Guide to Traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty.

Chapter 1144 Postscript : This Ming Dynasty is a bit strange

Xie Yan sat cross-legged on the bed, looking up at the top of the mosquito net.

Covered by the mosquito net was a large carved bed that seemed to be worth a fortune.

Have I traveled through time?
Xie Yan looked down at his clothes again. They looked a bit like a shirt. The material was very good and felt very smooth, as if it was made of silk.

Xie Yan was a little confused.

He was an ordinary small town test-taker who knew nothing when filling out his college entrance examination application. I don't know where his father found an expert who gave him a fancy analysis, and he filled in civil engineering without thinking.

The internship happened to coincide with the last wave of real estate boom, and prices were rising across the country to reduce inventory. Although the work was exhausting and the salary was low, Xie Yan could still see hope.

Just in the second year after he became a full-time construction worker, the epidemic hit.

Xie Yan took off his construction clothes and safety helmet, put on the yellow robe with a heart full of grievances, and while delivering takeout, he taught himself programming, intending to transform from a glorious worker to an equally glorious farmer.

Coders are also farmers.

It is obvious that the delivery man has little time to study and is so tired that he rides his electric scooter back to ancient times.

During the epidemic, Xie Yan read a lot of online novels, including historical novels. But with his historical knowledge, he is not qualified to argue with others online.

So, which dynasty is this?

He touched his head and found that his hair was still there, so it should not be from the Qing Dynasty.

Xie Yan looked everywhere for his clothes but couldn't find them on the bed. He lifted the mosquito net and found a pair of slippers on the low coffee table in front of the bed.

It’s short and long, so it shouldn’t be a coffee table, right?

Xie Yan picked up the slippers and examined them carefully. They were similar to modern styles. The soles were made of layers of hemp rope, and the contact surface of the heels was actually made of leather. It seemed that the family he traveled through was very wealthy.

There was a high stool next to the bed, and on the stool was a set of clothes.

Not only were the clothes neatly folded, but the coat was placed at the bottom, making it convenient for him to pick up the underwear on top and put it on.

This thing also looks a bit like a shirt.

So what I'm wearing is pajamas?

As expected of a wealthy family in ancient times, they were so particular about how they dressed.

After studying for a long time, Xie Yan put them on layer by layer, without any instruction, and he did not make any mistakes, as if he still retained some daily habits of this body.

He didn't know much about Hanfu and couldn't recognize what these clothes were called.

The coat doesn't even have buttons, it's a bit like a silk windbreaker. It can be worn open, and there are strings at the waist to tie it up.

After putting on his clothes, Xie Yan began to walk around the bedroom, and a floor-length dressing mirror caught his attention.

Were there such large glass mirrors in ancient times?
Xie Yan suddenly remembered the content in the novel, it seemed that ancient glass mirrors contained mercury.

A mirror this big would contain so much mercury that it would kill people!

At this moment, Xie Yan saw another clock.

It is not from the Qing Dynasty, and there is a clock, so it must have been brought by missionaries in the late Ming Dynasty.

Late Ming Dynasty?

Xie Yan was stunned for a moment. Was Dorgon coming to kill him soon?

I grass!

Xie Yan no longer cared about missing his parents in another time and space. A fear of known history enveloped his whole body. He just wanted to know whether he was in the south or the north, and whether the emperor at that time was Wanli or Chongzhen.

With his knowledge of Ming Dynasty history, he only remembered that there were Wanli and Chongzhen in the late Ming Dynasty. He knew there were two more emperors in between, but he forgot what the reign titles were.

Hey, were there two or three emperors between Wanli and Chongzhen?
Xie Yan pondered for a long time in front of the clock, and finally remembered a carpenter emperor. It seemed to be Chongzhen's brother, whose name was Tianqi.

Damn it, I can neither govern a country nor lead an army to fight a war. What am I doing traveling back to the end of the Ming Dynasty?
If the Eight Banners soldiers come, just surrender immediately.

But according to novels written in the late Ming Dynasty, the Eight Banners soldiers burned, killed, looted, and often even spared no surrendered gentry.

