Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

Some people live like a year, and finally look forward to New Year's Day.

Countless officials met for drinks to celebrate the survivors of the catastrophe, and they burst into tears when they got emotional.

Officials who were beheaded, exiled, or imprisoned accounted for 12% of the total number of officials in the country.

Including the convicted gentry and merchants, as well as the families of officials and civilians who were implicated, a total of more than 30,000 people were exiled.

Even Tsushima and Sado Island each exiled hundreds of people.

The exiled civil and military officials all adopted the Zhenyuan Fort model. Depending on the harshness of the local environment, the KPI population base will be determined, and calculations will be made based on this base. Every time how many Han people are reproduced or naturalized, they can leave the exile.

Dexing.

Retired Prime Minister Zhang Gen also sighed. His sons were well educated and his family was very rich, so they were not investigated or punished.

But two of Zhang Gen's cousins ​​were killed and the rest were exiled.

The Wu family and the Ying family, the in-laws of the Zhang family in Dexing, each had their homes confiscated and exiled, and one of them lost his head.

Where there is punishment, there is reward. Zhang Gen's son and daughter, Wu Dian, was found to be a super upright official. (Wu Dian was a student of Li Gang’s uncle.)

This person had applied for retirement in the former Song Dynasty. As a general magistrate of Yuezhou, he did not even have the travel expenses to return to his hometown. He had been living in a foreign place teaching and waited until he had earned enough travel expenses before returning to his hometown.

After the founding of the Ming Dynasty, Wu Dian was recommended as an official by Zhang Gen. As a prefect, he was not greedy for any money, and he also donated his salary to fund volunteer studies.

At a time when corrupt officials are everywhere, such honest officials are rare. Zhu Guoxiang ordered a reward of 300 guan and informed the whole country to publicize his character.

Then Wu Dian took the opportunity to resign because he was older than Zhang Gen.

When he went around Dexing to visit his children's relatives, Wu Dian said with emotion: "Since ancient times, there has never been such an iron-fisted person in the rectification of officialdom as the current dynasty, which can sweep away the filth and filth of the previous Song Dynasty!"

Zhang Gen said: "The prince still acted too hastily, and the officials in various places were unable to handle government affairs."

Wu Dian shook his head and said, "No. How can bone scraping heal wounds without damaging the vitality? But long-term pain is worse than short-term pain. It is time to take advantage of the early establishment of the country to kill the corruption in the officialdom."

Intellectually, Zhang Gen agreed with this statement and joked: "Sheng and brother are famous all over the world. Everyone knows that brother is as honest as water."

Wu Dian curled his lips: "Everyone in the world is filthy, but I am the only one who is pure. Although I am famous all over the world, I am also criticized by thousands of people."

"Officials will scold me first," Zhang Gen sighed. "The person who caused such a big case is my good son-in-law. My cousins ​​and their families came to beg me to come to Beijing to help intercede. The prince Who can persuade me to raise my sword so high? Now my tribe blames me for being cold-blooded and ruthless, and not caring about my family ties at all."

"How do they understand their family, country, and world?" Wu Dian said disdainfully.

Meeting old friends and spending the whole day sightseeing, Wu Dian stayed at Zhang's house for more than a month before leaving.

On the way, he suddenly fell ill. The seventy-year-old man couldn't bear it and died immediately.

When the news reached the capital, Zhu Guoxiang was filled with emotion and wrote a plaque "Model for Officials" to be hung at home by Wu Dian's son. He also recruited one of Wu Dian's grandsons to study at Taixue.

Xu Fuyan's eldest son Xu Ying also resumed his official position in the spring and was transferred to other provinces at the same level.

As for the second son, let’s talk about it next year.

…

In the spring of this year, Yelu Dashi suddenly sent troops to capture Zhaisangbo and the surrounding pastures, and occupied the pastures north of Ala Lake.

It is tantamount to completely owning the Tacheng area of ​​Xinjiang and seizing a small piece of Kazakh land for future generations.

The Eastern Kara Khanate reacted violently and sent envoys to question him.

Then, there is no more.

Because the Eastern Kara Khanate suffered a disastrous defeat in the war with the Seljuqs last year, and even surrendered directly to the Seljuq Sultan.

The army suffered heavy losses and there was another rebellion in the country, so it was impossible to start a war with Yelu Dashi again.

further east.

After the snow on the grassland melted, the Kingdom of Jin also sent troops.

The Jin soldiers caught the Wanggu tribe and beat them up, drove the disobedient Wanggu tribe back to the north of Daqingshan, and once again made the tribes in Ulanqab, Hohhot and other places surrender.

At the same time, Wanyan Zonghan and Wanyan Zongqian joined forces to reform the system.

The Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Personnel were established one after another. The Kingdom of Jin officially opened schools to recruit scholars, and the Ministry of Personnel appointed and dismissed civil servants. These powers are controlled by Wanyan Zongqian.

The Bojilie Conference thus became the political and military decision-making body and deliberation body of the Jin Kingdom, and other functions were gradually replaced by various departments. The Bojilie Conference was controlled by Wanyan Zonghan.

The two of them work together as powerful ministers, and Wu's begging becomes a mere decoration.

After the emergence of the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Personnel, the internal affairs system of Jin Dynasty became more formal, and several prominent Bohai families further seized power, and their voice in the court and local governments was greatly enhanced.

Except for the stubborn Jurchen areas, the military commander system was abolished in the Jin Kingdom.

Local garrison generals may no longer serve as magistrates or prefects.

