Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

Along the way, the emperor traveled from Luoyang to different provincial capitals, prefectures and counties, carrying imperial edicts and rewards.

If the army is stationed too far away, there will be too many coins for rewards and it will be impossible to transport them from the capital. In this case, you will take the Ming Dynasty treasure banknotes and exchange part of them into silver dollars or copper coins at the Baoquan Bureau nearest to the station.

Senior generals were rewarded with Ming Dynasty treasure notes, middle and low-level generals were rewarded with silver coins, and ordinary sergeants were rewarded with copper coins.

As domestic and foreign trade became increasingly prosperous, the issuance of Ming Dynasty banknotes went very smoothly.

There are already four denominations of 500 guan, 200 guan, 100 guan and 50 guan. They are mainly used for bulk commodity transactions and can also be used by merchants to pay taxes at the Yamen.

Common people basically don't use this, because the denomination is too large, and many people's entire family property is less than 50 guan.

Ju Ming was very cautious in awarding Yue Fei, and even the person who delivered the decree was carefully selected - Zongze's grandnephew Zongwu.

Zong Wu traveled all the way and it was impossible to just give Yue Fei a reward.

He first stopped in Kaifeng, and with an official document from the Ministry of War, he obtained the command of a group of Cao troops. Taking the official documents from the Ministry of Revenue, he took the Cao army to Kaifeng Cangchang to collect supplies, and then pulled a cart full of property to reward the officers and soldiers of the Kaifeng Forbidden Army.

Even those Imperial Guards who were ordered to stay in Kaifeng and did not go to fight in Xixia received a few hundred coins as a token reward.

Ju Ming was not afraid of the soldiers spending money when they had money, which could activate the local economy and speed up the circulation of coins. All drought-stricken areas are providing emergency grain relief, and even if grain prices rise, they can be basically controlled.

The currency problem in ancient China was never inflation, but everyone hiding money, resulting in a shortage of currency on the market!

After the rewards in Kaifeng were completed, Zong Wu went to Daming Mansion again.

The Yellow River diversion project was officially completed last year. Drawing on the lessons learned from the management of the Yellow River in the Northern Song Dynasty, it took several years before and after the Ming Dynasty to divert the water.

Today, the main channel of the Yellow River flows through the southern suburbs of Daming Mansion. It passed through Qingping, Gaotang, Pingyuan, Dezhou, Deping, Leling and Wudi, and finally entered the sea at the junction of Wudi County and Haixing County in later generations.

In order to dredge rivers and build dams, the capital of Dezhou was moved fifteen miles north.

Except for Gaotang County, the remaining five county towns along the route were all moved, at least ten miles away and rebuilt.

Kaide Prefecture (Puyang) and Daming Prefecture are the key areas for regulating the Yellow River. The big embankments are within the small embankments, and the large embankments are within the small embankments.

In Zhao Village in the northwest suburbs of Puyang, all the villagers were moved away and several additional embankments were built. On the other side of Shanghuxun, an artificial river was dug to divert the water. This artificial river is about 200 miles long and directly connects the Yellow River and Liangshan Water Park.

The artificial river has a dam and a gate. During normal times, some of the gates are opened to allow navigation. During floods, all gates are opened to release floods. During low water periods, the gates are closed to dredge the artificial river channel.

Liangshan is a lake, and tens of thousands of acres of farmland have been returned to lakes. It is also prohibited to encircle lakes to create farmland. If violated, the penalty will be the same as the crime of arson.

All the ancient towns in Daming Prefecture were relocated, and a large lake with a radius of more than ten miles was dug for flood discharge and water storage. The terrain there is slightly higher, and water is stored during the wet season and released during the dry season. Several levels of levees were also built around the lake to store water and flush the river downstream.

From Kaidefu to the mouth of the sea, diversion of the Yellow River for irrigation and siltation is carried out regularly, which can not only raise the terrain on both sides of the river, but also release the sediment in the river, and can also irrigate nearby farmland.

After this series of projects are completed, as long as it is properly maintained, the Yellow River will be free of major troubles for a hundred or two hundred years.

But if in the middle and late period of the dynasty, the official administration gradually deteriorates, daily maintenance is poor, and the river bed rises for many years, it is estimated that the Yellow River will change its course in the event of a severe flood!

