Before he could finish speaking, he was rendered speechless by the Right Chancellor's rebuttal.
The Right Chancellor stood on the steps of the palace, her crimson official robe making her face appear even colder, and pointed at the female guards on duty outside the palace.
The guard stood upright, his hand on the sword at his waist. The frost on his armor plates had not yet melted, and the white frost on his eyelashes remained perfectly still.
He countered, "If they can guard the country's gates and defend against foreign aggression, stand motionless in the snow for three hours, and keep the barbarian swords out of the city, why can't women handle government affairs and bring peace to the people?"
Do you really think local administration is more difficult than guarding the nation's borders? Do you really think that the basic needs of the people are less important than your ridiculous 'ancestral rules'?
The old minister blushed deeply at the questioning and lay prostrate on the ground, not daring to raise his head. In the end, I managed to suppress a laugh and said, "Alright, go back and think it over," which finally put an end to the matter.
Fortunately, the courtiers of Zhaoning had already developed a "genderless" perspective.
Su Mei, a female official in the Ministry of Works, drew more detailed canal maps than men: last year, when the Grand Canal was being dredged, she led craftsmen to set up tents along the river for three months.
He waded through the mud to conduct on-site inspections, wearing out three pairs of shoes and his legs were covered in mosquito bites. In the end, he changed three bends in the road, saving the manpower of millions of people.
Even the Minister of Works patted her on the shoulder and said, "Su Mei, you are better than this old man."
Liu Niang, the female clerk in the Ministry of Revenue, was more knowledgeable about taxation than the men. When checking the grain registers during the autumn harvest, she only glanced at them before pointing out that the local officials had falsely reported 3,000 shi of grain.
The official wrote the character "three" as "five," thinking he could get away with it, but Liu Niang saw through the difference in ink density.
The red ink markings on the ledger left the official speechless, and he was eventually demoted to a rural farming post.
In Zhao Ning's court, no one dared to belittle anyone because of their gender, nor did anyone dare to look down on anyone because of their background.
If you are talented, you will be given an official position; if you are incompetent, even if you are a man, you will be dismissed.
Perhaps it was a rule established by their ancestors, but since the founding of the Ning Dynasty, no one has ever looked down on women.
Perhaps they truly understood that the stability of a nation does not depend on the difference between men and women, nor on gender.
The key lies in the harmony of people's hearts, in whether every talented person can stand in their rightful place, shining like a star and growing like grass and trees.
The day Qianchao and the others returned from the border was a bright and clear day, so blue that there wasn't a single cloud. Even the wind was warm, making the willow branches outside the palace walls sway softly.
I specially led all the officials to wait early at the White Jade Bridge outside the palace gate.
From afar, the clatter of horses' hooves could be heard, making the white marble of the bridge tremble slightly. Dust drifted in with the wind, carrying the unique sandy smell of the border region.
A troop of black-armored cavalrymen strode in, their armor still covered in the dust and sand of the western frontier. Some armor plates had withered grass stuck in their seams, and others still bore traces of blood that had not been wiped clean.
Sunlight shone on the nail plates, dazzlingly bright, forming a flowing river of light.
Later, I sent them to the former territory of the Xuanyuan Kingdom.
That land was once a prison used by the Xuanyuan royal family to detain their female relatives.
The dungeon where they were once imprisoned had iron bars that were rusted black, and the gaps between the bars were so narrow that you could only stretch out your hand.
Among the broken walls and ruins, you can still find the words they carved back then, some are names, and some are the three words "live on".
Some of them are paintings of little suns, each word written in blood and tears, each painting a testament to their longing.
But that was also the battlefield where they were reborn from the ashes with the Regent: it was there that the Regent led Dark Moon and the others to bring Qianchao and the others back to the Tianxuan of that time.
Now that their martial arts skills have improved and their minds are calm, they are well-suited to assist the Prefect of Jing'an in implementing new policies.
The women there mostly still live in the shadow of the "Three Obediences and Four Virtues," believing that women are born to revolve around the stove and to obey men.
This is a good opportunity for Qianchao and the others to use their own experiences to show those women a way out.
A woman's hands can not only embroider, but also wield a sword; they can not only manage a household, but also govern.
Women can not only shed tears, but also stand tall and change their own destiny.
I didn't leave them in Kyoto, not because I didn't trust them, but because I understood their pain too well.
Those women who once surrounded the Regent, if they see the pavilions and towers of the capital every day, and the royal palace where they used to laugh and play, will inevitably be reminded of the past.
The heartache they had managed to suppress might be like an old wound reopened, bleeding again and crushing the will they had so painstakingly built up.
Let them return to their homeland, dismantle the cages that imprisoned women with their own hands, and transform the land of blood and tears into a place where women can stand tall and live with their heads held high.
So that women who have suffered as much as they have can point at them and say, “Look, women can live like this too.”
This is the best way to help them temporarily forget their heartache, the best redemption for their past suffering, and the best destination.
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