Outside Jinzhou City, shanty towns.
Several government officials walked along the street beating gongs and shouting: "The prefect is recruiting ten masons, ten carpenters, and ten stonemasons, and they will be paid thirty-five cents per day. We will also recruit fifty hard laborers, and we will be paid twenty-five cents per day. No matter where
The craftsmen will be given two meals of porridge and one meal of dry rice every day!"
When the news spread, the poor people at the bottom took action.
Normally, when they hear officials recruiting workers, they will be frightened and immediately hide far away.
But many stories about Ju Ming had already spread to the slums outside the city. Now that they heard about giving money and taking care of food, many poor people chose to believe it and flocked to the government officials to inquire about the situation.
Originally we only planned to recruit eighty people, but in the end, there were three to four hundred people gathered in front of Shi Yuangong.
Shi Yuangong carefully selected a hundred relatively strong ones.
Asking this guy to recruit people always exceeds the plan, and he seems uncomfortable if he doesn't have more than a few.
These people will be taken to the mine and work with the iron smelters to clear the forest, level the slopes, and build houses. They will also dig out the top soil to expose the iron ore, so as to speed up the start of the smelting site as soon as possible.
It was divided into two parts, Su Zhixin was in charge of the charcoal field, and Tu Shen was in charge of the iron smelting field.
Tu Shen had experience in mining and building a mine in Xuzhou. Although his scale was small, he had never eaten pork but had seen pigs running away.
According to the mountain topography and the direction of the ore veins, Tu Shen took only a few days to delineate the residential area, mining area and smelting area. He also asked Ju Ming to get some craftsmen and coolies to complete the preliminary construction quickly, otherwise there might be a problem after the summer.
procrastination.
Since he had just arrived, Tu Shen was afraid of danger and ran around carrying two iron bones on his back all day long.
This pair of weapons was made by himself after he decided to become a thief. He also got a bad horse and called himself a general of the horse army. However, his riding skills were really bad. He was captured by the prefect of Xuzhou and his mount was confiscated by the prefect of Xuzhou.
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"Brother Tu, we've brought it!" Shi Yuangong laughed from afar.
When Tu Shen saw that he had enough manpower, he immediately felt comfortable. He felt that he was being used in an important way. After the smelting site was built and managed for another year or two, he would go to Ju Ming to seek a future, such as being a government official or something.
Or you can work as a personal attendant beside Prefect Zhu. You will definitely be able to stand out in the future.
Tu Shen organized the new craftsmen and coolies into groups, asked them to choose their own team leaders, and then began to assign work tasks. After the arrangements were made, he asked: "When will the many materials be shipped?"
Shi Yuangong said: "We are already purchasing it and it will be shipped to us in a few days."
The two chatted and inspected the construction site.
There was a mountain man who was wandering around the construction site and peeping, looking very suspicious. Because of his suspicious behavior, he was quickly caught by the iron smelters and sent to Tu Shen to interrogate him.
Tu Shen asked: "You have stayed here for a long time to steal property?"
"There is no theft. I am a householder in the mountains. My home is just over the ridge." The mountain man pointed to the mountains ahead and said hesitantly, "I...I have something to sell. It's hard to talk when there are so many people."
Shi Yuangong retreated, leaving only Tu Shen and the mountain people. He asked with a smile: "But they collected the elixir in the mountains and sold it?"
The mountain man whispered: "I heard someone said that this is the property of the prefect. To build a large iron smelting yard, you have to worship the God of Five Tongs. A son was born in my family, and there are still a few days until he reaches his 100th birthday." …”
Tu Shen was confused when he heard this: "Even if according to local customs, the construction of the iron yard is to worship gods, what does it have to do with the birth of a son in your family?"
"Using human animals is the most effective," said the mountain people.
"Human?" Tu Shen still didn't understand.
But Shi Yuangong got angry and yelled: "You are a bird, you are a father in vain, how can you sell your own son to be a human sacrifice to the gods!"
Shi Yuangong once spread demonic religions, and he did a lot of pretending to be gods and ghosts, but he really didn't engage in bloody human sacrifices. He was a Confucian scholar after all!
Tu Shen finally understood. He grabbed the mountain man by the collar and punched him: "Grandpa, I'll beat you to death for this dirty thing!"
"Spare your life! Spare your life, hero!" the mountain people shouted in horror, having been punched so hard that stars appeared in their eyes.
Shi Yuangong quickly stopped him and asked: "Is it popular in Jinzhou to collect and cut raw materials?"
Do you think it is cruel to cripple a young child to beg? However, this is just a derivative of harvesting and cutting.
Real harvesting and cutting is even more terrifying.
"Collecting raw materials" means collecting living people, and "cutting" means cutting off organs. Together, they mean using human body organs to sacrifice to ghosts and gods.
This was very popular before the Ming Dynasty, especially in the south.
Regardless of the Southern and Northern Song Dynasties, they strictly prohibited "killing people to sacrifice ghosts" and tried to use Confucianism to educate the people.
From the Northern and Southern Dynasties to the Tang and Song Dynasties, "burning fingers and training arms" was popular in Buddhism, but this self-mutilation practice was much more civilized than killing people to sacrifice ghosts.
