Chapter 5 5. Happy life in Beijing
Some Xinke Jinshi had no choice but to leave the place because the consumption in the capital was too high, which was mainly reflected in the price of goods and the maintenance of interpersonal relationships.The prices of daily necessities such as salt, rice, and tea in the capital are moderate, while other expenses such as housing, entertainment, and living expenses are extremely high. This is something that many new scholars cannot afford.
Through water and land, food, property, and offerings from all over the country were continuously transported to the capital.The most prosperous capital in the world, relying on the blood supply of the whole country, there is never a shortage of food, and famine rarely occurs.Natural disasters frequently occurred in other parts of the empire, such as Guanzhong and Hebei, leading to widespread famine. The most serious phenomenon was "human cannibalism".
In the sixth year of Emperor Renzong's Qingli reign (1046), a severe drought occurred in June, starting in Shaanxi and spreading to the Central Plains.At that time, Xinke Jinshi Wang Anshi returned to Beijing from Yangzhou to report on his work. What he saw along the way was shocking. He wrote a poem "Hebei People": "This year, there is a severe drought, and the prefectures and counties are still urged to serve in the river. The old and the young come to the south, and the southerners have a good year." I have nothing to eat.” A few simple sentences express the degree of drought at that time. Refugees from the north of the Yellow River rushed to the south with their old and young children to seek a living. I can't even eat enough.The Kaifeng mansion in the capital was also within the scope of this drought. The imperial court issued an edict: "Order the capital to go to the official wells to open wells far away, so Baxiangfan opened three hundred and ninety wells." In order to alleviate the drought.This move stabilized the people in the capital, at least they did not flee famine like the people in Hebei.
The geographical advantage of the capital is extremely obvious. The emperor is here, the world's finances are concentrated here, and a large number of troops are stationed in the capital. It is convenient to do everything, and the lives of ordinary people are also guaranteed, with the highest happiness index.This geopolitical advantage has always been centered on politicians.The drought example above shows that where the emperor is, there is happiness.The whole country can be dry, but the capital where the emperor lives cannot be without water.When the emperor drank the water, the Song Dynasty, where benevolent kings came forth in large numbers, naturally wanted to benevolent to the common people in the capital.
Ten years later, in the first year of Song Renzong Zhihe (1056), floods occurred across the country, and the capital was not spared. It began to rain in May and lasted for more than a month, causing floods to submerge the city gates and destroy official and private houses. Tens of thousands, the capital's residents had to move around on rafts.The imperial court took swift action, actively organized the military and civilians to fight against the flood, and provided economic compensation to the common people who suffered property losses.In this nationwide flood disaster, Hebei Road was the most severely affected. Under Song Renzong's initiative, 300,000 silver silks were distributed from Neizangku to help Hebei Road, and each victim was given five buckets of rice.A family will pay 3,000 Wen as a pension for the main labor drowning, and 2,000 Wen for other deaths.Floods occur every year, and this year the scope is particularly large. The situation on the southern roads is also not optimistic.
Behind it is the geographical advantage.
First of all, in terms of geographical location, Hebei Road is close to Gyeonggi, and it is the homeland of the founding of the Song Dynasty. The main economic support of the Song Dynasty came from the people of the Central Plains, that is, my own family.The Jiangnan area originally belonged to the separatist regimes such as Wu Yue and the Southern Tang Dynasty, and they were regarded as outsiders.There are political differences, which is also the main reason for the struggle between the old and new parties in Zhezong's dynasty.The political opposition between the North and the South was particularly obvious in the early Song Dynasty. For example, according to the "Lin Ji Magazine" in the eighth year of Zhenzong Dazhong Xiangfu (1015), the number one scholar in the Jinshi Department, Xiao Guan, was from the south.The prime minister, Kou Zhun, said that it is not appropriate to be a toast when going to the south.Song Zhenzong thought it was the same thing. The second uncle Zhao Kuangyin once had the ancestral precept that "Southern people should not be ministers", so Zhenzong changed the number one scholar to Cai Qi from Shandong.Kou Zhun proudly said to his colleagues, I won another champion for us Central Plains people.Therefore, under the circumstances of floods and floods across the country, it is understandable that Hebei Road received pensions. In addition, the hometown of the Song Dynasty royal family is there, and Zhao Kuangyin's ancestral home is Zhuozhou, Hebei.
In the event of a disaster, the people of the capital have relative security and advantages in life, such as salt, which is closely related to life.
In the Song Dynasty, the third division of the highest financial institution had a department specializing in the management of banned commodities-the salt case of the iron department.
