Chapter 335 How can you say that you have no clothes?

In the early spring of the twelfth year of the Great Song Dynasty Yanhuang, Lin'an in the south of the Yangtze River was already a spring that could not be concealed, and the Heishui Province in the northeast was still icy and snowy. When a person walks outside, he will take a breath and fall into ice ballast.

Although Heishui has been set as a province for two and a half years, the people are still scarce, and according to the statistics completed in the tenth year of Yanhuang, the population living here is only 1.5 million, which is not even as large as the population of those big cities in the south of the Yangtze River in the Central Plains. Among these 1.5 million, most of them are various ethnic groups in the north, from the Mongolian Jurchen Khitan to those unnamed wild tribes in the mountains and forests, accounting for more than 1.2 million, while the Han people have less than 300,000, including a considerable number of soldiers from various departments.

But on the whole, the relationship between the ethnic groups in Heishui Province and the Han people in the past four years has been quite harmonious, one is that they were squeezed by Menghu before, and the Han people eliminated Mengyuan to make the tribes grateful, and the other is that before the ice and snow come every year, the relief from the Central Plains will be hoarded in the newly built ten cities, so that these mountain herdsmen can collect it - although it is just some cotton clothes and quilts and other materials, plus some sweet potatoes, potatoes and corn and other easy-to-preserve food, but for those people of all ethnic groups who are nested at home every winter and cannot go out, But it's a great reward.

As for the leaders of the various ethnic groups, most of them either moved to a big city like Yanjing, or lived in the new city of Heishui, first, to receive the rewards of the imperial court, and secondly, life in the city was far better than living in shacks and caves with their clansmen in the deep mountains and old forests.

The military leather boots creaked and creaked on the knee-thick snow, and Li Rui gasped and cursed in a low voice.

Although he wore the uniform of the Guards, he was now doing work that had nothing to do with the army, which was somewhat out of his ambition. He dealt with those barbarians every day, and now in addition to being able to speak Mongolian, he was fluent in Jurchen language, which made it very convenient for him to deal with the Black Water Jurchen tribes.

"Assistant, be careful!"

The guards around him saw that he was walking a little hard, and reached out to help him, but he pushed him away: "Lao Tzu is not weak to this point!" ”

"This place is the Black Blind Man's Depression." The guide who walked in front pointed to the leeward valley ahead: "A Jurchen people live here, there are more than 300 of them, and I am afraid that this winter will be difficult." ”

The winter that has just passed was extremely cold, and successive cold snaps hit Heishui Province, freezing those who hid in the deep mountains and old forests and refused to contact the Song people. Those who have been reclaimed and naturalized are better off and receive relief before winter comes, wearing a large thick cotton jacket on their bodies, or moving into a city house with a fireplace and a kang stove, where the cat survives the winter. When the weather improved slightly, Li Rui led people around to check, and he wanted to count the disaster situation in the shortest possible time, and make a decision for the next step of changing the land and returning to the river according to this situation.

Nowadays, the Great Song Dynasty adopted a policy of forced assimilation on the surface and inwardly for the property of the surrounding ethnic groups, and it did not seem to force the surrounding ethnic groups to attach themselves, but in fact they used abundant materials to lure the surrounding ethnic groups to go out of their deep mountains and old forests or the Gobi wilderness, learn Chinese characters, celebrate the festivals of the Han people, and worship the gods of the Han people. In the implementation of the law, there is absolutely no such thing as leniency for them, in the coldest time of winter, the Jurchens of several tribes were so hungry that they could not stand it, and under the leadership of the Huli Reform Department, they came out of the old forest and wanted to rob the town of the Han people, and the result was that a series of more than 200 human heads were hung at the gate of the Han town, and the wild wolves outside the town were happy for a winter.

