Yang He and others entered the city, but it was better to enter Pizhou City at the beginning, and the people who guarded the city saw that Yang He and others were not easy to provoke, so they didn't dare to investigate. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

But these battalion soldiers obviously don't care, especially Hu Cheng came forward, his "Suqian Chaotian Pot" has been famous in Suqian City, and the magistrate county has said that it is good to eat, and many yamen dinners are often selected in Chaotian Pot.

Dai Guozhu, the general soldier of the local guard, is also a frequent visitor to Chaotian Pot, and many generals know the boss of this Chaotian Pot, and especially appreciate his boldness and generosity.

Hu Cheng had already changed his regular clothes in Donghekou, wearing a signature green robe, and came out loudly and said that this was the new Lian General Yang He of Pizhou, and he was fortunate to meet him on the road, saying that Lord Yang entered the city this time to see the governor, and the brothers should not be neglected.

The battalion soldiers guarding the gate were even more surprised, looking at Yang He whispering, obviously they also knew about Yang He's several defeats.

Even the people and merchants who entered and left the city were surprised when they heard it, and pointed at Yang He.

Those who had good deeds looked at Qian Sanniang and Li Ruwan who were riding on the horses and were amazed.

In the crowd watching, soon Yang He and others entered the city, and after Hu Cheng came forward, the battalion soldiers did not ask, and they didn't even look at Yang He's tooth card, but the team guarding the door always greeted Hu Cheng affectionately, saying that he would go to his "Chaotian Pot" to have a good time another day.

Yang He shook his head slightly, if he guards the city, no matter who enters the city, then he must find out.

Soon everyone entered the city, and the houses were lined up one after another, and the Huangyun Wharf was still quite lively at the west gate. Listening to the accents of the people, it is similar to Pizhou and Suining, and basically Pizhou, one state and two counties belong to the same dialect.

This side is more lively than Suining, but the wealth of the people is also limited, and many people have the same face and patches on their bodies.

Suqian also belongs to a part of the "poor", the Yellow River seizes the Huai into the sea, the original smooth drainage and irrigation water system is all destroyed, Yi, Shu, Wu, Si and other water systems lose their channels, in Sumu and other places in the roundabout flooding, often flood.

In addition, the Yellow River is raging, and after the flood, there is a drought, and the fields are barren and overgrown, and most of them are locusts, and the people here are just as miserable.

Walking on the street, Yang He found that there seemed to be a lot less young and strong in the city, and listened to the residents on the street, but it was the "Barrage River" opening in the north of Suqian, and many people were recruited to work.

Someone said happily: "Shi Xianggong uses work for relief, and we have food before autumn sowing, so we can save a lot of rations." ”

Some people also complained: "Alas, the summer grain has just been harvested, and the wheat costs more than two taels per stone, so don't let the people live?" It would be nice if Wanli Ye was here. ”

Someone then sighed: "Yes, it was so comfortable at that time, the rice money was fifty yuan, the salt money was more than ten yuan, and the duck and chicken money were more than twenty yuan, and everything was easy." A small family earns twenty or thirty yuan a day, and they can live a day. Big fish and meat cost only two or three dollars a day. The three provincial roads in Beijing have not been forgotten, and those who have not closed their doors at night have been closed for forty-eight years, and Wanli Ye is really the king of Yao Shun. ”

Yang He listened to the people's discussions, the Ming citizen class is developed, this side is in Xuhuai Yaochong, Huangyun Wharf, more businessmen, workers, all rely on buying rice to eat, and are particularly sensitive to price fluctuations.

Not to mention the hard-working generation born in the year of the Apocalypse and the Year of Chongzhen, most of the people who complained on the street were middle-aged and elderly people, who came from the rich and stable Wanli years.

At that time, the order was stable, the price was low, one tael of silver could buy rice and two stones, a five-pound pig's head was less than a penny, a two-pound chicken was two or three cents of silver, a hundred-pound fat pig was more than one or two silver, and a thirty-pound sheep was only more than four dollars.

