Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

The closer to Yanshan Prefecture (Beijing), the more prosperous the population is, and it has reached the county level of Jiangnan.

It's quite sad.

It was a prefecture city and once the capital of Liao, but its population is only equivalent to that of a county in Jiangnan.

The age structure is still the same, and there are a lot of children, all of whom were born in recent years!

The prefect of Yanshan is called Shao Yi. When Zhu Ming started his rebellion in Jinzhou, he was the bailiff of Xicheng County and was forced to rebel without knowing why.

This person is proficient in small tricks to fight for power and profit. He likes to make money but dares not be greedy too much.

His ability is limited, and his courage is also limited.

When he was forced to follow the rebellion, he even prepared to surrender, and he would surrender the city immediately as long as the soldiers came to kill him.

Such a person has become a prefect.

Who let him have a deep experience? Zhu Ming was an old acquaintance when he was the prefect of Jinzhou. At the beginning of Zhu Ming's rebellion, he appointed four county magistrates, and Shao Yi was one of them.

If Shao Yi had been more capable, he would have been promoted to a senior official long ago. This prefecture was promoted purely by seniority.

Calculating his age, it is time for him to retire.

Shao Yi was quite old and could not handle women, so he liked to show off his literary talent and often convened scholars in his jurisdiction to hold literary gatherings.

Moreover, he wrote inscriptions everywhere when he traveled around the mountains and rivers. His handwriting was average, and his poems were even more mediocre, but they were always engraved on stone tablets and cliffs.

He also did serious things, such as promoting culture and education.

He allocated funds from the government treasury to support the construction of community schools and village schools, and gave subsidies to teachers of community schools and village schools. Then he publicized it as his own achievements. Every time he held a literary gathering, scholars would write poems to flatter him.

He also inspected official schools at all levels every now and then. In his words, he encouraged people to learn and support the younger generation.

The real reason was that the population in his jurisdiction was too small. Apart from organizing people to dredge irrigation canals during the slack season, there was nothing serious to do at other times. For those daily affairs, it doesn't matter whether there is a prefect or not, only some things need the prefect's signature and seal.

At this moment, Shao Yi was inspecting Yanshan Prefecture School.

Professors, instructors and other teachers gathered in the courtyard with their students, wasting a lot of time listening to Shao Zhifu bragging.

Those braggings have been boasted countless times, and my ears are calloused from hearing them.

But Shao Yi continued to repeat with interest:

"In the former Song Dynasty, Ankang Prefecture was still called Jinzhou. Xicheng County was the county town attached to Jinzhou, and I worked as a bailiff in Xicheng County..."

"You all know that the former Song Dynasty was ruled by tyrants and corrupt officials, and there were many corrupt officials in the local area. Although I am upright and honest, the prefect, the prefect, the county magistrate, and the county magistrate are all corrupt officials! One year, a new prefect was suddenly replaced. Guess who it was?"

At this point, Shao Yi deliberately kept it a secret.

The teacher and the students could only pretend not to know and asked in unison: "But the current emperor?"

Shao Yi smiled and slapped his thigh: "It is the Holy Emperor of the Great Ming! His Majesty took office in Jinzhou and visited incognito all the way. At the northern foot of Fenghuang Mountain and the west of Hengkou Town, he saw many farmers panning for gold during the spring plowing season. He asked an old farmer and found out that it was the state judge who forced the farmers to pan for gold, even during the spring plowing season. Why did the state judge dare to do that? It was because the former Song Dynasty was too corrupt, and officials arbitrarily exploited the people..."

"Who is the state judge? He is the confidant of the former Song Dynasty Jingxi Road Transport Envoy. Who is the Jingxi Road Transport Envoy? A relative of the treacherous minister Cai Jing! The Transport Envoy His official residence was in Luoyang, and he was also responsible for rebuilding the Luoyang Imperial Palace. The current imperial palace was renovated by him. In order to make the palace walls beautiful, he first ground cattle bones into powder and made mortar, and killed all the oxen around Luoyang City! Later, he heard that human bones were better, so he went to the mass grave to get human bones, and even dug up graves to get bones, which caused the people of Luoyang to be angry..."

