xymnovel Chapter 76 The Drawbacks of Incest
Chapter 76 The Drawbacks of Incest
Wang Zhi paused slightly, his gaze fixed on the outline of the distant mountains beyond the courtyard wall, his eyes becoming somewhat distant, his tone calm yet revealing a sense of caution.
Of course, there is another method: expanding territory. This expansion is even more complex, involving many aspects such as geography, military affairs, and people's livelihood, which will not be discussed today.
He put down his teacup, his tone still calm: "Of course, this is just the presumptuous talk of a humble countryman like myself."
Governing a country is not like farming. Farming depends on the weather, and success or failure depends on a small plot of land; governing a country concerns the lives of countless people and is of paramount importance, which cannot be fully explained in a few words.
Li Shimin leaned back, gazing at the calm face of the young man before him. It was the ninth year of the Zhenguan era, his ninth year on the throne.
Over the past nine years, those who have stood before him have either spoken passionately, been trembling with fear, or spoken with witty remarks.
This person, however, did not speak empty words or express any stance; instead, he calmly and rationally calculated a perfectly clear account for him:
There will be too many people, too little land, and too few soldiers. The court needs to find another way out as soon as possible. As for the other two methods, the idea of expanding the territory should be abandoned for now.
After waiting for Master Li to digest the information, Wang Zhi paused for a moment before continuing, "At present, His Majesty encourages people to marry early and have more children, which is not a bad thing in itself, after all, population is the foundation of the country."
However, if a girl marries and has children at the age of thirteen or fourteen, her body has not yet fully developed. From a medical perspective, a woman's body is based on blood, and menarche is just the beginning. Her kidney energy is not yet sufficient, and if she conceives and gives birth at this time, it will cause great damage to the mother's body.
Zhang Zhongjing specifically mentioned in his "Essential Prescriptions of the Golden Chamber" that "when women are young, their blood and qi are not yet sufficient, and childbirth damages their yin."
The Zhou Li (Rites of Zhou) also states that "men should marry at thirty and women at twenty." This is not a constraint of etiquette, but rather the bottom line of medical principles.
He spoke with greater seriousness, looking directly at Li Shimin: "This is just the usual risk. If the baby is breech, it could mean the death of both mother and child."
Even more extreme, especially among aristocratic families, there is a strong emphasis on consanguineous marriage and prohibition of intermarriage with outsiders in order to maintain the so-called purity of bloodline.
They were unaware that being so closely related by blood, sharing the same origin and lineage within three generations, could result in children who are physically weak, or even worse, suffer from congenital defects, illnesses, and premature death.
The Zuo Zhuan states, "If a man and a woman share the same surname, their offspring will not prosper." "Shared surname" refers to blood relatives of the same lineage.
During the Spring and Autumn Period, the State of Lu practiced endogamy. As a result, the rulers of the State had few descendants for three consecutive generations, and the State eventually declined.
If future generations do not heed these truths that have been repeatedly verified by our ancestors, they are gambling with the lives of their descendants.
These aristocratic families, though they claim to be well-versed in classical texts, are, in my view, utterly ignorant on this matter.
He said this in a very natural tone, simply stating an objective law, without any implied meaning.
Chang Le suddenly lowered her head and twisted her handkerchief tightly with her fingers.
Empress Zhangsun paused slightly as she held the teacup, gently placing it on the stone table. The porcelain made only a very faint, crisp sound as it hit the stone.
After listening to Wang Zhihuan's words, Li Shimin thought of the affairs of his own Changle and Changsun Chong, and made a plan in his mind.
He suddenly realized that today's trip had been worthwhile.
It wasn't because he heard a few truthful words, but because in this small courtyard, there was something he could never find in the nine-layered palace—a pure and simple frankness that required no weighing of interests or guessing of the emperor's intentions.
"Hearing your words is more valuable than drinking ten cups of tea." Li Shimin nodded slightly, speaking sincerely. "If there are any more unclear matters in the future, I may need to bother you again. I hope you won't find it noisy."
