Volume 4: Gathering of Sages Chapter 507: Weakness due to Ignorance
Filial piety, gentleness, virtuousness, harmony, housekeeping... There have been many so-called virtuous women from ancient times to the present, and many of them were even talented women whose writings once moved the world. However, countless of their poems and articles have been lost, but things like "The Analects of Women" have been preserved. As a woman, the empress dowager certainly would not have failed to think about the deep meaning behind these.
As for the famous talented women like Xie Daoyun and Li Qingzhao, their articles and poems have been passed down, but there are no words advising women to be submissive and weak. The reason is very simple... Are they willing to be submissive? Are they submissive to their husbands? Xie Daoyun looked down on her useless husband. As for Li Qingzhao and Zhao Mingcheng, although they were in love, she still married again!
Even if someone intends to use their names to make up something like women's training and admonitions, others have to be willing to believe it!
At this moment, even though the Queen Mother had made many assumptions about this summons beforehand, she was still very surprised after hearing what Hong said.
As an ordinary daughter of a military family, she had not initially thought that she would end up sitting in her current position. Therefore, unlike those noble ladies who lived deep in the inner palace, she had seen all kinds of women, including many women of humble status in the common people, as well as many women with great insight and talent. Therefore, even a woman like Princess Yongping, who was known as a talented woman, was just ordinary in her eyes.
Therefore, Zhu Ying, a maverick and straightforward girl, actually liked her. However, she thought that since Hong had a father like that, he must be either as stubborn and conservative as Hong Shanchang, or he must be deep-minded and have ulterior motives. But now Hong actually said frankly that she had been deceiving Hong Shanchang all along, and this father never really understood her!
Not only did he lie, he even confessed that his lifelong ambition was to promote the interests of a weak and lonely woman!
At this moment, even Zhu Ying, who had been held tightly by Zhang Shou, could not help but ask, "Madam Hong, the weak and lonely women you are talking about are those poor people who were divorced by their husbands?"
“No.” Hong raised her head slightly and looked directly into the Queen Mother’s eyes. “It’s not just those women who are divorced without reason by their husbands’ families and not accepted by their parents, so they can only struggle in nunneries or even live on the streets who are pitiful. Equally pitiful are those women who are sold to shameful places because of poverty, and those women whose lives are arranged by their elders under various pretexts…”
"She was a woman who had lived a life of luxury in the past, but was at a loss when faced with a major change, and did not even have any survival skills; she was a woman who seemed to be proficient in poetry and songs, but had no idea how to manage a household, and ended up watching her useless husband and her family fall into decline."
"They are also those women who were born in poor families and only knew how to manage household chores and struggle to survive, which is how they can barely get enough food and clothing. But no matter how hard they work to manage the household, get married and have children, they are still powerless to control their children's future and can only leave it to fate. Even if their children work hard, they cannot make progress."
"Miss, the word lonely and weak does not mean alone. Even if some women have parents, brothers, husbands and sons, they are still alone in this world. No one understands them, and no one is willing to spend time to understand them. Even they themselves may not know what they want. As for weak, it is not because of unvirtuousness or lack of virtue that they are weak."
"Many women who come from humble backgrounds are actually strong-willed. However, they grew up in the dust and mud, and had no chance or way of knowing how big the world was, or how to live a better life. Therefore, no matter how beautiful their temperament or appearance, they would eventually be crushed into dust, and even their fragrance might not be remembered by anyone... Because of ignorance, they are weak!"
"What a weakness due to ignorance!" Zhu Ying couldn't help it any longer and clapped her hands in praise.
"Most of Lu Fangweng's poems are simple, but this one, "Fragments are crushed into mud and turned into dust, but the fragrance remains the same", can be called a masterpiece."
The Empress Dowager's focus was quite different from Zhu Ying's. She said so, but Lu You was not her favorite poet. As for Lu You's character, reputation, conduct and ambition, there was not much to be faulted with. What the Empress Dowager really disliked was the poem "Phoenix with the Hairpin".