"The emperor of the Ming Dynasty imposed light taxes and levies in Luoyang, but the transport envoy of the former Song Dynasty dug up graves and took bones in Luoyang. Comparing the two, who is more benevolent? Even a fool knows! If the former Song Dynasty didn't perish, who would perish? If the Ming Dynasty didn't prosper, who would prosper? Besides, your majesty took office in Jinzhou... Hey, where was I just now?"

Some students were already looking down to hold back their laughter.

This prefect is not only old, but also drank too much when he was young, which probably hurt his brain and made his memory bad.

The teachers and students said in unison: "Your Majesty saw the farmers in Jinzhou panning for gold during the spring plowing."

Shao Yi suddenly recalled: "Yes, yes, yes. Your Majesty told the farmers, you go back to the fields, I will take care of the things here. He also drew his sword and showed his official badge, dispersed the wing troops who were supervising the mining of gold, and rushed to Hengkou Town to question the tax collectors..."

The old man spoke eloquently, and in fact, he spoke quite brilliantly.

But the teachers and students were drowsy listening to it. They had heard it too many times and were very familiar with the emperor's deeds of governing Jinzhou and raising troops to rise up.

And Shao Yi boasted too much, exaggerating how he assisted the emperor.

Especially when Zhu Ming started his rebellion, he only appointed four county magistrates, and Shao Yi always said that he was the head of the four county magistrates. Because he was the magistrate of Pingli County, the closest to Jinzhou City.

He also said that Zeng Xiaoduan, the current Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, was only the magistrate of Xunyang County at that time, and was farther away from Jinzhou City than he was.

He also said that the unjust case of Zeng Xiaoduan's family was overturned only because of his assistance to the emperor.

The teachers and students were all complaining in their hearts: You are so powerful, but you are only the prefect of Yanshan at your age, while others have become the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel.

Suddenly, a subordinate rushed over and said in Shao Yi's ear: "Prefect, an angel passed by and has rested in the posthouse outside the city."

Shao Yi quickly stood up and said to the teachers and students: "Students, go to study, Professor Zhang, follow me out of the city to welcome the angel."

"Farewell, Prefect!"

The teachers and students were as if they had been pardoned, and happily sent the prefect away.

Back in the classroom, a student sighed: "Such a person who seeks fame and reputation, has no ability, and is confused, can actually become a prefect. Alas!"

"It's fate," another student laughed, "He is a meritorious official who followed the emperor, and one of the four county magistrates when your majesty started the army. If he really had some ability, would he still be in this remote place in Yanshan? Didn't you see the other three county magistrates at that time, one was the left vice minister of the Ministry of Justice, one was the right vice minister of the Ministry of Personnel, and one was the left governor of Shanxi?"

Another student asked: "The four county magistrates are like this, why didn't you hear Shao Zhifu mention the Jinzhou governor appointed by your majesty at that time?"

"The prefect mentioned it when he let it slip," an insider He whispered, "The Jinzhou prefect at that time was called Liu Shiren. He moved to Daming Township and lived there for a few years. He was the first prefect of Hanzhong promoted by the emperor. Later, he was involved in the national case that year and was demoted. Now I don't know what official position he is. If Liu Shiren had not been implicated, he would at least be a minister now, and he might even have entered the cabinet."

The students sighed: "This is very unlucky. He was only demoted, which means that he was not deeply involved in the case. It is estimated that his family was implicated. It is sad and lamentable that he lost his position as a cabinet minister like this!"

At that time, there were three villages in Daming Township. The two brothers Liu Shiren, one succeeded Meng Zhao as the principal of the village school, and the other was one of the village heads of Daming Township.

During the time when Zhu Ming was transferred from Jinzhou, Liu Shiren assisted Zhu Guoxiang in preparing for the rebellion.

