Guide to Traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty.

Chapter 142 0137 [Qin Hui]

"Da da da da!"

Three horses gallop across the land of Guanzhong.

Zhu Ming learned the name of Fengli Canal from the farmers. When the official ship docked in Weiqiao Town, he took Li Hanzhang to check it.

Chen Yuan once passed by here to give lectures, inspected Fengli Canal specifically, and borrowed a horse to go with him.

The canal in front blocked him and he could no longer ride a horse. Chen Yuan pointed to the canal flowing into the Wei River and said, "This is the South Baiqu of the Sanbai Canal."

The Sanbai Canal existed in the Tang Dynasty, but the Song Dynasty has been trying to dredge it because it has been in disrepair for a long time and the river has been diverted.

A few years ago, not only was it completely dredged, but the irrigated area was expanded to 360 million mu, and it was renamed "Fengli Canal".

Zhu Ming asked: "What position has Zhao Quan, the hero who majored in this canal, been promoted to?"

"I don't know," Chen Yuan said, "He's just a petty official with unknown background and reputation."

"With such achievements, you can't be famous? Doesn't the court promote them?" Ju Ming couldn't believe it.

Chen Yuan said: "The promoters of this canal are Cai Pu and Mu Jing, both of whom belong to Hou Meng's party. Hou Meng is now the Minister of Zhongshu (deputy prime minister), and he is at odds with Cai Jing. Cai Jing can't bring down Hou Meng. So they attacked Cai Pu and Mu Jing, and both of them were relegated. As for Zhao Quan, he was probably also implicated, and even deliberately erased his achievements in water conservancy."

Zhu Ming was completely convinced, and said with emotion: "The good officials who promoted water conservancy were demoted, and the officials who majored in this canal left only one name. In this world, it is difficult to be a good minister!"

"If the traitor is not eliminated, the world will be in trouble." Li Hanzhang also thought it was unreasonable.

Hou Meng is from Gaomi, Shandong Province. He is relatively smooth, but he has always insisted on justice. In "Water Margin", it is Hou Meng who proposed to recruit Song Jiang.

Song Huizong once asked Hou Meng: "How is Cai Jing?"

Hou Meng replied: "If Cai Xianggong has a good character, he is no more than the ancient name."

This answer gave Song Huizong enough face, and also insinuated that Cai Jing was not upright, so Cai Jing hated him.Cai Jing ordered his subordinates to impeach Prime Minister Zhang Shangying, and Hou Meng also tried his best to mediate, and the conflict between the two deepened.

But Hou Meng was able to bend and stretch, and knew how to flatter Song Huizong, but Cai Jing was still unable to squeeze him out of the court.

Sometimes, Song Huizong even bypassed Cai Jing and summoned Hou Meng alone to discuss matters.

Zhu Ming looked at the farmlands on both sides of the Fengli Canal. With this canal in place, the livelihood of the people in Guanzhong will hardly collapse, and they can continue to exploit it wildly for another ten years.

There were treacherous ministers in Song Dynasty, but there were also capable ministers!

Poor canal builder Zhao Quan, in Wang Anshi's era, it is estimated that he would have been able to soar into the sky, but now he has disappeared.

If you give a game attribute, Zhao Quan should be more than 95 in water conservancy.

Because it is too difficult to dig through the Fengli Canal, Zhao Kuangyin ordered the canal to be dug, and Zhao Guangyi also ordered the canal to be dug.Next, every emperor of the Northern Song Dynasty ordered the excavation of this canal.

All fail!

It took many years until Wang Anshi's reform and his uncle Hou Ke who started Er Cheng finally reached 30% of the project progress.

The rest cannot be chiseled, and the technical difficulty is too great.

After Zhao Quan took over, in the absence of financial support from the imperial court, only relying on the mobilization of local forces, it took only two years to complete the century project that had plagued the Northern Song Dynasty for 130 years!

He even managed not to disturb the people on a large scale, using only a few thousand people.It even added a flood discharge function to the Fengli Canal to ensure that the seven counties that the canal flows through can be irrigated when it is dry and will not be flooded when it rains.

What level is this?
For such a capable minister, there is only one name left in the history books, and he doesn't even know the words.

The specific official position is also vague, only known to be the canal repair envoy sent by the Changping envoy.

Zhu Ming wanted to get acquainted with this person very much, but unfortunately there was no clue.

"I wish I could see Mr. Zhao's demeanor face to face." Zhu Ming sighed.