That kind of situation is not what Ju Ming should consider. It is enough if he can control the Yellow River for one or two hundred years.

Since the floods in the Yellow River were controlled, the Daming Mansion that Zong Wu saw at this time became richer and more prosperous. Business travelers from Hebei and northern Shandong continued to stop at Damingfu to unload their goods, and countless business travelers transported goods to Kaifeng and Luoyang.

The prefect is organizing the people to build more city walls!

The Ming Dynasty ruled for more than ten years. The population here has multiplied and prospered. There are more and more people living in the area. The permanent population has exceeded 300,000. The original city walls are no longer enough.

Xie Shen, the Cajun general who was transferred to help, sighed with Zong Wu: "My ancestral home is in Daming Prefecture. More than 20 years ago, the Yellow River burst its banks and poured into the city. I don't know how many people drowned. My family is here." I moved away from my hometown at that time. When I was a child, I heard from my grandfather that when he was a few years old, the Yellow River changed its course from the south to the north of Daming Prefecture... Alas! This Daming Prefecture was Beijing in the former Song Dynasty, but it was flooded back and forth. As the population recovered, countless more people were drowned in a flood."

Zong Wu said: "Today the Holy Emperor has great talents and great plans, the floods in the Yellow River have been cured, and Daming Mansion can be stable from now on."

"It's true that he has great talent and great strategy." Xie Shen nodded and said.

He was a general of the Cao Army and often escorted goods everywhere. He knew how the Ming Dynasty controlled the Yellow River.

Needless to say, there are other complicated projects, except for the relocation of one state city and five county towns, which was impossible to accomplish in the former Song Dynasty. Any minister who dared to do this when regulating the river would be scolded and resigned on the spot. Even if the former Song Dynasty monarchs and ministers wanted to do this, there would be many obstacles in the implementation.

How could it be like Zhu Guoxiang, Zhu Ming and his son, where once the emperor gave an order, the local government had to carry it out unconditionally.

Zong Wu looked at the prosperous Damingfu City and sighed with emotion, then took the Ming Dynasty treasure banknotes in exchange for money and rewarded them to the local soldiers who participated in the conquest of Xixia.

This place is different from Kaifeng.

The warehouse on the outskirts of Kaifeng belongs to the national treasury, and the Ministry of Household Affairs can transfer supplies with a single official document.

Daming Mansion belongs to the local treasury, and the Ministry of Revenue can certainly use it, but the procedure is relatively complicated, so it is better to exchange money directly with Daming treasure banknotes.

After receiving the reward from Daming Mansion, Zong Wu's only task was to go to Yue Fei - the army east of Kaifeng. During the expedition to Xia, only the Daming Mansion garrison was mobilized as far as possible. Moreover, there are a large number of garrison troops in Daming Prefecture. Their main task is to fight floods and rescue operations. Once a flood occurs, they will all be mobilized.

Zong Wu took a boat all the way to Baoding Mansion and took out more than half of the treasure notes and exchanged them for silver dollars and copper coins.

There is no Baoquan Bureau further north, so we can only exchange money here and then transport it all the way to the grassland. Even Baoding Prefecture did not have many Cao troops. They were busy transporting disaster relief grain to Kaifeng. Zongwu went to ask the prefect to help summon a team of civilians.

"It turns out that the angel is Mr. Zong's grandnephew. How disrespectful!" Zheng Pu, the prefect, warmly received him.

Zong Wu bowed and returned the gift: "When my uncle was dying, he made a last wish to give his descendants the opportunity to visit Hebei again. On the next trip to this point, I found that Hebei is as rich as Henan. It will be gratifying to know that my uncle has knowledge under the spring."

Zheng Pu said with a smile: "Hebei was in ruins in the past because of the confrontation with the Liao Kingdom. Even if there was no war, the taxes were heavy. Now that the Liao Kingdom has been destroyed, there is no longer a waste of money and food to station troops. All the abandoned water conservancy projects have been repaired and new excavations have been made." There are many irrigation canals, how can you not be rich with light corvee? In Baoding Prefecture alone, hundreds of thousands of grains have been sent to the court in recent years, and there is still surplus grain in the Changping warehouse. This year, there is a drought in the northwest. After the summer harvest in Baoding Prefecture, in addition to the grain tax that should be handed over, an additional 30,000 stones of wheat were shipped to Kaifeng."

