Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

The publication of "History of Song Dynasty" did not cause any waves for the common people.

But the local big families were very active and went to the government office to request a copy for collection. As long as they could copy a copy, their descendants would be more knowledgeable and familiar with history.

The court only printed 500 sets, and it was difficult for the people to buy it directly!

And there were too many words, a total of 4.57 million words. Few booksellers were willing to print this thing. Even if the movable type printing technology had been improved, typesetting and proofreading were also a big project - the printing cost was too high, and the sales volume was not as good as the imperial examination and popular reading materials.

There were copyists in the government offices of various prefectures every day.

You copy this volume, I copy that volume, and we don't interfere with each other.

If one volume was copied and bound, this newly-made handwritten copy would soon be borrowed for copying.

Guangzhou.

Yang Zaixing took a group of officers to Hunan to observe Bai Qi's military training.

After almost mastering the improved mandarin duck formation, he borrowed an officer from Bai Qi and went to Guangzhou to receive new recruits from southern provinces.

These new recruits were recruited by the provincial command offices, and local civil officials were also needed to cooperate.

At the end of autumn, they arrived one after another.

There were a total of 6,000 new recruits, of which 2,381 were orphans, all raised by official charitable organizations.

The rest of the new recruits were miners and farmers, mainly from Fujian, Jiangxi, and Guangdong. These three provinces have many mountains and little land, but a large population. The food and salary treatment of the field army was enough to tempt them to leave their homes.

After a simple training in Guangzhou, when doctors, clerks and other logistics personnel arrived, Yang Zaixing took the new army to the Guangxi border.

The winter and spring seasons are relatively cool, leaving enough time for the new army to adapt to the water, soil and climate of Guangxi.

When Yang Zaixing set out, many ships also left the port in batches.

One of the fleets sailed to Annan and was warmly sought after after arriving at the port. In addition to traditional silk and other commodities, there are also new and popular products such as clocks, bamboo paper, Zhang velvet, insect wax, and glass mirrors.

Clocks have been miniaturized to half a person's height, and have gradually been mastered by craftsmen from all over the country. In the past two years, they have even begun to be sold overseas.

Bamboo paper has been continuously improved, and different crafts have been developed in different provinces according to local conditions. The production cost of this thing is lower, and it is also loved by neighboring countries.

The breeding skills of white wax insects have been mastered and promoted by agricultural officials, resulting in a year-on-year decline in the price of candles.

Zhang velvet is prohibited from export, but it is inevitable that some people smuggle it. Once it is shipped abroad, the price will rise sharply, and as long as one or two pieces are smuggled out, it will make a lot of money.

The court has also issued edicts many times to remind people that this thing is poisonous, but the rich still love it.

An inland ship transported the newly purchased hot goods directly to the Annan Palace.

"Your Majesty, Zhang velvet has been bought!" said Du Yingwu, the uncle of the king, as if offering a treasure.

"Bring it to me!" Li Yanghuan, the Emperor of Annan, said excitedly.

Li Yanghuan is the nephew of the previous king. He succeeded to the throne at the age of thirteen and just turned eighteen this year.

With the support of the regent civil servants, he canonized his father as the emperor. After his father died, he revised the sacrificial rituals of the previous king and his father.

The Puyi in the Song Dynasty and the Daliyi in the Ming Dynasty are actually the same kind of gameplay.

Through the Vietnamese version of the Daliyi, Li Yanghuan successfully controlled the court and took power from the generals and nobles.

Several regents were also very powerful. They allowed many landless farmers to take back their land and disbanded some troops to return to their hometowns to farm, which made the warlike Dai Viet court recover blood.

Of course, these measures also aroused rebellion, but fortunately they were all successfully quelled.

Last autumn, Champa and Zhenla, which had been fighting each other, suddenly joined forces to send troops while Annan was in civil strife. Li Yanghuan sent Yang Ying'er to lead the army to resist, and Annan finally won the war of self-defense.

