Not only the scholars from Yangzhou City came, but also a few scholars from Xixiang County.

Zhu Ming invited them to eat and drink at the inn, and after everyone sat down, they did not talk about learning or taxes, but about when the war in Western Xia would end.

As long as the war against Western Xia continued, the heavy taxes in Hanzhong and Shaanxi did not stop every day.

Everyone is guessing, and I don't know what the hell it has become.

Not to mention them, even Song Huizong didn't know about it, because Tong Guan had been hiding the military situation.

At the beginning of the war, the Song army directly stunned the Tanguts, quickly achieved a series of victories, and gradually formed a strategic encirclement of the Tanguts.

After a series of victories, Tong Guan began to float and made two fatal mistakes.

First, regardless of the established strategic plan, he ordered the troops to storm the fortress (Tibetan River City) in advance, thinking that it could be easily taken by destroying the withered and decaying.

The second is to start competing for credit, intending to let the generals close to him make meritorious contributions.

As a result, the Song army was defeated.

The Western Xia took advantage of the victory to pursue, plundered goods and countless people, and then took the initiative to sue for peace with a great victory.

Cai Jing opposed the peace talks and persuaded Song Huizong to continue fighting.

This year, Liu Fa led an army to attack the city of Renduoquan, and the Western Xia reinforcements were so frightened that they stood still, and sat back and watched the defenders of the city surrender to the Song army.

Liu Fa rebelled, killed and surrendered, slaughtered the city, and killed the defenders and the people.

Just last month, in the middle of winter, there was still no snow in the northwest.

Tens of thousands of Western Xia cavalry, taking advantage of the windy weather, surrounded the city and galloped and trampled, making the dust fly like a sandstorm. Taking advantage of the blurred vision of the Song soldiers, the Western Xia people dug tunnels into the city and launched a massacre of Jingxia City in retaliation.

You slaughter a city of mine, and I slaughter a city of yours, and they tear each other apart.

The Western Xia took advantage of the victory to attack, but hit a wall one after another, suffered several defeats, and then asked the Song State for peace again.

Tong Guan was already angry, and directly withheld the news of the peace, not letting the court know at all. And put aside all distractions, no longer engage in factional struggles, and ordered the seed master who had a grudge against him to lead an army of 100,000 to attack Zangdihe City again.

Probably this is the case, now the Seed Master Dao is gathering troops, and after the beginning of spring, it will attack in a big way.

In general, the Song army took the initiative and played an advantage.

Ling Gu Xu said: "At this time of the war, Western Xia can no longer be wiped out, and the people of Shaanxi and Hanzhong in the Great Song Dynasty have long been overwhelmed. There has been no snow for a long time this year, and even the old farmers in the countryside are rumored to have a major drought next year. Da Lang is quite trusted by the officials, why not persuade the court, and fight another victory to negotiate peace? Even if you want to destroy Western Xia, you have to let the people breathe for a few years. ”

Zhu Ming shook his head and smiled bitterly: "The official family, Cai Jing, Tong Guan, none of the three of them want to stop the war, who else in the world can be persuaded?" ”

Ling Gu Xu was silent, and the scholars all looked at each other, worried about the situation next year.

In the past two years, Hanzhong was not only affected by the Western Xia War, but also disturbed by the war in southern Sichuan.

The year before last, Lu Nanyi rebelled and gathered as many as 100,000 people. The Sichuan army was unable to suppress it, so it successively mobilized 30,000 troops from Shaanxi and went to southern Sichuan to quell the rebellion.

Of course, these 30,000 Shaanxi troops passed through Hanzhong, and the common people of Hanzhong were forcibly requisitioned for grain.

The Liu family in Xixiang County was forced to go bankrupt, mainly because of this, and the money collected last year was too much, and each county had to choose a rich family to go bankrupt!

The reason is that the barbarians in Yibin and Luzhou areas gradually occupied Yanjing by the Han people, and even if Yanjing is still in the hands of the Yiren, it is often heavily taxed by the government.

