PFC Chapter 1107 - 1092: Your Majesty Has No Objection
Chapter 1107 - 1092: Your Majesty Has No Objection
To gain an inch and then push for a foot, you must first secure that inch before you can move further; and when you’re scheming for that inch, your opponents aren’t idiots, they’ll naturally bargain with you.
Ritual is even harder to change than law, because ritual is the foundation of governing the state; all statutes and regulations must accord with ritual. Put plainly, in a feudal society ritual is tantamount to a constitution.
So Zhao Hanzhang merely extended a feeler; even among her own subordinates, many voiced objections, and even more chose silence.
Given their status, to depend on Zhao Hanzhang yet choose silence was already a statement in itself.
The reason Zhao Hanzhang could persuade Ji Yuan and Ming Yu to speak up was that they knew she was "Xiang Zhuang brandishing his sword with Lord Pei in mind," so they were willing to lend her a hand.
If she truly intended to amend ritual, Ji Yuan and Ming Yu might not be willing to agree.
Things ingrained for over a thousand years—how could they be so easily changed?
Zhao Hanzhang sighed and asked, with a trace of sorrow, "You all oppose my reform of the marriage system, and you also oppose the inheritance bill and the household registration reform submitted by Imperial Censor Fan—is it that you are unwilling to see female officials in court?"
Everyone’s hearts tightened: you are already the highest-ranking female official; who would dare object?
The officials all hurriedly knelt and bowed their heads, saying, "Your servant would not dare."
Zhao Hanzhang gazed at them in silence, staring until cold sweat drenched them before she finally asked, "Leave aside the bill and the household registration reform for now. You all excuse yourselves, saying the year-end is approaching and it is not convenient to deliberate. But this marriage system is only a matter of a single decree. It’s just right to promulgate it at the New Year, so that many newlyweds can marry according to the new system. By the time the New Year festivities are over, the court need expend no more effort—one will pass it to ten, ten to a hundred, and it will spread by imitation."
The officials clenched their teeth and couldn’t help glancing at Ji Yuan and Ming Yu.
Only to see them lower their heads, avoiding everyone’s eyes.
Chang Ning lowered her gaze, pondered for a moment, then said, "The Great General was married today. As for the bill and the household registration reform, why not wait until after the New Year to discuss them again? As for the marriage system, this falls under ritual; whether it accords with ritual or not still needs to be debated. Zhao Ji, what do you think?"
Zhao Cheng, however, held his ground and continued, "The new marriage system does not accord."
On hearing this, Zhao Hu glared at him and said, "Shut up. These are our own people—do you not know how to speak?"
Zhao Cheng ignored him.
Zhao Hanzhang chuckled softly and said, "Whether it accords or not is not for Zhao Ji alone to decide. Why don’t we summon the worthy scholars of the realm to debate it?"
The officials’ hearts tightened, yet they had no choice but to agree.
Zhao Hanzhang rose and said, "It’s getting late. Everyone, go back and rest first. The hospitality was lacking; in a few days I will pay a personal visit to each of you to apologize."
They all hurried to say they did not dare.
Zhao Hanzhang waved her hand. "Go."
Only then did they salute and withdraw in an orderly fashion.
When they reached the back, they saw Mrs. Wang, Princess Hongnong, and Fu Xuan standing at the courtyard gate, and they quickly bowed again and slipped away sideways.
They did not know whether Princess Hongnong and Fu Xuan had any objections to this wedding ceremony.
Princess Hongnong waited until they had all gone before she walked over. Zhao Hanzhang quickly smiled and said, "Mother, Madam, Father, you haven’t really eaten either. Shall we sit and have a bit more together?"
Princess Hongnong agreed, "All right."
Fu Xuan and Mrs. Wang also sat down quietly.
The servants immediately took bowls, filled them with rice, and brought them over, then carried out two dishes that had been reheated.
The country had only just been pacified, and everyone was short of food. Although tonight’s wine had not gone on to the very end, the dishes had been eaten through seven or eight parts; clearly, her subordinates had done very well at the "clean your plate" campaign.
