Chapter 200 |
Tie Jiu was an ordinary commoner of the Great Zhou Dynasty, a commoner at the very bottom of society.
The fifth year of Yonghe was a year later generations would call the beginning of a golden age.
Tie Jiu's father fell gravely ill. The family's meager savings were entirely spent, but his father could not be saved, and his mother soon followed him to the grave.
All that was left was his seven-year-old younger sister.
He was fourteen at the time, an age where he could barely feed himself, let alone another mouth. But she was his only sister, and even if he had to starve to death, he would not let anything happen to her.
Gritting his teeth, he sold the clothes his parents had worn before they died, exchanged them for a few copper coins, bought enough grain to fill their stomachs for a while, and began to farm on his own.
Tightening his belt to survive, he and his sister shared only one set of clothing. He tore it into two pieces, giving the larger half to his sister and wearing the smaller half himself, going out to farm at night.
It was cooler then, for if he succumbed to the summer heat, there would be no one left at home to work.
Until one day, the village chief came to find him, saying the imperial court had a quota for the extremely impoverished. Their village had been allocated three spots. He could receive some subsidies and send his sister to the Hall of Accumulated Goodness.
Tie Jiu thought to himself, how could there be such a good thing? His Majesty? That was the Son of Heaven! He handled the great affairs of the state; how could he ever see ordinary commoners like them?
It must be these malicious people trying to scam him and sell his sister away!
He picked up a stick and drove them away. His sister cried in fear, and he hugged her and cried too.
A few days later, people from the Hall of Accumulated Goodness came. They asked him to bring his sister to have a look and understand the court's new policies before making a decision.
Tie Jiu was unwilling, but a single sentence from the Hall's people convinced him: "If you two continue like this, you will either starve to death or die of illness. Why would we trick you? Even if we were selling slaves, a disobedient one like you wouldn't fetch much money anyway."
Tie Jiu entrusted his sister to a neighbor and went with a kitchen knife.
The environment of the Hall of Accumulated Goodness was not overly luxurious, but to Tie Jiu, it looked like a place only lords would live in.
Here, the children were provided with two meals a day, and someone came to teach them basic characters and arithmetic.
Tie Jiu asked, "They can eat? And study?"
The person in charge of the Hall said, "Yes, but they cannot eat for free. The older children need to clean up and help with chores around the Hall, and they can only stay until they are twelve at most.
Take your sister for example. She is already seven. She will need to help the people in the Hall sweep the floor and wipe the tables. If visitors from out of town come to tour the area, and if the children learn well, they can also act as guides, taking tourists around the city to earn some money. The money they earn will be their own."
Listening to this, Tie Jiu's eyes grew wider and wider.
This was already incredibly wonderful! He wouldn't have dared to imagine this even in his dreams.
Just helping to sweep the floor here meant she could have food to eat, and she could eat here until she was twelve!
"The county's targeted assistance is for the most struggling commoners. It's not to harm you. This is a new policy from above, and it has absolutely no downsides. The extreme poverty subsidy isn't money either; it just means you can go to the county office every month to collect your share of rations. It might not be great food, but it will definitely fill your stomach."
Not just anyone could enter the Hall of Accumulated Goodness. The prerequisite was that there were no elders in the family, they were on the verge of not surviving, and the children had to be under twelve years old to enter and be raised by the state.
The extreme poverty subsidy provided meager and average-quality grain, barely enough to scrape by. Anyone with even a little bit of wealth would look down on it and naturally wouldn't come to compete for it.
After screening by the county and the village, they unanimously selected eligible families, verified them, reported them, and approved them.
This was a lifesaver for those in desperate need of help.
"After reaching the age of twelve, they are considered half-adults. Those willing to work for wealthy households can go; those who aren't, the Hall will introduce jobs to them, but whether they can secure them depends on themselves..."
Tie Jiu couldn't understand the rest of the words.
He had never been to school, but having seen it with his own eyes, he believed a great deal of it.
However, he still applied for the extreme poverty subsidy first. Only after going to the county office and receiving his stamped slip for coarse grains did he completely believe it and send his sister to the Hall of Accumulated Goodness.
He went to visit her every few days.
His sister told him that the Hall was full of homeless children just like them, and some even had physical defects and were very pitiful.
She also told him that the assistance rules of the Hall were implemented by His Majesty. It had saved many children. Those who studied exceptionally well and were talented even had the chance to receive state funding to attend academies. Girls could too. The most outstanding ones could test out of the Hall, go through layers of selection, and be noticed by the female officials of the inner court, who would take them in and cultivate them...
These were all things they never dared to dream of before.
It was another world.
Just a short while ago, they had been worrying about what to eat the next day.
