Guide to Traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty.

Chapter 189 0184 [Letter from Home]

Fatty Zheng left, while Deng Xia arrived in the capital.

Deng Xia came to deliver the letter, and followed the official messenger who delivered the official documents all the way.Although it was also possible to ask the official messenger to deliver the message, Shen Yourong was worried and asked Deng Xia to go there in person.

In addition to Shen Yourong's family letters, there were also letters from Ling Gu Xu and other scholars.

In addition, the family members of Bai Chongyan and Min Zishun also entrusted Deng Xia to bring the letter.

After reading his wife's letter, Zhu Guoxiang said, "The technique of frying tea has been leaked. Last winter, a tea worker from Zheng's family was given alcohol, and the general process of frying tea was spread. Someone made fried tea this spring, and the tea worker was terrified. , simply fled to Xingyuan Mansion with the whole family, and took refuge in another big tea garden owner."

"Sooner or later." Zhu Ming said.

At the end of the Northern Song Dynasty, the slaves were employed under the employment system, and the children of the slaves had free bodies.

Of course servants also exist. They belong to the expiry of the contract, but they take the initiative to stay and serve the master's family for life.The children of these servants can also be called domestic slaves, but they also have a free body.

Compared with the huge group of servants, there are very few servants and domestic servants.They are generally confidantes, who stay with their masters to wait for orders, or are sent to shop or workshop as managers, and it is impossible for them to be low-level tea-making workers.

Therefore, if the innovative technology of the Song Dynasty had contact with too many people, it would be difficult to keep it secret, because the mobility of craftsmen was too strong.

Let's put it this way, the Royal Tea Garden in Fujian often spends a lot of effort researching new teas.Often the research is done in the first year, but the secret is leaked in the second year, and the quality of private tea exceeds that of imperial tea.

There is no such thing as patent protection.

Even if there is, it cannot be implemented, and it depends too much on law enforcement.

In the Song Dynasty, there was only a book copyright protection act. Whether it was a new book written by oneself or an old book re-proofed, it could be sent to the Yamen for review, and copyright protection could be obtained after passing the review.

When it was printed, there was a special copyright page, and it was indicated in large characters that this book could not be pirated.

If the pirates are proven to be illegal, the maximum penalty is ransacking the home!

However, this kind of copyright protection can at most work in the counties of the state, and it is difficult for local governments to enforce laws across borders.

Zhu Guoxiang said: "The lower class people in Yangzhou are still drinking cheaper loose tea. The upper class still retains the habit of drinking high-end group tea, and they often only use fried tea to entertain guests. The main customers of fried tea are cities. The middle class and government orders, if there is too much fried tea, the local market will be easily saturated.”

Zhu Ming said: "It's definitely not saturated, the market has not been fully developed, it's just that the supply exceeds demand in a short period of time. If Daming Village and Zheng's family want to sell out their fried tea, they have to go through smuggling."

It is also possible to take the regular route of the Tea Horse Division, but there are three difficulties:
One is that the tea from Chuanxia [-]th Road can only be sold to the frontier for horses. Even if it is trafficked by private merchants, it must be transported to the Dacha Masi on Xihe Road.

The second is to sell tea legally, the tax is too heavy, and the profit is not high.

The third is that those ethnic minorities do not have the habit of drinking stir-fried tea, so even if they are transported there, there may not be a market.

Zhu Guoxiang said: "Zhang Guangdao planned to partner with Zheng's family in smuggling. Yourong expressed his opposition at first, but was persuaded by everyone, because Zhang Guangdao was not the only one who wanted to smuggle. Moreover, everyone didn't think there was anything wrong with smuggling. The entire three counties of Yangzhou, The tea gardens and tea merchants who did not participate in the smuggling went bankrupt long ago.”

Even if you take the Tangluo Road, you have to pay taxes.

There is a tax collection station at the exit of Luogu, which can easily bribe the tax collectors and declare customs with ordinary goods, so as to avoid the high tea tax.

