Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

Lizhou has a humid subtropical monsoon climate, with warm winters and cool summers, and four distinct seasons.

As the Chinese New Year approaches, there is not a single snowfall, which makes Ju Ming feel quite comfortable. After crossing, we encountered heavy snow every year. The only year it didn't snow was that I was afraid of drought and locust plague the next year.

The ordnance was still being built, and Zhu Ming was bored and went to study for a while.

The county school is small, with only more than ninety students.

The state school is even worse, with only over 20 students.

Zhu Ming asked, Lizhou’s quota of candidates for examination was only two people in each state examination.

Su Mao, the principal of the state school, is in the same class as Zhu Ming and is also considered an unlucky guy. Han Chuang studied hard for more than ten years and finally passed the Jinshi examination. He was thrown to Lizhou to be the principal and could only teach more than 20 students.

That’s it, there’s been no sign of moving away for four years.

"Why not inform the Ming court and let the barbarian children enter school?" Ju Ming suggested.

Su Mao shook his head: "Children of barbarians can only enroll in feudal schools. Those who can set up feudal schools are either in important places like Hehuang or in wealthy prefectures like Guangzhou. It is impossible to set up feudal schools in the border areas of Lizhou."

Ju Ming said: "There are many barbarians in Lizhou, so a vassal school should be established. I will advise the court."

"In this case, I have to rely on Brother Chenggong." Su Mao is looking forward to this very much. Once a vassal school is established, it will probably be easier for him to have both qualifications and political achievements.

Ju Ming took a few followers and rode out of the city for a stroll.

There are many kinds of rapeseed on both sides of the Han River (Liusha River). The rapeseed seedlings are already knee-deep, and some vegetables that can withstand frost are also interplanted.

Broad beans and peas are grown on the dry land farther away from the river bank, and vegetables are also grown among the bean seedlings.

Among the acres, you can occasionally see mulberry trees, and mulberry trees are also used to raise silkworms here.

I rode horseback to the nearby mountains and found large tracts of pepper trees. There is only one tribute product in Lizhou, red pepper, which is quite valuable when shipped to the north.

When he saw a farmer hoeing the ground, Zhu Ming dismounted and approached, asking Bai Sheng and others to help with the farm work, while he started chatting with the farmers.

The farmer was a little scared at first and was very reserved in his speech. As we chatted, he relaxed and began to talk about his daily life. But he only picked up pleasant things to say, and did not dare to criticize the government. He only mentioned some difficulties inadvertently.

Generally speaking, the life of farmers in Lizhou is similar to that of farmers in Jinzhou, or even slightly better. The per capita arable land area here is slightly larger, and the climate is more suitable for farming, and there is no need to transport grains. The biggest burden every year is actually pepper...

Every year when the pepper picking season comes, no matter whether you grow pepper at home or not, you have to pay a tax and pay it to the tea farm for transportation to the Tea Horse Company. Officials at the state and county levels are not allowed to interfere.

This is extremely unreasonable and illegal, but Tea Horse is awesome.

Ju Ming plans to fight with Tea Horse!

After riding horseback for several days, it was already the end of the year.

Suddenly two letters came from the Administrative Division, one of which was written by Geng Dingchen, an old subordinate in Puzhou. This guy was transferred to Jianwei County as the chief bookkeeper, which is located in Jiazhou next door to Lizhou. He saw from the Di newspaper that Ju Ming was demoted to Hanyuan County, and immediately wrote a letter to reminisce about old friendship.

Another letter was written by Yu Qi, the magistrate of Qianwei County.

Yu Qi and Ju Ming were Jinshi in the same field, and Geng Dingchen was transferred to serve as an official under him. Because they both knew Ju Ming and had a good relationship, they both wrote letters to chat this time.

Ju Ming didn't have a deep impression of Yu Qi. He thought about it for a long time before he remembered that they had drank together.

The letter also included a poem written by Yu Qi's eight-year-old son. This man was obviously showing off his son, and actually said that this poem was written by his son when he was seven years old...

His son's name is Yu Yunwen.

