Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

Zheng Hong glanced at the horse's butt and didn't take it seriously at all. He also reminded with a smile: "You can't lead this horse into the city. If the official catches it, he will be punished."

"If you pick it up, keep it at home and ride it." Ju Ming said.

Judging from everyone's attitude towards the stolen official horses, we know that the Song Dynasty was in a bad state and did not take the government seriously.

Last year, Cai Jing returned to the prime minister with only one mission: to make money for Song Huizong!

When the Hua Shi Gang flourishes, it will be a lively event.

The servant came carrying a high chair, like a horse with a backrest, and then pulled the high chair open, and Zheng Hong sat down.

This little fat guy is so lazy that he won't stand when he can sit, and won't sit down when he can lie down.

Ju Ming continued to chop the straw and asked casually: "Li Erlang and Bai Sanlang, why didn't they come to play?"

Zheng Hong took out a pack of preserved fruits, stuffed it into his mouth and said, "The two of them are pretending to be still practicing Shiwen. They have gone to the countryside and they are not playing seriously. Bai Sanlang must prepare for the exam seriously. He How can there be any reason for Li Erlang to fail the exam?"

"Indeed." Ju Ming agreed with a smile.

As the son of a state magistrate, as long as he is not a straw bag, being elected is like picking something out of a bag.

For officials who are more than two thousand miles away from home, relatives can take the exam at the place where they serve. The Transportation Department is responsible for invigilating the exam, which is called the "Bie Tou Exam". The admission rate is as high as 30%, and it does not occupy the local quota.

With the development up to now, distance has been ignored, as long as you are an official in a different place, you can enjoy it. Moreover, fraud is common. The higher the rank of an official, the easier it is for relatives to be promoted.

At the level of governor and prefecture magistrate, their brothers, nephews, and nephews started out as juren!

Li Hanzhang, who lives in Chuzhou (Huai'an), why did he come to Yangzhou with his father? Of course it is convenient for taking exams.

Zheng Hong said to his servant: "Go and help cut the grass and let Zhu Dalang have a rest."

The servant quickly walked to Zhu Ming and said with a smile: "Zhu Xiucai, just let me do the rough work."

Ju Ming felt relaxed and happy, handed over the hatchet, went back to the house and brought a bench to sit down on.

Zheng Hong stood up, dragged the chair, moved closer to Ju Ming, and asked in a low voice: "Did you sell a good pen to Bai Sanlang?"

"Sold." Ju Ming replied.

Zheng Hong asked: "Is there any more? I'll buy one too."

Ju Ming thought for a while and said, "Yes."

"How many are left?" Zheng Hong asked again.

"Not much." Ju Ming answered ambiguously.

Zheng Hong said with a smile: "I bought them all. The price is easy to say. It is definitely higher than Bai Sanlang's bid."

However, Zhu Ming thought it was too much money and replied: "I only sell one. If I buy them all, there is no need to talk."

The smile on Zheng Hong's face froze for an instant. He looked at Ju Ming carefully before returning to his smile and said, "You don't even make money even if you have money?"

Zhu Ming asked, "Why did Zheng Xiaoguan buy so many pens?"

"Gift." Zheng Hong didn't hide it either.

"Just give one as a gift." Ju Ming said.

"Ha ha ha ha!"

Zheng Hong put the preserved fruit back into his pocket, clapped his hands and said with a smile: "Zhu Dalang, you are more interesting than I thought. My family is a businessman, and things are rare. If there are good things on the market, of course I will buy them out." You can get a surprise price increase, and you can also give it as a solitary item as a gift."

Ju Ming cupped his fists and bowed: "I've learned a lesson."

Taking out the silk scarf to wipe off the sugar stains on his hands, Zheng Hong continued: "You can just buy one, please give me a price."

Ju Ming Lion opened his mouth: "Three hundred strings."

Zheng Hong couldn't help but roll his eyes: "Although I'm not good at reading, I'm not a fool. You sold Bai Sanlang 60 guan, but you sold it to me for 300 guan. The difference is really too big."

Ju Ming explained: "In this Yangzhou, I only have this thing in my hand. If you sell one, you will lose one. The more you sell it, the more expensive it will be."

Zheng Hong ignored this argument: "Eighty gold, I won't buy a penny more. If you are willing to sell it, I will recognize you as my friend."

Ju Ming suddenly smiled and said: "The face of a small official is worth a thousand guan. This deal is settled. There is only one request, please comply with it."

"Speak." Zheng Hong said.

Ju Ming said: "Don't make it public and don't let the third party know."

"I keep my mouth shut, I promise not to tell," Zheng Hong took out a few coins, "I went out in a hurry this time, so I didn't bring much with me, so I'll give you the deposit first."

"Easy to say." Zhu Ming took the coin and found that it was not iron money, so he couldn't help but look at it a few more times.

There were also gold and silver coins in the Song Dynasty, especially in the Huizong Dynasty. Due to the severe shortage of copper materials and the obsolescence of banknotes, a large number of gold and silver coins were minted to fill the gap.

As for the price of silver, one tael of silver has risen to more than 2,000 yuan. This is caused by Cai Jing's excessive use of bad money.

"Short hundred" is also becoming more and more common. Even iron money can be "short hundreds", which is simply outrageous. (Note: A short hundred means less than a hundred cents, but it can be traded for a hundred cents. That is, the purchase value of good coins has exceeded its own currency value, and the government recognizes this situation when collecting taxes.)

