Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

In the southern suburbs of Tokyo, there was once the Imperial Palace of the Song Dynasty.

Gongsun Sheng went out with a hoe, followed by a girl.

That was the wife he married two months ago. She was originally the maid of Deputy Prime Minister Zhao Yejia. After Zhao Ye's family was confiscated and executed, his relatives were exiled to the barbarian lands in southern Sichuan, but his servants could choose to stay or leave.

A large number of refugees, unemployed vagrants, and retired soldiers are placed in Gyeonggi Road to farm. There are too many men and few women, which can easily cause security problems.

Ju Ming specially asked the Ministry of Rites to arrange marriages and recruited matchmakers from all over the city to match them.

Veteran generals like Gongsun Sheng were among the more sought-after types because he was allocated twenty-five acres of land and did not have to pay for it himself.

"Brother got up early." Wu Song also went out with his newlywed wife.

Gongsun Sheng went to walk side by side with him and whispered: "I heard that those members of the royal family of the old dynasty were under supervision two days ago?"

Wu Song said: "I saw it with my own eyes. Counting children, there were two to three hundred people."

"It's really interesting that we are neighbors." Gongsun Sheng said with a smile.

Wu Song whispered: "There is a battalion of Sichuan soldiers living here. They are not only looking after the royal family members, but also keeping an eye on us. There are many people who are resettled to farm nearby. They used to be thieves. Even some refugees have become thieves. .”

Gongsun Sheng said: "As long as you don't cause trouble, what are you afraid of the Sichuan soldiers doing?"

The two of them didn't go far when they met Wu Jialiang.

They all voluntarily retired from the army to farm. Wu Jialiang still wants to be a village school teacher, but who is willing to send his children to study in the first year of resettlement?

Everyone gathered in a field, where many farmers had gathered, and royal family members were also present.

There were several soldiers around, walking around boredly, but their eyes did not relax.

Not long after, two farmers' officers arrived, accompanied by Yamen officials to protect them.

Ju Ming conquered Tokyo a little late and had already missed the wheat planting time. The people who were resettled in the winter could only plant crops after spring.

Of course corn is suitable, but so are millet and sorghum.

Many of those who came here this year to learn planting techniques had never farmed before. There are also some who know how to farm, but have never grown corn.

I saw an exhortation officer rolling up his trouser legs, holding a hoe and saying: "Those who have been farmers, come over to loosen the soil and plow the ground together. Those who don't know how to do farm work just watch and learn, and when they are familiar with it, come and practice. If you don't understand, come and practice." If you don’t know how to learn, you will starve to death from now on!”

Wu Jialiang immediately picked up the hoe and went to the ground, then persuaded the agricultural officer to turn over the land and loosen the soil.

Gongsun Sheng and Wu Song were nearby. They learned it after watching it for a while, and the rest was just hands-on practice.

The agricultural officer also explained the techniques, how to hold the hoe in the most labor-saving position, and even the height of the hoe was explained.

It took a full hour to turn over the soil. Seeing that everyone seemed to have a grasp of it, he persuaded the agricultural officials to start talking about how to grow corn: "Today's officials say that this kind of land should be adapted to the local conditions and the time. The climate is different, the terrain is different, and the seeds are the same." The cropping methods are different. Corn is grown on hillside in Sichuan, so the Sichuan method is not applicable here in Gyeonggi Road. It can definitely be grown, and the service will be better, but there is no need... "

"What I will teach you today is a method of interplanting corn and corn in ridges and furrows created by the government based on the topography and climate of Kaifeng. Four ridges of corn are interplanted with one ridge of corn. Both of these two types are drought tolerant and can maintain yields in dry and thin land. They have enough water and fertilizer. The output is higher..."

"What are the benefits of interplanting in ridges and furrows? Corn and millet are different in height. Even if they are interplanted, they can both be exposed to the sun. So you don't understand photosynthesis. Anyway, you only need to know that it can increase yields. Corn roots grow quickly and can absorb Deep nutrients; corn has a shallow root system and can absorb shallow nutrients. If these two are planted together, they will not compete for water and fertilizer."

"Actually, it's okay not to dig furrows. If you have a lot of fields, you can save some effort. But if you dig furrows, you won't be afraid of lodging. Secondly, you can retain water. Thirdly, it will be easier to drain when it rains for days. You consider yourself a lazy person and don't want to do too much. If you are tired, you don’t need to dig ridges and ditches. If you are diligent and want to get more harvest, then learn from me to dig ridges and ditches."

"Another advantage of this furrow is that when harvesting corn, the corn stalks are cut and dumped in the ditch, and they can be filled back directly to cultivate the land. If you are worried about the infestation of insects next year, you can just burn them with a fire..."

"That's all for today. When to water and when to give manure. I will come back when the day comes..."

After listening to it for a while, everyone started working along, learning something and quickly mastering it.

Gongsun Sheng muttered: "What level is this agricultural officer? He speaks clearly and clearly, and he is willing to work in the fields. He is different from ordinary bird officers."

Wu Song smiled and said: "If all the officials in the world were like this, how could we have rebelled before?"

Wu Jialiang said: "But you don't know that these agricultural officers are all disciples of the emperor. The highest is only the seventh grade, and the lowest is not even a grade. But even a non-rank agricultural officer can enter the palace at any time to ask for an audience with the emperor. For more than three years A senior agricultural officer can ask for a political officer who will be transferred to the same level. If the agricultural officer persists for more than ten years, the emperor will also give him a baron title. Those who have served for thirty years will be granted the title of viscount."

"You only know how to farm but you are also given a title?" Gongsun Sheng was greatly surprised.

