Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

He Su, the new champion, works in the Secretariat Department every day, working diligently for the emperor.

That morning, He Su came to the imperial city for work as usual, but saw Song Huizong's imperial chariot at the door of the Secretary's Office Building.

He Su was very happy and felt that the emperor was diligent in his work, so he hurried forward to pay his respects.

Before he could get close, he was stopped by the eunuch.

But I heard a Taoist priest pointing to the Secretary and saying: "This place has excellent Feng Shui and can be built as a Mingtang."

Song Huizong smiled and nodded: "I also have this intention."

After saying that, the emperor took the imperial chariot and left, climbing to a nearby pavilion to overlook the panoramic view.

He wanted to design the Mingtang himself, including the surrounding gardens.

Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty had extremely high artistic attainments. He looked down on the palaces of the emperors of the Northern Song Dynasty and thought that the palaces decorated with gold and green were too much to look like the nouveau riche. He liked elegance, simplicity and simplicity, and even had the palace pillars painted with just a layer of varnish.

He Su watched the emperor leave in a daze, repeatedly checking whether there was something wrong with his ears.

Is the Secretariat Department going to be demolished?

This is one of the highest authorities in the central government!

He Su quickly ran to the office to report the situation to his boss.

The boss was also startled after hearing this, then shook his head and smiled bitterly, telling He Su not to talk too much.

Today's imperial city has long been turned into a large construction site.

Some time ago, the place where Ju Ming took the imperial examination was being renovated. The emperor felt that Jiying Palace was too luxurious and should be more elegant and simple. After the decoration was completed, Jiying Palace would be renamed Youwen Palace.

In the northeast of the imperial city, a large area of ​​residential buildings outside the city is being demolished in order to build Longevity Mountain (Genyue).

Within the imperial city, the Shangqing Baolu Palace had just been completed, and the construction of the Baozhen Palace and the pavilion used to store the Jiuding began.

As for the office of the Ministry of Secretaries, Jianming Hall is about to be demolished.

Mingtang was originally built by the Duke of Zhou and was the place where the Emperor of Zhou met with the princes.

Wang Mang built a bright hall, and Wu Zetian also built a bright hall to show that he was appointed by heaven.

Song Huizong read a large number of ancient books and believed that Wang Mang and Wu Zetian had not built it correctly. He wanted to restore the ancient system of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty and build the Mingtang of the Song Dynasty to the most ancient etiquette.

After walking around various construction sites, Song Huizong kept raising opinions and felt that the level of those generals as officials was too low.

He couldn't help but think of his good friend Li Jie. If Li Jie was still alive, he would have made it clear in a few words, so why would he bother so much?

Li Jie was very versatile. He knew everything from calligraphy, painting, music, and architecture. He also wrote professional books such as "Continuation of the Classic of Mountains and Seas", "The Book of Horses", and "Ancient Seal Script".

Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty learned his civil engineering knowledge from Li Jie's "Construction Methods".

Even if Song Huizong is not an emperor, he can still be an excellent architect.

"Guan family, Master Xue wants to see you."

"Let him wait at Yanchun Pavilion."

Yanchun Pavilion is located in the expanded Yanfu Palace. Since the expansion of Yanfu Palace, Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty lived in it for most of his time.

The real palace is not visited very often.

To be precise, Yanfu Palace is a temporary palace, but it is only separated from the imperial city by an alley.

There are not many demolished residential buildings there, mainly workshops, shops, temples and military camps.

Well, don't blame Gao Qiu and Liu Zhengfu for demolishing military camps and building houses. The emperor himself took the lead in demolishing military camps.

Yanfu Palace is divided into five building groups, which were built by five eunuchs, including Tong Guan and Yang Jian.

They competed with each other just to please the emperor.

Now it is planned to build a sixth building complex. The land in the inner city is no longer enough, and it is planned to demolish the residential buildings in the outer city and expand it.

Xue Daoguang was followed by two Taoist boys, who were holding manuscripts in their hands.

