People in the Song Dynasty were lawless

Chapter 447: Eliminating Bad Habits, Starting from the North

Under a big tree at the edge of the village, Zhao Jun's face didn't look very good when he heard about the eating of the whole family and the selling of other people's wives and daughters.

Eating up the entire family was an appalling custom in feudal society.

Generally speaking, it refers to a couple who dies without any children or heirs.

The land, properties, house foundations, gold, silver and jewelry they purchased during their lifetime would be seized by other landlords and gentry.

The land and houses would be sold for money, and the gentry would use the money to hold a banquet in the village, entertaining every household in the village until the money was spent.

This phenomenon is relatively normal. After all, when a person dies, everything is over. Ancient villages were closed societies. If there was no one to inherit, it would be better to have a universal village.

Another situation is that a couple dies without children, but has relatives such as brothers and sisters. In this case, most of the property will be divided up by their brothers and sisters. Whether to hold a buffet depends on their mood.

Anyway, inheriting the property of brothers and sisters is a normal phenomenon. In this way, the ones who are wiped out are not the people in the village, 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 young and has not grown up, then the clan relatives will also divide up their property, even if the female owner is still alive.

A typical example is Lu Xun. His father died of illness when he was fifteen years old. The clan held a meeting to divide up their family property. For a time, his family situation became increasingly difficult and the world became increasingly indifferent.

Lu Xun was relatively lucky, as at least there were male members in his family, so some houses and land were left for them, and they were not driven out.

In most other cases, if there are no male members in the family and only the wife and daughter are left, the fate is often very tragic.

Unless the hostess's family background is powerful, being driven out and left to live on the streets is considered the lightest punishment. In serious cases, she may even be sold to a brothel or simply beaten to death.

However, selling the body to a brothel or beating the body to death are both against human ethics. So in order to prevent the villagers from pointing fingers at them, the relatives also have to prepare a buffet and use part of the deceased's property to hold the banquet to stop the villagers from making false accusations.

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

Jiang Dalang, who was standing beside him, saw that he looked unhappy and asked in a low voice, "Dean?"

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

Zhao Jun waved his hand.

"Yes."

Everyone then walked towards the convoy.

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

Yang Gao was very good at observing his expression. Seeing that he looked unhappy, he asked, "Dean, what's wrong?"

"There are many bad habits among the people, which worries me."

Zhao Jun sighed.

Then he talked about the matter of the whole family being wiped out.

He went on to say: "The practice of marrying daughters, eating the extinct families, and the practice of pawning wives and daughters, serfs, and foot binding, which was popular among the gentry during the Southern Tang Dynasty, are all dregs. They have harmed countless people, especially women, who were particularly severely persecuted."

"more than."

Wang Anshi shook his head and said, "As far as I know, in the south there are still infanticide, human sacrifice and human burial practices, especially in the two lakes, two Guangxi and Fujian. Most of the human sacrifices are women and children, while the human sacrifices are men, especially Confucian scholars and monks."

Chen Xiliang also said: "Yes, when I was the magistrate of Changsha, I heard that some villagers in Liuyang only raised two boys and one girl. If they had more, they would drown. I also heard that there was a custom of sacrificial offerings in the local area. The Central Plains often offered sacrifices to the Five Immortal Gods and the Four Ministers, while the South often offered sacrifices to the Lingzheng Ghost and the Five Gods. Usually, livestock were used as sacrifices, but there were those who were desperate and wanted to get rich overnight, so they killed people for sacrifice. It was really lawless."

"Speaking of this sacrifice, I once heard a colleague who worked in Ezhou say that outside the lake, people sacrificed people to ghosts. They would use children and women, gouge out their eyes, cut off their ears and noses, bury them in traps, pour boiling water on them, and corrode their skin. They would do whatever they wanted."

"And infanticide, it was quite common in the past. There were poor people in the fields of Yue and E who would kill their babies by immersing them in a basin of water. If it was a boy, it would be ok. Now the country is prosperous, the villagers may not be well-fed, but they are well-fed. They are afraid of girls."

"Yes, I heard that in the south, people are particularly afraid of adopting girls. They kill them by pouring cold water on them when they are born. Their parents can't bear it either, so they usually close their eyes and back, and press their hands into a basin of water. The baby will whimper for a long time before dying."

"Alas, I have also heard of such things when I was an official in a local government. It is really heartbreaking to hear about it."

Zhao Yan, Yang Cha, Su Huan, Li Xiaoji and others also spoke up.

"Well"

Zhao Jun's brows tightened even more, and then he shook his head and said, "This is truly appalling and outrageous, Dalang."

"Zhiyuan."

Jiang Dalang came over quickly.

