The literary giants of the late Ming Dynasty began by copying books

Chapter 178 The phenomenon of infant drowning

Wang Jingui asked quickly: "What's going on?"

Chen Huicai shook his head and said, "You won't cry when you are born. Po Wen patted her twice and said she was gone."

Looking at Chen Huicai's gloomy face, Wang Wenlong knew that he was lying.

After hearing this, Wang Jingui was silent for a while and nodded. Everyone looked at each other, stopped talking, and all lowered their heads to do things.

After a while, Wang Wenlong called Wang Jingui and several workers to inquire.

"What's going on?"

Wang Jingui sighed: "What else can I say? Most likely, she will not give birth to a son after giving birth to a daughter. What a pity, she has already died before she even tried to cry."

It took Wang Wenlong a long time to realize what Wang Jingui meant by "not raising a child".

"Not lifting the baby" is a very vivid way of saying: after the baby is born, Wenpo "lifts the baby up and examines it. If it is a girl, she will put it in the basin with one hand and ask: Is it alive?" She says: "No." Then she sits down and picks up the baby. Pour your head into the water, and then it will pour, but there will be no sound, then you will put it back up..."

To hold a baby up and look at it and ask questions is called "lifting", and accordingly, the organization that specializes in adopting abandoned babies is called "lifting the child warehouse".

Wang Wenlong's expression instantly changed from surprise to seriousness. He pointed to a remote place next to him and said in a calm voice: "Call Chen Huicai over."

After a while, Chen Huicai came over wiping his hands and looked at Wang Wenlong curiously.

"Did your child die in infancy or drowned?"

Chen Huicai rolled his eyes slightly and said, "He must have died young."

"Is the child a boy or a girl?"

Chen Huicai remained silent.

Wang Wenlong still didn't understand what it meant. Although he had heard about the incident of Ni Ying in ancient times, this was the first time he had experienced such a thing personally after coming to this era for so long.

He asked coldly: "How much money do you pay per month?"

Chen Huicai said to him: "Master, please stop asking."

Wang Wenlong said sharply: "Let me ask you, how much?"

"Fifty taels of silver..."

Wang Wenlong said angrily: "Can't five taels of silver support a baby girl?"

Seeing that Chen Huicai was silent, Wang Wenlong shouted directly: "Come here from the accountant, give him this month's salary, and take him to see the official after paying the money!"

Wang Jingui and the accountant both ran over and looked at Wang Wenlong in surprise.

Chen Huicai also reacted and was instantly excited: "What do you mean by saying this? I didn't do anything wrong!"

"My family has already had two daughters, and this is the third. If we don't drown her to death and make her soul fearful and afraid to come back, won't there be an endless supply of women in the future? Where did I go wrong?"

Listening to his words, Wang Wenlong became more and more surprised.

The phenomenon of drowning girls in Fujian, Jiangnan, and Jiangxi during the Ming Dynasty has always been very serious. The main reason was that people's productivity was too low at this time.

At this time, people need to pay a poll tax, and if there is one more person in the family, they will have to pay an extra tax.

Coupled with the traditional patriarchal thinking: giving birth to a boy, the child will not eat much when he is young, but when he is raised in his early ten years, he will be able to work in the fields and become a labor force in the future. Generally speaking, it is acceptable, but raising a daughter will take more time when she grows up. Marrying into someone else's family is often considered to be an added burden.

At the same time, with the development of the economy, the local custom of generous marriages became increasingly serious. During the Wanli period, even poor families had to spend several years of savings to pay the dowry of their girls. Otherwise, the husband and the aunt would definitely abuse their married daughters in the future.

Due to the combination of various factors, the trend of drowning girls became prevalent. This trend had long attracted the attention of the imperial court. During the Chenghua period, the imperial court formulated the "Regulations on Prohibiting the Marriage of Extravagant and Drowning Women", requiring local governments to crack down on the custom of lavish marriage. At the same time, Neighbors are required to supervise and report anyone who drowned a baby girl, and the house where the girl was drowned will be punished according to the crime of "murdering the children and grandchildren for the sake of reason", and at least they will be sent to the army.

