Guide to Traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty.

Chapter 231 0226 [Winning Farmers for Gold]

Elder Su Yuan was surprised: "How dare he dig up the grave to get the bones?"

Zhu Ming said: "The one that was dug was the Louze Garden."

This is no problem, Louze Garden belongs to the charity cemetery, and the buried people are all uncollected corpses, and no family members will make trouble.

Elder Su Yuan drank two more cups, and tentatively said: "Jinzhou household registration, thirty-nine thousand six hundred and thirty-six, the former eunuch wanted to make up forty thousand, and it has been reported to the household department, but has not passed the inspection. What does eunuch Zhu think?"

"Let it be." Ju Ming said ambiguously.

Reaching [-] households can be regarded as Wangzhou.

Fifteen years ago, when Fan Chunyan, the son of Fan Zhongyan, was the magistrate of Jinzhou, Cai Jing ordered an inventory of land acres and household registrations across the country.

Fan Chunchun is very interesting. He deliberately only reported more than 9000 households, and only [-] households could make up [-].Once all [-] were collected, Fan Chunchun's rank as a dispatcher would be equivalent to a one-level promotion in place, but he did not collect all the households.

Because if it becomes Wangzhou, the burden on Jinzhou will be even heavier!
Go with the flow?

Elder Su Yuan pondered for a while, and probably understood what Zhu Ming meant.

If you want to upgrade Jinzhou to Wangzhou, the Ministry of Household Affairs will first send people to check.Zhu Ming's attitude is that if you want to get promoted or not, anyway, I don't give bribes, so there is no way to take advantage of the opportunity to make money!
If you don't bribe the officials of the household department, you can't get promoted to the state.

How barren is the Golden State?Adding up the five counties, the official data is less than [-] households.

On the other side of Yangzhou, there are only three counties, but there are more than [-] households registered.

Zhu Ming asked again: "Aside from the banning of flowers and stones, what else is there to do in Jinzhou?"

Elder Su Yuan said cryptically: "Cheng Zhen, the envoy of Changping on Jingxian Road, is a student Jinshi hand-picked by the government. Li Daochong is appointed concurrently. Li Daochong is also Cai Dang. The prefect can send his personal followers to Hengkou Town to inquire about something."

"Thank you for the reminder!" Ju Ming vaguely grasped the clue.

Song Huizong assigned the mine supervisor to the Changping Division for management, and the promotion of the Changping Envoy became an important position, and the treacherous parties naturally rushed to install their own people.

Cheng Zhen belongs to the imperial party and only listens to the emperor. (Later, he became the prince's teacher. During the Jingkang period, he served as Minister of the Ministry of Punishment. Due to insufficient collection of gold and silver, he was beaten to death by the gold soldiers.)
This old man is famous for his knowledge, but lacks the means to do things.He was thrown by the emperor to be a regular envoy, but the local officials were not very obedient, and the gold mines in Jinzhou were even controlled by the Cai party.

Half drunk, Su Yuan got up to say goodbye, and Zhu Ming sent him to the door of the hotel.

The next day.

The official boat went down the Han River. Ju Ming disembarked halfway, and took Li Bao, Zhang Tong, and Yang Pu, pretending to be travelers, to cross the mountains and go north.

Bai Sheng, Liu Shiren, Liu Kui and others escorted Zheng Yuanyi further south, pretending that Ju Ming was still on board.

Hanyin County in the Song Dynasty was built on the bank of the Han River, and Zheng Yuanyi took that road by boat.

The later Hanyin County was built on the banks of the Moon River.

Moon River and Heng River (Ganges River) are full of golden sands!

A few days later, Zhu Ming bypassed Maling Pass and came to the south bank of the Moon River, eating dry food all the way to satisfy his hunger.

Two days later, it suddenly became clear that there were vast valleys on both sides of the Moon River that could be cultivated.

In the afternoon, Zhu Ming found a village and planned to spend money to buy some dry food for supplies.

"There's something wrong here." Li Bao said.

Ju Ming's face was ugly: "Of course something is wrong. It's spring plowing time, but there are few farmers in the fields, which doesn't match the number of nearby houses."

Zhang Tong said, "Why don't you go into the village and ask?"

