also said that he had kidnapped tens of thousands of girls and kept them in his palace, and that every day girls who had been tortured to death by him were pulled out by carts.

Even though Li Zicheng's wife was taken away by Gao Jie due to health reasons.

They made up countless sensational stories to deceive the people.

But the people will still believe it.

Because ordinary people will not know the truth.

They have no channels to know the truth, which is all in the hands of the gentry. The only truth they can know is the so-called truth that the gentry who hold the power of speech want them to know.

Fabricated truth.

The gentry have been playing this trick for thousands of years.

In the year of Tianqi, gunpowder exploded in the capital, and one person died in the palace, the only son of the late emperor, a few months old. But when the news spread to the south, it became a shock that killed thousands of craftsmen who were repairing the Huangji Palace. There were even various strange phenomena in the sky, tens of thousands of people died in the capital, the sky was dark, and it seemed that the punishment from heaven had come, and the emperor was angry. In the end, the late emperor had to issue an edict of self-blame in the siege based on the ministers' siege. Princess, do you remember how many times the gunpowder in the capital has exploded in your majesty's years? "

Yang Feng said.

"There were probably four or five times? I remember one time it was so big that the houses in the palace were shaking. Some people said that the city walls collapsed."

Her Royal Highness the Princess held her chin in her hand and spoke like a good student.

"But those who hold the power of discourse do not need to turn it into the wrath of heaven or the coming of divine punishment, so it was just a powder keg explosion. During the time of the previous emperor, Wei Zhongxian was favored, which angered the gentry, especially the southern gentry headed by the Donglin Party. Therefore, a powder keg explosion that was not as good as your majesty's was spread as divine punishment. And your majesty was regarded as a sage and wise ruler because he killed Wei Zhongxian, but after your majesty ascended the throne, the country was in chaos in just one year, and the Jianlu even invaded the capital. Now your majesty is said to be the culprit that caused the Ming Dynasty to fall to this day.

This is the power of discourse.

Now that His Majesty is still here and His Highness is regent, they can still save some face, but it won’t be long before they will fabricate all kinds of rumors about His Majesty.

Now there is. It has been rumored that when Li Zicheng captured the capital, Your Majesty still had tens of millions of taels in the palace. It was because Your Majesty was too greedy and stingy and refused to pay for the military pay that Li Zicheng was able to advance so quickly. It is said that Your Majesty, a tyrant, has brought this upon himself.

Yang Feng said.

Of course, this assessment is still correct.

Chongzhen indeed brought this upon himself, but a loyal minister like Prince Yang certainly could not say that about Your Majesty.

"These despicable people!"

The princess said angrily.

Although she also believed that her father was indeed responsible for the Ming Dynasty's current situation, it was too much to say that her father was greedy and stingy, especially the tens of millions of taels was pure slander. Poor her father was so poor that he had to borrow money. In order to raise money for the trip south, her mother even took out her dowry. He was so poor, and you still used this to make up rumors about him. Isn't it a bit too much?

You can't be so shameless!

“But the power to speak lies in the hands of the gentry.

Then decades later, this is the fact, this is history.

the truth?

Only what can be recorded in history books is the truth.

What is lost in history will eventually vanish into thin air.”

Yang Feng said.

The little princess was thoughtful.

"So, you asked me to go to Lion Rock to listen to the lecture and also asked me to give the lecture just to grab the right to speak?"

She said.

These days, the debate platform on Lion Mountain has taken shape. It is really a high platform with a square around it. The retro name is called the Golden Platform. Currently, several great scholars are engaging in academic debates there, which has attracted many people to listen. However, at first, it was definitely mainly great scholars, and the audience were also mainly students from the Imperial College and scholars from all over the country who were stranded in Nanjing.

A group of Confucian scholars were very happy and regarded this as a move by the court to open up channels for speech.

But it has no restrictions.

As long as it is not advocating treason, inciting rebellion, or promoting religion...

This is because there are already special places, so we cannot preach Buddhist scriptures there. We cannot go to the temple and take up other people’s places.

The first two will definitely not work.

