Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

The little fat man's name was Zheng Hong, and there was no official in his family. He was just a wealthy businessman from Yangzhou.

The reason Lao Bai's attitude was so respectful was because Zheng Hong's brother-in-law was a close confidant of the event officer of Lizhou Road Tea and Horse Company.

Today, the highest tea and horse organization in Sichuan and Shaanxi is the "Du Da Tea and Horse Division", which oversees tea and horse affairs in Sichuan, Shaanxi, Gansu and other places. Generally, the Xihe Road transfer envoy holds this position concurrently.

The Lizhou Road Tea and Horse Department under its jurisdiction has more than ten event officers and literary officers, who are in charge of the entire Lizhou Road tea and horse business.

How can a dozen or so officials manage this?

It is the officials who really do the work.

A trusted official of the tea and horse department officer can decide the life or death of a rural tea plantation owner!

"Your Majesty, please come this way." The servant of the Bai family led the way diligently. He wished he could kneel down like a dog. He kept bending over and did not dare to stand upright and walk.

After walking through the mud for a while, Zheng Hong looked at the muddy mountain road, wiped the sweat from his forehead and asked, "Where is Li Erlang? How long do we have to walk?"

The servant of the Bai family quickly replied: "My family's Sanlang and that Li Erlang should be drinking tea at Biyunting. They can reach there in another two or three quarters (14.4 minutes in Song Dynasty)."

"We still have to walk for two or three more moments?" Zheng Hong felt his legs trembling.

He is living freely and happily in Yangzhou City, but his father insists that he come here. For no other reason, Li Hanzhang came over. The Zheng family sent him to play with Li Erlang.

In the eyes of Lao Bai, the Zheng family is heaven.

Not only because the son-in-law of the Zheng family is a senior official in the Tea Horse Division, but also because the Zheng family is a big tea merchant in Yangzhou.

In the eyes of the Zheng family, the judge Li Xianggong is the genius.

Because Tongsuan holds the financial power, he controls commercial and agricultural taxes. Although the state magistrate has no right to interfere with the tea tax, the Zheng family has other taxes. It happens that his son is studying in the academy with Li Hanzhang. Why not quickly curry favor with the son of the state magistrate?

"I'm exhausted. Let's sit down and rest for a while." Zheng Hong was obese and walking on the muddy mountain road was too strenuous.

The Bai family servant quickly took off his clothes and spread them on the stones on the roadside, for fear that the mud and water would stain Zheng Xiaoguan's buttocks.

After taking a breath, Zheng Hong suddenly asked: "Don't you have a bamboo pole?"

The Bai family servant explained: "The road is slippery after the rain and the mountain road is steep. I am afraid that I will fall down."

Zheng Hong had no choice but to pat his butt and stand up: "Let's go."

He really didn't want to come. Even going to the academy to study was arranged by his father with money, just to be a classmate with Li Hanzhang.

But this little fat guy doesn't like reading, and he can fall asleep during lectures. With his uneducated appearance, Li Erlang couldn't get enough of Li Erlang's attention. He was his classmate for more than half a year, and he said dozens of words in total, and he always turned his hot face on others' cold butts.

Zheng Hong has had enough of this kind of day!

He knew what his father was thinking. It was just that Li Hanzhang's wife had died, and the Zheng family was looking forward to marrying their daughter to rekindle their relationship, so that they could become in-laws with the state magistrate.

…

Inside the Biyun Pavilion.

Li Hanzhang tasted the local wine and couldn't help but admired: "The dry wine smells like the village, and the rich land produces gold. The Yangzhou wine is indeed the best in Sichuan and Shaanxi, and even this country wine is so sweet."

Bai Chongyan said with a smile: "It's a remote place in the mountains, and there's nothing else but fine wine and fragrant tea."

"These two are enough!" Li Hanzhang laughed.

There were four major commercial centers in the Northern Song Dynasty, and the commercial tax of Xingyuan Prefecture (Hanzhong) once ranked second in the country.

