Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

An official ship brought official documents and newspapers.

Wu Mao, the observation envoy, was very excited after reading it and showed it to Ju Ming: "Prefect, Your Majesty has regained his sight!"

He said this as if Song Huizong was blind before.

"Why are you so excited?" Zhu Ming said amusedly.

Wu Mao said: "His Majesty ordered the construction of palaces to be stopped, and officials were strictly prohibited from entering the Huashi Gang privately. He also ordered all roads to offer sacrifices to rivers and pray for rain. The imperial court sent an honest envoy to inspect the prefectures and counties of Lufu, and he also allowed the people to go to Shangshu Province to state their grievances!"

"That's all?" Zhu Ming took the newspaper and official documents.

Wu Mao said: "Stop building palaces, strictly prohibit flowers and stones, conduct honest visits to local places, and allow people to redress their grievances. This is a sign that the world is about to be ruled."

After Zhu Ming read it carefully, he pointed to one place and said: "It's not about the edict to stop the palace construction, but the edict to stop the power. You missed one word."

Wu Mao said: "It's okay to give up the power."

Ju Ming could imagine why Song Huizong made these actions.

Mainly due to the spring drought in the north this year, which affected many roads, and the lack of snow last winter, these are regarded as warnings from God. Upright people at home and abroad have come forward one after another to speak out and point out the current governance errors. Some even took the opportunity to impeach the traitorous party.

Faced with fierce public opinion and natural disasters, Song Huizong had to make concessions.

But "give up power" is a bit nonsense, it is also a temporary measure, which means to wait a little before repairing the palace.

As for sending honest envoys to inspect places, that is even more speechless. Most of the inspection officials belong to the traitor party. When they go to the place, they are probably busy extorting money, which will only make the people's lives worse.

Zhu Mingzai carefully read the official documents and residence reports, and found another important piece of information.

It may be that the emperor bypassed the secretarial department and governed the country through secret reports and edicts. This situation aroused the dissatisfaction of too many courtiers.

Just as the office building of the Ministry of Secretaries had been relocated, Song Huizong said that he would return the Ministry of Secretaries to the government, so that his ministers would be less careful in the future, and he himself would try not to issue edicts to restore the normal operation of the central institutions.

but!

Cai You was actually responsible for promoting the Secretariat Province, which completely became the territory of Cai's party. At the same time, the new office building of the Secretary's Ministry is next to the Taoist Academy and has a group of Taoist priests as neighbors.

"Do whatever you have to do, don't be too optimistic." Ju Ming ordered.

"Yes." Wu Mao was just happy. Of course he didn't think that the traitorous party would collapse.

Twenty days later, Qian Chen came back to resume his duties.

When Zhu Ming learned what had happened, he praised him greatly: "You have economic talent, so it is too unfair to be a stranger."

"I don't dare to take it seriously. The prefect is complimenting me too much." Qian Chen replied humbly.

The economy here refers to managing the world and benefiting the people.

Zhu Ming added: "Don't worry about anything, I will leave the rest to your Excellency. I immediately contacted the merchants in various counties in Jinzhou and made an appointment to transport goods to Xiangyang together. I will bring the grain on the way back. The state government warehouse Some of the goods were sold to merchants for money, and I ordered the magistrate to open the minister's treasury, so that I could collect several thousand guan to buy grain."

Qian Chen happily accepted the order. He found the value of life in Ju Ming.

…

"At the end of the day, all county officials said there was a spring drought and asked for a postponement of this year's summer grain supply," said Song Ning, who joined the army in recording the affairs.

Li Daochong said angrily: "I am just a general judge, and I am not the public minister of the DPRK. How can Xia Liang be slowed down? If the court urges it, where can I go to plead for mercy?"

Song Ning sighed: "Oh, Jinzhou is a small territory and there is a spring drought, so we really can't squeeze out a few. If the force is excessive, there may be hunger and trouble for the people."

Li Daochong said: "Taxation is my responsibility. If the hungry people rebel, they will be in charge of the prefecture. When May comes, more summer grain will be urged, and the court's taxation cannot be delayed."

