Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

Hong Mai, the author of the Southern Song Dynasty fantasy novel "Yi Jian Zhi", has just turned seventeen this year.

The Hong family in Poyang where he belonged was disbanded and relocated by Wei Liangchen a few years ago. The family's land was sold to the government and distributed to lower-class farmers at very low prices. Hong Mai was therefore extremely dissatisfied with the Ming court.

Dissatisfaction is dissatisfaction, but we still need a future.

He graduated from Nanchang Fuxue with honors and could be directly recommended to Luoyang Taixue to study. Of course, he could also choose to stay in Jiangxi and slowly take the imperial examination.

When Hong Mai was just a few years old, his father was sent by Zhao Huan to join forces with the Jin Dynasty. As a result, he was detained in Hebei by the Jin Kingdom and forced to serve as an official in the small court of the puppet Song Dynasty.

When the news spread to the south, people said that his father had become a lackey of the Jin people.

When the Ming Dynasty regained Hebei, Hong Mai's father also returned to the south. He was proven not guilty of evil and was given the position of county magistrate. But rumors still persist, making the Hong Mai brothers unable to hold their heads high.

Hong Mai was only ten years old at the time, and his clothes were stained with oil while eating. He was inspired to write a poem: "A little bit of oil stains the white clothes, and the mottled spots make people suspicious. Even if the water of thousands of rivers is washed, it will still look like it was not dirty at the beginning?" "

Definitely a genius.

"Sanlang, you can board the official ship!" the book boy shouted.

There are two official ships in Dantu (Zhenjiang) port, which will soon transport official items northward.

Students like Hong Mai who are admitted to Taipei University can take the official ship for free along the way, and there are also free places for two followers.

After showing the document issued by Jiangxi's academic envoy, Cao Jun on the dock looked at it and took Hong Mai's master and servant on board with great enthusiasm.

Another young man with a long sword on his waist came running towards him with the book boy.

The young man took out the document and said: "Lu You, a scholar from Yuezhou, went to Luoyang to study at the Imperial Academy."

"Please, Mr. Cao." The Cao sergeants greeted him with a smile.

Lu You and Hong Mai were arranged in the same cabin. They exchanged names and backgrounds, and their respective entourages helped make the bed.

After all, they are both young people, and after a few words of greeting, they became familiar with each other.

Hong Mai said with a smile: "When did Wu Guan become enlightened? At the age of fifteen, he was able to study in Imperial College."

Lu You said: "I started to learn to read at the age of three, and I should be officially enlightened at the age of five."

"Hangzhou Phoenix Academy is famous all over the south of the Yangtze River, and Wu Guan's elder is also the president of the academy. Why not stay at Phoenix Academy and continue studying?" Hong Mai was quite envious.

"Let's go and experience the scenery of the two capitals." Lu You said with a smile.

The official ship set sail, and the two met on the deck to enjoy the scenery on both sides of the canal.

At first they were still chatting about knowledge, but gradually they talked about the battle to conquer Xixia.

Lu You took out the poem as if he was offering a treasure: There is something going on this year, and the general accepted the order and sent out the entire army. The eight-foot horses are strewn with fine gold, and the five-foot flag is brightly embroidered. The flying fox in the upper valley passed the order, and Xiaoguan piled up stones to line up the city. There should be no bangu in the shogunate, and Yan Ran would carve poems in the morning and evening.

Hong Mai laughed loudly after hearing this: "Wuguan is comparing himself to Ban Gu. He also wants to go out with the army and restrain Shi Yanran."

Lu You not only compared himself to Ban Gu in his poem, but also complained that the expedition to Xixia was too early and he did not take himself as a military staff officer, otherwise Mobei would be taken back sooner or later.

"I also practice martial arts." Lu You patted the sword on his waist.

Hong Mai only thought Lu You was bragging and regarded the sword as a decoration.

The two ate and lived together on the boat. They were both talented people and got along well with each other, and their friendship became deeper and deeper.

These two official ships stopped when they arrived in Kaifeng.

They need to change ships in Kaifeng. Fortunately, there are many official ships here, and some are sent to Luoyang every day.

After changing boats, there were two more people in the cabin.

