Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

Zhu Guoxiang met with officials and common people along the way, and Shen Yourong also met with officials' families and women from the folk along the way.

The day before the Mid-Autumn Festival, Zhu Guoxiang called the provincial, prefectural and county officials in Hangzhou to a banquet. Officials could bring their wives and children, and all the women and children went to Shen Yourong's place.

The banqueting place for men and women and children was separated by only a courtyard wall.

And the courtyard wall was connected by a moon-shaped door, so they could not only hear each other's voices, but also see each other through the door hole.

In addition to the empress dowager, the concubines and children of the emperor dowager naturally had to participate.

Shen Yourong was the first focus of the audience, and Li Qingzhao was the second focus of the audience. Those female relatives, one by one, had all read Li Qingzhao's poems.

The head of the official family was Sun, the wife of Li Wenhui, the left governor of Zhejiang.

Although Li Wenhui claimed that his family was poor, who among those who could pass the imperial examination at this time was really poor?

His ancestor was Li Yuanxiang, the 20th son of Li Yuan. He was granted the title of Duke of Fujian in the second year of Zhenguan. During the reign of Wu Zetian, Li Yuanxiang's son was killed, and his grandson inherited the title and was exiled. His status was restored during the Tianbao period.

During the reign of Emperor Renzong of Song Dynasty, Li Wenhui's lineage separated and moved from Jinjiang to Qianshan, Hui'an. Because the land there was scarce and difficult to survive, they moved to Xiaoqi to cultivate and reproduce - Xiaoqi Peninsula was not yet fully connected to the mainland. It was passable at low tide and became an island at high tide.

Compared with other official families, Li Wenhui's family was really poor, even worse than the old Bai Yuanwai back then.

But others have families!

He was educated on the island since he was a child. Because he was very smart, he was sent to study in the main clan of Jinjiang when he was a little older.

Sun took her two sons, one daughter and one daughter-in-law to meet the queen and concubines first.

Shen Yourong asked, "Have the two young men achieved any success?"

Sun replied, "My sons are dull. My eldest son only passed the examination to become a scholar, and my second son is not even a scholar. My eldest daughter married in my hometown of Jinjiang, and my eldest son-in-law passed the examination to become a juren at the age of twenty."

"You two young men are still young, so you should study hard in the future." Shen Yourong encouraged.

After a few words, Song Bo's wife, Xing, also came to pay her respects with her children.

An hour had passed until the families of the prefecture officials and county magistrates all paid their respects and chatted about family matters.

It was still early for the banquet, so Shen Yourong talked about interesting stories again, and Wen Xiaomei, Li Qingzhao and others also joined in the conversation. Well, there were also the former Song Dynasty Concubine, the former Jin Dynasty Concubine, the former Xixia Queen Mother, the former Annan Queen Mother, the former Dali Concubine, and so on.

The filial son Zhu Ming threw a bunch of fallen queen mothers, concubines, and concubines to Zhu Guoxiang to deal with.

Duan Yu has many concubines, and he can't take care of them at his age, and he has become a monk for a long time. One of the youngest, most beautiful and childless ones was also presented to his father by Zhu Ming. She is only 33 years old this year.

At that time, Zhu Guoxiang sent a telegram to scold him, and then reluctantly accepted it.

These officials and their wives in front of them all wanted to take the opportunity to show off, mainly their children, and drag them to the Empress Dowager and the Empress Dowager to recite poems.

Especially the daughters who have not yet been engaged, they may be favored by the Empress Dowager!

One of the girls performed very well!

This girl was only ten years old and had not yet reached the age of marriage. Because there were other teenagers present, it was not easy to reveal her maiden name, and she was only called by the nickname "Fufu".

Li Qingzhao said: "The emperor and the emperor said that women should be more generous. Why can't their maiden names be shown to others? Girls in the East and West Capitals, including princesses, no longer hide their maiden names."

The wives of these local officials were very surprised to hear this.

I thought that it was indeed the capital city, and the atmosphere was indeed good, which was not comparable to Hangzhou.

So, they introduced their daughters again. For example, Zhao Fufu, whose maiden name was Zhao Mu.

Why did Zhao Mu stand out?

At the age of ten, she could recite "The Analects of Confucius", "Mencius", "The Great Learning", and "The Doctrine of the Mean" fluently, and she also studied mathematics, physics and astronomy.

