The Eldest Daughter Is Beautiful and Saucy
Chapter 967: disadvantages
Chapter 967 Disadvantages
He bowed to Bai Qingyan politely, and then continued, “A woman leading a country’s government is unheard of in our country’s history. It is true that the Jin emperor was like a madman in refining elixirs in his later years. You should have helped the prince to ascend to the throne, but you destroyed the Jin Dynasty because of the Bai family’s personal grudge, completely disregarding the righteousness between the monarch and his subjects. Where is your virtue?”
Xue Renyi looked at Bai Qingjue, who was kneeling beside Bai Qingyan and had a refined demeanor. “Even if the officials forced the people to rebel, and the Bai family had no choice but to rebel, can’t the Seventh Young Master of the Bai family ascend to the throne? What virtues do you have to ascend to the throne? You insisted on ascending the throne as a woman, implementing new policies, and governing the country without respecting the methods of saints and sages, and implementing harsh new laws! Now you are even abusing your power for personal gain, allowing women to take the imperial examinations and serve as officials in the court, and want to break the customs and theorems from ancient times to the present. Isn’t it because you are worried that it is not legitimate for a woman to ascend the throne, so you want to improve the status of women as quickly as possible?”
Xue Renyi spoke in a high-pitched voice.
“Xue Renyi!” The Imperial College’s chief priest turned pale, stood up and shouted, “Drag Xue Renyi out!”
“You don’t have to be like this, Master. There is no ruler or minister in this Naxian Hall today. We are all just discussing the matter at hand!” Bai Qingyan slowly stood up, looked around, and said to Xue Renyi, who was filled with anger, with a smile, “Xue Renyi, I remember you… You beat the drum for the students of the world, exposed the cheating in the imperial examinations, and sought justice for the students of the world. You are truly a man of high righteousness!”
Bai Qingyan bowed to Xue Renyi, speaking in a voice like a gurgling stream, “Doctors treat illnesses and save lives. Can it be that because a doctor is a woman, he cannot cure the patient? There was my aunt Bai Suqiu from the Bai family. When Jiaozhou was hit by a major epidemic, the whole country was helpless. It was my aunt Bai Suqiu from the Bai family who volunteered to go to Jiaozhou to eliminate the epidemic and save the people! Who dares to say that my aunt is a woman and her medical skills are not good?”
All the students present knew about the great epidemic in Jiaozhou. Thinking of Bai Suqiu… the noble daughter of the Duke of Zhenguo, the daughter of King Bai Weiting and the Grand Princess, who died for the country and the people so that the people could enter Jiaozhou, all the students pursed their lips and remained silent, as if they already understood what Bai Qingyan was going to say.
“Treating illnesses… governing a country, it’s the same principle! I govern the country and save the people of the world. As long as I can keep the people from freezing, suffering, hunger and cold, even if I’m a woman, who dares to say that I’m not a good ruler?”
Bai Qingyan looked around, smiling slightly, and said calmly: “Just like, I am a woman… who dares to say that I am not as good as a man in leading troops to fight?”
Bai Qingyan’s achievements in leading troops in battle are indeed unmatched in the entire Great Zhou. Xue Renyi’s face looked grim. All his questions were denied by Bai Qingyan one by one. He was resentful and dissatisfied in his heart, but convinced.
The students around stared at Bai Qingyan with bated breath. The entire Naxian Hall was silent, with only the sound of gurgling water and the sound of bamboos filled with water constantly hitting stones.
“If women are the cause of national disasters, then who kept Daji and Baosi by their side? King Zhou was the ruler of a country, who could give orders? Indulging in wine and women… it was not the king’s fault, but the woman’s beauty was blamed? How can this be justified?” Bai Qingyan moved slowly back and forth beside the seat, and turned to look at the students upstairs or in the courtyard, “King You of Zhou set fire to the beacon tower to trick the princes. Could it be that Baosi threatened King You of Zhou with his life? She did not show any favor to King You of Zhou. Isn’t her integrity worthy of your admiration? Historically, only kings and treacherous ministers have brought disaster to the country, but there has never been a case of women bringing disaster to the country!”
Some students of the Imperial Academy heard such insights for the first time, but they had to say that what Bai Qingyan said… made sense.
It is indeed far-fetched to put the blame for the country’s demise on one or two weak women.
“If we must blame a woman for the fall of the country, doesn’t that just prove that King Zhou, King You, and so many male courtiers of the two dynasties are not as powerful as a woman? If so…was it wrong for the Great Zhou to employ women as officials?”
Xue Renyi’s eyes widened, his lips trembled, but he couldn’t find any words to refute.
Bai Qingyan looked at Xue Renyi again: “You say I am unworthy of the throne because I have no virtue, but what is virtue? What kind of virtuous person can sit on this supreme throne? In my opinion, people who can benefit the people and the country are virtuous people. You say that my methods are not good enough and I do not respect the methods used by saints to rule the world. Bai Qingyan is not talented and well-educated, so I dare not say that saints are wrong…”
She looked around and sighed, “But everyone… the world has changed. It is no longer the time when the saints and sages were alive and rituals and music were not broken. The way to govern the world… should follow the progress of history and be improved according to the national strength and people’s sentiments, rather than… sticking to the popular trend and only respecting the saints’ way of governing the world without considering the national strength and people’s sentiments. This will only continue the wrong and correct strategies for pacifying the people. If they are not compatible with the current world and national strength, the people will suffer…”
Some students have slowly nodded, acknowledging that Bai Qingyan is right.
Even laws are revised repeatedly as time goes by. There is no law that is completed overnight.
Bai Qingjue looked at his elder sister standing under the shade of the tree, the bright sun shining through the layers of green leaves, and the fine golden light and white locust flowers fell all over his elder sister. She just looked at the students with a smile, her voice was gentle, graceful and appropriate, her words were sharp but not arrogant, her voice was as gurgling as the flowing water in the Naxian Hall, and she had already impressed most of the students in the Imperial College.
“Bai Qingyan is a man of limited talent and limited virtue. I admit that, as Xue Renyi said, at the beginning… the idea of replacing the Jin imperial court was out of personal hatred! But this was based on the fact that the Lin family of Jin had long been unable to shoulder the burden of a country!” Bai Qingyan said frankly, “The ancestors of the Bai family sacrificed their lives for the great ambition of unification, and Bai Qingyan, as a descendant of the Bai family, has never forgotten it. Bai Qingyan believes that he is not just a person who talks big, and all the new laws he promotes are policies that benefit the people. The new policies can be summarized in four words…benefiting the country and the people.”
“If anyone among you today can point out the drawbacks of the new law and discuss with Bai Qingyan to improve it, Bai Qingyan will definitely regard you as a superior minister!” Bai Qingyan bowed deeply to all the students, showing great respect and treating these students as national talents.
“Your Majesty!” Another student stood up and saluted Bai Qingyan, but at this time he no longer looked down on Bai Qingyan because she was a woman. “Your Majesty wants to allow women to take the imperial examinations and become officials, but have you ever thought about it? Apart from the noble families, ordinary families… who would let their daughters go to school, take the imperial examinations and become officials? After all… when a daughter gets married and has children in the future, she will no longer be a member of the family! Even if the daughter is allowed to marry a son-in-law, the family will definitely be more willing to spend money on a son-in-law than to send her to school.”
OMG, I almost missed the update…