Human society always develops in a spiral, and it is common to take two steps forward and one step back, which is an important concept that Xun once taught Zhou Budo. Learning from the past, because of the past, some things you think are immutable, but in fact, there are differences with ancient rites and ancient laws; There are things that you think are not as good as the past, but you have to see them as a harbinger of great progress. Some things you think are better than the ancients, but you must also be vigilant not to regress and repeat.

That is, in terms of these slaves and maids in front of them.

Some scholars in later generations do not admit that China has entered a feudal society since the Qin and Han dynasties, and believe that China has not been able to shake off the shackles of slavery before modern times, and at least belongs to a semi-feudal and semi-slave society. The reason is also very simple, that is, until the Qing Dynasty, there were still a large number of official and private slaves and maids in society, which occupied a very important position in social production and life.

Sehoon himself objected to this assertion for two reasons. First, to study the basic form of a society, we must put aside daily life, but only consider the mode of production, study the main points, and ignore the special cases, and since the Qin and Han dynasties, Chinese society has been based on agriculture for a long time, except for a few special periods or special areas, the number of yeoman farmers and semi-yeoman peasants among the laborers has an absolute advantage, and it must not belong to slavery.

The second point, which is even more important, is that slaves and slaves must not be treated in the same way.

What is a slave? It refers to a person who has completely lost his freedom in life, is arbitrarily driven by others, works for slave owners without compensation, cannot accumulate any private wealth, and even lives and deaths are in the hands of slave owners.

Shi Xun started with this to answer Zhou Budo's question in detail: "I try to take Hu people as my son, does Yuan Zhi know?" ”

Zhou Budo nodded, and said that you have accepted the young master of the Xianbei Tuoba Department as your adopted son. The name is Wei. I do know that.

Shi Xun said: "That's why." I'm familiar with Hu Zhong's affairs. Those who were captives and those who could not repay their debts were not slaves, and were driven to hard labor and flogging, and their masters could kill slaves without sin. It is a slave as a thing, not a person, and it can be ridiculed as a luxury to destroy my wealth. And it is not to be dismissed as violent - it is customary. ”

When Zhou Budo heard this, he frowned slightly unhappily, and said in a low voice: "That's why it's equal to a beast." ”

Shi Xun smiled and said Don't think so, in fact, our ancient world is not much different from today's Hu people - "It is the old Xia and Yin who worship people and martyr people, and they are not human beings, but also slaves." That is, at the beginning of the country, the master and the slave can be 'killed'. How is it different from ploughing oxen? Slaves and maids hurt people and abandon the market, how is it different from dogs and horses? ”

At the beginning of the Han Dynasty, the Qin law was continued. It is stipulated that the master cannot kill his own slaves and maids without authorization, but must first sue the official and obtain the permission of the official family - in fact, what is the difference between this and the prohibition of killing the ploughing ox, which must be killed due to old age and illness, and must first go to the government for the record? If a slave or maid hurts a lover (a free man), then regardless of the severity of the offense, they will be beheaded, what is the difference between this and my dog, horse, or something, and I have to kill him to make amends? I still don't treat slaves and maids as human beings.

"It is the old Dong Zi who played the filial piety of the emperor, so that the slave and the maid, in addition to the power of killing, the Si Nai is ......also a human being" Dong Zhongshu once built yì, the slave and the maid made a mistake, can be punished, not killed, the slave and the maid are guilty, punished by the law of the country, and cannot be punished by family law-" In the festival, it is rumored that the Wei Xiangwen has been hanged, Zhao Guanghan is suspected of unauthorized killing, but he broke into the Prime Minister's Mansion and summoned his wife to resign in court; In Jianping, the king was killed as a slave, and his father was forced to commit suicide - is it not as expensive as a maid? Is it better for a child to be a slave? Or Guanghan bends the law, Wang Mang fishes for Yuye? The law of the land is like this, and the theory of time is also different from that of ancient times. ”

During the reign of Emperor Xuan of the Han Dynasty, it is said that a servant girl in the Prime Minister Wei Xiang's mansion hanged herself, and Jingzhao Yin Zhao Guanghan suspected that she was killed by Mrs. Wei Xiang out of jealousy, so he personally led the officials to break into the Prime Minister's Mansion and ordered Mrs. Wei Xiang to kneel in the court to be questioned - this case was later found out that Mrs. Wei Xiang had indeed beaten the servant girl because of jealousy, but the servant girl had hanged herself after leaving the Prime Minister's Mansion, so Wei Xiang and his wife were not guilty.

During the Jianping period of Emperor Ai of the Han Dynasty, Wang Mang resigned from the throne and lived in seclusion, because his second son Wang Shu killed a house slave, Wang Mang was furious, scolded Wang Shu, and forced Wang Shu to commit suicide.

Yes Xun asked, why did these two incidents occur? Is it because the prime minister's wife doesn't have a servant girl yet? Is it because Wang Mang loves his slave more than his son? How can it be! Some people may say that it is because Zhao Guanghan wants to frame Wei Xiang, and Wang Mang wants to sell his reputation and reputation, but if the law of the country stipulates that killing slaves is not guilty, how dare Zhao Guanghan do that? If public opinion believes that killing slaves is not guilty, how can Wang Mang use this to win praise?

Because the national laws and social public opinion are very different from those in the early Han Dynasty.

"It is easy to win the country but it is difficult to defend the country, and the second Qin and the dead are also. Wei is the world, but it may not last long, that is, in the Han theory, there are different surnames in the past, there are Zhulu chaotic politics, and then there are changes in the Seven Kingdoms, set up a fall, but also spin up and down, then the soldiers are fine willows, and there is no way to be the Huns. Hu Zhi entered China, changed the national customs...... and then pointed to those slaves and maids in the court - "I am afraid that they will not be more human." Even we will be taken captive and enslaved. ”

Zhou Budo was shocked when he heard this, so he immediately got up and said: "Mr. has far-reaching concerns, and he does not doubt it." It was Xun who glanced at him, twisted his beard and smiled, and said in his heart that in fact, you must still not understand my true meaning, but I can't tell you deeper.