Zhu Guoxiang also said: "The population of Daming Village has exceeded 1700. On the other side of the Han River in Xiabai Village, those scattered peasant households volunteered to merge their people and land into Daming Village collectively, in order to seek the protection of Daming Village and escape the exorbitant taxes imposed by the government."

Zhu Ming smiled and said, "This is equivalent to directly expanding our territory by one-fifth."

Zhu Guoxiang threw the letter into the stove and burned it: "At the suggestion of Meng Zhao and Yu Shanwei, you can divide the village into three miles. The original land near Heifengzhai is the first mile, and the abandoned tea mountain reaches the riverside. The inn is the second mile, and the river valley near the Han River to the opposite bank of Xiabai Village is the third mile."

"My stepmother is capable of doing things." Ju Ming spoke highly of her.

Zhu Guoxiang shook his head and said, "It must be Yu Shanwei's idea, that woman is not simple."

Zhu Ming asked, "How did the county government respond?"

Zhu Guoxiang said: "Xiang County has been promoted, and the new county magistrate is called Pang Rui. This person has been the headmaster of the state for several years. He is probably poor and crazy. He made money from death as soon as he took office. He didn't even want to face him. Under the guise of collecting food and salaries for the imperial court, several kinds of exorbitant donations were added at one go. The scattered farmers on the other side of Xiabai Village just couldn't stand this, so they took their land and collectively went to Daming Village."

"What's Zhang Su's reaction?" Zhu Ming asked again.

Zhu Guoxiang couldn't help laughing: "Master Zhang and Bai Erlang teamed up to resist this kind of random tax collection. But Master Zhang really resisted and wanted to ease the burden on the people. Bai Erlang and his gang of subordinates, on the other hand, Resist and take the opportunity to make money."

"It's not easy to set up a master's office," Zhu Ming sighed, and gloated at the same time. "There are corrupt officials on the top and dirty officials on the bottom. It must be uncomfortable for him to be caught in the middle. He probably doesn't have the heart to manage Daming Village."

Zhu Guoxiang said comfortingly: "The more fierce the fight between the county government officials, the better, the easier it is for Daming Village to focus on development. The new magistrate of Pang County took the initiative to show favor to Daming Village, probably to curry favor with the two of us. During his tenure, he completely Don't worry about external pressure."

"What happened to the school?" Zhu Ming asked.

"Last year, the whole village had a good harvest," Zhu Guoxiang smiled happily. "Many villagers sent their children to study. There are already more than [-] students, and four of them are girls. Meng Zhao is contacting his old classmate, who is also a low-ranking scholar. , I want to bring that person to Daming Village as a teacher."

There are more than fifty students, even if only half of them are around ten years old.After five or six years, twenty or thirty young people who can read and write can also be trained, and all of them can do mathematics. This will be the official team at the beginning of the army.

What's more, as the villagers get richer, the number of students will increase.

It's really called "wealthy". If they can eat enough, wear warm clothes, and save a few surplus grains, they feel that they are living a very rich life.

The letter had been reduced to ashes in the furnace, and Zhu Guoxiang still had a smile on his face: "Even Mrs. Yan was making suggestions. Last year, the village had more money, and Mrs. Yan suggested buying six more cattle. The village hired someone to Cattle are raised and rented to villagers at a low price to cultivate land during busy farming seasons. Villagers can also donate cattle grass, and if the donated cattle grass reaches a certain amount, they can cultivate half an acre of land for free.”

Zhu Ming said: "As long as a stable environment is provided, the subjective initiative of the people can be brought into play. Moreover, farmers know better what farmers need. Grandma Yan has been farming all her life, and she knows that farmers urgently need cattle. The original cattle in the village , the quantity is not enough.”

Zhu Ming read the letters of the Yangzhou scholars, and took a pen to reply to them one by one.

