Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

Despite the smooth sales of green tea, the Zheng family is definitely going to lose money this year.

Although Zhu Guoxiang's side changed production very quickly, far exceeding the supply volume agreed by the two, it was too expensive to give gifts to officials for promotion.

Zheng Lan's goal this year is to have a net loss of less than 500 guan!

"You go live in Daming Village and don't let the tea merchants of Xingyuan Prefecture take advantage of you." Zheng Lan said to her grandson.

Zheng Hong said: "Weng Weng, Mr. Zhu and Zhu Dalang have kept their promise. They have signed a contract with our family and they will definitely not sell fried tea to other families. What's more, the production of fried tea this year is insufficient, and all the fried tea sold to our family will be sold to our family." Not much, how can I sell tea to Xingyuan Mansion?"

Zheng Lan said: "It's important to be on guard against others. When you go to Daming Village, you don't have to keep an eye on them. Just try to be on good terms with the Zhu family and his son. I'm not afraid that they will violate the contract, but I'm afraid that someone will secretly learn the art of tea frying. "

"Yes." Fatty Zheng understood.

Zheng Lan added: "My family also has a tea mountain. If you remember it, you can also write down how they fry tea."

Fatty Zheng: "..."

Don’t let others steal their lessons, and then go and steal your own lessons?

Zheng Hong waited for two days, and his family finally arranged a boat.

There is still some food on the ship, which will be transported to Daming Village on the way. Yangzhou is located on the edge of the Hanzhong Basin, and the land is extremely fertile. The price of food here is much lower.

"Second brother!" Zheng Yuanyi chased him out.

Zheng Hong turned around and asked, "What's wrong?"

Zheng Yuanyi said: "The Dragon Boat Festival is coming soon, this is a sachet made for you."

Zheng Hong laughed and said, "It's so weird this year that you actually want to do it for me."

Zheng Yuanyi blushed, but took out two sachets: "I heard that my second brother is going out, so I'll take one for the husband of the Zhu family."

Fatty Zheng was a little speechless. It turned out that he was just adding in by the way.

Saying goodbye to his little sister, Zheng Hong went out with his entourage. When he arrived at the dock, poor people were lining up to get on the boat.

These are citizens of Yangzhou who can no longer live happily and live in shantytowns outside the city. With the decline of Yangzhou's business, in the past few decades, citizens have become beggars every year, or fled to gold mining.

Zhu Guoxiang asked the Zheng family to recruit people, and Zheng Lan was very cooperative because they were recruiting people to develop the waste tea mountain and expand green tea production next year.

Of course, I was also paid for helping to recruit people, along with the money to buy food.

There were only forty-two people in the first batch of Yangzhou "immigrants", and a batch of autumn tea was still needed to be shipped.

"Little official, there is a Taoist priest here who wants to take a boat."

When Zheng Hong heard this, he turned around and saw a middle-aged Taoist priest bowing to him.

Zheng Hong quickly returned the greeting and asked, "Taoist Master is going to Xixiang?"

Xue Daoguang said: "We are going to Xixiang County. The post ship in Yangzhou is somewhat damaged and we are unwilling to cross Huangjin Gorge. Pindao has been waiting for the ship here for many days."

The two were chatting when suddenly several more people came over.

A young man wearing a Dongpo scarf, followed by several followers: "I am Zhang Su, the new chief secretary of Xixiang County. Is this boat going to pass through Huangjin Gorge?"

Zheng Hong did not dare to neglect, and quickly bowed and replied: "That's right, Master Zhang, please come on board."

After everyone boarded the ship, Zhang Su pointed to the poor people and said: "These dozens of people support the elderly and the young, and they also bring many belongings. Where are they going?"

Zheng Hong replied: "The former chief secretary of Xixiang County was a rebel who was recruited to peace. He colluded with the bandits, surrendered and rebelled again. The archers all had Ju Ming to break the bandit stronghold, but there were too many killings. There was a shortage of people there. Some luck. People who broke their families used to farm.”

Zhang Su asked again: "Does the bandit village belong to a village where the people can be organized into households?"

"I made it up." Zheng Hong replied.

