Women's clothing in the Ming Dynasty

In the spring of the 16th year of Jiajing, it was originally a calm day, but an urgent report aroused a lot of discussion between the government and the public.

Floods in the Huaihe River and Yangzhou River, the failure of the river works, and the floods spread from the south of the Yangtze River to Huguang. Thousands of people were affected by the disaster in the whole south, and there were many discussions among the people.At the same time, many snakes, insects, rats and ants jumped out and took the opportunity to spread rumors, some of which even had shadows of foreign countries.After a round of discussions, the civil and military officials asked the emperor to go to the south of the Yangtze River to inspect the people's conditions.

Jiajing shied away for several days, and finally agreed reluctantly.

Seeing this scene, Li Chengfeng was fascinated for a while, he wished he could shake the emperor desperately, and yelled at him: Be sober!How embarrassing are you for Emperor Qianlong, who once dreamed of traveling outside!

In fact, it is no wonder that the officials agreed to the Jiajing tour. In addition to the urgency of the situation, their own conditions are also a big factor.Now the treasury is overflowing with too much silver. The prince is smart and sensible, and his physical fitness is very good. Coupled with the promotion of the Nanjing court, it will not be a problem for the emperor to leave Beijing for more than ten months.

But it is a pity that the Jiajing Southern Tour will not take so long, because this time he plans to take the waterway.After working with the Tiangong Bureau for so long, Li Chengfeng finally applied the steam engine to the field of navigation, and built a royal ship for the emperor last year—the Huanglong.For this southern tour, Zhu Houcong planned to go on this ship.

Compared with traditional ships, this kind of steam ship has a large volume, large displacement, and faster speed. Originally, according to the past, a trip to the south would cost dozens of ships including manpower and material resources, but this time it was reduced to five.But the price of using boats is that some old and frail people who live inland and are not suitable for long-term water rafting are left in Beijing.

The two brothers, Zhang Heling and Zhang Yanling, expressed their discomfort. They finally managed to go to the South to take pictures of the emperor's flattery together, despite their hard work and hard work.He could only bite the small handkerchief resentfully and watch the team leave from behind.

Due to the sudden incident, the local pick-up officials had to prepare, and there were a lot of things to be arranged in the capital, so the southern tour scheduled for April did not start until nearly June.

The weather in June was already very hot, coupled with the heavy humidity in the boat, after removing the freshness at the beginning, everyone secretly complained.

At this time, Jiajing calmed down instead. He has always had a low body temperature and prefers to be quiet and not to move. He was born in Huguang when he was a child, and he also took a boat trip, so he adapted very well to the boring life on the boat.They even had time to watch the jokes of the officials, but the officials were speechless about it, and they all said that it's okay, the emperor, as long as you are happy.

The steamship went south along the canal into Shandong, passing through the gates of Linqingzhou and Gaojiayan by the Hongze Lake in turn, and finally the fleet arrived in Huai'an, and then sailed to Nanjing, Yangzhou, Suzhou and Hangzhou.

Stop and go along the way, at least it gave some buffer time.Because the Ming Dynasty exempted and lowered taxes for scholars, the whole country was full of feudal landlords. At that time, most of the floods were determined by local governments, and the Ming government's ability to deal with natural disasters was very low.

A few years ago, taxes were levied, the country also imposed a sea ban, and administrative power was highly centralized, so the work of repairing dikes and dams fell to the country. However, due to lack of experience and local corruption, it is obvious that there is a better job than before. materials, but the embankment built will collapse as soon as it is washed.It's okay in good years, but the Yellow River burst its embankment every year these years, and now the court has to pay attention to it.

Since Jiajing started his southern tour, he has not been idle for a day.First dealt with a group of officials involved in the incident, and then personally inspected the river.Under the explanations of professionals from the Tiangong Bureau and local officials, the deployment began, and a new river control strategy was formulated based on the actual situation.