Wu Jialiang said: "If you die, your title will be removed, and you will not pass it on to your descendants."

"It's worth it. I want to do it." Gongsun Sheng said.

Wu Jialiang said with a smile: "You can do whatever you want? I know a lot of things."

Wu Song said: "You can become a civil servant in three years. Who wants to persist for thirty years? I really admire those who can be made a viscount. I'm afraid there will be very few people by then."

But those royal family members returned to their own fields one after another and were stunned when they looked at the land covered with weeds.

But the prince said, just take care of the food until the harvest. If you don't work hard at this time, everyone will be hungry after the autumn harvest.

"Ms. sir, dig up the ground." Zhu Lian reminded.

In addition to the former empress, there were also the former concubine Zhu Xuan and a dozen other concubines.

Women below the concubine level have all left voluntarily to start families with unmarried soldiers.

There were more than ten women, one of whom took turns taking care of the child, while the rest followed Zhao Huan to dig the ground.

There had been spring rains two days ago, so the ground was not too hard and it was relatively easy at first. But just ten minutes later, some people felt that their arms were sore, and their waists began to swell while doing it, and then they lost strength in their mouths and wrists.

After half an hour, Zhao Huan was out of breath from exhaustion. He let go of the hoe and found that his palms were blistered.

"How did I end up in such a situation?" Zhao Huan looked up at the sky, feeling sad and wanting to cry without tears.

Two soldiers watched them digging the ground, laughing and pointing from time to time.

"Here comes the plowing cow!"

An official came over with three oxen, two were given to Zhao Fujin's brothers, and the remaining one was shared by everyone.

When they heard that the cattle were coming, the relatives of the royal family who were farming nearby quickly came to greet them - in fact, they were tired from work and wanted to be lazy.

An officer smiled and said: "Dear gentlemen, I have said above that if you want to use plowing oxen to plow the land, you must learn how to use the oxen yourself. I have brought an old farmer. If you want to learn, just come here."

The ox was very strong, and Zhao Huan was afraid of danger, so he did not dare to pass by.

After hesitating for a while, Zhao Qi and Zhao Gou stepped forward, and then others followed.

The old farmer did not teach them how to use cattle, but first taught them how to raise and herd cattle, and also brought them the fodder that cattle like to eat.

Everyone gathered around the three cattle and started feeding them like pets. Then the old farmer took them to cut grass for the cattle.

On the first day of farming, I felt like I was wasted, and I basically didn’t do much farm work.

The women had to collect firewood for cooking. At first they couldn't even light a fire, and all of them were covered in smoke.

After three or four days, I finally got back on track.

…

"Are they all honest?" Zhu Ming asked, reading the official document.

The officer in charge of surveillance replied: "They are all quite honest. No one tried to escape. They are just lazy at work. They are all very delicate and take more breaks than work."

Ju Ming asked again: "Do you know how to use the cattle?"

The officer replied: "Zhao Qi and Zhao Gou have learned how to use it, but others are not very good at it. Zhao Gou has also negotiated with other people to use the public ox to plow the land with rations. Zhao Chu and Zhao Mo ( Zhao Fujin's two younger brothers, although they each have a farming ox, have not yet learned how to do it. They cooperated with Zhao Qi, who helped them plow the land for free. After the land of the three families was plowed, Zhao Qi would Qi used his oxen to plow other people's fields, and the rations he earned were shared equally among them."

Ju Ming sneered: "You can still save rations and hire people to plow the land, but it seems like you're giving too much. From tomorrow on, each person's rations will be reduced by 20%. Those who plow the land themselves don't need to reduce it!"

"Yes." The officer was suppressing a smile, probably remembering something funny.

There are a lot of funny things about those royal family members.

Ju Ming did not continue to pay attention and started working. Suddenly, an urgent message came from the Generalissimo's Mansion.

This was sent by Yang Zhi from Shaanxi. When Xixia learned that Zhu Guoxiang had ascended the throne and proclaimed himself emperor, he took the initiative to express his willingness to negotiate peace and hoped that the two countries would establish diplomatic relations.

But the conditions proposed by Xixia are somewhat harsh——

First, Ming Dynasty must give Xixia 200,000 Guansui coins every year.

Second, redraw the boundaries between the two countries, such as Gugulong City, Tiandu Village, Xi'an City, Xiaoguan, Huairong Fort, Shuiquan Fort, Huichuan City, Tongquan Fort, Longgou Fort...these old Song Dynasty The cities, gates and forts all belong to Xixia. Once the boundaries were drawn, Xixia was willing to spit out other places it had already occupied.

Third, to restore trade between the two countries, the Ming Dynasty must not prevent Xixia green salt from being sold to the Han Dynasty, and the Ming Dynasty must not prevent Han merchants from selling tea to Xixia.

After reading these contents, Ju Ming took up his pen and wrote down a few orders. The contents are roughly as follows:

"Half of all types of artillery in the army were given to Li Bao to equip the navy, and half were shipped to Lanzhou to attack Xixia."

"Hua Rong led the musketeers to Yi County, waiting to receive the new muskets. The musketeers expanded into the Shenji Battalion with 1,200 people. After training, they immediately left for Lanzhou."

"Order Yang Zhi, Zhong Shidao, Yao Gu, and Li Yanxian to find a way to capture Xixia Zhuoluo and Nanjunsi. Settle there and then negotiate peace with Xixia!"

"Hanzhong and Guanzhong try their best to raise grain and grass, and start shipping all summer grain to Lanzhou."

"Half of the summer grain from Henan is sent to Shanxi and the other half to Kaifeng."

After this summer’s harvest, Ming Dynasty will most likely start war on three sides at the same time!