In the fourth year of Xianping (AD 1001), the imperial court ordered Lu Mengzheng to use his official position as Tongping Zhangshi and as a bachelor of Zhaowen Hall. Since this dynasty, only Zhao Pu and Lu Mengzheng have been appointed prime ministers three times. After the suburban sacrificial ceremony, he was granted the title of Sikong and his servant. When Lu Meng was at home, he heard about Yang Peng and that Yang Peng had built a new city. Lu Meng was coming from Luoyang to Tianjing New City near Cangzhou before taking office.
Lu Mengzheng, courtesy name Shenggong, was a native of Luoyang, Henan Province. His ancestral home was in Junzhai Village, Chenggang Road Street, Laizhou City today. Prime Minister in the early Northern Song Dynasty. In the second year of the Taiping Xingguo reign (AD 977), Lu Mengzheng was admitted as the first Jinshi scholar, and was appointed as the general supervisor and the general magistrate of Shengzhou. When bidding farewell to the emperor, the emperor ordered that if there was any inconvenience in handling political affairs, he was allowed to ride a post horse to appeal and give him two hundred thousand dollars. After being transferred back to the capital, he met Emperor Taizong of the Song Dynasty who was personally campaigning for Taiyuan. He was summoned to the palace to meet him and was appointed as the author of the book, Zhishi Guan, and Zuo Shiyi.
In the fifth year of Taiping and Xingguo's reign (AD 980), Emperor Taizong of the Song Dynasty personally appointed him as Zuo Bu Que and Zhi Zhi Gao. At first, his father Lu Guitu had many family members, and he was at odds with his legitimate wife Liu, so he drove Liu and Lu Mengzheng out together. Lu Mengzheng, mother and son were very poor and distressed, and Liu vowed never to marry again. After Lu Mengzheng became an official, he welcomed his parents to live with them. They lived in the same house but in different rooms. Lu Mengzheng served them very attentively. Lü Guitu died soon after, and the imperial court ordered him to resurrect Lü Mengzheng. Soon after, he was promoted to the title of Langzhong of the Duguan, and entered the imperial court as a Hanlin bachelor. He was promoted to Zuo Jianyi doctor and participated in political affairs, and was given a residence in Lijingmen.
After Li Fang was deposed as prime minister, Lu Mengzheng was appointed as the Minister of Zhongshu, the Minister of Household Affairs, Tongping Zhangshi, and the supervisor of the compilation of national history. Lu Mengzheng was a kind and tolerant man, had a high reputation, and insisted on the right path and self-discipline. He dared to speak out when something happened. Every time when current affairs were discussed, he would stick to his objections if something was unfair. The emperor praised him for being able to hide nothing. Zhao Pu was the founding father of the country, and Lu Meng was an official who was promoted later. He served in various official positions for twelve years, and then became the prime minister at the same time. Zhao Pu praised him very much. Soon after, his mother was bereaved, and after less than three years of mourning, he was re-employed.
Previously, when Lu Duoxun was the prime minister, his son was awarded the title of Yuanwailang of the Ministry of Water Resources as soon as he started his official career. Later, it was regarded as a routine. In this regard, Lu Mengzheng reported: "I was born as a Jinshi, and when I became an official, I was only awarded the rank of ninth-grade Beijing official. Moreover, there are many talented people in the world who live in seclusion in the mountains and forests all their lives, and there are many people who do not receive any salary from the court. Now, I The son has just come of age and is favored by this appointment. I am afraid that he will be condemned by heaven, so I ask him to replace him with the official position he held when he first became an official." From then on, the son of the prime minister was only awarded the title of ninth-grade Beijing official, which became a legal system.
In the early years of the Dao period (AD 995), Lu Mengzheng was ordered to serve as the general magistrate of Henan Prefecture and the left-behind guard in Xijing as a right servant. After Lu Mengzheng arrived in Luoyang, he often invited relatives to have dinner parties. He advocated laxity in political affairs and appointed subordinates. He only made overall decisions on political affairs.
When Emperor Zhenzong of the Song Dynasty came to the throne, he moved to Lü Mengzheng and became Zuopushe. When the imperial court was building Fengxi Mausoleum, Lu Mengzheng recalled the generous favor given by Dai Xianchao and contributed more than 3 million yuan of his family wealth to supplement the construction funds. On the day when Emperor Taizong of the Song Dynasty was buried, Lu Meng was lying on the ground weeping extremely sadly. People thought it was the courtesy of a minister.
