There is no such thing as the Kangxi and Qianlong eras

Chapter 257 Admonitions for Women
The Prince of Han's residence, the inner quarters.

"Your Majesty, the King is here," Xing'er reported hastily.

"Well, I see."

Chen Huilan entrusted her son to Qiuyun's care and personally went to welcome Nie Yu into the courtyard. She also ordered the maids to quickly serve tea, fruit, and set out soft couches and mattresses for him to rest on.

Nie Yu nodded slightly at the Queen's arrangement. His Queen was indeed sensible and knew that he was busy with official duties outside the home and did not like to see the concubines vying for favor and acting foolishly when he returned to the inner quarters.

Competition for favor within the inner quarters is inevitable, especially since he is the Prince of Han, and each of his sons theoretically has a chance of inheriting the throne, which will inevitably lead to a power struggle among interest groups.

However, the Han Dynasty's anti-Qing cause is not yet complete, and the idea of ​​dividing the country along the Yangtze River is still far from being realized. Therefore, the civil and military officials, relatives of the emperor, powerful clans, and gentry of the Han Dynasty are all living in peace for the time being, and all forces are focused on their own efforts and have no time or resources to bet on the prince's struggle for the throne.

Nie Yu took a sip of tea, then took out the draft of the "New Laws of the Great Han Dynasty." He wasn't here to rest and chat in the Queen's courtyard today; he was here to take care of serious business.

"Your Majesty, please take a look too!" Nie Yu said.

Chen Huilan did not refuse. This was just a draft law and did not involve the military and state secrets of the Han Dynasty, so it could not be considered interference in politics by the harem.

Although it doesn't count as interference in politics by the harem, the fact that she, as the queen, was involved in reviewing the draft law indicates that it is almost complete, only stuck on a few key points.

Chen Huilan quickly flipped through the draft of the new law. Overall, it was very similar to the old laws of the pseudo-Qing Dynasty, but it was much more lenient in sentencing ordinary people who broke the law.

This was still a requirement Nie Yu made to the Ministry of Justice, because the "New Laws of the Great Han Dynasty" were based on the "Laws of the Great Qing Dynasty" and the "Laws of the Great Ming Dynasty." It wasn't that he didn't use modern criminal law; modern criminal law is only applicable to modern times and has undergone many years of reform, making it no longer suitable for ancient society.

If this policy is actually implemented, it's hard to say whether officials and gentry will oppose it, but the common people will definitely think you're crazy, or rather, seriously crazy.

For example, one of the most common provisions in modern criminal law states that a mentally ill person who commits a crime should not be sentenced to death.

Ordinary people don't care if you're mentally ill or not. If you kill someone, you have to pay with your life, just like you have to pay back a debt. It's all a matter of course.

If the Han government were to change, the people would have a crisis of trust in the Han government, thinking that Han officials were all corrupt and could even get away with murder.

Moreover, the most crucial point is that if Nie Yu were to incorporate this into the "New Laws of the Great Han Dynasty," it's uncertain whether it would protect the common people, but it would certainly lead to a large number of "mentally unstable" murderers among the powerful and wealthy.

Of course, modern criminal law cannot be used, and the Qing Dynasty Code and the Ming Dynasty Code were also too harsh in some sentencing.

Despite later generations' praise of Zhu Yuanzhang for his love of the people, the actual "Great Ming Code" was not particularly lenient towards ordinary people.

The reason is simple: Zhu Yuanzhang's original intention in formulating the "Great Ming Code" was to preserve the Ming Dynasty and the Zhu family's rule, secondly to protect the people, and thirdly to punish corrupt officials.

This led to the situation where, in terms of criminal law and litigation, the "Great Ming Code" seemingly granted the people a lot of power, but in reality, it also shackled them with many constraints, even imposing severe penalties for minor offenses to prevent them from breaking the law and running wild, forcing them to stay home and farm.

In local areas, ordinary people were often at a disadvantage against powerful clans and officials. Therefore, the power granted to ordinary people by the "Great Ming Code" to resist the government and gentry was essentially non-existent, and the harsh laws and severe punishments were amplified infinitely on the people.

Although the problems arose during actual implementation, they still forced Nie Yu to pay attention to the sentencing aspects of the "New Laws of the Great Han Dynasty" and try his best not to place too much burden on the people.

This wouldn't have any adverse effect, because even ancient emperors knew that their laws were problematic and too harsh on the people, so they would periodically grant general amnesties under various pretexts.

No one would truly believe that when the emperor grants a general amnesty, it's simply to celebrate his own happiness. It's a common tactic to release innocent people who have been imprisoned, a way to appease the public.

Chen Huilan quickly flipped through the pages and soon came across the new criminal law concerning the sentencing of those who harassed women, which was marked with annotations by Nie Yuzhu.

It was supposed to be a new law, but in reality, the Ministry of Justice submitted two different laws instead of a new one: one for hanging with reprieve, and the other for exile as a slave for ten years.

Below that are the draft proposals for the cabinet, also divided equally between the two sides, and at the very bottom is Nie Yu's handwritten annotations in red ink.

“Starving to death is a small matter, but losing one’s chastity is a great matter. Remarrying after one’s husband’s death is indeed a loss of chastity, but there are also unavoidable circumstances, which even a sage cannot prohibit.”

Chen Huilan slowly recited the words, then flattered, "Your Majesty, what book did you quote? I have never read it before."

Nie Yu said, "This is what Zhu Xi said."

Chen Huilan's mouth gaped slightly in surprise: "These are words spoken by Master Zhu Xi?"

Chen Huilan knew who Zhu Xi was. He was a representative figure of Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism and a Confucian saint revered by Ming and Qing literati. He truly promoted the theory that female chastity was more important than life.

Without Zhu Xi, the idea that "starving to death is a small matter, but losing one's chastity is a great matter" wouldn't have become so prevalent. That's why many later writers and novelists liked to criticize Confucianism and Zhu Xi, even claiming that Zhu Jia, as a father-in-law, had an affair with his own daughter-in-law.

Whether Zhu Xi committed adultery is hard to say, because Zhu Xi himself neither denied nor admitted it. On the contrary, after being impeached for having an affair with his daughter-in-law, he resigned from his post and returned to his hometown in despair (I personally think he probably didn't, because it was completely unnecessary and it really doesn't fit with his theoretical propositions).

Nie Yu explained, "Zhu Xi did indeed say, 'Starving to death is a small matter, but losing one's chastity is a great matter.' To put it bluntly, it is because of Zhu Xi that people now value female chastity more highly than anything else, even more than life itself. But what people rarely know is that while Zhu Xi supported women maintaining their chastity, the premise was that the woman could support herself. If she was a widowed or orphaned woman with no one to rely on, Zhu Xi, while supporting her chastity, did not object to her remarrying. Because Zhu Xi was a sage, but even sages are human. He knew the hardships of ordinary people, who struggled even to make ends meet. Why force them to maintain their chastity?"

Chen Huilan was stunned. After a moment, she suddenly smiled and said, "Your Majesty knows so much. I really didn't know any of these things."

Nie Yu smiled, then shook his head: "Knowing more is useless. I can gain the Queen's trust, but I cannot gain the trust of the entire court, nor can I gain the trust of the people of my great Han."

Having said all that, Chen Huilan quickly understood her husband's meaning and said, "What does Your Majesty need me to do?"

Nie Yu took out a copy of "Women's Admonitions" and said with a smile, "I need the Queen to polish and add a few articles to 'Women's Admonitions.' I am the King of Han, the ruler of this great Han Dynasty, and the Queen is the Queen Mother of the Great Han Dynasty. When the Queen Mother writes 'Women's Admonitions,' it will no longer be a simple legal order, but rather the Queen Mother setting an example for the women of the people of the Great Han Dynasty."

To put it bluntly, Nie Yu could forcibly order the revision of the laws, but the common people and scholars of the Han Dynasty would likely not accept it afterward.

Don't assume that the power of an emperor or monarch is truly all-encompassing, capable of deciding the fate of the world with a single word. There are many problems in this world that even an emperor's decree and the army's execution cannot solve.

When the pseudo-Qing dynasty seized power in the Central Plains, it even issued an order forbidding women from binding their feet. Isn't that surprising?

The puppet Qing dynasty could actually do good things?
This wasn't something the Qing dynasty itself wanted to do; they initially didn't care. However, the sheer number of women with bound feet began to negatively impact agricultural production. Most outrageously, many Manchu nobles felt they had conquered the Central Plains and were now superior beings, so they naturally felt they should learn the etiquette of superiors, which included foot binding.

This completely baffled the Manchu nobles, who immediately banned foot binding among the people of the entire country. They thought, "It's one thing for you Han people to bind your own feet, but why are you making the Manchu nobles bind theirs too?"

then……

Unsurprisingly, the attempt failed. Like the ban on foot binding and the policy of "choosing a queue for a head," both met with fierce resistance from the people.

Some people with bizarre thought processes even went so far as to link foot binding to national righteousness, believing that if men could not keep their hair but women could keep their bound feet, then the men had surrendered to the Qing Dynasty while the women had not.

This is a form of psychological victory!
Nie Yu learned from the lessons of the Qing dynasty and knew that forcibly enacting strict laws and regulations on this matter would likely backfire.

Because the people had already formed a psychological habit, the only advantage of the Han Dynasty was that it was not a pseudo-Qing or a foreign race, which gave the people no reason for men to surrender and women not to.

Even if King Nie Yu of Han doesn't come in person, his writing of "Admonitions for Women" will be useless and will only incite resentment among the people and scholars. Therefore, the only option is for the Queen to do it herself; the Queen is of utmost importance.
As the mother of the Han dynasty, she had the responsibility of being a model for the Han dynasty, so doing this was perfectly justified, and even scholars couldn't find fault with it.

Even what needs to be changed, Nie Yu has already thought it through. A woman's chastity should indeed be valued, but human life is of paramount importance. Chastity is an ethereal concept, how can it be above the heavens or life itself?

Starving to death is a small matter, but losing one's chastity is a big deal. That would be even more ridiculous. Even a saint himself couldn't do it, so why should we expect a widowed or orphaned woman to do it?

In addition to this, Nie Yu added: "Binding feet is inherently against the natural order, and the idea that men should surrender while women should not is utter nonsense. If women with bound feet did not surrender, then all Han Chinese in the world would not shave their heads, and wouldn't that count as surrendering to the Qing? If it is truly said that men should surrender while women should not, then men should be beheaded and women should have their legs cut off. However, our bodies and hair are given to us by our parents, and to easily destroy them is unfilial. Whether it is unsurrender or unfilial, we should weigh it ourselves!"

Chen Huilan paused with her brush in her hand, and said with a helpless smile, "If I add to the 'Admonitions for Women' like this, I'm afraid that in the future, all the scholars in the world will curse me as a wicked empress who brings disaster to the country and the people."

Nie Yu laughed heartily, stepped forward and pulled Chen Huilan into his arms: "Whether she's a demon queen or not, do you think I don't know?"

……

The Queen personally added to the "Admonitions for Women," but it couldn't actually be used directly. This was because neither Nie Yu nor the Queen were highly cultured; they could write calligraphy, but they certainly couldn't write the "Admonitions for Women" beautifully. It still needed to be polished by officials from the Ministry of Rites.

Even so, it was still of great significance. The Ministry of Rites was only responsible for expanding and polishing the text, turning vulgar articles into elegant ones, but the original intent remained unchanged.

The new "Admonitions for Women" would undoubtedly cause a huge uproar under the rule of the Han Dynasty if it were to be publicly promulgated. This was because the Queen, the mother of the nation, actually opposed the idea that female chastity was as important as life itself, and even encouraged women to show their faces in public, and for widowed and destitute women to bravely remarry. At the same time, she opposed foot binding, believing that foot binding was unfilial and disloyal.

Once these announcements were made, even the civil officials and scholars who dared to speak frankly to the King of Han had to shut up.

