Guide to Traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty.

Chapter 1192 Epilogue : Fame

At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, the capital of Hebei Province was Zhending (less than 20 miles away from Shijiazhuang city).

In order to control Youyan and guard against the southward advance of the Jin army, the capital of Hebei Province was soon moved to Baoding, and this setting has continued to this day.

Today's Hebei Province is very large, and both the Balin Left and Right Banners are included. There is even a Linhuang General specially set up there.

The Tianjin area is also under the jurisdiction of Hebei Province.

However, Zhangjiakou, Zhuolu, Huailai, Kangbao, Guyuan, Chicheng, Fengning, Luanping and other places were cut out and assigned to Beijing Yanshan Prefecture.

Today, Beijing, Baoding and Linhuang (Balinzuoqi) are all important political, economic and military centers in the north.

Another important town is Zunhua.

Only the county of Zunhua was set up as Jingzhou, which was a direct-controlled prefecture under the jurisdiction of Hebei Province.

It’s nothing but iron ore!

Zunhua Iron and Steel Plant, second only to Xuzhou Iron and Steel Plant in status, has a railway directly connected to Beijing and Baoding.

……

Xie Yan's hometown is Duliu Town, Jinghai County, Cangzhou.

Jinghai County, which is the later Jinghai District of Tianjin, was first called Jinghai County during the Northern Song Dynasty, but the county-level division was soon abolished.

Why?

Because of the flooding of the Yellow River, the county town is gone!

It was located on the border between the Song and Liao dynasties, and a number of military forts were set up there. Duliu Town originated from Duliudongzhai in the Northern Song Dynasty.

When the Ming Dynasty first recovered this place, it was desolate and sparsely populated, and the Yellow River often flooded.

It was not until Zhu Ming ordered the control of the Yellow River and artificially changed its course to force it to flow eastward that Jinghai County gradually recovered.

Xie Yan's ancestors were first separated and relocated to Duliu Beizhai, where the living environment was better. As their descendants multiplied, they crossed the old course of the Yellow River and moved to Duliu Dongzhai to reclaim wasteland.

Both branches of the Xie family are located in Jinghai County, Cangzhou.

By the way, the Yellow River project during Zhu Ming's reign calmed the Yellow River floods for a hundred years. Now problems occur every now and then. In the past twenty years, there have been small-scale breaches from time to time.

There is no way around it. The long-term deposition of silt has raised the downstream riverbed.

The people of prefectures and counties that were often affected by disasters all missed the reigns of Emperor Taizu and Emperor Taizong. It was even widely circulated among the people that the Yellow River was always clear and floods had never occurred because of the rule of sages at that time.

In the lower reaches of the Yellow River, there are many privately built temples dedicated to Taizu, Taizong and the heroes who contributed to the river management at that time.

Local officials turned a blind eye to this because they simply couldn't control it.

As the floods in the Yellow River increased, local officials even acquiesced to large-scale sacrificial activities for the people in order to let them vent their emotions and pray for peace. It seemed that if they worshipped Taizu, Taizong and the heroes who made great contributions to river management, the floods would recede quickly.

In Cangzhou Prefecture, outside the Imperial Examination Hall.

Xie Kan and his friends are looking at the list.

He passed the county examination successfully and was now checking the list of the prefectural examination.

When the first list was posted, Xie Kan looked at it again and again but did not find his name.

The second list was posted, but still no answer.

Xie Kan was too lazy to look at it anymore. The later the papers were posted, the higher the exam rankings were. It was impossible for him to be ranked so high.

Failed the exam, failed the exam to become a scholar for the first time!
Xie Yan's friend Wang Sheng was also looking at the list at this time and also did very poorly in the exam.

"I passed, I passed!" shouted an examinee from the same county.

Although Xie Kan, Wang Sheng and others were frustrated, they could only step forward to congratulate: "Congratulations, Wang Balang!"

Wang Balang's name is Wang Pan, from the Wang family of Sanhuai Hall. He was also forcibly relocated by the imperial court at the beginning of the Ming Dynasty. At the beginning, it was very hard to reclaim the wasteland, and the imperial examinations were completely abandoned. It was not until two or three generations later that the imperial examinations were resumed.

Someone else shouted, "I got it, too! I got it, too!"

Xie Kan recognized this man; he was Zhu Qingfan, a scholar from Sannu Town, Jinghai County.

This surname is related to the surname of the Ming Dynasty.

But he was not from the royal family, but was a descendant of a foreign race who changed his surname to Zhu.

Zhu Qingfan's ancestors were Xi people, but now there is no Xi ethnic group anymore, and all Xi people have been assimilated into Han people. They don't even admit that their ancestors were from other ethnic groups, and they randomly find their own ancestors, even Zhu Wen was found.

Although Jinghai County has a large territory, it is a small county in terms of population when it comes to the imperial examinations, with only 10 places for scholars in each session.

