The literary giants of the late Ming Dynasty began by copying books

Everyone present, as long as they can read, can see that most of the ancient surnames have a female character next to them. Even Confucius' surname is Zi - Zi is the national surname of the Shang Dynasty, and in ancient times it also meant something related to women.

Wang Wenlong said with a smile: "The ancients divided tribes by surnames, and surnames were divided into official positions and areas. Tribes with the same surname gathered together, and many ancient surnames had a female character next to them. Is it similar to what I said about tribes with female surnames?"

Wang Wenlong explained: "I have seen many customs in the West, and the more primitive the society, the more inclined it is to female clan tribes."

"Actually, the reason is very simple. When we were growing up and drinking blood, human beings were naturally united into tribes based on blood. Monogamy had not yet appeared at that time, and men and women could only have wild unions. How could we determine the paternal lineage? However, it is natural to be sure that all children born from the same mother are brothers. Sisters, it was natural for them to form clans and tribes under the leadership of the old grandmother. Most of these ancient surnames were the names of the clan leaders. The presence of the word "女" next to them probably reflects that the leader is a woman."

What Wang Wenlong said was very simple, and everyone could understand it after thinking about it, but no one had ever heard it before. At this time, Wang Wenlong's sudden suggestion was obviously too shocking.

Research on matriarchal clans did not begin until the 19th century, and then more and more evidence was discovered that had never been thought of at the time.

Everyone present found it extremely strange when they tried to imagine a world dominated by women as leaders.

Wang Wenlong said with a smile: "In fact, when each society develops to a certain extent, tribes naturally disintegrate into families and clans. After men and women form a family, men are more powerful and naturally dominate the family. In this way, men dominate the small family and the big country. , these are all natural things, but it cannot be said that women in ancient times never went out to do things."

Wu Guohua was also open-mouthed when he heard it. Wang Wenlong's point of view seemed to be very reasonable. It was also supported by overseas situations and the obvious ancient surnames. He was not prepared and could not refute it.

But as soon as he rolled his eyes, he said: "Those are all what the ancients did when they were drinking blood. If the sky does not give birth to a Zhongni, the eternity will be like a long night. Now that the master comes out and regulates human relations, the world today can exist. Even if there were women doing things in ancient times, Nowadays, we should also follow the Master’s teachings, women should guard the home, observe chastity and chastity, praise virgins, and preach edicts, as if this is the right thing to do in the world!”

Wang Wenlong was speechless for a while. This group of Taoists really couldn't argue and brought out Confucius. What happened before Confucius didn't count. Anyway, after Confucius appeared, the world had to follow Confucius' rules - Confucius in all dynasties I don’t know how many times they carried him around like this. Confucius was lying in Qufu, and most of the people under the spring were angry.

Wang Wenlong suddenly asked: "Sir, when you talk about keeping chastity, do you think that virgins are also praised by the Master?"

Virgin! Everyone present immediately became interested when they heard this word.

During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, a "virgin woman" refers to a woman who remained loyal to her fiancé after his death. She became a widow before or just after the marriage, and never married again.

This kind of "chaste maiden" has been praised by scholar-bureaucrats since the Song Dynasty. By the Ming and Qing dynasties, it had become a social custom. However, even in the Ming Dynasty, many people felt that the practice of chaste maidens was inhumane.

Since the Jiajing period, some people have been opposing the custom of virgins. For example, the great writer Gui Youguang wrote "On Virgins" to oppose the phenomenon of virgins. However, whether virgins are worth admiring is an inconclusive question at this time.

Gui Youguang felt that virgins were inhumane and unreasonable.

But there are also some people who think that although virgins are rebellious, they reflect the noble virtue of "denying oneself and returning to propriety", and they praise the virgins greatly.

This was a hot issue in the quarrel at this time. When everyone heard Wang Wenlong mention it, they naturally wanted to hear his wise words.

Wu Guohua was born into a well-known family. He worshiped Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism since childhood and even rejected Buddhism and Taoism because of it. However, he did not hesitate to support the Virgin.

He naturally said: "Virgin girls are in line with etiquette and law, so what can we say?"

Wang Wenlong smiled when he heard this, thinking that it was no wonder that Wu Guohua could leave a "loyal and simple" comment in the history books. To put it bluntly, he was really stubborn.

Decades later in history, Wu Guohua passed the Jinshi examination and soon encountered a partisan dispute between the Donglin Party and the Eunuch Party. The other Donglin Party members all hid home to avoid trouble when they encountered the Eunuch Party, but this guy was also driven home, but he was Therefore, he was angry every day, and died of depression when he was not even fifty.

It's not surprising that he has a tendency to be rigid now that he is only in his early twenties.

Wang Wenlong said loudly: "Friend Wu, has he read "Li"?"

Wu Guohua said: "Why don't you read the Four Books and Five Classics?"

“May I ask what are the steps of a wedding in the Book of Rites?”

"Mr. Jianyang, will you test me? According to the "Book of Rites", a wedding is a major event in human relations, and the formal steps should be: accepting, asking for name, accepting, accepting, asking for date..."

As he spoke, Wu Guohua's expression gradually changed, and Wang Wenlong continued: "Then it's time to welcome the bride, share the title of Prime Minister, and meet the aunt."

