Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

During my trip to Beijing this time, I didn’t go to Chengdu.

Board the boat in Jiazhou and travel along the Yangtze River, taking the water route all the way.

Ju Ming's daily diet is personally responsible for the entire process.

Li Yan was too lazy to care anymore, as long as Ju Ming didn't escape and was sent to Tokyo safely.

He had to go back quickly. His godfather Yang Jian was often ill and might die one day. What if I wasn't in the capital and some old man took advantage of the opportunity to take over? Wouldn't I be in a big loss?

Therefore, Li Yan traveled in a hurry, constantly urging the boatmen, and did not have time to get off the boat to blackmail local officials.

"Jiangling is ahead. Your husband can come out and take some fresh air." A soldier of the Imperial Guard said, standing outside the cabin door.

Li Bao opened the door and clasped his fists: "Thanks for the reminder."

"No need." The Imperial Guard soldier held up his hands and stepped aside respectfully.

Ju Ming looked good, ate and drank well, and actually gained two pounds.

He walked up to the deck and looked at the scenery on both sides of the river. There were more than a dozen forbidden soldiers following him, carrying swords and bows to prevent them from escaping.

We arrived in Jiangling in a blink of an eye, and the pier was crowded with people.

The entire Sichuan grain tax must be transported to Jiangling for storage, and then transported thousands of miles to Tokyo by Jinghu Road transshipment envoys.

Tong Guan is still levying Fangla, Sichuan has been taxed again this year, and countless grain and grass are shipped to the southeast to suppress the bandits.

Jiangling Fucheng is where the urban area of ​​Jingzhou is located.

There is a large lake and swamp on the opposite bank, which extends to Shishou County. This lake disappeared after a few hundred years.

Although the city of Jiangling is prosperous, the suburbs are sparsely populated. A large number of mountains and swamps could not be cultivated. The imperial court repeatedly immigrated to cultivate the wasteland. The people fled after cultivating the land. Just like the South Beijing Road, they could not retain people.

Ju Ming was not allowed to disembark, so he turned to the Imperial Guards and said, "Who borrowed weapons for fun? The bones are almost rusty."

The Imperial Guards looked at each other and hesitated for a moment before an officer presented his sword.

Ju Ming stood on the deck, danced his sword, and stretched his muscles. After the supply of the official ship was completed, he returned the knife to the officer and went back to his room to sleep.

The official ship passed Jiangxi in an instant, and things were not peaceful over there in Jiangxi.

Liu Jiujun raised troops in Longchuan County, Xunzhou, followed the Longchuan River to attack Huizhou, and easily broke through Heyuan County halfway.

But when they arrived at Huizhou City, they found that they were already prepared. Liu Jiujun attacked for several days with no results, so he turned back and attacked Meizhou. Facing the encirclement and suppression by officers and soldiers, Liu Jiujun plundered Meizhou and then plunged into the mountains at the junction of Jiangxi, Guangdong, and Fujian.

Liu Huasan had been wandering around Qianzhou (Ganzhou) for two years, but he was still unable to capture Qianzhou City. Instead, he was beaten by the officers and soldiers and hid in the mountains.

In the early winter of this year, some elite border troops came in pursuit of Fang La, traveling through the waters of the Gan River.

Liu Huasan was unable to resist the border troops and rushed south to join Liu Jiujun. Jiangxi and Guangdong bandits combined more than 30,000 troops and fled towards Fujian.

Fang La’s goal is also to go to Fujian!

Tong Guan's imperial army was divided into three. One part returned to Huainan to block Song Jiang, one part suppressed Fangla's remnants in Qing Dynasty and Zhejiang Province, and the other part pursued Fangla's main force.

Regardless of Fangla's desperate situation, there are still more than 200,000 Fangla remnants in the two Zhejiang areas alone. But they did not listen to Fang La's orders, and only nominally obeyed Fang La as the leader. A loose sand can easily be defeated.

The border troops and the Forbidden Army moved south, and the rebels in northern Jiangxi resurfaced.

There was a miner named Huang Qijia, who led many miners and kiln-burning workers to the mountainous areas in the northeastern part of Jiangxi. The home of Ju Ming's father-in-law was almost robbed.

