Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

On a cold winter night, the river wind howls.

In the quiet countryside, a few dogs bark occasionally.

Ju Ming took a shower to wash away the smell of alcohol from his body, shrunk his head and trotted back to the bedroom. The charcoal of the brazier in the room was red and warmed up as soon as he entered the room, making him feel extremely comfortable.

"Master, come up quickly, the bed has been warmed." Zheng Yuanyi shouted.

Zhu Ming picked up the porcelain vase on the table, got into bed and said, "Smell this."

Zheng Yuanyi pulled out the stopper and felt the perfume with a woman's sense of smell: "It's rose dew, and other spices are added. I can't tell what it is."

Since you already have perfume, adding spices is inevitable.

The scholar named Wen Zhengtong, apart from slightly improving the still, his real skill was actually making fragrance. This bottle of perfume is thick but not stuffy, fragrant and smells really comfortable.

"I'll wipe it for you." Zhu Ming smiled.

"Okay, okay, put it on everywhere." Zheng Yuanyi opened the quilt further.

Ju Ming's action of applying perfume was not very honest. Zheng Yuanyi lay on the bed with her eyes closed, a smile on her lips, enjoying herself, and a blush gradually appeared on her cheeks.

"Have you finished wiping it off?" Zheng Yuanyi asked.

"After wiping it off, let me smell it." Zhu Ming leaned his head and moved up and down her body, tickling Zheng Yuanyi until she giggled.

Holding the man's head and not moving it, Zheng Yuanyi asked: "Do I smell good?"

"It smells very good," Ju Ming said.

Zheng Yuanyi said: "It's been half a year and there's still no movement. I want to give my husband a baby."

Ju Ming comforted him: "Don't worry, take your time, you are still young."

The charcoal must have been burning too brightly, as the two of them were sweating from the heat. Moreover, the air in the room was not good, and the heavy breathing felt like suffocation.

It took a long time to calm down, and calm returned to the darkness.

Zheng Yuanyi lay on Ju Ming's chest and said, "Today I saw a girl in the school, so I also went to attend the class. The things taught here are a bit different from what I studied before."

"What's different?" Zhu Ming asked.

Zheng Yuanyi said: "Half of the class is mathematics. At such a young age, I started to learn abacus. In a few years, I will be able to work as an accountant."

Ju Ming laughed and said: "Every child from Daming Village can be a bookkeeper."

In the late Northern Song Dynasty, abacus had not yet been completely popularized, and it was difficult to see it in remote areas.

Even in big cities, many of the secrets of abacus are kept private and have not been widely disseminated. Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty promoted arithmetic schools across the country, paying more attention to traditional arithmetic. Now the "Zhu Shi Suan Jing" has also been adopted, and abacus has also been ignored.

The abacus formula of Daming Village was compiled by Zhu Guoxiang himself, with additions made by Meng Zhao and Yu Shanwei. Children in the village can learn this thing, and coupled with formal mathematics classes, they can really easily become accountants.

After chatting about anecdotes about the school for a while, Zheng Yuanyi added: "Sister Yu at the inn is so awesome. She seems to know everything. Even men want to listen to her."

"Yu Shanwei is indeed smart." Zhu Ming said.

Zheng Yuanyi said with a smile: "Today I overheard that Sister Yu scolded Mr. Meng, but Mr. Meng was so obedient that he didn't dare to talk back. When they came out to meet people, Mr. Meng held his head high again, looking like a good man with strong bones. .”

"Hahahaha!" Zhu Ming could imagine that scene. Meng Zhao had completely become a henwife.

While chatting, the young couple hugged each other and fell asleep.

The next morning, after breakfast, all the scholars gathered at the inn again.

Yesterday I was complaining about the current situation and talking about some new inventions, but today I have to have an academic discussion.

Mainly for some contents of "Tao Yong Ce", Chen Yuan sometimes wrote vague opinions in order to facilitate the dissemination in Tokyo, for fear of violating the taboos of new learning.

After this book was sent back to Yangzhou, the scholars did not understand it very well and accumulated many doubts and wanted to ask for advice.

For three whole days, Ju Ming answered questions and his thoughts were very radical.

