Wentang

Chapter 692

The book written by the eldest grandson Wugou?A name immediately popped up in Yue Shan's mind: "Nv Ze".

In the original history, she compiled a book by herself, but it was not published during her lifetime. After she died of illness, Li Shimin helped her sort it out and publish it.

It's just a pity that this book has not been handed down, and the so-called "Women's Rules" circulated on the Internet in later generations does not know who edited it.

It is precisely because the book has been lost that no one knows the content.Many people in modern times mistakenly think that Ban Zhao's "The Commandments for Women" is a book that teaches women obedience, but in fact it may not be the case.

Historically, historians have kept secrets about the content of her book. At most, it can be said that it is a collection of ancient women's gains and losses, and ten volumes of "Nv Ze" (twenty volumes? Thirty volumes? There are many differences in historical records).

We can only get a glimpse of the face through the gossip of some historical celebrities: some people criticize this book as having a false name, and it is not used to regulate women's words and deeds at all.

The Sui and Tang Dynasties were an important node in the great integration of nationalities. The folk customs were aggressive and open, and there were women who went to battle to kill the enemy.The eldest grandson Wugou is from the Xianbei tribe, and it is recorded that the person she admires the most is Xie Daoyun.

Who is Xie Daoyun?A strange woman who dares to love, hate, speak out, and even go to battle to kill the enemy, how could the eldest grandson Wugou write a book like "The Commandments of Women" by taking her as an example?
All indications indicate that "Women's Rules" and "Women's Commandments" are not the same type of book, and many claims may even be opposite.

This can also explain why her "Women's Rules" has not been handed down. In the Tang Dynasty, few people mentioned this book. It was partially lost in the Song Dynasty, and it was completely lost in the early and middle Ming Dynasty.

The reason is that no one in a patriarchal society wants to see a book that encourages women to be 'positive'.

Especially during the Song Dynasty, Confucianism completely overwhelmed other schools of thought, and completed Confucianism in the true sense.

Many of the views in "Women's Rules" are contrary to the three obediences and four virtues advocated by Confucianism, but Changsun Wugou is also a model queen respected by Confucianism, so he can't beat himself in the face, right?
The best way to deal with it is to let it disappear quietly, no matter whether it is asked, disseminated or printed.In the Ming Dynasty, the restrictions on women became stricter, and "Women's Rules" disappeared completely.

In his previous life, Yue Shan also thought about what the book "Women's Rules" was like, but now he finally has a chance to get a glimpse of the true face?

He was a little excited.

Soon a wrestler came over with a dozen books in his arms.

Yue Shan is a little confused, don't tell me that all the books in the box are written by you.

However, the next moment Changsun Wugou made him understand that nothing is impossible.

Commanding the warriors to put the book on the stone table, the eldest grandson Wugou said: "This is the book I wrote, called "Women's Rules". I compiled it by collecting the stories of women in ancient times, please help me read it."

Yue Shan couldn't believe it and said, "All these?"

"Yes, a total of twelve volumes are divided into twenty volumes." Changsun Wugou raised his chin slightly and said.

Yue Shan took a deep breath, and then slowly said: "Let's not talk about the content of this book, it is difficult to spread it on a large scale with this length, and it is even hard to say whether it can be passed down to future generations."

The complacent expression on Changsun Wugou's face immediately froze, and he said, "Why?"

Yue Shan said: "You can count the books that have been handed down to the present, except for the history books, there are a few big ones."

"I can write books with millions of words and tens of millions of words, but all the books I write will repeatedly compress the word count, and sometimes even delete a lot of what I want to say, leaving only the core part."

Changsun Wugou couldn't help asking: "Why is this so?"

"Because the longer the book is, the less conducive it is to dissemination. It is difficult to print, the price is higher, and it is difficult to preserve. If you lose a whole set of books, the meaning is incomplete, and most of its value will be lost." Yue Shan said.

This is not just talking about it casually. The length and whether it can be passed down have a lot to do with it.

