No war in the Northern Song Dynasty

Chapter 1: The Peach Blossom Spring of the Song Dynasty

Su Ze finally opened his eyes and woke up from an endless long dream.

In his dream, he saw a beautiful fishing village like a paradise. He spent an unknown amount of time there, but a voice whispered in his ear:

"Go back! Go back!"

Sitting up from the icy couch, the cold wind of late winter rushed through the cracks in the iron-like quilt. Su Ze asked three soul-searching questions:
who I am? Where am I? What am I going to do?
I’m Su Ze, a failed historical writer who’s going through a mid-life crisis.

But another memory rushed into his mind. Su Ze, who was born in Bian Jing, had just passed the examination of the Imperial College and was preparing to take part in this year's provincial examination.

The provincial examination, also known as the Ministry of Rites examination, allowed one to participate in the palace examination presided over by the emperor himself, which was similar to the joint examinations in the Ming and Qing dynasties.

Standing up from the couch and looking at the bare room, the two memories finally began to merge.

The memory of modern society prevailed, and Su Ze finally confirmed that he had traveled through time!
He also figured out the times and where he was.

As a time traveler, he was undoubtedly lucky, as he was lucky enough to travel to the second year of the Qingli period of the Song Dynasty.

Combining the memories in his mind and Su Ze's historical knowledge, Qingli was the reign title of Emperor Renzong of Song.

It has been eighty-four years since Zhao Kuangyin ended the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms era of cannibalism.

It was still eighty-three years before the fall of Bianjing, the Jingkang Incident, and the demise of the Northern Song Dynasty.

In other words, he arrived right in the middle of the Northern Song Dynasty.

The dawn sunlight shines onto the desk through the hole in the wall. The original owner of this body deliberately left this hole in order to imitate the story of drilling a hole in the wall to steal light, and to urge himself to study here every morning.

In Su Ze's opinion, this is simply asking for trouble.

At this time, Su Ze noticed a book on the table.

"Peach Blossom Spring"?
Su Ze remembered that this was a famous article by Tao Yuanming, a famous essayist in the Jin Dynasty. In his previous life, he often read this article and yearned for a pastoral life outside the city.

Living in Bian Jing is not easy.

Since his predecessor lived in Bian Jing, he must have longed for a pastoral life, right?

However, Su Ze also knew that the farmers in the Song Dynasty probably did not have any pastoral idylls, but only land annexation and exploitation by officials, which was definitely not as comfortable as described by Tao Yuanming.

Just as Su Ze was about to put the book away, a ray of light suddenly flew out from the book, followed by a feeling of dizziness, and Su Ze's eyes went dark.

When Su Ze opened his eyes, he found himself on a small boat.

The boat drifted slowly along the stream. On both sides of the stream were dense peach blossom forests, with peach blossoms hanging on the branches, blooming in full bloom.

Su Ze sat up from the boat. When the forest ended and the water source came to an end, he saw a mountain with a small opening in it, as if there was light.

This is? Peach Blossom Spring?

How did I travel through time again?

After experiencing the crossing, Su Ze's nerves seemed to be a little calmer. When the boat passed the mountain pass, he soon felt relieved.

Just as Tao Yuanming described in "Peach Blossom Spring", after passing the mountain pass, the view suddenly opens up, the land is flat, the houses are neat, and there are fertile fields, beautiful ponds, mulberry trees and bamboos.

Is it really the Peach Blossom Spring?

But when I looked around, although there were houses, they were very dilapidated, and the fertile fields in the distance were covered with dead grass.

The boat gradually stopped, and a dilapidated pier appeared in front of Su Ze. He walked down the pier, but did not see a single resident of Taohuayuan.

Su Ze felt a chill on his back. This deserted Peach Blossom Spring was not a pastoral poem, but a horror movie.

At this moment, the ground at the dock suddenly shook, and a blade of grass on the side of the road moved, and then a little carrot-like man jumped out of the ground!

