Return to the Qing Dynasty(67)

In the blink of an eye, the new year is here. As soon as it enters the twelfth lunar month, Lin Yutong starts to be busy with festive matters. Not only the officials in the capital but also the local officials have to make people feel the emperor's grace.

Although Dong Xiaowan is familiar with the job, the situation this year is different from the previous year. Often the amount and weight of the reward represent the fourth master's satisfaction with the official. This is not something she can decide.

But Lin Yutong himself had a lot of uncertainties, so he could only ask Fourth Master.

After washing himself and lying down in the evening, Fourth Master discovered that he had one more task, which was to rate the officials. Each person's name was followed by five little stars. Just put a tick on which star you thought the number was.

Of course this is not impossible, but it just makes people feel awkward.

"This is our private evaluation and has nothing to do with the court." Lin Yutong said without any pressure and took it directly from his hand, "Lie down and close your eyes. I will read to you and listen..."

Then Lin Yutong said a name, and he said a number. The cooperation was very tacit.

There were so many officials, and there was no one he couldn't remember after being stunned. If this went on, he would be exhausted.

After reading for a while, she rested and reached out to massage him. "The muscles all over his body are so stiff. It's almost the annual vacation. I really need to rest for a few days."

I didn't wait for the fourth master to speak for a long time. I looked down and saw that he had fallen asleep again.

Even Lin Yutong was looking forward to the holiday. You can imagine what the minister who had been enslaved for a year was thinking. Several times when he went to deliver meals to the fourth master, he heard the officials at Hou Jianchu talking together.

It was after the holiday. The one said they would all come to my house at that time. I have good wine there. Let’s barbecue and drink until we get drunk. The other said it’s better to stay down. I don’t want to do anything else and just want to stay in bed for three days and three nights.

Immediately after, someone next to me deliberately teased this person, saying, "You are Xina's concubine and don't have time to accompany me. It will be three days and three nights, so you have to take it easy." This was followed by the sound of laughter.

The corner of Lin Yutong's mouth curled up. She didn't know if that adult had a new concubine. She knew that whether it was ancient times or modern times, the mood of looking forward to the holiday was exactly the same. Anyway, before the day was over, she started planning for the holiday.

thing.

When Lin Yutong turned around and saw the books that Fourth Master had placed at hand, she opened the folded pages and blinked, feeling from the bottom of her heart that Fourth Master was indeed a little unreasonable.

Why do you think so?

Lin Yutong held the "Han Code" in his hand, and the translation of a passage drawn by Fourth Master with a pen was: Officials should take a day off every five days. This means that government workers can take a day off every four days.

Another book is Sima Qian's Historical Records, among which is folded the Biographies of Millions of Kings, which also contains regulations on holidays, saying that officials should wash their hands and return home to visit their relatives every five days." Compared with the regulations in the Western Han Dynasty, at this time

The "Xiu Mu" not only allows you to take a bath and rest, but you can also go home to visit the children and reunite with the couple.

Putting these two books aside, Lin Yutong felt that Fourth Master would never set the holiday according to this. Work four days and rest one day, don't be too beautiful.

Sure enough, there were a few more books on the other side.

"In the third year of Yonghui, there will be no worries in the world, and all officials will be kept simple. Every ten-day holiday, they are allowed to ignore the affairs, so as to forgive all the officials and take a rest." Lin Yutong clicked his tongue. Yonghui is the reign name of Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty. Here is a look at it

The history of the Tang Dynasty. From this time on, officials could only have one day off after working for ten days, that is, one day each in the early, middle and late ten days. These three days of rest were called "Huan", and from then on the holiday also had the title of "Huan".

Huan and Mu have the same meaning, they both mean washing. Anyway, it is quite vivid. It means taking a bath, changing clothes and cleaning yourself up.

For local officials, this day of course does not matter. For this type of officials, their family members live in the back office, and the front office is where they work. This is actually the same as at home. But for lower-level officials,

For example, staff and government officials, these people are not allowed to go home and live in the dormitory. They are allowed to go home once every ten days, which is just like the students who live on campus have to go home every week. It is really impossible to do less. Even the officials in the capital are far away from home.

They all work in the squad room.

There are 365 days in a year. According to this calculation, there are 36 statutory holidays in a year.

A little too little.

