Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

Chapter 804 0799 [The City God should be sealed off]

While Zhu Ming was looking through the geographical information of the South, he chatted with Zhu Yu about various interesting stories.

This little old man is well-informed. Not only has he traveled all over the south, he has also lived in the north for many years and spent a long time in Kaifeng.

At the end of the conversation, Ju Ming said: "You first go to the Ministry of Rites and serve as a minister to sort out the sacrifices in the southern prefectures and counties. All those messy gods should be banned. Those gods that tempt people to do good and benefit the country and the people can be retained. "

Zhu Yu said: "The first thing to do is to regulate the city gods in various places."

"How do you say it?" Zhu Ming asked.

Zhu Yu elaborated: "The custom of worshiping the city god arose in the Northern and Southern Dynasties, mainly in the Jiangnan area, and people spontaneously built temples to worship it. In the Sui and Tang Dynasties, it was brought under the control of the imperial court and gradually spread to the southwest and north. In the Song Dynasty, the city god has spread all over the north and south, and of course the most are in the south. , and there is a set of methods for knighthood."

"However, in the Song Dynasty, the title of nobility to the city god was intermittent and gradually became unorganized."

"Now it is even more chaotic. For example, in some states and counties, the gentry and wealthy businessmen worship the city god indiscriminately, and even the city god they worship has nothing to do with the local area."

Ju Ming smiled and said, “Give me an example.”

Zhu Yu gave an example: "For example, Ji Xin followed Liu Bang to the Hongmen Banquet, and was later burned to death by Xiang Yu. He was a Sichuan native, and he fought in the north all year round. He had never been to the south, and he had no kindness to the people in the south. But since then From Hanzhong to Xiangyang, then to Taiping, Runzhou, Wuhu, Huating... Ten prefectures and counties regard Ji Xin as the city god."

"Indeed." Zhu Ming smiled. He had seen the Chenghuang Temple in Hanzhong, and the main god enshrined in it was Ji Xin.

Zhu Yu said: "Many prefectures and counties no longer worship Ji Xin, and the people don't know who Ji Xin is. Instead, they worship wild gods of unknown origin, and even some evil gods. The evil atmosphere disturbs the folk customs."

This is why successive dynasties have regulated sacrifices. Faith must be in the hands of the government and must have a positive guide.

The city gods were originally natural gods, but in the Song Dynasty they were generally replaced by historical figures.

When a local official takes office, the first thing he should do is to pay homage to the city god, otherwise he will not respect the local customs.

Er Cheng felt that the city god was not in line with Confucian tradition and once suggested that the city god be banned from all over the world. There are also officials who crack down on obscene worshipers and want to wipe out the city gods. As a result, they arouse public anger and cause great chaos.

This thing can only control and guide, but cannot go against the people.

Zhu Yu continued: "The city gods in various places should be mainly capable ministers and fierce generals. For example, in Chongyang County, the gentry and people did not worship the city god, but worshiped Zhang Guiya (Zhang Yong). More than a hundred years later, the people of Chongyang We all cherish Zhang Guaiya's good governance. In this case, we should make Zhang Guaiya the Chongyang City God and ask away the old City God who people no longer believe in."

Zhang Boring's ancestor Zhang Yong was really awesome. In many places where he ruled, people spontaneously built ancestral temples to worship him. After more than a hundred years, the incense has continued. Even if Zhong Xiang occupied Hunan, he would not dare to demolish the "Zhang Gong Temple".

Zhu Yu also said: "There are many witch gods in the south. Good and evil are mixed and it is difficult for the people to distinguish. There may be dozens of witch gods in one county. We should choose one or two good gods and build a city god temple to worship them, and all the other witch gods should be worshiped." Ban it. For example, if there is a witch named Lin from the Min people who call her Mazu, she can be made the city god."

Zhu Yu said again: "There are many battles in the border areas. We should choose loyal and brave generals from past dynasties and build temples to worship the city god, so as to inspire the soldiers and people in the border areas."

