Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

Zhu Guoxiang stayed in the cottage for one night and then returned to Shangbaicun.

Zhang Guangdao came with a woman to pay homage: "Brother Zhu, this is Brother Yao's wife."

The woman was very young, not yet twenty years old, and quite handsome.

Holding the child in her arms, she immediately knelt down and said, "Thank you, village master..."

"Call me village chief," Zhu Ming interrupted directly and said to Zhang Guangdao, "You can also call me village chief."

The woman bowed and said, "Thank you very much to the village chief for keeping me alive and for sending my child back."

Zhu Ming smiled and nodded, and said: "The only way to live a happy life from now on is to give you ten acres of dry land, and let Brother Zhang help recruit tenants."

"Thank you, village chief!" the woman said happily.

Zhu Ming asked Zhang Guangdao again: "How did you build houses in Shanzhai before?"

Zhang Guangdao replied: "It's just like the government collecting corvee labor. No wages are paid, only rations are given."

Ju Ming had a plan in mind. He could hire villagers to work and use wages to further enhance his prestige.

The sixth month of the lunar calendar is relatively easy, so rice farmers are quite busy - the early rice fields need to be irrigated, and the middle rice fields need top dressing.

But most of the land here is dry land, and farmers are idle when they are idle. Some can be called in to work.

The matter is settled, and the commander of the armor is responsible for recruiting.

A total of thirty young men were selected and went up the mountain to clean up the charred ruins the next day.

They looked gloomy while working. Although Ju Ming announced that he would give money, no one was willing to believe it.

Ju Ming was riding around on a cornucopia. Thirty young men peeked at this "oversight man" while working, their eyes revealing more of fear.

That evening, while eating, Ju Ming announced: "The wages will be paid once a day. Come and collect the money after dinner."

Seeing half the basket of iron money being carried out, the young men finally relaxed their brows and showed joy.

They didn't care about eating anymore, they all came over with their rice bowls in hand to wait.

Ju Ming smiled and said to Bai Sheng, "Let's get paid."

The young man who was the first to receive his wages rushed to Ju Ming and said, "Thank you, the leader of the village, for the reward!"

Zhu Ming corrected him: "First of all, don't call me the leader of the village, just the village chief. Second, this is not a reward, this is your wages. I am different from the bandits. Work for me, and you will receive whatever amount of work you do." How much is it? You can tell your neighbors after you come down from the mountain."

The young men were overjoyed. For just a moment, they forgot about their former leader.

Are bandits nothing?

Village Chief Zhu is still generous!

Before the rewards were distributed, Tian Er ran over and reported: "Village Chief, someone is looking for you in Shangbai Village."

"Bring him here." Ju Ming said.

But it was Lu An, the son of the housekeeper, who came here. He was sent by Bai Zongwang to deliver the message: "Zhu Xiucai, the envoy will come to our village tomorrow. I would like you to come down the mountain tomorrow."

"Are there any other arrangements?" Zhu Ming asked.

Lu An replied: "Our family kills pigs and sheep and prepares a lot of food. Zhu Xiucai will go there before noon. That Lu Tixue doesn't know when he will come. He only said that he will definitely arrive tomorrow."

"Understood," Ju Ming said, "There happens to be food here. You can eat it and then go back and recover."

Ju Ming had no expectations for Lu Tixue.

It's really a bit unreliable. After traveling for three days in a row, he suddenly came to inspect the Eighth Line Scholars.

He led the horse to the warehouse, where grain and money were piled.

There is not much food, and less than 2% of the 67 square kilometers of land is paddy fields. Most of the remaining dry fields belong to mountainous areas. It is difficult for farmers to make a living on their own. In the past, they had to pay taxes and gifts to the village owners.

But there is plenty of money!

Mainly by robbery and smuggling.

The income from private tea is nothing more than robbery, which is a huge profit. The batch of horses that were robbed last year were all good horses.

During the Song Dynasty, buying horses in the northwest frontier became more expensive in the later stages. By the end of the Northern Song Dynasty, the purchase price of Frontier Horses was more than 10 pieces, which was still the most common war horse. If shipped to Kaifeng, the average war horse will cost more than 40 coins, and the top quality horses will cost more than 100 coins.

