Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

Most of the scholars brought by the professors of Renqiu County were also young people.

When they saw Chen Ao going into the water to pick lotus root strips, they were not to be outdone, and they all took off their clothes and jumped into the lake.

Normally this would be considered degrading and polite, but in front of the emperor, he behaved like an unruly person.

Everyone picked a lot of lotus root strips, and Zhu Ming ordered: "Take them to cook and share them together today."

Magistrate Renqiu quickly waved to the officials, whispered a few words, and quickly took the lotus root strips away.

There are so many people, there will definitely not be enough food.

Out of sight of the emperor, these officials went to the villagers for help.

It was not the busy farming season at this time. When the common people heard that the emperor wanted to eat lotus root strips, they all laughed and went nearby to help collect them.

By the way, I brought some fresh food from the lake. The magistrate guessed that the emperor might like it.

The south wind blows in bursts, and the lake surface sparkles.

Ju Ming was patrolling all the way, and he felt comfortable standing on the boat. He said to the prefect Liu Yizhi: "Liu Xiaoxing's name is as loud as thunder in my ears. Why not write another one today? Any poem can be used."

"Xiao Xing" is not a word, but a poem written by Liu Yizhi.

He wasted half his life and failed to pass the imperial examination. The prefect recommended him as a scholar of the Eighth Line and wanted to recommend him to an official position. But Liu Yizhi didn't accept that he finally passed the exam in his forties. At that time, it was too difficult to make up for the shortcomings, so he was directly thrown into collecting alcohol taxes.

Put yourself in my shoes, you have been taking the imperial examination for half your life, but you only get a small official position of collecting wine tax. Moreover, this country is still in devastation, and you have nowhere to put your ambitions to use.

It was not until Song Huizong ascended the Zen throne that Zhao Huan recalled Liu Yizhi to the capital.

At that time, the whole country was in chaos. On his way to Beijing, Liu Yizhi woke up in the morning and saw the waning moon shining on the sparse forest. He thought of the treacherous ministers of the Manchu Dynasty who brought trouble to the country, and also thought that he had wasted half his life with an uncertain future, and that his wife at home had not been reunited for a long time. He wrote a poem "Xi Mian Ying·Xiao Xing" with deep feelings.

This poem caused a sensation in the capital at the time, and quickly spread throughout the country, as it moved too many scholars to tears.

Liu Yizhi said: "I was in a hurry, so I didn't have a good sentence. However, when I was planting rice this year, there was a slight spring drought in Xiongan Prefecture. I saw people irrigating the fields with water trucks, so I wrote a poem that I haven't shared with others yet. .”

Zhu Ming smiled and said, "Let me sing it for you all to listen to."

Liu Yizhi said: "This poem is called "Water Wheel"."

"The village fields are high and low, and the streams are unequal close to each other. I want to irrigate the ends of the fields, but God does not send thunder whips and chariots.

The old dragon drank from his joints and drew the sound of mud from the water. At the beginning of my suspicion, I stepped on the earth's axis, and the wind wheels rotated together and joined together.

Alas, my wife never stops walking, walking hundreds of miles a day without leaving home. The green awns prick the water seedlings for their first buds, and when the snow waves turn over the ridges, they will bloom.

Farmers have no other thoughts while working, and their ears are not tired of hearing loss. I also hope to be full in my remaining years, saying that this advocacy is better than hearing a frog. "

Ju Ming really didn’t know this poem.

The whole poem uses the perspective of the farmer's mother and son to show the farmers' sad toil and their humble desire for just a full meal.

Moreover, the description of the waterwheel is also extremely wonderful, and the imagination is both majestic and simple.

"What a poem," Ju Ming clapped his hands and praised. "The Emperor will definitely like it when he sees it! He loves farming and even built a waterwheel with his own hands."

Liu Yizhi cupped his hands and said, "It's just a humble work that made the officials laugh."

Ju Ming looked at Chen Kangbo again: "What about you?"

Chen Kangbo opened his mouth and read: "The people of Hainan are all interested in etiquette and righteousness, and the pirates in Huangchi have stopped fighting. There are many good harvests in the fields and mulberry fields, and there are many flutes and drums blowing in thousands of villages."

