Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

On the winter solstice, three animals are sacrificed to heaven, and gold is used to discuss peace.

The specific terms were written in more detail. For example, the one hundred good horses requested by the Ming Dynasty required fifty male horses and fifty mares. There are also age requirements, and the stallions cannot be geldings.

Jurchen horses are the most suitable horses for training heavy cavalry in the whole of East Asia. Of course, the sooner they can be obtained and bred, the better!

The land of Youyan has experienced nearly ten years of war, famine, and plague. When the Jin Kingdom destroyed the Liao Dynasty, they forcibly relocated a large number of people. After the Song Dynasty spent money to buy it, there were several rebellions and years of famine and starvation.

Even if the Jin Kingdom moved back a little bit, there would still only be about 100,000 people there today. To describe it as being uninhabited thousands of miles away is very appropriate.

Numerous pieces of land have been overgrown with grass, and a few areas have been designated as horse farms.

In fact, there are more than just a few people.

Countless people fled into the Yanshan and Taihang Mountains, struggling to survive in the mountains and staying outside the Jin and Song dynasties.

Neither the Song nor the Jin were able to manage the people in the mountains, and it was difficult to induce them to work in the mountains. Even at the foot of the mountains in many remote areas, there were people who secretly farmed and lived their lives, fearful of being discovered by the court and fleeing into the mountains at the first sign of trouble.

There are even millions of such people!

Wanyan Zongwang has been in the north for three years, and what he can really effectively control is actually some important cities and rural villages on the outskirts of cities.

Even if Wanyan Zongwang discovered the farmers in remote areas, it would be difficult to send people to collect taxes. Because the distribution is too uneven, the human cost of tax collection may be greater than the tax revenue received.

This was also Wanyan Zongwang's fatal weakness. The territory seemed large, but the actual population under his control was scarce. When fighting, we have to rely on Liaodong's food supply. Even many of his soldiers were recruited from Liaodong and had to be returned after the battle.

In the blink of an eye, spring has begun, officially entering the fourth year of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty.

The envoy from the Kingdom of Jin had just returned north, and only a few days after crossing the Yellow River, important news suddenly came from Yanshan Mansion.

Wanyan Zongwang is dead!

It is said that he died of illness, but many people did not believe it and thought he was poisoned.

Those nobles and generals who were outside the inner circle of the Jin Kingdom had serious doubts about the cause of Wanyan Zongwang's death. And they are panicking. Who can they rely on in the future?

Wanyan Talan persuaded his family and cronies to keep the mourning secret for the time being, and sent someone to Datong in the snow to report the news.

Wanyan Zonghan rushed from Datong to Yanshan Mansion with only a few dozen riders.

He first subdued the generals of Yanshan Prefecture, and then rushed to the border cities of Mingjin.

By the time Wanyan Zongfu and other Jin envoys received news of his death, Wanyan Zonghan had basically controlled the Eastern Route Army and gained the loyalty of most of Wanyan Zongwang's generals.

…

Zhending Mansion.

The envoys of the Kingdom of Jin stayed in a dipu outside the city.

Upon hearing the news of Wanyan Zongwang's death, Wanyan Zongfu was actually very happy. Finally, there was no third faction causing trouble.

But when the envoys arrived here, news came that Wanyan Zonghan was in Yanshan Mansion.

Wanyan Zongfu's face changed drastically. He was so worried that he didn't even know who to discuss with.

At this time, Wanyan Zonghan already controlled the two armies, and the balance of factions was completely broken. From now on, he must have the final say.

Even Wanyan Xieye and Wanyan Zongqian had to look at Yan Zonghan's face before acting.

Among the three envoys, Wanyan Xiyin was ecstatic, because he was Wanyan Zonghan's confidant, and from now on he would surely rise in power and become more powerful.

As for Wanyan Zongjun, he was confused when he heard the news.

This brother was the brother of Wanyan Zongwang. He went on a mission to the Ming Dynasty, but his brother died suddenly and his generals were taken over by political opponents. From now on, should I follow Wanyan Zonghan, or continue to flirt with Wu Qi?

The envoys had different thoughts, but they all hurried to Yanshan Mansion.

Along the way, they each inquired about the specific situation, but rumors were rife and they didn't know who to listen to.

On the night they entered the city, Wanyan Zonghan and Wanyan Zongjun talked for a long time, and the two sides completely reached a merger of factions.

The next day, Wanyan Zonghan had a detailed discussion with Wanyan Zongfu.

When Wanyan Zonghan met, he said: "I plan to recommend you to be the right deputy marshal at the Bojilie Conference, take over the troops on the east route, and station troops in Guangning and Jinzhou in the future."

Upon hearing this, Wanyan Zongfu understood that the man in front of him had no intention of overturning the table and would still maintain cooperation with the Shizu clan.

But future cooperation will no longer be on equal footing. Wanyan Zonghan must be the main one, supplemented by the nobles of the ancestral line. The two factions joined forces to control the military and political power, and together they worshiped Wu Beimai as a mascot.

If Emperor Wu Qimai disobeys, it will be easier to deal with him. He can just drag him off the dragon chair and give him a good beating, then put him on the dragon chair and continue the meeting.

Anyway, Wanyan Zonghan's bloodline is not right and it is impossible for him to ascend the throne and become emperor. He needs the cooperation of the ancestral nobles.

The general situation is that Wanyan Zonghan will be a powerful minister, fully control the military power of the Jin Kingdom, and have full power to advise on internal affairs. The Shizu clan still controls internal affairs, and Wanyan Zongfu can still take charge of military power. They must give Wanyan Zonghan enough face.

The two sides joined forces to evade Emperor Wu Qimai and assist Aguda's eldest grandson to become the crown prince.

