Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

On the second day after he ascended the throne, the first royal meeting hosted by the new emperor was ushered in.

All civil and military officials filed in, sitting or standing, patiently waiting for the emperor to ascend to the palace.

The moment Ju Ming stepped into the hall, the ministers in the front rows saw it clearly and immediately changed their expressions.

Some people frowned, some lowered their heads and ignored it, and some pretended that nothing happened.

The emperor is rude and his attire is obviously wrong!

The ceremony officer began to follow the procedures, Zhu Ming quickly finished his speech, and it was the turn of the ministers to perform their duties.

Huan Guo, the Minister of Rites, was the first to stand up: "Your Majesty, the newly revised "Da Ming Code" has just been promulgated, and all kinds of clothing and etiquette are clearly written. He who is the emperor should not take the lead in violating it."

Ju Ming said: "The Crown of Heaven is too heavy and not very beautiful. The same is true for the Bailuo Fangxinqu collar, which is like a baby's robe. When the emperor wears these two, he is like a clown on the stage, more funny than majestic."

As soon as these words came out, many ministers lowered their heads and suppressed laughter.

The metaphor of "baby wearing a cloth" is really too vivid.

At the great court meeting, the emperor wore the Tongtian crown, the prince wore the far-traveling crown, the ministers wore the Jinxian crown, and the imperial censor wore the Xiechi crown.

Ju Ming always wore the crown of traveling far and wide in court, and he did not change it even after becoming emperor.

The reasons are that one is too heavy and the other is too ugly.

There is also the Bailuo square heart-shaped collar, which is a white collar worn around the neck. Emperors, princes and officials above the seventh rank must wear them in court meetings, while officials below the seventh rank are not eligible to wear them.

The emperor's collar is particularly huge and conspicuous.

Not only that, the emperor's court robe that Ju Ming wore today was narrower by more than half, and was no longer the traditional wide robe with big sleeves. Less elegance and seven points more sophistication.

Zhu Ming held his sleeve and said, "Look, gentlemen, does this save a lot of cloth?"

Zhai Ruwen stood up and said: "Your Majesty, the uniform has been established and cannot be changed rashly. If the emperor can break the uniform at will, can officials break the law at will?"

Ju Ming nodded in approval: "What the Prime Minister said is very true. There is also the Minister of Rites, who dares to give direct advice, which is really rare. The two of them were given one yuan of gold coins as a reward."

Zhai Ruwen and Huan Guo retired in a happy mood. They not only persuaded the new king to observe etiquette, but also received praise from the new king.

Unexpectedly, Zhu Ming said again: "Please note it down, courtesy officer. I will dress like this in the future. The uniforms of the Ming Dynasty were revised again. The previous Tongtian Crown was discarded, and the name of the Yuanyou Crown was changed to Tongtian Crown. As for the prince's crown, Just change Jinxian Crown and rename it as Yuanyou Crown."

"All the curved collars of the courtiers are removed. The court uniforms of the courtiers are also narrowed."

"When I revise the "Da Ming Law" next time, write all these in."

Chen Dong came out and said: "Your Majesty, your government cannot be changed overnight."

Zhu Ming smiled and said: "I will also give you one gold coin. That's it for today. If anyone gives advice next time, I won't give you any more coins."

Chen Dong hesitated to speak, but finally retreated silently.

Ju Ming said: "This is not an order that was changed overnight. It has been like this since the change."

After saying this, the emperor glanced at the ministers to see who could pick up the topic.

Xiao Chu and Qin Hui came out at the same time.

Qin Hui quickly took half a step back and asked Xiao Chu to speak first.

Xiao Chu said: "Your Majesty is pioneering and enterprising, so that you can innovate the uniforms. Change the crown and wear, remove the crooked collars, narrow clothes and robes, and eliminate cumbersome things to show that I am determined to move forward."

Ju Ming smiled and nodded, Lao Xiao still understood him.

Qin Hui followed up and said: "The crown robe of the former Song Dynasty was so dull that it was inconvenient to do things. Your Majesty has done a good job in changing it. I suggest that the regular uniform should also be made narrower."

