Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

The house rented out by Lu Zai is a combination of a corridor courtyard and a courtyard house, and can be regarded as a transitional form of the evolution from a corridor courtyard to a courtyard house.

The east side is the gallery and the west side is the wing room, which is not symmetrical.

In the middle is the main room, and there are wing rooms on both sides of the main room.

There is a row of houses in the backyard, with a total of three bedrooms and a study room.

The front yard is also quite spacious, with small rooms separated on the east and west sides, where the servants live. The servants' house is separated by a wall, with a main entrance in the middle.

According to the regulations of courtyard houses in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, this should be regarded as the third entrance, and the front yard can also be counted as the first entrance.

The kitchen and firewood shed were built by opening a door from the wall and occupying the alleyway. They are completely illegal buildings.

Most of the houses with this kind of layout have spent money to renovate them.

When the area of ​​the house was tight, the owner wanted to add interest and leave enough room for use, so he made it a bit nondescript and even illegally expanded and occupied the alleyway.

Zhu Ming, Chen Yuan and Min Zishun each requested a bedroom in the inner courtyard.

Bai Chongyan slept in the wing room.

All the entourage were crowded into two wing rooms and a servant's room.

The two maids bought from Lu Zai were crowded in another maid's room.

The main room and study room are shared by everyone.

It's really shabby with so many people crowded together, but who makes Tokyo's housing prices expensive?

Bai Chongyan and Min Zishun currently only have the status of Di Gonglang, and their monthly salary is twelve thousand yuan.

We have to say twelve thousand instead of twelve guan. This is because of the chaotic monetary system.

According to the official regulations of the Song Dynasty, one Guan is equal to 770 Wen, which is called Shengbai. However, in private transactions, it is still customary for one guan to equal 1,000 wen, which is enough for a hundred. In addition, there is Shibai, which determines how much a coin is based on the quality of the copper coin.

For example, when they rent a house, the monthly rent is one hundred guan, which is calculated as a hundred cents, and each guan is discounted to one thousand copper coins.

Bai Chongyan's monthly salary is not enough to pay the rent, so he has to pay extra to live in the capital.

There is also Yuan Sui Qian, which means the court pays officials to support their followers. Zhu Ming, Bai Chongyan and Min Zishun all have two followers, and each follower has a monthly salary of 500 yuan.

But 500 yuan per month can only ensure that the followers will not starve to death in Tokyo.

Ju Ming's situation is much better because he has errands and can get double salary.

Wen Linlang's monthly salary is 15,000 yuan, Lumi is 3 shi per month, and he has to pay for clothes every year, and there is also some miscellaneous money.

(Xing) Tai Xuezheng's monthly salary is 18,000, and he also has lumi every month, and he also has to issue a piece of gold every year. (Tai Xue Zheng is the ninth rank, which is lower than Wen Linlang. The dispatch is lower than the salary official. This situation is called "exercise a certain position", and the salary is slightly higher than the normal salary.)

With double salary and miscellaneous things, Ju Ming's monthly salary is about 38,000 yuan, which leaves 13,000 yuan after rent.

Ju Ming, who has a generous salary, is weeding at the moment.

There is a row of flower beds in front of the porch, and weeds have grown up. Weeding weeds and protecting flowers should cultivate sentiment.

"Puff puff puff!"

Someone knocked on the door knocker outside, and Gu San ran to open the door.

Min Zishun threw away the weeds and went out to greet him, but it was the three He Su brothers.

The two parties exchanged greetings, and He Tang picked up the mutton in his hand and said, "Excellent mutton leg!"

Min Zishun took it and threw it to his entourage, asking him to take it to the cook: "You three are here as soon as you come, why do you need to bring your own food?"

"You can't just eat and drink for free," He Su said.

"You three, please come in quickly." Min Zishun raised his hand to lead the way.

The sound of footsteps reached the inner courtyard, and Ju Ming shouted: "Come here and help!"

The three brothers rolled up their sleeves with a smile and ran to help weed.

As disciples of Shu studies, they are proficient in practicing Taoism, chanting Buddha's name and cultivating flowers. When it comes to pulling up weeds, his hands and feet are much more agile than Ju Ming's.

Not long after, someone knocked on the door again, but it was Qin Hui who also came.

The appointment of officials has been decided, and most of the Jinshi from the First Class to the Fourth Class will leave Tokyo.

