In the Kuangda Mansion of Kaifeng Prefecture, 35-year-old Zhao Tingmei, the governor of the mansion, put his hands behind his back and walked on the road.

This is a sturdy man, tall and mighty, and his appearance is very similar to that of his second brother Zhao Kuangyin.

Zhao Tingmei walked around the corner while listening to the "chirping" of birds on the big trees on both sides of the road; When you are interested, you will whistle a few times at the birds.

Zhao Tingmei can whistle at the birds that cry on the big tree, which means that his mood is happy and happy.

The happy mood comes from his position as the crown prince of Kaifeng Mansion.

The second brother Zhao Kuangyin and Chen Qiaoyi added the yellow robe and won the throne from Chai Zongxun, the young lord of the Later Zhou Dynasty; Kaifeng Mansion Yin let three Zhao Guangyi do it, and Zhao Guangyi did Kaifeng Mansion Yin; That means that he will be the emperor in the future.

After the second brother Zhao Kuangyin died, the second brother Zhao Guangyi really became the emperor; And the seat of Kaifeng Mansion Yin let Zhao Tingmei sit.

Zhao Tingmei sat on the seat of Kaifeng Mansion Yin, which means that after the third brother Zhao Guangyi, his fourth son of Zhao Hongyin will ascend to the throne; Brother to brother and brother and in the Northern Song Dynasty court has formed a system.

Zhao Tingmei's original name was Zhao Guangmei, the word culture; Born in 947 A.D., his ancestor was Zhao Guanghan; Jing Zhaoyin of the Western Han Dynasty.

Zhao Tingmei's father is Zhao Hongyin, and her mother is Zhao Hongyin's wife Du; However, the later historian Sima Guang recorded in the "Records of Lianshui" that Taizong had a saying: Zhao Tingmei's biological mother was Chen Guo's wife Geng Shi instead of Du Shi.

Whether Zhao Tingmei is the son of the Du family or the son of the Geng family, Zhao Tingmei has not heard of it.

Because Geng was later named Mrs. Chen Guo by Zhao Kuangyin, she was Zhao Tingmei's nurse; If Zhao Tingmei was really born to the Geng family, it means that his father Zhao Hongyin had an affair with the nurse in an inappropriate manner.

This statement does not seem to be true, and it is still coming out of the mouth of Zhao Guangyi, who is the emperor.

Zhao Guangyi threw this bombshell regardless of the reputation of his father Zhao Hongyin, which can only show one problem - he does not want to follow the path of brother to brother, but wants to pass the throne to his son.

But Zhao Tingmei didn't know that the three had already begun to calculate themselves, and they would never give up until they put him to death.

Zhao Tingmei is the fourth brother of Zhao Kuangyin, Taizu of the Song Dynasty, whose original name was Kuangmei, and was changed to Guangmei in order to avoid the name of Song Taizu; He also avoided the name of Taizong of the Song Dynasty and set the name Tingmei.

Song Taizu Zhao Kuangyin has five brothers: brother Guangji, died early, Song Xing, posthumously crowned King Yong, changed to King Cao; Brother Guangyi, that is, Song Taizong; Ci Tingmei; Ciguang praise, died young, posthumously crowned King Kui, changed King Qi.

In the first year of Song Taizu Jianlong, he awarded Zhao Tingmei Jiazhou as a defense envoy; In the second year, he moved to Xingyuan Yin and Shannan West Road.

In the second year of Qiande, he added the same Zhongshu Menxia Pingzhang; Kaibao added inspection to the Taibao, Shizhong, Jingzhaoyin, and Yongxing military festivals in the sixth year.

Zhao Tingmei was proud of the spring breeze when the second brother Zhao Kuangyin was the emperor, but the second brother died in vain; The third brother Song Taizong ascended the throne.

Zhao Tingmei is a little bit of that to the third brother Zhao Guangyi, but people crowned him as Zhongshu Ling, Kaifeng Yin, and King of Qi; The school master was inspected again, and Zhao Tingmei's hanging heart seemed to be put into her stomach.

Zhao Tingmei heard that her mother Empress Dowager Du made a "golden alliance" with her second brother Zhao Kuangyin before she died; He asked Taizu to learn the lessons of the Northern Zhou Dynasty and pass it on to his brother Zhao Guangyi, who in turn should also pass on the throne to his brother Zhao Tingmei.

When Zhao Kuangyin, Taizu of the Song Dynasty, sent the generals Pan Mei and Cao Bin to defeat the Southern Tang Dynasty, and sent Zhao Tingmei to the labor army in the ninth year of Kaibao (976 AD); Zhao Tingmei then arrived in Biankou on the second day of the first lunar month to meet Li Yu, and the two talked about poetry and Taoism, which was extremely speculative.

