There is no such thing as the Kangxi and Qianlong eras

Chapter 218 Taking a Concubine
Xiangyang fell, its fall was inevitable, a natural consequence.

Once the telegram was sent back to Jingzhou, the Cabinet and the Ministry of Rites immediately began arranging post-war rewards and honors, while the Army Commander-in-Chief's Office also started conducting strategic simulations based on maps.

With soldiers, provisions, cannons, and inside help to attack the city, Xiangyang itself was extremely depleted in terms of troops and supplies. If they still couldn't take it, then the Han army would really have no reason to fight for the world.

At the same time that Xiangyang fell, a joint report from Meng Chang, the prefect of Hefeng, and He Shunan, the commander of the First Division, was sent to Jingzhou.

At the Prince of Han's residence, Nie Yu convened a small meeting with the cabinet ministers.

Nie Yu was both amused and exasperated: "This Meng Chang, he's making it sound like if I don't take this Miao concubine as my wife, then the Tu Miao people can't be appeased?"

Liu Jun, the chief minister, spoke first: "If taking a Miao concubine can pacify the Miao people of Hefeng, then she should be taken. Your Majesty, I beg you to prioritize the affairs of the state!"

“Since ancient times, a monarch’s harem, if not three thousand beauties, should not have only two or three,” Gu Jing, the Minister of Rites, said immediately. He had long felt that it was inappropriate for the King of Han to have only one empress and one concubine, but his previous remonstrances had been ignored by the King of Han.

Now, they've finally got their chance.

Even Lin Wenchang, Wang Ruoyu, Lü Zhihong, and Yao Hongyi vied to offer their advice.

Nie Yu raised an eyebrow and asked in confusion, "You don't discriminate against Tujia and Miao women?"

Although Nie Yu, the King of Han, set an example by saying that he would not discriminate against ethnic minorities and would treat all ethnic minorities equally, the inherent discrimination against ethnic minorities by local officials was still unavoidable.

Lin Wenchang explained, "Your Majesty, if the Tu Miao people of Hefeng are willing to assimilate, then they are subjects of our Great Han. Since they are subjects of the Great Han, how can there be any talk of discrimination?"

It was said in a very subtle way, but discrimination is still discrimination. However, as long as they are willing to naturalize and do not cause trouble, then everything can be discussed.

The Han Dynasty made peace through marriage alliances, the Tang Dynasty formed alliances, the Song Dynasty... let's not talk about the Song Dynasty. In the early Ming Dynasty, the benevolent Emperor Hongzhi, who established the "Hongzhi Restoration," may have had a mother who was of Yao ethnicity.

It's not that Emperor Chenghua married a Yao woman as his empress, but rather that after the Yao rebellion was suppressed by the Ming army, the Yao woman he brought back happened to be the one he had sex with and gave birth to Emperor Hongzhi.

Even the current puppet Qing dynasty still tries to win over and appease Mongol princes by marrying Mongol concubines, thus maintaining the facade of a close relationship between the Manchus and Mongols.

Huang Taiji married Dayuer, Dorgon had an "ethical sadomasochistic relationship" with Dayuer, and then the three Mongol chieftains Shunzhi, Kangxi and Qianlong all had one or more concubines from the Khorchin Mongol tribe.

So far, the only Qing emperor without Mongol concubines is probably Emperor Yongzheng. This is because his reign was short, and he genuinely wanted to be a Han Chinese emperor, not some self-proclaimed Great Khan of the Manchus and Mongols.

Nie Yu did not agree immediately, but returned to the inner palace first, and also to discuss it with the Queen.

The matter of taking concubines into the harem must be informed of the queen. It is not that the queen's permission is required. The king does not need the queen's permission to take concubines. It is purely a division of labor between the inner and outer courts under feudal autocracy.

The emperor was already very busy managing the outer court, so the inner court was basically managed by the empress.

The concept of "Empress as Mother of the Nation" does not mean that the Empress should govern the country, but rather that she should set an example for all women and demonstrate magnanimity.

