There is no such thing as the Kangxi and Qianlong eras

Chapter 127: A Harbor of Filth
Yuezhou Prefecture, Baling County.

There was a brothel near the west of the city. The outside was already full of people watching the excitement, and there were also many scholars inside.

"Surround them all, don't let any one escape!" a Han soldier officer shouted, holding his sword.

Several teams of Han soldiers rushed forward and surrounded the brothel. The brothel was two stories high and was filled with shouting and the cries of the madam and pimps begging for mercy.

"Wuwuwu... General, please spare me, please spare me! We are just running a brothel. Is running a brothel illegal?"

The madam was escorted out by two Han soldiers. The makeup on her face had been worn off by tears, and she looked even uglier than the old ghost. At this moment, she asked the officer.

The officer sneered, "Haha, whether or not a brothel is illegal is none of our business, but forcing women of good character into prostitution is a capital crime!"

The madam was speechless for a moment.

The officer turned to look at the other onlookers and said, "Everyone, this brothel is indeed not illegal. There is no law prohibiting people from opening a brothel. However, forcing women into prostitution has always been a capital crime! The government has repeatedly warned against this, yet this brothel still dares to commit it!"

It is indeed repeated, and there is a law to follow, not just specious arguments.

Many people think that brothels were not illegal in ancient times, and indeed they were not illegal, but what this means is that brothels did not engage in the flesh trade, which is the ancient version of the "nightclub" business.

There may be some borderline cases, but they do not involve the flesh trade and the government has no control over them.

However, once it involves the flesh trade, it is a serious crime. According to the laws of the Qing Dynasty, many decrees were issued to strictly define prostitution as illegal. Emperor Yongzheng even abolished the semi-legal "official prostitutes" such as the Yuehu, and changed the Jiaofangsi (official brothel) into the Heshengshu (grand theater).

The Qing Dynasty Code even had a clear stipulation: any official who visited prostitutes, including having prostitutes accompany him for drinking, would be punished with 60 strokes of the cane and demoted one rank. Officials' descendants who visited prostitutes would also be punished.

If a student of the Imperial Academy visits a prostitute, the punishment will be even more severe. Not only will he be beaten with a stick 100 times, but he will also be shackled for three months and his academic title will be revoked. If he commits the same offense again, he will be exiled and his property will be confiscated.

Even the nobles of the Eight Banners were not exempt from punishment. Those who forced women of good character into prostitution or took prostitutes as concubines were all dismissed from their posts, shackled for one month, and whipped 100 times, and were not allowed to redeem themselves.

You must know that during the Qing Dynasty, bannermen and Han people were always treated differently. Han people who committed crimes would be punished, but bannermen who committed crimes could be redeemed. However, this person could not be redeemed, which obviously meant they were serious.

This is easy to understand, because the rampant prostitution industry will undermine the stability of the country, breed corruption among officials and the ruling class, and cause the country to gradually decline and degenerate.

The Qing Dynasty had learned from previous experiences and naturally had to strictly eliminate and ban anything that affected and destroyed the foundation of Manchu rule.

In fact, Nie Yu has always been troubled by the brothel issue, because brothels have a very long history. He certainly doesn't like this thing and knows that it is not good, but it is impossible to ban it directly without any reason.

Then we can only turn a blind eye to it for now. If the people don’t report it, the officials won’t investigate it.

On the contrary, if the people report it, the officials will investigate it.

Because this thing is definitely not clean, and as long as it is not clean, there is a law to follow. The laws currently used by Nie Yu are very general, and even the main part comes from the "Great Qing Law".

This is not because Nie Yu is forgetting his roots, but because if you slightly change a few articles in the "Great Qing Law", you will find that it is exactly the same as the "Great Ming Law".

Ha ha.

Isn't it more convenient to directly inherit the laws of the previous dynasty than to compile a new law?
Not to mention that the Qing Dynasty was using the "Ming Dynasty Code", even the Kingdom of Korea was using the "Ming Dynasty Code" at that time. They were even using the Chongzhen reign title, worshiping Chongzhen's spirit tablet, and wearing Ming Dynasty official uniforms.

The brothel that the Han soldiers raided today was reported by the prostitutes and maids inside. Because of the Han army's policy, officials dared not drink in brothels, and even scholars rarely came for the sake of their future.

The madam couldn't make any money and had no way to solve the problem, so she could only beat and scold the prostitutes and maids to vent her anger.

One maidservant could not stand it any longer. Thinking of the previous policy of the Han Military Office, which prohibited the buying and selling of slaves, but she was still a slave, she ran to the county government to report the case.

The new magistrate of Baling County had just taken office and was still busy sorting out the county's public security situation when he suddenly received a report that a brothel was illegally keeping slaves.

It had been more than a year since the Han army started its uprising, but there were still people who dared to keep slaves and maids, and even in such large social places as brothels in ancient times.

The new county magistrate did not care to think twice and immediately ordered a thorough investigation.

It would have been fine if we hadn't investigated. Once we did, we found out that this brothel was not only keeping slaves and maids, but also engaged in the flesh trade, forcing women of good families into prostitution, running earthen kilns and dark alleys, luring decent women, and privately lending money at high interest rates.

Just forcing a woman of good character into prostitution is punishable by death according to the law. If all these crimes are added together, even ten heads of the brothel owner would not be enough to chop off.

The brothel was quickly sealed off by Han soldiers, and no less than dozens of prostitutes were cleared out, and there were even more maids.

