Guide to Traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty.

Chapter 136 0131 [There were also hard pens in ancient times]

The sun was so hot that Chen Yuan and Xue Daoguang didn't go outside, but stayed indoors to study mathematics.

Zhu Ming picked up a bamboo pen on the table. The end of the pen is a closed bamboo joint, and the nib is a double-petal structure.Except without the rubber straw, the structure and function of this bamboo pen is exactly the same as that of modern fountain pens.

"Dean Zhu, did you make it?" Zhu Ming thought it was very useful, and wanted to make one himself.

"Old Chen and Lao Xue made it by themselves," Zhu Guoxiang picked out two more hard pens, and said, "This is a reed pen, which has the same structure as a bamboo pen. This is a wooden pen, which cannot store ink. Write. Their calligraphy with hard pens is good, and they must have practiced it a long time ago."

Zhu Ming felt that his three views had been refreshed: "That is to say, at least in the Song Dynasty, there was already a prototype of a fountain pen?"

Not only the Song Dynasty, this thing can be traced back to the Tang Dynasty at least, and it may even appear in the Han Dynasty.

More than 2 pages of hard-tipped calligraphy manuscripts were identified in the Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang.There are not only one or two hard pens unearthed at various sites, but they are divided into bamboo tube pens, reed tube pens, wooden pens, bone pens and other types.

Zhu Guoxiang said: "When they were studying mathematics and physics, they felt that brush drawing was too troublesome, so they made a bunch of hard pens. Later, they didn't use brushes at all, and even used hard pens for writing articles. Among them, the reed tube pens are the most in number, easy to make and low in consumption. Hurry up, Lao Chen has already written more than ten bald ones."

"What have these two learned now?" Zhu Ming asked.

Zhu Guoxiang said: "I don't know how the textbooks for the 21st century were compiled. According to my textbooks at that time, Chen Yuan had already finished junior high school mathematics and physics, and Xue Daoguang was probably at the level of the first and second grades of junior high school. Of course, electricity was not taught. .”

"Awesome!" Zhu Ming praised.

Zhu Guoxiang asked, "When are we leaving?"

Zhu Ming said: "At the end of September, go to Yangzhou to meet them. I guess we will go down the mountain on September 20th."

"Then hurry up and train the village soldiers." Zhu Guoxiang said.

Zhu Ming said: "It's already been arranged, and I will start practicing tomorrow."

Zhu Ming took the bamboo tube pen as a template, picked up the knife and went to the back of the house, where the leftover pen-making materials were piled up.

I chose a bamboo tube as thick as a cigarette, and then slowly sharpened the nib, and broke the nib into two petals, which is a classic fountain pen nib structure.Then grind the tip of the pen slowly until it is smooth.

"How do you refill this pen?" Zhu Ming ran to ask Chen Yuan.

Chen Yuan said, "There is a small spoon."

Zhu Ming scooped up the ink with a small spoon and poured it into the barrel of the pen bit by bit. It was very laborious, and he had to shake it a few times from time to time, which was not as convenient as a rubber straw.

After loading the ink, the pen was also plugged.

Zhu Ming asked, "Does Mr. Chen often use bamboo brushes?"

Chen Yuan said: "Cultural officials often use it, and it is faster to write with a hard pen. Monks and Taoists also use it to copy scriptures."

"Sir, do you know what's the point of this bamboo pen?" Zhu Ming spread physics anytime and anywhere.

However, Chen Yuan said: "Ink is filled and the air inside is shaken off. The air pressure inside the pen tube will be lower than the air pressure outside. Coupled with the surface tension of the ink, when the pen tip is facing down, a large amount of ink will not flow out. When writing, the pen tip, The pen feed can continuously absorb ink through capillary phenomenon. If the balance force in the pen tube is broken due to air pressure, vibration, and gravity, the pen feed will block the excess ink like a dam.”

Well, Dean Zhu has already imparted the knowledge of air pressure.

Chen Yuan said with emotion: "Everything has its reason, and this bamboo pen is no different. Brother Yuanzhang is a scholar of heaven and man, no matter what he holds to ask him, he can answer it penetratingly."

Ju Ming said: "The late student will go out at the end of September and go to Tokyo to catch the exam. Should the husband stay in the village or go there together? To spread the knowledge of Taoism, you can't stay on the mountain forever."

