Chapter 447: Eliminating Bad Habits, Starting From the North

Under the big tree by the village, Zhao Jun didn't look very good when he heard about the destitution and the selling of wives and daughters.

Deprivation of food is a shocking bad habit in feudal society.

Generally speaking, it means that after the death of a couple, there are no children and no heirs to inherit.

The acres of real estate, house foundations, gold, silver and jewelry they purchased during their lifetime will be occupied by other landlords and gentry.

The properties and houses will be sold and converted into money. Then the squire used the money to set up a running banquet in the village and entertained every household in the village until all the money was gone.

This phenomenon is relatively normal. After all, people die, and ancient villages are a closed society. If there is no one to inherit, it is not as good as an inclusive village.

Another situation is that a couple dies without children, but they have relatives such as brothers and sisters, so most of the property will be divided among their brothers and sisters. As for whether to organize a running water mat or not, it depends on their own mood.

In any case, it is normal to inherit the property of brothers and sisters. In this way, it is not the people in the village who are deprived of the family, but the relatives of the couple.

But there is also an extreme.

That is, if the male owner dies without a son, or the son is still relatively young and has not grown up, then the clan relatives will also divide their property, even if the female owner is still there.

A typical example is Lu Xun. Lu Xun's father died of illness when he was fifteen years old, and the clan held a meeting to divide the family's property. For a time, the family situation became increasingly difficult and the world became miserable.

Lu Xun was pretty good, at least he had men at home, so he left some houses and land for them so as not to drive them out.

In most other cases, if there are no men in the family and only wives and daughters are left, the consequences are often very tragic.

Unless the hostess has a strong family background, being kicked out and living on the street is considered a minor offense. In serious cases, she may even be sold to a brothel or simply beaten to death.

However, being sold to a brothel and beaten to death are contrary to human ethics, so in order to prevent the villagers from criticizing, the relatives also have to set up a running banquet and use part of the deceased's property to hold a banquet to block the villagers' excuses.

Now that Zhao Jun heard that such an extreme case appeared in front of him, he felt very uncomfortable.

Jiang Dalang next to him saw his ugly face and asked in a low voice: "Zhiyuan?"

"It's okay, let's go back first."

Zhao Jun waved his hand.

"yes."

Everyone immediately walked towards the direction of the motorcade.

After crossing the bridge, Yang Gao, Yang Cha, Wang Anshi and others came over.

Yang Gao was the best at observing words and expressions. Seeing that his face was not good, he asked, "Zhiyuan, what's wrong?"

"There are many bad habits among the people that worry me."

Zhao Jun sighed.

Then he talked about eating Juehu.

He went on to say: "The bones of the daughter are used to eat the extinct family, as well as the other wives, daughters, serfs, and the foot binding popular among the gentry during the Southern Tang Dynasty. They are all dregs. They have harmed countless people, especially women, and the persecution is particularly serious. ”

"more than."

Wang Anshi shook his head and said: "As far as I know, there are also theories of infanticide, human sacrifice and human sacrifice in the south, especially in Lianghu, Guangxi, Fujian Road and other places. Most of the human sacrifices are women and children. For human sacrifice, men are the best, especially Confucian scholars and monks.”

Chen Xiliang also said: "Yes, when I was the magistrate of Changsha, I once heard that there were villagers in Liuyang who only raised two boys and one girl. If there were more, they would drown. I also heard that there was a custom of offering sacrifices locally. In the Central Plains, five people were often sacrificed. Xian Shen and Si Xiang Gong, the south often sacrifices animals to the Linghui ghost and Wutong gods, but there are those who are desperate and want to get rich overnight, so they kill people and sacrifice them alive, which is really lawless. "

"Speaking of this sacrifice, I once heard a colleague who worked in Ezhou say that it is customary outside the lake to use humans to sacrifice ghosts. Children and women are often used to pluck out their eyes, cut off their ears and noses, bury them in traps, and ferment them with boiling soup to erode their skin. , unstoppable."

"There is also the infanticide, which was really common in the past. In the past, there were little people in the fields between Yue and Hubei. The poor had many children and did not raise them, so they would kill them by immersing them in the basin at birth. If the boys are okay, now the country is prosperous, and the villagers cannot They say they have good clothes and good food, but they also have enough food and clothing to worry about, but they are afraid of women.”

"Yes, I heard that it is taboo in the south to raise daughters. They often kill them with cold water when they are born. Their parents can't bear it, so they often close their eyes and put their backs in the water basin with their hands, and they will die after they bleat for a long time."

"Hey, I heard about this kind of thing when I was a local official. It really makes people cry and makes people sad when they hear it."

Zhao Pian, Yang Cha, Su Huan, Li Xiaoji and others also said.

"Well"

Zhao Jun's brows tightened, and then he shook his head and said: "It's really shocking and outrageous, Da Lang."

"Zhiyuan."

Jiang Dalang came over quickly.

"Send someone to notify the Lincheng government, and then ask the government officials to call the person in charge of the local farmers' association."

Zhao Jun said.

"yes."

Jiang Dalang immediately asked someone to pull a few horses and left quickly with several people.