Two books of the same quality, one with five copies and one with only one copy, are also printed in one hundred sets, and the one with only one copy is more likely to be handed down to future generations.

Even if you put aside the events of thousands of years later and only look at the present, the spread of the book with only one book must be wider than the book with five books.

The eldest grandson Wugou is so smart, Yue Shan will understand what it means after a little explanation.Although she thought it was unbelievable, the facts were right in front of her eyes and she had to believe it.

This hit her hard.

What is she writing the book for?It's not for self-entertainment, but I hope it can be spread and even spread through the ages.

This book is her proudest work, and she thought it would cause a sensation and become a role model if it came out.

Unexpectedly, Yue Shan didn't even read the content of the book, and poured cold water on her just because of the length of the book.The point is that she still feels that Yue Shan's words make sense, which makes her very frustrated.

Li Shimin on the side felt sorry for his wife, and immediately said: "Guanyin maidservant, don't listen to his nonsense, as long as the writing is good, no one will read it. Don't worry, I will let the Imperial College fully promote your book, so that everyone in the world will learn from it."

The eldest grandson Wugou shook his head and said, "No, I know the saint loves me, but doing so will only make people laugh."

"I also feel that this book is too long after listening to what Cui Lan said. There are many contents that are not necessary, but I just kept it because I was reluctant to delete it. I will rewrite it, remove unnecessary contents, and make it more Refined."

Li Shimin said helplessly: "Why do you do this?"

When the couple were talking, Yue Shan took out a book and flipped through it. He was still very curious about what "Women's Rules" was about.

Coincidentally, the first article is about Xie Daoyun.It may also be the reason why she put Xie Daoyun, whom she admired the most, in the most prominent position in the first article.

First, it introduces Xie Daoyun's life, and then it is a comment.She thinks that she dares to love, dare to hate, dare to point out her husband's shortcomings, and chooses to fight instead of killing her neck at the most dangerous time...

In short, Xie Daoyun praised Xie Daoyun as rare in the sky and unparalleled in the earth, and thought that women should learn from her.She despises her husband Wang Ningzhi to the extreme, thinking that this is an idiot who is not worthy of Xie Daoyun.

Looking at the whole story, Yue Shan can only say that the reasoning is indeed good, but the expression of personal feelings is too obvious.This is more like an article complaining about Xie Daoyun's grievances than "Women's Rules".

He turned over another article, which happened to be the deeds of Empress Mingdema in the Eastern Han Dynasty.

When mentioning Empress Ma, the first thing everyone thinks of is the Empress Ma of Zhu Yuanzhang of the Ming Dynasty. In fact, there was also a Empress Ma in the Eastern Han Dynasty, and she was equally virtuous.

Empress Mingde Ma was the daughter of General Fubo Ma Yuan, and Ma Teng and Ma Chao in Xiliang during the Three Kingdoms period were Ma Yuan's descendants.

In this article, Changsun Wugou's attitude is more upright, he just discusses the matter without too much personal emotion.

First, I briefly talked about Queen Ma's deeds, and then began to analyze them one by one.Praise that she was eager to learn when she was young, and she had the courage to stand up to take on family responsibilities when her family experienced setbacks.

She also said that she had no children but treated the other princes as her own sons, and later the princes succeeded to the throne and respected her like their own mother.Praise that this is the demeanor of a big woman, and call on everyone to learn from her.

The main point is that Empress Ma refused the emperor's generous rewards to her family, and restrained her relatives to behave honestly.Say this is a role model for all queens and concubines...

Looking at the meaning of the whole article, it is to use the stories of the predecessors to tell the truth.

I read a few more articles and most of them are the same, there are empresses and concubines, there are noble women, and there are ordinary good women and strong women.

After roughly understanding the style of the book, Yue Shan lost the desire to continue reading, closed the book and put it back in the distance.

"How?" Changsun Wugou asked nervously.