In the third year of the Taiping Rejuvenation of the Song Dynasty (978), Zhao Tingmei was deceived by Zhao Guangyi, Taizong of the Song Dynasty; Killing Li Yu with poison became the regret of his life.

After Li Yu's death, Zhao Tingmei knew that she had fallen for the third child, Zhao Guangyi, and hated him.

After Zhao Tingmei hated Zhao Guangyi, the seat of Kaifeng Mansion Yin was still sitting, and there seemed to be comfort in his heart.

Kaifeng Mansion Yin is the chief executive of the capital, but the development of the capital's commerce and trade and the quality of public security are directly related to Kaifeng Mansion Yin.

Therefore, after Zhao Tingmei became the governor of Kaifeng Prefecture, the institution was enriched and adjusted on the original basis.

The left and right halls are set up in the government office, and each hall is divided into a judge and a pusher, who is in charge of the push of criminal cases, that is, the trial.

The Embassy, also known as the Nansi, was led by a single judge, who presided over the administrative affairs of Kaifeng Prefecture in addition to criminal and prison lawsuits—daily execution of Qiangu taxes and various documents of criminal prisons.

Silu Division, also known as the Imperial Court, the chief officer is Silu to join the army; He was in charge of the lawsuit of the marriage Toda house, and also led the administrative affairs of the six Cao.

The six Cao are Gong Cao, Cang Cao, Hu Cao, Bing Cao, Fa Cao, and Shi Cao, and each Cao has a commander called joining the army.

Gong Cao joined the army and was in charge of official examinations and public education affairs.

Cangcao joined the army and was in charge of the repair, logistics, and kitchen of the public office.

Hu Cao joined the army and was in charge of household registration, account books, tax affairs, etc.

Bing Cao joined the army to take charge of the military attache examination, armor and staff affairs, etc.

Fa Cao joined the army to examine the law, etc.; Shi Cao joined the army and took charge of boats, cars, houses, etc.

The left and right military patrol courts, each court has a military patrol envoy and a military patrol judge; He is in charge of the battles and pushes that took place in the capital.

He was in charge of the disputes that occurred in the capital and dealt with minor cases.

In addition, Kaifeng Prefecture also has a cabinet library (archives), a school of government, and some economic departments, such as the building in charge of public rental housing.

The gate of the Yamen of Kaifeng Mansion is a five-storey pavilion, which is majestic and magnificent, commonly known as the Mansion Gate.

Passing through the gate of the house is the instrument gate, and the east and west sides of the instrument gate are usually the functional departments that handle specific official business; Such as the left and right management institutes, etc.

After the Yimen is the office hall of the government Yin Zhao Guangyi, which is called "setting up the hall".

There is a ring stone between the hall and the instrument door, which is engraved with the sixteen-character inscription of "Erfeng Erlu, the people anoint the people, the people are easy to abuse, and the heavens are difficult to deceive".

On both sides of the hall are various functional departments, such as the government, the Department of Justice, the Department of Households, the Cabinet Hall, the Sectional Promotion Hall, the Chatui Hall, etc., as well as the warehouses for storing public materials, such as the military treasury, the Jiazhan warehouse, the Changping warehouse, the cabinet warehouse, the minister's treasury, the money treasury, etc.

Behind the hall is where Zhao Guangyi lives.

The Northern Song Dynasty court set up official positions such as Taishi, Wangye, Prime Minister, Kaifeng Mansion Yin, and Liubu Shangshu, and the Kaifeng Mansion Yin had considerable power.

The official position of Taishi has been established since the Shang Dynasty, and Jizi was appointed as Taishi when he was the king of Shang.

In the Zhou Dynasty, Jiang Taigong, who made great contributions, was named Taishi.

In the Shang and Zhou dynasties, Taishi, Taifu, and Taibao were the "three princes", among which, Taishi was the most respected position of the head of the three princes.

In the era of Emperor Liu Xin of the Han Dynasty and Emperor Liu Xin of the Han Ping Dynasty, the Taishi was regarded as the "Shanggong" and ranked above the three dukes.

By the Song Dynasty, Taishi had completely become an honorary title; It is mostly used to give to important ministers with prominent status and high hard work, such as Zhao Pu, the founder of the Northern Song Dynasty, and Wen Yanbo, the virtuous minister.

Although the Taishi is a positive grade, he has no actual power.

