Su Yonglin was not surprised that Xin Qiji asked this question.
It should be said that new thoughts and old habits will still coexist for a while.
They will never voluntarily withdraw from the stage of history. They must exhaust all their strength after a desperate struggle or even a counterattack, and then they will be swept into the dust of history extremely unwillingly.
Until old habits are completely eliminated, they will continue to compete with new ideas for dominance.
On the one hand, it takes time for new ideas to enter people's hearts; on the other hand, the controllers of the old power are unwilling to let go of this dominant power.
Su Yonglin thought about this for a long time.
"What I mean is that the past imperial courts did not interfere with civil marriages. For example, in the Song Dynasty, it was stipulated that if a woman did not get married at the age of fifteen, the government would forcefully intervene to make her get married. Isn't this a kind of interference in civil affairs? Interference in marriage matters?
What I think is that this behavior of Xiao Cui's father is obviously wrong and wrong. He treats Xiao Cui as an object rather than a person. This is an ugly old thinking and must be deposed and banned. , who objects? Those who objected raised their hands. "
Su Yonglin scanned the entire audience.
No one raised their hands.
"If no one objects, then I will make my suggestion. My suggestion is to include a clause in the law. Parents should fully consider the opinions of their children when it comes to marriage. If the children firmly object, the parents will It cannot be forced, and the government should support this."
Because this matter is not an internal matter within the Renaissance Society, in principle it is a matter that Su Yonglin can act arbitrarily with the authority of the emperor.
But what Su Yonglin hopes is that everyone can reach a unified consensus so that they can complete the two-way journey from top to bottom and from bottom to top.
With the sprouting of this independent spirit among the people, the government should recognize and support it in order to achieve changes in social trends of thought.
This kind of thing cannot last long only relying on the authority of the emperor, so Su Yonglin hopes to get the support of the Renaissance members. He must first reach a unified consensus among the Renaissance members, and then use the influence of the Renaissance Association on the grassroots of the Ming Dynasty to gradually transform this new Thinking is introduced to the people.
Only in this way can we promote new thinking to replace old thinking better and faster.
However, it was obvious that the members present at the meeting had many concerns about this suggestion put forward by Su Yonglin.
"If it's just a single case, it's certainly easy to deal with, but if the law is revised, the implications will be too great. Should this move be considered carefully?"
Jiang Chengyue, who served as the Minister of Dali Temple, expressed her worries: "The matter of civil marriage has its own customs formed over the years and is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. No one feels bad. If the court suddenly changes the regulations, will it cause large-scale civil strife?" What about the dissatisfaction? If there is a commotion, there will never be peace."
Jiang Chengyue's concern was also the concern of most people present, including Xin Qiji, who also nodded and remained worried about this point.
Seeing such a scene, Su Yonglin knew that all the shackles on their bodies had not been released yet.
The influence of long-standing customs on them is so great that after their political thinking changed, their daily thinking has not changed in time, and half of their bodies are still in the old era.
This is also where I made the mistake of overemphasizing political issues and ignoring folklore issues.
Su Yonglin felt that this was his own problem.
But fortunately, I am still young and have enough control over the situation to have enough time to adjust policies.
"I still said that, it has always been like this, is it right? The superior people have always oppressed us like this, and now we have also overthrown and smashed it to pieces? Are they right?"
One sentence blocked the mouths of many people, leaving them speechless.
Indeed, this is true, and if it had always been right, then their resistance would be meaningless.
It's just that in the past, when it came to being oppressed, the motivation to resist was naturally stronger, but now, when it comes to being deprived of their power, they have concerns.
With the establishment of the Ming Dynasty and the passage of time, more and more people who followed Su Yonglin in the war and made contributions grew older and gained a stable life, so they gradually married wives and had children, and lived a life of wives and children. .
Many people have completed the transition from sons of man to husbands and fathers, and now Su Yonglin has just decided to initiate changes in this area, which involves a wide range of things.
Many people can't help but worry about their future and family relationships.
However, Su Yonglin's powerful authority was something they could not and did not dare to resist. Therefore, when Su Yonglin proposed this suggestion, which was not problematic intellectually and ideologically, they felt hesitant emotionally.
The first person to express his support was Kong Maojie. He continued to support Su Yonglin's proposal, even though his two children were just born a year ago.
"I think it is very meaningful to do this. What happened in Tai'an Prefecture is something worthy of encouragement in my opinion. Xiao Cui's father is not worthy of being a father at all. He is a beast... No, he is not even a beast. Not as good as that!
Even though Tiger Poison does not eat its children, he is willing to sell his daughter to someone else just to drink wine. It looks like a marriage. Little does he know that when that family takes Xiao Cui home, how will they treat this debt-paying woman? What is the difference between his doing this and cooking his son's Yi Ya to dedicate to the king? "
Everything Kong Maojie said was reasonable, and no one present could refute it.
Xin Qiji, who was hesitant at first, thought about it, sighed, and expressed his opinion.
"Actually, I don't object to severely punishing Xiao Cui's father. This man's actions are indeed unworthy of being a father. What I'm worried about is that the long-standing customs of the people have suddenly changed. Will there be something that we can't predict? What about the chaos?"
"for example?"
Kong Maojie replaced Su Yonglin and became the main output player.
Xin Qiji spread his hands.
"For example, conflicts between parents and children, as well as the resulting difficulties in civil marriage, etc. Aren't these all possible problems?"
Su Yonglin did not admit this statement and joined the discussion.
"You'an, this kind of problem has always existed. It's just that the Confucian loyalty, filial piety and righteousness have used compulsory moral pressure to cover up this existing problem. Covering it up does not mean that it has never existed.
On the contrary, the longer you cover it up, the more it will eventually explode, and the explosion will be very terrifying. Therefore, instead of passively erupting, it is better to take the initiative to untie it. We should take the initiative to face it instead of avoiding it. "
Xin Qiji opened his mouth and suddenly felt that he could not refute Su Yonglin's argument.
After thinking about it, he could only lower his head and admit that he was speechless.
"What you said is that I have no objection."
After refuting Xin Qiji, Su Yonglin looked at the others.
"Speak out all your worries. Let's open our hearts and talk about this topic seriously. Those who speak are not guilty."
Since Su Yonglin said this, the participants did not worry about other issues and spoke out the issues they were worried about one by one.
Su Yonglin and Kong Maojie refuted them one by one, leaving them speechless. Most people admitted that their concerns were not a reason to oppose the reform.
So they didn't say anything further, thinking that even if they didn't support it in their hearts, they wouldn't give any objections during the vote.
In fact, that’s pretty much it so far.
The last person to raise concerns was Shen Ge, who served as the Minister of Law in the imperial court.
Shen Ge's understanding of this issue is not general. He does not look at this issue from the personal perspective of the head of the family, a man, a husband, and a father, but looks at this issue from a rather macro perspective.
So the questions he raised were quite interesting.
"What you have just discussed is nothing more than the issue of men's power in the family and some issues of family relationships. I think these issues are irrelevant in this matter.
What I'm more concerned about is how and why this rule of parents ordering matchmakers to talk came into being. Since this rule was born and has been running for so many years without any major troubles, it naturally has its rationality.
Where does its rationality come from? Why did the ancients choose to take this path? Are they forced to do anything or do they choose the best among the best? Have you ever considered this issue? "
