Chapter 248 0243 [Change customs]

Outside Jinzhou City, a shanty town.

Several yamen officials beat gongs along the street and shouted: "The prefect is recruiting workers. Ten masons, ten carpenters, and ten stonemasons will be paid 35 yuan a day. Another 50 hard laborers will be recruited and the daily fee will be 25 yuan. No matter what kind of craftsman they are, they will pay [-] yuan a day. Two meals of porridge and one dry meal!"

When the news came out, the poor at the bottom moved upon hearing the news.

Under normal circumstances, when they heard that officials were recruiting workers, they would immediately run away in fright.

But many stories about Ju Ming have already spread to the poor areas outside the city.At this moment, many poor people choose to believe that when they hear that money is still in charge of food, they flock to the Yaqian officials to inquire about the situation.

Originally, it was only planned to recruit 400 workers, but in the end, there were as many as [-] people gathered in front of Shi Yuangong.

Shi Yuangong carefully selected a hundred relatively strong ones.

Asking this guy to recruit people is always beyond the plan, and it seems that it is not comfortable to ask for more.

These people will be taken to the mine side, and together with the iron smelters, they will cut down the forest, level the slopes, and build houses.It is necessary to dig away the surface soil to expose the iron ore, and speed up the start of the smelting plant 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 has experience in mining and building farms in Xuzhou. Although his scale is small, he has never eaten pork but has seen pigs running.

According to the mountain situation and the direction of the ore veins, Tu Shen demarcated the living area, mining area and smelting area in just a few days.And ask Zhu Ming to get some craftsmen and coolies to complete the preliminary construction as soon as possible, otherwise it may be delayed after the summer.

As a newcomer, Tu Shen was afraid of danger, so he ran around with two iron bones on his back all day long.

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

"Brother Tu, someone brought it!" Shi Yuangong laughed from afar.

When Tu Shen saw that the manpower was sufficient, he immediately felt relieved.He felt that he was valued, and when the smelter was built and managed for a year or two, he went to Zhu Ming to ask for a career, such as being a government official or something.

Or follow Zhu Taishou's side as a personal follower, and he will definitely be able to stand out in the future.

Tu Shen organized the new craftsmen and coolies into groups, asked them to choose a team leader, and began to assign work tasks.After the arrangements were made, he asked again, "When will the materials be delivered?"

Shi Yuangong said: "I have bought it, and it will be delivered in a few days."

The two chatted while inspecting the construction site.

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

Tu Shen asked, "You stay here for a long time to steal property?"

"There is no theft, I am a private household in the mountains, and my home is over that mountain ridge," the mountain man pointed to the mountain in front of him, hesitating, "I...I have something to sell, it's hard to talk when there are too many people."

Shi Yuangong retreated to the left and right, leaving only Tu Shen and the mountain people, and asked with a smile: "But did you pick the elixir in the mountains and sell it?"

The mountain people whispered: "I heard people say that this is the property of the prefect. To build such a big iron smelting factory, you have to worship Wutong God. My family gave birth to a son, and it will be a few days before the [-]th day. ..."

Tu Shen was confused when he heard this: "Even if according to the local customs, the construction of the Iron Works has to offer sacrifices to gods, what does it have to do with the birth of a son in your family?"

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

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

However, Shi Yuangong was furious and scolded: "You bird man, you are a father in vain, how can you sell your parents and children to sacrifice to gods!"

Shi Yuangong once spread the truth about the demon religion, and he did a lot of pretending to be gods and ghosts, but there really was no bloody human sacrifice.After all, he is a Confucian scholar!
Tu Shen finally understood, grabbed the mountain man by the skirt, and punched him, "Grandpa killed this picky thing!"

"Forgive me! Good man, spare me!" the mountain man shouted in horror, already being beaten with two punches until his eyes stared like gold stars.

Shi Yuangong quickly stopped and asked, "Picking and cutting is popular in Jinzhou?"

Don't you think it's cruel to make young children disabled to beg?However, this is only a derivative meaning of Caishengzhe.

The real picking and cutting is even more terrifying.

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

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

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

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

The imperial court, together with the three religions of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism, jointly attacked Wuzhu during the Song Dynasty.However, it continued to be banned repeatedly, and it was passed down to the early Ming Dynasty. Under Zhu Yuanzhang's severe crackdown, Wu Zhu's cruel atmosphere was finally killed.

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

This is Guangdong and Guangxi in the Northern Song Dynasty.

"In the first year of Chunhua...Xiang Yan, a citizen of Yang County, the governor of Xia Prefecture, and his elder brother Xiang received a total of ten pennies from the rich, so that they could be born...Mr. , to be with the rich..."

This is Sichuan in the Northern Song Dynasty.

"Xiang Wantong, Fuzhou, killed Pi Shisheng, his father and son seven, took the internal organs and head, and sacrificed to the devil..."

This is Hubei in the Northern Song Dynasty.

"Begging to go to Jinghu, Jianghuai, Sichuan, Shaanxi, Guangnan, southern Fujian, prohibit people from storing snake poison and poisonous medicine to kill and sacrifice to demon gods. Those who have killed people will be rewarded with money, and copper coins and large iron coins will be given a hundred guan everywhere."

This is the prefect of Wanzhou in the Renzong Dynasty of the Song Dynasty. He asked the court to ban witchcraft and human sacrifice, and encouraged the people to report such acts, covering most of the territory of the Northern Song Dynasty.

In Jinzhou and Shangzhou, due to the excessive noise, Song Zhenzong once issued an imperial decree to prohibit the worship of evil gods in these two states.