"It's also a good poem!"

Everyone was amazed.

In front of the emperor, this poem is more pleasing.

The world is peaceful and the war has ceased. There are good harvests all over the country, and the world is peaceful.

This song praises the prosperous Ming Dynasty, and also vaguely steps on the Song Dynasty.

Chen Kangbo is twenty years younger than Liu Yizhi. He is full of energy, pioneering and enterprising, and naturally focuses on the good side.

But Liu Yizhi is over fifty years old, has experienced too many setbacks, and is more aware of the suffering in the world.

Chen Ao crawled out of the lake and the water was still wet. He was half-dressed and with his upper body bare, and he was quickly recording the poems of the two of them.

Several county magistrates and principals also came to write poems. In fact, they were all half-thought out. The content was mainly about praising the Ming Dynasty, and some were about the great rule of Hebei in recent years.

Then, those scholars also took out their works and recited them, hoping to take the opportunity to show off their talents in front of the emperor.

Everyone asked the emperor to leave poems, and the emperor happily accepted.

Ju Ming did not change the poem "The Lotus Leaves Connecting to the Sky Are Infinitely Green", but used poetry to explain his purpose.

Su Qin brought a pen and paper, and Zhu Ming waved his hand and wrote: "Pass this to all prefectures and counties in Hebei, and ask them to recruit civilian men to fight with the army after the autumn harvest!"

"yes!"

Su Qin recited: ""Congjun Music".

"The autumn wind blows horns on the fortress, and the flags of the sun set on the city head. A young man's saddle and horse are suitable. If you follow military music, don't ask who you follow.

Waiting for the cavalry to pass through Jibei, the first move has been to western Liaoning. The return date is still the same as Liu Yiyi. In the spring boudoir moon, there is no need to cry in red sleeves. "

Everyone was solemn when they heard this. Although they had already guessed it, it was finally confirmed that a war was going to happen.

Liu Yizhi raised his hands and said: "In the official family, rice is grown in several counties on both sides of the Juma River. The harvest season is later than in the south. Once a large number of civilians are recruited, it may affect the autumn harvest and the people will complain a lot."

Ju Ming said: "In the prefectures and counties where rice is grown, if there is only one young person in the family, they will not be taxed. If it is the busy farming season, one farmer will be taxed and ten acres of tax will be deducted."

Liu Yizhi finally smiled and said: "This way, everyone will be happy to follow it."

Throughout the Hebei region, the newly recovered Youyan population was sparsely populated, and the lower reaches of the Yellow River were equally desolate and impoverished.

Zhending, Baoding, and Xiongan are the three prefectures that are closest to each other and have large populations. Of course, the people have to come from these places.

Ju Ming took the boat for a while and then ordered to return to the shore.

The meal was already prepared. Ju Ming sat on the floor and invited everyone to join in the feast.

…

Cross the Juma River and continue north.

Leaving the rice-growing areas on the north shore, the scenery suddenly becomes desolate.

The land along the way is sparsely populated, and bones are visible beneath the wind and grass.

Only when we get close to various county towns do we feel like we have returned to the human world.

The entire Youyan area is similar. Signs of human activities can only be seen within a few miles of each county.

Even small towns are rare, and there are deserted villages everywhere.

The old house covered with vines shows that it was once a wealthy family.

Occasionally there is a station, and a fence is erected around it to protect against wolves and wild dogs.

Including Ju Ming, all the entourage came to the north after the ravages of the Jin for the first time.

In fact, the blame cannot be entirely blamed on the Jin Kingdom, because in the last years of the Liao Kingdom, it had already experienced ten years of war and famine.

The Song Dynasty bought this place for several years and brought in countless money and grain. Either it was corrupted by civil servants, or it was used to maintain the troops of Guo Yaoshi and others. There was famine every year, thieves were rampant, and the country was repeatedly invaded and plundered by traitorous generals from the Jin Kingdom.

Immediately afterwards, the golden soldiers came again.

Instead of helping the people, they continue to exploit them to death!

How many people are left?

Arriving outside Yongqing County, the county magistrate led officials out of the city to greet him.