The coexistence of leniency and severity, rigidity and softness, with economic means as the mainstay, supplemented by military means, forced the surrounding ethnic groups to take the initiative to accept sinicization, which was the policy of the Great Song Dynasty to treat the four different races determined in the secret decree of Zhao and Ju. This has paid off, and when the population was counted last year, the Song people were sent to go deep into the population by the tribes who had not been associated with outsiders, and they understood that this statistic was closely related to the relief provided by the imperial court when the harsh winter came.

"Why don't you see anyone?"

A young sergeant looked around curiously, and there were birch bark sheds everywhere, Mo said that compared with the brick houses built in the new city now, compared with the civil houses of the Great Song Dynasty in the past, they were also very simple.

"The Jurchens don't live in birch bark huts in winter, they dig holes and live in holes." The other sergeant laughed.

Soon everyone found a cave where the Jurchens were staying, and when they opened the door, a stinking smell almost overturned everyone. Some of these sergeants, who were familiar with the Jurchen dialect, shouted: "Is there anyone, is there anyone? ”

The lantern was carried high and shone on this hole, and in the middle of the hole was a pig, not afraid of people, looking up at the lamp, and beside it was a pile of dirty and messy hay, and several unclothed Jurchens raised their heads in surprise.

"What's going on?" The young soldier asked curiously.

"Oh, it's bitter cold here, and the Jurchens are sad in winter, so they will hold pigs in the burrow to keep warm." The older soldier smiled silently.

For the Guards, this is unthinkable, they are not afraid of hardship, dirty, tiredness, but that is when necessary, and in ordinary life, they have very hard rules about personal hygiene. Today's Guards are not only from immigrants, but also from the Great Song Dynasty, but if they want to join the Guards, they must go through a strict "nationality examination", which not only examines whether their physical condition is suitable for serving as a soldier, but also whether their family is from a good background - the only criterion for judging is whether there are family members working in the industry under the emperor's control, which can ensure that their interests are closely linked to the interests of the emperor. After that, they will be sent to Liuqiu for a year of training to change some of their original habits, such as personal hygiene. Therefore, although the Guards were only 250,000 in number, they had a very good image among the people.

The young Guards soldier smacked his tongue, and Li Rui glared at him before he retracted.

This is called Hu Lin, it is said that he has some background in the family, and he is also a little jumpy, Li Rui saw the shadow of Yu Zhu in him, so he was very strict with him.

"What about your winter clothes, I remember that I came here to give you winter clothes before winter, why did you still get such a situation?" He knew the truth of mature women, so he asked himself.

"Master of the big official, you can't wear that winter coat!"

Hearing him mention his winter coat, a Jurchen man stood up, he recognized Li Rui, and he called him "master", and as he spoke, he picked up a pile of tattered things from the ground. The thing was smelly and dirty, Hu Lime held his breath, took it from his hand, and then handed it to Li Rui.

Li Rui took a look at it, it was the winter clothes issued by the imperial court to the tribes of this bitter cold land. This is a cotton garment produced by a weaving factory in western Beijing, Li Rui felt a little light when he sent it down, and now he looks at it again, the cotton inside is tangled into a clump, and the fabric outside is also tattered. He tore it open and pulled out a lump of cotton from it, and it was already moldy.

"It's strange that the new cotton clothes have become like this." The veteran was on the sidelines.

"Is it that these wild people don't know how to wear it, and soak it in water indiscriminately and cause mold?" Hu Lin guessed.

"Do you think they look like they can do laundry?" The veteran retorted.

Indeed, with the true appearance of these wild girls, those who are hugging pigs do not seem to know how to wash clothes in any way. Hu Lin stuck out his tongue and took a step back, as close to the entrance of the cave as possible, but he didn't dare to leave Li Rui's side, it was his duty to protect Li Rui.

"I brought you new cotton clothes, do you have enough food?" Li Rui asked again.

"Enough, enough, enough food." The Jurchen man nodded busily, not that he was not greedy, but after seeing the power of the Song people's muskets, the Jurchens in this settlement knew that it was best not to play any tricks in front of the Song people.

