After Mingting finished explaining, he then demonstrated the method of dripping blood into clear water. Chicken blood and dog blood can be mixed in clear water, and human blood can also be mixed.
"If the container used for the test is placed on ice to freeze it, even blood from true kin won't merge. If alum is added to the water, even unrelated blood will merge."
"Let me try! Let me try!"
The Duke of Zhenguo was fascinated by Mingting's demonstration, and immediately tested it with his own son.
As a result, as Mingting said, when the bowl was placed in an ice bucket, the blood droplets froze instantly upon contact and failed to merge.
He then tried the alum-water test with Mingting, and their blood immediately merged together.
"Dad, I am your son! This… this method is completely unreliable! Dad, you are my real father!"
The big man panicked.
"Hahahaha, I know, I know."
The Duke of Zhenguo turned around and patted Mingting on the shoulder with a grin.
"Ah, who would've thought Count Zhongyi's blood could merge with mine?"
"Minister Song, you've mistaken the wrong person! Count Zhongyi is a man of outstanding talent and bears a striking resemblance to me. Now, this method had proven that he is actually my youngest son who lived among the people!"
Song Yi wanted to refute, but when he saw the look in the Duke of Zhenguo's eyes, he immediately backed off.
The Duke of Zhenguo held military power, and he was not someone Song Yi could oppose.
After witnessing all this with their own eyes, the hall erupted in excitement.
Despite Mingting's explanation and demonstration, many people were still skeptical.
Emperor Li was also intrigued and immediately ordered more animals and bones to be brought in. The ministers conducted their own experiments one after another, and the results proved that Mingting's claims were correct.
"Since this blood test is ineffective, how can we verify lineage from now on?"
An elderly minister grew anxious.
Bloodline was the foundation of family inheritance!
If the blood test is useless, wouldn't it become easy to falsify lineage in the future?
In the end, they worked hard all their life, but it ended up benefiting some 'neighbor Wang' instead. Who could they even complain to?! (T/N: This neighbor Wang is actually meme in China for those who cuckold others. There was a cartoon TV series named 'Big head son and small head dad'. One set of the cartoons showed that, neighbor wang, who has a big head body too, pick the big head son up, and big head son said 'Hello uncle wang!'. So people thought uncle wang was big head son's real father.)
"Honestly, I currently have no precise method to determine it."
Mingting shook his head honestly.
DNA testing was impossible with current scientific technology, and even Mingting was powerless.
"Count Zhongyi, you're the smartest man in the nation. Even you have no solution?" Someone was anxious, "What are we supposed to do from now on?"
All of a sudden, the ministers in the court changed from mocking Song Yi to worrying about their own predicaments.
If even sons couldn't be verified as biological heirs through blood test, what was the point of a lifetime of effort?
"I can only suggest two things."
Mingting cleared his throat.
"First, cherish your wives. As long as you treat your wives well, love them, care for them, which woman would abandon morality and ethics, leaving behind a kind and gentle husband for an affair?"
As he spoke, Mingting even gave the officials here a crash course on 'The Thirty-Six Ways to Dote on Your Wife'.
"What about the second one?" When he stopped, someone hurriedly asked, wishing that Mingting could say it everything in one go.
"The second one is to treat your daughter well."
No one understood this. They wondered why should they treat their daughters well?
Daughters were like water spilled out after marriage, as they'd belong to another family. Even if they are daughters of nobles, their fathers love their daughters far less than they value their sons.
So when Mingting said this, everyone was baffled.
"Because, my lords, you may not necessarily be the grandfather, but you are definitely the maternal grandfather."
After Mingting finished speaking, the first response he got was a smack on the head from Su Hengzhong.
"Stop spouting nonsense!" Su Hengzhong's face fell.
'How could he say something so offensive? What kind of logic was this?!'
Soon, everyone grasped Mingting's meaning.
'Ruthless! These words were too vicious!'
'So, while sons might be deceived, daughters would definitely bear genuine grandsons (granddaugthers)?'
They had never seen someone spout such nonsense so seriously, and yet, after hearing it, they couldn't help but feel it made sense!
Right now, the ministers were most concerned about one thing: bloodline legitimacy.
Not being able to verify bloodlines was truly a major issue for them.
'Did we really have to lock women up at home and impose strict moral standards on them?'
Some had already begun thinking along these lines, but Mingting had anticipated this and directly voiced his opinion.
"Yu the Great tamed the floods by dredging instead of blocking… that was how he succeeded. This shows that when solving problems, dredging is the superior strategy, while blocking is the inferior one."
"By locking women up at home… does that guarantee no accidents will happen? No plan is foolproof! You can't just imprison all the women in the world, or everything would descend into chaos?"
"The only correct approach is to educate women, teach them literacy and reasoning, and instill in them proper moral standards."
"Moreover, we must promote legal awareness nationwide, especially among men."
"Men generally have the advantage in physical strength. Not all women who engage in scandalous affairs do so willingly, as many are forced."
"Therefore, we must strengthen the public's legal consciousness, making it clear what is permissible and what is a crime. Men who harm women must be severely punished, and their cases publicized as a warning to others."
"This way, women will uphold morality, and men will abide by the law. Then, there will be no issues of bloodline confusion."
Mingting even suggested that women should engage in physical training or that female warriors could be trained, allowing officials to hire them to protect their wives and daughters.
Even though Emperor Li thought he knew Mingting very well, his perception of him was refreshed once again at this time.
'How had this escalated from refusing to acknowledge a father to women learning culture, women practicing martial arts, and men facing extreme punishment for improper thoughts about women?'
'These were completely unrelated matters… Mingting was truly a master of tangents!'
'And yet, his words had sparked serious reflection among many.'
At this time, some found Mingting's reasoning sound, and a few had already stepped forward to support him… such as Shangguan Shi.
Shangguan Shi supported Mingting mainly because of his emphasis on nationwide legal education, which he wholeheartedly endorsed.
In fact, he felt Mingting shouldn't belong to the Confucian school… he should be a Legalist!
Others who supported Mingting were ministers who had harmonious relationships with their wives and doted on their daughters, such as Su Hengzhong.
Even the officials from the Ministry of Rites backed Mingting because he propriety, and moral education… naturally, the Ministry of Rites had to support him.
"Brother Ting is really amazing!" Li Sheng looked at Mingting with admiration.
He even felt as though there was nothing in this world that could stump Mingting, as Mingting could always find a way to solve problems.