The madam and the pimp looked ashen-faced.

The leading officer stepped forward and asked the madam, "I'm just asking once: is there anyone else behind this brothel?"

The madam shook her head: "No one is left, no one is left. The brothel is all mine. It has nothing to do with anyone else."

The officer sneered, "She's still stubborn even when death is imminent. Send her to Magistrate He and have this brothel sealed off."

"What should we do with these prostitutes?" asked a Han soldier.

The officer said, "Send them to the county government office as well. Let Magistrate He send someone to handle their resettlement. It's not for us soldiers to worry about."

The Han soldiers quickly sealed off the brothel and were about to withdraw.

A passerby in elegant attire stepped forward and asked, "Sir, are you serious about closing down all brothels?" The officer's expression was a bit strange, and even the other civilians started to jeer, saying, "Brothels should definitely be closed down."

"You're right. Li Er was such a good man back then, but he was led astray by the random people in that brothel. In the end, even his wife was sold to a brothel."

"This young man, who looks like a scholar, actually wants to keep the things of such a bad guy. I'm afraid he must be a ruthless person."

"Hey, you know what, I heard this sentence from the old student in the next room before. It sounded like some kind of beast in human clothing, hahahaha!"

"..."

The people were talking at once, and the scholar who couldn't help asking questions turned gloomy and black in the face. He didn't listen to the officer's answer and hurriedly covered his face and left.

The Han army not only closed down brothels and cracked down on them, but also left no room for the opening of casinos.

The brothel mentioned above is at least legal, but prostitution is illegal. If prostitution is not carried out, the brothel can be relaxed and allowed to continue operating.

After all, it was just a matter of appreciating the singing and dancing performance. As long as they were not forced into sexual trade, the Han army would be tolerant.

But opening a casino was a serious crime, not to mention for the Han army, even in the Ming and Qing dynasties.

The Qing Dynasty's attitude towards gambling can really be described as harsh and strict.

Anyone caught hiding gambling equipment, such as dice and Pai Gow, would be exiled to Heilongjiang and become a slave to the armored men.

Opening a casino was even more serious. Regardless of whether they were Manchus or Han, they would all be hanged.

Even if they did nothing but gamble a few times, that was not allowed. If they were caught, they would be dismissed from their posts and never employed again.

Nie Yu relaxed the policy a bit, allowing his subordinates to gamble at home for fun. As long as they didn't gather together to gamble or open a casino, he would turn a blind eye.

But unfortunately, the people below don’t appreciate it!

Not only did he not appreciate the favor, he also made the casino semi-public and attempted to bribe and corrupt Han army officials with silver.

They actually corrupted several people. Fortunately, they finally sent the silver to Li Chen, and their true colors were finally revealed.

It's also the fault of these casino scumbags who thought that since the previous ones had collected money, the new governor should also collect money.

Unexpectedly, Li Chen was from the Jingzhou Li family. Although he was not a legitimate son, he had more money than the casino owner could imagine. Li Chen looked down upon the casino's small fortune and was more eager to achieve political achievements, so that he could rise rapidly in the Han army and realize his ambition to rule the country.

Look, political achievements are coming to my door.

……

The General's Mansion.

"General, this is the record of casinos and brothels that have been closed down in the past few months." Li Chen handed over his work report after taking office.

Nie Yu simply flipped through a few pages and didn't want to read anymore. It wasn't because it was shocking, but because he was almost numb from reading it.

They force women into prostitution, lend money at high interest rates, engage in human trafficking, fight and injure people...they do all kinds of evil.

Nie Yu put down the report and said, "Just sentence them as you see fit! But remember, make the results of the sentence public to the people, so they all know what crimes these people have committed."

Li Chen bowed: "I understand."

Nie Yu looked at Wang Ruoyu, the head of the Army Department, and asked, "How is the navy training going?"

The navy of course refers to the bandits in Dongting Lake. After these bandits helped to capture Changde Prefecture, they were naturally incorporated into the Han army navy.

This was also the original promise. The land must be divided, but these people have been accustomed to being pirates. If they are asked to become civilians, they will probably find it difficult to adapt.

So they were all reorganized and added to the new army's navy. It happened that the Han army was also short of navy. These pirates were used to life on board ships, so it was just right to let them serve in the navy, which could help them internally absorb these unstable factors.

As for whether it will be out of control? The navy is not limited to these water bandits. The water bandits are only a part of it. There are also newly recruited good family children who follow them to train together.

Wang Ruoyu said, "Thanks to the drill manual provided by the general, the navy has now entered combat readiness drills. It's estimated to take several more months before the troops can be assembled and boarded the ships. During drills, nearly one-fifth of the new recruits fainted and vomited. We're currently trying to get them to overcome this. If they can't, they'll have to be dismissed."

Nie Yu nodded. "Although the navy is a new army with a small number of men, and even difficult to use at present, these are the seeds of the future naval forces of our Han army. We must pay more attention to it. This is not just about the navy, but also about the destiny of our country for the next hundred years. We cannot neglect it."

Seeing that the general spoke so seriously, Wang Ruoyu quickly bowed and agreed.

As he was speaking, an official suddenly came in hurriedly to report.

"General, the artisans at the firearms workshop have reported that the new steelmaking furnace and that 'chicken' you mentioned earlier have been completed."

"Really? Take me there right now."

(End of this chapter)