Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

It takes time for everyone to get used to the new location and new job, and the connection between the yamen also needs to be adjusted.

The place where the three provinces gathered for discussion was called Zhengshi Hall before Yuanfeng and was renamed Dutang after Yuanfeng.

Now, Zhu Guoxiang has changed its name to "Deliberation Hall", which is where he convenes important ministers for meetings.

Not far away is the Tongzhengyuan (formerly the Yintai Si Yamen). Several palaces within the Yintai Gate are all designated for the Tongzhengyuan as offices.

The Zhongshu Provincial Government Office was originally nearby, but the Jianming Hall was demolished by Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty. The new office building was moved directly out of the imperial city, leaving no suitable place for the cabinet now. With a wave of his hand, Zhu Guoxiang allocated all the palaces to the north of the secret pavilion to the cabinet for office work.

Unfortunately, many treasures in the Secret Pavilion were taken away when Song Huizong fled, such as the authentic works of Wang Xizhi, Wang Xianzhi, Liu Gongquan, Yan Zhenqing, Huai Su and others.

In the Council Hall.

Zhu Guoxiang sat in the main seat, and Zhu Ming sat in the second seat.

Among the five cabinet ministers, only Zhong Shidao was not in Tokyo. Zhang Gen, Gao Jingshan, Li Bangyan, and Zhai Ruwen were all present.

For this kind of high-level meeting, there is no need to kneel down or even stand. There is a seat right there when you come in.

Meng Zhao, the Minister of Rites, has a difficult matter that needs to be discussed with everyone: "The Generalissimo said that Tokyo temples should be abolished and only three temples can be preserved, but four Buddhist temples cannot be demolished. These Buddhist temples are hundreds of years old and have eminent monks. If you sit with the Buddha in power, you will use force to fear public criticism."

Before Zhu Guoxiang could speak to the ministers, Zhu Ming said impatiently: "What's the trouble? The outside of Xuande Tower is full of temples and temples, and most of them must be demolished. Taiping Xingguo Temple is named after Zhao Guangyi's reign. I really don't like it. Soon, the Taiping Xingguo Temple was demolished. The Buddhist treasures and eminent monks were moved to the Daxiangguo Temple!"

Meng Zhao had no choice but to bite the bullet and say, "Yes."

These large temples in Tokyo are not only places of worship and comprehensive entertainment, but also host royal ceremonies, banquets for ministers, receive foreign guests, and provide accommodation services for scholars rushing to take exams, etc.

Many civil servants stayed at Taiping Xingguo Temple when they were rushing to take exams. The forced demolition of this place would definitely lead to a surge of public opinion.

Zhai Ruwen suggested: "In fact, there is no need to demolish the Buddhist hall, monks' residence, and pagoda. After all, it took a lot of manpower and material resources to build them in the first place. If the marshal wants to suppress the Buddha, he only needs to reduce the size of the monks."

"It must be demolished!"

Ju Ming insisted on having his own way: "The monks' dormitory area can be preserved and sold to merchants as hotels and restaurants. The Buddhist hall will be demolished, and the Ao Temple will be demolished, and converted into an official residence, integrated with the eight!"

In the early Northern Song Dynasty, even the prime minister had to rent his own house to live.

For example, Ouyang Xiu rents a dilapidated hut, which leaks constantly when it rains heavily.

Later, Emperor Shenzong of the Song Dynasty built a number of official residences for eight top ministers to live in. These official residences were collectively referred to as the "Eight".

The Ao Temple, a Zoroastrian temple, is located between the Eight Official Residences and the Taiping Xingguo Temple. Even the Shangshu Province and the Kaifeng Mansion Yamen are sandwiched in between.

By demolishing the Taiping Xingguo Temple and the Ao Temple, they can be connected to the eight official residences to form an official residence area, and the Shangshu Province and Kaifeng Mansion will no longer be surrounded by temples.

From now on, important ministers of the six ministers and above must live with their families in the official residence and are not allowed to live anywhere else in the city, so as not to be unable to find someone at a critical moment and to prevent important documents from being leaked. (Huizong of the Song Dynasty was crazy about giving mansions. Cai Jing, Wang Fu and others did not live in official residences, but handled state affairs directly in private residences.)

The Shangshu Province has been abolished, and will be renamed the Sixth Section Yamen, responsible for connecting the work of the cabinet and the six ministries.

The Qishengyuan next to it still had to be demolished, and all the portraits of Zhao Guangyi and the statues of immortals and Buddhas inside were removed. The demolished open space was merged with the Si Yamen in front of the palace and will be used as the headquarters of the Forbidden Army and the Five Cities Military and Horse Department in the future.

Although the capital must be moved, these official residences were not built in vain. They can just be sold to Kaifeng rich people in the future.

Ju Ming added: "Zhaoming Temple must also be demolished. Next door is Daxiangguo Temple. One is enough. What's the use of two buildings next to each other? Zhaoming Temple is extremely prosperous. They are sold to rich households to build shops!"

"Yes," Meng Zhao had no choice but to comply and asked again, "Should the ancestral memorial tablets of the Prime Minister and the Marshal be placed in the East and West Jingling Palace?"

Zhu Guoxiang said: "Just move out the tablets of the emperors of the old Song Dynasty, but don't put them in the ancestors of the Zhu family for the time being."

Ju Ming also said: "The Zhu family cannot afford to lose that person!"

Zhenzong of the Song Dynasty not only granted Zen to Mount Tai, but also engaged in a lot of similar incidents.

One of the important projects is to build a Jingling Palace in Kaifeng and Qufu respectively to worship Emperor Xuanyuan.

After the Jinling Palace in Qufu was built, the county seat was moved directly, and the people in the city moved to be close to the Yellow Emperor.

