People in the Song Dynasty were lawless

Chapter 478 This country is full of hope

In April of the twelfth year of the Qingli period of the Song Dynasty, a passenger ship drifted in from the outside of Xiangyang City, Xiangzhou, southwest of Beijing.

After stopping at Xiangyang Wharf, a family of five got off the passenger ship.

The man was probably in his forties, with a stubbled beard, red eyes, and a slightly haggard face.

The hostess was dressed simply and without makeup. She was about thirty to forty years old. I don’t know if she was tired from the journey, but she was covered in dust and looked exhausted.

However, the one daughter and two sons were in good spirits. The eldest daughter was about eighteen years old, with a pretty face, and looked around curiously.

The eldest son should be about sixteen years old. He looked handsome and heroic. He stood at the bow of the ship and also looked out.

The youngest son is about fourteen years old, tall, with slightly precocious features.

This family of five is Su Xun's family.

The host is Su Xun, the hostess is Mrs. Cheng, the daughter is Su Banniang, and the sons are Su Shi and Su Zhe.

This time, Su Xun and his family set out from their hometown of Meizhou, Sichuan, took a boat down the Yangtze River, then followed the Han River to Xiangyang, and finally took the train to Beijing.

This trip to Beijing is to conduct inspections and selections.

After getting off the boat, I saw construction sites everywhere outside Xiangyang City, with some high-rise buildings being built.

The ancient city is well preserved and has not been demolished.

Even though the Song Dynasty now had cement factories, brick factories and steel mills in various places, it advocated expanding them outside the city, and the original city was used as the old city area.

This has nothing to do with protecting historical relics. It is simply that local finances are limited and most of them are used to build basic industries. There is no extra money for demolition.

Just like the large-scale demolitions in our country in later generations could not be implemented until after the millennium, when the country’s fiscal revenue increased significantly.

In the past, when we had no money, we could only develop industry first and increase income before we could engage in development.

Su Xun looked around. The dock was crowded with people. Various large cargo ships were docked. Countless workers were busy moving the goods onto some rubber-tired carts and heading towards the west city.

"Father, that's the train station."

Su Shi asked someone and then told Su Xun: "I heard that the train built a bridge from Changshou Island upstream of the Han River, so the station is on the west side of the city."

Su Xun's eyes were looking towards the distant bank of the Han River. At this moment, a construction team was pouring cement pillars on Taohua Island in the center of the river.

Apparently, since the Song Dynasty had already mastered the technology of building bridges on rivers, Xiangyang was now planning to build a bridge across the Han River. This way, trains would no longer have to take a long detour from Changshou Island upstream where the river was the narrowest.

"Should we go to the train station today to buy tickets to Bianliang, or should we rest for a day in Xiangyang first?"

Su Che asked, "I'm almost exhausted on the boat all this time."

"Then let's take a day off before continuing on our journey."

Su Xun said, "After we get to Xiangyang, it will be quick to get to Bianliang. It is said that we can get there in one day, so we can still get there in one day."

"Then we can go to Xiangyang for a stroll."

Su Shi said happily: "I heard that the court is still continuing to build a railway to the south, which will go to Guangzhou through Jiangling. In two years, maybe we won't have to take a boat to Xiangyang, and we can take a train from Jiangling to Bianliang."

"Not only that, the railway from Chengdu to Chang'an has also been built. It's a pity that the railway from Chang'an to Bianliang has not been built. Otherwise, why would we have to go down the river?"

Su Che said: "In a few years, I'm afraid we will be able to take a train directly from Chengdu to Bianliang."

"Ah."

Su Xun nodded and sighed, "I have wasted five years at home. Although I often read newspapers about the changes in the Song Dynasty, it is only when I look closely and see them in person that I know what is magnificent."

Su Shi smiled and said: "Although my father has been at home for five years, the court has not forgotten him, not to mention..."

As he said this, he looked at Su Banniang and said, "Sister has come back from the gates of hell and is now safe and sound. Isn't this a good thing?"

"good."

Su Xun glanced at Mrs. Cheng and his daughter, and said with relief with a smile: "It's best that the family is safe."

