Chapter 914: Holy Marriage Law
Luo Juncheng left Princess Changle's mansion and went to the East Palace to report for duty. Because of his marriage to Princess Changle, he now holds the title of Duke of a County, but basically, most people call him "Prince Consort", and when mentioning him, they will add the phrase "Changle Prince Consort".
Even though it has been quite some time since the wedding of Luo Juncheng and Princess Changle, it is still the most talked-about event in Chang'an City. Not only because of the generous dowry, known as the "Ten Miles of Red Makeup", nor because of the generous betrothal gift from the Luo family, but because it was a marriage that had never happened before.
That is the "holy marriage".
Before the normal wedding process, such as worshiping in the hall, one must first praise the emperor and then pray to the King of Su for blessing the marriage. For the first time, the people of Chang'an learned that if cousins wanted to get married, they had to receive the King of Su's blessing.
Everyone in the world knows that people of the same clan cannot marry, but the Luo family was the first to break this custom. Gusu Prince Luo Jingcheng and Lady Chu State Luo Xuanjing were of the same clan, not to mention that the Luo family had performed countless marriages within the same clan during the Han Dynasty. In fact, among the people, this custom of not allowing people of the same clan to marry had long been broken.
Especially after hundreds of years of chaos, who would still remember who they were from the same clan?
Luo Shi has already told everyone with facts that marriage outside the five degrees of mourning is not a big deal, and now Luo Shi is telling everyone again that cousins are the same as clan relatives.
It will not strengthen the relationship between the two families, but will cause illness, and the children born will die prematurely, and various strange diseases will appear. Only by accepting the blessing of the King of Su before marriage can the evils that may occur in the future be eliminated.
This is a typical example of Ji Zhao using supernatural powers to change the rules of the world.
When Luo Juncheng walked into the East Palace, almost everyone saluted him in a friendly manner. His status in the East Palace was very special. In terms of official position, it was not high, but no one would look down on him. At first, all the assistants in the Qin Wang Mansion were of low rank, but when the Qin Wang became emperor, all of them rose to become prime ministers of the third rank.
Everyone firmly believes that the present of Prince Zhou Luo Xuanye is the future of Luo Juncheng!
After all, the father and son are so similar. They became friends when they were young, and Luo Juncheng and the prince knew each other even earlier. They both married sisters and were both in charge of military preparations. Anyone would have an inexplicable sense of déjà vu.
When Luo Juncheng came to the hall, he saw that Li Chengqian looked a little anxious. When he saw Luo Juncheng coming, he immediately waved and said, "Juncheng, come quickly."
After Luo Juncheng sat down, Li Chengqian said anxiously before he could ask, "After you and Changle got married, the court has been planning to issue a new marriage law, stipulating that without the blessing of the Su King, cousins within three generations are not allowed to get married. Now that this matter has spread, it has caused a big mess. Just this morning, memorials were piled up on your father's desk, all of which were voices of opposition, almost all of which were from high-ranking officials, and ordinary people from all over the country also opposed it."
Luo Juncheng knew the reason after just a little thought. Marriage between relatives has become a tradition over the years.
Didn’t Li Shimin do the same? Moreover, for the wealthy and powerful families, marriage is an important means of continuing the family and the most crucial point in forming an alliance of interests. Among them, marriage between cousins is a very important part of maintaining family relationships.
If these families were not allowed to marry, it would be like cutting off their arms. No one would be willing to do so, not just the high-ranking families in Shandong, Guanlong, and Jiangnan. The same is true for ordinary people. Cousins are an important source of marriage for them. If the imperial court directly cuts off all connections, opposition is inevitable.
This is a difficult matter.
In the Taiji Hall, Li Shimin sat at the head with a frown on his face. He had not expected that the decree had not yet been promulgated, but merely circulated, and it had already caused such an uproar.
Li Shimin had never seen such a unanimous wave of opposition. Not only the powerful and wealthy, but even the common people did not support it. When the resistance reached this point, he was ready to follow the lead and accept the voice of the people.
The prime ministers were standing on both sides, with their heads down and not speaking. Li Shimin looked at the prime ministers. He suspected that someone among them had leaked the secret, but he felt that it was impossible and should not be the case.
"Let's talk about what to do about this matter. Fang Xuanling, Wei Zheng, you two are quick thinkers, you go first."
As usual, Li Shimin first selected Fang Xuanling and Wei Zheng.
Fang Xuanling paused for a moment and said slowly: "Your Majesty, I have been thinking about this question. Nowadays, the aristocratic families in the world are mainly from Guanlong, Shandong, and Jiangnan. The Guanlong aristocratic families value crowns, the Jiangnan aristocratic families value personalities, and the Shandong aristocratic families value marriage.
