Chapter 77: The Week of the Week
Liu Yanzi said that there were not only this one child in the human traffickers' den, but seven or eight other children, including many boys and girls. The youngest was still breastfeeding, and the oldest was only six or seven years old.
Among these children, most of the girls were sold to nearby villages to be child brides for poor people. Xiaomei was sold in this way, and her daughter almost followed the same path.
However, Xiaomei was lucky and met Song Quan. Ping'er might not be so lucky. Once she was sold to a poor family, she would have to work and take care of the whole family at a young age. Such children often died before they grew up.
Boys who were a little luckier would be sold to childless families for adoption, those who were unlucky would be sold as slaves, and those who could not be sold would be sent to a circus troupe as apprentices, just like Zhao Xiao back then.
In ancient times, people didn’t have family planning. If they got pregnant, they gave birth. If they couldn’t afford to raise the baby, they sold it or threw it away. There was no psychological pressure at all. It’s just a pity for these children, who were deprived of their own lives at such a young age.
At the morning court today, the emperor came late for the first time ever.
The ministers stood in the hall and waited for half an hour but no one came. No one informed them whether they could rest today, so they could only stand there and wait.
It was almost noon when Song Yuzhu walked in from outside the hall.
All the officials knelt on the ground and shouted: "Long live the emperor."
"Get up, put off everything else for today, I have something important to say!"
"I have a servant who grew up with me. After he got married, he had a little girl, but she was kidnapped by human traffickers on the street yesterday."
The ministers stood up and looked at each other, wondering why the emperor said this.
"If this is the case under the emperor's feet, then other places must be even more flooded!"
Upon hearing this, Yan Shuo, the city defense commander, was so frightened that he fell to his knees and said, "Your Majesty, please forgive me. I will have my men patrol more strictly to prevent such things from happening again."
"You can prevent it for a while, but you can't prevent it forever. The trafficking of children must be eradicated at the root to prevent it from happening again!"
The Minister of Justice Zhang Qikai stepped forward and said, "In ancient times, there was a law that those who kidnapped and sold people as slaves would be hanged, those who sold them as subordinates would be exiled 3,000 miles away, and those who sold them as wives, concubines, and children would be sentenced to three years in prison. However, human traffickers are cunning and often disguise themselves as the children's parents to sell them. In addition, many people in the society are too poor to raise their children, so this has been repeatedly banned, and the government has turned a blind eye to it. The people did not report it, and the government did not punish it."
Human trafficking is a big problem. There is no such thing as human rights in feudal society. In other words, the poor people themselves are a kind of commodity.
Many people could not survive and voluntarily sold themselves into slavery.
If there are buyers, there will naturally be fewer people who don’t want to sell, which is why human traffickers are so rampant.
It is not easy to resolve this issue. Take the Song family for example. Many of the servants in the mansion were bought from slave shops. If the purchase of slaves is prohibited, these servants may not even have enough food to eat.
Besides, the feudal social system was not formed in one day, so even if Song Yuzhu wanted to change it, he couldn't change it suddenly.
After much thought, the only option was to raise the age for buying and selling. "Men and women under the age of ten, unless they voluntarily sell themselves into slavery, are not allowed to be bought and sold." Children in ancient times matured early, and were almost little adults at the age of ten.
When Song Quan came to the mansion to accompany him, he was also ten years old. After all, in many places, girls get married at the age of thirteen.
The Ministry of Revenue immediately knelt down and said, "Your Majesty, this must not be allowed. If young children are sold, they may still survive. If they are not allowed to be sold, those ignorant village women will drown their babies after giving birth!"
Song Yuzhu was silent. He forgot that the people in that era were fierce and uneducated, and human life was worthless.
Xu Bing cupped his hands and said, "The law still needs to be enforced. After all, only a few of these young children can survive after being abducted."
"But it's better than being tortured to death in the cradle..."
Song Yuzhu listened to the two people arguing, and decided: "The court will allocate funds to build orphanages in each county of the 18 states across the country. Citizens are not allowed to abandon their children privately. Those who cannot afford to raise them will be sent to orphanages to be raised. The state will pay for their upbringing until they are 14 years old and then they can leave on their own."
