Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

In the southern suburbs, Yujin Garden.

When the children wanted to come out to play, Zhu Guoxiang simply called the whole family.

Grandma Yan has gone to the south to live with her grandson and granddaughter-in-law. There are not many women in the Zhu family. Counting the children who can run and jump, there are less than twenty of them now.

So he took his guards out of the palace in the snow and came to Yujin Garden to enjoy the snow scenery and take a look at the animals raised here.

The only remaining elephant not only trampled the Jin soldiers to death when escaping, but also participated in Zhu Guoxiang's enthronement ceremony. Naturally, it must be well taken care of. Now I don’t dare to come out of the elephant room because the temperature is too low, so I have to keep it warm by the fire all day long.

"Daddy, can you put some clothes on the elephant? So it can go out and play." A little girl was feeding the elephant concentrate and suddenly raised her head and asked Zhu Guoxiang.

This is Dean Zhu's eldest daughter. The name given by Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty has long been abandoned. In the end, Lao Zhu personally named his daughter Zhu Yan.

Ordinary, nothing new.

Lao Zhu thinks the same way. He just hopes that his daughter can be normal and have a happy smile every day.

Yan, the state of clever laughter.

Faced with his daughter's childish words, Zhu Guoxiang actually thought seriously: "It's okay to make thick clothes for elephants, but firstly, it's unnecessary to use too many materials, and secondly, the elephants may not like it."

Zhu Yan asked: "Why don't elephants like it?"

"Because elephants don't wear clothes." Zhu Guoxiang said.

Zhu Yan asked again: "The elephant has never worn clothes. How did daddy know that it didn't like to wear clothes?"

"Well..." Zhu Guoxiang said, "When you have a baby elephant in the future, you can make a dress and let it try it on."

Zhu Yan asked again: "When will this elephant give birth to a baby?"

Zhu Guoxiang said: "This elephant is male, and we will find a female elephant in the future. When the imperial court sends troops to conquer Dali, we can bring back a female elephant."

"Oh." Zhu Yan seemed to understand but not understand.

Ju Ming said happily from the side: "It's a little difficult to answer one hundred thousand whys."

"Isn't it the same with your children?" Zhu Guoxiang said angrily.

When he walked out of the elephant room, a gust of cold wind blew, so cold that Ju Ming put his hands in his sleeves.

In the open space not far away, the wives, concubines and children of the father and son were laughing and having a snowball fight. It was rare to get together like this all year round.

After feeding the elephant, Zhu Yan happily joined the battle group, rolling up a ball of snow and running around on the ground.

Zhu Guoxiang asked: "Have you finished reading Xiao Chu's "Spring and Autumn Questions"?"

"I've basically finished reading it," Zhu Ming said.

"How does it compare with Huan Guo's "Spring and Autumn Biography" manuscript?" Zhu Guoxiang asked.

Ju Ming said: "The subject matter is different. Huan Guo wrote a serious biography of "Spring and Autumn", while Xiao Chu's book is equivalent to a collection of essays. He extracted a major event or point of view, and then wrote an essay based on it. These There are dozens of papers in total. A few are purely academic papers, and most take the opportunity to express political thoughts."

"How do you feel after reading it?" Zhu Guoxiang asked.

Ju Ming said: "The core idea of ​​those dozens of papers is centralization of power, inner saints and outer kings. For example, he said that there were hundreds of events in the Spring and Autumn Period, and the meeting of princes took up the most space, so he discussed why Confucius paid attention to the meeting Alliance. The conclusion drawn is that the princes fighting for hegemony in the Spring and Autumn Period were fighting for the position of the alliance leader, and the position of the alliance leader represented the power of the world. In the Spring and Autumn Period, the emperor of Zhou presided over the alliance, and gradually evolved into the overlord presiding over the alliance, which actually represented great power The sideways fall."

Zhu Guoxiang was a little disappointed: "That's all?"

