Chapter 336: A Wall Separates

After the destruction of the Mengyuan in the eighth year of the Yan and Huang Dynasty, there were still two groups of enemies left in the north of the Great Song Dynasty, one was the Western Xia, and the other was the Wokotai and Chagatai brothers. Needless to say, the two Mongolian brothers had a grudge against their father and brother with the Great Song Dynasty, and Zhao and Ju's attitude towards them was to fight in turns, sending the newly trained Guards, the Loyal Guards and the reorganized Forbidden Army to fight against the Mongols. After the destruction of Mengyuan, the Western Xia realized that they were facing a catastrophe, and took advantage of the death of the Empress Dowager Yang and the New Year tribute, and sent a special envoy to Lin'an in the New Year of the ninth year of Yanhuang. Zhao Youju hung it for three months before seeing him, and he did not let him idle for these three months, so he watched the Song Guards' drills, took a train to visit near Lin'an, and went to sea on a sea ship - everything that could show the national strength of the Great Song Dynasty was shown to him. Sure enough, he was so shocked that he didn't dare to say much, but the above table asked for the country of his sons and nephews, and Zhao and Ju were noncommittal about it, because at that time his attention shifted to the south, on the "border conflict" between Guangnan West Road and Annan.

The result of this border conflict was that in the winter of the ninth year of Yanhuang, the emperor of the Chen Dynasty in Annan, Chen Xuan, the rest of Chen Cheng, and his uncle Chen Shoudu all became prisoners of the Great Song Dynasty, and the Li Dynasty, which was usurped by the Chen family, was restored, and a six-year-old boy from the distant branch of the Li family was supported to become the lord of Annan, and his people studied in the primary school in Lin'an, and the envoys sent by the Great Song Dynasty supervised the country.

The fall of the Chen clan in Annam greatly shocked Dali, and the contradictions between the Gao clan, the powerful minister of Dali, and the Duan clan, the lord of the state, made both sides look for the support of the Great Song Dynasty. The order given to them by the Great Song Dynasty was only four words: dedication of soil and attachment.

In Zhao and Ju's southwestern plans, China needed an outlet to the sea, and Bagan (present-day Burma) was the best choice. From a geopolitical point of view, if China can control the entrance to the sea at the same time, then even if a powerful country like the United States emerges in Dongshengzhou, the threat to China will be minimized. What's more, the Great Song Dynasty still firmly controlled the Nanyang Islands and the Tongyang Strait, and Zhao Youju believed that it was indispensable for the Great Song Dynasty to remain open and world-oriented after him. Just as Rome turned the Mediterranean Sea into an inland sea and made European commercial civilization extremely active, the Great Song Dynasty turned the South China Sea into an inland sea, which also made commerce and the sea the pillars of Chinese civilization.

By the time of the eleventh year of Yanhuang, there was no doubt about Dali's attachment, and although Bagan sent an envoy to Lin'an to claim his ministers, he ignored Zhao and Ju's internal orders, and Zhao and Ju were now in the South China Sea Province to order people to conduct tropical jungle troops, and did not want to use force to force Bagan for the time being, so they turned their attention to the north. Some frustrated scholars thought that he had been fighting a lot of wars in the past few years, and that he was quite "reckless in military force," but in fact he did not move more than 100,000 troops each time, or even only sent 1 to 20,000 troops, which not only did not damage the national strength, but also replenished the national treasury with the gains from the victory, and in addition, military procurement also led to industrial production.

Up to now, most of the domestic army has experience in wheel warfare, the railway has been built to Chang'an Mansion, and the time is ripe to destroy the Western Xia and open up the road to the Western Regions.

"The official family will hand over this matter to Hong to participate in politics." Wei Liaoweng did not directly respond to Zhao Heju's words, but recommended Hong Zhikui. In the two political participations, Chen Guiyi is obviously more tactful, and Hong Zhikui did not learn the cleverness of his teacher Cui He, but uprightness is his strength, so when Shi Miyuan was in power, he was one of the few thorns in Shi Miyuan's side. In the past two years, Hong Shikui has led the imperial historians who came out of the study class to supervise the central and local officials, and he has made great achievements.

"That's it...... "After all these years of hard work, now the system in the court has formed a new power constraint, the prime minister is in charge of the overall situation, the two governors are in charge of personnel, supervision, and propaganda, and the other is in charge of finance, engineering, and construction. Therefore, Wei Liaoweng's suggestion also coincided with what Zhao Heju thought in his heart, and he was still relieved to hand it over to Hong Zhikui.