Su Ze was so scared that he almost ran back to the boat, but when he looked closely, he found that the carrot-like little man did not look scary at all, and even looked a bit like a cartoon?
Moreover, there was nowhere for him to escape, and it seemed that this little carrot man had no attack power.

I only heard the villain say:
[Welcome back, Master of Taoyuan.] Why does this voice sound so familiar?

Su Ze recalled the long dream before he traveled through time. The voice that drove him out of the dream in the end, wasn't it the voice of this little carrot man that drove him out of the dream?

The owner of Taoyuan?

The little carrot man seemed very happy to see Su Ze. He jumped and skipped to Su Ze's side.
【Welcome back to Peach Blossom Spring, you are the current owner of Peach Blossom Spring.】

The leaves on the little radish man's head were swaying, looking quite cute. Su Ze couldn't help but touch its leaves with his hands.

Is this my golden finger?
From the memories of this body, Su Ze knew that compared to his predecessors who had traveled through time and space to become emperors and generals, his beginning was too ordinary.

Although the Su family was considered a large family, there were no high-ranking officials in the family. It was just a family of commoners living in Bian Jing.

Otherwise, Su Ze’s family wouldn’t be so penniless.

Although he passed the preliminary examination and was qualified to take the provincial examination, the admission rate of the Song Dynasty imperial examination was much lower than that of the civil service examination in later generations.

At the age of 30, he stayed at home to write novels, which were not even as good as his peers in later generations. Su Ze did not think that he could pass the imperial examination just by traveling through time.

From his memory, Su Ze understood that his original body's abilities were also mediocre, and it was difficult to guarantee victory in the fiercely competitive provincial examination.

Zeng Gong, one of the Eight Great Masters of Tang and Song Dynasties, also passed the examination when he was young, but finally wasted ten years before he became a Jinshi.

Without being able to become an official, ordinary people had a hard time in the Song Dynasty.

Otherwise, how did the peasant uprisings that occurred one after another, including those in the Song Dynasty, come about?

Now that I have the golden finger and have traveled to the Song Dynasty, I finally feel safe.

"Is this the Peach Blossom Spring?"

[Yes, this is the Peach Blossom Spring.]

"But where are the people? Why are all the houses and farmland abandoned?"

In Tao Yuanming's Peach Blossom Spring, it is written that there are many people in the Peach Blossom Spring, "old and young, all happy and contented."

[It's been too long since the last owner of Peach Blossom Spring. Due to a lack of "cultural energy" to nourish it, Peach Blossom Spring has already dried up once. Now, we have finally waited for you, the new owner of Peach Blossom Spring.]

"Wensu Qi, what is this?"

"Cultural Qi" is the energy source that Taohuayuan relies on for survival. Whether recruiting "Spiritual Boys" or building various facilities, it costs "Cultural Qi", and maintaining these also requires "Cultural Qi".

After the little carrot man explained it this way, Su Ze quickly understood that the so-called "cultural energy" was the currency in the game, right?

So, the so-called Peach Blossom Spring is just a farming game that you can enter and exit?

"Then how can we obtain the spiritual energy?"

The "spirit of cultural heritage" comes from the cultural treasures created on the land of China. Poetry, songs, essays, and calligraphy all possess this spirit. The owner of Taoyuan can absorb this spirit to nourish Taoyuan.

Su Ze seemed to understand, but it sounded like this "cultural context" was not difficult to find.

I traveled through time to the Northern Song Dynasty's Bianliang City. At that time, there were countless literati and poets in the city. Yan Shu, Ouyang Xiu, Fan Zhongyan, and Liu Yong were all top literati of this era. There was always a chance to get some "literary spirit".

At this moment, the little carrot man suddenly said:

[Guests are here! Master of Taoyuan, let me take you back.]

Then, Su Ze heard shouts of "Go home! Go home!" and then he sat up from the desk.

Looking at the holes in the wall, Su Ze returned to his home in Bianjing City.

A young man's powerful voice came from outside the door:
"Is Su Lang here? Wang Anshi of Linchuan, I have heard of Su Lang's great talent and would like to discuss learning with you."

(End of this chapter)