Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

"Meet the Generalissimo!"

In the past, there was no superior-subordinate relationship. Of course Ge Shengzhong could be proud of himself, but now his attitude is very low.

This man is actually very good at flattering others. After all, he has been favored by Song Huizong for nearly ten years.

His way of surviving in Tokyo is to try not to criticize bad government. Whenever Song Huizong promulgated any good governance, he would immediately praise it to the sky, just like coaxing a child, hoping that there would be more of this kind of good governance.

Until there were too many evil policies and I couldn't stand it any longer, so I finally couldn't help but start complaining!

Zhu Ming treated each other with courtesy and said: "For the civil affairs of Yingchang, please leave it to Mr. Lu Qing. Ruzhou has been merged into Yingchang Prefecture. There are eleven counties in the whole prefecture. This time, you will go with the army for the expedition. You will bring 40 officials there as soon as possible." Restore order in Yingchang Mansion."

"Yes!" Ge Shengzhong accepted the order.

Ju Ming said: "On the march, we must explain to these officials the sentiments of the people in Yingchang and Ruzhou."

The officials under the rule of the Zhu family and his son were actually looking forward to fighting.

Only by fighting and occupying new territories can they be promoted quickly. How many of them have been waiting for this?

For example, Bai Chongyan, Ling Guxu, and Min Zishun, who came back too late, are all close friends of Ju Ming, and they have been serving as county magistrates in the territory ceded by Zhong Xiang. The three of them must be promoted, and they can't be too unruly, so it would be best to serve in Xinzhanfu County.

"Drink, gentlemen!"

In the back house of Xiangyang Mansion, Li Hanzhang was entertaining guests.

There were not only Bai Chongyan, Ling Guxu, and Min Zishun, but also several other scholars who were studying in Yangzhou and came to Beijing to take the exam together.

"Congratulations to the Prime Minister, General Manager! Congratulations to the Generalissimo!" Bai Chongyan raised his glass and said.

Everyone congratulated in unison, their faces full of joy.

Ling Guxu said excitedly: "My husband and the marshal have finally sent out troops. This time they will be able to sweep the world and settle the matter!"

Min Zishun said with emotion: "Back then, we went to Beijing together to take the exam. How could we have imagined that we would be here today?"

"But I thought of a prophecy." Zheng Hong said suddenly.

Zheng Hong first served in Ju Ming's Generalissimo's Office. Later, the number of officials was tight, and various places were rushing to sell ducks. Zheng Hong was quickly promoted to county magistrate and state magistrate.

Now, he has to join the army to become the prefect, and he is going to serve in Huaixi!

After repeated discussions at the Generalissimo's Office, it was decided to capture Huaixi as well.

First, there are officers and soldiers in Huaixi. If the rebels in the Nanxiang Basin move north, Huaixi will always be a hidden danger;

Second, the troops on the eastern front all marched from Nanyang to the north. The logistic pressure in the Nanxiang Basin was too great. Recruiting too many civilians to transport grain would affect agricultural production.

Therefore, Li Bao's Kuizhou troops took boats down the river to attack Huaixi.

Huaixi is probably the area around the Dabie Mountains, as well as Hefei, Lujiang, Hexian, Shouchun, Fengyang and other places.

In order to make it easier to go north to Huaidong, some state capitals were also attacked. For example, if you capture Xuyi, you can follow the Bian River directly to Tokyo. When the time comes, Li Bao can advance in two directions, and the other can follow the vortex river to Taikang, and then turn around the Cai River to reach the outside of Kaifeng City.

Huangzhou, Qizhou, Shuzhou, and Guangzhou were merged into Huangzhou Prefecture. Zheng Hong was to be the prefect of Huangzhou, and he had to be prepared for the officers and soldiers from Jiangnan East Road to come.

Luzhou, Shouzhou, Wuweijun, and Hezhou were merged into Luzhou Prefecture. Bai Chongyan served as the prefect of Luzhou and was responsible for recruiting civilian husbands for Li Bao.

Min Zishun asked curiously: "What prophecy?"

