White-robed Minister

0004 [The military commander arrived, the military commander left]

The official system in the Song Dynasty was very complex. During the Northern Song Dynasty alone, the Military Command was adjusted several times.

During the Jiayou era, the military commanders were mainly divided into three levels: circuit, prefecture, and county.

The position of Military Supervisor at the Lu level restricted eunuchs from holding office, but did not completely prohibit them.

In Guangdong Province alone, Yu Jing had already assumed the positions of Military Commissioner and Military Commander. Therefore, the Military Commander was a military officer, in order to achieve a balance of power between the civil and military officials.

What Yu Tiesi just saw was the fleet of Ma Huai Ren, the military commander of Guangdong Road!

The army directly commanded by Ma Huai-ren had a maximum strength of only three thousand soldiers. However, the Imperial Guards and Garrison Troops of the entire Guangdong province were under his command.

At this moment, the camp was in complete chaos, making effective command impossible.

Since not all able-bodied men have arrived, there are no squads yet, and the level of organization is practically zero.

Although Yu Tiesi was a clever man, he was completely at a loss now, and he punched and kicked the strongmen, saying, "Line up, line up... Where are your weapons? Never mind the weapons, just stand still."

The effect is limited.

The able-bodied men were still running around, searching for their neighbors, and even in line, they wanted to stand with those they knew.

Yu Tiesi was so anxious that he was covered in sweat.

"Tie Si, how about I give it a try?" Xu Lai felt an opportunity had come.

Yu Tiesi, in his desperation, disregarded the fact that Xu Lai was just a village boy and hurriedly said, "Quickly, go and direct them to form a line. Commander Ma's ship is about to dock."

Xu Lai grabbed the list of conscripts and rushed over, shouting, "The two villages with the fastest queues will get a bonus of dry rice today. The village with the slowest queue will get no rice today; they'll have to eat dry rations themselves!"

After repeating the order three times to attract everyone's attention, Xu Lai began to give the orders: "Dafu Township Station this way, Qingshui Township Station this way, Zhongyi Township... Don't push and shove, line up with your fellow villagers..."

These instructions were much clearer, and the able-bodied men could understand and carry them out.

In addition, those who queued quickly could get extra food, which immediately boosted their enthusiasm, and soon they formed several crooked queues.

"Stand directly opposite the people in front of you, facing the back of their heads..."

Xu Lai rushed into the line to personally organize the group, pulling this one and pushing that one, just like serving kindergarten children doing exercises.

Even kindergarten kids can line up straighter than them!

Yu Tiesi shouted from the side, "We've landed! We've landed!"

Xu Lai said to the able-bodied men, "You all stand still and wait for Commander Ma to arrive. Then you shout together. I'll shout once, then you shout once. The harder you shout, the more food you'll get! Do you understand?"

"I heard you!"

Upon hearing that they could obtain more food, the able-bodied men became even more energetic.

Yu Tiesi was so anxious he almost asked, "Aren't we taking them to the shore to greet them?"

"How can we move them? They'll be in complete disarray after just a few steps," Xu said. "Let's go over and greet the Commander-in-Chief. Please come here to inspect the soldiers."

Yu Tiesi nodded and said, "That makes sense."

The two men, accompanied by several cooks, hurriedly ran towards the shore.

The ship of the Ma Dujian was too deep to dock at the sandbar, so it had to transfer to a smaller boat first.

The first to disembark were a group of Imperial Guards, all dressed in leather armor, looking spirited, but it was unclear how they fared in battle.

Next to disembark were the honor guard of the Guangdong Road Military Commander, who made quite a fuss with music and fanfare.

Finally, the military commander Ma Huai-ren appeared.

Ma Huai-ren was around fifty years old, short and stocky, with dark skin. He wore a scarlet round-necked robe, black leather boots, and a stiff black lacquered turban, much like the one Xu Lai had seen in the TV series.

"Yu Shanyuan, Inspector of Qingyuan County, pays his respects to Commander Ma!" Inspector Yu stepped forward and bowed.

Xu Lai also hurriedly followed suit to pay his respects, but he was not qualified to introduce himself by his own name. However, he did learn that Yu Tiesi's real name was Yu Shanyuan.

Ma Huai-ren frowned: "What about the other generals?"

Yu Shanyuan replied, "The able-bodied men haven't all arrived yet; the officers will arrive the next day."

Ma Huai-ren laughed in anger, then turned and left.

A temporary patrol post, headed by a low-ranking clerk, and located in a strategically important area.

