Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

Ju Ming received many Mid-Autumn Festival gifts. Although he had posted a notice at the gate of the Generalissimo's Mansion to prevent officials and people from giving gifts, he still could not stop the enthusiasm of the officials and people.

Ju Ming kept the less valuable ones for himself.

Anything worth a little money is thrown into the public treasury for military supplies, which is equivalent to the gift giver donating military expenses.

When the news came out, everyone praised him. Compared with the emperor in Tokyo, Marshal Zhu was really dedicated to serving the public good!

Song Huizong was forced to stop Huashi Gang, but he came up with a new thing.

Father and son Cai Jing and Cai Tiao founded the Xuanhe Ku-style Gongsi, collecting treasures from all over the country and transporting them to the capital. Everything from gold and silver to vegetables and fruits were sent to the emperor.

In fact, this has nothing to do with Cai Jing. It was done by the brothers Cai Tiao and Cai Chi, just to be more active in inviting favors.

Cai Jing is old and blind. He has no idea how many tricks his two sons have done in the past six months.

Now Cai Tiao is in control of the court, and Cai Ji is signing official documents beside Cai Jing.

Cai Tiao's brother-in-law, Han Li, was originally just a benevolent official without much real power, so he was directly promoted to Minister of Household Affairs.

Han Qi was in the household department, but she was doing the work of the official department. If he doesn't like anyone, he will discuss it secretly with Cai Tiao, and then ask the officials to impeach him and expel those disobedient ministers from the court.

Every time Cai Tiao went to court, officials greeted him with bows, followed by dozens of court officials holding official documents.

For those who didn’t know, they thought Cai Tiao was the prime minister.

In fact, not only is Cai Tiao not prime minister, but Cai Jing has not truly returned to prime minister.

The real prime ministers are Bai Shizhong and Li Bangyan, the former is the left prime minister and the latter is the right prime minister.

"What our prime minister does is like a yes-man for Cai Jing and his son," Li Bangyan said to Bai Shizhong privately, "but have you ever heard of a prime minister who can't decide anything?"

Bai Shizhong smiled awkwardly: "Being the prime minister is a blessing."

Li Bangyan said: "If Cai Jing is not removed, you and I will never be able to make the decision. We can only serve Cai Jing and his son to serve as officials."

Bai Shizhong said: "It's okay."

"I want to bring down Cai Jing. Are you going to advance and retreat together, or are you going to tell the truth?" Li Bangyan asked.

Bai Shizhong chose not to help each other. He shrunk his neck and said, "I will give you good luck to your majesty."

"What a bastard!" Li Bangyan was furious and refused to argue.

Since Bai Shizhong passed the Jinshi examination, he has not had any outstanding political achievements. Instead, he was demoted for doing wrong things.

He is only good at one thing, offering auspiciousness!

He presented auspicious signs to Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty in various ways, and the angles were unique, which always brought the emperor a sense of freshness. For example, this year, a young woman in Tokyo suddenly grew a beard, which he immediately presented as an auspicious sign. Song Huizong made the woman a Taoist priest.

Such a thing can actually be made Dazai, ranking first among many prime ministers.

Li Bangyan said: "The old man can no longer look at you, why are you afraid of him? If you can't advance and retreat together, then I can only treat Cai as a party."

Bai Shizhong thought about it, he was afraid that he would not be able to bring down Cai Jing and would be burned, but he was also unwilling to be the boss or a yes-man. After hesitating for a long time, Bai Shizhong finally gave in: "Then let's fight with the old man! What should we do?"

Li Bangyan said: "Every court meeting, as long as Cai Tiao arrives, the ministers will line up to greet him, just like meeting the emperor. Isn't this transgression? There is also the Xuanhe Ku style tribute department, which collects the world's treasury and donates it to the official family. Cai Tiao Tiao Que enriched his own pockets and obtained wealth. Han Qi, a minister of household affairs who was suddenly promoted, thought that he was the minister of the Ministry of official affairs. The promotion of officials and the dismissal of courtiers were all done by Han Qi. Where is the majesty of the official family? "

"I'm afraid it's hard to convince the officials." Bai Shizhong said worriedly.

Li Bangyan chuckled: "You can bring Zhu Meng over."

"He and Cai Jing wear the same pants." Bai Shizhong shook his head repeatedly.

Li Bangyan said: "The government abolished Huashi Gang, and Zhu Meng lost his use. Although he was still favored, the power in his hands was gone. As long as he promised to Zhu Meng, after overthrowing Cai Jing and his son, he would help him take charge of Xuanhe Ku Shigong. Si, isn't this the same as restoring the Hua Shi Gang? Zhu Meng will definitely agree! Many of our favorite ministers will attack together and say that Cai Jing and his son have sole control of the Chao Gang!"

