such as Yue Linyuan

At the beginning of November, Zhong Qingheng brought his proposal to amend the law of harmony and separation into the palace for an audience. On the same day, Dali Temple Minister Ruan Xing also entered the palace for an audience.

This year's winter is early, and the weather is already very cold in early November. Due to Chu Yuezhi's fear of the cold, he always discusses matters with important officials in the compartment on the left side of the front hall of the Hall of Mental Cultivation. The compartment is not large. , even warmer than the warm pavilion after burning charcoal.

Chu Yuezhi just visited the soldiers in the barracks a few days ago. This is something he has done every year for many years.

After winter, the weather is cold. If the army's salary is deducted and the military supplies cannot keep up, the soldiers in the barracks will inevitably suffer from the cold. Every year, Chu Yuezhi goes to the barracks to express condolences shortly after the start of winter, and every time he appears suddenly. No news will be leaked, just to prevent the people below from making preparations in advance so as to determine the real situation in the army.

In fact, Xia Zhiyi is in charge of the Ministry of Household Affairs. Chu Yuezhi is not too worried about the deduction of military pay, and no one in the court knows that Chu Yuezhi has been on expeditions for many years and attaches great importance to the imperial army. Officials who are focused on the right path like to engage in corruption, bribery and bullying, and they will never dare to take action against the army.

It's just that he is getting old now, and many new recruits have been recruited into the army, so there is no guarantee that there will be no mistakes, so he always keeps the habit of going to the barracks to comfort the soldiers in person, to let the soldiers know that the emperor has them in his heart On the one hand, on the other hand, it also makes those newcomers in the army and the imperial court all set their minds.

In today's imperial court, most of the people who can stand firm in important positions are loyal and upright ministers, but for some officials and clan relatives with false names or vain positions, Chu Yuezhi's attitude is that as long as they don't cause trouble, he will open his eyes. Eyes closed.

When the water is clear, there will be no fish, and when the water is clear, there will be no evil.

What he promotes is a benevolent government, which is not only for the common people, but also for the courtiers.

What a benevolent government seeks is Qingming, peace, and no complaints from the people. What the people seek is to live and work in peace and contentment without worry, so there is no need to use too strict laws to demand and punish the people; what courtiers with the ability and pursuit mostly seek is to realize their ideals. It's just that there will inevitably be people with ordinary abilities or those who fish in troubled waters. The existence of these people is also necessary, because what the court always emphasizes is the balance of power.

The emperor is above, and the subjects are below. For thousands of years, many kings think that they own the totalitarian world, but in fact this is wrong. A country is composed of people, and the people are willing to submit and live together. Fang Chengguo; and the imperial court is composed of courtiers, if there is no group of ministers who perform their duties to advise the emperor, how can the emperor alone manage the country in an orderly manner?

In the history of past dynasties, the common people rebelled. Why?Because the stable life they want cannot be realized, not to mention food and clothing, even when they are deprived of a place to live and work, the displaced and impoverished people finally choose to rebel. What they want is to survive; Because there is no way to complain, and because officials protect each other, they are extremely corrupt.

As an emperor, he must be tolerant of others, be generous to the people and willing to listen to the voice of the people, and be kind to the courtiers. He must punish the treacherous and evil party severely, but also allow a certain degree of mediocrity. Only in this way can the people and courtiers be submissive He is willing to support him as the emperor.

The laws and regulations of the Daheng Kingdom have also been slowly revised over the years, such as the abolition of cruel punishments such as cooking, sticking, skinning, filling lead, and gut pumping, and also reduced the level of clan punishment, abolished Such a brutal killing of the Zhu Shi Clan would cause panic among the people.

In the past, the laws and regulations of the Daheng Kingdom had always been extremely strict, but over the years, Chu Yuezhi has chosen to use the policy of leniency and gentleness towards the people, and no longer imposes excessive punishments for some minor crimes, and even punishes those who have committed mistakes in the past. Forgiveness for sins.This kind of law revision was originally opposed by the Ministry of Punishment and Dali Temple, but Chu Yuezhi insisted that the courtiers were also divided into supporters and opponents. After more than a month of court debate, it was finally able to start. Revise the laws and regulations, and start to use some new laws and regulations in the following year to see the effect.

