The ancient road conditions were very poor, and the roads were either not hardened or rugged. When there is snow, the road surface is slippery, and it is muddy after melting, so it is difficult to walk. The eighth time in Travel Notes of Lao Can describes the scene of Qing people walking on the snowy road: "Although this road is not a narrow path, it is high and low, and the stone road is frozen with ice and snow, which is extremely slippery. Get up at one o'clock after dinner and go to four o'clock. " Three people walk five kilometers an hour, with an average of less than two kilometers an hour.
On snowy days, the car rental industry will also raise prices. During the Jiaqing period, a scribe lived in Cangzhou, which coincided with a snowy day. It turned out that he rented a donkey cart on the ground in Cangzhou at a price of only 400 pence a day. Because of the snow, the price of cars has doubled. The scribe lamented, "It is not easy to hire a donkey to drive the snow. It costs 800 pence a day." (The first part of Yantai Zhi Zhu Ci) Sometimes paying twice the car price may not be able to rent a car, because the driver's business is excellent in snowy days. "It takes a long time to call a car in the snow, and you are numb by the door." ("Jibei Handyman" Part I)
When the ancients went out on snowy days, they easily slipped. The book "Cheating with Banknotes and Sticks" records that during the Daoguang period, a escort went from Beijing to Shandong, passing through a town in Hebei, and it began to snow heavily. The escort braved the heavy snow and "suddenly heard a groan" and saw a pregnant woman lying in the snow on the roadside. It turned out that she came back from her family and rode a donkey. As a result, the donkey fell down in the snow and almost miscarried.
It is also recorded in the book "Banknote Cheating" that a family is scheduled to marry a daughter-in-law on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month. Unexpectedly, it snowed heavily that day, the land was "deep" and the water was "hard". The wedding team looked up at the sky and sighed. But this auspicious moment cannot be delayed. The man used his quick wits and hired a desperate guy to send a letter to the woman, saying that it was snowing too hard and the weather was too cold for the bride and groom to meet each other, just "looking up to heaven and worshiping." The woman had no choice but to let the bride and groom worship heaven and earth across dozens of miles. Seven days later, when the snow melted and the road was ready to go, the young couple got married.
The snowstorm delayed the marriage, which did little harm, and the greater harm was that it delayed the traffic. Water transport prevailed in Qing dynasty, that is, the use of canal ships to send food to the capital. As soon as the snowstorm happened, the land was blocked, the canal was frozen, and food could not be transported into the capital. Food prices in Beijing rose immediately, and ordinary people could not afford to buy food, so they might go hungry.
During the Daoguang period, some people really starved to death because of the snowstorm. Chen Qiyuan's Notes on Yongxianzhai (volume 10) records that there is a small temple in Anji Mountain, Huzhou, Zhejiang Province. There are four monks in the temple who feed their stomachs by giving alms every day. In the winter of 20 years in Daoguang, the mountain was blocked by heavy snow, and four monks couldn't get down, so they all starved to death in the temple.
In the event of a snowstorm, the Qing government will also take corresponding measures. First of all, the government will arrange people to sweep the snow. The snow in the palace is swept by eunuchs, the snow in the inner city is swept by the guards, and the snow in the outer city and other big cities is generally swept by the garrison. As for the snow in front of shops and communities, ordinary people naturally do it themselves. You don't have to do it. You can hire someone. During the Daoguang period, every city in North China had a job called "street sweeping" (also called "street sweeping"). As soon as the snow stopped, they rushed into the street with shovels and brooms, waiting to be hired and do odd jobs for a while.
Secondly, the government will arrange people to pave the way. The purpose of padding soil is to prevent skidding, but it is limited by financial resources and manpower. Generally, only specific official roads are padded with soil, such as the official roads that the emperor may pass when he goes on patrol or the army triumphs, and the official roads that transport rations and salaries. Put these key roads on the mat, and the other roads will be ignored. They are slippery and muddy.
/AC 6 eddc 45 1da 8 1 cb8b 19aa 055966d 0 1608243 17e？ X-BCE-process = image/resize, m _ lfit, w _ 450, h _ 600, limit _ 1/quality, q _ 85 Third, the government will give some officials a holiday. In the twenty-fourth year of Kangxi, there was a snowstorm in Beijing. Kangxi said: "The road is slippery, there is no need to come to the DPRK." . In the fourth year of Yongzheng, there was another snowstorm in Beijing. Yongzheng also said: "Beijing officials don't have to come to Yuanmingyuan, so I'll reschedule."
In addition, the government has formulated some traffic rules to minimize traffic accidents during the snowstorm. Article 296 of the Laws of the Qing Dynasty stipulates that anyone who is injured on horseback due to weather shall compensate for medical expenses and the injured person for the mount. If you kill someone, you have to hit a hundred boards and reform through labor for three years. In addition, he will compensate the family members of the deceased for the burial expenses, and his mount will be confiscated by the government.
Finally, the emperors of the Qing Dynasty were very pious. Whenever there is a snowstorm, they go to the Temple of Heaven to pray and "sacrifice Xie Xue", which means God, don't rain, there is enough snow. Obviously, this is just superstition.