Bai Shizhong's eyes lit up: "Yes, taking sole control of the court, which is very taboo among officials."

As a result, Bai Shizhong, Li Bangyan, Cai You, Tong Guan, Zhu Meng and other favorite officials joined forces to make reports all day long.

It is not said that Cai Jing and his son were corrupt, but that the father and son dominated the government and the public, and no one could control the life and death of the ministers. They even vaguely accused Cai Tiao of seeming to be disobedient.

As expected, Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty became interested and sent his confidant eunuchs to inquire secretly. As expected, Cai Tiao and his uncle Han Tiefei were very domineering and even put on airs while waiting to go to court. The ministers' meeting with Cai Tiao was like meeting the emperor.

"Your Majesty, Cai Tiao has acted so arrogantly that he seems to be disobedient. Dismissal from office will no longer punish his fault. He should be put to death in order to put the matter into perspective!" Cai You encouraged the emperor to kill his own brother.

Instead, Song Huizong came to comfort him: "Give him a hundred courages, and he won't dare to rebel. Just dismiss him from office."

A few days later, Han Zhi was demoted to Huangzhou, dismissed Cai Tiao from his position as an attendant, and canceled Cai Tiao's Jinshi background.

Even now, Cai Jing still refuses to resign and continues to give orders in the capital.

The more Cai Jing was like this, the more disgusted Song Huizong became, and the more he thought about it, the angrier he became, because Cai Jing was useless and could no longer help the emperor make money.

Song Huizong called Tong Guan and Cai You and said, "Go to Cai Jing's mansion and ask him to go to Shu and resign immediately!"

The two were immediately overjoyed and rode together to find Cai Jing.

As soon as he left the palace, he met Bai Shizhong, who had been waiting there.

After asking about the situation, Bai Shizhong changed from his usual cowardice and suggested sinisterly: "Not only should Cai Jing write a letter of thanks and resign, but we should also ask Cai Jing to leave the capital. If he stays for one more day, it will be a disaster. Who knows when the day will come? , the officials thought of him again."

"Yes, Cai Jing must be forced to leave the capital!" Cai You didn't care about the relationship between father and son.

Cai Jingzheng stayed at home to listen to the report and still insisted on handling government affairs.

A servant came in and whispered.

Cai Chi said: "I'm afraid these two people are coming with bad intentions."

Cai Jing ordered: "Place wine to entertain the guests."

Food and wine were laid out to entertain the two of them, but before they had even had two drinks, Cai You said, "The officials asked, why doesn't Mr. Lu resign?"

Cai Jing actually cried and said: "Why can't the officials tolerate me for a few years? Someone must be slandering me."

Tong Guan sneered: "I didn't know about this."

Cai Jing could only see the blurry figures of the two of them. He held his hands towards them and almost begged: "I am old and frail. I should have resigned earlier. The reason why I am still staying in the court is because I have not repaid the kindness to the officials. This is my heart." The two gentlemen should know this."

The servants standing nearby were stunned when they heard this.

How can any father call his son "male"?

Cai You became his father's "gong" and became more and more satisfied: "I am acting as ordered, please Lu Gong to write a list of thanks immediately!"

Cai Wei was furious: "Sixth brother, how can you be so rude to my father?"

Cai You just pretended not to hear.

Tong Guan also kept urging and was a little impatient with the waiting.

Cai Jing stood up tremblingly and asked Cai Chi to help him get the official seal. The old man held the official seal in his arms and was reluctant to hand it over. Tong Guan stepped forward and snatched it away.

Tong Guan and Cai You took their official seals and left. As for resignation letters, they would help write a few letters.

When he reached the door, Tong Guan stepped back: "The officials want you to leave Beijing as soon as possible!"

Cai Jing pretended not to hear. He didn't want to leave the capital, maybe one day he would retaliate.

As the two were walking on the road, Cai You said, "Wang Fu is now serving in the Ministry of Rites, and he cannot be retained."

Tong Guan smiled and said: "It just so happens that I can deal with it together with Liang Shicheng!"

Half a month later, they reported again that the houses of Liang Shicheng and Wang Fu were only separated by a wall.

Song Huizong didn't believe it because there was another family separated between the house he gave Wang Fu and Liang Shicheng's house.

Cai You said: "Wang Fu forced people away a long time ago, occupied other people's houses, and became neighbors with Liang Shicheng."

Song Huizong was hesitant and decided to check it out in person.

Soon Song Huizong returned to the palace angrily. His favored eunuchs and ministers actually worked together to deceive him for so many years!

Liang Shicheng was fined and ordered to reflect, while Wang Fu was immediately dismissed from office and did not stay in charge of promoting Taoism.

