Chapter 256 My biased mother wants me to adopt my younger brother’s son!
The noble families grew stronger, land annexation became serious, local tyrants had too much influence, and the country's tax revenue decreased year by year. The only reason the country could still maintain the appearance of peace and prosperity was that there had not been many natural disasters in recent years. There were only man-made disasters, which had not forced the people into a desperate situation and caused peasant uprisings.
But it is an indisputable fact that the country is declining. Although the old emperor is greedy for power and is always unwilling to appoint a crown prince to share power, he still has political sensitivity and a sense of responsibility for his own country.
So when Si Yuan secretly submitted a secret memorial and analyzed the pros and cons to the old emperor, the old emperor was indeed willing to support Si Yuan's slow reform efforts.
Si Yuan's reforms were not big moves. He adopted the method of boiling a frog in warm water for a long time, so that the vested interests of the conservative faction were slowly cut into pieces and bled before they even noticed. By the time they realized it, the trend was already set and could no longer be stopped.
In order to prevent the old emperor from dragging his feet, Si Yuan first tried to let the old emperor taste the benefits of the reform. The old emperor watched as the tax revenue, which had been decreasing year by year, increased year by year under Si Yuan's reforms, and the national treasury gradually became abundant. Naturally, the old emperor was more willing to support Si Yuan.
After all, if something is beneficial, of course we should rush to do it.
If money falls on the ground, who would not bend down to pick it up?
Si Yuan had great power, and the old emperor was wary of him, but because Si Yuan had no son and no successor, the old emperor was not too wary of him.
Si Yuan was married to the Duke of Yingguo, and the old emperor knew that Si Yuan was planning to adopt Ning Fu and Lin Chengqi's second son as his grandson. However, the grandson that Si Yuan was going to adopt had not even been seen yet, so the old emperor naturally was not afraid of him now.
Therefore, the old emperor still trusted Si Yuan and valued him, and allowed Si Yuan to carry out reforms.
Si Yuan knew very well that the reason why political reforms were prone to fail was because the conservatives whose interests were affected were powerful, and the reformists who gained benefits were not united enough and were defeated in the battle with the conservatives, which led to the failure of political reforms.
Therefore, Si Yuan was very skilled at pulling one group together, beating another group, and then conquering another group at the beginning of the reform, so as to divide and divide the conservatives and prevent them from forming a major trend. After the frog in the boiling water was almost cooked, Si Yuan would then promote the reformists to compete with the conservatives who had finally awakened.
At this time, the reformists completely suppressed the conservatives, and among the conservatives there were also capitulationists who knew the times. Si Yuan once again pulled one group together and beat another, and easily divided and disintegrated the original stubborn class.
At this point in time, even if the old emperor wanted to stop the reform, he had to give in in the face of the overwhelming trend.
After the birth of Ning Fu and Lin Chengqi's eldest son, Si Yuan began to arrange for the laws for women to inherit titles and property to be recognized.
In the past, only men had the right to inherit titles and property. If there was no legitimate son, a bastard son could inherit. If there was no bastard son, an heir had to be adopted from the family.
But would those mistresses who have inherited titles and property and have no legitimate sons really be willing to let illegitimate sons inherit the family business? Would they have to live under the illegitimate son's wishes in their later years?
Would families without sons really want to adopt someone else's son to inherit their property and title?
I'm afraid these people would rather let their daughters inherit their family business and titles.
This is the potential supporter of Si Yuan’s female inheritance bill.
Even if there are some people who are not in their right minds and would rather leave their property to their nephews than to their daughters, they are a minority after all. After all, people are selfish and would rather pass their property to their children.
A woman who inherited family property and title naturally could not marry outside the family. She could only find a son-in-law, but few men with good family background and outstanding achievements would be willing to do so.
Si Yuan proposed a solution for the situation of Ning Fu and Lin Chengqi. The woman who inherited the title and property would not marry out of the family, but could also choose not to marry a son-in-law. She could just get married normally and have two children, one taking the father's surname and the other taking the mother's surname. The one taking the mother's surname would inherit the mother's title and property.
This solution was acceptable to most people, so the female inheritance bill proposed by Si Yuan was finally passed one year before the old emperor's death after several years of controversy in the court.
Si Yuan immediately submitted a memorial requesting that his eldest daughter Ning Fu be made the crown princess of Duke Chengguo.
Even though Nymph was already married, he made this choice without hesitation.
At this time, Ning Fu was already pregnant with her second child, and Si Yuan had decided that Ning Fu's second child, whether it was a boy or a girl, would be the next heir to the Chengguo Mansion.
Si Yuan requested to establish his eldest daughter Ning Fu as the crown princess in order to set an example for the people of the world. He, a great duke, was willing to let his married daughter inherit his title and property, and was not afraid that she would give all the title and property to her husband's family. So what should other families be afraid of?