Human sacrifice is also divided into levels——

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

The second class is monks and Taoist priests.They belonged to practitioners, possessed merits and virtues, one was worth two, and ghosts and gods also liked them very much.

The third class is ordinary people.

Women and children are among the most common human sacrifices because they are the easiest to obtain.

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

"Do 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 must not be afraid of breaking the law. The prefect opened an iron smelting factory, and if he didn't sacrifice to the Wutong God, strange things would happen and he would not make money. I was also thinking about the prefect. "

Shi Yuangong asked: "In these four miles and eight villages, is there any murderer who sacrificed to ghosts and gods?"

The mountain people replied: "Mr. Luo at Qinglonggang, in his thirties, only gave birth to girls but not boys. He asked someone to adopt a baby to sacrifice to the ghost, and he gave birth to a boy at home that year. It is very effective!"

"You bastard!" Tu Shen became angrier the more he heard it.

Although there are many thieves in Shandong and demon religion is popular, it is deeply influenced by Confucianism.Even all kinds of 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. Come here, tie this guy up and gag him!"

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

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 Jinzhou to have 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 it is rich in medicinal materials. How can people sacrifice ghosts?
Zhu Ming immediately called Fan Zhun, Guo Wenzhong, Wang Jia and other local subordinates.

Fan Zhun said: "Near the prefectures and counties, there is no such thing. The mountain people are ignorant and believe in ghosts and gods. It is really hard to stop."

Zhu Ming asked, "Which temples are there in Jinzhou?"

Guo Wenzhong said: "The one with the most believers is undoubtedly the Wutong God. In fact, it is the mandrill ghost. The second is the snake fairy. The rest of the evil gods are hard to count, but they are not widely spread. They are only worshiped in one village and one place."

The five-pass god continued until the end of the Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China.Rumor has it that enshrining the Wutong God can confuse women and bring partial wealth, but they are all crooked ways anyway.

Even in the Yuan Dynasty, when ideological management was loose, Wutongshen was a resolute target of the imperial court.

As for the snake fairy, there are many mountains in Jinzhou, and people often go to the mountains to collect medicine and hunt. If you worship the snake fairy, you will not be bitten to death by poisonous snakes.

The rest of the evil gods are in a mess, and there may be a god in every village.

Decades ago, Liu Yi was the prefect of Qianzhou (Ganzhou), where the worship of evil gods was terrifying. During his tenure, more than 3000 witches were destroyed (shamans do not build temples, but worship evil gods at home).

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

"King of medicine." Wang Jia said immediately.

Guo Wenzhong said: "It is rumored that Sun Zhenzhen in the Tang Dynasty once collected medicine in Nanshan, Jinzhou. The five counties of Jinzhou are also rich in medicinal materials, so the medicine merchants gathered funds to build the Yaowang Temple, which is the largest Taoist temple in Jinzhou."

The belief in evil gods is widespread, and apart from enlightenment and customs, it is also influenced by the social environment.

The common people lack entertainment, and their lives are poor and precarious, so they have to believe in something.Blindly destroying the temples of evil gods and prostitutes cannot ban this matter, they must be guided to believe in righteous gods, and even belief in Buddha is better than this thing.

Zhu Ming also called Wu Mao: "Immediately write some official documents."

"The first order ordered the officials in the five counties of Jinzhou to destroy all the temples of evil gods. The temple property was confiscated and kept in the county government treasury. The temple land was distributed to the local people. Temple blessings and practitioners in the temple were arrested and sent to the state prison."

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

As for the guys in the evil temple, Zhu Ming will send them to mine, as long as they don't pay for food!

"The second part is about the King of Medicine, Sun Zhenren, who is the patron saint of the people of Jinzhou. When you are sick and take medicine, Sun Zhenren likes it the most, and he will surely bless the whole family with grace. Even if you have no money to take medicine, you should pray to Sun Zhenren, not Go to worship evil gods. Serving the people of evil gods, Sun Zhenren doesn’t like him, and disasters will happen to future generations. The Taoist priests in the Yaowang Temple, let them go to the mountain villages in various counties to preach! Those who don’t want to go to the mountains to preach, take back their certificates and order them to return to vulgarity.”

"The third official document ordered the officials of the five counties in Jinzhou to strictly investigate those who harvested raw materials, cut them up, killed people and sacrificed to ghosts and gods. The family members of the criminals, regardless of men, women, young or old, and whether they knew about it or not, will be transferred to the Judiciary for trial! Once verified, the house will be ransacked immediately. All the property of the criminal belongs to the informant, and another ten guan is rewarded. The house and shop of the criminal are sold, and the floating wealth is confiscated, [-]% goes to the county government, and [-]% goes to the state government.”

Harvesting raw animals, cutting them, killing people and offering sacrifices to ghosts are capital punishment cases.The county government does not have the power to try, and has to be handed over to the state court and the Sisi Yuan, so there is no need to worry about making unjust cases (the subordinate officials must take the opportunity to blackmail and disturb the people).

Rectifying law and order, improving people's livelihood, and changing customs are all things that must be done.

Ju Ming has already decided to raise troops in Hanzhong and Jinzhou, in order to develop his territory well.

Education can’t be relaxed either. Zhu Ming said: “Write again... Well, there is no need to write official documents. Let the subordinates secretly spread the news, saying that this year Zhizhou will preside over the state examination, and Zhizhou likes math most. Jinzhou Mathematical School’s "Zhu Shi Mathematical Classics was written by the prefect. This year's state exam may have math questions."

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

Zhu Ming said with a smile: "I don't have to take the test, but they have to believe it."

(End of this chapter)

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