People in the Song Dynasty were lawless

Chapter 484 Set sail and go to sea!
“So the responsibility today does not lie with others, but with us young people.”

“If the youth are wise, the country will be wise. If the youth are wealthy, the country will be wealthy. If the youth are strong, the country will be strong. If the youth are independent, the country will be independent. If the youth are free, the country will be free. If the youth are progressive, the country will be progressive. If the youth are the most powerful on earth, the country will be the most powerful on earth.”

"The red sun rises, its path is bright. The river flows out of the underground stream, pouring into the ocean. The hidden dragon rises from the abyss, its scales and claws flying. The young tiger roars in the valley, and all the beasts are frightened. The eagle tests its wings, and the wind and dust flutter. The exotic flower is born, shining brightly. The dry sword is sharpened, and it has an edge. The sky is blue, and the earth is yellow. Even if there are thousands of years, there are eight wildernesses. The future is like the sea, and the future is long."

"How beautiful is my young Chinese, who is as old as the sky! How magnificent is my young Chinese, who is boundless with the country!"

The next day.

The Bianliang Daily published this "On Young China".

Countless people who read this article applauded and praised Mr. Lu Xun's writing style and ambition.

This is also a microcosm of the present Song Dynasty.

In terms of culture, the rise of science collided with the thoughts of the ancients, which was bound to bring about changes in concepts.

As the capital, Bianliang was at the forefront of science because of the emperor's obsession and the promotion of science by the ministers. Under their influence, all officials also began to become supporters of science.

After all, science does not conflict with Confucianism, nor will it shake the foundation of officials.

With the influence of the leaders, the scientific spirit soon became popular among the people and gave rise to various kinds of ideologies and cultures.

The new school of thought was popular among the people, like an ideological enlightenment movement. It began to take root in the Song Dynasty and spread to major cities across the country.

Therefore, Zhao Jun criticized feudal ethics, bureaucracy, and some bad ideas in the newspaper, and praised scientific development, the advocacy of new learning, and good ideas.

Articles like this can also be accepted by the world.

In contrast, the vast rural areas and county towns remain conservative in this regard.

It is the core area of ​​feudal ethics and traditional old-fashioned ideas. Many people cannot accept it and look down on new studies and science.

But the new cultural wave will not stop just because of the rejection of backward and conservative regions.

As long as the emperor remains obsessed with science, the academy continues to hold high the banner of science, and science continues to bring new changes to people, the New Culture Movement will continue to develop unchanged and deeply influence every generation.

This will continue for another ten, twenty, fifty, or even a hundred years.

When such ideas spread across the country like a wave, sooner or later the backwardness and ignorance of the Song Dynasty will be eliminated, and instead the Scientific Outlook on Development will begin to take root in people's hearts and enable them to view the world rationally.

In May, Di Qing returned to the court.

The imperial court began to plan a railway from Chang'an to Dunhuang to make it easier to control the Western Regions. The Southern Fleet of the Song Dynasty began to formally occupy Mayit Island and expand southward to Java Island.

The rubber and cinchona trees originally planted in Guangzhou, Hainan and Guangxi also began to be transplanted southward and officially took root in Southeast Asia.

The fleet even explored as far as Australia.

It was just that because it was too far away at the moment, the imperial court did not even consider it as a place of exile for criminals, but instead regarded Mayi Island as the new Lingnan.

In the past, criminals were exiled to Lingnan. Now that Lingnan has been fully developed, criminals are exiled to Mayi.

same year.

The Song Dynasty as a whole still maintained a positive mental outlook.

The political system is stable, the military is strong, science and technology are flourishing, education is universal, and the economy and agriculture are booming.

The price aspect is particularly commendable, except that the housing prices in the city centers of economically developed cities such as Bianliang, Hangzhou and Chengdu are a bit too high.

The prices of other daily necessities are extremely low, and it can even be said that the low grain prices are hurting farmers.

The simplest example is the price of rice.