Zhu Ming asked Wei Yingshi and Zeng Xiaoduan to each copy a copy of "A Brief Meaning of Great Learning Chapters and Sentences" and a "Sparse Meaning of Chinese Chapters and Sentences of the Doctrine of the Mean", and sent them with replies to Yu Qi and Geng Dingchen.

It was New Year's Eve in a blink of an eye, and Ju Ming called his entourage and family members to hold a banquet to celebrate.

It's not that lively here, it's far worse than Jinzhou.

On New Year's Day, Zhu Ming posted a couplet on the door. County government officials followed suit one after another. This thing is much easier to use than peach charms, and is especially suitable for ordinary people to celebrate the New Year.

Time flies so fast, it's already the first year of Xuanhe.

Mainly from Jinzhou to Lizhou, the journey lasted for several months. Ju Ming also had to visit the situation along the way, which was slower than normal.

At the end of last year, Song Huizong established the Yumin Bureau and ordered its dissolution within a month.

This matter has something to do with Xu Churen, the man who rectified the officialdom in Xuzhou, cracked down on bandits, and asked Shi Yuangong to leave with two to three hundred iron smelters.

Xu Churen made outstanding achievements in Xuzhou and was personally summoned by Song Huizong.

Xu Churen said: "In recent years, floods and droughts have occurred frequently across the country. The public and private sectors are in decline, and both soldiers and civilians are trapped. We should find a solution as soon as possible."

Song Huizong thought it was reasonable. After discussing with Xu Churen, he established the "Yumin Bureau" to seek ways to strengthen the army and enrich the people.

Yuanfeng's restructuring abolished the three departments, and most of the responsibilities were assigned to the Ministry of Household Affairs and the Ministry of Works. These two departments were Cai Jing's headquarters.

The "Yu Min Bureau" is a bit like the State Planning Commission. Cai Jing feels that his power is being challenged, not to mention that Xu Churen has also served as deputy prime minister.

Cai Jing's reaction was very fierce. He asked Xu Churen in front of the emperor: "We are setting up a bureau to 'rich the people'. Doesn't it mean we don't help the people in ordinary times?"

Song Huizong didn't want to go through too much trouble. After all, he had to rely on Cai Jing to make money, so he gave up the "Yumin Bureau" and Xu Churen was demoted to be the magistrate of Yangzhou.

Xu Churen was disheartened, resigned and returned to his hometown, thus ending his official career.

Many capable ministers and officials in Huizong's dynasty left the court in this way.

Song Huizong had more important things to do. The team that went to the Kingdom of Jin as envoy was back!

Wanyan Aguda also comes with many gifts, including Dongzhu, mink fur, gold sand, ginseng, pine nuts and so on.

Song Huizong was particularly happy and regarded this behavior as tribute, and his vanity was greatly satisfied. So a larger envoy was sent to the Kingdom of Jin to formally discuss the alliance with Jin to destroy Liao.

Since Liao was to be attacked, the war in Xixia had to end early.

Tong Guan forced Liu Fa, the military envoy of Xihe, to lead troops to attack Shuofang. Due to lack of preparation and the fact that the army went deep alone, the Song army encountered an ambush and was defeated, losing 100,000 troops, and its general Liu Fa was killed.

A generation of northwest war gods died like this.

…

Throughout the spring, Ju Ming was persuading farmers.

No one wanted to grow corn or sweet potatoes, so Ju Ming was too lazy to spend time demonstrating and simply forced farmers in mountainous areas to cultivate these crops.

He took his government officials to personally inspect various mountainous areas and selected dozens of acres of mountainous land for farming. Several farmers brought from Daming Village taught the local farmers how to plant. They also put aside their harsh words and said that those who cultivate seriously can get a tax reduction, and those who do not cultivate seriously will be taxed more.

The mountain people complained, but they had to obey, secretly cursing the eighteen generations of Zhizhou's ancestors.

After the spring plowing, Ju Ming finally began to train his troops.

These Xiang troops usually have to farm. If they can train once a month, they are already considered elite soldiers. Ju Ming does not dare to delay their farming.

