Chapter 489 The God of Death Comes to the Song Dynasty
"This time 'Han Chunchun' is stronger and 'Han Chunchun' wins. Her opponent is far behind."
“This match between ‘Lucky Liu Niang’ and ‘Sai Maung Duo’ is evenly matched, but ‘Sai Maung Duo’ will ‘regrettably’ lose. Are there a lot of people betting on her to win?”
When Li Yan continued to comment on two games, he looked at Lin San again. The loyal servant was already sweating: "Erlang... I... don't dare to gamble anymore..."
Li Yan nodded slightly: "Nine out of ten bets are cheats. Don't take chances and think that you are different from others. There is really nothing different."
As soon as he finished speaking, a figure suddenly rushed over, it was the Imperial Guard who had suffered a heavy defeat: "Please pass me the secret, Chen Wu is willing to work as a cow and a horse to serve you!"
Li Yan was expressionless: "The secret is not to gamble. Are you willing to listen?"
Chen Wu was not willing to listen. Just as he was about to plead, the Imperial Guard who had just recognized Li Yan's identity snatched him away and dragged him away: "You're disturbing Xiao Lang!"
Li Yan cocked his ears slightly, eliminating the noise around him, and listened to the conversation between the two of them: "Brother Zhang... why did you stop me... I want to earn my money back... There must be a fake here...
..." "Silence! Don't forget the last name of the boss of Happy Forest!"
The playful voice quickly disappeared, and Li Yan raised his brows. His eyes fell on the side of the high platform, and he looked at the female boss with a smile as she rushed toward the principal.
The surname Xiang is indeed rare. Since Happy Forest is located in a prosperous location in the inner city of Bianjing, it may be related to the person in the palace. This city has a big background.
While he was sizing it up, the winner of the fourth game was decided on the stage. After an exciting and hearty battle, "Sai Maung Duo" fell first, regrettably losing.
The audience was mixed with joy and sorrow. The winning bettors laughed wildly and went crazy. The losers cursed, even got red-eyed and started making noises.
Immediately, a group of burly men flashed out, subdued the guys who were about to cause trouble and dragged them out.
Soon no one cared about these, and everyone was paying attention to the fifth game. It wasn't until the gongs and drums sounded on the stage, starting the intermission time, that everyone dispersed with unfinished business, discussing in twos and threes the female players they were optimistic about, and analyzing them in a clear-headed manner.
depends on the probability of winning or losing next.
Li Yan also felt that his trip was worthwhile. He had watched the Nvqiao play for nothing and had not spent a penny. He said to Lin Sand: "Let's go."
Lin San wilted after knowing the truth. Fortunately, he still had a shirt to warm his heart. Now that the game has come to an end, and it takes half an hour to prepare for the next game, he became depressed again, but he gritted his teeth and promised: "Erlang,
I will never come again."
Li Yan said: "Just remember today's lesson. The more you say this, the more you will think about it and feel itchy..."
Lin San scratched his head and said oh.
Just as he was talking, several figures appeared in front of him, but they were the group of Imperial Guards from the Beijing Camp. The leader of them had a respectful attitude, cupping his fists and saying: "Zhang Huan has seen Xiao Lang. He was very offended just now. He wants to treat Xiao Lang to a table of wine and food.
I wonder if that’s okay?”
Li Yan couldn't help but be startled when he heard his name. You must have gone to the wrong set. Then he looked at the group of drunken soldiers and thought for a while and said: "Okay."
Zhang Huan was overjoyed: "Please!"
There are 72 hotels and restaurants in Bianjing. Each door is decorated with colorful sheds. Each one is as high as three or four stories high and looks luxurious.
That kind of level of consumption is not something that this group of forbidden soldiers can afford. They chose a wine shop in Happy Forest called Huifeng House. The decoration inside is not bad.
Everyone went up to the second floor and chose a seat by the window to sit down. Through the window, they could still see the high platform in the distance, but the distance was so far that the specific details of the fight could not be seen clearly, otherwise the business would definitely be booming.
