Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

Rested too late and overslept.

Zhu Ming quickly dressed and washed, leaving Bai Sheng to wait with the horse. He didn't comb his hair much, put on a plain hat and left.

This kind of plain turban is not the plain turban that Ju Ming wore before he became an official, but the Song Dynasty official hat with the extra long wings removed.

You can also twist the wings upwards, which is called an upturned head; you can also fold the wings downwards, which is called a cross-footed head.

"Brother, you haven't eaten yet!" Zheng Yuanyi shouted.

Ju Ming got on his horse and said, "Just buy some on the way."

Zheng Yuanyi chased her out with her maid: "I steamed some steamed buns."

"Thank you, sister." Zhu Ming took the food box, gently clamped the horse's belly and went out.

He was holding a food box in one hand and a rein in the other, with a sword hanging on his waist in case of possible gangsters.

There isn't much to do at school, so Zhu Ming often goes to work alone, leaving Bai Sheng to do things at home.

Now he also has a coal shop, and Bai Sheng goes to the shop every day. In his spare time, Bai Sheng also led Shi Biao around the city of Tokyo, helping to inquire about some market news.

For example, there has been a nursery rhyme spread recently: "Break the bucket (Tong Guan) and spill the vegetables (Cai Jing), and you will have a good world on earth." (According to the Mandarin of the Song Dynasty, this sentence rhymes.)

Similar to nursery rhymes, they often appear, and Cai Jing has nothing to do about it.

When Cai Jing resigned as prime minister last time, there were also nursery rhymes to celebrate: "Kill the Artemisia (Tong Guan), cut the vegetables (Cai Jing), eat the lamb (Gao Qiu), and eat the lotus leaves (He Zhizhong)."

Ju Ming speculated that this kind of nursery rhyme should be formed spontaneously, mostly by the working people at the bottom.

If it were made up by a scholar, it would definitely be more elegant.

Today is just like driving to work. When there is a traffic jam, you can only drive slowly and speed up quickly when you have a gap.

After finally arriving at the Nanjiao Campus, Ju Ming was already an hour and a half late. He didn't bother to go to the office, so he walked around with his horse, and as the dean, he inspected each classroom to see if classes were being taught normally.

In the last quarterly exam, based on the test results, Ju Ming worked within the scope of his authority and responsibilities to ensure that several good students were promoted.

Those good students who were suppressed by Cai's party have long been grateful to Zhu Ming and admired Zhu Xuezheng from the bottom of their hearts.

Unfortunately, Zhu Ming recommended Chen Dongsheng to be a superior in foreign affairs, but his colleagues rejected him because of his bad conduct. Chen Dong had studied at Imperial College for several years, but was still a low-class student outside the dormitory. He was so angry that he continued to insult Cai Jing in public.

After school at noon, Chen Dong and Zhu Song did not go to eat, but went to see Ju Ming together.

"Xue Zheng, please read it." Chen Dong took out a book as if he were offering a treasure.

This book is freshly released and you can still smell the ink. There are four big characters written on the cover: Zhu Shi Suan Jing.

Ju Ming opened it and saw that it was about modern mathematics, and it was printed with engravings. Song Huizong was really fast.

"Is it issued by the school?" Zhu Ming asked.

Zhu Song nodded and said: "Not only the Imperial College has distributed this book, but the school has also distributed it. According to Dr. Zhang, even the Ministry of Industry has distributed dozens of copies."

Chen Dong said with a smile: "There are already many courses in Taixue, but when this book was published, people were all over the place. The arithmetic teacher was still studying on his own, so he let us preview the book, and some students who were hanging around shouted that they couldn't understand it."

Zhu Song said: "That's more than that. Mr. Mathematics knows that we have learned it, and he quietly came over to ask for advice on things we didn't understand."

Zhu Ming left the "Zhu Shi Suan Jing" behind, nodded and said, "You go and eat."

The two of them excused themselves and went to dinner together.

Ju Ming opened the mathematics textbook and found that the carving was exquisite, worthy of being made by a royal craftsman.

Going to Goulan to listen to music last night made Ju Ming feel even more urgent.

The emperor's favor towards his father has nothing to do with Ju Ming. He had to do some ruthless work on his own, which would not only benefit the people, but also please the emperor, and then be promoted faster.

For example, improving movable type printing.

The entire process of movable type printing in the Northern Song Dynasty has been developed and perfected, but there are still many technical problems that cannot be solved. The real great development occurred in the Southern Song Dynasty and Yuan Dynasty, and it did not mature until the mid-Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Ming had already had lunch in advance. He strolled to the school library and checked out Wang Anshi's "New Meanings of the Three Classics."

Then rely on memory and compare it with the book to reproduce the Song style characters stroke by stroke.

It is slightly different from the modern printed Song script, but it is the Song script of the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Ju Ming has read many such books. It's not that he's pretending to be retro, but because he was looking up information for a video, he couldn't find a modern version at all, so he had to buy a photocopy of an ancient book.

Song font is the most suitable for printing!

It was born in the Ming Dynasty, and strictly speaking it should be called Ming style characters.

