I traveled with them to the Northern Song Dynasty

Chapter 157 The Five Women Who Gained Fame

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After deciding to hold the imperial examination, Zhao Yu discussed the specific details with Zhang Dun and Han Zhongyan, who had returned from Gongyi.

Subsequently, Zhao Yu put Han Zhongyan in charge of matters related to the imperial examinations, while Zhang Dun, as usual, oversaw the entire process.

Soon, the Ministry of Rites posted notices in important locations in the capital, such as the Ministry of Rites and the Imperial Academy, which would specify detailed information such as the time, location, subjects, and application requirements for the imperial examinations.

At the same time, the Ministry of Rites also dispatched officials to various places to convey information related to the imperial examinations, so that local students would be aware of it.

In addition, the imperial court also disseminated information about the imperial examinations through official gazettes. These gazettes were distributed to officials in various regions, thus enabling more people to learn about the specifics of the examinations.

The purpose of these announcements is to ensure that students across the country can obtain timely and accurate information about the imperial examinations so that they can prepare well for the tests.

In the late autumn of the first year of the Hongwu reign, the provincial examination was successfully held.

Before the imperial examination was held, Emperor Zhao Yu issued a special imperial edict, stating that this examination would select 2,000 officials, the highest number in history.

This is precisely why so many people participated in the imperial examinations this year. Many people who originally did not plan to participate also chose to give it a try.

There were also many candidates in the Longyou Protectorate.

After passing the preliminary examination in Xizhou City, they went to the capital to prepare for the provincial examination shortly after the New Year in the second year of Hongwu.

Li Gang was one of them.

Li Gang was born in Huating, Xiuzhou (which is now Songjiang, Shanghai). He is nineteen years old this year. His father, Li Kui, was a Jinshi in the third year of Yuanfeng. In the second year of Yuanyou, he was transferred to Songxi County, Fujian as the county magistrate and registrar. Li Gang and his mother, Wu, went to his post with his father.

Lü Huiqing, who was then a Grand Academician of the Guanwen Hall and Prefect of Jianzhou, greatly admired Li Kui's talent.

Later, Lü Huiqing was appointed commander of the Fuyan Road and Li Kui was appointed to the Pacification and Pacification Office to handle official business.

In the third year of the Shaosheng era, Li Kui arrived in Yan'an to take up his post, accompanied by his fourteen-year-old son, Li Gang.

Born into an official family, Li Gang received a good education from a young age. In addition, he was diligent and studious, proficient in poetry and prose, and his talent was well-known far and wide. What was even more commendable was that Li Gang had great ambitions from a young age. He paid close attention to national affairs from his youth and always followed the law in his words and deeds, which earned him the appreciation of his elders.

Li Kui's friend Chen Guan once predicted that Li Gang would become a great man in the future.

When the Western Xia army invaded and besieged the city, Li Gang did not want to follow the example of the sons of his subordinates who pretended to climb the city walls to resist the enemy in order to receive rewards, but he still often "rode around the city walls" to show his bravery.

Two years ago, Zhao Yu appointed Lü Huiqing to oversee Xihe Road in preparation for the reconquest of Western Xia. Lü Huiqing then launched another campaign against Li Kui, appointing him as the prefect of Huangzhou, and Li Gang once again accompanied him.

When Li Gang first arrived at the Longyou Protectorate, the place was a scene of desolation.

Politically, the country was fragmented into numerous tribes, each acting independently with no order whatsoever. Conflicts frequently broke out between tribes over pastures and water resources, and the shadow of war loomed constantly. The government, lacking any credibility, was powerless to quell the disputes, and the tribes acted solely by force. The people lived in constant fear and uncertainty, their lives hanging by a thread.

Economically, the country was in dire straits at the time. Agricultural technology was primitive and backward, and farmers struggled to cultivate the land using simple and crude tools, resulting in extremely low yields and frequent food shortages.

In terms of commerce, apart from the old Silk Road, other regions were isolated and had little external communication. Commercial activities were limited to simple barter, and the market had few kinds of goods and sluggish transactions.

