He hadn't mentioned his eldest son and daughter-in-law yet, but when Marquis Jing'an heard this, his eyelids immediately twitched. However, he remained silent and simply listened patiently.

Emperor Xuande's expression darkened slightly as he briefly glanced through the memorials, some of which contained information obtained by Prince Ping from inquiring about the two women.

Nowadays, bound feet are very popular in the Jiangnan region, especially among literati and scholars. As a result, many girls in brothels in Jiangnan have their feet bound from a young age.

Those two women, who were specially trained for noblemen, almost all of them had bound feet, and the bound feet even became one of the standards for these women.

Emperor Xuande placed the memorial on the table, slightly raised his chin, gesturing for Marquis Jing'an to take a look, and then asked, "What does Zi'an think?"

"I was stationed at the border before, so I don't know much about other things, but if all women in our dynasty were to have bound feet in the future, it would definitely affect their ability to walk. If they were to encounter foreign tribes harassing the border, they might not be able to escape."

How can a pair of small feet bear the weight of the entire body and run?

Does she walk with a graceful and delicate gait?

That thing is utterly useless at the border; it can neither save your life nor kill the enemy.

Upon hearing his words, King Ping burst into laughter. “Jiang Zi’an, your words are exactly the same as your Lin’er’s. She said the same thing, that she couldn’t escape when she encountered foreign tribes.”

Marquis Jing'an: "..."

My eyelid twitched again.

My dear daughter, you'd better watch out, or if your mother finds out, she'll blame me for spoiling you and she'll come looking for you!

"Like father, like daughter," the saying goes, which perfectly describes the relationship between Zian and Lin'er. Emperor Xuande shook his head helplessly, without blaming them.

If it were a matter of blame, then the tabloid "The Sun Shines Brightly" wouldn't have existed for so long, and even if it did, Jiang Xuelin wouldn't have continued to interfere.

Even Emperor Xuande himself would flip through it when he had free time, looking at the news articles. Just imagining the appearances of those ministers was quite amusing.

Marquis Jing'an smiled awkwardly, "Thank you for the compliment, Your Majesty, but my daughter is unworthy of it."

Knowing how much the Marquis of Jing'an doted on his daughter, the Xuande Emperor did not continue to dwell on the matter, but instead discussed the things mentioned in the Prince of Ping's memorial.

Just as Prince Ping had thought, Emperor Xuande was indeed more concerned about the issue of labor.

Today, the world is at peace and tranquility, but even so, every year there are still some disaster-stricken areas where some people starve to death.

Population has always been the most important resource in every dynasty, and labor is naturally the same.

For Emperor Xuande, foot binding was a way to reduce physical labor.

He didn't care about so much, but he did care about the future of the people of the world. Emperor Xuande had never seen the legendary Golden Lotus Woman, nor would anyone send a woman from the brothel to him, but he knew how cruel it was from what Prince Ping had told him.

All the people in this world are his subjects, and he naturally cares about them. He could not possibly condone such acts of harming women of future generations.

This unhealthy trend must indeed be curbed.

Just as Emperor Xuande once curbed the evil trend of martyrdom.

When he first ascended the throne, the evil trend of women committing suicide for their husbands gradually emerged. Many people praised the custom of women committing suicide for their husbands after their husbands died, praising those women for their good upbringing and loyalty. Whenever such a story of suicide for one's husband occurred, not only the husband's family but also the wife's family would have a very good reputation.

Especially the woman's maternal family.

With such a loyal daughter, this family will have many matchmakers coming to their door to find a husband for their daughters in the future.

Emperor Xuande, however, found this extremely offensive, feeling it was simply a way to harm women for personal gain.

It's just the death of a daughter, but the family's reputation will immediately rise significantly. With a good reputation, there are more things to gain. Naturally, many people are willing to do such a good thing.

Later, there were even cases of women being forced to commit suicide to preserve their chastity.

Before he ascended the throne, Emperor Xuande had witnessed a tragic case of forced martyrdom.

The woman was forced to hang herself at her husband's funeral hall after her husband's death. However, before she died, she seemed to realize what was going to happen to her, so she left a letter for her children. After she passed away, her children took the letter and took her family to the authorities.

It was precisely because of this incident that Emperor Xuande developed a particular aversion to it.

Now, the Golden Lotus has appeared again.

"This trend should indeed be curbed as soon as possible." After a moment of contemplation, Emperor Xuande frowned as he looked at the chessboard before him, waving his hand to signal the palace servants to put it away and bring him a cup of tea. "If it cannot be curbed soon, in the future..."

“In the future, someone will surely jump out and say that this is good for a woman’s reputation. After all, a woman should stay at home to support her husband and raise her children, not to show her face in public. With her bound feet that are not good for walking, she can only move around in the backyard and be a good wife and mother.”

Towards the end, Emperor Xuande chuckled.

He didn't see into the future; he only saw it in the stories of women who died for their country.

Some people never feel the pain until the knife is in their own body.

Prince Ping and Marquis Jing'an hadn't thought of this before, and their expressions became serious after hearing Emperor Xuande's words.

If this trend were to truly take hold, then in the future all women in the world might have to bind their feet, turning them into golden lotuses that would prevent them from running.

"I am already aware of this matter. You don't need to worry about it anymore, Sixth Prince," Emperor Xuande said after thinking for a moment and then pressing down the memorial.

Prince Ping immediately understood what Emperor Xuande meant.

If this were accomplished, women all over the world would be grateful, but it would not be easy to do.

My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!