Guide to Traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty.

Chapter 1126 [The Emperor is going to Jiangnan]

The fifth year of Shenfu in the Ming Dynasty, the 3847th year of the Yellow Emperor, 1150 AD.

winter.

Zhu Guoxiang took his wife and children back to Luoyang to celebrate the New Year. Shen Yourong was already an old woman in her sixties, and most of his other concubines had also aged.

He did not take any more concubines.

Usually he would farm, fish, occasionally practice calligraphy and painting, and do some research on poetry and rhythm. He even rarely asked about scientific research, and only occasionally taught classes at the academy in Wangchuan Valley.

The main theme is a free and easy life.

Zhu Guoxiang traveled through time and gave birth to nine sons, eleven in total including Zhu Ming and Bai Qi.

Of the nine sons, eight had reached adulthood and were crowned kings. Most of them were idle princes, receiving monthly salaries according to their titles, and their palaces were mainly in Luoyang, Kaifeng, and Chang'an.

The titles and salaries were considerable, but not much either.

These princes must have lived a comfortable life, but when their sons grew up, it was no longer the same. Only the eldest sons of the princes could inherit the title by descending to a lower rank.

The rest of the prince's sons were only given the lowest two levels of titles, and they could live on the salary alone, but if they had many wives and concubines, they would be very poor. After another generation or two, their titles would be completely gone, and they would have to earn money to support their families.

Except for the eldest son of the prince, the rest of the sons can take the imperial examinations, or go into business with their connections. As long as they are willing to work hard, the starting point of their careers will be much higher than 99.99% of their peers in the country.

If you just eat and wait for death, then expect your descendants to suffer in poverty, and the cruel Zhu Ming royal family will not care.

Of course, another way to get rich is to get married.

For example, a great-grandson of Zhu Guoxiang did not get any title, and he was idle and had no ability to make money. But there must be gentry and merchants willing to marry their daughters and give them generous dowries. After the dowry was spent, he could ask his father-in-law for help.

These gentry and merchants married their daughters to distant relatives of the royal family who had no power or title, mostly not for the purpose of gaining special privileges, but to enhance the reputation and status of their own families.

Especially for merchants whose family members have never been officials, the official families disdain to marry them. If they marry their daughters to Zhu Guoxiang's great-grandson, the family will immediately have face. They are willing to support their son-in-law for life, and even train their grandsons to pass the imperial examination and become officials.

Of the nine sons Zhu Guoxiang later had, six were brought up to be useless.

They were not all fools, but all of them were knowledgeable. However, their knowledge was mainly in literature, music, painting, etc. They had a little knowledge of Confucian classics, history and natural sciences, but they were not interested in them.

There are three sons left, one of whom is still a minor.

There is another one who is proficient in mechanics and has participated in the research and development of telegraphs and steam locomotives. He is currently authorized by Zhu Ming to work in the Ministry of Industry, but he cannot be promoted anymore after reaching a certain level. When the time comes, Zhu Ming plans to send him to the Imperial College as a professor.

He also has a son who is proficient in painting. It is not just a hobby, but he is a bit of a painting genius. He is currently working at the Hanlin Academy of Painting.

None of Zhu Guoxiang’s sons were interested in agronomy, his most proud subject!

On the contrary, one of the daughters is good at farming.

Zhu Guoxiang has eight daughters, all of whom are married and their husbands are all young and talented.

The restrictions on the imperial consorts were also adjusted. If they were Jinshi, they could become officials, but they could only be promoted to the rank of prefect. However, there were no restrictions on the imperial consorts entering the Hanlin Academy. As long as they had real talent and knowledge, they could study literature, history, art, natural sciences, etc.

On the winter solstice, Zhu Ming baked pancakes around the stove himself: "A large coal mine has finally been discovered in Ruzhou Prefecture. There is a mountain with a flat top, and the locals call it Pingshan."

Zhu Guoxiang said happily: "It looks like the Pingdingshan Coal Mine."

Zhu Ming continued, "The railway from Nanyang to Fangcheng has been completed, and the section from Fangcheng to Ye County is being laid. The discovery of the Pingdingshan coal mine prompted the Ministry of Industry to decide to extend the railway mileage and lay the tracks all the way to the foot of Pingdingshan."

Zhu Guoxiang smiled and said, "That means it partially overlaps with the middle line of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project. We can simply dig a canal north of the railway all the way to Kaifeng."

The middle line of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project, one section of which is from Nanyang to Pingdingshan.

"This proposal has been proposed by more than one official from the Ministry of Industry."

Zhu Ming said: "The former Song Dynasty failed to build the Grand Canal there, and the main difficulty was the railway line. We solved the problem by replacing the canal with railways, and there are no technical difficulties for the remaining canal routes."

"The newly opened canal connects Xiangcheng, Yingchang (Xuchang), Xinzheng and Kaifeng, linking several major rivers along the way. The natural river from Xinzheng to Zhengzhou can also be excavated and widened and connected by the canal."

"With this new canal, the three prefectures and one state will be more closely connected and can irrigate more land, which will promote industry, agriculture and commerce there."

Zhu Guoxiang praised: "This project will benefit generations to come." The father and son talked about railways and water conservancy for a while, and Zhu Ming suddenly said: "I have a son who has performed well in the military academy in the past two years. In this year's military academy exam, his overall score ranked 16th in the grade, and his scores in two individual subjects ranked in the top ten in the grade."

Zhu Guoxiang couldn't help rolling his eyes: "Are you showing off your son to me?"

"He is willing to establish a kingdom in Central Asia," Zhu Ming said. "I have more than 20 sons who died young, and I have been selecting suitable candidates from among them. Apart from Zhu Kang who was established in Champa, only the current Zhu Jiong is satisfactory."

