Travel back in time and become Chongzhen, watch me turn the tide

It wasn't far to Xiao Qinhuai, and everyone was strolling leisurely, enjoying the scenery along the way as they slowly headed towards Xiao Qinhuai. Suddenly, they heard the sound of gongs and drums ahead. Looking up, they saw a sedan chair approaching from afar.

"Oh, what a coincidence! Is this for a wedding?" Chongzhen said with a look of surprise on his face as he looked at the approaching sedan chair.

"Mr. Zhu, this is not a marriage." Hou Fangyu responded with a smile.

"Isn't this a bridal sedan?" Chongzhen asked with a puzzled look on his face.

"The formal wedding has very complicated etiquette, from the pre-wedding ceremonies of accepting the bride's proposal, asking for the bride's name, accepting the good news, accepting the betrothal gifts, and asking for the date, to the wedding ceremony of welcoming the bride, worshiping in the hall, washing hands, and drinking from the same cup together, the whole process cannot be prepared without several months. But this one, from choosing the bride's wife, inserting the belt, giving gifts, welcoming the bride, worshiping in the hall, etc., the whole set of rituals was completed overnight!" Hou Fangyu shook his head slightly and explained in detail.

"Oh? Why is that?" Chongzhen asked with increasing confusion.

"Come to think of it, this is also a specialty of Yangzhou!" Zhu Ge on the side said.

"Yangzhou specialty? Isn't this a wedding? How is it related to specialties?" Chongzhen was even more confused.

"This is called Yangzhou Skinny Horse. It is really a unique specialty of Yangzhou!" Zhu Ge continued.

"Yangzhou skinny horses? Oh..." Chongzhen suddenly remembered that he had actually heard of this matter in later life. At first, a host said that he envied the Yangzhou skinny horses, and was criticized by people on the Internet. At that time, he specifically checked what was going on.

"Yangzhou skinny horse" has nothing to do with horses.

Starting in the Ming Dynasty, Yangzhou saw a surge in young women trained to marry into the homes of wealthy merchants as concubines. These women, often considered thinness a beautiful thing, were known for their slender figures, earning them the nickname "Yangzhou Thin Horses." This unique industry flourished alongside Yangzhou's prosperity and continued into the Republic of China era.

Bai Juyi once said in his poem "Three Poems of Feeling":

Don't raise a skinny colt, and don't teach a little prostitute.

The future is just around the corner. If you don’t believe me, just wait and see.

A fat horse walks fast, and a tall prostitute can sing and dance.

I heard that within three to five years, the owner had changed.

I would like to ask the new and old masters, who is happy and who is working hard.

The reason why they are called "skinny horses" is because the matchmakers engaged in this business buy young girls from poor families at low prices, raise them and then sell them at high prices. This is the same business method as merchants who buy skinny horses at low prices, fatten them and then sell them at high prices. Therefore, people call these girls "skinny horses", and those who engage in this business are called "raising skinny horses".

The prosperity of the "raising skinny horses" industry is closely related to the Lianghuai salt merchants who lived in Yangzhou.

Salt merchants monopolized the national salt transport industry, becoming immensely wealthy and leading luxurious lifestyles comparable to those of the imperial family. Many of these merchants were married at the age of twelve or thirteen, leaving home to engage in commerce at sixteen, remaining away for years, decades, or even decades before returning home to visit their families. For example, the Huizhou merchants, known as the local saying "a lifetime of marriage lasts three and a half years," capture this reality. To satisfy the physiological needs of their long-term celibacy, Huizhou merchants often lavishly acquired concubines and prostitutes. Furthermore, in that era, the pursuits of wealth were primarily about food and beautiful women, and many salt merchants, having made their fortunes, became obsessed with beauty. As these merchants grew tired of the aesthetic ideals of "large breasts and plump hips," they developed peculiar ideas, leading to the practice of "raising skinny horses."

Raising skinny horses is a lucrative venture, and Yangzhou now has a large number of people specializing in this profession. They buy attractive girls from poor families and train them, teaching them singing, dancing, chess, calligraphy, and painting. When they grow up, they sell them to wealthy men as concubines or into brothels, profiting from the experience. Initially, they buy a girl for only a dozen taels of silver, but upon her marriage, they can earn up to 1,500 taels of silver.

"At first glance, this looks quite similar to a wedding," Chongzhen said with emotion as he watched the festive procession approaching.

"That's right," Hou Fangyu nodded and said with a smile, "There are at least a hundred people in Yangzhou City engaged in this business. They have their own set of processes and methods from training to sales!"

"It seems that Chaozong knows a lot about this." Chongzhen said with a smile.

"Mr. Zhu, you're joking," Hou Fangyu said, waving his hands repeatedly. "I have a good friend who is quite interested in this. He once sought out people in this business to learn more about it, and I learned some of the inside scoop from him."

"Then Chaozong, tell me about it." Although Chongzhen knew about the Yangzhou skinny horse, his understanding was only superficial. After hearing Hou Fangyu say this, he couldn't help but feel curious.

"Yangzhou skinny horses are also divided into different levels of qualifications," Hou Fangyu explained. "Girls of the first level are taught 'playing the qin and flute, reciting poetry and writing, painting, playing Go, playing backgammon, scribbling dominoes, and all sorts of lewd tricks,' as well as meticulous makeup techniques and body training. Girls of the second level can also learn to read and play a little music, but their primary goal is to become accountants, knowing how to keep accounts and manage affairs, so they can assist merchants and become good assistants. Girls of the third level are not allowed to learn to read, but are instead taught needlework, tailoring, and 'frying, steaming, making oven-baked food, arranging fruit, and other crafts,' to become qualified housewives. Of course, all of this painstaking training is geared towards finding a good buyer and selling at a good price."