The 18-year-old young emperor Li Yanghuan completed the suppression of the internal rebels and won the foreign war.

He also developed agriculture through disarmament and actively developed foreign trade, improving the country's financial situation.

He even improved the treatment of slaves and prohibited tattooing on slaves.

He held all the power and the country was peaceful.

So, should the emperor enjoy it?

The answer is yes.

Li Yanghuan likes women, auspicious signs, and Buddhism.

In order to celebrate the victory of the foreign war last year, Li Yanghuan immediately pardoned the world. Then he began to select concubines, confer titles on those who presented auspicious signs, sent people to find immortals, collect herbs and make elixirs, and built Buddhist temples.

"Your Majesty, please look." Du Yingwu bent down and pointed to the Zhangrong carried by two eunuchs.

Li Yanghuan admired and stroked it for a while, and praised: "This is really a gift from heaven. My uncle is really reliable."

Du Yingwu said: "The Ming Dynasty did not allow Zhangrong to go out to sea. I spent a lot of money to let the Ming Dynasty merchants take the risk to take it out."

"You deserve a reward!"

Li Yanghuan continued to stroke the Zhangrong, and said to the eunuch beside him: "Use these two pieces of Zhangrong to sew a dragon robe for me."

Du Yingwu pointed to the half-man-high clock and said: "Your Majesty, this is a pendulum clock. Legend has it that the immortal gave it to the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, and the emperor of the Ming Dynasty passed on the skills to the craftsmen."

Li Yanghuan asked: "How to confirm the time?"

Du Yingwu personally operated it and introduced the hour hand and scale in detail.

Nowadays, the four-sided clocks in Kaifeng and Luoyang have minute hands. However, due to the exquisite design, more than 80% of the clocks sold by the people only have hour hands.

The one in front of me has only hour hands.

Li Yanghuan sat there in a daze, staring at it for more than half an hour before nodding and praising: "The hour hand is indeed moving. This thing is so ingenious."

While the nephew and uncle were playing, the eunuch came to report: "Your Majesty, the Grand Master wants to see you."

Li Yanghuan frowned: "Why is he here again? Let him wait!"

Li Yanghuan still respects this chief minister. But in the past two years, he has become impatient. He always feels that the other party is relying on his old age and that he will be discouraged from doing anything.

Just say that you raise auspicious animals and search for elixirs. Isn't this normal?

Grand Master Zhang actually took Zhao Ji, the foolish king of the Song Dynasty, as an example, saying that those who did these things were the kings of the subjugated country.

He is obviously cursing himself!

Li Yanghuan summoned several favored ministers, let the maids perform songs and dances, and took his uncle to feast and have fun together.

Until evening, the eunuch came again and reported: "Your Majesty, the grand master has been waiting for a long time."

Li Yanghuan said in surprise: "He hasn't left yet?"

"Keep waiting," the eunuch replied.

Li Yanghuan was helpless and said: "Let him come over."

The chief assistant minister was named Li Boyu. In order to draw a clear line between him and the Li Dynasty, he changed his name to Zhang Boyu five years ago.

Zhang Boyu knelt down tremblingly: "Old minister, I pay homage to Your Majesty!"

Although Li Yanghuan has embarked on the road of being a coward, he is very smart and capable. He smiled and said: "Master, there is no need to be polite. Please give the master a seat as soon as possible!"

"Thank you, Your Majesty." Zhang Boyu was helped by the eunuch to sit down.

Li Yanghuan asked: "I wonder if the Grand Master has anything important to do?"

Zhang Boyu said: "The Ming Kingdom has long replaced the Song Kingdom as the orthodoxy of the Central Plains. Recently, news has come that the Jin Kingdom in the north has been destroyed, and the Ming Dynasty has lost all the territory of the old Liao Dynasty. Your Majesty, it is time for Vietnam to surrender to the Ming Kingdom. "

Li Yanghuan said: "We, Vietnam, dominate the southern part of the world. Now that we are at peace both internally and externally, are we still afraid that the Ming Dynasty will fail?"