When these words were spoken, the ministers were in an uproar. How much money would it cost to build orphanages in every county across the country?
Someone dissuaded him: "Your Majesty, even if we build a Fuyou Hall, someone has to take care of these children."
Xu Bing said: "This is easy. Hire some idle local women to take care of them. As long as you give them money, I believe there will be many women willing to earn money to supplement their family income."
Some people still objected: "This is not a small amount of money. The country is in a state of disrepair and needs money everywhere. Isn't it a waste to spend money on this..."
Song Yuzhu said angrily: "I raised the issue for you to solve, not for you to make excuses!"
"Your Majesty, please forgive me..." The ministers were so frightened that they fell to the ground and trembled.
Song Yuzhu pointed at these old officials, and was so angry that her chest hurt: "How dare you say that?"
"You said that building a foster home is useless. What about those poor children? Let them fend for themselves, or let them be sold as slaves by human traffickers?"
Qin Fengtu stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, calm down. This move is beneficial to the country and the people. However, there has never been a Fuyou Hall before. Why not try it out in a few places first? If there are any defects, we can improve them in time, and then it won't be too late to promote it nationwide."
The anger on Song Yuzhu's face finally subsided: "Okay."
Liu Lin also said: "Money is not a problem. I can send people to lobby the local gentry and wealthy businessmen to donate part of the money."
An Changrui, who was standing on the other side, whispered, "Businessmen are rich but unkind. Do you think they will donate if you ask them to?"
Liu Lin: "After donating, we can reward them. According to the amount of money donated, their names can be added to the Fuyou Hall. This can not only publicize their good deeds, but also make them look good. I think businessmen from all over the country will definitely not refuse."
The corners of other people's mouths twitched. It was no wonder that he was the person in charge of the Ministry of Revenue. He was so calculating!
Song Yuzhu said: "In that case, this matter will be handed over to Liu Aiqing. Plan the location for the experiment as soon as possible. I will send troops to assist you in the construction."
"I obey your order." Liu Lin accepted the imperial edict with great pleasure.
Those who are capable should do more work. Although this matter is troublesome, officials are supposed to help the emperor solve problems. If they do nothing, they will probably be back home soon to eat dry meals.
After the court session, Xu Bing hurriedly handed over a sign and went to the Shangshufang to meet Song Yuzhu.
"Your Majesty, has the child been found?"
Song Yuzhu nodded: "I found it."
"That's good. No wonder Zhao Xiao and Liu Yanzi left in such a hurry yesterday."
Song Yuzhu asked the eunuch to bring a chair, and the two sat together to chat.
Xu Bing: "It will probably cost a lot of money to build the Fuyou Hall."
In fact, Song Yuzhu has a lot of silver. He controls all the mines in Daqi, including many unmined gold and silver mines. But now is not the right time. If he digs out too much at once, it may cause inflation.
"Liu Lin's method is very good. Let him try it first. If it doesn't work, I will think of other ways."
Xu Bing nodded: "Okay."
"How does it feel to be married? Is my sister-in-law considerate?"
"Very, very good." Xu Bing's face was as red as a crab. She bowed to him and asked him to rest first, then quickly found an excuse to escape.
Song Yuzhu laughed so hard that she fell backwards. She didn't expect Xu Bing to be so thin-skinned.
*
Ping'er was really scared this time. She had a high fever for two nights in a row after returning home. In the end, she had to ask Song Bai to give her acupuncture before she recovered.
But her temper has changed a lot, she is no longer as lively and cheerful as before, now she hides in fear when she sees strangers, no matter how many times Xiaomei scolds her, it doesn't work, and sometimes she will burst into tears. These are the sequelae left by the shock, and she can only forget them slowly as time goes by.
The next day was Song Yutong’s first birthday party, and the rewards from the palace arrived at dawn.
The things Song Yuzhu gave to her sister as rewards were all the best, including jade locks, jade bracelets, and jade pendants, all of which were made of mutton-fat white jade, as delicate as a piece of oil, and the child felt extremely warm when wearing them.