Even in the last years of Wanli, one or two pieces of silver can buy rice and one stone, and the price of chickens, ducks and sheep has risen slightly, but the people can afford it, and it is not as outrageous as the current prices. Even the price of green and yellow rice rose to five or six taels, chicken and duck eggs rose to thirty or forty yuan, and a chicken rose to more than 1,000 yuan.

At that time, there were people everywhere, and the women of the small maids were only one thousand and twenty-three, and the price of a person was not as good as that of a chicken, so it was understandable to complain.

Yang He felt that if someone did a good job in production and restored prices to the level of the last year of Wanli, everyone would be able to praise him. If it can be restored to the level of the middle of the Wanli period, it will be immeasurably meritorious.

Soon everyone arrived at the entrance of the street, the county government is in the slightly north middle line of the city, there are two parallel streets in the north and south here, the county government is "Xuanren Street" in the west, "Yunlu Street" in the east, and they were renamed "Xingfu Street" and "Fugui Street" after the Qing Dynasty.

Along the way, Yang He also found that there are many local temples, from the town of Huangmen to the street to find several, the whole city more. It may be that floods and droughts are frequent, and the local people want to beg for the protection of the gods, and they are at the intersection of the north-south traffic, so they build more monasteries.

It is no wonder that this piece has the saying of "Shuyang Rich Lord Suqian Temple".

Suqian Chaotian pot is also at the entrance of Xuanren Street, although the south of the city is more lively, but it is built here, close to the county government, and the influence is greater.

The entrance of Xuanren Street is paved with bluestone, and the two-story building of the "Chaotian Pot" shop stands in the southeast of the street, and everyone enters from the backyard, the shadows of the trees are swaying, and it is cool and quiet. When you enter the inside, you feel comfortable up and down, and the heat disappears.

Li Ruwan sighed: "This place, Master Hu, you can really enjoy it." ”

Hu Cheng looked at him and said to Yang He: "Do you want to rest?" Wait for the subordinates to go down and make a place for the prime minister to rest, bathe and change clothes. Then let the chef prepare some famous Shandong dishes, the staple food of Chaotian pot, and wash the dust for Yang Xianggong at night. ”

Not long after he arrived in Pizhou, he was called back by Yang He's envoy, and then he came to Suqian without any preparations.

Yang He was about to answer, when he saw a person come in cheering, and shouted, "Hu Ye is back?" So that Hu Ye knows that the sedan body of the carriage has been made, and the authentic goods of the Huai'an Wangying. I saw it, it was really magnificent, beautiful and elegant, sturdy and atmospheric. ”

Hu Cheng coughed repeatedly, and the man was stunned when he saw everyone in the courtyard.

Li Ruwan said: "Okay, the carriage is still ready, and it is still the carriage produced by the King of Huai'an." It's precious, the cost of a car is twice as much as that of other places, and it is said that there is no corruption? ”

Hu Cheng peeked at Yang He's face, and argued: "This is a must, as a businessman, these are all deserved." ”

He even said to Yang Daodao: "Let Yang Xianggong know that when he goes out to do business, there is no good car or sedan car, which will make people look down on people, and many things are not easy to do." This is also very expensive to make friends with three religions and nine streams. However, I am loyal to my husband, and every expense is recorded. ”

He argued, glaring at Li Ruwan angrily, this mother-in-law is troublesome.

Yang He didn't seem to smile, but he didn't mention it, and only said to everyone: "Okay, when we get to Suqian, let's go to see Shi Duchen." Director Hu stayed, and the rest followed me, but the handcuffs were left behind, and my Xin'anzhuang firearm was not seen well by outsiders. ”

Hu Cheng breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Yang Xianggong doesn't stop, go again tomorrow?" ”

Yang He said, "No need, go now." ”

Yang He decided to go to see Shi Kefa now, as a subordinate official, to pay homage to the governor of a place, whether Shi Kefa saw him or not, this attitude should be put out, how could he rest for a few days before going?

