In the Southern Song Dynasty, I competed with Mongolia for the world

Chapter 564: Escape or not?
But Cui Hang had been a monk before, and was actually almost like a gangster. Cui Yi even sent someone to teach him etiquette.

At that time, Cui Yi still planned to choose between his grandson Jin Yu and his son Cui Hang.

Just last year when Mr. Li gave lectures to them, Cui Hang went to the Song Dynasty and secretly made friends with the prince Zhao Xie.

Cui Hang didn't know that in the original history, he did not serve Zhao Zhen well, and his father Cui Yi also decided to make him the successor.

But now he is on good terms with Zhao Xie, who has ordered the areas near Hai Sanwei and Liaodong to trade more with Goryeo. Adding fuel to the fire, Cui Yi also decided to make him his successor.

So just last month, in May of the Dingwei year (1247), Cui Hang was granted the official positions of Left and Right Guards Supreme Guards and Minister of Revenue, and finally stepped onto the political stage of Goryeo. If nothing unexpected happens, Cui Hang will be the next generation of Goryeo's powerful official.

But Cui Hang was exiled to a mountain temple to be a monk since he was a child and lived a gangster-like life, which was obviously something many ministers did not want to see.

"If Choi Hang were to take over, there would be a bloody storm among the Goryeo leaders in the future, and I don't know how many people would die."

Mr. Li finally pointed out the future troubles.

Of course he was not wrong. After Choi Hang came to power, he threw all those who had grudges against him, such as Park Sun, Zhou Suk, Kim Hyo-jeong, Lee Seong-ji, and Oh Seung-ji into the sea. More than half of those who were exiled to the southern region were thrown into the sea and drowned.

Among them, Wu Chengji (the son of Cui Yi's second wife, Da, and her ex-husband) was thrown into the sea and luckily escaped because of the low tide at night. He wrote a letter to his mother. Da sent a servant to Micheng to look for Wu Chengji, but the matter was exposed and reported to the deputy envoy Li Shu.

Upon hearing this, Cui Hang was furious and ordered that Wu Chengji be thrown into the sea and drowned again. He also beheaded six people including Huangfu Junchang who were responsible for throwing Wu Chengji into the sea.

At the beginning, Da Shi supported Jin Yu (son of Jin Ruoxian and nephew of Cui Hang). Cui Hang had always resented his stepmother, and now he exiled her to an island and then sent someone to poison her to death. Da Shi's slaves were either killed or exiled, and more than 70 people were implicated.

Because Cui Hang killed too many people, his uncle (his mother's younger brother) Zheng Yan complained. When Cui Hang heard about it, he exiled him to Bailing Island and then drowned him in the sea.

After Mr. Li finished speaking, he smiled and asked, "What do you think after listening to this?"

The students looked at each other, not knowing what Mr. Li meant.

At this time, Mr. Li saw Park Young-hoon's expression, which seemed to be hesitant to speak, so he encouraged him: "Park Young-hoon, if you have anything to say, just say it. We are all family here."

Hearing the words "our own people", Park Young-hoon plucked up his courage and said, "After listening to your lectures for so long, I know that no matter how much knowledge we learn, we can never become officials of Goryeo. Officials of Goryeo either rely on connections, money, or are hereditary."

When the friends at the scene heard this, many of them showed disappointment on their faces.

The children who come here to take classes are all from ordinary poor families. They all want to take the imperial examination and become officials in the future. Now, Mr. Li and Park Young-hoon’s words are like a blow to them.

"Yes, I'm glad you understand." Mr. Li smiled and said, "But--"

Before he finished, Park Young-hoon continued, "However, despite this, we still have to study hard, because being literate may not necessarily change our lives, but if we don't even know a single word, we will just be like our parents, farming other people's fields, paying high taxes, and working hard all our lives."

"Well said." Mr. Li nodded. "The court has recently imposed a neighborhood tax, and the burden on the people is getting heavier."

"I heard that the taxes in Song Dynasty are lower?" a young man asked at this time.

Mr. Li nodded again: "The Song people's Goryeo farmers are taxed 30%, and the rest are not taxed at all. However, if they are merchants, there are also business taxes, which are generally lower than our taxes."

"After ten years of farming, the land will belong to you."

"If you agree to become a Song citizen, you will also have to cultivate the land for ten years. After the Song people verify your contribution, you can also become a Song citizen, and the tax will be 20% in the future."

"It would be great if we could go to Tiezhou." Someone sighed, "We are still learning Chinese characters, maybe we can be employed by others."

The students also looked longing.

Just when Mr. Li looked very proud.

Sudden.

Outside, there were heavy knocks on the door.

The faces of the people in the field changed drastically.

Everyone quickly collected some of the books and handed them to Park Young-hoon to take and hide in the backyard.

When Park Young-hoon came back, he saw several yamen runners entering the study hall in the front yard.

