Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

Outside Jinzhou City, shanty towns.

Several government officials were banging gongs along the street and shouting: "The prefect is recruiting ten masons, ten carpenters, and ten stonemasons, and they will be paid thirty-five cents a day. We will also recruit fifty hard laborers, and we will be paid twenty-five cents a day. No matter where The farmer will be given two meals of porridge and one meal of dry rice every day!"

When the news spread, the poor people at the bottom took action.

Under normal circumstances, when they hear officials recruiting workers, they will be frightened and immediately hide far away.

But many stories about Ju Ming have already spread to the slums outside the city. At this moment, many poor people chose to believe it when they heard that they were given money and food was taken care of, and they flocked to the government officials to inquire about the situation.

Originally, they only planned to recruit eighty people, but in the end, there were three to four hundred people gathered in front of Shi Yuangong.

Shi Yuangong carefully selected a hundred relatively strong ones.

Asking this guy to recruit people always exceeds the plan, and he seems uncomfortable if he doesn't have more than a few.

These people will be taken to the mines and work with the iron smelters to cut down the mountains and forests, level the slopes, and build houses. The top layer of soil must be excavated to expose the iron ore before the project is completed, so as to speed up the start-up of the smelting site as soon as possible.

It was divided into two parts, Su Zhixin was in charge of the charcoal field and Tu Shen was in charge of the iron smelting field.

Tu Shen had experience in mining and building a farm in Xuzhou. Although his scale was small, he had never eaten pork but had seen pigs running away.

Based on the mountain topography and the direction of the mineral veins, Tu Shen demarcated residential areas, mining areas and smelting areas in just a few days. He also asked Ju Ming to get some craftsmen and coolies to complete the preliminary construction as soon as possible, otherwise it may be delayed after the summer.

Since he had just arrived, Tu Shen was afraid of danger and ran around with two iron bones on his back all day long.

This pair of weapons was made by himself after he decided to become a thief. He also got a bad horse and claimed to be a general of the horse army. But his riding skills were really poor, and he was captured by the governor of Xuzhou, and his mount was confiscated by the governor of Xuzhou.

"Brother Tu, we've brought them!" Shi Yuangong laughed from afar.

Tu Shen felt relieved when he saw that there were enough manpower. He felt that he was being reused. After the smelting site was built and managed for a year or two, he went to Ju Ming to seek a future, such as being a government official or something.

Or you can work as a personal attendant beside Prefect Zhu, and you will definitely be able to stand out in the future.

Tu Shen organized the new craftsmen and coolies into groups, asked them to choose their own group leaders, and then began to assign work tasks. After the arrangements were made, he asked again: "When will all the materials be shipped?"

Shi Yuangong said: "We are already purchasing it and it will be shipped in a few days."

The two chatted and inspected the construction site.

There was a mountain man who was wandering around the construction site and peeping, looking very suspicious. Because of his suspicious behavior, he was quickly caught by the iron smelters and sent to Tu Shen to interrogate him.

Tu Shen asked: "You have stayed here for a long time to steal property?"

"There is no theft. I am a householder in the mountains. My home is over the ridge." The mountain man pointed to the mountains in front of him and said hesitantly, "I...I have something to sell. It's hard to talk when there are so many people."

Shi Yuangong retreated, leaving only Tu Shen and the mountain people. He asked with a smile: "But you collected the elixir in the mountains and sold it?"

The mountain man whispered: "I heard someone said that this is the property of the prefect. To build a large iron smelting yard, you have to worship the God of Five Tongs. A son was born in my family, and he will only reach his 100th birthday in a few days." …”

Tu Shen was confused when he heard this: "Even if according to local customs, the construction of the iron yard is to worship gods, what does it have to do with the birth of a son in your family?"

"Using human sacrifices is the most effective." said the mountain people.

"Human?" Tu Shen still didn't understand.

However, Shi Yuangong got angry and yelled: "You are a bird, you are a father in vain, how can you sell your own son to be a human sacrifice to the gods!"

Shi Yuangong once spread the demon religion to be true, and he often pretended to be gods and ghosts, but he really did not engage in bloody human sacrifices. He is a Confucian scholar after all!

Tu Shen finally understood. He grabbed the mountain man by the collar and punched him: "Grandpa, I'll beat you to death!"

"Spare your life! Spare your life, hero!" the mountain man shouted in horror, having been punched so hard that stars appeared in his eyes.

Shi Yuangong stopped him quickly and asked: "Is it popular in Jinzhou to collect and cut raw materials?"

Do you think it is cruel to make a young child disabled to beg? However, this is only a derivative of harvesting and cutting.

