Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

Zhang Bor's family is a big landowner, and he is also a famous minister.

Although Li Bao's family was a small landowner, he lived in Lizhuang, Kuiqiu. Even though he was nicknamed "Polish Li San", he was deeply influenced by the idea of ​​loyalty to the emperor and patriotism.

If Ju Ming rebelled immediately, they would probably choose to leave, or even turn around and join the imperial army.

We must constantly impact their bottom line and slowly change their thinking.

After the three tiger squatting cannons were forged, Ju Ming did not continue to make the cannons, but asked the cannon forging craftsman to try to forge the firecrackers.

Ju Ming himself has more things to do: provide young people with money!

It is limited to the disaster victims who gathered in Zhoucheng last year. They have no seeds at all, and they will become even more impoverished if they seek loans from landlords.

During the work-for-relief program, a list of victims was made up and they were asked to borrow money from their respective county governments before spring plowing. Ju Ming directly sent people to various county offices to watch the government issue money.

It does not mean that the victims will not lend money no matter how poor they are. Because the identity cannot be verified, it is very likely that the landlord sent someone to pretend to borrow the money and resell it to the poor at usury.

In the Yellow River Flood Area of ​​Hebei Province, there is a lack of such relief measures and they can only rely on landowners to provide seeds.

However, the landlords could not take care of too many people. More and more victims returned to their hometowns and began to beg for food together again in the spring, forming large and small groups of refugees, or even turned into thieves.

The Song Jiang gang has already begun to cause trouble. It mainly operates in the Yellow River area, constantly robbing wealthy households in the suburbs, and recruiting young people from the refugees.

However, Song Jiang did not rebel directly. He simply fled and robbed, so he did not absorb many refugees. At this time, there were only a dozen leaders and more than 200 gangsters under his command. They did not even dare to go to the county seat and had been wandering around the countryside committing crimes.

There are many gangs of thieves like Song Jiang, but Song Jiang finally became bigger.

State and county officials did not dare to suppress the news, and at the same time they kept concealing it. Anyway, you can delay it as long as you can. It will be none of your business until the thief goes to another state or county.

Zhang Shuye, who forced Song Jiang to surrender in history, is now serving as a sports referee on Jingdong Road.

He accompanied and received the second group of UNIFEM envoys and was responsible for providing various supplies to the envoys.

Seeing the envoys crossing the sea by boat, Zhang Shuye sighed: "The world will never be at peace again!"

The attendant asked: "Why does Mr. Xian say this?"

Zhang Shuye looked at the seemingly calm sea: "The people of Shandong will be exhausted, and Hebei will be riddled with holes. If the imperial court joins forces to attack Liao, where will Shandong and Hebei be placed? Civil strife will surely break out. Shandong and Hebei will be unstable. , can they capture Youyun and hold it back? The Jin Kingdom is new and the Liao Kingdom is old and old. If the Song Dynasty had a rich and powerful people, they should unite with the Jin to attack the Liao. But the Song Dynasty has exhausted soldiers and people, so it should unite with the Liao to fight against the Jin!"

Zhang Shuye turned around and boarded the carriage, feeling extremely confused. He could not see clearly the future of the Song Dynasty.

The future of the Song Dynasty was unclear, but the fate of the Liao Kingdom was obvious.

This year another uprising broke out. On several roads close to the Kingdom of Jin, a bushel of corn was worth several thousand dollars.

Silk fabric is a silk fabric with double warp and double weft. The price is several times that of silk. The value of several syringes for a bushel of millet means that people can no longer afford to buy food. Hungry people first peeled bark from trees to satisfy their hunger, and then ate each other.

An Sheng'er and Zhang Gao'er of the Han Dynasty revolted in the states on the East Road of the Liao Kingdom, gathering more than 200,000 people.

The Song Dynasty was also unlucky. It finally made it to the summer grain harvest, which somewhat replenished the tight grain supply. Floods began to rise again in Liangzhe and Jiangnan 4th Road, and the most important grain base of the Song Dynasty was destined to have a bad harvest, which made the Song Dynasty's finances on the verge of collapse even worse.

Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty issued an imperial edict to provide relief to the disaster-stricken areas in the southeast, but he did not allocate money or food, leaving local officials to solve the problem on their own.

What is the emperor doing?

An imperial edict was issued to allow monks to study in state and county schools. "Huangdi Neijing" and "Tao Te Ching" are major classics, while "Zhuangzi" and "Liehzi" are minor classics. They are included in the textbooks of various local official schools and are exclusively used by monks entering school. At the same time, the Taoist tribute law was established and Taoist monks were allowed to advance to Imperial College.

Lin Chong and Sun Li were neighbors who were renovated by Liang Shicheng and received some demolition fees to rent their own houses.

"It's impossible to live in Tokyo," Lin Chong said, "I want to go to Yangzhou to join Zhu Xianggong."

Sun Li said: "I will go too."

Asked several other sworn brothers, Li Jinyi, Hua Rong, Chai Jin, and Guan Sheng responded immediately. Zhang Qing, Xu Ning and others, after a little hesitation, were willing to advance and retreat together.

They also called their friends, took their families, and escorted Yang Zhi's wife and children. A total of nearly a hundred people left Tokyo in batches.

…

It was summer when Zhang Gen arrived in Jinzhou. He brought a wife, two concubines and a daughter with him. The eldest son Zhang Tao stayed in the capital to serve as an official, while the four sons were studying in their hometown. When the next examination was held, the second and third sons were sent to Xiangyang to take the special examination.

"Jinzhou is really poor." Zhang Gen couldn't help but sigh as he entered Xunyang County.

However, Xunyang County is already considered a wealthy county in Jinzhou.

His wife Huang said: "Remote states and counties cannot be compared with Huainan and Jiangnan. My husband wants to recruit Zhu Chenggong as his son-in-law, but I haven't seen him yet and I don't know what he looks like."

Zhang Gen said: "I haven't seen him either, but I heard that he is quite heroic. No matter how he looks, a good man is one who is talented and moral, and his appearance is secondary."

"Of course it would be better if it's a handsome man." Huang said with a smile.

The Huang family also has a good background. Her father's name is Huang Fu, who rose to the rank of deputy prime minister.

Huang Fu initially firmly supported Wang Anshi, but because he criticized the market change and offended Wang Anshi, he finally eased relations and supported the reform.

In addition, Li Gang is not only Huang's son-in-law, but also Huang's cousin.

These families have been married for several generations.

The family landed at the pier without causing any sensation.

It is true that Zhang Gen was a court official and had direct access to Longtuge, but now he has been demoted to deputy envoy of Tuanlian, and his power is not as good as that of a state official.

Most people don't want to be exposed to this kind of demotion. What if they offend a big boss?

"The order is quite orderly," Zhang Gen nodded in approval, "There are no private fences along the way. Zhu Chenggong not only controls the prefecture city, but also manages the subordinate counties. It is really commendable."

They rented a mule cart and entered the city. Huang asked the driver, "We are here to join a relative who serves as an official under Zhu Taishou. What kind of person is this Zhu Taishou?"

The coachman smiled and said, "If you are an official under Governor Zhu, you have to be careful."

Zhang Gen asked: "How can we be careful?"

The coachman said: "Prefect Zhu couldn't get rid of the sand in his eyes. He escorted dozens of state and county officials to Xiangyang. I heard that many of them had to be beheaded and exiled. It's not easy to be an official. If things don't get done well, they get scolded. Even Tong San is scolded by the prefect and loses his temper."

"Isn't this a cruel official?" Huang asked.

But the coachman said: "You are not a cruel official, Zhu Taishou is very kind to the common people. There is a public opinion box at the gate of the state government. Anyone who has any grievances can write a letter and drop it into the box. Zhu Taishou will let the Si Liyuan have a good trial. Zhu Taishou has just arrived. At that time, I personally retried an unjust case, which involved several lives. Let me tell you, that case was very bizarre..."

