Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

April.

The weather this spring has been good. Although the weather cannot be said to be smooth, we have not encountered a large-scale spring drought.

After the recovery in the first and second years of Hongwu, Tokyo became increasingly lively inside and outside.

The lives of people in the suburbs were far superior to those in the previous Song Dynasty.

The slums on both sides of the canal disappeared. Most of them fled when the Jin soldiers went south, and were resettled as refugees by the Ming Dynasty. They were all assigned land in the Gyeonggi area (purchased on credit at low prices with no interest in installments). There are also a small number of poor people who are unwilling to buy land on credit and are placed in ownerless houses outside the city, serving as cheap labor for the operation of Tokyo city.

At dusk, most farmers in the suburbs go home. Eating before dark can save money on lamp oil.

There are also some extremely hard-working farmers who have eaten in the middle of the afternoon and continue working in the fields before the sun sets.

Wu Song leaned under the tree with his empty rice bowl in his hands, listening to the village neighbors gathering to brag and chat.

The wife was holding her son, who was under one year old, and exchanging information about the village with a group of older girls and younger wives.

Although this day was tiring, it was fulfilling and promising, but Wu Song was a little restless.

He followed Song Jiang for several years, but he was tired of it, so he accepted Prince Zhu's conditions for allocating land and planned to become a small landowner on the outskirts of Tokyo.

After marrying a wife and giving birth to a son, life became smoother, but Wu Song began to miss the days of fighting and killing.

He felt that he was not suitable to be a farmer, especially last year when good news came frequently. Wu Song wanted to join the army to serve the country and find a wife and son based on his ability.

Unfortunately, he now has a wife and children, and no other family members to help take care of him, so he will not be able to travel away for two or three years.

"Three stars...four stars in a row?"

Wu Jialiang, who was telling the ancient story to the children in the village, stood up suddenly while looking at the sky to the west.

I saw Venus, Mars, and Saturn suddenly appearing on the horizon. Jupiter, on the other hand, hangs in the sky at an angle of thirty degrees to the horizon.

The children saw the teacher looking at the sky, so they stood and looked with him.

The sky is almost dark, and Mercury is getting closer.

Wu Jialiang said excitedly: "The five stars in a row are so auspicious!"

In fact, this year belongs to the "Eight Stars in a row".

However, Uranus and Neptune cannot be seen with the naked eye, and the earth as a planet is not included in Wu Jialiang's calculation.

"What are you looking at, sir?" Wu Song handed the job to his wife and walked over to Wu Jialiang out of curiosity.

Wu Jialiang pointed to the western sky: "The five stars are in a row. This is the Holy Emperor who is alive, and the Haotian God is sending down the auspiciousness!"

The more Wu Song looked, the more confused he became: "Where are the five stars connected?"

Wu Jialiang said: "At the junction of heaven and earth in the west, the three stars are Venus, Mars, and Saturn. Further up, the extremely bright one is Jupiter. Mercury is slowly getting closer, and soon the five stars will be in a line. "

After a long time, Wu Song finally understood it and said in awe: "With such auspiciousness, the Emperor of Ming Dynasty must be blessed by God."

Not only were they observing the sky, there were also many people in the city who were concentrating on looking up at the stars.

The officials of the Astronomical Academy even mobilized en masse.

At this time in history, the Jin soldiers were sweeping across Hebei and Shanxi.

Zongze, Ma Kuo, Han Shizhong, Zhai Jin and others took the lead in raising troops to resist the Jin Dynasty.

Ma Kuo also used the sign of King Xin Zhao Zhen, saying that King Xin had escaped from the Jin camp, and gathered the rebels in Wuma Mountain to raise the anti-Jin banner.

Ma Kuo led 500 people to cross the Yellow River. He first met Zongze in Tokyo and then went to Xingzai to meet Zhao Gou.

The number of civil and military officials around Zhao Gou was less than a hundred, and the Song Dynasty was at its most critical moment - what was the use of the Five Stars?

A carriage drove to Donghua Gate, and Li Hanzhang entered with Xu Xian's wife.