There had been a long-term contradiction, and the pacification of Lunan made Jia Zongliang reckless and extorted, and killed a Yi leader for no reason, which finally provoked 100,000 Lunan Yi to rebel (the barbarians in northern Guizhou were also involved).

Only now has the rebellion been suppressed.

The 30,000 Shaanxi soldiers are still in Sichuan, and when they return next year, they will definitely have to collect grain supplies in Hanzhong.

"They all complain that the traitors are good at fighting!" Yu Dayuan, a scholar from Xixiang, said indignantly.

Wang Chang, the son of Xingdao Shizi, said: "There is also the Lunan pacification envoy, the court asked him to pacify the Yi people, but he forced 100,000 Yi people to rebel. If it weren't for the excessive expropriation, how could those Yi people rebel? ”

Zhu Ming sighed: "The official family trusts the traitorous minister, what can I do?" ”

Many of those who were transferred to Sichuan to quell the rebellion were elite Western troops. If the 30,000 Western troops were not transferred, it is estimated that the battle with the Western Xia would be smoother, and the Song Dynasty's foreign wars would always cause all kinds of moths.

This time, Lu Nanyi rebelled and slapped Song Huizong hard.

Because the barbarians captured Meiling Fort, they captured Song Huizong's brother-in-law and slept with Song Huizong's clan sister (not out of five suits). Song Huizong was disgraced, so he ignored the war in Western Xia and forcibly transferred 30,000 Western troops to Sichuan.

And Jia Zongliang, who made such a big mess, was just deposed, and he could even go home with the embezzled money.

All the scholars scolded but were helpless, and they were all drinking alcohol.

Lu Heng, the son of the richest man in Xixiang, also complained after a few glasses of wine: "We need money for the war in Western Xia, we also need money for repairing plank roads to quell chaos, and we also need money for the crossing of the Western Army." Look at it, next spring when the Western Army returns, you will have to give a lot of money! ”

Shizi Huang Sheng said: "Your Lu family has a big business, and it's just a drop in the bucket, but my family is having a hard time." ”

"My family has a lot of money, but I can also apportionment a lot!" Lu Heng said depressedly.

When the Western Army crossed, Yangzhou was only affected, and Xingyuan Mansion was called unlucky, and the people along the way were harassed a lot.

Zhu Ming accompanied them to drink, but he had other plans in his heart.

When Lu Nanyi first started to rebel, the number of people was not too large. The entire Sichuan army, after several months of grinding, could only muster more than 10,000 people, and was defeated and retreated by the barbarians.

How bad is this?

I'm afraid that with only 3,000 elites and a group of miscellaneous soldiers recruited on the spot, Zhu Ming can quickly occupy Sichuan.

"Alas, don't mention these worries," Ling Guxu said, "The "Taoist Strategy" sent back by Dalang was copied by many scholars in Yangzhou City, and even Xixiang County passed it over. We have established the Taoist Society, and dozens of scholars have joined the Society. ”

Zhu Ming asked curiously: "What does the Taoist Society do?" ”

Lu Heng said: "The people's daily use is the way, so they naturally look at it and think more, figure out the truth, and then turn it into civilian use." ”

"What are you going to do?" Zhu Ming asked.

Wang Chang smiled and said, "Brother Hongdao, take out your baby." ”

During the banquet, there was a scholar named Yang Changyan, who put down his wine glass and took out a ...... from his baggage Compass.

Zhu Ming was puzzled: "That's it?" ”

Yang Changyan said: "This dry snail is not a water snail. ”

The Northern Song Dynasty already had a compass, called a "snail", which was often used by Feng Shui gentlemen. Use a wire to hang the magnetic needle in the air and place the disc body underneath.

For marching or boating, use a guide fish, and put the magnetic fish in the water, but it is inevitable that the shaking will cause errors.

