Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

After the lecture, the ministers gained a deeper understanding of the emperor's governance strategies and realized which direction they should strive towards.

However, some people were dissatisfied, believing that it seemed a bit too frivolous for the emperor to formulate strategies for governing the country at the imperial lectures.

After the lecture, Liu Zongzhou heard someone ask:
"Does His Majesty's use of Scholar Xu for lectures mean he intends to adopt Western learning?"

"Western learning is the learning of barbarians; how can it become a discipline for governing the country?"

This is one of the points that was attacked recently: Western learning, as knowledge brought by missionaries, was fiercely criticized.

The fact that the emperor is now using Xu Guangqi to lecture seems to be an attempt to legitimize Western learning.

However, Liu Zongzhou thought differently. He said:

"Do you hear even a trace of Western learning in what Scholar Xu says?"

"The science he used was derived from mathematics."

"If we consider mathematics as a Western subject, then where are the Six Arts of Confucianism?"

These words are irrefutable, because mathematics is indeed one of the six arts of a gentleman.

The emperor used this pretext to reinstate the mathematics subject in the imperial examinations, thus elevating the status of mathematics.

The science established by Xu Guangqi and Zhang Pu with the emperor's support, although it absorbed Western knowledge, is based on mathematics, which no one can question.

Even if Liu Zongzhou knew that the emperor was supporting the new school of thought, he would not claim credit for it.

In his view, both science and practical learning are Confucianism.

Their disagreements were internal, rather than pushing these ideas outward.

As for determining national policies at imperial lectures, he welcomed that even more. The emperor and his ministers sitting down to discuss and debate national policies was something all scholars welcomed.

In particular, the emperor delivered his "On Contradiction" before the imperial lectures, using this theory to raise questions. Xu Guangqi then used scientific theories to corroborate his arguments and offered suggestions.

This system of governing the country through scholarship made Liu Zongzhou fully realize the importance the emperor placed on learning. Even if he did not completely agree with the emperor's theories, he still considered the current emperor to be a sage ruler.

Given his attitude, other officials could only shift their doubts about the imperial lectures to other areas. Qian Xiangkun, the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites, said:
"Isn't it somewhat inhumane for the imperial court to forcibly relocate people?"

"If it were a disaster-stricken area, that would be one thing, but to forcibly relocate surplus populations from unaffected areas is truly..."

He shook his head repeatedly, clearly dissatisfied with this approach.

Under the current circumstances, relocation would mean separation by life or death, and many officials had doubts in their hearts.

If the execution is carried out too roughly, then officials will be sent to arrest people.

Thinking of the scene of arresting people at night in "The Officer of Shihao", they felt that the policy of relocating surplus people had many problems.

Liu Zongzhou also felt this approach was questionable, but as the leader of the reform of rites and music, he had to uphold the current emperor's authority, and thus spoke out:
"It may seem unkind now, but it is truly benevolent in the long run."

“If we don’t relocate the excess population, over time, the average amount of resources per person will decrease, more people will struggle to survive, and civil unrest could easily break out.”

"His Majesty is considering the greater good, so he agreed to Chief Minister Han's forced relocation."

"However, there are indeed aspects of the specific migration methods that are worth discussing."

"We should advise the court to uphold benevolence and righteousness as its foundation!"

These words drew agreement from many officials, who all agreed.

However, it's easy to shout slogans, but difficult to come up with effective solutions.

It was a consensus that the population within the Ming Dynasty needed to be limited, and most officials had no objection to this.

They object to the forced relocation, fearing problems during its implementation.

However, using immigration to reduce the domestic population is already a very mild policy; forcibly prohibiting childbirth would not only be more inhumane but also impossible to implement.

Currently, there are no effective methods of birth control in the Ming Dynasty. Pregnancy is possible whenever a man and woman have sexual intercourse. Forcing an abortion after pregnancy would be even more cruel.

So after much discussion, they realized that there was no better solution than immigration.

We can only offer advice on immigration to minimize the harm.

Li Daiwen, Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Works:
"Immigration measures should be as mild as possible, and people should be given the right to choose."

“Those who have no land can go to the city to work, which is better than migrating overseas.”

“I think the labor association should train all the surplus laborers. Those who can work should stay, and those who can't should be moved out.”

“After these people moved out, they grew grain, which was then bought back by the city to feed the city workers.”

It is recommended to implement a system of diverting surplus population to reduce the number of people forced to migrate.

