The most arrogant in history

Chapter 496 Charitable Foundation.

He Kangju nodded and said, "I will try my best. If I can't do it well, please ask the emperor to change people."

Ye Kun thought about it:

"As long as you give up your prejudice against new-style education, you can do it well. You Confucian scholars are always afraid to innovate, and always think that the things left by our ancestors cannot be changed at all. But you don't know that if you stick to the old ways, you will only fall further and further behind, become closed and self-contained, and eventually fall into decline."

After ascending the throne, Ye Kun also proposed some reform measures, but met with great resistance.

For example, women's formal dresses are required to be long and trailing on the ground.

The back of the Queen's dress hung to the ground, more than ten feet away.

Clothes get dirty and torn easily, which wastes fabric and makes walking inconvenient.

Ye Kun suggested that all long skirts should not drag on the ground and should only reach the ankles at most.

But Ma Zhaosang refused to agree and muttered a lot.

Ye Kun also advocated that men should have short hair and were not allowed to grow beards under the age of fifty.

As a result, he was criticized by Sang Buzhi and others...

Our hair and bodies are given to us by our parents. Isn't it ridiculous to ask everyone to shave their hair short?

In ancient times, men had long hair, which was handsome, but it was difficult to maintain hygiene. The same goes for beards, which are not good for health.

Especially during wars, the soldiers' long hair would all become smelly!

In terms of reform, Ye Kun did not dare to be too radical, for fear that this era would not be able to accept it, so many things were delayed.

Later, Ye Kun and Wen Axiu came up with an idea to make a breakthrough from the migrant workers.

All male migrant workers have to have flat heads, have their hair cut once a month, are not allowed to grow beards, and must strictly abide by hygiene regulations.

In the army, Ye Kun also encouraged people to keep their hair short, and gave appropriate rewards to those who kept their hair short.

In the past two years, people no longer make a fuss when they occasionally see a man with short hair on the street.

After listening to Ye Kun's complaints, He Kangju smiled bitterly:

"The current school education is indeed too fast. Students learn too little etiquette and too much about the pursuit of knowledge. Astronomy, geography, and trivialities are too diverse. I heard that there are universities that have opened foreign language majors..."

"You see, this is the stubbornness of your Confucianism." Ye Kun smiled bitterly:

"Your Confucian sages also said, 'If you want to be better every day, you must be better every day.' But you don't listen or learn, and just remember those bad things. The Mohists are conservative, and you Confucians are even more conservative.

I tell you, hair, like nails, is part of the body's metabolism and is not something you get from your parents. Long hair is hard to take care of, and many people have lice and sores on their heads, but they still don't want to cut their hair!"

He Kangju nodded: "Your Majesty is right, but changing customs and habits is not something that can be done overnight, we still need to plan for the long term."

Ye Kun thought for a moment and said, "I will teach you a task. If you can complete it, it will be a great achievement for all eternity."

"What mission?"

"Promote simplified Chinese characters, promote the phonetic alphabet, promote a unified Mandarin, and further unify weights and measures."

"Simplified Chinese characters?"

"Yes, simplified Chinese characters." Ye Kun nodded and said:

"Some characters have too many strokes, which is not conducive to children's learning and writing. Wen Axiu and I have simplified some characters and compiled a dictionary. When you take office, you can contact Wen Axiu for coordination."

Ye Kun had long wanted to promote simplified Chinese characters and pinyin, but he never had the time or energy.

In the past few years, I finally found some time to organize it, and taught Wen Axiu and others, so I can promote it vigorously.

There is also the re-unification of weights and measures, and Ye Kun plans to adopt the metric system of weights and measures.

The concepts of kilometers, meters, decimeters, centimeters and millimeters were introduced, and the concepts of kilograms, tons and grams were introduced.

It is not difficult to promote these things. It only takes three to five years to form a habit.

After chatting with He Kangju for a long time, Ye Kun went to Han Chun's house to talk to him.

Han Chun has been very negative at work recently.

Instead, I am addicted to enjoyment and food.

Hearing that the emperor was coming, Han Chun hurried out to greet him: "Why is the emperor here? I am late to welcome you..."

"We are old friends, you're welcome."

Ye Kun waved his hand, walked into Han Chun's house and looked around.

Han Chun was a little scared and asked in a low voice: "The emperor has arrived, do you have any instructions?"

