Dressed like a loser and went to raise a baby

Chapter 892: There are more men than women, why?
In the morning, Feng Chenghan was in the court hall and asked the Ministry of Household Affairs about the number of men and women registered in the household registration last year.

The Minister of Household Affairs did not expect that the emperor would ask this question in the morning. He was not prepared and naturally could not answer it.

How could he remember such data?

However, the minister in charge of household registration remembered it clearly and stood up and replied: "The number of registered household registrations last year was about 110 males and 94 females."

After hearing this, Feng Chenghan glanced at the civil and military officials of the court and asked, "What can Zhu Aiqing tell from the data given by the Minister of Household Affairs?"

Yu Wei looked back at the tip of his nose and said nothing. Although he knew the answer the emperor wanted, what the emperor wanted to ask was not him.

All the ministers looked at each other in confusion, not knowing the emperor's intention and not daring to answer casually.

The Minister of Rites thought for a while, then stood up and said: "I saw that the new population increased last year, with more men than women."

Feng Chenghan asked the Minister of Household Affairs to tell him the annual increase in population and the number of registered men and women in the past five years.

I don’t remember the Minister of Household Affairs very well in the past few years, so I can only give a rough idea, but the data every year shows that there are more men than women.

Feng Chenghan: "Every year, there are more men than women in the new population. Ministers, please tell me, what is the reason for this?"

"Maybe it's easier to give birth to a boy than a girl." A military general said with a smile. His family was a group of boys, and it took ten years to finally give birth to two daughters.

These two daughters were so precious to him that the son beat them casually, but the daughters were always held in his arms and coaxed.

"That's wrong. It's obviously easier to give birth to a daughter." An old official immediately refuted the military commander's words. His family had to give birth to three or four daughters before they had one son.

How could it be easier to give birth to a boy?
"Obviously, it's because most people in this world want to have boys. Having boys can carry on the family line and inherit the family business." The minister of the Ministry of Industry got to the point.

"But if people in this world want to have a boy, can they just give birth to a boy directly?"

"Of course you can't just think about having a boy and your wishes will come true."

"That's it, so people in the world can't just give birth to boys or girls if they want to have boys. Some have several girls and one son, and some have several girls and one son. It should be balanced. But why are there more men than women? How many?" asked the Minister of Dali Temple, spreading his hands.

The Minister of Justice, who was born in a poor family, couldn't help but said: "Because some poor families cannot support so many children and don't want daughters, they will drown their newborn girls to death, or throw them into the mountains to feed wolves." .”

When he was young, some people in the village would throw newborn girls into the river or throw them into the mountains to feed wolves.

In the village, there are also many girls who were sold to other people by their parents when they were very young.

His grandmother was a charitable old lady. She once picked up a drowning baby girl in the creek at the entrance of the village. Because the baby girl was not dead, she took her home and asked a doctor to save her life. Save it.

The grandmother was so heartbroken that she buried the baby girl by the river. While burying her, she said, "This is a sin. The world is too difficult for women. It is difficult for a daughter from a poor family to become an adult."

As soon as the Minister of Justice finished speaking, these ministers who had never seen the suffering of the people all fell silent.I never thought something like this would happen. Tiger poison doesn't even eat its children. How could someone drown their own child?
"Tiger poison doesn't eat its seeds, is Shilang Feng joking?"

"That's right..." said the two ministers who came from noble families and were able to gain titles.

They were born into a noble family, and even their daughters were raised in a pampered way.

If he loves his daughter more, he will make careful plans for her and choose a son with a good family background, good appearance and good character to be her husband.

If the concubine loves her so much, she can find a marriage with someone who can bring benefits to the family, or marry the other's concubine as a wife, or take someone else's concubine as a concubine, and live a life of fine clothes and fine food.

They don't think there's anything wrong with marrying off concubine girls they don't love. The family has raised them well, and they should repay the family in return.

Moreover, the families they are looking for are all wealthy families, and their food and clothing expenses cannot be shortchanged for them. After getting married, they can still live a good life with fine clothes and fine food.

Feng Shilang said: "This is what I saw with my own eyes when I was a child. Can it be fake? This kind of thing is definitely not an exception."

"This kind of thing has happened to me when I was an official in the southern border." Wailang, a member of the Ministry of Household Affairs, said, "Some people, because their families are poor and their women are raised by other families, cannot be like men." It is generally useful, it can carry on the family line, and it can also do work for the family. If the daughter has too many children, she will be put directly into the basin and drowned."

"When the official inspected the village, he also noticed that he saw an abandoned baby cave in the village. Because it smelled bad when he passed by, he asked about it and learned from an old farmer that it was an abandoned baby cave. There are many strange things in the nearby villages. If you don't want the goods for money, you will throw them into the abandoned baby cave, and you can still hear the sound of babies crying when passing by at night." When the minister talked about this, he frowned and had an unacceptable look on his face. .

"When the old farmer talked about this, he still had a smile on his face, as if he was talking about a common thing. Those baby girls seemed not to be human lives. After the official inspected the village, he called various village chiefs to lecture to the government. , they ordered them not to allow the villagers to kill their children anymore, and also ordered people to fill up the abandoned infant cave."

"I just don't know if there are other abandoned baby caves in the village now?" Since there is no law on killing children by parents, he knows clearly that this is an unkind and evil act, but he can't do anything to those who abandon their children. I can only give lectures.

The ministers who were often born in Kyoto were shocked.

"There are such heartbreaking things in the world. It's a human life, it's murder." The academician of the Hanlin Academy clapped his hands sadly and indignantly.

"Tiger poison does not eat its seeds, so it drowns and throws away its newborn child. Isn't this worse than a beast?"

"Appalling..."

The ministers angrily condemned those who killed their newborn children.

After they finished condemning, Feng Chenghan said again: "The ministers already know the reason why there are more men and fewer women, but they also know the harm of more men and fewer women."

As soon as he finished speaking, the Minister of Household Affairs stood up and said: "There are more men than women. When you reach the age of marriage, there will be a situation where there are hundreds of families asking for women, and men of the right age will not be able to get a wife. If things go on like this, you will not be able to get a wife. There will be more and more men who have children, and there will be trouble."

Feng Chenghan nodded, looked at the Secretary of the Ministry of Revenue and said, "What Ai Qing said is absolutely true. An imbalance between men and women is not a good thing for the country or the people, so we must curb such chaos as the drowning of female infants."

(End of this chapter)