When Hai Rui was an official in Zhejiang, he also issued a "Forbidden Treaty" to inform the people, clearly spelling out the laws that people could easily break. It also explicitly stated, "It is forbidden to drown a girl to hurt her own flesh and blood," because many people didn't even think that this was the case. It's a crime. Historically, a few decades later, Feng Menglong came to Shouning to serve as an official and wrote a "Notice on the Prohibition of Drowning Women."

In addition to local officials trying their best to persuade the baby to survive, scholar-officials who were willing to do good deeds and meritorious deeds also donated money.

For example, decades ago, the county magistrate of Lanxi, Zhejiang Province stipulated that if there were three girls in the family, they would be exempted from the labor force.

Decades later, Feng Menglong became a county magistrate in Fujian and donated most of his salary to raise a baby girl.

Even at this time, monks and Taoists tried to use religious methods to persuade people not to drown babies.

At this time, the eminent monk Yunqi Zuhong wrote in his "Self-Knowledge Record" that he advised believers: "If you see a child who is drowning, if you advise him not to adopt him, one life will be worth fifty good deeds; if you advise him not to drown his child, one life will be worth thirty good deeds; Adopting an ownerless and abandoned baby, one life is worth twenty-five good deeds." "If parents kill their children without guilt, they are killing the people of the world, so they are guilty of a serious crime."

However, although many methods have been tried, the actual effect is very limited. The phenomenon of drowning girls was repeatedly banned in the Ming and Qing dynasties.

……

When Li Guoxian entered the study, he saw Wang Wenlong sitting at the desk angry.

"Brother Wang." Li Guoxian said worriedly.

Wang Wenlong shook his head and said that he was fine, but lamented: "No one cares about it even if they want to..."

After Wang Wenlong asked Chen Huicai, he learned that his family had given birth to three daughters in a row, and all three baby girls were drowned.

Although he has asked people to drive Chen Huicai away, it is too difficult to further arrest Chen Huicai and see the official.

Chen Huicai insisted that the child died at birth and the body was sent away. Unless the neighbors or the midwife were willing to come forward to complain, there would be no way to catch his problem.

Regarding the situation of infant drowning, although people feel pity for the baby at this time, it is difficult to say anything.

Fujian has a small land and a large population, and the contradiction between man and land is serious. Infant drowning is all too common at this time.

It is not uncommon for Chen Huicai to drown three baby girls. Some even crazier families have more girls. They even use more cruel methods such as burning and burning to kill them because of superstition, thinking that this can scare the baby girls from giving birth to more girls. Reborn in their home.

Although Wang Wenlong had read about infant drowning in literature in his previous life, he was still shocked by the ignorance and cruelty of this era when he came into contact with it for the first time.

Li Guoxian whispered: "Brother Wang, don't be sad. Girls have been so pitiful since ancient times."

"What do you think the problem is?" Wang Wenlong suddenly asked Li Guoxian.

"Because women cannot do heavy work, and they have to marry into other people's families after they are raised, which is of no benefit to their own families, so poor families naturally don't like women."

The fundamental reason for women's low status is that women made little contribution to production and life in the agricultural era, which required manual labor.

Economic status determines social status. This truth can be seen clearly even in the eyes of people at this time.

Li Guoxian comforted him and said, "Brother Wang, don't be angry. No matter how kind-hearted you are, this matter cannot be changed by just a few people."

Wang Wenlong suddenly asked: "Do you think this matter cannot be changed?"

Li Guoxian said: "This has been like this since ancient times. Is there any other way?"

Wang Wenlong took a deep breath and said: "I thought of a way to help the woman, maybe it can change the fundamental problem."

"Basic problem?"

Before, Wang Wenlong had no specific idea about where to invest the money earned from the "Xun Bao", but now he has made up his mind.

Wang Wenlong nodded: "I want to open a women's textile factory."

(End of this chapter)