"Yeah!"

The bedroom door was pushed open, and a young girl came in with medicine, shouting in surprise: "My dear, can you get up now?"

"You are……"

Just after uttering two words, Xie Yan suddenly shut up.

He found that what he said, as well as what the girl said, were not Mandarin, and he had no idea where the dialect was.

The girl put the tray down, picked up the medicine bowl and blew into it again and again.

Xie Yan looked outside the house and saw that there was no one there, so he asked tentatively, "What's wrong with me?"

The girl sighed, "My dear, do you still not remember anything? You went out on the street with Zhang's eldest son and the others, and were hit by a car. You have been taking medicine these days, and you are so confused that you don't even recognize your family."

"Oh."

Xie Yan instantly felt relieved, not afraid of being suspected for saying something wrong, and asked again: "What year is this year? Um... I mean the reign title."

"The third year of Jiaqing. What happened?" the girl answered casually.

Xie Yan automatically put himself in the shoes of Jiajing and a smile suddenly appeared on his face.

He knew that Jiaqing was the cousin of Emperor Zhengde. He had read "The Ming Dynasty 1566", which was still a long time before the Qing army entered the pass in the late Ming Dynasty.

As he thought about it, Xie Yan felt something was strange. The character in the TV series seemed to be called Jiajing.

Jiajing Jiajing, every home is clean.

After much thought, Xie Yan finally realized that Emperor Jiaqing seemed to be Cixi's husband.

That’s not right. Wasn’t Cixi’s husband Emperor Daoguang?
Xie Yan was suddenly shocked. Jiaqing should be the emperor of the Qing Dynasty. He had hair on his head. Could he be causing trouble in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom? He was probably a rich kid in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's territory.

It was the end of the Qing Dynasty, no wonder there were such large glass mirrors.

But it's still not right. If it was the territory of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the maid should answer with Hong Xiuquan's reign title.

The girl watched Xie Yan finish drinking the medicine, then picked up the bowl and walked out, saying, "My dear, don't wander around. I'll go and inform the lady right away."

Xie Yan's mind was now in a mess, because he thought of Emperor Xianfeng again, as if it was Emperor Xianfeng who suppressed the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

So, who was Cixi's husband? Xie Yan walked to the window in a daze. There was a writing desk with four treasures of the study and several books on it.

He glanced at the cover of the top book, which had the words "Travels in Australia" printed on it in large letters.

It’s over, it’s indeed the Qing Dynasty, and it’s the late Qing Dynasty at that.

Otherwise, how would the Ming Dynasty know about Australia?

But how many emperors of the Qing Dynasty was Emperor Jiaqing? Was he the husband of Empress Dowager Cixi?

Xie Yan began to regret choosing science. If he had studied liberal arts, he would definitely know.

He opened the book and read it. The author was Xia Changyong, but Xie Yan had no impression of this person.

And it is written in the preface: "In the eleventh year of Dingtai, I went to Southeast Asia at the invitation of a friend..."

Seeing this, Xie Yan was stunned. What era name was Dingtai?
Was there an Emperor Dingtai in the Qing Dynasty?

I wouldn’t have traveled to an imaginary world!
There were hurried footsteps outside, and a middle-aged woman came in. When she saw me, she said with joy, "Liu Lang, you can finally walk! Where does your body still hurt? Does your head still hurt?"

Xie Yan immediately covered his forehead: "I still have a headache, I can't remember anything."

The middle-aged woman quickly pulled him to sit down: "The doctor said you had a head injury, and he has used acupuncture and medicine to dissolve the blood clots. Don't use your brain these days, and you will recover slowly. You don't remember anyone?"

Xie Yan pretended to think, then covered his head with his hands and said in pain: "I can't remember. I get a headache when I think about it."

The middle-aged woman was extremely distressed: "Oh, my poor son, if you can't remember him, don't think about him anymore. Wait until the evening when your father, your brother and sister come home, then you can recognize him again."

"Mom, I remember." Xie Yan said.