Lu Meng was walking by the river in Yanshan County with his bodyguards, and was shocked by the bustling scene of land reclamation. These days of war and chaos, the situation is precarious, and the bureaucrats and gentry don't know what will happen tomorrow. When thinking about things, they are becoming more and more short-sighted. They only think about how to bully small farmers with no background. The water conservancy facilities everywhere are in a mess. But with a little natural disaster, small disasters can turn into major disasters in various places. After the tragedy of refugees fleeing famine, their families and children being separated, where will anyone be able to develop new fields and build water conservancy facilities?
But when we arrived in Yanshan County, water trucks were loading and repairing canals, and tens of thousands of people were busy working within sight. The poor farmers did not feel forced at all when they were building canals. They all took the initiative. Some of them, in particular, were shouting and arranging, as if doing this physical work was a great joy. Lu Mengzheng saw a woman carrying two buckets of water to the construction site and passing water to other farmers. The joyful attitude of the owner makes people feel that good days are just around the corner. A cylindrical waterwheel was placed on the bank of the Zhang River. A few farmers resting beside the waterwheel experimentally shook it and pumped some water into the canal. When the farmers saw the water, they all smiled happily.
Which family took the lead in building this water conservancy project? How could someone in our Song Dynasty organize such a large water conservancy project and be so energetic? Lu Mengzheng stopped his team and sent three soldiers to the construction site to ask which family was building the canal. The three soldiers asked for a while and then ran back. Lu Mengzheng hurriedly asked: "Have you asked me which family it is?" The soldier half knelt on the ground and replied loudly: "I asked you clearly, sir, it is Cangzhou. General Yang Peng reclaimed private fields and built canals."
Lu Mengzheng was stunned, why was it Yang Peng again. This Yang Peng fought so hard that the Khitans were frightened by the news. How could he be so provocative in construction? The canals being built by more than 10,000 people look like a huge project at first glance. And this is what Lu Mengzheng saw on the side of the official road. How many projects are there that cannot be seen? This is a big deal.
Lu Mengzheng stroked his beard and thought for a while, then said: "This Yang Peng is building private land to make profits for himself. Why are these people working so enthusiastically and joyfully?" The soldier said: "Sir, it is slack time for farming now, and those people have nothing to do. But for working for Yang Peng, you can get one, two or five yuan of silver a month, and you will be paid every half month without any arrears, so the farmers you hire work hard. And some of these farmers are newly hired by Yang Peng. The tenant farmers will be allowed to plant the fields as soon as they are opened, so they are very happy.”
Lu Mengzheng thought for a long time and asked: "What's so exciting about being a tenant farmer?" The soldier said: "I also asked, and those farmers said that the tenant farmers of the general's family are completely different from other families. First of all, There is a lot of land, and a man or a strong woman can be divided into twenty acres of land. Secondly, the land is good, and there are canals for irrigation, so that enough water can be poured. The general also shares the land with cattle to ensure a good harvest. Finally, the land rent is small, including the tax on military land. , the general only collects 30% of the land rent for grain and pays back the grain, and the remaining 70% can be kept by the farmers. Calculated this way, the farmers will become rich in less than a year!"
"Because of this, the tenant farmers who were assigned the fields were so happy. It's like the fields are white. They must pay 30% of the grain, but Yang Peng will pay back the grain." Lu Mengzheng was stunned after hearing this. After waiting for a long time, he said: "This Yang Peng killed the Khitan so fiercely on the battlefield, how can he be so kind to the farmers when he returned to Cangzhou?" However, he did the calculation, and roughly settled Yang Peng's account, and spat: "But this Yang Peng opened a new Tian is still profitable, and you can make a lot of money.”
Lu Mengzheng seemed a little jealous of Yang Peng's organizational skills. He snorted coldly, waved his sleeves and said, "Let's go! Go to Tianjing New City and have a look!" When they reached the boundary of Tianjing New City, Lu Mengzheng became more and more surprised. There didn't seem to be many fields on the boundaries of Jingxin City that day, but large canals were opened beside several small rivers to irrigate the new fields. The new fields had already been harvested with winter wheat, and were all planted with a low, broad-leaved plant.
The broad-leaf plant Sun Chuanting knew was the corn that Zhejia failed to promote in Shaanxi. Because the corn harvest was high, the Zhe family forced farmers to plant corn in Shaanxi, which almost triggered a civil uprising. However, the rotation of corn and winter wheat is a good plan. Planting a season of corn in the few months after harvesting winter wheat can fill the half-year agricultural slack period. Those corns make people uncomfortable if they eat too much, but they are good pig food for pigs.
But what surprised Lu Mengzheng was not the corn, but the wealthy villages near Xintian. There are no thatched huts in those villages. Instead, they are built with bricks and tiles, which are very sturdy. Moreover, those houses occupy a large area. It can be seen that they were added after a period of time. The colors of the bricks and tiles used in the newly built rooms are somewhat different from those of the original rooms, and they are combined together.