When he came, he also heard from Hu Cheng that when Governor Shi Kefa came to Suqian, he used to live in the Confucian Temple, but now in order to facilitate the command of the "Barrage River" project, about ten miles north of the city, it has been moved to the Dong Gong Temple on the southern ridge of Pusan, outside the northeast of the city.

There are Yu Gong Ancestral Hall and Dong Gong Ancestral Hall in this county, both are famous counties in the Wanli period, Yu Wenwei and Dong Zeyu, both of them have made great achievements during their tenure, and the local people have established a special shrine for them after leaving office, and they have been sacrificed for generations, and they have also been recognized by the official sacrifice.

As the governor of Caoyun, Shi Kefa's every move attracts attention, and the place where he lives naturally has to be carefully chosen.

The Confucian Temple and the Dong Gong Ancestral Hall belong to the official ancestral temples, such as the City God Temple, the Wenchang Temple, the Wind and Thunder Rain Mountains and Rivers, the Sheji Altar, etc., all belong to the official building, and the county chronicles are repaired in various places, and the section of "Ancestral Temple" is also placed in front of the chronicles.

These are all enjoying the sacrificial ceremonies of Confucianism, just like the God of Haotian, and belong to the righteous gods of Confucianism.

As for the temples cultivated by the Buddha's Taoism and the Yaye Sects, strictly speaking, they can only be called temples, and do not enjoy the public sacrifices of the imperial court.

Shi Kefa, as a local magistrate and an orthodox Confucian disciple, pays great attention to this, whether he lives in the Temple of Literature and the Dong Gong Ancestral Hall, he can't find the slightest fault.

And Dong Gong Ancestral Hall is next to the official road in the northeast of the city, which is not difficult to find.

At that moment, Yang He washed his face casually, and his handcuffs were left, but the double insertion of the saddle and the saddle was carried.

Everyone is too, the handcuffs and wings are all left, and Qian Sanniang also asked Uncle Wan to stay and take care of them.

However, I will soon see the high-ranking officials of the second grade, the governors of a place, and to be honest, everyone is still a little frightened.

Shi Kefa was the head of the household at this time, the right deputy capital imperial history, and the official rank was in the third rank, but because he was promoted to the position of governor and governor, he was promoted to the second rank.

Because he is not a scholar, outsiders generally call him Shi Du, or Shi Duchen, but in history, when he was the governor of Jiangbei Military Affairs of the Ministry of War, he was called the Inspector, or the Cabinet Department, which is also the origin of the Shi Cabinet Department.

For the military and civilians of Huai'an Mansion, Shi Kefa is the biggest official in the local area, and there is still a grass mentality with the guards, and he is subconsciously afraid of seeing the big officials.

……

Soon Yang He and the others went out from the backyard, walked to the "Xuanren Street", turned to the east, and soon exited from the "Yangchun Gate" in the east and turned to the north.

At this time, the middle canal was not excavated and opened, and the east of Suqian City was relatively desolate, and there was only one big lake in Shiqiu Lake (a piece of Shunhe Town in later generations), and there were dozens of miles around, but it was silted into flat land in the Kangxi period.

Yang He and the others walked north along the path on the edge of the city, the wilderness was patchy, and there were no closed houses, and under the scorching sun, everyone was soon sweating again, and the wind and dust were served.

Fortunately, I soon saw Dong Gong Ancestral Hall, which was not far from Tongjing Avenue, which was from Nanjing to Huai'an, and passed outside the west gate of Suqian City, and then from the northeast of the city to Tancheng, Shandong.

A small hill behind the ancestral temple, the ancestral hall and the mountain are full of pine locust and other trees, a high sitting flag flutters on the side of the ancestral hall, several ironclad soldiers with helmets and armor at the door, all of them are bright armor, the armor is exposed outside, and the sun is shining.

Presumably, these people are the guards of Shi Kefa's standard battalion, the equipment is not bad, all of them are dressed in iron armor, quite mighty and strong, although it is really uncomfortable to wear iron armor on a hot day.

