Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

Double Ninth Festival, a day off.

Zhu Guoxiang went out on a cornucopia, while Zhu Ming, Fatty Zheng, and Zheng Yuanyi rode in a carriage given by the emperor, and took seven or eight entourages with them.

Across the river from Chejia Tan Store is the famous Xiangguo Temple.

The reason why Xiangguo Temple is lively is not because the Bodhisattva is so efficacious, but because it has the largest tiles in Tokyo!

Watching the performance is next, there are so many stalls selling goods, the square in front of the temple can accommodate 20,000 people.

Dongmen Street of Xiangguo Temple is commonly known as "Word Street". As far as the eye can see, there are bookstores and various antiques, calligraphy and paintings. When the women go to the temple to worship Buddha, the men can take the opportunity to hang out here.

The cornucopia and carriage were handed over to the entourage, and everyone walked along Dongmen Street.

After entering several bookstores in succession, Ju Ming could not find any books printed with movable type.

"It seems that movable type printing is not yet available on the market, and all formal books use engraving." Ju Ming said.

Zhu Guoxiang put a book back, walked out and said, "Do you remember the movable lead type and ink formula?"

"Goldfinger, we have a good memory," Ju Ming said. "Gutenberg's lead movable type is made of an alloy of lead, tin, antimony, and bismuth. Antimony was called Lianxi in ancient China, and it was an additive used in casting copper coins."

"How do you know it's Lian Xi?" Zhu Guoxiang asked.

Zhu Ming laughed and said: "I had an online confrontation with a keyboard warrior. He said that antimony could not be produced in ancient China, and that even tin could not be antimony. I checked a lot of information, and found that there were physical objects unearthed from the Ming Dynasty, and the purity of antimony was as high as 100%. More than 90 points. A bunch of information was thrown in his face, but the guy still kept talking."

Zhu Guoxiang said: "Where is the bismuth?"

Ju Ming shook his head: "I don't know what bismuth was called in ancient times, nor do I know how to refine it."

Zhu Guoxiang asked: "Why do we need to add antimony and bismuth to the movable lead type?"

Ju Ming said: "Although the production cost of cast lead movable type is extremely low, it is easy to deform after cooling. Adding an appropriate amount of antimony and bismuth can effectively prevent the lead-tin alloy from thermal expansion and contraction. I don't know how to get bismuth, so I can only Give it a try by adding antimony.”

Fatty Zheng was not interested in writing, calligraphy and painting, so he walked quickly ahead alone, while Zheng Yuanyi and the maid followed behind the Zhu family and his son.

In a blink of an eye, we arrived at the square in front of Xiangguo Temple. Today is the Double Ninth Festival, and the square is crowded with people.

There are stalls everywhere, including hundreds of fortune-telling stalls.

Ju Ming squatted down in front of an old bookstall, rummaged carefully for a while, and found two books printed with movable type.

The handwriting varies in size, and the ink is too thick in some places and too light in other places.

It can be seen from these two books that the movable type printing technology in the Northern Song Dynasty was still in a very primitive stage.

"Lang Jun, second brother, there is a pearl Buddha statue here!" Zheng Yuanyi shouted.

Ju Ming walked to the stall selling jewelry and saw more than ten Buddha-shaped pearls: "Where did these come from?"

The stall owner replied: "It's from Taihu Lake, it's called Buddha beads, and it's also called Clam Buddha."

Probably when artificially cultivating pearls, you first carve a Buddha statue and stuff it in, and then wait for the Buddha statue to grow into a pearl.

The dozen or so ones in front of me are all defective products and have been deformed during the growth process.

Zhu Ming picked a beaded flower and said to Zheng Yuanyi: "The Clam Buddha here is not good-looking. I will buy a beautiful one someday. This beaded flower matches my sister very well."

Zheng Yuanyi said happily: "Lang Jun bought them, they all look good."

Pay your money, leave, and keep hanging out.

There were more than ten sheds set up around and in the middle of the square, and various performances were being performed.

One of them had the largest audience.