A few people flipped through the study for a while, then said a few words in a fierce tone.

Park Young-hoon heard it clearly, and the general meaning was that starting from next month, teachers in Tongzhou City and private schools were not allowed to teach Chinese.

I will check any books related to Chinese that I see.

In addition, private schools like Mr. Li’s also have to pay taxes.

They charged per person. There were eight students there, and each paid five dou per year.

This means you have to pay a tax of four stones.

Half of Mr. Li's income is subject to tax.

After saying this, these people walked away.

The students immediately started talking at once, shocked and angry.

After the class, the students left one after another.

When Park Young-hoon was about to leave, he was stopped by Mr. Li.

"Sir." Park Young-hoon said respectfully.

He thought Mr. Li was going to talk about the price increase.

Mr. Li will be charged half of the tax, and the students' tuition fees will probably have to increase, but their family can only barely squeeze out a stone of grain, so they don't have any extra money.

"I will leave Tongzhou the day after tomorrow and head for Tiezhou. If you want to go with me, wait for me at the west city gate at 1:00 pm the day after tomorrow."

"Ah?" Park Young-hoon was very surprised.

"Go back and think about it carefully. Take a rest tomorrow. You still have two days." Mr. Li finally waved his hand lightly.

Park Young-hoon then remembered that tomorrow was ten days of classes and one day of rest.

There is no class tomorrow, so I have to decide whether to stay or go the day after tomorrow.

Park Young-hoon had been brainwashed by Mr. Lee for many years, so of course he wanted to leave, but he couldn't bear to leave his parents and family.

He returned home in a depressed mood.

That night, Uncle Park Ji-hae also invited their family to Park Ji-hae's house for dinner. The two families were neighbors, but they rarely ate together.

Park Dayong was also puzzled, but he found that the food was quite good. Park Zhihai cooked several delicious dishes and even killed a chicken, but he didn't know where it came from.

Although Park Young-hoon hated Park Ji-hae, he hadn't eaten so many delicious dishes in a long time, so of course he wasn't polite.

Park Ji-hai also took out a jar of wine and invited Park Dayong and his son to drink.

Both the father and son drank a little too much and slept soundly until very late the next day.

The wheat was not harvested yesterday, so the next day, after Park Dayong got up, he quickly asked his son to go next door to call Park Zhihai to harvest the wheat together.

Unexpectedly, when Park Young-hoon went over to take a look, he found that Park Ji-hae's house was empty, with no one there.

Oh no! His heart sank and he hurried back to tell his father.

Park Dayong was a little bit unconvinced, so he ran to Park Zhihai's house and looked around. He found that many things in the house were still there, including the tools for harvesting wheat, but it seemed that the person was not there.

"Run away? Did he run to Tiezhou?" Park Dayong was filled with mixed feelings.

Park Zhihai usually curses Da Song every day, but in the blink of an eye, he secretly runs to Da Song?

Of course he knew why Park Zhihai ran away. The fence on the shore started to be built yesterday, and he must have run ahead of the fence.

Sure enough, when the whole family arrived at the wheat field, they heard that the owner discovered that someone had crossed the river and escaped to Tiezhou last night, because they saw a fence pushed down when they came in the morning, and now they began to check to see who had run away.

If nothing goes wrong, Park Ji-hae's house will be found soon.

The owner did not say anything, but only asked Park Dayong, "How about you farm Park Zhi's seven acres of land from now on?" Park Dayong did not know what to say. He and his son Park Young-hoon were the only two main laborers in his family. Farming eight acres was already hard enough, and it would be even more tiring to farm seven more acres.

But the owner's land must be cultivated, and after Park Zhihai ran away, he still had to pay neighborhood taxes.

"Damn it." His son Park Young-hoon started cursing, saying that their family had to pay extra taxes out of nowhere.

Park Dayong looked at his three children. The eldest son was already an adult, the second son was only twelve years old, and the youngest daughter was eight years old.

Fifteen years ago, he would have dared to cross the river to Tiezhou, but how could these young children cross now? It was too dangerous.

He harvested the wheat silently.

"Dad." Park Young-hoon came up to him and whispered, "Let's go too."

Park Dae-yong looked up suddenly, not expecting his son to say such a thing.

He hesitated for a moment, then gritted his teeth and said, "This is our country, this is our home."

"If a country does not love its people, the people will move away on their own," Park Young-hoon said grimly.

"Shh, don't say anything, keep your voice down."

Park Young-hoon didn't care and continued, "This is the country of Choi Yi and his son, how can it be our country?"

Your country? You think too highly of yourself, Dad. You are just a lowly resident of the Kingdom of Goryeo.

In Cui Yi's eyes, they are at the bottom of society, like ants.

Park Dayong was silent.

The father and son were silent for a moment, and Park Dayong finally sighed: "Park Zhihai ran away first, so it will be difficult for us to escape. We will definitely increase patrols recently."

