Ming Dynasty: My Brother-in-law is Zhu Youxiao

Foot binding was originally a hobby of scholar-bureaucrats.

Moreover, the scholar-bureaucrats also praised it as "three-inch golden lotus" with their literary talents.

And because of this, it vividly guided the social atmosphere of the entire Ming and Qing dynasties, so that women in the commoner class began to have their feet bound since they were young because they wanted to cater to the hobby of scholar-bureaucrats.

But now the world's wealth is concentrated in the hands of the imperial court, not in the hands of scholar-bureaucrats.

It is no longer the scholar-bureaucrats who control the right to speak in the world, but the imperial court.

But the imperial court naturally paid more attention to the fertility and production attributes of Han women, so it was necessary to ban foot binding so that Han women in the world could have better fertility and production.

Therefore, after Zhang Gui heard the mention from the weaver of the Textile Association, he ordered Chen Zizhuang to write a book, asking for a ban on foot-binding in the world.

The phenomenon of foot binding in Ming Dynasty is not that serious, at least it has not evolved into the common people in the deep mountains and old forests who think that foot binding is a custom required by their ancestors.

Otherwise, people like Qin Liangyu and Zhang Fengyi would not easily become heroines with great military exploits.

Therefore, after the decree prohibiting foot binding is issued, it will not arouse the resentment of too many people, but the scholar-bureaucrats and many merchants who hope to cultivate the Yangzhou skinny horse golden lotus feet to earn high prices will be dissatisfied.

"Even this!"

Wu Weiye complained about this decree, and continued to say to himself: "Chen Zizhuang even criticized that we, the Confucian scholars, believed in Confucius and Mencius and did not follow the way of Confucius and Mencius. We saw that women's feet binding in the world violated filial piety and benevolence, so we turned a blind eye to it. It is pure slander to actively promote the saying that the smaller the feet, the better! We did not persuade good girls to bind their feet. You should sit back and watch him destroy the body passed down by your parents!"

After Wu Weiye complained, the more he thought about it, the more angry he became, so angry that he didn't even plan to drink the porridge in the bowl, and he became even more irritable when he heard the sound of his daughter crying because of bound feet in the back of the house, and immediately shouted: "Okay! Don’t pester her! Anyway, now that the foot-banning order has been issued, no powerful gentry will dare to marry a foot-bound woman to fight against the new policy of the imperial court. What’s the point of pestering her! To avoid being fined and demoted.”

Wu Weiye's wife and concubine behind the house stopped pestering after hearing this, and the crying stopped abruptly.

It's just that Wu Weiye was upset, so he dropped the porridge bowl in his hand on the soft ground, picked it up again, and took it back into the house.

And the imperial court will indeed impose heavy fines on those who still bind their feet despite the edict, and if they refuse to listen three times, they will be exiled to other places.

"Master, Yunxiang and the others have reached the age of footbinding, do you still want to bind your feet?"

Madam Xu, who was in charge of training several adopted daughters for Tian Hongyu, also came to ask Tian Hongyu, who was only a wealthy businessman in Jiangdu, Yangzhou, after hearing that the imperial court had banned foot binding.

After hearing this, Tian Hongyu said angrily: "How can you sell it if you don't bother? Close the doors and windows tightly, cover their mouths, and don't let people outside hear it."

"yes!"

Nanny Xu responded and left Tian Hongyu's place.

And not long after that, there was a knock on the door outside.

For a while, a porter came to Tian Hongyu and said: "My lord! Someone from the county government is here. The third master personally brought them, and said that he would investigate those who violated the order and bound their feet."

As soon as the concierge finished speaking, a large number of government servants rushed in.

Bo Chen Mingyu, who was called the third master, was also ordering at this time: "Go and search immediately to see if there are any signs of foot binding!"

"yes!"

After a while, before Tian Hongyu had time to talk to Chen Mingyu, the servants of the yamen arrested Nanny Xu and carried several little girls whose feet were bound by chairs.

