Leaving the house, he roamed the busy streets on horseback, the sound of horses' hooves trampling, and in the distance a line of soldiers armed with spears and arquebuses patrolled. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

At this time, the arquebus was much stronger than in the previous life, both light and heavy. Now the only enemy is the Qi State that hangs alone overseas, following the iron smelting and forging technology of Huaxia, the level of heavy armor is not low, and the gun must have some that can break the heavy armor.

Flintlock muskets and bayonets were not armed, musketeers still needed spears for protection, and cavalry was too expensive, and only a few of the northern steppes remained in recent years. Qi was isolated overseas, and the cavalry could not solve the problem, which also led to the fact that today's military formation gradually developed towards a long and thin front after the civil war, and basically gave up the protection of the shock cavalry, and moved towards the road of wide frontal concentrated firepower.

There is no regular heavy cavalry in Huaxia now, only a group of light cavalry in the bitter cold land in the north is left, and they are also mixed into mounted infantry, and the whole of Huaxia cannot catch 3,000 regular shock cavalry.

However, the horses under Chen Jian's crotch are still strong, and the number of horses is extremely large, and there are no detours in breeding in China.

"Let's go to the docks first."

Chen Jian shouted, Zhang Xuan got off the horse and said, "You can't ride a horse when you go to the dock, there are too many people." Although our Mincheng is not as good as Xinxia and Huacheng, there are more than 100,000 people. Let's go by boat, there are boats on the river. ”

"Be careful on the road, especially when crossing the slums, be careful of being stolen. Nowadays, there are more and more children stealing, and if they are caught, they will find a way to escape from the workhouse......"

The two men dismounted, cleaned up, and walked along a gravel path toward the river.

The road is bustling with shops, but you can also see the low mud houses hidden in the back.

In a dirty corner full of urine smell near the river, several women in tattered clothes were eating at the door, and after seeing Chen Jian, they hurriedly swallowed their food, and ran over to ask Chen Jian if he wanted to relax, only thirty copper plates.

Jian Chen took a closer look, their faces were hungry and yellow, several of them had obvious finger disabilities, and a few of them were about the sequelae left after long-term labor, and their waists were a little bent.

Jian Chen stopped, Zhang Xuan hurriedly pulled him, and whispered, "Are you crazy?" Are you on these people too? Beware of illness. ”

"I'll just talk to them."

"You're so weird today, I've never seen you like this. I can't stand the smell of this place either, I'm waiting for you by the river. ”

After they dispersed, a woman pulled Chen Jian into the hut, and said as she walked: "This is legal, don't worry, we have a business license issued by the workhouse." ”

I walked into the room with my head down, and sure enough, there was a small printed business license on the dark wall, and there was nothing to call it furniture except for a dirty bed.

However, on the wall next to the bed was a stick figure drawn by a charcoal pen, apparently by a child, with two adults pulling a child on top and "Mom, Dad and I" written crookedly below.

Thirty coppers were found and put on the bed, and the woman was about to take off her clothes, Chen Jian shook his head and said, "Let's talk." ”

The woman grabbed the copper and counted it, and hurriedly hid it in her sleeve, and instead of that professional smile on her face, she smiled sincerely, and asked, "Are you from the Paupers?" Are you going to be elected to the council? ”

Chen Jian didn't know what the Poor People's Party was, but he didn't refute it, and said, "Yes." ”

He pointed to the painting on the wall and said, "This is a child's drawing?" ”

"Yes, my daughter. Now he is studying weaving in the workhouse school and comes back once a year. We're all like this, and when we come back, we don't do it, and my daughter doesn't know anything. ”

"Where's your man?"

"Work at the docks."

What the woman said was so taken for granted that she didn't even feel that something was wrong. Jian Chen choked suddenly in his heart, and it took a long time before asking, "How long have you been doing this?" ”

"Two years. When working, the fingers have large joints. Originally, before the Poor Law was changed, as long as the finger was chopped off, the minimum living allowance could be paid. Not now, you can't chop off your fingers, and whoever doesn't have a job must hurry to the workhouse......"

At the mention of the word workhouse, the woman trembled all over, as if her numb heart had touched the ice.

"I have swollen fingers, I can't do the work of weaving, where else can I compare to those veterans who work all year round? The workshops didn't want me, and I didn't have land, so I had to spend some money to get this business license to do this, and eat with my mouth. Without this card, he was to be arrested in a workhouse. ”

Jian Chen smiled: "Then if you do this, won't you have to rot to death in the future?" ”

"That's better than going inside. A few years ago, I heard that the group of people in the council said that people were poor because they were lazy, so the workhouse was changed. It must be treated strictly, and there are often those who are tired to death, so that they do not want to go to the workhouse, they must have something to do, and then people become industrious. It's hard to live inside, and dead bodies can be dissected, but that's fine. In the past, when the bodies of workhouses could not be dissected on a voluntary basis, it was common for people to find a way to kill them and sell them, and to fool the autopsy, so some people used to 'drown' in the river every year, especially at the beginning of the medical class. At least we can't be 'drowned' now. ”

"That's it, if you don't have money, you have to work, you can't be lazy, or you'll be arrested and put in a workhouse." Once inside, you realize that the work in the workshop outside is nothing, so you can only work harder to avoid being caught inside. The workers' compensation law has never been practiced, every vote cannot be passed, and those who do not have enough property do not have the right to vote......"

