Guide to Traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty.

Chapter 1135 [Whose prosperous era? ]

Of course, there was no bulk Jiangsu in the Ming Dynasty. To the north of the Yangtze River was Huainan Province, and to the south of the Yangtze River was Zhejiang Province.

However, Huainan and Zhejiang provinces have been continuously divided over the past two decades due to their large area, large population and prosperous economy.

A prefecture in the northwest corner of Huainan Province was swallowed up by Henan Province. A prefecture in the southwest corner of Huainan Province was swallowed up by Hubei Province.

Zhejiang Province was even worse off. Not only were Wenzhou and Chuzhou transferred to Fujian, but the establishment of Nanjing directly dealt a heavy blow to Zhejiang.

Even Changzhou, Jiangyin, Yixing, Wuxi, Guangde... were all placed under the jurisdiction of Nanjing Jinling Prefecture, and one third of Taihu Lake became Nanjing's territory.

When fishermen from Taihu Lake row their boats and cast their nets, half of the net might be spread in Zhejiang Province and the other half in Nanjing Jinling Prefecture.

Changzhou has never abolished its prefecture-level system due to its extremely prosperous economy. This is ultimately not good, as it is a prefecture itself and its superior is still a prefecture.

The imperial court has already decided that once the current Changzhou prefect is transferred, Changzhou Prefecture will be downgraded to a prefecture, and the Wuxi County under its jurisdiction will also be dismantled.

Zhu Guoxiang spent more than a month in the Taihu Lake area and had a great time. He was reluctant to leave and continued to go south. He first went to Jiaxing, then to Hangzhou, and lived directly in a manor by the West Lake.

Li Wenhui, the Left Governor of Zhejiang Province, said: "This house was originally Zhu Jie's manor, and also included a large area of ​​lakes and farmland. The area was so large that when the government confiscated it and auctioned it, it was divided into five parts for bidding. Three of them were bought by the same wealthy businessman at a high price, barely preserving the integrity of Zhu Jie's garden."

"Who owns it now?" asked Zhu Guoxiang.

Li Wenhui said: "It will be returned to the Hangzhou government."

Zhu Guoxiang was quite curious: "Where is its original owner?"

Li Wenhui said: "Since Zhu Jie, this garden has had three owners. One owner was beheaded, one owner was exiled, and one owner went bankrupt and was imprisoned."

Zhu Guoxiang: "..."

This garden located on the edge of West Lake has changed its name several times because it is too strange. It is currently called Changsheng Garden.

When naming, just fill in what is missing.

Unfortunately, it couldn't last long.

The first owner was Zhu Zhen and his son, who were killed by Emperor Huizong of Song himself.

The second owner was Song Huizong.

The three owners behind were all wealthy businessmen from Zhejiang, and were all involved in a major corruption case. Some were beheaded, some were exiled, and some were imprisoned.

Li Wenhui said: "The Hangzhou government has put this house up for sale for several years, but no one has been willing to offer it. It is usually idle and lacks maintenance, but people often come to visit. Government or private gatherings are often held in Changsheng Garden."

Zhu Guoxiang took a look around and said, "It looks like it has been renovated recently."

"It has not been renovated, just to get rid of the bad luck," Li Wenhui said, "People in Hangzhou say that this garden is evil, but your Majesty has the mandate of heaven, so he is not afraid of any evil spirits."

"Hahahaha!" Zhu Guoxiang laughed when he heard that.

What he was laughing at was that the Ming Dynasty had been very effective in cracking down on corruption, having wiped out several wealthy businessmen in Hangzhou in a row, and even scared people so much that no one dared to buy the garden anymore.

The Li Wenhui in front of us is the first Jinshi in the Ming Dynasty.

His imperial examination ranking was not high, but his political achievements were outstanding.

He first served as an imperial censor, investigating and punishing 47 officials and 338 regular clerks. Then he became a civil affairs official, and wherever he went, he left a reputation as a "cruel official" and "honest".

Historically, Li Wenhui also served as an official in this style.

At that time, the Song Dynasty had just moved south, and many officials, whether they were peace advocates or war advocates, did not have any property in the south. After they arrived in the south of the Yangtze River, regardless of their political stance, they were busy taking bribes and breaking the law to make money.