Shen Yourong liked this little girl very much, and called her to her knees, holding her hand and asked her mother: "Others only teach girls "The Analects of Confucius", "The Book of Filial Piety", "The Rules for Women", and "Mathematics". How did your girl learn all the four books?"

Her mother Huang replied: "She likes it herself, so she hired a teacher."

Shen Yourong asked the little girl: "Do you like reading?"

"Yes," Zhao Mu nodded, "I also want to take the imperial examination."

When this was said, everyone was stunned.

Li Qingzhao clapped her hands and laughed: "You are really ambitious!"

People in later generations have a lot of misunderstandings about the situation of women in the Song Dynasty.

Especially female-oriented novels and their adapted film and television dramas, which are even more feudal than the Qing Dynasty! The cult of the legitimate and illegitimate daughters is particularly ridiculous. They don't allow illegitimate daughters to recognize their biological mothers, and completely ignore the fact that "filial piety" is ranked first.

The real women in the Song Dynasty had serious status differentiation.

One type is the daughters of the lower-class families in the city. Their parents sold them to rich families and made them work like cows and horses without any human rights.

One type is rural girls and most urban girls who married men of the same class. They had to work while raising children, just like normal poor couples, and there were no restrictions on showing their faces.

One type is the daughters of wealthy families, who would study as long as they had the conditions.

From Sima Guang, the two Chengs, Wang Anshi, to Zhu Xi of the Southern Song Dynasty, they all advocated that women should be educated.

Their concept was that if women didn't study and understand reason, how could they teach their children?

But unlike men's education, they advocated that women learn "The Analects of Confucius", "The Book of Filial Piety", "Female Commandments", needlework, arithmetic, etc. They did not advocate but did not prohibit learning "Mencius", "Spring and Autumn", "Book of History" and other ways of governing the country.

Regarding widows remarrying, Zhu Xi's actual proposition is: keeping chastity and not remarrying belongs to the outline of Confucianism, and in principle should be followed. But even Confucius couldn't do it, and Confucius' daughter-in-law remarried, so ordinary people don't have to force it.

In the Ming and Qing dynasties, Zhu Xi's first sentence was remembered, and the second sentence was selectively forgotten.

In addition, Cheng Yi and Zhu Xi's chastity was not double-standard. They believed that if women were required to keep chastity, then men should also keep chastity. Zhu Xi himself did not remarry after his wife died, and the couple was eventually buried together.

Zhu Xi's daughter-in-law, niece, and daughter, those who were willing to be widowed remained widowed, and those who were willing to remarry remarried. It was all voluntary.

As for the things like stealing ashes and staying with nuns, if there were really such things, they would have become explosive news long ago. Why do they need to be accumulated and exposed after being impeached?

Moreover, in the face of the attacks from his political enemies, Zhu Xi did not acquiesce as the legend said, but was disheartened: "Since the court believes that those slanders are true, there is nothing to resent about my dismissal and exile."

Preserving the principles of heaven and eliminating human desires is a cage designed for the arrogant and extravagant scholars of the Song Dynasty, but it eventually became a tool for oppressing the vulnerable groups.

The wife of a provincial councilor asked: "Can women also take the imperial examination?"

"No?" said the wife of a government official.

Shen Yourong looked at Wen Xiaomei, Li Qingzhao and others: "Did the court prohibit women from taking the imperial examination?"

Everyone was confused.

Wen Xiaomei also frowned and thought: "It seems that there is no ban."

Li Qingzhao said: "Entering the examination room for the imperial examination requires a search, and the clothes will be stripped off to check whether there is any contraband. The search officers are all men, how can women pass that? If women want to take the imperial examination, they must arrange for female officers to search."

Everyone suddenly realized.

The court did not prohibit women from taking the imperial examination, but in practice, women could not enter the examination room at all.

If you want to go in, you can just take off your clothes and be checked by a group of men.

The female champion in the opera is impossible to appear. No matter how good you are at disguising yourself as a man, you still have to take off your clothes before entering the examination room.

The former Queen Mother of Annan, Du, suddenly said: "I heard that the examination for child prodigies is not strict."

Li Qingzhao, who was afraid that the world would not be in chaos, clapped her hands and laughed: "Yes. You are only ten years old, you can take the examination for child prodigies."

The child prodigy examination, also known as the Tongzike, originated in the Han Dynasty.

The age stipulated in each dynasty is different, even in the same dynasty. In the early Tang Dynasty, it was required to be under ten years old, and later it was relaxed to twelve years old. In the Five Dynasties, it became thirteen years old, and even fifteen years old was allowed in the Song Dynasty.

