Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

Late at night, Huangtang.

Although this is the office of the magistrate, it already belongs to the back house of the state government and is guarded by the private door of the back house.

Yang Pu, a rooster and dog thief who was picked up halfway, became the concierge security guard of the back house. He followed Ju Ming's instructions and turned a blind eye as long as no one entered the living area of ​​the back house.

Yang Pu even snored on purpose so that the infiltrators could work with peace of mind.

"Why did you come in? Go look for the wind!"

"You're fast asleep. You keep snoring. I'm here to help you."

"This paper is for you. You must use a bamboo pen. It's not easy to draw lines when copying with a brush."

"What are these? Why can't I understand?"

"I heard that Zhizhou's father is a well-known Taoist priest. He also became a fellow magistrate of the Daolu Academy and wears a purple Taoist robe. Zhizhou's family has a long history, so he must be able to carve talismans."

"Why is he drawing talismans in the government office?"

"How do I know? It may be the art of hating victory."

"Yan...Yan Sheng...will nothing happen to us?"

"No, no, copy it down quickly."

"..."

The two clerks finished copying several charts and carefully put them into their arms, then blew out the candles and tiptoed away.

When closing the door, a hemp rope is used as a mechanism to automatically lock the door bolt from the inside.

The next day, Li Xiaozhong, the head of the Li family in Puzhou, stared at several charts with confusion: "How many days in a row has the governor been drawing these things?"

The literary official said: "The father of Zhizhou is a Taoist in purple, so he must be able to draw talismans. I guess these may be talismans for defeating victory, or they may be evil talismans. Putting these talismans in the Huangtang can suppress evil spirits."

"Nonsense!"

Li Xiaozhong pointed to the chart annotation and said: "In these places, there are words like thieves, thieves, alliance of Chanyuan, Xining Reform, etc. How could they be evil-suppressing talismans?"

"It may also be a talisman used to suppress thieves." The literary official guessed.

Li Xiaozhong waved his hand and said, "You can collect some reward money and go back to the Yamen first."

The civil servant bowed and stepped back: "I'll take my leave."

When the clerk went to collect the reward, Li Xiaozhong called his son and the housekeeper.

The butler only glanced at it and said, "Don't doubt it, Alang. These are simple numbers, and they come from "Zhu's Arithmetic Classic". Quanzi was studying arithmetic. I found it strange, so I also studied "Zhu's Arithmetic Classic". These tables , read from left to right. Wherever simple numbers are involved, read from left to right."

The butler picked up a pen and translated everything into Chinese characters and numbers.

Li Xiaozhong took his son to study for a long time, and suddenly sighed: "If there is a natural or man-made disaster, thieves will appear in Puzhou again. Hui Zhan!"

"The child is here!" Li Qinggu responded.

Li Xiaozhong said: "In various manors in the countryside, the armor soldiers should be trained more diligently. The courtyard walls of our house should be taller and thicker, and we should have more nursing courtyards and all kinds of weapons."

Li Qinggu said: "Father is making a fuss out of a molehill."

"What do you know?" Li Xiaozhong said, "In the past hundred years, the Li family in Puzhou has never been attacked by thieves. This is because the ancestors have accumulated great virtue and gained such a good reputation that even thieves respect them. But it is no longer possible. If there are thieves in Juancheng County, once the thieves become more powerful, my family will be the first to be robbed!"

Li Qinggu could only say: "My child, just do as you are told."

Li Xiaozhong looked at those charts repeatedly, and each time he looked at them carefully, he gained new insights.

In particular, Ju Ming uses major national and local events to annotate key data. By combining the two, the causes of many phenomena can be uncovered.

After realizing it for a long time, Li Xiaozhong couldn't help but sigh: "Ju Ming has a lot of talent in his belly. If he had been born fifty years earlier, he would have become a famous minister. It's a pity, it's a pity that he was born at the wrong time. In this world, even members of my Li family can't do it. A virtuous minister can only cling to that traitorous party. If given a choice, who would want to tarnish the honor of their ancestors?"

