Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

"Ta-ta-ta-ta!"

Three horses galloped across the land of Guanzhong.

Zhu Ming learned the name of Fengli Canal from the farmers. When the official ship docked in Weiqiao Town, he took Li Hanzhang and ran to check it out.

Chen Yuan once passed by here to give lectures and inspected Fengli Canal. He also borrowed a horse to accompany him.

The river in front was blocked and it was impossible to ride on horseback. Chen Yuan pointed to the canal flowing into the Wei River and said: "This is the Nanbai Canal of the Sanbai Canal."

The Sanbai Canal existed in the Tang Dynasty. Due to its disrepair and the diversion of the river water, the Song Dynasty had been trying to dredge it.

In the past few years, it was not only completely dredged, but also the irrigation area was expanded to 3.6 million acres and renamed "Fengli Canal".

Zhu Ming asked: "What position has Zhao Quan, the hero who majored in this canal, been promoted to now?"

"I don't know," Chen Yuan said, "He is just a minor official, his origin is unknown, and his reputation is not obvious."

"With such great achievements, why can't he become famous? Doesn't the imperial court promote him?" Ju Ming couldn't believe it.

Chen Yuan said: "The promoters of this canal are Cai Pu and Mu Jing, both of whom are members of Hou Meng's party. Hou Meng is now the deputy prime minister of Zhongshu and is at odds with Cai Jing. Cai Jing cannot overthrow Hou Meng. So they attacked Cai Pu and Mu Jing, and both of them were demoted. As for Zhao Quan, most likely he was also implicated, and his water conservancy achievements were even deliberately erased."

Ju Ming was completely convinced and said with emotion: "The good official who promoted water conservancy was demoted, but the official who majored in this canal only had one name left. In this world, it is difficult to be a capable minister!"

"If the traitor is not eliminated, the world will be in trouble." Li Hanzhang also thought it was unreasonable.

Hou Meng is from Gaomi, Shandong. He is relatively smooth, but always insists on justice. In "Water Margin", it is Hou Meng who proposed to recruit Song Jiang.

Song Huizong once asked Hou Meng: "How is Cai Jing?"

Hou Meng replied: "If Cai Xianggong had good conduct, his ancient reputation would be nothing more than this."

This answer gave Song Huizong enough face, and also insinuated that Cai Jing had evil intentions, which made Cai Jing jealous. Cai Jing instigated his subordinates to impeach Prime Minister Zhang Shangying, and Hou Meng also tried his best to mediate, and the conflict between the two deepened.

However, Hou Meng was able to bend and stretch, and knew how to flatter Song Huizong. Cai Jing was still unable to exclude him from the court.

Sometimes, Song Huizong even bypassed Cai Jing and summoned Hou Meng alone to discuss matters.

Ju Ming looked at the farmland on both sides of the Fengli Canal. With this canal in place, it would be difficult for the people in Guanzhong to collapse, and they could continue to exploit it wildly for another ten years.

There were treacherous ministers in the Song Dynasty, but there were also capable ministers!

Poor canal builder Zhao Quan, in Wang Anshi's era, he would have been able to soar into the sky, but now he is missing.

If given a game attribute, Zhao Quan should have water conservancy of 95 or above.

Because it was too difficult to dig the Fengli Canal, Zhao Kuangyin ordered the canal to be dug, and Zhao Guangyi also ordered the canal to be dug. Next, every Northern Song emperor ordered the canal to be dug.

All failed!

It wasn't until Wang Anshi's reform and his uncle Hou Ke started the second process that it took many years to finally reach 30% of the project progress.

The rest cannot be chiseled, and the technical difficulty is too great.

After Zhao Quan took over, in the absence of financial support from the court, he only relied on mobilizing local forces to complete the century project that had troubled the Northern Song Dynasty for 130 years in just two years!

He was even able to avoid disturbing the people on a large scale and only used thousands of civilians. Fengli Canal is even equipped with a flood discharge function to ensure that the seven counties through which the canal flows can be irrigated during droughts and will not be flooded during rains.

What level is this?

Such a capable minister has only one name left in the history books, and even the characters are unclear.

The specific official position is also vague. It is only known that he was the canal repair envoy sent by Chang Ping Envoy.

Ju Ming really wanted to get to know this person, but unfortunately he had no clues.

"I wish I could see Mr. Zhao in person." Zhu Ming sighed.

