Guide to Traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty.

Chapter 1153 Postscript IX: Realistic Works

so boring.

After getting familiar with the strange mathematical and physical symbols, Xie Yan was pulled by his younger sister to play chess.

The three siblings were confined to their homes, with really no entertainment at all.

"General."

Xie Yan jumped his horse and made his move, then sat there in a daze.

Xie Wan held her head with her left hand, and gestured with the chess piece in her right hand from time to time. After thinking for a long time, she finally said, "Let's play another game!"

Xie Yan was too lazy to tidy up the chessboard. It was too boring to play chess with a child.

Xie Wan, however, was very excited. She arranged all the chess pieces on both sides by herself: "Jumping the horse!"

Xie Yan was already in a trance, and casually placed a cannon in the middle.

At this moment, the second brother came back mysteriously and said as if he was presenting a treasure: "I asked someone to get me a few novels, all of which were published recently."

Xie Yan immediately perked up, leaving his little sister behind and running to divide the spoils: "Give me one."

The younger sister pouted in anger. She just wanted to beat her brother once, but the damn sixth brother didn't even know how to let her win.

The novels were wrapped in parchment and tied with ropes for easy carrying away.

The two brothers untied the rope and parchment and each took half.

"Huh, it's not a martial arts novel, nor is it about gods, ghosts, or talented men and beautiful women." Xie Kan was disappointed after taking a glance at the cover.

"'Tears of an Orphan'?" Xie Yan felt it was a realistic theme.

Upon hearing this, Xie Kan quickly looked over and said, "This is a banned book from a few years ago, but it can actually be published? That's right, a new dynasty, a new atmosphere."

My younger sister had nothing to do, so she came over and asked for a copy.

Xie Yan asked: "What novel is the most popular nowadays?"

Xie Kan said, "They are the three types I just mentioned. However, the imperial court was very strict in the past few years, and even martial arts novels that used the past to satirize the present would be banned. The authors found another way, and changed the protagonist to go out to sea and travel to overseas countries to punish evil and do justice. Moreover, they especially like to kill corrupt officials overseas."

"Can't the officials who censor novels see that?" Xie Yan was amused.

Xie Kan said: "Just don't write Ming Dynasty."

Xie Yan dragged a deck chair to the door and sat down. There was no sun here, but there was a slight breeze and the light was bright.

After reading only a few pages, he knew why the book was banned.

The protagonist is a young boy whose father died in a boiler explosion and whose mother remarried soon after. He lives with his grandmother, who begs on the street every day to make a living.

Just two days after begging, a group of beggars came to their door and asked them to hand over all their earnings and promised to provide them with food in the future.

In this way, the grandfather and grandson were forced to join the Beggars' Gang.

Not only were the copper coins they begged confiscated, but even the better food would be taken away if they didn’t eat it quickly. If they were really hungry, the beggar leader would even give them some rotten food.

The male protagonist also witnessed many things, such as every first and fifteenth day of the lunar month, officials would come to collect tribute money. The beggar leader, who was usually fierce and ferocious, became like a quail when he saw the officials, and offered money with a smile, then turned around and cursed the officials' ancestors.

Two months later, my grandmother died of illness.

The beggar leader was very happy. He placed the grandmother's body on the street, asked the male protagonist to kneel there and kowtow, and asked someone to write the four words "Selling myself to bury my ancestors" on the ground.

Of course, I didn't sell my body, but I earned more copper coins.

It was not until my grandmother's body began to smell foul that passers-by could no longer bear it and decided to report it to the police, and only then did the government send people to take the body away.

The male protagonist wanted to follow, and the officer did not stop him, but the beggar leader stopped him.

The male protagonist tried to escape many times, but was caught and beaten every time.

Later, he overheard the beggars discussing sending him to the suburbs to blind him and break his legs. The hero desperately ran away at night, and after being discovered by the beggars, he shouted "fire" at night along the way.

