Guide to Traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty.

Chapter 283 0278 [Two forests asking for help]

Lizhou has a humid subtropical monsoon climate, warm in winter and cool in summer, with four distinct seasons.

The Chinese New Year is approaching, and there is no snow, which makes Zhu Ming feel quite comfortable.After crossing, I encountered heavy snow every year. In the only year when there was no snowfall, I was afraid of drought and locust plagues in the next year.

The ordnance was still being built, and Zhu Ming was bored, so he went to the official school for a tour.

The county school is very small, with only more than 90 students.

The state school is even worse, with only more than 20 students.

Zhu Ming asked, Lizhou's Fajie (Juren) quota is only two people in each state examination.

State principal Su Mao and Zhu Ming are in the same subject, so they are considered unlucky.Han Chuang studied hard for more than ten years, and finally got admitted to Jinshi, but was thrown to Lizhou as the principal, and he could only teach more than 20 students.

That's all, there is no sign of moving in four years.

"Why don't you play to the Ming court and let the barbarians go to school?" Zhu Ming suggested.

Su Mao shook his head: "Students of the barbarians can only enroll in feudal schools. Those who can set up feudal schools are either important places like Hehuang, or wealthy prefectures like Guangzhou. Lizhou is on the border, and it is impossible to set up feudal schools."

Zhu Ming said: "There are a lot of barbarians in Lizhou, so we should set up a vassal school, and I will teach the court."

"It depends on Brother Chenggong." Su Mao is looking forward to this very much. Once a feudal school is set up, it will probably be easier for him to obtain qualifications and political achievements.

Zhu Ming took a few entourages and rode out of the city for a stroll.

On both sides of the Han River (Liusha River), there are many kinds of rapeseed, and the rapeseed seedlings are already knee-deep, and some vegetables that can withstand frost are interplanted.

On the dry land far from the river bank, broad beans and peas are planted everywhere, and vegetables are also planted among the bean seedlings.

Between the fields, mulberry trees can be seen occasionally, and mulberry trees are also picked here to raise silkworms.

Riding horses to the nearby mountains, I found a large area of ​​pepper trees.There is only one kind of tribute in Lizhou, red pepper, which is quite valuable when transported to the north.

Seeing a farmer howing the field, Zhu Ming got off his horse and approached him, and asked Bai Sheng and others to help with the farm work, while he started talking to the farmer himself.

The peasants were a little scared at first, and their speech was extremely reserved, so they relaxed after chatting and began to talk about their daily life.But he only picks up good things to say, and dare not criticize the government, but only casually mentions some difficulties.

Generally speaking, the life of farmers in Lizhou is similar to that of farmers in Jinzhou, or even slightly better.The per capita arable land area here is a bit more, and the climate is more suitable for farming, and the food tax does not need to be shipped out, and the biggest burden every year is actually the pepper...

Every year when the pepper is picked, no matter whether the pepper is grown at home or not, they have to pay a share of the tax, and hand it over to the tea market for transportation to the tea horse department. Officials at the state and county levels are not allowed to intervene.

This is extremely unreasonable and illegal, but the tea horse department is awesome.

Zhu Ming intends to fight against the tea horse!
After visiting on horseback for several days in a row, the time has come to Xiaonian.

The Yasi suddenly sent two letters, one was written by Geng Dingchen, an old subordinate of Puzhou.This guy was transferred to Qianwei County to be the chief bookkeeper, which is in Jiazhou next to Lizhou. He saw that Ju Ming was demoted to Hanyuan County from the newspaper, so he immediately wrote a letter to recount the old feelings.

Another letter was written by Yu Qi, magistrate of Qianwei County.

Yu Qi and Zhu Ming are Jinshi of the same discipline, and Geng Dingchen was transferred to be an official under him, because they both know Zhu Ming and get on well with each other, so this time they wrote a letter together to chat.

Ju Ming didn't have a deep impression of Yu Qi, and after thinking for a long time, he remembered that they drank together.

The letter also included a poem written by Yu Qi's eight-year-old son.This old man was obviously showing off his son, and actually said that this poem was written by his son when he was seven years old...

