Lizhou has a subtropical monsoon humid climate, warm in winter and cool in summer, with four distinct seasons.

is approaching the New Year, and there is no snow to see, which makes Zhu Ming feel quite comfortable. After the crossing, there was heavy snow every year, and the only year that did not snow was afraid that there would be drought and locust plague in the second year.

The ordnance was still being built, and Zhu Ming was bored and went to the official school for a turn.

The county school is very small, with only about 90 students.

The state school is even worse, with only more than 20 students.

Zhu Ming asked, there are only two people in Lizhou's liberation (lifting) quota for each state examination.

Su Mao, the principal of the state school, is in the same department as Zhu Ming, and he is also an unlucky egg. After studying hard for more than ten years, he was finally admitted to Jinshi, but he was thrown to Lizhou to be the principal, and he could only teach more than 20 students.

That's it, there has been no sign of moving the nest for four years.

"Why don't you play the Ming court and let the barbarian children enroll?" Zhu Ming proposed.

Su Mao shook his head: "The barbarian children can only be enrolled in the feudal school." Those who can set up feudal schools are either important places such as Hehuang or wealthy state capitals such as Guangzhou. Lizhou is bordered, and it is impossible to set up a feudal school. ”

Zhu Ming said: "There are many barbarians in Lizhou, and there should be a vassal school, and I will come to the court to relieve you." ”

"So it's up to Brother Chenggong." Su Mao is very much looking forward to this, once the feudal school is set up, it will probably make it easier for him to have qualifications and political achievements.

Zhu Ming took a few retinues and rode out of the city to hang out.

There are many kinds of rape on both sides of the Hanshui (Liusha River), and the rape seedlings are knee-deep, and some vegetables that can withstand frost are also interplanted.

Far from the riverbank, broad beans and peas are planted all over the dry land, and vegetables are also planted among the bean seedlings.

Between the acres of fields, you can occasionally see mulberry trees, and it is also necessary to collect mulberry and raise silkworms here.

Ride a horse to the nearby mountains and find large areas of pepper trees. There is only one kind of tribute in Lizhou, red peppercorns, which are quite valuable when transported to the north.

Seeing that a farmer was hoeing the ground, Zhu Ming dismounted and approached, asking Bai Sheng and others to help with the farm work, and he talked to the farmer.

The peasants, who were a little frightened and spoke very reservedly, relaxed as they chatted and began to talk about their daily lives. But he only picked up good things and said them, and he didn't dare to criticize the government, so he only inadvertently talked about some difficulties.

Generally speaking, the life of the farmers in Lizhou is similar to that of the farmers in Jinzhou, or even slightly better. The per capita arable land area here is slightly more, and the climate is more suitable for farming, and the grain does not need to be transported and handed over, and the biggest burden every year is actually peppercorns......

Every year when the pepper picking season comes, regardless of whether the family grows pepper or not, they have to bear a tax, and they are handed over to the tea field to be transported to the tea and horse division, and officials at the state and county levels are not allowed to interfere.

This is extremely unreasonable and illegal, but tea horses are.

Zhu Ming plans to fight with the tea horse division!

After several days of riding horses in a row, the time has reached the beginning of the year.

The priest suddenly sent two letters, one of which was written by Geng Dingchen, an old subordinate of Puzhou. This guy was transferred to Qianwei County as the main bookkeeper, and in Jiazhou, next door to Lizhou, he saw that Zhu Ming was demoted to Hanyuan County from the Di Bao, and immediately wrote a letter to reminisce about the old feelings.

Another letter was written by Yu Qi, the county commander of Qianwei.

Yu Qi and Zhu Ming are fellow scholars, and Geng Dingchen was transferred to him as an official, because they both knew Zhu Ming and had a good relationship, so they wrote to talk about it together this time.

Zhu Ming didn't have a deep impression of Yu Qi, and after thinking about it for a long time, he remembered that they had drunk together.

The letter was accompanied by a poem written by Yu Qi's eight-year-old son. This old man was obviously showing his son, and even said that this poem was written when his son was seven years old......

His son's name is Yu Yunwen.

