Chapter 970 - 966: Benefiting the Country and the People
Think back to when the Bai family was bullied by the Bai Clan, each of them was filled with anger, lamenting how a family of loyal ministers and good generals... had all the men die for the country and the people, yet ended up in such a predicament.
However, almost every clan had such rules, claiming that women could not inherit the family business. If there were no sons in the family... either the family assets were handed over to the clan, or a son from a relative’s family was adopted to continue the lineage.
"If even the Bai family had such rules, then... how would the orphans and widows of ordinary households be bullied?" Bai Qingyan’s voice slowly continued, "The Bai family has experienced it and knows the harm well, so the new laws must change, and patriarchy must change! The daughters and sons of the Bai family are favored by heaven, born in the Duke of Zhen’s Bai family that never belittles women, reading the classics like men, learning military strategies, and heading to the battlefield for training at ten! So... there is a saying that in the Capital’s Duke of Zhen’s Bai family, not one wastrel has ever emerged!"
Bai Qingyan’s tone became solemn, and the students seemed infected by Bai Qingyan, sitting up straight, listening attentively.
She moved her steps: "Just imagine, if the Duke of Zhen’s Bai family looked down on women like ordinary families, when King Liang rebelled in the Capital, how could my married and childbearing second sister lead an army to fight, reclaiming the lives of the Capital’s citizens from King Liang? Reclaiming the families of officials?"
Bai Qingyan, speaking of her sister, was filled with pride: "How could my fourth sister, Commandery Princess Bai Jinzhi, be invincible, marching into Hancheng, becoming the greatest hero of Liang’s defeat?"
"Try to imagine again, if the daughters of the Bai family were not carefully nurtured by their fathers like the sons, learning the family aspirations from a young age, inheriting the Bai family’s spirit, protecting and comforting the people. After the South Border War during the Xuanjia period, the Bai family would likely have been branded as traitors... and ceased to exist! And then... how could we have gone to the chaotic southern border battlefield? If the Bai family had retreated at that time, don’t mention the later destruction of the Liang Kingdom, it’s debatable whether the land under our feet today would belong to Xiliang or Zhou."
"These words are not Bai Qingyan being boastful but to tell you, even if the Bai family only had daughters left, they would have gone to the battlefield... because the Bai daughters were not underestimated like the men, inheriting the Bai family’s aspirations because the grandfathers, fathers, and uncles never thought the Bai women were unfit for heavy responsibilities, always teaching us to make protecting the nation and comforting the people our duty."
"When the Bai elders returned from great battles... they would certainly analyze the battlefield with the Bai descendants, telling us in detail about every general they had faced, preparing battles with us, treating us no differently because of gender. Therefore... we have a deep understanding of the southern border commander’s battles and the southern border’s terrain! Our chances of victory are higher than other generals!"
"This is just the Bai family, if... more households stopped belittling women, letting women read and write like men, wouldn’t those women willing to support their husbands and raise children be able to educate their children better with their riches of knowledge? If women had the path to officialdom, not born solely to marry and depend on men for existence, if there were difficulties in the family or great troubles in the nation in the future, what worry would there be that the family wouldn’t prosper... the country wouldn’t be strong? What worry would there be about orphans and widows being bullied?"