For several days, Ju Ming was "creating" Song fonts. After he finished the fonts, he had to work out various font sizes.

Font size is of great use, especially in imperial examination textbooks. The main text and annotations of the scriptures are printed in different font sizes, which are basically used in every book.

In addition, determining the font size is also unifying printing standards.

Punctuation marks also need to be worked out. Printed books in the Ming Dynasty already have original punctuation marks, usually small circles or small black dots, which are used to help break sentences for easier reading.

Ju Ming didn't want to make it too complicated, just commas, periods, question marks, pauses, colons, and exclamation points.

After designing all these, we will study the ratio of lead movable type and the formula of ink materials.

…

Yanfu Palace.

Song Huizong asked: "Has the refining of the elixir started?"

Wang Zaixi replied: "I have summoned dozens of foreign alchemy masters and are discussing the formula for refining the medicine. Lingzhi is a sacred thing. I must be careful and not do anything indiscriminately."

Song Huizong nodded and said: "You should be cautious, but you can't be too slow."

"Please remember this!" Wang Zaixi said.

Song Huizong waved his hand and said: "Go ahead. If you are successful in refining the medicine, I will not hesitate to reward you."

"Thank you, Your Majesty!"

Wang Zaixi's real purpose was not to refine medicine at all, but to use the opportunity of refining medicine to expand his Taoist power with the emperor's orders.

As soon as the man left, the eunuch accompanying him came quickly: "The official family has two secret memorials, both from the northwest."

"But there's another good news?" Song Huizong said happily, "Bring it quickly!"

The first secret memorial was sent by Tong Guan.

Song Huizong only glanced at it, and his smile turned into anger.

The content of the secret report is: Liu Zhongwu led tens of thousands of troops to attack Zangdihe City, with nearly half of the casualties, and the entire army of Qin Feng's third general (Qin Fenglu's third army) was wiped out. Tong Guan asked Liu Zhongwu to behead him.

Song Huizong muttered: "This Liu Zhongwu really deserves to die!"

Holding back his anger, he opened and read the second secret message, but it was urgently sent by Gao Qiu.

Gao Qiu said in his report that Liu Zhongwu was tricked by friendly forces. Although Liu Zhongwu was the commander-in-chief, except for Qin Fenglu's several legions, the rest of the friendly forces were not very obedient. During the siege of the city, the friendly forces were passive and inactive, and were defeated by the enemy troops who rushed out of the city gate. The Third Army Corps of Qin Feng Road was besieged and fought bloody battles. They refused to retreat until the whole army was finally annihilated.

The contents of the two secret letters are completely opposite.

Song Huizong couldn't figure out which one was true. He wanted to call the Privy Councilor Zheng Juzhong to discuss it, but he felt that Zheng Juzhong must be speaking for Tong Guan.

After much thought, Song Huizong recruited Cai Jing.

Cai Jing has not been summoned by the emperor for two or three months.

He instantly became energetic, carefully arranged his appearance, and entered the palace in a carriage to ask questions.

Song Huizong comforted him with a few words, sent out two secret memorials, and asked: "According to what you see, which one is true and which one is false."

Cai Jing read it carefully, and did not say whether it was true or not. He only said: "Liu Zhongwu is the envoy of Qin Feng Road, and Qin Feng's third general is one of the main forces under his command. It is quite ominous to kill the general in battle."

Song Huizong thought carefully and soon understood.

Liu Zhongwu was defeated on the front line. The most serious losses were caused by Liu Zhongwu's own troops. The casualties of friendly forces were negligible.

I'm afraid this is really a scam!

Thinking back to Tong Guan's secret message, Tong Guan, as the commander-in-chief of the entire army, actually asked the general to be killed.

It is conceivable how bad the relationship between Tong Guan and Liu Zhongwu has become.

As for Gao Qiu speaking for Liu Zhongwu, it was because it was related to his own interests.

The Forbidden Army troops led by Gao Qiu were organized together with Liu Zhongwu. Liu Zhongwu won the battle, and Gao Qiu had military exploits. If Liu Zhongwu is found guilty, Gao Qiu's trip will be in vain, and he will have no choice but to be at Tong Guan's discretion from now on.

In this battle against Xixia, not only were the generals at odds, but there were also private internal fights between the Forbidden Army and the Forbidden Army.

Song Huizong thought carefully and realized that Tong Guan commanded various armies, and his military power was really frightening. And Gao Qiu is also his confidant, and he must use Gao Qiu to contain Tong Guan.

Liu Zhongwu must be saved. To protect Liu Zhongwu is to protect Gao Qiu.

Song Huizong immediately issued an order: "Order Liu Zhongwu to quickly reorganize Qin Feng's third general!"

Cai Jing's face was calm, but his heart was filled with joy.

Since Zheng Juzhong became the privy envoy, Tong Guan has been getting closer to him, and his relationship with Cai Jing has become increasingly alienated.

Cai Jing hinted that the emperor could take the opportunity to win over Gao Qiu and confront Zheng Juzhong and Tong Guan militarily by protecting Liu Zhongwu.