He also handed Chen Yuan's manuscript, which had been revised and supplemented repeatedly, to Deng Xia and said: "This book is tentatively named "Tao Yong Ce", take it back and hand it to Ling Guxu. Let him not hide his secrets. Scholars who are willing to learn this technique will all It can be copied and promoted.”

After writing the letter, Zhu Ming went to visit Chen Yuan again.

"Sir, I'm going to Puzhou to take up my post on the official ship tomorrow," Zhu Ming asked, "What are your plans, sir?"

Chen Yuan said: "The compilation of "Tao Yong Ce" has been completed. In the past six months, I have learned calculus from my father. Calculus is extremely mysterious. I can only grasp the surface of it for the time being. I am afraid it will take 20 years to delve into it. Here in Tokyo, Although I have accepted hundreds of disciples, I can't bear the atmosphere of this place."

What is unbearable is the academic atmosphere. In order not to be made things difficult by the authorities, Chen Yuan deleted many remarks that violated the new learning.

Throughout the Huizong Dynasty, the places with the strictest academic control were Kaifeng and Luoyang, neither of which was suitable for spreading new ideas.

Chen Yuan felt that he was dancing in shackles. After holding back for more than a year, he had enough: "I will leave Tokyo when the weather is cooler and autumn comes. First, I will go to Liangzhe to visit my teacher, and give lectures for two months. Then go back to Fujian."

"Sir, will you spread knowledge on Fujian Road from now on?" Zhu Ming asked.

Chen Yuan nodded and said, "Go back to my hometown and build an academy dedicated to teaching Taoism. Besides, I've been away from home for several years, so it's time to go back and reunite with my wife and children."

Zhu Ming took out three hundred guan worth of silver: "Sir, please accept it."

Half of the three hundred guan is to repay the loan. I borrowed some from Chen Yuan when I opened the coal shop.The remaining half was funded by Zhu Ming for Chen Yuan's travel expenses back home.

Chen Yuan did not refuse, accepted it readily, and reminded: "If you release it outside, you will be able to govern with peace of mind and must benefit the people. As for the current official, it is becoming more and more absurd, and it is impossible to persuade him. You You are still young, accumulate a lot of qualifications, and wait for a good life to assist the new king."

Most of Cai Jing's opponents can only choose to lie dormant and bet on the crown prince.

Their attitude towards the emperor is basically: the tuba is useless, let's practice the trumpet.

Chen Yuan is very optimistic about Zhu Ming. With Song Huizong's bad habit of taking drugs every day, he can live another 20 years at most.At that time, Ju Ming will only be in his 30s, and he has already accumulated a wealth of qualifications, which is just right for him to assist the new king as an important minister of the country.

Chen Yuan still did not recognize Wang Anshi's title: "Wang Jinggong reformed the law with good intentions, but he was not good at employing people, and he was too impatient. If you want to reform the law in the future, you should take it as a warning."

Although many people opposed Wang Anshi's reform, but in the Huizong Dynasty, facing a lot of mess, the reform has become the consensus of the whole world.

People with lofty ideals all want to reform, but not like Cai Jing.

Some historians have summed up the core idea of ​​Cai Jing's reform: to collect all the benefits of the local area in the central government.Then take all the benefits of the central government to the royal family.

As a result, the local governments had no money, and the central government was short of finances, but Song Huizong had a lot of money to squander.

However, the local government has no money, so it can only redouble its exploitation and live by collecting exorbitant taxes.

"Take care, sir, farewell!" Zhu Ming got up and left.

Chen Yuan sent him out, then returned to his room and continued to study calculus.

The next day, Zhu Ming boarded an official boat and headed for Puzhou via the Guangji River.

On the same boat was Wang Jie, who was also on his way to take up the post, and he was also Ju Ming's neighbor—the magistrate of Xingren, whose prefecture was in Jiyin County.

Puzhou, where Ju Ming works, is governed by Juancheng County.

To the east of these two places is Shuibo Liangshan!

(End of this chapter)