The Ming Dynasty began from Sarhu

Chapter 604: Leave your feet, not your head
Before Qian Qianyi finished reading the cabinet edict, there was an uproar around him.

The officials from various prefectures and counties in Jiangxi who had recently surrendered shouted loudly, wondering if they had heard it correctly.

In the palace, only the officials who had originally entered the pass from Liaodong remained silent.

"Ban foot binding? Unheard of, how shameful!"

"How can something so immoral and corrupting be considered a policy for the new dynasty?"

"Only barbarians and lowly people don't bind their feet! How could the Great Qi be so? It's a disgrace to the people!"

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Liu Zhaosun said calmly, "If you have any objections to the foot-binding ban, please discuss it with the Grand Secretary and the Imperial Academy editors first. If you still have questions, you can always consult me."

Qian Qianyi and Zhang Pu were pushed to the front.

Dongfang Zhu brought a pot of Longjing tea. Liu Zhaosun sat on the dragon chair, drinking tea and watching the two sides bickering leisurely.

Qian Qianyi gritted his teeth and said stubbornly, "Everyone, everyone, listen to me."

"stop fighting!"

Yuan Jixian waved his hand to quiet the officials behind him, and everyone looked up at the learned university scholar.

"The ban on foot binding for women is not a new policy. It was introduced when our emperor was stationed in Liaodong. All women, regardless of age, were prohibited from foot binding. This allowed them to work like men. Later, this policy was extended to northern Zhili, Shandong, and the entire country. It has been in effect for over ten years. Now that Jiangxi has been conquered, all prefectures and counties are part of the territory of Great Qi, and the people are citizens of Great Qi. Of course, our emperor must treat everyone equally, without bias or partiality..."

Liu Wuyuan, the governor of Nangan, could not help but say angrily:

"Qian Muzhai! You were the top scholar of the previous dynasty! You were a man who read the books of sages. To confuse right and wrong like this is not only shameless but absolutely shameless! Women have bound their feet since ancient times. During the Ming Dynasty, only beggars in eastern Zhejiang (Note 1) were allowed to bind their feet. Men were not allowed to study, and women were not allowed to bind their feet. Are you saying that all women in our dynasty are beggars?!"

Zhang Pu and Qian Qianyi were on the same side, so he could not remain silent at this moment and immediately retorted:
"Governor Liu is a minister of the Great Qi, so why do you keep mentioning the previous dynasty and making comparisons with the Ming Dynasty? If you are attached to the Pseudo-Ming Dynasty, you can go and seek refuge with Zuo Liangyu now."

Liu Wuyuan was speechless after being intimidated by Zhang Pu. His face turned blue and red, and he had to retreat angrily.

Liu Tongchun, the Chief Seal Officer of Jiangxi Province, was so angry that he pushed Liu Wuyuan aside and stepped forward, saying:
"The custom in my hometown is that boys under ten years old are not allowed to stay indoors, and girls under seven years old are not allowed to go out. Since the Holy Emperor has said that we must abide by the old customs, foot binding cannot be changed."

Hu Yousheng, the prefect of Nankang Prefecture, said:
"It is just like the saying, 'a crescent of soft jade floating on the water, two petals of red lotus lightly falling.' Serving wine with a prostitute's shoes, taking off the shoes and placing a wine cup in them, letting the guests pass around to drink, is called 'shoe cup'. This is one of life's great joys (see 'Fisherman's Notes' and 'Bizhuzhai Yutan' by Shen Defu for this story)."

Another Jiangxi official, who was particular about elegance, came out and said:
"Women in Zhangzhou, Fujian, all have bound feet and must rely on canes to walk. When there are weddings or funerals, if a woman goes, she must each hold a cane and gather together to form a forest. Do you know why?"

Qian Qianyi and Zhang Pu didn't say anything.

The official continued, "This is because the people of Zhangzhou used to be unruly, with women being promiscuous and unfaithful. When Zhu Wengong (Zhu Xi) was appointed governor of Zhangzhou, he felt that the women were corrupting public morals, so he enacted a law requiring women to bind their feet, preventing them from walking freely. This is how the people of Zhangzhou came to be so pure and honest today! Don't you even tolerate Zhu Wengong? Are you going to go against the words of the sages?"

When Zhu Wengong was mentioned, Qian Qianyi and Zhang Pu were shocked and speechless for a moment.