Zhao Jun put his hands behind his back and said to everyone seriously: "I know that these bad habits will not be changed in a short time, but since I have encountered it, I must not stand by and watch. This time when I walk around the world, I must correct the atmosphere. Cultivate morals. The problems in the south are deep-rooted and may not be solved in a short while, but the atmosphere in the north is not that stubborn yet. Please join me in cleaning up this cancer."

"Respect the court order."

Everyone bowed their hands in agreement.

Zhao Jun returned to the carriage and sat in the carriage with his eyes closed to relax.

He has heard of such bad habits. In fact, as a student of history, he knows many bad habits and rules in ancient times. He has also read many records of such cannibalism in history books before.

After traveling through time, although I didn't see it with my own eyes, sometimes various bizarre cases would arise when Dali Temple was trying to solve a case, involving these feudal oppressions.

In the past, Zhao Jun did not focus on rectifying this situation.

It's not that he didn't care about the life and death of these oppressed people, but that in comparison, the environment he faced at that time was much worse than it is now.

During the Song Dynasty, there were serious redundancies, numerous exorbitant levies and miscellaneous taxes, most of the people were in dire straits, and they had problems eating and dressing. How could they control these bad habits?

Therefore, he must first solve the imperial court's finances, solve the difficulty of eating enough for the vast majority of the people, and fill up the big holes in the house before he can cure these gaps and minor problems.

In addition, ancient imperial power did not go to the countryside. In feudal society, dynasties lacked effective means of controlling the countryside. They often needed the help of local clans or local landlords and gentry to help manage the villages. Naturally, they could not change the clans to carry out lynchings.

Just like Lu Xun's family property was occupied by his clan uncle, but he had no way to seek help.

Based on the two points, Zhao Jun has not carried out major reforms at the grassroots level. Most of the new policies he has stayed at currently only involve changes in taxes for officials, landlords and ordinary people.

As for the moral requirements for grassroots people, there are legal restrictions, but they are not very involved, and local governments are not omnipotent.

The county government of a county is incapable of taking charge of the people of the entire county. Many cases and incidents did not happen, but were not reported to the county government, thus becoming "people do not take action and officials do not investigate".

Therefore, it is very rare for people to report to the county government, then report from the county government to the state government, road government, and finally to the central government.

This gave the court the illusion that things were calm in the area.

But things are very different now.

Although Zhao Jun has not yet carried out drastic reforms at the grassroots level, he has already made certain changes in the rural areas of the north.

For example, it is not allowed to set up private courts, and the personal freedom of the clan is not allowed to be restricted. Concubines have the same land rights, inheritance rights and education rights, so as to disintegrate the power of the clan.

At the same time, several rural villages in a county can be jointly established. In order to prevent people from not caring for public tools or taking them for themselves, the government does not fund the placement of farm tools within the farmers' association.

However, the government and farmers' associations purchased surplus agricultural tools, livestock, granaries, etc. from farmers, and members of farmers' associations could rent these production materials at low prices to increase productivity.

If something like this happened in the south, Zhao Jun would be punished at most, but there was really no way to carry out large-scale rectification.

But now that he has some power at the grassroots level in the north, it may be time to start using this power to crack down on those old stereotypes.

The convoy stopped by the river, and time passed by. The villages on the east coast were still holding banquets, unaware of the impending disaster.

After about half an hour, more than ten fast horses galloped over.

The Lincheng County Magistrate and County Lieutenant were all on horseback, as well as several government officials. Further back, there were many government officials seven or eight miles away running wildly on Sayazi, exhausted and out of breath.

You must know that this is the junction, which is more than 20 miles away from Lincheng, almost ten kilometers. Jiang Dalang and others took more than 20 minutes to report the news on Pegasus, which shows the urgency of the Lincheng County Magistrate.

"Chichiwon!"

The county magistrate and county lieutenant hurriedly dismounted and came to the carriage to salute. They were already sweating profusely.

Zhao Jun opened the curtains and glanced at them: "Are you the city commander?"

"Huang Anwen, the magistrate of Lincheng County, is the official."

Huang Anwen was about thirty years old. He was a Jinshi in the seventh year of the Qingli Dynasty. He ended his political tenure last year and was transferred to Lincheng as the county magistrate.

Zhao Jun asked: "Are the people from the farmers' association here?"

"Someone has been sent to call."

Huang Anwen said hurriedly.

"You take people to control all the people in this village."

Zhao Jun said to Huang Sanlang again: "Sanlang, go and capture the master's family, interrogate them separately, ask about the cause and effect, and find the whereabouts of the mother and daughter who were sold to the brothel."

"yes."

Huang Sanlang immediately obeyed the order and acted.

Under Zhao Jun's order, Huang Anwen's execution ability reached its peak. After waiting for a while, when the rear government troops arrived, he immediately ordered to surround the village.

The layout of ancient villages varied, with some clustered together and others spread out.

However, Hebei plain areas often live near rivers. The layout of this village, called Dongyang Village because the tributary of Sang River is called Xiaoyang River and the village is located on the east bank of Xiaoyang River, is quite compact.