Chen Yuan said: "I also want to meet this gentleman and ask for some knowledge on water conservancy. I have gone to see it. His design is so ingenious that it can be called a stroke of genius! In order to control the flow of water, he built two more holes, two gates and three ditches. The mountains were burned with fire and the rocks were cut. For the canal, it can be divided into canals to release floods and calm the torrent. If I were allowed to repair it, I would never have dreamed of such wonderful ideas."

Zhao Quan dug the Fengli Canal, overturned the original design, and re-formulated a complete water conservancy plan using ideas that ordinary people could not understand.

Ju Ming sighed in his heart, how many capable people and lofty ideals had saved the lives of the Song Dynasty, but they were all lost in the hands of the father and son.

Return to the delivery shop and rest for the night.

Everyone continued to move forward by boat, and after a while, they landed near Tongguan and took the bus from Dipu.

The traffic here is busier and the number of buses is limited, so you have to stay and wait for a few days.

Taking this opportunity, Ju Ming decided to wander around.

"Sanlang, are you going to climb the mountain ridge over there?" Zhu Ming asked.

Li Hanzhang reminded: "The mountain ridges near Tongguan are all restricted areas and cannot be climbed at will."

Zhu Ming encouraged: "You usually claim to know the military, but you don't want to see the whole picture?"

Li Hanzhang was very moved: "Then...climb up farther away?"

The two guys came out of the delivery shop and pretended to be heading east, walking around for several miles and climbing up the mountain ridge.

Unfortunately, it was too far away and I couldn’t see clearly even when I climbed up, so I went down the mountain and followed the valley to feel it. Going up another mountain ridge, to the west is the old site of Tongguan in the Han Dynasty, and to the east is the old site of Tongguan in the Sui Dynasty, both of which have been weathered to the point of leaving only ruins.

The whole picture of Tongguan in the Tang and Song Dynasties can be seen clearly.

At this moment, the sentence suddenly appeared in Zhu Ming's mind: Tongguan Road, both inside and outside the mountains and rivers!

"Are you going to continue?" Li Hanzhang felt a little guilty.

Ju Ming said: "If we are discovered by the defenders, they will say that we are here to pay homage to the ancient battlefield."

"Okay!" Li Hanzhang felt very excited.

The two of them went down the slope to the forbidden ditch beside the Tong River, and gradually touched the back of Tongguan.

There were only a few soldiers sitting sparsely on the city, and no one noticed them at all. They swaggered around the foot of the mountain and crossed Tongguan.

No shit.

Ju Ming stood by the river and concluded: "The road we just took can bypass Tongguan, but there are no officers and soldiers stationed there. We should build a fortress on the mountain ridge to block the passage."

Li Hanzhang said: "This place is far away from the border, and there are only a few defenders at Tongguan. How can it be possible to build a fort on the mountain ridge?"

"That's right." Zhu Ming nodded.

At this time, Tongguan is in name only. Even if it cannot be defeated, it can be easily bypassed.

This was not possible in the Ming Dynasty. Zhu Yuanzhang was a city-building maniac and directly built city walls to block all passages.

Back at Dipu, Ju Ming remembered something and casually asked Pu Bing: "Is there a warrior named Zhou Tong in the local area?"

Pu Bing was quite surprised: "My husband knows Zhou Tong in a foreign country?"

"I heard that his martial arts skills are outstanding, and I would like to pay him a visit." Zhu Ming said.

Pu Bing said: "I want to find Zhou Tong, but my husband has to go to Yanyan Road."

After further inquiry, it turns out that Zhou Tong is a local archer. Now he is guarding the border on Yanyan Road (the road is called Yan'an), and he also serves as an archer instructor under Liu Guangshi.

Zhou Tong in reality is not Zhou Tong in literary and artistic works.

This man's archery skills are as good as those of a god, but that's all. His skills with a spear and stick can only be considered average. Yue Fei learned his marksmanship from Chen Guang.

Zhou Tong actually went to Yan'an. Zhu Ming was quite sorry. He still wanted to learn a few tricks.

Everyone stayed in the post house and waited for six days before the delivery carriage was finally available, so they took the bus and continued on their way.

When we arrived in Luoyang, light snow fell from the sky, and this year's cold wave came early again.

Zhu Ming asked Chen Yuan: "Would you like to visit a local scholar and talk about our knowledge?"

Chen Yuan shook his head: "Although Luoyang is the holy land of Luoxue, the scholars here are not easy to deal with. I passed by here before and went to give lectures and debates, but I was ridiculed. They didn't even understand the teachings of my master (Yang Shi). How can you agree with Taoism? The families here have been prominent for generations, and they are very knowledgeable in academics, but they no longer know the sufferings of the people."

