If a Commandant of the Left Militant Guard dared use such an excuse, his head would be hung on a flagpole as a warning to others. If a Commandant of the Imperial Guards dared use such an excuse, not one person in his entire family, young or old, would survive. If a Commandant of the most humane Lingnan Navy dared say this, the punishment he’d receive would certainly be a hundred heavy military lashes, followed by dismissal and return to his hometown—this would already be the lightest punishment. Afterward, there would certainly be military commandants impeaching Yun Ye for perverting the law.
Right now, Yun Ye very much wanted to hang Lai Ying’s head at the academy gate. This way, perhaps all these young ladies would be scared away, and everyone wouldn’t have to be troubled.
“Marquis Yun, at this moment, I’m afraid you can’t use Sun Wu’s method of drilling consorts in military formations, can you?” Zhangsun’s voice, extremely familiar with Yun Ye, drifted ethereally from the carriage, accompanied by Li Er’s uncontrollable laughter.
Watching the chaotic, giggling, chattering little girls appear before him, Yun Ye’s head was about to explode. He shouted loudly, “Silence!”
Perhaps his voice was a bit too loud. The scene did quiet down, but sobbing sounds also emerged from the crowd. Yun Ye had no time to console anyone and said loudly again, “Li Ling, Li Shu, Wu Mei, Yun Ya—step forward!”
Everyone was stunned. Xiao Wu and Xiao Ya were already accustomed to this, so they quickly stepped out, each carrying a huge bundle, looking comical. Seeing Xiao Ya and the others come out, Gao Yang and Lan Ling also followed. All had the same appearance.
“Put down your baggage and prepare to form ranks. Stand in four columns, quickly, without error.”
Xiao Wu was very clever and immediately found eighteen people from the crowd, arranged them in a vertical row, and stood at the back herself. Xiao Ya was no stranger to this either and did the same thing. When it came to Gao Yang, there was trouble. She picked pleasing ones from the crowd, specifically selecting pretty ones, even forcibly pulling several pleasing ones from Xiao Wu and Xiao Ya’s formations before giving up. Thus the formation became chaotic again. Xiao Ya wouldn’t stand for it and started arguing with Gao Yang. Both sides actually had people helping with the argument, and there were many trying to mediate.
Yun Ye said nothing, coldly watching the chaotic formation. Over these years, he had somewhat cultivated a killing aura. Inadvertently seeing Yun Ye’s icy gaze, one little girl immediately obediently stood in front of Xiao Wu, who hadn’t moved at all from start to finish. With one, there was a second. Knowing her brother’s temperament, Xiao Ya immediately stopped arguing and began organizing her own formation. Princess Gao Yang, Li Ling, was arguing when she discovered she had no opponent. When she wanted to rejoin the formation, she discovered that around her there were already four long columns, each with nineteen people. Only she stood alone in the gap, at a loss.
“Yun Ye, where should I stand?”
“From now on, call me Teacher, because I personally teach your mathematics course. As for you—where should you stand? The four formations are already full. You are the fifth formation!”
“Just me alone?” Gao Yang’s voice became shrill.
“You can choose to withdraw, or stand alone as one formation.” Yun Ye’s voice was cold and hard, without any emotion. If he showed weakness at this moment, there would be no way to manage these little girls in the future.
Gao Yang, who had been about to cry, heard Yun Ye’s words and forcibly held back her tears. Glaring at Yun Ye, she huffily stood aside alone and said loudly, “I won’t be driven away by you—absolutely not.”
Yun Ye glanced at her, ignoring her, and walked before those young girls, saying, “Since ancient times, it’s said that ‘a woman without talent is virtuous.’ This phrase has been circulating for a long time. Many people regard it as a golden rule. I originally thought the same, but later I was taught by two people—one was Empress Dowager, the other was Master Yan Zhitui. The Empress believes a woman must be virtuous, good-natured, and wise—all three are indispensable, with wisdom being the most important. A foolish woman can possibly destroy a family, a city, or even a nation. Although I still have doubts about this statement, I very much agree with one thing Her Majesty said: a wise woman can prosper a family, stabilize the state, and secure the nation. This is why I’m giving you an opportunity to try to become clever and wise.”
“Actually, adding a women’s branch to the academy is very troublesome. You’re different from men. When men don’t behave, I can use various means to punish them, including building artificial mountains with bare hands. If you have time, you can go look at those Tear Mountain and Sweat Mountain behind the academy with names carved on them. The stones might still have blood from those male students’ hands.”
“You’re different. The academy doesn’t have many methods to physically punish you. But I tell you, if you fail, the punishment you’ll receive will be even more terrifying.”
“The academy’s principle is education without discrimination, so you can easily open the academy’s gates. But once you withdraw, the academy gates will be forever closed to all women, because from you, the academy will draw the conclusion that women cannot be cultivated. Even if you beg and wail, they won’t open again. All women in future generations who wish to seek learning and improvement will remember your names. It’s you who blocked their path to learning. Even when you’ve grown old and died, I believe you’ll hear their curses in hell.”