As an imperial censor, Li Wenhui impeached corrupt officials every now and then, offending both the pro-war and pro-peace factions. He also went to suppress pirates as a deputy prime minister, and soon forced the pirates to surrender and incorporated them into the navy by means of division and attraction.

Just after defeating the pirates and returning to the court, Li Wenhui was dismissed from his position as prime minister by Qin Hui. He lived in seclusion and wrote books for the next ten years.

Li Wenhui was not appointed until Qin Hui became seriously ill. In four years, he served as prefect three times and governor once, and achieved remarkable political achievements. He presented the "Ten Essentials for Restoration" to the Southern Song court, analyzing ten aspects including politics, military, diplomacy, and economy, hoping that the court could eliminate the ills and revitalize the country.

Soon after, he fell ill and died.

Li Wenhui in this time and space was remembered by Zhu Ming. Because he was from the Imperial Censor Faction, he offended all other factions and was impeached many times by officials from various factions. Every time he was investigated, he was honest and selfless, and it was also found that his political achievements were deliberately suppressed.

At the beginning, it was Chen Dong who tried his best to protect him, but later on, Zhu Ming personally promoted him.

Li Wenhui was appointed as the Left Governor of Zhejiang Province because Zhu Ming bypassed the court to appoint him. Many of the chief officials in Zhejiang Province had fallen from grace, and the atmosphere in the officialdom had always been bad. Only someone like Li Wenhui could keep things under control.

Li Wenhui was one of Zhu Ming's designated candidates for prime minister.

He could only be an assistant prime minister, not a prime minister, because his popularity in official circles was "too bad" and he could not effectively integrate the various teams in the court.

There are six or seven other ministers like this.

Only with officials like them could the Ming Dynasty court remain vibrant.

Just look at the Right Governor Song Bo next to him and you will know that although the two are of the same level, Song Bo was suppressed throughout the whole process and did not even dare to interrupt Li Wenhui.

Li Wenhui did not regard Song Bo as a human being. In his eyes, the fate of this colleague was already determined, and it was only a matter of beheading or exile.

Since we are in Zhejiang to maintain order, we have to deal with a few important people.

He himself was honest and selfless, and had the emperor's protection, so naturally he was not afraid of any official.

Zhu Guoxiang, his wife and children settled down in Changsheng Garden, and went to the West Lake for boating from time to time. He liked this evil-looking garden very much and even wanted to stay there for two more years.

After touring the West Lake for a while, Zhu Guoxiang went ashore to enjoy the world.

Hangzhou's outer port is very busy, and the dock on the West Lake side is equally bustling.

Goods from various prefectures and counties in the south of the Yangtze River converged here via several rivers, and most of them were shipped to the outer ports for sea trade. Goods from overseas and Fujian and Guangdong were also shipped here from the outer port of Hangzhou and distributed to inland areas via rivers.

"Hey, why are there still foreigners working as laborers at the dock?" Zhu Guoxiang was quite curious.

It was impossible for the officials from the three offices of Zhejiang to accompany him all the time. They had already been sent away by Zhu Guoxiang to handle official business. The official tour guide beside him was Zhang Yan, the Zhejiang Education Commissioner.

Zhang Yan was also unclear: "I will call him in for questioning right away."

Soon, a foreign coolie was called over and knelt down and kowtowed before Zhu Guoxiang.

Zhu Guoxiang asked him to stand up and speak: "Which country were you from before?"

The foreigner replied: "My name is Yi Bangchang. I don't know where I was from. A few years before the fall of the Song Dynasty, I followed my father to Hangzhou and settled there. I was only six or seven years old at that time."

"Are you losing money in business?" Zhu Guoxiang asked.

The foreigner said, "The imperial court issued a decree that barbarians were not allowed to marry within their own ethnic group. I couldn't find a suitable wife at the time, so I married a woman from the Arab world. I thought that since I was a Turk and my wife was a Arab, it didn't count as marriage within the same ethnic group. As a result, we were reported and our property was confiscated from both our families."

Zhu Guoxiang laughed when he heard this: "In the eyes of Ming officials, how can they tell the difference between iron filings and Arabs? You should work hard and your children should stop getting married randomly."

"Yes..." The ghost looked very disappointed. He thought the emperor was going to return the property.