When Ninfu learned that her father had made her the crown princess, she was completely stunned. She stared at her eldest son who was playing, and reached out to touch the little one in her belly, unable to believe the news.
She had never thought that her father would value her so much. She was married and was now called Madam Lin Shao, or Lin Ning. Others saw her as the wife of the Crown Prince of the Duke of Yingguo's Mansion and the mother of the Duke of Yingguo's eldest grandson. Almost no one regarded her as an independent nymph anymore.
But her father still felt that she was still that girl, she was still his Fu'er.
Nymph covered her face and couldn't help but shed tears.
Lin Chengqi also learned the news and rushed to tell Ning Fu the good news in surprise: "Madam, Madam, do you know..."
When Lin Chengqi saw Ning Fu covering her face and laughing and crying, he knew that Ning Fu had already known the news.
He didn't quite understand why Nymph was crying. This was obviously a happy event, wasn't it?
Lin Chengqi could not understand the complex emotions in Ning Fu's heart, and she had never thought of asking him to understand her. There was no such thing as empathy if one had not experienced the same situation, even though they were a famous couple with deep love and harmonious harmony.
How many interests are mixed in this husband-wife relationship? How could outsiders know?
Si Yuan took the initiative to submit a petition to make his eldest daughter Ning Fu the crown princess, and the old emperor approved it without hesitation.
After all, the Female Inheritance Act had just been passed, and an example was urgently needed to reassure people's hearts. The fact that Si Yuan, the Duke of Chengguo, took the initiative to stand up was exactly what the emperor wanted.
After Si Yuan took the lead, several other nobles who also had no sons but only daughters, after some hesitation, finally mustered up the courage to stand up and also requested that their legitimate daughters be made the crown princesses.
After all, rather than adopting a son from a side branch of the family as an heir, it is better to let their own daughter inherit the title. The grandson born to them by their own daughter in the future will definitely be their own grandson. Anyway, he will follow their own surname, so he is a legitimate grandson, not a grandson-in-law.
After the court session, all the civil and military officials had mixed feelings about the matter and discussed it secretly.
The Third Prince caught up with Si Yuan and said, "Duke Cheng, please stay."
When Si Yuan heard the Third Prince's voice, he slowed down and turned to look over.
Now the situation of the battle for the throne has become clear: the Sixth Prince has been defeated and the Third Prince has won.
The old emperor's body is already in the dying stage and his life span is not long. Even if the old emperor is reluctant to give up power, he knows that if he does not choose a successor now, after his death, the country will be unstable because of the chaos over the successor.
Therefore, the old emperor has suppressed the Sixth Prince and raised the Third Prince, which is a clear indication to all civil and military officials that he has chosen the Third Prince as his successor.
The third prince does not have the title of crown prince now, but he is like an invisible crown prince.
Regarding the female inheritance law in recent years, the Third Prince was in a state of neither agreeing nor opposing it, and seemed to be very conflicted. He was even reprimanded by the old emperor several times for this, because the old emperor thought he was not firm enough and was wavering like a fence-sitter.
In fact, the Third Prince's inner thoughts were even crazier, because he had no legitimate son, but he did have several illegitimate sons. However, he was busy fighting for the throne and did not pay attention to the education of his illegitimate sons, resulting in the fact that his illegitimate sons were almost grown up now, but each of them was mediocre and incompetent, and really not worthy of his attention.
But he has a legitimate daughter who is extremely intelligent and has a broad mind and bearing that is far beyond the reach of those illegitimate sons.
The third prince often felt regretful that his daughter was not a boy. If she was a son, he would not have to worry about having no successor. After all, having such a beautiful child was better than having dozens of mediocre and incompetent sons.
In the past, the Third Prince had never thought of letting his daughter inherit his future position until Si Yuan stepped forward to promote the female inheritance bill.
A legitimate daughter can inherit the noble titles, so when he ascends to the throne in the future, can his legitimate daughter also...
The Third Prince had been struggling and hesitating about this matter. He dared not mention it to anyone, not even to reveal it to anyone. After all, he was now the Invisible Prince. If he mentioned this to others and let the old emperor know that he had no outstanding son as heir and that he had the idea of making his legitimate daughter the heir, the old emperor might not pass the throne to him.
After all, the heir to the throne is different from the heir to an ordinary title. Childbirth for women is a hurdle. If the women who inherit the title die during childbirth, the court can issue an edict to adopt another son from the clan to inherit the title.
But if the throne was given to a woman and the empress died during childbirth, then the world would be in chaos!
The Third Prince was really reluctant to set this precedent, but once he had that idea in mind, it was hard to suppress it. He just disliked those useless illegitimate sons and felt that they were inferior to the legitimate sons in every way.
This tortured mood made the Third Prince feel very complicated about the Female Inheritance Bill. He couldn't help but look for Si Yuan, the person who proposed the bill, and asked, "Duke Chengguo, have you ever thought about what to do if the women who inherit the title have problems during childbirth?"
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