Chapter 230 I Want to Become a Song
The dark-skinned local was sweating all over and said hurriedly: "How dare I deceive the county magistrate? Han Xiang is really gone."
Wang Anshi got up hurriedly, not even bothering to change his clothes, and rushed out.
Wu silently stood up to clean up the dishes. Wang Rong, who was sitting next to her, raised her little face and asked, "Mother, can I go with the adults to take a look?"
Wu shook her head and said, "Stay home and don't cause trouble for your father."
Wang Rong nodded and sat obediently.
On the other side, Wang Anshi trotted all the way to Han Qi's house, but before he even got close, he heard the heart-wrenching cries of several men.
When they entered the yard, they saw several men who looked like servants kneeling on the ground sobbing. In the room in front of them, there was a straw mat with a person lying on it. He was covered with a white cloth, so his face could not be seen.
Wang Anshi took a deep breath, walked over, and gently lifted the white cloth. What he saw was Han Qi's face, which was a little pale but with a peaceful expression.
Silently covering the room with the white cloth again, he walked aside and asked, "What happened? Han Xiang was fine two hours ago."
The middle-aged housekeeper cried until his voice was hoarse: "Two hours ago, I brought the medicine to the master, and he fell asleep after drinking it. Then I cooked millet porridge just now and wanted to bring it to the master to warm his stomach. After all, the master has been ill for more than a month. He had diarrhea after eating, and there was not much rice in his stomach. He was thin. But when I went upstairs, I found that the master's face was not right. I sniffed again and found that he was dead. Even his body was stiff."
So the Han Xiang that I saw at noon was already a reflection of the past?
Wang Anshi lowered his eyebrows and said slowly , "Don't just cry here. Go and ask someone to make a coffin right away. Let the body stay in the house for seven days. I will help arrange the affairs of Han Xiang after his death. Go and do your work."
The middle-aged butler stood up, wiping his tears, and walked out with the other two servants.
Keeping the coffin for seven days is a rule, mainly because medical technology is not well developed nowadays and it is impossible to distinguish whether the patient is truly dead or not. Keeping the coffin for seven days can effectively avoid burying alive a patient who is pretending to be dead.
Han Qi has only a few servants in his family and no other immediate family members. The only person who can make the decision now is the county magistrate Wang Anshi.
After arranging the next tasks for these people, Wang Anshi also went home.
Wu came over with small steps and asked, "Sir, is Prime Minister Han really..."
Wang Anshi nodded, returned to his simple study, and wrote a eulogy and an obituary.
But there is no rush to publish them. At least these two articles will be published after the funeral is over.
After writing the two obituaries, Wang Anshi sat in his study and looked outside from the window.
The sky in Qiongzhou seems to be bluer than that in the Central Plains, but this kind of blue now seems a bit depressing.
He took a sip of the bitter tea, which made his mouth bitter and his heart even more bitter.
Wang Anshi is very young now, and young people are never afraid of death. Even when he was supervising the Northwest Army a year ago, he remained calm on the battlefield.
Because he believed that he had a destiny, serving the court and becoming famous was the path he would definitely take.
But now, he was a little confused because Han Qi died in front of him.
At the same time, it was an unnecessary and unreasonable death.
He did not die on the thrilling battlefield, nor did he die in the treacherous court. Instead, he died in Qiongzhou, this barbaric land in the south. His death was ordinary and worthless.
It's not that he hasn't seen death. When he was a military supervisor, he saw countless births and deaths, but he never cared. If the enemy soldiers died, they died. What's the big deal?
But now he cares.
In his imagination, the death of civil officials like them must be earth-shattering.
But Han Qi used his death to reveal a fact.
No matter how high your status is, once dead, you are dead.
Aren't Han Qi's achievements, past and status much greater than Wang Anshi's?
But he still died, silently and without any ripples.
Just like ordinary people, even worse than the thieves' soldiers.
Wang Anshi felt empathy at this time. He thought, if he reached Han Qi's level and died silently in the barbarian land, what a terrible scene that would be.
He even had other emotions.
"Between life and death, what is the difference between kings, dukes, generals and ordinary people?"
Wang Anshi murmured to himself that he had read this principle in books a long time ago, but this was the first time he had truly felt it intuitively.
Only the death of one's own kind can shock people.
The sky outside the window gradually darkened, and the study also became dark. Only Wang Anshi's eyes remained bright.
About fifteen days later, an official document sent from Qiongzhou arrived in Bianliang.
Then the court was shaken, but that was all.
Han Qi is indeed extremely famous and well-known, but so what.
