Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

Of course, there was no bulk Jiangsu in the Ming Dynasty. Huainan Province was to the north of the Yangtze River, and Zhejiang Province was to the south of the Yangtze River.

Huainan and Zhejiang provinces, due to their large area, large population, and prosperous economy, have been continuously divided over the past two decades.

A prefecture in the northwest corner of Huainan Province was swallowed up by Henan Province. A prefecture in the southwest corner of Huainan Province was swallowed up by Hubei Province.

Zhejiang Province was even worse. Not only Wenzhou and Chuzhou were assigned to Fujian, but the establishment of Nanjing directly caused Zhejiang to suffer heavy losses.

Even Changzhou, Jiangyin, Yixing, Wuxi, Guangde... were all placed under the jurisdiction of Nanjing's Jinling Prefecture, and one-third of Taihu Lake became Nanjing's territory.

The fishermen in Taihu Lake row their boats and cast their nets. Once the net is cast down, half of the net may be cast in Zhejiang Province and half of the net may be cast in Jinling Prefecture, Nanjing.

Due to its extremely prosperous economy, Changzhou has never abolished its prefecture-level establishment. This is not good after all. It is the government itself, and its superior is still the government.

The imperial court has decided that if the Changzhou prefect is transferred, Changzhou Prefecture will be downgraded to a state, and Wuxi County under its jurisdiction will also be removed.

Zhu Guoxiang visited the Taihu Lake area for more than a month. He had a great time and continued to go south reluctantly. First go to Jiaxing, then Hangzhou, and live directly in a manor by the West Lake.

Li Wenhui, the governor-general of Zhejiang Province, said: "This house was originally Zhu Meng's manor, and it also included a large area of ​​lakes and farmland. The land was so vast that when the government confiscated it and auctioned it, it was broken into five parts for bidding. Three of them were bought by the same wealthy businessman at a high price, barely preserving the integrity of Zhu Meng's garden."

"Who owns it now?" Zhu Guoxiang asked.

Li Wenhui said: "Return to the Hangzhou government."

Zhu Guoxiang felt curious: "Where is its original owner?"

Li Wenhui said: "Since Zhu Meng, the garden here has changed three owners. One owner was beheaded, another owner was exiled, and another owner went bankrupt and went to jail."

Zhu Guoxiang: "..."

This garden located by the West Lake has changed several names since it was too evil. It is currently called Changsheng Garden.

Just pick a name and make up for whatever is missing.

It's a pity that it didn't last forever.

The first owner was Zhu Meng and his son, who were killed by Song Huizong himself.

The second owner was Song Huizong.

The three owners behind are all wealthy businessmen from Zhejiang, and they are all involved in major corruption cases. Those who beheaded were beheaded, those who were exiled were exiled, and those who were imprisoned were imprisoned.

Li Wenhui said: "The Hangzhou government office has put this house on the market for several years, but no one has been willing to bid again. It is usually idle and lacks maintenance, but people often come to play. Government or private scholars gather, multiple choices Held in Changsheng Garden.”

Zhu Guoxiang took a tour and said: "It seems that it has been repaired recently."

"It hasn't been overhauled, it's just to get rid of the bad luck," Li Wenhui said. "People in Hangzhou say that this garden is full of evil spirits, but His Majesty the Emperor has destiny in his body, so he is not afraid of any evil spirits."

"Hahahaha!" Zhu Guoxiang laughed when he heard this.

What he was laughing at was that the Ming Dynasty was so effective in combating corruption that it killed several wealthy businessmen in Hangzhou and even scared no one to the point of buying the garden.

The Li Wenhui in front of him was the first Jinshi of the Ming Dynasty.

His ranking in the imperial examination was not high, but his political achievements were outstanding.

He first served as censor, and investigated and punished 47 officials and 338 official officials. Then he became a civil affairs official. Everywhere he went, he left a reputation as a "cruel official" and "incorruptible".

Historically, Li Wenhui also served as an official in this style.

At that time, the Song Dynasty had just crossed south, and many officials, whether they were from the peace faction or the war faction, had no property in the south. After they arrived in Jiangnan, regardless of their political stance, they were busy taking bribes and bending the law to make money.

As the censor, Li Wenhui impeached corrupt officials every now and then, offending both the war faction and the peace faction. As deputy prime minister, he went to suppress the pirates, and soon used the method of division and co-optation to force the pirates to surrender and organize them into the navy.

