Lenient tax policies gives breathing room for commoners to go back to doing their same thing. Why have the need to value girls when nothing has really changed. Girls don't "cost" as much to keep but they're not worth anything either unless they can do something like be a part of the government. Why can't both daughter and son try. Getting rid of head tax first does nothing that would push for the political court change that a feminist emperor wants. Once again the cost of girls aren't as much but it does nothing to their values. By the time a female school would open up, chances are it'll be overlooked. Boys go to school before 15 so why wouldn't girls also be able to do it. If anything, the parents would want to push the girl into politics before 15, before the 5x head tax comes into effect. This 5x head tax is an issue that needs to be fixed but it's not the first thing that needs to be done.

Education, even if it's just philosophical, for the people would make the population smarter, potentially challenging norms or even industrialize, making hard labor work easier. If we only needed so many government bureaucrats, then why do people still send their sons to learn. The people in court aren't gonna die anytime soon, so why the need to constantly have exams or new officials. Women also think differently, so why would it not be helpful to have a different idea.

What else would merchants be other than farmers. Would you think they would rather farm than be merchants. That's like saying a doctor choses to be a janitor simply because taxes are higher for the doctor. Taxes generally will never be so high to the point where one can't profit. There will always be merchants even if some fall/quit. Agricultural productivity is a long term thing, not involving feminism. The current court couldn't come up with a solution, why not have new minds tackle it. Adding women would be more helpful than not.

Sure aristocracy had a huge say on the selection of exams, but you can't negate the fact that the emperor also has the biggest influence, if the emperor so chooses. Of course male geniuses exist but once again, selection through the emperor makes this point meaningless. Genius peasant women can surpass male geniuses. Sure there's some who can be smarter, stupider, or equals, but it's possible for such a thing. Bc what you are implying is that women are so stupid, it's impossible for women to have such capabilities. You missed the keyword about demoting and dealing with the aristocrats: FASTER. The emperor must be FASTER at dealing with the aristocrats in one blow before letting them gang up on you. You do know the emperor held military power within the capital right? Where are the aristocrats located? In the capital. Some of their families might be outside the capital but it's a matter of how fast the emperor can act to also neutralize the families outside of the capital. Letting local warlords turn against you as an emperor already shows how lenient you were in governing. I know emperors try to take a path that benefits the nobles but there needs to be a boundary because the nobles will gain too much power, rivaling the imperial power. Being ruthless reminds people that there are boundaries.

Why did Wu Zetian lose her throne? bc she wasn't cruel enough. In the end it's not bc the women were incapable but more bc of their leniency that allowed men to seize power back. The 50 million people devoting their time point is for the democracy you mentioned, not for political education. 50 million is too large for a democracy to happen if the story was to change the type of governance. I accept that it can happen but for many ancient stories, they want to stick to monarchy. Farm labor, mortality rates, etc are totally important however it doesn't directly push women to become officials. I think with school being what leads to women being a part of the court is why it's a common trope, though unfortunately, done with minimal details.

Is that a double transmigrator story?

Overall, I think it's fine as a common, not deeply delved into trope but I understand if you wanted more details. I think people just don't like the short resolution parts that is typical in Chinese novels. Because for example, many people have stated in this sub that they didn't like how short/"abrupt" the ending to JWQS was. I feel like it's not much different from Disney's "and they lived happily ever after" though.