Then he said to everyone, "It was the help of the dean. The dean is like the reborn parents of our Su family. You must remember the dean's kindness, understand?"

"Yes, father."

Su Shi and Su Zhe responded.

Su Banniang smiled slightly and responded in the same way.

Compared to the year before last when she was nearly dying from illness and almost out of breath, she looks much more radiant now.

It all started because she was proposed to by the Cheng family.

Twelve years ago, Su Xun went to Beijing to take the imperial examination and passed it. He ranked fourth in the first class, only after the number one scholar Wang Anshi, the third place Su Song and the second place Huang Shu. For a time, he brought honor to his family and enjoyed great glory.

He was first granted the title of Guangning Prisoner, which was equivalent to the Guangning County Magistrate, in charge of the local copper-making industry. Due to his outstanding political achievements, he was transferred to be the Tongpan of Mizhou in the third year of the Qingli period.

In the sixth year of the Qingli period, Su Xun, who had done a good job as the Tongpan of Mizhou, was promoted to the position of Zhizhou by his official career.

As a result, less than a year after arriving in Daozhou, I heard the bad news.

His father Su Xu died of illness at the beginning of the seventh year of the Qingli period. For this reason, he and his brother Su Huan had to resign from their official positions and return to their hometown to mourn for their father.

In ancient times, the period of mourning was not three years, but twenty-seven months, which is two years and three months.

Under normal circumstances, he could continue to serve as an official at the beginning of the ninth year of the Qingli period.

For example, after Su Huan finished his mourning period, he returned to Bianliang to report. However, in March of the ninth year of the Qingli period, he was taken away by Zhao Jun as soon as he arrived in Bianliang and was taken to inspect the country.

But Su Shun, like Bao Zheng, was quite filial. In addition, when the Cheng family came to propose marriage, Mrs. Cheng's brother, Su Shi's uncle Cheng Jun, hoped that Su Banniang would marry his son Cheng Zhicai.

In order to arrange a marriage for his daughter, Su Xun extended his period of mourning and continued to stay in his hometown in Meizhou to observe mourning.

Unexpectedly, during this period, Su Banniang was abused in her husband's family. Su Xun was very angry about this and wanted to sever ties with the Cheng family and tried to make Su Banniang divorce Cheng Zhicai.

However, in ancient times, divorce was only possible if the woman made a mistake. Even if the man made a mistake, the woman rarely took the initiative to divorce.

Because a man's divorce does not prevent him from marrying again, but if a woman gets divorced, she is often easily criticized and it is difficult for her to remarry.

So under Mrs. Cheng's persuasion, they can only remain in this stalemate for the time being.

However, in order to support Su Banniang, Su Xun's original plan to return to Beijing for the examination and selection after Su Banniang got married was delayed again, and he had to continue to stay in Meizhou.

After all, although Su Xun was also in Meizhou's hometown in history, he had no official position and could only watch Su Baniang being abused to death by the Cheng family.

Now he is an official and has just resigned temporarily. His social status is there. Su Xun believes that as long as he stays in his hometown and intimidates the Cheng family, the Cheng family will not be too presumptuous.

But he still seriously underestimated the shamelessness of the Cheng family.

Although Su Baniang was no longer beaten, she was often subjected to cold words, all kinds of weird remarks, corporal punishment and humiliation by the Cheng family. She was so worried that she fell seriously ill and almost died.

Su Xun then took Su Baniang back to recuperate, but it was this incident that completely ignited Su Xun's anger.

He explained the matter in his letter to Su Huan.

The original intention was to tell Su Huan about this matter. After all, Su Huan was the head of the Su family and the patriarch of the Su clan, so he needed to ask for his opinion on this matter.

In addition, Su Huan holds a relatively high official position. With his support in this matter, they can compete with the Cheng family and successfully complete the divorce.

But unexpectedly, Su Huan was accompanying Zhao Jun on a tour around the world at that time, so Zhao Jun naturally knew about this matter very quickly.

Zhao Jun was very unhappy when he learned about this, because in recent years Zhao Jun has been actively improving the status of women, and has written many articles in newspapers criticizing the feudal ethics that restrict women and encouraging women to be independent.