Zhao Hanzhang placed a few dishes that still looked quite good in front of Mrs. Wang and the Princess, then turned to the servants and said, "Clear away the rest. Keep what can be kept. What can’t be kept, don’t waste it either—doesn’t the estate raise many livestock?"
The servants answered happily.
Princess Hongnong lowered her gaze, picked out a piece of vegetable, and then asked, "What statutes is it that you want to amend, that you must expend so much effort in plotting?"
Zhao Hanzhang did not hide it. The memorial submitted by Fan Ying was no secret; Princess Hongnong could easily inquire about it from others. "When Lady Lv of the Former Han held power, women also had the right to inherit property, but later that statute gradually fell into disuse. I want to improve it so that from now on women too will have the right to inherit property, and in addition to money and slaves, they can also inherit land, houses and shops, even sacrificial fields and titles of nobility—women may inherit all of these."
Princess Hongnong tightened her grip on her chopsticks. "Inheritance by taking in a son-in-law?"
Zhao Hanzhang shook her head. "No, just ordinary inheritance. Whether to take in a son-in-law is up to their own choice."
"Then may a resident son-in-law enter officialdom?"
"Of course," Zhao Hanzhang said with a smile. "Whatever rights ordinary people have, they have as well. Just as in a household, the wife possesses the husband’s rights, so the resident son-in-law can naturally possess the rights of the wife as head of the household."
To look down on a resident son-in-law—how is that not also a form of looking down on the wife who is head of the household?
If one wants equality between men and women, that means equality between wife and husband, and equality between resident son-in-law and wife-head; and rights arise from duties.
To realize true equality in this era would be a dream, and a daydream at that. Even a world more than a thousand years later still has not achieved it.
What Zhao Hanzhang could do was to fight for a few things, to grant women some rights within the framework of statutes and regulations. How far reality would actually go, no one could know.
In that later age, more than seventy years after the founding of their state, many people would still believe that a married-out daughter had no right to inherit her parents’ estate—let alone now.
In any case, no matter how far it could go, she would first set the statutes in place, so that women who needed them would have laws to rely on and precedents to follow when the need arose.
Princess Hongnong said, "Then this household registration reform they mentioned is..."
"Establishing female-headed households," Zhao Hanzhang said. "I have relaxed the requirements for registering a female as head of household. For example, when a widow has a young child, under our dynasty’s current code, the head of household is changed to her son. But a young child as head of household causes many inconveniences. In such cases, if the widow wishes to establish a female-headed household, it will be permitted."
"Another example: a widow with a young daughter. Under our dynasty’s current code, she cannot be registered as a female-headed household. Her parents-in-law, uncles, and even her own father and brothers can all be listed as the head of household. Unless she remarries, she must live attached to others together with her young daughter. I find this very inconvenient. In such cases, she may be registered as a female-headed household."
The reform of household registration did not concern just widows; there were all sorts of subtle, differentiated situations. Zhao Hanzhang, Fan Ying, and the others had tried to work them out in as much detail as possible. Besides the reform concerning female-headed households, there were other new household registration rules. Her aim was to encourage them to have more children, to split off more households, to pay more taxes, and thus cultivate more land.
Princess Hongnong asked, "It must be very difficult to amend statutes, mustn’t it?"
Zhao Hanzhang smiled at her and said, "If it can’t be done this year, I’ll work at it again next year. If it still can’t be done next year, I’ll amend one item of ritual, and continue the year after that. The rites of marriage are only one of the Five Rites; besides them there are the military rites, auspicious rites, funeral rites, and guest rites. So long as they can bear it, I’ll change a little each year—for twenty years if need be."
Ritual is used for moral instruction; it restrains not only the common people, but also the emperor and the powerful. To alter a single item is to injure muscle and bone.
Princess Hongnong lowered her gaze, thought for a moment, and asked, "And Your Majesty has no objection?"
Zhao Hanzhang smiled gently. "Your Majesty has no objection."