Unexpectedly, after the revision of the law is no longer as strict as in the past, crimes in some places have decreased. The capital city and the thirteen provinces are also more harmonious than before, and more and more good people are gradually appearing. act of kindness.The new regulations have achieved initial results, and the response from the people has been excellent. Only in this way have the subsequent amendments to the regulations gradually become smoother, and the voices of opposition have become much smaller.

The laws are no longer too strict, only for petty crimes, for the heinous people and cases with bad influence, they will still be severely punished and the death penalty will be determined according to the crime they committed; the court has always cracked down on corruption , once there are relevant reports in various places, Chu Yuezhi will order strict investigation and heavy punishment.

When Chu Yuezhi went out of the palace to the military camp, he never brought a hand stove with him. Although he also wore a cloak, the inner clothing was not heavy. On the day he went to the military camp, Si Yuanting was busy with government affairs and did not accompany him. Afterwards, he returned to the palace. There were two coughs in the night, which is actually not a big deal, but Si Yuanting was afraid that he would get a cold again for the sake of face, so he has been staring at him for the past few days, making him have to wear three layers of clothes. To keep warm, he asked Lin Yichu to ask for an adjusted herbal tea recipe, and made the herbal tea for him himself.

In recent years, most of Chu Yuezhi's herbal teas were actually boiled by Lin Yi. After all, Si Yuanting was the chief assistant of the cabinet, and he had to run around inside and outside the palace every day. Si Yuanting worried about his problems, so the herbal tea that he had to drink every day was no longer something that Si Yuanting did not drink.But these days, Si Yuanting was always worried about him, so he did it himself again.

When Wang Zhong presented the revision proposal written by Zhong Qingheng to Chu Yuezhi, Chu Yuezhi sat upright on the chair, holding the herbal tea that Si Yuanting had just handed to him in one hand.He was taught since he was a child that he must pay attention to his manners as a prince, and many years of military life in the military camp have engraved many military habits into his bones. Being alone, Chu Yuezhi always maintains an upright posture when sitting, even if he spends a whole day correcting memorials at his desk, his sitting posture will not be out of shape in the slightest.

Seeing Chu Yuezhi staring at the cup of herbal tea and frowning, Si Yuanting naturally wouldn't coax him because there were two ministers in front of him. At most, he could only take out the box from his sleeve. Candied fruit, open and put on the table.

Silently looking at Si Yuanting, Chu Yuezhi raised his head and drank the herbal tea. After putting down the tea bowl, he didn't go to get the candied fruit to eat. He just picked up the proposal presented by Wang Zhong and opened it to look at it. While looking at it, he asked Ruan Xing: "Master Ruan entered the palace today for an audience, what are you talking about?"

"Your Majesty, I heard that His Majesty intends to establish a protection law for women. I have a little opinion on this matter, so I went to the palace to seek an audience." Ruan Xing said, he learned about the legislation from Liang Chen. Yue Zhi wanted to legislate for women, but he, Wang Ren, and He Jingwen, who had already retired and returned to his hometown, opposed him. After Jiang Cheng, Liang Chen, and Zhong Qingheng, he thought about it and felt that Chu Yuezhi probably no longer trusted him in this matter, so he simply asked for a meeting on his own.

"Well. Ruan Aiqing's humble opinion, let's hear it." Chu Yuezhi was not surprised. Originally, he didn't intend to hide the legislative matter, but also deliberately let this matter spread to the ears of some ministers. The most important thing is to explore the attitude of these ministers.Although Ruan Xing was extremely opposed to this matter back then, he has really been taught to be a man again by Huangfu Liangyu these years, so Chu Yuezhi is actually [-] to [-]% sure that Ruan Xing will be on his side this time. people.

"Your Majesty, I think it's important to set up protection laws, but maybe supporting women's careers is the way to really help women." Ruan Xing did not object, but he also had some concerns over the status of women in recent years. I have different opinions and considerations, "The minister's wife is the general who guards the frontier. Over the years, the minister's wife has also informed the minister of many remote places, and when the minister went to the border several times, he also saw many things that were ignored by the minister in the past. These years, His Majesty has asked the ministers to do their best to crack down on the trafficking of women, and the ministers have been thinking about it, the ban on trafficking has never been eliminated, and the trafficking is mostly aimed at women and children, which can actually reflect part of the problem."

"What's the question?" Chu Yuezhi had just read half of Zhong Qingheng's proposal, and when he heard Ruan Xing's words, he immediately asked.