"Alright, let's go and see the next one." Li Rui didn't like the stench in the cave either, and said to the sergeant behind him.

"Wait, big official, wait!" The Jurchen suddenly ran to the corner of the cave again, rummaged through a pile of black things, and after a while turned out a silver skin for him, which was a wolf skin, and he respectfully held the skin: "To the emperor!" ”

Li Rui was stunned for a moment, then smiled slightly, put the wolf skin away, thought about it, and said to Hu Lin: "Go and get a jacket." ”

Hu Lin had already wanted to go out, and when he heard this, he immediately responded, so he took a cotton jacket and handed it to the Jurchen man: "The emperor of the Great Song Dynasty does not take the people's things for nothing, so I will give it to you." ”

It was a military jacket, in addition to keeping warm, there were many pockets, the Jurchen man took it in his hand and checked it, feeling that it was quite heavy, not like a fake brought last time, and a smile appeared on his face: "Good, good, the emperor is good!" ”

Everyone went out of the cave of this Jurchen man, and then went to the rest of the houses in the settlement, the situation was normal, and there was a problem with the cotton clothes sent to them. Most of the Jurchens didn't care, after all, the cotton clothes had been used for a while, but Li Rui's face was as gloomy as the bottom of a pot. He braved the wind and snow in the bitter cold land of Heishui to preach Bude, just to say "the emperor is good" in the mouths of these savage Jurchens, and if they don't cause trouble, then the Han immigrants can reclaim the wasteland and open mines here, and they can set up factories and build roads here, turning the sleeping treasures in the fertile black soil into the national strength of the Great Song Dynasty. But the inferior cotton clothes almost destroyed all the efforts of him and the Guards, which made him very angry.

"This should be a matter of Jingxi Province, and it is even shoddy to use this inferior cotton clothes, and the official family buys the cotton clothes for relief at a large price, and there are still people who are so bold!" Hu Lin is the son of Hu Fulang, with a family history, and he guessed the truth: "Assistant Staff, after I go back, I will definitely investigate it!" ”

"Luckily, it's not a military uniform...... If it's a military uniform, our brothers will have a hard time this winter! The veteran also said.

The procurement of military uniforms has its own system, and it generally takes precedence over the industries controlled by Zhao and Ju themselves, and the quality control of these industries is still quite strict, not that there are absolutely no quality problems, but the quantity is much less. Therefore, the veteran was a little happy, and Li Rui frowned even more after hearing this: There is no problem with the military uniform now, but if it continues to develop like this, who knows if the military uniform and even the ordnance will have such problems in the future?

"There's going to be a big problem." He thought in his heart: "Even if there is nothing wrong with the army, if these Jurchens know that the problem with the cotton clothes is not of good quality, then they will inevitably blame the officials for using inferior products to deceive them - those profiteers have made a fortune themselves, but asked the Son of Heaven to carry this black pot for them!" ”

In the past few years, Li Rui has often exchanged letters with Li Ye and Li Yunrui, and when Li Ye and Li Yunrui came to the Northeast, they had to talk to him and often talked to him about some things about His Majesty. Li Rui knew that there must be an element of the Son of Heaven's instruction in it, and his heart was both grateful and worried. Li Yunrui once said to him after a drink that when he served the Son of Heaven, the Son of Heaven nagged him more than once, the so-called emperor, claiming to serve one person with one country, in fact, as long as it is not a sudden, which emperor can exhaust the national strength of the world with only one person! In fact, the so-called "faint gentleman" is actually carrying the black cauldron for the corporal doctor in the world.

Now, in addition to carrying the black pot for the scholars, the Son of Heaven also has to carry the black pot for these profiteers......

On the same day, he sent someone to deliver a letter to Yelu Chucai, and after Yelu Chucai received the letter, he immediately transmitted the contents to Zhao and Ju by telegram.