One is Wang Yan, a native of Xiangzhou, 27 years old this year, and a descendant of a family of military generals. At a young age, he had already passed the exam, but signed up to go to military school.

One was Wang Lianqing, a native of Ruyin, the same age as Lu You, who also went to Luoyang to study at Imperial College.

When Hong Mai heard that Wang Yan had a reputation as a civil servant, he couldn't help but asked: "Brother Gongming is a civil servant, why do you want to study martial arts?"

Wang Yan smiled heartily and said: "What if you are a scholar and a marquis of ten thousand households?"

Lu You greatly appreciated this: "Brother Gongming is very generous and a good man. If my elders hadn't stopped me, I would have gone to the military academy."

Wang Yan said: "I see you are wearing a long sword on your waist. Have you practiced martial arts?"

"I have practiced some minor moves." Lu You told the truth.

Destiny is so magical, a close friend from another time and space becomes like an old friend at first sight in this time and space.

Historically, Wang Yan served as deputy prime minister and privy envoy of the Southern Song Dynasty, but the "History of the Song Dynasty" is very secretive about him. While Lu You was working as a consultant to Wang Yan, he wrote more than a hundred military poems, but they were destroyed until only twelve poems were left that were not related to Wang Yan.

The reason is very simple. Wang Yan and Yu Yunwen have conflicts and have reached the point where they are at odds with each other.

At that time, Wang Yan served as the pacifier of Sichuan and first recruited southerners to form troops. Lu You served as a staff officer and trained with the soldiers. He soon discovered in actual combat that this unit was flawed.

So, at Lu You's suggestion, Wang Yan recruited northerners as soldiers. There were not only northern Han people, but also Jurchen, Uighur, Dangxiang and other ethnic groups soldiers, known as the "Yi Sheng Army", practicing Yi Sheng Qiang (triangular armor-piercing gun), and repeatedly made military exploits after forming an army.

During this period, Lu You also followed the training throughout the process, and even led 30 people to kill a tiger himself. The tiger suddenly appeared, and the soldiers were frightened. Lu You held out his gun and gave it a shot to the tiger.

Kill the tiger general Lu You!

Just when everything was on track, Wang Yan was suddenly transferred back to the court for promotion, and then was demoted to magistrate. Wang Yan refused to take up his post claiming to be ill and was directly thrown into managing the Taoist temple. He died in depression a few years later.

The Yi Sheng Army was run by Wang Yan, and Yu Yunwen, who was succeeded, picked peaches.

Wang Yan's staff, including Lu You, were also disbanded.

Historical figures are all very complicated, and even the strange man Yu Yunwen is no exception.

Especially in his later years, when Yu Yunwen was in a high position and gained both fame and wealth, he gradually became willful and self-willed.

"History of the Song Dynasty" describes this very vaguely, and only points out Yu Yunwen's "missing taboo" in the "Xue Ji Propaganda".

What is "taboo loss"?

He just doesn't listen to advice and is afraid of his own mistakes.

In "Shui Tiao Ge Tou: I Drink Without Persuasion", Xin Qiji also wrote a very subtle "Sigh on the Revitalization of the Family". It can be basically inferred that Yu Yunwen defeated Wang Yan through factional struggle.

…

"You are all from the south, so I'm afraid you don't know the news of the victory on the front line," Wang Yan said enthusiastically, "Several armies have been fighting with victory in succession. I heard that they are about to reach Xingqing Mansion, the capital of Xixia!"

Lu You was overjoyed: "Really?"

Wang Yan said: "It's true. I was also inspired by the good news, so I made up my mind to abandon literature and join the military. Although I, the Ming Dynasty, will destroy Xixia, Mobei has not yet been determined, and the Western Regions are not at peace. Sooner or later, I will be able to lead troops to go to war. ”

Hong Mai teased: "Xi Xia is about to fall. It seems that there is no need for your contemporary Ban Gu."

But Lu You said: "When Brother Gongming leads the army to go on an expedition, I will serve as his staff and take charge of various matters in the army."

"Welcome," Wang Yan said happily, "When the time comes, I will be the general in charge of the army, and you will be the military staff officer, and we will fight all the way to the far west."

