Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

How could this be a government job?

With just one glance at the father and son, Zhang Guangdao had already determined the situation.

Unless you have a broken brain, would you send out such a conspicuous detail? Are you afraid that others will not notice the abnormality?

More like a wild monk escaping from the temple!

The Buddhist precepts in the Song Dynasty were not so strict. They did not prohibit monks from eating meat, nor did they require monks to shave their heads. It can be seen from the paintings of the Tang and Song Dynasties that monks at that time mainly had short hair, and Zhu Yuanzhang had to wait for Zhu Yuanzhang to arrange layers of precepts for monks.

However, Ju Ming was carrying weapons, and they were swords controlled by the imperial court, which made Zhang Guangdao a little curious.

"Are you leaving?" Zhu Ming asked.

Zhu Guoxiang said: "Let's go."

Staying in the village was not an option. After a brief exchange, the father and son agreed to go to Nabai Market together.

Zhang Guangdao called two more men from the village, took some chickens, ducks, fish and linen cloth, and took them to the market town to sell them, intending to return in exchange for some necessities such as salt.

Counting Ju Ming and his son, a total of five people set off.

Zhang Guangdao glanced at the horse's butt and deliberately reminded: "The brand must be wiped off, be careful of lawsuits."

"This is a picked-up horse. I hand it over to the government when I encounter it." Zhu Ming explained.

Zhang Guangdao chuckled and said: "The government is worried about not catching the horse thief. You said you were going to sacrifice the horse, but the official came and took the stolen goods."

Ju Ming nodded when he heard this: "It makes sense, then erase it."

The two men from the village who were traveling together were named Lu Wang and Ding Dafang.

Zhang Guangdao said to Ding Dafang: "Go and get some firewood."

Ding Dafang immediately went home and brought firewood, took out the fire sickle to light it, and burned the poker to use as a soldering iron.

Zhang Guangdao crossed his arms in front of his chest and stared at the flames without saying a word.

Zhu Guoxiang asked in a low voice: "Where did this person come from? Why did he help us erase his official seal?"

"Submit your name," Zhu Ming said.

"Submit your name?" Zhu Guoxiang didn't understand.

Ju Ming explained: "Privately erasing the official seals of military horses is a first-class felony. Even if we are officials of the government, erasing the official seals is still a crime. Once we become sinners, we are just as good as thieves and bandits, and no one needs to be afraid of the other." "

Zhu Guoxiang suddenly realized: "Is this Orion a bandit in the mountains?"

Ju Ming looked back at the village and smiled coldly: "I'm afraid the whole village is a den of thieves, an outpost of a bandit village set up by the river. Of course, they are also real farmers. They farm when the farming is busy and rob when the farming is slack. This is It was normal in remote areas in ancient times.”

After a while, the tongs were already burning red. Zhang Guangdao bent down to pick it up, handed it to Ju Ming and said, "Let's do it."

Ju Ming took the poker and walked to the side of the thin horse.

The thin horse flinched in fear. Ju Ming stroked his mane and comforted him: "It hurts, please bear with it."

The horse probably still remembered the taste of the soldering iron, but this time he was disobedient and kept pacing to avoid the red-hot poker.

Zhang Guangdao suddenly hugged the horse's neck with his arms and urged: "Do it!"

Ju Ming stood on the left side of the horse's buttocks and pressed the poker on the official seal.

There was a sizzling sound, and the thin horse kicked its hooves wildly in pain, unable to break free from Zhang Guangdao's arms.

"Bah!"

Zhang Guangdao let out a low roar and pushed the thin horse to the ground. Lu Wang and Ding Dafang also rushed forward and pressed the horse's body.

Although the horse was skinny and skinny and had not taken in salt for several months, so it probably didn't have much strength left, Zhang Guangdao's strength was still staggering.

The place where the official seal was was quickly burnt to black.

This beast must not be brought into the city. Even without the official seal, the origin cannot be explained. Anyone with a discerning eye will know that there is something wrong at a glance.

After struggling for a long time, the thin horse regained its freedom and ran a long way out of breath.

Zhu Ming didn't bother to chase, so he went on his own. After walking for a while, I turned around to check and found that the skinny horse was following me again, and even lost his temper and deliberately nibbled on the rapeseed flowers.

Zhang Guangdao said with a smile: "This beast is interesting and understands human nature. Why don't you sell it to me and take away half of the money. Don't think it's a small amount of money. He's too hungry and thin. He will have to be well taken care of when he takes it home."

Zhu Guoxiang asked his son in a low voice: "How many RMB is half the money equivalent to?"

"I'm not sure." Zhu Ming didn't do much research on prices in the Northern Song Dynasty.

Since he didn't know the price, he didn't rush to buy or sell. He went to the market to inquire about it first. Ju Ming politely refused to sell the horse.