And the Department of Justice makes the laws.

If a woman suffers from domestic violence for a long time without reason and hopes to divorce, the local government should actively provide help, establish the woman's husband as a shameful role model who only bullies weak women, and establish the woman as an independent and self-reliant woman.

If a woman's family is in financial difficulty and she cannot make a living, the government can provide her with some jobs in light industries such as textiles, tea, wine, leather, etc. to help her make a living.

From this we can see that in addition to improving the status of women, Zhao Jun also has strong political intentions.

It is the hope that women can be liberated, freed from feudal ethics, and actively participate in the construction of light industry to produce consumer materials.

Just as great men of later generations proposed that "women hold up half the sky", this will not only improve the social status of women, but also greatly increase the labor force and improve productivity, which can be said to kill two birds with one stone.

As a result, just when Zhao Jun wanted to achieve this political goal, he encountered the incident of Su Baniang.

Su Xun is now an official. If even officials are like this, what about the common people?
That's why Cheng Zhicai was caught in the crossfire.

Zhao Jun was just about to use the power and authority to establish his authority, to warn the men of domestic violence in the world that the court would severely punish such behavior. He was also going to tell the women of the world who were bullied that the court had your strong backing.

So we can only blame the Cheng family for their bad luck.

Zhao Jun then asked Su Huan to write back to Su Xun, ordering Su Banniang and Cheng Zhicai to divorce, and because of Cheng Zhicai's record of domestic violence, he was banned from taking the imperial examinations for life!
Then, with an order given, the Constitutional Council sent a warrant to Chengdu Prefecture Road.

The Cheng family was immediately set up as a model, and the Chengdu Prefecture Transport Commissioner and local officials in Meizhou were directly instructed by Zhao Jun to promote it, and it was vigorously publicized in newspapers and in Meizhou.

Moreover, when Zhao Jun passed by Chengdu in the eleventh year of the Qingli period, he made a special trip to Meizhou and criticized the Cheng family as a negative example in front of so many officials and local dignitaries.

Under the crushing force of the highest level, even though the Cheng family was a prominent family in the local area, they were soon destroyed by the society and had to move away from the area and disappeared in Meizhou.

Su Banniang's problem was finally resolved, but after this incident, Su Banniang's health has not been very good and she has to recuperate at home.

Because his daughter was weak, Su Xun never left.

It was not until the beginning of this year that Su Baniang's health improved a lot and she left her hometown and went to Bianliang for research.

It has been five years since Su Xun resigned from his post due to mourning.

Among his fellow Jinshi students that year, some who fared better were the No. 1 scholar Wang Anshi, who, after traveling around the country with Zhao Jun, was transferred to the Censorate, a third-level central department, as the director.

Just because he traveled around the country for two years, he was gilded, skipped the fifth rank and the fourth rank, and became a fourth rank official like a rocket.

There is also the runner-up Su Song, who, although he did not go to serve as an official in the local area, has been studying science in the Academy of Sciences.

In his early years, he was promoted to a doctor of the fifth rank of the Academy of Sciences for his contributions to the research on the structure of steam engines. Later, he was promoted to a director of the fourth rank of the Academy of Sciences for assisting Zhao Zhen in perfecting the law of universal gravitation. Now he is the vice president of the School of Physics of the Academy of Sciences, also of the fourth rank.

And because the Academy of Sciences has a very special status, the researchers there are highly valued by the court. Although it seems that they have little power, the problem is that the Academy of Sciences has two presidents.

One is the full-time dean Jia Xian, and the other is the honorary dean.

This person's name is Zhao Zhen.

Zhao Zhen also often summoned academicians of the Academy of Sciences to his Houyuan Laboratory for academic exchanges.

Therefore, outside the Academy of Sciences, even if he was just a vice-president of a subordinate academy with the fourth rank, those ministers of first-level departments with the second rank would not dare to offend him easily.

Even those who are not doing so well, even those who rank low among the second class, can basically become a fifth-rank prefect as long as they are not caught for corruption or have no ability to govern.