The imperial court, together with Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism, jointly cracked down on Wu Zhu during the Song Dynasty. However, they continued to ban it repeatedly, and it spread until the early Ming Dynasty. Under Zhu Yuanzhang's severe attack, Wu Zhu's cruel trend was finally killed.
"In the second year of Yongxi's reign...the states of Guangxi and Guangzhou...killed people to sacrifice to ghosts, and did not seek medical treatment for illness..."
This is the Guangdong and Guangxi of the Northern Song Dynasty.
"In the first year of Chunhua... Xiang Tae, a citizen of Changyang County in Xiaxia, and his brother Xiangshou jointly received ten guans of money from the rich to harvest their crops... Tae and his brother murdered Li Qi'v, a county citizen, cut off her ears and nose, and cut off her limbs. , to be with the rich..."
This is Sichuan in the Northern Song Dynasty.
"Fuzhou Xiangwantong killed seven skin masters, father and son, and took away the five internal organs and the head to sacrifice to the devil..."
This is Hubei in the Northern Song Dynasty.
"Begging for help from Sichuan, Shaanxi, Guangnan, Fujian, Jinghu, Jianghuai, it is forbidden for people to store snake venom and poison to kill people as sacrifices to demons and gods. Those who have killed people are allowed to report rewards, and they will give out copper coins and large iron coins of a hundred guans everywhere."
This was the magistrate of Wanzhou in the Renzong Dynasty of the Song Dynasty. He requested the court to ban witchcraft and human sacrifice, and encouraged the people to report such acts, covering most of the Northern Song Dynasty.
Because the troubles in Jinzhou and Shangzhou went too far, Emperor Zhenzong of the Song Dynasty issued an imperial edict prohibiting the worship of evil gods in these two states.
Human animals are also divided into levels——
The first class are officials and Confucian scholars. They are the smartest and have spiritual energy. One is worth three, and ghosts and gods like them the most. Especially in border barbarian lands, there are cases of killing officials and killing scholars to worship ghosts and gods.
The second class is monks and Taoist priests. They are practitioners and have merits and virtues. One is worth two, and ghosts and gods also like them very much.
The third class is ordinary people.
Women and children are among the most common human animals because they are the easiest to obtain.
There are even poor and ignorant people who sell their children as animals, such as the mountain people in front of me.
"Did you know that it is illegal to sacrifice humans to ghosts and gods?" Shi Yuangong asked.
The mountain man replied: "I also know about breaking the law, but the prefect is an official, so he is certainly not afraid of breaking the law. If the prefect opens an iron smelting yard and does not worship the Wutong God, strange things will happen and he will not be able to make money. I am also thinking about the prefect."
"
Shi Yuangong asked: "In these four miles and eight villages, who else has killed people and offered sacrifices to ghosts and gods?"
The mountain villager replied: "Outside Luo Yuan from Qinglonggang, when he was in his thirties, he only gave birth to girls but not boys. He asked someone to sacrifice babies to ghosts. That year, he gave birth to a boy in his family. It was very effective!"
"You bastard!" Tu Shen became angrier as he listened.
Although there are many thieves in Shandong and demon religions are popular, they are deeply influenced by Confucianism. Even various demon religions will not kill people to sacrifice to ghosts and gods, which is unforgivable in the eyes of Shandong people.
Shi Yuangong said: "Brother Tu continues to build here. I will take this guy back to see the prefect. Someone, tie this guy up and gag him!"
Shi Yuangong took people back to the state government office and reported the matter quickly.
Ju Ming was very surprised when he heard the news.
Of course he knew that in some places during the Song Dynasty, there was a custom of killing people and offering sacrifices to ghosts, but he didn't expect that it was still preserved in Jinzhou.
Because of the efforts of the government and Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism, by the late Northern Song Dynasty, Shaanxi, Hanzhong, and Jianghuai had banned this matter.
Jinzhou is close to Hanzhong and is rich in medicinal materials. How can it still sacrifice humans to ghosts?
Zhu Ming immediately called Fan Zhun, Guo Wenzhong, Wang Jia and other local subordinate officials.
Fan Zhun said: "There is no such thing near the prefecture and county. The mountain people are ignorant and believe in ghosts and gods, so it is really difficult to stop it."
Zhu Ming asked: "What evil temples are there in Jinzhou?"
Guo Wenzhong said: "The one with the most believers is undoubtedly the God of Five Powers, which is actually the mandrill ghost. The second is the snake fairy. The other evil gods are countless, but they are not widely spread and are only worshiped in one village and one place."
The Wutong God existed until the end of the Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China. It is said that worshiping the Wutong God can bewitch women and bring partial wealth. Anyway, these are some crooked ways.
Even in the Yuan Dynasty, when ideological management was sparse, Wutong Shen was a target of resolute attack by the court.
As for the Snake Fairy, Jinzhou is mountainous and people often go to the mountains to collect medicine and hunt. If you worship the Snake Fairy, you will not be bitten by poisonous snakes.
The other evil gods are scattered all over the place, and there may be one god in a village.
Decades ago, Liu Yi was the prefect of Qianzhou (Ganzhou), where the worship of evil gods was terrifying. During his term of office, he destroyed more than 3,000 witches (the shamans did not build temples, but worshiped evil gods at home).
To be continued...