Ling Guxu asked: "The king is not in a good position and the ministers have difficulty in admonishing them, so they can only place their hope in the new king. If the new king is not in a good position, what can be done?"

All the scholars looked at Ju Ming, wanting to know the answer.

Ju Ming said: "Have you ever read history? If there were successive weak kings in the past dynasties, what would be the fate of this dynasty?"

"It's time to change the dynasty!" Ling Guxu said.

Ju Ming said: "Changing dynasties is just a result. If the king is not good, the ministers will give advice. If the advice fails, they will try to find a new king. If the new king is fatuous, the country will become more corrupt. What do the people want? Businessmen just want to do business and farm safely. Those who only want to grow food safely. If business taxes are too heavy, merchants will complain; if grain taxes are too heavy, farmers will complain. If everyone complains, the world will turn against them. When traitorous parties dominate the government, gentlemen will also turn away from morality."

As soon as this statement came out, everyone was shocked, Ju Ming's hint was too obvious.

Lu Heng asked: "My husband is saying that this Song Dynasty..."

Ju Ming said: "All the people in the world are like bamboos in the forest. The harder the bamboo is pressed, the more powerful it will rebound. If the bamboo cannot be broken, the bamboo will stand firm. You don't know that Jingdong Road is already full of thieves. Shaanxi The number of thieves has also increased, and many have fled into the mountains. One hundred thousand barbarians in southern Sichuan have just been pacified, and I guess there will be rebels in Jiangnan again."

"There are so many people in the south of the Yangtze River, how come there are rebels?" Yu Dayuan asked.

Ju Ming said: "The government was carrying out large-scale construction projects and ordered Zhu Meng to transport flowers and stones. That Zhu Meng was vicious and treacherous. If he targeted a household, as long as the family's backing was not strong, he would use the excuse of collecting rare stones to break into the rich family's home and extort money. . In Zhejiang and Jiangdong, rich households go bankrupt every month. Rich households are in such hard times, how can the common people be so miserable? They are either drafted as slave laborers, ordered to pay tribute, or their people and land are seized by corrupt officials. .”

The Yangzhou scholars really didn't understand this, and they felt incredible after hearing it. The people in Jiangnan were actually worse off than in Hanzhong.

Wang Chang asked: "Are the state and county officials just sitting back and doing nothing?"

Ju Ming sneered: "The officials are so favored by Zhu Meng that Zhu Meng already has the power to mobilize the southern Xiang army to transport Hua Shi Gang. In addition, Zhu Meng also raised private soldiers, which has long been tantamount to rebellion, and the officials turned a blind eye to this. Officials from prefectures and counties in Zhejiang and Jiangdong provinces all went to see Zhu Meng and claimed to be his disciples. Anyone who dares to oppose Zhu Meng will not be able to serve as an official in Jiangnan for a long time."

"This... this is simply unreasonable!" Ling Guxu felt that it was too nonsense, and even suspected that Zhu Ming was lying.

Ju Ming said: "If Zhu Meng continues to act recklessly, at most in another three to five years, the people in Jiangnan will rise up. This is what the theory of squareness and rules is inconvenient to say. If the king is not right and his ministers are not right, the people will not be right. And the people's minds are right. You can't ask for help from others, you can only ask for yourself. If one man raises his arms, ten thousand men will follow, and disaster is not far away."

Lu Heng said: "The south of the Yangtze River is a land of great wealth. If there is rebellion and chaos there, and the imperial court sends a large army to conquer it, all states in the world will inevitably increase taxes."

Ju Ming sighed: "The first ones to bear the brunt are Huainan and Jingdong. The people there will definitely find it difficult to bear it. Especially on Jingdong Road, the people are already bearing the burden of Hebei and the capital region. If more troops are supplied to conquer Jiangnan, I am afraid that rebellious people will rise one after another."

Song Jiang was just the prologue. During the Fangla Uprising, Shandong and Hebei were also rebelling.

In terms of the number of rebels alone, Shandong and Hebei even exceeded Jiangnan. However, Jiangnan had unified leadership, while Shandong and Hebei fought independently, and were eventually defeated by officers and soldiers.

It was only destroyed, not truly eliminated.

