Chang Sangui is a farmer in Renhe County, but his two acres of thin land are not enough. He can only make a living by eating from the sea and fishing.
The eldest son died in a shipwreck, the second son was disabled, the eldest daughter was married, the second daughter and the younger daughter...all drowned!
Since the Chenghua Dynasty, drowning of female infants has been popular in the south, especially in Jiangxi and Zhejiang, which are also the two provinces where people live the most difficult lives.
As early as the Chenghua period, a royal censor reported to the court that people in Wenzhou, Taizhou, and Chuzhou in Zhejiang Province often drowned after giving birth to baby girls. The emperor summoned the capital procuratorate to report the matter, and the officials of the capital procuratorate replied:
"This disadvantage is not limited to these three prefectures, but also applies to Ningbo, Shaoxing, and Jinhua in Zhejiang, as well as Fujian, Jiangxi, and Nanzhili."
In the 10th year of Hongzhi, Wang Xun, the magistrate of Yongjia County, said: "The dowry of a married woman's family can cost thousands of gold, and she sells her property and pours all her money into it. If her habits are not different, those who are sick and unable to marry will often fail to raise children." This is the reason.
The reason why the baby girl was drowned was attributed to the high dowry.
"Wenzhou Prefecture Chronicles" compiled during the Wanli period also said that even though the local middle-class families, married girls must give a sufficient dowry, and most girls were abandoned after they were born.
There is also a record: "If a married woman goes bankrupt, many rich families do not give birth to their daughters. There are those who are over forty and cannot have wives. Even if they are good families, robbing marriages is a common practice."
This is no longer a problem of not being able to raise a child, but a problem of not being able to marry a daughter. Even wealthy families choose to drown their baby girls.
This situation lasted until the late Ming Dynasty. The mother of Chen Que, a thinker in the late Ming Dynasty, said: "I have never done anything negative in my life, but I gave birth to a daughter at the age of twenty-four and drowned her. I still hate her."
It’s no wonder that Tang Fengyi, the censor of Zhejiang Province whom we mentioned earlier, would forcibly set the marriage age for men and women in Zhejiang. Men must be married when they are twenty years old and women are fifteen years old. Violators will be punished by law. There is a government order and no dowry will be given.
The family can also successfully marry off their daughter.
Chang Sangui was like this. In order to marry his daughter, he almost went bankrupt.
Even though his in-laws were ordinary farmers, the dowry must not be shabby, otherwise he would be laughed at and be unable to lift his head. He moved here and there, sold an acre of thin farmland, and went to sea to fish for sharks with others, and finally collected enough for a dowry of eight taels of silver.
Fortunately, the second daughter and the younger daughter had already drowned, otherwise it would have been Chang Sangui's turn to jump into the sea.
Unfortunately, the eldest son died in a shipwreck, and the second son's foot was also lame, so he could not get his dowry back by marrying a wife.
"Sangui, come here and help me!" the foreman shouted.
"Hey, here we come!" Chang Sangui ran quickly.
Chang Sangui's dilapidated house and thin fields were all within the scope of demolition, and were not used to build a seaport, but to build warehouses and build roads. He had a clean fortune and was a demolition household, so he was hired as a worker.
I don't do anything else, just help unload the goods and then take care of the goods.
The warehouse is still under construction. An open space has been carved out, and a simple bamboo shed has been set up with bamboo poles. All the goods that are about to be shipped to the sea are piled here.
I heard that merchants from all over the place surrounded the Governor's Mansion because the ship promised by the Governor had not yet arrived, and the Qiantang Navy was patrolling against pirates. These merchants were afraid that their goods would not be sold.
In Chang Sangui's mind, Governor Wang is a good official.
It is obvious that a good official is a good official. All the occupied Susukaku fields in Chang Sangui's home were compensated according to the price of fertile land, and Governor Wang also arranged work. He got the job of the warehouse himself, and his wife was recruited to wash clothes for the soldiers. The wages were paid one day at a time.
