The Eldest Daughter Is Beautiful and Saucy
Chapter 974: Beautiful marriage
Chapter 974: A Grand Wedding
The people who were watching the excitement were talking about it.
Bai Qingyan looked at the people who were talking and laughing, wiping the sweat from their faces with towels.
Today in the Imperial College, the students also asked Bai Qingyan the same question: why widows should be encouraged to remarry.
Bai Qingyan explained it very clearly to those students. In fact, for hundreds of years, the nations have been fighting over… land and population. Only with more people can there be productivity, and only with productivity can the people become rich and the country become strong.
As long as Bai Qingyan pointed it out, the students immediately understood that Bai Qingyan encouraged widows to remarry in order to increase the population. His ultimate goal was to enrich the people and strengthen the country, and he was still preparing to unify the world.
But just because these students can understand it doesn’t mean that ordinary people can.
“No one forced me to remarry! I wanted to remarry of my own accord! I don’t want to live alone like this for the rest of my life!” The young woman who had just been drowned in the pond had changed her clothes and her hair was wet, but when she heard her mother-in-law shouting that the new law was forcing widows to remarry, she couldn’t help but get out of the carriage.
The young woman stood at the front of the carriage, looking very embarrassed. Seeing that many people had gathered by the river to watch the excitement, she couldn’t help but feel afraid… She was afraid that after such a commotion, Bai Qingyan would find it difficult to implement this new law, so he changed it… No longer allowing widows to remarry! Then there would be more women like her trapped in the cage, and even she couldn’t get out!
So she was willing to stand up.
The young woman got off the carriage and walked forward quickly. She knelt down in front of Bai Qingyan, tears streaming down her face. “Your Majesty, no one knows how hard life is for a widow. My husband is dead… and my children are gone! I don’t want to live like this for the rest of my life. I still want to have my own children! I still want to be a mother! I can’t spend my whole life in the Bai family like this! So when the new law encourages widows to remarry, I… I really wanted to kowtow to Your Majesty and express my gratitude!”
“We women are not objects placed in the house by men! We are also human beings! We have feelings too! How can we spend our whole lives guarding a tablet? It would be fine if we had children, it would not be so sad to live with children! But the life we live now… is simply worse than death!” The young woman burst into tears, “I was locked up in that house, not allowed to go out, not even allowed to see the male servants in the house! They say that widows are prone to gossip! I was locked up in that small yard all day long…”
“Why can’t we women with children remarry!” The widow who came to watch the fun with a hoe on her shoulder heard the young woman who was almost drowned in the pond say this. She put down the basket in her arms and the hoe on her shoulder and said unconvincedly, “I have no man left, and I have to work in the fields and take care of the children. You are a rich lady… with maids to serve you, and you have the nerve to say that life is worse than death. We poor widows who have lost our husbands dare not even die. If we die… there will be no one to take care of the children, and they may be eaten alive! Those who really can’t make ends meet… all die with their children!”
The woman who went to work talked about her sad past, wiped her tears with her sleeve, and choked up: “I am lucky. I have two boys at home, and the clan is willing to help. My cousin married to Lin County… Her husband and my husband both died on the battlefield, but her husband only left her a broken woman. The fields and houses at home were occupied by the clan. She couldn’t live anymore and jumped into the river with her children!”
Bai Qingyan watched the people who came to watch the excitement quiet down because of the woman’s words, and then he slowly spoke: “In recent years, the countries have fought frequently, and countless soldiers and civilians have been killed and injured… There are many good girls of childbearing age, but because of the constraints of the old ethics, many of them have never even seen their new husbands, and have spent their lives holding tablets.”
Her words touched the hearts of many women, and many of them nodded.
“There are also many women who died from overwork because their husbands left them and they could not do the physical work of farming at home alone… There are even more who left lonely children behind.” Bai Qingyan glanced at the men with numb expressions, “Only by encouraging widows to remarry, so that there are strong laborers in the family and men to help widows raise their children, can we reduce the tragedy of mothers committing suicide with their children! To ensure that children who have lost their fathers can grow up smoothly.”
Having said this, a man has already nodded slowly.
Even if the only bloodline they left behind was a girl, it was still their bloodline. If they were really gone… they would naturally hope that their child could grow up safely.
“To put it in a broader sense, only when widows remarry and have children can the country’s population increase. More people in the family means more labor force, and less idle arable land… Only then can people have abundant grain reserves at home! A prosperous people and a strong country, this is why the new law encourages widows to remarry.” Bai Qing said slowly.
The implementation of new laws is based on the people. Only when the people are prosperous can a country be strong!
After Bai Qingyan finished speaking, his gaze fell on the clan elder who was about to drown his daughter-in-law in a pond.
“During the implementation of the new law, those who openly defied the new law and took human lives will be sent to the Jingzhao Yin Mansion and asked to be investigated and punished severely!” Bai Qingyan looked at Bai Qihe, “National law and clan law, national law comes first and clan law comes second. Clan law should be based on national law. Wherever it needs to be changed… it must be changed.”
“Yes! Bai Qihe obeys your command!” Bai Qihe bowed hurriedly.
Bai Qingyan stepped forward and helped the kneeling young woman of the Bai family up, and then instructed Lupin: “Lupin, first settle this woman in the Bai Mansion in the capital. Her marriage… will be handled by the Bai Mansion!”
“Yes!” Lupin clasped his fists and accepted the order.
Bai Qingyan looked at the young woman in front of him and gently patted her hand: “Don’t worry, remarrying after losing your husband is reasonable, rational and legal. The Bai family will double the compensation for the grievances you have suffered today, and you will definitely marry with honor!”
“Thank you, Your Majesty! Thank you, Your Majesty!” The young woman knelt down and bowed again.
Even the maid behind the young woman knelt down and kowtowed to Bai Qingyan: “Thank you, Your Majesty, for saving my young lady! Thank you, Your Majesty!”
Before the sun went down, the news of Bai Qingyan’s debate with the students in the Imperial College spread throughout the capital.
In addition, the guards of the Bai family sent the Bai clan elder and his wife to the Jingzhao Yin Mansion with great fanfare, which attracted the attention of the people. The guards who sent the Bai clan elder and his wife away made it clear that Bai Qingyan hoped that the Jingzhao Yin would conduct a strict investigation and punish those who resisted and violated the new law, so that those who would take it as a warning from now on.
The Queen of the Great Zhou was determined to protect the new law. When the guards of the Bai family sent the Bai family’s relatives to the Jingzhao Yin Mansion and asked Jingzhao Yin to punish them severely, the people realized that the new law could not be violated.
And it was precisely because this widow of the Bai family, who had been widowed for a short time, dared to take this step and wanted to remarry, and Bai Qingyan also promised to let this widow of the Bai family marry with great fanfare…
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