"There are actually different levels?" Chongzhen asked in surprise.

"This is also to meet different needs. After all, it's not easy to train first-class skinny horses, and there's also a good market for second- and third-class ones," Hou Fangyu said with a sigh. "There are as many as a hundred people in Yangzhou who make a living from this. Among them are not only matchmakers, but even prostitutes..."

"What is a scoundrel?" Chongzhen asked curiously.

"A horse dealer is a middleman who specializes in brokering the livestock trade. Since they can't make money with livestock, they also deal in skinny horses. Compared to livestock, skinny horses are not only easier to trade, but also more profitable..."

"Humans are really like animals," Zhu Ge muttered softly.

"These matchmakers and horse dealers have their own information channels. If the news gets out that a merchant wants to buy a skinny horse, they will flock to it like flies to meat..."

"As soon as they learn you're planning to take a concubine, a matchmaker will come to your house early in the morning to invite you to choose. It's not quite like a livestock sale at this point, but it's pretty close..." Hou Fangyu shook his head and said, "The matchmaker will follow a set procedure to instruct the girl to present herself in all aspects to the buyer..."

"The matchmaker said to the girl, 'Girl, please meet the guest.' She bowed and saluted. Then she said, 'Girl, please come forward.' The skinny horse began to walk. Then she said, 'Girl, please turn around.' She turned around and stood facing the light, revealing her face. Then she said, 'Girl, please hold out your hands and let me see.' Then she rolled up her sleeves, revealing her palms, arms, and skin. Then she said, 'Girl, please look at your husband.' The girl turned her eyes and peeked at the guest, so that he could see her eyes clearly. Then she said, 'Girl, how old are you?' When she told him her age, he could tell how her voice sounded. Then she said, 'Girl, please come forward.' The matchmaker pulled up her skirt, revealing her feet. There's another way to tell if a woman's feet are large. If her skirt is tied high, her feet will be visible before she leaves, so she must have small feet. Finally, the matchmaker said, 'Girl, please go back.'"

"After this whole process, they examine the girl's face, hands, arms, skin, eyes, voice, toes, and so on, one by one. It's really no different from examining livestock... If they find someone they like, they insert a gold hairpin or a hairpin into her hair. This is called 'inserting a hairpin'. If they don't like her, that's fine. Just give a few hundred coins to the matchmaker or the girl's maid, and you can go to another family to see her. If they like, they can spend one day, two days, or even four or five days. They never get tired of looking, and they never get tired of looking..."

"This is really professional." Chongzhen said with a smile.

"This isn't over yet. This is just the selection process. There's more to come after the selection..." Hou Fangyu said with a smile, "If she's chosen, after the girl is given the 'belt', our family will immediately give her a gift list with the following information: a certain amount of colored satin, a certain amount of gold flowers, a certain amount of betrothal gifts, and a certain amount of cloth. We'll use a pen dipped in ink and present it to the guest for them to review... Once the guest approves the betrothal gifts and the forged cloth, and they're satisfied, we'll respectfully invite them back..."

"... Before the guests even reached the door, the band, the tray bearers, the porters, the red and green silk, the sheep, the wine, etc. were already waiting at the door. Soon, the betrothal gifts, cakes, and fruits were all ready, and the band led the way. Less than half a mile away, the sedan bearers, the lantern bearers, the torch bearers, the fortune tellers, the bridesmaids, the incense, paper, candles, sacrificial fruits, and other offerings were all waiting at the door. The cook arrived with a basket carrying vegetables, fruits, dishes, water, snacks, flower sheds, sugar cakes, and tablecloths. Cushions, wine jugs, wine glasses, chopsticks, dragon and tiger birthday figures, as well as people spreading flower curtains, leading the bride, singing songs, playing the zither and string instruments, and so on, were all gathered. Without waiting for a reply or the host's order, the bridal sedan and the bride's escort sedan went to meet the bride together, with drums and music, and lights on. Soon, the bridal sedan and the bride's escort sedan arrived together. After the bride bowed in the hall, the relatives took their seats at the banquet. The singers sang a few songs, and the drum and trumpet bands played a few times. After a joyous occasion, these people asked for tips and hurried away to the next house..."

"Isn't this human trafficking?" Chongzhen frowned and said, "Our Great Ming law stipulates that anyone who kidnaps and sells people as wives, concubines, or offspring will be punished with 100 strokes of the cane and sentenced to three years in prison!"

"Mr. Zhu, you're right. But firstly, these people naturally have some means of concealing their crimes. Secondly, the human trafficking is rampant. Moreover, these skinny horses from Yangzhou are quite famous. Not only are they in demand by wealthy businessmen, but how many high-ranking officials don't have them?" Hou Fangyu shook his head and said, "With them around, how could anyone care about these poor women?"

"Oh! What Chaozong said is right. If we want to put an end to this kind of thing, we must start from the root cause..." Chongzhen nodded and said.

"This kind of thing..."

Hou Fangyu saw that Chongzhen was quite serious about the matter and was about to persuade him when suddenly there was a commotion in the distance and a group of people rushed towards them with sticks in their hands!