There was also a member of the Xie family who passed the exam, but he was not from Xie Yan's branch, but from the Xie family on the other side of the Yellow River. In terms of seniority, he could be considered a distant cousin of Xie Yan, so distant that his family members were not ranked together.

"Xie Erlang, let's go have a drink together!"

"I'll forget it."

"This is your first time taking the imperial examination. It's normal to fail. Don't be discouraged. Let's go, let's have some wine!"

"..."

Xie Kan, Wang Sheng and other unsuccessful candidates were taken to a restaurant by scholars from the same county, mainly to celebrate the successful candidates and to strengthen the friendship among fellow townsmen.

Everyone was talking loudly along the way, and Xie Kan felt uncomfortable listening silently.

He thought he would definitely pass the examination and planned to take the exam with his elder brother. But he failed the provincial examination.

There were many scholars gathering for dinner today. It was only the middle of the morning, but they had already found several restaurants that were full. They had no choice but to run to the suburban area, but people left one after another on the way.

Finally, a restaurant was chosen, and only about twenty scholars from Jinghai County were left for the dinner.

Everyone asked the bartender to put the tables together, agreed to go Dutch, ordered a table full of food and drinks and started chatting.

As we were chatting, Cheng Gu, a failed scholar from the same town, asked, "Second Brother Xie, why didn't Liu Lang return to his hometown to take the imperial examination? He started elementary school with me and went to elementary school together for four years. Logically, he should have taken the imperial examination this year."

Xie Kan explained: "Sixth brother went to Luoyang and was invited to attend the Royal Academic Conference."

Everyone laughed.

Wang Pan, who passed the imperial examination this year, said, "Brother, please don't tease us. I have also seen your Liu Lang. What academic conference did he attend?"

Xie Kan sighed, "You don't read academic journals, and you don't know the secrets of the academic world. It won't make sense even if I explain it to you."

Xie Yiyong, the distant relative who passed the imperial examination, said, "Could it be that your sixth brother is a child prodigy? In the hundred years since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, there has only been one child prodigy in the entire Cangzhou Prefecture."

"Believe it or not." Xie Kan was too lazy to explain. Even if he brought an academic journal and pointed out the author's name, these guys would think it was the same name.

More and more people came into the restaurant. It was still early for lunch, but the restaurant was full very quickly.

For more than 130 years since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, prices have generally been rising.

But the prices of some commodities remain stable, such as food, with almost no major fluctuations, and have only increased by about 40% over the past hundred years.

This was of course the result of the crazy transportation of grain from overseas. Even if they were not colonies of the Ming Dynasty, many countries were selling grain to Ming merchants.

Moreover, the northern grasslands and Australia also continued to sell meat to the Ming mainland. It didn't matter that the preservation technology was backward, as long as it was made into pickled products. Even urban civilians could often eat pickled meat.

The prices of salt and cloth have even dropped compared to the early days of the country, thanks to the development of productivity and the reduction of transportation costs.

The prices of daily necessities were stable, and overall income was rising, which meant that almost all scholars who could afford to study could afford to go out to eat in restaurants - but there were also some poor scholars who had already slipped away and did not even come along.

The restaurant lobby was bustling with activity, and gradually, the conversation was no longer limited to people sitting at the same table, but people at neighboring tables also exchanged greetings with each other.

There was a scholar named Ye Xianzhi who became the focus of the whole audience because he ranked ninth in the exam, the highest ranked in this restaurant.

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Ye Xianzhi raised his cup and stood up: "Since you asked me to talk about the topic of this government examination, then I will briefly talk about it. The question is about industry and commerce, and the argument is nothing more than the distinction between righteousness and profit. This is easy to answer, and the real difficulty lies in how to compare it with the present. The coastal and river provinces in the south are indeed rich, but they have many problems. I have been to Zhejiang, and many wealthy merchants there are more extravagant than our salt merchants in Cangzhou Prefecture..."

All the scholars listened carefully and nodded in agreement from time to time.

Ye Xianzhi spoke for more than ten minutes, and the entire pub applauded and cheered.

Xie Kan curled his lips. He thought his essays were more profound and brilliant than what Ye Xianzhi said. It was a pity that his Four Books, Six Classics and Laws were so bad that they held him back.

After a while, the restaurant became noisy again, with scholars toasting each other and chatting loudly.

A scholar who was sitting in a corner reading a newspaper out of boredom suddenly stood up and shouted, "Does anyone know Xie Yan from Jinghai County?"

The scholar sitting at the same table was stunned, not knowing what he was crazy about.

This person actually climbed onto the counter holding a newspaper, and in front of the shopkeeper's confused expression, he stood on the counter and shouted, "Does anyone know Xie Yan from Jinghai County?"

After shouting several times, more and more people noticed him and the entire restaurant lobby gradually became quiet.