Renzong Zhao Zhen was even more respected by people all over the world. After his death, there was only less than three days of mourning. The people of the entire Song Dynasty ate when they were supposed to eat and continued to have fun when they were supposed to have fun.
In comparison, Han Qi's death only caused a discussion for a while and then disappeared quietly.
When Lu Sen received the message, he didn't say anything, just smiled, raised his glass to the air, and then drank it all.
He continued to take time to teach Zhao Zongshi, and lived a very happy life.
Everything was going according to his plan.
Hangzhou is becoming more and more lively.
Even more Semites came.
After all, this is a city with "miracles", and the spaceship in the sky is the solar boat that many of them have heard of.
Even though most Semites don't know what the solar boat is, there will always be someone telling them that it was their god from long, long ago.
Originally, Hangzhou's maritime trade was gradually being diverted to ports such as Quanzhou and Guangzhou. However, when the Sun Ship appeared, the Semites who received the news decided to go to Hangzhou Port and would not go to other places.
And this is where the trouble lies, because too many Semites have come, and now the Hangzhou Port can no longer accommodate them.
For this reason, Lu Huiqing waited outside Zhao Zongshi's house every day, and finally waited for Lu Sen.
The two were sitting in Zhao Zongshi's home at this time and borrowed Zhao Zongshi's study.
Zhao Zongshi had no objection to this. Instead, he happily took the change given by Bilian and went out shopping.
The Zhao family's housekeeper served the two of them green tea and then retreated.
After looking at the surrounding layout and settings, Lu Huiqing's gaze fell back on Lu Sen: "Master Lu should be in his early twenties now."
"Twenty-two years old." Lu Sen smiled.
In fact, his age was more than that, but the system interface identified Lu Sen as 22 years old, so he took this number as his age.
Lu Huiqing said enviously: "But Master Lu still looks like he is sixteen years old."
Lu Sen's face was still full of youthfulness at this moment. In fact, his appearance had not changed since he came to this world and obtained the system.
It's just that my hair has grown longer.
Lu Huiqing is about four years older than Lu Sen. She is 26 years old, but looks like she is 30. Although she has a fair face, she can't help but feel mature with age.
The black beard under his forehead made him look extremely mature.
"Practice must have some effect." Lu Sen said with a smile.
Compared to the person opposite, Lu Sen has no beard, and even his Adam's apple is not very obvious. His skin is as smooth as cooked egg white. It would not be an exaggeration to say that his lips are red and his teeth are white. However, he has a temperament that makes people not think he is a woman.
Anyone who sees Lu Sen will say that he is a handsome and heroic young man.
Lu Huiqing was a little envious. He also wanted to practice cultivation. Who in the world doesn't want to live forever? However, Lu Sen had already said in the court that only one in ten thousand people could achieve immortality.
Even the emperor couldn't practice cultivation. How could he, a minor local official, deserve Lu Sen to make an exception?
"I know Master Lu's time is precious, so I won't talk about trivial matters." Lu Huiqing bowed lightly and said, "I came here for official business. I beg Master Lu to listen."
Lu Sen smiled and said, "Please speak."
"After the boats appeared in the sky, the Semites came here upon hearing the news. Their numbers grew day by day, and many of them did not want to leave. They stayed at the port outside the city, and even built simple houses everywhere to live there." Lu Huiqing said helplessly, "These Semites stink so bad that you can smell the strange smell coming in through the city walls. Moreover, these people often cause trouble outside the city, and we have to quell them three or four times a day, which is a huge waste of manpower and resources."
"What does Lu Zhizhou mean?" Lu Sen asked.
"I wonder if Master Lu can move the Shenzhou ten miles north of the city!" Lu Huiqing said cautiously, "It will be convenient for us to lead those redundant Semu people to the north for centralized management. It will also be convenient for sea merchants to enter and exit."
Lu Sen laughed and said, "Such a good laborer, but Governor Lu is unwilling to use him? He only wants to drive them out?"
"Labor?" Lu Huiqing was a little puzzled.
"How many Semu people can enter Hangzhou normally?"
"No more than three thousand !" Lu Huiqing thought for a moment and said, "Normally no more than two thousand."
"These sailors who came from afar are all strong men." Lu Sen said slowly, "They are excellent laborers and can be used to open up mountains and build land. In addition, if we subdue them and recruit them into the army or use them as mercenaries, what do you think?"
This was the first time the word mercenary appeared, but it did not hinder Lu Huiqing's understanding.
Ideographic characters are extremely difficult to learn, but this advantage makes them far superior to phonetic characters.
Lu Huiqing was stunned for a moment and fell into deep thought.