This measure is clearly beneficial to the development of industry and commerce, and provides the city with a sufficient labor force.

However, compared to being forced to relocate overseas, it is indeed more benevolent.

The officials present praised this suggestion and believed that it should be submitted to the court.

Liu Zongzhou added happily:

"The current mandatory migration age set by the Emperor is twenty, while those included in the migration roster are sixteen, the legal age of adulthood."

“I think training can be implemented after 160% of the population has been trained. Those who are trained well can stay, and those who are not trained well can be relocated.”

“If they become first-class workers within four years, they should be allowed to stay.”

He planned to write a memorial based on this and make suggestions to the emperor.
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The court officials were well aware of Liu Zongzhou's influence on the emperor. Seeing his attitude, they became even more eager to offer suggestions.

Some people followed the emperor's suggestion to raise the marriage age, believing that the marriage age could be set higher to reduce the birth rate.

However, many people disagree with this point and even object to the emperor's actions:
"Now the Emperor forbids the buying and selling of people, and stipulates that dowries and betrothal gifts should be of equal value, with fluctuations not exceeding 20%."

“It’s already difficult for poor families to raise children, and they are even more unwilling to raise daughters if there is no return.”

“It was already difficult to raise a baby girl to fifteen years old in the past, but now that she is raised to eighteen, I’m afraid even more baby girls will be abandoned.”

No one said these words at the lecture, but now that they have been brought up in private, many people think they make sense.

Abandoned children, and even infanticide, have always been a major problem.

In the Fujian area, the practice has shifted from "both men and women drowning" to "drowning women." The restriction that women can only marry at the age of eighteen may lead to more families drowning their daughters.

Liu Zongzhou's face turned ashen at the thought, because this was an absolute bad habit and a problem he had to solve when he rebuilt the rites and music.

He immediately responded to this by saying:

"Everyone has the right to live, and even parents do not have the right to kill their children."

"His Majesty said: When Shun served his father, he would accept a light beating but would run away from a heavy one. This was not because he was unfilial."

"If you can dodge even a great staff, how much more so would you be harmed?"

"We must formulate specific rules and regulations for this matter to eradicate this bad habit." No one present dared to disagree with this statement.

From any perspective, infanticide is undoubtedly a bad habit, and parents who harm their children are utterly heartless.

But what power do newborn babies have to resist? Even if infanticide is prohibited, parents who want to harm their children will find other ways to kill them.

Li Ruoxing, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, said:

“Severe punishments alone are not enough; we must educate people morally and even religiously to regard infanticide as an act that harms their virtue.”

"Furthermore, it should be beneficial for people to raise daughters. Did Lord Liu consider this when he formulated the marriage laws?"

Liu Zongzhou was very adept at formulating marriage rites according to the emperor's principle of equality. However, when it came to matters of interest, he was confused and asked Li Ruoxing:
"Which aspect is Minister Li referring to, and how can raising daughters benefit ordinary people?"

Li Ruoxing was very capable in governing and cared deeply about even the smallest interests of the people. He proposed:
"His Majesty said that one could start talking about marriage at fifteen, but now it has been postponed to eighteen, in order to limit the population and promote eugenics."

"Then this three-year period is where things can be done. Women can work to supplement the family income, or receive festival gifts after engagement."

"During the period from engagement to marriage, the groom's family sends gifts to the bride's family on major holidays."

"This way, they can make a little profit to make up for the cost of raising their daughter for three more years."

This method sounds feasible.

However, after considering it, Liu Zongzhou said:
“Using gifts to make up for losses can indeed bring some benefits to the woman’s family.”

"But I'm afraid things will change in the future. This unequal relationship could turn some people's marriage of their daughters into selling them."

Upon hearing this, Li Ruoxing said:

"Why not include festival gifts in the betrothal gifts? The difference between the dowry and the betrothal gifts should still be limited to within 20%."

"One reason for the overindulgence of daughters in Fujian is the custom of lavish dowries. We should mandate limits on dowries and reduce wedding expenses."

"In short, we need to find a way to get the girl's family to accept that she can only marry off her when she is eighteen. Otherwise, they will marry her off early in secret, or even drown her when she is born."

"This kind of bad habit..."

Shaking their heads and sighing, Li Ruoxing, along with many other officials present, felt that this kind of problem was really difficult to solve.

After considering it, Liu Zongzhou could only accept Li Ruoxing's suggestion to add holiday gifts between the engagement and the wedding.

