Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

Apart from the major earthquake in the north and slight floods in the south, there have been no other major disasters this year. On the whole, it can even be said that the weather has been smooth.

A group of more than 20 people went south from Fuzhou.

The person who led the team to see off the relatives was named Zhe Zhichang, who was Zhe Yanzhi's legitimate son and had just turned sixteen this year.

He is the hope of the new generation of the Zhe family. He has studied with famous scholars since he was a child and was trained as a civil servant.

Historically, the home of the Zhe family was occupied by the Kingdom of Jin. In order to save the lives of the clan members, the main force of the Zhe family army chose to surrender the gold. At the same time, they made two bets, and one tribe followed Zhao Gou south. Zhe Zhichang went to the Southern Song Dynasty to work as a civil servant, and was friends with Zhu Xi, Fan Chengda, Yang Wanli, and Yue Fei's son Yue Lin.

"Fourth sister, the front is Xi County." Zhe Zhichang was dressed as a scholar, but he was riding a horse, with a long sword hanging on his waist, and a long spear hanging on the victory hook.

Zhe Yanxiu opened the car curtain, took a look, hung it up directly, and complained: "It's so hot this summer. It's very uncomfortable to be suffocated in the car. It's better to ride a horse all the way."

Zhe Zhichang said: "Mr. Zhu is a great scholar in the world. How can he ride a horse on the way to see his bride? It's too unseemly."

Zhe Yanxiu complained: "The daughter of the Zhe family has always been riding horses, but it's my turn. I shouldn't have sent you to study. You are almost turning into an old scholar at such a young age."

"We have to abide by some rules," Zhe Zhichang said with a smile. "We are also generals. The more books the Zhong family has read, the more important they are in the court. Our Zhe family can't just hold the handle of the knife, but someone should also hold the pen."

Zhe Yanxiu said: "I can't read those poems and books. I doze off as soon as I read them. I can still feel comfortable dancing with guns and sticks."

Zhe Zhichang said with a headache: "You don't need to read other poetry books, but Mr. Zhu's "Great Learning Chapters" and "Zhongyong Chapters" must be studied hard. After marrying, if Mr. Zhu talks about knowledge, he will be too confused if he doesn't know three questions. The Ori family is in disgrace."

Zhe Yanxiu said with a smile: "He is a rebel and a fighter. No matter how good his knowledge is, can he still persuade the emperor to give up the throne?"

The sister and brother took their entourage and stayed at a delivery shop in Xi County.

He didn't say that he was going to marry Zhu Thief, he just said that he was going to visit relatives and friends. After all, Song Huizong did not agree to grant marriage.

Take a day off and walk along the river.

However, an official ship came from behind and soon surpassed them.

Cars and boats passed through Wuzhangyuan and arrived outside Xiegu Pass.

The Zhong family had been granted a marriage by the emperor, and the ceremony was much grander. There were more than 200 people in the wedding party, and they also headed to Hanzhong with a large amount of dowry.

Compared with Zhe Yanxiu's free and easy attitude, Zhong Miaoyun seems a little miserable, as if she will be sent to a den of thieves to be the wife of a stronghold.

The Zhong family arrived first, then the family members arrived later. After spending the night in Xiegu, they were arranged to go together.

"Greetings, brother!" Zhe Zhi often bowed and saluted.

Zhong Yancen, who was in charge of seeing off the bride, bowed and said in return, "Unexpectedly, I met my dear brother Zi Ming. Has he also been granted a marriage by Your Majesty?"

These words were so strange that Zhe Zhichang was really embarrassed: "My fourth sister and Mr. Zhu are in love with each other. The elders don't want to see lovers not getting married."

Zhong Yancen pursed his lips and smiled, revealing a sarcastic tone.

Both families took a boat to go south, but soon they had to abandon the boat and go ashore to cross the mountains.

Zhe Yanxiu was bored out of her mind. When she learned that the daughter of the Zhong family was also on the boat, she hung a sword from her waist and ran to chat with her.

"My name is Zhe Yanxiu, I am seventeen years old this year," Zhe Yanxiu asked carelessly, "Are you an elder sister or younger sister?"

Zhong Miaoyun bowed and saluted: "I've met my sister."

Zhe Yanxiu said with a smile: "Why is my sister looking so sad? I heard that Zhu Chenggong is a good man with both civil and military skills and is one of the best men in the world. It's a pity that you and I are marrying as concubines, otherwise we would have found a good match."

Zhong Miaoyun responded awkwardly: "My little sister is not unhappy, she just misses her relatives far away from home."

Zhe Yanxiu said: "Looking at you, you must have read a lot of poetry and books. But I can't read his "Great Learning Chapters". From now on, when it comes to learning, my sister can help me deal with it."

"If I can help, I won't hide my secrets." Zhong Miaoyun said.