Wang Lianqing, who had been silent all this time, suddenly said: "I will draw a triumphal picture for you."

Wang Lianqing's father is a great painter, and he is also good at painting.

The four chatted happily. When the official ship docked in Heyin County, they even got off the ship to buy wine and food.

"Great victory, great victory!"

"Hundreds of thousands of troops besieged the city. The leader of the Xixia Kingdom, Li Renxiao, led hundreds of officials out of the city to surrender!"

"Xixia is destroyed, Xixia is destroyed!"

"..."

The four people on the boat were drinking when they suddenly heard cheers and cheers on the shore. They quickly went out of the cabin to find out what happened.

I met an officer of the Cao Army on the deck. He smiled and said to everyone: "Just as the Lu Bu arrived, Xixia has been destroyed. The leader of the Xixia Kingdom and all the civil and military officials all came out of the city and knelt down. Our soldiers captured Xingqing Mansion without a single blow." "

Wang Yan shouted: "Let's go drink and celebrate!"

"Drink together, drink together!"

"Go and buy two more jars of wine. I won't be drunk until today."

The four young men were ecstatic and drunk in the cabin.

In every county they passed through next, the people inside and outside the city were all happy, even happier than when the gold was destroyed.

In this time and space, there was no humiliation of Jingkang, the extent of the ravages in the north was limited, and the Liao and Song countries were at peace for decades. Therefore, people did not feel much about the fall of Liao and Jin. On the contrary, Xixia, which was always at war, made the northern officials and people hate it very much. Once a war started, they would recruit countless people.

Now that Xixia is destroyed, there will be no need to recruit civilians on a large scale from now on. How could the people not be happy?

Two days later, the four of them disembarked in Luoyang, and the excitement had not yet passed.

Many shops inside and outside Luoyang took the opportunity to put up discount signs, and people talked enthusiastically about the frontline achievements.

Wang Yan stopped a passerby and asked, "Which restaurant in Luoyang is the best?"

The passer-by replied: "There is Balu, which was just expanded two years ago and has five floors."

"The wine garden is as good as Shuping's shop, and there is a barou in Luozhong." This is a popular folk proverb in Kaifeng in the Northern Song Dynasty, which somewhat reveals the ridicule and contempt of Luoyang by the people of Kaifeng.

Now that the Ming Dynasty has moved its capital to Luoyang, several wealthy Luoyang businessmen have opened a restaurant together and directly named it "Youbalou" to mock the people of Kaifeng.

Wang Yan invited everyone to have a drink.

Wang Lianqing looked at the silver bowls of the diners in the lobby on the ground floor and couldn't help but said: "The food and wine in this building must be expensive. We are all poor scholars, so we can just eat on the first floor."

Three of the poor poor scholars came from a family of officials, and one came from a family of military generals.

"Okay." Wang Yan didn't care.

Before the four of them could sit down, they saw a diner standing there, talking eloquently:

"But I heard a Xixia thief general yell: Grandpa is the nephew of the Xixia Taiwei, who dares to have a fight with me?"

"How can I, a soldier of the Ming Dynasty, tolerate someone calling himself grandpa? Immediately, a young general rode out from the Ming army's formation. But who is that young general?"

The diners around him shook their heads, and some urged him to go on.

The diner continued: "This young Ming general is called Wang Jun, and he is called Wang Kaishan in the army. He is a brave general under General Wu Xianggong. But he saw Wang Kaishan galloping out on horseback and shouted loudly, which scared the Xixia thieves to the point of splitting their livers and gallbladders... …”

After listening to the made-up story, Lu You asked: "Who knows this Wang Kaishan?"

Wang Yan shook his head: "My brother is also commanding troops in the army, but I haven't heard him talk about it. I think he is a fierce general in another army."

In fact, these stories were all brought back by merchants, especially the merchants who came back from the Hexi Corridor, which made Wu Jie's generals become the most famous.

On the contrary, Han Shizhong and Yue Fei's road was farthest from the border of Ming Dynasty, and their deeds had not yet spread.

He started talking again, and Lu You listened attentively. The more he listened, the more excited he became. He wished he could transfer from Imperial College to a military academy.