Fortunately, his physique is not bad. Lizhou has a full force of 50 horse troops and 300 infantry troops, all of whom Yu Wenchang "selected the best from the best."

Ju Ming organized the 300 infantry into 25 mandarin duck teams.

There are ten teams and one brigade, and the commander is Dutou. Both Zhang Bor and Li Bao were temporarily appointed as the capital, and the deputy capital was selected from the local cavalry.

The remaining five brigades serve as reserve teams and are personally commanded by Ju Ming.

The training lasted for fifteen days at the beginning, and they had to drill every day. Although they were given enough food, the training made the soldiers want to cry.

They have never experienced such "high-intensity" training, and military discipline is extremely strict, and they will be punished at every turn. Especially when I have trained well and my teammates make a mistake, the whole team has to be punished.

It's okay to be punished by running or being slapped on the board, but I'm afraid that food will be deducted as punishment, so I would rather be beaten than eat well.

The training camp ended after fifteen days and was changed to training every other day.

Practice physical fitness and enemy-killing moves in the morning, and practice commands and formations in the afternoon.

Ju Ming, the county magistrate, spent all day in the military camp, as if he had become a military general.

He has not rectified the officialdom for the time being, because he lacks a breakthrough. It is best to win the battle once and establish his power before rectifying it.

While training the troops, the barbarians will definitely come and plunder, because they happen once or twice every year.

Before the five barbarians harassed the Han people, two barbarians suddenly came.

Ju Ming was called by Yu Wenchang, but he saw more than a dozen barbarians kneeling on the ground.

Yu Wenchang pointed to the barbarian leader and said, "This is the son of Li Shun'en, the barbarian ghost leader of the two forests. His name is Li Jien."

Ju Ming asked: "Chinese name?"

Yu Wenchang nodded and said: "More than a hundred years ago, the Lianglin Barbarians were closer to the Han Dynasty. During the Taizong Dynasty, they were named Li. They once defeated the Qiongbu Sichuan Barbarians. Later, the Qionbu Sichuan Barbarians flourished and the Lianglin Barbarians were defeated. Drive them further south. If they want to trade with Lizhou, they have to pass through the Qiongbu Sichuan barbarian territory."

Li Jien burst into tears and actually spoke Chinese: "Please, the prefect, please make the decision for me and the two Linman!"

"What's going on?" Zhu Ming asked.

Yu Wenchang explained: "Last autumn, they brought a dozen good horses and many barbarian goods to Lizhou for mutual trade. They were robbed by Qiongbu Sichuan barbarians halfway, and the two horses fought. The two Lin barbarians After being defeated, hundreds of men and women, some livestock and property were robbed, and after the beginning of spring, they took a detour and came to complain.”

Zhu Ming helped Li Jien up and asked kindly: "How old are you this year?"

Li Jien said: "I'm eighteen years old."

Ju Ming patted the opponent's chest and praised: "What a young warrior!"

Yu Wenchang didn't say anything, just sat and watched Ju Ming's performance.

Li Jien asked: "Who is the Reverend?"

Ju Ming said: "I am Ju Ming, the magistrate of Hanyuan County. You speak Chinese so well. Who taught you?"

Li Jien said: "There are Han people in our village who often give my father advice. He also taught me how to read and write. My father and I were given Chinese names with the help of this gentleman."

Ju Ming asked: "If we send troops to attack the Qiongbu Sichuan barbarians, how many troops can the two Lin barbarians have?"

Li Jien thought carefully, gritted his teeth and said, "Eight thousand!"

Yu Wenchang's expression changed. He knew the strength of the two forest barbarians. Sending eight thousand troops at a time would be equivalent to selling iron to a life-or-death situation.

Ju Ming smiled and said, "You guys go down and have a rest first. This matter is quite serious and I have to discuss it with Prefect Yuwen."

The barbarians retreated, leaving only Yu Wenchang and Ju Ming in the room.

"No fighting!" Yu Wenchang directly blocked the topic.

Ju Ming said: "You can send someone to reprimand him first. If he is obedient, he will not be beaten. If he is disobedient, he will be taught a lesson."