The Ming Dynasty's Five Hundred Years

Chapter 238 Rejecting the Imperial Marriage

By the end of February, the army had basically completed its preparations in the capital. On March 17, it set off from the capital and headed straight for Arughtai, who was plundering the pass.

The atmosphere among the northern expeditionary army was not very tense.

The Mongol tribes were weak and only dared to raid the Central Plains, not to engage in direct combat.

During the third northern expedition against Arughtai, no victories were achieved, so a war broke out with the Uriyangkhai tribe. The fourth expedition basically did not involve any major battles, and this time will probably be no exception. Arughtai will likely flee far away again.

They were more like accompanying the emperor to the grasslands to reminisce about their lost youthful days.

The Crown Prince Zhu Zhanji, Prince of Han Zhu Gaoxu, Prince of Zhao Zhu Gaosui, Minister of War Li Xianmu, Grand Secretary of the Cabinet Yang Rong, Jin Zhong, and many other accompanying officials were handling military affairs and some political matters.

This is a mobile central government.

“Mingda, there’s no need to be so nervous. The Arutai tribe has long since fled thousands of miles away. Our scouts are everywhere, and we can detect any disturbance.”

As everyone had predicted, the situation after entering the grasslands was exactly as they had expected: the Arutai tribe had no intention of engaging the Ming army in a direct confrontation.

Li Xianmu nodded slightly, but remained vigilant. He needed to observe the emperor's condition at all times, and if anything seemed amiss, he would immediately send the message back to the capital. In critical moments, he would even need to control the Prince of Han and the Prince of Zhao.

Zhu Zhanji naturally knew why, and couldn't help but feel a little nervous.

"Xianmu, Zhanji, come here." Zhu Di stood in front of the map and greeted the two with a smile.

“Arutai escaped too quickly, and I’m afraid we won’t be able to catch him again this time. I’ll take this opportunity to tell you some military tips, because the northern frontier will be your responsibility in the future, and you can’t do without military knowledge.”

Zhu Zhanji grew up by Zhu Di's side from a young age, and was quite good at both civil and military affairs, making him a well-rounded individual.

Li Xianmu was similar; although his military talent was not as great as his political talent, he still had Zhang Fu's guidance over the years, which made him capable of handling things independently.

The two men huddled together beside the emperor, listening to his explanation, and Li Xianmu felt somewhat dazed.

He felt as if he had returned to thirty years ago, when the late emperor was explaining things to him. Both generations of the Li family had been highly valued by the emperor, which led to their current wealth and status.

Although there had been unpleasant incidents, opinions on who was right and who was wrong were divided, and his maternal grandfather and uncle had treated him very well.

Li Xianmu sighed again, deciding to stop thinking about those old, trivial matters and just focus on being a loyal subject of the Ming Dynasty.

As for right and wrong, grudges and disputes, let them fade away with the wind.

……

Another tedious day passed, and Li Xianmu was handling government affairs with a group of civil officials in the emperor's tent.

Zhu Di sat at the head of the table, seemingly lost in thought, when he suddenly asked, "Xianmu, I remember your eldest daughter is twelve years old, isn't she?"

This question immediately attracted the attention of the ministers in the tent. The emperor wouldn't ask a question casually; this meant he had something on his mind.

"Yes, Your Majesty, my daughter is twelve years old."

Zhu Di pondered for a moment and said, "It's time to choose someone of a suitable age. Is there anyone you'd like to see?"

The meaning of this question is quite obvious.

The ministers exchanged glances quietly. Although the Empress of the Ming Dynasty was now chosen from among the lower-ranking officials, many of the other concubines in the harem came from noble backgrounds.

For example, Consort Zhang in Zhu Di's harem was Zhang Fu's younger sister, and Consort Zhang, a concubine of Zhu Gaochi, was another daughter of Zhang Fu. In this sense, Li Xianmu and Zhu Gaochi were brothers-in-law.

Judging from seniority, His Majesty the Emperor is sending Li Xianmu's eldest daughter, Li Shuxia, into the Crown Prince's palace, where she will surely become a Noble Consort.

If others could guess it, Li Xianmu certainly could too; he had no objection to his daughter entering the palace.

Daughters always have to get married, and there's nothing wrong with marrying the emperor. They'll eat well, dress well, and have a noble status.

As for the idea of ​​being trapped in the palace and pursuing freedom, that's just a joke. Other women couldn't show their faces in public at will either, so there was no difference.

Unfortunately……

Li Xianmu sighed and shook his head, saying, "Your Majesty, not yet. My late father established an ancestral precept that no one related by blood should marry within five generations. This applies to both cousins ​​and relatives."

This means many excellent candidates are now ineligible, and my wife is quite worried about it.

what?
Zhu Di was speechless. He never expected that the Li family had such an ancestral precept. If such an ancestral precept really existed, then he would never have allowed Li Shuxia to enter the Crown Prince's palace.

Li Shuxia's great-grandfather and Zhu Zhanji's great-grandfather were the same person, which is definitely within five generations.

It's normal that cousins ​​cannot marry. The Ming Dynasty strictly prohibited marriage between relatives of the same surname and between people of different generations. Not to mention five generations, even ten generations, as long as they are still on the same family tree, they cannot marry.