Much better than before.
What a pity, my son is careless!
His son actually lost all his family's demolition compensation, and still owed dozens of taels of silver. How could Chang Sangui afford to pay back?
The son has been detained and has three days to pay to redeem him, otherwise he will be thrown into the sea to feed the fish.
However, the other party gave him a way to survive. As long as Chang Sangui complied, he would not only wipe out the dozens of gambling debts, but also receive a reward of 100 taels of silver, and even promise to arrange a marriage for his son.
"Sangui, where are you going? You are about to go out to collect your wages!" ex-neighbor Li Si shouted.
Chang Sangui was taken aback and replied: "It's coming, it's coming!"
Chang Sangui went out to queue up to collect the completion money, then quietly turned around and went back without being discovered because there were so many people.
It was getting dark, and an official came to check the goods. Chang Sangui was already familiar with the terrain. He listened to the footsteps and played hide and seek with the official. After going around for a while, he finally escaped the official's inspection.
"Governor Wang, you are a good official, but my son also needs to live. I'm sorry."
Chang Sangui squatted in the corner and took out a fire stick and a ball of collodion. All the surrounding goods were covered with tarpaulins. That thing was waterproof but not fireproof, and it would burn into a large area!
Guncotton burns quickly and can burn countless goods just by throwing it on a tarp.
However, Chang Sangui hesitated and squatted there in a daze. When most of the guncotton in his hand was gone, he gritted his teeth and decided to throw it out.
At this moment, there was a noise outside.
…
A quarter of an hour ago.
Wang Yuan was dealing with those merchants and promised that before the Qiantang Tide comes, countless ships will arrive in Hangzhou.
At this moment, the officer came in and said, "Master, there is a woman outside. She said she has something important to report, but she can't be driven away no matter how hard she drives her away."
Wang Yuan was so annoyed by the merchants that he wanted to go out for some air, so he stood up and said, "I'll go see them. Everyone, wait a moment."
Outside the Tutu Temple, a peasant woman was kneeling. She had gray hair and wrinkles on her face. She was actually only in her forties.
"Master Governor!"
The peasant woman was a little scared when she saw Wang Yuan, but she still knelt and climbed forward.
Wang Yuan smiled and said: "Get up and talk."
The peasant woman refused to get up and kept kowtowing: "Please, Lord Governor, spare my man the death penalty!"
Wang Yuan thought he was here to cause trouble again, so he frowned and asked, "What is the capital crime?"
The peasant woman kowtowed and said, "The governor has agreed first, and then I dare to speak."
Wang Yuan said casually: "Okay, I will spare him the death penalty. Just tell him quickly."
The peasant woman said again: "Please save my son's life, Mr. Governor!"
Wang Yuan became more and more curious: "Who wants to kill your son?"
The peasant woman hesitated and said: "Zhao Yidao from Min'anfang in the south of the city lured my son into gambling and forced my man to burn down the warehouse..."
"Someone is coming!"
Wang Yuan was suddenly startled, and before the peasant woman finished speaking, he shouted: "Qing Shi, take fifty sergeants and go to Min'anfang in the south of the city to capture Zhao Yidao. Send someone to inform the county government to arrest the rest together."
People, follow me to the warehouse to put out the fire, hurry, hurry, hurry!"
Wang Yuan hit his horse and ran wildly. When he met people along the way, he shouted: "Follow me to put out the fire. If you succeed, you will be rewarded heavily!"
When they arrived at the warehouse, the soldiers had been thrown away, but hundreds of civilians and officers gathered along the way.
When Wang Yuan rushed into the warehouse, there was nothing strange in the first warehouse, and there was nothing strange in the second warehouse... Until the third warehouse, he saw a fire burning in the corner.
"damn it!"
Wang Yuan couldn't help but swear. If this warehouse burned down, there would be no way to explain to the merchants that they were all things that were temporarily stored here without money.