Real harvesting and cutting is even more terrifying.

"Collecting" means collecting living people, and "cutting" means cutting off organs. Together, they mean using human organs to sacrifice to ghosts and gods.

This was very popular before the Ming Dynasty, especially in the south.

Regardless of the Southern and Northern Song Dynasties, they strictly prohibited "killing people to sacrifice ghosts" and tried to use Confucianism to educate the people.

From the Northern and Southern Dynasties to the Tang and Song Dynasties, "burning fingers and training arms" was popular in Buddhism, but this self-mutilation practice was much more civilized than killing people to sacrifice ghosts.

The imperial court and the three religions of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism jointly attacked Wu Zhu during the Song Dynasty. However, it was still banned repeatedly and spread until the early Ming Dynasty. Under Zhu Yuanzhang's severe crackdown, Wu Zhu's cruel trend was finally killed.

"In the second year of Yongxi's reign...the states of Guangxi and Guangzhou...killed people to sacrifice to ghosts, and did not seek medical treatment for illness..."

This is the Guangdong and Guangxi in the Northern Song Dynasty.

"In the first year of Chunhua... Xiang Tae, a citizen of Changyang County in Xiazhou, and his brother Xiangshou jointly received ten guans of money from the rich to harvest crops... Tae and his brother murdered Li Qinu, a county citizen, cut off her ears and nose, and cut off her limbs. , to interact with the rich..."

This is Sichuan in the Northern Song Dynasty.

"Fuzhou Xiang Wantong killed seven skin masters, father and son, and took the five internal organs and the head to sacrifice to the devil..."

This is Hubei in the Northern Song Dynasty.

"Begging to go down to Sichuan, Shaanxi, Guangnan, Fujian, Jinghu, Jianghuai, it is forbidden for people to store snake venom and poison to kill people and sacrifice to demons and gods. If they have killed someone, they are allowed to report a reward, and a hundred copper coins and a large iron coin are given everywhere."

This was the magistrate of Wanzhou in the Renzong Dynasty of the Song Dynasty. He requested the court to ban witchcraft and human sacrifice, and encouraged the people to report such acts, covering most of the Northern Song Dynasty.

Jinzhou and Shangzhou were so troubled that Zhenzong of the Song Dynasty issued an imperial edict prohibiting the worship of evil gods in these two states.

Human animals are also divided into levels——

The first class is officials and Confucian scholars. They are the smartest, possessing aura, one is worth three, and ghosts and gods like them the most. Especially in border barbarian lands, there were cases of killing officials and killing scholars to worship ghosts and gods.

The second class is monks and Taoist priests. They are practitioners, possess merits and virtues, one is worth two, and ghosts and gods also like them very much.

The third class is ordinary people.

Women and children, as they were the most readily available, were among the most common human sacrifices.

There are even poor and ignorant people who sell their children as animals, such as the mountain people in front of me.

"Did you know that it is against the law to sacrifice humans to ghosts and gods?" Shi Yuangong asked.

The mountain man replied: "I also know about breaking the law, but the prefect is an official, so he is certainly not afraid of breaking the law. If the prefect opens an iron smelting yard and does not worship the Wutong God, strange things will happen and he will not make any money. I am also thinking about the prefect." "

Shi Yuangong asked: "In these four miles and eight villages, who else has killed people and offered sacrifices to ghosts and gods?"

The mountain villager replied: "Except Luo Yuan from Qinglonggang, when he was in his thirties, he only gave birth to girls but not boys. He asked someone to sacrifice babies to ghosts. That year, he gave birth to a boy in his family. It was very effective!"

"You bastard!" Tu Shen became angrier as he listened.

Although Shandong has many thieves and demon religions are popular, it is deeply influenced by Confucianism. Even various demon sects will not kill people to sacrifice to ghosts and gods, which is unforgivable in the eyes of Shandong people.

Shi Yuangong said: "Brother Tu continues to build here. I will take this guy back to see the prefect. Someone, tie this guy up and gag him!"

Shi Yuangong took people back to the state government office and reported the matter quickly.

Ju Ming was very surprised when he heard the news.

Of course he knew that in some places in the Song Dynasty, there was a custom of killing people and offering sacrifices to ghosts, but he didn't expect that Jinzhou still had reservations.

Because of the efforts of the government and Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism, by the late Northern Song Dynasty, Shaanxi, Hanzhong and Jianghuai had banned this matter.

Jinzhou is close to Hanzhong and is rich in medicinal materials. How can it still sacrifice humans to ghosts?

Zhu Ming immediately called Fan Zhun, Guo Wenzhong, Wang Jia and other local subordinate officials.

