Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

Fu Xingzhong did not come from an ordinary wealthy family. His fifth-generation ancestor was Fu Zhaoshou, the brother of the two Queens Fu.

The fourth generation ancestor, Fu Chenglu, became an official in Nanfeng, Jiangxi Province, and the family has flourished in Nanfeng to this day.

Historically, Fu Xingzhong was a capable minister.

In the early years of the Southern Song Dynasty, the imperial court relied on rice from Sichuan, and corruption was rampant in the past twenty years. The people were in dire straits, many people were on the run and their homes were broken, and the prisons were filled with people who had been falsely accused of crimes. In some prefectures and counties, 70% to 80% of the rice was misappropriated before it left Sichuan.

Fu Xingzhong was appointed in the face of danger and took charge of the money and grain affairs of Sichuan Xuanfu Division.

Despite the obstruction from the treacherous ministers in the DPRK and the collective resistance of Sichuan officials, they stopped and moved the warehouses, implemented the investment promotion law, and changed the official fortune to the commercial fortune.

In just two years, Sichuan obtained more than 1.97 million tons of rice. Not only did it exceed the water transportation task, but there was also excess grain stored in local warehouses.

Then, Fu Xingzhong stopped collecting rice and allowed the people of Sichuan to recuperate.

He also took out half of his money and bought money to help the people. In four years, Sichuan, whose people's livelihood was in decline, was revitalized, the people were happy, and the business was booming.

When he left office, there was no need to collect taxes, buy rice, or buy money. Sichuan became the only region during the Southern Song Dynasty that did not need to levy these two miscellaneous taxes.

Let’s put it this way, the policies implemented by Fu Xingzhong have made the people of Sichuan rich for ten years!

But no matter how good the policy is, it will be destroyed. After Fu Xingzhong left Sichuan, official corruption became prevalent again, forcing merchants to collectively burn grain and unite to stop cooperating with the government.

In ten years, the laws were completely broken, and Sichuan re-imposed miscellaneous taxes on rice.

The imperial court then sent people to conduct a thorough investigation, and there was finally some improvement, but it was no longer as grand as it had been in the past.

"Woooooo~~~"

In the early morning, the horn sounded.

Cooking started early in the military camp, and Fu Xingzhong knew that after dinner it was time to attack the city.

After filling his stomach, Fu Xingzhong went to see Ju Ming. The army had begun to move towards the east and north of the city - the south of the city was the Han River, and the west of the city was left to the defenders to escape.

The soldiers pushed the trench bridge and slowly approached the moat.

The moat of Xingyuan Fucheng is very wide, and several folding trench bridges are needed to connect them to build a temporary pontoon bridge.

"Shoot, shoot!"

Xu Fuyan panicked and ordered.

Arrows were raining down, but they were of no use, and they were all blocked by the wooden boards covered with cowhide.

At this time, you must use the divine arm bow or catapult to have a chance to destroy the advancing trench bridge.

There is no divine arm bow in Xingyuan Mansion, only a dozen makeshift catapults.

However, the flat cannon technology was not promoted by the Song Dynasty court, and only some Tokyo craftsmen learned it.

What Xu Fuyan had someone build was a traditional catapult.

Not only was the launch very slow, but its accuracy was also not very good. It only destroyed one trench bridge, killed and injured a few soldiers, and watched helplessly as pontoon bridges were erected everywhere.

Outside the moat, eleven giant cannons have been set up in the north and east of the city, and stone bullets of various weights have also been carried over.

"Set off the fire!"

"call!"

Deng Xia served as the artillery commander. With his order, the boulders roared towards the city wall.

The stone bullets thrown this time weighed only forty or fifty kilograms. They were loaded faster and hit farther. The target was the defenders' catapults.

Both sides fired catapults at each other. The defenders were condescending, but their firepower was suppressed by the rebels.

Especially the working mechanism of the defender's catapult, which often requires dozens or hundreds of people to pull it. A large number of people gathered together with huge targets and low morale. Once two or three people were hit, dozens of people nearby would run away.

Even without hitting anyone, the stone bullets can scare away a lot of people if they fall nearby.