The head of the first group reported to Chen Mingyu: "Third Master, this family is binding the feet of their girls. The subordinates asked, and they all speak Han, and they are all Han girls."

After Chen Mingyu heard this, he looked at Tian Hongyu: "Okay, you are a farmer, you are committing crimes against the wind. Fortunately, the official came to see, otherwise you wouldn't know. You know that the imperial court prohibits foot binding, how dare you Do this. According to the decree, half of the property will be confiscated."

As he spoke, Chen Mingyu ordered: "Copy it for me!"

"yes!"

The Yamen soldiers rushed into the backyard very actively. For them, this was an opportunity to make a fortune, so how could they not be active.

Of course, this is also the reason why they are willing to ban footbinding. After all, this is also an opportunity to generate income.

It's just that if this is the case, the blow to the rich businessman will be a bit heavy.

Tian Hongyu became anxious at this moment, and hurriedly shouted to Chen Mingyu: "Third Master, you, you, can't you be accommodating?"

Chen Mingyu handed over the confession that his subordinates had written temporarily to Tian Hongyu: "Sign and draw!"

Tian Hongyu had no choice but to sign the calligraphy and painting, and after Chen Mingyu left, he sat down on the ground. He didn't expect that he would lose half of his property just because he ignored the footbinding ban and got lucky.

However, it is also because the prohibition of foot binding is carried out in the form of confiscating heavy fines, so it has also suppressed the phenomenon of foot binding very well.

Ten years later in the Ming Dynasty, many girls with natural feet appeared because of this, and this habit of scholar-bureaucrats gradually no longer affected the whole social atmosphere.

But at the moment, there are still bureaucrats and bureaucrats who want to continue wishful thinking to continue to turn the Han people into cattle and horses, wanting the Han people to have no rights and interests, but only want to enjoy all kinds of prosperity for themselves, and then obtain the pleasure of being a privileged class. of.

"This is not good government, it is clearly a bad government that collects money from the people!"

Li Jin'an, who was promoted to governor of Zhejiang due to his meritorious service in the Pingxinan Rebellion, and who is also a great Confucianist at the same time, criticized the imperial edict promulgated by the imperial court to prohibit foot binding.

Even when Li Jin’an was on his way to inspect the prefectures and counties, when he saw that the county magistrate of Chun’an was strictly investigating the phenomenon of foot binding, he beat the local magistrate Yu Jingyu with ten boards on the spot, and threatened to dismiss Yu Jingyu from his official position. The imperial edicts collected money from the people, and the government was harsh, which caused people's resentment to boil.

Yu Jingyu had no choice but to plead guilty and beg for mercy, and sent his concubine to intercede overnight.

Only then did Li Jin'an forgive Yu Jingyu, saying that he would no longer ask Yu Jingyu to be dismissed from office, but also asked Yu Jingyu not to strictly investigate the phenomenon of footbinding.

Even when Li Jinan inspected Chun'an County, he saw that Chun'an County was very rich in folk dramas, and many people often gathered around the temples to watch operas and listen to books. , and greatly dissatisfied.

This made Li Jinan frowned and asked Yu Jingyu: "Who wrote these drama commentaries? How can the common people have the right to laugh and ridicule the gentry and officials? How can they listen to operas and music here instead of farming and mulberry? It's really offensive! Why are the folks in this county so lazy?!"

Yu Jingyu replied: "These drama commentaries were all written by a military official named Yao Zhijing. The common people really liked to listen to them. After all, it was a scandal about many rebellious officials in the dynasty. As for why they didn't do farming and mulberry, it was naturally because it was not a busy season for farming. Come to the temple for entertainment."

Li Jinan frowned even more after hearing this, and asked, "You should build more dikes and dams during the slack season! As a commoner, you don't want to work hard, how can you be so lazy? Your parents are also dereliction of duty! You should take this opportunity to let the They do more things that benefit the country and the people! Instead of spending time here and listening to obscene words, if they become troublesome people, what should they do!"