However, Yang He also saw that Shi Kefa's travel was very simple, the pomp was not big, and he lived in a small place, otherwise the flag guard of honor for the governor's trip would be stacked one after another, and there would be hundreds of staff guards and so on.

Looking at a few horses, the guards at the gate of the temple were all on guard, all holding down their swords and spears, their eyes were sharp, and they were slaughtering.

Yang He and the others dismounted, Chen Qiuao stepped forward, saying that he was under the command of the new Pizhou Lian General Yang He, and behind him was Lord Yang, who was ordered to come to pay homage to Shi Du.

"Yang He?" At this time, a sonorous voice sounded, and then a general came out of the ancestral hall, also wearing iron armor, and the nail leaves clanged when walking.

There are also double inserts, the left bow and the right arrow, the bow is also a Shangli Kaiyuan bow, and the arrows are all wolf's tooth armor-piercing arrows.

Seeing that he is less than thirty years old, his appearance is somewhat elegant, but with a calm and murderous aura, his red cloak is full of mottled bloodstains, and he speaks with a Shanxi Datong accent: "But the new Pizhou Lian General Yang He? ”

Yang He stepped forward and said, "It's the lower official, dare to ask the general?" ”

The general replied: "The last general, Steady, is waiting for Lord Yang here by the order of the governor." ”

Yang Hedao: "It turned out to be General Shi." ”

The two said a few words, it turned out that Shi Kefa was not in the Dong Gong Temple now, but he was supervising the construction site in the north.

Recently, he has always been resting day and night, sometimes even at night, and if Lord Yang wants to pay homage in the temple, Steawell can't tell when Shi Du will come back. If he wanted to meet him at the construction site to the north, Stilwell could take him there now.

It could be seen that Stilwell was quite curious about Yang He, and looked at him from time to time.

and also curious about Qian Sanniang and Li Ruwan, who were quiet behind Yang He, after several great victories, Xiucai Yang He was quite well-known in Huai'an Mansion, and many of his subordinates were cited as legendary figures, especially female figures.

Listening to Stilwell's tone, it seemed that Shi Kefa attached great importance to Yang He, and specially ordered a general to wait here to greet him.

Naturally, Yang He couldn't wait stupidly here, and in terms of officialdom knowledge, it was better to go to the construction site to meet him.

At that moment, Yang He and the others got on the horse again, and Steady led the way, all of them were well-equipped, with a strong sense of slaughter, and there was a strong evil aura on their bodies.

Yang He felt that although they were not as good as Liu Qilang and the others, they were not too far behind, and they were the elite of the Biao Supervision Battalion.

However, Yang He knew that there were not many people like Shi Kefa, and in the case of the entire Governor Battalion, there would not be more than 1,000 such elite horses.

Stilwell led the way, he didn't talk much, but Yang He could feel that this person was an unusual general, and he had a taste of both civil and military.

He also knows a little about this person, Shanxi Datong Zuowei, good at riding and archery since he was a child, knowing the art of war, Chongzhen 14 years under the command of Shi Kefa. The battle of Yangzhou in history is considered to be the righteous son, and afterwards the history of the law was buried in Meihualing outside Yangzhou, and finally escaped from the world, entertaining himself with poetry and wine.

Looking at the bows and quivers he used, they were all quite old, with a faint glow of blood on them, and there was obviously a rich story on them.

Stilwell rode his horse all the way, and from time to time he also looked at Yang He beside him, he knew that this person was a showman, but the bow and arrow hanging on the saddle were also twelve-force bows, and he couldn't help but be secretly surprised.

At the beginning of his tenure, Haikou Gu San Mazi led hundreds of warships to attack, Yan Yingyuan led the troops to refuse, fired three arrows in a row, and someone fell more than 100 steps away.

The sea invaders were frightened, so they did not dare to commit it again, and the people of Jiangyin were virtuous.

Stilwell once met Yan Yingyuan, admired and admired him very much, and was cited as a hero.

But now I saw another one, which made him greatly change his opinion of readers, not only nerds, but also heroes who are both civil and military.