In the downtown area of ​​Bianliang, a chicken butcher or fishmonger could earn about 200-300 coins a day. Excluding rest days, he could earn about 6-9 coins a month.

However, the price of rice has remained at around 200 wen per dan in recent years, which means that 200 wen can buy about 60 kilograms of rice.

Basically, one day's work is enough to provide food for a family of five for two months.

The wages of female workers in other Bianliang textile factories were about 6.1 guan per month, and the wages of male workers in steel factories were about 9.4 guan per month.

Even the salary of the clerks who maintained law and order in the county was around 5 guan, and the civilians in Shaanxi who were responsible for transporting supplies to the Western Regions earned around 8 guan a month.

Among daily necessities, the prices of salt and rice are very low, only the price of oil is slightly expensive. However, with the emergence of large amounts of pressed vegetable oils such as soybean oil, peanut oil, sesame oil, and rapeseed oil, the price of oil has gradually dropped.

After all, this kind of oil pressing had already appeared in the Song Dynasty, and there were special tools for oil pressing.

The emergence of the steam engine made it more efficient and produced more oil. As more vegetable oil became available on the market, the price naturally dropped slowly.

All I can say is that this was the best era for the people of the Song Dynasty.

Corresponding.

But it is also an era of skyrocketing housing prices.

By the 12th year of the Qingli period, the price of an ordinary house of 300 square meters in the inner city of Bianliang had soared to 30,000 strings of coins, which is almost 10,000 strings of coins per 100 square meters.

Assuming one guan is worth about 770 wen, that means each square meter in the inner city costs about 77000 wen. Converted by purchasing power, it is basically equivalent to more than yuan per square meter.

And this is a house in the inner city close to the outer city. If it is a house in the inner city close to the imperial city, it will be more expensive.

For example, the house that Zhao Zhen bought for Zhao Jun at the beginning only cost more than 10,000 strings of coins for an area of ​​2,000 square meters. If it were put in today's market, because it is close to the imperial city, which is equivalent to being within the second ring road of Beijing, its value would be at least 300,000 strings of coins.

The outer city is a little better, but not much better. It is still an ordinary house of 300 square meters. The location is not good. It is on the edge of the outer city. It is easy to sell it for seven or eight thousand strings of cash.

For a male worker in a steel factory, he would have to go without food and drink for seven or eight years to save up enough money to buy a house on the edge of the outer city. As for houses in the inner city, forget it. Apart from the original inhabitants of Bianliang, only very wealthy businessmen could afford them.

Therefore, many officials did not have their own houses. Even though their salaries were still very high, they could only live in the staff compounds set up by the court or in public housing.

Zhao Jun built a lot of public rental housing in the past, and the rent was about 3-4 guan per month. It seemed very expensive, but compared with the rent of a house in the inner city, which could easily cost dozens of guan, this price was already very reasonable.

The number of officials of different ranks in Bianliang has exceeded 8,000 this year, doubling the number during the Jingyou period. Most of them are minor officials below the seventh or eighth rank, with monthly incomes ranging from more than ten to more than twenty strings of cash, and they basically all live in public housing.

However, the prices of newly built tube-shaped buildings in the suburbs outside the city are much lower.

After all, it is far from the city center, and housing prices are generally around a few hundred guan, and rents are also very cheap, with many renting for a few hundred wen.

Grit your teeth and spend a few coins to buy a bicycle, which makes it convenient for commuting to get off work.

Therefore, many people buy houses in outer cities. Now the construction speed of real estate developers can hardly keep up with the speed of house purchase, and the housing prices outside the city are also rising every day.

For a time, Bianliang became more prosperous.

The outer city of Dongdu is more than forty miles in radius, with a ten-zhang-wide Hulong River. It is planted with willow trees, has white walls and red doors, and fluttering red sleeves.

There are four canals passing through the city, and water transport is prosperous. All goods in the world are brought into the capital through these canals.

