Guide to Traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty.

Chapter 214 0209 [Go to drink]

In the pavilion in the middle of the lake, the servants retreated.

The father and son chatted in standard Mandarin, beware of being overheard by someone.

"What do you gain from going to Shandong?" Zhu Guoxiang asked.

Ju Ming took out a bamboo tube, took out a diagram he made and said, "The rural ecology there is more in line with my stereotype of ancient Chinese countryside. The clan power is stronger than Hanzhong, the land annexation is more serious than Hanzhong, and the miscellaneous taxes are far more than Hanzhong. State and county."

Zhu Guoxiang carefully read those charts. Compared with the proportion of customers, he was more concerned about the proportion of main households: "Your chart is wrong, there are too many third-class households."

“There must be a problem with the official statistics,” Zhu Ming explained. “It’s because the rich are distributing their households and dividing their property. One family is divided into dozens of households. Although the household registration books have been separated and the land assets seem to have been divided, the land deeds are still in the hands of the patriarch. They can still control the entire family, and at the same time can legally avoid taxes. The actual situation is much more serious than the official statistics.”

Although the proportion of customers can also reflect the degree of land mergers, it more reflects the proportion of land-lost farmers.

The proportion of households and other households reveals the social structure in more detail.

In the first year of Qingli, Zhang Fangping, a famous official, estimated through investigation that the first, second and third class households must be less than 20%, and the fourth and fifth class households are likely to be close to 90%. Thirty years later, Zhang Fangping estimated that the fourth- and fifth-class households must have exceeded 30%.

There are many similar statistics. Officials in the Northern Song Dynasty are not fools, they will also read the statistics, but they are not as detailed as Zhu Ming's statistics.

Looking at the entire Northern Song Dynasty, the main household accounted for about 65%, and the customers accounted for about 35%.Among the main households, first-, second- and third-class households account for about 10%, and fourth- and fifth-class households account for about 90%.

That is, households in the first, second and third classes, which account for 6.5%, own most of the land in the country.

However, the heaviest corvee is borne by households in the fourth and fifth classes. Wang Anshi's Fangtian average tax is just trying to solve this problem.

Zhu Guoxiang commented: "Such a serious gap between the rich and the poor could not be cured in ancient times, and it is difficult to reverse it through reforms. Only by breaking the original social class structure through war can social wealth be redistributed."

"Are you afraid of killing people in battle?" Zhu Ming asked with a smile.

Zhu Guoxiang shook his head, and did not answer directly, but said: "In such a bad situation, the Southern Song Dynasty can survive for more than 100 years. How did the monarchs and ministers of the Southern Song Dynasty manage it?"

"Let's attack the rich," Zhu Ming said. "Once there is a war, the rich households will be forcibly distributed, forcing a large number of upper-class households to go bankrupt. It can not only maintain the war expenses, but also redistribute land in some areas. Of course, the people at the bottom must be more Miserably, when I read the folk works of the Song Dynasty, the words "production, tax and storage" often appear. That is to say, many fourth- and fifth-class households have been forced to sell their land, but they cannot obtain the identity of customers and have to be treated as Pay taxes as a principal.”

Zhu Guoxiang rolled up the chart and put it back into the bamboo tube: "Who are those three people you brought back?"

Zhu Ming said: "Shi Yuangong, a bankrupt Juren, thinks about rebellion all day long, and always feels that the Song Dynasty is about to end. Yang Pu, a bankrupt farmer, is a gangster. Zhang Tong, a descendant of a famous family that is gradually declining, has good swordsmanship and is good at fighting alone. Challenge, the battlefield skills are not very good."

Zhu Guoxiang said: "In just three months, you can recruit these people, which is considered pretty good."

Zhu Ming said with a smile: "There is also Li Bao, who has gone home. When the family affairs are arranged, he will come to Tokyo to meet up. This is the real reward of this trip. Li Bao is the commander-in-chief of the Southern Song Dynasty Navy. He has [-] militiamen to wipe out all The record of the [-] gold army."

"It's understandable for the three thousand militiamen to win the battle. How did he manage to wipe out [-] enemies?" Zhu Guoxiang couldn't imagine.

