The Song Dynasty on the Sand Table

Chapter 522 New Kaifeng

Yang Zaixing took a closer look and saw that the other party only had one ship and one person, with no other ships following behind. He then gave a signal, and the soldiers of Gray Fortress took precautions before opening the fortress gate and letting the knight in.

They led him into a small, dark room where only Yang Zaixing and the man were present.

The man then whispered, "I am a servant of Zhang Xiaochun, the prime minister of the pseudo-Qi Kingdom. I have delivered letters to your Great Song Dynasty many times. Here is another secret letter from my master. Please deliver it to Wu Jialiang, the Minister of War of the Great Song Dynasty, as quickly as possible. Ah, no, this time it cannot be delivered to the Ministry of War. It must be delivered to the Hall of Regents."

Seeing that he spoke so solemnly, Yang Zaixing dared not be negligent.

He personally carried the letter and went straight to Kaifeng.

After the unification of the two Song dynasties, the Song dynasty established its capital in Kaifeng.

Although Kaifeng is easy to attack but difficult to defend, its strategic position is extremely poor.

But this place is of great symbolic significance. Only by temporarily establishing the capital here can the newly established Song Dynasty stand tall and win the hearts of the people and the army.

At Yue Wenxuan's insistence, the eight-year-old Emperor Zhao Bocong also came from Lin'an to Kaifeng to "rule the world," facing off against the pseudo-Qi state across the Yellow River. Empress Dowager Wei and Empress Dowager Meng, among others, were all moved to Kaifeng and moved into their former palaces.

This is called "the emperor guarding the nation's gate".

It's too cruel to have an eight-year-old child guard the national border, but it's too cruel to let him hide in Lin'an.

So, eight years old is eight years old. Since he was born into an imperial family and became emperor, he has to shoulder the responsibilities of being an emperor and live a life of luxury.

This trick really worked!
Seeing that the rebuilt Song Dynasty dared to move its capital back to Kaifeng, with even the emperor and empress dowager residing there, the morale of the Song Dynasty soared. Both the military and civilians felt as if they were taking off, as if the glorious past was about to return.

The entire nation is filled with a passion to break through the Yellow River and recover Shanxi and Hebei as soon as possible.

Yang Zaixing carried the secret letter as he walked through the streets and alleys of Kaifeng, which had regained its vitality.

Although the two Song dynasties had only recently been unified, the people of both countries did not feel like strangers. Many of them had even briefly lived as citizens of Qi for a few years, but they were originally from Song. Now, they sat together under the eaves of a house on the street, chatting and laughing, enjoying themselves immensely.

"Brother, you must have had a tough time living in Kaifeng these past few years with the puppet Qi regime in power, right?"

"Hey! Don't even mention it, the heavy taxes were so bad they almost made me want to eat tree bark. But compared to the late emperor... how many 'earliest' was he? Anyway, that emperor who played at Huashigang, things are better now. How about you? How were your years in Lin'an?"

"Sigh, don't even mention it. I wasn't happy living in Lin'an either! As soon as the Jin army attacked, the late emperor would run away. When the late emperor ran away, the officials would run away. When the officials ran away, everyone in Lin'an would run away, and I, damn it, ran away too."

"Hahahaha!"

Such conversations filled the streets of Kaifeng.

Yang Zaixing rushed through the streets and alleys towards the palace...

The palace is now much smaller, returning to the size it was before Emperor Huizong ascended the throne; at least half of the palace has been partitioned off.

Now, about half of these partitioned sections have been sold to wealthy people and become their residences.

These houses sell very well! There are two reasons for this. First, these houses were personally supervised by Emperor Huizong of Song, and they are flawless in terms of aesthetics. They are truly the most beautiful buildings in the world, without exception.

Secondly, these residences had once been imperial palaces, representing a level of luxury reserved for royalty. Now, the court had granted the wealthy the right to openly enjoy what the emperor had once used—which rich person wouldn't be tempted? The moment the residences were put up for sale, they were snapped up by the wealthy. Especially those nouveau riche merchants, the kind without any real foundation, loved acquiring such residences to artificially elevate their status. On the other hand, truly important figures like Li Gang disdained these residences.

The Zheng family, who took over five Ming Dynasty papermakers from Yue Wenxuan in Jiaoshui County and produced new-style bamboo paper, has now bought a house in this area and is living there very happily.

In addition, there were cotton cloth merchants from Chuzhou and salt merchants from Yancheng...

A number of emerging bourgeois individuals began to appear in Kaifeng. Their extravagant purchases of former royal residences, while somewhat nouveau riche-like, demonstrated their financial strength.

This is something Yue Wenxuan is very happy to see!
In addition to the residences, part of the palace was transformed into "luxury shops." Yue Wenxuan adopted the construction model of "scenic commercial streets" from later generations. All the shops borrowed the old landscape and layout of the palace, forming a "royal goods commercial street" area.

Walking through these commercial streets is like walking through a palace.

How could an ordinary person have the opportunity to walk through the palace?
Now that we've got this opportunity, why not go crazy and rummage around in it?

The commercial street has a large number of shops that sell all kinds of "royal treasures" in different categories.

There are paintings personally painted by Emperor Huizong of Song, the "Eagle Spreading its Wings" rock that Emperor Huizong loved most, the chair that Empress Dowager Wei sat on, the gold hairpin that Empress Dowager Meng used, the teapot that Emperor Qinzong of Song used...

These products are extremely popular and sell for high prices in no time.

For example, the "Eagle Spreading its Wings" stone, which was Emperor Huizong's favorite, sold for an astronomical price at an auction house. It was snatched away by a wealthy merchant from Jiangnan for five thousand strings of cash.

Such examples are too numerous to list.

When Yang Zaixing passed through this area, it was bustling with activity. A large number of people were wandering around aimlessly, while a few wealthy people were pulling out their wallets... Well, this area couldn't make money off the poor.

After passing through this area, Yang Zaixing finally entered the palace.

The main hall in the center of the palace is no longer important. Even when the young emperor attends court, he can only sit and stare blankly, saying a few meaningless words. After the morning court session, the young emperor will be taken away by several teachers who will teach him various subjects such as "Chinese", "Mathematics", "Physics", "Chemistry", "History", "Geography" and "Politics".

Of course, the young emperor wasn't the only one in the school; there were also children like Ma Congyi and Lu You studying together.

We must integrate the young emperor into the school environment from a young age, so that he doesn't become a lonely figure.

In short, the young emperor is currently just a student and can no longer decide the fate of the Song Dynasty.

The true fate of the Song Dynasty was decided in the "Hall of Regents" on the side of the main hall, where twenty regents took turns sitting. Minor matters were decided directly by a few regents sitting there, while major matters were decided by a "Council of Regents" where all twenty regents would vote together.

When Yang Zaixing ran into the Regent's Hall, it happened to be the turn of Wu Jialiang, Li Gang, and Han Shizhong to serve as "sitting ministers".

Yang Zaixing waved the letter in his hand and said, "A secret letter from Zhang Xiaochun, the prime minister of the pseudo-Qi state!"

The three ministers on duty stood up simultaneously: "Oh? Interesting!"

(End of this chapter)