Guide to Traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty.

Chapter 975 0970 [The shogunate should not be without Ban Gu, and Yanran will carve poems in praise of him sooner or later]

Hong Mai, the author of the Southern Song Dynasty fantasy novel "Yijianzhi", just turned seventeen this year.

The Poyang Hong family he belonged to was dismantled and relocated by Wei Liangchen a few years ago. The family's land was also sold to the government and distributed to the lower-class farmers at a very low price. Hong Mai was extremely dissatisfied with the Ming court.

No matter how dissatisfied you are, you still have to look forward to a future.

He graduated from Nanchang Prefecture School with excellent grades and could be directly admitted to Luoyang Imperial College. Of course, he could also choose to stay in Jiangxi and take the imperial examinations slowly.

When Hong Mai was only a few years old, his father was sent by Zhao Huan to ally with Jin. As a result, he was detained in Hebei by Jin and forced to serve as an official in the pseudo-Song court.

When the news spread to the south, people said that his father had become a running dog of the Jin people.

When the Ming Dynasty recovered Hebei, Hong Mai's father also returned to the south, and was proven to have done no evil, and was given the position of county magistrate. However, rumors continued to circulate, making Hong Mai and his brothers unable to raise their heads.

At that time, Hong Mai was only ten years old. When he was eating, his clothes were stained with oil. He was inspired to write a poem: "A little bit of oil stains the white clothes, the spots make people suspicious. Even if you wash it in thousands of rivers, how can it be as clean as before?"

Definitely a talented person.

"Sanlang, you can board the official ship now!" the servant shouted.

There are two official ships in the Dantu (Zhenjiang) port, which are about to transport official goods northward.

Students admitted to the Imperial Academy, such as Hong Mai, could ride on official ships for free along the way, and they were also given free places for two attendants.

After showing the document issued by the Jiangxi Provincial Education Commissioner, the grain transport soldiers on the dock took a look at it and then enthusiastically took Hong Mai and his servant on board.

Another young man with a long sword on his waist came running over with his servant.

The young man took out the document and said, "Lu You, a scholar from Yuezhou, is going to Luoyang to study at the Imperial College."

"Please come in, young sir." The soldiers of the canal army greeted him with a smile.

Lu You and Hong Mai were arranged in the same cabin. They bowed to each other and introduced their names and origins. Their respective followers helped to make the beds and fold the quilts.

After all, they were all young people, and after a few greetings, they became familiar with each other.

Hong Mai laughed and said, "It depends on when he started to learn. He was able to enter the Imperial College at the age of fifteen."

Lu You said: "He started learning to read at the age of three, and he should have started to learn formally at the age of five."

"Hangzhou Phoenix Academy is well-known throughout the south of the Yangtze River, and Wu Guan's elder is the president of the academy. Why doesn't he stay in the Phoenix Academy to continue his studies?" Hong Mai was quite envious.

"Let's go and experience the scenery of the two capitals." Lu You said with a smile.

The official ship set sail, and the two men met on the deck to enjoy the scenery on both sides of the canal along the way.

At first they were talking about academic subjects, but gradually they talked about the war against Western Xia.

Lu You took out his poem like he was presenting a treasure: There is trouble on the frontier this year, the general received the imperial edict and sent out the whole army. The horses are eight feet tall and the flags are five feet tall and embroidered. The flying fox in Shanggu passed on the order, and the stone walls of Xiaoguan were piled up. It shouldn't be that the shogunate didn't have Ban Gu, and he would carve poems in praise of him at Yanran every morning and evening.

After hearing this, Hong Mai laughed out loud: "Wu Guan is comparing himself to Ban Gu, and he even wants to go with the army to the battle and carve a stone tablet at Yanran."

Not only did Lu You compare himself to Ban Gu in his poem, he also complained that the expedition to Western Xia was launched too early and that he was not brought along as a military adviser, otherwise Mobei would have been taken back sooner or later.

"I also practice martial arts." Lu You patted the long sword at his waist.

Hong Mai thought Lu You was just bragging and treated the sword as a decoration.

The two of them ate and lived together on the boat. Both were talented people and got along well with each other, and their friendship became increasingly deep.

The two official ships stopped when they arrived in Kaifeng.

