On October 15, Li Xing took the eunuch Wang Chengen, the chief of the Beijing camp, Cao Bianjiao and Yang Guozhu, and rode into Fanjiazhuang. Pen % fun % Pavilion www.biquge.info

Wang Chengen and the three of them came to Fanjiazhuang to buy cannons.

Although the Son of Heaven has always bought cannons from Macao, the cannons of the Franco-Mechanic are expensive and slow to cast. The Macau Bugarao Cannon Foundry uses the adobe casting method, and the yield rate of the cast cannon is very low, and it takes a long time to make one. Until now, the Beijing battalion has not been able to equip itself with enough artillery.

Over the years, Li Zhi's eighteen-pounder cannon has been in the limelight in the southern and northern wars, and is regarded as a militaristic weapon by the people of the world. Under Wang Chengen's persuasion, the Son of Heaven decided to negotiate with Li Zhi about the purchase.

So there was this trip of Wang Chengen and Cao and Yang Erjun.

The intention of the three of them made Li Zhi feel a little sudden, Li Zhi had always regarded the eighteen-pounder cannon as his superior weapon, and had never sold this weapon to the outside world before. Li Zhi couldn't make up his mind for a while, so he asked Li Xing to invite the three of them to have a casual look in Fanjiazhuang, and he carefully considered whether to sell it or not.

Wang Chengen came to Fanjiazhuang in a hurry the first few times, and did not carefully observe this world-famous city that was uprooted from the ground. At this time, riding on a horse and listening carefully to Li Xing's explanation to himself, I also found it interesting. Cao Bianjiao and Yang Guozhu came to Fanjiazhuang for the first time, and as soon as they entered the gate of Fanjiazhuang, they felt novelty everywhere.

Seeing the dense flow of people on the main street of Fanjiazhuang, Yang Guozhu arched his hand and asked, "Lord Governor, there are so many people in this Fanjiazhuang now?" ”

Li Xing smiled and replied, "Yes, Fanjiazhuang has now undergone successive expansions, and now it has a circumference of eighteen miles. There are nine gates in the whole city, and there are three horizontal and three vertical six main streets in the city, and there are six horizontal and six vertical twelve small streets. The city is full of factories, workshops and military camps, as well as restaurants and tea shops serving the workers, Goolan theaters, various shops, and meat markets. The population of the city is 177,000, which is already considered a large city. ”

Hearing the scale of Fanjiazhuang, Yang Guozhu suddenly respected Li Zhi. Unexpectedly, in just over ten years, Jin Guogong started from scratch and built such a big city in a no-man's land, which is really remarkable.

Entering the city, the clean and spacious road and the neat villa buildings on both sides of the road made the two commanders nod their heads intently. They have been to countless Daming cities, but they only think that the city must be full of garbage and sewage, and they have never seen such a clean city.

The guards behind the three VIPs entered Fanjiazhuang, their faces full of shock. They look left and right, as if they don't believe that there is such a clean city in the world.

Walking to the edge of a garbage can, Cao Bianjiao suddenly stopped the horse. He stood there, and it seemed that the people who came and went threw all the garbage in their hands into the garbage can. Cao Bianjiao found that none of the people in Fanjiazhuang littered, so he pondered and muttered for a long time without speaking.

After taking a few steps forward, Wang Chengen suddenly sighed, pointed to the bell tower in front of him and asked, "Governor, what is the tall tower in front, I used to come and go in a hurry but I didn't pay attention to it." ”

Li Xing smiled: "Father-in-law, that's the bell tower." Did my father-in-law see the clock dial on the top of the clock tower? The thicker pillar in the dial is called the hour hand, and the scale he points to represents the present hour. A slender pillar next to it is called the minute hand, which represents the specific minute in the hour. ”

Wang Chengen, Cao and Yang listened to Li Xing's explanation, and finally understood how to look at the time of the clock tower, and they were shocked for a while. They had never heard of such an accurate timekeeping tool in the world that could accurately calculate the minutes that were present. Even in the palace, there is no such elaborate machinery.

The armillary sphere and sundial were used for timekeeping in the palace. Sundials are very rough because the sun positions differently depending on the season, and sometimes they simply can't pull a long enough shadow on the dial to indicate the hour. Not to mention the armillary sphere, which is expensive to build and complicated to operate, and there are a few more clouds in the sky, so this expensive equipment cannot tell the time.

And like Fanjiazhuang Clock Tower, which can tell the time rain or shine, and can divide an hour into two hours and divide two hours into sixty minutes, the three of them have really never seen it.

Wang Chengen took a breath and said, "The people of this Fanjiazhuang are a little stronger than the saints in the palace when they grasp the time!" ”

The second general Cao and Yang glanced at each other, their eyes full of shock. This bell tower alone makes Fanjiazhuang appear more classy, and it has faintly overwhelmed the capital in terms of momentum.

After walking a few steps, Cao Bianjiao squinted his eyes and asked, "Lord Governor, why are the people of Fanjiazhuang so obese?" ”

Li Xing was stunned, and said with some embarrassment: "This is exactly a stubborn disease in my Fanjiazhuang over the years, but it was discovered by the chief military officer. ”

"The people of my Fanjiazhuang have become richer and richer over the years, and they have eaten better and better. Not only did the people have enough to eat for 12 months a year, but they also had very cheap fish and meat. Some citizens with strong self-control are okay, and they still know moderation and know how to exercise restraint, and they don't eat to become fat. But most people can't control their appetites, and fish is commonplace. ”

"In addition, the work in the factory is not as hard as farming, and it is often a day of work on the assembly line. The same is true for small vendors, who can sit and shout a few times in the market, but the amount of activity is not enough. In this way, there are a lot of fat people in my Fanjiazhuang. ”

In order to change the intensification of this situation, the eldest brother has recently called on the people to run for half an hour every morning. But this kind of thing is not easy to use, and it cannot immediately reduce the number of obese people. ”

Hearing Li Xing's words, Wang Chengen, Cao and Yang looked at each other for a while, and they were all a little unable to react.

In the nineteenth year of Chongzhen, when the famine spread, and in the nineteenth year of Chongzhen, where Henan and Huguang were full of hunger, the people of Fanjiazhuang could not control their generalized obesity because the food was too good. What a contrast.

The guards behind the three VIPs looked at each other, muttering in their hearts that the Tianjin governor was bragging. As the personal soldiers of high-ranking officials, they can't eat fish and meat at once, but the people of Fanjiazhuang are so rich?

However, the fat bodies of the pedestrians on the road could not be pretended, and the facts were in front of them, and everyone could not believe them.

Cao Bianjiao shook his head and was speechless.

Wang Chengen, as a close confidant of the Son of Heaven, was originally a dignitary from the capital, and he was well-informed wherever he went. But in Fanjiazhuang, he always had a feeling of entering the city with dirt buns.

Wang Chengen was a little upset, he raised his horsewhip and pointed at the houses on both sides of the road, and asked, "Governor, why are the windows of those houses all hollowed out?" How is there only one framework? If you don't paste the window paper, aren't you afraid of wind and rain? ”

Li Xing looked at the windows of the houses on both sides of the road, smiled and said, "Angel, it's not a hollow window, it's all glass windows." ”

When Wang Chengen heard this, he was stunned for a long time and was speechless. Put expensive glass on the windows? How is this possible. Wang Chengen has a set of glass wine utensils, which are dozens of taels of expensive utensils. Knock the glass against the window, how much silver does it cost?

Wang Chengen felt like he was being played, and said in a low voice: "Governor, don't blame me. ”