Although the space issue hit her a lot, the more important thing was the content.The length can be adjusted, if there is a problem with the content, it is the most fatal.So she's still nervous.

"There is no problem with the book, I think it is very good." Yue Shan said after consideration.

"Huh!" Changsun Wugou heaved a sigh of relief.

"I just said there will be no problem, don't worry now." Li Shimin said from the side.

But the next moment...

"But..." Yue Shan's words made her heart lift up again.

"But the writing is too superficial." Yue Shan said.

"Shallow?" Changsun Wugou asked with some doubts.

"I think the essence of this book is the preface, which raises a very interesting question. What should women do when facing the world." Yue Shan said:

"I thought you would continue to explore along this line of thought, but you didn't. Later, you started telling endless stories."

Changsun Wugou argued: "I just want to tell everyone what women should do through the deeds of these ancient people."

Yue Shan said: "I know, but in this way, "Women's Rules" is at best a colloquial script, not a masterpiece."

"I think you should write more in-depth, and extract and summarize the morals contained in these stories to form words, so that it is possible to write books that will be passed down through the ages."

"This..." Changsun Wugou rubbed his forehead and said, "My head is a little messed up now, you mean I should write a book like "The Commandments of Women"?"

"No, no, no." Yue Shan denied it one after another, saying: "The commandments for women do have a lot to learn from women, but generally speaking, it is a book for enslaving women. I thought you could do the opposite."

"Ah?" Changsun Wugou couldn't help being surprised.

Li Shimin's eyes also widened. This is the "Women's Precepts" highly praised by Confucianism. Yue Shan's evaluation of it is so low?
Yue Shan knew what they were thinking, and explained: "I don't object to the filial piety to parents, friendship to sisters-in-law, and loyalty to husband and family advocated in "The Commandments for Women", but I also don't agree with women's obedience to all injustices."

"If a family is compared to a country, the man is the monarch, and the woman is not only the queen but also the prime minister. She can not only support the parents and raise the children, but also help the husband to make suggestions to check for omissions..."

Speaking of this, Yue Shan said to the stunned couple: "The sage and empress should have a deep understanding of how much a good wife can help the family and the man's career."

Li Shimin and Changsun Wugou subconsciously nodded.Especially the eldest grandson Wugou, whose eyes seemed to be shining brightly.

Yue Shan continued: "But this world demands too much from women and gives too little. They have done everything but can only be men's vassals, submissive."

He is not a feminist, and he hates the so-called pastoral feminism in his previous life, but he also feels that the status of ancient women is too low, and it is necessary to improve it.

"So in this book, you can also discuss a little bit what rights a woman should have. For example, if her husband beats her every day and wants to kill her, should she have the right to initiate a divorce?"

"Another example is that the husband gambled all day long and lost all the family's belongings, and even sold his children and daughters to sell his wife to pay off the debts. Does a woman have the right to divorce her husband with her children, and use this method to keep her children and her innocence. "

"Stop." As soon as he said this, Li Shimin stopped him suddenly by yelling, and glared at him dissatisfiedly: "What kind of bad idea did you come up with? Do you know the consequences that will be caused once such a thing is written?"

Yue Shan said: "Of course I know, but do you think there is something wrong with what I said? Should women be beaten to death by their husbands like this? Should they just sit back and watch their husbands lose all their wealth and sell themselves and their children to others as slaves?"

"This is the reason, but the way of the world is like this." Li Shimin said.

Yue Shan said with a faint smile: "This world always needs someone to stand up and say no to injustice."

Li Shimin flatly refused: "Then we can't let Guanyin's maidservant be the first bird."

Yue Shan was about to refute, but Changsun Wugou stretched out his hand to signal him not to speak, and then said to Li Shimin: "Second brother, you want to be the first king through the ages, and I also want to be the first queen through the ages, so that I am qualified to stand with you on the long river of history." middle."

"You... hey!" Hearing that Li Shimin was like a discouraged ball, all his words turned into a sigh.He knows his wife's character, soft on the outside and strong on the inside, no one can persuade her to make a decision.