They needed to change ships in Kaifeng. Fortunately, there were many official ships here, and some were sent to Luoyang every day.

After changing boats, there were two more people in the cabin.

One of them was called Wang Yan, from Xiangzhou, 27 years old this year, the son of a military family. He passed the imperial examination at a young age, but he signed up to study at a military academy.

One of them was named Wang Lianqing, from Ruyin, the same age as Lu You, and also went to Luoyang to study at the Imperial College.

When Hong Mai heard that Wang Yan had the title of Juren, he could not help but ask, "Brother Gongming, since you are a Juren, why do you want to study martial arts?"

Wang Yan laughed heartily and said, "What if a scholar is a marquis?"

Lu You greatly appreciated this: "Brother Gongming is full of lofty ideals and is truly a good man. If the elders had not stopped me, I would have gone to the military academy as well."

Wang Yan said: "I saw you were wearing a long sword on your waist, so you have practiced martial arts?"

"I have practiced some basic techniques." Lu You told the truth.

Destiny is so magical that close friends from another time and space also become old friends in this time and space.

Historically, Wang Yan was the vice prime minister and privy councilor of the Southern Song Dynasty, but the "History of Song" is very secretive about him. While Lu You was serving as an advisor to Wang Yan, he wrote more than 100 military poems, but they were destroyed, leaving only 12 poems that were not related to Wang Yan.

The reason is very simple. Wang Yan and Yu Yunwen have a conflict that has reached the point where they are as hostile as fire and water.

At that time, Wang Yan was the governor of Sichuan and he recruited southerners to form a military unit. Lu You was the staff officer and trained with the soldiers. He soon discovered in actual combat that the military unit had flaws.

Therefore, at Lu You's suggestion, Wang Yan recruited northerners as soldiers. Not only northern Han people, but also soldiers from various ethnic groups such as Jurchen, Uighur, and Dangxiang, named "Yisheng Army", practiced Yisheng Spear (three-edged armor-piercing spear), and made many military achievements after the formation of the army.

During this period, Lu You also followed the training throughout, and once led 30 soldiers to kill a tiger. The tiger suddenly appeared, and the soldiers were all frightened. Lu You raised his spear and hit the tiger.

Kill the tiger general Lu You!

Just when everything was going well, Wang Yan was suddenly transferred back to the court and promoted, but then demoted to the position of prefect. Wang Yan claimed to be ill and did not take up the post, and was directly thrown into managing a Taoist temple, where he died of depression a few years later.

The Yisheng Army led by Wang Yan was taken advantage of by his successor Yu Yunwen. All the staff under Wang Yan, including Lu You, were also disbanded.

Historical figures are all very complex, even the extraordinary man Yu Yunwen is no exception.

Especially in his later years, Yu Yunwen held a high position of power, fame and fortune, and gradually became stubborn and self-willed.

The "History of Song Dynasty" described this very vaguely, and only pointed out in "Xue Ji Xuan Xuan" that Yu Yunwen "hidden the fault".

What does "taboo loss" mean?
They just won't listen to advice and are afraid of their own mistakes.

Xin Qiji also very obscurely wrote about the "sigh of the rise of factions" in "Water Melody: I ​​Don't Need to Be Persuaded to Drink", which basically suggests that Yu Yunwen brought down Wang Yan through factional struggles.

……

"You are all from the south, so I'm afraid you don't know the good news from the front," Wang Yan said excitedly, "The armies have won victory after victory, and I heard they are about to reach Xingqingfu, the capital of the Western Xia Kingdom!"

Lu You was overjoyed: "Really?"

Wang Yan said, "Of course it is true. I was also inspired by the victory report and made up my mind to give up literature and join the military. Although my Ming Dynasty will destroy Xixia, the northern desert has not been settled yet, and the Western Regions have not been pacified. Sooner or later, I will be able to lead troops to war."

Hong Mai teased, "Western Xia will fall, and it seems that there is no need for a modern-day Ban Gu like you."

Lu You said, "When Brother Gongming leads his troops to war, I will serve as his staff and assist him in military affairs."

"You are most welcome," Wang Yan said happily, "When the time comes, I will be the general in command, and you will be the military advisor, and we will fight all the way to the far west."

