Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

Ming Dynasty was not aware of the changes in the Jin Dynasty's court, but received other news.

"Before this summer's harvest, when there was no harvest, the hungry people in Changqing County rebelled against gold."

Shi Yuangong pointed to the map of the Liao Kingdom brought by Yelu Yujian: "Changqing County is more than a hundred miles northeast of Datong. Due to the participation of the old Liao tyrants leading troops, the rebel army actually defeated the local garrison. They did not dare to attack directly. Datong, so they plundered and hijacked the people along the way east. They besieged Tiancheng (Tianzhen) County for several days without success, and plundered the villages and towns on the outskirts of the city."

"The Kingdom of Jin urgently mobilized troops from Datong to suppress it, and the rebel army crossed the mountains and raided Huai'an County. As a result, they were defeated by the Huai'an defenders and scattered into dozens of groups and fled into the surrounding mountains."

"The Guihua (Xuanhua) Jin soldiers were also mobilized to search mountains for encirclement and suppression, and were ambushed by the rebels in Duanyunling. Although the rebels were defeated, it is said that the Jin soldiers lost hundreds of people."

"There were two other groups of rebels who fled over the mountains and ridges to Yongning (Yangyuan) and Shunsheng. The local people could not bear the exploitation of the Jin Kingdom for a long time, and there was also famine and it was difficult to survive, so they helped the old and young to defect to the rebels. The rebels in these two places quickly made It was so big that they even took advantage of the Jin soldiers being transferred to attack Hongzhou City in a surprise attack."

"The Jin people who are on guard against our great tomorrow's soldiers dare not move away at various checkpoints. The Jin Kingdom can only send troops further north to suppress the thieves."

"There was a Han from the north named He Cheng, who was originally a local tycoon in the Liao Kingdom. He was forced to lead his tribe to surrender the gold a few years ago. He was beaten badly by General Zhang Guangdao. He knew full well the power of our powerful tomorrow's soldiers, and the people in his hometown suffered another The Kingdom of Jin is exploiting us, and two months ago we took advantage of the chaos and led troops to rebel against Jin."

"The Jin soldiers blocked the passage to the south. He Cheng sent people over the mountains and ridges. He hoped that Ming Dynasty could take the opportunity to send troops to attack Datong. He would contact various rebel armies to cooperate with Ming Dynasty in fighting."

After explaining this series of sudden changes, Zhang Shuye clapped his hands and said with a smile: "The demise of the Jin Kingdom is very close at hand!"

Zhang Boring said: "It seems that the food shortage in the Jin Kingdom has become more and more serious. The people of Datong can no longer bear it. Even the old Liao soldiers risked their lives to rebel."

Wang Yuan said: "It is better to tear up the peace treaty with the Jin Kingdom and take advantage of the chaos in Yunzhong to send troops to attack Yanmen Pass!"

Yang Weizhong said: "Judging from the intelligence sent back from Shanxi, the Jin soldiers stationed at various passes have not actually been transferred to quell the rebellion. If we send troops in a hurry, it may be difficult to break through in a short time."

Zhang Shuye said: "There is no need to rush to the Northern Expedition. The Jin Dynasty will become more and more chaotic, while the Ming Dynasty will become stronger and stronger. If we send troops a year later, we will have a better chance of winning."

The ministers in the Privy Council spoke one after another. Some were clamoring to send troops this autumn, some were clamoring to send troops next summer, and some said the Northern Expedition should wait a few more years.

In fact, there is more news that the Ming court has not received yet.

Since Wanyan Zonghan needed to control the court and bring thousands of core elites back to Harbin, the number of golden soldiers here was insufficient.

Rebellions broke out all over the states and counties in Datong Prefecture. The Jin State did not dare to draw away the guarding troops, so it could only send the grassland garrison south.

As soon as the golden soldiers on the grassland left, the Wanggu tribe of the White Tatars heard the news and took the opportunity to send troops to conquer the Tanggu and Khitan tribes in the southwest.

Brother Richard of Xixia has been peeping secretly. He saw that Wang Gubu actually dared to make a fuss, so what bird eggs did he have to fear?