Wu Guohua's face gradually became dull, and Wang Wenlong said loudly: "The sages have said that only a woman who has completed the sixth step of getting married is qualified to wear the mourning clothes of a daughter-in-law in the funeral of her husband's family, and a woman who is only engaged but has not yet welcomed the bride does not count at all. A member of her husband's family is what is called a virgin at this time - according to etiquette and law, the husband has not yet married her as his wife, but the members of her husband's family have already regarded her as his daughter-in-law. She was born in a different room and died in the same cave. Isn't this a big mistake? Something bad about human ethics!”

Faced with Wang Wenlong's question, Wu Guohua stared and could not argue.

Wang Wenlong added: "Master also has the theory of 'no two cuts'. A virgin is not a member of her husband's family, but she serves her husband as a filial piety and cares for her parents. This is treating other people's parents as her own parents. This is It is extremely unfilial..." Wang Wenlong was talking eloquently. People who were studying in Shouning County School gradually opened their mouths, and then someone quickly reacted:

"Welcome to the bride, Fuji Slash...so that's it?"

"My friend, please bring pen and ink. I want to copy it."

Some scholars quickly took out their pens and ink and began to copy what Wang Wenlong said.

It is not surprising that everyone was surprised by Wang Wenlong, because what he said was Wang Zhong's argument against chastity in the Qing Dynasty, so there would naturally be such a response.

The great discussion about virgins in original history will continue for hundreds of years, and the person who finally raised the ultimate question from the perspective of Confucianism was Wang Zhong, the leader of the Qianjia School.

Still the same sentence: When it comes to textual research and reasoning, the exegesis experts of the Qing Dynasty crushed the Ming Dynasty.

Confucianists in the Ming Dynasty felt that virgins were in line with etiquette, so Wang Zhong directly attacked their base camp. Wang Zhong analyzed the relevant views in the "Book of Rites" sentence by sentence, and then found that according to the "Book of Rites", there should be eight marriages between men and women. Steps, and a virgin whose fiancé has died can only do the fifth step at most. The sixth step of "welcoming the bride" can't be done by letting the dead man ride a horse to bring the woman back, right?

Therefore, according to the requirements for weddings in the "Book of Rites", the virgins did not complete the wedding at all.

However, a virgin has not completed the wedding and is not yet a member of her husband's family. All subsequent actions are against etiquette. According to etiquette, an unmarried woman should be beheaded for her parents (wearing the heaviest mourning clothes), and a married woman should be beheaded for her late husband. Women should not be beheaded. The second cut fails.

Since a virgin is unmarried, she often beheads her late husband. This violates the "no two beheads" rule of Confucian ethics and is a great disrespect to her parents.

Similarly, a virgin who died before her husband was not consummated was called mother by his children, daughter-in-law by his parents, and was buried with her husband after her death...all of which were against etiquette and law.

The views put forward by Wang Zhong shocked the world and almost ended hundreds of years of discussion on the issue of virginity.

At this time, Wu Guohua was dumbfounded and his lips trembled. He wanted to find something to say to refute Wang Wenlong, but after thinking about it, he couldn't come up with any reason.

Of course Wang Zhong had opponents in history, but they were Confucian theorists of the Qing Dynasty who also had profound foundations in textual criticism. Based on the Ming Dynasty's research on exegesis, Wang Wenlong's views would probably be difficult to rival within ten years.

"Unconsummated marriage, no two cuts..."

Academic officer Cai Jingrong considered Wang Wenlong's words repeatedly, and the more he thought about it, the more reasonable he became.

At this time, people had never thought that the phenomenon of virgins actually violated Confucian theory, so that all articles opposing virgins were far-fetched from a theoretical perspective, but what Wang Wenlong said was really shocking.

"Jianyang Gongzhen is a master of reasoning and well-founded." Cheng Jiuyan, a famous scholar in Jianning, nodded repeatedly.

The famous scholar You Yinglong on the side also said: "Mr. Jianyang's foundation in Confucian classics is really amazing."

Cheng Jiuyan said: "The hardest thing is that he only thinks about women. It seems that things about virgins are really inappropriate."

At the end of Wang Wenlong's speech, he finally promoted Xiangfei yarn to everyone, but Wang Wenlong was already surrounded by a group of literati before he even got off the stage. Many people are praising Wang Wenlong's argument just now. But Wu Guohua had already left in despair.

Cheng Jiuyan also brought the record to Wang Wenlong and said, "Can what Mr. Jianyang said today be included in my article?"

Seeing that he was quite old and obviously a local scholar, Wang Wenlong nodded and said, "It's okay for you to write it yourself."

The phenomenon of virginity was also a custom that poisoned women in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Women who were advised by this custom could not engage in conjugal affairs throughout their lives. For example, Gu Yanwu, a great scholar in the late Ming Dynasty, was adopted and raised by the Wang family since he was a child. His mother Wang was a virgin. She was widowed before marrying at the age of fourteen. She adopted Gu Yanwu at the age of sixteen and remained a widow until her death at the age of sixty. And there are not a few such women.

Cheng Jiuyan's father was Cheng Bojian, a famous anti-Japanese martyr. There were martyrs' temples in the local area, and the Cheng family was also a large family in Jianning.

Although Cheng Jiuyan did not serve in the imperial examination, he was still known as a famous scholar. After listening to Wang Wenlong's lecture, he went home and wrote an article, and then sent the article directly to a newspaper in Fuzhou for publication.

At this time, many kinds of publications had appeared in Fuzhou, catering to different classes, and many of them had found their own niche. "Cangshan Poems", which had previously published articles attacking Wang Wenlong, was one of the new and famous publications.

A few days later, in the editorial department of "Cangshan Poems", reviewer Cao Xuequan received Cheng Jiuyan's article.

(End of this chapter)