Seeing that the two ministers were speechless, Liu Zhaosun put down his teacup and asked who this person was. Dongfang Zhu whispered:
"Your Majesty, this is Ni Yuanlu, courtesy name Ruyu, alias Hongbao. He is from Shangyu, Shaoxing Prefecture, Zhejiang Province. He was originally the chief academic officer of the Imperial College in Nanjing. While leading troops to rescue Jiujiang, he was captured by our army and has surrendered for several days."

The retired emperor nodded slightly. He didn't expect to meet such a famous figure in the cabinet of the late Ming Dynasty in Nanchang.

According to the original history, after the fall of Beijing in the 17th year of Chongzhen, Ni Yuanlu hanged himself and died for his country, being buried with Emperor Chongzhen and the Ming Dynasty.

Such a person, who had more or less some character, unexpectedly surrendered to me. This shows that the Southern Ming Dynasty has run out of luck.

"To deal with him, we have to rely on the high priest, the high priest."

The high priest Francisco immediately stepped forward, respectfully waiting for the emperor's orders.

"The Grand Secretaries and the Imperial Academy Editors are no longer enough. It's your turn to take over and tell these Confucian scholars what the price of upholding their beliefs is. Go ahead,"

Francisco nodded, his blue eyes gleaming with wisdom.

He immediately walked out from behind the emperor, walked in front of a group of Daqi civil servants, looked up at Ni Yuanlu, and said in his not very fluent Henan dialect:

"Dear gentlemen, believers of medieval Neo-Confucianism, I am Francesco, the High Priest of Qi. You may call me Lao Fu. I am in charge of all religious affairs in our country, including but not limited to Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism, as well as this..."

The Portuguese thought for a while before coming up with the right words:

"And the Three-Inch Golden Lotus Sect that you believe in." A group of Jiangxi officials looked dumbfounded, staring blankly at the red-haired foreigner with blond hair, blue eyes and speaking Henan dialect.

Although they knew that this person was the right-hand man of the Emperor, and his status was comparable to that of the Grand Eunuch Dongfang, some officials could not help but curse out of the Celestial Empire's inherent contempt for foreign barbarians:
"How can a barbarian like you understand the state of our Celestial Empire? You are not worthy to sit down and discuss matters with scholars like us!"

"Get down! The life of a sage is the will of heaven. You, a red-haired barbarian! How can you know anything about the affairs of a sage? Get down!"

Lao Fu was not angry at the arrogant provocation of the Jiangxi bureaucrats, and he remained standing. At this time, Qian Qianyi said:

"The High Priest has made great contributions to the Great Qi. You should be careful with your words. Even when discussing matters, you should not insult the culture."

Ni Yuanlu also said: "The sage said that when a barbarian enters China, he becomes Chinese. You don't need to care about the color of his hair or skin, or his accent. As long as he speaks the words of a sage, you should listen carefully."

Lao Fu bowed to Ni Yuanlu and was deeply moved by the courtesy he showed.

He faced the crowd and continued:
"In my hometown, heretics were burned to death. Here, those who violated the decrees of the retired emperor were also killed. I've looked up detailed information. The Zhu Wengong you're talking about is Zhu Xi, who died many years ago. His hometown, Huizhou Prefecture, was only a small county called Xiuning, according to the local county annals. From the first Ming Dynasty emperor, Zhu Yuanzhang, to the last, Zhu Youjian, over a period of two hundred years, there were more than four hundred "virtuous women" and "heroic women."

Everyone showed a satisfied smile on their face, and they felt that the red-haired foreigner in front of them was much more pleasing to the eye.

During the Ming Dynasty, one of the criteria for evaluating the performance of local officials was the number of chaste women in their jurisdiction.

What is a "chaste woman"? Simply put, it is a woman who, after her husband's death, sacrifices herself to him, whether through suicide, slaying a knife, or even abstaining from food.

"There are over 2,000 people who have never married. Gentlemen, do you know that these actions are contrary to Qi's national policy of encouraging population growth?"

"Also, in Wuyuan County, Zhu Xi's hometown, there are over a hundred memorial archways dedicated to chastity, loyalty, and filial piety. From the Song Dynasty to the present, there are over 7,000 chaste and heroic women. In southern Fujian, where Zhu Xi served as an official, in Tongan, Jinjiang, and Youxi counties, there are nearly a thousand cases of fiancées remaining faithful to their husbands, or even committing suicide after their husbands died (Fujian General Records)."