Fan Zhun said: "There is no such thing near the prefecture and county. The mountain people are ignorant and believe in ghosts and gods, so it is really difficult to stop it."

Ju Ming asked: "What evil temples are there in Jinzhou?"

Guo Wenzhong said: "The one with the most believers is undoubtedly the God of Five Powers, which is actually the mandrill ghost. The second is the snake fairy. The other evil gods are countless, but they are not widely spread and are only worshiped in one village and one place."

The Wutong Shen thing lasted until the late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China. It is said that worshiping the God of Five Powers can bewitch women and bring partial wealth. Anyway, these are some evil ways.

Even in the Yuan Dynasty, when ideological management was sparse, Wutong Shen was a target of resolute attack by the court.

As for the Snake Fairy, Jinzhou is mountainous and people often go to the mountains to collect medicine and hunt. If they worship the Snake Fairy, they will not be bitten by poisonous snakes.

The rest of the evil gods are scattered around, and there may be one god in a village.

Decades ago, Liu Yi was the prefect of Qianzhou (Ganzhou), where the worship of evil gods was terrifying. During his term of office, he destroyed more than 3,000 witches (witches did not build temples, but worshiped evil gods at home).

Ju Ming asked again: "Which righteous god has the most believers in Jinzhou?"

"King of Medicine." Wang Jia said immediately.

Guo Wenzhong said: "It is said that Zhenren Sun of the Tang Dynasty once collected medicinal herbs in Nanshan, Jinzhou. The five counties of Jinzhou are rich in medicinal materials, so the drug dealers pooled funds to build the Yaowang Temple, which is the largest Taoist temple in Jinzhou."

The belief in evil gods spreads widely, and in addition to education and customs, it is also affected by the social environment.

The common people lack entertainment and live in poverty and precarity, so they have to believe in something. Blindly destroying evil gods and obscene temples will not stop this. They must be led to believe in righteous gods, or even believe in Buddhism, which is better than this thing.

Ju Ming also called Wu Mao: "Write some official documents immediately."

"The first order is to order the officials of the five counties in Jinzhou to destroy all the temples of evil gods and obscenities. The temple properties will be confiscated and kept in the county government warehouse. The temple fields will be distributed to the local people. Temple worshippers and temple practitioners will be arrested and sent to the state prison."

The confiscation of temple property was to stimulate the enthusiasm of county officials.

As for the guys in the Evil Temple, Ju Ming wants to send them to mine, as long as they don’t pay for their food!

"The second part is that the King of Medicine, Sun Zhenren, is the patron saint of the people of Jinzhou. When you are sick, take medicine. Sun Zhenren likes it best, and he will definitely bless the whole family. Even if you don't have money to take medicine, you should pray to Sun Zhenren instead of Go worship evil gods. Sun Zhenren will not like the people who worship evil gods, and their descendants will suffer disasters. The Taoist priests in Yaowang Temple ask them to preach in the mountains and villages of various counties! Those who are unwilling to preach in the mountains will withdraw their ultimatum and order them to return to secular life."

"The third official document orders the officials of the five counties in Jinzhou to strictly investigate those who harvest, mutilate, and kill people to sacrifice to ghosts and gods. The family members of the criminals, regardless of men, women, old and young, whether they know about it or not, will be transferred to the Judicial Court for trial! Once confirmed, their homes will be searched immediately. All the criminal's property will be returned to the person who reported it, and a reward of ten thousand yuan will be given. The criminal's home and shop will be sold, and confiscated together with the miscellaneous wealth, 50% will be returned to the county government, and 50% will be handed over to the state government."

Harvesting, cutting, and killing people to sacrifice to ghosts is a death penalty case. The county government has no power to hear the case and must hand it over to the state court and the judicial court, so there is no need to worry about creating an unjust case (there will definitely be cases where subordinate officials take the opportunity to blackmail and disturb the people).

Improving public security, improving people's livelihood, and changing customs are all things that must be done.

Ju Ming has decided to raise troops in Hanzhong and Jinzhou to develop his own territory.

Education cannot be relaxed. Zhu Ming said: "If you write...well, there is no need to write official documents. Let the subordinates secretly spread the news, saying that Zhizhou will preside over the state examination this year, and Zhizhou likes arithmetic the most. "Zhu's" from Jinzhou Arithmetic School "The Book of Calculation" was written by Zhizhou. This year's state examination may have arithmetic questions."

Wu Mao was surprised and said: "How can the state examination test arithmetic?"

Ju Ming smiled and said, "I can skip the test, but they have to believe it."