Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

A few days before the Autumn Society, the festive atmosphere has already been set off.

Married women went to the streets to do their shopping. Even if I have no money, I still have to tie up two feet of red-headed rope and make new clothes for my child.

On the day of the Autumn Society, if the child is underage, his mother will take him to his grandparents' house for the festival.

Every household is making community cakes. Those who really don’t have money to make community cakes have to cook some communal porridge to try and make this festival pass.

Zhu Ming took officials at the state and county levels to the outskirts of the city to worship. He led the worship of the gods, while Wang Laozhi served as the host of the ceremony. Only chickens, ducks, fish and small animals were still used, but there were more types of food sacrifices. After the ceremony, the sacrifices were divided by the officials.

There are lively activities both inside and outside the city, in the countryside and towns.

Generally, nearby big businesses pool their money to build a stage together, and the performers they invite will try their best to steal the spotlight. Whoever's performance is the most exciting means that this big family is the most powerful.

The vendors were beaming with joy and selling at the top of their lungs.

No matter how poor the people are, they will come to the temple fair with their whole family after eating. It is good to watch performances for free without paying a penny, after all, there is usually a lack of entertainment activities.

Even thieves blend in with the crowd and live happily as good citizens on this day.

Ju Ming also asked the four male sumo wrestlers who were married to the Zheng family to come on stage to compete with the local sumo wrestlers in Puzhou. There are wins and losses, and the performance is average.

Sitting in the auditorium, Ju Ming felt the festive atmosphere, as if the seas were clear and the rivers were flowing, and the world was prosperous.

Li Xiaozhong sat on the other side, surrounded by Puzhou gentry.

This guy glanced at Ju Ming from time to time, with a look of pride on his face. He had already received the exact news, Zhizhou was about to leave, and he would probably leave after celebrating the Autumn Society.

The flowing water of Zhizhou and the iron-clad Li family. After all, the Li family has the final say in Puzhou.

In the middle of the afternoon, Zhu Ming took all the officials back to the city for dinner. It was not only a banquet to celebrate the festival, but also a farewell party for the governor.

"With this glass of wine, I wish the prefect a bright future!" Tongpan Tian Ruyong raised his glass and said.

"Congratulations to the prefect!"

The officials shouted in a cheerful tone, quite like sending off the plague god. At least half of the officials were looking forward to Zhizhou leaving as soon as possible. This superior officer was too damn capable.

Ju Ming smiled and raised his glass: "Congratulations to the official family."

"Congratulations to the official family!" all the officials responded.

Tian Ruyong personally poured wine for Ju Ming and said sincerely: "If the prefect can stay in office for another year, the atmosphere in Puzhou will definitely change."

He really couldn't bear to leave Ju Ming. There were too few Zheng Party members here. If Ju Ming left office, Tian Ruyong would have to deal with it alone, and he might be replaced by officials one day.

Zhu Ming clinked glasses and said, "As long as Tian Dafan straightens his back, why should he be afraid of Xiaoxiao?"

"Haha." Tian Ruyong laughed awkwardly. He was too timid to mess around.

Huang Guinian and others also toasted one after another.

As for Yao Guangshu, the magistrate of Juancheng, he didn't give any face to him and simply regarded Ju Ming as nothing. Anyway, they have already broken up with each other. The harder he offends Ju Ming, the more satisfied his backers will be.

After drinking until evening, Ju Ming took a carriage home.

There was an archer from Leize County who had been waiting for a long time and personally delivered the letter to Ju Ming.

This letter was sent by Wei Dian, the capital of Leize County. The content is very simple, thanking the prefect for his promotion, and at the same time politely rejecting the prefect's recruitment, unwilling to follow the prefect to Jinzhou to take office.

Ju Ming said: "I have received the letter. Go back and tell Wei Dutou to ask him to treat the people well. If you encounter difficulties in the future, you can come to me for help at any time."

"Yes!" The archer bowed and excused himself.

Zhu Ming asked Zhang Boring again: "What about you? Are you going to stay in Juancheng or come with me to Jinzhou?"