The remaining rebel troops fled into the Taihang Mountains, Yimeng Mountains and other mountainous areas, and were still active until the Jin soldiers went south. The Jin soldiers were more brutal than the Song Dynasty, forcing the rebels to fight against Jin and Fusong. Many rebel leaders went to Zongze, or fought guerrillas in the name of Zongze's generals.

Ju Ming looked at the surging river outside the door: "The way of heaven is to make up for the deficiency when there is more damage; the way of man is to make up for the deficiency when there is more damage. Nowadays, human nature is rampant. The poor are getting poorer and the rich are getting richer. And officials and treacherous ministers, They are the richest people, but they still want to plunder the property of small people. When the human way is exhausted, the way of heaven will definitely come true in this world!"

Everyone trembled with fear.

The way of heaven mentioned by Ju Ming is not the ordinary way of heaven.

What does it mean to make up for the deficiency by making up for the excess loss? It means that the people at the bottom have nothing and use violent struggle to get back what they deserve from the rich.

Ling Guxu asked: "Can't we turn the tide?"

Ju Ming said: "The rebellion in Jiangnan, Hebei, and Shandong may be able to be quelled. But what happens after it is quelled? There will still be excessive taxation, and it will arouse the people to rebel. If things go on like this, with years of war, which state or county in the world can afford heavy taxes?"

Everyone was silent.

Zhu Ming was trying to inoculate them. He couldn't say more until he clicked: "I was admitted as Tanhualang and became a court official and magistrate of the state. Naturally, I wanted to be able to govern the place. I went to Puzhou to take office and re-demarcated Yao's rule. The forbidden area of ​​the mausoleum has improved the lives of the people near Yao's mausoleum. I also punished the evil gentry, arrested thieves, equalized taxes on the fields, arrested demons, and cleaned up the temple fields... All the officials and gentry in Puzhou were frightened. I only need to do one more After two years of knowing the state, Puzhou will definitely be able to achieve great governance, and the merchants, gentry, and people will all benefit."

Yu Dayuan raised his hands and said in admiration: "The prefect is really a capable minister!"

"So what about capable ministers?" Zhu Ming slammed the table angrily, "I was just about to show off my talents, and the counties in Puzhou were in dire straits, but they were ordered to move to Jinzhou. Just because there are several big households in Puzhou who are Cai Dang, I can’t stay if I offend Cai Dang. Those members of the Qian family were burdened with dozens of murder cases, and the officials personally sent officials to try them, and they were all acquitted!"

Although Ju Ming was pretending, some of his emotions were real. He was getting angrier as he spoke.

Ling Guxu could feel the aggrievedness and sighed: "It is said that when Dalang succeeds as a young man, he will be highly appreciated by officials. But he never expected that Dalang would be so aggrieved and helpless as an official. The most upright people in the world will be like this." Can’t you use your fists and kicks?”

"How to use it? Where is the place for honest people to talk in the court?" Zhu Ming said angrily, "Now the Cai Party and the Zheng Party are fighting, and the upright ministers are all leaning on Zheng Juzhong. But who is Zheng Juzhong? He He used to be Cai's party. When the two of them fight, it's nothing more than dog biting dog. Even if Cai Jing is defeated one day, how much better can Zheng Juzhong's administration be? Zheng Juzhong has Wang Fu under his command, and this year Hanzhong has been in trouble. Huang Qianshan from Heaven is Wang Fu’s confidant!"

After hearing what he said, Gu Xu felt a little discouraged and didn't even want to take the imperial examination anymore.

Zhu Ming added: "Brother Min and Brother Bai were admitted to Jinshi together with me. With their talent and learning, they couldn't even pass the examination. Do you believe it? Anyway, I don't believe it. Especially Brother Min, who has a good family background and good education. He was already familiar with the content of the test, and he could pass it with his eyes closed. It was nothing more than someone bribing the traitors to occupy the quota for the test. The two of them had to be recommended by me in front of the officials, so that they each got a small official. mission."

Min Zishun and Bai Chongyan were local scholars. Of course, everyone felt sorry for them, and their impression of the emperor and his ministers became increasingly bad.

What followed was a confused king, traitorous ministers, and chaotic people. Where should the scholars go?