After pressing the gourd and raising the ladle, some of the elite border troops had to go north again to suppress the thieves, because Huang Qijia threatened the money-making field.

In Jiangxi, Guangdong, Fujian, Zhejiang and other places, the total number of rebels exceeds 300,000!

But most of them have little combat effectiveness, and lack soldiers and armor, so they will collapse when encountering elite officers and soldiers.

Han Shizhong and Wang Yuan chased into the mountains and beheaded more than two thousand people in one battle.

The rebel army was defeated and retreated, and Liu Huasan and Liu Jiujun began to fight internally. Liu Jiujun was clamoring to join Fangla, but Liu Huasan insisted on fighting guerrillas in the mountains. The two fought back and forth and ended up fighting each other.

Liu Jiujun trapped Liu Huasan to death, surrendered with his head, and accepted the imperial court's offer of peace.

The rebels on the Liangzhe Road also surrendered on a large scale. Those who would rather die than surrender fled into the mountains one after another. Zhejiang was full of mountains, enough for Tong Guan to spend a long time.

…

Huaiyin.

Song Jiang's navy was defeated and fled, returned to conquer Suqian and Xiapi, and then took a boat directly to Xuzhou.

Xuzhou had been prepared for a long time and it was difficult for Song Jiang to conquer, so he went to rob the thirty-sixth prison and seized a large amount of iron tools and money. He also recruited thousands of Xuzhou blacksmiths, captured Peixian County, collected ships, and built soldiers and armor.

The first part of Tong Guan's imperial army arrived belatedly. After hearing the news, Song Jiang once again fled to attack Guangji Military City (Dingtao) and took advantage of the situation to capture Xingren Mansion (Jiyin).

This place is less than two hundred miles away from Tokyo.

The capital was horrified, and the emperor and his ministers were horrified.

Zheng Juzhong mobilized all the Imperial Army and Xiang Army and went to Xingren Mansion to conquer Song Jiang.

Seeing that he was about to be attacked from both sides, Song Jiang turned around in his boat and fled along the Guangji River into the Liangshan Water Park again.

Immediately, the troops divided into two groups and plundered along the way by boat. Once they were robbed, they immediately ran away and played hide and seek with the officers and soldiers.

To this day, Song Jiang has not caused much trouble.

The maximum number of troops was less than 10,000, and the minimum number was only two or three thousand. The occupation of the city never lasted more than a month. When the officers and soldiers chased him in a hurry, he cut off his tail to survive, leaving the newly recruited miscellaneous troops as bait.

When Ju Ming passed Guangji by boat, he saw a mess wherever he saw it.

The houses outside the city were burned to the ground, and the people were first plundered by Song Jiang, and then exploited by the officers and soldiers. There were homeless people everywhere, and even the rich households in the city were bankrupt.

"You guys should go back to your hometown and have a look." Ju Ming warned.

Li Bao was also a little worried and said: "I will go back to my hometown first. If there is nothing at home, I will rush to the capital to follow my husband."

Zhang Boring said: "Brother Li, help me go to Zhang's house to have a look."

"Okay!" Li Bao got off the boat and left with his brother-in-law.

In fact, nothing happened to the Zhang family and the Li family.

Song Jiang always marches along the river and never leaves the river too far. Once the situation goes bad, they immediately take a boat and run away. In order to stuff people on the boat, all the stolen goods can be thrown away.

Although Fang La lacked strategic planning, he still had his own uprising program and established a bureaucracy.

And Song Jiang is just a group of bandits, taking whatever they can get.

When the official ship left the border of Shandong, it was full of devastation. Some of the land in the Gyeonggi region actually began to be abandoned and overgrown.

Li Yan didn't alert anyone and quietly sent Ju Ming to Dali Temple to be imprisoned.

They lived in a single room, and although it was moldy and smelly, they were not mistreated, and the prison food was even good.

I stayed there for several days and no one came to interrogate me.

It was not until the ninth day that the jailer finally asked Ju Ming to go for interrogation.

Li Bozong, the minister of Dali Temple, personally came to the scene. He was an old man in his fifties. When they met, he held his hands to Ju Ming and said, "Please sit down!"

"This matter is inconsistent with the system." Nie Yu, the young minister of Dali Temple, said.

