Early the next morning, Guo Song arrived at Yunyang County, escorted by hundreds of soldiers. Yunyang County is one of the twenty counties under Jingzhao Prefecture. It is located on the north bank of the Wei River, northeast of Chang'an, and less than a hundred miles away from Chang'an.
Yunyang County Magistrate Zhao Jun was one of the Guanzhong officials valued by Guo Song. He was originally a Fengtian County Lieutenant and was promoted to county magistrate two levels in a row. In the examination arranged by Guo Song, he strongly advocated the abolition of slavery and the banning of all humble status.
, everyone is equal.
Yunyang County is not a small county, with a population of about 200,000. The residents mainly farm, and there are endless farmlands scattered around the county.
County magistrate Zhao Jun led a group of officials to welcome Guo Song at the gate of the county town. Zhao Jun was about thirty-five or six years old, of medium build and handsome. He bowed and saluted Guo Song, and introduced the county magistrate, county captain and
Main book.
Guo Song comforted everyone and entered the county town surrounded by officials.
This time he made a surprise attack without any prior notice, and the county had no time to prepare. Everything appeared in front of Guo Song in its true colors.
The streets in the county town are relatively clean, with no branches. There are dense shops on both sides of the streets, with people coming and going. There are donkey carts and ox carts transporting goods everywhere. The streets are extremely lively, with constant hawking, and full of life.
Guo Song secretly praised that this was the kind of business he wanted to see. Zhao Jun and others were quite nervous, fearing that His Highness the King of Jin would dislike the county as being too messy. However, His Highness the King of Jin looked good and seemed to appreciate the liveliness of the county.
They relaxed a little.
Everyone came to the county government office. Guo Song sat down in the back hall. The tea boy served tea. Guo Song took a sip of hot tea and asked: "The situation in Yunyang County looks good. Is there anything troublesome now?"
"Reporting to Your Highness, Yunyang County has a good foundation, fertile farmland, and the current situation is pretty good. The people live and work in peace and contentment, and the price of food is stable. Currently, the price of rice is 50 guan, but the land price is relatively expensive. One acre of farmland costs 15 guan, which is still the money of the founding fathers.
Price, new money is no longer charged for buying land, Beizhi feels that the issue of new money may be a very thorny hidden danger."
Guo Song nodded. Du You also mentioned the issue of new money yesterday. People know that new money is inherently poor. Zhu Si used to force him to use it even if he didn't want to use it. Now Zhu Si has been driven away. This kind of money is of poor quality.
Money will be eliminated sooner or later, and everyone begins to resist new money in their hearts.
Guo Song slowly said to everyone: "The problem of new money is indeed the legacy left by Zhu Si. To eliminate these legacy, we can only do it step by step. At present, we have raised a batch of Kaiyuan old money and are preparing to gradually exchange it for the money in the hands of the people."
Of course, the new money cannot be released all at once. There are fixed quotas, such as how many coins each household can exchange. It may be launched next month. There is no specific plan yet. You have to appease the people. The government will recognize the new money step by step.
If you exchange it for old money, it will not become invalid."
Everyone has been worried about this matter for a long time. After listening to Guo Song's words, the officials suddenly breathed a sigh of relief. Zhao Jun said happily: "Your Highness has expressed his stance. We can also make some promises to the people. Otherwise, walking on the street will always be...
Some people are holding new money and asking us if the money can still be used? The answer is no, and the answer is no. It is really embarrassing."
Guo Song nodded, "You tell the people that the new money can be used normally. In a few days, an official letter from the Jin Palace will be sent to all counties, giving everyone a clear answer."
After talking about the new money, Guo Song turned the topic back to the purpose of his visit today. He pondered for a while and said: "I saw a report the day before yesterday. Yunyang County wants to thoroughly investigate the slave households. I am more interested in this, so
I made a special trip to Yunyang County for investigation."
Everyone looked at each other in shock. It turned out that His Highness King Jin was here for this matter. Zhao Jun bowed and said: "I will report this matter to Your Highness from my humble position!"
Guo Song waved his hand, "Everyone, please sit down! I'm just here to conduct research. Please be casual and don't be too nervous. Magistrate Zhao will report and you can add to it."
Everyone ran to move some chairs, and four county officials sat down on both sides. Zhao Jun said: "Bizhi has always strongly advocated the abolition of slavery, but the abolition of slavery cannot be decided by Yunyang County alone, so we want to do some basic things well.
Find out the details of slaves and slave households, and register them all so that the county can know how many slaves there are in Yunyang County? When slavery is abolished in the future, no one will take advantage of it."
"This is a good idea. Take it step by step and find out the family background first. But why did you think of starting from a black slave household?"
"This was triggered by a case. Lieutenant Zhu County, you are handling this case and you will report it."
Zhu Changgui, the county lieutenant next to him, quickly leaned forward and said: "Your Highness, here's what happened. About the fifth day of the first lunar month, the county received a report from a woman. She said that her daughter had been abducted and sold into slavery. She had been looking for it for many years, and finally found her in
We found a music studio in Yunyang County, and then we went to the music studio to investigate and found that there were more than a dozen musicians in the music studio who had no identity. Later, the proprietor had to admit that these dozen music girls were slaves and gangsters, so we just
The prevalence of black slave households was discovered.”
"Where is the woman who reported the case just now?" Guo Song returned to the original topic. For some reason, he always felt a little concerned about this case.