"Didn't you poor people say that you would raise taxes on the rich and build better workhouses? But where will the rich agree to it in the council? Sooner or later, it's rotten to death, just hoping that my daughter won't also rot to death, for decades, it's always okay, right? ”

Jian Chen raised his head and looked at the woman's eager and expectant eyes, thinking about the situation that fewer people would use it in a short period of time after the machine appeared, and said in his heart that it might be more severe if it was not enough for decades, but he said: "Yes, yes." ”

The woman took a long breath and said, "The ancestors will protect you, you are really a good person." Just like Ji Xia said back then, you will definitely be able to live to the lifespan given to you by your ancestors. ”

Jian Chen smiled and asked back, "Do you believe that you are poor because you are lazy?" ”

The woman laughed and said, "Anyway, when we were enlightened, it wasn't said in the book, and now I don't know if it's changed or not." At that time, it was just told us that we should study because we were poor, and it would be nice if we could be admitted to a public-owned secondary school. It just tells us that the law is the will of all the Chinese people set by the council, and that what is illegal must be wrong, so let us not break the law. We follow the rules of the Poor Law, but it's not that you're poor because you're lazy. ”

Jian Chen sighed and asked, "What did you learn when you were enlightened?" ”

"The rules set by Ji Xia have been enlightened for five years, and no one dares to change them. Literacy, counting, regulations, and then looking at where it is, like our mother, who is a weaver, learned to weave, and after learning it, she was able to work directly. The book says that enlightenment is to be disciplined and to work faster. ”

"Tsk, I still left some truth......"

The two of them chatted a few more words, estimated the time, Chen Jian got up to say goodbye, did not give another copper, left the somewhat foul-smelling streets and alleys, and rubbed his head.

On the small pier by the river, Zhang Xuan was already bored waiting, and when he saw Chen Jian thinking about the time he had spent before, he smiled maliciously, shook his head and said, "Even if you are poor, you don't need to save this share, right?" It's more than thirty copper plates to go to the pharmacy to buy a few mercury fire pills, and besides, that thing can easily lose your stuff, but be careful. ”

"By the way, speaking of which, the person who made the mercury fire pill was the one who accidentally made the recipe after getting a big sore, and it was on the pamphlet of "Herbal Medicine", and it was patented, and he was given a copper to sell one. If you get sick, you can think of a better way, maybe you'll get rich, hahaha. ”

Chen Jian also scolded a few words, got on the boat, and went down the river.

The closer you get to the sea, the more prosperous it becomes, and the river is constantly filled with coke, rice, coal, cloth, silk, or primitive pottery, and the shore is bustling with people's waists full, and many people carrying all kinds of tools waiting there.

The bridge over the river is very special, the arc is large enough to facilitate the passage of boats, some trees are planted on both sides of the riverbank, and horse-drawn four-wheeled carts move on the flat ground.

The road is wide, and it is difficult for a four-wheeled car to turn, and the arc is very large, and the steering device should not be there, but it is suitable for such wide flat land. The wheels creaked.

There are also people coming and going in the wine shop near the river, and from time to time there is a strange fragrance, it seems that the clansmen have inherited the delicious habits of the Xia people in the previous life, and there is a large row of pottery jars for making soy sauce next to it, a few guys are stirring there, and the shopkeeper behind sits in the sun holding a book and reading it with relish.

There is a fort built near the dock, several large ships with hard sails are loading and unloading goods, and there are several soft sailing ships next to them, which are all the estimates that Chen Jian left in the book in the last twenty years of his previous life.

The two warships are hung with dragon flags, two guns in the front and rear, and there seems to be a ramming angle in the bow, and it seems that the overboard battle is still the mainstream.

A group of hired workers shouted to load and unload goods, a group of people waited there, packing their own goods, and several large carriages loaded with boxes of goods, accidentally scattered on the ground, blown by the wind, turned out to be a box of books.

The man behind him, a bookseller, with a pair of expensive glass glasses, scolded the man who was loaded with the goods, and carefully examined the books that had fallen on the ground.

Chen Jian jumped off the boat and walked towards the bookseller, Zhang Xuan was secretly surprised, and said that this guy is really strange today, even when he was in the school, he didn't see him like this, here are some engraved Fu Zi books, but there is nothing he wants to see, then he has to find a manuscript.

I felt more and more weird, and I couldn't help but feel cold, and I shivered all over, secretly wondering if there was really a supernatural thing like soul possession?