Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

Not only did the scholars from Yangzhou City come, but several scholars from Xixiang County also arrived.

Ju Ming invited them to have a drink at the inn. After everyone sat down, they did not talk about knowledge or taxes, but when the Xixia war would end.

The war against Xixia will not stop for a day, and the heavy taxes in Hanzhong and Shaanxi will not stop.

Everyone was making wild guesses as to what the outcome was.

Not to mention them, even Song Huizong didn't know because Tong Guan had been concealing military information.

At the beginning of the war, the Song army directly overwhelmed the Xixia people, quickly won a series of victories, and gradually formed a strategic encirclement of Xixia.

After a series of great victories, Tong Guan began to wander and made two fatal mistakes.

The first is to ignore the established strategic plan and order the troops to storm the fortress (Zangdi River City) in advance, thinking that it can be easily conquered.

The second is to start competing for credit and plan to let the military commanders close to them perform meritorious service.

As a result, the Song army was defeated.

Xixia took advantage of the victory to pursue it, plundered countless people and goods, and then took the initiative to seek peace with the great victory.

Cai Jing opposed the peace talks and persuaded Song Huizong to continue the war.

This year, Liu Fa led his army to attack Renduoquan City. The Xixia reinforcements were so frightened that they stood still and watched the city's garrison surrender to the Song army.

Liu Fa went back on his word, killed and surrendered, massacred the city, and killed all the defenders and people.

Just last month, in the middle of winter, there was still no snow in the northwest.

Tens of thousands of Xixia cavalry took advantage of the windy weather to surround the city and stampede on them, causing the dust to fly like a sandstorm. Taking advantage of the Song soldiers' blurred vision, the Xixia people dug tunnels into the city and launched a massacre of Jingxia City in Song Dynasty in revenge.

You slaughter my city, I slaughter yours, and we are equal.

Xixia took advantage of the victory to attack, but encountered obstacles one after another. After suffering several defeats, it once again asked Song for peace.

Tong Guan was so angry that he withheld the news of the peace proposal without letting the court know about it. He also put aside all distracting thoughts and stopped engaging in factional fighting. He ordered Zhongshi Dao, who had a grudge against him, to lead an army of 100,000 to attack Zangdihe City again.

This is probably the case. Now Zhongshidao is gathering troops and will launch a large-scale attack after the beginning of spring.

In general, the Song Army took the initiative and gained an advantage.

Ling Guxu said: "At this point in the war, Xixia can no longer be wiped out suddenly, and in our Song Dynasty, Shaanxi Lianglu and Hanzhong, the people have already been overwhelmed. It has not snowed for a long time this year, and even the old farmers in the countryside are saying that there will be a severe drought next year. Lang Po has the trust of the officials, why not go to Shu to advise the court, win another battle and then use the victory to negotiate peace? Even if Xixia is to be destroyed, the people must be allowed to breathe for a few years."

Zhu Ming shook his head and smiled bitterly: "Guan Jia, Cai Jing, and Tong Guan, the three of them don't want to cease the war. Who else in the world can persuade them?"

Ling Gu Xu was silent, and the scholars all looked at each other, worried about the situation next year.

In the past two years, Hanzhong was not only affected by the war in Xixia, but also disturbed by the war in southern Sichuan.

The year before last, the Lunan Yi rebelled, gathering as many as 100,000 people. Unable to suppress the rebellion, the Sichuan army mobilized 30,000 troops from Shaanxi to go to southern Sichuan to put down the rebellion.

Of course, these 30,000 Shaanxi troops passed through Hanzhong, and the people of Hanzhong were forced to requisition food.

The Liu family in Xixiang County was forced to go bankrupt, mainly because of this. Last year, too much Hebian money was levied, and every county had to choose a wealthy family to go bankrupt!

The cause was the barbarians in Yibin and Luzhou areas. The salt wells were gradually occupied by the Han people. Even if the salt wells were still in the hands of the barbarians, they were often levied heavy taxes by the government.

There had been conflicts for a long time. Jia Zongliang, the pacifying envoy of Lunan, imposed excessive taxes and killed a barbarian leader for no reason, which finally provoked a rebellion of 100,000 Lunan barbarians (barbarians in northern Guizhou also participated).

Only now has the rebellion been suppressed.

Thirty thousand Shaanxi soldiers are still in Sichuan. When they return next year, they will definitely have to collect grain supplies in Hanzhong.

"It's all because of the traitorous officials who are good at starting wars!" Yu Dayuan, a scholar from Xixiang, said angrily.

Xing Taoist scholar Wang Chang said: "There is also the Lunan pacification envoy. The court asked him to pacify the barbarians, but he forced a hundred thousand barbarians to rebel. If the conquest was not excessive, how could those barbarians rebel?"

Ju Ming sighed: "The officials trust the treacherous officials, what can I do?"

Many of those transferred to Sichuan to quell the rebellion were elite Western troops. If the 30,000 Western troops were not transferred, the battle with Xixia would probably go more smoothly. Foreign wars in the Song Dynasty always caused all kinds of troubles.

This time the Lunan Yi rebelled and slapped Song Huizong hard.

Because the barbarians captured Meiling Fort, captured Song Huizong's brother-in-law, and slept with Song Huizong's clan sister (not out of the fifth server). Song Huizong was so shameless that he ignored the war in Xixia and forcibly transferred 30,000 Western troops to Sichuan.

And Jia Zongliang, who caused such a big mess, was only dismissed and could even go home with the embezzled money.

All the scholars cursed but were helpless, and all of them were drinking.

Lu Heng, the son of the richest man in Xixiang, complained after a few glasses of wine: "We need money to fight the war in Xixia, we need money to build the plank road to quell the chaos, and the Western Army needs money to cross the border. Just watch. When the Western Army returns next spring, we will have to pay a large sum of money!"