Ju Ming and the others approached curiously and saw someone playing football inside.

One of the young men had his upper body exposed and had large tattoos on his chest and back.

He put on his leather boots, lifted his leg and the football flew above his head and stopped firmly. Then the body tilted, and the ball rolled down the neck, from the shoulders to the arms. Suddenly he turned around and the football stopped on his chest. He twisted his whole body again and the ball fell on his back again.

"good!"

Fatty Zheng clapped his hands and shouted.

Amidst the cheers of the crowd, Zhu Guoxiang saw a person in the front row, whose profile looked very familiar.

After observing carefully for a moment, Zhu Guoxiang whispered: "The emperor is in front of you."

"Um?"

Ju Ming squeezed in hard, got closer and took a closer look, and finally confirmed that it was Song Huizong.

The emperor also wore makeup and his beard grew longer. There were several people surrounding him, probably eunuchs and guards.

"Eleventh Lang is also here to watch the show?" Zhu Ming asked over.

Song Huizong turned his head when he heard this. After seeing clearly that it was Ju Ming, he smiled and said, "Your father didn't come?"

"Here we are, outside." Ju Ming said.

Song Huizong said: "We just happened to be playing together."

As soon as the emperor made a move to turn around and leave, the people around him took the lead and squeezed out a passage.

When the young football player saw this, he immediately passed the ball to his partner and followed him out with his clothes.

Just as Zhu Guoxiang was about to bow, Song Huizong said: "Just like success, just call me the Eleventh Man."

"Wan'an, Eleventh Lang." Zhu Guoxiang said with his hands in hand.

The young football player has also squeezed out of the crowd, followed by several followers.

Song Huizong introduced: "This is Li Bangyan and this is Ju Ming."

Zhu Ming looked at it carefully, then raised his hands and said, "I have long admired Brother Li's name."

Li Bangyan smiled and said: "I have also admired the name of my virtuous brother for a long time."

Li Bangyan's family was a silverware maker and they were very wealthy, but they had no official status.

His parents sent him to a state school. Not only did he excel in studies, he was also good at playing, playing, singing, dancing, playing football and composing music. He also liked to make friends with scholars. Scholars from Shanxi who went to Beijing to take exams would inevitably pass by his house, and the father and son often gave him travel expenses.

Over and over again, Li Bangyan became extremely famous, quite a bit like "timely rain".

Through hope and bribery, Li Bangyan was recommended to study at Taixue when he was less than twenty years old. Through his calligraphy and articles, he gained the emperor's favor and was promoted straight from Waishe to Shangshe, and then he was born as a Jinshi.

Then he played ball and sang with the emperor, and he was promoted rapidly along the way.

This guy became more and more enthusiastic. Not only did he go crazy in the palace, but he also made up his own obscene lyrics and songs, which were widely praised by the people of Tokyo and earned him the nickname "Li Liangzi". However, he was impeached for misconduct and demoted to the position of school secretary.

Unable to resist Song Huizong's liking, he was promoted to a member of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, Wai Lang, and was also in charge of the Etiquette Bureau (an institution set up by Song Huizong to reform the etiquette system).

Last year, Li Bangyan was sent to Zhizhou for a year, and recently returned to Beijing as a living minister (a minister close to the emperor).

The Song army and the Jin soldiers fought against each other with catapults. The reason why they were so completely defeated was because the Song army did not dare to fight. A catapult gunner was ordered to be executed by Li Bangyan after his cannon hit.

Hardcore capitulationist!

As Li Bangyan returned to Beijing, Zhu Ming was filled with emotion again. There were so many Crouching Dragon and Phoenix chicks in Kaifeng City.

However, Li Bangyan was a familiar guy who didn't bother to put on any clothes. He was shirtless and hugging Ju Ming: "My dear brother, can you play Cuju?"

Ju Ming was a little displeased: "I'm not good at playing football."

Li Bangyan said with a smile: "Kick a few more times and you'll get better. Guan... Shiyilang is also good at Cuju. Let's have a competition someday!"