His son's name is Yu Yunwen.

Zhu Ming asked Wei Yingshi and Zeng Xiaoduan to copy a copy of "University Chapters and Sentences" and "The Doctrine of the Mean Chapters and Sentences", and send them back to Yu Qi and Geng Dingchen.

It was New Year's Eve in a blink of an eye, and Zhu Ming called his followers and family members to hold a banquet to celebrate.

It's not very lively here, far worse than Jinzhou.

On New Year's Day, Zhu Ming posted a couplet at the door.County government officials followed suit one after another. This thing is much less troublesome than peach charms, and it is especially suitable for ordinary people to celebrate the New Year.

Time flies so fast, it's the first year of Xuanhe.

Mainly from Jinzhou to Lizhou, it took several months on the road, and Ju Ming had to visit the situation along the way, which was slower than the normal speed.

At the end of last year, Emperor Huizong of Song Dynasty set up the Yumin Bureau and ordered its disbandment within a month.

This matter is related to Xu Churen, the one who rectified the officialdom in Xuzhou, cracked down on thieves, and let Shi Yuangong leave with two or three hundred metallurgical households.

Xu Churen made remarkable achievements in Xuzhou, and was personally summoned by Emperor Huizong of Song Dynasty.

Xu Churen said: "In recent years, there have been frequent floods and droughts across the country, the public and private have been in decline, and the soldiers and civilians have been trapped. We should find a way as soon as possible."

Song Huizong felt that it was very reasonable. After discussing with Xu Churen, he set up the "Yumin Bureau" to seek ways to strengthen the army and enrich the people.

Yuanfeng reorganized and abolished the Third Division, and most of the responsibilities were assigned to the Ministry of Households and the Ministry of Industry, both of which are Cai Jing's headquarters.

The "Yumin Bureau" is a bit like the State Planning Commission. Cai Jing feels that his power is being challenged, not to mention that Xu Churen was also a deputy prime minister.

Cai Jing's reaction was very fierce, and he questioned Xu Churen in front of the emperor: "The bureau is called 'enriching the people', so don't you usually enrich the people?"

Song Huizong didn't want to make too much trouble, after all, he had to rely on Cai Jing to make money, so he gave up the "Yumin Bureau" and Xu Churen was demoted to be the magistrate of Yangzhou.

Disappointed, Xu Churen resigned from his illness and returned to his hometown. This is how a virtuous minister ended his official career.

In the Huizong Dynasty, many capable officials and officials left the court in this way.

Song Huizong has more important things to do, the team from the Kingdom of Jin is back!

Wanyan Aguda also comes with many gifts, including Dongzhu, mink fur, sand, ginseng, pine nuts and so on.

Song Huizong was very happy, and regarded this behavior as a tribute, and his vanity was greatly satisfied.So a larger envoy was sent to the Kingdom of Jin to formally discuss the matter of uniting Jin to destroy Liao.

Since the Liao Dynasty is going to be attacked, the Xixia war must end as soon as possible.

Tong Guan forced Liu Fa, the envoy of Xihe Jinglue, to lead troops to attack Shuofang.Due to insufficient preparation and the lone army going deep, the Song army lost [-] troops in an ambush and the main general Liu Fa was killed.

A generation of northwest war gods died like this.

……

Throughout the spring, Ju Ming advised farmers.

No one is willing to grow corn and sweet potatoes, so Zhu Ming didn't bother to spend time doing demonstrations, and directly forced the farmers in the mountainous areas to cultivate them.

He took the Yaqian officials to personally inspect the various mountainous areas and selected dozens of acres of mountainous land for farming.A few farmers brought from Daming Village taught the local farmers how to plant, and put aside harsh words, that those who cultivated seriously could get a tax reduction, and those who did not cultivate seriously were levied more land taxes.

The mountain people complained, but they had to obey, secretly cursing the eighteen generations of the ancestors who knew the state.

After the spring plowing, Zhu Ming finally started training soldiers.

These Xiang troops usually also farmed the land, and they could be called elite soldiers if they practiced once a month. Zhu Ming didn't dare to delay their farming.