Ju Ming asked: "How many people are there in the county at this time?"

The county magistrate replied: "More than 20,000. A small half are in the county seat and its suburbs, and a large half are on the north bank of the Juma River."

"Recovering well." Ju Ming nodded in approval.

It is indeed recovering well. There are more than 20,000 people in Yongqing County, either from various ethnic groups who are unwilling to follow the Jin Kingdom to evacuate, or from exiled criminals and their families.

The Han people, Khitan people, Xi people, and Bohai people in the north got along well with the exiled criminals.

There are wastelands everywhere, and they can cultivate them as they wish, without any conflicts of interest.

In order to obtain preferential tax exemptions, various ethnic groups also responded to the government's call and took the initiative to intermarry with the exiled Han people.

In a few decades, it will probably all be Chineseized.

Further north, Anci County, Ju Ming asked, found that the county's population was only a little over 10,000.

Miaoyin County is even worse, with only over 6,000 people in the county.

Continue eastward to Xianghe County. There are less than 3,000 people in the county, half of whom are prisoners and their families...

There are only a few shops in the county, and most people live and farm on the outskirts of the city. There is no need to even use money here. Returning to the era of barter, you can take the harvested grain and raised poultry and go to the city to exchange for salt, cloth and other supplies.

"People's livelihood is in decline!" Zhu Ming couldn't help but sigh.

Chen Ao said: "When the official family destroys the Jin Kingdom, we can rest and recuperate. Thirty years later, the population will surely be prosperous."

After staying in Xianghe County for two days, Li Bao came from Yanjing to visit him.

The king and his ministers were very happy to meet each other. Zhu Ming took Li Bao to drink.

After drinking a few drinks, Ju Ming talked about the dilapidation here. Li Bao shook his head repeatedly: "Continuing to the east and north, the counties are declining even more. In the entire Shicheng County (Kaiping), there are only more than a hundred households. And each household has a small population. , there are only three to four hundred people in total. There are wolves, tigers and leopards everywhere, and the people farming are afraid, and there are only about ten people who dare not go out."

In this damn situation, if the Jin soldiers came from Xifengkou, the government wouldn't even have to organize a strong wall to clear the country.

Shicheng County doesn’t even have a county magistrate because it has been downgraded to a town. The government is too lazy to collect taxes because the cost of tax collection is far greater than the tax revenue.

Ju Ming said: "After the war begins, our army must save those who attack the enemy. Even if Wanyan Zonghan wants to fight in Youzhou, other nobles of the Jin Kingdom, as well as powerful gentry of various ethnic groups, will force the Jin Kingdom to send troops to Liaodong."

"I personally command the Liaodong battlefield, you command the Youzhou battlefield, and Zhang Guangdao commands the Shanxi battlefield."

"Once you seize the opportunity, you and Zhang Guangdao will break through the barrier and go north. Don't worry about me. You keep fighting north and take the opportunity to regain the Han family's homeland."

Li Bao said with a smile: "Even if the main force of the Jin soldiers is in Youzhou, I won't be afraid. First, strengthen the wall and clear the country so that the Jin soldiers cannot rob food on the spot, and then force the Jin soldiers to fight me decisively."

Ju Ming warned: "Be careful in everything, Wanyan Zonghan is not an easy person."

During the confrontation between the two countries, the Ming Dynasty forced the nobles of the Jin Kingdom to unite and maintain a relatively peaceful political situation.

But if the Ming army attacks Liaodong, factional conflicts within the Jin Kingdom will break out.

Liaoning Province in later generations was the core elite area of ​​the Jin Kingdom and the main grain-producing area of ​​the Jin Kingdom. Once the Ming army crosses the sea to attack here, Wanyan Zonghan will not be able to withstand the domestic pressure and will not be able to fight where he wants to fight. At that time, the main force must be mobilized to fight decisively.

As soon as the Liaodong war breaks out, the Ming armies in Shanxi and Youzhou will attack Xiongguan.

In the three battlefields of Liaodong, Youzhou, and Northern Shanxi, all the Ming Dynasty field troops were deployed, and garrison troops were also mobilized to go north.

Not counting the civilians, the Ming Dynasty will send 300,000 troops!