"Compared to men, women and children are weaker and easier to suppress when resisting, and they are better controlled on the road. However, if children are boys, they will most likely be sold into slavery, but women are mostly sold to brothels or sold as concubines. , which reflects the problem of labor force." Ruan Xing analyzed, "The Daheng Kingdom has long focused on farming, so labor is extremely important to ordinary people, and the status of scholars, farmers, businessmen, and people has also become a class. However, women have not been valued for a long time, and they are considered to depend on men to live. There are also stereotypes such as marrying from father to husband at home, husband as wife, and men farming and women weaving. This is also because the world generally believes that women have insufficient labor force. The reason."

His eyes, which had been fixed on the proposal, moved slightly. Chu Yuezhi raised his eyelids to look at Ruan Xing. There was no sign of agreement or disapproval on his face, but there was a little scrutiny of Ruan Xing in his eyes, and he said, "Continue."

"Sima Qian once mentioned in "Historical Records": "Book of Zhou" said, "If the agriculture does not come out, there will be no food; if the work does not go out, there will be no work; if the business doesn't go out, the three treasures will be lost; if the fish doesn't go out, there will be little wealth." There is little scarcity and mountains and marshes are not cleared up. These four are the sources of food and clothing for the people. The large ones are rich, and the small ones are fresh. The top is a rich country, and the bottom is a rich family. There is more than enough, and the clumsy is not enough." Ruan Xing understood that this was actually what Chu Yuezhi meant by listening to his words, so he no longer kept conservative, and boldly said: "I think another important point of this statement is that the four peoples perform their duties, so, If Your Majesty wants to improve the status of women, there is one thing that cannot be ignored, that is, let women have something to do, and give women the opportunity to make a living and seek wealth with their own hands and abilities. Women are not without talent Being incompetent does not mean that you must depend on a man to live. Regarding this point, I believe that the late empress and the wife of the general who is still in the frontier can all prove it."

Chu Yuezhi was a little surprised that Ruan Xing actually put forward such an opinion, but he didn't show it, he just turned his head to look at Si Yuanting, and asked, "Si Chief Assistant, what do you think of Master Ruan's words?"

"Your Majesty, I have always agreed with Sima Qian's proposition that the four peoples should be equal. Only because farming has been the most important thing for a long time, there is a policy of emphasizing agriculture and suppressing business, and even despise businessmen. At the beginning, I was inspired by Sima Qian's "Historical Records" The inspiration and influence of what I said, so in order to fill the treasury of the Daheng Kingdom, the minister advocated that business should be encouraged and the sea ban should be gradually lifted, so as to stimulate the economic development of the Daheng Kingdom. Today, the Daheng Kingdom is no longer Focusing solely on farming, women should no longer be underestimated due to lack of labor.” Si Yuanting has always admired Sima Qian’s proposition, and now that Ruan Xing mentions it, he naturally agrees, “Master Ruan’s words, Presumably it is also because the resettlement of rescued women victims of trafficking cases over the years has always been arranged by the government. Those who do not want to go home or are not accepted by their families for other reasons will be sent to the embroidery and weaving workshops opened by the royal family. Master Ruan believes that ordinary women can also make a living on their own, and how to make a living depends on what opportunities the imperial court can provide them, just like the establishment of a girls' school back then to provide women with opportunities to receive education is a reason."

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The author says:

Reference source:

"When the water is clear, there will be no fish, and when people observe it, there will be no disciples." ——— "The Book of Rites of the Great Dai, Zi Zhangwen into the Official Chapter"

"Historical Records" paragraph translation:

"Book of Zhou" said: "If farmers don't produce food, food will be scarce; if craftsmen don't produce utensils, their labor and life will be in distress; if merchants don't circulate, then food, utensils, and wealth will be cut off. If the mountains and rivers are not developed, the resources will be lacking.” Conversely, if the resources are lacking, the mountains and rivers cannot be redeveloped.These four industries are the source of food and clothing for the people.If the source is broad, you will be rich; if the source is narrow, you will be poor.They can make the country rich and strong when they are at the top, and they can make the family rich when they are at the bottom.In the formation of rich and poor, no one can give them, and no one can deprive them. It is just that wise people can make wealth more than enough, and stupid people can only make wealth insufficient.