Ju Ming smiled and said: "Of course there are more. There are many interesting views. For example, this person supports foreign wars. He said that only rotten scholars would think that spending money to build strong soldiers and armor and driving people to die in barren land is It is better to use civilized education to make the barbarians surrender. His point of view is that the barbarians should be attacked. If they threaten China, no matter how much money and food is spent, no matter how far the troops are sent, no matter how many people are killed or injured, they should be attacked. As for the basis, haha , the debate between Huayi and Huayi.”

"You seem to be very satisfied with this person?" Zhu Guoxiang asked.

Ju Ming said: "Some of his thoughts are very to my liking, and they are not consistent. Take the discussion of war as an example. He supports foreign wars because he is not warlike. He also discusses the victory and defeat of the war. Some of the sentences are insidious. It satirizes Song Huizong’s conquests of Xixia and Liao. It probably means that there is still a lot of shit in the country, so don’t go to war outside to embarrass yourself.”

Zhu Guoxiang smiled and asked, "Do you have any ideas?"

Ju Ming said: "How about letting him be the examiner of the first imperial examination?"

"I don't care." Zhu Guoxiang said.

Zhu Guoxiang had already expressed his attitude before. The cabinet ministers had too many political affairs, and the examiner should choose a minister to do them.

But among the ministers, there is currently no one who can convince the public.

This Xiao Chu had enough knowledge, and he was a great scholar who had refused to be recruited three times. He was awarded the title of bachelor and was enough to serve as the examiner.

"Woooooooo..."

Zhu Kang, the eldest grandson of the imperial concubine, ran to Ju Ming crying, raised his finger and pointed in the distance to complain to his father, but his forehead was hit red by a snowball.

Ju Ming turned around and saw that the culprit, Zhu Yan, was smiling playfully.

Zhu Ming couldn't help laughing, and encouraged: "You were thrown by your aunt, don't you know how to throw it back with a snowball?"

Zhu Kang said: "Auntie is stronger."

"You just hide away, why are you crying like a man?" Ju Ming didn't feel sorry for him at all.

Zhu Kang pouted and went back, picked up the snowball and was about to throw it away, when someone hit him on the face again, and he cried "Wow" even harder.

While wiping away tears and crying, he fought back with snowballs.

Zhe Yanxiu couldn't stand it anymore and shouted with a smile: "Da Lang, come here and I will teach you!"

Zhu Kang was learning throwing skills. After bullying his nephew, Zhu Yan did not give him a chance to take revenge: "I went to build a snowman with my mother."

"I want to build a snowman too!" Zhu Kang, who was still crying just now, quickly followed suit.

After a long commotion, the whole family returned to the house and started cooking the mutton over a charcoal fire.

After eating hot pot and playing until midnight, we finally drove back to the palace.

Inside and outside the city, the snow has been cleared from the streets. Both houses and shops are obliged to clear the snow in front of their doors. If you fail to do so for many days and obstruct traffic, you will be fined.

Many people took advantage of the snow to go out for a walk today. When they saw the emperor's ceremonial guard, they automatically moved out of the way, and some even waved and cheered at the royal chariot.

Tokyo citizens are all too familiar with this. The Kaifeng Imperial Palace is too small and the royal family often runs outside the palace to play.

It's just that during the reign of Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty, as life became more and more difficult, many people at the bottom looked at Yu Jia angrily.

Now that life is better, they are very happy to see the royal car driving.

But the outsiders were very excited, and even those who were rushing to take the imperial examination couldn't help but kneel to the emperor, and the reserved ones also bowed from a distance.

After returning to the palace, the eunuch on duty said to Zhu Guoxiang: "Your Majesty, the family of Prime Minister Gao has come to report that Prime Minister Gao has recovered slightly from his illness a few days ago, but in the past two days he has been infected with wind and cold and has a high fever. He finally had no fever last night, and suddenly this morning He was coughing up blood, and the imperial doctor said he might not be able to survive the winter."

"I know, call the prince." Zhu Guoxiang felt a little headache.

After a while, Ju Ming came over in a carriage. He dragged a chair and sat down and asked, "What happened when you just came back?"

Zhu Guoxiang said: "Deputy Prime Minister Gao Jingshan is dying. The imperial doctor said it will be difficult for him to survive this winter."

