Since entering the palace, Hu Shanwei has been on the verge of death several times, but he never died. However, this time was the closest he had ever been to the underworld.
A group of people had already dragged Hu Shanwei to the doorstep. Empress Ma said, "Your Majesty, there's no harm in listening to her. The concubine's funeral is more important."
As soon as Emperor Hongwu raised his hand, everyone dragged her back and threw her in the middle like a piece of rag, with her black hat rolling off.
Hu Shanwei struggled to stand up with the help of a chair, straightened his clothes, picked up his black gauze hat and put it on, and bowed, "Your Majesty, in traditional funeral ceremonies, the rule of male superiority and female inferiority far overrides the natural human ethics of filial piety. The basic rules of traditional funerals are 'no two superiors in the family' and 'respect the father and despise the mother'. When the father dies, the children must wear the heaviest mourning clothes, but when the mother dies, the children must downgrade and only wear the second-class mourning clothes, Qisui. This is the so-called 'no two superiors in the family'."
There are five levels of funeral ceremonies, from heavy to light, including "zhansui", "qisui", "dagong", "xiaogong" and "jima".
In the case of "zhansui", children need to wear mourning clothes made of the coarsest natural raw linen cloth, and the edges must not be sewn, leaving the edges of the cloth exposed. Women also need to tie their hair with raw linen. In the case of "qisui", children wear ordinary natural raw rag mourning clothes, the edges can be sewed, and women do not need to tie their hair with raw linen.
Emperor Hongwu said coldly: "You are talking about the difference between the funerals of husband and wife. What does it have to do with the funeral of the imperial concubine? You are wasting my time!"
The imperial concubine is a concubine. No matter how high her status is, she is still a concubine.
Hu Shanwei said, "Your Majesty, you are a man, the Minister of Rites is a man, and the Crown Prince is also a man. Naturally, you will not think that there is anything wrong with 'no two masters in the family', 'respect the father and despise the mother', and 'no two beheadings in the family'. After all, it has been like this for thousands of years."
"But, I am a woman, and I naturally feel that this is unfair. Every life is conceived by the sperm of the father and the blood of the mother. After ten months of pregnancy, one day of birth. According to what Ru Siyao told me, almost one in ten women will die on the delivery bed. Every time a mother gives birth, she risks her life to bring a new life. If that's the case, why should she be shorter than her husband at the last stage of her life? Just Qisui? Why can't she enjoy the same standard of Zhansui as her husband? A grand funeral?"
"Your Majesty, even a legitimate mother is like this, despised by her children and always inferior to her father. How can the funeral of a concubine's mother be so sad?"
"So, in my humble opinion, the only way to convince the ministers to agree to change the rule of 'no mourning for concubine mothers' is to raise the funeral rites for mothers to the same standard as for fathers, and to respect both parents equally."
"This is the first step, and the most important one. If there are dissenters, they will be accused of being disrespectful to their mothers, disregarding human relations, and being unfilial. The second step is that since the funeral rites for the first mother are raised to the same level as those for the father, the funeral rites for the concubine mother should be raised to a higher level, and there will be no more embarrassment of 'the concubine mother has no mourning clothes'. For the funeral rites for the concubine mother, the threshold between the scholars and the common people will be removed, and the monarch and the people will have the same system. When the concubine mother dies, the sons must mourn for "缌痳" and the mourning clothes will be removed after three months."
Parents are equally respected, and the ruler and the people are equally governed. This is Hu Shanwei's solution.
After these words were spoken, Emperor Hongwu fell silent, while Empress Ma looked moved.
Yes, only women can understand the sorrow of women. Similarly, women’s rights must ultimately be fought for by themselves. It is almost impossible to wait for men to give them alms. This is the selfish side of human nature. Resources are limited. They will not be kind enough to share a share with you just because you are his daughter, wife, or mother. They blindfold themselves and take all the unfairness for granted.
Empress Ma was a woman and a mother. She certainly hoped that after her death she would receive the same respect as Emperor Hongwu.
Concubine Sun was glorious during her lifetime, but her funeral was miserable after her death. If the funeral of a legitimate mother was so miserable, what about a concubine's mother? If she was slightly out of line, she would be accused by the ministers of "blinded by lust", "disrespecting the legitimate wife", or even "favoring the concubine over the wife". Even a great ruler like Emperor Hongwu, who founded the country, did not want to be labeled as "blinded by lust" for a concubine.
Not worth it.
The Minister of Rites and the Crown Prince knew exactly what the Hongwu Emperor was worried about and went on a hunger strike in protest. They knew that the Hongwu Emperor would not really let them starve to death. They endured the hunger and thirst for a while and hoped to win the honor of being loyal ministers and virtuous crown princes in the future.