People in the nearby streets and alleys went out to check the situation, and the male protagonist finally took advantage of the chaos to escape to a cargo ship.

He didn't know how far he had traveled on the boat before he was discovered by the crew and thrown onto the shore.

The people in the countryside were kinder and it was actually easier to get food, so he begged all the way through the countryside.

It happened to be a year of disaster, and the local officials were unable to provide disaster relief, but fortunately there were kind-hearted rich people who provided porridge.

Finally, the relief food arrived, but the porridge provided by the government was not even as good as that provided by the rich, and the hero barely survived by starving.

When the disaster relief commissioner inspected here, local officials distributed food according to household registration, urged the victims to return home quickly, and promised to distribute seeds at the sowing season and exempt taxes for this year and next year.

The male protagonist had no household registration and didn’t know where to go, so he was taken to an orphanage in a daze.

He ate full meals in the Salesian home for several days in a row, and felt that this was where the gods lived. But after he recovered, he was taken to a factory and signed a labor contract with the factory as an orphan from the Salesian home.

He worked in the factory for two years, but all his wages were taken away by the orphanage. He was exhausted and hard-working but could not even fill his stomach.

Moreover, his physical condition was getting worse and worse, and his young body was suffering from occupational diseases.

Finally, after a mistake, the male protagonist who caused the disaster ran away because he was afraid of taking responsibility.

He ran into the slums with a dirty face and was taken in by a group of teenagers.

The leader of this group of teenagers is only about 18 years old. Because he dares to fight and kill, even adult thugs are unwilling to mess with him. The leader treats the male protagonist very well, like a father and a brother, and he is willing to sacrifice his life for the leader.

Once the crime got big, the police rushed into the slums to arrest people, and the boss asked them who was willing to take the blame.

The male protagonist's blood boiled and he immediately expressed his willingness.

But he is too young to be credible as the leader of a criminal gang.

The three of them were a criminal gang and they took all the charges against them by the police.

The male protagonist was extremely frightened, and fled at night under the pretext of something, disappearing into the dark wilderness...

The novel is not long, about 70,000 to 80,000 words.

After reading it, Xie Yan felt heavy in his heart and tossed and turned that night with a lot of thoughts in his mind.

The next day, the second brother saw that he had dark circles under his eyes and asked, "Didn't you sleep well?"

"Not bad." Xie Yan answered casually.

Xie Kan said, "Now that the ban on Tears of an Orphan has been lifted, it seems that the court will not only ban child labor, but also rectify institutions such as orphanages and orphanages. They are the source of income for so many people, and I guess there will be a lot of trouble. My father is almost annoyed to death."

Xie Yan asked: "Are the clerks in the Tongpan Hall willing to obey now?"

"Most of them pretend to obey but actually disobey," Xie Kan said, "especially after the reduction of non-staff clerks, all the staff members complain about being short-handed. No matter what tasks they are assigned, they say they are being handled due to a shortage of staff, and they procrastinate all day long while pretending to be very busy."

Xie Yan asked: "How to solve it?"

Xie Kan said: "It's hard to find a three-legged frog, but there are too many people with two legs. If they don't do it, there are plenty of people who will. The province has issued an official document, allowing prefecture and county officials to replace and hire their own clerks, and has also temporarily simplified the relevant procedures."

"I'm afraid this won't work yet." Xie Yan said.

Xie Kan said with a smile: "The officials are afraid of offending the aristocratic families. Just arrest one of the aristocratic families in Huangzhou Prefecture to make an example of them, and the most arrogant one must be arrested. In the past, local officials were worried about running into tough opponents, but now if they run into tough opponents, they can stand out during the reform. Haha, my father is already rubbing his hands in anticipation."

Xie Yan asked: "Although our family is not a big family in Hebei, we are also a gentry. Didn't my father tear our relationship apart when he arrested the gentry in Huangzhou?"

Xie Kan found this question very strange, and asked in return: "What do the gentry of Huangzhou have to do with the gentry of Hebei?"

