The Maojin knife from the late Jin Dynasty

Chapter 291 Prosperous Bohai Bay

Bian Hu soon received a letter from the court allowing Wang Xizhi to pass, and he couldn't help but put down his thoughts.

Then Bian Hu gave Wang Xizhi a road guide so that Wang Xizhi could go to Qingzhou and even Yecheng smoothly.

Wang Xizhi also followed Bian Zhan's advice and went to Linzi, Qingzhou, and then planned to go to Jinkou from the seaside route, and then follow the built northern section of the Yongji Canal to Yecheng.

When Wang Xizhi came to Linzi, he found that this city, which has been famous for commerce since ancient times, was still as prosperous as before with people coming and going.

In contrast, Guanggu City, built by Cao Yi, seemed a bit depressed after Liu Tai moved his seat to Yecheng. However, even so, Guanggu City was still an important political core of Qingzhou.

Or to a certain extent, Liu Tai regards Guanggu City as the political core of the Qingzhou Peninsula. Basically, as long as this city remains, the deep and vast plains behind it can provide a steady stream of food.

Linzi's political attributes have been stripped away, but the widened river channel is directly connected to the Bohai Sea, making Linzi completely a commercial city in the north, and even the most important economic center of the entire Shandong Peninsula. It is an important hub that cannot be avoided no matter what.

Guanggu City is not at a loss. As long as it falls into war, Guanggu City can become an important gateway and fulcrum of the Liaodong Peninsula.

After Wang Xizhi arrived in Qingzhou, he did not immediately take a boat to Yecheng. On the contrary, he listened to Director Wang's words and went to the Donglai Wang family, Beihai Wang family and other aristocratic families to deliver famous assassins, relying on his identity as the Langya Wang family to communicate with each other. .

However, the head of the Wang family in Donglai is Wang Sang, who is still stationed in Jijun, and his son Wang Ming is working under him. When he came back from a mission last time, Liu Tai commended him, but he still left Wang Ming behind. Wang Sang's subordinates.

It is hinted that as long as Wang Ming performs well, he can take over Wang Sang's army step by step, and at the same time compress the influence of the Wang family in Wang Mi's old department, otherwise it will not be easy for him to deal with the Wang family. After all, he is tied to the Wang family. deep.

Therefore, although Wang Sang's legitimate son received Wang Xizhi, the two parties did not get along very well. They could only say that they had met each other.

But when he came to the Wang Family in Beihai, Wang Xizhi met Wang Du, who happened to be home on vacation after high school, and fell in love with him at first sight.

Wang Xizhi was from the Langya Wang family, which was quite attractive to Wang Du. Not to mention that despite his young age, Wang Xizhi's unique handwriting alone was enough to make all pen-holders bow their heads. Extremely impressed.

So Wang Du took Wang Xizhi to practice calligraphy together, and he was filled with admiration in his heart, and soon they became friends.

"Master Yi, why don't you come with me to Yecheng!" Wang Du said to Wang Xizhi, "I am a Jinshi. You can take an official ship to Yecheng. This ship is smooth and fast, and the food is delicious. Save it. You and I are doing chores along the way!”

"This is disrespectful. Thank you Ziqi for your kindness." Wang Xizhi saluted Wang Du.

"It's easy to say, it's just a matter of one sentence!" Wang Du returned to Wang Xizhi.

When Wang Xizhi heard Wang Du's words, he didn't say anything more, but changed the topic and said to Wang Du:

"Ziqi, I heard that you participated in the imperial examination in Yecheng. I wonder what the scene was like. Can you tell me about it?"

When Wang Du heard Wang Xizhi's words, his face was more or less shy, but he still said:

"That scene is a bit unforgettable to me now. Scholars from all over Hebei came to take the exam.

The students first washed themselves, put on the clothes prepared by the imperial court, and entered the examination room.

It was really dark and crowded with people, and you had to compete among so many people in order to get good grades.

Next, the first test of "Nine Chapters" is selected to select arithmetic, the second test of "Hanshu" is selected to select general history, and the third test of "Strategy" is selected to select strategic scholars.

It can be said that every time I take an exam, I will feel less people around me and endless pressure.

When I came out of the examination room after taking the "Policy Theory" exam, I was leaning on the wall. It felt like a huge burden had been lifted! "

Wang Xizhi listened to Wang Du's words with great interest and couldn't help but curiously said:

"Why is there so much pressure? If you come from a common family, don't the examiners just admit you directly?"