The Great Song Dynasty Hall has entered a new era.

If eunuchs are not included, and only civil servant positions are considered, Bai Shizhong is first, Li Bangyan is second, Cai You is third, and Zhao Ye is fourth.

But many times, Cai You's words carry more weight.

After Bai Shizhong took power, his top priority was to make money for the emperor: first, minting large amounts of coins; second, restoring free money.

The money for free travel is part of Wang Anshi's reform, which is similar in nature to the money for free money for husband.

The government recruited corvées, and the people paid the fee to be exempted from having to serve as corvées.

The government allocates labor and materials to industrial and commercial households. If the industrial and commercial households pay the free payment, they do not need to apportion them again.

Bai Shizhong has now restored the tax exemption, and also asked local governments to hand over all the money collected by local governments to the central finance. Local states and counties cannot get even half a penny, so they still have to pay the share, which makes industrial and commercial households miserable.

…

"Who can grind a flying mirror? It illuminates the universe and seals the mountains and rivers. The jade dew is cold and clear, and the autumn sky is washed by silver without ripples..."

Li Shishi is singing, and she has slightly adjusted the tune of "Zhe Gui Ling".

"Wonderful!"

Let’s sing a song, Zhu Ming took the lead in applauding.

Li Shishi stood up with a smile: "I've made a fool of myself."

"Singing very well." Zhu Ming praised.

Li Shishi said: "It's because Xianggong Ci is well done."

Zhao Fujin chewed the moon cake and said, "I have never eaten this kind of cake in the palace before. It turns out that people eat moon cakes when appreciating the moon."

Zhang Jinping said with a smile: "People didn't eat mooncakes before, but since Su Dongpo's poem, mooncakes have gradually become popular."

Su Shi can be called the "father of moon cakes". He was the first to connect the moon with cakes. He wrote the poem "Moon Cake" and said: Small cakes are like chewing the moon, with crispy and sweet fillings. Taste the taste silently, and shed tears of lovesickness on the towel.

Zhong Miaoyun pointed to the moon in the sky: "Tonight, eating moon cakes and admiring the bright moon are not as good as doing the flying flower order. It doesn't follow the rules, just include the word "month"."

"What a great idea!" Zhang Jinping immediately agreed.

"Who comes first?" Although Zheng Yuanyi is not well-educated, she can still play Feihua Ling in an informal manner.

Master Li said: "Of course my husband invites you first."

Ju Ming asked: "Seven characters or five characters?"

"Seven characters are the best," Zhang Jinping said. "If you really can't catch it, you can write a poem of your own."

Ju Ming said: "The moon moves with people."

Zhang Jinping continued: "Jiang Yue shines on people at the beginning of the year."

Zheng Yuanyi said: "Tonight the moon is bright and everyone can see."

Master Li asked: "Where is the person who came to look at the moon with me?"

There are many ways to play Feihua Ling, the most strict one requires that even the verses and rhythms must be the same.

What Ju Ming and the others are playing now is that the characters "moon" appear in order. If they are in the wrong position, they are considered wrong.

The so-called Feihua Ling in CCTV's "Chinese Poetry Conference" is not called Feihua Ling at all, it is just memorizing poetry.

Zhao Fujin, Zhao Fujin, and Pei Chang'e quickly caught it, and Zhong Miaoyun also said that it was finally the turn to fold Yanxiu.

"Yue...yue..."

Zhe Yanxiu picked up the wine cup, raised her neck and drank it, then turned the wine cup upside down: "Done! You continue to play."

"Ha ha ha ha!"

Everyone burst into laughter, not because they sincerely wanted to make her look embarrassed, but simply because they thought it was fun to tease Zhe Yanxiu.

The second person to be tricked was Zhao Fujin, who suddenly got stuck and couldn't remember the relevant verses.

"I just drink," Zhao Fujin pouted and emphasized repeatedly, "But it's not that I can't catch it, I just suddenly forgot."

Zhao Fujin patted his sister on the forehead: "I want you to study more, just because you like to have fun."

Several women were vaguely divided into four small groups.

Zhang Jinping has always been close to Zheng Yuanyi, and Zhao Fujin and Zhao Fujin are naturally close sisters. Li Shishi often teaches Pei Chang'e to play the piano and sing, while Zhong Miaoyun and Zhe Yanxiu are both daughters of generals.

Tonight, taking advantage of the full moon of the Mid-Autumn Festival, the wives and concubines went out to enjoy the moon together, which actually brought them closer to each other.

Ju Ming was suddenly surprised. Why did he only have eight women?

Zhong Xiang, the emperor of Chu, only had nine queens included.

He is really addicted to women!