The unjust case that Ju Ming personally tried will probably continue to be circulated because it contains all the popular elements. Adultery, murder for love, silence, false accusations, seizure of property...all these together are enough for ordinary people to tell the story of ancient times. After telling it to their sons, they can also tell it to their grandchildren.

The coachman spoke eloquently, as if he had witnessed the prefect's trial.

Mrs. Huang whispered to her youngest daughter, "What do Qiniang think?"

Zhang Jinping's face turned red, he lowered his head and said, "My parents alone make the decision."

Zhang Gen said, "The public opinion box is a very good idea. If I were to revolt, I would also set up a public opinion box at the yamen gate."

Zhang Gen opened the car curtain and looked around, and suddenly asked: "Why don't you see the beggar?"

The coachman said: "Disabled beggars have all gone to the almshouse. They are not allowed to be idle. They can do whatever they can. Those who have no hands or feet can learn to sing ancient songs. Anyway, they have to make some money for themselves. Those who are not disabled All the beggars are sent to the mountains to mine.”

"How many people can the mine accommodate?" Zhang Gen asked.

The coachman said: "The prefect removed the private pens, and the number of merchant ships increased. Many poor people can go to the docks to work as coolies. If they can't find anything to make a living, arrange for them to go to the mountains to open up wasteland, and the prefect will lend them seeds and farm tools. These five counties in Jinzhou There are mountains everywhere and a lot of wasteland, but as long as you work hard, you won’t starve to death.”

The coachman kept talking: "There are fewer of those gangsters, and they are afraid of getting punished if they make mistakes. By the way, the prefect has opened an iron smelting yard. The prices of iron pots, kitchen knives, and hoes have all been reduced, and my family can now afford iron pots." "

Zhang Gen said with emotion: "This is a truly capable minister. Within one year of taking office, he has brought great success to a state!"

But the coachman said: "It's very good here in Jinzhou City, but not in the other counties. I often pick up and drop off merchants when I drive, and they all say that Jinzhou City is very good, and I have met a good official. But the county town is not good, and the county magistrate is still collecting taxes randomly." , they were afraid of offending the governor and did not dare to raise taxes on merchants, so they raised taxes on merchants in the county."

"This cannot be eliminated." Zhang Gen expressed his understanding.

As the magistrate of a state, it is not easy to manage the state city. How can you manage the subordinate counties below?

After chatting all the way to the state government office, Zhang Gen had a very good impression of Ju Ming.

He asked his wife, concubines, daughters and entourage to wait while he went to the state government office to complete the formalities.

First, Fan Zhun, the Zuoya Yamen, was responsible for the reception. When he discovered that Zhang Gen was actually a court official, and he also directly visited Longtuge, he immediately did not dare to be careless.

Soon, Wu Mao, the secretary-general of the state government, came in person and bowed respectfully: "Wu Mao, the envoy of Jinzhou, pays homage to Zhang Tuanlian!"

"Easy to say." Zhang Gen nodded.

Wu Mao asked again: "Should we inform the prefect?"

Zhang Gen said: "Go and communicate."

Not long after, Ju Ming came out with a big smile, bowed and said, "I have known Mr. Chang's name for a long time. I am lucky to meet you today!"

"I have also admired the name of Governor Zhu for a long time!" Zhang Gen was immediately more satisfied, because Zhu Ming was handsome and his daughter would not be aggrieved when she married him.

Ju Ming said: "Please come into the Huangtang and sit down."

Zhang Gen said: "That's not necessary, the family members are still waiting outside the Yamen."

Ju Ming asked: "Have you found a place to stay?"

Zhang Gen replied: "I just arrived in Jinzhou today."

Ju Ming immediately shouted: "Bai Sheng, find a good house for Zhang Tuanlian and hire some servants!"

"Thank you." Zhang Gen liked Ju Ming more and more.