Chapter 121: Take a walk after dinner, and be a soldier for a lifetime

Suzhou Prefecture, outside the Destroy Chu Gate.

Wang Bin, Han Yi, Yu Zhenmu, and Qian Qin sat in a tea hut near the city gate. When they saw Yao Shan approaching, they all stood up and greeted him by the roadside.

Yao Shan approached with a smile and recited, “The city of Maoyuan is picturesque, the tiles of Chang gate seem to flow. Still relying on the Shuiguang Pavilion, and more so on the Yuehua Tower.”

Yu Zhenmu exclaimed, “Lord prefect, Li Yishan’s poem you recited is about the capital of the Southern Dynasties, Jiankang, not this city of Suzhou. Moreover, the ‘Chang Gate’ mentioned in ‘the tiles of Chang gate seem to flow’ refers to the legendary Heaven Gate, not this Destroy Chu Gate. Using this poem may not be appropriate.”

Han Yi laughed and added, “If you ask me, what Yao Brother truly wants to convey is ‘All courtiers are half-drunk, the Emperor has no worries,’ as Suzhou is bustling with trade and the new commercial policy achieved great result is something to be happy.”

Wang Bin nodded slightly, and Qian Qin stepped forward and said, “Speaking of this Destroy Chu Gate, it was called Chang Gate in the Spring and Autumn period. ‘Spring and Autumn Annals of Wu and Yue’ records: ‘The establishment of Chang Gate was to resemble Heaven Gate and allow the wind to flow through. Jin Luji’s ‘Wu Quxing’ also mentions: ‘Chang gate stands tall, the flying pavilion crosses turbulent waves, heavy arbors extend to the utmost, and the turning pavilion opens in a curved direction.'” ^[1]Tl’s note: These poem are just machine translated, I gave up translating this.

“Sun Wu and Wuzixu led the Wu army to attack Chu from here and triumphed. Hence, it was called Destroy Chu Gate. Today, this gate connects Nanhe Street and Chang Gate Street, with the convenience of Shangtang River leading to Maple Bridge. This area is destined to prosper and won’t fall behind Qinhuai River in the capital.”

Just as Yao Shan was about to praise them, a scolding voice was heard.

“Without a pass, you’re just refugees! Arrest them!”

“Sir, spare us! We had a pass, but we just couldn’t find it for a moment.”

“Lost means no pass, and no pass means refugees. What’s there to argue about? Come on, arrest them!”

“Dad, mom, I’m scared.”

Two soldiers rushed forward, seized the man, and then tied him up. They also bound the women and children together.

“Stop! What are you doing?!”

Yao Shan walked forward quickly and shouted sternly.

“Oh, it’s the Lord Prefect. I am Lu Yuan, the keeper of Destroy Chu Gate.”

Lu Yuan, with a beard on his chin, mimicked the manners of a scholar and paid his respects to Prefect Yao Shan.

Yao Shan waved his hand and looked at the bound family and said coldly, “Why is this happening?”

Lu Yuan’s expression turned serious as he explained to Yao Shan, “My Lord, these three are peasants from outside the city. They wanted to enter Suzhou, but they didn’t have a pass. According to the law, they should be detained.”

Yao Shan furrowed his brows and asked the man, “Where are you from? Where is your pass?”

“My Lord, we are from Zhao Wangbao, 120 mile^[2]Chinese mile away. Our child has a severe fever, and we couldn’t help but ask for a pass to enter Suzhou for medical treatment. However, we lost the pass while traveling hastily at night.”

The man explained the situation clearly.

Yao Shan approached, and placed his hand on the forehead of the little girl, who had a somewhat dark complexion, and his brows furrowed even more. He said to Lu Yuan, “The child has a high fever. We can’t delay. Let them enter the city.”

“My Lord, without a pass, they can’t enter the city. According to the law, they should be treated as refugees. If we violate the law, and the court investigates, I won’t be able to bear it.”

Lu Yuan had a vivid memory of the massacres during the Hongwu era and dared not break any laws.

What if these people were not villagers but refugees or spies? He might end up losing his head.

He couldn’t take that risk.

“If the court investigates, I will take responsibility!”

Yao Shan untied the ropes, helped the child and the woman to their feet, and said sternly to Lu Yuan, “Stand aside!”

Lu Yuan clenched his teeth, refusing to yield, and stubbornly said, “My Lord, I am in charge of Destroy Chu Gate! Without a pass, they can’t enter the city!”

“I am the Prefect of Suzhou Prefecture! Are my words not respected here?!”

Yao Shan scolded forcefully.

Lu Yuan took a step forward, unyielding, and shouted, “I enforce the laws of the Taizu. What is the Prefect compared to that? You only care about this family; have you considered us? The previous keeper was kind-hearted, but do you know where his body is now? It’s still in this moat!”