The eunuch respected him quite a lot, and while waiting for the emperor, he took the opportunity to ask Xue Daoguang for advice.

Xue Daoguang didn't hide it and asked the eunuchs to come over and teach them the serious Taoist breathing techniques.

After preaching for a while, a eunuch suddenly came over and said, "Master, please move."

However, Song Huizong changed his mind temporarily and wanted to eat while visiting the lake.

The lake was also dug manually, and its water source comes from more than a dozen springs.

Xue Daoguang hurried to the lake. The emperor was already sitting in the pavilion. He bowed and said, "Happy Holy Gong!"

Emperor Huizong of Song Dynasty said with a smile: "Sir, please go boating and have a feast with me."

The royal ship is quite large, with two decks, and the craftsmen can build and launch it directly on the lakeside.

Dozens of eunuchs and maids hurriedly carried food boxes to bring food and wine to the ship.

Liu Wanrong, who had just given birth, was also called to accompany her.

Wanrong belongs to the title, and although she is not considered a concubine, she is currently Song Huizong's most favored beauty.

How favored is this beauty?

Even though they were still alive, she was named Concubine Jiuhua Yuzhen'an by Song Huizong, and the statue was placed next to Emperor Shenxiao Jiuchen.

After she died of illness, she was posthumously named queen. At that time, all the concubines had to cry. Because Cui Guifei did not cry, Song Huizong suspected that she was using witchcraft to harm others, so he directly demoted Cui Guifei to a commoner.

"Hail Holy Gong!"

Liu Wanrong first saluted the emperor, then bowed and said, "Long blessing to Master Xue."

Xue Daoguang returned the gift calmly.

Song Huizong stood on the deck, looking at the scenery in the lake, while composing music in his mind.

The Mingtang to be built has great political significance.

He planned to arrange twelve pieces of elegant music for the Mingtang, specifically for banquets and sacrifices, and these pieces of music would all be composed by himself.

"Guan family, let's eat at the bar first." Liu Wanrong said.

Song Huizong smiled and said, "Okay, let's have some wine."

The three of them sat down to have a banquet, and Liu Wanrong personally played the piano to add to the fun.

After drinking a few glasses of wine, Song Huizong asked: "If you are not practicing Taoism in Nanyuan, how can you have time to see me today?"

Xue Daoguang told the truth: "Tan Hua Lang asked Pin Dao to submit the manuscript."

Song Huizong was looking forward to it: "Another novel like Journey to the West?"

Xue Daoguang waved, and two Taoist boys came over with the manuscript: "It's not a novel, but it's quite novel."

Song Huizong put down his chopsticks and opened the manuscript to read.

The Hunjun looked at it quite seriously, sometimes nodding and sometimes frowning. Gradually losing patience, I scanned quickly and kept reading to the back.

"How come there is still agriculture?" Song Huizong asked.

Xue Daoguang said: "Agriculture was written by Zhu Guoxiang."

Song Huizong was not interested in this and continued to flip through it until he reached the method of artificial pollination and grafting before finally stopping to read carefully.

Song Huizong also knew about grafting, which was mainly used for growing flowers.

Zhu Guoxiang introduced various precautions for grafting in detail, which undoubtedly aroused the interest of Song Huizong.

As for artificial pollination, the description of the male and female flowers made Song Huizong feel extremely novel.

Song Huizong took out those manuscripts and planned to study them and use them to cultivate plants in the royal gardens.

After agriculture, came mathematics.

At first glance, Song Huizong thought those strange characters were Taoist talismans. After looking at the annotation comparison next to it, I realized that it was numbers and arithmetic symbols.

I was fascinated by it as I watched it. This foolish king studied civil engineering and Taoist scriptures and secrets. How could he not have high attainments in mathematics?

Not long ago, Song Huizong issued an imperial edict to extend medical schools and arithmetic schools to all state capitals across the country. He wanted to establish a medical and arithmetic education system, and also set up a quota for tributes, so that outstanding local medical students and arithmetic students could select a group every year to study in the capital.