And many of the things that Yang Lian did were also sensational, several battles against the rogues were all victorious, and even the last time, he killed and injured thousands of thieves, and even He Yong, the nephew of the leather thief He Yilong, was killed by him.

Yang He fought against the rogue in two groups of people and three waves, and for the first time, someone said strange things, thinking that he was lucky and lucky, and succeeded in ambushing while the rogue was unprepared.

But the second time most of the thieves attacked the city, and the third time the thieves and others went north, and the three great victories, it was not a fluke, but a real ability.

And seeing that the guards behind him are all elite, if he is wearing iron armor, he is afraid that he will not be inferior to the brothers beside him, especially the women inside, who use heavy swords and axes, and it seems that they can also ride and shoot.

If all his men and soldiers were like that, it would be terrible.

Stilwell felt that if he had the opportunity, he could have a good exchange with Yang Lian about the art of war.

……

Under the scorching sun, everyone went north, about ten miles, and when everyone was sweating, they saw that there were more people in front of them, and finally they were densely packed, and I was afraid that there were tens of thousands.

They were digging along the line, picking up dirt carts, and some people were laying stones along the dug river, and then looking at the spread of the sheds on both sides, all kinds of flags, which can be described as noisy.

Yang He heard some differences in the accents of the people, and it seemed that not only people from Suqian County, but also a large number of people from neighboring counties, obviously came to work and earn food before the autumn sowing.

Earlier, he also heard Stilwell say that on the north side of Suqian City, it is the "Barrage River" project that is being carried out, starting from the Yanghe River beach at the mouth of Luoma Lake in the west, and then digging the Wuhua Bridge at the foot of Maling Mountain, and finally diverting the lake water to the east and flowing into the Shiqiu Lake in the east of Suqian.

The total length is more than 20 miles, and it is necessary to dig more than 10 miles of mountains and rivers in the middle, and the amount of work is not small, but because of the large number of people, the project of "barrage river" should be completed before autumn sowing.

This river is also the predecessor of the Liutang River in the Qing Dynasty and one of the famous projects in the late Ming Dynasty.

Yang He saw that a large number of people were busy working under the scorching sun, because Shi Kefa brought grain from Nanjing and Huai'an, and there was also a salary after the completion of the project, so the people were very motivated.

On a small hill in front, there are many people, and it seems that many people are pointing at the river, and many of them are still wearing official uniforms.

Around the mountain bag, there were also some guards in helmets and armor, all holding swords and spears under the scorching sun, strictly guarding.

Not far from the mountain bag, there was also a general over there with a few armor soldiers, the general was burly, in his thirties, his face was quite windy, frosty and dusty, his face was even more red from the sun, and his body seemed to have a high temperature of 50 degrees.

Shi Dewei stepped forward and said: "General Wen, this is Lord Yang, the head of Pizhou Lian, who came to pay a visit on the order of the governor." ”

The "General Wen" glanced at Yang He up and down for a while, and said, "Lord Yang can go over, but you, the guards, must stay here." ”

His face was expressionless, and several armor soldiers behind him were also eyeing him, Chen Qiuao, Qian Sanniang and others all looked at Yang He, especially in Qian Sanniang's eyes, there was a faint murderous aura.

Stilwell glanced at Yang He apologetically, but did not dissuade him, for him, escorting Shi Du up, these are all due meanings.

Yang He smiled slightly: "Lao Chen, Sanniang, you stay here." ”

He followed Stilwell and "General Wen" to the mountain, and when he was about to arrive at the mountain, the "General Wen" looked at the bow and arrow on Yang He's saddle and the horse chopping knife on his body, frowned slightly, and suddenly said: "Lord Yang, these weapons of yours must also be removed." ”

Yang He frowned, and then a soft voice said, "No need, General Wen, let President Yang Lian come up." ”

Yang He dismounted under the mountain bag, and Steve Stewell beside him also dismounted, and the accompanying armor soldier looked at the two horses, and the two went up to the bag.

General Wen stayed at the bottom of the mountain, just looking at Chen Qiuao and the others not far away.