People in the Song Dynasty are lawless. Chapter 265 of the main text: The Song Dynasty will become better. June, Jiangnan East Road, Guangning Prison.
The Chief Supervisor Su Xun was a Jinshi in the first year of the Kangding reign, ranking fourth in the first class.
It is worth mentioning that in the Northern Song Dynasty, there were not only three people in the first class as in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, but five people. That is why Zhang Chun took the exam for the second time and ranked fifth in the first class.
In this year's Enkeli, the top scholar was named Wang Anshi, the second was named Su Song, and the third was named Huang Shu.
Historically, they all passed the imperial examinations in the second year of the Qingli reign, which was also the same year. However, historically, the Song court was forced to suspend the imperial examinations for several years due to the war with the Western Xia, which delayed their studies.
Now that the war with Western Xia has won a great victory, and the court has opened many new departments, it is gradually short of officials, so the special examination was specially set up.
Guangning Prefecture was located in Jiangzhou, which is now Jiujiang City in Jiangxi Province. Copper was produced here, and it became the main place for producing copper coins in the Song Dynasty.
Although Jiujiang City was prosperous and bustling in later generations, Guangning at that time was quite desolate. Except for Jiangzhou County, which was an important trading area and relatively prosperous, the surrounding counties were desolate and remote.
The reason is that there are many lakes in the surrounding area and relatively little land. It can be said that the city and the people all live in the low-lying and humid areas of the Penjiang River, making it naturally difficult to develop.
The environment where Su Xun lived was also very poor. Although he was the chief supervisor of Guangning Prefecture, which was at the same level as the county, he should have lived in the prison office. However, the local prison office was quite dilapidated, almost like a thatched cottage, and it often leaked when he was working, making people miserable.
At this moment, Su Xun was standing on the Jiangning Wharf and looking out.
The wharf is a relatively prosperous place because of the ships traveling back and forth on the Yangtze River and the fact that Guangning's currency needs to be shipped out, so it gathers a lot of porters.
When people have money, they naturally want to spend it, so some shops are opened, such as restaurants, teahouses, wine shops, and even gambling houses and brothels.
It sounds good, but in fact it is just a shabby little street. The shops there are just operating with a shed. The brothels are basically secret prostitutes with their doors half-closed. It is not high-end or luxurious at all.
Behind the dock is a wilderness with potholes and lakes everywhere. On the distant horizon, you can see the rammed earth wall of Guangning Prison, which is probably less than seven feet high.
Su Xun was standing on a small hill next to the pier. The cool summer breeze blew, causing the corners of his clothes to flutter and his beard to move in the wind.
From a distance, he saw a large ship slowly approaching, and then it stopped to rest.
Since he didn't know the exact time his wife would arrive, he could only estimate it through the correspondence. So when the day was almost up, he would come and wait and see. If that didn't work, he would arrange for servants to wait and see.
At this moment, several people slowly came down from a large ship in the distance. Su Xun was very surprised when he saw it, and he immediately ran down the hillside to meet them.
"lady!"
"Husband!"
Mrs. Cheng also saw Su Xun. She was holding three-year-old Su Zhe, and five-year-old Su Shi was beside her.
Su Xun went up to Su Zhe and hugged him, saying happily, "You are finally here."
Some officials in ancient times brought their families with them, while others did not. For example, Su Shi brought his wife Wang with him, but he died of illness in Kaifeng, Bianliang, while serving as the judge of the Dengwen Drum Court.
Although Mrs. Cheng's family was wealthy in Meishan and their Su family was also a prominent family in the local area, Su Xun had not passed the imperial examination for a long time and had been traveling around, so people in his hometown had been gossiping about him.
Now that he has become rich, passed the imperial examination and became an official, he naturally wants to bring his wife to his side to let his fellow townspeople see that he, Su Xun, is also a promising person.
This time, Mrs. Cheng came with her brother Cheng Jun. In the early years, Cheng Jun looked down on Su Xun, but now that he had passed the special examination and was rumored to be appreciated by the prefect, he said sourly, "My brother-in-law has made a great leap forward."
"Brother, what are you talking about? Come with me to the county government office."
Su Xun waved his hand.
Cheng Jun pointed at the dozen or so large ships that hadn't yet reached the dock and said, "Forget it. I still have to go to Jiangdong to sell my goods. Even if I have to stay overnight, I have to go to Jiangzhou Prefecture. Your Jiangning dock can't accommodate so many ships."
Su Xun smiled and said, "There's still time to go to the government office for a meal. Why don't you ask the steward to sail the boat to Jiangzhou Prefecture first? I'll take you there myself in the evening."
"Yes, uncle, let's go have a meal together."
Five-year-old Su Shi said.
At this time, the Su and Cheng families had not yet become enemies. Cheng Jun just looked down on Su Xun as a playboy in his early years and always despised him.
Now that he has passed the imperial examination, the situation is naturally different.
Seeing that it was difficult to refuse, Cheng Jun had no choice but to agree.
As everyone walked back, Su Shi looked around and saw that the scene was completely different from that in Sichuan. He said curiously, "Father, this place is so shabby."
“It’s a little shabby now, but it will get better.”
"Why?"
"Look over there."
Su Xun pointed into the distance.
When Su Shi looked over, he saw many ragged farmers in coarse cloth short clothes cultivating land by the lake in the distance.
In later generations, this area was actually the Chengmenshan Copper Mine in Jiujiang City, which has been under development.
But in ancient times, it was like an island, and the lake area was much larger than it is in later generations.
For example, the Sai Lake in later generations was connected to the Yangtze River at that time. Some of it was exposed in the Chengxi Port area of Jiujiang City, while some was submerged in the river water.
This made the living environment in this area quite harsh at the time, and there was almost no agricultural production except the copper mining industry.
Cheng Jun asked curiously, "Are they reclaiming farmland?"
"Um."
Su Xun nodded and said, "Now the court has exempted taxes and allowed the people to cultivate the land. The government will also lend them seeds and farming tools. The landless people now have land."
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