Zhu Ming asked Wei Yingshi and Zeng Xiaoduan to copy a copy of "University Chapters and Sentences" and "Zhongyong Chapters and Sentences", and sent them to Yu Qi and Geng Dingchen with a reply.

In the blink of an eye, it was the thirtieth day of the Chinese New Year's Eve, and Zhu Ming called his entourage and family members to set up a banquet to celebrate his birthday.

It's not very lively here, it's far worse than the Golden State.

On New Year's Day, Zhu Ming posted a couplet at the door. The county officials followed suit, and this thing was much less troublesome than the peach charm, especially suitable for ordinary people to celebrate the New Year.

Time flies so fast, it has reached the first year of Xuanhe.

Mainly from Jinzhou to Lizhou, the road has been walking for a few months, and Zhu Ming has to visit the situation along the way, which is slower than the normal hurry.

At the end of last year, Song Huizong set up the Yumin Bureau, which was ordered to be dissolved in less than a month.

This matter is related to Xu Churen, who is the one who rectified the officialdom in Xuzhou, cracked down on thieves, and let Shi Yuangong leave with two or three hundred iron smelting households.

Xu Churen made great achievements in Xuzhou and was personally summoned by Song Huizong.

Xu Churen said: "In recent years, there have been frequent floods and droughts across the country, public and private affairs have withered, and soldiers and civilians are in need, so we should find a way as soon as possible. ”

Song Huizong felt that it was very reasonable, and after discussing with Xu Churen, he set up the "Yumin Bureau" to seek a way to revitalize the army and enrich the people.

Yuanfeng was restructured and abolished the three divisions, and most of the responsibilities were assigned to the household department and the Ministry of Industry, both of which were Cai Jing's base camps.

The "Yumin Bureau" is a bit like the State Planning Commission, Cai Jing feels that his power is being challenged, not to mention that Xu Churen has also been a deputy prime minister.

Cai Jing's reaction was very fierce, and he questioned Xu Churen in front of the emperor: "Today's bureau is called 'Yumin', isn't it Yumin on weekdays?" ”

Song Huizong didn't want to toss too much, after all, he still had to rely on Cai Jing to make money, so he dismissed the "Yumin Bureau" and Xu Churen was demoted to be the governor of Yangzhou.

Xu Churen was disheartened, resigned from illness and returned to his hometown, and a virtuous minister ended his career in this way.

There were many capable officials in the Huizong Dynasty, and they all left the court in this way.

Song Huizong has more important things, the team that sent the Jin Kingdom is back!

Wanyan Aguta also comes with many gifts, including Dongzhu, mink, golden sand, ginseng, pine nuts and so on.

Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty was particularly pleased and regarded this act as a tribute, and his vanity was greatly satisfied. So he sent a larger delegation of envoys to the Jin State to formally discuss the matter of uniting Jin to destroy Liao.

Since the Liao is going to be attacked, the war in Western Xia must end as soon as possible.

Tong Guanqiang ordered Liu Fa, the envoy of Xihe, to lead his troops to capture Shuofang. Due to insufficient preparation and the lone army going deep, the Song army was defeated by an ambush, and the Song army lost 100,000 divisions, and the main general Liu Fa was killed.

A generation of Northwest God of War died like this.

……

Throughout the spring, Zhu Ming was persuading farmers.

No one wanted to plant corn and sweet potatoes, and Zhu Ming was too lazy to take the time to demonstrate, so he directly forced farmers in mountainous areas to cultivate them.

He took the officials to personally inspect the mountainous areas and selected dozens of acres of mountainous land for farming. A few farmers brought from Daming Village taught local farmers to plant hand in hand, and put down cruel words, those who cultivate seriously can reduce taxes, and those who do not cultivate seriously will be taxed.

The mountain people complained, but they had to obey, and secretly scolded the eighteenth generation of the ancestors of Zhizhou.

After spring ploughing, Zhu Ming finally began to train his troops.

These Xiang soldiers also have to farm in peacetime, and if they can practice once a month, they can already be called elite soldiers, and Zhu Ming does not dare to delay their farming.