What Lu Sen said opened up Lu Huiqing's mind, and he came up with more ideas in an instant.
As a leader among young people, being able to draw inferences about other situations is a very common ability.
Then his eyes became brighter and brighter, and then he stood up, bowed and said: "Thank you Master Lu for your help. I will take my leave now."
After saying this, he bowed and left in a hurry.
Lu Sen smiled and took Zhao Bilian away from the Zhao Mansion.
Five days later, a new notice was posted on the bulletin board of Hangzhou Port.
It is mainly aimed at the Semites, but Chinese characters are used.
Then a large group of Seljuq captains and sailors gathered around, looking at the large number of Chinese characters, looking completely at a loss.
Many Seljuq captains can speak Song dialect, but they cannot read.
Even those who knew a few words could not understand the sentences in the official document drafted by Lu Huiqing.
Then the captain came running up, stood in front of the two constables who were posting the official document, bowed his head and smiled flatteringly, and said in a not-so-standard Song dialect: "Two young men, can you tell us what this new notice says?"
"Neither of us can read." The two constables held their heads high, said with pride and impatience, "If you want to understand, why don't you ask a teacher to come and help explain it to you."
After saying that, the two of them left.
Then a group of Seljuq captains thought of asking their colleagues who were qualified to enter Hangzhou city to help invite a gentleman out.
As a result, after being invited many times, those poor scholars lost interest as soon as they heard that they had to help the Semites interpret the notices.
They even pointed to the sky and said: "Even if I starve to death, I will never associate with the Semu barbarians. If others find out, it will be a disgrace."
After searching for a long time, they finally found a poor scholar who was willing to interpret the announcement for them, but this poor scholar asked for a very high price.
Ten taels of silver!
It’s just to help interpret an announcement, but you want ten taels of silver. It’s really robbery.
As a result, the scholar said as if it was a matter of course: "If others knew that I interpreted the notice with you, I wonder how they would look at me. Could it be that my reputation is not worth ten taels of silver?"
There was no other choice, so the captains had to pool together ten taels of silver and send it over.
In fact, the captains all had money, and ten taels of silver was just a drop in the bucket, but the stingy nature of the Seljuq merchants made them feel the pain, so they united together to pool the money to give to the poor scholar.
The poor scholar Gao interpreted it reluctantly, but he was an honest man who took the money to get things done. He explained all the regulations in the official document and answered all questions.
The more these Seljuq captains listened, the more they raised their eyebrows.
In fact, there were still some Semites who could read official documents, but they kept silent and went to "queue up" early.
Like Alijie is one of them.
She walked to the gate leading to Hangzhou Port and said to the soldiers there, "My two friends, I want to join the teaching office."
The two soldiers were signing documents for other Semites who had arrived earlier. When they heard this, they turned their heads and were surprised at first, then indifferent.
"This woman is quite pretty, but it's a pity that she is a Semu." A soldier shook his head.
Another soldier asked, "Are you sure you want to enter the Jiaosifang? Lü Zhizhou said that if foreign women enter the Jiaosifang, they will learn Chinese etiquette, understand Chinese character, and comfort the children of the Song Dynasty. After one or two years, they can leave the fang, obtain household registration, and marry freely."
The Jiaosifang in the Northern Song Dynasty was the same as that in the Ming Dynasty, where the families of convicted officials were used as entertainers for residence. However, this regulation was rarely enforced in the Northern Song Dynasty.
The Northern Song Dynasty suppressed intellectuals harshly, but the families of the criminal officials were exiled to the capital, Jingdong and Xibei.
To put it simply, it is a place not far from the city of Bianliang, where they are spared the hardship of traveling, and they will not be treated as prostitutes. They are just slaves in name, and their lives are no different from those of ordinary people.
Overall, Zhao Song was kind to the people.
Therefore, the Jiaosifang in the Northern Song Dynasty was more of a nominal symbol.
Alice smiled softly, her beauty and charm were compelling: "I can read and understand official documents."
"You can read?" The soldier seemed to be a high-ranking official. He was amazed by Alice for a moment, then shook his head: "It's a pity that you are a Semu, otherwise I would be willing to marry you as a concubine."
What he meant was that Alice was not even qualified to be a concubine.
Just because she is a Seljuq.
Alice also smiled and said, "I also know that the Jiaosifang will not force the women in the monastery to receive customers."
The soldier looked at Alice in surprise and asked, "Have you been to the Song Dynasty before?"
"I have been here before." Alice said, "So after I returned home, I sold everything I had and handed over all my affairs. Now I come to Song again because I want to stay here forever and become a true Song citizen."