Zhang Su did not ask any more questions, but said: "These dozens of people should first report to the Xixiang County Government, register their households, and then send them to the bandit village."

Zheng Hong did not dare to refuse.

Zhang Su and Xue Daoguang lived in the same cabin. The two exchanged names and started chatting quickly.

First they talked about Taoist practice, then they talked about Zen and Buddhism, and finally they turned to poetry. Both of them were involved in Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism.

After passing Huangjin Gorge, Zheng Hong was forced to take a detour to Xixiang County.

Zhang Su led dozens of "immigrants" straight to the county government office. Bai Erlang led his subordinate staff to greet them. Not long after, the county magistrate also came after hearing the news.

After some pleasantries, he asked the county magistrate: "In what year was Master Zhang a Jinshi?"

"Get on the list." Zhang Su said.

Xiang Zhixian wondered: "Since you are a Jinshi, why do you go to Xixiang to be the chief registrar? It would be too unfair to be talented."

Zhang Su said: "My grandfather Zhang is taboo about Tang Yinggong, and my uncle Zhang is taboo about Shang Yinggong."

Grass!

Xiang Zhixian scolded his mother secretly. A bunch of subordinate officials were already giving him a headache, but here comes another great god.

Zhang Su's grandfather, Zhang Tangying, once recommended and supported Wang Anshi.

Zhang Su's great-uncle Zhang Shangying was the right prime minister who had just been taken over by Cai Jing.

Zhang Su is an unlucky guy. He was probably thrown to Xixiang County as a Jinshi because of his uncle's involvement.

"These poor people must go to Daming Village," Zhang Su said, pointing to the people behind him. "Hurry up and register them as customers. Register them as customers and send them to the Zhu family and his son."

Although customers who have not registered their land do not have to pay the second grain tax, they do have to pay the servant fee, and they may also have to pay miscellaneous taxes.

On the first day Zhang Su took office, he showed great concern to the Zhu family and his son.

When he arrived at the office, his luggage had not been put down and his accommodation had not yet been arranged. Zhang Su said, "Bring all the household registers and account books from past years!"

Bai Erlang said with an apologetic smile: "My predecessor, Mr. Zhu, was corrupt and perverted the law, and made a mess of household registers and accounts."

Zhang Su understood clearly that there was no way to check the accounts. All the blame was placed on Zhu Zhu's head. Now the county government's account books have been modified.

Zhang Su asked again: "How much food is left?"

Bai Erlang replied: "Last year we spent a lot of money suppressing bandits, and we have exhausted all the money and food."

Zhang Su suppressed the anger in his heart and sneered: "Excellent!"

Within a year or two, he will no longer be able to do serious work and will have to figure out how to deal with these subordinates.

No longer paying attention to the county government affairs, which he couldn't figure out anyway, Zhang Su went to his residence to rest, and the next day he began to visit the county seat incognito.

Not far away, I saw several archers extorting money from the store.

Deliberately dumping a basket of rotten vegetable leaves at the door of a restaurant, insisting that the store did not clean the door, and extorting dozens of pennies before going to the next restaurant.

Zhang Su came to the store and asked the shopkeeper: "Why are these archers so arrogant?"

The shopkeeper suppressed his anger and said resentfully without any scruples: "Looking at the accent, the guest officer is a foreigner, right? Last year, Zhu Dutou suppressed thieves and trained 300 archers, most of whom were heroes. These archers , but it was Zhu Du who took the lead in picking up the remaining pickled bastards. The government did not want good men, so they all sent them back to their hometowns, leaving only these bastards to serve."

Zhang Su asked curiously: "Why does the government not want heroes, but rogues?"

The shopkeeper sarcastically said: "The good guys all listen to Zhu Dutou. The government can't control it, and the gangsters are easier to control. There are twenty-two of these archers. When they are short of money, they come to blackmail the people. Those shops with backers, They don't dare to provoke us, they only look for us who are miserable."

Zhang Su is not only the chief registrar, but also a county captain, who happens to be the archer's immediate boss.

Immediately there was a calculation, starting with the archers, Zhang Su asked: "How many of the dismissed archers do you know?"

"I only recognize those in the city, but not those in the countryside." the shopkeeper replied.