After the army was raised to capture Jinzhou, all the government affairs of Jinzhou were also handed over to Liu Shiren. Later, when the entire Hanzhong was conquered, Liu Shiren was the first prefect of Hanzhong.

The first prefect of Daming!

The first prefect of Daming!

If such a person had not been involved in a major case, he would have been in the cabinet by now. He was demoted to the position of Left Vice Minister.

The court was very secretive about this, and Zhu Ming handled it very low-key, sending him to a remote place to be a prefect. His current position is Left Governor of Guangxi.

…

Shao Zhifu, who was always clumsy in his work, was very excited when he saw the imperial envoy. He laughed as soon as he entered the posthouse: "Why didn't you send someone to inform us when the angel came?"

The county magistrate who had been receiving him at the posthouse introduced Zongwu, saying, "This is Shao Zhifu. When your majesty started the army in Jinzhou, Shao Zhifu was one of the four county magistrates appointed by your majesty."

"Haha, it's all old news," Shao Yi waved his hands proudly, "Not worth mentioning, not worth mentioning."

Zongwu didn't dare to neglect it when he heard it, and bowed respectfully, saying, "I am Zongwu, a junior student, and I am here to meet the governor."

The county magistrate introduced, "This angel is the nephew of Zong Gelao."

Shao Yi was even more enthusiastic, holding Zongwu's hand and saying, "So it's the young Zong Xianggong."

After a few pleasantries, Shao Yi wanted to host a banquet and invited Zongwu to drink at the government office. Zongwu declined politely on the grounds that he was in a hurry.

Shao Yi asked, "Where are you going, young Master Zong?"

Zong Wu bowed in the direction of Luoyang and said, "I am going to Linhuang Protectorate by order of the Emperor to reward the meritorious soldiers there."

Shao Yi said, "It's not a good journey."

"Why?" Zong Wu asked.

Shao Yi explained, "The people in the mountains along the way have all gone down the mountain to settle down and divide the land. They hid in the mountains during the Liao and Jin Dynasties. Who would want to live in the mountains when the world is peaceful? Even the Liao Dynasty's Bei'an Prefecture (Luanping and Chengde areas) has only a few people left now, and the Ming Dynasty doesn't even have a county. Without people, jackals and wolves are in power, and the wild animals in the mountains are very fierce."

Zong Wu wondered, "Since the Liao Dynasty was able to establish a prefecture, there must be a lot of places to farm there, right?"

Shao Yi said, "The Jin Dynasty built a strong wall and cleared the fields, taking all the people away, and many starved to death on the way. Later, when the Jin Dynasty was destroyed, those people settled in Dading Prefecture and were unwilling to go into the mountains and return to Bei'an Prefecture. I heard from the officials who came back from the north that the capital of Bei'an Prefecture is empty. There is only one post station, where 200 soldiers and their families are stationed, and there are about 100 families who fled into the mountains and returned. At most, there are only about 1,000 people, all living in the city or the suburbs. A little further away from the city, you can encounter wolves and tigers. "

Zong Wu sighed: "It is better to be a dog in peace than a man in chaos. There are only 1,000 people left in such a state. How difficult it is for people to live."

Shao Yi smiled and said: "The people there don't have to pay taxes. They only need to pay some food to support the local post station officials. They live quite comfortably."

"It's really comfortable." Zong Wu didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

The reason why they don't have to pay taxes is that it is too remote and the population is small, so even the tax collectors are too lazy to urge them.

Shao Yi said, "When the registered population increases to 5,000, the court will re-establish Xinghua County there. Did Tianshi bring soldiers?"

Zongwu said, "I brought more than ten imperial guards and some civilians from Baoding Prefecture."

Shao Yi instructed, "When passing through Miyun, bring more food. Let the imperial guards be more cautious, there are really wild beasts in the mountains."

"Thank you for telling me, governor." Zongwu bowed.

Shao Yi chatted and started bragging again, "I was a bailiff in Xicheng County, Jinzhou..."

(In the previous chapters, some people's titles were wrong, and the ancient Yumen Pass did not take into account the degree of desertification. All have been corrected.)