Francisco concluded, "This Zhu Wengong you're talking about has violated many of our country's laws. I don't know what kind of saint he is. If he were alive in the Great Qi, he would be imprisoned and exiled to Seoul..."

Lao Fu did not mention the words "being a male prostitute". He knew more or less the temperaments of these people and was afraid that over-stimulating them would be detrimental to himself.

The surroundings suddenly became deathly silent. While the officials were preparing to use their ultimate moves, the high priest decided to use his ultimate move first.

He took out an account book from his black robe, gently opened two pages, looked back at the densely packed Arabic numerals on the account book, then placed his fingers on the account book and prayed devoutly:

"The empires we stand on are all built on the strength of the King of Liaodong, the ruler of Mongolia and protector of the grasslands, the uncle of the King of Korea, the Immortal, the master of Japan, the abolisher of private property, the ruler of the thirteen provinces, the owner of Australia, the defender of order in the Eastern Hemisphere, the master of Sakhalin Island, the king of kings born in a raging firestorm, the Supreme Emperor of the Great Qi Empire. It was built by His Majesty the Supreme Emperor!"

"The empire currently has thirteen provinces, including the recently annexed Jiangxi province and the two Jiangnan provinces. The national population is over 85 million. Of these, the three Liaodong provinces, Henan, and Shandong provinces have more men than women due to long-term wars. In Jiangnan and Jiangxi provinces, the population is evenly split between men and women."

"If you allow women to continue foot binding, allow this inhumane custom to continue, allow this horrific punishment to continue harming our sisters, regardless of whether this strange artistic taste of drinking from women's shoes is reasonable, regardless of your so-called traditions and culture, if you really do that, half of the 80 million subjects of the Emperor will become disabled! The women of our country will live their entire lives within a narrow area of 300 steps centered on their bedrooms, from the time they bind their feet until their death. If that happens, the future of the empire will be bleak: the country will be impoverished, there will be a shortage of soldiers and labor, there will be no female workers in the workshops, no female students in the schools, disabled women will be unable to raise children, and the practice of drowning infants will continue to occur... In the end, Da Qi and her people will be called the "Sick Man of Dong Qi" by their enemies."

Francisco finished speaking in one breath, and because he was so emotional, his tears wet the account book.

A group of officials wanted to refute, but they didn't know where to start. They stretched their necks like ducks being held by the neck.

Liu Zhaosun saw that the time was ripe, so he stood up from the dragon throne, and slowly glanced at everyone and said:

"Everyone has heard what the Grand Secretary and the High Priest just said. Their meaning is my own. Women in Liaodong have long stopped foot binding. Women in Jiangnan and Jiangxi can also do so."

The Jiangxi officials looked at each other, and finally everyone looked at Yuan Jixian. Commander Yuan stepped forward and said:
"Your Majesty, I understand your good intentions. However, if you really want to abolish it, it will take time. You can start with the upper class of scholars and officials, promote education, and then let the common people follow suit. You must know that these foolish men and women were also imitating Li Yu, the last emperor of the Southern Tang Dynasty. Li Yu made six-foot golden lotus for the dancer Yao Niang, decorated it with jewels, silk ribbons and tassels, and ordered Yao Niang to wrap her feet with silk, making them slender and bent upwards to form a crescent shape, and then put on a white..."

Liu Zhaosun interrupted with a wave of his hand: "I don't care where or when foot binding originated, or whether it originated in the palace or the countryside. General Yuan's plan is protracted and has made people confused. I wonder how long it will take? Ten years? Twenty years?"

"Will you wait until thirty years from now and ask Emperor Guangde to ask me why I didn't ban foot binding in the first place, which led to the country's decline and lack of resources?"

The Emperor thought of the Qing Dynasty's order to shave one's head, so he said firmly:
"Time waits for no man. Every moment of delay will mean the loss of thousands of female laborers. In the future, when the Great Qi conquers the world, women are indispensable on the battlefield. The reason I was able to defeat so many enemies is simply because I treated men like animals and women like men."

Yuan Jixian was speechless.

"I'm afraid it will provoke a civil uprising."

"Then change it. I never fear betrayal. Anyone who dares to obstruct me will be killed! Send an order to all prefectures in Jiangxi to ban foot binding. Spare the feet but not the head, or spare the head but not the feet!"

Note:
1. "Wanli Yewaibian" records: "During the Ming Dynasty, beggars in eastern Zhejiang did not allow men to study and women to bind their feet."

(End of this chapter)