Although the Zhong family is a family of generals, their ancestral home is in Luoyang. They have practiced both civil and military skills for generations. The first generation of generals in the Zhong family was originally a great scholar who had transferred to the military position.

Zhong Miaoyun, like his father and brother, has been practicing Guanluo studies since he was a child.

Ju Ming's knowledge is very similar to Luo Xue, because he copied a lot of it from Zhu Xi. However, the great scholars of Luo School slandered Ju Ming the most, because Ju Ming also adopted some of Wang Anshi's views. They believed that Ju Ming's knowledge had tampered with the essence of Luo School.

Especially after Ju Ming's rebellion, Dao Yongxue was denounced as a rebellious study.

Zhong Miaoyun heard too many slanderous remarks and was inevitably affected by this kind of thinking. He felt that Ju Ming was not a good person.

The two women chatted with each other, completely unrelated to each other, and had no common topic at all.

But Zhe Yanxiu's carelessness did not make Zhong Miaoyun feel annoying. Basically, the former was talking and the latter was echoing every word.

After passing the boating area, everyone started walking.

Zhe Yanxiu was in high spirits, and was able to climb mountains and ridges without any problems. From time to time he marveled at the steepness of the Baoxie Road, saying with emotion that it was no wonder the Western Army was defeated.

However, Zhong Miaoyun complained secretly. When she saw Zhe Yanxiu walking by herself, she inevitably became competitive and followed the team on foot. After only climbing a section of the mountain road, she was out of breath from exhaustion, and her delicate feet had blisters. However, she had a tenacity of her own and refused to lose to the opponent. She dragged her tired body and endured the pain.

"Seventh sister is better off sitting on a bamboo horse. This is just the beginning." Zhong Yancen advised.

Zhong Miaoyun looked at Zhe Yanxiu who was walking like flying, gritted his teeth and shook his head in refusal: "We can't let the Zhong family lose face. We can't lose to anyone, and we can't lose to the Zhe family."

After walking for a day and resting in the evening, Zhong Miaoyun felt that all the bones in his body were falling apart.

She hid quietly and asked her brother to open the blisters on the soles of her feet, then apply ointment and bandage them with cloth.

When he woke up the next day, Zhong Miaoyun still wanted to show off his strength. As a result, his thigh muscles were sore. Every step I took was painful, and I started to cramp as I walked. I had no choice but to sit on the sliding pole and move forward carefully.

Li Yanxian and Yan Ping followed the horse-buying team back to Hanzhong, but gradually caught up with them and were blocked on the plank road by the bride-to-be team.

"The people in front of us, even their luggage, are all dressed in red and colorful. Could it be that they are traveling thousands of miles to see off their bride?" Li Yanxian inquired.

The horse buyer was also very curious and went to inquire about it in person. When he came back, he explained: "It's the daughters of the Zhong family and the Zhe family who went to Hanzhong to marry the generalissimo."

Li Yanxian couldn't help being horrified when he heard this, and looked at each other with Yan Pingping.

Both the Zhong family and the Zhe family were actually married to Ju Ming. How could the Western Army go to Hanzhong to fight in the future?

Yan Ping asked: "Aren't the Zhong family and Zhe family afraid of offending the emperor?"

The horse buyer smiled and said: "It was the Emperor of Song who granted me the marriage."

Yan Ping scratched his head: "This is very strange. What does the emperor think?"

The horse buyer said: "At the time of the peace talks last year, the rebels were only two hundred miles away from Tokyo. What demands could the emperor dare not agree to?"

Li Yanxian shook his head secretly, that emperor in Tokyo was so ridiculous.

They arrived in Hanzhong in mid-summer, and the first phase of the Shanhe Weir had been completed. From Baocheng County to Hanzhong Fucheng, countless lands were irrigated, and many dry lands were turned into paddy fields.

As far as the eye can see, the land is golden and rice fields are being harvested everywhere.

Zhong Yancen was extremely shocked. From Wuzhangyuan to Hanzhong Fucheng, he saw no refugees along the way, only countless people welcoming the harvest.

Shaanxi has not encountered any disasters this year, and it is also a good year.

However, the imperial court sent the Western Army to Hebei to suppress bandits and recruited too many soldiers to fight and a large number of civilians to transport grain, which inevitably affected agricultural production.

The exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes imposed to suppress the bandits also made it difficult for the people of Shaanxi to cope with it, and many refugees still fled in good years.

"It's fertile soil in the southeast, but that's it, right?" Zhe Zhichang was also shocked, how much food would be harvested.

But Li Yanxian whispered to Yan Ping: "As expected, as the horse-buying official said, the Zhu family and his son implemented good governance, and the people in Hanzhong were very rich. If the Zhu family were allowed to conquer the world, maybe the border areas would also be rich, and the men in the border areas would not have to do that. Such hardship."