These farmers live well. Not only that, when those farmers walked out of their yards, their brown shorts and jackets were not patched, and they were either brand new or used. The farmers all look good, and they are not as skinny as the farmers in other places. Dried foods such as bacon and fish are hung in the farmyards. These meats that farmers in other places cannot eat during the New Year seem to be common things that farmers in Fanjiazhuang eat every day. Sun Chuanting observed along the way and saw several farmers sitting leisurely in the yard smoking dry cigarettes with their trousers rolled up.
Can farmers also smoke dry tobacco? In Shaanxi, even small landowners cannot afford dry cigarettes! As Lu Meng was walking, he had the illusion that he was not in the Song Dynasty. When Lu Mengzheng passed by a township market, he was even more shocked. The market was bustling with people, and the people buying things were all nearby farmers. In the market, there are those who kill pigs and sell meat, those who sell chickens and ducks, those who sell vegetables and condiments, those who sell iron pots and earthenware pots, those who sell cloth and needlework, those who sell tobacco and tea, those who sell rice wine and shochu, and there are even those who sell fruits and melons. Business is good in every house. The common people carried bamboo baskets to buy goods, returned home loaded with goods, and bargained with the vendors in the market, which was very lively.
A township is more prosperous than the markets in other counties. There is a small winery next to the market. It is noon, and there are already many farmers rolling up their sleeves, drinking and eating vegetables, making a lot of noise. The shop was packed and tables had been set up on the road outside. The three waiters shuttled back and forth between the tables like butterflies, collecting money and serving food. They were very busy.
Lu Mengzheng took a closer look and even found four people selling horses beside the winery. Those selling horses had smiles on their faces and shouted at the people passing by from time to time. The four horses were all pack horses, not good horses, but this was the first time Lu Mengzheng had heard of someone selling horses in a rural market town. The area around here is all Yang Peng's private land, but there are no landlords or gentry. Is it possible that some of the farmers in Tianjing New City are so rich that they want to go out on horseback?
Lu Mengzheng quickly calculated in his mind. At 30% of the land rent, the couple would farm forty acres of land. If one out of ten was a good farmer, he could harvest fifty kilograms of grain a year. After excluding the land rent, there would still be seventy taels of silver. I can really afford a horse for seventy taels of silver, not counting the harvest from planting corn.
Only then did Lu Mengzheng remember that he had indeed seen someone riding a horse on the official road just now. He hadn't noticed it just now and thought it was a member of the Jin gentry family coming out of the city. Now that I think about it, these riders might be local farmers. The more Lu Mengzheng watched, the more shocked he became. Thinking about Shaanxi, a land where thousands of miles away people are living in dire straits, Lu Mengzheng seemed to have traveled through two worlds.
Lu Meng stopped on the official road beside the market and sighed absently: "This Yang Peng went into battle to kill one enemy against a hundred. He never thought that managing the territory could also benefit the people. He is really talented in civil and military affairs! No wonder the officials think so highly of him!" If I had Yang Peng's ability to protect the environment and the people, how could there be Xixia in Shaanxi? Even Lu Mengzheng, who had always been conceited, was also shocked at this time and looked at Yang Peng again. Gritting his teeth, Lu Mengzheng shook his head and said:
"Mounting to kill slaves and dismounting to enrich the people, Yang Peng's talent can even be a prime minister!" When they arrived in Tianjing New City, Yang Bamei, a newly promoted guard officer, received Lu Mengzheng and his party at the city gate and took him into the city. After entering Tianjing New City, Lu Mengzheng was even more surprised.
From the outside, Tianjing New Town looks like a county town. After entering the city, I realized that it is much more prosperous and tidy than the county town. The first impression is that it is clean and tidy. The city is so clean that it does not look like a city in the Song Dynasty. A straight street with wide drainage ditches on both sides. There is no garbage or feces on the streets. On both sides of the road are neat two-story villas. The walls of the villa were painted white, and the roof was covered with dark tiles. It looked very spectacular at first glance.
A closer look revealed the wealth and prosperity of the city. Most of the people on the street wore cotton crew necks. It was rare to see patches on those clothes, so they were thrown away after they were worn out. There are even many citizens wearing silk straight skirts, and they are not out of the ordinary when blending in with the crowd.