In terms of culture and education, this place was like a desert at the time. There were almost no systematic educational institutions, and knowledge was passed down entirely by word of mouth from elders, making it difficult to accumulate and widely disseminate knowledge. Written language was only used by a small number of upper-class and religious people, while the general populace was mostly illiterate, ignorant, and extremely lacking in spiritual enrichment.

In terms of medical and health care, the conditions were extremely poor. Once an epidemic broke out, it spread rapidly, and people were helpless, struggling in pain and fear.

Since Emperor Zhao Yu and his ministers swiftly exterminated the nobles and powerful chieftains of this land, and moved in one million Han people, and sent Lü Huiqing and a large number of capable officials from the Song Dynasty to govern the area, the Longyou Protectorate was able to regain its vitality and gradually become densely populated and culturally prosperous.

It can be said that Li Gang personally witnessed the hardships and glories of this transformation.

The process will not be described in detail.

It is said that, thanks to the efforts of Emperor Zhao Yu and his ministers, the political situation of the Longyou Protectorate under the rule of the Song Dynasty has been completely transformed. Tribes were eliminated, the backward slave system became history, and the prefecture-county system took its place. With this came the establishment of unified laws and order, and the people were finally able to live and work in peace. The conflicts between ethnic groups gradually dissolved under the mediation of the government, and the concept of cooperation and win-win took root in this land.

Economically, the Song Dynasty introduced advanced agricultural technology (especially the advanced agricultural tools developed by Ma Xiaojiao and the advanced farming techniques developed by Yuan Qingcheng). People of all ethnic groups worked diligently on this fertile land, which led to a significant increase in grain production, and the people here no longer had to suffer from hunger.

Commercially, its strategic location on the Silk Road and improved transportation greatly facilitated foreign exchanges, leading to increasingly prosperous business activities, a wider variety of goods in the market, and bustling trade.

In terms of culture and education, the Song Dynasty established a systematic system of three-tiered education and tribute system here, enabling the widespread dissemination and accumulation of knowledge. Children of all ethnic groups were able to receive systematic education in schools, learning cultural knowledge and cultivating moral character. Chinese characters gradually became popular among ordinary people, their minds gradually became more enlightened, and their spiritual world was greatly enriched.

With the introduction of "Ye Shiyun's Medical Canon", medical and health conditions were greatly improved, the outbreak of epidemics was effectively controlled, and people were no longer helpless in the face of illness, but regained their health under scientific treatment.

This transformed Li Gang from an initial conservative into a staunch reformer. He strongly supported Zhao Yu's reforms and the subsequent recovery of Western Xia.

In Li Gang's view, as long as the Zhao Song Dynasty could recover the Western Xia and replicate the success of the Longyou Protectorate, the Northwest would be completely stabilized and could then develop vigorously. In just a few years, the people here would be able to recuperate and live in peace and contentment.

In order to better serve the country and to support Zhao Yu's efforts to recover Western Xia, Li Gang participated in this year's imperial examination and passed the preliminary examination in one go.

As soon as the Spring Festival was over, Li Gang bid farewell to his parents and left Longyou for Xihe Road with a horse, a follower, a wooden bicycle that was beginning to become popular in the Northwest, and supplies needed for the two of them.

Wooden bicycles are made from readily available wood, making them relatively inexpensive. You can even make your own frame without spending extra money (the technical barrier to making wooden bicycles is relatively low; as long as you have basic woodworking skills and tools, you can make one). The biggest cost is just the price of bearings, but even a pair of the best bearings won't cost a penny.

The purchase price of horses is much higher. Even in Longyou, a good horse can cost tens or even hundreds of strings of cash, and there are also ongoing costs for feeding and caring for them.

Crucially, wooden bicycles have excellent load-bearing capacity; some oversized versions can carry loads of 1,000 to 1,500 kilograms. While ordinary horses can also carry or pull a certain amount of goods, their load-bearing capacity is slightly inferior to that of specially designed heavy-duty wooden bicycles.

