Under a big tree at the edge of the village, Zhao Jun's face turned unhappy when he heard about the stories of eating up the whole family and selling people's wives and daughters.

Eating up the entire family was an appalling custom in feudal society.

Generally speaking, it refers to a couple who dies without children or heirs.

The land, properties, house foundations, gold, silver and jewelry they purchased during their lifetime would be seized by other landlords and gentry.

The land and houses would be sold for money, which the squire would then use to host a grand banquet in the village, entertaining every household until the money was spent.

This phenomenon is relatively normal. After all, when a person dies, everything is over. Ancient villages were closed societies. If there was no one to inherit, it would be better to have a universal village.

Another situation is that a couple dies without children, but has relatives such as brothers and sisters. In this case, most of the property will be divided up by their brothers and sisters. Whether to hold a banquet depends on their mood.

Anyway, inheriting the property of brothers and sisters is a normal phenomenon. In this way, the ones who are wiped out are not the people in the village, but the relatives of the couple.

But there is also an extreme.

That is, if the male owner dies without a son, or the son is still young and has not grown up, then the clan relatives will also divide up their property, even if the female owner is still alive.

A typical example is Lu Xun. When Lu Xun's father died of illness when he was fifteen years old, the clan held a meeting to divide up their family property. For a time, his family situation became increasingly difficult and the world became indifferent.

Lu Xun was relatively lucky, at least there were male members in his family, so he left them some houses and land and did not have to drive them out.

In most other cases, if there are no male members in the family, leaving only wives and daughters, the fate is often very tragic.

Unless the hostess's family background is strong, being driven out and left on the streets is considered a light punishment. In serious cases, she may even be sold to a brothel or simply beaten to death.

However, selling the body to a brothel or beating it to death is against human ethics after all. So in order to prevent the villagers from pointing fingers at them, the relatives also have to prepare a banquet and use part of the deceased's property to hold the banquet to stop the villagers from making false accusations.

Now when Zhao Jun heard such an extreme case appear in front of him, he felt very uncomfortable.

Seeing his grim expression, Jiang Dalang beside him asked in a low voice, "Dean?"

"It's okay, go back first."

Zhao Jun waved his hand.

"yes."

Everyone then walked towards the convoy.

After crossing the bridge, Yang Gao, Yang Cha, Wang Anshi and others came over.

Yang Gao was very good at observing his expression. Seeing that he looked unhappy, he asked, "Dean, what's wrong?"

"There are so many bad habits among the people that I'm worried about."

Zhao Jun sighed.

Then he talked about the matter of the family being wiped out.

He went on to say, "The practice of pawning daughters, eating up the entire family, and pawning wives and daughters, serfs, and foot binding, which was popular among the gentry during the Southern Tang Dynasty, are all dregs. They harmed countless people, especially women, who were particularly severely persecuted."

"more than."

Wang Anshi shook his head and said, "As far as I know, in the south, there are still practices of infanticide, human burial, and human sacrifice. This is especially prevalent in areas like Hunan, Hubei, Guangdong, and Guangxi, and Fujian. Human burials are mostly performed on women and children, while human sacrifices are performed on men, especially Confucian scholars and monks."

Chen Xiliang also said, "Yes, when I was the magistrate of Changsha, I heard that the villagers in Liuyang only raised two sons and one daughter, assuming they would drown if they had more. I also heard about the local custom of offering sacrifices. In the Central Plains, sacrifices are often made to the Five Manifestations God and the Four Ministers, while in the South, sacrifices are often made to the Lengzheng Ghost and the Five Gods. Normally, livestock are offered as sacrifices, but some desperate people, hoping for overnight wealth, kill people and sacrifice them alive. They are truly lawless."

"Speaking of this sacrifice, I once heard a colleague who worked in Ezhou say that outside the lake, people sacrificed people to ghosts. They would gouge out the eyes of children and women while they were still alive, cut off their ears and noses, bury them in traps, and pour boiling water over them, causing their skin to erode. They did everything they could to the devil."

"And then there's infanticide. It used to be quite common. There were poor farmers in Yue and E who would kill their sons by plunging them into basins of water at birth. If it were a boy, it wouldn't be a problem. Now that the country is prosperous, the villagers can't say they have luxurious clothes and food, but most of them have enough to eat and wear. But they're worried about girls."

"Yes, I heard that in the south, people are particularly wary of adopting girls. They kill them by pouring cold water on them at birth. Their parents can't bear it, so they usually close their eyes and back, then press their hands into a basin of water. The baby will whimper for a long time before dying."

"Alas, I've heard of this kind of thing when I was a local official. It's really heartbreaking and makes people cry."

Zhao Pin, Yang Cha, Su Huan, Li Xiaoji and others also spoke up.

"Hmm"

Zhao Jun's brows furrowed even more, and then he shook his head and said, "This is truly appalling and outrageous, Dalang."

"Zhiyuan."

Jiang Dalang came over quickly.

"Send someone to notify the Lincheng government, and have them call the head of the local farmers' association."

Zhao Jun said.

"yes."

Jiang Dalang immediately asked someone to bring a few horses and left quickly with several people.

Zhao Jun clasped his hands behind his back and addressed the crowd sternly, "I know these outdated customs won't change overnight, but now that I've encountered them, I simply can't stand idly by. This time, as I travel the world, I must rectify moral standards and cultivate morality. The problems in the south are deeply rooted and may not be resolved overnight, but the customs in the north are not as stubborn. Join me in eradicating this cancer."

"Your Honorable Court Order."

Everyone bowed in agreement.

Zhao Jun returned to the carriage, sat in it and closed his eyes to rest.

He had also heard of such bad habits. In fact, as a history student, he knew a lot about bad habits and customs in ancient times, and he had read many records of cannibalism in history books before.

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