Wang Lianqing, who had been silent the whole time, suddenly said, "I'll draw a triumphal picture for you."

Wang Lianqing's father was a great painter, and he himself was also good at painting.

The four men had a very pleasant conversation, and when the official ship docked in Heyin County, they even got off the ship to buy wine and food.

"Great victory, great victory!"

"Hundreds of thousands of troops surrounded the city, and Xixia King Li Renxiao led all officials out of the city to surrender!"

"Western Xia is destroyed, Western Xia is destroyed!"

"..."

The four people on the boat were drinking when they suddenly heard cheers from the shore. They hurried out of the cabin to find out what was going on.

On the deck, I met a Caojun officer who smiled and said to everyone: "A decree has just been passed that Xixia has been destroyed. The Xixia king and all the civil and military officials have all come out of the city and kneeled in surrender. Our army has captured Xingqing Prefecture without bloodshed."

Wang Yan shouted: "Let's go drink and celebrate!"

"Drink together, drink together!"

"Go buy two more jars of wine. I won't stop until I'm drunk today."

The four young men were ecstatic and were drinking all over the cabin.

In every county they passed through next, the people inside and outside the city were filled with joy, even happier than when they destroyed the Jin Dynasty.

In this time and space, there was no Jingkang humiliation, the extent of the ravages suffered by the north was limited, and the Liao and Song dynasties had been at peace for decades. Therefore, people did not feel much about the fall of Liao and Jin, but the Western Xia, which had been at war, made the northern officials and people very hateful, and once a war broke out, countless people were conscripted.

Now that Western Xia has been destroyed, there will be no need to mobilize large numbers of civilians. How could the people not be happy?
Two days later, the four people disembarked in Luoyang, and the excitement had not yet passed.

Many shops in and around Luoyang took the opportunity to put up discount signs, and people enthusiastically talked about the battle achievements on the front line.

Wang Yan stopped a passerby and asked, "Which restaurant is the best in Luoyang?"

The passerby replied, "There is the Ba Building. It was expanded two years ago and has five floors."

"Jiuyuan Shuping has the best store, Luozhong Junxi has Balou" is a popular folk proverb in Kaifeng during the Northern Song Dynasty, which reveals the Kaifeng people's ridicule and contempt for Luoyang.

Now that the Ming Dynasty has moved its capital to Luoyang, several wealthy businessmen in Luoyang have partnered to open a restaurant and simply named it "Youba Lou" to mock the people of Kaifeng.

Wang Yan treated everyone to a meal and a drink.

Wang Lianqing looked at the silver bowls of the diners in the lobby on the ground floor and couldn't help saying, "The food and wine here must be expensive. We are all poor scholars, so we can just eat on the first floor."

These poor scholars are from families of officials, and one is from a family of military generals.

"That's fine." Wang Yan didn't care.

Before the four of them sat down, they saw a diner standing there, talking eloquently:
"Then I heard the Xixia bandit general shout: Grandpa is the nephew of the Xixia general, who dares to fight me?"

"How can we, the soldiers of the Ming Dynasty, tolerate someone calling himself our grandfather? Immediately, a young general rode out from the Ming army on horseback. Who do you think that young general was?"

He actually kept the topic in suspense until this point. The diners around him shook their heads and some urged him to continue.

The guest continued, "This young Ming general is called Wang Jun, and in the army he is called Wang Kaishan. He is a brave general under the command of General Wu. Wang Kaishan galloped out on his horse and shouted loudly, frightening the Xixia bandit general to the point of his liver and gallbladder bursting..."

After listening to this fabricated story, Lu You asked, "Who knows this Wang Kaishan?"

Wang Yan shook his head: "My brother is also in the army commanding troops, but I have never heard him talk about it. I guess he is a fierce general from another group."

In fact, these stories were brought back by merchants, especially those who came back from the Hexi Corridor, which led to the generals under Wu Jie becoming the most famous.

On the contrary, the group led by Han Shizhong and Yue Fei was the farthest from the Ming border, and their deeds had not yet spread.

The story began again, and Lu You listened attentively. The more he listened, the more excited his blood boiled. He wished he could transfer from the Imperial College to a military academy.

(End of this chapter)