"Isn't his illness cured?" Zhu Ming said.

Zhu Guoxiang said: "I've caught the cold again. Among the cabinet ministers, one must be promoted to be the deputy prime minister, and another cabinet minister must be replaced as soon as possible. Who do you think is more suitable to join the cabinet?"

Ju Ming said: "I am actually very optimistic about Xu Churen who was released. But he is also relatively old. In "History of the Song Dynasty", he died of illness after Zhao Gou succeeded to the throne. It is estimated that he will not live long if he is recruited into the cabinet."

It is indeed a pity that Xu Churen is perfect in both talent and virtue.

After the Jin soldiers withdrew for the first time, Zhong Shidao asked for the establishment of a Yellow River defense line. Xu Churen said that the Jin soldiers had just left and would not come back. That was the only stain in his life.

But there is a reason for saying this. As a commander-in-chief, Zhongshi Dao naturally places military emphasis on military matters. But Xu Churen was in the center, but he had to consider financial issues. The national treasury was already so poor that it was running out of money, so what could be used to build the Yellow River defense line?

Zhu Guoxiang thought carefully and said: "Promote the old ministers who have joined the Hanlin Academy. Liu Yan, the Minister of the Ministry of Justice, will be promoted to the cabinet minister, and Xu Fuyan, who is in charge of the Hanlin Academy, will be the Minister of the Ministry of Punishments. Xiao Chu, who you like, is in charge of the Hanlin Academy. This position is just suitable for the imperial examination. Examiner."

"Okay." Zhu Ming nodded and said.

There is an old man named Wei Tai in Xiangyang, and his home used to be an intelligence transfer station.

This person was originally going to be reused, but before Zhu Guoxiang came to Beijing, Wei Tai suddenly suffered a stroke and became paralyzed.

Zhu Guoxiang said: "Please go visit Gaojing Mountain for me."

"Okay." Ju Ming said.

Ju Ming, who had just returned to the palace, had some simple meals and then took a carriage to visit the seriously ill minister.

It's already dark, the lights are starting to turn on, and there's a lot of excitement outside Donghua Gate.

Various controls were gradually relaxed, and even the price of alcohol dropped.

Although Fan Lou's business is much bleak because the old powerful people are no longer there, there are still a few powerful people and wealthy businessmen to support the situation.

Passing Yanglou Street south of Fanlou, and then Xijier Lane is Shaxing.

A whole row of shops sell textiles. In addition to silk yarn, they also sell silk and satin. They are still open even after dark.

Ju Ming raised the corner of the car curtain and silently watched the street scene.

A group of slaves, surrounded by two luxurious women, were selecting fabrics in the store.

Several scholars were passing by outside the store. They were chatting and laughing, looking left and right, as if they were taking a tour of Tokyo's night scene.

When a scholar noticed that the prince's chariot had arrived, he turned around and bowed excitedly, and his friends also greeted him with warm salutes.

Further south is Pan Tower, which is much busier than Fan Tower because the overall price is cheaper. It is obvious that the consumption of Tokyo's elite has been downgraded.

To the south of Panlou are Yingdian and Sangjia Wazi.

The Eagle Shop originally sold falcons and other raptors. During the siege, food was insufficient and all the raptors were eaten by the owner.

After the city was broken, a large number of dignitaries were liquidated and relocated, and entertainment activities such as flying eagles and lackeys would be difficult to restore in a short period of time. There are only a few raptors in the store now, and business is particularly deserted. Even the store is listed for sublease and sale.

To the south of Yingdian is the Tiezhilou Hotel run by Jews.

They have been unable to establish a church in Kaifeng, so they built a room in the backyard of the hotel for fellow Jewish people to gather and worship.

There are also Jews in Hangzhou who came to China more than 20 years ago.

There are also a large number of Arabs on the southeast coast.

Ju Ming is considering whether to formulate relevant policies to force long-term settlers to change their Chinese names and prohibit intermarriage among outsiders of the same ethnic group.

Moreover, he doesn't like people named Pu.

However, due to this poor translation, at least nine of the ten Arab businessmen who came to China at this time were either named Pu or Li.