After two rounds of projections by the rebels, all the defenders' catapults stalled. It's not that the accuracy of the flat artillery is high, it's simply that the defenders were afraid of death and all the gunners hid behind the parapet and didn't dare to stand up.

If you can't even eat enough, why are you trying to kill yourself?

Although Xu Fuyan, Liu Yao, and Liu Huiyuan knew what was going on, they personally watched the soldiers receive full military pay. But as long as they are not present, the defenders' rations will be withheld.

Really, the city is under siege, and officials are withholding food!

Even if normal people want to break their heads, it is difficult to understand the thinking of these guys.

Perhaps in their eyes, withholding is normal and has become a habit.

"The odd-numbered cannons will be replaced with the largest stone bullets!"

The defenders' catapults were suppressed, and Deng Xia immediately ordered the ammunition to be changed.

Each flat cannon has a number, and even numbers continue to suppress it, throwing dozens of kilograms of stone bombs. The odd-numbered flat cannons were moved forward a few steps and replaced with boulders weighing more than a hundred kilograms.

"boom!"

In the first round of boulder projection, only one hit the city wall, while two flew over the city head, and the rest landed in residential areas outside the city.

Xu Fuyan turned pale with fright. The huge boulder hit him near him, and he felt that the city wall was shaking under his feet. Looking at the houses that were hit outside the city, there was a big hole in the roof, and a wall collapsed.

"Prefect, leave quickly, the tower is in danger!" Liu Yao dragged Xu Fuyan's sleeve.

Xu Fuyan rolled up his sleeves and broke away: "If I leave, who dares to fight again?"

Liu Yao turned to look at the nearby commander, who was so frightened that he was lying on the top of the city.

Once the coach leaves, the soldiers defending the city will have no fighting spirit.

Liu Yan warily observed outside the moat and found that the flat artillery was loading boulders again. He panicked and said, "It is not an option to continue like this. The morale of the officers and soldiers is too low. If the bandits shoot a few more times, I am afraid that some people will flee before the city wall collapses."

Liu Huiyuan ran over from the north city wall, hid behind the female wall and shouted: "Prefect, you must send warriors out of the city to destroy those artillery carriages!"

Xu Fuyan immediately ran on his haunches and came to the capital commander Zhang Xiang: "You summon eight hundred dead men and give each of them five guan. If you destroy a gun carriage, you will reward each of them ten guan. No matter you are alive or dead, you will be rewarded." , for those who died in battle, rewards will be given to their families!”

Zhang Xiang stood up bravely and ordered to his followers: "Quickly recruit dead soldiers!"

Under heavy rewards, there must be brave men.

Although this is correct, the precondition is that the money must be obtained, or the family members must have hope to receive the money.

Now that we are trapped in an isolated city, we may not know when the city will be broken.

No matter how much reward money you get, what's the point?

If it weren't for the majesty of the government and the magistrate setting an example by personally standing at the top of the city and commanding, the city's defenders would have been routed.

Several commanders ordered the recruitment of dead soldiers, but only a few twenty people signed up.

The second round of boulders was thrown, and the defenders were even more panicked. When they recruited again, they only recruited a few people.

Several of them took command together and simply recruited strong men. Finally, they gathered 500 people and forced them to go out of the city and destroy the artillery carriage.

Xu Fuyan felt that this morale was too low and they would surely collapse before reaching the moat, so he pointed at Zhang Xiang and said, "You personally lead the charge to kill!"

"Ah?" Zhang Xiang was stunned.

Anyway, there are not many officers and soldiers in the city who can fight, but there are several commanders and envoys, which can be used as consumables.

Xu Fuyan shouted: "Anyone who disobeys the order will be killed!"

Zhang Xiang wanted to say something else, but he hesitated because Xu Fuyan would really chop off his head.

The north city gate opened, and under the leadership of Zhang Xiang, five hundred warriors rushed out with mournful faces.

The moat bridge has been demolished, but the rebels have built a pontoon bridge, and they can fight across it along the pontoon bridge.

Deng Chun has been following Zhu Ming to various places, but his younger brother Deng Xia has always stayed in Daming Village.

Deng Xia not only practiced martial arts, but also learned knowledge from Zhu Guoxiang. He even understood the principle of parabola, and then he was appointed as the artillery commander.