Nie Yu is Zheng Juzhong's man. He has no hatred towards Ju Ming. He just follows the process and does not let Ju Ming sit through the trial.

This man's family was in Damingfu, Hebei Province. He disappeared during the Jingkang period, and his brothers had no time to escape. In the face of successive lootings by bandits, officers and soldiers, and gold soldiers, although the Nie family hid in Tibet to save their lives, the family property accumulated over the years was robbed.

Li Bozong was Cai Bian's disciple.

Although Cai Bian and Cai Jing were brothers, they had different political views.

Li Bozong relied on Cai Bian's relationship to rise to the rank of Minister of Dali Temple. He was not suppressed by Cai Jing, but he was not cared for by Cai Jing either.

Li Bozong said: "Ju Ming has just been dismissed, and he is still a capital official. There is no need to force him too much."

Nie Yu no longer objected, he just reminded him, and if anything went wrong, he could blame it on Li Bozong.

"Thank you very much," Ju Ming said. "What do you call me?"

Li Bozong announced his name and mentioned Cai Bian. Ju Ming immediately understood this person's path.

Nie Yu also talked about Zheng Juzhong and winked at Ju Ming.

Li Bozong began to formally interrogate: "Who instigated "Public Security Shu"?"

Ju Ming replied: "It is the duty of a minister to advise your superiors and rebuke treacherous ministers. Why should anyone give instructions?"

Li Bozong asked again: "Why are you talking about the foundation of the country?"

Ju Ming asked in reply: "The position of the East Palace has been decided long ago, and the country's foundation has been solidified. How can you talk about the country's foundation unreasonably?"

Li Bozong asked again: "Why do you criticize King Yun?"

Ju Ming said: "I am not criticizing King Yun, but admonishing him based on etiquette. Taishi, Taifu, Taibao, the emperor's master, how can he be crowned a prince? He is a prince and an emperor's master. Is it ethical? Your Excellency Will he worship his own son as his teacher?"

Nie Yu couldn't help but snicker, and quickly covered his mouth with his fist, pretending to cough: "Ahem, don't talk nonsense!"

Ju Ming added: "Your Majesty is responsible for many things. If you cannot offer sacrifices in person, you can of course ask someone to offer sacrifices on your behalf. The person who can offer sacrifices on your behalf can be a member of the clan, a relative, a servant, or an important minister, but it cannot be King Yun. The East Palace is still alive. Since I am the crown prince performing sacrifices on behalf of the emperor, how can I let King Yun get involved? This is also disrespectful!"

The Prime Minister of Dali Temple took notes carefully and did not miss a word.

Li Bozong asked again: "The "Book of Public Security" mentions six people, either as internal servants or important ministers. Why do you slander them as the six thieves?"

Ju Ming said: "Which of the numerous charges listed in the memorial is fabricated? Since it is a fact, how can it be said to be slanderous?"

Nie Yu couldn't help but say: "After all, he is an important minister of the imperial court. Even if his administration is wrong, he should not be called a thief. What's more, the Duke of Lu (Cai Jing) is running the country, working hard at night, replenishing the treasury internally, and opening up externally. Expanding territory. How can you call a good minister who has done great service to the country a thief?"

Zhu Ming smiled and said: "Today's rulers all say: 'I can help you open up land and fill your treasury.' What we call good ministers today is what we called thieves of the people in ancient times."

These were Mencius's original words. As soon as these words came out, Li Bozong stood in awe and bowed his hands towards Ju Ming.

"Be careful!" Nie Yu reminded quickly.

Because of Mencius' original words, there is another sentence below: "If you do not follow the country's way and do not aspire to benevolence, but seek wealth, you are rich and unruly."

Ju Ming quoted Mencius, not only calling Cai Jing a thief of the people, but also insinuating that Song Huizong was Jie and Zhou.

After a casual interrogation, Li Bozong called it a day and divided the interrogation record into two parts. One copy was handed over to the Ministry of Punishment, and the other was sent to the emperor.

Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty took the time to read it and was so angry that he laughed: "You still dare to say that I am 'Fu Jie'. I am so unrepentant that I ordered the Ministry of Punishment to go to Dali Temple for a trial!"