It was Zhu Guoxiang who restored the child prodigy examination in the Ming Dynasty, and the age was set at thirteen years old or below.

The specific process is as follows: During the county examination and the prefectural examination, children under thirteen years old can register to participate, and they will be assigned an area in the examination room. After passing the two child prodigy examinations, they will be sent to the capital to be assessed by the principal of the Imperial Academy. If they pass the test, they will be arranged to study in the preparatory class of the Imperial College, and then directly promoted to the inner dormitory of the Imperial College.

In the year of the big exam, there is no child prodigy test, which means that there are two tests in three years.

In each session, there are basically no more than five child prodigies who pass the Imperial College exam, and sometimes only one or two are admitted.

It has been 20 years since the Ming Dynasty resumed the child prodigy test, and the total number of child prodigies who really passed the test is less than 80.

Among these more than 70 child prodigies, half of them have not grown up yet, but there have been 3 first-class, 8 second-class, and 15 third-class. There are also several who are seriously biased in their studies and have become art officials in the Hanlin Academy, the Ministry of Works, the Ministry of Revenue, the Ministry of War and other government offices.

Of course, there are also those who are useless in learning, because they are too young to bear the pressure.

At night, the officials and their families left.

Li Qingzhao told Zhu Guoxiang about this and asked, "Will the girl be stopped by the examiner when she takes the exam for the boy's exam next year?"

Zhu Guoxiang asked, "Whose family is this girl from?"

Li Qingzhao said, "She is the daughter of Zhao Mingfu, the councilor of Zhejiang Province."

Zhu Guoxiang smiled and said, "If Zhao Mingfu didn't stop my daughter, the examiner and the police would naturally give Zhao Mingfu face. The "Ming Dynasty Law·Etiquette Law" does not prohibit women from taking the imperial examination, so they have no reason not to let them take the exam. However, before sending her to the capital, she must be reported to the court for approval."

"Will the emperor agree?" Shen Yourong asked.

Zhu Guoxiang laughed: "He will definitely agree. Don't look at that boy's seriousness. He has always been a fun-loving person. The more headaches the court officials have for women's imperial examinations, the more that boy wants to see the excitement."

Li Qingzhao's eyes lit up: "If this girl really graduates from the Imperial College and passes the imperial examination, will the government let her be an official?"

Zhu Guoxiang thought carefully and said: "The Imperial College is full of men. If a girl can endure years of criticism, successfully graduate from the Imperial College and pass the imperial examination, she must be a person with great perseverance. Such a wonderful girl, what's wrong with letting her be an official?"

It really takes great perseverance.

Let's put myself in the shoes of the girl. At the age of ten, I have to endure criticism all the time, and I have to be classmates with men for many years, and there is no one around me to talk to. If I can't be admitted as a jinshi when I graduate from the Imperial College, I will have to bear the pressure of repeated failures, and even the pressure of my family and my fiancé's family urging me to get married.

Can such a person with great perseverance be treated with ordinary eyes?

Shen Yourong shook his head and sighed: "It's hard to think about it. If it were me, even if I had her intelligence and talent, I would probably give up halfway through studying at the Imperial College."

Li Qingzhao said: "Give them more choices. For example, if they successfully enter the Imperial College, they can choose to drop out and get married at any time, and the court will grant them a body of imperial decree."

"That's fine." Zhu Guoxiang nodded.

Shen Yourong said, "I like that girl very much. My husband's sons are not of the right age, but the emperor has a prince of the same age as her. If she can really get into the Imperial College, and then observe her character, she may be taken as the prince's consort."

Zhu Guoxiang said, "Although my son's age is not suitable, my grandson's age is suitable. No, his son is also my grandson... I mean, my grandson who is not his son, I have to compete with him for this matter."

The older Zhu Guoxiang gets, the more he likes to argue with his son, especially to tease the unfilial son over trivial matters.

Shen Yourong smiled when she heard this, because she had a grandson of the right age, only one year younger than the Zhao family's prodigy girl.

Zhu Guoxiang fell into deep thought.

I didn't think about the prodigy anymore, but thought of many female workers in Hangzhou.

The economic foundation determines social status. With more and more female workers, the atmosphere in Jiangnan will definitely change subtly.

What is about to rise is real women's rights, not some "childless cat-loving woman".

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