Lu Mengzheng could see a few fat people every few steps he took, and found that the proportion of fat people in Tianjing New City was much higher than that in other cities. There are one or two teahouses and restaurants every few dozen steps on both sides of the road, filled with wealthy citizens. Some teahouses have stages built on them, and various operas are sung on the stages. The citizens below watch with gusto and cheer loudly from time to time. A boy came down with an iron basin to collect the reward. The citizens watching the theater threw copper coins into the iron basin, and soon it was covered with a thick layer.
There are many snack bars on both sides of the road, selling candied haws on haws, roasted chestnuts, and Zhuangyuan sugar cream. They are everywhere. Some greedy women and children held up copper coins and exchanged them for sweets in the store.
Lu Meng was passing by a brothel and saw two pretty pinkheads standing at the door of the brothel, looking at him lovingly. Lu Mengzheng didn't like the brothel business, but he also knew that the appearance level of those pink-headed girls was definitely prettier than the pink-headed girls in the average brothel in the capital. The pinkheads standing at the door are all so pretty, so you can imagine the other pinkheads in the brothel. In other words, the pimp made a lot of money in Fanjiazhuang, so he bought the most beautiful pink head and ran a business here.
The prosperity of Tianjing New City is evident. Lu Mengzheng asked Yang Bamei: "General Yang, why are the people in Tianjing New City so rich?"
Yang Bamei smiled and said: "In the general's industry, the workers only have two or two months' salary and three meals with meat. Add in the more than 10,000 soldiers' three or two months' salary each month, and a lot of people are grabbing the money and looking for places to spend it. The whole Tianjing The demand in Xincheng City is extremely strong. If you do any small business in Tianjing New City, you can earn more than two taels of silver a month. As long as your hands and feet are a little more diligent, you can live a well-off life."
Lu Mengzheng took a breath and nodded. Public security in the city is very good, and from time to time we see auxiliary soldiers with swords patrolling in groups of ten. The petty thieves and thieves that were common elsewhere in the Song Dynasty were not seen anywhere in Tianjing New City. After walking for a while, Lu Mengzheng noticed the details in the streets and alleys, and was even more surprised.
There are signs in many places in the city, and the name of each road is written on the wall, as if the people of Tianjing New City can understand it. There is an information board on every street, and dozens of people stand in front of each information board browsing. Lu Mengzheng went up to take a look out of curiosity and found that there were notices from Fanjiazhuang and national events copied from the Di newspaper on the information column. Those notices and copied articles were written in the most understandable language, and the wording was accurate and easy to understand at a glance. They were not like the notices in other places that exaggerated the words for the sake of parallel prose and ignored reality.
Lu Mengzheng took a few steps forward and saw several children jumping back on the street with school bags on their backs and the candies they just bought in their hands, as if they had just come out of school. A few steps further, Lu Mengzheng saw another group of children carrying book bags. Lu Mengzheng was taken aback and asked Yang Bamei:
"Do all the children in Tianjing New City have money to go to school?" Yang Bamei smiled and said, "Sir, all the children who have reached the age in Tianjing New City go to the school opened by the general, and there is no tuition fee." After a pause, Yang Bamei continued: "In recent years, the general has promoted literacy. Most of the people in the city have learned to read on their own. Now at least 30% of them are literate."
Three adults are literate! Aren’t the people in Tianjing New City all well-educated people? It really shouldn’t be underestimated. Lu Mengzheng was taken aback again, staring at the new Tianjing New City with wide eyes. Lu Meng was walking all the way looking at the strange things. Lu Meng happened to reach the official hall of Tianjing New City. After entering the second hall, Lu Mengzheng found Yang Peng waiting there.
When Lu Mengzheng saw Yang Peng, he took a breath, cupped his hands and said, "The general's Tianjing New City really impressed Lu Mengzheng." Yang Peng smiled, looked at Li Xing who was sitting next to him, and said: " What did the Prime Minister see?" Zhang Xiang is now the Minister of the Ministry of War in Tianjing New City, and this official office belongs to Zhang Xiang in name. However, Yang Peng also often had some reception work, and he dominated the government office for a long time.
Lu Mengzheng raised his hands and said: "Lü Mengzheng saw the prosperity of the town and the prosperity of the people. The so-called paradise of kings is nothing more than this!" Yang Peng smiled and said: "The Prime Minister has given you the reward!" But Lu Mengzheng did not let Yang Peng go and said "I want to ask the general for advice on how to protect the environment and the people. I hope the general will give you some advice." Yang Peng was stunned, but he didn't expect that Lu Meng was confronting him and wanted to tell him the secret. This Lu Meng was originally an arrogant person, but he called himself "I am an old man" in front of Yang Peng, which showed that he admired Yang Peng extremely.