Until the middle of the Ming Dynasty, China's navigation compass still widely used the water float method.

This led to later scholars believing that the dry compass came from the West. Until the porcelain figurines of the Southern Song Dynasty were unearthed, the porcelain figurines actually held a dry compass in their hands, indicating that at least they had appeared in the Southern Song Dynasty.

Zhu Ming took the compass and took a look, he knew the gossip or something, and he didn't understand the rest.

Legend has it that on the basis of the dragon plate of heaven and earth, Lai Buyi also introduced the inventor plate of the stars, and I don't know if it is true or not. At this time, Lai Buyi should still be wearing open crotch pants.

Yang Changyan said: "My father likes feng shui, and after he got the "Tao Strategy", he felt that feng shui is also the Tao, and the snail plate is also a daily thing for the people. The original needle screw disc was too thick and bulky, and it was wobbly in the wind. So I tried my best to make the screw disc lighter. In the past, I called it a water snail or a hanging snail, and this kind of snail was a dry snail. ”

"It's very useful, you can use this thing when you march to war, sail to the sea," Zhu Ming said approvingly, "You can take the compass to Tokyo, and my father will take you to the official family." ”

Yang Changyan was overjoyed: "Thank you Zhu Taishou!" ”

Many of the scholars present showed envious expressions.

A scholar named Wen Zhengtong took out a small porcelain bottle to offer treasure: "I improved the still, added fragrant wood, and steamed the rose dew for a long time." ”

Zhu Ming couldn't cry or laugh, the dry compass is quite useful, what the hell is this guy improving the perfume process?

He pulled the cork and sniffed it, and sure enough, the fragrance was tangy, stronger than the perfume Zheng Yuanyi usually used.

Of course, I have to encourage, Zhu Ming approvingly: "This thing is excellent, can you give me a bottle?" ”

Wen Zhengtong was praised and immediately said: "Although Taishou takes it, I still have a lot of it at home." Half a year ago, I opened a fragrance workshop, specializing in the production of all kinds of fragrances. ”

"Poof!"

Another gentleman picked up the burden from the ground and slammed it on the table with a loud noise.

This guy pulled out a long-handled scissors: "I learned the principle of levers, and I know that the longer the arm, the more effort-saving." So I changed the scissors, the handle was changed to be very long, and there was a hook at the end to prevent the hand from being pinched. This shears can be used to prune branches, fruit trees, mulberry trees, tea trees can be, I call it mulberry scissors. ”

"Good stuff!" Zhu Ming slapped the table and applauded.

The father and son were busy with other affairs, and their focus was not here, so they forgot about the "garden scissors".

The scissors in the impression of modern people, called pivot scissors, actually appeared in the Five Dynasties, and there was no such thing in the Tang Dynasty.

The garden scissors in front of me are made on the basis of the pivot scissors and the handle of the elongated scissors. With it, there is no need to use a knife to cut fruit trees, mulberry trees and tea trees when pruning them.

Zhu Ming arched his hand and said, "Dare to ask Your Excellency's name?" ”

The scholar replied with a smile: "My name is Pu Shang, and my family runs a blacksmith shop." ”

Zhu Ming immediately placed an order: "Please build a hundred mulberry shears for Daming Village, which are specially used to prune tea trees." If you are willing, you can also enter the Beijing face saint together, the official family likes gardening, and must be quite appreciative of the mulberry scissors. ”

"I've also thanked Taishou!" Pu Shang said happily.

They offered these knick-knacks to make the emperor happy, but at most they gave some reward.

This is enough, as long as you can get the emperor's appreciation, you will definitely be beautiful after returning to your hometown, and even the officials must be treated with courtesy.

The Tao is really useful, allowing the reader to take the initiative to improve the technique, much faster than the craftsman can improve it with experience.

In particular, Pu Shang used the principle of leverage to consciously improve the scissors. Not only do you know what it is, but you know why it is so.

(End of chapter)