Therefore, the selection of concubines and the selection of concubines to serve the emperor were basically arranged by the empress, and the emperor only made the final decision.

Generally speaking, the empress would definitely make all the arrangements in advance according to the emperor's preferences, and the emperor would not be too disrespectful to the empress.

(That's a bit too much)
Unless the empress's family is very powerful and is preparing to usurp the throne and rebel.

Queen Chen Huilan sighed, "It is a good thing for Your Majesty to take a concubine, especially since it is for the sake of the country. I should not stop you, otherwise the officials and people of the Han Dynasty will say that I am jealous and will not allow Your Majesty to take a concubine to enrich your harem!"

Chen Huilan is also under a lot of pressure. She is currently pregnant with the royal heir, so everything is still understandable. It could be that the King of Han is trying to establish a crown prince to prevent chaos in the country.

But if the Prince of Han does not take any more concubines after Chen Huilan gives birth to this child, then civil officials will probably be unable to hold back and will come to submit memorials to advise him.

Nie Yu said, "It is not that I am against taking concubines, but the world has not yet been restored, and our Han Dynasty has not even fully recovered Huguang. If I were to take concubines now to fill the harem, even if it were for the sake of the country, the officials would surely follow suit."

Nie Yu was not opposed to taking concubines in his heart, because he was a normal man. Normal men are bound to be attracted to women, which is inevitable. In ancient times, there were no other forms of entertainment. What else could he do if he didn't want to be attracted to women?
But now he is the King of Han, and every word and action he takes sets an example for his civil and military officials. Before, when he had only one empress and one concubine, the officials would still restrain themselves. Now that the King of Han has only one empress and one concubine, who would dare to take a concubine at will?

But now that Consort Miao has been taken as a concubine, it will no longer be just one empress and one concubine. Moreover, taking Consort Miao is a political task, which gives the officials an excuse to exploit.

The Yao, Dong, and Miao people in Hunan are not very peaceful and obedient, so should we also take a concubine for each of them to appease the hearts of the various ethnic minorities?

The key is that if it really comes to that, Nie Yu can't refuse. This is for the sake of the country and the people, and as the King of Han, he has no reason to refuse.

If the Prince of Han was taking concubines so openly, then officials and civil servants, even if they didn't openly take concubines, would certainly follow suit secretly. It's the same principle as how Emperor Qianlong's corruption led to the rapid decay and corruption of the entire bureaucracy. At least when Emperor Yongzheng first implemented the land tax reform and the "anti-corruption allowance" system, although it had certain limitations, the overall bureaucracy was certainly not as corrupt as it is now. Otherwise, local gentry and scholars wouldn't have staged such a large-scale boycott of exams and resignations.

It was not a good thing for officials to take concubines. Both the Ming and Qing dynasties had strict laws prohibiting officials from taking concubines in their jurisdictions, in order to prevent officials from colluding with local officials through the relationship of taking concubines.

After pondering the matter all night, Nie Yu didn't even go to Liu Fei's courtyard to rest before finally making his decision.

Let's take a concubine then!
Since he had already declared himself king, the harem was no longer his private domain, but rather a political appendage of the state.

The Han Dynasty still existed, and he was still the King of Han. He had little say in expressing his preferences in the harem. He had to take concubines as he pleased, and even having princes and princesses was a political task.

Once a decision is made, it's better to do it sooner rather than later.

Nie Yu issued an order to the cabinet to first send a telegram to the Tu Miao people of Hefeng, and then the cabinet and the Ministry of Rites would jointly prepare for the relevant matters.

This was no ordinary concubine selection; it was a matter of national importance to appease the Tujia and Miao peoples. No detail could be overlooked, and there even had to be a formal betrothal ceremony.

After dealing with this matter, Nie Yu then began to formulate the compilation rules for the "Great Han Laws," entrusting the main task to Dai Yi, the Minister of Justice.

Although the Han Dynasty had established a kingdom and a system of governance, its core legal code still largely followed some provisions of the Qing Dynasty's legal code. This wasn't because the Han Dynasty was being lazy; rather, the Qing Dynasty's legal code itself was also lazy, as it largely followed the Ming Dynasty's legal code.