Zhu Ming said: "Historical records are that he attacked Shandong from the sea. Relying on his high civil prestige, he recruited hundreds of Shandong Jin soldiers as soon as he landed. Although these Shandong Jin soldiers were also some miscellaneous soldiers, they provided him with important Intelligence. At that time, Jin Bing was camped in a bay, and hundreds of sea ships were also docking at the port. He used fire attack unexpectedly, and Jin Bing had nowhere to escape, and the fire burned for four days and four nights."

Zhu Guoxiang was speechless: "You man!"

Zhu Ming shook his head and said: "At this time, Li Bao hadn't learned the art of war. Except for his excellent archery and riding skills, he was inferior to Zhang Guangdao in other aspects. Famous generals need to be piled up with human lives, and they have not gone through the experience of blood and fire. Just an ordinary guy."

"But he definitely has talent and potential." Zhu Guoxiang said.

Zhu Ming smiled and said, "Indeed."

Zhu Guoxiang said: "Come with me to the palace tomorrow to see the emperor, you have been away from Tokyo for too long, you have to go to the cold stove."

"You did well, Dean Zhu, you can enter the palace if you want." Zhu Ming teased.

The father and son were chatting in the pavilion, and Yang Zhi's family was worshiping their sons, namely Yang Zhi, Li Jinyi, Lin Chong, Wang Xiong, Hua Rong, Chai Jin, Zhang Qing, Xu Ning, Li Ying, Mu Heng, Guan Sheng, and Sun Li.

They are all low-level officers, belonging to several units, and they don't fully know each other. This time they were selected to escort Hua Shigang.

After receiving the same errand, they quickly became acquainted and made an appointment to take care of each other along the way.

Everyone burned the yellow paper, burned incense and made an oath: "The emperor is above, today I am 12 people, we are sworn brothers, if disaster occurs, everyone will help..."

After worshiping, they all frown.

They are now polished officers and need to go to Taihu Lake first.Hand over with the local officials, and then escort Hua Shigang back to Beijing. Gang Chuan and the civilian husband are on the other side of Taihu Lake.

From the beginning to the end, there is no extra salary, not even travel expenses.

Although official ships can be taken along the way, official ships do not depart every day.In the case of being in a hurry, and occasionally having to pay for the journey by myself, I took a private boat to go south as soon as possible.

Seeing that the brothers were not in high spirits, Yang Zhi said: "Let's go to Yuxian Zhengdian for a drink, I'll treat you!"

Hua Rong persuaded: "The hotels in the city are too expensive, let's go to a bar outside the city."

"Then go to Jinming Pond!" Yang Zhi was also a little reluctant.

Those restaurants in the inner city are all high consumption.Take Yuxian Zhengdian as an example, silver bottle wine is 72 cents, and lamb wine is 81 cents.

There are about two taels of wine in a dime, and when you drink it with your neck up, nearly a hundred wen are gone.

The wine shop by the Jinming Pond is also very high-end, but it is much cheaper than the inner city.

People walked through the city, talking while walking.

Zhang Qing asked: "I heard that brother Yang recognizes Zhu Tanhua?"

Yang Zhi smiled and said, "I've seen it twice."

Sun Li bragged and said: "Zhu Tanhua thinks highly of Brother Yang, and even said that when he encountered difficulties, he went to Puzhou to vote for him."

Li Ying said: "Escorting Hua Shigang is quite risky. Last year, a Gang ship sank, and all the instigators in charge of escorting were assassinated in Hebei. Brother Yang knows Zhu Tanhua well, why don't you ask him to say a few words so that our brothers can't do it well?" It's an errand."

"Zhu Tanhua is in Puzhou, how can we ask him? You are trying to think of good things." Yang Zhi scolded with a smile.

They didn't know that Zhu Ming had been transferred, they chatted and laughed as they walked along the street and happened to miss Zhu Ming who was out shopping.

Today Zhu Ming came back in a hurry, and there was nothing prepared at home. The father and son planned to go out to eat, so they called Bai Chongyan and Min Zishun along the way.

Bai Sheng talked nonchalantly, and introduced to his companions from Shandong along the way: "In front is the Iron Flakes Hotel, and the owner and staff are all foreigners."