Li Yan came to the table and sat on the stool, feeling a little emotional for a moment.
During the Northern Song Dynasty, this kind of situation of eating around the table appeared in later generations, but it was generally the choice of the middle and lower classes of society. In order to show their upbringing, the dignitaries still knelt down and ate at their respective seats.
Li Yan still liked this life-oriented feeling and nodded slightly.
Zhang Huan observed carefully and felt that this man had an indescribable magnanimity that was more impressive than the other high officials he had seen. However, thinking about it, it was unlikely. He could only attribute it to his superior martial arts.
Chen Wuze seemed to have recovered from losing money. He raised his wine glass with a very low attitude and said: "Lin Tiha is a good gun and a stick. We have always respected him. Today I can see the young master, and I am even more impressed. Chen respects the young master!"
Li Yan picked up the cup and drank it all in one gulp: "That's good! Do it!"
Chen Wu suddenly felt respected and exclaimed with great joy: "Quick! Bring on the good wine and cut a pound of fat beef!"
Li Yan frowned slightly: "How can you eat beef?"
Zhang Huandao: "Please rest assured, young man, the imperial court does prohibit the killing of cattle, but you can sell the dead beef. The cattle in this wine shop died of fatigue."
Chen Wuze muttered: "Don't they all do the work of slaughtering live cattle in private? If the officials don't pursue it and the people don't do it, who will pay attention to the order?"
Li Yan didn't say much anymore, but when the beef was served, when he stretched out his chopsticks to pick up the meat, he seemed to be carrying the credibility of the court.
This is Bianjing, under the emperor's feet, and a wine shop dares to take advantage of the loopholes of the imperial laws. You can imagine the intensity of enforcement in other places.
Everyone was sitting at the table eating and drinking. Chen Wu endured it again and again, but he still couldn't hold it back: "May I ask you, Master, if the fight just now was fake?"
Zhang Huan's face changed slightly and he glared at him fiercely. Li Yanze said calmly: "Since you asked this, don't you already have the answer in your heart?"
Chen Wu gritted his teeth, drank several glasses of wine, and became drunk again. He cursed angrily: "It's a pity that I waited to be recruited into the army. I am already a lowly person, and I was defrauded of money by that thief. I can't let out such a bad breath. I am really a coward!"
"
Zhang Huan couldn't help but scolded: "No one asked you to gamble. Who is the blame here for complaining?"
Chen Wu respected Zhang Huan very much and did not dare to refute his words. His eyes turned red and he wailed: "You are living a useless life, what else can you do!"
Li Yan has been eating the food calmly, without any fluctuation in his heart, but he doesn't want to laugh either.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! Many people think that ancient people would have tattoos on their faces only after committing crimes. In fact, this is not true. In the old system of Song Dynasty, late Tang Dynasty and Five Dynasties, when recruiting sergeants, tattoos were required.
The process of selecting soldiers is to first use a wooden stick with engraved dimensions to measure their length, then check their running and jumping movements, whether they can ride a horse, and finally test their eyesight.
Those who pass the exam will have their faces tattooed, and some will have their army number tattooed on their arms and backs of hands to prevent them from escaping. This process is called tattooing, and then they will be given clothes and coins, and they will be given out according to their height and height.
Distribute the upper, middle and lower ranks of the imperial army and the Xiang army.
Therefore, in the Song Dynasty, being a soldier was very despicable, and doing business was more honorable than being a soldier. Later, due to the large number of gangsters and criminals who joined the army, the reputation of the military man was even more linked to criminals, slaves and craftsmen. Unless he had no choice, ordinary people would
The people are unwilling to join the army.
Emphasizing literature over martial arts affects not only military generals, but also soldiers. Chen Wu is fond of drinking and gambling. Although it is his own character problem, external pressure cannot be ignored. When a person loses his dignity and his spirit cannot be comforted,
They often go astray.
