Section 77 to Hangzhou

Zhao Yinggong stood at the bow of the boat, looking at the city of Hangzhou hundreds of years ago, and was in a trance for a while.

For a modern person who has a special affection for the Great Song Dynasty, Hangzhou is an inseparable complex in the hearts of Song fans.

"Okay, I'm coming." He whispered.

Zhao Yingong set out from Guangzhou in January, first taking a boat and a sedan chair along the way, and sometimes riding a horse, the journey lasted nearly two months, and finally arrived in Hangzhou in March.

Needless to say, the bumps and hardships on the road were not to mention, and there were several thrilling encounters: three times when they were targeted by thieves, and once when they were caught in a sudden flash flood. If it weren't for the people from the dart bureau to escort him all the way, Zhao Yinggong doubted that he would be able to reach Hangzhou City safely by himself.

His veins were now filled with all sorts of antibody proteins. Carry-on medicine bags contain a variety of medicines - including bleaching powder, water purification tablets, anthelmintic medicines, antimalarials and antidiarrheal agents. To ensure safety, the Ministry of Health warned him that it is best not to eat any meat on the road to avoid contracting certain parasites. If you fall ill along the way, you will be almost dead in this plane. So Zhao Yinggong's life was particularly hard all the way - the only way for him to replenish his protein and fat was to eat Grassland No. 10 ration at night: a special protein and fat supplement. These include jerky, salted lard in glass bottles, and nuts.

These terrible things made his journey even more difficult, and he saw the city of Hangzhou in front of him. Zhao Yingong couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, thinking that he had to take a good shower when he got to the place, change his clothes, and then disassemble his long hair like a girl and wash it - it was inconvenient to take a shower during the journey, and his hair emitted an unpleasant smell, although he tried his best to maintain personal hygiene, there were still a lot of lice on his body, which made him extremely uncomfortable. There are such abominable parasites everywhere in this plane, and the inn is the base camp and transit point for the parasites. Bed bugs are especially rampant. Where did Zhao Yingong suffer such a crime since he was a child. In the old time and space, even if you go to a small town in a national-level poor county, there are still clean hotels and decent meals. Although the public order in some places is extremely poor and the city appearance is chaotic, it is not possible to see lying corpses on the road, and some people on the street.

But he saw it all along the way. Not just seen, but often seen. The impression of the whole Ming Dynasty was very bad, even worse than his worst assumptions. Zhao Yinggong had seen the actual situation of ancient society on D-Day, but he always felt that this was because Hainan Island itself was a remote place, caused by economic and cultural backwardness. Later, when I came to Guangzhou to make pre-departure adaptation training, Guangzhou is a treaty port in the end, and the Pearl River Delta is also the land of fish and rice since ancient times. But as soon as you get out of such a rich place, you will see a dark side along the way.

He set out in the spring famine, which was originally the most difficult day for farmers. In some places that suffered disasters last year, by the spring the grain stocks had run out, and there were large groups of people fleeing the famine. Zhao Yinggong sat in the sedan chair, and every time he saw groups of beggars on the road and peasants who were no better than beggars barely plowing in the fields, his mood was irrepressibly heavy.

The chaotic situation in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, he has seen countless in the history books, but now when he really walks in this picture, he feels the horror and sorrow of the troubled times - no, strictly speaking, it is not a troubled time, the hell on earth in China has not really unfolded, and the ground he traveled through was still a peaceful place even in the early Qing Dynasty, but it was already this tragic situation. I don't know what kind of hideous face it will be when I think of the place where the real chaos has swept through.

Because the world has gradually become chaotic, the Foreign Intelligence Bureau of this trip to Jiangnan has made careful arrangements. Not only did they transfer a team of three men and one woman from the Qiwei Dart Bureau, but they also selected a number of professional security personnel from the General Bureau of Political Security to accompany them. On the way, try to choose the official road and walk along the post station. In ancient societies, this was the safest way to go.

In order to guard against "officials and bandits" along the road, the Foreign Intelligence Bureau took care of the Guangzhou station and obtained a few "Eight Elements" and prayer stickers from the hands of the gentry and officials in Guangzhou as talismans -- in addition to scaring away the imps and saving them a lot of trouble and extortion, they could also ask for help from the government in case of danger. Very useful.

The dart master of the Qiwei Dart Bureau who was responsible for guarding Zhao Yinggong was a distant nephew of Sun Kecheng, named Sun Wangcai. said that he was a nephew, but in fact, he was not much younger than Sun Kecheng. He is a strong man in his early forties. His mind is flexible, his kung fu is hard, and he is experienced in the rivers and lakes. is also a well-spoken character in Qiwei. Moreover, he often walks the "official dart": escorting the outgoing officials and family members of Guangdong back to their hometowns, and he has a good way of dealing with high-ranking officials and dignitaries. So this time, the Foreign Intelligence Bureau picked him to Zhao Yinggong as the captain of the guard. In addition, it was also used as a measure to dismantle and dismantle the "Sun Family Class" and "Jiangxi Gang" in Weizhong. Originally, the backbone of the group of Weili successively followed the expatriates of the Intelligence Bureau and the Colonial Trade Department to serve as personal guards.

Sun Wangcai stood behind him, he knew that the identity of the patriarch was precious, and he was the great benefactor of Qiwei, and he greeted him very carefully and attentively all the way. He is always at the front of the line, whether it is a tip, a hotel, or a boat, he always takes a step ahead to check the situation.

Seeing that he had finally arrived in Hangzhou safely, Sun Wang breathed a sigh of relief. Zhejiang, especially in the northern part of Zhejiang, has always been the land of fish and rice, and the local wealth is much more stable than other places. There are no longer many discerning homeless people on the roads. In some places he passed, he had to take care of all the men in the team to "appear" with their guys to deter the homeless people who were about to move.

"Master, this journey has finally come over safely." Sun Wangcai whispered, "Do you think you will enter the city today, or will you rest in the inn outside the city first?" ”

Zhao Yinggong was very reluctant to enter the city immediately, bought a mansion, and immediately took a shower, but buying a house and preparing furniture are not things that can be done, but the accompanying people have a lot of luggage, so they have to find an inn to settle down first.

Sun Wang is used to serving the old men, and seeing his hesitant face, he knows his thoughts. Sidewalk:

"Don't worry, sir, this is the provincial capital where the third division is located. It's not a backcountry, it's quite a bit of an extremely clean inn that specializes in the business of old men. ”

Zhao Yinggong nodded: "Okay, it's up to you." Find a big inn to settle down in. ”

Sun Wangcai escorted the "official dart", traveled south to north, and went to Hangzhou several times. When I got ashore, I quickly settled down at the hotel. Hangzhou is a provincial capital and a wealthy place in the southeast, with a prosperous market and a large population. As for the encroachment of clothing, it is even more inappropriate. The guy who came to greet him in the inn called a four-person sedan chair for Zhao Yinggong, and called a small sedan chair for two people to carry for the female dependents. More than a dozen porters carried their luggage.

Everyone abandoned the boat and landed on the shore, and walked along the revetment, but they could not walk more than half a mile, and the city wall was towering and the city gate was towering in the distance. Zhao Yinggong is not from Hangzhou, but he is quite familiar with Hangzhou. He knew that most of the city walls and gates of Hangzhou at this time were not relics of the Song Dynasty - Zhang Shicheng had rebuilt the city in Hangzhou at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, and the pattern was different from that of the Song Dynasty. But when you see the city gate at first glance, you can't help but feel nostalgic for the past.

There are inns near Chengguan, the size is different, the big gold-lettered signboard is written "Shi Yan Xingtai", and the small one is written "Anyu Merchant". The old Rong Ji Stack arranged by Sun Wangcai is naturally the eunuch platform. The house is tall and imposing. There are many people and sedan chairs going in and out of the door. Guys keep coming.

Sun Wangcai has already chartered two courtyards, one large and one small, three main rooms in the small courtyard, five rooms in the large courtyard, and there are also wing rooms, which are spacious and clean, and there are no annoying insects. It is enough to accommodate the entire Hangzhou station. Responsible for managing the internal affairs of Hangzhou Station is Zhao Yinggong's life secretary. Zhao Yinggong's life secretary is not good-looking and thin, but he is from Zhejiang. His hometown is in Shaoxing, and he was sold to Guangdong. The reason why Zhao Yingong bought such a life secretary with a rating of only D in the first place was that he would one day be sent to Jiangnan for activities and be equipped with a local. He named the girl "Fenghua".

"You're going to be here for a few days, so you'll try to arrange it properly." Zhao Yingong instructed her, "Especially let everyone do a good job of sanitation tonight." ”

There was no ready-made bathing equipment in the inn, so Sun Wangcai asked the men to lead him out to buy a new bath bucket for the elders and women. The others were simple because of their ugliness, so they rubbed hot water with soap horns in the big courtyard and rinsed and rinsed.

Zhao Yingong took a comfortable hot bath under Fenghua's service and changed into clean clothes. I walked a few steps in the courtyard with a pair of Chen Qiao straw slippers, looking at the sun hanging in the sky, how happy I was. For the first time in these days, he had a sense of stability - the next step was to open up the situation in Hangzhou.

Time was not long for him. The drought in northern Zhejiang in 1632 and the Dengzhou Jihua that was to be launched in the second half of the year both needed the support of the Hangzhou station. By the beginning of 1632, he had to complete the basic layout of Hangzhou and gain sufficient freedom of movement. Prepare an adequate material and social basis for the transfer of refugees.

The material foundation is easy to say - after he settles down, soon the intelligence bureau's mountain and sea two-way system will be stationed in the Yangtze River Delta region, and with the large number of new products they have, it will not be difficult to make money. In addition, the Finance Director's Department has a special allocation for Hangzhou Station to support local industry and commerce.

How to establish one's social status is the most important. Zhao Yingong knew that in this time and space, businessmen were very helpless, and it was almost impossible to gain a foothold in this social system without engaging in hemorrhagic collusion between officials and businessmen. So his first role can't be a businessman.