However, he imposed many restrictions on festival gifts and included their cost in the betrothal gifts. If the woman broke off the engagement, she was required to return the betrothal gifts and even apologize.
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These changes were compiled into suggestions and submitted.

After seeing this, Zhu Youjian inquired about the reason.

Upon learning that the concern was that raising a daughter for too long might exacerbate the problem of spoiling her, Zhu Youjian couldn't help but sigh.
"Human nature is inherently good. What parent would willingly kill their child?"

"This bad habit exists because some places are too poor to raise children, so they have no choice but to drown them. Over time, it has evolved into the bad habit of infanticide."

"To completely solve this problem, we need to develop production and improve people's living standards. We also need to raise their moral standards and teach them about propriety, righteousness, integrity, and a sense of shame."

"If development can't keep up, we can only relocate the surplus population."

"Giving them a way out is better than letting them be drowned at birth."

Upon hearing this lament, Liu Zongzhou fell silent, further realizing the cruelty of re-establishing rites and music:
For the sake of the greater good, some people must be sacrificed.

Those people who were forcibly relocated had to pay a price to ensure the stability of the Ming Dynasty.

I uphold the principles of benevolence and righteousness in governing the country, so why should I face these issues?

Is this approach truly benevolent and righteous?

For a moment, Liu Zongzhou's expression shifted, unsure how to resolve the issue.

Zhu Youjian, seeing his expression, knew that this gentleman was getting stuck on a futile thought, and offered him words of comfort:

"Sir, there is no need to blame yourself. Even King Hui of Liang knew to relocate his people during years of famine."

"Now that the Ming Dynasty has too many people and too little land, only by relocating people can we realize Mencius's vision of five acres of house and a hundred acres of farmland."

"To uphold the principles of benevolence and righteousness, the best approach is to ensure proper resettlement during migration and minimize losses for immigrants."

"And we need to develop transportation so that immigrants have the opportunity to return to their hometowns to visit relatives."

Then, he turned to specific policies and said to Liu Zongzhou:

"It is indeed a bit late for a woman to marry at eighteen."

"If some families are unwilling to support their daughters after they reach the age of marriage, the imperial court can assume this responsibility."

"All women who have reached the age of marriage should be included in the Women Workers Association for training, just like male men. Those who can work should work, and those who cannot should be helped to move overseas. They can be granted separate households and be given fifty acres of land, just like male men."

“Giving them preferential treatment like this should encourage more families to support daughters.”

Hearing this, Liu Zongzhou felt a little better and then suggested:

"The per capita land area within the territory includes women and children."

"I believe that these people should be allocated land, with a special place set aside for the expenses of their adopted children."

"For example, allocating mulberry fields, or fish ponds and forests."

Zhu Youjian nodded approvingly and said:
"High-standard farmland will be allocated to male laborers to ensure a larger grain harvest."

"But mulberry fields and cotton fields can be allocated to women."

"This policy should be established for all public land, including government land and land other than high-standard farmland, to give priority to poor families and families with many children for renting."

"Once a child reaches one year old, one can apply to rent a certain amount of land for twenty years, which will be taken back after the child gets married. Those who have more children can rent more land, and men and women are treated equally."

This should increase people's willingness to have children, so that they are not afraid to have children or even commit infanticide because of population restrictions.

Zhu Youjian also needed to expand the population overseas, so his population restrictions mainly limited the agricultural population within the country, while he encouraged population growth in other places.

Furthermore, in order to alleviate the burden of raising children, he emphasized:
"No taxes or corvée labor shall be levied on men before they reach adulthood and women before they reach the age of marriage."

“Maternal and child health hospitals should be established in various places, and the imperial court should allocate funds to subsidize the medical care of pregnant women and children under the age of seven.”

“Cities should also establish nurseries and kindergartens to help families where both men and women work to raise their children and reduce their burden.”

"In short, we should not increase the burden of raising children on the private sector, and we should still encourage childbirth."

"More almshouses should be set up in various places, and special orphanages should be established to take in children to join the garrisons and serve the country in the future."

"The imperial court shall raise children whom the common people are unwilling to raise."

He instructed Liu Zongzhou to formulate relevant laws to restrict the agricultural population within the country while ensuring population growth for overseas expansion.

Hearing so many policies based on benevolence, Liu Zongzhou finally felt a little better. He felt that the emperor hadn't changed; he was still the emperor who upheld the principles of benevolence and righteousness.

As long as this common ground exists, he is willing to serve the emperor and help him reform the rites and music. (End of Chapter)