Looking further back, there is a book "Wenchang Miscellaneous Records", which is the history of the Song Dynasty. It records that in addition to the ten-day holiday, Yuan Day is also the Spring Festival, Cold Food, and Winter Solstice each have seven days of holiday; Tianqing Festival, Shangyuan Day

There are also holidays on Christmas Day, Tiansheng Festival, Summer Solstice, Beginning of Spring, Human Day, Zhonghe Festival, Qingming Festival, Chinese Valentine's Day, Mofu, etc. In this way, the number of statutory holidays in a year reaches seventy-four days, plus thirty-six days

Ten days off, a total of 110 days... This is closer to the statutory holidays in later generations.

Yuan Shi was left aside by the fourth master and did not read. This has no reference value. Lin Yutong remembered that the fourth master seemed to have said it a few days ago. At that time, she was looking after the children and did not take it seriously. Now when she read it, she found out

People only have 16 days of vacation throughout the year. This is a bit of a squeeze.

Although I don't agree with Yuan history, in the Ming and Qing dynasties, they were still influenced by the Yuan Dynasty to some extent. Government officials no longer had the loose vacation system of the Han, Tang and Song Dynasties. The "ten-day holiday" system was gradually reduced or even abolished, and the system was gradually reduced or even abolished throughout the year.

Only three holidays are reserved, namely the Spring Festival, the Winter Solstice and the emperor's birthday. Specifically, it is three days of monthly holiday, plus 18 days of holiday for New Year's Day, Lantern Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival, Winter Solstice and other holidays, and there are only more than 50 days of holiday per year. The Qing Dynasty

The early vacation system basically followed that of the Ming Dynasty. Nowadays, even the fourth master’s birthday is missed. I guess these people are not feeling sorry for birthday gifts, but regret missing another day of leave.

When the fourth master comes back, she will ask him about this, "Do you want to change the current resting and sleeping system?"

The fourth master took the book over and looked at it, "This needs to be discussed with the cabinet."

Lin Yutong complained: "...This system is too cruel to employ people."

The fourth master took the book and looked at her forehead, "It's not as simple as you think. If it's really like this, I don't need to read history books here." He counted with Lin Yutong with his fingers, "Don't forget that there are not many statutory holidays.

, but except for statutory holidays, the "temporary leave" system at this time is very loose and humane. Let me give you an example, what should I do if an official cannot return to the official office in time due to urgent matters? The rule is, "Those who are on urgent leave must

On the fifth day of the month, if there is an emergency, it is limited to sixty days in a year, and for those within a thousand miles, the disease will be postponed for twenty days.'"

That is to say, five emergency leaves are allowed in a month. The total number in a year cannot exceed sixty days. If the trip is delayed due to illness, an additional twenty days can be extended. The total is eighty days. That is, on average, more than one month can be taken.

Take six or seven days of leave. You can use these eighty days of leave separately or together. This is simply unimaginable in future generations. Whether it is a public institution or an enterprise, I have never heard of it.

Such.

Seeing her surprise, the Fourth Master added: "...and those whose parents live three thousand miles away are entitled to a 30-day provincial holiday every three years. This does not include the time spent on the way back and forth. If

Parents who live five hundred miles away are entitled to fifteen days of provincial leave every five years; when their children hold weddings, they have nine days of leave, excluding the journey. For other close relatives who hold weddings, they have five days, three days and one day of leave respectively;

When the mother dies, there is a compulsory leave of three years. If it is a military position, it is one hundred days..."

All these factors added together, the days of vacation are indeed quite long.

Lin Yutong feels that if this is the case, the holiday system really does not have to be changed. It is more humane! After all, whose family has nothing to do. It will be good for future generations, but for individuals, it is better to go to nine when nothing happens.

It’s okay to be late at five. If something happens at home, the parents are sick, the children need to be taken care of, so-and-so gets a wife from so-and-so’s family, and a daughter from so-and-so gets married. If you can’t get a leave, everything you say will be in vain. People keep drifting away from each other.

The further distance is related to these things. People are getting busier and busier, and they can't see each other once a year or say two words together. Although the phone is convenient for contact, it is still different after all.

Then the two of them muttered for half the night, wondering whether the matter had been put on hold for the time being.

Let’s talk about it next year.

After all, there are many things that are hard to change. For example, how can Fourth Master not be sure about the three-year mourning period after the death of parents? Except for special circumstances and special talents, this is really hard to change now.

The sixth year of Yongzheng's reign arrived while everyone was busy talking about it.