Zhu Ming prepared a hot pot meal to see off Pan Lianggui, the second place winner.

I don't know how the news leaked out, but the top scholar He Su came with his two brothers, and Qin Hui also happily came to join in the fun.

Qin Hui brought a jar of wine and said as if he was offering a treasure: "My father-in-law gave it to me. Serve a good wine."

Bai Chongyan took the wine jar, placed it outside the corridor, and asked his followers to move in and move the benches.

Near noon, Pan Lianggui arrived late, and there were even a few more people he didn't recognize.

Ju Ming asked Bai Chongyan in a low voice: "Who is this Zheng Lizhong? Why do I have no impression at all."

Bai Chongyan said: "He is from Tingzhou, and he and Mr. Chen are from the same hometown of Fujian Road. I admire Mr. Chen's talent and learning, and often listen to lectures by the Cai River. I have a good chat with him. Zheng Lizhong passed the top three exams this time and was sent to Chong'an County. Lieutenant."

Historically, Zheng Lizhong was also a loyal and brave man.

When the Jin soldiers went south, Zheng Lizhong recruited thousands of local warriors to fight all the way back to Henan from Fujian and regain the lost lands of Guangzhou (Huangchuan), Caizhou (Ruyang) and so on. The Jin people increased their troops to besiege Caizhou, and Zheng Li was wounded in the middle city and died.

Zheng Lizhong asked: "Isn't Mr. Mo'an here?"

Ju Ming pointed to the backyard: "Write a book in there and come out when eating."

Chen Yuan no longer lectures in the downtown area. In order to avoid being labeled as banned from studying, he repeatedly emphasized that he was promoting new learning and completely eliminated the unique viewpoints of Luo and Shu studies.

However, Kaifeng Prefecture Yin Shengzhang had other ideas. He directly asked the urban management (street division soldiers) to come forward and forcibly dispersed the people who were attending the lecture. He also arrested Chen Yuan for obstructing traffic. Fortunately, many Tai students helped to stop him, otherwise Ju Ming would have gone to the prison of Kaifeng Mansion to fish for people.

Nowadays, Chen Yuan writes books every day.

In addition to improving the theoretical system, he also wrote manuscripts on mathematics, geometry, and physics.

Bai Sheng and Shi Biao brought out the stove and iron pot, and four of Chen Yuan's followers brought in coal. The rest of the followers were busy slicing the mutton and cleaning the heart, lungs and other animal internal organs.

Qin Hui knelt down to make a fire, but the charcoal didn't light up, but he choked himself.

Song Di, who got fifth place in the exam, said with a smile: "I don't know about fireworks, let's see what I can do!"

Qin Hui argued: "I always use firewood and charcoal at home. I haven't learned how to make fire with this charcoal."

Zhu He, the sixth Jinshi, said: "Everything is good in Tokyo, but there is a severe shortage of firewood, and the smell of coal is too strong. When it's time to cook, the whole city is filled with the smell of burning coal."

Zhu Ming was worried that he was short of money. Now that the appointment of officials was completed, it was time to do business.

After staring at the coal for a while, Zhu Ming called Bai Sheng over: "We usually use charcoal at home, where do we buy it?"

Bai Sheng replied: "Coal field."

"Where is the charcoal field?" Zhu Ming asked again.

Bai Sheng said: "Except for the inner city, there are them everywhere, even in the suburbs."

Ju Ming had a plan in his mind. He could use the unwanted coal ash from the charcoal field and recycle the waste into briquettes for sale.

Tokyo has used coal on a large scale for more than a hundred years.

At that time, there was not enough firewood, so the imperial court encouraged the use of coal to make fires, and even tax-free transportation and sales of coal, which stimulated merchants to increase the volume of coal transportation.

Due to the huge profits, the powerful began to speculate in coal.

Song Zhenzong's consort Chai Zongqing made things worse. He instigated tax collectors to collect taxes illegally and raise the costs of competitors. He contacted the fleet to transport coal to Tokyo duty-free, and dumped it at low prices, forcing small businessmen to go bankrupt. After monopolizing the market, sell at high prices to make profits.

In the fifth year of Dazhong Xiangfu's reign, coal prices were extremely high and thousands of people suffered.

The imperial court urgently transferred 400,000 pounds of coal and sold it to the people at half price. People looted in the snow, resulting in a stampede. Numerous casualties were caused on the spot. Some people froze to death because they could not buy coal.

