The proposal to abolish slavery had caused a great deal of controversy in the cabinet. Some officials had even leaked it out to rally support against Fang Yun.
However, Fang Yun immediately used the excuse of leaking state secrets to force the officials who had leaked the news to resign.
Afterward, Fang Yun used both emotion and reason to bring out all sorts of evidence to prove the importance of abolishing slavery. He even invited the Disciplinary Hall and the Works Hall to help him. Finally, he obtained the agreement of the cabinet officials to first abolish the relevant laws and then enact new laws to abolish slavery.
If one said that the previous crackdown was guaranteed by the original laws and had the moral high ground, this abolition of slavery was completely different.
Thus, many clans once again joined hands to oppose, but they had all become smarter. They did not block the government offices like last time, but instead sought out the officials of various places to lobby.
This time, the clans did not oppose as fiercely, but they did pose a significant obstacle to the abolition of slavery.
Even though the Five Great Clans expressed their support and took the lead in dismissing the slaves or changing the employment contracts, they did not have much of an effect.
Fang Yun used the same tactic and had the Conference Council issue a decree announcing that from this day onward, six Conference Councils would be established in the capital, Xiang Province, Jiang Province, Mi Province, Yan Province, and Eastern Cloud Province, and that they would begin to recruit Conference Scholars.
Fang Yun did not even need to say that the Conference Scholars had to support the abolition of slavery. Some of the clans that had originally opposed the idea suddenly changed their minds and began to support the abolition. The day after these clans supported Fang Yun, they received letters from the capital's Conference Council inviting them to join the Conference Council.
The clans were well aware of Fang Yun's intentions, but they could do nothing about Fang Yun. The Conference Scholars were simply too tempting.
Thus, the clans that had been working together immediately became a sheet of loose sand. Many clans gave up on their resistance and began to negotiate with the local officials, hoping to obtain a Conference Scholar.
A few days ago, the status of every Conference Scholar, whether in the government or among the people, had clearly changed. Moreover, the Conference Council was not only recruiting officials, scholars, and clan heads, but also elites from all walks of life.
There were a few lucky scholars who didn't have high positions and weren't government officials. Because they represented their respective industries and put forward a large number of suggestions and opinions to the Senate, they were personally received by the Senate President, Cai He, and were conferred the title of Secretary of the Senate.
Because of this, the status of these people became different. There were even rumors that when the local officials saw these people, it was almost equivalent to greeting a fifth-rank official.
Thus, after only three days, the resistance to abolishing slavery disappeared.
Cao Dean even joked with his subordinates about this matter, saying that Fang Xusheng still had two chances to carry out reforms without any scruples. One was to establish the Prefectural Council, and the other was to establish the County Council.
Seeing that Fang Yun's reform was going so smoothly, the pressure on everyone in the temporary peace division increased.
Because Fang Yun and the Left Prime Minister were not willing to join, the establishment of the temporary Peace Negotiation Office was very slow and inefficient.
Five days before the first batch of people arrived in Xiangzhou, the temporary Peace Negotiation Office had just completed its preparations and began to discuss the details.
Sheng Boyuan originally didn't want to join this temporary Peace Negotiation Office, but because he was the one who forced Fang Yun to leave, under pressure from all sides, he became the Deputy Minister, and the Minister was Yang Xuwen.
This negotiation was very important, so the staff of the Peace Negotiation Office often asked the cabinet and the various ministries for help. They kept asking the Left Prime Minister's Pavilion, especially Fang Yun, for help.
Every time the people from the Peace Negotiation Office came to the Left Prime Minister's Pavilion, they were extremely humble. They almost knelt on the ground and kowtowed. Every official in the Left Prime Minister's Pavilion sympathized with them and wished that they could leave the Left Prime Minister's Pavilion to serve the country.
However, Fang Yun remained unmoved and did not participate in the peace talks at all.