Your Majesty has discussed this before and believes that the Shandong gentry has a bad moral character. They are obviously in decline and there are no outstanding people in the family, but they are still respected by the world. Moreover, they use marriage to extort large sums of money and collect a large amount of property. This is simply absurd, so you should prohibit Shandong gentry from marrying each other. "
When Fang Xuanling said this, Wei Zheng was already feeling a little uneasy, because he was a person who admired the Shandong gentry, and what he wanted most was to marry a woman from a high-ranking Shandong family.
Wei Zheng didn't think there was anything wrong with it. He wasn't the only one in the world who wanted to marry his son to a woman from the Lu family when King Qi Li Xuanba was in charge of Qizhou.
Even though the Lu family in Qizhou does not have any prominent branches now, and the most prominent branches have followed the Luo family, Li Xuanba is still willing to do so, just for the sake of the Lu family's reputation.
Li Shimin was moved when he heard what Fang Xuanling said: "Yes, people in this world rely on the grace of their ancestors, and cannot make progress on their own. This is the case for many families. Now they are still relying on these to hinder the government's administration."
When this was discussed, Luo Xuanye stopped them in the end because his view was different from that of Li Shimin and others. In Luo Xuanye's view, "The imperial power is supreme. Using the imperial power to prohibit these families from getting married would only make them look more sacred. In the future, the reputation of a marriage-banning family would allow these families to sell their daughters for a better price."
When Li Shimin heard this, he was immediately disgusted. Now these families became more noble because of him, which was more painful than killing him, so he never mentioned this matter again.
Wei Zheng was indeed a man with a sharp eye. He quickly realized that the key to this was, "What your majesty is really worried about is that the people will oppose this matter."
This sentence immediately touched Li Shimin's heart. He stroked the handle of the chair and said in a deep voice: "I have come from the bloody storm of the battlefield. I am not afraid of any enemy. In the end, it is just a matter of life and death. But the only people I love and fear deeply are the people.
I often say that water can carry a boat but can also overturn it. I deeply understand that the power of the people is enough to overturn anyone. The people may appear docile on the surface, but that is only because they are not pushed hard enough. Everyone is enduring, and when they can't endure it anymore, they will explode.
Therefore, my first priority in governing is to relieve the pressure on the people. I actually know that as long as I give an order, the people will definitely obey. However, the three-foot-thick ice did not form overnight, and the snow that breaks the branches is not a single snowflake.
Every inappropriate decree I issue is like placing an extra snowflake on a tree branch. It may seem nothing on weekdays, but it accumulates over time. When an decree that is obviously not a big deal is issued, the branch will break and the people will become unbearable.
I asked you to advise me on my mistake, which is to try not to let any more snowflakes fall on the fragile branches.
This is the current marriage ban. If the people think it is wrong, then I can only cancel it."
Even if this thing is right.
This is what Li Shimin did not say. It is wrong because it is inappropriate.
Li Shimin's story was quite convincing to all the prime ministers. Fang Xuanling thought for a while and said, "Your Majesty, what if we build a temple blessed by the Su King in every county?
Empty the Buddhist and Taoist temples, or conduct it in Buddhist and Taoist temples.”
Luo Xuanye shook his head and said, "It's not that simple. The steps of the Holy Marriage were proposed by the Imperial Master. There are so many states and counties in the Tang Dynasty. Where can we find so many people who can undertake this work? If the people who undertake this work do something wrong, the consequences will be disastrous.
Moreover, even if it is built in the county, most of the people live in the villages, and it is impossible to build one in every village. Even if the national treasury is emptied, there is not enough money. "
If it could really be rolled out across the country, the Luo family would have done it long ago, but there are too many practical problems. For Luo Su, the most important thing is the redivision and development of the various states of Xia, rather than a small legal issue.
Wei Zheng pondered for a moment and said, "Your Majesty, why not limit the scope of the marriage ban to those who can afford it? Set up temples for the blessing of holy marriages in big cities like Chang'an, Luoyang, Yangzhou, and Suzhou. If it's just a few big cities, the Luo family should have enough manpower."
This is a good idea. After Wei Zheng said this, everyone in the hall thought that his idea was good. It could take all aspects into consideration. It could take care of the face of the court and the emotions of the people. It did not take a one-size-fits-all approach and prevent the people from getting married.
Luo Xuanchen suddenly replied, "Your Majesty, the nobles are probably against it because they are worried that the court will use the blessing to manipulate their marriages, causing them to lose their autonomy in marriage."
When Luo Xuanchen said this from a unique angle, everyone suddenly understood why the nobles were so opposed. It was not like they could not afford the travel expenses to Chang'an. It turned out that they had concerns in this regard.
Li Shimin stood up and said with emotion: "They judge others by their own standards. I don't care. The three provinces have issued an edict to promulgate the law. I will not interfere with the blessing of marriages. You can go to the temple on your own. However, marriages between cousins without blessings will not be recognized."
————
The law, which was called the "holy marriage law" by people at the time, was the first law in the world to restrict marriage between close relatives. Even though this law retained a lot of remnants due to practical factors, it was still a progress of civilization. ——"History of the Development of Marriage Law"
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
