Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

The official ship docked outside Yangzhou City, and many officials, gentry, and common people looked at it from a distance.

The news that Duke Yuan Zhang had arrested the emperor's messenger had been spread by the subordinate officials.

People were surprised and felt very relieved at the same time. When they heard that the ship was coming, they all rushed to tell each other and rushed to the riverside to watch the excitement.

"Oh, Mr. Zhu is in big trouble this time!" Zheng Lan frowned.

Fatty Zheng said: "Wengng, although I am very stupid, Mr. Zhu is a smart man. I know that this is a disaster, how can Mr. Zhu not know about it? He must have a way to solve the disaster."

Zheng Lan shook her head: "No matter what, let's wait and see. I won't send you to Tokyo for the time being, for fear of being implicated by the Zhu family and his son."

Zheng Hong disagreed and said: "Who in Yangzhou doesn't know that my family is doing business with Daming Village? Even the method of frying tea was taught to my family by Mr. Zhu. If there is really a disaster, can our family escape? There must be officials and merchants who take the opportunity to make false accusations in order to take away my family's business. At this time, sending the younger sister to Tokyo to marry the older man as a concubine will show our family's sincerity. If we wait until next year, we can try to get that person. Wealth, what would Zhu Dalang think in his heart?"

Zheng Lan hesitated, but insisted on her opinion: "Don't take risks."

"Weng Weng!" Zheng Hong was a little anxious.

Zheng Lan said: "Don't say it again."

Zheng Hong really wanted to say, "Shu Zi is not good enough," but this was his grandfather, so it was difficult to curse him.

Fatty Zheng searched his guts to sort out his words and asked: "Weng Weng, how is Mr. Zhu doing?"

Zheng Lan said: "It's good."

Fatty Zheng exhausted what he had learned throughout his life and elaborated: "Xianggong Zhu recruits the poor, distributes land, and lends seeds. This is benevolence. Sweet potatoes and corns are extremely productive, but he is willing to promote them to all counties in the prefecture. This is also benevolence." Ah. The method of frying tea can generate tens of thousands of gold, but I kept my promise and taught it to my family this year. This is righteousness. The magistrate and magistrate of Yangzhou, the magistrate and chief registrar of Xixiang, and the head of the academy, Min Shan, There is also the Confucian Mr. Chen who admires Mr. Zhu very much. With so many smart people admiring him, how can Mr. Zhu not be smart? This is wisdom. Is it possible that such a person would not be able to do anything to detain an eunuch? ?”

This discussion is not very exciting and rigorous, but it still makes Zheng Lan somewhat moved.

However, Zheng Lan still refused to bet: "Our family has learned how to fry tea, and we will definitely become richer and richer in the future. It is said that officials favor eunuchs. If Zhu Xianggong arrests eunuchs, he will probably get burned. The Zheng family must not be involved. Get in."

Fatty Zheng was so depressed that he wanted to vomit blood and asked again: "Weng Weng, how many years does it take for Yangzhou to produce a Jinshi?"

Zheng Lan said: "Sometimes it takes ten years, sometimes twenty or thirty years."

Fatty Zheng said: "Three Jinshi were born this year. If we wait for the next time, won't we have to wait twenty or thirty years? If the Zheng family wants to marry Jinshi in the future, they will have to rely on those from outside. Those Jinshi from outside. , how many people are willing to marry a merchant? They said that the son of Li Tongpan was married to a young woman as a second string, but everyone else refused! If you want to get married, we can only marry a girl from our family to be a concubine. Marry to a young and unmarried person. Is Zhu Dalang's concubine the same as marrying a foreign official? Without the protection of an official, can our Zheng family's business go smoothly? "

Zheng Lan was even more hesitant and couldn't make up his mind for a while.

Of course he understood what his grandson said, but as people get older, they tend to be conservative, and thinking too much can lead to dilemmas.

Zheng Lan thought over and over again, took her granddaughter's birth date, and ran to the goddess in the city for divination.

Don't think it's ridiculous, divination was so popular in the Northern Song Dynasty.

According to Wang Anshi's "Bian Shuo", there are over 10,000 people who rely on divination for a living in and around Tokyo alone.

Zheng Lan was looking for Zigu, a mainstream divination technique in the Song Dynasty.

Zigu was originally a concubine in the Northern and Southern Dynasties. She was jealous of her head wife and was killed in the toilet on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month. God was merciful and made Zigu the God of Toilet, also known as the "Third Miss".