Yangzhou is right next door to Xingyuan Prefecture. Even though the registered population is only over 200,000, it sits on the commercial thoroughfare Hanshui River. Although the agricultural tax cannot be collected, the commercial tax is second only to Xingyuan. Mansion. Even though the Hehuang border was opened, tea in Sichuan and Shaanxi was banned, and the business in Hanzhong area was in decline, a dead camel was still bigger than a horse.

There are three specialties of Yangzhou: fine wine, tea, and gold!

Zhenfu County under the jurisdiction of Yangzhou was directly called Huangjin County in the early Song Dynasty. Even after the founding of New China, some place names were still retained: Huanghuangxia Town, Jinshui Town...

In Xixiang County, where the Zhu family and his son are currently located, there are also people panning for gold sand in the northern mountainous area.

"I heard that Brother Zhu is from Guangnan. Is there any good wine in Guangnan?" Li Hanzhang asked Zhu Guoxiang.

Zhu Guoxiang didn't know this, so he said vaguely: "Guangnan is remote. No matter how good the wine is, it can't compare to Yangzhou."

Ju Ming said nothing and was engrossed in eating.

After several plates of preserved fruits and meats, it was finally time for the tooth ceremony.

After Li Hanzhang drank several glasses of fruit wine, he began to brag: "If I serve as an official in Guangnan, I must rectify my military equipment and teach those Jiaozhi barbarians a lesson!"

"It's time to teach you a lesson," Zhu Ming chewed the preserved fruit and agreed, raising his glass and shouting, "A few foreign barbarians dared to call themselves Little China, and even came to the Song Dynasty bandits to plunder. Drink this cup full and offer sacrifices to Xianggong Su from afar. The spirit under the spring!"

"That's how it should be!"

Li Hanzhang first filled a glass of wine, poured it on the ground towards the south, then drank again after refilling it: "Sacrifice to Xianggong Su from afar!"

More than 40 years ago, the Vietnamese regime flourished. It called itself Huaxia internally and Little China externally. It sent 200,000 troops to invade the Guangnan Road of the Song Dynasty.

Su Jin led the army and people to defend the city to the death. He only had 2,800 state soldiers and recruited more than 1,000 rural soldiers. He defended Yongzhou (Nanning) for 42 days and killed more than 15,000 enemy troops.

It could have been defended because the enemy was not good at attacking the city.

However, the reinforcements from the Song Dynasty were defeated by the Vietnamese army. Not only did they surrender to the enemy on the spot, they actually taught the Vietnamese how to attack the city. All methods were broken by Su Mian. The Vietnamese army was planning to withdraw, but the Song army, which had surrendered to the enemy, was unwilling to leave. They also taught the enemy to build a mound of soil several feet high and entered Yongzhou City through the mound.

Su Mian fought desperately in the streets, and 37 members of his family were martyred. Only his eldest son survived, who broke out and asked for help.

Of course Ju Ming knew this. Because it was so embarrassing, more than 100,000 soldiers and civilians in Guangnan were massacred (some say hundreds of thousands), completely tearing apart the fig leaf of the Song Dynasty in the south.

After drinking wine to commemorate Su Jin, Li Hanzhang talked about the situation in the northwest: "Now that Hehuang has been settled, and after establishing Xi'an Prefecture (Ningxia Haiyuan), the Tibetan and Qiang people will not dare to invade again. In my opinion, the imperial court will have a decisive battle with Xixia Well, if I can't pass the imperial examination by then, I will simply go to the northwest to join the army and kill the enemy!"

This guy is just bullshit. He is the son of a state judge. Even if he is willing to join the army, his legs will be broken alive by his father.

"If we can avoid fighting, it's better not to fight," Bai Chongyan sighed. "If the river is opened, the people in Lizhou will have a hard time. If we really want to fight Xixia again and impose exorbitant taxes again, how can the people bear it?"