Li Qinggu said: "Father, I heard that the county magistrate is checking the land of Qian and Sun's family over in Leize. Will the person named Zhu also have land in Juancheng?"

Li Xiaozhong sneered: "The county magistrate of Juancheng has been changed, and Cai Xiang sent people to fight against him. Without the cooperation of the magistrate, how can he farm in this county?"

"That's right." Li Qinggu felt it made sense.

…

Huang Guinian's wife was not named Feng, and she had no photographic memory.

His family was really born into poverty. His ancestral home was Fengcheng, Jiangxi Province, and he moved to Luling, Jiangxi Province. Huang Guinian was born in Luling, and moved to Yongfu (Yongtai County), Fujian Province with his father when he was young.

He didn't even buy any property in Fujian, and his father died. Relying on the family's only savings, his mother had to work part-time jobs, raising him and his younger brother through hardships. She was so poor that she even gave up the imperial examination to work to support the family.

Fortunately, he met Bole. Li Chaojing, the captain of Yongfu County, cherished his talent and learning. He not only supported Huang Guinian to continue his studies, but also betrothed his daughter to him as his wife.

This prospective father-in-law was also unlucky. He studied hard in Hanchuang for more than ten years and died of illness before he could become a high official. Moreover, he was an upright official. His wife and daughter took the coffin back to their hometown for burial, and they had already spent most of the family's money. Due to the long distance, his fiancée never saw Huang Guinian again and only sent one letter every year.

The years have been wasted, Huang Gui is twenty-three years old, and Li's daughter is twenty-one, both of them have become older unmarried young people.

When Huang Gui was named on the pension list, someone listed him on the list to catch his son-in-law. His fellow villagers persuaded him to marry another wealthy woman. Anyway, he only had an engagement but not yet consummated the marriage.

Huang Guinian sternly refused, spent a year saving money, and finally got his fiancée by his side.

"This is the Zhuojing Li family, named Mujun." Huang Guinian introduced.

Her maiden name was not revealed, but she was given a given name after she got married.

Zhu Ming also introduced Zheng Yuanyi, whose identity was ambiguous, not saying she was his wife or concubine.

The four of them were sitting in the pavilion drinking tea. Ju Ming didn't carry much black tea and was almost finished.

Huang Guinian also brought a little kid, and Ju Ming waved to him: "What's your name?"

"The kid's name is Huang Heng." The kid looked very smart.

Ju Ming smiled and asked: "How old are you?"

"Seven years old this year." Huang Heng said.

Ju Ming asked again: "How many words do you know?"

Huang Heng looked proud, held his head high and said: "I learn quickly and know many words."

"Ha ha ha ha!"

The adults were amused and laughed, and the childish words of the children were always so cute.

Zhu Ming was slightly disappointed. Why didn't Mr. Huang have a daughter named Huang Rong?

There were several plates of snacks placed on the stone table, including steamed cakes, fried beans, etc. Everyone ate snacks and chatted with black tea.

After waiting for more than half an hour, Tian Ruyong finally came with his family. His wife’s surname is Zhong and they have a son and two daughters.

When four little kids came together, the eldest son Tian, ​​who was thirteen years old, naturally became the king of the children. But he felt that he had grown up and thought that children were too naive. After playing for a while, he returned to adults.

Zhong also brought a gift: "This is rouge purchased in Hangzhou, I don't know what spices were added."

Zheng Yuanyi opened it and smelled it, then smiled and said, "It smells so good!"

Li Mujun also got a portion. After sniffing it carefully, he said, "It smells like gardenia, but mixed with something else."

"If you two sisters like it, I will send someone over from Hangzhou." Mrs. Zhong is not short of money, but her husband is a corrupt official.

Li Mujun felt a little shabby. Although she also brought gifts, they were only two boxes of pastries made by herself.