Last year during the Chinese New Year, Lin Yutong didn't show up. The baby was less than 100 days old and she was in confinement for three months. But this year it was hard not to show up again.

As soon as the twelfth lunar month entered, I followed the fourth master back to the palace. Last year, the fourth master went back alone. When the sacrifices and sweepings were done, he went directly back to the garden without spending the night in the palace. It took a lot of back and forth.

Come on. The children are still young this time. If the fourth master doesn’t want to let the children toss around, he might as well just go back to the palace. It seems that these four little ones haven’t come back yet.

The annual banquet of the female family members is held in Changchun Palace.

First, they entertained the female relatives of the clan, then the nobles, and then the married women. One after another, one group was received every day. The procedures were all the same. First, they paid homage, then saluted, and then sat down to drink tea and talk together. It really didn’t matter.

Having said that, in order to prevent everyone from being embarrassed, we went to the theater together to listen to a play, have some snacks and tea, and occupy our mouths and ears. It couldn't be better. Finally, we no longer have to find flattery to say. I was tired of talking to the Queen.

Ah, not only do you have to look for words that are not the same, but you also have to be careful and think about whether these words violate a taboo.

So no one is short of dramas to watch, but everyone takes the dramas in the palace seriously.

Lin Yutong never learned to listen to opera in his whole life.

She was the one who said that she was good at playing the piano. In the past, she just paid it forward and just followed others. When people praised her, she pursed her lips and smiled, implicitly indicating that her singing was indeed good. When people rewarded her, she followed the reward, and no one could tell that she was interested.

I don’t know anything about drama. But now this trick doesn’t work. No one dares to applaud me if I think it’s good. I have to wait for myself to applaud first before others dare to do it.

But Lin Yutong got distracted as soon as he heard the play and forgot about it a long time ago. So when he entertained the family members of these officials and the royal wives, the atmosphere seemed a bit dull. In the past two days, the clan Fujin and Xungui family, then

It's a lot better. Many of them can talk to Lin Yutong. The sisters-in-law have endless things to say when they get together. When the family members of the honorable family are entertained, the Jueluo family and the Queen Mother's family are all sitting together.

They were talking and laughing, and they just sang on stage, which was just background music. It felt good for everyone to chat privately. But when these ministers and their families came, Lin Yutong could only say that he was really unfamiliar with them. So it became awkward.

Lin Yutong was really distracted, and then suddenly she heard someone sobbing. She woke up suddenly, what happened? What kind of drama was on the stage, it made people cry. It’s a good time for this New Year.

They are also very particular. Even if they were beaten to death, they would not dare to sing that kind of drama.

I woke up and went to the stage to take a look. I didn't know what the show was. Anyway, it was a clown. His actions were so funny that people couldn't help but curl up the corners of their mouths. Can this show make people cry?

She frowned and looked in the direction of the sound, and many ladies nearby followed Lin Yutong's gaze.

Who can't hear such a loud sound?

Passing several rows of people, sitting in the seat behind was a lady who looked like she was a fourth-grade lady. She couldn't see how old she was. It wasn't that Lin Yutong's eyesight was poor, it was actually the lady who had just started holding a handkerchief on her face.

Wiping away tears, Lin Yutong looked at her like this, stood up and knelt down immediately. She lowered her head and sobbed louder.

I didn't dare to sing any more on stage. They all knelt down and trembled. They didn't know how they had made the nobles unhappy today.

Lin Yutong knew that it was not easy for these people. One of the disadvantages of acting in the palace was to be decapitated. She waved her hand and called Dong Xiaowan, "Please give them a reward. Tell them to rest first... I see that there are many children coming. You and the class leader

He said, "You don't need to restrain your children, just eat and drink when they are thirsty or hungry."

Dong Xiaowan agreed and whispered to Lin Yutong: "That lady is Fang, the wife of Mr. Zhan Shilin, the young master of Zhan Shifu..."

Lin Yutong nodded understandingly and asked Dong Xiaowan to get busy. Then he ordered Zhang Qilin to invite Mrs. Fang over.

Mrs. Fang stood up and did not dare to speak. She kept her head down as she walked. She was also scared when she looked at her, and her feet were shaking. When she came over, she knelt down with a thud and said, "I have seen... I have seen... the Queen... I am guilty...

"

Lin Yutong asked someone to help her up and sat down, "Why are you crying? If you have any grievances, just say it properly..."
To be continued...