Tonight, the prince was serving wine in the East Palace, and only four people, Li Hanzhang, Qian Chen, Chen Dong and Meng Zhao, and their wives were invited.

The four of them are the most powerful officials in the Ming Dynasty!

Zhu Ming was in charge of military power, Li Hanzhang was in charge of personnel, Qian Chen was in charge of finance, Chen Dong was in charge of supervision, and Meng Zhao was in charge of education and public opinion.

The group of officials in the cabinet have no executive power at all.

Even the communication of cabinet decisions was in the hands of Zhu Guoxiang's direct disciple Liang Yi. It made Liang Yi unhappy, so he had to give some eye drops to the cabinet ministers.

The papery Qi Ge Lao seems to be in a high position, but in fact he is miserable.

Li Hanzhang and his wife came to the waiting room inside Donghua Gate, where Chen Dong and Qian Chen were already drinking tea with their wives and waiting.

The three families sat together drinking tea and chatting, waiting and waiting, but Meng Zhao didn't show up yet.

Just when they were getting tired of waiting, Meng Zhao and his wife Yu Shanwei finally appeared.

Before anyone could say anything, Meng Zhao said happily: "With five stars in a row, auspiciousness descends from the sky! I was delayed when I went upstairs to look at the stars."

"Is there really a five-star continuum?" Li Hanzhang, Qian Chen and Chen Dong were all delighted.

Although Zhu Guoxiang insisted not to engage in auspiciousness and always denied the theory of telepathy between heaven and man, Song Huizong played this trick for more than 20 years, and the related ideas were once again deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.

Even Chen Dong has no doubts about Xiangrui.

Of course, this belief is selective. He did not believe in the auspiciousness of the former Song Dynasty Emperor Hunzong, but he believed that the new Ming Dynasty was blessed by God.

Li Hanzhang said excitedly: "Go and report to His Highness, and let's go to the city to watch the stars together!"

Chen Dong said: "I'm afraid it's too late."

Due to the position of the planets' orbits, Mercury and Venus are about to disappear from the sky, and the five-star continuum that can be observed with the naked eye is very short.

The four families got on the carriage in the palace, chatting and laughing happily and headed to the East Palace.

The Crown Princess Zhang Jinping and the concubine Zheng Yuanyi were both there. Zhang Jinping was the official wife, but Zheng Yuanyi had a good relationship with Yu Shanwei and others.

The dining table was placed in the courtyard, with several lanterns hung around it.

Ju Ming waved and said with a smile: "Have a seat, everyone! I have been very busy since I returned to Beijing this year, and now I invite you to have a drink."

Everyone sat down, and Meng Zhao first raised his hands and said, "Congratulations to the officials and Your Highness. When I entered the palace just now, I heard that someone saw the Five Stars in a row. I quickly climbed up to the Fan Tower to observe, and there is no doubt that it is indeed a Five Stars in a row."

Ju Ming was surprised to hear it and said with great interest: "Take me to see it quickly."

Meng Zhao said: "If you look at it now, you may only see three stars in a row. Mercury and Venus have already fallen from the sky."

"Forget it then," Zhu Ming asked with a smile, "According to previous sayings, this five-star streak is a good thing, right?"

After Meng Zhao became the Minister of Rites, he crazily scolded the ritual system and astronomical knowledge, and immediately replied: "It is a good sign. Liu Bang becomes king and Wu Zhao becomes emperor, both of which are scheduled to happen when the five stars are connected."

Ju Ming reminded: "It's okay to chat while drinking, but please don't talk about things like this in the court from now on."

"Yes!" Meng Zhao quickly agreed, and he planned to go to the bookstore tomorrow to praise the saintly virtues.

Since there is no room for one table, men and women eat at separate tables.

Yu Shanwei sat at the next table and said with a smile: "If calculated according to the official heliocentric theory, the connection of five stars only happens once in a hundred years. But if the angle is widened and the connection is within 60 degrees, then it can actually happen once in twenty years. . I just observed the angle, this is a once-in-a-hundred-year sequence."