Zhou Budo thought that it was Xun who used slaves and maids as words, just as an example, to see the big from the small, and the focus was on "even us, we will also be captured and enslaved", and be wary of China's weakness, and let the Hu people take advantage of the weakness. Similar concepts, it is the Xun big class and the small class have also been preached countless times, originally the Central Plains scholars did not take the Hu people very seriously - before the Eastern Jin Dynasty, no one believed that the Hu people could go deep into the Henan region and then occupy the Central Plains for a long time; Before the Yuan Dynasty, no one believed that the Hu people could kill the Yangtze River and completely destroy the Han dynasty - it was only because Shi Xun kept ringing the alarm bell that he was slightly alert.

Therefore, Zhou Budo believes that the teacher's meaning is that even if the Wei Dynasty is used in the Han Dynasty, after the chaos, it will be more difficult to govern the country, if the Wei Dynasty cannot be stabilized, vigorously develop production, enrich the country and strengthen the army, I am afraid that it will also die like Qin, or at least the second will be chaotic, then the northern Hulu will take the opportunity to rise like the Xiongnu and become a great disaster for China. At that time, we and the doctors will also be taken captive and enslaved, let alone those slaves and maids.

But in fact, it's what Xun thinks in his heart, don't "what's more", slaves and maids themselves are a big problem.

Therefore, after the Qin and Han dynasties, China has entered a feudal society (of course, it cannot be denied that there are still remnants of slavery), because slaves and maids cannot be equated with slaves. Even if Shi Xun himself is an example, the number of slaves and maids he raises also belongs to the first level in society - after all, wealth and fame are placed there - at present, there are more than 40 domestic slaves in this courtyard, the same number of maids and maids, and many of them are considered "family children", and they have changed their surnames.

In the era before the crossing, it is said that family members were connected to each other, and according to statistics, there were about 3,000 people with the surname Yes in China. He sometimes couldn't help but think that among the three thousand people, he didn't know how many of them were really the descendants of Old Man Yi, and how many of them were so slave to the master's surname......

Moreover, the total number of slaves and maids in the various courtyards of Shixun was probably not less than four hundred, but the vast majority of them did not take part in the real sense of the word of production—no farming, no weaving—but merely sprinkling and sweeping. Even those who occasionally enter the field of social production, such as farming, weaving, carpentry, metalworking, etc., have not completely lost their personal freedom.

Just like the workers in his workshops around the world, even if he signs a lifelong contract, it is only a long-term employment relationship after all, and people are still human beings, and they will not be treated as private property.

So in the vast land of China, are there still slaves in the true sense? Shi Xun thinks that there must be something, for example, official slaves are more like slaves than private slaves in a sense, because it is not illegal for officials to kill slaves. And there must be the really black-hearted old landlord, who dares to call the tenant farmers as slaves, even if they are tortured and killed, as long as they can get rid of the government, who can be guilty of my crimes?

Theory and practice cannot be completely compatible, but theoretically, the slaves and maids of the Eastern Han Dynasty cannot be equated, or cannot be fully equated with slaves. The law stipulates that the slave killer is guilty, and the slave adulterer is also guilty, and the slave or maid can also intermarry with a loved one, and even the master is guilty without having to extend to the slave and the slave. It is a great progress of the times and society.

Of course, there is no such thing as absolute equality in this era, and it is still allowed for the master to punish the slave and the slave, and the punishment for some crimes is not the same for the good man and the slave and the slave. But the punishment is not as good as the sergeant doctor, the hierarchy of respect and inferiority is everywhere, and the distinction between master and slave is also common.

However, this social progress will soon be completely broken, that is, the Tang law will be much more backward in the protection of the personal rights and interests of slaves and maids compared to the Han law.

So, can I stop this type of regression? Can we make this spiral, the twists and turns come more slowly, at least we take three steps and then take one step back? "The sky is long, those who know me say that I am worried, and those who do not know me say what I want!" Zhou Yuanzhi, even with your knowledge, I'm afraid you can't understand it, so I don't need to say more.

In mid-November, the imperial court summoned Shixun for the third time as the Zhongshu Order, and sent Shangshu Hanji to Tan County to announce the decree. Yes Xun calculates the time, if Cao Cao wants to change his mind, he will change it a long time ago, since he insists on doing so, then I don't want to pretend anymore, let's obey him.

Of course, there is no guarantee that Cao Cao will review his poem "Opening the Door in the Early Morning" one day, and suddenly he will be unhappy, but if he really wants to worry about all these things that he has or not, as Zhou Budo said, just don't do anything.

So he said goodbye to the secluded life of leisure for several months, and set off for Xudu with a large family - he had a village on the outskirts of Xudu, and there would be a new mansion in the capital, but he didn't have to be too busy in life. Soon arrived at the suburbs, and the imperial historian Xi Shu and the servant Cao De went out of the city to greet them. said that he would go to meet the Son of Heaven the next morning, and he would temporarily live in Xi's mansion that night, Xi Xi deliberately closed the door and talked to Shixun secretly, and as soon as he opened his mouth, he was shocked: "Hongfu thinks that the big thing can be done immediately?" (To be continued......)

PS: I had a cold, coughed all night, couldn't sleep well, and as a result, I was sleepy during the day...... In addition, there is a little matter at home.,It's estimated that tomorrow it may have to be broken.,Please forgive readers and friends.。