Fortunately, his physique is not bad. Lizhou has a full army of 50 horses and 300 infantry, all of which are selected by Yu Wenchang.

Zhu Ming organized the 300 infantry into 25 mandarin duck teams.

There are ten teams and one brigade, and the commander is the head of the capital.Both Zhang Tong and Li Bao were appointed temporarily as the capital, and the deputy capital was selected from the local horse army.

The remaining five brigades were used as reserve teams, under the personal command of Zhu Ming.

At the beginning, there were fifteen days of intensive training, and they had to practice every day. Although the food was sufficient, the soldiers were trained so much that they wanted to cry.

They have never experienced this kind of "high-intensity" training, and the military discipline is extremely strict, and they will be punished at every turn.Especially if I trained well and my teammates made a mistake, the whole team had to be punished as a result.

It's okay to be punished for running, being hit by a board, etc., but I'm afraid of being fined for food, and I would rather be beaten than eat.

The [-]-day training camp is over, and it will be changed to practice every other day.

Practice physical fitness and enemy-killing tricks in the morning, and practice orders and formations in the afternoon.

Zhu Ming, the county magistrate, spent all day in the military camp, as if he had become a general.

He has not rectified the administration of officials for the time being, because there is a lack of a breakthrough, it is best to win a battle, and then rectify after establishing his prestige.

While training and waiting, the barbarians will definitely come to plunder, because there are one or two every year.

Before the five tribes harassed the Han people, the two forest tribes came suddenly.

Zhu Ming was called by Yu Wenchang, but saw more than a dozen barbarians kneeling on the ground.

Yu Wenchang pointed to the barbarian leader and said, "This is the son of Li Shunen, the barbarian leader of the two forests, named Li Jien."

Zhu Ming asked, "Chinese name?"

Yu Wenchang nodded and said: "More than a hundred years ago, the two Linmen were closer to the Han land. They took the surname Li in the Taizong Dynasty. They once beat the Sichuan Man of Qiongbu to no avail. Later, the Sichuan Man of Qiongbe flourished and the two Linman Drive to the south. If they want to come to Lizhou for trade, they have to pass through the territory of Sichuan Man in Qiongbu."

Li Jien wept bitterly, and he could speak Chinese: "Please preside over my two Linmans!"

"What's going on?" Zhu Ming asked.

Yu Wenchang explained: "Last autumn, they brought more than a dozen good horses and a lot of barbarian goods to the Lizhou Mutual Market. They were robbed by the Qiongbu Chuanman on the way, so the two had a fight. The two Linman Defeated in the war, hundreds of men and women were robbed, some livestock and property were looted, and after the beginning of spring, they made a detour to complain."

Zhu Ming helped Li Jien up, and asked nicely, "How old is this year?"

Li Jien said: "Yes."

Zhu Ming patted the opponent's chest and praised: "You are really a young warrior!"

Yu Wenchang didn't speak, just sat and watched Ju Ming's performance.

Li Jien asked, "Who is your lord?"

Zhu Ming said: "I am Zhu Ming, the magistrate of Hanyuan County. You speak Chinese so well. Who taught you?"

Li Jien said: "There are Han people in our village, and they often give advice to my father. He also taught me to read and write. This gentleman helped me and my father get our Chinese names."

Zhu Ming asked: "If troops are sent to attack the Sichuan Man in Qiongbu, how many troops can the two Lin Man have?"

Li Jien thought about it carefully, gritted his teeth and said, "Eight thousand!"

Yu Wenchang's face changed. He knew the strength of the two forests. To send [-] troops at a time was tantamount to a life-and-death situation.

Zhu Ming smiled and said, "Go down and rest first, this matter is quite serious, and I have to discuss it with Governor Yuwen."

The barbarians retreated, leaving only Yu Wenchang and Zhu Ming in the room.

"You can't fight!" Yu Wenchang directly blocked the topic.

Zhu Ming said: "You can send someone to reprimand you first. If you are obedient, you will not be beaten. If you are disobedient, you will have to be taught a lesson."

(End of this chapter)