Zhu Ming shook his head: "Go to the river and find out."

The four of them continued walking along the river bank, and soon discovered that a large number of farmers were panning for gold sand, and an archer was patrolling.

"What are you doing? Don't get close to the river bank, leave quickly!" Archer scolded.

Zhu Ming didn't look any further, but walked towards the village.

When a farmer was digging a field with a hoe, Zhu Ming asked, "Can't you rent cattle? Even if you don't have cattle, you can drag the plow manually. Why use a hoe to plow the field?"

The farmer remained silent and continued to wave his hoe.

Zhu Ming took off his shoes and socks, rolled up his clothes and trouser legs, went to the farmer, took out a silver coin and said, "Let me try the hoe."

The farmer was stunned, unable to bear the temptation, took the money and put it in his arms, and handed the hoe to Zhu Ming in a daze.

While digging the field with a hoe, Zhu Ming asked, "How do you turn the field with a hoe?"

The farmer stood there, not knowing what to do, and replied: "The cattle in the village are exhausted, and the family is not enough, and the plow can't be dragged."

"Go panning for gold during the spring plowing season?" Zhu Ming asked again.

The farmer looked at Zhu Ming, and then looked back at Zhang Tong, Li Bao, and Yang Pu, as if he was afraid to tell the truth.

Zhu Ming took out another silver coin, and said with a smile, "I'm a businessman who collects herbs from other places, and I don't deal with the government."

After the farmer took the money, he hesitated and said in a low voice: "The officials in Hengkou (Hengkou) Town let the villagers go to pan for gold, never resting in winter or spring. You have to pay alluvial gold, and if you don’t pay all the money, you will be punished.”

"Is this the whole Moon River?" Zhu Ming asked.

The farmer said, "The same goes for the Henghe River."

Zhu Ming asked again: "How much of the gold you get from the panning can you keep?"

The farmer said: "All have to be handed over to the security chief, and the security chief takes it to answer the errand. There are archers guarding it every day, and they have to be searched when they go ashore. Anyone who dares to hide the gold sand will be arrested. The gold cannot be kept, and the wages are not paid. Give some rations every day."

This is treating farmers as slaves for gold digging!
The Moon River and the Heng River have a lot of gold sand. When the government was the most ruthless, [-] people were sent down the river to pan for gold at the same time, and even the residents of the county town were driven here.

But that was during the slack season, and the same was done during the spring plowing season, which had never happened before.

Zhu Ming continued to dig, hoe and plow the field, asking for more information.

According to the farmers, Hengkou Town has a Hengkou Office, which specializes in managing the nearby sand and gold mines.

The Hengkou Affairs Department is under the Changping Division, and is managed by Jinzhou's Changping activity officer, who is also concurrently served by Jinzhou Tongju.Of course, farmers don't know this information, they only know that a high official is urging them.

Yang Pu said in a low voice: "Are we just watching Xianggong dig the field like this?"

"Don't bother me, Xianggong is visiting privately on Weibo." Zhang Tong said.

Li Bao said with emotion: "Sanggong is such a good official, I'm afraid I can't find another one in the world, even a hoe can be used so neatly."

"I'd better go to the fields." Yang Pu felt awkward.He regards Zhu Ming as his master. There is no reason why a master is working in the field while a servant is watching by the side of the field.

Walking to Zhu Ming's side, Yang Pu said, "Master, take a rest and let me come."

Zhu Ming handed the hoe to Yang Pu, and led the farmer to the ridge to continue chatting.

That night, I stayed at the farmer's house and baked some multigrain pancakes to make dry food.

The next day, we continued to move forward and found that the banks of the Moon River were almost the same.This is the entire Golden State, one of the few areas suitable for farming, but spring plowing has been seriously delayed due to the gold rush.

Zhu Ming was so angry that he couldn't wait to go to Jinzhou City to take up his post, so he led people directly into the town's Hengkou Office.

The court office in the small town was repaired in a magnificent manner, and Zhu Ming was even more angry when he saw it.

"Idlers stop!" There are guards here.

Zhu Ming showed his official badge: "The governor of Jinzhou is here to call out the official of Hengkou Wu!"

After recognizing the official badge, the guard turned and ran away in fright.

