Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

The first person to be greeted by the riverside was Zhang Guangdao. The weather was quite cold and there was not much to do. He was drinking with a few salt sellers in the lobby of the inn.

When he heard that Ju Ming was back, Zhang Guangdao immediately threw down his wine bowl and came out, and several salt sellers followed him.

"Mr. Lang has grown taller again." Zhang Guangdao said with a smile, still smelling of alcohol.

Ju Ming patted him on the shoulder: "Brother Zhang is getting stronger too."

"Greetings to Mr. Zhu." The salt dealers all bowed their hands.

Yu Shanwei, who was in charge of managing the inn, also came with two waiters to greet him. He smiled and gave Ju Ming a blessing ceremony.

Immediately afterwards, Meng Zhao, the principal of the village school, appeared. After saluting, he introduced: "Lang Jun, these two are Yu Kan, named Dongzhu, Liu Shiren, and Zongru. They are all scholars in the county. In addition to being teachers, they are also Assist in managing village affairs.”

Ju Ming cupped his hands and said, "From now on, I have to rely on you two."

"Don't take it seriously." Yu Kan and Liu Shiren were flattered.

Yu Kan was recruited through Meng Zhao's application, and their experiences were very similar.

Yu Kan was born into a family of farmers. He received financial support from his family and studied in a village school. When he was in his thirties, he only passed the imperial examination once and was far from becoming a Jinshi. I usually make money by settling accounts, copying books, and writing letters for people, and I can barely get by.

Daming Village was becoming increasingly prosperous, so Yu Kan applied for the job.

As for Liu Shiren, he was a rich man who was forced to go bankrupt and flee by the government. His family had long been in decline and had lost its backers. Most of its land was in the outskirts of the county. Xiang Bi had already targeted it when he was in charge of Xixiang County.

The new county magistrate also focused on the Liu family, and made heavy apportionments, purchases, and money transfers, forcing the Liu family into bankruptcy and taking advantage of the situation to occupy the Liu family's land.

The head of the Liu family, old, weak, women and children, totaled fourteen people who fled to Daming Village, eight of whom were literate.

There are actually three teachers in the village school. Zhu Ming couldn't help but ask: "How many students are there in the school?"

Meng Zhao replied: "There are seventy-four male and female students. The village school is not closed, and the villagers are not worried about food and clothing. More and more children are sent to study. Brother Dongzhu teaches writing, and I am responsible for teaching mathematics. Brother Liu He comes to the school to help, and he doesn't get paid. While teaching students, he is also learning mathematics from me."

"Very good, the village school is quite prosperous." Zhu Ming praised.

Meng Zhao smiled and said: "My husband (Zhu Guoxiang) has set the rules, and we all act according to the rules."

While talking, Mrs. Yan and Shen Yourong also arrived.

Grandma Yan is more energetic than before and seems to be younger. After Shen Yourong gave birth to a daughter, she became much plumper and her face became rounder.

Zhu Ming stepped forward to greet him and introduced, "This is my wife, Zheng Yuanyi."

Zheng Yuanyi saluted and said, "My mother-in-law (grandmother) is blessed, my mother is blessed."

"Okay!" Grandma Yan looked at her carefully and saw that she was beautiful and well-behaved. The more she looked at her, the more she liked her.

Shen Yourong took off the silver hairpin, took Zheng Yuanyi's hand and said, "I didn't prepare a meeting gift, so I'll just accept this."

"Thank you, mother."

Zheng Yuanyi also brought out a gift, which she bought with her private money.

I gave Grandma Yan a pair of embroidered pearl-encrusted forehead scarves. The outer layer is brocade and the inner lining is Luo. It looks quite wealthy when worn.

He also gave Shen Yourong a pair of earrings made of gold dotted green. Although the dotted green is small in size, it is still worth twenty or thirty gold.

Zheng Yuanyi spent a lot of money to please the two elders.

Shen Yourong had never seen green jewelry before and thought it was very beautiful. She stroked it back and forth and said, "What kind of material is this?"

Zheng Yuanyi replied: "Cuiyu."

Shen Yourong still didn't know what Cuiyu was, and was too embarrassed to ask any more questions, so he pulled Zheng Yuanyi back home.

Ju Ming said to Zhang Guangdao: "There may be immigrants coming today. Please prepare in advance."

Zhang Guangdao asked: "How many people?"

