Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

It snowed heavily in the middle of winter, and Gao Qiu returned to Kaifeng with two thousand forbidden troops.

The two thousand Imperial Guard soldiers had been stripped of their armor by Zhang Bor, and each of them was given a set of paper clothes to keep out the cold.

Every time you pass through a county, you can pick up a small amount of food. If the robbery was discovered along the way, then Gao Qiu would just become a bandit where he was. He would definitely not get any good results when he returned to Kaifeng.

Every one of Gao Qiu's Imperial Guard soldiers were from good families in Tokyo, and their parents, wives, and children were all in Kaifeng City. They were anxious to go back to reunite with their families. As long as they weren't going crazy from hunger, Gao Qiu was still very easy to control, and he walked through the snow without disturbing the people.

From Xuzhou to Kaifeng, order has been restored along the canal, and various commercial supplies are being shipped to Kaifeng.

State and county officials organized refugees to dredge rivers and ordered wealthy households to provide food for work as relief.

There are no bonds that are currently only issued in Sichuan Gorge. It is difficult to effectively control other places. Rich households cannot trust the government, and Zhu and his son cannot trust the officials either. They can only use the previous apportionment method to tide over the crisis.

Traveling to Dongming County, the canal was completely frozen, and inland river trade was temporarily suspended this year.

Gao Qiu and his soldiers were still on their way, stepping on the snow and approaching Tokyo.

There were a large number of warehouses along the Guangji River. Most of the grain, cloth and other items in the warehouses were transferred by Zhao Huan to defend the city. Those who could not be moved away in time were robbed by the Jin soldiers. Especially for private warehouses, some merchants were lucky enough to wait and see, but Wanyan Zongwang robbed them all.

Now that order has been restored, the private warehouses have begun to restock, but the official warehouses are still empty.

The streets and houses along the river are all dilapidated, and the residents along the river can be said to be 23 out of 10. Because the Jin soldiers camped nearby for a month, in order to cover the battlefield, they deliberately created no one to lead them. Many houses and entire streets were burned to the ground. Countless people died of starvation and illness on the way to escape. Some craftsmen and women were captured by the Jin soldiers.

"It's getting dark soon. There should be a curfew in Tokyo. Let's stay here tonight." Gao Qiu sighed.

A large number of dilapidated houses were empty and unclaimed. Gao Qiu led two thousand imperial troops to find a house to live in.

Feeling the tragic situation after the war, the Imperial Guard soldiers were even more worried about their families and wanted to return to the city overnight to inquire about the situation.

The eldest son Gao Yaokang worriedly said: "When we return to Beijing this time, our father and son really won't be punished, right?"

"Brother, don't worry. Marshal Zhu is very benevolent and righteous. I didn't suffer any punishment when I was captured last time." The second son Gao Yaofu was quite experienced. He was captured by the rebels in Fengxiang Mansion and released after peace talks.

Gao Qiu looked at the wind and snow outside from the gap in the broken house, tightened his clothes and said: "Beheading is not enough, I am not one of the six thieves. Even if we invade the land, we only invade the barracks and the school grounds of the Forbidden Army, never occupy them." People’s houses and houses will not go to the outside of the city to occupy those farmlands. This time, we have made great contributions to Xuzhou. How can we not reward them but punish them severely? But I don’t know if our family’s wealth can be preserved."

"It's good if you can survive," Gao Yaokang pointed outside and said, "At least tens of thousands of people have died in the suburbs of Beijing by the Guangji River. There are empty houses everywhere and no one lives in them."

I don’t know how many died, but there must be more than 10,000 missing.

According to recent official statistics, the number of residential areas within ten miles on both sides of the Guangji River outside the city has decreased by at least 20,000 compared to before the war. Those who could come back all came back, and those who couldn't most likely died of illness and starvation, or were kidnapped by the Jin soldiers and taken to the north.

The inner city, the outer city and the surrounding suburbs were all organized and managed uniformly. Half a year of war caused the population to drop by nearly 100,000.

Especially in the city, many people did not die of direct starvation, but died of complications caused by long-term malnutrition.

After spending a night freezing in a broken house, Gao Qiu led his troops to the outside of the city. The place was slightly more prosperous, but still relatively depressed, mainly due to the lack of commercial and entertainment activities.

There are not even many vendors selling snacks, because the government strictly controls food.

"Popcorn pops, selling corn pops..."

There are quite a few people selling popcorn. In Kaifeng this winter, the regulations on corn are slightly looser.

It's a pity that this kind of popcorn has neither sugar nor salt and can only be eaten plain.

There was a war going on in the Huainan salt area. Fang Mengqing was appointed as the general manager of Huainan, and he fought back and forth with the salt owl and the rebels who accepted the invitation of Song Huizong. This resulted in insufficient supply of salt, and Sichuan salt had to be transported to Beijing to fill the gap.

"Stop, who are you?" The city guards stopped Gao Qiu.

Gao Qiu took out the official document signed by Zhang Bor: "We used to be the imperial army of the old Song Dynasty. After conquering Xuzhou, we all surrendered to Marshal Zhu. Now we have removed our armor and joined the people. We have come back to reunite with our families. Please allow us to enter the city."

The gatekeepers did not dare to neglect and hurriedly went in to report. Soon, officers and civil servants arrived one after another.

People like Gao Qiu had to first go to the Wucheng Military and Horse Department to report, and then go to Kaifeng Mansion to register, confirm their identities, and then disperse and go home.

Gao Qiu had several houses, one of which was south of the inner city wall, which was given by Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty. The remaining few properties are all north of the outer city wall, and they are real estate developed by himself.

