No war in the Northern Song Dynasty

Chapter 20 Two Strings of Money

The guiding boy said beside Su Ze:
[Congratulations to the Taoyuan Master for recruiting a high-quality spiritual boy! ]

Su Ze looked at the five spiritual boys who had climbed onto Taohuawu. Three of them were dressed like Anong, wearing farmer's shorts and radish figurines with wheat ears on their heads.

The remaining two Lingyun boys are Yuanyou Boy and Jiangyun Boy.

One of them was dressed as a craftsman, holding a Lu Ban ruler in his hand and a delicate wooden mechanical bird on his head. This should be the boy Jiang Yun.

The other Lingyun boy was dressed like a traveling scholar, with a travel bag on his back.

The so-called "ji" is a bamboo basket carried on the back of scholars in ancient times when they were traveling. There was a shed on the top to protect against rain, and a bag for storing books in the basket. When people at that time said "carrying a ji to take the exam", they were referring to this kind of thing.

In addition, this Lingyun boy also wears a traveling crown and ties up the radish leaves on his head, which is a common attire for scholars traveling far away.

Needless to say, this is the traveling boy.

Su Ze opened the Peach Blossom Spring volume, and the information of the recruited Lingyun boy appeared on it.

Of the five spiritual children, one was orange and one was purple! The remaining three were also green!
What a great harvest!

Su Ze hurried to check it out.

[The traveling boy who is not afraid of hardships], orange.

Taking another look, he is indeed the orange spiritual boy. He has two skills, one more than Anong.

【Budget Travel】, prepare less supplies and go on a longer trip.

【Travel Description】After visiting a region, you can compile a local travel description of the local mountains, rivers, geography, customs and people and send it to the owner of Taoyuan.

Really strong!

These two skills, one can reduce material consumption, and the other can collect information during travel. Su Ze said to the Lingyun boy wearing the travel crown:

"From now on, just call me Ayuan."

"Thank you, Master Taoyuan, for the name."

Su Ze looked at another purple Lingyun boy again. It turned out to be the Jiangyun boy he recruited.

[Hardworking Craftsman Boy], purple.

Like Anong, the purple craftsman boy also has an additional skill.

【Cleverness】, can improve process technology based on existing process summary, and may produce higher quality products.

Su Ze said to the boy Jiang Yun:

"You will be in charge of the paper mill from now on. I'll just call you Ah Zhi."

"Thank you, Master Taoyuan, for the name."

The remaining three Nong Yun boys are all Ling Yun boys of green quality.

Su Ze discovered that the green qualities all had the [Normal] affix, so they should be the standard Lingyun Boy.

Blue should have one more positive attribute, purple will have one more skill, and orange will have two more special skills.

Anyway, this time it’s a great harvest!

Su Ze arranged work for the Lingyun boys, gave them names, and asked them to work behind Anong.

After using up his cultural energy, Su Ze finally began to look at the Peach Blossom Spring.

A breeze blew across the river, and Su Ze watched a dandelion being blown away, and the seeds floated across the river on the wind.

The dense fog not far away began to disperse, revealing a patch of open space. The guiding boy, along with the other boys, began to construct various structures using tools that appeared out of nowhere.

Looking at the river water under Taohuawu, Su Ze wondered if there were any fish in the river?

Can I bring my own fishing rod in to fish in the future?
If we build a house here, it should be comfortable to live in, right?
Or you can make a lounge chair and lie on the peach blossom pond to fish, which should be very comfortable.

But when he thought of the world outside the Peach Blossom Spring, Su Ze still silently said "go home" in his heart.

Feeling dizzy, Su Ze found himself back on the bed in the shabby house.

The Peach Garden in the dream is ultimately a dream, and where my heart is at peace is my hometown.

When I was reading in the old days, I was always puzzled by the obsession of Song people with the prosperity of Bianliang in their notes.

Su Ze got up and put on his clothes, looking at the lights of the city night market not far away. Now that he was there, he finally had some understanding.

After all, I have traveled through time and space, and I have a system at hand. I wonder if I can change the fate of this weak dynasty?

Su Ze sat in the yard for a long time, until the roosters crowed and the fireworks of the small vendors outside the yard were lit. Only then did Su Ze go back to the house and put on his clothes.

He is hungry.

No matter how talented and ambitious one is, in the end, it all comes down to food, clothing, housing and transportation. Su Ze took out two strings of money from under the bricks under the desk. This was his last savings.

Two strings of cash is not a small amount. Taking an ordinary fourth-class household in the Song Dynasty as an example, after deducting taxes, the family income for one year is about ten strings of cash.

But these are farmers with a small-scale farming economy. They can use their own surplus grain for food and collect firewood themselves in the mountains.

In this prosperous city of Bianjing, two strings of cash was really too little.

Fortunately, it was already spring, so there was no need to pay extra for heating. According to Su Ze's calculations, two strings of cash for food would be enough for two months if he was frugal.

In addition, if you also want to take part in the Ministry of Rites examination next month, you will need to save an additional amount of remuneration.

The so-called "runtie fee" is the examination fee paid in order to apply for the Ministry of Rites examination.

The imperial examinations were the cheapest in the Tang Dynasty, as you only needed to prepare your own paper and stationery.

However, because of this, cheating in the imperial examinations was rampant in the Tang Dynasty. Some historians believe that the imperial examinations in the Tang Dynasty were still a toy for aristocratic families and had nothing to do with ordinary scholars.

Starting from the Song Dynasty, the aristocratic families withdrew from the court and entered the era of common people. The imperial examination, as an important channel to enter the officialdom, became more serious.

In order to prevent cheating in the imperial examinations, anti-cheating measures were upgraded from the reign of Emperor Taizu of Song to the reign of Emperor Zhenzong of Song.

First, Emperor Taizu of Song expanded the number of candidates and presided over the palace examination in person, creating the tradition that Jinshi were "disciples of the emperor." This was a lesson learned from the Niu-Li factional struggle in the Tang Dynasty, when powerful officials used their status as chief examiners to recruit disciples and former officials.

Emperor Taizong of Song also implemented the lock-up system, which locked the chief examiner in the Imperial Academy before the exam and released him only after the exam, thus preventing powerful officials from bribing the chief examiner.

Emperor Zhenzong of Song Dynasty upgraded the marking system. The first one was to "cover the names", that is, to seal the examinee's information at the beginning of the test paper to prevent the examinees from being bribed.

Another way to prevent cheating in the exam is to "transcribe". That is, after the candidates finish answering the test paper, a clerk is sent to copy the candidate's test paper with a red pen and then give it to the examiner for review.

By the time of Emperor Renzong, the imperial examination had become an extremely important national ceremony for selecting talents, and at the same time, the cost of holding the examination also rose sharply.

Locking the school requires special security forces, and large-scale examinations require special examination rooms.

Whether it is covering the names or transcribing, it requires a large number of clerks who are proficient in clerical work, and it also needs to be checked, which also requires more manpower.

Therefore, starting from the Jingyou year, candidates needed to pay a remuneration fee of two guan.

Although Su Ze did not expect to pass the imperial examination this time, he also wanted to go to the examination hall to see it and feel the atmosphere of the imperial examination. What if he passed?

Looking at the two strings of cash in his hand, there was still more than a month before the Ministry of Rites examination. He couldn't really count on Zhang Chulan to support him, right?
After setting the goal of making money, Su Ze's stomach rumbled again. He pushed open the door to buy some bean cakes for breakfast, but saw several familiar figures.

(End of this chapter)