Compared with the Taishi, all dynasties have had the post of prime minister.

Before Zhu Yuanzhang abolished the phase system, the prime minister, as the emperor's right-hand man, was responsible for handling complicated government affairs, and held military and political power, and the range and radius of their exercise of power were very large.

For example, Zhao Pu in the era of Taizu of the Song Dynasty and Wen Yanbo in the era of Huizong of the Song Dynasty were both crowned as Taishi and prime ministers at the same time.

Although the prime minister and the Taishi are both genuine, the political treatment of the Taishi is higher.

Unlike the prince and the prime minister, the prince is a kind of title. The princes of the Song Dynasty had three ranks, namely "king, heir, and county".

Among them, the king refers to the emperor's brothers, princes, who are directly divided, also known as "princes".

Generally speaking, the prince also held the position of governor and governor of the fiefdom; In terms of grade, Wang is equivalent to Zhengyi Pin.

After the death of the prince, his heir succeeded to the throne and was called the "heir king"; Those who were canonized by a special decree of the emperor were called "county kings".

The jurisdiction area of the heir king and the county king is relatively small, and the treatment they enjoy is relatively low.

The princes of the Ming and Qing dynasties were overbearing in the local area and could not be used for a lifetime; And the princes of the Song Dynasty generally did not go to fiefdoms.

The main reason is that in order to guard against usurpation, the emperor of the Song Dynasty often left the prince in the capital; Although they have titles and fiefs, they can also receive funds from their fiefs; But you can only enjoy it slowly in the capital.

Kaifeng Mansion Yin is a very important official position, he is in charge of the military and political affairs of the capital Kaifeng.

In the early years of the Song Dynasty, the form of the prince concurrently serving as the governor of Kaifeng was often adopted, making the prince's status as the prince more real.

Kaifeng Mansion Yin must have won the trust of the emperor and was the emperor's confidant; Kou Zhun, Ouyang Xiu, Fan Zhongyan, Bao Zheng and others have all held the important position of Kaifeng Mansion Yin, and the grade is generally from the first grade or the second grade.

The Kaifeng Mansion of the Northern Song Dynasty had a direct impact on the economic prosperity of the capital.

Kaifeng in the Song Dynasty lifted the curfew, and citizens had complete freedom of travel; The business on the street is open day and night, and the cover is facing the canal, which is not only a political city, but also a commercial city, which is more multifaceted.

On Kaifeng Street, restaurants and shops are lined up, regardless of day and night.

The catering is very developed, in addition to the meals, but also to serve the girl, of which the wine is the government's monopoly, directly to the government to supply wine is called "Zhengdian", the distribution office is called "foot shop".

Bianjing, the capital of the Northern Song Dynasty, was already a large city with a population of more than one million at that time, and the rural town, also known as "Grass Town", gradually developed.

In these towns, commerce flourished and the market was extremely developed.

"Tokyo Menghualu" records: Bianliang City, Tokyo in the Northern Song Dynasty, "outside the Donghua Gate, the market is the most prosperous,...... All food, new flowers and fruits, fish, shrimp, turtles and crabs, quails, rabbits, preserved meats, gold and jade treasures, and clothing are nothing more than the wonders of the world. If its taste is ten, the guest will want one or twenty flavors to drink, and he will have it at will. At the age of the fruit melon, vegetables and Ru are newly listed, and eggplant gourd (a kind of gourd, edible when tender) and the like, each pair of new ones can be straight thirty or fifty thousand, and the pavilion disputes are taken at a high price", it is really a prosperous scene.

In addition, thousands of pigs are herded into the city's meat markets every day to be slaughtered, and thousands of quintals of fish are consumed every day.

At this time, the night market is also more prosperous, often until the third watch is dispersed, and the market transactions are often tens of millions.

There is also a "tile shop" as a place for storytelling and amusement, the largest of which can accommodate thousands of people, and many popular storytelling and historical stories are spread to thousands of households through the wonderful interpretation of storytellers.

The famous painter Zhang Zeduan of the Northern Song Dynasty has survived to this day, which provides a strong and vivid evidence for understanding the prosperity of Bianjing City at that time.

There are more than 6,400 shops in Bianjingzhong, the capital of the Northern Song Dynasty, and the central street is called the Royal Street, which is two hundred steps wide, and the two sides of the road are the Imperial Corridor.

The government of the Northern Song Dynasty changed the old rules of the Zhou, Qin, Han and Tang dynasties that residents were not allowed to open the doors to the main streets and engage in trading activities outside the designated market squares, and allowed citizens to set up shops and trade along the streets in the imperial corridors......