Guide to Traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty.

Chapter 156 0151 [Zixian Yuanming Real Man]

After returning from the Wenxi banquet, Zhu Ming didn't focus on the emperor, but happily went to rent a house.

Staying in the hotel all the time, the money in my pocket can't bear it!
As we all know, the price of Tokyo in the Song Dynasty was extremely high, even buying and renting a house was also very expensive.

However, the housing prices in the Huizong Dynasty had reached an unbearable level.

Due to the royal family and the dignitaries wantonly encircling and occupying the land in the city, even the houses of some wealthy businessmen were forcibly demolished.

Naturally, it is impossible for these wealthy businessmen to live in shacks by the Cao River.They have spent money to buy houses in the city, which suddenly made the supply of large houses tight, and the housing prices rose like a rocket.

There are also many middle-level families who bought ordinary houses after being demolished by the imperial court.

There are also many well-off families who choose to rent houses in the city.

As a result, the prices of all large and small houses have risen, and the rent has also risen.

As early as eight years ago, the rent of houses in Tokyo had doubled since the beginning of Song Huizong's accession to the throne.

This caused many small officials in the capital to complain that they could not afford to rent a house. Therefore, Song Huizong issued an imperial edict, accusing Kaifeng's prefect of not doing a good job.

The imperial court attributed the rent increase to the owner's random renovations, and the rent doubled after just a few renovations, which is really bad conscience.Therefore, it is stipulated that if the area of ​​the house does not increase when the house is renovated, the owner is not allowed to increase the price without permission, and those who violate it will be dealt with as exceeding the system.

Have an egg?

The current rent price in Tokyo is three times that of 20 years ago!
Moreover, it is not easy to rent a house if you have money, otherwise Ju Ming and the others would have moved out of the inn long ago.

"Everyone, come in and sit down!" Tang greeted enthusiastically.

The Tang family in front of him is the evil mother-in-law who forcibly broke up Lu You and Tang Wan.She is only 25 years old this year, with a dignified and beautiful appearance, full of the charm of a young woman.

Lu Zai is about to go to Huaixi to promote Changping, and the house is vacant. He heard that Zhu Ming and the others don't have a house to live in, so they are willing to rent it out at a low price.

Tang ordered his servants to boil water and make tea, and served some snacks himself.

Lu Zai introduced: "This house was bought by my father when he was the minister of rites. Later, he was promoted to Shangshu Zuo Cheng (Deputy Prime Minister), and he did not buy a new house. The house is not big, and there are only two courtyards. If you think it is expensive Yes, you can also invite two more people to share the rent."

"Excuse me, Lu Changping, how much is the monthly interest (rent)?" Bai Chongyan couldn't help asking. Although he made a lot of money selling tea, he spent a lot on the inn for three months.Moreover, I don't know when I will be dispatched, and I can't predict when I will get my salary.

Lu Zai thought for a while: "Since they are all Jinshi, it should be cheaper, and the monthly interest is [-] Guan."

This rent price is really hard to find with a lantern. After all, the house is quite big, and several people can share it together.

Moreover, it is located in the inner city, which is a prime location.For a house in the inner city with two courtyards, the monthly rent would be at least [-] guan according to the market price.

Ju Ming clasped his hands and said, "Thank you senior for taking care of me."

Tang said: "If you want to hire servants, there are ready-made servants here. Pick a few yourself, and I will resell the rest. They are all ten-year leases. I bought them three years ago, and there are more than six years left on the contract." .”

After discussing with Bai Chongyan and Min Zishun, Zhu Ming decided to invite Chen Yuan, and each of them would share the rent of 25 per month.

Let's buy two maids together, one to buy vegetables and cook, and the other to wash and mend.

As for the daily cleaning, they have their own attendants, and they can't keep Bai Sheng, Gu San and others to eat dry food.

At noon, the Lu family invited guests to dine.

Lu Zai has not yet taken a concubine, and has only one son with the Tang family, which is Lu You's elder brother Lu Song.

Lu Song is seven years old this year, and he already knows etiquette quite well, so he bowed to him and said, "See you, Song..."

Uh, it's not easy to talk about seniority.

Because of Lu Tixue's relationship, Zhu Ming regards Lu Zai as an elder.

But Lu Zai is only 27 years old this year, about the same age as Bai Chongyan, while Min Zishun is already in his thirties.

Zhu Ming, Bai Chongyan, and Min Zishun are equally equal.

This doesn't make sense anyway.

Lu Zai said, "Call me sir."

Lu Song bowed again and said, "Song pays homage to all gentlemen."

Everyone sat down, Tang shi personally poured the wine.

After a few drinks, Tang asked about their marital status and learned that Zhu Ming hadn't married yet, so she said, "It's a pity that I have to go out of Beijing with my husband, otherwise I will find a good wife for success."

