In the late Ming Dynasty, rising from the grassland

Chapter 355 Big-hearted Dong Xiaowan
  "Sister Dong, are you crazy? How can you run for parliament?"

Seeing that Dong Xiaowan was not joking, Li Xiangjun looked at her blankly with disbelief on his face.

"What's not allowed? The edict only said that people must have a good reputation, and it didn't say that women were not allowed. The letter of recommendation also didn't stipulate that it must be written by a scholar. As long as you can read and write, don't you know how to read and write? ?"

Dong Xiaowan smiled slightly and then asked.

"But... our origins..."

"What happened to our background? Aren't we free people now?"

Dong Xiaowan said nonchalantly that she didn't really expect to be chosen, she just wanted to give it a try.

The girls also fell silent. The brothel painting studio by the Qinhuai River used to be the property of Nanjing nobles, and most of the girls' prostitution contracts were in the hands of nobles.

After those nobles' homes were confiscated, the Chinese lady burned all the girls' deeds of prostitution and asked them to find their own way out, but many people still chose to stay.

Some wealthy famous prostitutes such as Li Xiangjun and Dong Xiaowan even pooled their money and bought many brothels and boats with the royal family to accommodate the girls who had nowhere to go.

So now on the Qinhuai River, although there is no liveliness in the past, and only [-]% of the girls are left, the bosses are all former famous prostitutes.

Because the Fengyue industry on the Qinhuai River is not for sale to the outside world, only girls with prostitute background can buy and manage it.

This was of course Lin Rui's instruction to Mrs. Lu to do this. After all, it would be unrealistic to completely eliminate the brothel industry, not to mention that in addition to girls, there are also a large number of other practitioners in the brothel. If it was immediately banned, tens of thousands of people would lose their livelihoods. .

It is definitely not possible for the royal family to operate directly. Selling to other merchants and landlords can make the greatest profit, but it is not conducive to rectifying business rules and customs.

After all, the extravagant style of Jiangnan started with brothels and boats, and the Qinhuai River was definitely the source, so Lin Rui thought about it again and again before finally deciding to sell it to the famous prostitutes at a low price and let them run their own business.

And the effect is indeed much better than before. Today, in Qinhuai River, there are basically no such inhumane things like forcing girls into prostitution, and they are no longer completely pursuing profits.

Although these brothels and boats are now backed by Madam Hua, they have been safe and sound for the past two years, and no one dares to peep. However, Dong Xiaowan, Li Xiangjun and others all know that this is by no means a long-term solution. Madam Hua and the Queen of Mongolia will eventually Went back to Beijing.

What's more, they were actually not familiar with the Chinese lady. It was just that they bought these brothels and boats at extremely low prices, which caused other people's misunderstanding.

This is also the reason why Dong Xiaowan wanted to run for the Senate, because he wanted to weigh others' plans in the future. It sounds like the thoughts of those gentry and landlords.

"Sister Dong, having said that, how can any woman participate in politics since ancient times? What's more, it's a brothel girl. In the end, even if we have the most letters of recommendation, I'm afraid the court won't choose you."

Although Li Xiangjun didn't want to pour cold water on her, he still sighed and said, but he was filled with admiration in his heart.

If it were her, she would never have the courage to run for office.

"Since ancient times, which emperor has created this Senate? And which emperor has nationalized the land of the gentry and landlords, and then leased it to ordinary people? Besides, the final decision-making power of the members is not in the hands of the court, but in the hands of the people. His Majesty has it in his hands, so I want to give it a try, can you help me?"

"Sister Dong, since you are determined, we will naturally give our fullest help."

"Well, if Sister Dong is really elected, we can also benefit, right?"

More than a dozen people in the room nodded, and some were even more eager to give it a try. They wanted to immediately invite the talented scholars they knew and ask them to write letters of recommendation to Dong Xiaowan.

Dong Xiaowan discussed it with everyone again and started to work.

In the next half month, the whole Jiangnan became lively, and almost all the famous people were recruiting people to write letters of recommendation and compete for seats in the parliament.