On the one hand, he divorced his wife reluctantly because of his mother's order, but on the other hand, he couldn't let go of his old feelings after they met again, so he wrote a poem "The Phoenix Hairpin" on the white wall of Shen Garden with a big stroke of his brush, but he didn't care how many people would see such an inscription, nor how much harm such a storm would cause to his ex-wife Tang Wan if it were spread. In the end, Lu You lived to be 86, but what about Tang Wan?
That poor woman, who could not let go of this relationship in the first place, died young after writing that poem "Chai Tou Feng Da" to Lu You .
The empress dowager was married to Emperor Ruizong, who was still an insignificant vassal king, at the behest of her parents and the matchmaker. In order to accompany her husband through the most difficult years of his life, she was already 25 years old when she gave birth to the current emperor because there were so many affairs to take care of and she was too busy. But when she entered the capital with her five-year-old son, she was faced with a domineering mother-in-law above her.
The woman who was once just an insignificant concubine thought that her son had ascended to the throne and she had risen to become the empress dowager. Not only did she boss her son around, she also pestered her son to promote her family and to take her niece as his concubine. But in the end, after only a few days of pretending to be nice, Emperor Ruizong was completely pissed off by his stupid mother.
Then, the woman who was honored as the empress dowager was placed under house arrest in Qingning Palace, and the greedy maternal uncle of Ruizong and his family were simply sent to Tianjin to "live out their lives". All the male members were given official positions and generous salaries, but no real power.
She still remembers what Emperor Ruizong said to her.
"When I was in the most miserable time, you stayed by my side; when I was in the most dangerous time, it was your nephew who put on his armor and rushed to the front; you and your sister personally led the women and children to work day and night to provide me with military supplies; behind my back, it was you women and children who worked hard, encouraged the generals and soldiers, and worked tirelessly to defend me."
"That woman gave birth to me, but she never raised me for a single day. She was busy competing for favor with other women. How can she compare to the love between husband and wife who share joys and sorrows? Filial piety is as great as the sky, but if you are bound by it and go against your heart, then it is nothing but foolish filial piety!"
"Filial piety is the only way for the emperor to rule the world, but that is for others to see. So, I just need to keep her in Qingning Palace! If she is still not satisfied, let her go. Anyway, everyone in Qingning Palace listens to me, not her. Want to control my life with filial piety? Wishful thinking!"
At this moment, after judging Lu You's poem, the Queen Mother was in a trance for a moment. When she came to her senses, she realized that not only did Mrs. Hong not speak, but even Zhang Shou and Zhu Ying did not interrupt her rare time of reminiscing about the past. Therefore, she couldn't help but smile to herself.
"When people get old, they inevitably feel nostalgic and think about how they were when they were young. Even emperors and generals are not immune to this. I didn't expect that you would think of those weak women because of Lu Fangweng's poem. But what he said is true. Even those women who are known as talented women, when faced with adversity, not everyone is as brave as Xie Daoyun to wield a blade and kill the enemy."
"So, too many women in this world are indeed ignorant and not strong enough!"
The Queen Mother paused for a moment, then said with a half-smile, "But if all the women in the world become independent and strong... then no man in the world is worthy of them, what do you think we should do?"
Hong smiled calmly and said, "My Queen Mother, although I hope all women in the world can be independent and strong, there are more women in this world who are submissive and unwilling to change their circumstances. I pity such people and feel angry at their lack of struggle, but I can only let them be."
"So, it is impossible for all women in the world to be self-reliant and strong, just like it is impossible for all men in the world to excel and achieve success. Just like Dr. Zhang, who is so broad-minded and talented, not all the students he taught at Banshan Hall have changed their ways, right?"
Zhang Shou had been carefully observing, or analyzing, the daughter of Chief Hong Shan since they first met. When he heard her say this, he finally confirmed where that strange feeling came from.
This plain-looking ...actually looked a bit like him! Of course, this resemblance did not refer to anything else, but to the words used when persuading people. Of course, he did not have any aversion to Hong, but rather an indescribable curiosity.
He did not suspect that Hong was a time traveler like himself, as he did with Emperor Taizu. Instead, he was very curious. Hong had grasped the mind of her father, Hong Shanzhang, who did not understand her at all, and came to the capital. So what did she hope to do?
