Guide to Traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty.

Chapter 1142 [Revisiting the Old Place]

Although it was a temporary change of route, local officials already knew about it.

After all, there is a team of nearly a thousand people coming, and their food, drink, defecation and urination need to be prepared in advance. Some clippers have already set off to make arrangements.

The officials probably heard about the temper of the retired emperor, so the prefects and county magistrates all stayed in their respective offices to work, and at the same time sent their trusted aides to Daming Town to wait at all times.

As soon as the fleet arrived, these confidants immediately returned to the provincial capital and county town to report the news.

The dock in Daming Town is very small and it had been cleared half a month in advance. Passenger ships were not allowed to stay there for long to avoid the retired emperor's fleet having nowhere to dock.

This was a real nuisance to the residents. Many businesses in the town were closed, so that the Daming Town that Zhu Guoxiang saw seemed a bit deserted.

There are only 27 towns in the country that have officials stationed there to manage them. Except for Daming Town, all the others are economically developed and densely populated.

The official title of the town mayor is town supervisor, and there are two types of rank: seventh rank and eighth rank.

The town supervisor of Daming Town was a seventh-rank official named Shi Jizhi.

When he heard that the fleet was coming, he rushed out of the office and went to the dock to greet them with a group of officials.

In fact, there are only three official clerks, and the rest are temporary workers.

Formal clerks must be approved by higher authorities and reported to the Ministry of Personnel for registration. For example, a formal clerk in a county government office must pass the assessment of the clerks of the prefectural government office (or state government office) and then be reported to the Ministry of Personnel.

As for the informal clerks in the county government, the county government’s clerk office can handle it, and the state officials generally do not interfere.

Even officials of the same rank were now divided into high and low. They made their own distinctions, and the court did not recognize them.

The clerks in the central cabinet, ministries, courts, and temples called themselves "Confucian clerks" and looked down on the clerks in other government offices. These people often had the title of "xiucai" and failed to pass the imperial examinations many times before they took the examinations to become central clerks. There were even a few who had the title of "juren".

The clerks in the main departments of provinces, prefectures and states called themselves "Jingli" and looked down on the clerks in other government offices, many of whom had the title of scholar.

There are many such classifications, which have formed a chain of discrimination.

Clerk, student clerk, registrar, savings clerk and so on, a bunch of self-appointed unofficial titles!

The more elegant the name, the closer it is to the top of the discrimination chain.

"The Emperor has returned home!"

"The Emperor has returned home!"

Shouts rose one after another, spreading from the center of town to the surrounding areas. Some people even rowed small boats, shouting towards both banks of the Han River and its tributaries.

The crowd grew larger and larger, and those who could no longer squeeze in went up the hills and trees to look out.

In fact, there are not many "indigenous people" in Daming Town.

In particular, the original people of Daming Township, because they followed Zhu and his son to start the rebellion, those who survived became officials and officers. Those who died also received pensions and preferential treatment, and their families were given more fertile land in Henan and Hubei.

So people moved away one after another, and no more than 30% stayed.

Most of the people living in Daming Town before us moved here later, and most of them were those who escaped from the mountains.

But no matter whether they are "indigenous" or not, they all regard the emperor as a fellow countryman and feel proud of it as if they have a close relationship with the royal family.

After the town supervisor Shi Jizhi led the officials and civilians to pay their respects, he accompanied them carefully: "Your Majesty, the town streets of Daming Town have not expanded much, and there is only one more inn in the town. The town government is also very small..."

"Just stay as you arranged." Zhu Guoxiang said.

Shi Jizhi said: "After all, this area is surrounded by mountains and rivers, and there is not much flat land available for camping. I have vacated many houses, and your Majesty's entourage will need to temporarily stay in the homes of ordinary people."

Zhu Guoxiang nodded and said, "Okay." He then instructed the eunuchs around him, "Remember to compensate the people who borrowed the house to live in."