The bandits robbed more than 40 official horses and sold them at low prices through novices. The price of each horse ranged from 20 guan to 40 guan. This transaction alone brought in thousands of guan.

A few leaders took the majority of this money, but they didn't even spend much of it. They all benefited Ju Ming and his archers.

"Mr., the food is ready." A woman came over and said.

This woman's name is Aunt Lu, she is the daughter of Chief Lu Wang. She is sixteen years old, of plain appearance, not yet married, and takes care of Ju Ming's daily life.

There are also four servants who are responsible for sweeping, chopping wood, lighting fires, cooking, etc. They are all left by the Yang brothers. The population here is not large, but the bandit leaders enjoy themselves and live like landlords.

There was one amazing thing. Ju Ming dismissed the servants of the leaders and asked them to go home to work, leaving only four servants for himself. These servants were not happy, because they could barely eat enough if they stayed in the village, but they would most likely go hungry when they returned home.

Ju Ming handed the cornucopia to the slaves to feed and went back to the house to eat.

This is the house of Yang Jun, the leader of the village. It is very small. Including the huts, there are only twelve houses in total. Moreover, the latrines, utility rooms, etc. all have thatched roofs, which is particularly shabby compared with the old Bai's wife's house.

Rice, a plate of vegetables, and a small pot of stewed chicken.

This is extremely rich, after all, there is not enough food in the mountains.

Aunt Lu stood waiting nearby, and Zhu Ming didn't ask her to come over to dine at the same table. When you first arrive, you must maintain a sense of distance in order to enhance your authority.

Of course, after all, they are the people around them, so they still need to use some means to win over them.

"Auntie," Zhu Ming always felt that this title was awkward, "Don't you have a serious name?"

Aunt Lu said: "I will call you Auntie, and my sister will be called Erniang."

Zhu Ming thought for a while and said: "Polygonum, Fangling, from now on you will be called Lu Fanling."

Aunt Lu didn't know what it meant, she just thought the name sounded nice and said happily: "Thank you sir for giving me a name."

Ju Ming showed no interest in this mediocre farm girl and said, "If you have a man you like, you can bring him to see him. If he is honest and honest, I will act as a matchmaker to get you married, and let him live in and help with work." "

"I...I don't have a crush yet." Aunt Lu said shyly.

"Let's talk about it later."

Ju Ming still lacks a housekeeper. Although Bai Sheng is smart, his status is similar to that of a personal assistant, who is mainly responsible for external affairs.

Zhang Guangdao is the deputy village chief. His next task is to go to the mountains to recruit runaway households.

After a hearty meal, Ju Ming went back to his bedroom to rest, and gave the remaining stewed chicken to several servants. The servants were overjoyed and gathered around to devour the food.

They're all quite pitiful, that's how they were in ancient times.

When Dean Zhu comes, we can launch a large-scale production movement.

After sleeping until dawn, Ju Ming arranged his affairs and took Bai Sheng down the mountain.

The bandits' main battleship was still there. It was several meters long and was quite fast. They arrived at Shangbaicun before noon.

Not far away, I met a villager and greeted him warmly: "Xiao Xianggong!"

Yes, the titles have been changed. Dean Zhu is Mr. Zhu, and Zhu Ming is Mr. Zhu.

Ju Ming greeted him with a smile as usual: "Where is Uncle Deng tending the rice fields?"

Seeing that Zhu Ming was not putting on airs, the villagers said happily: "We will need top dressing tomorrow, but we will pull out the grass today."

"Then you get busy first." Ju Ming said.

He went straight to Shen Yourong's house, but only Mrs. Yan was at home.

Grandma Yan was also more enthusiastic and wanted to boil water to make tea, but Ju Ming refused. There was no need for her family to be so polite.

Ju Ming said: "I have a house to live in, and my grandma can move there with me next year."

Grandma Yan was a little worried and asked: "There are all bandits there, but are they still very vicious?"

"They are all compliant, just like the villagers here." Ju Ming said.