Zhu Ming declined, "I'm young, so I'm not in a hurry for now."

Lu Zai said: "Success is not in a hurry, some people are in a hurry. If the news of the wedding banquet did not offend the officials, I am afraid someone has already come to propose marriage."

……

Zhu Ming and others went to see the house, but Xue Daoguang was ordered to enter the palace.

Several eunuchs and guards surrounded Xue Daoguang and escorted him all the way into the city, as if he was afraid that the Taoist would run away.

Zhu Gong, who had just been demoted to be the magistrate of Dazhou, went out of the city to take up his post in a horse-drawn carriage, feeling extremely happy in his heart.

He lifted the curtain of the car, just in time to see Xue Daoguang entering the city, and sighed sympathetically: "Another one who was forcibly expropriated, pitiful, pitiful!"

Then, the old gentleman came to the pier, cheered and jumped on the boat to escape from Tokyo.

Zhu Gong became a Jinshi 27 years ago, and was dismissed by Zeng Bu for criticizing the current situation.From then on, he devoted himself to the study of medicine, even revised and annotated "Treatise on Febrile Diseases and Miscellaneous Diseases", and renamed it "Book of Living People in Nanyang", which has a full twenty volumes.

This book has become a treasure trove for doctors.As a result, Zhu Gong was forcibly confiscated by Song Huizong, and he became a doctor of medicine in a daze.

He is obviously a doctor, but Emperor Huizong of Song Dynasty came to him every now and then to ask him about the way of cultivating Taoism. (Zhu Gong also compiled "Two Scenes Inside and Outside", which is an acupuncture book, but it was regarded as a Taoist spiritual map by the people at that time, and the author Zhu Gong was also mistaken for a master of Taoism.)
Zhu Gong was so disturbed that he openly copied Su Shi's poems and preached Su Zi's learning to everyone he met.Ask for the hammer to get the hammer, succeed and be demoted, and let him go to Dazhou to have a good time.

There are not a few people who have the same thoughts as Zhu Ming and deliberately offend the emperor in order to seek release.

But he said Song Huizong was reading "Journey to the West". He had read this book for two days, which can be called a waste of sleep and food.

There were no novels in the Tang and Song Dynasties. For the ancients, "Journey to the West" was too powerful.Song Huizong was not only fascinated by the storyline, but also fascinated by the gods in the book. All kinds of gods, Buddhas, goblins and ghosts fully fit his imagination of becoming a fairy by practicing Taoism.

"Officials, Master Xue is here." The servant reminded.

Song Huizong was overjoyed, put down the novel and stood up: "Quickly invite real people to come in!"

Xue Daoguang recently found a job, working in a publishing house, and he is wearing the clothes of a workshop boy at the moment.

Dressing up like this was beyond Song Huizong's expectations.

In the past, Taoist priests from all walks of life wore Taoist robes and wore Taoist buns before entering the palace.And Xue Daoguang, who has nothing, has nothing to do with Taoist priests.

Song Huizong suspected that this was a fake Taoist priest, so he couldn't help asking: "Why does the real person pretend to be the head of Guizhou?"

Xue Daoguang made a Taoist bow, and replied: "Reporting to Your Majesty, the poor Taoist cultivates the Jindan Dao, and he doesn't pay attention to Taoist rituals, and he doesn't care what clothes he wears or what hair bun he wears."

Song Huizong saw that his face was rosy, and his complexion was better than most Taoist priests, so he asked again: "Can real people have Taoism passed down from generation to generation?"

Xue Daoguang took out a book: "I want to dedicate it to the officials."

Song Huizong glanced at the cover, but it was "Notes on Enlightenment".

He had also seen "Enlightenment" before, but no one explained it, and he couldn't understand many parts.

Song Huizong said: "The real man waits a moment, and I will take a look."

Xue Dao sat down on his knees and said nothing.

Song Huizong opened the book, and it was full of Taoist poems.

After Xue Daoguang's annotations, the first poem talks about the difficulty of finding famous teachers and the hard way to find the true way, and also writes that cultivating the Tao and becoming a fairy is extremely yearning.The second poem says that after you meet a famous teacher, you should hurry up and learn Taoism. If you don’t learn, you will be a fool.

Does this rhetoric look like a real estate advertisement?

The first two poems, after Xue Daoguang's provocative annotations, have already fascinated Song Huizong.

Looking at the third poem again, Song Huizong was already short of breath with excitement.

It is here that Xue Daoguang divides into heavenly immortals, earth immortals, human immortals, and ghost immortals.

And what about Song Huizong?
In the past, we only knew that there were heavenly immortals, earth immortals, and dead immortals.

After Xue Daoguang's annotation, Song Huizong finally figured it out.

It turns out that the inner alchemy Taoist priests under him can only cultivate low-level ghosts and immortals with their way of cultivation.

