Diqin Designer

Chapter 176: Prohibition of Marriage between Close Relatives
Li Nian nodded and said, "She is indeed still young. In the future, she should only be in junior high school. She is far from the age to get married. If I marry her, it will be illegal."

Hearing Li Nian's words, Ying Zheng asked curiously: "This is the Great Qin, there is no need to worry about breaking the law. But what is a junior high school?"

Li Niandao said: "The full name of junior high school is 'junior high school', 'a school that provides junior secondary education'. In the later times where I come from, there are three stages of education: primary school, middle school, and university."

"Junior high school is the middle school stage and the last stage of the nine-year compulsory education."

"Nine-year compulsory education is the education system uniformly implemented in the later country where I come from. All children and teenagers of appropriate age can go to school for six years of elementary school and three years of junior high school."

Ying Zheng nodded. He had heard Li Nian say that the country in the future had more than one hundred million people, and that so many people could go to school and study for nine years. This was enough to show that the country in the future was far superior to his Qin Dynasty.

Ying Zheng, who was thinking about something, asked again: "Can girls in later generations also go to school? Which teaching stage do you belong to?"

In fact, in the Qin Dynasty, it was easier to teach women to read and write and to work outside than in some later dynasties.

Because of years of war, men were fighting outside and women were the main labor force, which made the status of women in the Qin Dynasty quite good.

There is no way around it. If people have done the work and achieved something, they should be given corresponding treatment and status.

Li Nian didn't know what Ying Zheng was thinking, so he said, "You can go to school, or go out to work, or even become an official. Being a minister is at the university stage!"

The latter answer made Ying Zheng's eyes flash with a hint of "as expected". He thought that it was not easy for this kid to study until the university level in later generations. No wonder he knew astronomy and geography, and was familiar with ancient and modern affairs both inside and outside the country, and mastered various skills.

How could he know that there were a lot of second-rate university monks like Li Nian in later generations, and that the reason Li Nian knew so much was because he had cheats, not because he was really that knowledgeable.

If a normal person traveled back to ancient times, even if he could do something based on the knowledge he learned in modern times, it would be impossible for him to be as comprehensive as Li Nian.

Ying Zheng did not continue to ask Li Nian about future education, but returned to the question of marriage. He said, "The reason why girls of Shunying's age are not allowed to marry in the future should not only be due to the need for schooling, right?"

Li Nian said, "Yes! According to research by later generations, the most suitable age for women to give birth is between 20 and 30. It is not good to be earlier or later than this age."

"If it's too early, the woman's body has not yet fully grown. If she marries and has children at this time, it will be bad for both the mother and the child. If it's too late, the woman's health will decline, the baby she gives birth to will be more likely to be deformed, and the woman will be more prone to disease."

At this point, Li Nian remembered something and said, "If close relatives marry, it is more likely to give birth to deformed babies. For example, if cousins ​​marry, the babies born may be born deaf and dumb, or all white, or mentally retarded..."

There are laws in the Qin Dynasty that prohibit marriage between close relatives, but they are different from modern laws. In addition, people like to marry close relatives, even princes and nobles are like this, so it is actually quite chaotic.

For example, after her son Liu Ying became emperor, Empress Lü married her granddaughter Zhang Yan, who was less than ten years old, to Liu Ying, which means that Liu Ying married his niece.

Li Nian’s words made Ying Zheng think of something.

The birth of a deformed baby is considered a scandal in every family and is usually kept secret and not spread outside.

However, as a king, Ying Zheng knew that some members of the Qin royal family and some families had indeed given birth to deformed babies, but they were considered unlucky and were secretly disposed of. Looking back now, the parents of these deformed babies seemed to be very close, and were often cousins ​​as Li Nian said.

Meng Yi, who was standing aside, decided in his heart: After returning today, he must tell this matter to his brother and investigate whether anyone in the Meng family has engaged in incestuous marriage and gave birth to that deformed baby. If it is true as Li Nian said, incestuous marriage must be banned in the Meng family.

Ying Zheng had the same idea as Meng Yi, but his idea was not only to prohibit close relative marriage among the Qin royal family, but also to write it into Qin law and prohibit it throughout the world.

Therefore, he asked earnestly: "Which close relatives are being prohibited from marrying close relatives?"

Li Nian said: "Direct blood relatives and collateral blood relatives within three generations are prohibited from marrying."

“Direct blood relatives refer to the blood relatives of all generations above and below you who gave birth to you or were born to you, that is, the relatives you are descended from or are descended from you, from your parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, etc. to your children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, etc., all of whom are direct blood relatives.”

"Collar relatives refer to relatives who have no ancestry but have a common ancestor, such as brothers and sisters who are descended from their parents, uncles, aunts and nephews who are descended from their grandparents, and cousins. They are all collateral relatives."

"Those born to the same parents are full blood relatives, and those born to the same father but different mothers or the same mother but different fathers are half blood relatives. Those above cannot marry!"

Marriage between direct blood relatives is not common in China, but is more common among the Hu tribes. Later, it was also uncommon among the Hu tribes, but marriage between collateral blood relatives is relatively common.

For example, in the Dream of Red Mansions, whether Da Lianbao married Lin Daiyu or Xue Baochai, they were both marriages between close relatives. Lin Daiyu's mother was his father's sister, and Xue Baochai's mother was his mother's sister.

After listening to Li Nian's words, Ying Zheng also realized the seriousness of the problem. According to the method of induction of collateral blood relatives, there are too many cases of close relative marriages in the world, especially among princes and nobles.

Unexpectedly, after the court meeting, he suddenly wanted to ask Li Nian when she wanted to marry Shunying, and asked these questions, which would affect the laws of the Qin Dynasty.

But if he wanted to amend the Qin law, he had to investigate first to find out how many deformed babies were born in marriages between close relatives compared to those between men and women who were not close relatives. He had to provide solid evidence to convince the people of the world before he could amend the law. Otherwise, even if he was the Emperor of Qin, he would make people all over the world resentful:

You are the emperor, yes, but why don't you let my cousin marry me? My cousin and I are truly in love!

Putting aside his thoughts, Ying Zheng asked again: "Why is it that inbreeding is more likely to result in the birth of deformed babies?"

Li Nian thought for a moment before explaining, "The human body has something called genes. Genes give us birth and help us grow up. Genes are like two long ropes inherited from our parents. There are often defects on the ropes, which are usually not noticeable, but they do exist."

"If brothers and sisters of the same parents marry, the defective part of the rope will overlap more easily, and it will be visible, causing the rope to break, resulting in the birth of a disabled child. The same is true for cousins ​​marrying each other, because their long ropes are too similar, and the defective part of the rope is more likely to overlap."

After this explanation, Ying Zheng roughly understood that the weakest part of the rope was inherited by his children, causing the rope to break directly and no longer be complete, and naturally it was born incomplete.

　I thought of this when I read historical novels before, but almost no author mentioned it. I think it is quite important for a modern person to go there.

　
(End of this chapter)