After receiving the order of the Son of Heaven, Hong Zhikui immediately took action, he was a resolute man of action, whether he was an envoy to the enemy country at the beginning, or later held power as a minister. The Commission Against Corruption, which was composed of imperial historians, quickly dispatched commissioners to Jingxi Province to investigate, and Feng Yanting was one of these imperial historians.

March 10, 12th year of Yanhuang, Luoyang Station.

Feng Yanting squinted at this ancient city, he was used to living in Lin'an, and most of the Central Plains cities in his eyes seemed dilapidated and disorderly. In his impression, the city with the best and most beautiful layout is Jinling, followed by Lin'an, and then emerging cities such as Xuzhou Huating, while Luoyang, which is known as the ancient capital of thousands of years, is not even eligible to participate in the ranking.

Although the roads have also been renovated with concrete, because the Luoyang government is not very wealthy, the greenery on both sides of the street is ugly, and the houses on both sides of the main street are old and dilapidated. The pedestrians on the street were all in a hurry, and a few people who looked like they were holding their arms and lazily scanning the crowd of people, and when their eyes met Feng Yanting, they all showed obvious provocative expressions.

Feng Yanting sneered in his heart, unlike those commissioners who were picked up by Luoyang Mansion, he was an unannounced visitor, so he was dressed like an ordinary traveling scholar. He was not from a serious imperial history background, but came from the Liuqiu Primary School—at least a hundred young people like him were enriched into the various departments of the Great Song Dynasty through various channels, and because of what they had learned, the flexibility and rigor they showed in their practical work made many old officials who were in the same position feel ashamed. They quickly stood out, like Feng Yanting, who was now able to take on great responsibilities.

"Let's go to the Rongyuan Textile Factory." After summoning a rickshaw, Feng Yanting reported the name of the place he was going.

When the mischievous men heard the name, they immediately straightened up and gave the rickshaw man a look, who grinned and said, "Twenty cents." ”

Feng Yanting glanced at the idle men, after several years of training in the Department of Integrity and Integrity, he was no longer a female.

got into the car and followed the coachman for about two miles, Feng Yanting suddenly stopped, the coachman looked at him with surprise on his face, Feng Yanting nodded with a smile: "I want to buy some things, I always have to bring some gifts to visit relatives and friends, I'm sorry, you go first, you don't have to look for the twenty yuan." ”

The coachman showed a panicked look on his face, and the few playful gestures were very clear, asking him to take this man to the ground, but he gave this man off halfway, and if he couldn't hand over the man to the ground, then he would be miserable.

"Mr. said that he would go to Rongyuan, why did he get off halfway? Or else, I'll wait for you? ”

"Wait if you want." Feng Yanting smiled meaningfully.

He walked into a shop on the side of the road, the coachman stopped the car, and actually followed, Feng Yanting took a fancy to a piece of fabric sold in the shop, so he bargained with the shopkeeper for a long time, and finally did not buy it. When he got out of the shop, the coachman was a little anxious: "Why don't you buy it, sir, it's already the cheapest." ”

"This kind of cloth is poorly dyed, and it is not worth the price." Feng Yanting shook his head, didn't say much to him, and walked into another store.

The coachman followed him with a bitter face, Feng Yanting didn't seem to see it, and he talked with the shopkeeper here for a long time, and then bought a pound of candy, and when he came out with a paper bag, the coachman finally breathed a sigh of relief, and only said that he was going to get in the car, but Feng Yanting limped: "Ah, there is still a store here, since you are here, let's go shopping together!" ”

"Sir is a man, but like a woman, he likes to visit this shop." The coachman couldn't help but sneer.

"I can't wait for you to leave, didn't I say that?" Feng Yanting turned around and said lightly: "I didn't send you the money for the car, what do you say?" ”

The coachman was blocked by this unangry remark, and remained silent for a long time. Feng Yanting saw that he still didn't know how to advance or retreat, so he followed him, and bought a bottle of peanut oil in the store, and then went out to the street. He tossed like this, and an hour had passed.