Most of the laws and regulations remained unchanged, with only some adjustments and additions made to the laws and regulations concerning the Manchu, Han, Mongol, and Eight Banners. Some unreasonable legal documents were also slightly modified.

Nie Yu's decision to have the Ministry of Justice draft the "Great Han Law" was not a spur-of-the-moment idea. Since the Great Han had already been established, it was necessary to have a set of legal documents that conformed to its political nature.

We can't keep reporting and trying cases from various prefectures and counties every day, and still use the old methods, such as the "Great Qing Code" which stipulates: "If a rape is not completed, or if a woman commits suicide out of shame and indignation after being harassed, she shall be sentenced to strangulation pending trial."

This can be understood as follows: if attempted rape or harassment results in a woman committing suicide out of shame and indignation, then the offender shall be sentenced to immediate execution by hanging with a suspended sentence.

The meaning of "suspended sentence" is that the person will not be executed immediately, but will be assessed after the autumn review and the imperial review to determine whether execution is warranted.

This criminal law was actually quite lenient, because the "Great Qing Code" before the Yongzheng era stipulated that "the crime of coercing someone to death, if it is due to adultery or theft, and the person is coerced to death, shall be beheaded."

Anyone who attempts to rape or harass a woman and causes her to commit suicide out of shame and indignation shall be sentenced to immediate execution.

Emperor Yongzheng felt that such a punishment was too harsh and would also be detrimental to population growth, so he changed it to the more lenient punishment of strangulation with reprieve.

In the current Han Dynasty, officials are divided into three factions regarding this matter:

One faction believes that the original death penalty should be reinstated, as hanging with reprieve is too lenient, and harassing offenders often become emboldened and disregard the law.

One faction believes that hanging is just right, or even hanging is too harsh; it was just teasing, and there was no need to make it so serious.

Another group believes that none of these approaches are acceptable. They argue that the offender who attempted to harass the woman should be allowed to marry her. Otherwise, even if the woman survives, the harasser will be punished, making it difficult for the woman to remarry.

Well, in Nie Yu's view, these three factions were all incredibly powerful, so he not only made the Ministry of Justice decide to rewrite the laws, but also secretly took time to copy dialectical papers on Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism.

The law is not a panacea; the fundamental solution to problems lies with people. If a woman is harassed, she should commit suicide; otherwise, she will be despised by everyone.

When Nie Yu saw the local report about this case, he was almost dumbfounded. His first reaction was not how chaste the woman who failed to commit suicide was, but that this era was simply insane!

The Cheng-Zhu school of Neo-Confucianism had become so distorted in the Qing Dynasty that it was morbid. The idea that "starving to death is a small matter, but losing one's integrity is a big deal" was pure nonsense!
Since Nie Yu couldn't solve the problem immediately, he started with the mindset. Many people in later generations believed that it was Zhu Xi who said these eight words, and that Zhu Xi was the one who poisoned women for thousands of years.

In reality, Zhu Xi only quoted these eight characters, and also said the second half of the sentence, namely, "It is certainly a loss of chastity to remarry after one's husband's death, but there are also unavoidable reasons, which even sages cannot prohibit."

In plain terms, it means: "Starving to death is a small matter, but losing one's chastity is a big deal. That's true, but even saints can't escape this. How can we expect a lonely and helpless widow to do the same?"

It's a pity that many people don't know that Zhu Xi said the second half of his sentence, and even less do they know that Zhu Xi was subtly satirizing the Southern Song scholar-officials, saying that they were all unprincipled people who didn't think about how to resist the Jin and recover the Central Plains, but instead thought about begging for peace with the Jin barbarians and living a life of debauchery.

Nie Yu was still writing dialectical articles on Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism, while also outlining the general scope of revisions to the "Great Han Law" drafted by the Ministry of Justice.

Just then, a secret telegram arrived from Xiangyang, informing them that Liu Zhixie of the White Lotus sect in Henan had sent an envoy to request an audience.

(End of this chapter)