What would Supervisor Ma be thinking?

Seeing that the other party was about to leave, Yu Shanyuan quickly called out, "Please, Commander, inspect the soldiers!"

Ma Huai-ren ignored him completely.

How could the dignified Military Commissioner of Guangdong Circuit possibly liaise with a mere clerk? And what kind of inspection of soldiers was that?!

The officers and soldiers who had just disembarked were back on the ship in the blink of an eye.

Yu Shanyuan watched the fleet depart, his expression quite disappointed, muttering to himself, "They're gone just like that?"

Then he laughed again: "It's a good thing too."

Xu Lai asked in a low voice, "Why is it a good thing?"

"Don't ask questions you shouldn't ask," Yu Shanyuan said.

Xu Lai immediately shut up.

Although Yu Shanyuan couldn't even organize a team of able-bodied men properly, he wasn't a complete waste of space; he was very knowledgeable about officialdom.

The fact that the Guangdong Military Commissioner personally inspected military camps across the region demonstrates the high importance the Guangdong leadership attaches to this campaign against the bandits. The group from the Qingyuan County Patrol Office, caught red-handed in their collective slacking off, will undoubtedly face severe punishment from Ma Huai-ren.

Even if it's just to appease the supervisor, we still need to send more troops and supplies here.

With troops and supplies, the salt bandits probably won't dare to come.

Yu Shanyuan's life was saved; he didn't die a confused death at the hands of thieves.

Having figured this out, Yu Shanyuan was in high spirits and ordered the able-bodied men to disperse and gave everyone an extra meal.

During the meal, he even invited Xu to drink.

This guy was usually ostracized by his colleagues, and after being thrown onto the sandbar, he had no one to talk to.

After a few cups of wine, Yu Shanyuan became more talkative: "This time, Commander Ma has come in person, surely on the orders of Lord Yu."

Xu Lai quickly poured him some wine: "Which gentleman, Mr. Yu, is this?"

Yu Shanyuan smiled and said, "Master Yu Jing. Master Yu is the Guangdong Military Commissioner, the Guangdong Military Commander, and the Prefect of Guangzhou. In fact, Master Yu and I are from the same clan."

Xu Lai thought to himself: You've fallen to such a sorry state that even if you're from the same clan as Yu Jing, you'll only have one surname left.

After traveling for more than half a month, I finally heard about historical figures.

Anyone with even a slight understanding of Song Dynasty history knows the name Yu Jing. He was one of the Four Remonstrances of the Qingli Era, a troll who dared to spit in Emperor Renzong's face.

Yu Shanyuan looked around and said in a low voice, "Master Yu's hometown was also frequently robbed by salt bandits. Last year, the salt bandits ransacked a village that was only a dozen miles away from Master Yu's home."

Wow, that's incredible.

As the Guangdong Military Commissioner and Commander of the Guangdong Army, Yu Jing's hometown was frequently raided. Now that he had received an order from the imperial court, how could he not deal with the salt bandits to the death?

These scoundrels in Qingyuan County actually want to slack off; they're simply courting death.

Xu Lai continued to pour him wine, flattering him, "If it weren't for the clerk's words, I wouldn't have known such a thing happened. Those salt bandits are truly despicable; they even dared to rob Master Yu's hometown."

Yu Shanyuan laughed and said, "That's not all. The current Guangdong Transport Commissioner, Cai Xiangong, and the Jiangxi Provincial Judicial Commissioner, Cai Xiangong, are brothers. This year, Guangdong and Jiangxi are jointly suppressing bandits. With the two brothers cooperating, I estimate they will achieve considerable success."

Well, the overall person in charge of the bandit suppression was Cai Ting, and his brother Cai Kang was the transport commissioner of Guangdong. Guangdong definitely had to cooperate.

This means that the Guangdong Provincial Governor and the Transport Commissioner worked together!

No wonder the Guangdong Circuit Military Supervisor personally sailed north to inspect the area.

Yu Shanyuan raised his cup and drank it all in one gulp: "I saw the roster before. Why is your village conscripting ten able-bodied men? Did you offend the village clerk?"

Xu Lai said, "Qingxi Village is located on the western foothills of Feixia Mountain, nestled in a valley. People outside the valley discriminate against the mountain people, and the corvée labor has naturally shifted to them. My elder brother died last year while building a plank road, and I heard that according to the laws of the Great Song Dynasty, my family should be exempt from corvée labor for three years."

"How old are you?" Yu Shanyuan asked.