The father and son first went to the south of the city to check and found that their mansion had been sealed.

After carefully asking the nearby neighbors, I found out that every part of the mansion given by Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty had been confiscated, and the original owner was only allowed to take away a small amount of frivolous wealth.

As for the Gao family, no one was arrested and they all moved outside Beicheng.

So the father and son went out of the city to the north again. The concubine Gao Bing cried when he saw them: "Father, brother, all the belongings of our Gao family have been confiscated, and all the antiques and antiques collected by my father are gone."

"How much wealth is left?" Gao Qiu asked.

Gao Bing replied: "The imperial court said that my father's contribution to Xuzhou allowed him to take away 200,000 yuan, and he could keep one of his mansions in the north of the city."

"It's okay, it's okay." Gao Qiu murmured to himself.

With two hundred thousand yuan in free money and a mansion outside the city, not to mention continuing to enjoy wealth, at least two or three generations can live a good life.

Gao Bing added: "The houses my father built before, whether they were sold or not, were all confiscated by the court. Some were demolished and rebuilt as school grounds, and some were left for the soldiers to live in. I live here, and I am worried all day long. The one who lives next door Those are all Sichuan soldiers."

In the north of Tokyo, there is a large military camp and school ground area, most of which was occupied by Gao Qiu for real estate development, and more than a dozen various companies were opened.

Nowadays, even the properties that have been sold have to be relocated, and the mansions have become large courtyards where soldiers live together.

As for the wealthy households who are forced to move out, they can live wherever they like.

There is really no place to live, and there are still a lot of empty houses on both sides of the Guangji and Bian rivers. As long as it is an ownerless house confirmed by the government, anyone can apply to live in it. They only need to pay a low-price subscription fee - each household can only subscribe for one place, and they must also transfer their household registration to prevent wealthy people from moving there. Take the opportunity to occupy real estate.

These days, some wealthy households are frantically splitting up their families and asking their children and grandchildren to purchase ownerless houses outside the city.

Zhao Ding responded quickly and stipulated that during this special period, each household could be divided into three at most, and any additional household registrations would be declared invalid.

Wealthy households also have countermeasures, mobilizing relatives, friends, and even servants to ask these people to subscribe for real estate at low prices, and to buy houses in prime locations outside the city.

The government is too lazy to care about this anymore. The money and silk are so attractive that there will probably be many lawsuits in the future. Would the relatives, friends, and servants of a wealthy family be willing to only have the name of a homeowner? Some of them must have chosen to report it to the authorities in an attempt to get "their" property.

Gao Qiu asked about the situation at home, and then asked about the trends in the court.

Gao Bing said: "I heard that Zhu Jinglue is going to proclaim himself emperor. Not only officials, but also scholars are discussing the name of the country. The new dynasty is neither Han nor Qi, but the Ming Dynasty. Many people don't know the name of the country. I agree, and some people say that this country’s name is related to Manichaeism.”

"Manicheism?" Gao Qiu didn't understand.

Gao Bing explained: "Some officials from the south said that Manichaeism is called Mingjiao in some places, and it believes in Ming Zun and Ming Wang. So some people speculate that Zhu Xianggong may be a Manichae."

"Who is responsible for preparing for the ascension ceremony?" Gao Qiu asked again.

Gao Bing said: "The great scholar Huan came from the south."

Gao Qiu had never heard of this name and had no impression of the country of Huan.

This is because Huan Guo died first of his mother and then his father, leaving Ding You at home for six full years. It was the darkest period of Huizong's reign in the Song Dynasty. Huan Guoding was unwilling to serve as an official anymore after his term expired. He lived in seclusion in Jiangsu and Zhejiang until the beginning of the year, when he was repeatedly recruited by the imperial court to serve as an official in Beijing.

Continuing to inquire about the situation, Gao Qiu wanted to find an acquaintance to lead the way.

However, he discovered that most of his former acquaintances did not achieve high positions, and some even had their homes confiscated and were exiled. On the contrary, a few political opponents were given important positions.

The next day, Gao Qiu took his two sons and went to the Ministry of Officials to report.

In his situation, the officials could not handle it at all. They had to ask the court for instructions, and ultimately the decision had to be made by Zhu and his son.

When the new emperor ascended the throne, he would definitely receive official titles and rewards. Gao Qiu could not sit still anymore. He could not just wait at home, he had to rely on connections as soon as possible to catch up with the rewards.

He packed all the gold and silver in his family's wealth into a car, worth nearly 10,000 guan, and dragged it directly to Li Bangyan's house.

He was even more humble when delivering the assassination. He only delivered it to a side door of the Li family. He signed the signature and called himself "a late scholar" and called Li Bangyan "Master Gongxiang".

Even so, you still have to queue!

The two side doors of Li Bangyan's residence were full of people giving gifts, some of whom were not allowed in from morning until noon.

"Father," Gao Yaofu whispered, "Li Bangyan is very popular. Our gift is less than 10,000 yuan. I'm afraid he won't do his best when helping."

"We can only wait," Gao Qiu comforted himself, "We have made great contributions to Xuzhou. Li Bangyan doesn't have to work too hard. Just accept the money and help. It's easy to make money, and you can still sell face. Isn't he Will refuse.”

The two of them didn't have much of a friendship, but they didn't have any issues either.

Gao Qiu doesn't know how to play football at all. He only knows poetry, calligraphy, and business and real estate.

The one with truly superb skills was Li Bangyan, who was proficient in all kinds of entertainment projects. He had a great time playing with Song Huizong all day long. Gao Qiu was regarded as taking the blame for Li Bangyan for a thousand years.