At the same time, in the future, yamen at all levels in various places will also begin to allocate land, set up production teams, collect statistics on shops, and formulate business taxes. They will be very busy. The Government Affairs Council also took the opportunity to announce that if you want to be elected as a member of the parliament, you must rent all the land to the government, and you must pay all business taxes in accordance with regulations in the future.

It can be said that throughout the winter, all provinces in Dahua were busy competing for seats in the Senate, but the Jiangnan region was the most popular.

Firstly, the Jiangnan area has the most literate people, and secondly, the atmosphere in the Jiangnan area is the most open and more receptive to new things.

However, no matter how open the atmosphere is and how open it is to accepting new things, it is still unacceptable for Dong Xiaowan, a prostitute and a famous brothel prostitute, to dare to be elected as a member of the parliament.

Because in the eyes of those talented literati, Dong Xiaowan, no matter how talented or famous he is, is nothing more than a plaything for them. Now he even wants to participate in politics, which is simply a fantasy.

Therefore, almost no scholar is willing to write a recommendation letter to Dong Xiaowan. Even if it is Mao Bijiang who is close to her and Li Xiangjun, Hou Fangyu dare not write it, let alone others.

After all, if I write this, I will not only become the laughing stock of other scholars, but also be collectively ostracized by literati and officials all over the world.

Therefore, everyone has the same attitude. Poems are fine, but letters of recommendation are not.

After working for more than half a month and looking at hundreds of letters of recommendation written by themselves, Li Xiangjun and others looked decadent, obviously giving up hope.

"Sister Dong, how about we go find those fortune tellers and shop assistants who can write?"

Seeing Dong Xiaowan's unwillingness, Li Xiangjun thought about it and suggested again.

After all, those scholars cherish their reputation and refuse to write, but those fortune tellers and shopkeepers will not care. At most, they will be given some money. As long as they collect thousands of copies, they should have a chance.

"Those people have their own bosses, and each of them can only write one recommendation letter. It would be difficult to find them to write one!"

Dong Xiaowan shook his head. Nowadays, almost anyone with neat handwriting has become a hot commodity. They are rich but powerless, and they absolutely cannot compete.

"I think we shouldn't just focus on Nanjing. There are many brothels in Yangzhou and Suzhou. It's not a problem to get tens of thousands of letters of recommendation in total. Besides, for the sake of reputation, other people will not invite brothel girls. They wrote it."

Gu Hengbo from Qinhuai Eight Beauties also came this time. He had obviously heard that Dong Xiaowan was running for parliament and came all the way from Hangzhou to help.

"Yes!"

Everyone's eyes lit up, and they suddenly became happy and nodded.

Dong Xiaowan smiled bitterly and explained: "Didn't you read the edict? Candidates for each state capital can only invite scholars from their own state capital to write, but not other state capitals."

"This... shouldn't be so strict, right?"

Gu Hengbo hesitated and said, feeling that Dong Xiaowan and the others were too honest, and she did not believe that the emperor would check each recommendation letter one by one. This would have to last until the end of the year of the monkey.

"This is always not good." Dong Xiaowan is not willing to cheat, not to mention that His Majesty cannot judge according to common sense. No one can guarantee whether he will conduct a careful investigation. Once he is found to have cheated, that will not be the case. What a joke, that is the crime of deceiving the emperor.

"Then we might as well directly run for central committee members. There are no restrictions for central committee members. All prefectures and counties in Jiangdong can invite people to write at will."

Li Xiangjun gritted his teeth and said.

Everyone was stunned, even Dong Xiaowan herself was shocked. Obviously, she had never dared to think about electing a Cardinal Councilor. After all, they were stationed in the capital, and they were not comparable to provincial councilors.

"Okay! Then just give it a go. Anyway, the Jiangnan scholars can no longer tolerate me, and I'm not afraid of being laughed at by the world's literati anymore." Finally, Dong Xiaowan stood up and decided to break the jar.

(End of this chapter)