As soon as Li Wenhui returned to the court after wiping out the pirates, he was dismissed as prime minister by Qin Hui. For the next ten years, he lived in seclusion and wrote books.

It was not until Qin Hui became seriously ill that Li Wenhui was activated. In four years, he served as three magistrates and one magistrate of a state, all with outstanding political achievements. He submitted the "Ten Essentials of Zhongxing" to the Southern Song Dynasty court, analyzing it from ten aspects including politics, military, diplomacy, and economy, hoping that the court could eliminate the ills and revitalize the country. .

Soon, he died of illness.

Li Wenhui in this time and space was remembered by Ju Ming. Because he was from the Yushi faction, he offended all other factions and was impeached many times by officials from various factions. Every time he was investigated, he was honest and selfless, and it was also found that someone had deliberately suppressed his political performance.

At first, it was Chen Dong who was trying to protect him, but later it was directly promoted by Ju Ming himself.

Li Wenhui was able to serve as Zhejiang's political envoy to the left, and it was Ju Ming who bypassed the court and appointed him. Many chief officials in Zhejiang Province have been dismissed, and the official atmosphere has never been good. Only people like Li Wenhui can control it.

Li Wenhui is one of Ju Ming's unofficial candidates for assistant prime minister.

He can only be the assistant prime minister, not the prime minister, because his popularity in the officialdom is "too poor" and he cannot effectively integrate the various teams of the court.

There are six or seven other ministers like this.

With officials like them, the Ming Dynasty could maintain its vitality.

Looking at Song Bo, the right chief envoy next to him, he knew that although the two were on the same level, Song Bo was suppressed throughout the whole process and did not even dare to take away Li Wenhui's words.

Li Wenhui didn't regard Song Bo as a human being. In his eyes, this colleague's fate was already decided, and it was nothing more than beheading or exile.

When you come to Zhejiang to do business, you have to pack a few big ones.

He is incorruptible and selfless, and he is protected by the emperor, so he is naturally not afraid of any officials.

Zhu Guoxiang, his wife and children lived in Changshengyuan and went boating in the West Lake from time to time. He really liked this evil garden and even wanted to stay there for two more years.

After almost completing his tour of the West Lake, Zhu Guoxiang went ashore again to enjoy the fireworks on earth.

The outer port of Hangzhou is very busy, and the pier on the West Lake side is equally busy.

Goods from various prefectures and counties in the south of the Yangtze River flow here through several rivers, and most of them are shipped to outer ports for overseas trade. Goods from overseas and Fujian and Guangdong are also transported here from Hangzhou Outer Port and dispersed to inland areas via rivers.

"Hey, why are there still Tibetan people working as coolies at the dock?" Zhu Guoxiang was quite curious.

It was impossible for the officials of the Third Division of Zhejiang to accompany him all the time. Zhu Guoxiang had long since sent him off to handle official duties. The official tour guide beside him was Zhang Yan, the Zhejiang academic envoy.

Zhang Yan didn't know either: "I will call someone here for questioning."

Soon, a ghost coolie was summoned and knelt in front of Zhu Guoxiang and kowtowed.

Zhu Guoxiang asked him to stand up and speak: "Which country are you from before?"

Gui Lao replied: "Xiao Min's name is Yi Bangchang. It's unclear which country he was from before. A few years before the fall of the Song Dynasty, Xiao Min came to Hangzhou to settle with his father. Xiao Min was only six or seven years old at that time."

"Are you losing money in business?" Zhu Guoxiang asked.

Gui Lao said: "The imperial court issued a decree that the Tibetan people were not allowed to marry within the same clan. The common people couldn't find a suitable wife at that time, so they married a woman who was a big eater. I thought that I was an iron chip man, and my wife was a big eater, so it was not considered a big deal. Intermarriage. As a result, we were reported and our family’s property was confiscated.”

Zhu Guoxiang laughed when he heard this: "In the eyes of Ming Dynasty officials, how can you tell the difference between iron filings and food? You work hard, and your children should not get married indiscriminately."

"Yes..." Gui Lao looked very disappointed. He thought the Supreme Emperor was going to return the family property.

The matter is very clear. A Jew married an Arab, and their families were all ransacked!

