On March 26, 1682, Huang Hanhua, Zhao Chuyan and others, who were scheduled to meet today in the meeting room of the Tax Office of the Ministry of Finance Building, had to temporarily announce the postponement of the meeting, because there was urgent business to be handled in the Tax Office, and Huang Hanhua could not refrain from being separated, so the date of the meeting was moved back by three days, and Zhao Chuyan agreed.

While the meeting was postponed by the Tax Office for internal reasons, the North Koreans, accompanied by diplomats from the East Coast, visited the Daeyuhe Cadre Training School on the outskirts of the capital. North Koreans were still interested in this vocational school, which trained many grassroots cadres, but after visiting the circle and observing a class, Cho Chuyan lost interest. Because in his opinion, this kind of course only cultivates "art", that is, teaching people how to be officials, little Doyle! Brilliant avenues such as the Four Books and Five Classics are only used as extracurricular reading materials for self-cultivation, how absurd is this! Not to mention, the level of education of these students is generally not high, and they can only be said to be coarse and poorly written, and their handwriting is not good-looking, and they - many other even lowly military men - can sit in the schools of the capital in a dignified manner, which is simply insulting!

At the end of the course, the DPRK mission presented gifts to about 20 East Coast students in the classroom, mainly folding fans, pen and ink, North Korean hats, and so on. Because it was rare to see such exotic gifts, the students rushed to divide the gifts after the North Koreans finished speaking. This scene surprised the North Koreans a little, and Zhao Chuyan even sighed that "what is the matter of the so-called people who teach every day?" that this is the consequence of the East Coast people's disrespect for famous religions, Confucianism, and the study of the classics, completely ignoring the fact that most of these people are veterans or civil servants who have worked at the grassroots level for many years, and their education level is not high. Of course, what Zhao Chuyan thinks and thinks is his own business, and there is no need for the people on the east coast to change their views, as long as they take them to walk around and see more, I believe that even if the North Koreans disdain it, in the face of the different weather and rapidly developing East Coast society, as long as they are not stone people, they will always be touched.

Of course, the North Koreans seem to be more disdainful and even resentful of what they have learned than they were when the East Coast cadres distributed gifts at the end of the course. The direct trigger was that the East Coast teacher focused on criticizing Cheng Zhu Lixue's shackles on the Confucian cultural circle, praised the humanist Renaissance ideas of Li Zhen and others in the late Ming Dynasty, and regretted that he finally failed to overturn Cheng Zhu Lixue, who suppressed his thoughts and people's expectations.

Zhao Chuyan didn't have a good attack on the spot, but his face was also ugly, and he shook his head again and again with his deputy envoys and attachés in private, and sighed softly: "Heresy prevails, and the way of Confucius, Mengcheng, and Zhu is overshadowed. This is pseudo-learning, and it should be destroyed and removed, and it will not exist in heaven and earth for a long time, and you must not learn it! ”

His deputy envoy is even more stubborn - of course, this is stubborn in the eyes of the people on the east coast, but in Hanyang City, he is already quite receptive to new ideas, but the first time he encounters this kind of challenge that touches the depths of his soul, his self-reaction is to subconsciously protect - and he criticized Zhao Chuyan in a low voice: "Heresy is rampant, beasts are pressing, the saints and humanists will be extinct, and the country will be destroyed." How different is this Eastern Dynasty from the Tartars, daring to call itself Huaxia, ridiculous, ridiculous! ”

After the audit of the cadre training school, which was somewhat novel and annoyed, the school also went to a well-known hotel in the city to order a table of meals that evening, intending to entertain these guests from North Korea. On the way to the comfortable and spacious East Coast four-wheeled carriage together, Zhao Chuyan also quietly lifted the curtain on the window and looked at the delicacy outside.

At this time, it is already the first time of the day, and the uniformed lamplighters check the gas lamps on both sides of the street one by one and light them. The bright lights illuminated the stone streets a little white, the horse-drawn carriages moving fast and steady, and the occasional horse-drawn railcar full of workers and government employees passing by the side of the road, all of which struck Zhao Chuyan as a novelty.