"Bingwu is in chaos, pigs are riding horses. Go out from the northwest and calm the world!" Zheng Hong said with a smile.

"Next year will be the year of Bingwu," Li Hanzhang asked, "Where did you hear this prophecy?"

Zheng Hong whispered: "Twelve years ago, Da Lang blurted out the words, and Mr. Zhu looked unhappy after hearing this."

Min Zishun was horrified and asked: "Could it be that as early as twelve years ago, the Grand Marshal and the Prime Minister were able to predict what will happen today?"

Everyone looked at each other in disbelief, thinking that Zheng Hong was building momentum for the Zhu family and his son.

Faced with these suspicious looks, Zheng Hong quickly defended: "Everything I said is true. Even if I had to make it up, I wouldn't make it up. Just make up the chaos of Yi and Si, wouldn't it be consistent with this year?"

"That's right." Li Hanzhang muttered.

Bai Chongyan said: "Xiangong and Dalang do have many magical things in Shangbaicun. I'm afraid they really met immortals overseas and gleaned the secrets of heaven from them."

"Haha, destiny is like this, what do we have to worry about?" The man who laughed was called Wang Chang. He also went to Beijing to take the exam together, but his status as a candidate was recommended by the governor.

Ling Guxu waved his hand and said: "We Confucian scholars should respect ghosts and gods and stay away from them, and just do our duty."

Zheng Hong smiled and said: "I just mentioned it casually. That's what Dalang really said back then. It seems like he let it slip by blurting it out. He didn't want to say this prophecy."

Li Hanzhang warned everyone: "Everyone, what you say today must be said while drunk, and do not say it to outsiders."

"That's how it should be." Everyone responded quickly.

However, everyone has made a mental note that the destiny must be with the Zhu family.

After a few more drinks, I started to get drunk.

So I reminisce about the past and revisit the past.

"Who knows where Lu Tixue is?" asked an official named Li Kai, who also studied at Yangzhou Academy.

Ling Guxu said: "But I know that Lu Tixue was demoted to the deputy envoy of Huangzhou Tuanlian because he opposed Hua Shigang at Shangshu. He resigned in anger and returned to Zhejiang."

Li Hanzhang said: "Lu Ti has learned from Dalang and has been a mentor. He has been an official for many years and knows how to govern the people. If he can come to serve, he will at least start as an official from the prefecture. Maybe he can stay with Zhu Xianggong to assist him in government. .”

"Xiangong Zhu is really hardworking." Zheng Hong sighed.

There were auxiliary ministers beside the emperor, but Zhu Guoxiang was working alone.

In the past, the territory was small, so it was natural to be like this. When I was busy, I was so tired that I could only sleep four or five hours a day. Now that the territory is about to be expanded, it must not continue like this. Zhang Gen and Gao Jingshan are expected to be promoted. They will resign as prefects and go directly to Zhu Guoxiang to assist the government.

After telling a bunch of interesting stories from the past, Wang Chang suddenly stood up and said with great enthusiasm: "When you all came to Beijing together, you couldn't even stay in an inn, and you had to share a guest room with several people. There were so many singing houses in the capital. We are so cash-strapped that we can only watch the wine shop from a distance. To put it bluntly, standing on the street in Gaotou, looking at the towering towers, we are all native dogs from the countryside! From now on, we will assist our husband and Da Lang in settling matters. I must go to Fan Tower again and let the people of Tokyo know how noble we are!"

Zheng Hong was so frightened that he quickly said: "Don't do this. We should keep in mind Xianggong's instructions. When we are an official and govern the people, we should put the people first. We must not take bribes and bend the law for personal enjoyment."

"Yes, yes, don't be greedy for pleasure." Everyone agreed.

Last fall, Zheng Hong's brother-in-law Li Zhifang was arrested.

The reason was that the embezzlement of autumn grain taxes was learned by Chen Dong when he sent people to inspect, and the secret investigation was involved in the case.

In the Ming and Qing dynasties, there was fire consumption, and in the Song Dynasty, there was also rat and bird consumption. Then there was the increase in consumption of noodles, and on the basis of the increase in consumption of noodles, the consumption of battles was created. At most, the common people had to pay one stone and two bushels of tax for one stone, and were levied 20% more by the government for nothing. This doesn’t include transfers, extravagant money, etc.