Huang Sheng, a scholar, said: "Your Lu family has a great cause, but it is just a drop in the bucket. My family is having a hard time."

"My family has a lot of money, but we also have to pay a lot of money!" Lu Heng said depressedly.

When the Western Army crossed the border, Yangzhou was only affected, but the Xingyuan Prefecture was unlucky. The people along the way were harassed.

Ju Ming drank with them, but he had other plans in mind.

When the Lunan Yi people first started to rebel, their number was not too large. The entire Sichuan army, after several months of dilly-dallying, could only muster more than 10,000 troops, and they were beaten back by the barbarians.

How fucking bad does this have to be?

I am afraid that with only three thousand elites and a group of miscellaneous soldiers recruited on the spot, Ju Ming can quickly occupy Sichuan.

"Alas, let's not mention these worries," Ling Guxu said, "Da Lang sent people to send back the "Tao Yong Ce". Many scholars in Yangzhou City have copied it, and even Xixiang County has passed it on. I have passed it on. By the time the Daoyong Society was established, dozens of scholars had already joined it."

Zhu Ming asked curiously: "What does Daoyongshe do?"

Lu Heng said: "The common people's daily use is the Tao. Naturally, they will read and think more, figure out the truth, and then turn it into common use."

"Have you made anything for civilian use?" Zhu Ming asked.

Wang Chang smiled and said: "Brother Hongdao, take out your treasure."

During the banquet, there was a scholar named Yang Changyan, whose courtesy name was Hongdao. He put down his wine glass and took out a... compass from his baggage.

Ju Ming asked doubtfully: "That's it?"

Yang Changyan said: "This dry snail is not a water snail."

There was already a compass in the Northern Song Dynasty, called "earth snail", which was often used by Feng Shui masters. Use a wire to suspend the magnetic needle and place it below the disk body.

When marching or boating, use a guide fish and place the magnetic fish in the water, but it will inevitably shake and cause errors.

Until the middle of the Ming Dynasty, water floatation was still widely used in Chinese navigation compasses.

This led later generations of scholars to believe that the dry compass came from the West. Until the Southern Song Dynasty porcelain figurines were unearthed, the porcelain figurines actually held dry compasses in their hands, indicating that they had appeared at least in the Southern Song Dynasty.

Zhu Ming took the compass and took a look at it. He knew the gossip, but he couldn't understand the rest.

It is said that Lai Buyi also introduced the stars to create the human disk based on the dragon disk of heaven and earth. I don't know whether it is true or not. At this time, Lai Buyi should still be wearing crotchless pants.

Yang Changyan said: "My father likes Feng Shui. After I got the "Tao Yongce", I realized that Feng Shui is also Tao, and the screw disk is also a daily use of the people. The original hanging needle screw disk was too thick and bulky, and it shook unsteadily in the wind. So I tried to find ways to make the snails lighter. I used to call the snails water snails and hanging snails, but this kind of snails are dry snails."

"It's quite useful. You can use it when marching, fighting, or sailing out to sea," Zhu Ming praised. "You can take the compass to Tokyo, and my father will take you there to present it to the officials."

Yang Changyan was overjoyed: "Thank you, Governor Zhu!"

Many scholars present showed envious expressions.

A scholar named Wen Zhengtong took out a small porcelain vase to offer treasure: "I improved the still, added fragrant wood, and steamed the rose dew until the fragrance lasts for a long time."

Ju Ming didn't know whether to laugh or cry. The dry compass was quite useful. What the hell was this man trying to improve the perfume process?

He pulled out the cork and smelled it. Sure enough, the fragrance was fragrant, stronger than the perfume Zheng Yuanyi usually used.

Of course, encouragement is needed. Ju Ming praised: "This product is excellent. Can you give me a bottle?"

Wen Zhengtong received the praise and immediately said: "You can take it, Grandmaster, I still have a lot at home. Half a year ago, I opened a fragrant dew workshop, specializing in the production of various kinds of fragrant dew."

"Poof!"

Another scholar picked up the baggage from the ground and smashed it on the table with a loud noise.

The guy took out the long-handled scissors: "I learned the principle of leverage and knew that the longer the lever arm, the less effort it takes. So I changed the scissors. The handle was changed to be very long, and there was a curved hook at the end to prevent hand pinching. This scissor can It can be used to prune branches of fruit trees, mulberry trees, and tea trees. Let’s call it mulberry pruning.”

"Good stuff!" Ju Ming slapped the table and applauded.

The father and son were busy with other matters and their attention was not here, so they forgot about the "garden shears".

The scissors that modern people think of are called fulcrum scissors. In fact, they appeared in the Five Dynasties, and there was no such thing in the Tang Dynasty.

The garden shears in front of you are based on the fulcrum shears and extend the handle of the scissors. With it, you no longer need to use a knife to cut fruit trees, mulberry trees and tea trees.

Ju Ming cupped his hands and said, "May I ask your surname?"

The scholar smiled and replied: "My name is Pu Shang, and my family runs a blacksmith shop."

Ju Ming immediately placed an order: "Please make one hundred mulberry shears for Daming Village, specifically for pruning tea trees. If you are willing, you can also come to Beijing to meet the saint. Officials like gardening, so they must appreciate the mulberry shears."

"I also thanked the prefect!" Pu Shang said happily.

They presented these trinkets to make the emperor happy, but at most they only gave some reward.

This is enough. As long as you can gain the emperor's praise, you will definitely be in good shape when you return home. Even officials must treat you with courtesy.

"Tao Yongce" is really useful. It allows readers to actively improve technology much faster than craftsmen improving based on experience.

Especially Pu Shang, he used the principle of leverage to consciously improve the scissors. Not only do you know what it is, but you also know why it is so.