"No, just chatting."

Ye Kun sat down and said slowly: "In fact, Lord Han is over 50 years old and in good health. I wanted to let you continue to serve the country. But you must retire and return home, and I can't force you. Today I talked to He Kangju and asked him to take over your position as Minister of Rites."

Han Chun clasped his fists and saluted: "Your Majesty, you are considerate of me, an old minister. I am deeply grateful. The remaining years of my life are all given by Your Majesty."

Ye Kun smiled and suddenly asked:

"I have known Lord Han since we were still in Dongba County, which is more than ten years ago. Over the years, Lord Han's family business has grown bigger and bigger. Over the years, Lord Han has also made a lot of money. Does he have 100,000 taels of gold?"

Han Chun was slightly surprised and said thoughtfully:

"Thanks to the emperor's kindness, I have been allowed to do business in silk, ironware, and porcelain. My property in Chengdu is about 100,000 taels of gold... If the emperor needs money, I can help."

Ye Kun waved his hand: "The court has made a lot of money from India and Rome in recent years, so it is not short of money. However, the people are still very poor. The gap between the rich and the poor is too big, and the people will rebel.

What I mean is that after Lord Han returns to Yizhou, he can take care of the people. It is not a great achievement to make money by yourself. Only when you make money with everyone else can you be a true hero who helps the world. "

Han Chun thought for a moment and said with a smile, "Your Majesty, I understand. When I return, I will donate a sum of money and grain to all the nursing homes, orphanages, and meritorious villages in Yizhou on a monthly basis to reduce the burden on the court."

"How about this, Lord Han?" Ye Kun smiled:

"Let's set up a charity foundation, and everyone can give some money and put it into the foundation. Then we will hand over this fund to Wu Qiong for management, and earn some interest every year. We can use this interest to do charity and welfare work, such as disaster relief, road construction, caring for the elderly and the poor..."

Han Chun smiled and said, "Your Majesty, this is a very good idea. I will offer five thousand taels of gold."

"Then I'll also offer 5,000 taels. I've made a lot of money from my daily chemical products recently." Ye Kun laughed. "At the meeting of the Nine Departments tomorrow, Lord Han will bring up the matter of the foundation."

Han Chun nodded and accepted the order.

Setting up a foundation is just looking for rich people to blackmail.

At the same time, it also gives them an opportunity to become famous.

Back in the palace, Ye Kun was in Fengyi Palace, inviting everyone to meet him and talking about the foundation.

Jiang Yourong smiled and said, "That's a good idea. I'll take one thousand taels of gold."

Xie Baochan, Xiao Ruliu, Wei Caiqin and Liu Yuejuan immediately followed suit: "We'll pay eight hundred taels."

Madam Hongyun is very wealthy: "I'll give you two thousand taels of gold!"

If you add up all the gold in the harem, there are actually 8,000 taels of gold.

Ye Kun added two thousand taels, making a total of ten thousand taels.

Meeting the next day.

At the end of the meeting, Han Chun proposed to retire and return to his hometown, and proposed to set up the "Huaxia Charity Foundation", which would be a non-official organization that does not belong to the court's financial system and operates independently to do some charitable good things for the people.

When this was said, everyone agreed.

Han Chun smiled and said, "But this fund needs donations from everyone, and then it will be handed over to Lord Wu Qiong to manage. I will donate 5,000 taels of gold."

Ye Kun raised his hand: "The Queen, the Queen Mother, and other ladies in the palace donated a total of 10,000 taels."

Everyone present had no choice but to donate generously.

Ye Kun said: "If we are going to do it, we should do it on a larger scale. We can call on all the officials, gentry, and merchants in the country to participate in charity. Even a copper coin is not too little. When everyone adds fuel, the flames rise high."

Han Chun volunteered: "Your Majesty, I will be free after I retire. I am willing to take the lead and make this happen. I think that if the whole country is mobilized, we can at least raise 200,000 taels of gold."

Ye Kun smiled and said, "Then you are the first president of the Huaxia Charity Foundation!"

If we really have 200,000 taels of gold, the interest generated every year can do a lot of things.

At this time, the eunuch in the palace hurriedly reported: "Your Majesty, something happened to the eldest prince. The Queen asks Your Majesty to go back and take a look..."

Ye Kun was shocked: "Did Feng'er get into trouble? What happened?"