"Push out the tiger crouching cannon!" Deng Xia gave the order.

His brother Deng Chun also sent elite troops forward to protect the Crouching Tiger Cannon and the Flat Cannon at any time.

Zhang Xiang took courage and led his troops to rush to several pontoon bridges. He found that the rebels had no arrows, and he suddenly felt more confident.

After crossing the river and landing on the shore, Zhang Xiang raised his sword and shouted, "Kill the thieves and serve the country, right here..." before he had time to organize his team.

"Boom boom boom!"

More than a dozen tiger crouching cannons fired shotgun shells together.

Dozens of the five hundred officers and soldiers fell to the ground wailing on the spot. Fortunately, those who were not shot or slightly injured did not even react and ran away. They continued to rush forward for a few steps before being stunned.

Zhang Xiang was extremely lucky. He rushed to the front and was unscathed. Silly, he turned around and looked back, then threw away his weapon and knelt down: "Xingyuan Prefecture commanded Zhang Xiang, willing to surrender Zhu... Lord Zhu!"

The defenders on the northern city wall were all frightened at this moment.

Xu Fuyan pointed to the outside of the city in horror: "Then... what is that?"

Liu Huiyuan sat down on the ground and said in frustration: "Surrender Kaicheng, and there will be less killing. Once this thing comes out, no one in the city dares to fight."

Xu Fuyan turned around and looked at the surrounding soldiers, all of whom looked fearful.

"Hoo~ho~ho~"

At this moment, a boulder weighing over a hundred kilograms roared towards him again.

"Run quickly, Yuan Zhang Guild's Immortal Technique!"

I don't know who shouted out, which quickly caused the defenders to collapse.

Zhu Guoxiang has a high prestige among the people in Yangzhou, and there are also various rumors in Xingyuan Mansion.

Especially the thousand-year-old Ganoderma lucidum, when the eunuch extorted the stolen money, it was carried to the outside of the city for a public appearance. Countless people saw it with their own eyes that day, and Zhu Guoxiang was recruited by the emperor. Many people were sure that Zhu Guoxiang had encountered an immortal.

What's more, calling corn "fairy rice" was a term Lu Tixue came up with when he promoted planting in Xingyuan Prefecture.

At this moment, the defenders were completely convinced that Mr. Zhu knew magic, and he was currently casting magic among the troops outside the city!

"Come back, come back and defend the city!"

Xu Fuyan shouted anxiously, but he couldn't stop him at all. All the defenders on the entire city wall ran away.

Soon, the east wall was also brought down. Although I don’t know what happened, the friendly troops are already running away. Wouldn’t I be a fool if I don’t run away?

Xu Fuyan was helpless and said angrily in his heart: "Surrender in Kaicheng, maybe the lives of the people in the city can be saved. It is in vain that my Xu family has lived in Song Dynasty, and today an unworthy descendant like me is born!"

His great-grandfather Xu Mi was the first Jinshi in Quzhou during the Song Dynasty. His grandfather was a Jinshi, and his second and third brothers were both Jinshi...

As for his ancestral home, it had been burned down by Fang La, and all his belongings had been robbed.

The city gate was opened wide, and Xu Fuyan led the officials out.

Liu Yao staggered back to the mansion, took out a rope and hanged himself. His wife found him in time and quickly called the servants to rescue him.

Before Ju Ming entered the city, a letter from Zhu Guoxiang was delivered by a speedboat.

After Zhu Ming read the letter, he turned to Fu Xingzhong and said, "I'm going to break my promise. You can't leave. You have to stay in Hanzhong to observe the government for three months."

Fu Xingzhong was in a sluggish state and was also frightened by the Crouching Tiger Cannon.

Zhu Ming shouted several times in succession, and Fu Xingzhong finally came to his senses, and then he felt that it was outrageous: "Guan Zheng?"

"Yes, it is to observe the government," said Ju Ming. "Let you, the imperial officials, have a chance to see how thieves govern the people! My father has such a wonderful idea that he can actually create such a novel thing."

Not only Fu Xingzhong, but also Zhang Gen, who was detained in Jinzhou, and the scholars who followed Ju Ming all had to stay in Hanzhong to observe the government!