After thinking about it, Yang Peng said, "If you want to make farmers rich, it's nothing more than reclaiming new fields and building water conservancy projects. My dragon-tail waterwheel is for sale, fifty taels a piece. Does the Prime Minister want to buy it?" Lu Mengzheng thought for a while. , said: "Fifty-two units are worth the money. It's just that Tianjing New City is too far away from Bianjing, so it's really inconvenient to transport it there. I'm afraid it will be damaged on the road."
"If you don't want to buy a waterwheel, what do you want to buy in Tianjing New City?" Lu Mengzheng thought for a while and said, "I came to Tianjing New City this time to discuss with the general and wanted to buy some crossbows! General! The crossbow is light and can kill dozens of Xixia thieves with one arrow. It is really sharp."
Yang Peng nodded and said: "I can also sell you some strong crossbows, but these strong crossbows can only be made once a month, so they can't be sold for many. I can sell you twenty at most." He said, "How much silver is one? Taibao But it's cheaper. The Western Army is very hard and we really can't get much money out of it." "Six hundred taels per door, any less and you'll lose money."
Lu Mengzheng thought for a while, gritted his teeth and said, "Okay, I'll buy twenty doors, which is twelve thousand taels." After a pause, Lu Mengzheng said again: "But I can't raise the money this month. I'll have to wait until September." I only have a sum of money to pay the Taibao." Yang Peng knew that the Western Army was poor, so he smiled and said: "I will make strong crossbows first. In fact, I still have some strong crossbows in stock. When the money comes from the Prime Minister, I will just deliver them to the Prime Minister. ."
Lu Mengzheng nodded and said, "That's very good. Thank you so much, General." Lu Mengzheng chatted with Mrs. She again. In order to adapt to future naval battles, Yang Peng decided to make some grenades. At present, the only grenades that Yang Peng can make are black powder grenades with match rope fuses. To light this grenade, you must carry a tinder. Fighting with fire is very troublesome and affects the combat effectiveness of the troops.
For field battles, this kind of grenade is of little use, because black powder grenades are very heavy, weighing at least seven or eight pounds. If it wasn't so heavy, it wouldn't have much power. And such a heavy grenade can't be thrown very far, but it can be thrown twenty meters. At a distance of twenty meters, the enemy will rush up after running a few steps, and it is easy to avoid the grenade. Instead of trying to throw a grenade, it would be better to fire a shot.
Therefore, Yang Peng has never developed grenades. But if it's a naval battle, it's different. The space on the ship is narrow and people are densely packed, which is where grenades come into play. During a naval battle, the ship is like two cities, with guardrails to block bullets. Attacking the opponent's ship is like siege. If the enemy hides under the ship's side guardrail, the rifle will not be able to find the target, and it will not even be able to shoot through the thick ship's side guardrail. Boarding combat is like siege and street fighting. Without grenades, you can often only fight the enemy hand-to-hand.
And with grenades, you can bomb the enemy. When two ships gradually get closer during a naval battle, no matter whether the opponent is hiding behind the guardrail or the mast, throwing dozens of grenades over them will blow the opponent into pieces. Moreover, grenades can bounce off ship buildings and blast enemy soldiers hiding on the lower decks - the entrances and exits between decks are very small, making it very inconvenient to get in and out. If there are no grenades, it can easily be defended by the opponent with a few matchlock guns or a few broadswords.
The earliest grenadiers in the West were deployed for siege. Yang Peng used grenades to attack enemy ships for the same reason. In order to win in future naval battles, Yang Peng asked the craftsmen who were casting dragon tail carts to stop what they were doing and start casting grenades. There were a large number of dragon tail carts in Yang Peng's warehouse, enough to satisfy this batch of newly reclaimed farmland. demand, there is no need to create new ones.
The hand grenade made by Yang Peng weighs eight pounds, is wrapped in cast iron, and contains black powder and broken iron slag. The black powder was ignited and exploded, shooting sharp iron slag into the surrounding area, killing and injuring enemy personnel. A wooden handle is made under the grenade, and there is a fuse on the handle. The iron cover is usually screwed on the fuse, and it is only turned away when it is necessary to ignite.
Yang Peng put the grenade next to the scarecrow and lit it, and found that this grenade could probably kill enemies within one step of the surrounding area. This kind of lethality is also very impressive. Yang Peng was in Cangzhou and Dingzhou, where it was very convenient to buy saltpeter and gunpowder. Yang Peng had a lot of black powder materials stored in his warehouse. The craftsmen in the Dragon Tail Cart Workshop made the molds and quickly cast more than two thousand grenades. Yang Peng put the grenades into the warehouse and prepared to arm future sailors.
What happened after all, let’s see what happens next.