The only difference is that he is ranked fourth in the first class, and his current rank is only fifth grade. He doesn’t know what position he will be given when he goes to Bianliang this time.

Su Xun and his family followed the crowd into the city.

The ancient city area of ​​Xiangyang covers an area of ​​2.4 square kilometers. It has high and thick city walls and has been known as a strong city since ancient times.

In the past, it was just an ordinary city economically, and its economic development was only slightly better than other land cities, but not much better.

Because the Yangtze River and the Grand Canal carried more than 70% of the commercial trade of the Song Dynasty, the land trade capacity was too small, so medium and large-scale trade would go through the canal, and only small-scale trade would go through the Han River to Xiangyang and then go by land to Bianliang.

However, in the context of the industrial age, Xiangyang built railways, steel mills, textile mills, cement plants, and brick factories, attracting a large influx of population from surrounding counties and towns, allowing the city to develop rapidly.

Reinforced concrete bridges were built across the moat, high-rise buildings sprang up outside the city, and ships came and went at the Tanxi Wharf outside the west city, delivering large amounts of industrial raw materials to the west industrial zone, which were then transformed into steel, clothes, and cement.

Su Shi walked in the city. The buildings in the city had not changed much, but he saw bicycles passing by, newsboys selling newspapers, and electric poles erected in the busy streets.

Not long after the family entered from the North City, a rickshaw driver came over to inquire.

Su Xun felt sorry for his wife and daughter, so he chartered two bicycles, one for his wife and daughter, and one for him and his two sons.

Two rickshaws headed towards West City.

They will find an inn in West City to rest for the night and continue their journey tomorrow.

Su Shi was sitting in the car. After entering the city from the north city, most places were no different from ordinary cities. There were stalls lining the streets and alleys, with signs hanging high and swaying in the wind, and all kinds of shouting sounds could be heard.

When we got to the vicinity of West City, the scene became different.

When the railway was first built, there was no way to build a bridge across a river as large as the Han River, so the railway bridge was built from the upstream river channel, where there is Changshou Island. The narrowest part of the river is less than ten meters, and the bridge piers can be built on the island.

As a result, the railway station could only be located in the west city, and the west of the city was also close to the steel production area. In later generations, Shiyan, Gucheng, Baokang, Fangxian and other areas had rich iron ore mines. In the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of my country, Second Automobile Works chose Shiyan as its location.

Therefore, the entire west of Xiangyang City became a gathering point for a large number of factories. The inside and outside of the west of the city were also affected by the factories. Various five- or six-story buildings were built one after another, forming a huge contrast with the old city area in the east of the city.

It was noon, when the workers in the city were off work for lunch, the gate of a processing plant of the Xiangyang Steel Plant in the city opened and groups of workers came out.

They were wearing blue linen shorts and blue trousers. Some of them even wore gloves. Their bodies were dirty, but they all had smiles on their faces as they walked on the road, radiating confidence from head to toe.

On the brick wall outside the factory building, it was written: "Workers are the cornerstone of the country!"

"Ding-ling-ling!~"

The gates of the nearby textile factory were soon opened.

The ringtone is clear and pleasant.

The silvery laughter of the female workers could be heard.

They wore long-sleeved shirts with flowers on them, long pants underneath, and their hair was simply tied up.

After leaving the factory, some went home to eat, while others went to nearby restaurants.

There are also slogans on the brick wall outside the textile factory, with quotes from articles that Zhiyuan has written many times in newspapers: "Women are as good as men", "Equal pay for equal work for men and women", and "Women hold up half the sky".

"Come on, come on, give in, give in."

"Where are we going to eat today?"

"After work this afternoon, Mr. Li, please pick up the kids for me."

"Boom boom boom boom boom!~~"

"Jingle Bell."

The conversations between various workers, the ringing of bicycle bells, the roar of the factory's steam engines, and the dragon flag of the Great Song Dynasty flying over the workers' school in the distance, outline a world that is completely different from the city.

Su Shi looked at them with a gleam in his eyes. He heard someone singing, "We workers have power, hey, we workers have power!"

This country is full of hope.

(End of this chapter)