The monarch and his ministers discussed the war again, and Cai Jing also talked about the affairs of the Ministry of Household Affairs, and assured them that there would be no problem with food and grass on the front line.

Song Huizong couldn't help but lamented that Cai Jing was more reliable, while Zheng Juzhong's party was too useless.

Song Huizong said: "If there is a setback in the northwest war, it must not be spread."

Cai Jing said quickly: "A little setback is harmless. If we wait a little longer, there will be good news coming to Beijing."

Regardless of whether the battle is won or not, good news must be sent, because it is related to the emperor's face.

Cai Jing has been left out for more than half a year. He finally met the emperor today. How could he miss this opportunity? He liked what he said: "Officials, the city of Tokyo is becoming increasingly congested. How can it be as prosperous as Yuda? It is necessary to build more city walls and expand the size of the outer city."

Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty was indeed happy, and even ordered: "When I was King Duan, I didn't like the Tokyo city wall. It was crooked like an earthworm. How could it be beautiful? When building a new city wall, it must be straight."

Cai Jing said: "At the beginning of the country, there were many wastes waiting to be renovated, so there was not enough money, and the city walls were not very beautiful. Now that there is a lot of wealth in the country, the city walls should be built straight."

The addition of the Tokyo wall could not only cover up the defeat in foreign wars, but also relieve Song Huizong's worries.

The outer city wall of Tokyo City, to use the original words in the history books, was built to be "twisting and vertical", and people at that time were "too sick to appreciate its beauty".

As early as Song Shenzong's time, he wanted to straighten the city wall when repairing it, but gave up due to various circumstances.

Song Huizong couldn't bear it even more. He re-planned the imperial city and built it extremely beautifully everywhere. However, the outer city wall is still twisting and turning. How can it be worthy of the image of the capital of the Celestial Empire?

"The matter of building more city walls will be left to Aiqing," Song Huizong said.

Cai Jing was overjoyed: "I will definitely live up to the official trust!"

He has been left out for a long time, and now he is given the job of building the city, which is equivalent to releasing a message to the outside world: I am back again, and the officials still favor me more!

After leaving the palace, Cai Jing immediately called the governor of Kaifeng: "The officials have ordered to build an outer city. You are responsible for demolishing the residential buildings near the city wall."

Shengzhang asked: "How big is Zengzhu?"

Cai Jing said: "All the places that are not straight can be straightened and can be expanded outwards."

"I understand." Sheng Zhang was very smart and immediately figured out what was going on.

The emperor is carrying out large-scale construction projects, but there are still wars on the frontiers. Where can we find the money to build more city walls?

The real goal of this city building is to straighten the city wall. The part that curves inward can be expanded outward. The main body is still the original city wall, and the amount of work is neither large nor small.

Shengzhang quickly sent someone to talk about the demolition. The news that the imperial court was going to build more city walls spread throughout Tokyo in an instant. Some people were happy and some were sad.

Ju Ming complained: "The officials are awesome, and so is Mr. Cai."

"What's wrong?" Zhu Guoxiang didn't quite understand. "Tokyo City is indeed very crowded. If the urban area can be expanded, it will be a good thing for the people. Of course, the premise is that the demolition work must be done well."

Ju Ming asked: "Dean Zhu, have you ever seen what the city wall outside Tokyo looks like?"

Zhu Guoxiang nodded and said: "I saw it. It's crooked and different from the straight big city I imagined."

Ju Ming said: "Hundreds of years later, there was a kind of bastion in Europe that could form crossfire on the enemy, with no blind spots for shooting in all directions. Although Tokyo City is not a bastion, the principle is similar. The outer city of Tokyo is built by Chai Ronghe Zhao Kuangyin personally supervised the construction. According to the river network, the construction was deliberately crooked and not straight to ensure that the defenders could meet the enemy in all directions. Song Huizong wanted to straighten the city wall!"

"How do you know?" Zhu Guoxiang asked.

Ju Ming said: "Yue Fei's grandson complained about it when he wrote a book. Cai Jing's construction of the city has greatly weakened Kaifeng's defense!"

Zhu Guoxiang said: "Why don't you go and give me some advice?"

"I don't want to dissuade you. I'll make that foolish king angry for nothing." Zhu Ming shook his head repeatedly.

Zhu Guoxiang asked: "Doesn't anyone in the Privy Council, the Ministry of Industry, or the Ministry of War understand this?"

Ju Ming said: "Some people may understand, but no one will say it. Don't overestimate these guys in the Northern Song Dynasty. They are already dead. During the Jingkang period, the Jin soldiers and the Song troops used catapults to bombard each other. The Jin soldiers' catapults were under the city, and the Song troops were bombarded with catapults. The catapults of the Jin army were on the city, using high ground to defeat the low ones. The Song army was defeated without any suspense. The catapults of other Jin soldiers were made from local materials and temporarily manufactured outside Kaifeng city. What does this mean? Military technology is in ruins. !”

Zhu Guoxiang said: "Perhaps it is not the backwardness of science and technology, but the corruption of the system."

"Never mind it," Ju Ming said, "I'll improve the movable type printing technique first. That fool will definitely like it. Let's try to get promoted as soon as possible."