As his sister spoke, she began to cry. "Brother, it seems we don't have to die." She knew her brother worked very hard to raise her. She had previously thought about finding a place to secretly die, or that it would be fine if her brother sold her for some silver so that perhaps they could both survive.
Now she hadn't been sold, and both siblings could live.
Tie Jiu held back his tears and didn't cry in front of his sister.
"You must help out with more chores in the Hall; we won't eat for free. When you turn twelve, I will bring you out, save up a dowry for you, and build up our family wealth..."
From then on.
Tie Jiu had endless brute strength every day. He farmed diligently, collected his subsidized grain every month, built a house, learned how to grind tofu, and pushed a small cart to buy vegetables...
With the county office sharing the burden of life, their days grew better one by one.
His sister took on the job of a guide and would receive copper coins every few days. She kept some for herself and gave some to her brother.
The siblings worked hard together, and by the eighth year of Yonghe, they had risen above the level of needing the county office's financial assistance.
Tie Jiu no longer needed to collect the extreme poverty grain, and he even married a wife.
They wanted to bring his sister out of the Hall of Accumulated Goodness to live together, but she refused. She wanted to pass the Hall's selection exams and climb up step by step. If she could go no further, she would then come home.
Tie Jiu's wife, Madam Liu, asked, "Little girls can take exams too?"
Tie Jiu replied, "Of course they can. The teachers at the Hall teach them just the same!"
His sister said, "We are taking exams to become female officials in the inner court, which is different from the lords in the county... But there are female officials in the imperial court too! The teacher who teaches us said there is a very formidable person named Zhang Chansi, who is the first female official appointed by His Majesty. The topographical map of both sides of the navigable route from Lingbei to the inland was planned by her."
Tie Jiu and his wife listened, only half understanding.
They didn't know the difference between female officials of the inner court and imperial court officials, but they clearly understood that both had the word "official" in their titles.
No matter what, it was impressive!
Since there was already a precedent, women becoming officials was no longer strange. Didn't this mean that in the future, boys and girls could just be taught the same way?
The tenth year of Yonghe.
Their family welcomed a pair of boy-girl twins, a joy that fell from the heavens.
However, the pressure of raising children was also great. His sister was going to the prefectural office to take her exams. After discussing it, they simply rented out their farmland temporarily, took the silver they had saved over the years, and moved north to the junction between Lingbei and the inland.
It was said that it had only been two years since this place opened, yet it was already bustling with people and extremely prosperous.
There were even people from the Northern Frontiers doing business here!
My goodness.
Those people with deep-set eyes and high bridges of their noses looked so different from them, yet they all fell under the jurisdiction of the Great Zhou. Tie Jiu found it incredibly fascinating and felt that his horizons had truly been broadened.
The patrol squads made their rounds once every two hours in perfect order.
Tie Jiu first went to work at a blacksmith shop for half a year. After getting a clear sense of the market, he found a place with cheap rent and started selling fried dried tofu, pickled vegetables, and the like. Because their food tasted good and was inexpensive, they relied on small profits but quick turnover, and their business gradually boomed.
Gradually, they earned enough money here. Since the two children had also reached the age to begin their schooling, they returned to their hometown.
The fifteenth year of the Yonghe era.
After the family returned to their hometown, they bought a small shop in the county town. There was a small courtyard behind the shop, which became their new home.
His younger sister regrettably failed to pass the selection at the government office, but relying on the reading, writing, and arithmetic skills she had acquired over the years, she managed to secure a job at the county's Hall of Benevolence, taking care of the newly arrived children.
She made handwritten copies of the books she had read at the Hall of Benevolence to provide early education for the two little ones.
That same year.
Emperor Yonghe toured the Xiang River to inspect its dams and passed through their area.
Tie Jiu and his family simply closed their tofu shop for the day and brought the whole household to the riverbank to watch the dragon boats sail south.
It was one of the largest ships they had ever seen in their lives.
The commoners on both banks called out from afar, waving at the dragon boat and tossing all kinds of flowers into the river.
At the very front of the dragon boat stood a figure in light scarlet. It was too far away, appearing only as a tiny dot, so they did not know if it was His Majesty.
They did not care whether it was him or not; after all, His Majesty was on the boat. They shouted at the top of their lungs: Long live His Majesty, wishing His Majesty good health.
The crowd was packed tightly together, and officials from the county office were there to maintain order and prevent people from falling into the river.
Tie Jiu pulled his wife, sister, and two children to the edge of the bank and led them in kowtowing toward the dragon boat.
He and his sister said to the two children: If it were not for His Majesty, you would not be here. Your father and aunt would have starved to death in the fields, without even anyone to bury us.
His Majesty is a good person, and good people always live long and prosper.
Madam Liu said: We went to His Majesty's Shrine of Longevity last month, but we haven't been there this month. Once things are less busy at the Hall of Benevolence, let's all go together again.