In addition, wooden bicycles have a simple structure, and daily maintenance mainly involves inspecting and reinforcing the wooden parts, as well as maintaining components such as the wheels. They do not require the same level of professional care as horses.

Furthermore, wooden bicycles are highly adaptable, capable of traveling on dirt roads, mountain trails, and muddy surfaces. Horses, on the other hand, may experience difficulties in extreme road conditions due to injuries such as hoof injuries.

In addition, wooden bicycles are not affected by factors such as climate and disease, which reduce their working capacity, unlike horses.

In short, from an economic and practical perspective, the wooden bicycle was a very convenient means of transportation in that era. It was precisely for this reason that, more than two years after its introduction, the wooden bicycle was rapidly adopted and spread throughout various regions of the Song Dynasty.

However, even after more than two years of development, wooden bicycles still have some problems.

One of the biggest problems is that its bearings are prone to failure.

In addition, without shock absorption, you have to rely on your body to absorb shocks while riding.

Speaking of this matter, Ma Xiaojiao really did her best.

Ma Xiaojiao possesses knowledge of modern bearings; she understands their structure and principles, and knows how to use suitable materials such as steel to manufacture the inner and outer rings and balls of the bearing. She fully utilizes existing iron smelting and forging technologies of the time, and through process improvements, manufactures the simplest rolling bearings. Simultaneously, based on practical needs, she designs different types of bearings, such as sliding bearings or rolling bearings, for use in vehicles, machinery, and other fields, improving the operating efficiency and performance of machinery.

However, due to the lack of professional processing equipment (Ma Xiaojiao's wood and iron machine tool is ultimately not precise enough), and more importantly, the steel is not hard enough, which makes the current bearings still quite inferior.

Fortunately, thanks to Ma Xiaojiao's research on lubricants and through continuous trials and improvements, bearings that meet certain usage requirements have been developed.

Based on this, the Imperial Household Department opened several bearing factories and made a lot of money.

Seeing the potential profits in producing bearings and promoting wooden bicycles, some shrewd businessmen also set up bearing factories, or even directly opened wooden bicycle factories.

Soon, the bearing factory and the wooden bicycle factory arrived in Jingzhao Prefecture along with the wooden bicycles, and then spread throughout the Northwest.

Because opening bearing factories and wooden bicycle factories is very profitable, skilled craftsmen in the private sector are also developing bearings and improving wooden bicycles.

This allowed the development of bearings to proceed relatively smoothly, and also enabled the widespread adoption of wooden bicycles.

As for shock absorption, it's not easy to develop at the moment.

Spring steel is an alloy steel with high elastic limit, high fatigue strength and good toughness, and its production requires advanced metallurgical technology and equipment.

During this period, although metallurgical technology had made great progress and was able to produce various iron and steel products, it was still impossible to precisely control the composition and properties of steel, nor was it possible to produce materials that met the requirements of spring steel.

At that time, the steelmaking technology mainly consisted of traditional methods such as frying and pouring steel, which made it difficult to achieve precise proportions of alloying elements and fine control over the microstructure of steel, which is essential for the production of spring steel.

As for wrapping a layer of rubber pads around the surface of wooden wheels, it is certainly impossible to do so since China currently does not have rubber.

Fortunately, even without shock absorption, a wooden bicycle can still be used; it just means it will suffer a bit and require more repairs.

During their journey, Li Gang and his servants would have horses pull the wooden bicycle uphill, push it on flat ground, and make it run faster than the horses downhill. They arrived smoothly at Xizhou, the administrative center of Xihe Road.

Here, Li Gang specially came to pay his respects to Lü Huiqing on behalf of his father, Li Kui.

Lü Huiqing told Li Gang that His Majesty expanded the recruitment this year to cultivate talent for the recovery of Western Xia, and that if he studied hard this time, he should be able to pass the imperial examination.

After bidding farewell to Lü Huiqing, Li Gang and his servant continued their journey eastward.

When Li Gang was leaving Dasanguan Pass, he encountered a scholar whose wooden bicycle bearing had broken.