The price of horses fluctuated greatly during the Song Dynasty. Anyway, the prices became more expensive as the horses went further back.

One is due to the increasingly serious horse shortage, and the other is due to rising prices and inflation.

It's about ten miles from here to Baishitou. Perhaps the villagers come and go frequently and have already carved a path along the river, so there is no need to go through thorns and thorns along the way.

Zhang Guangdao looked at the scenery from left to right, and glanced at Ju Ming's back from time to time. After walking for a while, he suddenly asked: "Brother Zhu is carrying a gun and a stick?"

"It's just a stick." Ju Ming said.

Zhang Guangdao continued to test: "It looks more like a knife."

Zhu Ming smiled and said, "It's a sword. Do you believe it, Brother Zhang?"

"I believe it." Zhang Guangdao chuckled.

Zhu Guoxiang stopped moving forward, put down his backpack, and took out a brush: "Actually, we are businessmen, and we were robbed by bandits on the way. We finally escaped. Look at this brush, it is the remaining goods after being robbed."

Since it is a New Year gift for relatives and children, the packaging must be exquisite.

The Hu pen is placed in a small brown box with golden text on the box. It looks like it is valuable at first glance.

Zhang Guangdao had never read a book and did not know how to read. He was looking straight at the brush box.

Ju Ming took off the sword and took it in his hand. He pressed the handle of the sword wrapped in a sweater and said, "Brother Zhang, do you want to buy a pen? This is a high-quality Hu pen. A pen is worth at least a hundred dollars."

Zhang Guangdao looked at Ju Ming's hand pressing the sword, then looked at the brush box, shook his head and said, "It's too expensive. There are also pens for sale at Bai Market, and a brush only costs ten coins."

"Forget it if you don't buy it. There is no justice in buying and selling." Ju Ming smiled.

Zhang Guangdao heard this and praised: "Business cannot be done without benevolence and righteousness. This is so well said. Brother Zhu is indeed a scholar!"

This phrase comes from "Three Heroes and Five Righteousnesses" and would not come out for hundreds of years. It is quite suitable for Zhang Guangdao, a bandit.

Zhu Ming and his son carried precious brushes with them, had short hair, and wore tattered and weird clothes. In Zhang Orion's eyes, they looked more and more mysterious. They might be strangers with great abilities in traveling around the world.

After walking for a while, Zhang Guangdao couldn't help but ask: "You two really want to find a place to stay?"

Zhu Guoxiang said: "We have this plan."

Zhang Guangdao tried to send an invitation: "How about coming to the mountains with me? There are many good men in the mountains."

When Zhu Ming saw the other party opening the skylight and speaking openly, he also revealed a little bit of information: "To be honest with brother Zhang, my father and son want to settle down, buy a few acres of land, marry a wife, have children and spread the family."

These words made Zhang Guangdao even more convinced that the father and son were monks who had returned to secular life, and that the high-end brushes were probably stolen from the temple.

Zhang Guangdao sneered at this and sneered: "What benefits can you get from farming? My great-great-grandfather used to be a third-class householder. When he had to do errands in front of the government, he had no choice but to break up his family and escape to the mountains."

Ju Ming deliberately followed him and said, "Corrupt officials deserve to die."

"You deserve to die!" Zhang Guangdao gritted his teeth.

The common people who paid taxes to the Song Dynasty government were strictly divided into five classes.

According to different levels of prosperity, the standards for classifying households are also different in different places.

Generally speaking, those with an area of ​​more than 400 acres are first-class households, also called upper households. Those with an area of ​​less than 400 acres belong to the second, third, and fourth class households, also called middle households. The remaining fifth class belongs to the lower households. (Note: Some families may have hundreds of acres of land, but there are only 10 or 20 people in the family. If they are shared, they can only provide food and clothing.)

As for government errands, people work as errands for the government.

Initially, Li Zheng was selected from among the households and was responsible for collecting taxes and so on. In the early Song Dynasty, this was a good job, where you could make money, but gradually it turned into a nightmare, because it could not collect enough taxes, and Li Zheng had to make up the shortfall with his own money.

Many wealthy families, because they were designated as righteous, went bankrupt and sold their sons and daughters.

At the suggestion of Prime Minister Han Qi, Li Zheng's unfortunate job was cancelled, and related matters were handled by the upper and middle households in turn. Moreover, there are strict regulations on how many people are needed for an errand, how many places are allocated to first-class households, and how many places are allocated to second-class households. If everyone is divided evenly, they will not be bankrupted.

But the actual operation quickly went out of shape!

Officials organized several households into groups so that the really big households could escape, and they specifically targeted those who had no backers.