Chen Yuan said: "I also want to meet this gentleman and ask for some water conservancy knowledge. I have seen it, and its design is ingenious, which can be called a stroke of genius! In order to control the water potential, he added two holes, two gates, and three ditches. He burned the mountains and cut stones. For the canal, the canal is divided to release the flood, and the torrent is smoothed. If I were to repair it, I would never dream of such a wonderful idea."

Zhao Quan excavated the Fengli Canal, overturned the original design, and re-formulated a complete set of water conservancy plans with ideas that ordinary people cannot understand.

Zhu Ming sighed in his heart, how many capable people with lofty ideals continued their lives for the Song Dynasty, and they were all buried in the hands of the father and son.

Go back to the delivery shop and rest overnight.

The people continued to advance by boat, and after a while, they landed near Tongguan and took the bus from Dipu.

The traffic here is even more busy, and the number of buses is limited, so you have to wait for a few more days.

Taking this opportunity, Ju Ming decided to go shopping.

"Sanlang, do you want to climb the mountain over there?" Zhu Ming asked.

Li Hanzhang reminded: "The mountain beams near Tongguan are all restricted areas, and you are not allowed to climb them at will."

Zhu Ming urged: "You usually claim to know soldiers, but you don't want to see the whole picture?"

Li Hanzhang was quite moved: "Then... go around and climb up?"

The two guys got out of the delivery shop, pretending to be on their way to the east, and went around several miles to climb the mountain ridge.

It's a pity that the distance is too far, and I can't see clearly when I climb up, so I went down the mountain and followed the valley.Going up another mountain ridge, to the west is the former site of Tongguan Pass in Han Dynasty, and to the east is the former site of Tongguan Pass in Sui Dynasty.

The whole picture of Tongguan in Tang and Song Dynasties can already be seen clearly.

At this moment, in Zhu Ming's mind, the sentence suddenly popped up: Tongguan Road, inside and outside the mountains and rivers!
"Do you want to continue?" Li Hanzhang felt guilty.

Zhu Ming said: "If the defenders find out, they will say that we are here to pay tribute to the ancient battlefield."

"Okay!" Li Hanzhang felt very excited.

The two went down the ramp to the forbidden ditch beside the Tong River, and gradually touched the back of Tongguan.

There were a few soldiers sitting sparsely in the city, and no one noticed them at all. They swaggered around the foot of the mountain and passed Tongguan.

No shit.

Ju Ming stood by the river and concluded: "The road we took just now can bypass Tongguan, but there are not half of the officers and soldiers stationed there. We should build forts on the mountain ridges, so as to block the passage."

Li Hanzhang said: "This place is far away from the frontier, and there are not many defenders in Tongguan. How can it be possible to build a fort on a mountain ridge?"

"That's right." Zhu Ming nodded.

At this time, Tongguan is useless, even if it cannot be beaten, it can be easily bypassed.

This was not the case in the Ming Dynasty. Zhu Yuanzhang belonged to the madman who built the city, and he directly built the city wall to block all the passages.

Back at the post shop, Zhu Ming remembered something, and asked the shop soldiers casually, "Is there a warrior named Zhou Tong in the local area?"

Pu Bing was quite surprised: "Msgrand knows Zhou Tong even in a foreign country?"

"I heard that he is excellent in martial arts, so I want to pay a visit." Zhu Ming said.

Pu Bing said, "I want to find Zhou Tong, but Xianggong has to go to Yanyan Road."

After careful inquiry, it turns out that Zhou Tong is a local archer, and now he is guarding the border at Fuyan Road (Luzhi is Yan'an), and he has also taught archers under Liu Guangshi's command.

The Zhou Tong in reality is not the Zhou Tong in literary works.

This person's archery skills are as good as gods, but that's all. His spear and stick skills can only be regarded as mediocre. Yue Fei learned his marksmanship from Chen Guang.

Zhou Tong actually went to Yan'an, Zhu Ming was quite sorry, he still wanted to learn a few tricks.

Everyone stayed in the post house and waited for six full days. The carriage at the delivery shop was finally empty, so they took the bus and continued on their way.

When we arrived in Luoyang, there was light snow in the sky, and this year's cold wave came early again.

Zhu Ming asked Chen Yuan: "Would you like to visit the local Confucianism and talk about our knowledge?"

Chen Yuan shook his head: "Although Luoyang is a sacred place of Luo studies, the scholars here are not easy to deal with. I passed by this place before, and I also went to lecture and debate the classics, but I was ridiculed. They didn't even know the theory of the teacher (Yang Shi)." Accepted, how could it be possible to agree with the study of Taoism? The families here have been prominent officials for generations, and the university questions are well-spoken, and they no longer know the sufferings of the people."