Zhu Ming shook his head: "I don't know, they are coming one after another. It is only two or three hundred at least, it may be more."

Zhang Guangdao immediately realized: "Rebels who fled into the mountains?"

"Yes." Ju Ming said.

Zhang Guangdao complained: "It took half a year to build that section of the plank road. If I were here, it would have been completed in two or three months. There is no way to get through Huangjin Gorge, and the tea leaves in the village are still stored. Those bird officials have delayed the village's business." "

Zhu Ming then introduced Zhang Bor, Li Bao, Yang Pu and Liu Kui, saying: "They are all good men. You all know each other."

Zhang Guangdao immediately invited them to the inn to drink. As for Zhang Boring and Li Bao's wives, they followed Zheng Yuanyi away. The female family members had their own topics to talk about.

Liu Kui is Li Bao's brother-in-law. He is still young and doesn't understand anything. He just sits there and listens to his brothers bragging.

The Zhu family's new house was built against the foot of the mountain. If you include the firewood shed, it has a total of twelve rooms. It is an ordinary landlord's house.

Grandma Yan ordered the servants to carry the luggage and arrange the guests' rooms.

Before Ju Ming's buttocks got hot, Tian Er, Tian San and others also brought their wives to pay their respects.

They were in charge of various affairs in the village. Ju Ming asked casually, encouraged them, and gave them various small items - all brought from Tokyo and not available in Hanzhong.

The men had almost finished chatting, and Zheng Yuanyi came over with the child in hand.

Zhu Guoxiang's daughter is about one year old. She has just learned to walk, but she can't walk very neatly and needs an adult to protect her.

The bad name given by Emperor Huizong of Song Dynasty was too uncommon and had never been used, so he gave her another nickname "An'an". This is a nickname commonly used by women in the Song Dynasty, and it means growing up safely. After getting haircut or getting married, the person will formally choose a character, and then use the character as his name.

Before that, you could call him Zhu Anan.

The more he learned about the society of the Song Dynasty, the more Ju Ming began to seriously suspect that Li Qingzhao might not be his maiden name, but his surname, Li Qingzhao.

When a woman is waiting for a character in her boudoir, that character is what she is waiting for.

"Call brother." Zheng Yuanyi held the little girl's armpits with both hands.

Zhu Anan looked at Ju Ming with wide eyes, seeming a little scared and a little curious.

Ju Ming smiled and said, "Give me a hug."

Zheng Yuanyi picked up the child and handed it to Ju Ming, smiling: "An An is so beautiful, she looks like a little porcelain doll."

As soon as Ju Ming took over, the little girl started crying and opened her arms towards Shen Yourong: "Mom, mom..."

The term "parents" comes much earlier than "daddy", which is in line with the baby's pronunciation habits.

People in the Song Dynasty are more accustomed to calling mom and dad instead of mom and dad. ("Yunlu Manchao" by Zhao Yanwei of the Southern Song Dynasty: Today, people call their father "Dad"... How come people in the Tang Dynasty also call their mothers "Aba"? Today, people call them "Mom".)

Zheng Yuanyi quickly picked up An An, coaxed her for a few times and finally calmed down, and said with a smile: "Brother scared An An."

Tian Er's wife was sitting in the corner, curiously asking about the customs in Tokyo.

Zheng Yuanyi said: "Tokyo people burn more coal and use less firewood and charcoal. Dalang also made Tanhua stoves and Tanhua coal to sell to them."

Zhang Guangdao's wife Jiang Erniang asked: "What does coal look like?"

Zheng Yuanyi explained: "It is a black stone that can burn."

The female relatives in the village were amazed and felt that Tokyo was different. They even used stones for living and cooking.

They talked about many things, and when they mentioned that tens of thousands of people often play in Xiangguo Temple, Tian San's wife suddenly asked: "There are so many people visiting the temple fair, what should we do if there are not enough huts?"

Zheng Yuanyi covered her mouth and smiled, and said: "There are many huts in Tokyo, and you can enter by paying money. There is also a large hut in Xiangguo Temple, which covers an area of ​​one acre and is divided into men's and women's rooms. There is incense inside and it is cleaned every day. It doesn't stink at all. There is a charcoal stove to light the fire, and it is not cold in winter. There is a bamboo pole hanging above, called the purification pole. Clothes, bags, and baskets can be hung on the purification pole. There is also hot water for hand purification and soap locust. Waiting for things. After entering, you must take off your shoes first. The floor is paved with wooden boards and wiped daily to prevent dust."

