In ancient times, if a woman wanted to divorce, was it difficult?

In the third year of the Tang Dynasty (768 AD), the great calligrapher Yan Zhenqing was appointed as the assassin of Fuzhou.

During his tenure in Fuzhou, he sentenced a divorce case.

The case is very simple, a scholar named Yang Zhijian, whose family is poor and has repeatedly failed the exam, his wife can't stand it and asks for a divorce. Yan Zhenqing felt that she had to remarry just because she couldn't live a hard life, such a woman was simply immoral and had to be severely punished. So he was sentenced to "twenty lashes". He also rewarded Yang Zhijian with 20 horses of cloth and silk, and 20 stones of rice, and ordered him to accompany the army. Even the work has been arranged.

In the bibliography that has always recorded this matter, Yan Zhenqing's approach is praised. For example, in "Taiping Guangji", it is said that "when you hear it from afar, you are all pleased." She is a woman of Jiangbiao, and she dares to abandon her husband." The divorce rate dropped directly to 0, and the effect was immediate.

Yan Zhenqing is the history of Fuzhou Thorn, and the people of Yi have Yang Zhijian, who is eager to learn and lives in poverty, and the villagers do not know it. His wife did not have enough money and asked for a letter to leave. Zhijian sent it in a poem: "I was determined to learn from the teacher early, and today I have turned it into a silk sideburn." Luo Tuo knew that he was late in seeking things, and he was born late. Jin Hai picked up his new hair at will, and Luan Mirror didn't thrush from him. This is to accompany the passers-by, and when they meet, they are going down the mountain. His wife holds a poem and is a public scholar in Yizhou, in order to find something else. Zhenqing sentenced him and said: "Yang Zhijian has long been pro-Confucianism and is quite famous for poetry. Although the heart admires the high-tech, the body is not touched by the inch. The foolish wife saw that she had never met her, and she stayed for a lot. chasing after the wife who is lacking, in favor of good things; Specializing in the wife of the courtier, disgusted with the beloved. Insulting the countryside, hurting the morality, if there is no punishment, who will curb the hustle and bustle? The wife can be flogged for twenty years, and she can remarry by herself. Yang Zhijian is talented, paid Su Bao, and is still with the army. "When I heard it from afar, I was all pleased. She is a woman of Jiangbiao, and she dares to abandon her husband." —Taiping Guangji

A woman who takes the initiative to ask for divorce is a foolish woman, and she is a bad person. The so-called freedom and openness of the Tang Dynasty was actually nothing more than that. Don't think of that era too pretty.