Zhu Youzhen, the son of heaven, took Wang Chengen and Wang Dehua, who were dressed as entourage, and rode horses in the western suburbs of Tianjin. Pen % fun % Pavilion www.biquge.info

Zhu Youzhen came to Tianjin to cut the ribbon for the railway.

After Wang Dehua's Dongchang Fanzi took control of the Forbidden City, the civil officials no longer dared to manipulate Zhu Youzhen, and Zhu Youzhen could enter and leave the palace gate at will. In view of the fate of Gong Dingyu and others who stopped the car, no official dared to stop Zhu Youzhen. Only then did Zhu Youzhen really have the opportunity to observe the people's feelings and understand the actual situation of the people.

Zhu Youzhen is like a bird that has been locked up for a long time and has regained his freedom, and he is very excited. These days, he often changes into people's clothes and makes private visits to various places in the capital.

In a private interview with Weifu, Zhu Youzhen found a lot of problems. In just two months, Zhu Youzhen has dealt with 57 large and small officials in a private interview with Weifu.

Of course, the situation in the capital and Beizhili is like that, there are not too many new things, what Zhu Youzhen can find is nothing more than how shameless the local civil officials and gentry are, and how bizarre and dark the officialdom of the Ming Dynasty is.

Zhu Youzhen wanted to see Li Zhi's one town and six provinces, especially Tianjin and Liaodong.

The reason why Zhu Youzhen wanted to come to Tianjin was because Wang Dehua's Dongchang report mentioned Tianjin's civilization and prosperity countless times. It is said that the people there act according to public morality, and the officials are honest and honest. Li Zhi relied on Tianjin to become the most powerful warlord of the Ming Dynasty, stronger than the imperial court, which made Zhu Youzhen want to see with his own eyes what Tianjin was like.

Zhu Youzhen wanted to see with his own eyes why Tianjin could make Li Zhi so strong.

As for Liaodong, Zhu Youzhen also wanted to go and see it. That's because Tianjin represents his great martial arts. As an emperor, he was able to destroy the Manchu Qing Dynasty, which had ravaged the Ming Dynasty for decades, and Zhu Youzhen was a little complacent. He wanted to see what this lost land was like, and to see if this land expansion function would make him famous as a hero.

Zhu Youzhen's opportunity soon came.

Li Zhi also knew that the Son of Heaven had made frequent private visits to Weifu recently, and knew that the Son of Heaven would come to Tianjin sooner or later to have a look. It just so happened that the railway network built in Liaodong was connected, and Li Zhi invited Zhu Youzhen to "cut the ribbon".

Zhu Youzhen took advantage of this reason to enter Tianjin. However, he had the heart to understand the people in Tianjin, but he did not play the honor guard of the Son of Heaven on the road, but put on the official uniform of the second grade, and took more than 50 fans dressed as family members, dressed as a governor.

As soon as he entered the boundary of Tianjin, Zhu Youzhen was surprised by the official road built of cement. Unlike the potholed official roads on the boundary of Beizhili, Tianjin's cement official roads are flat and wide. The official road is about six meters wide, slightly higher in the middle and slightly lower on both sides, and can accommodate four horse-drawn carriages in parallel. There are many horse-drawn carriages carrying goods on the official road, and the most common one is the grain cart that transports grain to the capital.

Even the roads in the inner city of the capital are not as magnificent as this cement avenue.

Zhu Youzhen pondered for a long time on the horse, and asked Wang Dehua: "Wang Dehua, when was this road built?" ”

"Back to the saint, this official road was built in the seventeenth year of Chongzhen. At that time, there were more and more horse-drawn carriages transporting goods from Tianjin to the capital, and the original road was overwhelmed, so the king of Tianjin funded the construction of such a cement road. After the completion of this road, the number of goods exported from Tianjin to the capital increased greatly. ”