Fortunately, the physique is not bad, and Lizhou is full of 50 horse troops and 300 infantry troops, all of which are Yuwenchang's "best of the best".

Zhu Ming organized the 300 infantry army into 25 mandarin duck teams.

Ten teams and a brigade, the commander of which is the head of the capital. Zhang Bo and Li Bao were both temporarily appointed as the capital heads, and the deputy capital heads were selected from the local horse army.

The remaining five brigades, which served as reserves, were personally commanded by Zhu Ming.

At the beginning, the training was 15 days, and they had to practice every day, and although they had enough food, they trained the soldiers to cry.

They have never experienced such "high-intensity" training, and military discipline is extremely strict, and they will be punished at every turn. Especially if you train well, your teammates make mistakes, and as a result, the whole squad has to be punished.

It's okay to be punished for running, taking a board, etc., but I'm afraid of deducting food, and I'd rather be beaten than be full.

At the end of the fifteen-day training camp, it will be changed to a practice every other day.

In the morning, he practiced physical fitness and killing moves, and in the afternoon, he practiced orders and formations.

Zhu Ming, the magistrate, soaked in the barracks all day long, as if he had become a military general.

He did not rectify the rule of officials for the time being, because there was a lack of a breakthrough, it was best to win a battle, and then rectify it after Liwei.

While training, while waiting, the barbarians will definitely come to plunder, because there are one or two every year.

Before the five barbarians harassed the Han people, the two forest barbarians suddenly came.

Zhu Ming was called by Yuwen Chang, but saw more than a dozen barbarians kneeling on the ground.

Yuwen often pointed to the barbarian leader and said, "This is the son of Li Shunen, the barbarian ghost lord of the two forests, named Li Jien. ”

Zhu Ming asked, "Han name?" ”

Yuwen Chang nodded and said: "More than a hundred years ago, the two forest barbarians were closer to the Han land, and the Taizong Dynasty had their surname Li, and they once fought Qiongbu Chuanban and couldn't parry. Later, the Qiongbu River prospered, and the two forests were driven further south. If they want to come to Lizhou to trade, they have to pass through the territory of Qiongbu Chuanman. ”

Li Jien cried bitterly, and actually spoke Chinese: "Please Taishou make the decision for my two forest barbarians!" ”

"What's going on?" Zhu Ming asked.

Yu Wenchang explained: "Last autumn, they brought more than a dozen good horses and a lot of goods to the Lizhou market. was robbed by Qiongbu Chuanman halfway, and the two also fought because of this. The two forest barbarians were defeated, and hundreds of men and women, as well as a number of livestock and goods, were plundered, and after the beginning of spring, they took a detour to complain. ”

Zhu Ming helped Li Jien up and asked kindly: "How old are you this year?" ”

Li Jien said: "Eighteen years old. ”

Zhu Ming patted the other party's chest and praised: "What a young warrior!" ”

Yu Wenchang didn't speak, sitting and watching Zhu Ming's performance.

Li Jien asked, "Who is His Holiness?" ”

Zhu Ming said: "I am Zhu Ming, the county governor of Hanyuan, you speak Chinese so well, who taught you?" ”

Li Jien said: "There are Han people in our village, and they often give my father ideas, and he also teaches me to read and write. My father and I took our Chinese names with the help of this gentleman. ”

Zhu Ming asked: "If you send troops to attack the Qiongbu Sichuan Barbarians, how many troops can the Lianglin Barbarians have?" ”

Li Jien thought about it carefully, gritted his teeth and said, "Eight thousand! ”

Yuwen Chang's face changed, he knew the strength of the two Lin Man, and sending 8,000 troops at a time was equivalent to smashing the pot and selling iron to fight the life and death situation.

Zhu Ming said with a smile: "You go down to rest first, this matter is quite big, and I still have to discuss it with Yuwen Taishou." ”

These barbarians retreated, and only Yu Wenchang and Zhu Ming were left in the house.

"Can't fight!" Yuwen often directly blocks the topic.

Zhu Ming said: "You can send someone to condemn it first, if you are obedient, you will not be beaten, and if you are not obedient, you will have to teach a lesson." ”

(End of chapter)