Ju Ming's smile became even wider: "You can wear regular clothes as you like. Whether it is wider or narrower, you can choose it yourself."

Qin Hui immediately stepped back, feeling quite excited, knowing that he was right to flatter him.

He planned to have the tailor change him into regular clothes as soon as he got home. The more capable the change is, the better, and the more energetic the change is, the better. The emperor will definitely like it after seeing it.

No minister is a fool. Seeing the emperor become smiling, they all know what the new king wants to do.

I deliberately wore court clothes today for two purposes.

One is to shock the ministers and remind officials that the emperor has changed; the other is to establish a new trend and refrain from doing flashy things in the future. Officials who work well will be more appreciated by the emperor.

"Your Majesty, Holy Might!"

A large group of officials shouted in unison, all of whom wanted to go home and change their clothes.

Ju Ming said: "Let's break up the court and go to work. Qin Hui comes with me."

Many ministers looked at Qin Hui with envious eyes.

Qin Hui's steps were brisk, as if he were stepping on the clouds, he held his hands towards other officials along the way, and then followed the emperor out of the hall.

Zhu Ming stepped onto the imperial chariot: "Sit up."

"Thank you, official." Qin Hui was so excited that his body was trembling slightly. He carefully stepped onto the chariot and sat down opposite the emperor.

Ju Ming said: "I have read your manuscript. Why did you suddenly think of surveying and mapping the map?"

Qin Hui replied: "When I was familiar with official roads and water conservancy across the country, I discovered that some of the maps of prefectures and counties in the world in the former Song Dynasty were not very accurate."

There are roughly two types of maps in ancient China.

One has a scale, which is similar to modern maps and has very high accuracy. If modern people saw it for the first time, they would probably mistake it for a satellite-based map.

This kind of map is only collected by the central court and can only be seen by high-ranking officials.

One is without scale, and all the mountains, rivers and cities must be included.

This kind of map can be used by local governments and private citizens. From where to go and how many miles apart, everything is marked, mainly used for long trips.

The Map of Counties and Prefectures of the World from the Song Dynasty was written by Shen Kuo and its scale is one in 900,000. It includes two national general maps (one large and small) and 18 regional maps. The overall figure is 4 meters long and more than 3 meters wide.

Shen Kuo spent twelve years drawing these maps.

He was demoted twice in the process, one of which was placed under supervision, and he was even insulted and abused by his wife.

Even though his family and career suffered setbacks, Shen Kuo insisted on completing the Map of Counties and Counties in the World. He was allowed to go to Beijing to present to the emperor, was given a hundred pieces of silk, and was allowed to move freely in Xiuzhou, but he was still not allowed to leave Xiuzhou.

Qin Hui said that Shen Kuo's drawings were somewhat inaccurate, which was probably the reason for being banned by the editor.

Ju Ming asked: "Where are these maps?"

Qin Hui said: "I lent it to the Ministry of Industry and it has not been returned yet."

"Go to the Ministry of Industry!" Zhu Ming shouted to the driver.

The emperor visited the Ministry of Works in person, and officials came to see him one after another.

Since Ju Ming rode in a carriage all the way, some officials from the Ministry of Industry were even on their way back from the morning.

Qin Hui's expression was serious, but he was proud in his heart.

Most of the officials in the Ministry of Industry were confidants of cabinet minister Zhao Quan, and Qin Hui's personal prestige was not rising fast.

Today Qin Hui brought the emperor, and the officials of the Ministry of Industry must be more convinced of him.

Several officials stood on stools and carefully opened the entire picture.

The map, which was three to four meters long and wide, was accurately surveyed and mapped, giving Ju Ming a great visual impact.

Ju Ming really didn’t understand this and asked, “How was this drawn?”

Qin Hui said: "During the Western Jin Dynasty, there was a great scholar, Pei Xiu, who created the method of 'six-dimensional cartography'. One is the ratio (scale), the second is quasi-wang (direction), the third is daoli (distance), and the fourth is high and low (high and low). Elevation), the fifth is Fangxie (slope), and the sixth is straightness (the conversion of actual heights and map distances)."

