Liang Shicheng's mother once worked as a servant in Da Su's house in Xuzhou. When Da Su was demoted, he had too much time to take care of himself and could not take so many people to Huangzhou, so he dismissed the people in the courtyard and could only

Take the few closest to you on the road.

Among them, Liang Shicheng's mother was introduced by Su Shi to the local Liang Mansion, a wealthy family, and later gave birth to Liang Shicheng.

When Liang Shicheng got a little older, he asked his mother who his father was. I didn't know what Liang's mother had in mind, so she told little Shicheng that your father was a bachelor from Da Su in the Lower Realm of Wenqu.

Xiao Shicheng felt that his father was Su Shi and was very honored. After Liang's mother died, he did not hesitate to be selected as a chamberlain just to go to Beijing to meet his father.

As a result, his father didn't see him, but he attracted Situ's attention, and Su You found out that when Liang Shicheng's mother was pregnant, it was the time when Da Su officially took Chaoyun as his concubine.

Chaoyun entered the Su family at the age of twelve and was taken as a concubine by Su Shi at the age of eighteen. At that time, Liang Shicheng's mother was already in her early thirties.

Dasu is attracted to Chao Yun, who is like a flower and has deep feelings for her, and at the same time he is looking for someone to steal from Liang's mother, who is over 30 years old. This thing is basically...impossible.

Liang Shicheng couldn't help crying or laughing when he learned the truth: "My, my mother... lied to me?"

Su You could only sigh and patted his shoulder: "It doesn't matter. If you study hard and seize the opportunity, you can still become talented."

So he was arranged to join Jia Xiang's calligraphy bureau to learn calligraphy.

Liang Shicheng was smart and shrewd. He had mastered grammar and the art of war in three years. He was considered a junior with outstanding achievements among the internal officials.

Before Jia Xiang's death, he recommended himself, his most popular student, to manage the external library of Ruisi Temple and be responsible for preaching and evangelizing abroad.

There was a shortage of supervisory troops in Liaodong, so Liang Shicheng volunteered to apply. Zhao Xu commended his ambition and agreed.

Today, the military strength of the Song Dynasty in Liaodong is only 2,000 men under the command of Liang Shicheng in the four states of the Yalu River. There are 1,000 men guarded by Zhang Shuye in Jinzhou, and the remaining 3,000 men are with Bian Guan in the Liaohe River.

…

August, Mid-Autumn Festival, Bianjing City.

The Mid-Autumn Festival began in the Song Dynasty and officially became a celebration festival for the Chinese nation.

Mainly because the Mid-Autumn Festival is so wonderful.

August in the Song Dynasty is the day when new wines are put on the market in various wine shops and wine warehouses. "Before the Mid-Autumn Festival, all the stores sell new wines, re-organize their facades and colorful buildings, paint poles with flowers, drunken immortals and brocades, and people in the city compete to drink.

.At noon, there was no wine in every house, so I dragged down my son."

Of course, the Song Dynasty has now entered a period of relatively abundant material resources. This year is the second year of the two-tax system. In order to increase agricultural taxes, local governments are frantically encouraging and promoting excellent planting methods and high-yielding crops.

In fact, the tax rate in the Song Dynasty has not been adjusted, but farmers' income has generally increased. In the past three years, they could only receive two years of taxes. Now they have been able to collect them all. The income that the local government can collect is actually more than the previous agricultural tax.

Increase by one third.

Moreover, due to the increase in grain reserves, the breeding and wine-making industries have also begun to flourish, such as the area from Erlin in Sichuan to Meishan, the area from Qianzhou to Manzhou, the Taihu area in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, the Taiyuan area in the north, the Damingfu area, and the Hanhai area in the Western Regions.

Several traditional wine-producing areas have been formed in this area.

The fine wines from these places were transported thousands of miles by merchants to Bianjing City. The whole of August was the peak season for selling fine wines.

August is also the month of the imperial examination every three years, when the national civil service examination begins. As the saying goes, "People at that time were not surprised to have passed the imperial examination early, just because Chang'e loved the youth."

Therefore, the festival and the laurel were combined, and the examination-oriented high school was called "Toad Palace to Win the Laurel".

Scholars gathered in the prefecture, which also brought great business opportunities. Major shops began to carry out promotional activities. "The Imperial Street is like a woolen thread, honey fried, and incense shop, all of which are paved with goods. They praise the more and compete for the better, which is called 'resting eyes.'

.The lights and candles are so bright that they stop at dusk."

"This night, people are selling and buying in the street, until the five drums are played, people are playing in the moonlight, and whirling in the market, and they are not stopping until late. I can't help it because of Gaijin."

August is also a month for farmers in the Song Dynasty to take a break after a busy year. The rice harvest has been completed in the south of the Huaihe River, and the new wheat in the north has begun to appear on the market.

In addition to wine, there is also delicious food.

With abundant food and well-stocked warehouses, there is enough money to support the old and the young.

"The Rites of Zhou" and "Book of Rites·Yue Ling": "In the mid-autumn month, to nourish the elderly, follow the diet of rice porridge."

Starting from the Taizong Dynasty, making palace cakes became popular in the palace, and later spread to the people, who also began to make small cakes and moon cakes, which are convenient foods for the elderly and children.

These cakes are also called "lotus leaf", "golden flower" and "hibiscus", and are the predecessor of moon cakes. Da Su once wrote a poem: "Small cakes are like chewing the moon, with crisp and sweet fillings in them."

Crisp is pastry, and glutinous rice is sugar.

Su You has been focusing on eating for decades, and now he has come up with many new types of cakes.

For example, the crispy peach cake, the Cantonese-style ham cake of later generations, the flower cake made of Yunnan honey-pickled petal sauce, and the thousand-layer pastry cake made with Sichuan craftsmanship.