Xu Lai replied, "I just turned sixteen (by the traditional Chinese age reckoning)."

Yu Shanyuan sighed, "It's truly not easy for a middle-aged man to serve in the military. How do you even know how to read?"

Xu Lai made up a story: "During the off-season, my father and brothers would gather firewood in the mountains and carry it to the county town to sell. I often followed them down the mountain, and when we passed by the village schools outside the mountains, I would hide outside the walls to listen to the teachers' lectures and even peek at the students writing. Over time, I learned a lot."

Yu Shanyuan clearly didn't believe it, and said with a smile, "Your handwriting is beautiful, not like someone who just sits in and learns by listening."

Xu Lai said, "I made my own feather brush and practiced it on a stone slab with water."

Chicken feather pens did exist in ancient times.

Huang Tingjian's "Thousand Character Classic in Regular Script" was written with a chicken feather brush that cost three coins.

Yu Shanyuan did not ask any further questions.

Xu Lai has been helping out these past two days, especially today when he was in charge of organizing the team, which left a very good impression on Yu Shanyuan.

The more he looked at Xu Lai, the more pleasing he became, and he had been feeling very stifled lately, so he really needed a stranger to confide in.

Yu Shanyuan held a wine glass, looked up at the sky at a 45-degree angle, and said, "Seeing you like this reminds me of my own school days."

"Tie Si must have been a scholar back then." Xu Lai poured him another cup of wine.

"Haha," Yu Shanyuan finished his drink, shook his head and smiled bitterly, "My family is indeed a bit richer than yours, with over a hundred acres of land. But there are too many people in the family, and my grandparents are still alive, so we can't split up the household and lower our household status. If we can't lower our household status, we'll have to pay more taxes and corvée labor, and we can only save two or three strings of cash each year. In years of famine, we'll have to live off our savings..."

Xu Lai poured him more wine.

Yu Shanyuan continued to recall the past: "My family was in such a state that it was difficult to support our children in taking the imperial examinations. We couldn't even afford the 'Correct Interpretation of the Zuo Zhuan'. A complete set of over 1.3 million characters, even a poorly printed one with incomplete characters, would cost seven or eight strings of cash. An officially printed, finely edited edition would cost at least fifteen strings of cash, which was equivalent to several years' worth of savings for my entire family."

"In order to study this book, I could only buy the Zuo Zhuan first, and then ask my classmates to lend me the Zhengyi version to copy. They couldn't lend it to me indefinitely, and I had to return it after copying only a little each day. It took me two whole years to finish copying the Zuo Zhuan Zhengyi."

Yu Shanyuan drank cup after cup, lost in memories: "I took the provincial examination three times, wasting twelve years of my youth. I passed twice, but failed the provincial examination once, and could only ask a classmate to find me a minor official position. I was so proud of my scholarly spirit, but alas, I could only associate with those scheming and despicable people... I'm not reconciled, I'm really not reconciled..."

Yu Shanyuan drowned his sorrows in alcohol, and without Xu's persuasion, he got himself drunk.

As he was talking, Yu Tiesi lay down and fell fast asleep on the ground, drunk.

-

(Note: Before the second year of the Jiayou era, the imperial examinations were held every four years. After the second year of the Jiayou era, the imperial examinations were held every two years.)

(Passing the provincial examination didn't guarantee entry into the capital for the metropolitan examination; a quota for successful candidates was required. The success rate for provincial examination candidates in the Northern Song Dynasty fluctuated, sometimes reaching 20%, sometimes 40%, sometimes 50%, and sometimes 20%. Even at its highest rate, half of the successful candidates still couldn't enter the capital and had to retake the examination.)

(The quotas for repatriation in Guangdong Province were mainly concentrated in Guangzhou, with very few quotas allocated to other prefectures.)

(Before the second year of the Jiayou era, the palace examination also had an elimination rate. Moreover, the elimination rate of the palace examination was between 25% and 50%.)

(In the Northern Song Dynasty, taxes and corvée labor were levied according to household class. The higher the household class, the heavier the tax. The yamen runners, who were specifically targeted at first-class and second-class households, could drive large landowners with tens of thousands of acres of land to ruin.)

(Therefore, the landlords were all desperately dividing their property into smaller units and households. However, if the parents or grandparents were still alive, the law did not allow the brothers to divide the property.)

(To avoid heavy corvée labor, some landlords chose to commit suicide, leaving their sons as single-child households. Others sent their eighty-year-old mothers to remarry, only allowing them to divide the family property after their mothers were married off.)