Zhang Bor was a little tangled. He felt that it was very satisfying to follow the prefect. He could suppress bandits and arrest people from time to time. The life was colorful and exciting. But he doesn’t want to be too far away from home. After all, he still has his wife, children and children at home.

After thinking for a long time, Zhang Bor asked: "Can I bring my wife and children with me?"

Ju Ming smiled and said, "Of course."

"Then I'll go with the prefect." Zhang Bor was determined to go out and see the world. Staying in Puzhou would inevitably lead to short-sightedness.

The autumn wind is bleak, and the rising sun is like blood.

A group of officials sent Ju Ming to the bank of the Yellow River. He had only been in Puzhou for three months and he was about to wave goodbye.

There are three more followers.

Zhang Bor is a master of swordsmanship, Yang Pu is a rooster and a thieves, and Shi Yuangong is a man who wants to rebel.

After the autumn water passed through, the old course of the Yellow River became dry and shallow again, and only small boats could pass. The riverbed above the ground, extending all the way to the embankment, is filled with piles of dry sand.

Zhu Ming climbed onto the embankment and looked north. He stood there for a long time and finally turned around and left.

When he took office, Ju Ming took the Guangji River in the south, but now that he is leaving, he follows the Yellow River from the north.

Following the old path of the Yellow River, we traveled sixty miles. After three days of dilly-dallying, asking passers-by from time to time, we finally arrived at Kaidefu City.

This place is also called Puyang, and it is also Chanzhou of the Chanyuan Alliance.

"Emperor Zhenzong came here personally on his expedition." Ju Ming sighed as he looked at the city from a distance.

After Shi Yuangong left Puzhou, his mental state improved a lot, and he felt like he had escaped from the prison. He said in a mocking tone: "Forging an alliance in Chanyuan and enshrining Zen in Mount Tai are unparalleled achievements."

Ju Ming turned around and glared: "You can use a needle and thread to sew up your talk."

Shi Yuangong shut up immediately. He had followed the prefect for many days, but he still hadn't figured out the way. He could vaguely sense the ambition of the prefect, but he thought it was nonsense. How could such a person rebel? If it were me, when I became the magistrate at such a young age, I would never dream of rebellion.

Therefore, Shi Yuangong only had one guess left: the prefect must have felt that the Song Dynasty was about to die, and was looking for a way out in advance.

All the Gonggun princes thought that the Song Dynasty was full of flowers.

Only bankrupt Shandong scholars like Shi Yuangong could detect any signs of national subjugation. Unfortunately, in the eyes of Shandong scholars, the "theory of the collapse of the Song Dynasty" has been around for hundreds of years, and the collapse is still continuing today.

To the south of Kaide Mansion is Xingren Mansion. Wang Jie, the prefect who came out of Beijing with Ju Ming, is also doing crazy things in Xingren Mansion.

Wang Jie didn't care about anything else and urged the rich to give him horses every day.

There are horses in every state capital in Shandong, but you can just get some bad horses to do the work.

Wang Jie, however, wanted to use force, coercion, and inducement to recruit good horses. Historically, this man donated more than a hundred horses, all of which could be used as war horses. He was notified and commended by the court, and he was "specially transferred to an official position" for this reason.

This was stimulated by Li Wenzhong, who exchanged 300,000 Ganoderma lucidum for a transshipment messenger.

There weren't that many Ganoderma lucidum in Xingren Mansion, so Wang Jie put his idea on the battlefield.

Snakes have their own ways, rats have their own ways, and everyone wants to make progress.

That night, Ju Ming stayed outside Puyang City and did not enter the city to alert local officials.

After waiting for several days, an official ship finally set off. By boat, you could go to Tokyo along the Yellow River.

…

In Tokyo, Dean Zhu has been studying astrology recently.

Mainly because he was bored. Apart from cultivating fine seeds and occasionally working as a gardener for the emperor, Zhu Guoxiang didn't know what to do.

One night, he was left in the palace by Song Huizong, and they went to observe the starry sky together.

Zhu Guoxiang asked some questions, and the astronomical officer of the Hanlin Academy enthusiastically answered them and taught him the most basic knowledge of astrology.

As long as there is someone to guide you, the twenty-eight constellations are easy to identify, and you will remember them after observing them a few times.