During the Tang and Song Dynasties, people would welcome the toilet god during the Lantern Festival.

On the day before the festival, prepare a dung basket, garland the dung basket with hairpins, and place it next to the toilet for worship. They also burn incense and candles, and the children come to worship, so that they can be blessed by Zi Gu and will not fall into the manure pit and drown in the future.

Now Zigu has evolved and is not only the god of toilets, but also the god of divination, calligraphy, and pot throwing.

Zigu Divination has two business specializations:

One is a woman asking for news about her sweetheart; the other is a scholar asking if he can pass the imperial examination.

It has the flavor of the god of women and the god of imperial examinations.

There were even scholars who asked Zigu which questions they were going to take before the imperial examination...

But he saw Zheng Lan leading his servants and following the goddess to the toilet.

The goddess is wearing many plants and vines, and her dress looks a bit like a druid.

She holds a dustpan in her hand, which is Zigu's skirt. Then write the requested information on the paper and insert the paper and pen into the top of the dustpan.

The two boys stepped forward to hold the dustpan, and the goddess began to ask Zigu to get on top of her.

After a period of trembling like an epileptic attack, Zi Gu finally got up and said in a solemn tone: "Who is coming?"

Zheng Lan quickly replied: "Miss Zi, I am Zheng Lan, a merchant from Yangzhou."

Zigu said: "I already know what you are asking for."

Zheng Lan asked: "Should I marry my granddaughter off?"

Zigu said: "This matter is extraordinary and the secret must not be leaked."

Zheng Lan asked the servant to take out a few strings of money and put them in front of the dustpan: "Please tell me something about Miss Zi."

Zigu was also educated, and she actually started to recite a poem: "Because of the infinite beauty of the cloud screen, Fengcheng is afraid of the spring night even though it is cold."

Zheng Lan didn't understand and asked quickly: "How do you interpret these two sentences?"

The goddess trembled all over, but Zigu had already left.

Zheng Lan asked the goddess again: "Because Yunping is infinitely charming, Fengcheng... Fengcheng... how can this be explained?"

The goddess added the next two sentences: "I got married to a rich husband for no reason, and I live up to the promise of a long marriage. Congratulations to Mr. Zheng, the young lady of the Zheng family will be very rich. I am afraid that her husband will be able to become the prime minister in the future."

"Really?" Zheng Lan was overjoyed.

He already believed it, because he did not reveal any more information, nor did he say who he would marry his granddaughter to.

That sentence about ascending the pavilion to pay homage to the prime minister is probably true for today’s Tanhua Lang!

Zheng Lan presented some more money and said goodbye to the goddess with a smile on her face.

After returning home, Zheng Lan called his grandson: "Take the young lady and board the ship immediately outside the city, and bring some gold collars for dowry. Then go with Zhu Xianggong. Don't say anything else, just take the young lady with you." Mom is going to Tokyo to visit relatives."

Zheng Yuanyi was pulled into the carriage nervously, feeling quite reluctant to give up, but also looking forward to it.

Her personal maid also walked with her.

There were also two rather strong young women, female sumo wrestlers from the Zheng family, who also went to Tokyo together on this trip.

It can be seen that Zheng Lan really loves his granddaughter, and even has two thugs to prevent him from being bullied by his wife in the future.

There are two other strong men who are also sumo wrestlers and serve as Zheng Hong's bodyguards. Four more domestic slaves went to Tokyo together to obey Zheng Hong's orders at any time.

The official ship is purchasing items and will not leave until dawn tomorrow.

Fatty Zheng took his sister and asked to board the ship in the evening.

"Where are you going?" Zhu Guoxiang asked.

Zheng Hong said: "Go to Tokyo to visit relatives."

Zhu Guoxiang frowned and didn't think much about it, just pretending to be traveling together.

The next day, we set off early in the morning.

When passing through Xingyuan Mansion, Zhu Guoxiang took the gold and silver and returned them to the transfer envoy and other officials.

Carrying the Ganoderma lucidum as a sign, he took out the receipts from Yangzhou officials and asked the officials from Xingyuan Mansion to also sign receipts.

He continued along the Bao River until he reached the point where the boat could no longer sail.

Zhu Guoxiang brought the tied eunuchs and imperial guards ashore and ordered: "Except for Fang Mao, all the others should be untied!"