"I see." Zhu Ming immediately understood.

There are so many official families in Luoyang. Although they are not very picky about marrying a daughter-in-law, all the married daughters are above the top. Many sons-in-law are prime ministers or clansmen.

These aristocratic families control the orthodoxy of Luoxue, look down on Luoxue elsewhere, and think that those Luoxue are not authentic.

They have been divorced from the masses, even ordinary scholars!
Spreading Taoism in Luoyang will inevitably be suppressed and rejected by the local aristocratic family.

Zhu Ming still wants to go to the city to play, but time is tight and he has to hurry as soon as possible.

Hurry up and hurry up, when we arrived at Heyin County, the road was still blocked by heavy snow, and the Bianhe River was also frozen and boats could not sail.

The snow is difficult to melt, it is very bad, and we can only stay here.

The second New Year's Eve that Ju Ming crossed over was spent in the posthouse of Heyin County.

The scholars felt sorry for bothering the postmen for so long, and everyone pooled their money to buy some delicious food, and invited the posthouse staff on duty during the Chinese New Year to have a good meal.

Until the seventh day of the first lunar month, I was finally able to leave and arrived in Bianliang before the Lantern Festival.

"so big!"

Bai Sheng was dumbfounded, Bianliang City could not be seen at a glance.

Shi Biao was also dumbfounded, and stood still on the boat.

Not only them, even Ling Guxu, who went to Beijing to take the exam for the first time, was too shocked to speak.

Ju Ming's first impression of this city is: It really lives up to its reputation!

You don't even need to go into the city to feel the prosperity. There are houses and shops everywhere outside the city.

Even ordinary people are obviously richer than other states and counties.

I didn't see many beggars. After a heavy snowfall, they probably all died.

Crossing the river on ice, Bai Chongyan said: "The inns in the city are more expensive, and it's near the Lantern Festival, so they must be full. We can stay outside the city."

The people took their servants, and the servants carried the goods on their backs, and began to search for the inn slowly.

Since the Bianhe River has not yet thawed, countless goods have been transported from the ice.The pier is very crowded, there are people who carry bags, push carts, lift sedan chairs...everything.

After passing the wharf area, there are rows of shops.

There are still many scholars on the street, all of whom have come to Beijing to take the exam, and there are still twenty days before the exam.

There were so many people, I asked three inns in a row, and all of them were full of guests.

On the one hand, the imperial examination scholars gathered together, and on the other hand, as the Lantern Festival approached, a large number of merchants gathered in Tokyo, hoping to make a fortune during the festival.

When asked about the fourth house, there were finally a few rooms, but not enough for them to live in.

After some discussion, Min Zishun took a few people to stay, and Zhu Ming and the others continued to search.

Fortunately, they didn't go far, and another inn was not full, and everyone quickly paid for the deposit.

A young scholar came in with his entourage and asked, "Shopkeeper, do you have room here?"

The shopkeeper shook his head: "These few have been booked."

The young scholar turned to leave, but came back at the door and asked: "My friends, can you share a room with me? After the Lantern Festival, there will be more guest rooms."

Zhu Ming didn't care about this, at most, he squeezed with Bai Sheng and Shi Biao, nodded immediately and said, "Yes. Zhu Ming in Xiayangzhou, the name is Chenggong, I don't know your name?"

The scholar bowed upright: "I'm going to Jiangning Qin Hui, I know the words, thank you brother Chenggong for giving up the house."

Zhu Ming smacked his lips and didn't say anything more, he regretted it a bit.

Let your mother's room, I kicked you to death!

Qin Hui, however, was an acquaintance, and even revealed the information about the imperial examination to Zhu Ming: "Brother Chenggong, do you know? This year, we will open the Mao Ke, and the number of places will increase."

For no reason, Zhu Ming couldn't beat people up, so he had to say politely: "I don't know poetry and fu, so I dare not take the Maoke exam."

Maoke's full name is "Ci Xue and Mao Ke", which was created by Emperor Huizong of Song Dynasty. It specializes in poetry and articles, and the emperor personally reviews the papers.The number of admissions is within three, and it is even possible that only one will be admitted.

Wang Anshi stipulated that all applicants, including Jinshi of the new department, are not allowed to take another department, so there is only one chance, and those who dare to take the exam are all good people.

Not to mention his character, Qin Hui's rhetoric is definitely good, and he dared to take the exam with only a few people admitted.

(End of this chapter)