In June in Zhongdu, the weather is still hot.
Although it has been besieged by Mongolia for several months and countless soldiers and civilians starved to death, Zhongdu is still a large city rarely seen in the world. When the three armies of Mongolia ravaged half of the Jin Kingdom, this city was almost the only big city that not only did not fall, but also fought with the Mongolian army several times.
Therefore, in the past few months, people from Heshuo have been fleeing into Zhongdu. No matter there is famine or plague in the city, as long as the tall city wall still exists, it can isolate the Mongolian massacre; no matter how difficult the city is, it is better than the hell trampled by the iron cavalry.
As a result, the population size of Zhongdu City increased instead of falling, which put great pressure on Yousi.
As far as food supply is concerned, two months ago, the emperor had already asked Xu Ding, the official of Daxing Prefecture, to determine the appropriate rules for the favor, and ordered all officials in the court to first report to the court if they were to be promoted or to be promoted. The imperial court brought in millet and grass.
This edict seems to add a prerequisite for officials to be promoted and seek official positions. In essence, it is to sell their official positions and get titles. The general price is to donate one hundred and fifty shi of rice to be promoted to one rank and serve as an envoy; 700 shi of rice to be promoted to two ranks and to exclude all ministers; if the amount exceeds this amount, the court will specifically discuss how to reward.
With this help, the food tension has been slightly alleviated, but the management of such a large city involves more than just food supply. Xu Ding could no longer take care of all the myriad issues related to public security and the environment.
After summer, the city is steaming with heat, and the stinky water flows in the ditches on both sides of the city's roads. There are mountains of garbage and feces piled up on the street corners. The terrible smell spurts out everywhere along with the heat wave, making people gag.
People who are willing to go out in this kind of weather are either poor people who have no food and clothing and have to work hard, or they have special reasons for going out.
Du Shisheng had a special reason to go out.
The weather was so hot that even if he was sitting in a light carriage, he felt like he was in a steamer, dripping with sweat. But when he raised the curtains of the carriage, he had to endure the stench of the street. Even the Ganquanfang area near the Gongchen Gate of the Imperial Palace is full of refugees and dirty, rancid garbage.
Some refugees simply sat in the garbage pile with their skinny bodies naked, staring blankly at Du Shisheng's carriage passing by. Du Shisheng could only tighten the curtain again.
He had seen such scenes countless times in Zhongdu in the past few months and in various places in Hebei in the past few years, but every time he saw it, he felt so miserable that he panicked.
From his residence in Zhongdu, Xianlufang, go west to Tongxuanmen Street and turn north. This area is where the military disaster was most severe when Hu Shahu rebelled. Later, the Mongolian army threatened Zhongdu several times, and the defenders Materials were taken directly from the ruins to make rolling wood and stones.
By now, the entire area of four to five miles from Tennoji Temple to the north has become a completely white land. Because of the emptiness, the number of refugees gathered on both sides of the road suddenly decreased, and the attendants shouted loudly to urge the vehicle to go faster... As a result, the wheels got stuck again by the remaining bricks and tiles on the side of the road.
When the horses finally started to run briskly, the young attendant couldn't help but complain: "It's been really hard living in China this year."
“Living in Zhongdu, how can there be times when it’s not hard?”
Du Shisheng was wanted by the court in his early years and fled to Tangluo, Hebei Province. He suffered a lot, but it was not as difficult as following a local like him. He smiled and said: "I bought some Jinlan wine yesterday as a gift. There is still a jar left at home, which is for you. It is a good wine for entertaining envoys from the Song Dynasty. Have you never drank it?"
"Really?" The attendant immediately became happy and urged the horse to walk briskly.
At this time, the vehicle arrived in front of Changchun Palace. The attendant raised his eyes to look at the Taoist temple that stood out among the ruins, and murmured: "I don't know whether that person will come today."
"It's the third time I've made an appointment with him." Du Shisheng said, "It's time. No matter how coy this guy is, he always wants money."
"Perhaps he is afraid of being implicated?" said the entourage: "Jie Shuai went from Liaodong to sell horses to the Song Dynasty, but it is quite taboo. We have been watched by others these days."
Du Shisheng chuckled twice: "Maybe. However, as long as we have a strong navy and a strong army, taboos and other things will no longer be taboos if they are violated."
It turns out that in the past two months, while Guo Ning gradually reached out to Liaodong, Yili Chucai focused on the economy.
In addition to conducting trade with the Song Dynasty of the Southern Dynasties and generating income from mining on their own territory, Yili Chucai also worked hard on trade with Zhongdu. On the one hand, the fleet of the Ding Navy was used to carry out bulk trade of salt, iron, and grain with the central capital. On the other hand, private merchants were gradually allowed to participate, bringing a variety of materials and goods to the three states of Denglai.
After all, the power of the government has its limits, and when doing business, it is impossible to cover everything. The military government needs the wealthy households in the three regions of Denglai to follow the military government's footsteps and fill in the gaps in business. It also allows the military and civilians under Ding Haijun to have some consumption channels after their lives gradually stabilize.
