The Imperial Age with the Resurgence of Han Style

Chapter 279 Breakthrough
China has thousands of years of history. Although there is no unified religious belief in society, our ancestors still have a reverence for nature. Since the pre-Qin era, people have attached great importance to the principle of acting in accordance with the laws of nature. Many behavioral regulations are In order to comply with "God's will".

In traditional culture, people regard daytime as yang and night as yin, and "yang movement" and "yin stillness" are the only laws in the hearts of the ancients. Therefore, in order to comply with this law, the ancients rarely traveled at night.

Moreover, there were no night lighting facilities at that time. Traveling at night was very easy to be attacked by wild beasts, or accidents occurred because the road could not be seen clearly. The ancients gradually formed a lifestyle of working at sunrise and resting at sunset.

In order to maintain the safety of the people, rulers of successive dynasties also set up curfew systems in cities with large population gatherings, stipulating that people were not allowed to go out at will after dark, let alone walk freely on the road.

Even things like going to a funeral are no exception.

Only when parents die can we "walk for the stars and leave them for the stars" and be given a little privilege.

From this we can also see the strict attitude towards curfews in the past dynasties.

In order to better manage the curfew, officials responsible for night time are also specially set up.

In the Zhou Dynasty, these officials were called "Si Yushi". They were mainly responsible for observing the stars to determine and notify the daily curfew time, as well as patrolling the road and arresting those who violated the curfew.

The curfew generally starts at 3 o'clock in the morning and is lifted at 3 o'clock in the morning.

As night falls, the street lights and signboards in Chang'an City seem to become brighter, and the streets and alleys become noisier.

There is an endless stream of pedestrians on the street and noisy cars and horses. Antique little vendors are placed on the roadside, exuding fragrance, greeting passers-by, and selling various snacks and gadgets.

The prosperous scenery of Bianliang in the pre-Song Dynasty was probably the same situation.

In the nearly two hundred years since then, this system has not seen any changes, and it has become the most anticipated day of the year for the people of the Ming Dynasty.

Well, it's about 8pm now to 4:20am the next morning.

The real lifting of the curfew for the sake of the people did not occur until Wu Zhou's reign.

This also led to the emergence of a highly developed night market economy throughout the pre-Song Dynasty, and citizen entertainment culture also achieved vigorous development.

Although the curfew has always been an important system in all dynasties, it can also be lifted appropriately under some special circumstances.

This rule continued from the Zhou Dynasty to the Ming Dynasty, and it never changed much.

For example, in the pre-Qin era, whenever the Emperor of Zhou offered sacrifices to heaven, because the people needed to help officials prepare, there was no curfew on the night before the sacrifice. But this kind of lifting of the ban is actually a kind of corvee, not a welfare given to the people.

When the Ming Dynasty was established and China was reunified, as the normal national order returned to the right track, Emperor Yongle clearly stipulated that starting from the eleventh day of the first lunar month, the next ten days would be the "holiday" of the Lantern Festival. During this period, various places would Curfew lifted.

On the night when the curfew was lifted for the first time, people in Chang'an took to the streets to light fireworks, creating a grand scene of "Fire trees and silver flowers blooming together, and the iron locks of the star bridge opening". This also became the beginning of the Lantern Festival tradition in our country.

It would be great if we could really stay in Qi!

Looking carefully, the buildings with twinkling lights, the shops with ostentatious signs, and the merchandise on display in the night market all seem to be trying their best to publicize the prosperity and hustle and bustle of the city.

However, within the territory of Qi State, especially in Hanzhou itself, the situation was completely opposite. Almost all cities do not have a curfew system. As long as you are energetic and have enough money, you can wander around the streets to your heart's content, and you can also stay in the brightly lit "goulan tile houses" and the dazzling array of shops. You can even Driving a carriage on the open road and feeling the thrill of speed and passion.

So during the reign of Renzong, the curfew system was further liberalized. After the winter solstice, strict curfews were no longer implemented in Bianliang City, Tokyo. Until the Lantern Festival, people were free to travel at night, which allowed countless people to feel the festive atmosphere of the New Year very early, and the tradition of celebrating the New Year began to take shape.

At that time, in order to celebrate the Lantern Festival, Wu Zetian stipulated that the curfew would be lifted on the 15th and 16th of the first lunar month, allowing people to celebrate the festival with lanterns and colors.

The Qin Dynasty followed the Ming Dynasty, and the city's curfew management naturally inherited and continued the usual system. Even in big cities with tens of millions of people, such as Nanjing, Suzhou, and Guangzhou, residents are prohibited from going out and wandering freely at night.

"I'm going back." Yu Niang reluctantly looked at the lively neighborhood in front of her and sighed softly.

Even if those romantic people who eat flower wine and play courtesans want to have fun all night long, they can only stay in the brothels and boats, and cannot freely roam around the city with prostitutes.