The boat continued to sail, and when they arrived in Nanjing, everyone was really surprised. They thought that central Beijing was already the most prosperous place in the world, but they didn't expect that Jiangnan was not bad.

I think so, Jiangnan Zilai has a dense population, rich products, and is close to the port, so it receives the most foreign things.Long before the sea ban, female textile workers in the south of the Yangtze River could make money to support their families.After the steam loom was put into use, many thoughtful women workers invested money in this industry, opened small factories, and made a lot of money.Because of this, local women who were deeply influenced by traditional ethics have shown their faces to make money. At this time, Jiangnan has a bit of the shadow of the 21st century.

Where there is change, there will be opposition. Many old landlords whose interests have been offended, together with local more conservative Confucian scholars, went to the imperial court to demand that this unhealthy trend be corrected!At the same time, foreigners who were active in the Ming Dynasty also took advantage of this opportunity to preach what should be preached, and what should be preached to promote ideas.

When Jiajing came to Nanjing, he rested in the palace for two days, and then immediately summoned the representative of the largest local textile factory to prove which side he was facing with his actions.After all, the factory pays a lot of commercial tax and land tax to the country every year. As for the squires, I'm sorry, in Jiajing's eyes, they all suck the blood of Ming Dynasty.

The two factory representatives walked slowly into the palace under the guidance of the palace staff, and they saw two middle-aged women with women's hair buns.Standing behind the emperor, Li Chengfeng didn't pay much attention to it at first, until the two of them saluted proficiently and showed their faces, then he said in amazement: "...Isn't this Miss Liuxiang?"

It turned out that one of the women was the former personal maid of Empress Dowager Jiang. When Li Chengfeng first passed through, he mistook her for a woman and had a secret love for her.After Jiajing ascended the throne, she entered the palace to serve the Empress Dowager for a few years. Later, when she got older, Mrs. Jiang couldn't bear to waste time in the palace, so she rewarded her with a large sum of money and let her go back to her hometown.

The other person, Li Chengfeng, also knew him. He was a distant relative of the Zhang family, Fang Wanru who was almost drafted into the palace.This girl gave up entering the palace to get married, but she was deceived by others, and the person she married was a sick child, and she became a widow in the second year of marriage.Back then, she met Liuxiang in the palace, and they had been exchanging letters. After returning to Nanjing, Liuxiang simply invited her to run a business together.Due to proper management and good reputation, the business grew bigger and bigger. Finally, he seized the opportunity and devoted himself to the textile industry. He is now a well-known big businessman in Jiangsu and Zhejiang.

After hearing the situation of the two, Li Chengfeng couldn't help sighing in his heart. In a place he can't see, everyone has their own life. Liuxiang is like two people. This era is also the founder of the awakening of women's consciousness.

But the two girls below all showed strange expressions, "How could this old Li Ge know them? Could it be that the emperor still chanted their names on weekdays?"

Not only them, but even Jiajing's eyes became strange. After so many years, Li Chengfeng can still recognize him at a glance. Could it be that he has always been obsessed with Liuxiang?

Li Chengfeng: "..." He is not!He didn't!It was because Liuxiang was the first group of people he met when he first crossed, so he was impressed.

Putting this matter aside for the time being, Jiajing asked some questions about the factory and rewarded them with something, and then asked them to leave.

Before leaving, Fang Wanru almost lost her dignity and fell because she had stood for too long because her blood was not circulating. Luckily, Liu Xiang who was beside her gave her a hand.Seeing the eyes of the two meeting, Li Chengfeng seemed to understand something, watched them go away, and silently sent his blessings in his heart.

"Li Qing?" Zhu Houcong said with a stern face, "The memorial from the capital has not been processed yet, so hurry up and help me take a look."

Li Chengfeng came back to his senses, and sighed slightly in his heart, he was born to work hard!

The author has something to say: I seem to remember saying that Liuxiang should have a better ending.