Then an old friend came forward to pay his respects.

A man in his thirties came to Zhu Guoxiang with his wife and children: "I am Tian Zhifang, a humble servant, and I pay my respects to your majesty, to the saint, to the saint..."

Zhu Guoxiang immediately had an impression: "Your father is Tian Er?"

"That's right, Your Majesty actually still remembers it," Tian Zhifang said happily, "My name was given by Your Majesty himself."

"Why don't I remember?"

Zhu Guoxiang smiled and said, "My father and I stayed at your house when we passed by here. Where are your father and brother?"

Tian Zhifang said: "My parents, brothers and sisters are all away. My parents died of illness a few years ago. My eldest brother is a military officer and my sister married a civil servant. My second brother died in the war with the Jin Kingdom. One of his sons is also a military officer and another son has passed the imperial examination. I am the only one who is useless. I was still young when Your Majesty started the rebellion, so I stayed here to manage some of the family business."

Zhu Guoxiang nodded and said, "It's fine to stay in my hometown. Where's your third uncle?"

Tian Zhifang said: "My third uncle's family moved away. All his paddy fields and tea fields were given to me. His dry fields were given to the neighbors in the village."

Zhu Guoxiang pointed to the old inn in the town and said, "This is also yours, right?"

Tian Zhifang said: "Your Majesty gave the inn to my father, and my father left it to me."

"Then you must be the richest man in Daming Town." Zhu Guoxiang joked.

Tian Zhifang chuckled and did not make any excuses.

Shangbai Village is also under the jurisdiction of Daming Town, so the richest man in Daming Town must be Dalang of the Bai family!

After chatting with Tian Zhifang, another middle-aged man came forward and said, "Zhang Lin, the rice shop servant, greets His Majesty, greets the Saint..."

Zhu Guoxiang had no memory of it at first, but when he heard about the rice shop, he remembered it instantly and asked, "How much rice can one iron coin buy?"

"One handful." Zhang Lin replied. Zhu Guoxiang shook his head: "Not enough."

Zhang Lin said, "Then grab another handful."

Zhu Guoxiang laughed out loud.

Shen Yourong said: "I have never bought rice in your shop, but I have sold wheat in your shop."

Zhang Lin said: "The saint's wheat is very good, and the bran is winnowed cleanly."

Shen Yourong asked: "Now you open your own rice shop?"

Zhang Lin said, "Thanks to the gift from your majesty and the saint, I now run a tea and rice shop. I not only sell rice, but also tea, and my business is very good. The tea, in particular, comes from the tea mountain gifted by your majesty. When foreign merchants pass by by boat, they come to my shop specifically to buy tea, saying that drinking this tea can get a touch of the emperor's aura."

Everyone present laughed.

"Are these all your children?" Zhu Guoxiang asked.

Zhang Lin said, "The eldest daughter is married. There is still one son who can study. When Bai Hou (Bai Sheng) came back last time, he was already studying in the county school, and later entered the Yangzhou Academy. The boy has passed the examination and is now transferred to the Hanzhong Prefecture School."

"Then I wish your son will be the top scorer in high school." Zhu Guoxiang said.

Zhang Lin was overjoyed and grinned, "Your Majesty has spoken the truth. If that kid fails the exam again next time, I will break his legs!"

Zhu Guoxiang asked: "Did you fail the imperial examination?"

Zhang Lin said: "I took the exam once, but I didn't pass."

Zhu Guoxiang chatted with a few old friends for a while, and villagers from Shangbai Village and Xiabai Village came one after another.

The children who once listened to Zhu Ming telling stories about Journey to the West are now in their thirties or forties, and they have brought their children to pay their respects.

Many elderly people were so excited that they cried when they saw Zhu Guoxiang, and they told stories about how Zhu Guoxiang and his son led the villagers to defend against bandits. They also said that if Zhu Guoxiang had not been so brave, Shangbai Village would have been looted by bandits.