"Both Champa and Chenla have become vassals of the Ming Dynasty," Zhang Boyu said. "Last year, the two countries joined forces to attack. Although our Vietnamese heavenly soldiers were powerful, it took a lot of effort to defeat the two countries. What if? Tianming Kingdom also takes action, bringing Champa and Zhenla to attack from three sides, but how will we resist it then? "

Of course, Li Yanghuan was not stupid. He immediately felt that the matter was a bit difficult and nodded subconsciously: "What the Grand Master said makes sense."

Zhang Boyu continued: "After surrendering to the Ming Dynasty, we will take the opportunity to wipe out the barbarian chiefs in the north!"

In the northern mountains of Vietnam, there were many semi-independent tribes at this time.

The Vietnamese Li Dynasty married princesses to tribal chiefs through marriage. While appeasing the incorporated tribes, they also allowed those tribes to serve as pioneers in the invasion of the Song Dynasty, constantly harassing the Chinese border from time to time.

But now, the Vietnamese monarchs and ministers want to get rid of those tribes!

This is because Vietnam's systems and ideas are changing rapidly.

In recent decades, Vietnam has been expanding wildly, and from time to time it has invaded neighboring countries. Whether it was invading Champa and Chenla, or sending 100,000 troops to attack the Northern Song Dynasty, it was all driven by its domestic political ecology.

The founder of the Li Dynasty in Vietnam was a merchant son. He became the front commander of the Li Dynasty by paying bribes and married a princess.

Taking advantage of the civil strife in the Li Dynasty, the prince was young and wore a yellow robe!

The Vietnamese Li Dynasty was not in the right position, and rebellions occurred one after another. While restructuring and taking back power, it is also necessary to win over civil and military officials and divert internal conflicts through external war.

Compulsory military service has been implemented across the country, and the army has reached the size of one soldier for every three people!

They also promoted the feudal manor system and granted titles and lands to civil servants and military officers like crazy.

In order to pay heavy military expenses, and civil and military officials wanted to obtain more serfs, the Vietnamese court chose to actively invade foreign countries. Moreover, they often conquered territory but did not use it, and only robbed property and people to return home.

Vietnam sent 100,000 troops to attack the Song Dynasty. Although they looted countless people at first, they were quickly retaliated by the Northern Song Dynasty.

As a result, the influence of Vietnam's military conglomerate has dropped sharply.

Civil servants took the opportunity to ascend to power and began to adopt the imperial examination system. In recent years, they even relied on disarmament to improve finances.

Civilian politics has become relatively mature, and external aggression and expansion are unsustainable. Next, it is time to resolve domestic separatist forces. The chiefs in northern Vietnam who have married princesses for generations not only often travel north to harass China, but also often travel south to rob Vietnamese people. They are the primary targets for eradication by the civilian government!

Zhang Boyu said: "Only by surrendering to the Ming Dynasty can we get rid of the danger of being attacked on three sides. Moreover, eradicating the barbarian tribes in the mountains to the north is also a gesture of goodwill to the Ming Emperor. As long as we stabilize the Ming Dynasty, we can attack the city in the future. The Ming court will Just don’t help each other.”

"That makes sense!"

Li Yanghuan was convinced: "Immediately select envoys and tributes and go to the Ming Dynasty to pay tribute and request canonization."

"Your Majesty is wise!"

Zhang Boyu finally breathed a sigh of relief. He was afraid that the young monarch would act on his own initiative.

Although Vietnam, controlled by civilian officials, is no longer so aggressive, it is absolutely impossible to stop.

Because the feudal manor system had not changed, the feudal lords were eager for war. They no longer dare to provoke the northern powers. From now on, they can only attack Champa and Chenla, and continue to send troops to plunder goods and people.