Soon, a civil servant appeared with his entourage, bowed to him and said: "Hengkou Wu is doing official business, and I have seen the prefect face to face."

Zhu Ming scolded: "Call all the officials in the town together, and let them go to four miles and eight villages to spread the order to immediately stop all gold mining activities and resume spring plowing on both sides of the Moon River and Heng River!"

Ren Chongwei said: "Prefect, this is an errand arranged by Li Dapan."

Zhu Ming said: "Since he is also sent by Jinzhou Changping, I can't control how to mine gold, but he can't delay the spring plowing. If the spring plowing is delayed, I can take care of it. This is the job of the Zhizhou!"

Ren Chong still didn't want to listen to the greeting, so he shrank his neck and said, "Why don't the eunuchs go discuss it with Li Dapan first?"

"The spring plowing season is so precious. If it is delayed by one day, the grain production will be reduced," Zhu Ming was furious. "Grandpa is arguing with him. He is in charge of the money, and I am in charge of the people. If my people are moved, it will be the same when the king of heaven comes."

Ren Chong cried and said with a mournful face: "Prefect, I really dare not be an official."

"Disobedient, right?" Zhu Ming yelled, "This person is a field worker, so he is not good at managing field affairs, but he violates the system and exceeds his authority and enslaves the people. This is the first crime! He does not listen to the prefect's orders, and does not correct his mistakes. This is the second crime." Also! Maybe there is a crime of greed, so I have to arrest him for interrogation. Come and arrest this fellow!"

Along the way, Zhang Tong and Li Bao were also angry, and immediately rushed to catch him.

Ren Chong shouted in panic: "Tanhualang, I am also a Jinshi, I and Tanhualang share the same subject! We are in the same subject, we have the same year friendship..."

Zhu Ming grabbed the man's skirt: "Since he is a Jinshi of the same discipline, we have attended the Wenxi banquet together. At the Wenxi banquet, even the officials dared to contradict me, so what are you? Yang Pu, you are here to take care of this person. Anyone who dares to let him go will just chop him off with a knife."

"Take orders!" Yang Pu held his head high.

Zhu Ming summoned the rest of the servants, took Zhang Tong and Li Bao, and set off on Hengkouwu's boat.

Encountered gold diggers along the way, he ordered them to go home and farm.The archers in charge of patrolling were also sent to deliver the news, making sure all the farmers stopped panning for gold.

The farmers were a little dazed, and stood on the shore with the sieve, for fear of being retaliated against in a few days after returning home.

Zhu Ming shouted: "Don't be afraid, I am the new Jinzhou Zhizhou Zhu Ming. In the five counties of Jinzhou, I have the largest official. From now on, whoever dares to enlist you to pan for gold during the busy farming season, you will go to Jinzhou Prefecture Government Sue. I will support you and ensure that you will not delay the farming season!"

The farmers looked at each other, and suddenly someone knelt down and kowtowed.

Zhu Ming added: "I heard that corn and sweet potatoes have also been brought here. The seeds of corn and sweet potatoes were brought back from overseas by my father. As long as I am in Jinzhou for one day, I will not leave you alone!"

Hearing this, the farmers respected him even more. When they got sweet potatoes and corn, they already knew that there was Lord Yuanzhang in Xixiang.

In front of him is the prince of Yuanzhang's family!
The farmers thanked and left, and some of them had already walked away, and then turned around and kowtowed to Ju Ming.

However, Ju Ming did not go to Jinzhou City for the time being, and took a small boat to investigate along the river to make sure that all the farmers had gone home to farm.

(The last chapter had a brain twitch. Shiquan County is a lower county, not a middle county.)
(In addition, Song Sheng used human ashes to paint walls, which is indeed not recorded in the official history. It was first seen in Ye Mengde's miscellaneous books, and later recorded in Buddhist and Taoist classics. Maybe the truth is not so outrageous, but most of them did similar things. Because Ye Mengde himself is Cai The party, and also served as a prime minister under Zhao Gou. Ye Mengde clearly wrote in the book that when Song Sheng was digging the grave to extract the bones, he was the magistrate in Xuchang, and was asked by Song Sheng to supply various supplies.)
(End of this chapter)