Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

"Buzz buzz..."

In the back house of the state government, the sound of breaking through the air could be heard from time to time. This was Ju Ming wielding his mace.

The blacksmith is already making a pair of maces, and Deng Chun also wants a pair. This guy doesn't like to use swords and guns. He always fights with a long stick. An iron mace or an iron bone are more suitable for him.

Don't get hung up on dual-wielding weapons in horse combat, because the ends of the iron mace or iron bone flower are tied with ropes. The rope is put around the wrist to prevent the weapon from falling off during battle and to free the hand to hold the reins at any time.

An open space in the back house of the state government has been turned into a martial arts arena.

Li Bao trained extremely hard, and he held a gun to a draw with Zhang Bor, which Li Bao regarded as a great shame and humiliation.

"Prefect, Zhang Bor is here!" Yang Pu came to announce.

"Invite him in." Ju Ming said.

Zhang Bor strode in, bowed and said, "Meet the prefect."

Ju Ming asked: "Have the Zhang family discussed it?"

Zhang Boring said: "It has been agreed that the thieves must be taught a lesson, otherwise they will definitely make further progress in the future."

"That's right, a few thieves mean nothing?" Ju Ming said with satisfaction.

Zhang Boring added: "The officials not only ordered the expansion of Huangting Temple, but also ordered the renovation of other Taoist temples. There are many people who are confused. Not only monks and thieves became Taoist priests, but also demons wore Taoist robes."

"Monster?" Zhu Ming was instantly alert.

Zhang Boring said: "There are many demon sects in Jingdong and East, among which Maitreya sect is the most common. There are demon sect believers in every state and county. In Huhe Town in the south, there are people who worship the 'Huo Lun Xiao'er', which was formerly called 'Huo Boy'er'. Temple', now it is a Taoist temple called 'Red Dragon Temple'."

The Fire Wheel Child originated from an official legend of the Song Dynasty.

It is said that when Chai Rong was still alive, he found a child of several years old by the Guangji River late at night, his whole body exuding a gleaming light. Witness Wang Pu died a few days later. Witness Chai Rong also died half a year later.

Therefore, the fire wheel child represents the destiny of the Song Dynasty...

The official said so, and the people naturally thought it was awesome. In the early Song Dynasty, there was a demon cult worshiping the Fire Boy.

Ju Ming asked: "Are there many believers?"

Zhang Boring said: "In recent years, more and more people around Huhe Town have Huohaier believers. Even the country scholars have joined the religion one after another."

Huhe Town is located beside the Huhe River and is the junction area between Juancheng County and Leize County. Due to the convenient water transportation, trade is quite prosperous, and it has become the commercial town with the highest tax rate in Puzhou.

The demon religion rebellion in Shandong began as early as the Five Dynasties period.

In the eighth year of Qingli, there was even a Qizhou Forbidden Army who wanted to massacre the city and rebel, so they coordinated with Wang Ze, the leader of the Maitreya Sect, who was raising troops in Beizhou.

After Wang Anshi's political reform, Shandong Demon Cult developed again.

Because Shandong scholars were not proficient in Jinshi subjects, they just took all the subjects. Wang Anshi canceled the examinations in various subjects, and it was difficult for Shandong scholars to adapt. Many scholars who had no hope in the imperial examinations became dizzy and joined the demon sect. In addition, scholars also compiled demon scriptures and prophecies, allowing the demon religion to spread more quickly.

Emperor Huizong of Song Dynasty stepped up taxation and accelerated the development of demon sect in Shandong.

It would be really fun to wait until the Fang La Uprising failed and Manichaeans from the south poured into Shandong in large numbers to combine with the local demon sect.

Zhang Boring said: "Huangting meditation is related to Huohai'er!"

Ju Ming showed a playful expression. Although the Zhang family was very timid, they were able to come up with a vicious plan after the family meeting. They were afraid of the revenge of Huang Tingguan's thieves, so they simply framed them as demons, hoping to kill those guys completely and still be able to cope with the emperor's censure.

Ju Ming said: "Tell me how these demons confuse the people."

