"Dear Minister Kong, what explanation do you have?"
Li Shimin looked at Kong Yingda with a strange expression. The descendant of the Kong Family was actually abandoned by a Confucian scholar. This was an eye-opener for him as the emperor.
"This subject has nothing to say. This subject is already old, and my vision is blurry. I have made a mistake in my oversight. Your Majesty, please allow this subject to resign from the position of Imperial Chancellor and return home to focus on revising the 'Five Classics of Justice'." Kong Yingda remained calm and bowed as he asked for his resignation.
As the descendant of the Kong Family, he was abandoned by the Confucians. If it was before, he would naturally be ridiculed by the world. However, he didn't care about his own reputation now. Now that the Kong Family had a successor, Kong Huisuo had a boundless future, and the Kong Family had the library and was in an invincible position, his position as Imperial Chancellor of the Imperial College wasn't that important anymore.
Moreover, he didn't think that the radical faction of the Confucians would succeed. The appearance of a new ink technique would often lead to a revolutionary change. The zipper was one of them. Once Ma Jiayun and the others failed, he might still have a chance to make a comeback. Right now, his resignation was just a retreat.
Li Shimin repeatedly urged him to stay, but Kong Yingda had already made up his mind. He had no choice but to allow him to leave.
"This subject will take his leave!" Kong Yingda took off his hat, revealing his head of white hair. He turned around and left the Taiji Palace.
The group of civil officials looked at Kong Yingda's lonely figure and couldn't help but sneer. The Imperial College was the highest learning institution in the world. It held a very important position and had great influence. It had always been the exclusive property of the Confucians. Since Kong Yingda didn't do a single thing, he would naturally be abandoned by the Confucians.
Seeing that Kong Yingda had resigned, Liu Yinian couldn't wait to submit a memorial. "Your Majesty, the Imperial College is a place to select talents for the country. It is extremely important. Your Majesty, please appoint a new Imperial Chancellor as soon as possible."
"This subject agrees!" The group of civil officials echoed.
Li Shimin said with a smile that was not a smile, "Then do you have any suitable candidates to recommend?"
Liu Yinian said in a clear voice, "Your Majesty, Lord Ma was once a doctor of the Imperial College and a doctor of the Imperial Academy. He is familiar with the internal affairs of the Imperial College and is deeply loved by the students of the Imperial College. He is the best candidate for the position of Chancellor of the Imperial College."
"We recommend Ma Jiayun to be the Chancellor of the Imperial College!" Yu Zhining immediately stepped out to support his ally.
"Lord Ma is indeed quite suitable. We have no objections! " A large number of civil officials agreed. Many of the Confucians were dissatisfied with Kong Yingda's moderate policies towards the School of Mohism, and the radical Ma Jiayun, who had repeatedly attacked the militarists and the School of Mohism, was a very good candidate for the Confucians.
"Approved!"
With regards to the Hundred Schools Battle, as long as it did not touch his bottom line, Li Shimin had the attitude of watching a good show. With a wave of his hand, he appointed the new Chancellor of the Imperial College, Ma Jiayun.
"Thank you for your grace, Your Majesty!" Ma Jiayun was overjoyed when he heard this and could not help but feel proud. If he became the Chancellor of the Imperial College, he would definitely lead the Confucians to suppress the School of Mohism and re-consolidate the position of the Confucians.
Sure enough, after Ma Jiayun succeeded as the Chancellor of the Imperial College, the first thing he did was to issue a strict order that all students of the Tang dynasty must wear Confucian robes. If they were found to be wearing Confucian robes, they would be severely punished.
"In addition to making the students of the Imperial College wear Confucian robes, Ma Jiayun also used his identity as the Chancellor of the Imperial College to call all the scholars in the world to boycott Confucian robes." In the Mo Residence, Wu Meiniang said with righteous indignation.
"Most of the scholars in the world are Confucians. Now, not only are men's clothing not selling, even women's clothing is greatly affected." Aunt Xu said with a helpless face. The Tang dynasty was a patriarchal society. Most of the scholars were men, and most of them were the heads of the family. Naturally, they could affect the sales of Confucian robes.
"In addition, the Confucian journals are adding fuel to the fire. They published a special issue criticizing Confucian robes and touting that Confucian robes represent the etiquette of Huaxia, while Confucian robes do not respect etiquette and are vulgar and simple. …" Mochi came in a hurry and said angrily.
"Clothing! It is the beginning of civilization. Only when people know how to wear clothing can they know shame … " Meton could not help but laugh when he saw the numerous flattering articles about Confucian robes and etiquette in the Confucian journals.
Clothing was indeed the beginning of civilization. Confucian robes did have their own etiquette and meaning. However, the Confucians were wrong to think that Confucian robes represented etiquette.
"In addition to representing civilization, the most important and most primitive function of clothing is to keep people warm. Confucian robes do have the traditional etiquette of Huaxia, and the appearance of zippers makes the clothing warmer. This is more suitable for the purpose of wearing clothing." Meton shook his head and refuted.
"Master is right. Once the zippers are introduced, people can use the least amount of cloth to achieve the same effect of keeping people warm. This can save a lot of cloth." Wu Meiniang said proudly. No matter how dense the buttons were, they could not block the whistling of the cold wind. The more dense the buttons were, the more troublesome it was. It was not as convenient as zippers.
"But all the scholars in the world are Confucians. They are the main force to buy clothes. Now that the Imperial College has come out in person, not many people in the world will buy Confucian robes." Aunt Xu said with an embarrassed expression.
Meton laughed and said, "What's so difficult about this? For the upper class, etiquette is more important than benefits, but for the lower class, benefits are more important than etiquette. Since the Confucians use etiquette to force the upper class to wear Confucian robes, then the Mohist family will use benefits to drive the lower class to wear Confucian robes. From now on, the Mohist Village will mass produce zippers and sell them throughout the Tang dynasty. At the same time, the Confucian robes produced by the Mohist Village must be of good quality and cheap. We will promote the Confucian robes first and then compete with them. "
"Is this feasible?" Wu Meiniang asked in surprise.
Meton said confidently, "Everyone knows that the Confucian robes for riding and shooting are the clothing reforms carried out by Zhao Wuling from top to bottom. But they don't know that most of the clothing reforms in the world have been carried out from bottom to top since ancient times. When the Confucian robes appeared for the first time, people would look at them strangely when they walked on the street. But now, after several years of development, the Confucian robes have appeared on the market openly just like the Confucian robes. People already feel that it is normal.
In the same way, how many scholars are there in the world? And the number of ordinary people will be more than a hundred times. Once all the people in the world wear Confucian robes, it will be the scholars in Confucian robes who will be looked at strangely. At that time, the competition between the Confucian robes and the Confucian robes will really decide the winner. "
"This competition of clothing is the competition between the Confucian robes and the Mohist family, but in essence, it is a competition between etiquette and benefits. People in the world may need one or two pieces of Confucian robes for etiquette, but they need the Confucian robes that are convenient and warm to save benefits." Meton concluded.
"In essence, it is a competition between etiquette and benefits."
Wu Meiniang was suddenly enlightened. People in the world were all for benefits. After Meton's analysis, she was more convinced that the Confucian robes would be the winner in the future. After all, most of the people in the world were poor.
"Young master, you are so wise!"
"Master, you are so wise!"
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