The matter was very clear and straightforward. A Jew and an Arab got married, and their entire families were ransacked!
This stems from the Ming Dynasty's "Intermarriage Law", which states that foreigners who come to settle in the Ming Dynasty can only intermarry with people of different ethnic groups in China.

Violators will have their homes confiscated!
In practice, it doesn’t matter what ethnic group you are from, as long as you look obviously different, you are a foreigner.

If they look similar, even if they are of different races, the government will not bother to intervene.

The Jew in front of me was just unlucky and had run into a trap. His family had run a business for many years, but because of a marriage, it was reduced to a state of hard labor. There are many such cases, mainly concentrated in the southern coastal provinces.

Now no one dares to violate the law. No matter if they come from India, the Middle East or Arabia, they all must marry the locals.

Han families of the same class naturally looked down on them.

No matter how rich these foreigners were, they could only marry poor Han people, hoping that after two or three generations of interbreeding, the foreign blood in them would be washed away.

Leave Ming Dynasty?

Only a fool would leave. How can you find a stable country like the Ming Dynasty?

Take the Jews, for example. Their core settlements had been occupied by the Crusaders, who had been slaughtering and oppressing the Jews for decades, until they slightly relaxed their policies 20 years ago.

Most of the Jews driven out by the Crusaders now moved to Baghdad, where they were also oppressed by the Seljuk Sultan (the second-ranked Sultan).

There are Jews in Europe too.

Take Britain for example. Less than 8% of the population is Jewish, but they pay % of the country's taxes. Who made them greedy and rich? In another hundred years, Britain will launch a vigorous anti-Jewish movement.

It’s so hateful!
"Give him fifty cents as compensation for delaying him from moving the goods," said Zhu Guoxiang.

The emperor was also very stingy and only gave 50 cents as a reward. The foreigner thanked him profusely and left.

Zhu Guoxiang called over another Han coolie and asked, "What's your name? How many people are there in your family?"

The coolie replied: "My name is Xu Gongtian, also known as Xu San. I have a family... Does it count as a country family?"

Zhu Guoxiang said with a smile: "So what?"

Xu San started talking: "My father divided the family when he was young. He originally had a few acres of small land, but it was later occupied by the damn Zhu Mian. When the tyrant came to Hangzhou, treacherous officials occupied Zhu Zhen's land. Fortunately, the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty showed mercy and divided the land of corrupt officials in the previous dynasty. Because my family had some land bones, we were able to get a full twelve acres, and two acres of it were paddy fields by the river..."

The guy talked more and more, even talking about what crops he grew at home. Zhu Guoxiang listened with a smile and did not interrupt him.

After talking about this and that for a long time, Xu San finally said, "There are too many brothers in my family, and the twelve acres of land is not enough to feed them. I came to Hangzhou to work when I was fifteen, and I first killed chickens for people..."

After talking for a long time, Xu San said, "I asked someone to help me find a wife a few years ago, and I finally got married. We also rented a house outside Hangzhou. We both have to work. If we have a son, we will send him back to the countryside and ask our old mother to raise him. We will give our family an extra two or three hundred yuan a month."

After talking for so long, he still didn't make it clear how many people there were in his hometown. He only said that the couple rented a house outside Hangzhou and sent their child back to the countryside to be given to their old mother.

"How much do you earn in a day?" Zhu Guoxiang asked.

Xu San said, "It depends on how busy the dock is. If it's busy, you can earn more than 200 coins a day, and you'll be too tired to do anything at night. My wife's job is much more stable. When she was an apprentice in a textile factory, she could earn 30 coins a day. After she became a master, she could earn 120 coins a day. Now she's a skilled worker, and her daily salary has risen to 180 coins."

Is it too much?

not much.

This is Hangzhou!
According to various literati poems or notes, we can know that:

In the middle of the Northern Song Dynasty, there was a servant in Huaixi who was very appreciated and could earn 100 coins a day. Others were very envious of him because he could not only support his wife and children, but also eat meat and drink wine frequently.

In the late Northern Song Dynasty, farmers in the western suburbs of Luoyang could earn 100 coins by selling firewood in the city. Their life was pretty good.

But it takes at least one and a half to two days to earn this hundred coins. First, you have to go to the western mountainous area of ​​Luoyang to chop wood, and then carry it to Luoyang city to sell.