Zhang Su had made up his mind to replace the archers and recalled those who had been carefully trained by Ju Ming to be his first confidants. He did not ask about the matter again, but changed the subject: "That Zhu Dutou, is he Zhu Chenggong, the Eighth Route Army Scholar?"

"That's what the Eighth Route Army Scholar said." The shopkeeper nodded.

Zhang Su asked again: "Does he have an excellent reputation?"

The shopkeeper smiled and said: "That's good. In the past, there was a Zhu Er in this county who was originally a rebel. Later he became the chief clerk and replaced all the archers with rebels. We, the residents in the county, were made miserable. It is unspeakable that it was Zhu Dutou who led the people to kill Zhu Er. When he was in the county, the archers were well-behaved and never blackmailed merchants and never saw anyone bullying the people. Neighbors said that if Zhu Dutou had stayed, It’ll be fine in the city.”

"What a pity." Zhang Su said.

"Why isn't it a pity?" the shopkeeper agreed.

The two people had different regrets. Zhang Su regretted that Ju Ming was a scholar of the Eighth Route Army, otherwise he would definitely recruit the county government to take care of him.

…

But it was said that the Zheng family's ship set off again after all the dozens of "immigrants" were registered.

Seeing that Xue Daoguang was still on the boat, Zheng Hong couldn't help but ask: "Isn't the Taoist Master going to get off the boat at the county town?"

Xue Daoguang said: "You and I are going to Daming Village all the way."

"Why are you going to Daming Village?" Zheng Hong asked.

"Looking for old friends," Xue Daoguang answered ambiguously, but asked Zheng Hong, "Did you know that there is immortal food in Daming Village?"

Zheng Hong frowned: "Immortal food?"

Xue Daoguang said: "It's corn and sweet potatoes."

Zheng Hong suddenly laughed: "Yes, that's right, it's fairy grain. Mr. Zhu brought it back from the overseas fairy island. I heard it's very high-yielding. After the autumn harvest, my family will also buy some seeds."

Xue Daoguang asked: "Is it really from overseas?"

"I don't know," Zheng Hong said, "but Mr. Zhu did go to sea and sailed across the ocean in a huge boat. He went to sea for several months at a time. Zhu Dalang also told me many stories about the sea, and they were all very strange. . There are also many strange things at sea, such as a big bird as tall as a man, which lays eggs weighing several kilograms. A giant rat as tall as a man has a pocket on its belly, and puts its young in the pocket to drink milk..."

When he lived in Shangbai Village, Zheng Hong heard many stories, and now he told them all to Xue Daoguang.

The more Xue Daoguang listened, the more convinced he became that Xianggong Zhu had probably met an immortal overseas.

Xue Daoguang truly believed in gods, and the gods in his mind were cultivated by humans, ghosts, and elves.

When he annotated the "Enlightenment Chapter", he pioneered the classification of gods into different levels:

Those who are extremely spiritual and invisible are called ghosts and immortals;

Those who live forever without disease or calamity are regarded as immortals;

Flying in the air and walking in the mist, not hungry or thirsty, not invaded by cold or heat, roaming the islands, immortal, becoming an earthly immortal;

Those who are wonderful in form and spirit, in harmony with the Tao, infinitely changeable, and unpredictable in ghosts and spirits, are called immortals.

Many of the settings of later generations of online fairy novels come from the Jindannan Sect, including True Essence, Refining the Gods and Returning to the Void, a lot of which were written by Xue Daoguang.

After listening to Zheng Hong's overseas stories, Xue Daoguang guessed that Zhu Guoxiang should have met the Earth Immortal on the island...

Well, that's definitely the case.

Maybe his ancestor Ziyang Zhenren has also cultivated into an earthly immortal and is now traveling around the island.

Otherwise, how could the Zhu family and his son know about the Taoist poems of their ancestors and compile these Taoist poems into "Journey to the West"?

The Bodhi Patriarch in "Journey to the West" is probably his own ancestor Ziyang Zhenren!

(I wish Captain Iron Blood Banner a happy birthday. The captain sets an alarm every day and rushes to write the chapter first. From now on, he should write the chapter after he wakes up. His health is important.)

(Please ask for monthly tickets at the end of the month.)