Song Ning was a little speechless: "The big judgment and tax collection have aroused the people into chaos, and they want to bring trouble to Zhu. But Zhu's methods are tough, how can he just sit back and wait for death? When the time comes, he will definitely give an order to allow counties to owe summer grain, and Zhizhou You have the right to do this when encountering natural disasters.”

"Then he will bear full responsibility for tax arrears!" Li Daochong said.

"With what he said and did, does he really care about taking responsibility?" Song Ning asked.

As soon as these words came out, Li Daochong was speechless for a moment.

As the saying goes, if you stand thousands of feet high on a wall, you will be strong if you have no desires. Ju Ming is not afraid of taking responsibility, does not ask for money, and does not seek promotion. He does things without any scruples, and ordinary methods are of no use to him.

Song Ning handed over and said goodbye. He was ready to lie down and was too lazy to fight with Zhu Ming.

After Song Ning left the general judge's hall, his subordinates immediately went in and reported: "The general judge has found out clearly that those two to three hundred people are iron smelters and blacksmiths hired by Governor Zhu from Xuzhou. Governor Zhu also used the iron and steel work of the county to Businessmen secretly purchased iron ore and seemed to be building an iron smelting yard."

Li Daochong patted his thigh and said with a smile: "I thought he was really a saint who ate the beauty and drank the dew. It turns out he also wants to do business and make money."

The official said: "I'm afraid I won't make much money by smelting iron in Jinzhou."

"I don't care whether he makes money or not, but I want him to lose money anyway! If he cuts off my money, I will cut off his." Li Daochong gritted his teeth.

There were three major iron smelting bases in the Northern Song Dynasty, two in Shandong and one in Hebei (Cizhou).

Various bans on ironware were mainly implemented in these places and rarely disturbed the iron smelting industry in other areas.

Li Daochong could not remember clearly and did not know whether the imperial ban was effective outside Shandong and Hebei. No matter what, try banning it, you'll have to cause some trouble anyway.

This guy had laid off some of the officials from the city's business affairs and recruited some back to focus on collecting taxes from Ju Ming's iron smelting yard, and also ordered that the pig iron smelted by Ju Ming must be sold to the government.

Even Li Daochong himself didn't think it would work. Ju Ming would definitely not cooperate. He was just doing something to make people sick.

Those officials who were laid off made Li Daochong very disappointed. They were encouraged to go to the state government office to make noise, but no one dared to go. They were all frightened by the magistrate. For fear of causing trouble and going to jail, the principal would directly stab his wife, and the accomplices would also have to take action.

Li Daochong was making arrangements when a subordinate suddenly came to report: "Grand Judge, Governor Zhu has taken action again... again!"

Li Daochong was as frightened as if he was being fired, and said in panic: "What is he doing again?"

"Clear the almshouses and the beggars!" replied the clerk.

…

"Where is the management of Jinzhou Almshouse?"

Ju Ming led people straight to the nursing home without any warning. Even the government officials who followed him out were unaware of the situation.

There is only one old janitor in the almshouse, and the yard inside is already covered with grass.

The old man said: "Monk Guan Gou didn't have enough to eat. He went out of town to beg for alms and didn't come back for several years."

In the Song Dynasty, monks were basically responsible for daily management of charitable institutions. After the Huizong Dynasty, the number of Taoist priests increased.

Regardless of the monks or Taoists, they are only responsible for management, and it depends on whether the government provides funds.

The government provides funds, and they can embezzle.

The government doesn't provide funding, so it's hard for them to eat.

The monks at the Jinzhou Almshouse were very unlucky. They couldn't receive a penny of funding, so they were so hungry that they had to go out to beg for alms.

Ju Ming rushed back to the prefecture office on horseback and called Fan Zhun and Guo Wenzhong, the two detainees on his left and right: "You two, immediately check the account books of the Yangjiyuan and Anjifang. Any officials involved must surrender within three days. According to the "Song Xingtong" fined copper to atone for sin!"

Under the law before the Ming Dynasty, except for the "Ten Evils", all crimes could be compensated with fines.