After Yun Ye spoke these words, the scene immediately fell completely silent. Even Zhangsun’s carriage produced no sound for quite a while. Several carriages even transmitted crying sounds.
“Now tell me, who feels they cannot shoulder such a heavy responsibility? There’s still time to withdraw now. You only have the time it takes one incense stick to burn to consider. After this time, you must bear these responsibilities.”
“To be honest, I don’t think highly of you. Academy life is hard. Perhaps from your fathers and brothers you’ve learned some things about the academy. I tell you, those are false. Out of care, fathers and brothers didn’t tell you about many hardships they endured—they only picked easy and pleasant things to tell. That’s how men are—they swallow broken teeth and blood together. They can recount many times how they landed a heavy punch on someone else, but no one mentions when their own nose got knocked crooked.”
“Look, your family carriages are right there. Just get in and everything’s settled. Return home and continue enjoying your fathers’ and brothers’ affection, hide in your embroidery chambers and dream about your future husbands. How nice.” After speaking, he turned around to watch the incense.
The scene was extremely quiet. No one said a word. Those pampered young ladies were breathing rapidly, covered in sweat. They had never made such a choice before, nor had anyone given them the right to choose.
Finally, a ten-year-old little girl ran back crying. She couldn’t endure such an eerie atmosphere. From those carriages came a simultaneous sigh of regret. With one, there would be two, three. When Yun Ye turned around, the formation before him had thinned considerably. Yun Ye ordered them to form ranks again. This time it was very quick. Yun Ye counted and found only sixty remained—a very neat number.
At this moment, Yun Ye’s icy gaze disappeared. He continued speaking to them, “Just now I only mentioned Her Majesty’s influence on me. Do you know what Old Master Yan said to me when I said ‘a woman without talent is virtuous’?”
Those little girls shook their heads together. Yun Ye smiled bitterly and said, “Just one action. The old gentleman was chewing garlic cloves and eating dumplings—with chive filling too. Hearing my words, he spat a mouthful of garlic bits and chive residue all over me, then continued eating dumplings, not even willing to pay me attention. I washed my face twice before the garlic smell was barely gone.”
Hearing Yun Ye say this, the little girls’ formation immediately burst into laughter. Several laughed so hard they collapsed to the ground. After their laughter stopped, Yun Ye continued, “The old gentleman is never wrong, so I must have been wrong. When you’re wrong, you must correct it. So you see, the academy welcomes you.”
“Welcome to a new world. Here, all your dreams will sprout wings and fly. When you discover you’ve entered a brand new world, don’t be surprised, because everything here belongs to you. You’ll know how high the sky is, how vast the earth is, know the secrets of the ocean, know the immortals in the great mountains. From the moment you made this choice, you’re different from all women in history. What Nong Yu, what Zhuo Wenjun, what Cai Wenji, what Xie Daoyun—they’re nothing but laughable, pitiful creatures.”
“You’ll become the most accomplished group of women, becoming a teacher like Hypatia isn’t impossible. I don’t know what kind of people your parents want to educate you to be, but I think a woman with a gentle exterior, strong interior, who respects the strong, protects the weak, is sincere and respectful to her parents, and compassionate to juniors—such a woman would already be very good. Moreover, during the learning process, you’ll discover new abilities in yourselves. Alright, now throw away your burdens and keep only your undergarments. Those things are useless and will only hinder you. The academy has already prepared everything for you. Come, follow me to your new world.”
Watching Yun Ye lead a group of little girls into the academy’s square residence like a lead goose, Zhangsun said worriedly to Li Er, “Your Majesty, will there be problems with this? After hearing Yun Ye’s words, this consort feels quite frightened. Gao Yang and Lan Ling both have proud and arrogant personalities. If they’re bewitched into not knowing the immensity of heaven and earth, what should we do?”
“His words are very bewitching, but if you look at the subjects these children study, you’ll know you’re worrying for nothing. Agricultural arts, industrial arts, household management, early childhood education, business management, mathematics, physics, and even cosmetics—also a field of study. What do you think they can do after learning these? This produces an excellent housewife candidate. Would Yun Ye place himself in danger? Stop worrying.” Li Er flipped through the women’s academy curriculum distributed by the academy and immediately understood what Yun Ye was thinking.
Only the most outstanding girls could pursue their ideal subjects while learning these things well. Presumably, there wouldn’t be many such people—one or two per class would be good, three or four at most. The vast torrent of Great Tang could use a few brilliant colors for embellishment.
Actually, Yun Ye’s idea was to have everyone become accustomed to the appearance of excellent women. Now one or two seemed insignificant. After a hundred years, ten or twenty wouldn’t be strange. After a thousand years, even the appearance of a million wouldn’t surprise anyone. Frogs need to be boiled in warm water.