Yao Shan’s face turned cold!

Indeed, the previous Keeper of Destroy Chu Gate had a kind heart and allowed a few people without passes to enter the city. However, someone reported this to higher authorities, and it somehow reached the ears of Zhu Yuanzhang.

As a result, the Keeper met his demise, and those without passes were all conscripted into the army.

In Zhu Yuanzhang’s laws, it was explicitly stated:

“All civilians and military personnel traveling beyond a hundred mile must present written passes. Those without passes must be apprehended and delivered to the authorities…

Anyone who condones this will be held equally guilty…

To safeguard the world, there shall be an Inspection Office in charge of investigating suspicious individuals, illegal salt traders, criminals, and prisoners who move about.”

The punishments were clearly defined:

“Those without passes, who cross bridges or gates without permission, shall receive eighty strokes.

If they cross rivers without permission, they shall also receive eighty strokes.”

In essence, a “pass” refers to a permit for passage.

The pass system was not separate but derived from the household registration system.

Zhu Yuanzhang promulgated laws that required “yellow registers to be established throughout the realm, ensuring that people of every type register with their proper names and surnames.” In response to issues with refugees at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, he used the method of creating new household registers to regulate the common people.

During the Ming Dynasty, there was no “Four-Ethnicity System” like the one during the Yuan Dynasty, which categorized people into “Mongols, Semu, Han, and Southerners.” Zhu Yuanzhang had his own ideas, and everyone was treated the same when it came to household registration. Everyone was registered.

However, even though there wasn’t a system based on four ethnicities, there was a system based on four types of occupations: civilian, artisan, military, and musical households (later expanded to include secondary categories). Each occupation had its own category, and individuals were not allowed to cross into other categories.

What kind of household registration you have determines what kind of activities you can engage in; don’t think about escaping or changing your registration.

If you are from a certain place, then stay in that place; don’t think about wandering around.

The result that Zhu Yuanzhang wanted, in a nutshell, can be summed up as:

“The people are secure within their registrations.”

For peasants, Zhu Yuanzhang’s policies were even stricter than the standard “hundred-mile” rule.

For example, if Old Zhang finished working in the fields for the day and accidentally ate too much during dinner, thinking of taking a walk to aid digestion.

After dinner, take a walk; you’ll live to be ninety-nine.

So, Old Zhang decided to take a walk. But, alas, he was suddenly caught, and when asked, “Do you have a pass?”

Old Zhang was innocent, he had only taken a walk to aid digestion after his meal, where would he have a pass?

Without a pass, it was simple: you’d receive a sound thrashing.

In more friendly cases, they would let you return home to recover from a sound thrashing. In less friendly cases, you’d be dragged away and conscripted into the army.

Why?

Because you walked more than one li away after your meal. If you go beyond one li, you must have a pass. Without a pass, who else would they arrest if not you?

One mile, how far is it…

Old Zhang looked back in the direction of his home. In the fading sunlight, he could see his thatched-roof cottage. It seemed like his wife and children were still waiting for him to come back and sleep. If he were conscripted into the army… Oh…

It’s likely that during the early Ming Dynasty, the peasants couldn’t eat their fill at night. It wasn’t due to a lack of food, but rather the fear of overeating or going for a walk after eating.

If you just wanted to visit a relative, and your voice could be heard at their home with a shout, as long as you went beyond one li, you needed a pass. If you didn’t have one, you were on your own.

Losing your pass was much more serious than losing your ID card in later times.

That’s precisely why Keeper Lu Yuan would rather confront the Prefect than let people into the city.

Condoning such actions meant sharing the same guilt!

He didn’t want to endure eighty strokes and be beaten to death.

Yao Shan had no choice when it came to dealing with Lu Yuan; he was just following the regulations. What could he say?

In frustration, Yao Shan had to send Han Yi into the city to fetch a doctor. Only after the child was examined and prescribed medicine did Yao Shan help the family rent a temporary room outside the city, leaving some silver coins. After the child’s condition improved slightly, he returned to the Prefectural Office.

“I, Yao Shan, Prefect of Suzhou, humbly submit: the Road pass and Trading pass systems restrict the people and hinder commerce, causing difficulties for both the common people and merchants. I earnestly request the abolition of the Road pass and Trading pass systems to alleviate the hardships faced by the populace and merchants…”

Yao Shan wrote the “Abolition of the Road pass and Trading Pass Systems” memorial with great speed.

However, what Yao Shan didn’t know was that the timing for this memorial was not ideal.

At this moment, in the capital, officials were rising up once again, forming factions, questioning, and criticizing the New Policies of the Jianwen Emperor, demanding the abolishment of the Single Whip Method, state policies, and Sales of Garrison Lands.

Their reasons were:

The policies of the Jianwen Emperor made the Heaven angry.

To be more specific, there had been another earthquake in Nanjing…

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