Chapter 215: People Come, Birds Don’t Get Startled

Drinking tea was an elegant thing for the ancients. They paid attention to observing its shape, looking at its color, smelling its aroma, and tasting its flavor. To do this, they would use the cup lid to move the edge of the teacup, and the stirring of the upper layer of water would cause convection of the tea in the cup.

Just like in the tea ceremony, let the tea leaves fly, making the tea more flavorful and the tea aroma more intense. If you like to drink light tea, just stir it a few times; if you like to drink strong tea, then stir it a few more times.

In addition, modern teacups have a metal filter to filter the tea leaves to prevent them from being drunk into the mouth.

There was no such device in ancient times. The ancients used the tea lid to move the teacup to move the tea leaves and tea residue to the other side to avoid drinking a mouthful of tea leaves while drinking tea, which was disrespectful.

In ancient times, teacups did not have metal filters when drinking tea, but people were still thinking about finding a way to make money. If the invention of the filter was borrowed from the Song Dynasty, would it be possible?

In modern times, almost everyone has a cup with a filter. The market has proven that it works in modern times, so there is no reason why it wouldn't work in ancient times.

The ancients liked drinking tea more than modern people. After all, in ancient times, tea was probably the only beverage available, and people had no choice. It can be said that the market was even larger than it is today.

The general layout of the capital is that Dongcheng is rich, Xicheng is noble, Chongwen is poor, and Xuanwu is dilapidated. If Xicheng District is the richest district in the capital, then Zhaohui Jinggongfang, located in Xicheng District, is the richest district in Xicheng District.

It is a truly wealthy place. The streets and alleys in the block are dotted with the homes of dignitaries. There are countless mansions of various shapes, including royal mansions, noble courtyards, etc. From cabinet ministers, generals to princes, wealthy merchants, all dignitaries and celebrities are proud to live here.

The district runs from north to south, continuing the "chessboard" pattern of the city since the Spring and Autumn Period. There are eight alleys neatly arranged in the east and west, including the "Gonghou Street" where the Linhuai Marquis Mansion is located, and the "West Chang'an Street" where Zhao Ding's residence is located, both of which are located in Zhaohui Jinggongfang.

Sixteen alleys are like the legs of a centipede, arranged on both sides in Zhaohui Jinggongfang, making the area look like a centipede. In the northernmost area of the area, there are two sweet and delicious ancient wells, which are like the eyes of the centipede, making the area even more centipede-like.

In addition, high-ranking officials often act in a domineering manner, which is a typical centipede style.

Therefore, Zhaohui Jinggongfang is also known as Centipede Street.

Inside Jinggongfang, Zhaohui, there's an alley called Beibingmasi Hutong. True to its name, it's home to many military families. At that moment, the aroma of wine wafted through the alley, truly a sign of good wine's popularity.

Walking through the alley, you'll find that the source of the wine's aroma is a mansion called Jianwei General's Mansion. Of course, if you look closely, you'll find two smaller characters on the plaque that read "Zhao Mansion."

Song Yingzong was emperor for less than four years. Because he was adopted by Renzong, he was almost always busy fighting for his biological father's status during his reign.

In the second year of Song Yingzong's reign, he promoted several reformist ministers and launched the Song Dynasty version of the Great Ceremony Controversy, hoping to reform the country. Then he fell ill. During his illness, Yingzong became mentally unclear and often talked nonsense.

The conservative ministers asked the Queen Mother to deal with military and national affairs. The Queen Mother Cao then held court in the small hall at the East Gate. Before the reform even began, the Queen Mother Cao and the conservative ministers jointly stopped it. Song Yingzong died heroically at the age of 36.

Without protecting himself, he went out to wander around, only to have his tower stolen. He should have ensured his own absolute safety before starting to reform. He only wanted to reform. He had to save his own skin first, so that he could achieve lasting reform. Isn't this the emperor's tragedy? It's so hard to get things done? Thinking about reform without real power is a recipe for disaster.

I'm not trying to argue, I just disagree. Throughout China's 5,000 years of history, the Song Dynasty was the least financially strapped. So why did the Song pay tribute to the Xia and Liao dynasties? Was it because they couldn't defeat them? No! It was because they didn't dare to fight. The Song Dynasty was spineless. They finally got rid of Yue Fei and Di Qing, only to have them killed by the civil officials. How can an annual national income of 90 million strings of cash be considered meaningful?

First, the annual income of 90 million guan is not something I made up. The tax calculation method in the Song Dynasty was different from that in other dynasties.

Secondly, as the history books say, this year, after a hundred years of accumulation, only empty books remained. The court really had no money. The money of the Song Dynasty was in the hands of the literati, not in the court. Otherwise, why would Emperor Shenzong be so anxious to reform?

Third, it was necessary to emphasize culture over military affairs. This was the gene of the Song Dynasty. At that time, the Song Dynasty was indeed unable to defeat the Liao Dynasty. During the reign of Emperor Renzong, the Song Dynasty also suffered consecutive defeats in wars with the Western Xia.

Xi Hengmou was the commander of Weizhou in Tubo. He led his people to surrender to the Tang Dynasty. Li Deyu said that they must be accepted. Niu Sengru thought that this would be a great achievement for Li Deyu and he did not agree. So he told Tang Xuanzong that accepting the surrender of these people would definitely lead to an attack from Tubo.

Chang'an was captured within 15 days. In fact, Tubo was already in trouble at that time, so Emperor Xuanzong of Tang sent all these people back. Li Deyu tried to persuade them to come back but failed. After they returned, they were killed by Tubo. The babies were stabbed in the air for fun.

The eunuch who supervised the army returned to the court and told Emperor Xuanzong of Tang the tragic situation, saying that no one would surrender again. Emperor Xuanzong regretted this for a long time. Do you know what Wang Anshi thought of this incident?

He said that Xi Hengmou was a loyal minister to the Tang Dynasty but a traitor to Tubo, so killing him was nothing to be regretted. Wang Anshi also had a good impression of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang because he himself was a conservative.

During the Niu-Li factional struggle, Emperor Xuanzong of Tang favored the conservative Niu Party. However, in fact, Emperor Xuanzong of Tang was not worthy of his reputation.

Well, I haven't read much history, so please forgive me if I'm wrong. This is a bit of a presumption. Violently reducing official positions and military forces is a dangerous approach that almost cuts across the aorta. How can unpracticed public opinion guidance be effective so quickly? And "not governing the country with the literati" doesn't that mean you're directly distancing yourself from the officials, and even the scholars. Then why would the literati help you in your public opinion war?

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