"I have a way, just wait for me." Park Young-hoon ran back to the city and found his teacher, Mr. Li.

Mr. Li went to Tiezhou in the name of doing business, but Tongzhou is not in charge of this at the moment.

Of course, he needs to have a record of doing business before and a pass, and he has to pay taxes when he returns.

Goryeo is now cooperating with the Song Dynasty in all aspects and has business dealings. It is impossible for the imperial court to restrict people and prevent everyone from leaving the city.

Mr. Li hesitated and nodded in agreement.

Early the next morning, Park Dayong brought his family to Mr. Li's door.

Mr. Li had prepared three carriages. The whole family stayed in one carriage, driven by Park Dayong, and went to the west gate together.

The three carriages were stopped by guards as soon as they arrived at the west gate.

"What?"

"Going to Tiezhou to do business?" Mr. Li said in front.

After that, he took out his pass to prove that he had done business before.

"Open it and take a look." The guard lifted up the first two carriages and found some materials.

When I followed Mr. Li to the last carriage, I lifted the curtain and saw that it was full of people.

"So many people?" The guard stared at Park Dayong's family inside.

Park Dayong's face turned pale at this time. If the other party found out that he was not Mr. Li's family's descendant, he would be in real trouble.

Mr. Li remained calm, took out a bag of copper coins from his arms, quickly stuffed it into the guard's hand, and said, "They are all my servants, helping to transport the goods."

The guard took a look at Park Young-hoon and his two siblings. Why would they be so young to transport goods? They must have escaped to Cheolju.

However, the guards also knew that ordinary people were suffering, and Mr. Li gave them money.

He squeezed the purse in his hand and sighed slightly: "Hurry up, hurry up, the sooner you go, the sooner you can come back."

Park Young-hoon then breathed a sigh of relief.

But this does not mean it is safe.

They walked west along the main road for a while and saw checkpoint guards guarding the road from afar.

"Hurry, hide first." Mr. Li asked his two younger brothers and sisters to hide in two empty boxes first.

There were five or six boxes in his carriage, some of which were filled with herbs, and two of which were specifically for his younger brothers and sisters to hide in.

Mr. Li stuffed another bag of copper coins into his pocket. The man took a quick look and let him go.

Park Dayong saw this and felt a little embarrassed that Mr. Li had spent a lot of money on their family.

We passed three checkpoints on the road and finally left Goryeo.

At the last checkpoint, Park Young-hoon was also stunned.

The checkpoint was just a bridge, with fences all along the east side of the bridge, and Korean soldiers guarding the bridge.

There were also Song troops on the bridge on the opposite side, and the two sides greeted and chatted from time to time.

Because the Song army and Goryeo did not go to war, and the Song army ostensibly leased five states from Goryeo, and the soldiers of both sides had fought against the Mongols together, so the relationship was pretty good.

However, Goryeo still took strict precautions against the Song army and built fences and small forts in the east.

After crossing the bridge it was like arriving in another country.

On the opposite side there were stretches of wheat fields, and there were crowds of people in the fields. It was the wheat harvest season, and there were people everywhere.

People were laughing and chatting while harvesting. The whole scene was completely different from what Park Young-hoon saw in Tongzhou.

The peasants in Tongzhou worked lifelessly in the wheat fields. They did not talk while working and only gathered together to curse Da Song during breaks.

There is laughter everywhere, and many children are running around and playing.

Even Park Young-hoon saw many children playing in the river. The Goryeo soldiers on the opposite side looked at them nervously, fearing that these children would swim to Tongzhou.

They followed the carriage and soon arrived at a place. Mr. Li went to talk to an officer of the Song army. After a while, he called Park Dayong's family over.

"Park Dayong, Park Young-hoon—" Mr. Li introduced them fluently in Chinese: "They are both strong and want to come and live here."

"Are you here voluntarily?" the Song army officer asked them in Korean.

"Yes, yes." Park Dayong spoke in Chinese.

"Can you speak Chinese?" The Song army officer was a little surprised.

"I can speak simply. I used to fight in the Song army and worked as a laborer." Park Dayong spoke haltingly, but his words were clear enough.

Officer Song was quite satisfied and nodded: "Let me tell you the rules here."

"You just arrived, help with farm work first--"

If you perform well, you can go to Tunxintian.

The fields in Tiezhou had already been divided up, and they had to cultivate new fields on their own. The Song army would give them a piece of wasteland, provide cattle, seeds, and tools, and they could cultivate as many acres as they could.

As long as they are willing, they can cultivate 50 acres, provided that they can grow enough crops.

The Song army provided tents in the early days. After the fields were cultivated this year, there will definitely be no time to sow seeds, but it doesn’t matter, as all food rations will be provided by the Song army.

After cultivating the land, they built their own houses. All the materials were provided by the Song army, and there were craftsmen to guide and help.

When Park Dayong and his son heard this, they looked incredulous.

(End of this chapter)