I will never be Renzong

Chapter 224 The Brothel of the Song Dynasty

As the end of the year approaches, there are many and complicated matters for the imperial court, but they are generally divided into three matters, one is the governance of Qingtang and other places, the other is the reward after the triumphant return of the army, and the third is the imperial court's relocation of the capital next spring. matters in Luoyang.

Starting from the eighth year of Tiansheng, Zhao Zhen deployed troops on a large scale against Dangxiang and Tubo for nearly two years. The court's expenditure on logistics materials has obviously exceeded the budget. If the court had not made a slight surplus in the past few years, I am afraid that this The battle can't last until now.

After several battles, Zhao Zhen finally pacified Dangxiang and expanded the territory of the Song Dynasty to the Shazhou area, and then conquered Tubo.However, during the past two years, more than [-] soldiers of the Song Dynasty died in battle one after another, and the compensation fee alone is an astronomical figure.

Although Zhao Zhen re-opened the Silk Road, it will be difficult to achieve any results for a while, and the money obtained from Tubo's tribute and conquests is less than one-sixth of the military expenditure.

It is snowing heavily outside the Chongzheng Palace, and all the servants in the palace have already set up the latest stove made by the Royal Academy of Sciences, which burns briquettes. Although the heating effect is very good, the magnificent palace suddenly installed a bit like a modern stove. , which is somewhat strange.

Inside the Chongzheng Palace, Li Dubai, Minister of the Ministry of War, said: "Officials! The more than [-] soldiers who returned from the triumphant return this time were all rewarded for their meritorious service, and the soldiers who died in battle have also been given compensation. Please rest assured!"

"Li Qing is doing things properly, very good!"

Zhao Zhen nodded in satisfaction, and had to say that the Great Song Dynasty had no shortage of capable ministers and officials, as long as he controlled the direction of the Great Song Dynasty and prevented this group of capable ministers and officials from fighting each other.

Yan Shu worshiped: "Officials! I was ordered by the officials a few days ago to check the various expenditures of the six departments of the imperial court last year and this year. Among them, the Ministry of Officials spent 1920 million guan, the Ministry of Industry 3350 million guan, the Ministry of Rites 200 million guan, and the Ministry of Punishment. The expenditure is 60 guan, the expenditure of the Ministry of Households is 360 million guan, and the Ministry of War is 7653 million guan. The treasury now has less than 800 million guan of silver."

Zhao Zhen glanced at the note that Yan Shu handed over, and thought to himself, it is normal for the ministries to spend so much in two years, and the reason why the bureaucracy spends so much is that education expenses are included. Zhao Zhen's internal treasury was allocated, but after the imperial court's finances were ample, government schools, state schools, county schools, and elementary school education were all funded by the national treasury.

Zhao Zhen thought for a while and said: "Previously, I set the pension for the dead soldiers at 20 taels per household, and exempted them from taxes for three years. The money will come from my internal treasury. In addition, today's winter is very cold, so I will allocate it again." 20 guan will be used to buy cotton-padded clothes, cotton trousers, quilts, etc. and distribute them to the families of these soldiers. This is up to the two of you, and it must be implemented!"

Although the literati in the Song Dynasty looked down on the warriors, the Song Dynasty not only had high benefits for civil servants, but also not low benefits for military commanders. Even the monthly military salary received by soldiers was enough to feed a family of five.

Li Di said: "Officials! Previously, there were rebellious and unwilling Dangxiang tribes and Tubo tribes. After the imperial army quelled the rebellion, they captured a large number of old and weak women and children. May I ask the officials how to deal with it!"

The road of the Song army's foreign conquest was not smooth. Although the frontier tribes surrendered to the Song Dynasty, under the instigation of interested people, they would rebel against the court and even kill the officials sent by the court.

In the past, the Song Dynasty would once again implement recruitment, but Zhao Zhen's attitude was obviously much tougher. Any tribe that rebelled after submitting, Zhao Zhen would definitely send a large army to conquer.

After the rebellion was put down, a strong deterrent force still needed to be maintained. Therefore, all tribes participating in the rebellion were demoted to slave status. The men would be escorted to mines across the country to work as coolies, while the female relatives would be escorted to Kaifeng and then into the army. Jiaofangsi, or sold to wealthy people as slaves, etc.

Of course, this is actually the result of Zhao Zhen's opening the net. If the Song Army's previous habits were followed, these female slaves would be treated as camp prostitutes in all likelihood, for the soldiers to vent.

As we all know, the ancient soldiers fought abroad for a long time, and they were all young and middle-aged, so there would naturally be demand.