This stems from the Ming Dynasty's "Intermarriage Law". Foreigners who came to settle in the Ming Dynasty could only intermarry with all ethnic groups in China.

Violators will have their homes confiscated!

In practical terms, it doesn't matter what ethnic group you are from, as long as you look obviously different, you are a foreigner.

If they look similar, even if they are from a different race, the government won't bother to care.

The Jew in front of me was just unlucky enough to be shot. The business that his family had been running for many years was turned back to its original shape because of a marriage and could only work as a coolie.

There are many such cases, mainly concentrated in the southern coastal provinces.

Now no one dares to violate the law. Whether they come from India, the Middle East or Arabia, everyone must marry locals.

Han Chinese families of the same class naturally look down upon them.

No matter how rich these foreigners are, they can only marry poor Han people, hoping that after two or three generations of mixed blood, the foreign blood will be washed away from their bodies.

Leave Daming?

Only a fool left. Where can I find a stable country like Ming Dynasty?

Take the Jewish people, whose core settlement area has been occupied by the Crusaders. The Crusaders frantically massacred and exploited the Jews for decades, and it was not until twenty years ago that they relaxed their policies slightly.

Most of the Jews driven out by the Crusaders now moved to Baghdad, where they were also oppressed by the Seljuk Sultan (the second-ranked Sultan).

There are also Jews in Europe.

Take the UK as an example. The Jews, whose population is less than 1/400, contribute 8% of the country’s taxes to the UK. Who makes them greedy and rich? In another hundred years, Britain will launch a vigorous anti-Semitic movement.

It’s so hateful!

"Please give him 50 yuan as compensation for delaying him in carrying goods," Zhu Guoxiang said.

The Supreme Emperor was also very stingy, so he only gave 50 Wen as a reward, and the ghost man thanked him profusely and left.

Zhu Guoxiang called another Han coolie and asked, "What is your name? How many people are there in your family?"

The coolie replied: "The commoner's name is Xu Gongtian, also known as Xu San. I have... at home, does it count as a home in the countryside?"

Zhu Guoxiang said with a smile: "So what?"

Xu San opened the conversation: "My father split up his family when he was young. He originally had a few acres of thin farmland, but it was later occupied by the god-damned Zhu Mian. When the foolish emperor came to Hangzhou, another treacherous minister occupied Zhu Meng's land. Fortunately, our Ming Emperor showed mercy and took over Zhu Mian's land. The fields owned by corrupt officials in the previous dynasty were all divided up. Because we kept the farm bones, my family was divided into twelve acres, and two acres were paddy fields by the river..."

The guy became more and more verbose as he talked. He also talked about the crops grown at home. Zhu Guoxiang listened with a smile and did not interrupt.

After talking about this for a long time, Xu San finally said: "There are too many brothers in the family, and twelve acres of land is not enough for food. I came to Hangzhou to work when I was fifteen years old. I first killed chickens for others..."

After chatting for a long time, Xu San said: "A few years ago, I asked someone to help me find a matchmaker. I finally got married and rented a room outside Hangzhou. We both have to work, and we have to give birth to a son and send him back to the countryside. The old mother feeds her and gives her family two to three hundred dollars more every month.”

After talking for so long, he still didn't know exactly how many people there were in his hometown. It only expressed that the couple rented a house outside Hangzhou and sent the child back to the countryside to be given to his old mother.

"How much do you earn in a day?" Zhu Guoxiang asked.

Xu San said: "It depends on whether the dock is busy. If you are busy, you can earn more than 200 cash a day, and you will be too tired to do anything at night. My wife is much more stable. She worked as an apprentice in a textile factory and earned 30 cash a day. When I started working, I could earn 120 cash a day. Now I am a skilled worker, and my salary has increased to 180 cash a day.”

Is it much?

not much.

This is Hangzhou!

According to various literati’s poems or notes, we can know——

In Huaixi in the middle of the Northern Song Dynasty, there was a servant who was very appreciated and could earn 100 coins a day. Others are very envious. Not only can he support his wife and children, he can even eat meat and drink wine regularly.

In the late Northern Song Dynasty, farmers in the western suburbs of Luoyang could earn 100 Wen by selling firewood in the city. My little life was pretty good.

But it takes at least one and a half to two days to earn this one hundred cents. First go to the western mountainous area of ​​Luoyang to cut firewood, and then pick it up and sell it in Luoyang city.

