Early the next morning, as soon as he went to court, Yunxi waved his hand, and a waiter stepped forward and read out the imperial edict: "The Emperor Chengyun decrees that..., from now on, the reward of chaste women being exempted from the service of the family will be abolished."
Suddenly there was a "buzzing" sound in the court. Although this imperial edict was short, the content it said was very important. At least for those ministers who believed in Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism, it was like a burst of thunder in their ears. It was originally intended to He immediately forgot everything he said and wanted to discuss the matter with Yunxi.
The one who made the first splash was Song Lin, a great scholar of Neo-Confucianism who was currently serving as Shaoqing at Honglu Temple. He stood up immediately after the edict was read and said: "Your Majesty, this is absolutely forbidden!"
"Uncle Cheng Cheng of the Song Dynasty (Cheng Yi, one of the two Chengs of Neo-Confucianism) said: 'Everything is taken to match the body. If you take someone who has lost integrity to match the body, you have lost your integrity.' Someone else asked: 'The widow is poor and has no one to rely on. Is it possible to remarry?' Uncle Cheng Zheng said: 'Absolutely not. Some people are afraid of freezing to death and starving to death, so they use hunger and cold as an excuse. You know, starving to death is a small matter, but being unruly is a big deal.'"
"Your Majesty, this is absolutely unacceptable. The imperial court should encourage widows to observe the law and follow the rules."
After Song Lin finished speaking, another disciple of Neo-Confucianism, Huang Kui, also stepped forward and said: "Your Majesty, Zhu Xi also once said: 'When Mr. Xi Yichuan tried to discuss this matter, he thought that starving to death was a small matter, while being unruly was a big matter. From a secular perspective, sincerity It is pedantic, but a gentleman who knows the classics and principles by himself should know that it is not easy to change.' From this point of view, the imperial court should let the women of the common people observe the rules."
Afterwards, several people came forward to remonstrate with him. Yunxi looked around the entire court and saw that although many civil servants did not come out to remonstrate, they also looked disapproving and did not agree with Yunxi's decree.
This is also normal. "Historical Records: The Chronicles of the First Emperor of Qin": "A wife escapes from marriage, and a son cannot have his mother." "Book of the Later Han Dynasty: Biography of Women": "There is no two suitable articles about women", "Heaven cannot escape, and husbands cannot escape" "Living", as early as the Qin and Han Dynasties, the mainstream opinion advocated that widows should observe chastity. This shows that this is a natural political correctness in Confucianism. Even if some people think that this is not a big deal, or do not want to offend the emperor, so they do not remonstrate, but In fact, this view is also supported.
However, of course Yunxi had expected this and was already prepared. Han Yong, the third civil servant who came to remonstrate, had just finished speaking and had not yet returned to his original position. He only heard someone next to him say: "Zhu You are all totally wrong!"
Han Yong hurriedly looked sideways and saw Chen Ying, the censor of Zuo Qiandu of the Metropolitan Procuratorate and a member of the Zhongshushe, stood up and said loudly: "The so-called Confucianism was created by the sage Confucius, who has since brought great benefits to all people in the region. If we want to advise His Majesty on his will, we still need to quote the words of Confucius. Although Er Cheng and Zhu Xi are profound in Confucianism, they are not saints after all. How can the words of the three of them be used as evidence?"
"I dare to ask all my colleagues, did Confucius ever say that a woman should not remarry?"
Although everyone was a little surprised, they could still hold on. Everyone knew that Yunxi always made decisions before acting, so they were prepared for someone to refute him.
Song Lin immediately said: "The Zhongyong Chapter of "The Book of Rites" says: There are five great ways in the world, so there are three who practice them, namely the monarch and his ministers, the father and son, the couple, the brothers and sisters, and the friendship between friends. "Book of Rites" There is a saying in the Yueji chapter: Then the sage made a code for father and son, ruler and ministers, and regarded it as the guideline. This means that the king is the guideline for the ministers, the father is the guideline for the son, and the husband is the guideline for the wife. These are the three guidelines."
"But did Confucius ever say that a husband is his wife? After the husband dies, the wife is not allowed to remarry?" Chen Ying asked again.