The wired telegraph was the second invention that Zhao and Ju paid attention to after the steam locomotive, in fact, in the eighth year of Yanhuang, the battery that could be used for telegraph communication was invented, and in April of the ninth year of Yanhuang, the palace ladies of the harem unexpectedly took the lead, and they successfully sent the wired telegraph for the first time in Zhao and Ju's palace laboratory. After that, Zhao and Ju concentrated the power of Lin'an University and Liuqiu Higher School to conduct practical research, and in September of the ninth year of Yanhuang, when he ascended the throne for ten years, the cable telegraph that could be put into practice finally succeeded. In the tenth year of Yanhuang and the eleventh year of Yanhuang, in two years, he paved three main routes, one of which was to the northeast.

"Yelu Chucai's telegram is a good one." Zhao and Ju spread Yelu Chucai's telegram on the table and motioned for Wei Liaoweng to look at it.

At this time, nearly three years have passed since the destruction of Meng Yuan, at the end of last year, Cui He was ill and resigned as prime minister, Wei Liaoweng was promoted to the left minister, Zheng Qingzhi was released to the Jiankang Mansion, Chen Guiyi, Hong Shikui was the governor of the government, Xiao Bolang was the secretary of the Ministry of Industry, Yu Tianxi was the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, and Chen Zicheng went to the post of the head of the household department, except for the knowledge of Lin'an Mansion. In this political change, Zhao and Ju and the ministers agreed that they would not change their duties for four years, unless they were corrupt or other serious violations.

Of course, now the authority of both the prime minister and the six books has actually been weakened, and the scholars of Boya Lou and the bachelors of the chamberlain, although their rank is not high, have become the formulators and implementers of policies in many situations. In many cases, it is the officials in charge of a certain department in the bachelors and attendants of the Boya Building who plan to make a statement, and Zhao and Ju will read it and then send it to the prime minister or the relevant secretary of the ministry for inspection, and they will implement it after they agree.

Wei Liaoweng was actually under a lot of pressure when he became the prime minister, and his predecessor Cui He was too special, although some people said that Cui He was a fortunate villain who only knew how to deal with the Son of Heaven, but Wei Liaoweng knew that Cui He had achieved the ultimate in reconciling the relationship between the Son of Heaven and the ministers and stabilizing the center of the Great Song Dynasty, otherwise the Son of Heaven's innovation would not be so easy when it touched the prime minister and the power of the Six Ministries. What he is good at is finance, not coordinating interpersonal relationships like Cui and him, so he is very self-aware to give this kind of thing to Yu Tianxi - Yu Tianxi is not highly qualified, although he is a governor of political affairs, but he mainly relies on the relationship with the Son of Heaven, and this person is more knowledgeable than Zheng Qingzhi, otherwise Zheng Qingzhi will not be let go.

After reading the telegram carefully, he frowned, a series of data floated from his memory, and he coughed: "This batch of cotton clothes should have been transferred from Jingxi Province, a total of 150,000 sets, each set cost two guan, and the imperial court spent a total of 300,000 guan. There are another 150,000 sets of quilts from Jingxi Province with this batch of cotton clothes, each set costs three times, and a total expenditure of 450,000 pieces, and this batch of quilts should also be stored in Yanjing as a reserve. ”

Zhao Youju really admired Wei Liaoweng's memory, and he couldn't help but praise it, but Wei Liaoweng likes to use data to speak, and sometimes it makes him cry and laugh.

"The imperial court is deliberately using troops in the north, and this matter must not be delayed." Zhao and Ju Dao.

Note 1: The Jurchens of the Huli Reform Department are the ancestors of the Manchu Tartars. The Jurchen life customs mentioned in this chapter are true, but the speech is only made up, and it must be noted that at this time, the Manchu ancestors did not have a written language (they were actually not all the way to the Jin Jurchens).

Note 2: The author does not know much about the cable telegraph, so he will mention it here.