"Send someone to notify the Lincheng government, and have them call the head of the local farmers' association."

Zhao Jun said.

"Yes."

Jiang Dalang immediately asked someone to bring 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 this outdated custom cannot be changed in a short time, but since I have encountered it, I must not stand idly by. This time I travel around the world, I must correct the atmosphere and cultivate morality. The problems in the south are deep-rooted and may not be solved in a short time, but the customs in the north are not that stubborn. Everyone, follow me to cleanse and eliminate this cancer."

"Your Highness's order."

Everyone nodded in agreement.

Zhao Jun returned to the carriage, sat in it and closed his eyes to rest.

He had also heard of such bad habits. In fact, as a historian, he knew a lot about ancient bad habits and customs, and he had also read many records of cannibalism in history books before.

After traveling through time, although I didn't see it with my own eyes, sometimes when the Dali Temple was solving cases, there would be all kinds of bizarre cases involving these feudal oppressions.

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

It’s not that he doesn’t care about the lives of these oppressed people, but in comparison, the environment he faced at that time was much worse than it is now.

The Song Dynasty was plagued by serious redundancies, numerous levies and extortions, and most people were suffering. Even food and clothing were a problem. How could the Song Dynasty control these bad habits?
Therefore, he had to first solve the court's financial problems, resolve the difficulty of the vast majority of the people in having enough food, and fill the big holes in the house before he could address these gaps and minor problems.

Another reason is that in ancient times, imperial power did not extend to the countryside. In feudal society, dynasties lacked effective means of controlling the countryside and often needed local clans or local landlords to help manage it. Naturally, they could not change the clan's practice of lynching.

Just like Lu Xun’s family property was seized by his uncles and aunts, and he had nowhere to turn to.

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

As for the moral requirements for grassroots people, there are legal restrictions, but they do not cover many areas, and local governments are not omnipotent.

The county government does not have the ability to manage the people of the entire county. Many cases and incidents did happen, but they were not reported to the county government, so they became "the people do not report, and the officials do not investigate."

Therefore, in many cases, it is very rare for a case to be reported to the county government, then from the county government to the provincial government, the road government, and finally to the central government.

This gave the imperial court the illusion that the local situation was calm.

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 rural areas in the north.

For example, it is not allowed to set up courts privately, the personal freedom of clan members cannot be restricted, and children born to concubines enjoy the same land rights, inheritance rights and education rights, so as to undermine the power of the clan.

At the same time, several villages in a county could unite to form an association. In order to prevent someone from not taking care of public tools or taking them for themselves, the government did not fund the placement of farm tools within the farmers' association.

However, the government and farmers' cooperatives had a relationship: the government purchased excess farm tools, livestock, granaries, etc. from farmers, and members of farmers' associations could rent these means of production at low prices to increase productivity.

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

But now that he has gained a certain amount of power at the grassroots level in the north, perhaps it is time to start using this power to crack down on the old customs and practices.

The convoy stopped by the river, and time passed by. The village on the east bank was still holding a banquet, unaware of the disaster that was about to happen.

After about half an hour, more than ten fast horses came galloping in. The magistrate and lieutenant of Lincheng County were both on horseback, along with several yamen runners. Seven or eight miles further back, many yamen runners were running as fast as they could, gasping for breath.

You have to know that this is the border, more than twenty miles away from Lincheng, about ten kilometers. It would take Jiang Dalang and his men more than twenty minutes to deliver the message on horseback, which shows how urgent the Lincheng County Magistrate was.

"Chichiin!"

The county magistrate and the county lieutenant hurriedly dismounted and came to the front of the carriage to salute, their bodies already dripping with sweat.

Zhao Jun opened the curtains and glanced at them: "Are you the Lincheng Commander?"

"Your humble servant is Huang Anwen, the magistrate of Lincheng County."

Huang Anwen is probably around 30 years old. He was a Jinshi in the seventh year of the Qingli period. He just finished observing government affairs last year and was transferred to Lincheng to serve as a county magistrate.

Zhao Jun asked, "Have the people from the Farmers' Association arrived?"

"Someone has been sent to call him."

Huang Anwen said hurriedly.

"Take your men and take control of all the people in this village."

Zhao Jun then said to Huang Sanlang, "Sanlang, go and capture the owner, interrogate them separately, find out the cause and effect, and find out the whereabouts of the mother and daughter who were sold to the brothel."

"Yes."

Huang Sanlang immediately followed the order.

Under Zhao Jun's command, Huang Anwen's execution ability reached its peak. He waited for a while, waiting for the arrival of a large group of yamen runners in the rear, and immediately ordered the encirclement of the village.