In the early years of the Southern Song Dynasty, the daily income of fishermen in Sichuan (for a couple) was no more than 100 iron coins at most. At that time, the excessive issuance of iron coins had led to devaluation, and food prices had risen due to resistance to gold, so it was just enough for a couple. They were both full.

By the middle of the Southern Song Dynasty, the daily income of fishermen (a family of three) in the Three Gorges area was less than 100 copper coins. However, the price of the money issued indiscriminately has soared, and this 100 pennies is no longer enough.

The above four examples are all in suburban or rural areas.

Let’s talk about the city.

In Cangzhou City in the Northern Song Dynasty, a young man could earn dozens of pennies a day by selling fruits, but it was barely enough to support him and his mother.

Things got even worse in the middle of the Southern Song Dynasty. Due to the soaring prices, a family of three set up a stall in Raozhou City, selling pig blood soup and sheep blood soup, earning 200 Wen a day and still being very poor.

Because everything in the city costs money, and rent is enough to make people worry.

Xu San, however, was full of hope for life. He settled the accounts with the Emperor on his fingers: "Sometimes I earn more and sometimes less. Even six guan a month is a little less. My wife can also earn more than five guan a month. Combined with me." That’s eleven times a month.”

"The monthly rent is four and a half yuan..."

Zhu Guoxiang finally interrupted: "How much did you say the rent was?"

Xu San said: "Four and a half per month."

Zhu Guoxiang asked: "The house you rent is good?"

Xu San said: "A broken house in the countryside outside the city."

"This also costs four and a half dollars in rent?" Zhu Guoxiang said in surprise.

Xu San's tone was a little proud, and he said with a smile: "This is Hangzhou!"

Except during the war years, real estate in big cities is always in demand.

This is true both in ancient and modern times.

Take Kaifeng as an example. In the middle of the Northern Song Dynasty, the rent for a dilapidated house in Kaifeng City could be as high as 5 guan per month (the official agency price, private rentals can be less). When a newly awarded Jinshi stayed in Beijing, his salary was not enough to rent a better house!

As maritime trade becomes more prosperous, real estate prices in Hangzhou have also risen, and even rents in nearby suburbs have increased.

Xu San is still continuing to settle accounts: "I give my old parents 1 guan each month, and the couple spends about 3 guan. A month can leave two and a half guan, and a year can have 30 guan left. After taking into account the New Year and holidays, I will give it to her parents' family. We need to buy some rice and noodles. We also need to buy clothes and bedding, and we need to take some medicine for headaches and fevers. If we don’t work when we are sick, we don’t have any wages... I can save at least eight strings of money in a year!”

Xu San was mysterious and whispered: "Last year alone, I saved more than nine thousand dollars and three hundred dollars."

Zhu Guoxiang was speechless.

This is a dual-career job. The couple is a dock coolie and a textile worker. Both of them have high incomes among the working group.

They worked so hard in Hangzhou that they could only save eight or nine guans a year.

If it were other families, they would probably have a slight surplus throughout the year after having enough food and clothing.

Of course, both the coolies and the weavers were very tired. It is estimated that these two people had a good meal and could even eat meat every now and then.

Xu San said happily: "My wife and I have discussed it, and now we have been renting that shabby house. After saving twenty or thirty years of money, when we are fifty or sixty years old, we can buy a few thatched houses in the suburbs. By then, my son I can also make money. I will use the money my son earns to renovate the thatched house into a tiled house.”

Zhu Guoxiang sighed: "Have ambition."

Xu San smiled and said: "Maybe it won't take twenty or thirty years. Although the rent has increased significantly in the past few years, wages have also been rising. When my wife and I's wages rise, I'm afraid it will take more than ten years to buy a house in the suburbs!" "

Zhu Guoxiang did not ask again, but said to the attendant: "Give him five guan of money, it will take up a lot of his time."

When Xu San received the reward, he smiled even more happily and immediately knelt down and kowtowed to express his gratitude.

After the man left, Zhang Yan, the academic envoy, praised: "The peasant couple who go to work in the city can actually save nearly ten thousand dollars a year. According to the daily expenses he said, they must eat meat from time to time." The people are so prosperous, it is truly a prosperous age!”

Zhu Guoxiang muttered: "Perhaps this can be considered a prosperous age."