The physiological needs of soldiers are actually a big problem during war. The seemingly innocuous little things can actually affect morale.Therefore, during World War II, some countries specially set up some military prostitutes or comfort women during wars, specially for those soldiers to enjoy themselves, so that they can relax when they are not fighting.

This method is very inhumane and very heinous, but it has always been the main method for many troops to solve the physiological needs of soldiers, and it was the same in ancient times.Camp prostitutes are the first way for ancient soldiers to vent their physical needs. There are roughly three sources of camp prostitutes: the first is women recruited from across the country before each war, and they are generally helpless widows. The cornered woman and so on.

The second type is the female prisoners in the big prison. These female prisoners have no human rights. They are tortured and bullied wantonly in the big prison, so many of them will be taken to serve as camp prostitutes during the war.The third type is the captives captured after each victory. These captives end badly. Men are either killed or taken to work as coolies, and women are ruined.In short, the women who are used as camp prostitutes are all women with tragic fates, and they have to bear the cruelty of war and are used as victims.

There is also the family members of the army, but only senior generals can enjoy this kind of treatment, and ordinary soldiers cannot enjoy it.

At the beginning of the Song Dynasty, only the generals could enjoy the right to bring their family members. Later, the soldiers couldn't understand it. The generals had someone to warm their beds, but they could only watch and be greedy.

But this also caused another problem, that is, the military discipline of the Song Dynasty was lax. Everyone who has been here knows that if you use all your body strength on women, then you go to bayonet with others the next day, and nine out of ten will be soft feet Shrimp, the ending can be imagined.

In addition, the female family members are weak women who have no power to restrain chickens. In order to let the soldiers fight with peace of mind, the imperial court had to send a special army to protect them, which greatly increased the cost of fighting.

"Five thousand armored soldiers are courageous and powerful. There is nothing in the army but joy. The warm house has embroidered curtains and red floor furnaces, and weaves them into wall coverings and flower quilts. In front of the lamps, maidservants pour jade pots, and gold pans randomly light wild crisps. Purple silk and gold Zhang left and right, asking about it is just a blue-headed slave. A pair of beauties are idle and beautiful, with vermilion lips and emerald eyebrows shining brightly. There is no other song in the Qing Dynasty. Today I am happy to hear about the young phoenix. Poor Qin Luofu, making you five horses谢踟蹰。 Wild grass embroidered nest purple Luo Ru, red teeth threaded horses against the scorpion."

This "Song of General Yumenguan Gai" written by the famous frontier poet Cen Shen in the Tang Dynasty is probably the most famous poem in history describing the life of ancient military prostitutes.

In fact, military prostitutes did not appear only in the Tang Dynasty. Tracing back to the source, it should be said that there were military prostitutes as early as 2000 years ago in the Han Dynasty.

According to the "Hanshu·Li Guangsu Jianzhuan" record: "The mausoleum was fought and led, and it traveled south for several days and arrived in the valley. In Lien Zhan, the soldiers were shot and wounded. The three creators carried the chariot, the two creators carried the chariot, and the first creator held the soldiers. Zhan. Ling said: "My morale is so low that I can't afford it, why?Are there any women in the army? ""When the first army left, the wives of the Kwantung group of robbers moved to the border with the army.The mausoleum was found, and all of them were cut with swords. "

In ancient times, there was a system of continuous sitting, that is, if one person commits a crime, the whole family will be punished.Therefore, once men committed crimes in ancient times, most of their wives and daughters were exiled to the border and became prostitutes. The wives and wives of the Kwantung bandits who moved to the border followed the army as wives and wives. This sentence means that the army brought a group of wives and daughters of criminals. .

"Sui Shu·Criminal Law Records" said, "Since the Wei and Jin Dynasties, the wives of the most serious crimes of death will be supplemented by soldiers."

This means that, for those who commit capital crimes or felonies, their wives and children must be reduced to military status and serve in military camps.

Naturally, women were not allowed to go to the battlefield, so they acted as handymen during the day, washing and cooking for the soldiers, providing logistics for the army, accompanying wine and sleeping at night, and serving as tools to vent their desires on the soldiers' beds.

The sharp contrast between the cruelty of war and the tenderness of women makes the two often appear at the same time.

The Song Dynasty inherited the Tang system, so it also inherited the Tang Dynasty's prostitution system.

In the Tang Dynasty, it might not be illegal for officials to play with, insult or even kill the prostitutes, and at most they could be fined a little money, but in the Song Dynasty it became another matter.

If the prostitutes want to make money, they must sell themselves, and officials have the power to deprive them of their lives. Therefore, the Song Dynasty formulated strict laws that officials are not allowed to prostitute. According to the Song Dynasty authorities, as long as this level of people does not Participate in it, then the life of the prostitutes will be much better.