The daily income of Sichuan fishermen (a couple) in the early Southern Song Dynasty was no more than 100 iron coins at most - the excessive issuance of iron coins at that time had led to its depreciation, and the price of grain had risen due to the anti-Jin war, so it was just enough for the couple to eat.

By the middle of the Southern Song Dynasty, the daily income of fishermen in the Three Gorges region (a family of three) was less than 100 iron coins. However, due to excessive currency issuance and soaring prices, these 100 coins were no longer enough to eat.

The above four examples are all in suburban or rural areas.

Now let’s talk about the city.

In the city of Cangzhou in the Northern Song Dynasty, a young boy could earn dozens of coins a day by selling fruits, but it was barely enough for him and his old mother to live.

Things were even worse in the middle of the Southern Song Dynasty. Due to soaring prices, a family of three set up a stall in Raozhou City, selling pig blood soup and mutton blood soup. They earned 200 coins a day and were still very poor.

Because everything in the city costs money, and rent is enough to worry about.

Xu San, however, was full of hope for life. He counted on his fingers and told the emperor: "Sometimes I earn more, sometimes less. Even if it's six strings of cash a month, it's a little less. My wife can earn more than five strings of cash a month, and together with me, it's eleven strings of cash a month."

"The monthly rent is four and a half kan..."

Zhu Guoxiang finally interrupted: "How much is the rent?"

Xu San said, "Four and a half strings of cash a month."

Zhu Guoxiang asked: "Is the house you rented nice?"

Xu San said, "It's a shabby house outside the city, next to the countryside."

"This also costs four and a half strings of cash in rent?" Zhu Guoxiang asked in surprise.

Xu San's tone was somewhat proud, and he said with a smile: "This is Hangzhou!"

Except during wartime, real estate in big cities is always in short supply.

This is true both in ancient and modern times.

Take Kaifeng for example. In the middle of the Northern Song Dynasty, the rent for a shabby house in Kaifeng was as high as 5 guan per month (official agent price, private rental can be lower). The salary of a newly appointed Jinshi who stayed in Beijing was not enough to rent a better house!

As maritime trade becomes more prosperous, property prices in Hangzhou are also rising, and even the rents in suburban areas have gone up.

Xu San continued to calculate: "I give my parents one guan every month, and my husband and I spend about three guan. I can save two and a half guan a month, and thirty guan a year. After deducting the rice and flour I send to her parents' home during the New Year and other festivals. I also need to buy clothes and bedding, take medicine for headaches and fevers, and if I don't go to work when I'm sick, I won't get paid... I can save at least eight guan a year!"

Xu San said mysteriously, in a low voice: "Last year alone, I saved more than nine strings of cash and three hundred coins."

Zhu Guoxiang remained silent.

This is a couple who both work. One of them is a dock laborer, and the other is a textile worker. They both have high incomes among the working population.

They worked very hard in Hangzhou but could only save eight or nine strings of cash a year.

If it were other families, they would probably only have a little surplus after having enough food and clothing throughout the year.

Of course, coolies and textile workers were very tired, so it was estimated that the couple had good food and could even have meat every now and then.

Xu San said happily: "My wife and I have discussed it. We will rent the shabby house now. We will save money for 20 to 30 years. When we are 50 or 60 years old, we can buy a few thatched houses in the suburbs. By then, my son will be able to earn money, and we can use the money he earns to renovate the thatched houses into tiled houses."

Zhu Guoxiang sighed: "I have ambition."

Xu San smiled and said, "Maybe it won't take 20 or 30 years. Although the rent has increased dramatically in recent years, wages have also been rising. When my wife and I get paid more, I'm afraid we'll be able to buy a house in the suburbs in a dozen years!"

Zhu Guoxiang did not ask any more questions, but said to his attendant: "Give him five strings of cash, it will take up a lot of his time."

When Xu San received the reward money, he smiled even more happily and immediately knelt down and kowtowed to express his gratitude.

After the man left, the education commissioner Zhang Yan exclaimed: "A peasant couple who come to the city to work can save nearly ten strings of cash a year. According to what he said about their daily expenses, they must eat meat often. The common people in the city are so prosperous, it is really a prosperous era!"

Zhu Guoxiang muttered: "Perhaps, this can also be considered a prosperous era."

(End of this chapter)