Medical students can help him refine elixirs and practice Taoism.

As a student, you can help him with his major construction projects.

These two types of students can also become Taoist priests and study in Taoist schools in Tokyo.

At the same time, Song Huizong also felt from the bottom of his heart that medicine and arithmetic were of great use to the country.

Reading those mathematical contents, Song Huizong even forgot to eat. Liu Wanrong picked up a piece of meat and said, "Guan family, let's have something to eat."

"Yeah." Song Huizong opened his mouth and bit it, and then continued to read the mathematics manuscript.

Until mid-afternoon, Song Huizong slammed the table: "This is such a master!"

Song Huizong felt that this kind of mathematics was so convenient that it could be used in civil engineering. It was also useful in studying Yin and Yang magic, Five Elements and Bagua, and Qimen Dunjia.

Turning back to look at the author of the mathematics chapter, two names are clearly written: Zhu Guoxiang and Zhu Ming.

Song Huizong said: "The Zhu family father and son also claimed that they had not met overseas immortals. How could they have acquired this technique without the instruction of immortals? Haven't the conquest envoys brought Zhu Guoxiang to Bianliang yet?"

Xue Daoguang said nothing and meditated cross-legged on the stool.

There is too much mathematics content, and Song Huizong could not finish it in a while.

He pulled out the relevant manuscript and continued to read the physics content behind it.

Completely forgetting the time, I saw the sky getting dark in one breath.

Song Huizong stood up suddenly and said to the accompanying eunuch: "Send someone to Yangzhou to urge him to bring Zhu Guoxiang to Bianliang as soon as possible. When Zhu Guoxiang arrives in Beijing, let him and his son come to the palace to see him!"

After thinking about it, Song Huizong said again: "Copy these mathematics and give them to the professors and lecturers of the arithmetic school. Let them all study hard. After three months, I will personally take the teaching test. Those who excel in the test will be Jinshi. Those who are born will be promoted, and those who are not born will be awarded the same title as Jinshi. All arithmetic schools in local and state capitals must teach this book!"

Ju Ming never expected that Song Huizong would order the new mathematics to be promoted throughout the country.

Xue Daoguang got up and resigned. Because it was getting late, the emperor stayed in Yanfu Palace for the night.

The eunuch accompanying the Royal Pharmacy Academy carefully copied out the agricultural science, mathematics, and physics overnight. The mathematics content is sent to arithmetic schools in Tokyo.

The biological clock of Song Huizong was very similar to that of Taoist Jiajing.

They are all typical night owls. They often practice Taoism, have fun or work in the middle of the night, and sleep until about three o'clock in the morning before getting up.

When he woke up the next day, Song Huizong put together the manuscripts of "Journey to the West", agriculture, mathematics, and physics.

Look here, look there.

They were all so magical that Song Huizong always had the suspicion that the Zhu family and his son must have seen immortals.

This idea became more and more certain, and Song Huizong couldn't wait to see Zhu Guoxiang immediately.

Don't ask anything else, just ask about the location of Fairy Island.

He wanted to build a fleet and send his most trusted eunuchs and Taoist priests to search for the overseas true immortals Zhu Guoxiang met.

The immortal must be at sea. Qin Shihuang was too tyrannical back then, so the immortal chose to avoid seeing him. He loves all people, has a destiny, and is devoted to the Tao. He will definitely be able to move the immortals to appear.

As for the Zhu family father and son, they were actually sent by immortals to get married, but they didn't know the inside story yet.

If you meet a true immortal, immortality is just around the corner!

You can’t just wait around, you have to be prepared first.

Song Huizong urgently summoned Yang Jian and ordered: "I ordered you to be the southeast economic envoy and go to Hangzhou to build twenty sea ships. Those sea ships must be built tall and strong to withstand huge waves. The sooner they are built, the better!"

Yang Jian was a little confused and asked: "Why do officials build sea ships?"

Song Huizong was a little impatient: "Don't ask too much, just do as you are told!"