The women in the village were so surprised that they took off their shoes before entering the hut, how clean it was inside.

In fact, when Zhu Ming entered the high-end toilet of Xiangguo Temple for the first time, he was also shocked by the situation inside.

Except for the lack of automatic flushing system and toilet paper, it is almost the same as a modern toilet. Even the partitions on both sides of the squatting position are complete.

Hmm...the charges are quite expensive, and poor people can only use ordinary toilets.

Second Sister Jiang smiled and said, "If Mr. Zhu takes my wife to Tokyo, Mrs. Shen can also enjoy such a big hut."

Shen Yourong couldn't laugh or cry: "There are many things to enjoy in the latrine."

Tian Er's wife responded: "You can't even find a hut in Yangzhou that doesn't look dirty even if you take off your shoes. What's this but enjoyment?"

Ju Ming was a little speechless. Why do these old ladies have such strange concerns?

Needless to say, there was dinner at the dinner party. When he got up the next day, Ju Ming convened a meeting with the village cadres.

The nominal village chief is still Zhu Guoxiang, and Shen Yourong acts as the village chief. When things actually happen, Zhang Guangdao and Yu Shanwei actually help come up with ideas. Some people are in charge of education, some are in charge of tea, some are in charge of foreign trade, some are in charge of water conservancy... It's all arranged by Zhu Guoxiang.

Like the government, the village counts the number of households. There are more than 500 households, including children, the number has exceeded 2,000.

Zhang Guangdao went to Shaanxi to smuggle tea, and he brought back ten or twenty tea leaves each time, all of which were Shaanxi people who had fled into Zhongnan Mountain.

Although it is still called Daming Village, it can no longer be considered a natural village. According to the classification of settlements, there should be three villages and one grass market.

The village's accounts do not distinguish between public and private for the time being, because the main source of income is the tea mountain and tea-making workshops, which are all the private property of the Zhu family and his son. However, most of the money earned from the Zhu family's private property was used for public affairs, and was continuously invested in resettlement and water conservancy construction.

There is no way to tell the difference at all, and it is really not clear. In the early stage, it can only develop wildly like this.

Zhang Guangdao said: "The Liu family can use it."

Zhu Ming understood the hidden meaning of this sentence. The Liu family was forced to go bankrupt by the government. It was an illegal escape and they could mentally accept rebellion. Moreover, there are at least eight literate people in the Liu family.

Zhu Ming arranged: "Meng Zhao no longer needs to be in charge of the village school. From now on, he will concentrate on managing the household registration and field registration. Choose a Liu family member with good knowledge to be a teacher in the village school. As for Liu Shiren, he will follow me to Jinzhou to take up his post. The new arrival The rebellious people will be resettled further downstream to open up wasteland, and a member of the Liu family will be chosen to be the chief security officer."

Zhang Guangdao added: "I went to Shaanxi to sell tea, and met many good men along the way. They all fell into disgrace in the Zhongnan Mountains."

Ju Ming smiled, those were naturally heroes of the jungle, making a living by robbing homes and homes. You can recruit people in the future, but you can't trust them too much. You have to be restrained. Those who don't obey the discipline will be punished as thieves.

When asked about the specific situation in the village, Ju Ming found that it was quite harmonious.

Daming Village temporarily prohibits land sales. If you want land, you can cultivate it yourself. Villagers in need can receive low-interest loans to help them tide over their difficulties.

There are also trivial matters that turn things upside down, most of which are neighborhood disputes. The most serious ones involve farming outside the boundary.

Several theft incidents occurred, and depending on the amount of property stolen, they were asked to serve in the construction of water conservancy projects without being paid and had to provide their own food. Moreover, family members of thieves are not allowed to join the village security team.

There is no corruption among the village cadres yet, because the accounts must be audited every month. Those who want to take advantage of the villagers must first try Zhang Guangdao's knife.

There must be some selfish people who take advantage of their positions to rent cattle to a certain family first during busy farming periods, let a certain family dry grain first in the dam farm, etc. Or when digging canals and ponds, give half a bowl of rice to those with whom you have a good relationship. Although the impact is not good, it is still within the acceptable range.

Ju Ming asked Zhang Guangdao all the details, "I will gather the village warriors tomorrow and see if they have neglected their training."