The middle-aged woman laughed and said, "Where did you learn that? Call me mother instead of mother."

Xie Yan looked confused. Didn’t people in ancient times call each other “mother”?

The mother and son chatted for a while, and Xie Yan roughly understood the situation at home.

He has a father who works, but no one knows what he does.

The eldest brother stayed in his hometown, this is not their hometown.

My second brother and younger sister both study in this city.

He is the third child in the family, but the sixth among his cousins, so his mother always calls him Liu Lang.

His mother was afraid that he would be tired, so she quickly took everyone away and left the boy alone to keep him company.

The boy was about fifteen or sixteen years old and his name was Wang Sheng.

Xie Yan asked: "Are you my book boy?"

Wang Sheng smiled and said, "I am your partner. My grandfather's generation followed the old man and worked as a servant in the Xie family. I have been your partner since I was a child. A book boy provides books and ink for the elders. We are called partners if we grew up together."

Xie Yan became more and more confused: "Partners just play together?"

Wang Sheng said, "We played together and studied together. The prime minister of the current dynasty and his childhood friend studied together and passed the imperial examination together. This has become a good story. My husband also made an agreement with me that we will pass the imperial examination together. Have you forgotten this?"

Xie Yan could only inquire carefully, fortunately Wang Sheng did not suspect anything.

In this seemingly imaginary world, servants can also take the imperial examination, and servants must sign a contract. The maximum contract period is five years, and it must be renewed when it expires.

However, in the past few decades, the number of servants who have been employed for generations has increased. Because they become more comfortable with the job over time, both employers and employees are willing to renew their contracts indefinitely, and even the next generation will continue to work as servants in the same family.

Of course, once a servant passed the imperial examination, the master-servant contract must be terminated immediately, and the employer could not ask for liquidated damages.

Therefore, some tyrannical employers would not allow their sons' friends to take the imperial examinations, no matter how good their studies were. Such matters could be brought to court, and in principle, it was not allowed to prevent the imperial examinations, but in practice, the government was too lazy to intervene.

There were also some far-sighted employers who encouraged their servants to take the imperial examinations and even funded their servants to study for the examinations.

Wang Sheng said, "Some time ago, there was a debate in the newspapers. Some moralists called for the abolition of child labor. No one under the age of twelve could sign employment contracts. They said that the situation of child laborers in factories was miserable. They also wanted to abolish domestic servants. No one was allowed to employ children under the age of twelve."

"A factory? A newspaper?"

Xie Yan's eyes lit up when he heard this: "Where is the newspaper?"

Wang Sheng said, "In the gentleman's study."

Xie Yan shared a study with his second brother and younger sister. Because he wanted to maintain his privacy, he often took books and pens back to his bedroom.

When he arrived at the study, Xie Yan was stunned for a moment.

There was a map of the Ming Dynasty's territory hanging on the wall!
Xie Yan turned his head and asked, "What dynasty is this?"

"Ming Dynasty." Wang Sheng said.

Xie Yan asked again: "Which dynasty came before the Ming Dynasty?"

"Song, Liao, Northern and Southern Dynasties." Wang Sheng said.

"What's further ahead?" Xie Yan asked.

Wang Sheng said: "Sui, Tang and Five Dynasties."

Xie Yan asked: "What about the Yuan Dynasty?"

Wang Sheng asked back: "What Yuan Dynasty?"

“Have you ever heard of Genghis Khan Temujin?”

"No."

"Where's Yue Fei?"

"Yes, I know. He is a founding general and the Prince of Hanoi."

"Where's Han Shizhong?"

"He is also a founding general, the Prince of Anning."

"Are they all the founding generals of the Ming Dynasty?"

"My dear, I know you don't remember anything. But outside the house, the founding prince cannot talk about it casually."

After the Northern Song Dynasty came the Ming Dynasty, skipping the Southern Song Dynasty and the Yuan Dynasty?
Xie Yan looked up at the "Map of Ming Dynasty Territory" hanging on the wall. This Ming Dynasty was a bit strange!

(End of this chapter)