Mrs. Zhong is very good at flattery. After taking out the gift, she praised Zheng Yuanyi for her good skin and asked her what cosmetics she usually uses. Then he praised the beautiful scenery in the backyard of Zhou Yamen and said that Zheng Yuanyi was so lucky to be able to live in such a corridor at such a young age.

A piece of flattery made Zheng Yuanyi float into the clouds.

Li Mujun is much more clumsy and doesn't know how to flatter people. He laughs the whole time and occasionally interjects.

After talking about Langyuan, Mrs. Zhong said: "Nowadays, officials go to Taoist temples to seek help from Taoists and gods. In the eastern suburbs of Puzhou City, there is a Huangting Temple, and the presiding officer is a disciple of Wang Shenxian. I heard that it is very efficacious, whether seeking officials or gods. If you want a son, you only need to burn incense for three years and it will come true."

"Which Immortal King?" Zhu Ming suddenly asked.

Tian Ruyong said: "Wang Laozhi, who used to live in the south garden of Cai Jing's house, was too arrogant and made Cai Jing unhappy, so he reported illness and returned to his hometown. His home is in Linpu County, and he built a Taoist temple for him last year. Puzhou also allocated a thousand guan. This guy was too little, so he went to Shuguan's house, and the court allocated another 3,000 guan, and asked Puzhou to add another 1,000 guan. Still feeling this guy was not enough, he asked the gentry and merchants of the prefecture and county to donate money. I barely scraped together more than six thousand guan."

Ju Ming asked: "Is there any way to harm the people?"

Huang Guinian couldn't help but said: "There are countless people who have been killed, but the government can't do anything. Because the government ordered the Taoist temple to be built, and all the nearby land was allocated to him as temple land."

"Forcibly conquest of land?" Zhu Ming asked.

"Even the people on the land have been assigned to Wang Laozhi as customers," Huang Guinian said angrily. "According to the prefect, the proportion of customers will increase again this year. Only customers assigned to Wang Laozhi, More than two hundred households.”

This foolish king!

Tian Ruyong complained: "Wang Laozhi was arrogant in Tokyo, and even Cai Jing couldn't bear it. After returning to his hometown, this man became even more aggressive and showed no respect for local officials. This year's Spring Society invited him to come to Puzhou to worship the gods. This guy actually took over the throne, which made the then Zhizhou turn blue with anger."

Huang Guinian added: "Today, the abbots of all Taoist temples in the four counties of Puzhou have been replaced by Wang Laozhi's disciples. Even if there is no change, the abbot will worship Wang Laozhi as his teacher. Even Buddhist temples have become Taoist temples. , the monks grew their hair and became Taoist priests. With the support of Wang Laozhi, Taoist temples invaded people's fields in large numbers. The government did not dare to take care of it, and the people did not dare to speak out."

Ju Ming said with a gloomy face: "The Li family is hard to move, why can't the Taoist priests still be moved? Just from the east suburb of Zhoucheng..."

"Huang Ting Guan." Zhong reminded.

Ju Ming said: "Start the investigation from Huangtingguan. All the Taoist priests who have violated the law will be arrested, and all the occupied civilian fields will be returned!"

Tian Ruyong quickly dissuaded him: "Prefect, our enemy is the Cai Party and the Li family, the most prominent family in Puzhou. Why bother? Officials admire Taoism and condone Taoist priests. If these Taoist priests in Puzhou are touched, Mr. Wang will Impeachment may be displeasing to officials."

"Snapped!"

Ju Ming slapped his hand on the stone table: "I don't care whether the Li family is a Taoist priest. As long as he harms the people, he will be punished. So what if Wang Laozhi files a complaint with the officials? If he commits a crime, he will be arrested together. Don't worry, you two. , you just have to go and do it, I will take care of it if something happens!"

Tian Ruyong hesitated to speak, and completely regarded Zhu Ming as a stupid young man.

However, Huang Guinian was in awe, cupped his hands and said: "The prefect is dedicated to the people, I admire you very much!"