Great deal.
The study room fell into a brief silence. Emperor Hongwu waved his hand to everyone and said, "All of you go out. Hu Shanwei stay."
The group of people left quietly.
Emperor Hongwu said: "You are so bold that you dare to subvert the country's mourning system."
Men and women have different starting points. Emperor Hongwu always disliked the collapse of rituals and music in the previous dynasty, and he liked to make rules and improve the ritual system. However, no matter how he changed it, he would not think that there was anything wrong with "no two masters in the family" or "no two beheadings in the family".
Well, it is indeed somewhat against human ethics. Emperor Hongwu still respected his mother very much, but as a man and an emperor, Emperor Hongwu did feel that he was nobler than the empress. As the Son of Heaven, he was unique and of course had a higher status than the empress.
Therefore, the reason of human relations alone could not convince Emperor Hongwu.
However, if Hu Shanwei's suggestion of "parents are equally respected, and the monarch and the people share the same system" had no appeal to Emperor Hongwu, she would have been beheaded by now. Emperor Hongwu kept her because he thought her suggestion had merit.
Hu Shanwei had to find a more convincing reason.
As for Hu Shanwei, the greater the crisis, the faster his brain worked. Since it had come to the point of gouging out his eyes, he might as well go for it.
Hu Shanwei said: "Etiquette is ultimately a matter of education. Using repetitive and cumbersome procedures is a way to express the emperor's attitude towards this matter. In the funeral ceremony, both parents are respected equally, which shows the emperor's view on filial piety. Both fathers and mothers should be respected. How to be filial to the father is how to be filial to the mother. The emperor's change in the funeral system is a progress of filial piety, not a regression. This is the emperor's credit."
First, flatter him and put the credit on Emperor Hongwu. Emperor Hongwu was the founding monarch and was more receptive to change than the average monarch who maintained the status quo.
Emperor Hongwu pondered for a moment, and said what the ministers had said countless times, "There is no second beheading in the family. This is the rule since ancient times, and it has always been like this."
Hu Shanwei said, "It has always been like this, is that right?"
Emperor Hongwu recalled the past...
"Zhu Chongba was born into a peasant family and could not read or write. What kind of righteous army is this? He is just a group of bandits and a mob. I have never heard of a bandit leader becoming an emperor."
At that time, Emperor Hongwu also responded to other people's doubts by saying "It has always been this way, so it is right?" He overturned all the "it has always been this way" and only then did the Ming Empire come into being. What he was best at was making drastic innovations and making his own rules.
For example, the prime minister system was abolished. The prime minister position, which had lasted for a thousand years, was abolished by Emperor Hongwu at will.
This little female official actually had this idea.
If we think about it this way, changing the funeral system to respect both parents equally conforms to human ethics and human feelings and is indeed progress.
And what’s more important is that once someone objects, I can accuse him of disrespecting his mother and call him unfilial, thereby occupying the moral high ground and making it easier to implement the new system.
Emperor Hongwu was silent for a moment, "You leave, and Xuan Qiuguan will come to see me."
Since abolishing the prime minister system that had lasted for a thousand years, Emperor Hongwu has been monopolizing power. He gets up earlier than chickens, sleeps later than dogs, and works harder than cows. There are too many things to do, so he set up officials in spring, summer, autumn, and winter to help him handle official affairs. Now it is autumn, and it is the turn of the autumn official. Emperor Hongwu should ask the autumn official to draft documents and revise the funeral system.
No need to dig out your eyes.
Hu Shanwei did not dare to take it lightly. He tried his best to restrain himself and left the Qianqing Palace calmly.
As soon as I walked out of the hall, I met Mu Chun who came in a hurry.
Mu Chun felt relieved when he saw that Hu Shanwei's eyes were fine.
Hu Shanwei winked at him, signaling him not to ask any further questions.
Mu Chun understood and passed by her, but turned a few corners and went to her residence from another road. When he pushed the door open, Hu Shanwei was sitting on the swing in the yard, swinging.
Mu Chun hurried over, "How come the emperor was furious and wanted to dig out your eyes? What happened? You—"
Hu Shanwei suddenly reached out and hugged his waist, as if he had lost his strength, and his upper body collapsed on his waist. Mu Chun then realized that Hu Shanwei's whole body was shaking, as if he was in the coldest days of winter, shivering.
Hu Shanwei is the type who is calm and adaptable at the time, but has a lot of "stamina". Just like last year when she and Jiang Quan were in danger and were chased by bandits, and almost died in the car accident, she was able to pretend to be dead, killed the bandits, and saved Jiang Quan. But after being sent back to the harem by Mao Xiang, when Fan Gongzheng, Cao Shanggong and others asked her about it, she was so scared that she screamed and fainted, and slept for a day and a night before waking up.