Looking around, there are brothels and painted pavilions, embroidered curtains, BMWs racing on the imperial road, golden and green glittering in the sun, tall buildings, and fragrant silks, which startled countless bicycle bells. It was also in this year.

When the Song Dynasty was much stronger than in previous years, Emperor Zhao Zhen decided to hold an unprecedented grand court meeting during the New Year of the 13th year of the Qingli period in order to show the power of the Song Dynasty to the world.

This time he will invite more than 60 countries that currently have some interactions with the Song Dynasty to come to the Song Dynasty, so that they can see the prosperity and strength of the Song Dynasty.

To this end, at the suggestion of Zhao Zhen, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Rites began to select personnel from the beginning of the year to send envoys to various countries to issue invitations.

From last year to March this year, the two ministries prepared more than ten diplomatic missions to go on missions.

The first to set off were of course the diplomatic delegation to the Western Regions.

Li Tao, Sun Youtong, Liu Bingyan and others set out in the second half of last year as envoys to Gaochang and the Black Khan, and ultimately helped Di Qing successfully take over the entire Western Regions.

The news came back, which was exciting.

Although an accident occurred during this period, which led to Li Tao's death, it is hard to imagine how much reward the court would give Li Tao after his death, and how much help it would bring to his descendants and family.

The fact that this name will be recorded in history is enough to make many people who seek fame yearn for it.

Therefore, many of the other envoys were very excited. They all signed up voluntarily and knew that this trip might be full of dangers.

But with danger comes opportunity.

Either he comes back and gets promoted, or he comes back after he dies, that doesn't matter, as he can leave his descendants with a legacy.

In the past, among the tens of thousands of officials in the Song Dynasty, the more than one hundred Jinshi candidates who passed the imperial examinations each year were naturally the most valuable. However, for the majority of middle and lower-level officials, family connections were the main channel for promotion.

However, now that the Song Dynasty has opened up more channels for recruiting scholars, such as the imperial examinations, civil service examinations, and academic examinations, the number of scholars selected through family connections is decreasing.

Everyone knows that the court increasingly favored the three types of examinations, namely, the civil service examinations, which are commonly known as the civil service examinations. The civil service examinations are for professionals, the civil service examinations are for temporary workers, and the civil service examinations are for university graduates.

Smart people have already figured out that the Song Dynasty will most likely abolish the system of family connections in the future, and the imperial examination will become the highest level examination, while the system examination, the civil service examination, and the academic examination will become examinations of a slightly lower level.

Moreover, the Song Dynasty attached increasing importance to academic qualifications. Diplomas from elementary school, junior high school, high school, and university, especially higher university diplomas, were usually a sure thing in the subject exams, and even extra points were awarded in the imperial examinations.

Therefore, Menyin will only disappear in the long river of history, except for its huge contribution to the Song Dynasty.

The diplomatic envoy he was sent on was only a low-level official from the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He had limited room for advancement, and his descendants might not be able to pass the exam either. In order to secure a future for himself and his descendants, he naturally had many followers.

Among them, Tan Wenxue, the Director of the Ministry of Rites, and Zhang Youwei, the Director of Protocol of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, became representatives to the Middle East.

Don't think that their official positions are low.

In fact, the Ministry of Rites is a first-level department, the Minister of Rites is a second-rank official, and the two Vice Ministers are second-rank officials.

Then the lower-level departments only included the four departments of ancestral sacrifices, the department of guests, the department of food, and the department of ceremonies.

Each department has one Langzhong, two Yuanwailang, and four Zhushi, who are respectively of the fifth rank, the fifth rank, and the sixth rank.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is a second-level department, with the Minister of Foreign Affairs being a third-rank official and two Vice-Ministers being third-rank officials.

The lower-level departments include the Department of National Affairs, Department of Foreign Affairs, Department of Protocol, Department of Consul, Department of Law, and Department of Security, each of which has one doctor, two assistant doctors, and four directors.

But the rank did not drop, it was still the fifth rank, from the fifth rank to the sixth rank.