Brother Richard then led eight thousand elite troops to attack the Tiande army of the Kingdom of Jin.

The name Tiandejun was given during the Tang Dynasty. In the early Song Dynasty, it was divided between Xixia and Liao. To elaborate on the administrative divisions of later generations, that is: Xixia occupied Bayannur, and Liao occupied Baotou.

First of all, there are abundant water plants here, and you can even grow rice!

Secondly, it is a transportation hub and the core transfer station of the Silk Road in the Liao Kingdom's grassland.

When Emperor Tianzuo was escaping, he passed by this place several times, and each time he had to recruit young men to join the army. The Jin Kingdom also pursued him many times, causing the population in Baotou to drop sharply.

When Brother Richard led his army to Baotou, nearby tribes rushed to join him and help the Xixia army kill the Jin soldiers stationed there.

Eight thousand Xixia elites, with more than 3,000 prairie cavalry, surrounded and killed the Jin cavalry with only 500 people.

Xixia's elite casualties were nearly three thousand, and the tribal cavalry suffered hundreds of casualties and then collapsed.

Of the five hundred Jin cavalry, only more than a hundred were killed in the battle, and the rest all managed to escape.

At this point, Baotou was captured by Xixia.

Hohhot and Ulanqab were occupied by the Wanggu tribe.

Xixia has expanded its territory for two consecutive years, and its national power seems to be continuing to rise, but the power struggle is becoming increasingly fierce.

Brother Richard was beaten down by the Ming army, but through the two years of foreign wars, he regained his prestige in the military.

Even when he returned to the court, he directly brought two thousand elite members of his direct lineage into the capital, which frightened the leader of the Xixia Kingdom, Li Qianshun, to the point where he could not sleep or eat well.

…

After some discussion in the Privy Council, the Ming Dynasty decided not to send troops to the Northern Expedition for the time being and continued to fulfill the peace treaty with the Jin Kingdom.

There is no need to go through the cabinet procedure, because the decision of the Privy Council is the decision of Prince Zhu!

Given the poor political system of the Jin Kingdom, if war and robbery could not continue, the real national power would inevitably decline rapidly. Not only will it be impossible to recuperate, but rebellions will break out.

Ming Dynasty only needs to continue to develop its internal affairs.

The biggest advantage of implementing the method of dividing one person into one mu is that it will help increase the population and make it easier to count the population.

In ancient times, only the number of households and households were generally counted, because these were related to taxes and corvee.

For example, during the Zhenzong reign of the Northern Song Dynasty, there were more than 8.67 million households, but only more than 19.93 million people, with an average of just over two people per household.

Obviously, the "mouth" here is not the population, but the Dingkou who need to serve.

Now, in the areas where allotments have been divided into acres, the Ming court directly counts the number of households and population. In areas where the allocation of households and households has not yet been completed, the number of households and households are still being counted.

It is difficult for Zhu Guoxiang to conduct a census. As long as the government is still collecting the poll tax, the people will do everything possible to avoid it and do not want the new member of the family to register.

"The household registration statistics of Guangdong and Guangxi have also been sent," Zhu Guoxiang threw out the national statistical report. "Including Youzhou, there are more than 16.29 million households in the country, which is still far from the 20.88 million households in the middle of Zhao Ji's reign. And due to the war , famine and migration, the average population per household in the Ming and New Dynasties was actually far lower than that of Song Huizong."

Ju Ming estimated: "From the last fifteen years of Song Huizong's reign to the Jin soldiers wreaking havoc southward and Zhong Xiang's rebellion in Hunan, the country's population may have lost a quarter. Especially Hebei, Shandong, Hunan, and Zhejiang were affected by the war. It’s too serious.”

"For a new dynasty, our foundation is pretty good, even very good," Zhu Guoxiang said. "But because too few people have died and many problems still remain, the pace of apportionment must be accelerated. The only way is to An increase in population will make it easier to immigrate to the border areas. Youzhou needs to increase the number of Han people, and Korea, Southwest, Hexi Corridor... and even the Western Regions in the future will need semi-forced immigration."