There were twelve South China pearls the size of a child's fist, all given to his sister to play with, and there were countless other gold, silver and jewelry.
Immediately afterwards, an even more valuable reward was delivered, which was Song Yutong’s title: Princess Changle.
Since the pre-Xia Dynasty, Changle has been a title that can only be bestowed on the eldest princess, that is, only the first daughter of the emperor and the empress can get this title.
Song Yuzhu knew that she would not have any children in the future, so she gave the most honorable title to her younger sister.
In fact, Song Yuzhu had another bold idea in his mind, which he had never mentioned to anyone else, not even his parents or Zhao Xiao. He wanted to wait until Song Yutong was a little older, bring her into the palace, teach her himself, and train her to be his successor.
Song Yuzhu knew clearly that it was difficult to change an era by himself alone. He needed someone to continue his ideas and be open-minded and independent-minded.
My sister is too young now, and I can't tell what her personality is like. If she is to take over, she must be the right person for the job.
In ancient times, women were treated quite harshly. There was only one female emperor who ascended the throne in history. Even though she did better than most male emperors, she still received mixed reviews.
The oppression of women in the Sheng Dynasty was very severe. After getting married, noble women were basically not allowed to go out and show their faces in public.
The situation for ordinary people was slightly better. Women needed to work and could not stay at home, but this also restricted them from working in many industries.
Song Yuzhu comes from the future. Even in his developed era, there is still inequality between men and women. But women can already stand out in various fields. They are no worse than men. On the contrary, they are more careful and creative than men!
However, it is still too early to talk about gender equality now. We can only let people gradually accept this through subtle influences.
Today happened to be a holiday, so Song Yuzhu and Zhao Xiao came early. Soon Xu Bing and his wife also arrived. It was the first time for everyone to see his wife, and they were quite curious about Mrs. Xu.
After getting to know her, Song Yuzhu found that she was considerate and polite. She was not surprised by fame or disgrace when she saw her, and her words were quite profound. She was simply the female version of Xu Bing!
No wonder Xu Xiang was so anxious to get married. Having such a virtuous wife would help him share so many burdens.
Everyone presented their gifts one by one. The heaviest gift here came from Zhao Xiao. He directly gave Song Yutong one thousand gold, which is one hundred kilograms of gold.
Song Yuzhu looked at the box of gold and didn't know whether to laugh or cry. This box of gold was given by him as a reward to Zhao Xiao, and now he was giving it back.
Zhao Xiao scratched his head and said, "I don't know what to buy for the child, so just give him the money and buy him whatever he wants."
Song Qiao's family also came. Qin has kept a much lower profile now. Perhaps she was frightened by the sudden departure of Aunt Fang's family and dared not provoke the third family again.
When they saw Song Yuzhu, they all bowed and greeted her politely.
The time was almost up, and Jiang Rong took out Song Yutong, who was dressed as the Fuwa, to prepare for the one-year-old ceremony.
Song Bai prepared things for his daughter's one-year-old celebration, which included a sachet for girls, a needle and thread basket, gold and silver jewelry, a comb, and a medical book.
Song Yuzhu felt that something was missing, so he took out his private seal from his sleeve and quietly placed it on it.
"Quickly let Tongtong go and see what she can catch."
Jiang Rong placed her daughter on the table. Song Yutong sat on the round table and first looked around at the people around her. When she saw Song Yuzhu, she immediately stretched out her two short arms for a hug: "Hehehe!"
Song Yuzhu pointed at the table and said, "Go grab something."
Song Yutong nodded as if he understood, and stumbled forward. When he came in front of the pile of dazzling things, he stretched out his little hand as if he wanted to grab the needle and thread basket.
Jiang Rong smiled and thought that her daughter would definitely be good at needlework in the future.
But her little hand moved away and moved to the medical book next to her.
Song Bai held his breath. Could it be that his daughter also likes medicine? Then he would have to teach her well in the future!
As a result, Song Yutong pushed aside the medical book and grabbed the Hetian jade seal that Song Yuzhu had put down, clapping his hands happily: "Dingding, dingdingding~"
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com