After going out, he didn't go to the store, but walked straight on the road, and the coachman said "hey": "Sir, I've waited so long, why don't you take my car?" ”

"Joke, I haven't heard of a driver forcing someone to ride in his car." Feng Yanting stopped: "In broad daylight, the owner of the shop testified, I let you go first and you refused, who is to blame?" ”

In fact, Feng Yanting was already very vigilant, the Great Song Dynasty was originally very prosperous in the market, and after the Central Plains was recovered, some of the repulsed former Jin State redundant officials and defeated soldiers were even more misbehaved in Kaifeng, Luoyang and Chang'an and other cities, which caused some right and wrong to the imperial court. Although after several years of rectification, these arrogances have been beaten down a lot, but in a big city like Luoyang, those splashy loafers have a way to make an outsider like him disappear unconsciously. Therefore, he did not dare to take risks easily by virtue of his own identity, and no matter what the coachman was, he would not go with him again.

"Obviously, Luoyang Mansion is responsible for this matter, those scoundrels are so arrogant, if there is no acquiescence and connivance of Luoyang Mansion behind them...... Definitely there is a problem! ”

He didn't know that this was a mistake, and that this gang of scoundrels was not coming for him. Just when he was entangled with the coachman, across a wall, Wu Wenying gasped with difficulty, wiped the blood foam off his mouth, and then showed a wry smile.

Compared with the neatly dressed Feng Yanting, Wu Wenying was much more embarrassed, the clothes on his body had long been tattered, and his originally white face was so dirty that it seemed to come out of soot. What's even more terrifying is that the wounds on his body, because of the warmer temperature, have begun to bleed pus and stink.

"I didn't expect it to come to this point...... he sighed long, but there was no remorse in his heart, the words of encouragement from Zhao Heju, the son of heaven in front of the "Great Song Times Weekly", were still in his ears, and what he did today was just to fulfill his promise to the Son of Heaven.

"It is better to die in the Tao than to write some glamorous words in the Willow Lane of Yanjie and then die in obscurity like Liu Sanchang—but it would be nice to have a beautiful girl crying at my grave like Liu Yong."

He leaned against the wall, half-self-deprecatingly, and touched the paper in his arms, the paper that had caused him trouble was still there.

At this moment, he heard an exclamation: "Who are you!" ”

This was the woman's voice, Wu Wenying raised her face and saw a beautiful face, looking at him with horror.

"I am not a wicked person...... Someone was chasing me, so I ran in last night to avoid it. Wu Wenying pointed to himself and explained. But instead of believing him, the woman took a few steps farther away: "Someone, someone! ”

Wu Wenying just wanted to cover his mouth too late, he looked at the woman with a wry smile: "I didn't expect that I, Wu Wenying, didn't cry in front of the grave after my death, but was sent to the cemetery by a beautiful woman!" ”

The woman shouted twice, but no one came, and she suddenly remembered that the family had gone out early in the morning, so she would come to the back garden alone to see the flowers in the garden. She suddenly ran to the door of the back garden, and found that the door was bolted, so she opened the door, and before she was about to call, she heard Wu Wenying's words, and swallowed back the shout in her mouth.

"Wu Wenying? You are Wu Wenying, who published an article tracking the fate of private miners in the "Great Song Times Weekly"? ”

"It's me." Wu Wenying grinned, knowing that things had taken a turn for the better.

"It's the mine dog who is chasing you?" Hearing this, the woman's eyebrows immediately furrowed: "Oops, you have been beaten like this!" ”

"Sneaking into the mine, they found out, and it became like this, and finally a worker risked his life to send me out, but when I was about to leave by train at night, I was discovered by their eyeliner at the station, so I had to escape......" Wu Wenying showed a nonchalant look in front of the woman: "It is estimated that it will be difficult to escape." ”

"Why didn't you report to the police?" The woman asked.

"Luoyang is not a rich place, in the past two years, the officials of the Luoyang prefect have been excellent, why do you say?" Wu Wenying moved his body, touched the wound, made his face twitch, and then said: "It's just these private mines, Luoyang Mansion's tax revenue has increased by more than 20% every year, and these private mines have contributed a lot!" ”

Since the eighth year of Yanhuang and Huang Hedong Province was discovered by Wang Qinian after the abuse of slave laborers in private mines, the Great Song Dynasty has rectified it once, and now the phenomenon of abusing slave labor is much less, but it does not mean that it has completely disappeared. Moreover, another thing has surfaced, that is, in order to save costs, the owners of private mines do not implement the safety strategy announced by the imperial court at all, resulting in mining disasters from time to time, and most of these mining disasters are concealed by private mine owners, and some departments of the local government out of local interests, which should have checked and balanced each other, often collude with private mine owners and conceal reports with them.

Wu Wenying came to Luoyang this time to investigate a certain gold mine accident.