Chen Wu's cry obviously resonated. The other Imperial Guards sitting at the table fell silent, and even the leader Zhang Huan's eyes became dim.
This is the social trend. What else can Li Yan say? He can only eat vegetables.
In the previous world, I ate too much mutton and got used to the smell of mutton. Now when I eat beef, it feels chewy. It tastes really good as a side dish with wine.
His gesture moved everyone.
The main reason was that if the silence continued, the food would be eaten up, so they quickly moved their chopsticks and drank heavily, and the atmosphere became warm again.
When it was time to say goodbye, everyone clasped their fists and lost their previous frivolity, smiling sincerely: "Young Master is generous and doesn't treat us as outsiders. We appreciate it!"
As a generous young man who eats meat, Li Yan also clasped his fists: "Goodbye!"
He met Lin San who was waiting downstairs and walked out, with some thoughts on his brows.
Li Yan knew before that in the present period of the Northern Song Dynasty, all kinds of contradictions had accumulated to a quite terrifying level, but after all, it was not as good as personal experience.
For example, the most common problem is the famous three redundancies: redundant officials, redundant soldiers, and redundant expenses.
To what extent have redundant officials reached? From the most intuitive data, during the reign of Zhenzong Jingde, there were more than 10,000 officials in the Song Dynasty. By the reign of Renzong Huangyou, there were more than 20,000 officials. By the time of Yingzong Zhiping, there were more than 24,000 officials.
The number of officials finally doubled during Huizong's reign, with nearly 48,000 officials.
Note that these are high-level officials, not including officials, such as Song Jiang, who are not included at all. The terrifying number of 48,000 is, not surprisingly, more than any previous dynasty.
This is why even though the Lin family was not doing well, Lin Yuanjing could still find a job as a ninth-grade official for his son with a relaxed attitude. Because there were too many officials and they were worthless, which was in sharp contrast to the difficulty of becoming an official in the Tang Dynasty.
The number of officials was exaggerated enough, and the official salary accounted for 20% of the fiscal budget. The redundant troops were not far behind. The army of the Northern Song Dynasty once amounted to 1,259,000 people, including 80 Imperial Guards.
Twenty thousand.
Eight hundred thousand Forbidden Army instructors are underreported...
The key point is that the million-strong army raised by the imperial court has consumed more than 70% of the fiscal expenditure. Its combat effectiveness is hard to describe, and it is very exciting to eat free wages. It is said to be one million. If it is really pulled out, there will be no more than 600,000.
There is a big question mark: how many of these 600,000 people are worthy of fighting? This is also a big question mark.
In order to reduce the huge military expenditure, fifty years ago, Prime Minister Pang Ji of the Renzong Dynasty presided over the arduous task of reducing the army by 80,000 people. In order to confirm his intention, Pang Ji also issued a military order. If any of the laid-off soldiers rebelled because of this, Willing to suffer death.
Let’s look at Sima Guang in the Chinese textbooks. He also talked about wanting to rule the world, but he never proposed disarmament and cost savings. He had no guts to touch these real interests. He just wanted the officials to save and save and save again. He wanted to be the sage king in the heart of Confucianism. It is also famous all over the world, respected by scholars and officials, and is a standard Qingliu style.
In comparison, Pang Ji, a hard-working and capable minister, was later blackmailed as Grand Master Pang, but it was too offending. This was still the Renzong Dynasty, and after Wang Anshi's reform, the contradictions further intensified.
Regarding the new coup laws, I don’t know how long we have been arguing about who is right and who is wrong, and it is difficult for Li Yan himself to give an accurate answer.
But at this time, he was walking in this happy forest. On one side were the drunken imperial guards of the Beijing camp, and on the other side were the female sumo wrestlers who were gambling and carousing.
Seeing the big in the small, looking at this prosperous city again, the feeling is different.
But just at this moment, Li Yan's footsteps stopped.
The talents in the status bar have undergone long-lost changes: