There is no such thing as the Kangxi and Qianlong eras

Chapter 259 What Kind of Gate Was Knocking On?
Mr. Xu carefully considered his words and said, “The ‘Admonitions for Women’ are the moral codes that women should follow, such as the Three Obediences and Four Virtues and the husband being the head of the household. What is written in this official gazette are some new rules added to the ‘Admonitions for Women’, and they are all added and annotated by the Queen.”

Upon hearing that it was the Queen herself who added the "Admonitions for Women," and that it was a new set of rules concerning the virtues of women, they were immediately intrigued.

The village chief's wife, who was cooking for Mr. Xu, the guest, quickly came over and handed over the work to her daughter-in-law: "Old man, go over there and make room for me. I want to hear what new rules the Empress has set for us."

Mr. Xu was already familiar with the village chief's family, so he didn't stand on ceremony and said, "The new rules set by the Queen are three in total: First, widowed women can remarry in the future; second, women can show their faces in public and no longer need to be afraid of the taboo of men and women not touching each other; third, women must not bind their feet, as foot binding is considered disloyal and unfilial."

As soon as the words were spoken, the village elder and his wife were both stunned. Even the village elder's daughter-in-law, who was busy cooking, froze on the spot, seemingly doubting that she had misheard.

After regaining his senses, Village Chief Huang asked, "Mr. Xu, are you joking with this old man?"

Mr. Xu shook his head: "I understand that you, old village chief, also find it hard to believe, but that's exactly what the gazette says. Moreover, the reason I came to see you this time is because the town government ordered me to make sure to communicate with you in advance. Although these new regulations are only in the gazette now, they may be officially issued by the government in a month or two."

Upon hearing this, the old village chief was momentarily confused: "What's there to discuss?"

Mr. Xu frowned and reminded him, "Old village chief, don't forget your granddaughter..."

He only got halfway through his sentence before the old village chief suddenly realized something, and his expression changed drastically.

Mr. Xu continued, “Old village chief, this order was personally issued by the town government. Be prepared! It’s not just your granddaughter, but every household in the village too. I can understand. Now that everyone in the village has money and land, there is suddenly hope for the future. Some people will want to follow the example of the officials above and learn those outdated customs and bad habits.”

"Let me give you a piece of advice: cut them off as soon as possible! It's not too late to make amends now."

Mr. Xu's words were almost a direct instruction.

Village Chief Huang could certainly understand what the other party was implying, because his own granddaughter was currently binding her feet, imitating the so-called refined manners of those upper-class gentlemen.

If it were the old Qing dynasty, things certainly wouldn't have been like this. Ordinary people couldn't even get enough to eat; survival was a struggle and a luxury. Who would have the leisure to bind their daughters' feet? That would be a waste of their labor force!
What's absurd is that this is also a rare negative impact that Nie Yu brought upon arriving in this world.

Because Nie Yu distributed land to the people and reduced their tax burden, allowing them to live with their heads held high, the people had surplus grain and money and no longer needed to rely on women as laborers. Consequently, some people with surplus money and grain began to bind their daughters' feet.

Foot binding is considered very elegant; that's what a scholar said, so it must be true!
At first, only a few farmers were learning this, but as time went on, things gradually fermented, and more and more farmers followed suit.

The reason is that other people's daughters have bound feet, but my daughter doesn't. What if she can't get married in the future?
Nie Yu steered public opinion toward the "Admonitions for Women" not only to pave the way for the "New Laws of the Great Han Dynasty," but also because of the reports submitted by local officials.

The common people are going crazy. They've barely managed to get enough to eat, and now they're imitating the wealthy and powerful by binding their feet and making a mess of things. They're just throwing away their good life and making a mess of things!

“Mr. Xu is right. I will stop binding my granddaughter’s feet from now on…” Old Village Chief Huang understood what Mr. Xu meant and quickly said.

No sooner had she finished speaking than the village chief's wife angrily retorted, "You old geezer, what are you saying? If our granddaughter doesn't bind her feet, how will she get married in the future?"

"You shrew..."

Who are you calling a shrew?