Grandma Yan is still a little worried. She is afraid that her grandson will slowly learn bad things if he goes to a den of thieves.

Ju Ming didn't force things and started doing things as usual.

Not long after, Zhu Guoxiang came back from the fields and went to the house to change into clean clothes.

"The envoy hasn't come yet?" Zhu Ming asked.

Zhu Guoxiang said: "I only said that I would come today, but I didn't specify when. The Bai family didn't know how to welcome me."

Ju Ming complained: "He is also a confused official who does not understand how to arrange plans."

Zhu Guoxiang said: "If you really want to study at Taixue, Hubi can give you one. For Hubi's sake, I will definitely be more active in studying."

"Send it away," Zhu Ming said. "I asked Li Hanzhang. The Imperial College has a full quota of 3,900 students, and many students will not be able to graduate in a few years. The old students will not leave, and the new students can only wait for vacancies. Even if I am admitted this year, I will be admitted slowly. It will take two or three years to wait for a vacancy. After all, Yangzhou is too remote, so when there is a real vacancy, it will be the scholars from Gyeonggi and Jiangnan who come first."

Zhu Guoxiang went back to the house to get the Hu pen and chatted: "When did you get that set of armor? It's been more than three months. I'm afraid it's already rusty and moldy."

"It's not rusty. The leather may be moldy. I'll take it back to the cottage in a few days," Ju Ming said.

While the father and son were chatting, Bai Dalang suddenly came to visit.

This guy had a sad face and did not regard the Zhu family and his son as outsiders. As soon as they met, he complained: "For such a big official, there is no rules for doing things. I sent a small boat to wait upstream, and when I saw the official ship, I came back to report the news. . It’s already past noon, and there’s no news at all. My family has killed pigs and sheep, and we’re still hesitant and don’t know when to put them in the pot.”

"Hahahaha!" Ju Ming laughed.

The three of them waited until mid-afternoon when the Bai family servants finally ran and shouted: "The envoy to teach is here, the envoy to teach is here!"

But we should have arrived in the morning. Halfway through the official boat, Lu Tixue suddenly realized that the scenery on both sides of the river was beautiful and took a group of officials and scholars to climb the mountain.

The father and son followed Bai Dalang and quickly went to the riverside to greet him.

Bai Zongwang, who had trouble with his legs and feet, also came over on a bamboo cart and watched the fleet coming upstream from far to near.

Even ordinary villagers were forcibly summoned to greet him.

Being a high-ranking official is so majestic. He is just a scholar, and he acts like an emperor on a tour.

When the fleet docked, the first people to disembark were the officials, holding signs and beating gongs to clear the way.

Lu Tixue, surrounded by many scholars, strode to the shore and asked: "Where is Zhu Ming, the Eighth Route Army Scholar?"

Zhu Ming hurriedly stepped forward. He still remembered that he was seriously injured and pretended to be weak: "Ju Ming, who is a junior and a junior, meet Lu Tixue!"

"Okay, what a talent."

Lu Tixue was quite satisfied. He heard that Zhu Ming led troops to suppress bandits, and he was worried that it would be too inelegant for him to be born in a rough and rough manner.

Bai Zongwang and Zhu Guoxiang also came forward to greet him, waiting to welcome Lu Tixue into the village.

But Lu Tixue was a lunatic and suddenly said: "I heard that the bandits' stronghold was captured the day before yesterday. Come with me to have a look."

"Is... going now?" Xiang Zhixian cried in his heart.

Bai Zongwang also had 10,000 alpacas running wild. His pigs and sheep had all been cooked, but the scholar-teacher wanted to go to the village for no apparent reason.

Lu Tixue said with a smile: "It's better to choose a day than to hit the sun. I'll go today."

Everyone was speechless.

(Thanks to Boss Penguin for his golden cuteness, and thanks to the leaders of Tree Like This 12, Shadow of Light, Vera 0205, Too Cute to Hug, Shark Rising, and Dragon Soaring for their rewards.)

(I won’t say much more, my mind is dizzy and I even cried because of my own stupidity.)