Zhu Ming said: "In the five years since the founding of the People's Republic of China, it has been relatively stable. There is probably a baby boom in the past two or three years. In another twelve or three years, when these babies grow up, they can roll up their sleeves and do big things. There are three to five million immigrants in Guizhou. Three to five million Yunnan immigrants will be able to initially control Yunnan and Guizhou and establish strongholds in major cities and transportation arteries."

Zhu Guoxiang suddenly called the eunuch in and asked him to bring something.

"Cotton?" Zhu Ming glanced at it.

Zhu Guoxiang said: "The dwarf breeding of cotton is still in progress, but I can't wait. In the past two years, the Agriculture Department and local officials have been asked to promote cotton. There are 2 million acres of cotton fields in Shandong and more than ten cotton fields in Jiangsu and Zhejiang. Thousands of acres. Due to the popularity of cotton cloth, no official guidance is needed now, and the number of cotton fields is increasing year by year."

Ju Ming muttered: "It seems it's time to develop cotton armor."

Zhu Guoxiang said with a smile: "I have asked the agricultural officer to guide farmers in Jiangnan to implement the 'three dry and one wet method'. That is to plant cotton for three years, and then plant rice for one year, and carry out a flood-drought rotation. It can not only maintain soil fertility, but also After the technology to reduce pests and diseases matures, cotton planting in Jiangsu and Zhejiang will definitely become more popular among farmers."

"You are the expert, you have the final say," Zhu Ming changed the topic, "Do you really want to have a concubine?"

Zhu Guoxiang said with a serious face: "You don't have to worry about this."

"I don't care," Ju Ming stood up, patted his butt, raised his hand and said, "Let's go and bask in the sun."

Zhu Guoxiang also went to the Hanlin Academy of Painting to inspect the work, and finally ran to Li Qingzhao's office. The nearby officials knew what was going on and went back to work.

"The officials are here!" Li Qingzhao's face lit up.

Zhu Guoxiang said: "I have recently learned the rhythm of lyrics, made some gains, and made a new song."

Li Qingzhao pursed his lips and smiled: "The official's new words must be extremely interesting."

Emperor Qianlong liked to write limericks, but Dean Zhu is proficient in limericks. Every now and then, he would come up with a song that was all in the style of a "veteran cadre". He persisted for more than a year, and his level of lyric writing was indeed gradually improving, at least he would not make some low-level mistakes again.

After some literary discussion, the atmosphere became increasingly ambiguous.

Zhu Guoxiang finally said: "Li Qing is a widow and has no relatives to take care of her. Why not move in together?"

"But it depends on the official arrangement." Li Qingzhao's face turned red with embarrassment. The two of them had had close contact while drinking one day last year, and they would come back from time to time later.

Li Qingzhao still liked this official very much. Although his poetry was a mess, he was extremely thoughtful and interesting.

Li Qingzhao's fear was that she was already old, and she was still a widow. She didn't think she was stunningly beautiful. Would the emperor really give her a status?

But from Zhu Guoxiang's point of view, Li Qingzhao is indeed older, and his appearance can only be called delicate. This delicate appearance is compromised by the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes. But Li Qingzhao's interesting personality, and her status as a talented woman through the ages, also made Zhu Guoxiang unable to stop.

Zhu Guoxiang said: "Then I will make arrangements today and canonize the concubine Chen tomorrow."

Li Qingzhao was surprised. It was already a luxury to have a title, but Zhu Guoxiang actually gave him the title of concubine directly.

The concubine system of the Ming Dynasty was inherited from the Northern Song Dynasty and did not bother to modify it.

When he first entered the palace, he served as a servant, and after a while he was granted the title of king, and then Cai Ren, Mei Ren, Jie Yu, Zhao Yi... all the way up.

When the news that Li Qingzhao was named Concubine Chen came out, the people in Tokyo were shocked.

The officials are telling the truth, and indeed the rumors are true.

(Ahhh, Kavin, I’ll make up for it tomorrow!)