"Huh?" Wang Du was a little stunned when he heard Wang Xizhi's words. He looked at Wang Xizhi with some confusion and said doubtfully:

"How is it possible? The examiner doesn't know who wrote the papers. On all the answer papers, officials will come in to cover up the candidates' names during the examination.

The examination papers submitted at the same time were specially arranged for military history to be copied according to different formats. If any special characters appeared during the transcription process and the military history was not marked, military history would be punished.

When it was handed over to court officials, they could only compete based on their own talents, because no one knew who wrote the article.

Isn't this how the Jin court's examinations were conducted? "

"..." When Wang Xizhi heard Wang Du's words, he immediately felt how unreasonable the Jin court's imperial examination system was. He smiled bitterly and said, "The Jin court does not keep their names anonymous, so most of the people selected are from famous families."

"Anonymous?!" Wang Du sighed after hearing Wang Xizhi's words, "If that's the case, then I'm afraid there will be no chance for a humble family like me!"

To be honest, Wang Xizhi couldn't help but fell silent when he heard Wang Du's words.

Because Wang Xizhi originally thought that the imperial examinations of the Jin Dynasty were very complete, but now listening to Wang Du and comparing the imperial examinations of the Han Dynasty, it can be found that the imperial examinations of the Jin Dynasty are just toys in the hands of aristocratic families.

For the aristocratic family, it was just a slight change in the name of the Yuanlai Chao Ju System.

After all, if you can see your place of origin and your name, how can your own children fail to win the election?

It can only be said that other children from poor families also want to get a good ranking. The best way is to see if the big family in the county where they live has the same surname as themselves.

If so, you'd better change the name to the same one. Then maybe the people above would recruit several people with the same name, surname, and county in order to avoid making mistakes.

Otherwise, if you want to stand out in the imperial examination system, which has no name system, your talent will be incredible.

Wang Xizhi then chatted with Wang Du for a while, but after learning about the gaps in the imperial examination system, he was still more or less worried about the Jin court.

Wang Xizhi grew up in the Jin court since he was a child, and their Langya Wang family has been the top family in the Jin court since his father was still alive.

Although his father's defeat in Changping left him with no way out, Wang Xizhi still had a very strong sense of belonging to the Jin court.

After all, the Jin court was really kind to the aristocratic family, and the big man is really harsh to the aristocratic family now!

As long as Wang Xizhi is a normal person, he will naturally be resistant to the Han Dynasty and have an endless sense of belonging to the Jin court.

But because Wang Kuang was defeated in Changping, he was suppressed as Wang Kuang's son. His uncle found him. He originally thought that he could get ahead, but he didn't expect that his uncle would ask him to join the Han Dynasty and find a way out for the Langya Wang family. .

Therefore, even though Wang Xizhi had a stronger sense of belonging to the Jin court than the Han Dynasty, he understood the fighting spirit of the Han soldiers after passing through Taishan County, came to Linzi to see the prosperity of the Han Dynasty, and now heard about the imperial examination system of the Han Dynasty. Wang Xizhi understood that the big man really wanted to recruit the talents of Hebei to work for him.

The purpose of the Jin court's imperial examination was not to select talents, but to continue to maintain the rule of the family in a different way.

Of course I can say that the people selected by the Jin court are selected based on their virtues and have better virtues.

But it cannot change the vigorous life force brought about by these institutional changes in the Han Dynasty.

This is a prosperous court, but the Jin court is indescribably lonely and decadent compared to it, not to mention that civil strife may break out between the Langya Wang family and the Sima family at any time, otherwise there is no need for him to come to the Han Dynasty.

Wang Xizhi felt that as long as the Jin court sent people to take a look here, they would definitely find that the land occupied by the Han Dynasty was not as vast as that of the Jin court, but the development of the Han Dynasty had far exceeded their imagination.

Next, Wang Xizhi temporarily lived in Wang Du's mansion, and Wang Du didn't let Wang Xizhi wait long before he took Wang Xizhi into the official ship and walked together on the already very mature waterway from Jinkou to Laiyang.

However, when the official ship started sailing this time, Wang Xizhi saw thousands of sails racing in the port. He sat on the official ship and looked down. This scene was quite spectacular.

Some of these ships were no smaller than official ships, but the smaller ones only had a few sampans. However, at this moment, there were ships as far as the eye could see on the sea, which made Wang Xizhi sigh with emotion.

"Ziqi, is this side of Bohai Bay so lively?" Wang Xizhi couldn't help but sigh as he looked at the scene in front of him.

Wang Du said: "You are here at a special time. Generally speaking, when the coast is frozen in winter, only a few trade routes with people cutting ice at the port can pass through. In spring, the King has ordered that fishing in the sea is prohibited. Fishing can only be done from the beginning of summer to the frost." Expect.