It was the same today. She had been to the gates of hell several times. She was not made of iron. After she had mustered all her courage and intelligence to save herself, she felt as if she had collapsed. Her steps were unsteady all the way. When she reached the yard, she didn't even have the strength to go into the house. She sat on the swing in a daze.
Hu Shanwei was sitting, and Mu Chun was worried that her arms would lose strength and slip, so she slowly squatted down, half-knelt and hugged her back, patting her gently, "Don't be afraid, it will all pass."
Just now Hu Shanwei's head was on his waist. Now the two of them were parallel, with their heads touching. Hu Shanwei's head was resting on Mu Chun's shoulders. They were broad and thick, with muscles wrapped around his shoulder blades. They were not disgusting when resting on her head, but soft and gentle. She felt the heat emanating from his body and an indescribable "human smell".
She hugged him tighter and deeper, taking long breaths, like the Black Mountain Demon, absorbing the human energy almost greedily. Although she was not dead physically, her soul had already died once.
What does it mean to serve the emperor like a tiger? What does it mean to serve the emperor and his subjects if the emperor wants them to die? What is written in books is too simple. Only through real experience can you know that every word is as heavy as a thousand pounds and can make you feel suffocated.
After a long time, Hu Shanwei was like a ghost who had absorbed enough Yang energy and was able to come back to life. She lay on Mu Chun's shoulder and asked, "Is the palace so thrilling and life so worthless?"
Mu Chun said, "It has always been like this. You can never accurately predict which will come first, glory or disaster. Are you scared?"
"Yeah." Hu Shanwei nodded, "I'm scared, but I also feel inexplicably excited. You know, the funeral system is about to change, and I'm the one who pushed this forward. This is something I never dared to think about before."
Emperor Hongwu summoned Qiu Guan, and soon summoned several young scholars from the Hanlin Academy. They stayed up all night and wrote the ten-thousand-word article "Record of Filial Piety and Kindness".
"Record of Filial Piety and Benevolence" re-established the five-degree mourning system to eliminate the drawbacks of the previous system: "honoring the father and despising the mother, which is not in line with human nature; the system is harsh and inhumane". It stipulates that a son is for his parents, and a concubine's son is for his concubine's mother, and both should wear mourning clothes for three years.
The legitimate son and all the sons of concubine mothers shall wear mourning clothes for one year.
In other words, the funeral rites for both parents were the same. Moreover, the “birth grace” was emphasized, and the concubine’s son had to observe the same heavy mourning for his biological mother.
After the death of a stepmother, both the legitimate son and the stepmother's not-born son must observe the mourning period together.
Moreover, from then on, filial piety and rituals were the same for the emperor and the people. No matter whether they were common people, scholars, or the royal family, they had to abide by the new filial piety system established in the "Record of Filial Piety and Kindness".
The publication of "Records of Filial Piety and Kindness" shocked the court and the people. Opposition was widespread, and the court was in turmoil. Emperor Hongwu insisted, "You are disrespectful to your mother if you oppose it. You think your mother is not worthy of the same respect as your father. You are unfilial. How dare an unfilial person hold an official position? Get out!"
So, Emperor Hongwu faced the criticism and pushed the Record of Filial Piety and Kindness down from top to bottom. He also ordered the fifth prince, Prince Zhou Zhu Su, to preside over the funeral of Concubine Sun, and made an exception to "wear mourning clothes for a loving mother for three years."
The fourth prince, Prince of Yan, Zhu Di, had already gone to his fiefdom. Among all the princes in the capital, except for the crown prince Zhu Biao, the fifth prince was the oldest. Prince of Yan and Prince of Zhou were biological brothers, both born to Consort Shuo, but Consort Shuo died early, so Consort Sun took over the responsibility of raising the young Prince of Zhou and had a "favor of raising" for him.
Prince Zhou had an easygoing personality and had always respected his adoptive mother, Concubine Sun. As soon as the imperial decree was issued, he changed into the coarsest raw linen mourning clothes. Princess Feng (Mu Chun's second aunt, daughter of Duke of Song Feng Sheng) also took off her bun and tied her hair with raw linen, and mourned with Prince Zhou in front of Concubine Sun's coffin.
Their mother was given a grand funeral, and Princess Lin'an and Princess Huaiqing were very grateful to King Zhou, and they treated him especially close from then on.
After Empress Ma finished her mourning, she returned to Kunning Palace.
In the study, Empress Ma asked Hu Shanwei, "Are you surprised? That day you just suggested that when the concubine mother passed away, the sons should mourn for three months, and the emperor and the people should do the same. But the emperor ordered the sons to mourn for the concubine mother for a year?"