However, when there are many merchants, it is inevitable that dragons and snakes will mix, and they must be strictly controlled.
Ding Haijun naturally imposed severe punishment on those who secretly sold strategic materials such as salt, iron, and grain. They raided several businesses and killed several of them. But for some detailed management, there is no way.
For example, wherever these merchants went, in order to exaggerate their own strength, they would inevitably brag about the power of the Ding Navy at sea and the smuggling trade between the Song and Jin Dynasties.
Just in the first ten days of the month, Ding Haijun's Qunmu Station established in Liaodong traded with Shi Liehuanduan, the governor of Fuzhou, in exchange for 300 horses, and then sold 100 of them to smugglers in the Southern Dynasties at a price of one horse per horse. Baiguan, and it's not Huizi, it's a serious copper coin.
This matter was boasted by businessmen, causing quite a disturbance in the Zhongdu court. This is all because war horses are strategic materials that are prohibited from being sold to the Southern Dynasties by the Jin Kingdom. Earlier, there was a special order that those who trade horses with foreigners will be punished for five years. If three or more horses die, they will be guilty of the same crime. In addition to the reward for the captured and accused person, the official will first pay three hundred guan on his behalf.
In other words, selling three horses is a capital crime, and even the intermediary must be beheaded. In order to encourage people to come forward, the official will advance a reward of 300 guan to anyone who reports it. After the case is concluded, the reward will be paid at a discount based on the amount of the horse sold.
The provisions of the law are very clear, and as the court has been short of war horses in recent years, the enforcement has become even more stringent. Near Zhongdu, in order to collect the lost war horses, the price has even been quoted as high as fifty taels of silver per horse. If you don't want the silver, you can directly pay the official level.
As a result, when the merchants from Shandong came, the officials in the DPRK and China knew that the co-author Laizhou Dinghai Navy was still doing such business? It's great that you have a fleet of ships, right? Can even war horses be sold to Song people? To put it another way, even if you guys make money through smuggling, why don't you send some horses to the capital?
In the past few months, the imperial court has obtained a large amount of food from the smuggling trade in the three states of Denglai. Otherwise, tens of thousands of people would starve to death in Zhongdu during the lean period. But where the food for the navy came from and what it was worth in exchange for it, the court officials probably didn't think about it.
On the contrary, the death of Tu Shanyi made many people feel that the Dinghai Navy had lost the support from North Korea and China, and it was a time of weakness. So many people took this opportunity to create some criticisms against Ding Haijun. There were even some stupid and ignorant officials who heard that Du Shisheng was the representative of Guo Jiedu in Dinghai Navy in Zhongdu. They went to the small courtyard where he lived to scold him and threw stones in the courtyard from time to time.
Du Shisheng didn't care about this, and he also knew that Guo Ning didn't care about it even more.
At the current level of the Jin Dynasty, most of the trouble they can cause is just words. Ding Haijun held a knife in his hand, and the knife was stained with blood. How could he care about these mouths?
However, as long as Daikin is still there, it is always necessary to grasp the trends of the government.
No matter how coquettish the court is, they will always have to obtain food, salt and iron support from Ding Haijun; just like Qingshan Nu, the most trusted servant of the emperor, no matter how coquettish, they still hope that Guo Ning will provide them. Benefits of previous commitments. Even if there is trouble in words, in practice, both parties have what they need.
Speaking of Qingshan Nu, the emperor's trust in him and the Chamber of Servants was extraordinary, so a group of forces had gathered around him recently, and some people began to cling to him.
But the reason why the emperor attached so much importance to the Internal Affairs Bureau actually showed that he was out of control over the court officials; and the more attention the Internal Affairs Bureau received from the emperor, the more obvious it was that it was suppressed by the officials.
Therefore, although Du Shisheng was only a mere foreign official, he did not feel any pressure from interacting with the most popular ministers in the court.
At this moment, the carriage and horse drove into the side gate of Changchun Palace, and then entered a secluded courtyard.
As soon as Du Shisheng got out of the car, he saw Qingshan Nu standing proudly in front of the hall door.
In the past few months, Qingshan Nu has made a lot of money and seems to be in a good mood. Therefore, his figure has become fatter than when the two last met. The gold belt around his waist that Du Shisheng presented to him could hardly hold his stomach.
Du Shisheng offered his hand to him, and just as a smile appeared on his face, before he could speak, Qingshan Nu shouted: "Take it!"
According to Mr. Cheng Minsheng's "Research on Prices in the Song Dynasty", during this period, the price of buying horses in the eastern border areas of the Song Dynasty was 120 to 150 guan of banknotes. The price of buying a horse on the Sichuan border is 200 guan of paper money. When sent to Lin'an, the total price, including shipping, is more than 500 guan. Xin Qiji bought Guangxi horses, fifty thousand and five hundred, but the Guangxi horses were not very tall.
(End of chapter)