Tie Jiu replied: We absolutely must go.
They watched as the dragon boat drifted away into the distance.
The nineteenth year of the Yonghe era.
As the Emperor had no biological children, Qu Jingyan, the son of the Eldest Princess Zhiyi, known for his outstanding virtue, was crowned Crown Prince at the age of fifteen.
With an heir to the state, the whole world rejoiced.
Tie Jiu's family had survived thanks to the support of the county office, so they cared deeply about national affairs. That evening, they added two extra dishes to their dinner to celebrate.
His son asked curiously: Father, why doesn't His Majesty get married?
Madam Liu chided him gently: It is obvious you haven't been listening properly to your aunt. His Majesty is a deity who descended to the mortal realm to give us a good life. The immortals in heaven all have rules; how could they marry so casually? Do you know why His Majesty is always in poor health? It is because the heavens want to take him back.
We pray at the Shrine of Longevity because we want His Majesty to stay with us.
The daughter said: The Crown Prince chosen by His Majesty must be very amazing too.
Tie Jiu said with a cheerful chuckle: You two work hard. When the time comes for us to go to the capital, we will be closer to His Majesty.
The twentieth year of the Yonghe era.
The maritime borders were opened. The overseas Kingdom of Liu and the border barbarians tried to obstruct this, so the Emperor launched campaigns against them.
The following year, the maritime borders were successfully opened. Two years later, the sea vessels returned, fully loaded with treasures.
Tie Jiu seized the opportunity. Leaving the grown children to take care of the household, he went out to sea with his brother-in-law.
By the time he returned, their family had bought the shop next door, and they no longer had to worry about the children's education expenses. Tie Jiu firmly believed in one thing: as long as one followed the footsteps of the imperial court and His Majesty, and was willing to take risks, there would certainly be rewards.
The twenty-fifth year of the Yonghe era.
Tie Jiu's family planned to move to the capital to seek better teachers for the children.
Before heading to the capital, they made a trip back to their old thatched cottage in their hometown. Passing by the county office, they saw impoverished commoners receiving relief grain.
Tie Jiu went over to take a look and found that the grain distributed now was of much better quality than what they had received back in their day.
He asked about it, and an official explained with a smile: After the opening of navigation and maritime trade, everyone's lives have been getting better. With increased tax revenues, the national treasury has become wealthy. His Majesty said that taxes are taken from the people and must be used for the people. This is what an official ought to do.
Tie Jiu sighed with emotion: That is truly wonderful.
They returned home to pay their respects to their ancestors, then packed their belongings and headed for the capital.
It happened to be the Wanshou Festival.
Although His Majesty did not formally celebrate his birthday, the commoners all remembered. On the tenth day of the fifth month, the people would spontaneously celebrate.
Small border tribes and countless nations came to pay tribute.
When night fell, the streets were packed shoulder to shoulder. Teahouses and taverns were brightly lit, and Nuo opera troupes performed along the roads.
The commoners of the capital held even deeper reverence and love for His Majesty.
The weather was neither too cold nor too hot, making everything perfectly comfortable. The crowds were filled with the elderly, children, and young people alike.
The imperial guards patrolled in squads of three to five, but the commoners were not afraid.
With rosy cheeks, their family squeezed through the crowd, watching half-grown children run freely with pinwheels and boldly dressed girls spinning on dancing drums.
They listened to passing foreigners using broken Great Zhou official dialect to ask for directions and buy goods, casting envious looks their way.
For some reason, a profound sense of pride swelled within them.
Are you also from the Great Zhou?
They replied: Yes, we are people of the Great Zhou.
The foreigners said: The Great Zhou is truly wonderful. We plan to work hard and settle down here.
Tie Jiu's two now-grown children had never known hunger since they were born, and their lives had only gotten better as time went on.
However, people of Tie Jiu's generation and the generation before them all knew the truth.
In reality, the Great Zhou had not always been this wonderful.
The county offices used to not actively seek out and assist extremely impoverished families who could not survive. There were no Halls of Benevolence opened everywhere, nor was there such prosperous trade, a powerful army, or vast territories.
It was simply because there was one person leading the way, along with the hard work of many others, that had made it so magnificent.
Tie Jiu said: You two are truly lucky to have been born in this era.
Father, you are lucky too, to have encountered this era.
Madam Liu laughed heartily and pulled the three of them along: Let's go, let's go. We still have to look at rental houses tomorrow. We'll be settling down here from now on, so we need to figure out a way to do some business...
With these hands and our skills, we will never starve!
Chattering and laughing, they bought some snacks by the roadside.
Their figures faded into the bustling crowd.
Daily necessities, ordinary and common, gradually turning into abundance.
This was the epitome of countless households over the past twenty-odd years.
Commoners in a prosperous era—four words that so many people could only dream of.