Because they were men, it was really inappropriate for them to interfere in matters concerning the "Admonitions for Women." They had to maintain their status as orthodox scholars and debate with the Queen of the Han Dynasty.

The new "Admonitions for Women" was the King of Han's trump card, not because of its legal provisions, but because of its ability to change people's hearts. Even the Queen believed that a woman's chastity should not be greater than human life or the will of Heaven, so the people would surely be subtly influenced to blindly believe it.

Therefore, there is no need for further debate regarding the laws concerning female chastity in the "New Laws of the Great Han Dynasty".

Previously, there were two opposing camps, one for the better and the other for the worse, and even a rather absurd third camp. Ultimately, it was the Confucian traditional concept that female chastity was more important than life that was at play.

If a woman is harassed, even if she is not sexually assaulted, the damage to her reputation may force her to choose suicide to preserve her so-called chastity due to public pressure.

Thus, what was originally a relatively minor criminal case turned into a murder case. With this turn of events, the Ministry of Justice was truly at a loss as to how to amend it, knowing that any amendment would inevitably draw criticism.

Now that the new "Admonitions for Women" has been disseminated, the prevailing public opinion has been changed. The woman who was harassed will no longer attempt suicide.

The common people would think it was just teasing and wouldn't really harm their chastity, as long as they reported it to the authorities in time and let the government uphold justice.

Without cases involving death, the government can appropriately reduce sentences under the new law, avoiding the need for frequent exile or execution.

Beyond the changes to the "New Laws of the Great Han Dynasty," Nie Yu also extended this idea by having the Queen add "Admonitions for Women," indirectly encouraging women to abandon traditional notions of chastity.

Even though steam-powered spinning machines had already appeared in the Han Dynasty, continuing to maintain the traditional, rigid system of men farming and women weaving, with women confined to their homes, unable to interact with men outside the home, and forbidden from showing their faces in public, this conservative, even sickly, small-scale peasant economy was severely hindering the progress of productivity.

In the early stages of the Industrial Revolution, women were undoubtedly the primary users of steam-powered spinning machines. Therefore, women had to go out and earn money for their families by spinning yarn; otherwise, steam-powered spinning machines simply wouldn't have been widely adopted, let alone any Industrial Revolution could have occurred.

Nie Yu wasn't worried at all about whether this would have any negative impact, because the people's eyes were discerning. As long as the people could taste the benefits, they would immediately encourage their wives and daughters to go out spinning yarn every day to earn money.

……

The next day.

The Emperor's imperial edict on the new laws, along with the Empress's handwritten additions to the "Admonitions for Women," were issued to the cabinet.

After reading it, the cabinet ministers looked at each other in bewilderment.

After a long silence, Grand Secretary Liu Jun sighed, "Your Majesty has just dumped a huge problem on us!"

Gu Jing shook his head: "Prime Minister, there's no need for that. His Majesty has obviously anticipated this, which is why he had the Queen write this new 'Admonitions for Women.' If the 'New Laws' were controversial before, with the 'Admonitions for Women' as its endorsement, everything will fall into place naturally and smoothly."

Wang Ruoyu nodded and said, "Minister Gu is right. Since the New Laws of the Great Han Dynasty are new laws, they are bound to cause a great uproar among the people and officials of our Great Han Dynasty. However, the 'Admonitions for Women' by Your Majesty and Your Majesty has just the right time to act as a stabilizing force. With the 'Admonitions for Women', then everything will be fine."

Yao Hongyi also said: "I think the 'Admonitions for Women' is very well written. Putting aside other things, foot binding is indeed a bad custom, but the ignorant masses and the corrupt gentry all regard it as the golden rule. Officials from the Ministry of Works' Department of Commerce have personally seen many so-called ladies with bound feet when they went to Huizhou to trade. They were truly morbid and disgusting. Moreover, this was only under the pseudo-Qing rule. Under the rule of our Han Dynasty, as people's lives improved, some local tyrants and gentry began to bind women's feet in private again, and even encouraged the people to consider foot binding elegant. It's simply outrageous!"

(End of this chapter)