"Please feel free to come, Mr. Li." Wang Zhihuan took the tea canister and added a pinch of fresh leaves to the pot. "I can't guarantee anything else, but I'll definitely have plenty of tea."
Empress Zhangsun remained silent throughout. She quietly sipped her tea, listening attentively to her husband's question-and-answer session with the young man. At this moment, she put down her teacup, gently tugged at Li Shimin's sleeve, and directed her gaze towards the corner of the courtyard.
Li Shimin followed the gaze.
At this moment, Si Zi sat on the bulging root nodule of the jujube tree and put the woven grass ring on Ah Huang's head.
Ah Huang shook his head, and the grass ring slipped to the bridge of his nose. Si Zi chuckled and straightened it, then leaned in and kissed the cat.
Chengyang stood outside the chicken coop, watching the yellow-feathered chickens fight over earthworms through the gaps. Suddenly, she turned to Changle and asked, "Sister, was that chicken really the thinnest one before?"
Li Zhi sat alone on a stone bench, holding a small teacup and sipping his tea slowly.
It was clear that he had taken every word Wang Zhihuan said to heart, and now he was looking down at the clear tea in his cup, lost in thought.
Chang Le, however, was a little different. She sat at the stone table with her teacup half full, but didn't drink any.
Her gaze fell on the handsome young man—who was washing teaware with his head down, the afternoon sunlight illuminating his refined profile.
He was in his prime, full of vigor and confidence, and spoke in a calm tone, yet she could hear the weight of a thousand pounds in that calmness.
She suddenly thought of Changsun Chong, her cousin. Her uncle had repeatedly hinted that he wanted to strengthen their family ties through marriage.
Her cousin was always gentle and polite to her, but she always felt that there was a certainty in his gaze—a certainty that had nothing to do with affection, but only because the marriage between the Changsun family and the royal family seemed to be a natural progression.
She disliked the feeling that her life had already been perfectly arranged.
She preferred to sit here and listen to this person speak in a calm and unassuming tone about things she had never heard before—about the harmony of water and fire in the tea ceremony, the difference between a wise ruler and a sage, and the plight of people and land.
Each story is not a lecture, but simply an outpouring of thoughts, like herbs drying in a bamboo tray, without any sales pitch or embellishment.
Her fingertips unconsciously twirled the handkerchief, loosening and then tightening it again.
Empress Zhangsun took in her daughter's every expression.
She knew her daughter too well—she had been dignified and composed since childhood, and had never shown any particular interest in anyone or anything.
But at this moment, the angle at which she leaned slightly forward, the fingertips twisting the handkerchief, and the faint glimmer in her eyes all pointed to the same unspoken concern.
She sighed almost inaudibly, looked away, and took a small sip of her tea. The tea was cold and slightly bitter, but after the bitterness subsided, there was a pleasant aftertaste.
Li Shimin saw it too. He looked away, picked up his cup of cool tea, and took a sip. The cool tea was bitter, but sweet after the bitterness.
He suddenly felt that the teacup in his hand was quite similar to what he had heard today.
As the sun dipped westward, the shade of the jujube tree slowly moved from the stone table to the courtyard gate.
Perhaps Si Zi was tired of playing, so she ran back to Empress Zhangsun's arms, rubbed her eyes and mumbled "sleepy," and mumbled, "Ah Huang is the best... Guo Guo's tea is bitter, next time you should put candied fruit in it..." Before she could finish speaking, she had already fallen asleep.
Li Shimin rose, took a small wooden box from his sleeve, and placed it on the stone table. Opening the lid, he found two silver ingots inside, their surfaces gleaming.
His tone was casual, as if a neighbor were leaving a basket of eggs as a parting gift: "Young Master Wang, the tea was excellent today, and the conversation even better. This small token of my appreciation serves as payment for the tea and also covers the cost of the medicine."