Yang Pu asked curiously, "Why is the hotel called the Iron Shavings Building? Could it be that the owner used to be a blacksmith?"

"How do I know? It's called that anyway." Bai Sheng said.

Zhu Ming said: "Iron filings is the name of an ancient foreign country."

Iron filings, that is, Israel, are also translated as iron shavings and falling shavings.

Those Jews are so strong financially that they are able to open restaurants in the inner city of Tokyo.And it is also located in a prime location, just one square away from the north is Panlou.

Moving on, Bai Sheng said again: "That's Zheng's pancake shop. I've eaten pancakes from his home, and they taste really good."

Shi Biao did not follow to Puzhou, but stayed in Tokyo to protect Dean Zhu.Reunited with an old friend today, I also became talkative: "I ate it too. Last month, my husband went to see the emperor. He didn't even bother to eat breakfast, so he got off the car halfway and bought a few pancakes. I ate it too. And minced meat."

Only Deng Chun, without saying a word, silently observed the situation around him.

Yang Pu, a little thief in Puzhou, has been dazzled by the bustling Tokyo, and even wants to buy some meatloaf on the street.

Zhang Tong pressed the hilt of his sword, but remained silent, his thoughts racing.

His ancestor Zhang Yong lived in Tokyo back then, and was close friends with Prime Minister Kou Zhun.

The idiom "ignorance without skill" comes from Zhang Yong's advice to Kou Zhun to read more.

The three idioms "a money punishes an official, a rope saws a tree, and a drop of water pierces a stone" also come from Zhang Yong.

The county government's treasury was often stolen. Zhang Yong squatted in secret and caught the treasury official stealing a penny.At first it was just beating the board, but the treasury official refused to accept it, saying that he only stole one penny, and clamored that he would be beaten at most. Zhang Yong didn't dare to kill him for this.

Zhang Yong was contradicted face to face, and he planned to rectify the administration of officials, so he wrote the verdict: "One penny a day, one thousand pennies a day, a rope saws a piece of wood, and water drips through a stone."

The treasury official was beheaded to show the public, but he didn't wait until the autumn to execute.From then on, the officials were honest and obedient, and even the trend of theft in the whole county was suppressed.

Such a famous ancestor, how could Zhang Ting miss his prestige from afar?He always wanted to restore the glory of his ancestors.

There are also descendants of the Zhang family in Tokyo, who separated a hundred years ago.

Zhang Tong's grandparents still had some contact with the same clan in Tokyo, and now they don't even worship their ancestors together.

Suddenly, Zhang Tong felt that he should study hard. Didn’t the ancestors start studying at the age of 20?

Shi Yuangong was in a different mood, he had been to Tokyo before.

At that time, I was in high spirits and rushed to the exam with my fellow countrymen.It's a pity that he failed the exams several times, and he was so shy that he didn't even have a chance to go shopping in Tokyo, and his family didn't dare to enter restaurants in the city.

Passing by high-end places, Shi Yuangong's expression began to twist.

The dignitaries here are all a bunch of bastards.One day, Laozi will lead troops into the city and kill all those who wear silk and satin.

Tianjie trampled all the bones of the prince, and the inner warehouse was burned to ashes!
Zheng Yuanyi was sitting in the car, chatting with Zhu Guoxiang's maid, An Niang, and talking about many interesting things they encountered in Puzhou.

They also don't eat in the inner city, it's too expensive, usually it's okay to buy a breakfast, but if you want to eat a big meal, you have to go to the outer city.

Arriving at the rented place of Bai Chongyan and Min Zishun, they waited for more than half an hour before the two returned home from get off work one after another.

"Sanlang, Brother Min, go eat and drink!" Zhu Ming laughed all the way.

Bai Chongyan was very pleasantly surprised: "Da Lang has returned to Beijing!"

Zhu Ming said: "I will pass by Yangzhou on the way to Jinzhou to take up the post. I can help you bring home letters."

"Don't say too much, eat wine!" Bai Chongyan laughed.

He was going crazy in the capital, and his colleagues were fighting each other, and today he was finally able to have a drink with his old friends.

(The update in the afternoon will be postponed. Dad's [-]th birthday, he needs to play with guests during the day.)
(End of this chapter)