After a pause, Wang Dehua said: "However, this road is actually only half built, and it is only built on the boundary of Tianjin, and it is still a dirt road when you enter the boundary of the Shuntian Governor." The king of Tianjin intended to let the governor of Shuntian build the other half, and the saying at that time was that Tianjin would pay half of the money and Shuntian would pay half of the money, and later the king of Tianjin said that he was willing to pay seventy percent of the money. Liu Yuantao, the governor of Shuntian, was always unwilling, saying that Tianjin would not repair all the money. ”

When Zhu Youzhen heard Wang Dehua's report, he frowned and scolded: "Bastard thing, such a road that benefits the country and the people, why don't you repair it?" Send someone to check on this Liu Yuantao to see if he is involved with the Jiangbei Army and deliberately embarrass the king of Tianjin. ”

"If it turns out that he is a courtier, take him down!"

Wang Dehua bent down and shouted: "The slave takes the order!" ”

Zhu Youzhen took a breath and took a long time to regain his mood.

Walking a little further, Zhu Youzhen saw a village in the distance, pointed to the horsewhip and said, "Let's go, go to the countryside of Tianjin to have a look." ”

More than 20 fans disguised as family members immediately rode out of the official road and galloped towards the village. The fans first went to the village to check if there were any villains, and after making sure that there was no danger, Zhu Youzhen slowly drove the horse away.

The village looked very affluent, and the peasant houses were all courtyards of two colors. The yard is made of bricks and tiles, and the outside is coated with snow-white lime. There are small gatehouses at the entrance of the courtyard, and at first glance, it looks like dozens of small landlords' houses are crowded together.

The road outside the village is a dirt road, but as soon as you get close to the village, it becomes a concrete road.

At this time, the wheat has been harvested, and it is not yet time to sow seeds. The people in the village were spending time in the courtyard, but they were startled by the sound of the horses' hooves. One by one, the villagers stood at the gate of their courtyards, looking in amazement at what was happening.

Zhu You checked into the village, looked at the people around him, and found that although those people were all wearing simple cotton clothes, the cotton clothes were quite new, and none of them had patches on their bodies. Although these peasants were in the countryside, they were very clean on their bodies and heads, and apparently bathed frequently, unlike the unkempt peasants in other places.

Jumping off the horse, Zhu Youzhen said to the people around him: "This official has disturbed you!" ”

When the villagers saw a big official coming, they understood what was going on, and they bent down one by one to salute Zhu Youzhen.

Zhu Youzhen was stunned when he saw that these people did not kneel down to him.

Wang Chengen couldn't stand it anymore, and shouted: "Why don't you kneel when you see the governor of the hall?" ”

The peasants looked at each other for a while, and the last old man with white hair said, "Lord Governor, the prince advocates less kneeling in the newspapers. The prince said, there is gold under the man's knees, and the man should be virtuous and martial arts, stand up to the sky and the earth, and not bend his knees easily. On weekdays, even if we see the prince's guard of honor, we will also salute. Unless we are thankful for the favor of the king, we usually do not kneel. ”

Wang Chengen was stunned and speechless for a while.

Zhu Youzhen waved his hand at Wang Chengen, signaling him not to talk about this topic anymore.

Stroking his beard, Zhu Youzhen asked the old man: "Villager elder, I see that the houses in this village are all very decently repaired, how much does your annual income be?" ”

When the villager heard the governor from outside ask about his income, he laughed and became a little proud.

"My lord, the income of our people in Tianjin is not low. I live with my son, and my son and daughter-in-law use machinery to cultivate the prince's 120 acres of public land, and they can harvest more than 100 stone of grain every year. Fifty percent of these grains were given to the prince as land rent, and the remaining more than 60 stones were his own, and the official warehouse sold to the prince was more than 120 taels of silver. ”

"Of course, there is a maintenance fee for farm machinery and water wheels, and my son uses four ploughing oxen, which also cost silver to take care of on weekdays. Together, these cost more than thirty taels of silver a year. ”

"In the end, my son and daughter-in-law can earn ninety taels of silver a year. My son has raised four children, all of whom are chubby for nothing. ”

"My lord, look at my family's mansion, it only cost my son half a year's income to build these two mansions."

After the old man said this, he laughed in front of Zhu Youzhen.