For example, Zhang Guangdao's great-grandfather used to be a third-class household, and his family owned more than 300 acres of land. When the official came, he not only counted the land, but also pointed to the objects in the house and said, this broom is worth 50 guan, and that table is worth 100 guan. In the end, Zhang Guangdao's great-great-grandfather had a huge fortune and properly concealed his status as a first-class household, so he should be responsible for this dispatch.

As a result, a small landowner with more than 300 acres of land was arranged to be Luncha Yamen. Since he could not complete the task, he had no choice but to abandon his fixed property, take only some floating wealth, and flee to a foreign land with his family overnight. And the land he gave up was divided up by the real big families in the village.

In feudal society, people can eat people without spitting out their bones.

…

"Ahead is Baishitou!" Zhang Guangdao said, pointing to the other side of the river ahead.

The terrain here is obviously much flatter, the area of ​​arable farmland has greatly increased, and the population has become denser.

Baishitou is a market town. Today happens to be market day, and the noise of the market can be heard in the distance.

There is a ferry near the market town, and a wooden boat is parked on the shore.

The five of them stood at the ferry and waited for about half an hour before the boatman slowly brought the guests to the shore.

This ferry is neither big nor small. It can hold twenty or thirty people when it is fully loaded, but if there are so many people, it will probably capsize.

Passengers were disembarking one after another, only a few here and there, all carrying goods bought from the market.

Ju Ming looked a little embarrassed: "I don't have a penny on me."

Zhang Guangdao smiled generously and said, "I'll pay for the boat."

The thin horse actually followed him on the boat, and the boatman quickly shouted: "You have to pay for the animals!"

"You are indispensable." Zhang Guangdao said.

The boatman recognized Zhang Orion and immediately laughed: "No need, no need."

The ferry slowly sailed to the other side. Before disembarking, Zhang Guangdao said, "Write it down in my account."

"Good go!"

The boatman didn't say much, but sent them off enthusiastically.

Baishitou is not big, just a street along the river, with shops on both sides of the street.

In front of the store, there are some fixed stalls where you can set up stalls to sell things, but you need to pay a stall fee.

Many farmers selling local goods choose to trade outside the market or sell their goods along the street.

Not far after getting off the boat, before reaching the market, Ju Ming saw a river shrimp seller.

Zhu Ming wanted to inquire about the prices, so he stepped forward and asked, "How do you sell these shrimps?"

The shrimp seller was an old farmer. Due to his accent, he didn't understand much, but he could guess that Ju Ming was asking about the price. He immediately grinned and said, "This is all I have left. You can take the four cents."

Zhu Guoxiang was very surprised because there was about a pound of shrimp there.

"Are things so cheap in the Northern Song Dynasty?" Zhu Guoxiang whispered.

Ju Ming said: "I'm afraid it's because the purchasing power of copper coins is high."

Zhu Guoxiang said to the old shrimp seller: "Let's take a look."

The old farmer thought they were too expensive, so he quickly shouted: "Three cents, take away the three cents, there really can't be any less!"

The father and son pretended not to hear and sped away from the shrimp stall.

Three pennies per pound of shrimp somewhat subverts Ju Ming's understanding of commodity prices in the Song Dynasty.

Zhang Guangdao took the piece of fine deerskin into a shop on the street and patted the deerskin directly on the counter.

The shopkeeper looked carefully, pointed at something and said: "It's broken here."

Zhang Guangdao frowned and said: "I know it's broken, the hole made by the arrow. Please give me a fair price. I, Zhang Wu, have no grudges against Lao Bai. Do you, the shopkeeper, still want to lower my price?"

The shopkeeper thought about it seriously: "Sixty-five cents, no more. If anyone else comes to sell the leather, they will definitely not pay this price. Only Brother Zhang Wu has this kind of face."

Zhang Guangdao didn't waste any words, took the money and left directly.

Zhu Ming and Zhu Guoxiang, father and son, followed Zhang Guangdao to buy salt.

The price of salt in mountainous areas is quite expensive. A pound of salt costs 20 Wen. But in a place with convenient transportation, a pound of salt costs 10 Wen.

What, you said to buy private salt?

Sorry, this store sells private salt.

Because legal salt shops can only be found at county-level markets at least, and salt shops outside county towns all sell illegal salt.

Zhang Guangdao's deer skin could only be exchanged for a few kilograms of private salt.

However, Zhang Guangdao seemed to have no shortage of money and bought a full twenty kilograms this time.

Ju Ming passed by a stall selling brooms: "How much does one cost?"

The stall owner said: "Five Wen."

Five cents was considered a rip-off, and at the price given to outsiders, a broom could be sold for three cents at most.

Ju Ming went to ask the meat seller, and then the chicken seller. The father and son walked along the street to ask about prices, and finally got a clearer understanding.

Finally, Zhu Ming asked Zhang Guangdao in a low voice: "Is there any rich family nearby? I want to sell that Hu pen."

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