Zhang Boring replied: "They falsely claim that a heavenly calamity will come to the world, luring them to heaven and frightening them to hell. They gather at night to preach and lecture, and then disperse during the day. The demon leaders lavish fish and meat, but let the believers eat vegetables and say What is it about cultivating good deeds and accumulating virtue? It is nothing more than asking believers to save money and use it all to worship the leader. In recent years, it has become more and more arrogant, and even preaches evil methods during the day, and even builds temples and temples in a grand manner."

Ju Ming ordered: "Go back and recruit strong men to protect the armor. First defeat the Red Dragon Temple, and then destroy the Huangting Temple!"

After Zhang Boring left, Ju Ming thought carefully and sent an official document to the county magistrate Yao Guangshu.

The county government office is not far next door.

After receiving the order, Yao Guangshu took the official document and read it for a long time, then asked the superintendent: "The governor asked me to dispatch eighty archers to go with him to Leize County to wipe out the thieves. What do you think?"

Yasi said: "There are indeed thieves in Leize County. I heard that a while ago, the horse thief Xu Er also attacked Zhizhou's personal entourage. Perhaps because he couldn't use his tricks in Juancheng, Zhizhou wanted to take people to Leize to suppress the bandits. I came here to vent my resentment, and secondly I wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to establish my authority.”

Yao Guangshu smiled: "If you establish your authority again, can you still scare me?"

Ju Ming's reason for asking for archers was very good, and Yao Guangshu could not refuse, so he could only send 80 people over.

At the same time, Zhu Ming sent a message to the Deputy Envoy of Tuanlian, ordering him to summon the Xiang army for training. He would personally select nine to suppress the bandits.

Without military symbols and no bandits attacking the city, Zhizhou could not send more than ten Xiang troops. Then just recruit nine of them, as long as they don't break the rules.

Zhu Ming went to inspect the armor storehouse of the state government. All the weapons and armors of the Xiang army were in it.

Initially, the Shandong Xiang army was not allowed to carry weapons with them. Since there were too many thieves, they were allowed to carry weapons. However, the number of deserters increased, and the Xiang army always ran away with weapons as thieves, so the Shandong Xiang army was not allowed to carry weapons.

Ju Ming went into the Jiazhang library and inspected it carefully, and found that some of the ones placed outside were okay because they were frequently used.

Everything inside was ruined, the bows and crossbows were eaten by insects, the swords and guns were rusted, and the armor was all moldy.

Ju Ming scolded the officials responsible for maintaining the armor and asked them to choose the ones that were still usable. He took them out, wiped them clean, and simply repaired them. The moldy ones were left to dry in the sun.

The next day, Zhu Ming went to review the Xiang army again.

The deputy regimental envoy is named Xie Yong, a Beijing official who offended Cai Dang and was demoted. This situation is very common. Su Shi served as the deputy envoy for regiment training twice, and his actual power was not as good as that of a judicial officer.

"That's all?" Zhu Ming looked at the more than two hundred old, weak, sick and disabled people in the school grounds.

Xie Yong replied: "The rest are serving."

The Xiang army is also called the service army, and most of them perform various service positions. For example, in the post shops in various places, soldiers from the Xiang Army served as postmen, and it was impossible for Ju Ming to recruit them to suppress bandits.

The main force of the Xiang Army is cavalry, also known as the Horse Army, the Horse Army, and the Cavalry Shooting Army.

Ju Ming asked: "Where is Ma Jun?"

Xie Yong said: "During the Xining period, all the Puzhou cavalry troops who could fight were promoted to the Forbidden Army. Those who could not fight were all dismissed. In the nearby state capitals, only Xingren Prefecture, Guangji Army, and Yunzhou remained. The horse army is retained.”

Looking at the old, weak, sick and disabled again, Ju Ming sighed sincerely: "Your Excellency, this deputy training envoy is really... It's hard to describe in words."

Xie Yong smiled bitterly. He was a Beijing official, but he could only care about these crappy things in front of him.

Ju Ming was quite sympathetic and said, "Come to Zhouya for a drink when you have time."