Its Department of Domestic Affairs mainly studies the country's foreign policy. For example, the policy toward Liao was temporary peace but actual hostility.

The Department of Foreign Affairs is responsible for diplomatic negotiations, the Department of Protocol is responsible for diplomatic etiquette, and the Department of Consulates is responsible for overseas stationings, such as the Song Dynasty consulates in Japan and Vietnam.

As for law and security, there is no need to say much. We study the laws of other countries and foreign-related security, especially the Security Department, which is ostensibly the Security Affairs Department, but actually investigates the internal situation of other countries.

Therefore, whether it is the Ministry of Rites or the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Langzhong and Yuanwailang are not low-level officials. They are senior managers within their respective departments, second only to Shangshu and Shilang.

In the entire Song Dynasty system, he was considered a mid-level official, responsible for ceremonial and diplomatic affairs.

Tan Wenxue and Zhang Youwei were the main personnel on this trip. Naturally, there were also several accompanying officials and clerks of the sixth to ninth ranks, such as the chief officer, the chief clerk, the clerk, the bailiff, and the go-between.

In early March, the group arrived in Guangzhou on Guangnan East Road with the king's order.

It was late spring in Guangzhou, the sun was scorching, the temperature was very high, and it made people feel a little stuffy.

However, when they arrived in Guangzhou, they saw a scene that was even more bustling than the weather.

The Guangzhou City in the Song Dynasty was naturally not as big as it is in later generations. Its actual location was centered on the Yuexiu District Government in later generations, extending to Dongfeng Middle Road in the north, Renmin North Road in the west, Donghouyong Elevated Road in the east, and Kangtai Road in the south.

Generally speaking, compared with the Guangzhou city in later generations, it is just a very small place. Even Yuexiu Mountain is outside the northern suburbs of the city. Since Zhao Tuo, it has been the oldest urban area in Guangzhou.

Although the city walls of Guangzhou had not been demolished at this moment, a large number of high-rise buildings had already begun to be built outside the city.

There are countless ships docked at the Pearl River Wharf, some of which are small sailboats, while others are so huge that they block out the sun like towering ships.

There were at least several thousand ships coming and going at the port, stretching for several miles along the docks outside Guangzhou city.

Countless dock workers were coming in and out, constantly loading and unloading goods. The docks were bustling with people, all kinds of goods were moving around, and there were a large number of government officials maintaining order.

These people included customs officials, government officials, warehouse managers, and even local troops.

Tan Wenxue and others came here by water. During the Qingli period, the imperial court dredged the Lingqu Canal many times, and it had long become the main freight channel.

After the fleet arrived at the local area, as it was already afternoon, there was no time to visit the entire dock. After the ship stopped, dozens of people got off the ship.

"Doctor Tan, Doctor Zhang!"

"Wang Caosi, Su Zhizhou."

After they got off the ship, they sent someone to inform the local authorities.

People from the Guangnan East Road Transport Office and the Guangzhou Prefecture Office soon arrived.

The team was led by the Transport Commissioner Wang Han and the Prefect Su Yan.

Wang Han was the prefect of Tanzhou in his past. Later, he had good political achievements and was promoted many times. Now he is the transport envoy.

This Su Yan is Su Song's cousin, but he is about the same age as Su Song.

Historically, when he was the magistrate of Yingzhou, he led troops to assist Guangzhou in fighting against Nong Zhigao and defeated Nong Zhigao. Later, he served as the magistrate of Yongzhou and died in the Vietnamese invasion.

However, such a thing probably will not happen again at this time. If Vietnam still dares to invade, it will have to ask the Song Dynasty garrison in Vietnam whether it agrees.

At this moment, the two of them came to greet them in person.

Su Yan was fine, as his position was one level lower than Tan Wenxue and the others, but Wang Han was a fourth-rank official. Logically speaking, for normal official duties, it would be enough to send him as a deputy transport envoy.

However, this is an important mission for the imperial court, and the Guangzhou navy must be mobilized for this mission, so we cannot be careless.

(End of this chapter)