"That woman's daughter is not a black slave. She is indeed a female slave. She is a deed of sale issued by Yong County. Because she is a legal slave, we cannot take her away by force. After negotiation, the little lady will temporarily live in Lefang
, when her mother redeems it, Lefang offers fifty guan and gives her mother three years."
Guo Song was slightly unhappy and said: "Since she is a trafficked young lady, why doesn't the government redeem her and reunite her mother and daughter?"
Several officials showed embarrassment on their faces. Zhao Jun said after a while: "There are too many such things. The most we can do is help lower the price. The owner of Lefang offered fifty guan, and we lowered the price to 30 guan. Both sides
Signed the agreement."
"Where are the dozen slaves?"
"Currently they are still living in Lefang. They have no identity or parents. They are willing to learn a craft and make a living, but they refuse to leave."
Guo Song stood up and said, "Let's go to Lefang to have a look."
This kind of slave trade is indeed a headache. It cannot be solved by a ban. The key lies in the consciousness of the general people. They regard the slave trade as a very common thing, and even the slaves themselves have no sense of resistance.
The name of the band is Dujuan Band. On the one hand, the band is a music school, training female students and musicians to play the pipa, sing, and dance. On the other hand, it is also a commercial performance organization, which is usually used for weddings and funerals in the Tang Dynasty.
Lucky will come to add to the fun, and major restaurants will also invite Lucky to stay. Even if a dignitary likes a certain beautiful Lucky, he will pay to redeem her. Generally speaking, Lucky is still a relatively profitable place.
Basically every county has this business.
There are two ways to source a happy girl. One is a female slave bought from a young age. This kind of happy girl basically has no income, and the owner of the happy shop provides food and accommodation.
The other type is active practitioners. This kind of people need to change their nationality, from a commoner's place of origin to a lowly one such as a prostitute or a prostitute. However, no matter which way it is, once you enter the industry, it is not easy to get out. Generally, after you are in your thirties,
When old age and beauty fade, the old man will marry a business woman or a fellow musician.
Only a few are good-looking and lucky enough to be favored by dignitaries and become concubines of wealthy families. For example, Zhang Lei's concubine was Le Ji Congliang who married him.
However, Guo Song issued an order to deregister last year and abolished the lowly status. If she were not a slave, Le Ji with ordinary lowly status would be a commoner. She could leave and change her career at any time. This has been implemented in Hedong and other places, and soon Guanzhong will also
implement.
Not long after, a group of people arrived at Lefang. At this time, Zhao Jun pointed to a woman selling tofu at a stall opposite and said: "That is the woman who complained. She set up a stall here to sell tofu and was staring at her daughter!
"
Guo Song saw the woman and saw that she was about forty years old. Her face was full of vicissitudes of life and she could tell that she had suffered a lot. Guo Song asked casually: "What is her name?"
"Her surname is also Guo. She is from Mingsha County, Lingzhou. She seems to be called Guo Ping!"
Guo Song was slightly stunned, it was actually Mingsha County? But then a look of shock appeared on his face. This woman's name was... Guo Ping?
The place of birth is right and the name is right. Could it be... that it's her?
Guo Song's predecessor was from Mingsha County, Lingzhou. Both his parents were dead and he had only one sister. Later, he married to Fengxiang Mansion, which is Qizhou. Guo Song specifically asked Liang Yundao to help find her. A few years ago, Liang Yundao found out about the whereabouts of this eldest sister.
, but when we found her house, her house had been deserted and her whereabouts were missing. The neighbors also came later and had no idea at all.
Liang Yun told Guo Song that his eldest sister was named Guo Ping. She married a small businessman from the same county named Zhou Liang and made a living by making tofu in Yong County. Since Mingsha County was repeatedly invaded by the Xue Yantuo people and was unsafe, Guo Ping followed her husband.
She moved to Yong County, but Zhou Liang died of illness ten years ago. She became a widow, raising a son and a daughter. Life was very difficult. The family disappeared five years ago, and their whereabouts are now unknown.
"When was her daughter abducted?" Guo Song asked quietly.
"Her petition said that five years ago, her daughter was ten years old, and now she is fifteen."
"What's her daughter's last name?"
"It seems his surname is Zhou."
The names also match, this middle-aged woman is most likely his eldest sister.
At this moment, Guo Song felt an indescribable sadness in his heart. That poor woman turned out to be his eldest sister. No wonder he had a strange feeling just now and was very concerned about her case.
Guo Song no longer wanted to go to Lefang, so he ordered: "Go back to the county office!"
He turned his horse around and returned to the county government office. Not knowing what had happened, everyone hurriedly followed him and walked to the gate of the county government office. Guo Song said to Zhao Jun: "The abduction and trafficking case needs to be retried, and it will be tried now. The abducted children are not allowed to be sold as slaves."
The slave's contract of sale is not valid, and the owner of Lefang who bribed and trafficked children must be severely punished and sentenced to death!"
Everyone was stunned. Guo Song's personal soldier guessed Zhao Jun and advised Guo Song: "Your Highness, maybe we can trace the child abductor from the owner of Lefang."
Guo Song said coldly: "The child's body deed is handled by Yong County, and you can check it from Yong County."
"Your Highness, it's so long ago that it may not be possible to find out, and if the proprietor of Lefang doesn't buy it, that little lady's fate will probably be even more tragic."
Guo Song understood the more tragic meaning, that is, being sold to a brothel. He thought for a moment, nodded, and said to the county magistrate Zhao Jun: "He can be spared his death, but the kidnapped child is not allowed to be a slave. Her slave status