Li Yanxian in history recruited troops to serve the king in the first year of Jingkang. He led three thousand troops to Beijing in commoner clothes.

At that time, Li Gang was ordered to pacify the two rivers. Although he insisted on taking the lead in the battle, his military arrangements were very eye-catching. Li Yanxian couldn't stand it any longer, so he impeached Li Gang for not knowing how to fight. As a result, he was arrested by the imperial court.

Li Yanxian then used a false name to live in the world and went to seek refuge with the cultivator.

As a result, he was cheated by civil servants among the teachers. Li Yanxian tried to dissuade Fan Zhixu before the war, but was dismissed from his post instead. Later, all the armies were defeated. Li Yanxian came to Shaanzhou with only a few people, but he used actions to call on the people of Shaanxi to defend.

He led a group of defeated soldiers and temporarily recruited local warriors to capture more than 50 camps of the Jin people within a month, seize more than 300 war horses, and even regained the Shaanzhou city occupied by the Jin people.

Then, Li Yanxian took the initiative to go north and fought all the way to Taiyuan, regaining six counties along the way, and repeatedly fought with the Jin soldiers in Puzhou.

It is really unimaginable that a dismissed hero from Longxi, who was unfamiliar with the place in Shaanzhou, could make countless soldiers and local people fight to the death. He also dared to lead troops to launch a major counterattack. When the enemy's main force came for reinforcements, he could calmly retreat with a group of miscellaneous soldiers.

A commoner, relying solely on his military exploits, became the magistrate and pacifier of Shaanzhou. Zhao Gou also sent people to send him brocade robes, jade belts, spears and swords.

Unfortunately, the battles in the court were mixed with factional disputes in the army, resulting in Li Yanxian being isolated and helpless in Shaanzhou.

Even though Li Yanxian fought alone without any reinforcements to save him, he still killed the golden general Ulusa and threw off his armor. Then he ambushed Wanyan Lou's room and almost captured Wanyan Lou's room alive.

The Jin Kingdom was completely angry. Wanyan Loushi and Jiang Jin's Zhe Keqiu joined forces with 100,000 troops to attack Shaanzhou.

Li Yanxian sent dead soldiers out of the city and burned the Jin soldiers' siege equipment. The Jin soldiers were frightened and retreated several miles to camp.

At that time, there was no food in the city, and only some beans were left. Li Yanxian asked the soldiers to eat beans, and he himself drank the soup from which the beans were cooked.

Wanyan Lou's family sent someone to persuade him to surrender and promised to make Li Yanxian the marshal of the Henan army. Li Yanxian directly beheaded the envoy who persuaded him to surrender.

From winter to spring, food in Shaanzhou was cut off, and the soldiers fought hungry. The city was captured, and Li Yanxian led his troops to fight in the streets again. His left arm was almost cut off, and his whole body was shot like a hedgehog.

Inspired by him, the old, weak, women and children climbed onto the roof, lifted up tiles and smashed the golden soldiers on the street.

Li Yanxian successfully broke through with the remaining soldiers. When he heard that Wanyan Lou's family had ordered a massacre of the city, he thought that he had harmed the people in the city, so he also threw himself into the river and followed the people of Shaanzhou.

When he was holding on to Shaanzhou, in order to show his determination, he specially brought his family from Longxi. As a result, the whole family was massacred by the Jin soldiers, with only one younger brother and son surviving. All his subordinates died in the battle, and no one escaped.

Was Li Yanxian loyal to the Song Dynasty court?

I'm afraid not.

The Song Dynasty fought against Xixia and Liao Kingdoms, but Li Yanxian was still unwilling to join the army because he knew how bad the Western Army was.

It wasn't until the Jin soldiers went south that he recruited troops to serve the king.

Because of this background and experience, Li Yanxian could not get into the circle of the Song army, and no general was willing to rescue him. To the army of the Song Dynasty, he was always an outsider, and he could not urinate in the same pot as the civilian and military generals.

Only Zhang Jun appreciates him!

Zhang Jun later killed Quduan, which may have a lot to do with Li Yanxian. Because Qu Duan's army, which was the closest to Shaanzhou at the time, sat back and watched Li Yanxian trapped in the isolated city until death.

At this moment, since Li Yanxian came to Hanzhong, the smile on his face has never diminished.

Hanzhong is so good. There are fertile fields with abundant harvests everywhere. Even in the countryside, there are no people fleeing for famine.

Li Yanxian and Yan Ping were taken to see Zhu Guoxiang. When they met, he asked: "When will Mr. Zhu send troops to Shaanxi? As long as I return to Longxi, I can immediately recruit thousands of troops to respond. They are all brave warriors who will die in the service!"

It was a pity that Zhu Guoxiang was not familiar with history and had never heard of Li Yanxian's name. He replied: "I don't know about military matters. You can go to Xiangyang and listen to my orders under my son's account."