"Ahem!" Mr. Xu coughed lightly, quickly stood up, and raised his hand to stop the village chief and his wife from getting into a car. "Alright, alright, sister-in-law, please sit down. This isn't something the old village chief can decide. This is an order from the town government, and then from the county government, the prefectural government, the county magistrate, and the prefectural governor. And it also requires an imperial edict from the Prince of Han." "This is an imperial edict! This foot binding isn't just for your granddaughter, old village chief and sister-in-law; it's for every household in our village. Old village chief, you don't need to be troubled. Tomorrow, I'll go with you, and we'll go to each household in the village to explain the consequences and the reasons behind it."

"Everyone says that foot binding is elegant, but I am a scholar and a gentleman, and I have never heard of such a thing. Foot binding, as the Queen herself wrote, is an abuse of women. Our bodies and hair are given to us by our parents. To damage them so easily is a grave sin of filial impiety for a scholar like me!"

"If you are so unfilial to your parents, how can you be filial and loyal to the King of Han and the Han Dynasty? This is the greatest unfilial and disloyal act. If the government finds out, they will not only punish you with a beating, but they will also have to take back the land and taxes bestowed by the King of Han!"

Good heavens, this is going to be a big deal. First, it's about being extremely unfilial, then about being extremely disloyal, and then it's about taking back the land and taxes that were given as a result.

This is much more deterrent than punishments like being flogged and imprisoned!
Land and taxes are the lifeblood of the people; to withdraw any favor would be far more serious than cutting off flesh.

Of course, this was clearly not an order issued by Nie Yu, and it didn't even have much to do with the prefecture level. It was purely a local township acting on its own initiative. The county government must have known about it, but they all pretended not to know and even helped cover it up.

There was no other way; if we didn't make such a big fuss, we wouldn't be able to scare the people, and we wouldn't be able to curb the widespread practice of foot binding.

Mr. Xu was just one of many. In villages and towns, either the village school teacher or the land distribution official would step in, or at the very least, members of the farmers' association would be responsible for persuading them.

In short, if someone is willing to listen, everything is easy to discuss; if someone is unwilling to listen, then we must strike hard and threaten to take back the land as a favor.

They certainly have no right to reclaim the land, but the people themselves don't know that!
In the meantime, with Jingzhou Prefecture as the center, they rapidly expanded towards the two lakes region under the rule of the Han Dynasty.

Everywhere there were peasant associations, land allocation officials, village school teachers, and even town mayors personally going to the countryside to explain the harm of foot binding. They also said that the King of Han and the government were preparing to completely ban women from binding their feet, and at the same time, they promoted that women could show their faces in public and go out to earn money in the future.

During this period, some stubborn scholars inevitably stepped forward, saying that the government was harming the people and persecuting their freedom of foot binding.

then……

They've been arrested. This is the "Admonitions for Women" written by the Queen herself. Who do you think you are to dare to contradict the Queen?

The government's arbitrary arrests of scholars naturally aroused their dissatisfaction. Instead of protesting to the government, they gathered more than fifty like-minded scholars and went to the Han Prince's palace to appeal for justice.

"More than fifty students are knocking on the palace gates? I don't even have a royal palace, what are they knocking on?" Nie Yu shook his head and laughed.

Zuo Guanlan, serving as the personal secretary, nodded: "It certainly doesn't count as a kowtow to the emperor, but those students did indeed kneel outside the gates of the Prince of Han's residence. The guards dared not drive them away at will, so they came to report to Your Majesty!"

"What's the matter?" Nie Yu asked.

He remembered that the last time he did this was to reopen the imperial examinations, and he had already issued a proclamation that the first special imperial examination of the Han Dynasty would be held at the end of this year. Surely they wouldn't come knocking on the palace gates?
Zuo Guanlan said, "The soldiers reported that it seems that the students felt the 'Admonitions for Women' was revised incorrectly because of the content in the official gazette issued last month."

Nie Yu nodded slightly, having anticipated this. After thinking for a moment, he said, "Inform the Ministry of Rites that I will give scholars across the land the opportunity to publicly debate the new text of 'Admonitions for Women' and 'The New Laws of the Great Han Dynasty' in next month's official gazette!"

After speaking, he paused, his expression suddenly becoming extremely serious: "As for now, have the Ministry of Justice arrest them immediately. To be able to gather more than fifty people to petition the emperor, they truly have ability and courage! Thoroughly investigate the ringleader, strip him of his eligibility for the imperial examinations, strip him of his academic titles, and punish him severely without leniency!"

(End of this chapter)