The gentry and local tyrants are also ordinary people, and they also have to face the consequences of war.

Li Hanzhang shook his head and said: "Brother Juncai's words are wrong. Only by completely conquering Xixia can the northwest territory be stabilized. The imperial court can save countless military expenditures every year. If military expenditures are saved, the people of the world will naturally be rich."

"Maybe." Bai Chongyan smiled bitterly.

Li Hanzhang is the kind of keyboard warrior in the student party. He talks passionately about the military and seems to have studied formation diagrams. In real battles, he might be just like Ju Ming.

This guy was full of drunken talk. After talking about Xixia, he also talked about Liao Kingdom. He wished he could take back Yanyun himself.

Bai Chongyan was not interested in fighting, so he took the initiative to change the topic and asked: "Da Lang is familiar with classics, but has he ever studied history books?"

Ju Ming chewed the dried meat and replied: "I have read the "Historical Records" thoroughly, and only casually browsed the other historical books."

"Can the word 'public and private' be used in the "Historical Records" in a unique way?" Bai Chongyan asked Taoism.

Ju Ming said: "I have some experience."

Bai Chongyan said enthusiastically: "You might as well say something to go with the wine."

Ju Ming said: "The Chronicle of the Overlord of Chu is inconsistent with the Chronicle of Han Gaozu, written by Tai Shigong in some places."

After hearing this, Li Hanzhang also asked: "Where is the contradiction?"

Zhu Ming swallowed the meat in his mouth and said eloquently: "Let's talk about the Battle of Pengcheng. Liu Bang first withdrew to Xiayi to the west, and then went south to fight Xiang Yu between Suishui and Lingbi. Then he joined forces with Lu Ze, and finally withdrew. To Xingyang."

As he spoke, Ju Ming dipped his fingers in tea and drew on the stone table: "This is Pengcheng, Peixian is to the north, Xiayi is to the west, and Lingbi is to the south." Tai Shigong recorded in Xiang Yu's Chronicles that Liu Bang only led dozens of cavalry He escaped and went back to Peixian County to look for his family and found his two children. In order to escape, he pushed the two children out of the car several times. This escape was in the wrong direction. Not only was it wrong, but it was completely the opposite. Liu Bang ran north, thinking To lead troops to retreat to Xiayi, we must pass through or bypass Xiang Yu's army."

Bai Chongyan and Li Hanzhang both thought seriously after hearing the words.

Ju Ming continued: "According to the records in Gaozu's Annals, Liu Bang did not return to Pei County. It was when he withdrew his troops to Xiayi that he sent people back to Pei County to look for his family, and only his son Liu Ying was found. Since only one son was found. , where did you push two children out of the car several times?"

"It seems...that's really the case." Li Hanzhang suddenly woke up from alcohol. At this moment, he just wanted to go back and read "Historical Records" carefully.

Zhu Ming stuffed another candied fruit into his mouth and chewed it while saying: "Even if Liu Bang really returned to Peixian County, how heavy would the two children be, and would they need to be pushed out of the car several times? What's more, with the pursuers behind him, how many times would Liu Bang After pushing the child out of the car, Xia Houying took the child back several times. How much time would it take? Liu Bang was not a fool! When he was escaping, the carriage was bound to be speeding. The two children were pushed down several times. Even if they did not fall to death, they would have died early. He was crippled by the fall!"

"Haha, of course!" Bai Chongyan clapped his hands and praised.

At this moment, Li Hanzhang was so convinced that he raised his hands and said, "My dear brother is really a great talent, and I can't trick him!"

Bai Chongyan raised his glass and said: "After receiving this wonderful theory, you should realize three great things."

"Drink!" Li Hanzhang poured the wine himself.

Just as everyone was toasting, someone suddenly shouted: "Li Erlang, Bai Sanlang, I'm here!"

Li Hanzhang turned his head and looked around. His head suddenly hurt and he muttered, "Why is it this fat guy again? I can't get rid of him anywhere."