Most of the villagers live along the river bank, and several canals are intercepted from the Xiaoyang River, bypassing the village and irrigating their fields eastward.

The east side of the village was originally an open space, but now a rather large mansion with three entrances and three exits has been built.

At this moment, there was great joy inside and outside the mansion. The whole village was invited to come over for a meal, and there was a big banquet for three days and three nights.

Although the people of the Song Dynasty now live and work in peace and contentment, as long as the villagers have land, even if they don't have land, they can go to the county to work and ensure that they will not starve to death, but who would dislike free food?

Besides, everyone knows that the third son of the Liu family has made money doing business in the county town and is the richest man in the village. Naturally, everyone is very happy to take advantage of the wealthy people.

Since most people in the village were eating inside and outside the big house, no one reacted when the government officials rushed over.

I saw that hundreds of people were eating enthusiastically just now, and a large number of government servants swarmed in. Everyone was sitting on the same spot, surrounding both sides of the long square table, holding the bowls in their hands at a loss.

In the main room of the courtyard, several people were eating around the table. A man in his fifties was holding a bowl and eating. Next to him, two smiling men in their forties were inviting prominent people from the same village to eat and drink together.

At this moment, someone came in and shouted: "Liu Laoer, there are government servants coming outside."

As soon as he finished speaking, the two men in their forties were stunned for a moment, then showed a look of horror on their faces, almost instinctively wanting to run away.

The next second many government officials rushed into the house.

Huang Sanlang took three steps at a time and shouted: "No one is allowed to move, anyone who moves will be beaten to death!"

Then he looked at the two people who had stood up and wanted to run away, and asked, "Are you from the Liu family?"

In an instant.

The wrinkled old man who had been eating rice and had a bitter look on his face sat down from his chair on the ground and sighed: "Second, fourth, you know you can't hide it, you shouldn't be like this. !”

One of them stared at him fiercely and said: "Boss, it was indeed you who reported the letter. We should have killed you too."

"take away!"

Huang Sanlang was keenly aware that something was going on here and immediately waved his right hand.

Many government officials rushed forward and captured the three Liu brothers.

The other guests were startled and wanted to leave in a hurry, but there were government officials outside the house and surrounded the mansion.

The whole village cannot escape.

Outside, it was only then that Zhao Jun's motorcade slowly approached the edge of the village and parked beside it.

Facing the city in the north, several middle-aged men dressed as farmers were coming in a hurry. The two government officials in front took them outside, but Zhao Jun hadn't summoned them yet, so they had to wait outside.

After a while, Huang Sanlang came back, quickly ran to Zhao Jun and said: "Zhiyuan, we have all been recruited."

"What are the causes and consequences?"

"There are four brothers in the Liu family. The eldest brother is upright and diligent in farming. The second brother loves gambling. The fourth brother is a scoundrel in the village. But the third brother is quite smart. He went to work in the county town when he was twelve years old and has been working till now. I have a few shops and a small fortune."

Huang Sanlang said: "The second and fourth children have borrowed money from him over the years and have never paid it back. The third child was very unhappy. After his parents died, he broke up with them and cut off contact with them. Some time ago, the second child again He owed a lot of gambling debts, and after borrowing money from the third child to no avail, he started to have evil ideas. He conspired with the fourth child to kill the third child and seize the family property of the third child. However, he was caught by Boss Liu when he was planning the murder in the middle of the night. "

"oh?"

Zhao Jun frowned and said, "Since this boss is honest and upright, why doesn't he report to the official position?"

"Because the third child had been busy with business and entertainment in his early years and did not get married or have children. He waited until he was in his thirties to get married and only gave birth to two daughters after the marriage. The second and fourth children used the excuse that the third child had no children and deceived the boss. "

Huang Sanlang said: "When the third child dies and the two daughters get married, the Liu family's money will be taken away by outsiders. It is better to divide it among the three brothers."

"It's true that people's hearts are not ancient, and human nature is unpredictable."

Zhao Jun sighed, feeling sorry for what happened to the third son of the Liu family.

In the final analysis, it is feudal thinking that harms people.

If it weren't for the idea that daughters should not be passed on to future generations, I think Boss Liu would have reported to the government.

"Huang Anwen."

"Zhiyuan."

Huang Anwen came over in a hurry.

Zhao Jun's eyes flashed with cold light and he said: "If you don't kill this man who killed his brothers to seize property, it will not be enough for the people to get angry. Do you understand?"

"yes!"

Huang Anwen responded immediately.

"Call the people from the farmers' association over."

Zhao Jun said again.

He glanced into the distance, where a few people dressed as farmers were looking timidly.

Although the Peasants' Association was a non-governmental organization established by the imperial court and supported by local governments, it had the background of a semi-official organization.

But it is only a semi-official organization, and it is also the lowest grassroots organization. It does not even count officials. It can only be regarded as a mutual aid organization for rural farmers.

They usually see the county magistrate as the highest official, let alone Zhao Jun, the magistrate.

So everyone was very nervous at this moment.

Only Zhao Jun looked at those people seriously, because he knew that if he wanted to mobilize the grassroots and eliminate the unhealthy tendencies among the people, he might have to rely on them!