Chen Dong was greatly impressed when he heard this. He cupped his hands and said, "I have often heard that Mrs. Yu is an extraordinary talented woman. Today I finally saw that she is so proficient in astronomy."

Yu Shanwei has a royal title and can indeed be called Madam.

Zheng Yuanyi smiled and said: "Sister Yu was the right-hand man of the official family when she was in Daming Village. Now in the capital, the official family wanted to give her an official title, but sister Yu was willing to support her husband and raise her children."

Li Hanzhang pointed at Meng Zhao and joked: "I'm afraid it's not that I teach my husband and children, but that I give advice to my husband."

Meng Zhao was not ashamed and raised his glass proudly: "I have a virtuous wife, so I can assist the sage!"

Everyone laughed and no longer exposed his shortcomings.

The dignified Minister of Rites, who still dares not take concubines, is already on par with Fang Xuanling.

Zhu Ming said: "Mrs. Yu can actually enter the Astronomical Academy. If you really can't leave it at home, you don't have to observe it yourself every night. You can just use other people's observation data for research."

Yu Shanwei was a little moved. She really wanted to become an official.

Li Qingzhao can serve as an Imperial Academy official, why can't she, Yu Shanwei, become an astronomical official?

But she still had to give her husband face. Yu Shanwei said, "I am a married woman, so I need my husband's permission to go out to do things."

How could Meng Zhao dare to stop her? He quickly said, "Young lady, you can follow your own wishes."

Yu Shanwei then stood up and bowed to Zhu Ming: "I thank Your Highness for the appointment!"

Not only in the liberal Northern Song Dynasty, but also in the increasingly conservative Southern Song Dynasty, two women participated in the imperial examination.

One is Lin Youyu during the reign of Emperor Xiaozong of the Song Dynasty. Since he was only nine years old at the time, he took the Tongzi subject (child prodigy test). After winning the ranking, Song Xiaozong did not let her become an official, but instead named her Ruren (a title given to the wives of sixth- and seventh-grade officials).

This is so awesome. A girl who is only nine years old actually has a destiny, and the matchmaker has trampled down the doorstep of her house.

Another girl, Wu Zhiduan, was born at the wrong time. It was during the Ningzong period of the Song Dynasty when the social atmosphere was more conservative.

Wu Zhiduan passed the preliminary examination for children's subjects. Just when he was about to take the re-examination, a minister jumped out and sternly opposed it. The reason is that if this woman becomes an official in the future, she will wear colorful clothes and meet the courtiers every day, attracting onlookers wherever she goes, and how can she do her job if the courtiers are horrified?

The re-examination qualification has been cancelled.

Meng Zhao is actually a little worried. He is the Minister of Rites, but his wife is going to be an official. I'm afraid... not afraid, but she will definitely attract criticism!

But Meng Zhao was afraid of his wife. If the prince gave him an official position and his wife agreed, he didn't dare to object at all.

Ju Ming's move is actually setting a precedent.

It would probably not be accepted by scholars if a woman were to be a political officer directly, but the resistance to being a magic officer was not that great.

Skilled officers, also known as technical officers, medical officers and astronomical officers all fall into this category.

The official printing plant, the ordnance field, the mint... In addition to the chief officer and the assistant officer, most of the other institutions are art officers.

Including the painters, writers, calligraphers, and musicians around the emperor, all of them were magicians, such as those in Li Qingzhao's Hanlin Academy.

Open an opening first and it will be easier to deal with later.

If there are still women taking part in the imperial examinations in the next one or two hundred years, then when officials object, it can be said that there is a precedent for the founding of the Ming Dynasty. Women can be magicians and do not have to stir up trouble in the court all day long.

Zhu Ming raised his glass and said: "The new Ming dynasty has its own new trend. We have Yi'an, the layman, waiting for the imperial edict, and now we have Mrs. Shangshu as the astronomical official. This is also worthy of celebration. Please drink this cup to the full, gentlemen!"

"Congratulations to the Ming Dynasty!"

Everyone raised their glasses and cheered.