The Jingling Palace in Kaifeng is getting bigger and bigger. With continuous expansion, it has been divided into East Jingling Palace and West Jingling Palace. Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty liked to carry out large-scale construction projects, so he naturally would not forget this place and expanded the two Jingling Palaces again and merged them into one.

The spiritual thrones of the emperors of the Northern Song Dynasty were actually enshrined in the Jinling Palace together with the spiritual thrones of Emperor Xuanyuan Huang!

I wonder where they got their big faces?

Ju Ming added: "Most of the Jinling Palace was demolished, leaving only the area originally built to worship the Yellow Emperor. The demolished areas were all converted into shops for sale."

Destroying temples and renovating residences and shops is not only to suppress religion, but also to temporarily relieve employment pressure.

Ju Ming is not short of money now and some notorious civil servants have not raided their homes.

Those unemployed people in the city can be hired to move bricks at the construction site, so that they can make ends meet at this stage. Once the real estate project is completed, another profit can be made, the initial investment can be recovered, and Tokyo business can become more prosperous.

Even if the capital is moved in the future, Kaifeng will definitely not decline.

Because various materials from Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Huaihe will be transported to Kaifeng through the canal, and then transferred to Luoyang. As a water transport hub, Kaifeng will become a purely commercial city.

Meng Zhao added: "The old Song Ancestral Temple has been sealed off by troops for a long time. It's time to change the owner there."

Zhu Guoxiang, Zhu Ming and his son looked at each other. This ancestral sequence is not easy to make up.

When they traveled through time, the old man was still alive. Is it possible to include his memorial tablet?

Zhu Guoxiang said: "This matter will be discussed later."

Meng Zhao has another question: "Will the imperial examination be resumed next year? If it is resumed, academic officials from various places should be appointed and dismissed in the spring, and they should be allowed to preside over the examination in the autumn so as to select the first batch of candidates for the new dynasty."

"Let's talk about it after the spring begins." Zhu Guoxiang has a lot of things on his hands. How can he take care of the imperial examination now?

Li Bangyan remained silent. He was observing Zhu and his son, trying to figure out what was going on.

When the meeting ended, Li Bangyan quietly retreated, having basically understood: the Zhu family and his son did not like religion, and were not even enthusiastic about sacrifices and auspiciousness. They were completely opposite to the previous emperors of the Song Dynasty.

Since you don't like Xu, how can you please these two people in the future?

Li Bangyan was really confused and uncomfortable, because he only knew how to play tricks, and now he was clearly not professional.

After leaving the palace, Li Bangyan sent someone to invite Qin Hui.

"It's only natural to share your worries with you." Qin Hui said modestly.

Qin Hui was still managing the Xicheng Office, clearing out various manor lands, and cooperating with the local government to resettle the people for farming.

Tens of thousands of acres of land around Tokyo City have been cleared by Qin Hui.

Perhaps because it was too close to the imperial city, Qin Hui did not dare to be greedy for even half a penny. The officials arranged by Li Bangyan did not dare to raise their hands for the time being. As of now, no loopholes can be found, but the efficiency is astonishing.

Li Bangyan roughly talked about today's meeting: "Let's talk about how we can assist you in the future."

Qin Hui thought carefully and said: "Whatever the commander-in-chief and the marshal want, we, as ministers, will do. We must never touch the matters of Buddhism and Taoism again. We should try our best not to offer auspicious words again."

"But what can I do?" Li Bangyan asked.

Qin Hui said: "The Marshal often said that the people are the foundation of a country and the Tao is useful. And this Tao is extraordinary. There are not only the main roads, but also many small roads. The great Confucianists admire the big roads and don't care about the small roads. Why doesn't Prime Minister Li just follow the small roads? Start?"

"Xiaodao?" Li Bangyan didn't understand.

Qin Hui explained: "Medicine, arithmetic, industry, and agriculture! Secretly looking for people who are good at these four things and presenting them to managers and marshals will surely achieve miraculous results."

Li Bangyan couldn't help but nodded: "That makes sense."

Qin Hui added: "It can be suggested to reopen the medical school and arithmetic school in Tokyo, and then establish an engineering school and an agricultural school. This must be in line with the wishes of the manager and the marshal."

Li Bangyan was overjoyed: "I was indeed right about this person, he is a very talented person!"

Qin Hui continued: "Huan's knowledge has many similarities with the marshal's knowledge. However, there are also many different things. Li Xiangke discussed with Huan and asked him to follow the marshal's way of prosperity! This is This is the road to the new dynasty. If this can be achieved, the marshal should regard Prime Minister Li as his humerus."

Li Bangyan clapped his hands and praised: "He has the talent of a prime minister, and he will be the chief minister from now on!"

The two talked about some more details, and Li Bangyan personally sent Qin Hui out.

Back in the study alone, Li Bangyan became more and more excited as he thought about it. He had found a way to keep his favor in the future.

Ju Ming's Taoist knowledge integrated Xinxue and Luoxue, so neither Er Cheng nor Wang Anshi could criticize it. But he must set up a target to show his usefulness. The target Li Bangyan set up is of course Cai Jing.

He decided to write two articles, one criticizing Cai Jing's misunderstanding of Wang Anshi's new learning, and the other elaborating on the commonalities between Luo learning and new learning, in order to pave the way for Ju Ming's advocacy of Taoism.

Li Bangyan was very good at writing scripts, but he couldn't write this kind of article. He had to ask the great scholar Huan Guo to write it!

(Thanks to the leader of Black Night 0522 for the reward. I’m sorry, I’ve been in a bad state these past two days and I feel sleepy when I sit in front of the computer.)