By the pre-Song Dynasty, great progress had been made in the development of industrial and commercial economy, and the cities and towns in the country were filled with citizens engaged in handicrafts. Compared with farmers, they have richer entertainment needs, and the traditional short-term lifting of curfew can no longer satisfy them.

"Oh, then I'll take you back." After hearing this, Ke Guangyong said with a gentle smile: "I have to go on stage tomorrow, so I need to rest early."

Yu Niang turned her head and looked at the two "tails" sent by the class leader behind her, bit her lip, lowered her head, and walked slowly towards the hotel where the troupe rented a hotel.

As early as when she first came to Qi, she still felt a little worried about a woman walking around in the market in public, not to mention walking with a young man. She was even more wary, thinking that she would be criticized as immoral.

Later, I discovered that in the cities of Qi State, whether they were middle-aged or older women or pretty girls in their twenties, they were all walking openly on the streets. There were even close lovers and loving couples walking together. , I don’t particularly avoid any taboos about male and female defense.

Therefore, when Ke Guangyong invited her to go shopping on the street after the drama performance more than ten days ago, he only hesitated for a moment before dragging a few companions with her to visit the night market in Chang'an City.

Compared with Jianye, Guangling and Daxing, several cities with developed industries and commerce, the overall price of goods in Chang'an, the political and cultural center of the empire, is obviously much higher. People can't help but sigh that "living in Chang'an is not easy."

After all, this city has gathered a large number of princes, nobles, high-ranking officials, as well as those drunken foreign princes and former dignitaries from other countries who have taken refuge here. Countless wealth flows in this city, which naturally pushes up the price level of the city.

You must know that Chang'an City is similar to Beijing in the Ming Dynasty and Bianliang in the Song Dynasty to a certain extent. It is a political city and a consumer city. It does not have many large-scale heavy industry and mining enterprises. , there are only a few hundred food, textile, clothing and other light industrial enterprises. While ensuring the excellent environment of the imperial capital - with the increasing scale of Qi's industrialization, many cities in Hanzhou have environmental problems to varying degrees. and air pollution, it also requires support from other parts of the empire to a large extent to maintain the daily needs of the entire city's population of more than 400,000 people.

Fortunately, to the east of Chang'an is Daxing, the second largest industrial city in the empire, to the west is a vast agricultural and animal husbandry production area, and several prefectures and counties in the north and south have rich coal resources, plus the railway with Chang'an as the core The transportation network is enough to ensure that the capital of the empire can obtain a steady supply of various materials.

Moreover, because so many wealthy people have gathered together, Chang'an's business and service industries are extremely prosperous, and rare gadgets from all over the world can be purchased here.

At night, in addition to teahouses, clubs, theaters, wine shops, restaurants and other places crowded with people, night market stalls, street shops, and commodity markets are also crowded.

All this fully shows that Qi's economy is developed and its market is highly prosperous, and it also proves that the people of Qi do have a few small coins in their pockets.

"Brother Ke, why were you born here?" As the two were wandering in the noisy street, suddenly several young men hurried past them, but after a moment, they turned around again and grabbed Ke Guangyong's arm. catch.

"Uh..." Ke Guangyong took a closer look and looked a little shy.

The few people who came were obviously familiar classmates from school. He subconsciously looked at Yu Niang beside him.

It's so unlucky that I would meet my classmates on the street. I'm afraid they will make fun of me!

"Brother Ke, people from our school are fighting with people from Chang'an University at Xinjiekou." The visitor just glanced at the gentle woman next to Ke Guangyong, and did not make fun of him. Instead, he said eagerly: "Since we met Come, come and help me! ... No matter what, the rats from Chang'an University must suffer... Go, go!"

As he said this, without any explanation, he grabbed Ke Guangyong's arm and ran towards the south street.

"..." Yu Niang stared dumbfoundedly at Ke Guangyong, who had been hugged by several people and ran away for a certain distance. She was a little at a loss for a moment.

What's happening here?
This young man from the Ke family did not study at the Imperial University in Chang'an City, but at a government-run academy similar to the Imperial Academy in Nanjing, Qin Dynasty. He studied "full of economics" and was considered a serious scholar. Just now, from the hurried speech of the people he met, it seemed that they were all his classmates, and they should all be gentle people.

Why, they actually got together and started a rough fight! ?
Isn’t that something that only people in the market and passionate people would do?
By the way, they are going to fight, will he be okay?
Although there was no personal relationship between the two of them, they were going on a trip together. If something happened, they would really feel uneasy.

Let’s go and have a look.

After thinking about it, he lifted up his skirt with both hands and turned around to chase those people in the direction they were running.

The theater troupe Wu Sheng who was responsible for monitoring her saw this and quickly followed her.