The sudden death of Wanyan Zongwang actually made the Jin Kingdom become more united. And let the three factions that check and balance each other have a real leader!

…

Tokyo.

Naturally, the monarchs and ministers of the Ming Dynasty had also received the news, and the father and son discussed it alone immediately.

Zhu Guoxiang muttered: "Was Wanyan Zongwang still under forty years old? His death was too sudden."

Ju Ming smiled and said, "I suspect it was poisoning, but I have no evidence."

"Will the Kingdom of Jin become more chaotic?" Zhu Guoxiang asked.

Ju Ming guessed: "Not necessarily. The Ming Dynasty put too much external pressure on them, and the Jurchen elites who founded the country are still there, so they should be able to reach a compromise. Only Wanyan Zonghan died, and the army was leaderless. The generals changed their factions, and the ancestral lines were fighting for each other. Only those with power will fight among themselves like crazy."

"Then the role of peace talks will become smaller. Wanyan Zongwang's death is really untimely." Zhu Guoxiang was a little disappointed.

Ju Ming said: "We are not at a loss. We took back the territory south of Yanshan and also obtained Juyongguan. Although it is sparsely populated, forced immigration is possible. It is easy to immigrate 200,000 people in three years. Hebei has been recovered in the past two years. Prefectures and counties also have a sharp population decline, and they must immigrate from the south. Huainan, Zhejiang, and Fujian are good, they are all large and densely populated provinces, and they can be transported directly to the north by sea."

Zhu Guoxiang said: "The population of 200,000 is relatively small, and there are more than 20 counties. On average, the population of a county is less than 10,000."

Ju Ming said: "There are more than 10,000 people in Lushun and Haibin counties combined, and these people will also be moved there. According to the information provided by Xi Zuo, there are still many people hiding in Yanshan and Taihang Mountains. They can be lured with food and clothing. They go down to the mountains to farm. There are many other people scattered in various places. The Jin people cannot control them, but they can also be slowly brought under their rule."

"After a few years of serious governance, there should be a population of one million. The land of Youyan is not deserted, but the Jin Kingdom's methods of governing the people are so bad that the people regard the Jin Kingdom's officials as snakes and scorpions."

Zhu Guoxiang asked: "Are you really planning to take a five-year truce?"

Ju Ming said: "Five years is too long, but two or three years is enough. There are still many things to do. The first is to recuperate and improve the finances and store more food. The second is to re-issue banknotes in Sichuan, supplemented by silver coins and copper coins, and gradually Eliminate the iron money there. This can only be implemented if the finances improve, otherwise there will be no sufficient reserves. The third is to send people to Japan to explore the Iwami silver mines and get more silver to issue silver coins. The fourth is to send troops to the Penghu Islands and then to Taiwan Attack the indigenous people. The indigenous people there often attack the Han people on the Penghu Islands. After winning, they will take advantage of the situation to bring the Penghu Islands under their rule. There are a large number of Han people there but they are not the people of the Ming Dynasty. The fifth is... there are a lot of things to do anyway!"

In a few years, I can build more firearms.

Several musket manufacturers must strictly regulate and try to make lead bullets universal. Some blacksmiths who used to make armor can switch to making muskets to increase the production of muskets.

In three years, it should be no problem to build 20,000 flintlock muskets.

It really pissed off Ju Ming. He expanded production capacity regardless of the consequences. He could produce 100,000 units in three years, but that would seriously interfere with the normal economic order.

After the father and son reached an agreement, they convened a meeting of the cabinet and the six ministries.

In fact, immigration policy had already been discussed in detail after the peace talks.

There are more than 240 counties in Huainan, Zhejiang and Fujian provinces.

When providing immigrants, these counties were divided into three tiers.

Large counties provide 800 immigrants, medium counties provide 500 immigrants, and small counties provide 300 immigrants. This is a quota, and it can be exceeded. The more immigrants it provides, the better it is when calculating political performance.

The imperial court will allocate funds to arrange material supplies at immigration gathering points along the way.

However, the county magistrate must be responsible for the expenses within the county. If anyone is found to have abused or deducted immigrants, all officials will be dismissed from their posts and their crimes will be judged based on the severity of the case. The lighter case will be jailed, and the serious case will be beheaded.

No wealthy gentry is allowed to block immigration, even if they want to collect debts! Once the act of obstructing immigration is confirmed, the person may be jailed and fined, or the whole family may be sent to Yanshan Mansion.

To put it bluntly, in order to encourage immigration, the court even acquiesced in debt evasion. Otherwise, all the tenants would owe us loan sharks to the landlords. How could they leave?

After such a set of procedures, the first batch of immigrants in the three southeastern provinces can reach at least 120,000 to 30,000 people.

After they went there, not only could they divide the land, but they could also pick up the wheat seedlings in the field for free. The first year is tax-free, and the tax is halved in the second and third years.

Officials will definitely publicize vigorously for their political achievements.

This time there is a basic amount of tasks, unlike before it was just encouragement. Compared with completing the tasks of the court, the gentry's obstruction is nothing, the officials are crazy, and even the old officials can't stop it!

During the implementation process, there will probably be chaos, but in order to enrich the newly restored land, no matter how much chaos there is, it is worth it.

The northward migration route is divided into two parts: the river and the sea. Counties that are more inland can be taken all the way through canals. The immigrants did not have to pay for the entire journey. Food and boats were provided along the way. When they arrived, they were given various farm tools and lent them half a year's rations.

It is estimated that many people from the lower class in the south who are unable to meet their food and clothing needs took the initiative to sign up.

Moreover, the majority are men.

It is likely that there were several members of the family, allowing an unmarried young man to immigrate and make a living. Even if there was no immigration policy, they would still go to the county town to make a living, and this time they would just go further.

Maybe there is an eager county magistrate who will send thousands of immigrants at once!