Prohibited goods, as the name implies, can be understood literally as a kind of goods that are forbidden to discuss (prohibit private trading), and are completely monopolized by state-owned enterprises.For example, salt, tea, iron, etc. are the economic lifeline of the country, and the demand for banned goods is inelastic. Once a monopoly is formed, the benefits are very considerable.As the so-called "a family of ten, ten people eat salt, a family of one hundred, a hundred people eat salt", salt is a necessity of life, the market demand is huge, ordinary people will not give up buying because of price changes, just as smokers will not give up buying because of the price of cigarettes Raise a few bucks and quit smoking.There are three main types of salt in the Song Dynasty, grain salt (Jiechi salt produced on Shaanxi Road and East Road salt), end salt (sea salt), and well salt (produced in Sichuan).The quality of official salt is rough, mixed with sand, which is very irresponsible to the general public, and the price is ridiculously high, so ordinary people would rather risk their lives to buy private salt than official salt.The price of green and white salt produced in Xixia was very low, which impacted the Dasong salt industry market, and military conflict broke out between the two sides as a result.
According to Mr. Cheng Minsheng's book "Price Research in the Song Dynasty", in the ninth year of Kaibao (976), grain salt was 40 Wen/jin, Jiechi salt was 44 Wen/jin, and sea salt was 47 Wen/jin.In the ninth year of Dazhong Xiangfu (1016), Xiechi salt was 55 Wen/jin.In the eighth year of Qingli (1048), the price of salt in the capital was 40 Wen/jin.In the fourth year of Daguan (1110), the price of salt in the capital was 45 Wen/jin, the price of Xixia salt was 15 Wen/jin, and the price of Liao State salt was 11 Wen/jin.Salt prices in other areas of the Song Empire varied, mostly at 6,070 renminbi per catty, and in individual areas ranging from 200 renminbi, 400 renminbi, and 700 renminbi. For example, the price of salt in Xi’an on Qinfeng Road was as high as 2 guann per catty. It is very scary to convert it into RMB number.
During Renzong's reign in the middle of the Northern Song Dynasty, the price of rice was 300 wen/shi.In the Song Dynasty, one stone was 92.5 Song Jin, and one Jin was 16 taels.The weight of a song catty is not fixed, 1 song catty is 680 grams in the early stage, 1 song catty is 640 grams in the middle period, and 1 song catty is 625 grams in the early Southern Song Dynasty.From this calculation, in the mid-Northern Song Dynasty, 1 stone = 92 = 5 Song Jin = 118.4 Shi Jin ≈ 120 Shi Jin.Now the price of better rice is 3.005.00 yuan/jin.From this, it can be concluded that 300 renminbi during the reign of Emperor Renzong in the middle of the Northern Song Dynasty was roughly equal to the purchasing power of 360,600 yuan. Because prices fluctuate from time to time, there are also factors such as inflation, arable land area, and yield per mu. The obtained values are for reference only.
The geographical advantage of the capital is once again highlighted. In response to the salt price in the capital, the government has set up the Capital Salt Institute to restrain and balance the salt price.The Metropolitan Salt Institute has a large stockpile of salt. When the market price of salt is lower than 35 renminbi/jin, it will "hold back and not distribute it".This kind of happy life can only be enjoyed in the capital with geographical advantages. "Mengxi Bi Tan" records that Song Taizu once issued an ink order, allowing private sales of private salt, but not official sales, and the location was limited to Hebei Road.Song Renzong also issued an edict: "I will never let the people of Hebei eat expensive salt." The elders and elders in Hebei all used the fire to burn incense and cheered.This regulation has remained unchanged for many years, and it has benefited the people of Gyeonggi for a hundred years. Therefore, when the "two saints" (Song Huizong and Song Qinzong) left Beijing during the Jingkang Revolution, the people along the way burned incense on their heads for dozens of miles and cried to send off the emperor Zhao.
During the reign of Emperor Renzong of the Northern Song Dynasty, the price of rice was 300 ren per stone. At the same price, one could buy a piece of short brown (coarse cloth clothes similar to a T-shirt and shorts), two complaints, a divination in Tianshui Lane, and three buckets of honey wine. You can rent a house from Dian Zhai Wu (state-owned low-rent housing) or the main household (residents with Kaifeng household registration).Zhang Fangping, the censor Zhongcheng, hired a maid, "the maid has hundreds of thousands of clothes with her, and she only bought a full set of clothes for the maid, which was as high as 100 pieces.
Living in the capital, there is a side of happiness and superiority, but there is also a side of dire straits.For example, the house price was ridiculously high. During the reign of Zhenzong Xianping, the descendants of the former prime minister Xue Juzheng sold the house to the current prime minister Xiang Minzhong for 5,000 guan.In the sixth year of Shenzong Yuanfeng, Kaifeng Mansion demolished the buildings within 30 steps of the city wall. The total compensation for the demolition was 22,600 guan, and about 130 households received the demolition money. The average price of a house was at least 173 guan. .
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