His two servants would sit beside him, looking at the scenery outside the street, and they wanted to whisper excitedly, but when they saw that their master's face was not very good, they wisely shut up. In fact, in Zhao Zhengda, Zhao Guangming - here I have to mention that ordinary people in North Korea originally did not have surnames, but in recent years, under the influence of the East Coast people, some relatively enlightened two classes of nobles have also begun to allow ordinary people to have surnames, such as Zhao Chuyan gave his two personal servants the surname Zhao - such people who have not read much sage books seem to have this Eastern Dynasty Shangguo really everything is good, comfortable living, delicious food, fast travel, durable clothes, and most importantly, there seems to be no strict class hierarchy here, Even ordinary people can do business, serve in the military, and hold government office, which is really a dream for them.

At this time, the Korean kingdom had basically formed a strict hierarchy, and there were clear divisions between the two classes, the middle, the commoners, and the untouchables, and there were basically conventions and rules for what classes of people could do what work, to what extent they could do it, and what kind of social status and wealth they could have. Speaking of which, this is also an alternative caste system, but it is better than that of Indians, because commoners and untouchables can also be promoted to a higher class if they have made great achievements, but it is difficult in India. However, in any case, in the conservative feudal society of the Korean Kingdom, people like Zhao Zhengda and Zhao Guangming, who were born as slaves and maids, have no personality and dignity at all.

Two days ago, they also rented a carriage with the old man, and went a little farther to the suburbs and rural areas to have a look. They were amazed by what they saw, and the peasants on the east bank lived in decent brick houses, which were quite spacious and bright. If such a set of brick houses and houses were placed in North Korea, they would have to be rich peasants or middle-aged among the common people to own them, and ordinary people would dare to imagine it. But in this Eastern Dynasty, it is true that ordinary people at the bottom can also have it, and there are not only houses, but also livestock sheds, and the calves in the sheds are very robust, which makes people even more stunned.

Zhao Zhengda was ordered by his master to count at that time, and found that almost every household in the village had large livestock, mostly cattle, and occasionally there were many horses, donkeys, and mules, and the number was always 8-10. This level is also rare in North Korea, and it can only be seen in some relatively wealthy peasant households or in the middle class with official positions or skills, but not everyone has it, so it is very scary. The East Dynasty is on the side of the country's wealth, but it is not a lie! Realizing this, Zhao Chuyan's face was a little unnatural at that time.

However, the affluence of ordinary farmers on the east coast only made the Zhao family's masters and servants unnatural, but after hearing the news, the introduction of the village chief on the east coast - in the eyes of the North Koreans with a small amount of energy, it is simply boasting - after learning that the people on the east coast sleep at night and don't even have to close the door, Zhao Chuyan's face is simply angry with pig's liver, and in his heart he has already criticized the words of the village chief as nonsense: do not study the classics, do not read poetry and books, do not go through the education of the saints, everyone is good at profit-seeking, and likes copper smell, how can he do not leave the road behind and do not close the door at night? Zhao Chuyan was absolutely unwilling to admit this, because once he admitted this, it meant that the "education" of the people on the east coast had played a role, and the consciousness of the ordinary people had also been raised. How is this possible! How can it! Therefore, Zhao Chuyan believed that the village chief was bragging, although he did not realize that there was already a trace of doubt in his heart.

The carriage quickly drove through the brightly lit streets, and then turned into a relatively lively courtyard, where the East Coast diplomats who had arrived in advance to order food had been waiting for a long time. When he arrived at this place, Zhao Chuyan didn't want to say anything that made everyone unhappy, but greeted a few East Coast diplomats who had been accompanied for many days, and said in a rare manner that he would pay for tonight's meal, which was of course politely rejected by the East Coast people.

The banquet in the evening was too much of an impact on Zhao Chuyan and several Zuo Er officials, after all, they were also two classes of nobles in the Korean Kingdom, and they ate a lot of delicacies from the mountains and seas, and they didn't care about some of the dishes made by the people on the east coast. At best, they feel that they are really rich, and there are more expensive spices, cane sugar and other condiments in the dishes, but this is indeed within their understanding.

The only thing that gave them a sense of shock at the banquet was still the bright gas lamp. The lighting system developed by East Coast Gas is now in its third generation, and not only has the odor that used to be easy to appear almost impossible to ask, but even the noise is much smaller and the stability is better than before, so even if the North Koreans have seen it a few times (the North Koreans are stingy, and the cheapest hotel room they book does not have gas lights), they will be attracted every time they see it. Zhao Chuyan even wondered if he would ask the people from the east coast to order a few sets to bring back to Hanyang City and present them to the court, if he would definitely make his holy family more prosperous before he left for China in the future.

Someone at the table asked about the current North Korean people and how their economy is developing. Although Zhao Chuyan did not like these questions very much (he still preferred to distinguish between righteousness and benefit with scholars on the east coast), he still answered truthfully, saying that North Korea has a population of 6 million, and the country of grain, sericulture and other countries has developed rapidly in recent years, and the country has shown the appearance of a peaceful and prosperous era. These cases, although they are more general and contain some algae words, are generally accurate. And speaking of this, Zhao Chuyan's heart is also moved: it seems that since the time when it became a subject country on the east coast, the good days of North Korea have come, although the people of the east are arrogant and cruel, almost no different from the Tartars, and they come to extort a sum of money from time to time, so that the Korean monarchs and ministers are not troubled, but to be honest, silver and copper coins have flowed into North Korea in large quantities for decades, and the money shortage that used to be troubled at every turn has now been extinct for many years. And not only that, but the variety of goods in this market is also much richer, and there are merchants in the country who are attached to themselves, and I have heard them say several times that now we have ushered in a good time for business, the income of the whole country has increased, and the lives of millions of people who have come out of the devastation of the war have improved, which is indeed the work of the people of Dongguo.

Thinking about it like this, Zhao Chuyan was a little entangled again. On the practical side, he really didn't want to admit that the Dongguo people were good, but their strong arrival did indeed increase the economy of North Korea - the word economy is also the word that Zhao has heard the most since he arrived on the east coast - this kind of realization made him very depressed: Could it be that the good stories of self-cultivation and Qi family in the world are all fake? Is it true that a saint who is uneducated can't help the world? On the contrary, it is the people of the East who call themselves Chinese, do not preach famous religions, and do not understand etiquette in a country of mourning that can actually govern the country thriving. Zhao Chuyan instinctively wanted to deny this ability of the people on the east coast, but the iron-like facts were placed in front of him, which made him powerless, and he could only sigh deeply.

However, even though he admitted that the Dongguo people had some small skills in prospering the economy and governing the country, he soon found a new "spray point", because the people of such a country are profit-seeking all day long, like to compete, good at drilling, and have bad habits all over the country. I heard that they claimed to be descendants of the former Song Dynasty and Miao, but I don't know what kind of face they should have to face others after they returned to the west on the other day, when they met their ancestors under Jiuquan? This is probably the so-called humiliation of the ancestors, Zhao Chuyan thought, and this idea finally made his slightly painful heart feel a lot more comfortable, and he felt that his past life was finally not completely denied, and it was still meaningful.

After the banquet, Zhao Chuyan and his colleagues bid farewell to the East Coast officials one by one, and then returned to the Dongfang Hotel in a carriage again. After washing his face in the room, Zhao Chuyan finally had time to calm down, think about the gains and losses during this time, and at the same time wake up his heart. He always felt that after coming to the land of the eastern kingdom, although he was vigilant again and again, there were still some bad changes. According to the words of the Dongguo people, the ideological field has been impacted and corroded, and although the ideological defense line will not be lost, if you don't save yourself, it is difficult to guarantee that one day you will become such rude, righteous and shameful people, and then it will be completely ruined. He Zhao Chuyan came to the East Coast to see the mystery of their wealth and strength, not to deny his past life, the East people use it if it is easy to use, and discard it if it is not good, but we must remember that Dongxue cannot be used as a foundation!