Three months, one year. The lightest is 缌禪 and the second is 齐衰. It was really unexpected.
Hu Shanwei didn't know why Empress Ma suddenly asked her this, so she could only say something safe and sound that wouldn't go wrong: "The eunuchs in the harem are not allowed to interfere in government affairs. Those who do will be executed. I was just talking about family etiquette with the emperor that day, and I dare not make comments on the Record of Filial Piety and Kindness."
The iron plaque that read "Eunuchs are not allowed to interfere in government affairs, those who interfere will be beheaded" stood on the East-West Long Street. This was the first palace rule that Hu Shanwei learned. The emperor's questioning and her taking the initiative to comment on "Xiaoci Lu" were two different things. If she wasn't careful, she would lose her head.
Queen Ma took out a scroll and said, "Open it."
Hu Shanwei spread out the scroll on the desk, which turned out to be a Ming Dynasty feng shui map.
Empress Ma pointed to several borders of the Ming Dynasty and said, "The Prince of Yan was enfeoffed in Beiping and guarded the Shanhaiguan Pass of the Great Wall. The Prince of Jin was enfeoffed in Taiyuan and guarded the north. The former Prince of Qin was enfeoffed in Xi'an and guarded the northwest... The Prince of Zhou will probably leave Beijing and enfeoff next year. After the founding of the Ming Dynasty, the emperor overcame all objections and re-established the system of enfeoffment among the sons that had been abolished for a thousand years. The princes all had power and troops."
Hu Shanwei was puzzled and didn't know why Empress Ma mentioned the enfeoffment of the kings from the Record of Filial Piety and Kindness. To be honest, she was born a commoner, and as a commoner, what did the enfeoffment of the kings have to do with her? No matter how fierce the quarrels in the court were, she just depended on her father and lived an ordinary life.
Empress Ma sighed, "The Emperor has implemented a policy that all legitimate and illegitimate children must mourn for their stepmothers for a year. This is to maintain the brotherhood between the Crown Prince and the other princes. All of them mourn for their stepmothers so that even though they have different biological mothers, they can still sympathize with each other."
"In fact, funerals are not for the dead. When a person dies, all light goes out. Funerals are for the living. Mourning the dead is a way to show kindness, grief and sympathy to the living. The princes have different backgrounds and different mothers, so there is a gap between them. But the new funeral system allows the princes to express their condolences to their stepmothers who have no blood relationship with them. It is a way to show care for half-brothers."
"The emperor hopes to promote the continuation of the doctrine of brotherhood among brothers by reforming filial piety. He hopes that in the future these princes can unite as one and work together to protect the Ming Dynasty."
Hu Shanwei looked at the Ming Dynasty geomancy map and listened to Empress Ma's explanation, and immediately understood the true meaning of "Xiao Ci Lu". It turned out that the emperor only cared about the Ming Dynasty from beginning to end. Empress Ma remained calm and saw through Emperor Hongwu better than anyone else.
This is the true mentality of the emperor and empress.
Hu Shanwei suddenly realized that Empress Ma seemed to have opened a door to a strange world for her and opened her "third eye", allowing her to see through the clouds and fog, see the truth, and grasp the essence.
All along, Hu Shanwei was the tool of Empress Ma to manage the harem, a mouthpiece and an errand boy. No one would speak their mind to the "tool", let alone give guidance.
Why did Empress Ma do this? Hu Shanwei was full of doubts, but he didn't dare to ask.
In the palace, the more you know, the faster you die. But working around the emperor or empress, knowing very little will lead to even faster death!
Empress Ma saw through Hu Shanwei's thoughts, and her eyes were filled with compassion and worry:
"The emperor always wants to control everything, and most of the time, he succeeds. But people's hearts... People's hearts are the most difficult to control. If you stay on the throne for too long, you will have an illusion that you can control everything. In the folks, brothers who divide up the family may fight over the ownership of a bowl. And in the palace, there is more than just a bowl to fight for. How could the supreme imperial power be given up just because you have been mourning for my biological mother for a year? But the emperor insists on dreaming of brotherhood and insists on enfeoffment of the kings. Shanwei, you must remember that this is the emperor's reverse scale. Anyone who touches it will surely die. Remember what I said today, and in the future, you may live longer."
The author has something to say: Hu Shanwei said: "It has always been like this, is it right?"
Actually, it was said by Lu Xun... Now the question is, which article of Lu Xun did this sentence come from? The first angel who answered correctly will receive a 100-point red envelope.
a Diary of a Madman b In Memory of Liu Hezhen c Hometown d The True Story of Ah Q