Zong Wu praised: "In addition to good fortune, you can also add good luck. Zheng Taishou has outstanding political achievements. He will definitely be promoted in the coming year."

Zheng Pu stroked his beard and smiled, waving his hands modestly: "This is the duty of a minister, to report to the sage and to bring peace to the people."

Zheng Pu also wanted to hold a cultural gathering and invite the scholars to go sightseeing with Zong Wu.

Zong Wu politely declined, saying that he had an imperial mission and it would not be too late to do this when he came back.

He took the money escorted by his fellow citizens and continued northward, crossing the Juma River and arriving at his hometown of Liao Kingdom.

It is said that this place was destroyed by the Jin Kingdom. When it was first recovered, it was completely deserted and there were only farmers farming around the towns. Zongwu found many emerging villages, and after asking, he learned that they were moved from the south. The Yellow River Project had relocated many villages and towns, half of which were moved to the north of the Juma River.

There are also villages where Han and Han people live together, grazing and farming at the same time.

Although the people of the Xi, Khitan, Bohai and Jurchen tribes have learned to speak Chinese and must wear Han buns, they still retain some foreign customs.

Zong Wu rested in a village, and the village elder responsible for entertaining him was a Khitan.

He is said to be a village elder, but he is actually less than fifty years old.

The age structure here is very abnormal. The successive years of famine and war during the Liao and Jin Dynasties have almost killed the elderly of all ethnic groups.

The Khitan village elder said to Zong Wu: "There are fewer and fewer people grazing, and more and more people are farming. Look at the land outside the village. A few years ago, half of it was used for grazing, but now it is used to grow beans. Encourage farmers Officials say that planting beans in the first few years can increase fertility, and then you can switch to planting wheat after three to five years.”

Zong Wu originally had a strong prejudice against the Khitan people, but the village in front of him was already semi-Chinese, and there was no big difference from the Han people.

"There are more children than adults in the village." Zong Wu said what he saw.

The Khitan village elder laughed and said: "Three years of tax exemption, two years of tax halving, every household has surplus food, and life is better than in the Liao and Jin countries. The government also encourages us to have children, and three acres of land will be exempted for each child. A year’s worth of grain and a reward for settling the child’s residence when he or she reaches adulthood.”

Zong Wu asked again: "Are all ethnic groups intermarrying?"

The Khitan village elder nodded and said: "The government does not allow intermarriage within the same ethnic group. Intermarriage between the Khitan people and the Xi people is allowed, and intermarriage between the Han people is allowed. However, intermarriage between the Khitan people and the Khitan people is not allowed. Men of all ethnic groups like to marry Han women, so they The married woman can do a lot of work. She can also collect mulberry, raise silkworms, and weave cloth, and she can also help with the farmland. It's a pity that there are not many women in the Han family. When the young woman comes of age, the marriage proposal will break the door. "

"Those have become treasures." Zong Wu said with a smile.

The Khitan village elder said: "Isn't it a treasure? My little daughter-in-law is a Han woman. She is very good at raising silkworms and spinning yarn beautifully. I have never been willing to let her do heavy work, even washing dishes and cooking. The second daughter-in-law of the Xi clan is here to do it. This Han girl is different. I asked my eldest grandson to study farming, but she asked my eldest grandson to study, saying that he could become a Jinshi in the future. "

Zong Wu said in surprise: "Is there a village school here?"

The Khitan village elder explained: "There is a village school in the next village, and you can walk seven or eight miles to get there. In the past, when it was deserted, there were still wolves. We, the villages, worked together to kill them, so the children were not afraid to go to school on their own."

After chatting for two hours, Zong Wu had dinner with the village elder.

He found that the civilians living here were more relaxed and comfortable than many places in the south.

Each family had their own land, but they had to farm it themselves because they couldn't find tenants.

The disadvantage is that there are not enough daily necessities, and you have to walk a long way to buy salt and vinegar. Occasionally, when a salesman goes to the countryside, he will definitely become the center of attention and receive a warm reception from the villagers.

Even private salt dealers and the government turned a blind eye.

It didn’t take several generations at all. Since the Han and Han people lived together and intermarriage was prohibited, the first generation of foreigners had already begun to automatically become Chinese.