In addition, there are also ice-skin cakes made by Dasu in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Hangzhou.

August is also the time when the weather gets colder and the flowers are full and the moon is full. Chao Duanli, a writer who was evaluated by Yi An Meizai as "Although he has good sentences, he will never become a famous writer" once wrote "The small courtyard has a quiet threshold, and the chrysanthemums are full of spots."

It's late at night and the moon is shining brightly. Don't think about the outside world, and don't think about it in front of the bottle. May the flowers grow well, people grow healthy, and the moon grow round."

Such days are beautiful, so people add beautiful legends and even better wishes to the beautiful days.

It is said that a salt-free girl from the Qi Kingdom was the most ugly girl in the world. She worshiped the moon when she was young and was later selected into the palace for her virtue.

The emperor did not favor her, but the emperor saw her while admiring the moon. Her appearance was unusual. The emperor loved her and made her his queen.

And today is a night when the moon is bright and the rabbit casts its shadow and becomes pregnant, it will give birth to many children. The old clam on the seashore also spits out the moon's shadow, so it will produce many pearls.

Compared with those who fish for pearls and catch rabbits next year, the prediction will be made on this eve.

Therefore, "Mid-Autumn Festival is a gathering for the capital to admire the moon. The children of the Qingcheng family, regardless of whether they are rich or poor, can travel to the twelve or three days of the year. They all dress up in adult clothes. They go up to the tower or burn incense in the atrium to worship the moon. Each has its own expectations.

Men would like to go to the Toad Palace early and climb up to the fairy osmanthus; women would like to sit around and dress up, but they would like to look like Chang'e and be as round as the bright moon."

Married couples wish to have more children.

Finally a grand festival was formed.

"At this time, the golden breeze is refreshing, the jade dew is cooling, the fragrant osmanthus is floating, and the silver toad is full of light.

Princes, grandsons, and wealthy families all climb dangerous towers, play under the moon in their pavilions, open pavilions, prepare banquets, play harp and harp, drink wine and sing, to predict the joy of the evening.

When they arrive at a home where they are spreading a banquet, they also go up to the small platform to arrange a family banquet and gather around their children to commemorate the festive occasion.

Although the poor people in the shabby alleys take off their clothes and buy wine, they barely welcome the guests, but they don't want to waste their time."

"Your family is decorated with pavilions, people are competing for restaurants, and people are busy with silk baskets. Residents near the inner court can hear the sound of sheng and taro in the distance late at night, as if they are outside the clouds. Children in the village play all night, and the night market is full of people."

The highest and most scenic place in the capital is, of course, the Star Observation Deck of the Taishi Bureau in the north of the city.

Even today, when science and engineering knowledge has gradually become more and more popular among people, the observatory is still a sacred place in people's hearts.

The secret of the calendar has been completely cracked by the astronomers of the Song Dynasty. The heliocentric theory, the earth theory, and the moon orbit theory have been verified by many astronomical mathematics and are unbreakable.

In order to take care of customs, the calendar of the Song Dynasty still adopted the practice of 360 days in a year and a leap year every four years. This year is a leap month.

However, the Taishi Bureau will calculate the precession every year and correct the errors through measurement and calculation when the calendar for the new year is released. This makes the Chinese calendar never error-free.

Adjusting the bell on Yuan Day has become a ritual in the Song Dynasty.

Before the Zhengdan Dynasty Meeting, Si Tianguan will calculate the time when the sun appears from the horizon of Bianjing, and then adjust the standard time of the Dabai Bell Tower and Zichen Hall Clock in Bianjing City.

The bells were then used to announce the beginning of the Great Court Meeting, which has become an important ceremony for Song people to communicate with the universe.

However, today's Song Dynasty Tianjia no longer has the kind of superstition of Zhenzong. Zhao Xu took advantage of his free time today and arranged a family gathering here to drink and have fun with some close officials. Another important reason is to familiarize his younger brothers with the operation of astronomical instruments.

, use the largest astronomical telescope at the observatory to see the moon.

Many chrysanthemums were arranged on the observatory, and tables and chairs, cakes, and tea were set up, and the emperor and his ministers chatted without restraint.

Zhao Xu is a fan of Su You, so his regular clothes are almost a replica of Su You's when he was young. They are mainly simple and comfortable, not gorgeous. He wears a sky blue brocade robe with dark floral patterns, and mercerized cotton underwear inside.

Wearing a whale-bone black gauze futou on her head, and only a Hotan white jade rhinoceros rhinoceros belt around her waist that can only be worn by kings, an uninformed person might think at a glance that he is a young scholar in Beijing to take the exam.

Now the young scholar is holding a several-month-old baby girl in his arms. It is the little princess that Empress Meng gave birth to to Zhao Songtian's family. Zhao Xu loves her like a treasure and named her Shouning. Every day after going to court, he holds her daughter and teases her.

A proper daughter slave.

Naturally, poetry and singing were indispensable for people's gatherings in the Song Dynasty. The calligraphy of several close officials such as Cai Jing, Zhang Dun, and Colander were impressive.

However, they are not writing now. Instead, they are gathered around the writing desk with Zhao Xu, watching the eleventh prince Zhao Ji show off his calligraphy with a golden mouse pen.

The osmanthus color is particularly round during the Mid-Autumn Festival, and it is clear and fresh in the morning.

Because I am pregnant with my first menstrual month, I will not make the poet sigh about the passing year.

All phenomena gather their light and become more majestic, and the four moons gather the moon to help Chanjuan.

The clouds on the scales clear the outline of the heart, and I can take advantage of the excitement to write poems and chants.
Chapter completed!