Since then, the imperial court has strengthened its supervision of coal and no longer dared to allow the powerful to monopolize the market.

Up to now, there are nearly a hundred charcoal fields in and around Tokyo. There are official ones and there are private ones to prevent one company from becoming dominant.

Ju Ming paced to the study room: "Sir, there is a good business. Would you like to join the company?"

Chen Yuan shook his head: "I don't like doing business. If I am short of money, I can lend you two hundred guan. I don't have much gold and silver left, and I still need some for daily use."

Ju Ming said: "After I have researched new things, I will ask my husband to borrow money. This business can also benefit the people, and the common people's daily use is the way."

"Oh, what's the way to succeed?" Chen Yuan became interested. This is related to the way of daily use.

"We'll know when the time comes. Let's go eat first." Zhu Ming wasn't completely sure yet. He had only seen the briquette workshop in the town when he was a child in the countryside.

The two came to the yard, and the soup in the pot was already boiling.

Everyone sat down around the iron pot and poured the rice wine. Zhu Ming smiled and said, "Please give me a few words from the Number One Scholar."

He Su immediately raised his glass and stood up: "Gentlemen, we are all Jinshi in the new science. We are rich and loyal to the emperor. I hope you can report it to the emperor and bring peace to the people. Congratulations to the Song Dynasty and to the officials!"

"Congratulations to the Great Song Dynasty!"

"Congratulations to the official family!"

Everyone shouted, toasted and drank.

Zhu Ming cooked a piece of mutton and ate it. He served Pan Lianggui a glass of wine and said, "This is the farthest trip to Guizhou. Please take care of yourself."

Pan Lianggui clinked his glasses and said, "My brother Cheng Cheng has offended Cai Jing by refusing to marry, and he has also offended Dasheng poet and Kaifeng governor. From now on, we must be careful of traitors and traps. I am safe in Guizhou."

Ju Ming smiled and said: "If we want to offend a treacherous minister, everyone here has already offended Wang Fu."

"Hahahaha!" Everyone laughed.

As the chief examiner of the provincial examination, Wang Fu is the mentor of all new scholars. Although the imperial court issued repeated orders not to allow scholars to visit their masters, it could not be prohibited at all.

According to the usual practice, before taking the imperial examination, everyone should take the initiative to visit Wang Fu and thank his teacher for his support.

But Wang Fu's reputation was so bad that he fawned over He Zhizhong's superior position and soon betrayed He Zhizhong. He flattered Cai Jing when he came to power, but now he has betrayed Cai Jing. Such repetitive villains are rare among traitors.

There were six hundred and seventy-one Jinshi, and only a few of them went to pay homage to their master.

This also has something to do with Cai Jing. Cai's party controls the civil service. Anyone who dares to worship Wang Fu will be suppressed when he is appointed.

He Su chewed mutton and said, "When I become a public official, I will be the first to impeach Wang Fu! I only know that there is a treacherous minister Wang Fu, but I don't know that there is a master Wang Fu."

"Well said!" Song Di raised his glass and drank heavily.

Qin Hui sat there feeling a little embarrassed. His wife's third uncle was Zheng Juzhong, and Wang Fu took refuge with Zheng Juzhong.

Everyone said treacherous officials to the left and treacherous officials to the right. Qin Hui felt like they were scolding him.

Song Di said: "The treacherous ministers in the court are in power, and the local officials are corrupted. When I was appointed as the official of Fuzhou Cao, the first thing I did was to rectify the subordinate officials of Cao Cao. If I can be promoted to the chief official of a county, I will rectify the administration of the county. . Only when officials govern Qingming can the world be Qingming!"

"Brother Caicheng has such great ambition!"

The people here are all relatively young, and have just been appointed to official positions. They are focused on fulfilling their ambitions and have not yet suffered from the darkness of officialdom.

One or two, drinking wine and eating meat, talking about their political ideals.

Even if the wine is not intoxicating, everyone will get drunk. At the end of the drink, they stagger and leave, supporting each other.

Ju Ming was half-leaning on the porch to sober up. He had no intention of bringing down the traitor. He only thought about how to make money by doing business.

If Huizong of Song Dynasty does not fall, can the traitorous party fall?

It's more practical to make money. Prices are too high, and even a double salary won't be enough for him.