The day before the first batch of people from the House of Representatives arrived in Xiangzhou, the Peace Negotiation Office finally reluctantly came up with the first draft of the peace talks. It listed the bottom line of Jingguo and handed it to the cabinet ministers and cabinet members.
In the end, Fang Yun didn't even look at it and directly asked Xu Changgeng to return it.
Many of the members were dissatisfied with the conditions of the draft, so the Empress Dowager had no choice but to hold a meeting overnight. Other than Fang Yun who was sick and couldn't come out, the other two ministers and members of the House of Representatives attended the meeting to discuss the details of the peace talks.
The discussion lasted until daybreak before everyone reluctantly reached an agreement. Yang Xuwen sent a letter to the Wenxin Courtyard, hoping to hold the peace talks today.
After a full two hours, the Wenxin Courtyard finally replied and agreed to hold the peace talks with Jingguo at the Notre-Dame's Wenxin Courtyard tomorrow.
Therefore, the Peace Negotiation Office hurriedly made the final preparations and then went to the Notre-Dame.
When they arrived at the Notre-Dame, the people from the Peace Negotiation Office thought that the Wenxin Courtyard would obstruct them. Unexpectedly, the people from the Wenxin Courtyard were very polite and didn't have the slightest hostile attitude. They were completely businesslike and carried out normal negotiations with the Peace Negotiation Office.
When the news reached Jingguo, the officials were relieved. This was a very good start.
This time, the peace talks involved a lot of things and would be difficult to reach an agreement immediately. Therefore, the members of the Peace Negotiation Office temporarily stayed in the Wenxin Courtyard and began to negotiate day after day.
While the two sides were negotiating, the other officials from the Wenxin Courtyard didn't withdraw. Instead, they were stationed all over Jingguo and began to investigate whether the Jingguo officials had violated the Way of the Miscellany.
The Wenxin Courtyard wasn't as powerful as the Hall of Rites and didn't have the power to directly order the Jingguo officials to do things. Therefore, they had been secretly investigating, making it difficult for the Jingguo officials to guard against.
In the beginning, the negotiations with the Peace Negotiation Office were normal. However, after ten full days of negotiations, there were still many details that hadn't been discussed. Even the officials from the Peace Negotiation Office in Jingguo discovered the problem.
Soon, Jingguo held a court meeting and concluded that the Wenxin Courtyard wasn't sincere in negotiating at all. They were obviously stalling for time.
As expected, after the Peace Negotiation Office solemnly proposed to negotiate, the Miscellany dropped his disguise and took out the results of his investigation. He began to put pressure on the Peace Negotiation Office and proposed new conditions.
For example, Jingguo should share all the new technologies with Gyeongo and Jingguo for free. For example, Jingguo would definitely lose and convince the various courts of the Notre-Dame to build as many new schools in Gyeongo as they did in Jingguo. For example, they would completely cancel the Dingfu Treaty and return the compensation that Gyeongo had already paid.
The Miscellany's conditions were extremely harsh. A few officials from the Peace Negotiation Office couldn't take it anymore. They slammed the table and stood up, loudly reprimanding the Miscellany. In the end, they were directly expelled from the Notre-Dame and banned from ever stepping into the Notre-Dame again on the grounds that they had offended the Notre-Dame.
It wasn't until now that the Jingguo officials realized how childish they had been.
The Jingguo officials were originally in despair, especially the Miscellany's officials. They were already prepared to resign or even betray Jingguo. However, the Wenxin Courtyard suddenly sent a letter to the Peace Negotiation Office. As long as Fang Yun publicly admitted his mistakes, admitted that he would never oppose the Miscellany, and would never obstruct the Miscellany's path, the Miscellany would be willing to make huge concessions.
For the Miscellany's officials in Jingguo, this was great news. It meant that they wouldn't have to bear the risk of having their guts shattered or even dying. However, they couldn't be sure if Fang Yun had admitted his mistakes.
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