Xie Yong chatted with Ju Ming for a while, and then said: "The Yellow River used to flood frequently, and the Puzhou Xiang Army was in large numbers. The Yellow River has not flooded for decades, and the Puzhou Xiang Army has been reduced sharply, and it has long been unusable."

The Yellow River passes through Puzhou, and Puzhou has always been part of the Yellow Flood Area.

But in the middle of the Northern Song Dynasty, Puzhou suddenly stopped, and the Yellow River flooded in Hebei instead (the Yellow River bifurcated when it reached Puyang, and divided into three, and the water volume in Puzhou dropped sharply and became an old channel).

Ju Ming became annoyed when he saw these Xiang troops and waved his hand to Xie Yong to disperse quickly.

Two days later, Zhang Boring brought more than 20 armor soldiers, four of whom had inferior horses. Eighty archers also came and were brought to the school field for reorganization.

Deng Chun, Bai Sheng, Li Bao, and Zhang Bor were all temporarily selected as guards (i.e., regimental leaders, 25 archers per regiment).

It only took one day of training to let them know the commands.

Immediately, Zhu Ming personally led an army of hundreds of people and marched towards Leize County in a mighty and swaggering manner.

Officials at the state and county levels all came to watch the excitement, really thinking that Ju Ming was going to suppress the bandits.

Li Xiaozhong got the exact news and called his trusted servants and said: "You should ride to Leize immediately and tell the horse bandit Xu Er that Zhizhou is going to suppress him. It's best to choose a place to set up an ambush and kill Zhizhou at night!"

So, the Li family's servant, riding a fast horse, rushed to report the news before Ju Ming.

Ju Ming still marched slowly, put his baggage on the boat, and walked along the Hu River.

Arriving outside Huhe Town, Ju Ming said: "It will be dark in two hours. Let's set up camp and rest for now. It won't be too late to leave tomorrow."

There are only a hundred people in total, how can we set up a camp?

The archers marked out an area by the river, set up tents on the spot, and assigned some people to guard the area.

Zhang Boring pointed to the west: "Two or three miles outside the town, the Red Dragon Temple is over there. The temples are all filled with demons. Most of the wealthy households around Huhe Town are bewitched by the demons, and some even donate all their property to join the religion. "

Going to Leize County to suppress bandits is all a pretense. Ju Ming is here to eradicate the demon sect.

Before the camp was over, some wealthy families from the town came to work for the army.

"Little citizen Zhu Liang, please pay homage to the prefect!" This guy was dressed in silk and satin, with a swollen belly.

Zhang Bor said in a low voice: "Zhu Liang is a local rich man and a member of the demon sect, and he has been the leader for a long time. He does not hide the matter, but often shows off openly, claiming to be the reincarnation of Huo Boyer's protector."

Zhu Ming laughed loudly when he heard this: "It turns out that this is my family. I have heard about Zhu Yuanwai's name in the city. I heard that the Taoist teachings of the abbot of Chilong Temple are profound and unpredictable, and the Red Dragon True Monarch Huo Hai'er there is extremely efficacious. I will definitely do it today." Go and worship!"

Zhu Liang came here to inquire about the news. Seeing that Zhizhou was interested in Huo Haier, he actually wanted to recruit Zhizhou into the religion.

Very strange idea.

But it seems normal in Shandong, because even scholars have joined the religion one after another, and the court's crackdown on demon religion has been very weak in the past few decades. It was not until the Fangla Uprising that the imperial court ordered the ban on demon religions.

Zhu Liang said: "Zhenlong Zhenjun had a dream yesterday, saying that a noble person would pass by today, but unexpectedly it came true to Zhizhou."

"How could it be so magical? Did True Lord Red Dragon ever say when I would be promoted to be a transporter?" Ju Ming looked superstitious.

Zhu Liang said: "I don't know, but I have to ask the Great Protector to communicate with True Lord Red Dragon."

Ju Ming asked: "Where is the Great Protector?"

Zhu Liang said: "It is at Chilong Temple."

Zhu Ming said anxiously: "I can't wait any longer. I'm going today. Order the officers and soldiers to stop camping and follow me to pay homage to True Lord Red Dragon!"