But...he gave Yue Shan a vicious look, it was this bastard who bewitched his wife.No, we can't just let us bear the blame, and you don't even want to run away.

Thinking of this, he said: "You are the leader of the new school, how can this kind of crusade against injustice be less of you, when the time comes, that book will also have your name written on it."

Yue Shan said with a smile: "As long as the empress is willing, I can ask for it."

On this matter, Changsun Wugou didn't insist, but nodded and said: "You came up with the idea, and you will be asked to give your opinion when the time comes, and it should be written with your name."

Another reason is that, as Li Shimin said, with Yue Shan as the leader of the new school, the academic world will take this matter seriously, and even if they disagree, they will not directly oppose it.

As for the controversy caused by this... Neither Li Shimin nor she herself is afraid.As for Yue Shan, as the founder of the new era, he has the most controversies, and he is not afraid of one more.

After the matter was settled, the three of them suddenly felt like confidants and comrades-in-arms.

Yue Shan said: "In order to avoid causing too much backlash, the book can be written first but not published in a hurry, it can be detoured."

Li Shimin asked: "How to detour?"

Yue Shan said: "It's the same as delaying the age of women's childbearing. Directly mentioning it will definitely attract opposition. We collected a lot of data in advance, and privately linked up with powerful families to speak out, and finally achieved this goal with the smallest cost."

The matter of delaying the age of childbearing for women has not been entirely successful in the strict sense.

When Yue Shan retreated to write a book, the eldest grandson Wugou asked the medical officer of the medical school to put the data on the court, and advised to delay the age of women's childbearing, which naturally attracted unanimous opposition.

However, after returning home, these people found that their wives and daughters had all rebelled. Except for a few old-fashioned people, most people's attitudes softened.After all, they are all fathers, so they have to think about their daughters.

But everyone is still unanimously opposed to restricting such things by law. It is too easy to become a tyrannical government, and the common people will not understand it.

Discussions came and went, and a compromise approach was adopted.The imperial court no longer enforced but called on everyone to postpone the age of childbearing, and widely publicized it.

The real killing trick is in the Department of Examinations of the Ministry of Officials, which uses the data of pregnant women who died of dystocia and died under the age of 16 as the assessment standard.

When a matter is directly linked to the promotion of an official, it is more effective than any decree.Even if it caused misunderstanding and dissatisfaction among the people, it was only aimed at local officials rather than the imperial court.

Not to mention in ancient times, even in previous lives, someone has calculated that officials in civilized cities have a 5.00% higher chance of being promoted than officials in non-civilized cities.

Just because of this 5.00% probability, what happened to those officials.If it is understandable to say that it is understandable to make billboards uniformly, then it is purely to cut all the vegetables neatly in the vegetable market...

Therefore, although Yue Shan failed to delay the childbearing age of women through court legislation at first, it is more reliable and effective to link this matter with the promotion of officials than direct legislation.

In any case, his goal has been achieved, and mobilizing the powerful family members is the most important part.Through them, they aroused the empathy of the bureaucrats who have the right to speak, and finally achieved their goals.

Now Yue Shan is going to continue to use a roundabout method.

"Your Majesty can establish a girls' academy, that is, an academy that only admits girls... With your empress's name, I believe those rich and powerful will scramble to send their daughters of the right age to study here."

Yue Shan pointed to the dozen or so books in front of him, and said: "At that time, these books can be used as teaching materials, so that they can learn the advantages of the characters in the books. The things in these books are not excessive, and will not arouse everyone's vigilance and opposition. .”

"When teaching those women to read, we can slowly mix in some of the content of the real women's rules, and transform them bit by bit."

"We can even open women's academies all over the Tang Dynasty, and after we have reformed enough women, we can officially come up with women's rules."

"This process will be very slow, and it may take ten or twenty years to have any effect, but it is better than nothing, and it will not cause social unrest."

"What do you think, saint and empress?"

(End of this chapter)