Bai Dalang also came by boat.

Zhu Guoxiang asked, "Did your second brother return home after he resigned?"

Bai Chongwen said: "My second brother likes the waterside villages in the south of the Yangtze River. After resigning from his post, he moved to Fenghua County, Ningbo Prefecture."

"He did run far." Zhu Guoxiang complained.

Bai Jilang was very smart and knew when to stop. When he was the governor of Iwami Ginzan, he embezzled tens of thousands of kan, and sold the land, houses and shops granted to him for more than 10,000 kan. He also had other legal and gray incomes.

With a total savings of about 100,000 guan, he resigned from his post and went to live in seclusion in Jiangnan. And because of his age and rank, he could receive a pension as long as he was alive.

He even did not live in Hangzhou or Ningbo, but chose to buy land and build a house in the suburbs of Fenghua County, becoming a rich man far away from home. In recent years, he also started a small business, purchasing some goods and shipping them to Ningbo Port to sell to sea merchants.

What a carefree life.

After talking about the current situation for a while, when Zhu Guoxiang asked about his children and grandchildren, Bai Chongwen sighed and said, "My sons are useless. Not only can they not pass the imperial examination, but they are also not good at running a business. The eldest and second grandsons don't like to study either. Only the eldest son of the second son is a little bit decent and can be ranked in the upper reaches of the county school."

"Children and grandchildren have their own blessings." Zhu Guoxiang comforted.

Accompanied by everyone, Zhu Guoxiang went to various places in Daming Town for sightseeing.

Many places have been renovated, but it remains basically the same.

The inn was built under the personal supervision of Zhu Guoxiang. Now, several large bunk beds have been added to provide a rest space for caravan crew members and poor people passing by.

The original village school has been upgraded to a branch of the county primary school, with the organization of a government school. This is unique in the country.

Wang Anshi established a four-level official school system of primary school, county school, state school, and imperial school, and the requirements for primary school principals were not high. However, the primary school in Daming Village required the principal to be at least a juren, and to be personally assessed by the education commissioner.

Then they went to see the tea mountains by the river downstream, which was where the father and son encountered the treasure pot.

"Why is it tied with red cloth?" Zhu Guoxiang asked, pointing at a tea tree.

Shi Jizhi, the town supervisor, explained: "An old friend of your Majesties said that when the emperor was in Daming Township, he said that this tea tree entangled the Heavenly Horse Treasure Bowl. The villagers all said that the mountains in Daming Township are all dragon veins, and this tea tree is the eye of the dragon vein. The Heavenly Horse is spiritual and has been ordered by the Lord of Heaven to wait for the emperor to come beside this tea tree."

Zhu Guoxiang didn't know whether to laugh or cry: "Nonsense."

Shi Jizhi said: "Many villagers would come to the tea tree to pray for blessings. Even in Hanzhong City, people would come by boat to pray for blessings. Over time, the tea tree was no longer pruned, but allowed to grow for worship."

Tian Zhifang also said: "This tree is worshipped as the tea god. Tea garden owners throughout Hanzhong Prefecture, as well as local tea merchants and passing tea merchants, will come here to worship the tea tree."

"Does it work?" Zhu Guoxiang asked with a smile.

Tian Zhifang said: "Everyone says it is extremely effective. We are discussing building a temple for the tea god."

Zhu Guoxiang said: "It is okay to build a temple, but it cannot occupy farmland, it cannot own temple land, and it cannot receive government funding."

Just think of it as tourism development.

Shi Jizhi hurriedly asked, "Your Majesty, can you write a plaque for this temple?"

Zhu Guoxiang shook his head very solemnly.

Shi Jizhi smiled awkwardly and lowered his head, he seemed to have misunderstood.

Zhu Guoxiang looked at the tea tree for a long time, and when he left, he said to the eunuch, "Xiao Zhong, tie a piece of red cloth on it for me too."

(End of this chapter)