In the Song Dynasty, people were lawless. Chapter 236 of the main text: an almost unsolvable conspiracy. In the first year of Kangding, the population of Bianliang increased a lot.
As private businesses began to intervene in the original state-owned markets, business became more prosperous, the handicraft manufacturing industry also became increasingly prosperous, and naturally there was an endless stream of people coming to the city to work.
The key point is that the public security in Bianliang is indeed good now. With the destruction of Wuyou Cave, Guifanlou and a large number of gangs, the business environment has greatly improved.
Those businessmen with huge capital are actually fine. They are mainly afraid of official pressure. It is often difficult for the evil forces at the bottom to gain the upper hand over them, and it is difficult to shake the status of these capital tycoons.
But for those small businessmen, the underworld forces are the people they deal with every day. Those who open shops, set up stalls, and do business are often exploited by both the black and white forces.
Coupled with high commercial taxes and market fluctuations, the lives of grassroots handicraft manufacturers and small vendors are actually not particularly good.
After Zhao Jun's crackdown on organized crime, successive Kaifeng officials tightened control over yamen runners, and with the added supervision of the Imperial City Administration, exploitation by both the black and white sides was significantly reduced. Even if some illegal taxes were still being turned over, they were far less exaggerated and excessive than before.
This has led to the vigorous development of the commodity economy. The proportion of labor-intensive industries such as the textile industry, clothing industry, and handicraft manufacturing industry has increased year by year in the past two years, which has accelerated economic development.
When ordinary people have more money, it naturally drives up other industries. The most typical example is the tea market. In recent years, while grain prices have risen, tea prices have fallen significantly.
Firstly, the southern tea mountains have had good weather in the past two years. Secondly, after the reform of the market, private merchants pay more attention to quality, reduce levies and controls, and the production efficiency of tea farmers has also increased a lot, making the price of tea quite affordable.
This has given rise to a rather peculiar scene in Bianliang today: there are many more teahouses in the streets and alleys than before, and the number of Bianliang citizens coming to drink tea and chat has also increased a lot.
After dinner, people prefer to sit at tea stalls on street corners, read newspapers, and chat about national affairs or trivial matters in the neighborhood.
At this moment, people in the outer city of Bianliang, in every street and alley, were talking about it.
Taishan Temple Lane is the closest street to Qiaobeifang, and it is also the earliest street where newspapers are published. Today, the bangzi music at noon has just sounded, and the newsboys have already started walking around the streets.
Actually, this wasn't a good time to sell newspapers, because everyone had just woken up and was preparing for the day's work, so they didn't have much time to read the newspaper. So, the time to read the newspaper was either during the lunch break or after work stopped in the afternoon.
Even those who ran the night market last night only had some free time in the afternoon or early morning.
But there were still some Bianliang citizens who had some property and lived a leisurely life and sat down at the morning tea stalls early, enjoying breakfast while drinking a sip of tea and waiting for the earliest edition of the newspaper.
"News, news! Minister Fan has triumphed in Baozhou, shocking the Liao. Liao has come to seek peace, but instead of repenting, they are blackmailing the Song. The Emperor has emphatically refused, and the Prefect is determined to fight to the bitter end!"
"Newspaper sellers, newspaper sellers! Come and take a look! The entire court, both civil and military, wants to make peace with the Liao Kingdom, but only the emperor and the chancellor are fighting back forcefully, demonstrating the might of the Great Song!"
"The Liao people bully the Song Dynasty. After a defeat, they still want an additional 200,000 coins from the Song Dynasty. This is intolerable. The prefect responded. If they want to fight, we will continue to fight!"
Countless newsboys walked through the streets holding newspapers in their hands, shouting the newspaper-selling scripts that had been prepared at the printing factory last night.
This rhetoric was indeed very appealing, and it immediately attracted the attention of the people around, who all wanted to buy it.
"What? There is such a thing? Give me a copy so I can take a look."
"What's wrong with the civil and military officials in the court? How can we win a battle and then send tribute to the enemy?"
"Oh, what you said is true for our late emperor."
"Hush, are you eight medicine life?"
At a tea stall at the entrance of Taishan Temple Lane, a local scholar was greeting his out-of-town friends.
Because the new round of imperial examinations will be held in February this year.
Historically, starting from the second year of Baoyuan, due to the intensified war with Western Xia and the serious problem of redundant officials in the country, there was a three-year period of suspension of tribute examinations.
The imperial examinations were not reopened until the second year of the Qingli period, that is, in 1042 AD.
But now the problem of redundant officials has been solved.
No more redundant officials.
Instead, there is a shortage of officials.
This is an outrageous thing.
After the official restructuring in the past two years, several departments such as the Dali Bureau, the Criminal Justice Bureau, the Education Bureau, the Industrial and Commercial Bureau, and the Statistics Bureau were added to counties across the country.
The central government also added more than a dozen departments.
There are countless other departments established below, with clear responsibilities between superiors and subordinates, and special tasks are handled by specific departments. For example, the Ministry of Statistics is responsible for data coordination, and the Ministry of Natural Resources separated from the three bureaus is responsible for mineral resources, etc.
Even without the clerks, each county had to have at least one chief official, and the Song Dynasty had over a thousand counties. Furthermore, there were various prefectures, routes, and other higher-level departments, so all of a sudden there were over ten thousand officials assigned to them.
Many officials were even arrested, which led to a shortage of officials, so the imperial examination system had to be established again.
The session that Zhao Jun participated in was actually the fourth year of Jingyou in 1037 AD. Then the tribute examination would be stopped two years later in the second year of Baoyuan, which was 1039 AD. It would be held every two years and would normally not start until the first year of Qingli, 1041 AD.
This year's session belongs to the Kaien class.
After taking the exam in February last year, the candidates continued to take the Juren exam in July, and will be able to take the Jinshi exam in February this year, which made those candidates who failed the exam very happy.
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