Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

Chang'an, prison in Jingzhao Mansion.

Yang Zhi was so hungry that he had no energy left.

He received an errand during the drought, transported grain from the south of the Yangtze River from Tokyo to Chang'an, and handed it over to Jing Zhaoyin to recruit refugees as soldiers.

When the boat reached the border of Shaanzhou, it suddenly rained heavily. It finally cleared up, but within two days it started to rain again, and the grain was stuck near Tongguan and could not be moved.

Then the water in the Yellow River surged and all the grain and boats were washed away.

There is no need for anyone to frame him. According to the law, he must pay for the food.

After the flood, Yang Zhi was taken to Chang'an for business.

Due to too many local affairs recently, no one cared about his life or death at all, even if he was thrown into jail without trial. Moreover, the price of food here is extremely high, how can we care about the prisoners? I couldn't eat every day for three days.

The dark cells were full of prisoners who were half-starved to death.

There was dead silence, no one spoke, and no one had the strength to speak.

I woke up in a daze, woken up by pain, my stomach was empty and burning.

"boom!"

Suddenly there was a loud noise and the whole prison was shaking.

The jailers who were bragging and chatting all stood up in surprise, and then shouted: "The earth dragon has turned over, run away quickly!"

All the prisoners were awakened and anxiously waited for their fate to be judged.

After a while, it shook violently again, and a corner of the cell collapsed. This place is three hundred kilometers away from the epicenter of the earthquake, but it is still powerful enough to collapse houses, and even the aftershocks are frightening.

Some prisoners escaped from the gap, almost crawling due to hunger and weakness.

Yang Zhi shouted with all his strength: "I am the former general of Kaifeng Palace. You will die if you escape like this. Go find something, pry open all the cells, save more brothers and let us go together!"

Several prisoners who were waiting to escape from the prison felt that this was reasonable. They were so hungry that they could hardly walk. It was indeed a dead end for them to escape.

These guys searched around and quickly picked up a knife and a few sticks, which the jailers had left behind in panic.

"Dangdangdang..."

After cutting for a long time, I was so weak that I couldn't cut the door lock.

They took turns, each one panting from exhaustion.

There was a prisoner next door who shouted very weakly: "Peel a wooden needle and I will open the lock..."

"This brother knows how to open locks with quick-cutting wooden needles, quick-cutting wooden needles!" fellow prisoners shouted together.

A small piece of wood was chopped off the edge of the stick, and then the wood pieces were continued to be chipped with a hand knife. It's slightly needle-shaped. I tried it out and found it was too thick to fit into the keyhole.

"Grind it, grind it into a needle!" the prisoner next door said again.

So he polished it on the wall until it was slightly thicker than a sewing needle, and gave it to prisoners who knew how to open locks.

The prisoner could no longer move and was helped to his feet by his fellow prisoners. The whole person was lying on the wooden railing, with wooden shackles on his wrists, and he could not stretch out his arms.

So, everyone stuffed the iron chains and copper locks in for him.

The wooden needle was inserted into the keyhole, and in just about a second, the copper lock opened.

After he was dragged out of the cell, he first unshackled his companions.

During the Ming and Qing dynasties, due to the huge increase in the amount of iron smelted, prisoners generally wore iron shackles. In the Song Dynasty, things were even more confusing. In order to save money, local officials put wooden shackles on prisoners' hands and tied their feet with ropes. Preventing prison escape is only one of them. The bigger function is to prevent prisoners from fighting.

Cells were opened one after another, the locks were unlocked, and the ropes were cut.

"boom!"

There was another aftershock, and several prisoners who were freed fled out of fear.

Yang Zhi shouted: "Come back quickly and leave together!"

The prisoners turned a deaf ear, fearing that if they stayed a moment longer, the entire prison would collapse.

Fortunately, all the jailers ran away and rushed to the widest streets. They didn't even dare to stay in the narrow streets.

After waiting for dozens of minutes, Yang Zhi finally escaped with the prisoners.

There are still cells that have not been opened, but it is impossible to rescue them because the prisoners who can unlock the locks have fainted from hunger...

"Don't worry about this guy anymore, he's going to die!" said one prisoner.

But Yang Zhi said: "He unlocked the door for many of us. How could we leave him behind when we came out?"

"Can you carry someone who is about to starve to death?"

“If you can’t carry it, drag it away!”

Even before the jailbreak started, there were already differences.

No one was convinced, and they were eventually divided into two groups.

Only a dozen people were willing to follow Yang Zhi and take away the prisoner who unlocked the door.

The remaining more than 40 people no longer cared about the prisoner who unlocked the lock, and even took away the knives and sticks, and rushed out in search of food.

After another delay, Yang Zhi and his companions took turns holding the unlocker to escape. Their speed was very slow, some supported the wall and others crawled all the way.

Fleeing from the prison to the streets, no one was found alive. Many officials and people went to the broad street on the central axis of the city.

"Go to the back door of the government office!" Yang Zhi said.

The fugitive next to him said in horror: "It's better... to find a private house. If you go to the government office, you might be caught."

Yang Zhi said: "The earth dragon turned over, and there was no one in any house. The government office was just like a private house. We escaped from the prison, but we were closest to the government office, and there must be meat in the house behind the government office."

Everyone was doubtful, so they bravely went to the back door of the government office.

The door was actually open. Jing Zhaoyin's family members were so panicked that they didn't even lock the door as they tried to escape the shock.