Among the many losses, both the Song Dynasty and Zhu Guoxiang only recognized rat and bird losses, and strictly stipulated the amount.

The Song Dynasty just refused to acknowledge the messy losses, and it was impossible to arrest officials for it. However, Zhu Guoxiang was tough-minded. He had already left rats and birds for the officials to use for profit, so how could he tolerate any more rats and birds?

Zheng Hong's brother-in-law was exiled to the south of the Dadu River, along with more than 20 of his officials, to open up wasteland for the mixed tribes of Han and barbarians there due to the resumption of fighting to make money.

Zheng Hong also wrote a letter, hoping that Ju Ming could forgive him. Even if he really had to be exiled, he could just be exiled to Lizhou. There was no need to go deep into the barbarian territory.

Zhu Ming quickly replied and scolded Zheng Hong!

This matter caused a big fuss. After all, Zheng Hong was Ju Ming's brother-in-law, and Li Zhifang, who was exiled, was Zheng Hong's brother-in-law.

Just for the sake of a few fights, it has become an unspoken rule in the Song Dynasty to be called "Guan Run". How can you be exiled regardless of family ties?

Officials under Zhu Guoxiang became increasingly cautious and worked hard to make corruption more secretive.

At least, Chen Dong’s people can’t be easily noticed!

Chen Dong, who was hated by the emperor and his ministers in Tokyo, has become a living king of hell in Sichuan.

This guy holds the power of inspector and is mentally ill. Even if he gave him a gift during the holidays, he would throw the gift out the door and scold the person who gave the gift in public.

Chen Dong is a mad dog. This is the consensus among Sichuan officials.

However, Zhu Guoxiang had great respect for this person. He was both a subordinate and a junior, but every time he met him, Zhu Guoxiang would bow to Chen Dong.

And it’s a long bow!

Speaking of this, Wang Chang, who was clamoring to go to Fanlou, was so frightened that he sweated on his vest: "I just said casually, with my current salary and my family's property, I can actually be quite happy in Fanlou." Months. When I go to Tokyo from now on, I can just spend a few days having fun at my own expense. I have no intention of corruption and enjoyment."

"Yes, yes, don't think too much." Min Zishun also agreed.

Ling Guxu said: "I really admire Chen Shaoyang (Chen Dong). He fought against the traitors when he was in Taixue. After studying in Taixue for nearly ten years, he failed to become a Jinshi. He also led people to beat drums and knock on the que, for Support Dalang and complain about injustice and be imprisoned, and then follow Dalang to Guizhou to organize and manage. From now on when a new dynasty is established, he will be an important minister of the country!"

"I have offended too many people. I just hope he can have a good death." Li Hanzhang muttered in a low voice.

Everyone didn't say anything after hearing this, but they thought so in their hearts.

Chen Dong offended too many people, and most of them were "seniors". They were all old people who came to serve within half a year of the Zhu family's father-in-law raising an army.

The crackdown on corruption is so strict, so only these old people dare to reach out openly.

Without family ties, how dare Li Zhifang resume fighting?

Chen Dong has wasted ten years in Taixue and has not even gotten married yet.

Zhu Guoxiang is also thinking about this issue and is busy choosing a marriage partner for Chen Dong. Shen Yourong, Wen Xiaomei, Zhang Jinping, and Zheng Yuanyi introduced several ladies of the family, but Zhu Guoxiang had many concerns and was not satisfied.

Among the several concubines sent by Song Huizong, Zhu Guoxiang suggested marrying Chen Dong.

But Chen Dong did not want to have anything to do with Song Huizong, so he refused in person.

Zhu Guoxiang planned to adopt an adopted daughter, one who had no living family but was well-educated and sensible, and then recruited Chen Dong as his adopted son-in-law.

After a drunken meal, old friends put their arms around each other and sang songs in a daze.

The next day, they all went their separate ways. Some went north with the army from Nanyang, and some returned to Jiangling to wait for Li Bao's army.