After Wang Anshi came to power, in order to deal with political opponents, the most common strategy was to suppress pornography. Any court personnel who entered the brothel and were accidentally captured by Wang Anshi often ended in dismal ending.

As far as Kaifeng is concerned, brothels are as common as ordinary snack shops. It can be said that they have been integrated into the lives of ordinary people, and it is a very common thing.

Once at night, the brothel is brightly lit with candles and lights, and hundreds of prostitutes with heavy make-up gather on the side of the main corridor, waiting for the drinkers to call them, looking like gods.Pingting is graceful, with a peach face and cherry lips, jade fingers are slender, her eyes are dripping, her singing voice is melodious, and the words are true and rhyme, which makes people listen to it endlessly.

However, due to the more reasonable protection of prostitutes in the Song Dynasty, the prostitution industry in the Song Dynasty also reached an unprecedented heyday.

But in the Song Dynasty, prostitutes began to have a hierarchy. We now say that prostitutes all use "prostitutes", while in the Song Dynasty they used "tricks".

In the Song Dynasty, there were many government-run brothels, and the women in these brothels were all performers, so they were commonly known as Qingguanren.

Many high-level prostitutes were trained from an early age, and they had to learn everything from piano, chess, calligraphy and painting. When they came out to work at a certain age, they were all capable of writing, good at talking, socializing, advancing and retreating well, and good in appearance.

At the same time, some of them who are well-known or have certain economic conditions are often very particular about their residences; their living is a spacious and quiet house, three or four halls, their gardens have flowers and rockeries, strange stone basins and pools, and their small rooms are all curtained. Yin couch.

These brothel women are generally of the oiran level. They receive guests, sing songs, and accompany drinks, but they don't sell their bodies, because if their bodies are used in modern terms, they are all reserved for the top of the list.

And the list one here must not only be rich, but also talented and well-educated, such as Liu Yong. of.

For example, the famous prostitute Li Shishi was attracted by the talent of the musician Zhou Bangyan. Although she was won by Song Huizong in the end, it has to be said that she achieved the highest achievement of a brothel woman - conquering the emperor.

Furthermore, for example, the heroine Liang Hongyu who was recorded in the annals of history, her father was defeated and convicted, and Liang Hongyu was implicated and became a Beijing prostitute. He looks at ordinary young children with supercilious looks, without the air of a whore.

Women in the Song Dynasty were petite, weak and beautiful. Naturally, heroes like Liang Hongyu were not loved by ordinary people, but there were exceptions. As a waiter, I met Han Shizhong at the table.

Han Shizhong looked sullen and unhappy alone amidst the cheers and drinks of many generals, which attracted Liang Hongyu's attention; It's a good story.

In the Song Dynasty, entering a brothel was not a prostitution, but rather enjoying a wonderful song and dance performance, so it was just an arty social activity for literati and wealthy guests.

During the Lantern Festival, the prostitutes in various hotels "sit in groups and make noise, seducing romantic children to buy laughs and chase after sex".Generally speaking, these prostitutes are "prostitutes but not themselves", and they only accompany drinking but not sleeping, which is different from the "prostitutes" that people understand today.

The "most successful prostitutes" in the capital of the Song Dynasty were all "able to write, speak well, balance characters, and deal with them well", and they were very intellectual women; "It can" is a talented woman.

Ordinary prostitutes usually practice music or dance, and perform in the banquets of various dignitaries and rich families, or perform in various places in the city. guest.For those Gaoliang children who want to have a spring night with them, they will go to their homes to spend the spring night together after they leave.

The worst quality prostitutes are the ones who directly sell their appearance. These prostitutes are not in the brothel, but usually in the "an hotel".

"An Hotel" has an eye-catching sign: a red gardenia lamp is hung at the door, and it is covered with a bamboo hat no matter it is rainy or sunny.It implies that "there are prostitutes in it, you can have fun, but you can hide in bed in the wine cabinet".

"It's good to have bright water and a sunny day, and it's strange to see an empty mountain with rain. If you want to make the West Lake better than the West Lake, it's always appropriate to put on light makeup." This famous masterpiece by Su Shi is actually used to praise the brothel women on board the boat.

In the Song Dynasty, prostitutes would not be spurned by people as soon as they went out. They lived well, were respected, had self-esteem, were sought after and boasted, and lived freely.

The reason why they can live so freely is because the tolerance and openness of the Song Dynasty culture gave these women with tragic fate a different kind of life.

(End of this chapter)