And those Taoist priests of the Waidan sect obtained the Tao with the methods of talisman, alliance power, magic method, swordsmanship, and corpse dissection, and finally became Nangong Liexian (middle-grade immortal) at most.

Only by following Xue Daoguang's method can one become a supreme ninth-level high-grade immortal.

Next, there will be a detailed explanation of the method of Jindan Dao. Although Song Huizong did not fully understand it, his mind was greatly shocked.My previous way of cultivating the path was wrong!

After reading the annotations to the fourth poem, Song Huizong asked, "Is this not a way for men and women to nourish themselves?"

Xue Daoguang asked: "Who explained to the officials that men and women are taking supplements? Heretics are heretics! Men and women are divided into heaven and earth, yin and yang, guest of honor, and essence and blood."

Emperor Huizong of Song Dynasty did not believe it, and commented that "the combination of two emotions, the exercise of kung fu will naturally condense the essence of the true energy", and earlier there were such words as "the opposite is a woman, and the opposite is a man", which is obviously the way to replenish yin and yang. ah.If you combine it with the magic medicine offered by other Taoist priests, and take supplements every day, you will be able to cultivate a golden elixir.

Look at the next poem, okay, the last one was just practicing the outer alchemy, this one is the real inner alchemy.

As he read it, Emperor Huizong of Song felt that compared with the inner alchemy, the outer alchemy and the Yin and Yang supplements were too rubbish.

Xue Daoguang's Taoism can be cultivated both internal alchemy and external alchemy!
Song Huizong expressed his doubts while reading "Wuzhen Pianzhu", and Xue Daoguang answered them all in detail.

The two chatted until dark, Song Huizong left Xue Daoguang for dinner, took his hand and said: "Today we have to meet a real person, and only then will we know the true way in the world. It's too late to meet each other!"

Xue Daoguang remonstrated: "Cultivating Taoism and becoming an immortal is born in the world, and you have to enter the world before you are born. Officials must be benevolent and love the people. Otherwise, the Taoist heart will not be stable, and even if you cultivate the golden elixir, you will not be able to achieve great perfection."

Song Huizong said sincerely: "What the real man said is very true. I have always been benevolent in governing and loving the people."

Xue Daoguang wanted to roll his eyes when he heard that.

At the dinner table, Song Huizong asked again: "I heard that the real person met Zhu Guoxiang, did he meet a fairy overseas?"

Xue Daoguang was sold by Zhu Ming, and now he finally had the opportunity to sell it back. He replied: "The Bodhi patriarch in "Journey to the West" is very likely to be the impoverished master Ziyang. And what Zhu Guoxiang met overseas is very likely. It may also be my master Ziyang real person."

Song Huizong exclaimed: "Ziyang has become a fairy?"

Xue Daoguang guessed: "Most of them have cultivated to the realm of the earth fairy, flying in the air and walking through the fog, not hungry or thirsty, not invaded by cold and heat, roaming the islands, and living forever."

Song Huizong immediately said: "I want to canonize the real Ziyang as a righteous god."

Xue Daoguang shook his head: "Earth immortals don't need to be canonized as gods, they are not on the same level as Nangong Liexian."

"It's a pity." Song Huizong expressed his regret that he couldn't do anything for Master Ziyang.

That night, Xue Daoguang stayed in the palace.

The next day, the emperor issued an edict, canonizing Xue Daoguang as Zixian Yuanming Master, canonizing his ancestor as Ziyang Zhiyuan Master, and canonizing his master as Cuixuan Huanyuan Master.

Then give Daotong several people and let Xue Daoguang live in South Garden.

Nanyuan is the house given to Cai Jing by Emperor Huizong of Song Dynasty when Cai Jing was dismissed for the second time.

The emperor seemed a little regretful that Wang Laozhi, a Taoist priest from Shandong, was favored, so he let Wang Laozhi live in the South Garden.In just over a year, Wang Laozhi reported illness and returned home, most likely because Cai Jing forced him to leave. "Song History" also mentioned that Cai Jing warned Wang Laozhi.

Now, Song Huizong let Xue Daoguang live in again, and Cai Jing's family became neighbors, which essentially occupied Cai Jing's house.

For this kind of situation, the civil and military officials and the people of the capital have long been familiar with it. Anyway, there are always one or two Taoist priests who are favored every year.

While practicing Xue Daoguang's Taoism, Song Huizong summoned other Taoist priests to study the art of harvesting and tonic from the "Notes on Wuzhen Pian".Coupled with aphrodisiac medicine, it is a joy to practice every day.

When Xue Daoguang learned of the situation, he could only laugh it off, and regarded the emperor as evil.

Zhu Ming and the others also moved into Lu Zai's mansion, and the day for the new Jinshi to be appointed as an official has come.

(End of this chapter)