"When drawing, first fill the map with squares, and the side lengths of the squares represent the number of miles. If you need to send people to do field surveying and mapping, usually a compass car is used. The compass car not only points out the direction, but also calculates the mileage by turning the wheels. If you need to turn over If there are mountains and ridges, use other methods to calculate them.”

Ju Ming praised: "What a great idea."

Seeing that the emperor liked it, Qin Hui quickly added: "There is also a map of the Tang Dynasty in the secret pavilion, "The Map of China and the Barbarians in the Sea," in which all the countries are included."

"Take me there immediately!" Ju Ming was overjoyed.

So Qin Hui stepped on the imperial chariot again and took the emperor to the secret pavilion.

The national book collection of the Northern Song Dynasty was mainly in Chongwen Academy. The east corridor is the library of the Zhaowen Library, the south corridor is the library of the Jixian Academy, and the west corridor is the fourth library of the History Museum. Officials who usually search for classics and information come here to search.

In addition, there is the Secret Pavilion, a special collection library belonging to the national collection.

Officials who want to enter the secret pavilion to read must obtain the emperor's permission.

When Ju Ming walked into the Secret Pavilion Library, the floor, doors and windows were very clean. But when he walked to a remote corner and touched the bookshelf with his finger, his fingertips were covered in dust.

Ju Ming did not punish anyone, he just said casually: "The secret pavilion needs to be well maintained."

Qin Hui pointed to a large bookshelf: "The Map of Huayi in the Sea is on it. When I was looking for the map, I found a map of the Traces of Yu in Chongwen Academy, which was published when Zhao Ji took over the throne. It was also marked "The Traces of Yu" "Picture" only intercepted part of the "Picture of Huayi in China" of the Tang Dynasty, and I came to the secret pavilion to look for it and found it."

"Take it off and open it carefully." Ju Ming said.

This time, several guards began to carry them away in batches.

They were spread out on the ground in sequence according to the numbers, and were quickly spliced ​​into a very large map.

Ju Ming almost blurted out "fuck".

The complete map is about 100 square meters. It reaches the grasslands in the north, Jiaozhi in the south, the Korean Peninsula in the east, and encompasses Central Asia in the west.

There are more than a hundred countries, large and small, and a large number of ethnic minority governments.

Unfortunately, this map was drawn during the Dezong period of the Tang Dynasty, and many foreign territories were drawn in the heyday of the Tang Dynasty. It is estimated that there was a lack of information at that time, and the information was not complete. Many places in Central Asia were relatively vague, and they were only roughly marked as being from a certain country.

Ju Ming asked the guards to carry a wooden ladder with wheels, which was usually used to fetch books.

He climbed to the top of the wooden ladder and sat down, looking down at the huge 100-square-meter map on the ground. His eyes were filled with tears as he looked at it quietly.

Except that there are no longitude and latitude lines, it is just a "precise surveying map of modern Asia (partially)".

After a long time, Ju Ming said: "Go and invite the Supreme Emperor and the important ministers of the cabinet, courtyard and temple."

Officials from the Cabinet and General Council came the fastest because they were the closest.

To enter the secret pavilion, you must obtain the emperor's approval. Who wants to hang out here? Moreover, the map is still hidden in the corner, and it is so huge that it must be spliced ​​together. Even after Qin Hui found out, he only opened one or two of them.

One by one, all the officials present saw it for the first time.

Old Xiao Chu burst into tears and murmured to himself: "Is this the prosperous Tang Dynasty?"

Zhu Guoxiang, who had just retired, was called here inexplicably.

Before he could speak, his son pointed to the ground and said, "Your Majesty, please look."

Zhu Guoxiang glanced at it, suddenly looked surprised, and then shouted to his son: "Come down quickly, let me go up. Also, bring me my telescope!"

The majestic Ming Emperor was torn down from the wooden ladder by the Supreme Emperor in front of his ministers.

Zhu Guoxiang climbed to the top of the wooden ladder and sat down. The telescope was soon delivered, so he picked up the telescope and looked at the map carefully.

The distance was too close and the focus was off, so he asked the guards to push him and the wooden ladder away.