Chen Yuan thought for a while: "Let's go together. Yangzhou is too small, and Tokyo is the place to preach."

If it is a traditional Confucian school, you can pick a village and build a grass hut at will, which can attract scholars to come to study.

But their proposition is that "the daily use of the common people is the Tao". When it was first established, the audience was the middle and lower class scholars and citizens, so they had to go to big cities to give lectures.

Kaifeng is undoubtedly the biggest city!

Xue Daoguang finally drew an auxiliary line, raised his head and said, "Poverty is also going to Tokyo."

"Didn't the Taoist escape from Tokyo?" Zhu Ming asked.

Xue Daoguang said: "The limelight is over, you can go back."

There are hundreds of apprentices of Master Ziyang, but only one person has received the true instruction, that is Xue Daoguang's master Shi Tai.

By the way, Shi Tai has superb medical skills, Xue Daoguang also has nearly ten years of medical experience, and he has recently passed many prescriptions to the little doctor Zhao in the village.

Shi Tai belongs to the people of life and is not keen on preaching.At the beginning, he told Xue Daoguang to go to Tokyo, rely on the powerful, recruit disciples, and revitalize their faction.

However, Xue Daoguang's personality is similar, and he has not even confiscated a single apprentice, and he is even less lazy to use Taoism to make friends with powerful people.

But the teacher's order is hard to disobey, Xue Daoguang also wants to accept apprentices, he thinks that Zhu Ming is quite savvy.Since Zhu Ming doesn't want to be a teacher, then choose another student, follow Chen Yuan to Tokyo, and study mathematics and physics while looking for potential students.

After making sure to go together, Zhu Ming started training the next day.

Including Zhang Guangdao and other leaders, a total of 75 security teams were trained.

Choose from the young and strong in the village, don't pay soldiers, but give them newly opened wasteland - new villagers open up wasteland, open up ten acres of land, and sell one acre to the village as public property, these newly opened land Used for rewards.

Therefore, the security team of Daming Village is a bit like the military system of the Sui and Tang Dynasties!
Zhang Guangdao was appointed as the head of the capital, Tian San was appointed as the deputy head of the capital, and Deng Chun and others were appointed as the ten-man captain.

As for Bai Sheng and Shi Biao, Ju Ming will take them to Tokyo.

After Zhu Ming formed the security team, he did not personally train. He only supervised from the side and let Zhang Guangdao take charge of the training.

Zhang Guangdao suggested: "You can buy a few more bows and configure them in the mandarin duck formation."

"I'll ask the Zheng family to deliver it next year," said Zhu Ming.

For ordinary bows and arrows in the middle and late Northern Song Dynasty, you can buy a bow for seven or eight hundred Wen, and you can buy an arrow for more than 20 Wen. Bamboo arrows in the south are even cheaper.

The above are market prices.

If it is purchased by the army, the officials have to be given kickbacks, and the price is about 1200 to 2000 Wen.

In large-scale battles, the bow is not expensive, and the arrow is the biggest consumption.If ten thousand arrows are shot, two or three hundred arrows will be gone.In large-scale battles, hundreds of thousands of arrows are shot at every turn, and some can be recovered in victories, and quartermasters can be beaten with blood in defeat.

In addition, good bows produced in Xixia Xingzhou are the most expensive. If it is a luxury version, a bow can sell for hundreds of strings!
It took more than 30 bows for the bow in Zhu Ming's hand.

Sitting under the shade of a tree, Zhu Ming made a cup of tea and carefully observed the security team's drill.

The military discipline of the security team is stricter and more detailed than the training of archers.The army stick was canceled and replaced by physical punishment, such as running away.Moreover, even if one person does not practice well, the entire team will be punished.

There are also two types of military regulations, one is military discipline during training, and the other is military discipline when marching and fighting.

Moreover, officers and soldiers, no matter how they eat at home, they will eat the same meals during training, marching, and fighting. (Individual generals or special forces can apply for an increase in meat to maintain their physical consumption.)
The core military rule is not to harass the common people!Once violated, the light will be expelled, the middle will be fined, and the severe will be decapitated.