Or, like one of the most annoying sects in the novel, they took in a bunch of orphans, built up a certain momentum first, and then established influence among the daughters of high-ranking officials, and then used those orphans to marry officials, and recruited disciples from the daughters of officials, in order to finally achieve the goal of controlling the world?
If that were the case, then all the seemingly reasonable words I just said would have been wasted.
Therefore, when he saw Zhu Ying looking at him, he smiled and said, "Mrs. Hong, you are really flattering me by saying that I have a broad mind and am knowledgeable. I was just idle in Rongshui Village before, so I taught the children in the village. Later, I met Yingying, and she just wanted to have fun, so she made up a story about a learned old gentleman and recruited a bunch of students for me."
"So I made the best of a bad situation. Now I am in charge of Jiuzhang Hall. It was all by accident. As for the students in Banshan Hall who performed poorly in the division examination and were sent to the army by the emperor for training, it cannot be said that they are unwilling to change their ways. Maybe they just haven't found the way forward for themselves in the future, that's all."
"You just said that you wanted to teach those weak and lonely women who are struggling to survive how to survive. May I ask, what survival skills are they? You said that ignorance is weakness, so how do you plan to teach them to know?"
As soon as Zhang Shou opened his mouth, he went straight to the point. The empress dowager immediately smiled slightly. She thought that if she had only called Zhu Ying today, given her straightforward personality, she might be completely convinced by a few righteous words from Hong.
She immediately said with a half-smile, "Zhang Shou's question, I also want to know the answer."
Hong glanced at Zhu Ying, who was showing curiosity, and then said calmly, "I hope that the Queen Mother will allow me to establish a girls' school in the capital and recruit girls from the people. All the cleaning and kitchen chores and other tasks in the school will be hired from women from the people."
When Zhang Shou heard the word "female school", he was moved. He smiled and asked in a deep voice: "Didn't Madam Hong just say that you hope to do your best to bring a ray of hope to those lonely and weak women in the world? If you only recruit girls from the people, and all other chores are done by women, it will inevitably be inconsistent with your ambitions, right? You will not care about other women?"
Hong raised her head calmly and said, "Although I really hope to recruit some poor women who are struggling to survive like I did in Jiangxi, I have already done my best in Jiangxi. Moreover, at that time, I relied on my father's reputation as the principal of Yuzhang Academy, and I was teaching women etiquette and manners."
"When I was young, I vowed not to marry and to serve my father until the end of his life because my father had no children. I promised myself to be chaste. There are no men over three feet tall in the Hong family, and everything is managed by women. However, I can only maintain the women's hall with about 30 people. If more people gather, some stubborn people will not think that I am being kind, but will think that I have ulterior motives."
"So, once those women have learned the skills to make a living in the future, whether it's needlework, letter writing, or something else, and at the same time, they know how big the world is, what kind of life other people are living, and how they should live, then they will leave my small Women's Hall and find their own way out."
"It is precisely because old people kept leaving and new people joined, that some inconspicuous small workshops such as embroidery workshops and weaving workshops were added in some places. In addition, among my father's students, there were quite a few talented ones who received some favors from me, so I took care of them. That's why we have been able to hold on for many years."
"But in a place like the capital, Jiangxi's reputation is of no use to me. Therefore, if we want to build a girls' school in the capital, we can only choose girls from the common people who have a promising future."
"Because, as long as more children are not ignorant and understand themselves better, they will not be lonely and weak when they grow up."
When he heard this last sentence, Zhang Shou finally understood why Hong agreed to the proposal of her father, Hong Shanchang, and took the initiative to agree to be the eldest prince's consort and then follow her father to the capital.
Because she was determined not to marry, she felt that being the principal wife of a criminal and imprisoned prince was a very risky thing. However, if she could impress the Queen Mother and the Emperor, then her long-cherished wish would be fulfilled!
Sure enough, after seeing the Queen Mother's slight change of color, Hong said word by word: "So, if the Queen Mother feels that the eldest prince needs a woman who is both beautiful and talented and can please him, I naturally cannot be qualified. But if the Queen Mother hopes that there can be someone who can advise him, discipline him, and enable him to live a peaceful life, then I am willing to recommend myself."