But other things, including criticizing the government and blaming the ruling party, are all fine. So now the great Confucians mainly criticize Chongzhen and his brother, including his grandfather. But as time goes by, there will definitely be non-Confucian scholars who come to the stage, even if it is just to attract attention. The first batch of non-Confucian scholars who can break through the psychological barriers and come to the stage are probably those who really want to attract attention. Wang Gen also had to dress non-mainstream to attract attention. If you want to spread your own ideas these days, you have to start by attracting attention.

Otherwise, who would care?
The princess went there almost every day. She had a special attic next to it, so she liked to bring not only herself but also her female companions.

For example, Kou Baimen.

In addition, she also allowed women from the common people to come in.

Have fun with the people!
In fact, because of the time she spent with the Yang sisters, she now likes to visit the people.

“This is still far from enough. Your Highness should personally condense what is said there, and then print it and sell it to the public. After all, not many people can go to listen, but these need to be seen by everyone in the world.

Your Highness is most suitable to do this.

Initially, you can publish it every ten days and make it into a small booklet. The price doesn't have to be too high, but it can't be given away for free. You can also include information about government affairs and major events in various places, including wars. Especially for those rumors that Your Highness feels need to be dispelled, such as those that slander Your Majesty. What could be more credible than Your Highness personally dispelling them?"

Yang Feng said.

This makes her very motivated.

Although the Ming Dynasty was not without newspapers, by this time they had already begun to surpass the level of Dichao.

Because there are no restrictions, cities like Suzhou and Hangzhou have already had de facto newspapers.

It's just that it's still a false pretense.

After all, Dichao is the most accepted, but unlike Dichao, which is a copy of Dibao, these so-called Dichao, which are pretending to be Dichao, actually only part of the content is copied from Dibao, and the rest is added by the newspaper editors themselves. News, current affairs commentary, even advertisements, of course, also include fabricated fake news, this kind of thing does not need anyone to teach, it is bound to happen.

The Ming Dynasty had a developed publishing industry, and many common things in modern times were available. When Journey to the West became popular, Journey to the East, Journey to the South, and Journey to the North immediately followed suit. Studios were common, and the latter two travelogues were published by the same studio. Exaggerating or even partially fictionalizing the description of the dichao was also a common practice in the dichao industry. For example, the Tianqi explosion that killed tens of thousands of people was done by the dichao, and there was even a big log flying to Miyun...

This is clearly fiction.

Flying from Beijing to Miyun, it’s almost as fast as Shanghai Mars.

Printed newspapers also appeared a long time ago, and there is still a printed newspaper from the Wanli period in the museum today.

Call for urgent selection.

The content is the more important one in Dichao, similar to a simplified version.

Now let the princess take control of this industry that has begun to grow wildly. She will be responsible for controlling public opinion and at least prevent the gentry from continuing to firmly hold the right to speak.

"That's good, Your Highness. You can also gather some old people in the palace to specifically refute some rumors outside involving the palace. Otherwise, if these people are pulled away by others and asked to make up some rumors, it will not be good for Your Majesty's reputation."

Kou Baimen immediately said sensibly.

The princess nodded immediately.

She really took this issue very seriously. Although she knew her father had done many wrong things, some things really couldn't be blamed on her father alone, at least not all of them. For example, the fall of the capital city, this obviously couldn't be said to be all her father's fault. It was clearly the civil officials and gentry in the city who forced the emperor to abdicate, scaring her father into fleeing, and then these bastards welcomed Li Zicheng from behind. And these were all public before, but in just one year, it began to become her father's stinginess with money, and he was unwilling to give tens of millions of taels of silver to the soldiers to defend the city, which was too much.

You can't spread rumors about him just because he is under house arrest and cannot come out to defend himself!
"But even so, you still need some help, at least some talented women. I know a few such people, such as Madam Qian, who I introduced to Your Highness last time."

Kou Baimen continued.

But when he spoke, his eyes glanced at Yang Feng strangely.

Prince Yang was of course very calm...

This job must be done by a woman. After all, the princess is a young girl, and it is not suitable for her to have a bunch of young talents. In this case, Liu Rushi is indeed worthy of recruitment. Moreover, even if the water is too cold, the princess would be eager to follow her. Maybe this way she can influence the princess.

(End of this chapter)