This reform is mainly aimed at the heroes of various ethnic groups. Those guys have the military and political power, but now they are divided into civil and military affairs by the Jin Dynasty court.

Afraid of forcing the powerful commanders of various tribes to rebel, Wanyan Zonghan established several Wanhu mansions and appointed powerful commanders of various tribes as Wanhu. Give them greater command powers in exchange for handing over local administrative power.

A series of reforms did not occur due to Ju Ming's influence.

The Jin Kingdom in history did the same thing. In terms of political system, it learned step by step from the Liao and Song Dynasties.

…

The Jin Kingdom and Xiliao were both developing, but the Ming Dynasty had just experienced "labor pains" and needed to be relieved with Lantern Festival lanterns.

More than one-tenth of the officials in the country were dismissed. This is no joke. The field troops transferred back from the front line did not leave until the beginning of spring.

The garrisons in each province are on alert!

Government affairs in various provinces have not yet been fully restored.

The Seljuq envoy Suleiman who came from the Western Regions was blocked by heavy snow on the way in winter. At least he caught up with the Lantern Festival in the sixth year of Hongwu.

Japan's first carefully selected envoys also arrived in Kaifeng at about the same time.

This year's Lantern Festival is particularly lively.

One is that the people are getting richer, and the other is that Ju Ming is deliberately promoting it.

It's not dark yet, and lights are already lit up inside and outside Tokyo.

Suleiman looked at all this with dumbfounded eyes: "Oh Allah, how rich the Qin Kingdom is, those lamps are worth many, many gold coins!"

Although Abu was also shocked by the Lantern Festival, he looked like someone who had experienced it before: "The Shang Qin Kingdom is now called the Ming Dynasty. It is governed by erudite scholars, so it has become richer. There are no poor people in the Ming Dynasty, even the lowest level coolies. You can also live happily every day.”

On another street, there were more than twenty Japanese, wandering around as if they were country bumpkins entering the city.

Although they were nobles and monks, everything they saw seemed strange.

Especially after it gets dark, the various performances are performed one after another, which is more colorful than enjoying the Waka performance.

"Look, what is that?"

But on the high platform, among the large copper plates, a paper fairy taller than a human was spinning and moving, dragging fireworks.

The paper fairy's feet, legs, and back all have "flame throwers", and a thin rope hangs from her shoulders. The flames pushed the fairy forward, making various movements as if flying in the sky.

These are called "drug-haired puppets," and there are small paper figures that are sprayed into the air.

The Southern Song Dynasty even invented the "Fire Rat", which was sprayed with flames and spun around. Once it ran to the feet of the Queen Mother who was watching the lanterns, scaring the Queen Mother so much that she jumped up...

"Bang bang bang bang!"

Firecrackers, also called firecrackers, went off all over the city. Including fireworks, they developed rapidly in the last years of Song Huizong's reign.

Just when the Japanese envoy was shocked by the drug-haired puppet, an even more shocking performance appeared nearby.

They were several large-scale fireworks that were several feet high.

That is to build a very high shelf and connect various fireworks and firecrackers in series. Different fireworks and firecrackers have different lengths of fuses, and they continuously emit flames and make noises.

Four words: fireworks!

When the fireworks were lit, Seljuk and the Japanese envoys all stared in a daze.

They can't figure out why there are such beautiful things in the world.

The soldiers and patrolmen of the Five Cities Military and Horse Division felt as if they were facing a formidable enemy.

Fire-fighting equipment was prepared on streets throughout the city, and people stood beside every well.

The Lantern Festival in Tokyo has been so exciting since the reign of Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty. Especially in the last few years of his reign, gunpowder had been used to its advantage and was only one step away from being turned into a weapon.

For example, "Meteor" is made by mixing gunpowder with iron powder and putting it into a paper tube sealed with mud at one end. After igniting it, it can fly into the air.

Commonly known as the Sky Monkey.

But this flying monkey only takes off into the air and does not explode after flying out.

Other fireworks only project flames, and the colors are relatively single.

"The officials are here!"

"Prince, Prince!"

Lights were raised on the city tower, members of the royal family appeared, and the people below the city cheered.

Zhu Guoxiang, together with his wife, concubines, children and grandchildren, waved in the direction of the crowd, which immediately attracted a louder cheer.

"Let's set off the fireworks." Zhu Guoxiang said with a smile.

Fireworks that can explode into the air will soon appear in human society for the first time.

A large circle of fireworks has been erected on the walls of the imperial city, and the musketeers hung match ropes and began to light them in batches.

"Boohoo!"

"Bang bang bang bang!"

Groups of sparks rose into the sky, exploded in the night sky, and bloomed into colorful flowers.

This time, not only foreign envoys, but also well-informed Tokyo residents looked up to the sky with silly smiles.

A group of Hanlin Academy officials, with little real power, were hardly affected by major cases last year, and some even took the opportunity to promote themselves. They brought their families to hang out with their friends and looked at the gorgeous fireworks in the night sky. They had a great time tonight.

One of the guys, who was a poet in Dasheng, waited for the fireworks that lasted for more than ten minutes to finish, and suddenly raised his arms and shouted: "Long live the Ming Dynasty, long live the Ming Dynasty!"

Civil and military officials were also admiring the lanterns at this moment, experiencing the grand fireworks display, as if they had forgotten the turmoil in the officialdom that had just passed.

They smiled happily as if they saw the prosperous age right before their eyes.

Suleiman was completely stunned. He pointed at the sky and said, "What are those?"

Abu muttered: "Maybe it's a miracle."