Ancient villages had different layouts, some were clustered together and some were scattered.

However, people in the Hebei plain area often live near rivers. For example, the layout of this village, which is called Dongyang Village because the tributary of the Lishui River is called Xiaoyang River and the village is located on the east bank of Xiaoyang River, is quite compact.

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

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

At this moment, the whole house was filled with joy. The whole village was invited to have a meal and a banquet was held for three days and three nights, during which people reveled to their heart's content.

Although the people of the Song Dynasty now live and work in peace and contentment, as long as the villagers have land, they can go to the county town to work and they will not starve to death even if they don’t have land. But who would despise free food?
Besides, everyone knows that the third son of the Liu family made money by doing business in the county town and is the richest man in the village. Naturally, everyone is very happy to take advantage of the rich.

Since most people in the village were eating inside or outside the big house, no one could react when the bailiffs rushed over.

Hundreds of people who had just been eating enthusiastically, saw a large number of yamen runners swarming in, and they all sat down, surrounding the long square table, holding the bowls in their hands, at a loss.

Inside the main house of the courtyard, several people were eating around a table. A man in his fifties was eating from a bowl, while two men in their forties, with smiling faces, were inviting some influential people from the same village to eat and drink together.

At this moment, someone came in and shouted, "Liu Laoer, there are bailiffs outside."

As soon as the words fell, the two men in their forties were stunned at first, then expressions of fear appeared on their faces, and they almost instinctively wanted to run away.

The next second, many yamen runners 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 killed!"

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

In an instant.

The old man who had been eating, with a face full of bitterness and wrinkles, sat down on the ground with a plop, sighing: "Second brother, fourth brother, you knew you couldn't hide it, you shouldn't do this!"

One of them stared at him fiercely and said, "Boss, it was you who reported the incident. We should have killed you as well."

"take away!"

Huang Sanlang keenly sensed that something was wrong here and immediately waved his right hand.

Many yamen runners rushed forward and captured the three Liu brothers.

The other guests were frightened and wanted to disperse, but the house was full of yamen runners who surrounded the mansion.

The whole village couldn't escape.

It was not until this time that Zhao Jun's convoy slowly approached the edge of the village and stayed nearby.

To the north of the city, several middle-aged men dressed as farmers were coming hurriedly. The two yamen runners in front took them outside, but Zhao Jun had not summoned them yet, so they could only wait outside.

After a while, Huang Sanlang came back and ran to Zhao Jun and said, "Dean, I have confessed everything."

"What are the causes and consequences?"

"The Liu family has four brothers. The eldest is honest and diligent in farming. The second loves gambling. The fourth is a scoundrel in the village. Only the third is smart. He went to the county town to work at the age of twelve. Now he owns several shops and has a small fortune."

Huang Sanlang said, "Over the years, the second and fourth sons have borrowed money from him a lot, and they have never paid it back. The third son was very unhappy, and after his parents died, he separated from them and cut off all ties. Some time ago, the second son owed a lot of gambling debts, and after borrowing money from the third son to no avail, he had evil thoughts and conspired with the fourth son to kill the third son and seize his property. It was just that they were caught by Liu Lao Da when they were trying to kill him in the middle of the night."

"Oh?"

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

"Because the third son was busy with business and socializing in his early years, he did not get married and have children. He got married in his thirties and only had two daughters after marriage. The second and fourth sons deceived the eldest son by saying that the third son had no children."

Huang Sanlang said, "When the third brother dies and the two daughters get married, the money of the Liu family will be taken away by outsiders. It would be better for the three brothers to divide it."

"People's hearts are no longer the same as they used to be, and human nature is hard to predict."

Zhao Jun sighed and felt sorry for what happened to the third son of the Liu family.

Ultimately, it is feudal ideas that are harmful to people.

If it weren't for the idea that daughters cannot pass on the family line, I think Boss Liu would have reported the matter to the police.

"Huang Anwen."

"Zhiyuan."

Huang Anwen came over in a hurry.

Zhao Jun's eyes flashed with coldness as he said, "This person killed his brothers and stole their property. If he is not killed, it will not be enough to appease the public anger. Do you understand?"

"Yes!"

Huang Anwen agreed immediately.

"Call the people from the Farmers' Association over here."

Zhao Jun said again.

He glanced into the distance and saw a few people dressed as farmers looking at this side timidly.

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

But it is only a semi-official organization, and a grassroots organization at that. It is not even an official organization, but can only be regarded as a rural farmers' mutual aid organization.

Normally, they would consider a county magistrate to be the highest official, let alone Zhao Jun, the director of the court.

Therefore, everyone is very nervous at this moment.

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

(End of this chapter)