Li Gang kindly lent a bearing to the scholar.

“When I crossed the Jialing River, I lost a bag, and the spare bearings were all there. After experiencing the bumpy roads of Shu, I finally broke down here. I forgot to introduce myself. I am Yuwen Huangzhong, from Guangdu, Chengdu Prefecture. May I ask your esteemed name, elder brother?” Yuwen Huangzhong said.

Li Gang returned the greeting and said, "My name is Li Gang. My elder brother's surname is Yuwen, and he is from Guangdu in Chengdu Prefecture. As far as I know, during the Taihe era of Emperor Wenzong of Tang, there was a remonstrating official named Yuwen Ji who served in Sichuan. His son then settled in Sichuan. May I ask if my elder brother is a descendant of the Northern Zhou royal family?"

Yuwen Huangzhong said admiringly, "Brother, you have great insight! I can tell from your accent that although it has a strong Northwestern flavor, it also carries a strong Wuxi accent. There is a branch of the Li family in Wuxi who are descendants of the Tang imperial family. Because they served as the governor of Jianzhou, their family settled in Shaowu and later moved to Wuxi. I wonder..."

Li Gang laughed heartily: "Brother, you have great insight. You figured out my background in just a few words."

Yuwen Huangzhong said with a smile, "It was you, elder brother, who first exposed my background."

The two hit it off immediately and then started chatting.

At this critical moment, with the help of Li Gang's attendants, Yuwen Huangzhong's attendants skillfully replaced the bearing.

Then, the two groups traveled together.

They saw that many people on the road were like them, pushing wooden bicycles to get around, and there were also many caravans that used wooden bicycles as their main mode of transportation.

Yuwen Huangzhong exclaimed, "Empress Ma is truly a genius; she has even invented the bicycle, which has greatly benefited those who come and go."

Li Gang said, "It's not just bicycles; Longyou also has many other industrial and agricultural tools, all made by Consort Ma, each with its own unique features..."

Then, Li Gang told Yuwen Huangzhong about Ma Xiaojiao's many inventions and their amazing features: such as the wooden ox and flowing horse irrigation cart; the foot-operated multi-hedged loom; the improved curved plow that reduced the consumption of human and animal power; the seed drill that could simultaneously complete ditching, sowing, and covering, saving manpower and improving sowing efficiency, especially suitable for crops such as wheat and millet; the wooden ox and the plowing frame invented to cope with the shortage of animal power; and various kinds of agricultural tools such as entrenching tools, planes, and files...

After hearing this, Yuwen Huangzhong exclaimed, "I really don't know where Your Majesty found this extraordinary woman."

Li Gang laughed and said, "It's not one extraordinary woman, but five. However, apart from Consort Ma, I only know of Consort Ye and Consort Yuan. They are in no way inferior to Consort Ma. As for what's so special about the other two consorts, I haven't heard of them yet..."

According to Li Gang, the "Ye Shiyun Medical Classic" saved countless lives in Longyou. The reason why Longyou has had a bumper harvest for two consecutive years is not so much due to Ma Xiaojiao's efforts, but rather thanks to Yuan Qingcheng's "Qingcheng Agricultural Book".

As for what Zhang Chun and Li Lin were capable of, Li Gang really had no idea.

After listening to Li Gang's words, Yuwen Huangzhong said sincerely, "I have also heard of the names of these five imperial concubines. However, the deeds of Imperial Concubine Zhang and Imperial Concubine Li are not well known. Although the court promoted Imperial Concubine Ye's and Imperial Concubine Yuan's 'Ye Shiyun Medical Classic' and 'Qingcheng Agricultural Book' in Guangdu, the two books were resisted by the people of our area and failed to be promoted. The county magistrate and others were even dismissed because of this. I did not expect that these two books would be so miraculous. The local magistrates are extremely ignorant."

Li Gang said with some emotion, "If Longyou had not completely eliminated the Tibetan nobles and powerful chieftains, it would have been just like your place, unable to gain significant benefits in the short term..."

……

(End of this chapter)