The Song Dynasty was more advanced than the Tang Dynasty in that ordinary officials could not pay fines to atone for death crimes. That was the prerogative of the royal relatives and court bosses. Middle and low-level officials and civilians, only the elderly or children, can be fined copper to avoid death (although by convention, civil servants generally do not impose the death penalty).

Copper can also be redeemed by being beaten and exiled.

The penalty for ten whips is one pound of copper, and the penalty for ten whips is ten pounds of copper. The rules are very specific.

As soon as the state government sent someone to check the accounts, the news spread quickly, and more than a dozen officials hurriedly took the money and surrendered.

Even Fan Zhun, who was in charge of auditing the accounts, quietly called his cronies and said, "Go to my house immediately and ask my wife to send some copper coins. He said that I have to surrender, and I am afraid I will have to pay a fine of ten guan to atone for my crime."

Fan Zhun had no choice. He was not the only one who took the lead in checking the accounts, and there was also Guo Wenzhong supervising beside him.

Zhu Ming also asked Wang Jia to go out with the government officials to arrest beggars inside and outside the city.

Disabled beggars were thrown directly into the almshouse and did some light physical work within their ability.

The sick beggar was sent to Anjifang for treatment.

All able-bodied beggars were detained and sent to Ju Ming's charcoal farm to cut wood and make charcoal. As for the original workers in the charcoal field, they are stronger and have switched to mining iron ore - they are all open-pit mines and there is no danger for the time being.

At the same time, interrogation will also be conducted. If any beggar leader commits a crime, he will be immediately taken to the Judicial Court for trial.

In an instant, there was a commotion inside and outside the city, and the beggars cried loudly, thinking that the government was going to kill them.

The next day Wang Jia came to report: "Prefect, according to the confession of the disabled beggar, there is a group of beggars outside Jinzhou City. They collect and cut raw materials, and occasionally abduct women and children. I sent people to arrest them last night, and only four of them were caught. The rest have been arrested." He fled after hearing the news.”

Zhu Ming was furious: "Issue a sea arrest document, and if you catch a person, you will be rewarded with ten guan of gold. If you provide strong clues, you will be rewarded with five guan of gold. If you encounter resistance, you will be beaten to death!"

Harvesting and mutilation means maiming normal people and forcing them to beg on the streets, and those mutilated are often young children.

Wang Jia said in a low voice: "Prefect, I suspect that there are reports from subordinate officials. I have heard about these beggars for a long time. Yesterday, I only brought a few close associates to interrogate them. After asking for the address, I immediately ordered the arrest. Just like this, the news was leaked, and the beggars were actually arrested. A few ran away.”

"As long as the person who tipped off the information can't be found out, just stop the matter." Ju Ming ordered.

Wang Jia recommended too many yamen officials and rural soldiers, and their power rose rapidly in the state yamen.

Although Ju Ming trusted him, he couldn't give him too many chances. You can check for insiders, but you can't expand it to prevent Wang Jia from taking the opportunity to eliminate dissidents.

"Yes!" Wang Jia took the order and left.

Investigate official charities and clean up beggars inside and outside the city. This is Ju Ming's decree to kill four birds with one stone.

The first is to improve public security.

Some of the letters received by the public opinion box were reports of disappearances.

Such cases were under the jurisdiction of the county government, but the family members did not trust Xicheng County officials because reporting the case would be of no use. They asked the prefect to help find the family members.

There was even a reporter who said that he found that his child had become a monster with missing arms and legs, and that he was insane and could not recognize his parents. He had reported to the authorities before that the beggar had bitten a child he had picked up. The authorities could not determine the identity of the disabled child, and soon the child completely disappeared.

Such an evil force must be eradicated!

The second is to eliminate hidden dangers.

In two months' time, a large number of hungry people will flow to the city, and the beggar group will definitely take the opportunity to grow.

The beggar gang must be eliminated in advance to better manage the hungry people.

The third is to manage charitable institutions and keep the Yangtze Hospital and Anjifang on the right track.

The fourth is to get some cheap labor for their own charcoal farm. After all, charcoal burning and mining require manpower.

A series of rectification actions not only eliminated the beggars, but also scared the local gangsters, and the security of the entire Jinzhou City improved instantly.