After listening to Cai Jing's introduction, I have to sigh that more than 1,000 years ago, in the vast sea, the navigators still resolutely went overseas to trade in the face of many unknown risks and changes, which is not only the pursuit of commodity profits, but also the yearning and exploration of the unknown world. In the Great Song Dynasty, where there was no navigation, the main navigation method at that time turned out to be astrology, and the islands on the route and the mountains on the mainland were all important bases for navigation, that is, to let sailors climb to the highest point of the ship's mast and look into the distance. What's even more amazing is the penny rope detection method, which determines which sea area it has reached based on information such as sea depth and bottom sediment.

Later, the compass was introduced, and although the compass was used as a means of navigation on a cloudy night, its role was greatly increased. Many navigation methods are derived from years of experience accumulation, such as the boatman can know the yin and yang by watching the sunrise and sunset in the ocean, check the luck can know whether the wind is upwind or downwind, see the waves from afar to know that the wind is coming from the other side, see the huge waves crashing on the shore to know the south wind from tomorrow, observe the clarity of the water can know how far from the mountains from the shore, if in the depths of the ocean, the sea water is as black as a lake, if you see the sea water is clear and green, you know that the surrounding is immediately a mountain, if you see the fish in the sea gathered together, I know that there must be reefs and so on the side, and they are all judged without error, which is really amazing.

Thinking of this, I couldn't help but sigh to Cai Jing and said: Cai Taishi, such ocean trade is really great, they not only created considerable overseas trade income for my Great Song Dynasty, but also made important contributions to the export of my Great Song Dynasty culture and goods. Their dedication should be remembered by the imperial court and the people of the whole country, and their fearless pioneering spirit is very worthy of our learning.

Cai Jing also said with a serious face: What the prince said is very true, the imperial court has always attached great importance to overseas trade practitioners, after all, they have brought sales to many products in the country, and the price is much higher than the domestic one, which has greatly driven the development of China's industries such as porcelain, silk, etc., and in the face of such unknowable and sinister conditions, they resolutely took a huge risk to go to the sea, which Lao Chen deeply understands, Lao Chen's hometown is on Fujian Road, and he has been exposed to many shipwrecks since he was a child. If the imperial court can support overseas trade in many ways, the old minister will also express his deep gratitude to the prince on behalf of his hometown fathers. After speaking, he bowed deeply to me.

Looking at Cai Jing, whose hair was gradually graying, at this time I was secretly planning in my heart that if there is an opportunity in the future, I must vigorously develop overseas trade, so that they can get higher returns and profits for these pioneer explorers, only in this way can we inspire more people to explore the unknown territory, after all, the ocean will be wealth in the future, and whoever masters the ocean will represent a huge wealth. The construction of sea power has reached the time when it is urgent, and when he thought of this, he said to Cai Jing: Master Cai, please continue, the prince of ocean trade has already known, and the specific affairs will be discussed with the prince in the future. Cai Jing put away the emotions just now, and continued to say with a straight face: Prince, the following old minister will give the prince a general introduction to the handicraft industry and social life and population of our dynasty, in terms of mining, the mining and smelting scale of gold, silver, copper, iron, lead, and coal is quite large. Among them, the representative is the Li Guojian in the northeast of Xuzhou, the center of iron smelting, with 36 metallurgical and about 4,000 miners; Xinzhou (Shangrao) and its vicinity are rich in copper and lead, "often recruit more than 100,000 people, dig day and night, and get tens of millions of catties of copper and lead"; In the Anhui Fanchang iron smelting site, there is a scrap iron pile about 2 meters high and an area of 750 square meters. According to the current two-tenths tax rate of our dynasty, the annual production capacity is about 70 million catties of copper; more than 1,000,000 taels of silver; 75,000 taels of gold; 36.2 million catties of iron; 450,000 catties of lead; 1.65 million catties of tin, etc.

The textile industry mainly has silk, hemp, wool and other departments, of which the silk weaving industry still occupies a major position, and is the most developed in Zhejiang and Sichuan. In the entire coastal area from Hebei East Road to Jiangnan East Road, the silk weaving industry also has a considerable scale. There are many varieties of silk weaving, such as more than 20 kinds of silk and 40 or 50 kinds of brocade. There are many treasures in the north and south, such as Shu brocade that lasts for a long time and sells well all over the country; Dingzhou 缂 (kè class) silk, with a variety of silk threads to weave gorgeous and realistic flowers, birds, and beasts, as if carved, can be called a must; The thin 缣 (jiān shoulder) in Shanzhou (now Shanxian County, Henan), each horse weighs only four taels, and it looks like a fog, and so on. In some areas where the silk weaving industry is developed, a number of independent machine owners have appeared, producing in the form of cottage industry workshops for the purpose of selling goods, reflecting the new situation in the development of silk weaving production.

Ships were an indispensable means of transportation, and the prosperity of overseas trade promoted the progress of shipbuilding. The government-run workshops mainly build boats, but also build seat ships, war ships, troop carriers, etc., while the private workshops manufacture ships and pleasure boats. The government has many shipbuilding sites, mainly distributed in Erzhejiang Road, Fujian Road, Guangnan Road, etc., among which Qianzhou (now Ganzhou, Jiangxi), Jizhou (now Ji'an), Wenzhou (now Zhejiang), Mingzhou (now Ningbo) are famous shipbuilding bases. At present, the DPRK has built more than 4,300 ships every year.