The man shouted again: "Does anyone know Xie Yan from Jinghai County?"

Wang Sheng stood up quickly: "That's my husband!"

Xie Kan stood up and walked over: "Xie Yan is my brother, what happened to him?"

The scholar still stood on the counter, waving the newspaper and saying, "Xie Yan, courtesy name Chaozong, was born in Jinghai County, Cangzhou Prefecture, Hebei Province. At the age of seventeen, he made an agate short-arm damping balance, for which many scholars bowed and thanked him. The Ministry of Works specially awarded him a prize of one thousand strings of cash. The Royal Society awarded him the title of Furong Scholar. Luoyang Imperial College specially recruited him to study in the inner dormitory."

The whole place was in an uproar!

The scholars at the same table who thought Xie Kan was joking just now all looked shocked. All the people at their table were from Jinghai County, and all of them were from the same hometown as Xie Yan.

The scholars from other counties in Cangzhou Prefecture were also surprised, as they were also Xie Yan's fellow townsmen.

How shocking is this news?

A group of students had just finished the college entrance examination and were drinking together to compare their scores. Suddenly, a central newspaper published a news report saying that their fellow townsman and peer had been awarded the title of academician for his outstanding contributions...

That’s ridiculous!
Ye Xianzhi, who ranked ninth in the provincial examination, said in disbelief, "Are you sure?"

The scholar standing at the counter turned the page of the newspaper and said:
"There is more. At an academic conference, Mr. Xie demonstrated his balance in public. Many scholars questioned its precision. Mr. Xie said: My balance can weigh all things in the world. Please choose any object to try it."

"The Grand Princess was also present at the time. Just when the scholars were having difficulty finding the tiny thing, the princess took out her hairpins and untied her bun, revealing her beautiful hair that fell to her waist. She cut off a strand of her hair and asked, 'Can you measure its weight?' Scholar Xie Yan said, 'It's easy.' So he weighed the strand of the princess' hair as 0.615 millimeters."

"This matter has spread all over Luoyang, the Western Capital, and even became an idiom. As the saying goes: Cutting hair and weighing it, weighing black hair!"

"Her Royal Highness the Grand Princess admires Master Xie very much. She even invited Master Xie to participate in the polo club of the dignitaries in the capital, and personally selected good horses for Master Xie to practice riding. Now, Master Xie has become a frequent visitor to the Grand Princess's residence!"

The whole place was silent; all the scholars were stunned.

"What a great man! He can name everything in the world. Mr. Xie is truly a rare genius!" A science student clapped his hands on the table and exclaimed.

Another student of the Arts Department said: "The black hair weighing the brush is no less than the imperial concubine holding the inkstone. This elegant and graceful event should be passed down for thousands of years. Let's drink a cup to thank the scholar!"

"Mr. Xie is a role model for scholars in Cangzhou!"

"I am a role model of scholars in Jinghai County. I am from Jinghai County. Which county are you from?"

"Why do you care which county I am from? We are all from Cangzhou anyway."

"Just hearing about it makes me yearn for it. How shocking the scene must have been."

"Gentlemen, drink this cup fully. Since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, the only seventeen-year-old Furong scholar came from our Cangzhou Prefecture!"

"Congratulations to Master Xie!"

"..."

Xie Kan was already confused.

How could he not know what level his own brother was at? How come he became a young genius after being hit on the head by a carriage?

Xie Kan had already felt it was outrageous when he was awarded the Jade Scholar title last year, but he was mainly happy for his brother.

He was promoted to Hibiscus Scholar this year and had a wonderful story with the princess?
Xie Kan looked at Wang Sheng.

Wang Sheng was also incredulous: "I have been following Liu Lang, but... I haven't noticed anything. But since last summer, Liu Lang has been like a madman, making things with the craftsmen in the backyard all day long."

"Of course I know he's making something," Xie Kan muttered to himself as he looked at the bustling tavern lobby, his head groaning, "A brilliant talent has emerged from my Xie family!"

The distant relative, Xie Yiyong, was also drinking and shouting, "Master Xie is my nephew!"

Cheng Gu shouted, "Master Xie was my elementary school classmate. I studied with him for four years!"

Even the shopkeeper came to Xie Kan with a brush and ink in hand and said, "Our shop is very prosperous today. May I have the honor of keeping your calligraphy?"

Xie Kan said: "I am not a scholar of Furong."

The shopkeeper said, "Wenquxing's brother will pass the imperial examination sooner or later."

Xie Kan liked to hear this, so he took the brush and said, "I'll lend you my good words."

While the small restaurant in Cangzhou City was in an uproar, Xie Hong, who was preparing for the provincial examination in his hometown of Jinghai County, was also staring blankly at a newspaper.

Xie Hong looked confused: "I just left Beijing and returned home. Why did Sixth Brother make such a fuss?"

(End of this chapter)