In front of a noisy shop in Xinjiekou, two groups of people were fighting fiercely and tearing each other apart, accompanied from time to time by vulgar curses and heavy roars.

"What happened?"

Ke Guangyong was panting heavily while rolling up his sleeves and tightening his clothes. At the same time, he was observing the fight between the two parties and prepared to follow his companions and beat him up.

"Several Qin students in our school had a quarrel with someone, and they couldn't stop arguing, so they took action. ...Someone came to report that they were thieves from Chang'an University and bullied others by taking advantage of the crowd. At that time, some classmates from the school happened to be passing by. , naturally we couldn't let outsiders bully our Imperial University students, so we came over to help... Hey, you said that on weekdays, we can bully the Qin students in the school, but outside, they are still our own. , How can we let them be bullied by outsiders! "

"You're right, fuck them!" Seeing his classmates in a fighting group and sharing the same hatred, Ke Guangyong roared and rushed over. Under the light of the street lamp, he looked at a "thief" from Chang'an University fiercely. A hard kick.

As students from the two schools who were visiting the night market nearby arrived one after another, the fighting group began to expand and spread to the other side of the street.

After hearing the news, several patrol officers who came to maintain order waved their batons angrily. They wanted to hit but did not dare to hit them. They could only shout at the top of their voices and yell in a vain attempt to separate the two groups of students who were engaged in a "fierce fight."

However, in the melee, the patrol officers were frequently accidentally shot by students. Their police hats flew off and their uniforms were torn, making them look a little embarrassed.

In other words, the students in these universities are the pillars of the empire. After graduation, they will either enter the government system or enter various scientific research institutions. The worst places to go are several large domestic monopoly trading companies or industrial and mining enterprises, with a bright future. They didn't dare swing their batons randomly and beat people up.

What makes them even more worried is that many students in these university halls have extremely deep family backgrounds. They may be the children of some high-ranking official or dignitary, or even the prince's grandson. If you hit someone rashly, you might get retaliation and liquidation afterwards.

Damn it, these university students are just full of food and have nothing to do and are full of energy. Instead of staying on campus to study and read seriously, they fight like gangsters here.

"Beep beep..."

Patrol officers from other neighborhoods who had received the warning came to reinforce them one after another. While blowing shrill police whistles, they forced their way into the fighting group and tried their best to separate the two groups of students who were tearing and kicking. Then they ordered all the students... to stand still.

"You are all the pillars of the empire, why are you fighting in the streets?" the leading high-ranking police officer asked with a worried look on his face.

"...it was the people from Imperial University who started the attack! Look at them, they look a bit like college students, just like a group of street gangsters!"

"...It's you, the people from Chang'an University, who have made such slanderous remarks and extremely humiliated our Imperial University."

"...A gentleman talks but doesn't take action. If he doesn't agree with you, he will throw his fist at you. There is no trace of the elegance of a scholar!"

"...Significant? You people from Chang'an University are not qualified to talk about being polite! You are full of filthy thoughts, and we are ashamed to be associated with them!"

"..."

"Hey, hey, hey..." The senior police officer waved his hand angrily and asked loudly: "What did the people from Chang'an University say, so that the people from your Imperial University got into a rage and started beating people?"

"They are shameless!... They slandered our Imperial University as a place of filth and evil, a place where male thieves and female prostitutes live! I would like to ask, in the face of such humiliation, wouldn't it be difficult to give them a beating to vent the hatred in our hearts?"

"Huh?...Why do you insult Imperial University so much?"

"That...that, the people from the Imperial University said it themselves. After studying, when facing the gentle beauties in the school, you can lean on the railing to admire their faces and appreciate the elegance of a pair of red sleeves adding fragrance. Listen, what does it look like? Look like this? This situation is not hiding evil..."

"You are shameless, you are slandering!" Several Imperial University students suddenly became angry and pointed at the students from Chang'an University across the street, "You are distorting the meaning and wantonly insulting the reputation of our Imperial University, which is intolerable. Bear it. Come on, come on, make some more gestures, so that you can teach the thief a lesson!"

"Wait a minute..." the senior police officer said loudly: "What is the dispute between you two about? I still don't understand why you have such a big fight just because of a word?"

"They are jealous of our Imperial University's move to recruit female students for the first time, and they also have despicable and dirty thoughts!"

"Hey, damn it! This is the first time that female students are admitted to the Imperial University. Why is there such a dispute and criticism?" The senior police officer suddenly understood, and then his face was full of helplessness. He waved his hand and ordered the police to remove all the students. Take them all to the police.

At the same time, people were sent to notify the teachings and deans of the two schools, asking them to come and collect the people as soon as possible.

This co-education has broken through the defenses of traditional education for thousands of years, and is the first of its kind in history. Even in the current open and inclusive political environment of Qi State, it has caused considerable turmoil and controversy.

(End of this chapter)