Song Huizong said: "It's a good idea, so I went home to play." He then asked Zhu Guoxiang, "Does Brother Zhu know how to play Cuju?"

"I understand a little bit," Zhu Guoxiang said.

Song Huizong suddenly laughed: "That's just right, come to my house to play football together."

After finishing his game, the foolish king went to watch a play in a nearby tile shed.

The drama was obviously pornographic, and the narration and lyrics were quite explicit. It made many female relatives blush with embarrassment, but it also attracted more audience members to applaud and cheer.

Li Bangyan said proudly: "I wrote this drama myself!"

Song Huizong praised: "Although it is vulgar, it is quite popular."

Ju Ming seriously suspected that Song Huizong's artistic aesthetics was led astray by Li Bangyan. The emperor who originally liked high art gradually turned to vulgarity, and even those poets from Dasheng followed suit and wrote obscene lyrics and songs.

There was an official named Wang Anzhong who wrote a lot of erotic poems for Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty, and he actually became the deputy prime minister for this.

Song Huizong was very happy after wandering around Xiangguo Temple. He liked this feeling of "having fun with the people".

Song Huizong asked in a low voice: "Have you, sir, lived in the house I gave you?"

"Already staying, thank you for the reward, Your Majesty." Zhu Guoxiang said.

Song Huizong said: "It's still early today, so I'll go to your husband's house as a guest."

The father and son had no choice but to take Song Huizong and Li Bangyan home. Ju Ming also asked Bai Sheng to rush back to prepare dinner.

Before the meal was ready, Zhu Guoxiang served the guests with black tea.

Song Huizong looked at the bright red and translucent tea soup and said in surprise: "This tea soup is really beautiful, but where does Tuancha come from?"

Zhu Guoxiang said: "This is black tea, made by my own hands, and I want to present it to the officials."

Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty clapped his hands and praised: "Sir, he can also make tea. It seems that he and I are on the same path."

The Tuancha technology of the Song Dynasty reached its peak during the Huizong Dynasty.

Big and small dragon group tea has become a thing of the past. Nowadays, the top one is "Shuiya Tea", among which the best ones are "Wubishouya" and "Longyuan Spring Tea".

The price is more expensive than gold!

Song Huizong took a sip of black tea and commented: "Although the taste is bland, it is better than natural tea. It is also a rare good tea."

No matter how good black tea is, it cannot be compared with "water bud tea".

Zhu Guoxiang asked someone to carry a few bags of tea, and Song Huizong accepted them without hesitation, but did not list the black tea as a tribute, because the emperor really didn't like it.

Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty asked with a smile: "I have accepted the gift, so I should return the gift. If you want more, just say it."

Zhu Guoxiang said: "As a minister, if you have good things, you should dedicate them to the king without asking for anything in return."

"You are such a loyal minister!" Song Huizong praised.

Zhu Ming took the opportunity to say, "I want to ask for a job."

Song Huizong said: "Speak."

Zhu Ming said: "I would like to take charge of the library of the Imperial College."

As soon as this statement came out, not only Song Huizong was a little surprised, but even Li Bangyan looked surprised.

The Guozijian Library was the official printing agency of the Song Dynasty. The chief official was called the "Guozijian Library". In the Northern Song Dynasty, it was the official in charge of the Beijing court, and in the Southern Song Dynasty, it was mostly the responsibility of the selector.

Song Huizong asked: "Why do you want to manage the library?"

Ju Ming asked in reply: "Do officials know about movable type printing?"

Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty nodded and said: "It's hard to be refined even if you have heard about it a little."

Ju Ming said: "I have a way to make the books printed with movable type the same as those printed with woodblock printing, and the man-hours can be saved a hundred times."

"There is such a technique?" Song Huizong said with great interest, "Then let Qi supervise the library of the Imperial Academy. After printing the book, he will be the first to send it to me for a look. It is as useful as you said. After it is completed, I'll let you go out and be the magistrate of the state."

Song Huizong liked to collect books, and he also liked to print books and distribute them all over the world. He still attached great importance to improving printing technology.