"That's it." Zhu Ming understood immediately.

There are many official families in Luoyang. Although they are not very picky when marrying a daughter-in-law, all of them have high standards for marrying. Many of the sons-in-law are prime ministers or members of the clan.

These aristocratic families control the orthodoxy of Luo Xue and look down on Luo Xue elsewhere, thinking that those Luo Xue are not authentic.

They have become separated from the masses, even from ordinary scholars!

If you spread the teachings of Taoism in Luoyang, you will inevitably be suppressed and excluded by the local aristocratic families.

Ju Ming also wanted to go to the city for fun, but time was tight and he had to hurry as soon as possible.

Hurrying and hurrying, when we arrived in Heyin County, heavy snow still blocked the road, and the Bianhe River was also frozen, making it impossible to sail.

The snow is difficult to melt and is so bad that we can only stay here.

The second New Year's Eve that Ju Ming traveled through time was spent in the Heyin County Post House.

The scholars felt sorry for harassing the postmen for so long. They all pooled their money to buy some delicious food and treated the postmasters on duty during the New Year to a delicious meal.

It was not until the seventh day of the first lunar month that we were finally able to set off and arrive in Bianliang before the Lantern Festival.

"so big!"

Bai Sheng was dumbfounded, and Bianliang City could not be seen at a glance.

Shi Biao was also dumbfounded and stood motionless on the boat.

Not only them, but even Ling Guxu, who went to Beijing to take the exam for the first time, was shocked and speechless.

Ju Ming’s first impression of this city was: it really lives up to its reputation!

You don't even have to go into the city to feel the prosperity. There are houses and shops everywhere outside the city.

Even ordinary people are obviously wealthier than other states and counties.

There were not many beggars, and after a heavy snowfall, they were probably all dead.

After crossing the river on the ice and arriving at the pier, Bai Chongyan said: "The inns in the city are more expensive, and since it is approaching the Lantern Festival, they must be full. We can stay outside the city."

The crowd took their servants with them, and the servants carried goods, and slowly began to look for the inn.

Since the Bianhe River has not yet thawed, countless goods were transported across the ice. The pier is very crowded, with people carrying bags, people pushing carts, people carrying sedan chairs... everything.

After passing the dock area, there are rows of shops.

There are many scholars on the street, all coming to Beijing to take the exam. There are still more than twenty days before the exam.

There were so many people. I asked three inns in a row and all of them were full of guests.

On the one hand, the imperial examination scholars gathered together, but also as the Lantern Festival approached, a large number of merchants gathered in Tokyo, hoping to make a fortune during the festival.

When asked about the fourth house, they found that there were a few rooms, but not enough for them to live in.

After some discussion, Min Zishun took a few people to stay while Zhu Ming and the others continued their search.

Fortunately, they didn't go far, and another inn was not full, so everyone quickly paid for the deposit.

A young scholar came in with his entourage and asked, "Seller, do you still have a room here?"

The shopkeeper shook his head: "These guys are done."

The young scholar turned to leave, then came back at the door and asked, "Friends, can you share a room with me? After the Lantern Festival, there will be more guest rooms."

Ju Ming didn't care about this. He would just squeeze in with Bai Sheng and Shi Biao. He nodded immediately and said, "Okay. I am Ju Ming in Xia Yangzhou. His courtesy name is Cheng Cheng. I wonder what your surname is?"

The scholar bowed solemnly and said, "I'm Qin Hui in Jiangning. Thank you very much, brother Chenggong, for letting me live."

Ju Ming smacked his lips and said nothing. He felt a little regretful.

Give your mother's room, I'll kick you to death!

However, Qin Hui was an acquaintance, and even revealed the imperial examination information to Ju Ming: "Brother Chenggong, do you know? Maoke will be opened this year, and the number of places will increase."

Ju Ming couldn't beat the person for no reason, so he had to say politely: "I don't know poetry, so I don't dare to take the Maoke exam."

The full name of Maoke is "Ci Xue Jian Maoke", which was created by Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty. It specializes in poetry and articles and is graded by the emperor himself. The number of admissions is limited to three people, and it is possible that only one will be admitted.

Wang Anshi stipulated that all candidates, including new subjects, were not allowed to take the examination for other subjects, so there was only one chance, and those who dared to take the Maoke examination were all talented people.

Regardless of his character, Qin Hui must be very good at rhetoric. He dared to take the test even if only a few people were admitted.