Xie Yan was speechless.

He felt that gentry belonged to the same class and it was normal for them to protect each other.

But the characterization of class is only broad, while the reality is made up of individual individuals.

I am an official from Hebei Province. What's wrong with arresting you, a member of the Huangzhou clan? No matter how much money you make from exploiting the people, how much can you share with me?

Especially since you used to be so arrogant and thought you had strong backers, you never gave me a good look!

You want to curry favor with me now?

late!

Not only am I too lazy to pay attention to you, even when your son asked my son to play football, my son had heatstroke and stayed at home and refused to accompany you.

Exchange your head for my official hat, what a good deal.

A few more days passed.

Xie Kan stared at the new issue of "Da Ming Weekly" in astonishment, remaining silent for a long time.

Xie Yan asked: "What's wrong?"

Xie Kan swallowed and said, "The Prime Minister is crazy."

Xie Yan quickly leaned over to read the newspaper.

However, the cabinet issued an imperial decree in the name of the emperor, requiring all officials in the capital, as well as the new scholars who had just passed the probation period this year, to be temporarily assigned as inspectors to inspect the country to reduce the number of officials, ban child labor, and regulate charitable organizations.

Xie Yan secretly thought it was awesome.

These temporary inspectors, especially those who were appointed from vacant officials, would probably go crazy and run to local counties to make meritorious deeds.

What's the point of officials protecting each other, being of the same class, is it important if my father is sent away to do something wrong?
Anyway, the first three rows in the court have been killed, and there are only a few left in the first ten rows. The new team is made up of the Empress Dowager and the Prime Minister's people. No matter how strong your background is, can it be stronger than the Emperor?
At worst, we can just avoid investigating the noble families related to the upstarts.

If there really is someone who is so ruthless as to risk his life for the sake of fame, he may even deliberately try to scam the family of the upstart!
What the court is about to release are a group of mad dogs that bite anyone they see.

Xie Kan sighed: "My father may not be able to sleep, as he has to complete a lot of government orders quickly. It's hard for officials to make a living."

Xie Yan laughed with joy.

Xie Kan smacked his lips while looking at the newspaper. "Even the newly crowned number one scholar has been temporarily appointed as an inspector. This is the first time since the founding of the Ming Dynasty. When he was young, Mr. Deng was known for his iron fist, and he is still as powerful as ever. He really dares to use the means of governing the local areas to govern the entire country, and he is not afraid of causing chaos at all."

In the evening, Xie Yiqin dragged his tired body back home.

He discussed this matter with his sons, and said with emotion: "Those new reformers in the court are also human beings. Lord Deng is cutting off his own foundation. If Lord Deng does not die of illness within ten years, he will probably be forced to resign and return home by his fellow reformers. How can he be so tough? After all, he has never been an important official in the central government."

Xie Yan said: "Dad, you haven't done it either."

Xie Yiqin said: "Even if you haven't eaten pork, have you seen pigs run? If a group of mad dogs are released, the family members of the new reformers will surely be bitten. Before the enemy is killed, Mr. Deng has already wielded his own people."

Xie Yan curled his lips.

(That guy is very interesting. He said that Parliament was originally used by the king as an assistant to fight against the great nobles.)
(Since we are talking about the beginning, let’s talk about Simon de Montfort, the founder of the European Parliament. What did he do? He seduced the princess and became the king’s brother-in-law. After his power increased greatly, he forced the king to reform and hand over some power.)
(The first parliament in Europe, the main topic was to limit the king's financial and military power. This guy later went to war with the king, captured a prince, reorganized the parliament and brought in the nobles and citizens to discuss how to limit the king's power. And this time the parliament did not allow the king to participate. In the end, the king was directly deposed.)
(You said that such a parliament is an assistant to the king to fight against the great nobles? King Henry III of England, who was deposed by Parliament, thank you.)
(End of this chapter)