Before they were even loosened, they just pulled off the rag in their mouths, and those guys started shouting.

Zhu Guoxiang turned a deaf ear and asked Deng Chun to hold out Ganoderma lucidum and ask, "What is this?"

There was more than one eunuch, and one young eunuch said: "Is this a thousand... thousand-year-old Ganoderma lucidum?"

Zhu Guoxiang said: "It's not just a thousand years? There are still three years left, and it will be ten thousand years of Ganoderma lucidum. If mortals eat it, they will be free from disease and disaster, and they will stay young forever! I originally planned to give it to the officials after three years. Alas... you force me Being too hasty will ruin the ten thousand years of Ganoderma lucidum's Taoism, and the elixir of life will be gone."

Several young eunuchs were all dumbfounded. Regardless of whether this was true or false, if the officials knew about it, it must be true.

Fang Mao is dead!

The eunuchs all knelt down in unison: "My husband saved my life, and it was all Fang Mao who forced him to do it, and it had nothing to do with us at all!"

The soldiers of the Forbidden Army also knelt down and cried for Zhu Guoxiang to save his life. They were afraid that the emperor would anger everyone.

Zhu Guoxiang was noncommittal, and asked someone to bring tea leaves, and said: "I have developed a kind of black tea. It only weighs a few hundred kilograms now and has never been sold in the market. The black tea, together with Ganoderma lucidum, is to be dedicated to the officials. There are not enough manpower. , you all have to help carry the tea, and each person will receive ten kilograms as a reward for carrying the tea."

Tea for the emperor?

Give each person ten pounds?

The moods of the eunuchs and the imperial guards were like riding a roller coaster.

If Zhu Guoxiang is willing to send tea, he will definitely not embarrass them.

Once the emperor likes to drink this tea, the price will definitely rise sharply, and each of them can make a fortune from the ten kilograms of black tea in their hands.

The Imperial Guards had no psychological burden and hurriedly shouted: "We listen to Mr. Zhu, it's all Fang Mao who is causing trouble!"

Zhu Guoxiang said: "This Fang Mao not only asked for bribes along the way, but also wanted gold and silver when he arrived at Daming Village. He heard that there was a thousand-year-old Ganoderma lucidum, and he wanted to cut off a piece for his own consumption. You can only tie him up first!"

"Yes, this Fang Mao is so ambitious that he actually wants to live forever." A eunuch immediately agreed.

Another eunuch said: "Xiangong Zhu said that Ganoderma lucidum would take another three years to turn into an elixir of immortality. But Fang Mao refused to wait. He didn't know to go back and report it to the officials, so he forced Xianggong Zhu to collect the Ganoderma lucidum in advance!"

Another eunuch said: "Fang Mao is still disrespectful to the officials. Let's urge him to hurry up and not delay the official's errands. But he said that the official's errands are not urgent, and the right way is to get more gold and silver. He also said that he left Tokyo. , The officials are blind and deaf, no matter what we do, we are not afraid of the officials knowing."

A Forbidden Army soldier said: "This guy Fang Mao was planning to ask for specialties from Yangzhou to be sold in Tokyo. He didn't even remember that the official told him to go back quickly!"

Another eunuch said: "Fang Mao also told us that the officials took a wrong look and said that Zhu Xianggong was definitely cheating. He did not think about being ordered to conquer the country, and had already planned to tie Zhu Xianggong to Tokyo."

These guys, every word you say and every word I say, are all trying to accuse Fang Maoan.

And the more he said it, the more outrageous it became. There was even a forbidden army, angrily scolding Fang Mao for bullying men and women, and forcing women from good families to be concubines.

If so, Fang Mao did say it.

Fang Mao did do some things.

But most of them are made up, and the worse they say about Fang Mao, the better.

Fang Mao had a rag stuffed in his mouth and was lying on the ground tied up. He hesitated in his mouth and wanted to retort, and his body twisted around, but he couldn't struggle at all. In the end, he could only cry continuously.

Zheng Hong witnessed the whole process and couldn't help but sigh in his heart: "Xiangong Zhu is indeed extraordinary. He is very skilled in confusing right and wrong!"

Have a night's rest and go on foot.

The eunuchs and imperial soldiers all volunteered to work as tea-carrying coolies, happily marching along the Baoxie Road, and seemed to have become Zhu Guoxiang's subordinates.