In addition to practicing mandarin duck formations, physical training has also been added, such as standing in a military posture and running with weights.These contents existed in ancient times and belonged to the standard configuration of a strong army.

Take Qi Jiajun as an example, there are three ways of physical training.

First, during normal drills, add weight to the weapons.

Second, add some heavy objects to the leather armor and iron armor.

Third, run with sandbags and run for a mile without panting to be considered a qualified Qi Jiajun.

In addition, Qi's army is forbidden to learn flower guns and flower knives. Those things belong to the ability to perform in the rivers and lakes, and bringing them into the army will interfere with the formation of fighting.

Xue Daoguang stood watching from a long distance, then walked over and said, "I can teach them a set of exercises."

Zhu Ming got up and cupped his hands: "It's time for the Taoist priest."

Xue Daoguang's gymnastics are somewhat similar to Baduanjin, which can be used as military gymnastics.

When Xue Daoguang was teaching gymnastics, Chen Yuan also came over: "Why is Dalang training soldiers?"

Zhu Ming explained: "The imperial court has increased taxes year by year. If this continues, the government will inevitably force the people to rebel. I am afraid that there will be thieves, or even rebels. Daming Village is getting richer, and sooner or later it will be targeted by thieves. I have trained dozens of villages. Yong, only to protect the environment and the people. How can you rely on the government?"

"That's true." Chen Yuan didn't think too much, because Zhu Ming was about to go to Beijing for the exam, would Jinshi still rebel?
Now even in the Jiangnan area, there are large and small thieves.

It was mainly forced out by Hua Shigang. Hua Shigang has been in operation for nearly ten years, and the scale is getting bigger and bigger, and more and more people are bankrupt.

Moreover, many of those who were bankrupted by Hua Shigang belonged to the landlords!
These landlords are more or less influential. Once they break up and flee, they can easily gather crowds to become robbers.

Chen Yuan said with emotion: "The daily use of the common people is the way. We turn the way into use. Although we can benefit the people, how can we stand up to the government's exploitation? Wait for the corn and sweet potatoes to be planted. , I’m afraid it will get worse, no matter how much food is collected, it will not help. If the treacherous officials are not eliminated, the world will be in trouble. If the officials are not clear, the world will not be peaceful.”

Zhu Ming also did not promote the theory of rebellion, and borrowed Ling Guxu's point of view to perfunctory: "Today's officials don't count on it, it depends on what happens after the crown prince succeeds."

"It's hard to count on that stupid king." Chen Yuan nodded.

People of insight have long despaired of Song Huizong. Hua Shigang caused complaints in the south of the Yangtze River, and he only wanted to build a garden for Song Huizong.

Zhu Xi was just a small businessman who opened a medicine shop, and through Cai Jing's fawning over Song Huizong, he was now able to dispatch southern officials and troops at will.Even the water boats from all walks of life had to obey Zhu Xi's assignments, and the transportation of flowers and stones often caused delays in grain grain, and the price of grain in Tokyo rose sharply.

This guy has his eye on a certain rich family, and leads his troops to rush to other people's homes, using the pretext of confiscating strange stones to occupy other people's property.

In the end, Zhu Wei raised thousands of private soldiers, and most of the magistrates and prefects in the south of the Yangtze River were his disciples. People called Zhu's family "the small imperial court in the southeast".The property of the Zhu family has increased to 30 mu, and all of them are good fields in the Jiangnan area.

For the gentry in the south of the Yangtze River, Song Huizong was not only a faint king, but also a complete tyrant.

A well-known Confucian like Chen Yuan scolded Song Huizong as soon as he opened his mouth, without any respect at all.

The village soldiers practiced for half a month, and Zhu Ming packed his luggage and went down the mountain.

He carried the books and clothes by himself, while Bai Sheng and Shi Biao each carried a sack of dried shiitake mushrooms.

"Take this." Zhu Guoxiang threw a Ganoderma lucidum.

Zhu Ming praised: "Good stuff."

Of course, this ganoderma is not as big as a mopan, but it's not too small either. It was raised to the size of a tennis racket by Dean Zhu.

Zhu Guoxiang said: "Cultivate more next year, maybe even bigger, and then sell to wealthy businessmen in Yangzhou to earn a lot of development funds."

(End of this chapter)