In addition to Erbasu, there is also Sanyuan.

Miyuan is easier to remember and is very vivid.

In the Ziwei Palace, there are the emperor, the prince, the concubine, and the harem.

There are four assistant ministers, Shangshu, Dali, Nushi, Shangcheng, Shaocheng, Shangfu, Second Lieutenant, Shaobi and so on.

On the outside, there are the five emperors, princes, three princes, nine ministers, generals, officials, and Zongzheng.

In other words, the center of the astrology in ancient China is exactly like the heavenly seating chart. There is even a staff of cooks (Tian Chu Xing), otherwise who will take care of the food?

There are also stars representing territories, such as Wuyue, Bashu, East China Sea, South China Sea, etc.

The more Zhu Guoxiang looked at it, the more interesting it became. Every night, he would get up and observe the star map.

"Ms. Zhu, the lenses are polished. There are twelve pieces in total." The craftsman presented the crystal lens.

"Thank you." Zhu Guoxiang asked someone to get the money.

It is difficult to verify when lenses appeared in ancient China.

Based purely on physical objects, the earliest lens unearthed is a "single-piece magnifying glass with a round handle" from the late Eastern Han Dynasty. From the name that archaeologists gave to this object, we can know its specific characteristics, that is, a magnifying glass with a handle and a frame.

Framed glasses were first unearthed in the Song Dynasty, with copper frames, horn frames, tortoise shell frames, and even snakeskin glasses cases.

But these are reading glasses. For example, Ouyang Xiu has myopia, and reading glasses cannot help at all.

After the mirror grinder left, Zhu Guoxiang took out many cylinders.

He doesn't know the focal length of these concave lenses and convex lenses, so he can only pair and adjust them during use.

The cylinder can be retracted and dismantled, and is also made by craftsmen.

Zhu Guoxiang continued to adjust and change several lenses, and finally made a relatively satisfactory pair of telescopes.

telescope?

Sorry, Zhu Guoxiang didn't dare to do it yet, for fear of angering the emperor. The old man prayed to immortals all day long. If he were allowed to see the true face of the moon, who knows what kind of thoughts he would have.

"Prepare the car!"

Zhu Guoxiang came to Fanlou in a carriage and went straight to the top floor.

"Which room do you want my husband to sit in?" The waiter came up to serve him.

Zhu Guoxiang said: "No, I will go around by myself."

He is not here to spend money.

Standing on the flying bridge connecting two tall buildings, Zhu Guoxiang raised the telescope and pointed it directly into the palace. He wanted to test the maximum observation distance of the telescope.

Keep adjusting the focus, and you can actually see the palace maid.

Zhu Guoxiang's face was full of smiles, and he felt like a voyeur. He was so bored that he had to find some fun by himself.

After observing the palace for a while, I began to observe the streets.

This perspective was very strange, and Zhu Guoxiang watched it for more than ten minutes. When he put down the telescope, he found that there were several people standing around him, all of them were powerful and wealthy businessmen who came to Fanlou to have fun.

"What is in Mr. Zhu's hand?" asked a middle-aged man.

Zhu Guoxiang felt that he looked familiar. He was probably an official from the imperial court. He said perfunctorily: "You can see the leopard through the lens, just take a look."

This thing has military value, but Zhu Guoxiang does not want to spread the word, otherwise it will be bad if it falls into the hands of the Jin people.

After chatting for a while, Zhu Guoxiang took the telescope and ran away.

When I got home, I saw my son.

"When did you come?" Zhu Guoxiang asked in surprise.

"A few minutes after arriving," Ju Ming glanced at the things in his father's hand, "Telescope?"

Zhu Guoxiang handed it over: "Try it."

Ju Ming took the chariot and looked around, then put it in his arms: "You don't want to donate it to the emperor, do you?"

Zhu Guoxiang said: "Donate when you need it, hide it when you don't need it. The emperor is not my father, why do you think of him for all the good things?"

"It's best if you don't donate it. If you donate it, it will be given to the golden soldiers." Zhu Ming held the telescope and had no intention of taking it out again. He confiscated it directly.