Zhu Ming nodded in approval: "This is an appropriate statement. You ask officials from various places to consult the local gentry and choose to establish city gods in each county. Remember, worshiping city gods should not be extravagant and wasteful, and should be merged with the Spring and Autumn Society."

The main purpose of the Spring Society and Autumn Society Sacrifice is to pray for and celebrate a good harvest. They are large-scale folk sacrificial activities every year. It also has the significance of activating the economy. Even people in remote areas will participate, which not only provides people with faith and entertainment, but also benefits local business development.

Zhu Yu suggested: "You can set the date of offering sacrifices to the city god on the local Spring Society Day. In this way, you can offer sacrifices at the same time and you won't waste money."

Zhu Ming said: "A stele should be erected in front of the City God's Temple to inscribe the achievements and virtues of the City God. During the sacrifice, the officials read the inscription to guide the officials and the people to be benevolent, loyal and courageous, and to do good deeds and accumulate virtue. In the City God's Temple, a main god can be erected as the City God, and the person who accompanies the worshiper is the judge. such as."

"What the official said is very true!" Zhu Yu said flatteringly.

The reason for entrusting this matter to Zhu Yu is that he is not only proficient in astronomy and geography, but also familiar with the customs and folk customs of various places, and he also has extensive research on history, Buddhism, Taoism, and witchcraft.

There were many privately built City God temples in the Song Dynasty. For example, when Su Mian died resisting the invasion of Jiaozhi, he was made a City God by the local people. Later, Jiaozhi invaded Guizhou in the north, and everyone shouted, "Su Chenghuang has led the troops to take revenge." The Song army immediately became so morale that Jiaozhi was frightened and fled in a hurry.

There were also Song Dynasty officials such as Li Yi and Zhao Rulan who were worshiped as city gods by the people immediately after their death.

The people know who a truly good official is.

These Zhu Mings planned to formally enshrine them as city gods. While the imperial court controlled folk beliefs, it also set an example for local officials.

After chatting with Zhu Yu, Zhu Ming looked at Li Yaoguang, who had been sitting quietly.

"You brought a lot of mathematical manuscripts?" Zhu Ming asked.

Li Yaoguang held a large pile in his arms and quickly stood up and handed it to the eunuch.

Ju Ming opened it and took a look, and his mind exploded instantly.

The first page is full of various symbols, and they were created by Li Yaoguang himself. This guy was afraid that the emperor wouldn't understand, so he even explained it in words next to him.

Many of the contents in it actually already have corresponding symbols, which is the consensus of mathematics researchers in recent years.

Just like Zhu Yu, although he was far away in Hangzhou, he often corresponded with friends in Kaifeng to obtain the latest academic results.

But Li Yaoguang didn't know that he was working alone at home behind closed doors and had long been out of touch with the mainstream mathematics community.

Ju Ming closed the manuscript and said: "You first communicate with scholars in the capital and compare these mathematical symbols. Then you make some changes and show what you studied to other scholars for discussion."

"Yes." Li Yaoguang responded.

Ju Ming asked: "You only study mathematics?"

Li Yaoguang said: "I also dabble in physics, but I am not proficient in it. I studied Confucian classics hard when I was young, but I haven't touched them again in the past few years."

"Forget it, after you get used to it, go to Taixue to be a professor." Ju Ming arranged.

"Yes." Li Yaoguang didn't say much.

This person is too introverted and a bit crazy to be a secretary.

The Tongzhengyuan actually has a secretarial agency, and Zhu Guoxiang is also a person who uses the Tongzhengyuan. After Zhu Ming planned to release Fu Zhirou, he also selected people from the Tongzheng Yuan, and did not use eunuchs like the Ming Dynasty.

Of course, there are also eunuchs who serve as life secretaries.

As for the Hanlin Academy, which only had literary artists left, there were also literary and artistic advisors to the emperor, who would be recruited from time to time to take charge of some chores.

The two left separately. Housing prices in Kaifeng were very expensive, so Ju Ming arranged official dormitories for them.