During the Ming Dynasty, even marriage between cousins ​​of the same surname, or between the children of aunts and uncles, was explicitly prohibited.

However, marriage between cousins ​​with different surnames is very common; many people do this to strengthen family ties. "Why is that?"

Not only the emperor wanted to ask, but others were also very curious.

Li Xianmu said solemnly, "My late father said that it is difficult for close relatives to conceive, and the offspring born are extremely likely to die young. Moreover, the possibility of having a deformed child is very high. Even if they grow up normally, there is a high probability that they will be mentally retarded."

Therefore, consanguineous marriage is prohibited on both the paternal and maternal sides. After three generations, the blood ties will become very weak, and after five generations, they will be like strangers in terms of blood relations. Only then can marriage increase the chances of having healthy children.

Zhu Di was now truly uneasy, and the others in the tent were also in an uproar. "Do you have any evidence for what you're saying?"

But some people have already started to believe it, because they all have cousins ​​who have gotten married, and they have indeed seen deformed babies born, those babies who were drowned right after birth.

"Your Majesty, this matter has simply been ignored all along. My father once wrote a book called 'The Book of a Thousand Questions of the Ming Dynasty'."

One of the entries records this event.

After the father became suspicious, he ordered people to track and record a thousand newlywed couples. Of these, five hundred were not related by blood, and the other five hundred were cousins.

Nearly four thousand babies were born in total. Among the two thousand babies born to cousins, the rate of neonatal death and birth defects was about three times that of the other five hundred couples.

There was even a couple who gave birth to five children with birth defects. This stark statistic confirms that this story is true.

Although there was no scientific system in ancient times, people were not fools. After saying the words "four thousand babies" and "three times", what could they possibly doubt?
Zhu Di was so shocked that he even began to mutter to himself, "Jinghe has never mentioned this before."

"When my father was alive, this experiment was not yet fully recorded. It was I who recorded it later. Besides, this matter cannot be discussed, since there were many children who seemed to have no problems."

Moreover, my father said that these children who seem to have no problems may just have minor issues; they may simply not be very bright, but not to the point of being demented yet.

There is a common saying that things are passed down from generation to generation; if one generation doesn't pass it down, it may be passed down to the next.

By the way, the previous Japanese emperors practiced inbreeding through generations, resulting in so many strangely shaped members of the imperial family. Otherwise, with the imperial family marrying beautiful women generation after generation, they should have become increasingly beautiful.

Li Xianmu's words brought back some unpleasant memories for everyone. The Japanese imperial family's ugly and deformed members made people question their existence. Japan clearly had no shortage of beauties, and the ones sent to the Ming Dynasty in the past ten years were quite impressive.

According to Li's explanation, that's perfectly normal now.

"In short, abstaining from consanguineous marriage is an ancestral precept of the Li family."

The other ministers in the tent also became somewhat uneasy.

At their level, it was normal for them to marry into each other's families to ensure a good match, especially for nobles, who would actually marry into each other's families.

In Dream of the Red Chamber, almost all of Jia Baoyu's marriage partners were his female cousins, which is a true reflection of the lives of noble families in ancient times and the inevitable result of intermarriage.

Zhu Di had given up on the idea of ​​letting Zhu Zhanji marry Li Xianmu's daughter. What if the empress didn't give birth and Li Shuxia's son became emperor in the future?
A foolish emperor?

The thought of what might happen was more terrifying to Zhu Di than having a nightmare.

Li Xianmu and Zhu Di tacitly stopped discussing the previous topic.

"Xianmu, if this is true, shouldn't I issue a decree throughout the land prohibiting intermarriage?" Zhu Di hesitated, "After all, knowing the harm this will cause, yet doing nothing..."

Li Xianmu said with a wry smile, "Your Majesty can publicize the harm of this matter, and then prohibit the people from marrying within two or three generations. If you really completely prohibit marriage within five generations, I'm afraid the people will only secretly violate the ban."

Ancient society had much less social mobility than modern society. It was very normal for people in the same village or even neighboring villages to be related by marriage. If intermarriage was not allowed within five generations, many people would not even be able to find wives.

It was impossible to let them move out, as the Ming Dynasty's household registration system was very strict, binding everyone to the land.

When a city can no longer accommodate a massive population, this is the only option.

Zhu Di also figured it out, sighed, and withdrew his unrealistic idea.

"After returning to the capital, this matter will be compiled into a book and distributed to the counties. Marriage between cousins ​​is prohibited. Marriage within three generations is advised against. Within five generations, it is up to the people to decide."

"Your Majesty is benevolent and loves the people; your subject rejoices on behalf of the people!"

Li Xianmu's praise was genuine. This time, the emperor truly cared for the people, which is why he issued this decree that was completely detrimental to the court.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

As early as the Hongwu era, an era before the concept of heredity existed, Li Qi, through comparative experiments, discovered that consanguineous marriage significantly increased the probability of genetic diseases in offspring. This experimental method was widely used in various research fields for centuries afterward; the pea inheritance law was derived using this method. — *A History of Genetics*

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

In the relentless tide of time, Confucianism, unsuitable for the new era, was left far behind. Among the many Confucian sages, Li Qi stood out proudly in this new era. This great Confucian master, renowned for his philosophy of mind, is celebrated centuries later for his extensive and diverse knowledge. —From "Biography of Li Qi"

(End of this chapter)