Song Lin frowned. In his opinion, Chen Ying's words were very confusing. Although ancient books or Confucius' remarks did not clearly state that a wife was not allowed to remarry after her husband passed away, everyone generally included this point.
In Husband’s Guide to Wife, we don’t get to the bottom of things like this.
""Officials serve the king, sons serve the father, and wives serve their husbands. This is etiquette. Confucius serves the king with loyalty, even if the king does not use it, he must be loyal. From this, it can be concluded that Confucius does not approve of the wife remarrying after the husband's death."
Han Yong said.
In fact, Han Yong's words are no longer very strong evidence. It is okay for Chen Ying to argue with him if he doesn't admit it; but if Chen Ying does this, this time it will become a melee, and it will be completely impossible to tell who is who.
Who is right or wrong?
So Chen Ying accepted Han Yong's inference, nodded and said: "What Colleague Han said is right. But the third chapter of the Eight-Year Chapter of The Analects of Confucius contains: Zixia asked: Qiao smiles beautifully, beautiful eyes look forward to it,
What does it mean to think of things as dull? Confucius said: Painting is plain after the fact. Zixia asked again: "After the ceremony?" Confucius said: "The one who started to give is a merchant! Only then can we write poems."
"Also: Confucius said: 'If a person is not benevolent, what is the courtesy? If a person is not benevolent, what is happiness?'"
"The above is enough to show that Confucius believed that benevolence and righteousness came first and then etiquette, so benevolence and righteousness came before etiquette. Colleague Han, I wonder if there is any fallacy in my opinion?"
"No." Han Yong could only say.
"The Analects of Confucius also says in the Yang Huo chapter: Zizhang asked Confucius about benevolence, and Confucius said: 'He who can do the five things in the world is benevolent.' 'Excuse me.' He said: 'Be respectful, tolerant, trustworthy, sensitive, and respectful. If you are respectful, you will not be insulted.
, To be tolerant will win many people, to be trustworthy will make people take care of them, to be quick will be to have merit, and to be kind will be enough to inspire people.'"
"It can be seen that Confucius believed that people who achieve these five points: dignity, intelligence, integrity, diligence, and kindness are benevolent and righteous people. Is this correct?"
No one answered.
Chen Ying did not wait for them to answer, but went on to say: "Book of Rites: Li Yun" says: "Eat and drink, men and women, the great desires of people exist. Death and poverty, the great evil of people exist. Therefore, the desire for evil exists."
This is the big end of the heart. People hide their hearts and cannot fathom them. The good and evil are all in their hearts and cannot be seen in their form. If you want to get rid of them all, why should you give up gifts?"
"It can be seen from this that in order to restrain the people's sexual intercourse between men and women, they must be restrained by etiquette. But etiquette comes after benevolence and righteousness, and benevolence and righteousness come first. Using the law to force a woman not to marry after her husband is widowed can be called
Is it mercy? I don’t know what your colleagues think, but I think it cannot be called mercy. Since it cannot be called mercy, it is not benevolent and righteous."
"In this case, how can we think that it is ceremonial to use laws to force women to observe the law after the death of their husbands? If it is not ceremonial to do so, what is wrong with Your Majesty's repeal of this law?"
"This." Song Lin twirled his beard and pondered.
The entire debate process just now by Chen Ying was as follows. First, Chen Ying proposed that although Cheng and Zhu had made great achievements in Confucianism, they were not Confucius after all. What they said could not be used as evidence. They were asked to provide strong evidence - Confucius' words to prove it.
A wife cannot remarry after the death of her husband.
Of course they couldn't find such words, so they could only infer it based on Confucius' words about loyalty to the king, and said that this was part of the etiquette.
Chen Ying admitted their inference, but immediately pointed out that according to Confucius' original intention, etiquette was formed after benevolence and righteousness, so benevolence and righteousness should come first and etiquette come last. She also quoted Confucius's original words to show that one of the requirements of benevolence and righteousness is kindness.
Finally, he quoted words from "The Book of Rites" and proposed that matters between men and women are human desires, and suppressing human desires is unkind, inconsistent with benevolence, justice, and etiquette. This refuted the etiquette requirement that women who have lost their husbands cannot
The argument of remarriage further proves that there is nothing wrong with Yunxi's repeal of this decree.