Zhu Guoxiang, who had been tutoring his children in studying, took the brush directly into Zheng Hong's hands.

Zheng Hong said in surprise: "I only paid the deposit, and you are willing to deliver the goods. Aren't you afraid that I won't admit it?"

Zhu Guoxiang smiled and said: "The Zheng family's reputation is much more valuable than a brush."

The father and son now have no worries about food, but money is secondary. They just want to catch up with the Zheng family.

"It's really refreshing." Zheng Hong stood up and clasped his fists. "If you have any difficulties in the future, just tell me your name when you go to Yangzhou. I will send someone to deliver the balance of the pen after I get home. By the way, I can’t remember the rhetoric behind this. Can I write it down on paper so that I can brag about it when giving gifts?”

"Can!"

Zhu Guoxiang asked for pen and ink from Bai Qi and wrote the promotion words for Hubi.

Zheng Hong blew on the ink, and when the ink was almost dry, he folded it and put it in his arms.

After finishing the business, the man took out the preserved fruit again, holding the paper bag and asked: "Do you two want to eat?"

Zhu Guoxiang was too embarrassed to take it, but Zhu Ming was rude and grabbed a big handful. He thought he needed to add sugar.

Putting a piece of preserved fruit into his mouth, Zheng Hong hurriedly asked: "Have you really been overseas?"

"My father went to sea," Ju Ming said.

Zheng Hong was very interested: "Come on, tell me, I haven't seen the sea yet."

Once alive, twice familiar.

Ju Ming was quite experienced in making up stories, and he was talking nonsense, which made the little fat man stunned for a while.

Of course, he didn’t believe everything. Zheng Hong listened to it more as a story.

Zheng Hong was tired of playing with the novelty gadgets in Yangzhou. He was lazy and didn't like to travel far, and he always liked to ask people about strange worlds.

As he was talking, Ju Ming suddenly returned to the house and grabbed a handful of corn seeds: "Please look at this."

"Is this... food?" Zheng Hong guessed.

Ju Ming began to expand his skills: "This thing is called corn. My father encountered a hurricane at sea, and everyone and his goods sank to the bottom of the sea. Our Zhu family was ruined. In that shipwreck, my father held the mast and drifted to an island. . There was an old man with white hair on the island who claimed to be eight hundred years old and gave my father this corn seed."

"Meet an immortal?" Zheng Hong subconsciously didn't believe it and felt that Ju Ming was bragging.

Ju Ming said seriously: "The old man said that he was not a god, but just a Taoist monk. Not only did he give corn seeds to my father, he also said twelve words: Bingwu chaos, pigs ride horses; go out from the northwest, calm the world!"

Zheng Hong sat up straight in an instant, staring at Ju Ming with his eyes.

Zhu Guoxiang, who was not far away, turned around instantly when he heard this and looked at his son with a speechless expression.

Prophecy is not a strange thing, most scholars know it.

Da Chuxing, King Chen Sheng.

The sky is dead, and the yellow sky should stand; if the year is Jiazi, the world will be prosperous.

Zheng Hong suddenly retracted his seat, chewing the preserved fruit, with a stupid look on his face: "What do you mean? I don't understand."

"I don't understand either," Ju Ming said. "Since the old man mentioned the northwest, my father returned to the mainland and took me to the northwest, intending to find a place to settle and plant the corn seeds."

Zheng Hong smiled and said, "Since I don't understand, let's talk about the Monkey King."

"Okay, let's talk about the Monkey King." Ju Ming also laughed, and his smile was particularly bright.

The two of them seemed to have forgotten the prophecy. Zhu Ming spoke brilliantly and Zheng Hong listened with rapt attention.

It was not until Mrs. Yan and Shen Yourong returned home that Zheng Hong stood up and said goodbye, making an appointment to continue listening to the story tomorrow.

After the little fat man left, Zhu Guoxiang pulled his son to the latrine: "Why are you so anxious? Let's get a firm foothold first!"

Zhu Ming smiled and said: "Dean Zhu, aren't you worried about the degradation problem of corn and worried that you can't explain it to the villagers? I have come up with a solution for you. You said that second-generation seeds have a certain probability of degradation. You can blame this on the immortals, just It is said that corn is given by immortals, and it is stained with immortal energy, so the harvest is good. In the second generation of seeds, the immortal energy disperses a little, so the harvest is high or low. In the third generation of seeds, the immortal energy disperses more, and so on."

"This is indeed a convenient statement," Zhu Guoxiang accepted it happily, and then said with a straight face, "Don't change the subject, I'm asking you about the prophecy."

Zhu Ming said: "I just made it up casually. If I want to fight for the world in the future, I will use it. If I don't want to fight for the world, I will just say nothing. It's like playing Go, throwing a chess piece all the way. Moreover, I deliberately said 'An Tianxia' ', don't say that you want to 'win the world'. There are many understandings of An Tianxia, ​​supporting the Song Dynasty as a loyal minister, this can also be regarded as An Tianxia."

Zhu Guoxiang was silent, and it took him a long time to hold back a sentence: "Next time we talk or do something, let's discuss it first."

"Okay." Zhu Ming agreed with this suggestion.

As for that prophecy, no one believed it at this time, let alone what it meant.

When the imperial court was changed to Jingkang in the Bingwu year, everyone would be able to react.