Zhu Jiong is the second son of Li Qinglu, and his maternal grandfather is Li Renli, the Shu King of Western Xia. Li Renli is currently the head of the Western Xia Group of the Hanlin Academy of Literature and History.

In other words, Zhu Jiong had the blood of the Western Xia royal family flowing in his body, which made it easier for him to gain the loyalty of the Dangxiang people who had fled to Hezhong Prefecture.

Zhu Ming used a hook to poke charcoal to draw a simple map on the ground. "To go directly from Anxi Protectorate to Hezhong Prefecture, you have to cross the Pamir Mountains, which makes it difficult to control directly. I plan to establish the Dayuan Kingdom there, let Zhu Jiong be the king of Dayuan, give him the Fergana Basin, and set up the capital in Samarkand, Hezhong Prefecture."

Zhu Guoxiang listened silently. He was not interested in such things.

Zhu Ming continued, "Give him some officials, soldiers, monks, immigrants, and supplies, and then let him develop on his own. The court will not provide follow-up funding. At most, he will be given some military support when he can't handle it. How far he can expand Dayuan's territory is his own business. Even if he becomes a powerful country in the future, it will be difficult to fight back with the Pamir Mountains blocking it. It can always serve as a barrier for the Ming Dynasty."

"It does save trouble." Zhu Guoxiang nodded.

Zhu Ming said: "This kid is still too young, he hasn't even graduated from military school. Let him go to Anxi Protectorate to gain experience, participate in the recovery of the Ili River Valley, and learn how to govern the place."

"Sure." Zhu Guoxiang expressed his support.

Suddenly, light snow fell from the sky, and Shen Yourong brought over a handful of roasted lamb skewers.

The father and son's concubines, children and grandchildren, totaling dozens, all moved to the corridor because of the snow, leaving only Zhu Ming and Zhu Guoxiang sitting opposite each other in the pavilion.

Zhu Guoxiang gave all the mutton skewers to his son, and he just ate the bread and cabbage himself: "I lost one tooth this year, and two more are loose. I can't chew anything that is too hard to chew. After all, I am old."

Zhu Ming smiled and said, "With your physique, you can still live for a few more decades."

"I hope so," Zhu Guoxiang said with emotion, "I want to travel to Jiangnan. After traveling here, I haven't seen the scenery of Jiangnan. Now that Mobei and Yunnan are pacified, there is no war except in the Western Regions, so I am not afraid that traveling to Jiangnan will be too laborious and costly."

Zhu Ming teased, "If you hadn't abdicated, and went to Jiangnan as an emperor, you would have definitely become a tyrant who lost his integrity in his later years."

Zhu Guoxiang said to himself: "Huainan and Jiangnan have been peaceful for a long time. I am not the emperor, so no one should want to assassinate me. There are local troops protecting me along the way. I can guarantee my safety with two or three hundred guards. About two-thirds of my wives and children want to go to Jiangnan for fun. I will take them with me, as well as eunuchs, female officials, doctors, cooks, and students. In total, there will be about seven or eight hundred people."

Zhu Ming asked, "When do we leave? I'll ask the officials to prepare."

"Early spring next year," said Zhu Guoxiang.

Old Zhu has never been willful in these years. Even when he went traveling to relax, the farthest he went was to the vicinity of Chang'an. Now it's no big deal for him to travel everywhere.

Zhu Guoxiang said: "First, travel to the south of the Yangtze River, then go to Sichuan along the Yangtze River, and then go back to visit the old Shangbai Village and Daming Village."

"You've walked far enough," Zhu Ming said with a smile, "Please burn some incense for Mr. Bai on my behalf. Oh, and Mr. Bai's mother, too. That old lady treated us well when she was alive."

Zhu Guoxiang asked: "Is Taoist Master Xue still alive?"

Zhu Ming was immediately happy: "He's alive and well. He is currently in Heian-kyo, Japan. He went there to preach. He originally had a dojo in Iwami Ginzan and accepted dozens of Japanese disciples, who in turn accepted hundreds of grandchildren."

"Later, I accepted an invitation from a Japanese nobleman to visit a nearby mountain town. I couldn't stand the Yin-Yang masters there. I felt that they had learned Taoism in a distorted way."

"Then he took his disciples and went to Heian-kyō to meet the King of Japan. Master Xue did not take any action himself, so his disciples subdued the Onmyoji and established a dojo in Heian-kyō."

"Of course, this is the version circulated among the people. The actual process is much more complicated."

Zhu Guoxiang asked curiously: "What is the real situation?"

Zhu Ming said with a smile: "Japan was very superstitious at that time, and Heian-kyō was in the era of the Night Parade of One Hundred Demons. From the king to the ministers, their homes were haunted every now and then, and they thought that any illness was caused by ghosts. They would build temples to worship monsters at any time. But many things were caused by Onmyoji, and when they caught ghosts, they just sealed them so that the monsters and ghosts could break through the seal and continue to cause trouble, so that the Onmyoji could continue to catch ghosts and make money. Well, it can also be regarded as a way to protect oneself by nurturing the enemy."

"Although Onmyoji is very popular, it is no different from shaman dance and has always been suppressed by Japanese monks. Xue Daoguang went to Heian-kyō and hit it off with the Onmyojis. The two sides joined forces to perform a show for the Japanese king and nobles."

Zhu Guoxiang seemed to understand: "Taoists from China and Japan are joining forces to expand Taoism in Japan?"

"Not bad," Zhu Ming laughed, "Master Xue is really capable. Even at his age, he is still expanding the territory of Taoism."

(End of this chapter)