That's why you saw this scene today.

But really speaking, those small boats will be more common in the future, but what is really rare are these large ships.

Large ships will go into the sea to salvage fish, and usually don't fill their warehouses for fear of being reluctant to come back. "

When Wang Xizhi heard this, he couldn't help but said: "I always thought that the south was good at fishing and hunting, but I didn't expect that the people in the north were also good at it. The sight of thousands of sails racing against each other now seems very spectacular!"

"Originally, the fishermen who are not good at fishing are even more humble." Wang Du heard Wang Xizhi's words and said,

"But after the king came, he began to teach fishermen fishing skills, provide fishing equipment, and even encouraged villages to rent large boats from the court in the name of collectives."

When Wang Du said this, he pointed at the decommissioned warship that required dozens or even nearly a hundred young men and women to operate it.

"This has made fishing and hunting more abundant, allowing the people to survive by fishing and hunting!"

Wang Xizhi was thoughtful after hearing Wang Du's words. Wang Xizhi had never expected that the government would open up the ocean in this way.

After all, as a noble from an aristocratic family, it is normal to eat from the earth.

"Are there so many fish in the ocean?!" Wang Xizhi asked a question that even he thought was stupid.

Wang Du was very happy to let the Langya Wang family learn more, "At least it is inexhaustible now, and the size and volume of ships are getting bigger every year. If it hadn't been for the king's rule that no fishing is allowed in the spring, I'm afraid there will be ships going out to sea in the spring!"

"Can't you sneak out to sea?" Wang Xizhi couldn't help but become curious after hearing Wang Du's words.

"Only big ships can go far, and there are countless retired big ships. In addition, there are fleets patrolling the sea. If they are caught, even the ship will be confiscated. No village dares to take such a big risk!" Wang Du shook his head said,

“And the most important thing for sea navigation is fresh water. There are only a few islands in the entire Bohai Bay and even out into the ocean that can supply fresh water.

In particular, cheap fish caught during fishing will be taken to those freshwater islands for processing, while valuable fish will be brought back to the port alive as much as possible for sale! "

"Huh!?" Wang Xizhi heard Wang Du's words and said with some curiosity, "There are so many people on those freshwater islands, how can they eat all the sea fish!?"

Wang Du shook his head and said: "What are you thinking about? Basically, salted fish is made on that freshwater island, and transported to the coastal port for further processing. Let's see whether it is eaten directly or made into dried salted fish. .

All in all, common people regard these salted fish or dried fish as side dishes. They are cheap and delicious, but they are very filling when paired with rice. "

Wang Xizhi nodded in understanding when he heard this, and said to Wang Du, "It is also a great good governance to allow the people to eat fish and meat!"

"Who says it's not the case!" Wang Du also sighed to Wang Xizhi,

"It was freezing cold, there was a continuous drought, and then there was a locust plague. What was life like in Qingzhou.

That's when the King of Han came to Qingzhou. He first took back the land from the wealthy families, and then under pressure encouraged the people to develop fishing and hunting by boat.

Even later, even the navy's decommissioned warships were sold to the people, and Qingzhou became prosperous today.

Although fishing and hunting is still very hard, it is much better than before when I was hungry and full. "

Wang Xizhi looked at Wang Du's praise of Liu Tai and understood that the people on the front line of the Bohai Bay, especially the fishermen, absolutely and sincerely supported Liu Tai.

After all, fishermen were a group that did not pay taxes and had no united front value under the government's management. Some fishermen were not even allowed to disembark their daughters for fear of soiling the land.

But now, as they can bring a large amount of fish and produce a large amount of food, as productivity itself, they naturally have united front value.

Especially in the feudal era, there was a clear hierarchy of scholars, farmers, industry and commerce. Now that fishermen and fishermen are classified into the peasant class, they are naturally considered good people.

And the hidden benefits brought by such a hierarchical system are also very high. Needless to say, if you want to join the army, you must be a good citizen and a good family.

Of course, if knowledge becomes more popular in the future, maybe studying and joining politics will be a way out.

This gave them some room for improvement. In contrast, although Liu Tai created an environment suitable for businessmen to trade, he did not improve the status of the businessmen.

After all, Chinese history shows that the feudal system will be the most advanced system for at least the next thousand years.

There is no need to forcefully speed up the historical process.

Because Liu Tai always kept in mind that he wanted to let the big man add some marine genes, rather than let the big man enter the capitalist society.

After all, both great men and my own life experiences in my previous life have told me that capitalism is not a good thing.

(End of this chapter)