They split up and searched for a while, and finally found the kitchen.

There was a pot of white fungus porridge. The charcoal fire was still hot. The white fungus porridge was still hot. It was knocked to the ground and spilled a lot.

Make bowls to divide the porridge and devour it.

Yang Zhi did not wake up the unconscious person by pinching him first, and let the guy who helped open the lock fill his stomach.

Some prisoners had already finished the porridge and went to the kitchen to look for other food.

Yang Zhi shouted: "You have been hungry for too long. Don't eat too much and make your stomach upset. Get some sacks, load them with food and leave the city! By the way, go to the house to find some clothes and get a comb to dress up. Look for the stables. Let's get some horses or a carriage."

After entering the government office, there is food in the house, and there is no one to guard it. Yang Zhi's decision-making is very wise, and other prisoners are willing to listen to his orders.

Two quarters of an hour later, the prisoners came back one after another, and they had all put on clean clothes.

They got water to wash their faces, helped each other comb their buns, and then put on their headscarves or hats.

"What's your surname, brother?" a prisoner asked.

Yang Zhi said: "I am Yang Zhi, the general in front of the palace. Because the flood washed away the official rations, I was captured and imprisoned in Chang'an."

When this identity was revealed, all the fugitives stood in awe and called him big brother, elder brother.

The general in front of the palace was not worth mentioning in the eyes of civil servants. Even senior officials did not take the general seriously.

But he was a military attache after all. To the fugitives, Yang Zhi was already considered a big shot.

A prisoner immediately knelt down, holding a sword in both hands: "Brother Yang, I found this in a room. Since Brother Yang is a general in front of the palace, he must be very skilled and worthy of this sword."

"I'm not welcome." Yang Zhi tied the sword around his waist.

Suddenly someone came back and said happily: "There are three horses and a carriage!"

Yang Zhi immediately arranged a plan to leave the city. He first sent two fugitives who were in good physical strength and had no tattoos on their faces, riding horses to explore in the east and west directions. Where there are few people, go there.

You definitely can't go to the north and south sides. Most of the people in the city gather on the main street along the central axis.

Some food and belongings were loaded onto the car, and those who were physically weak also rode in the car.

When the person who inquired about the information came back, everyone set off immediately.

Yang Zhi and another fugitive rode to clear the way, pretending to be armed followers of a powerful family. There were six more people guarding the carriage in front and behind it. The rest pretended to be coachmen and nobles, and all sat in the car.

There was another aftershock midway, which scared the horse almost crazy.

This place was far away from the epicenter of the earthquake, so the damage was not great. Only a few houses collapsed along the way.

There were not even any soldiers guarding the city at the gate, they all ran to the open areas on the outskirts of the city.

Yang Zhi led more than a dozen fugitives and left in a swagger on horseback and in carriages. They fled more than ten miles away before stopping to rest.

"Brother Yang is worthy of being a general in front of the palace. He actually knew how to go to the back house of the government office, get a lot of food and goods, and escape from Chang'an in a carriage!" The fugitives were so impressed that they praised him from the bottom of their hearts.

These people are relatively loyal and willing to take away the lockpicker.

Those unloyal fugitives were nowhere to be found at the moment, but most of them did not live well with Yang Zhi.

"What are Brother Yang's plans?" asked a fugitive.

Without waiting for Yang Zhi to answer, another person said: "What other plans can I have? Since I am a fugitive, I will go into the mountains and become a bandit in the Zhongnan Mountains!"

"I still have my mother at home."

"Then you go home and try, so as not to get me into trouble."

"If it's Luo Cao, we have to get some more weapons."

"Try it on the way and see if you can rob a few wealthy households in the countryside."

"..."

These guys, talking to each other, are already discussing the robbery plan.

Yang Zhi said: "I have a good place to go."

"What's a good place to go?" everyone asked.

Yang Zhi said: "I have an old friend in Hanzhong. He is a noble man with official status. When we go there, we can change our name and register, so we don't have to go into the mountains to become bandits."

"That's great!"

"Let's follow Brother Yang!"

The fugitives turned south and looked for a wealthy man in the countryside to rob.

Not to grab property, but to get some weapons. No matter how bad it is, a kitchen knife will do, and a hoe or sickle can also be used as a weapon.

The crowd abandoned their carriages and took only three horses into the mountains. They carried the goods and food on their backs and headed to Yangzhou via the Tangluo Road.

Encountering mountain bandits on the way, Yang Zhi fought hard, killing two brothers and injuring many others, and finally passed through the area where bandits were rampant.

After finally arriving at the border of Yangzhou, Yang Zhi came to a village and asked the rich households in the village: "We are the old friends of Duke Yuan Zhang, and we are sending some gifts to Daming Village. Do you know how to get to Daming Village?"

Hearing that they were Zhu Guoxiang's friends and family, the rich man was very enthusiastic: "Just keep walking along the Han River. It's quite difficult to go to the Golden Gorge. If you ask along the shore, everyone knows where Daming Village is."

"Thank you!"

Yang Zhi clasped his fists in thanks and led the people straight to Daming Village.

They asked around along the way, and sure enough everyone knew. Moreover, it was heard that they had an old relationship with Zhu Guoxiang, and they all showed great enthusiasm, and some wealthy people even invited them to eat.

The fugitives were extremely surprised: "This Duke Yuan Zhang is so famous that everyone recognizes him."

Yang Zhi smiled and said: "If you go over there, you won't have to worry about being hunted down by the government."