Supporting is its navigation, the boatman is sailing, watching the stars at night, watching the sun during the day, and looking at the compass in a cloudy and obscure day. In particular, the "Shenzhou" series of large sea ships of our dynasty can carry more than 20,000 stone of cargo, and the carrying capacity is about 1,100 tons. Sea ships are all "flat at the top, like a blade at the bottom", with the advantages of deep draft and strong resistance to wind and waves. The main mast of the sea ship is ten zhang high, the head mast is eight zhang high, and a total of 110 sails are loaded. The whole ship is divided into three cabins, and the middle cabin is divided into four cabins. This compartment waterproofing device was the first of its kind for the shipbuilders of our dynasty.

There are many types of paper, such as bamboo, rattan, poach, hemp, etc. Sichuan's cloth head paper, cold gold paper, Shezhou's frost, Chengxin, Xuanzhou's chestnut paper, Zhejiang's rattan paper, Wenzhou's shell paper, etc., are all famous varieties. Shezhou produces a kind of long paper, very finely made, a piece is fifty feet long, and it can be done from beginning to end, even as thin. It is widely used to engrave books. The book engraved by Guozijian was called the prison book in later generations. The books engraved by private bookstores are called fangben. The capital city of Kaifeng, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, Jianyang, Fujian, and Meishan, Sichuan are all centers of the printing industry.

The hemp weaving industry is concentrated in the southeastern region. Huainan, Jiangnan, Jinghu, Fujian, Guangnan and other roads all produce hemp weaving cloth. Among them, the silk cloth of Huang, Yi, Yuan, Ji and other prefectures, and the white silk of Qianzhou were all best-selling products in the market at that time.

Private workshops use hired craftsmen, who receive money and rice as a salary, the amount of which varies from time to time and from sector to sector. The craftsmen who served in the government-run workshops included military craftsmen who were transferred from the army and were still affiliated with the military, and there were also hired craftsmen recruited from the private sector. In addition, there is a kind of craftsman who is on a bad job, called "dangxing" or "scale", this kind of craftsman is only used as an auxiliary in the Northern Song Dynasty, and they are different from the craftsmen of the Tang Dynasty, not for free service, but to pay a certain "employment value".

According to the changes in the annual climate order and the needs of production, life, culture and entertainment, the ancients formed many traditional folk festivals. During these festivals, people all over the country hold various commemorative activities, or games and entertainment, or pray for blessings, or worship ancestors, or worship gods, and the content is quite colorful. Such as New Year's Day, Lantern Festival, Cold Food, Qingming, Dragon Boat Festival, Qixi Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival, Chongyang Festival, Winter Solstice, etc., among the above many festivals, "the capital takes the winter solstice, New Year's Day (Spring Festival), and cold food as the three major festivals", and our dynasty stipulates that each has a seven-day holiday, of which five days are off. In addition, there are three days each for Holy Day, Shangyuan, and Zhongyuan, with one day off. Spring Society, Autumn Society, Shangsi, Chongwu (Dragon Boat Festival), Chongyang, Lichun, Lixia, Sanfu, Liqiu, Tanabata, Autumn Equinox, Clothing, and Winter, each have one day off. Summer solstice and wax day, each with three days off. All the great rituals are off for one day. The festival was extraordinarily grand.

The entertainment industry is extremely common and well developed. One of them is Washi: the entertainment venue is called Washe, that is, the place of large-scale theatrical performances, which is mostly located in a large flow of people, prosperous and lively places, which is conducive to publicity and profit. The washer is divided into many hooks (surrounded by railings and curtains), and there are as many as 50 hooks in a large washer, which can accommodate thousands of people. The performances in each column are also different, such as rap (script), opera, acrobatics (treading ropes, swallowing iron swords), puppet shows, ventriloquism, sumo wrestling, monkey tricks, and so on. The entertainment industry is blooming everywhere, from the official to the local, from the civilian to the military camp, everywhere. Yang Hewang, the commander of the capital garrison in front of the palace, made a tile house in the barracks, recruited a large number of folk artists and singers and dancers, and held theatrical performances to comfort the army.

Then there are songs, in the entertainment industry, mass entertainment is extremely developed, which is prominently reflected in the words. Poetry is pure literature. The word belongs to the slang of the market, the sound of the glamour, it is a vulgar art, and Liu Sanchang's "order to fill in the words", but wherever there is well water, there must be Liu Yong's lyrics. There are also professional singers, who are courtesans, and they are pop musicians.

There is also a small singing, singing slow songs and breaking songs, and the big rate is heavy and light killing, so it is said to be shallow and low. This kind of singing is generally performed by the singer alone, and some are accompanied by a number of simple musical instruments such as the basket, pipa, flute, sheng, and square sound. There are men and women in the singers, but they are mainly women, and women sing as their true colors. "Small singing" is the most common form of singing in our dynasty, from the commercial performances of the market to the royal court banquets, government banquets, scholars' banquets, and even scholars' family banquets. The form of singing "small singing" is very popular with the audience, and occupies an important position in the performance of the hook column, and the commercial nature is also very distinct.