It is a gallery house with a small courtyard, where you can not only live by yourself, but also your family members and a small number of servants.

There is a Society of Mathematical Physics in Beijing, which was established by Zhu Guoxiang himself. It is not under the jurisdiction of the imperial court, but is funded by the royal family. It regularly holds academic gatherings and publishes a journal every quarter. There is no membership fee, but you need to pay to order the conference journal.

After Li Yaoguang learned about the situation, he did not communicate with his colleagues, but went to borrow previous issues of the conference journal.

He read several years' journals in a few days and only read mathematics-related content.

Then, he replaced his self-created mathematical symbols with recognized mathematical symbols, and then sent his mathematical results to the editorial department of the society.

About one-third of the formulas and theorems developed by Li Yaoguang have been published by others.

But there are still two-thirds, nearly thirty formulas and theorems, which are currently brand-new results.

The editors of the Society of Mathematical Physics went crazy when they got these manuscripts and checked them one after another. In less than half a month, this young man became famous in the mathematics community in the capital, and people came to visit him every day to ask for advice.

Of course, it is only famous in the mathematics community, an academic circle with very little influence.

Various natural sciences are still seedlings and need to be cultivated and irrigated by more people.

Even the imperial examination questions, regarding the natural science part, the imperial court did not dare to make them too difficult all at once. Otherwise, it will be detrimental to students in remote areas and students from poor families. This thing needs to be done step by step.

Chemistry, in particular, has not yet been included in the imperial examination.

The people who study chemistry now don't even understand it themselves, they are all doing whimsical experiments.

Mathematics has made the fastest progress, and several basic textbooks have been printed. If you study all these textbooks, you will probably be equivalent to the mathematics level of the first grade of junior high school in later generations.

In the most recent examination, among the questions people encountered, the highest level of difficulty only reached the first grade of junior high school.

Moreover, most of the questions are elementary school content.

In the next national examination, Zhu Ming plans to increase the difficulty and remove all elementary school questions. All mathematics test questions must meet the standards of the first grade of junior high school.

The difficulty of teaching materials also needs to be increased. We are currently compiling textbooks covering second-grade mathematics in junior high schools.

Zhu Ming called Huan Guo and said, "Choose an auspicious day and I will appoint the eldest son as the crown prince."

"yes!"

Huan Guo has no objections. It is of course good to decide the country's capital early.

Ju Ming added: "When the time comes, the prince will supervise the country, and the emperor will help handle government affairs."

Huan Guo's expression was extremely surprised.

How can you play like this?

Ju Ming said: "I'm going to patrol the Yellow River, take a look at Cangzhou, and then visit the soldiers in the army. In terms of etiquette, please make some arrangements and remember not to use force."

Huan Guo said quickly: "I obey the order."

In the middle of the Northern Song Dynasty, Cangzhou once developed into a prosperous business, mainly because of the salt fields scattered there.

But thirty years ago, the Yellow River changed its course, and then burst its banks several times. Coupled with famines and wars, Cangzhou suffered terribly.

There are saline-alkali lands everywhere, and there are only ten people living there. In recent years, except for the slight revival of the salt industry, other industries and agriculture have recovered extremely slowly.

By the way, Cangzhou mentioned here has a very large jurisdiction.

It borders the sea to the east, Nanpi to the west, Tianjin to the north, and Shandong (including Wudi, Leling and other areas in Shandong) to the south. These all belong to the territory of Cangzhou.

Such a large territory covers only five counties.

Moreover, except for saltworks and cities, the rural population is very sparse, and food depends entirely on extensive planting and low harvest. The regional economy is entirely driven by the salt industry, and grain and cloth must be purchased from abroad every year.

Ju Ming wants to go to Haosheng to investigate and see how he can recover.

In fact, Zhu Guoxiang should go there. The Emperor specializes in agriculture and probably knows how to manage saline-alkali land.

Tap the screen to use advanced tools Tip: You can use left and right keyboard keys to browse between chapters.

You'll Also Like