The first month of the 35th year of Jiajing was an extremely cold winter.

Since around the beginning of childhood, groups of refugees with their families have flocked to Yanjing, the capital of the Ming Empire, from all directions.

Most of these people have a Guanzhong accent, and many of them seem to be from Zhili, Shandong, and Henan, and they wear ragged cotton jackets, with straw ropes around their waists, and carry shivering children and black and torn quilts with flat poles, or begging along the streets, or looking for a place to give porridge everywhere, and they want to live with difficulty and humility.

At first, the people of the capital still felt that these people were quite pitiful, and let them live under the shop houses and alleys, but as time went by, the number of refugees increased explosively, and within a few days after the New Year, there were more than 100,000 people pouring in, and there was a trend of continuing to soar, and all kinds of public security incidents naturally increased simultaneously.

The anxious Shuntianfu Yin looked at it, and said in his heart that it would not work like this, so he played the emperor and asked for the expulsion of the victims, but Emperor Jiajing was making amends with God, how could he agree to such a thing? But it is really not a way to live together, so Yan Ge Lao came up with an idea: "Move all the victims to the outer city, and don't allow them to enter the inner city." ”

The emperor felt that it was good, so he ordered Shuntianfu to follow this and gather all the victims to settle in the outer city...... Yanjing City in the Ming Dynasty originally had no outer city, and the nine gates of the capital were the outer city gates, but after a long time, the population gradually increased, and the suburbs of Beijing also prospered...... To be more precise, it is the southern suburbs, where there are many residential shops, which have gradually developed into a scale, and even the Temple of Heaven and the Altar of Xiannong, where the royal sacrifices were built.

At the same time, hidden dangers are born, you must know that Yanjing City is extremely close to the Mongolian steppe, which is the throat of the southern direction, and Emperor Chengzu moved the capital here in order to 'guard the country by the Son of Heaven'! At the beginning of the country, there was no problem with the Mongols, but later the national strength declined, and the Tatar Wara soldiers came to the city many times, and the suburbs of Beijing without the protection of the city wall would be ravaged every time.

Therefore, some officials suggested that an outer city with a circumference of about 80 miles should be built on the outskirts of the capital for security. For various reasons, it has been delayed until a few years ago, and the first to be built is the southern suburbs outside Zhengyangmen, but soon after the start of construction, it is difficult to continue due to lack of funds...... This can't be blamed for the imperial court's failure to raise funds early, who would have expected that the imperial court's tax-paying land would be ravaged by the Japanese invaders?

In desperation, Emperor Jiajing sent Yan Ge to find a way. There is a saying that 'it is difficult for a good woman to cook without rice', not to mention that Yan Ge Lao is not a good woman, isn't this obviously embarrassing? After thinking about it, I finally came up with a solution that was not a way - only build the southern line of the city wall, and the other three sides will be talked about when there is money in the future.

As a result, the 'Hui' glyph on the original design drawing Yanjing City has become the current 'convex' glyph.

This section of the southern outer wall was basically completed last summer, with a total length of 28 li, and there are seven city gates, the main gate is named 'Yongding Gate', and the rest are all names such as 'Zuo'an', 'You'an', 'Yongning', etc., which are given by the peace-loving Yan Ge Lao.

It was expected that within half a year of completion, the great earthquake in Layueli shook this section of the city wall for more than ten miles, and the city gate also fell in several places, and its damage was much more serious than the old city wall of the inner city of more than 150 years.

But the Yongding Gate, which is the main passage in and out of the capital, was unscathed.

Now Shen Mo is standing outside this pavilion-style city gate tower with nearly ten zhang high gray bricks and green tiles cut on the top and three drops of water on the mountain, looking at the new city walls with obvious cracks on both sides, and I can't tell what it feels like.

But Zhu Shisan was so angry that he ran to the city to pick up a broken city brick, took it and broke it hard, but it was broken in two, and he said indignantly: "Is this a city brick?" This is worse than the bars we ate in Shandong! Fuck Yan Shifan, is there any money he doesn't dare to be greedy for? ”

Shen Mo looked at the soldiers patrolling under the city wall, who had already probed his head to look over, and couldn't help laughing: "This is what you people from Beizhen Fusi dare to say." "As soon as I heard that it was the Jinyi Guard, those soldiers avoided it, how far and how far they flashed.

Zhu Shisan also felt a little speechless, although he was not afraid of the Yan family's father and son, but he didn't want to cause trouble for the governor of the capital, threw away the two city bricks, clapped his hands and said: "You can do whatever you want outside, you have to pay attention when you return to the capital." This seems to be said to himself, but in fact, it is also a reminder of silence.

Of course, Shen Mo understood, and said with his head bowed: "Yes, you can't ask for trouble...... I told my family not to go to Beijing with us. ”

"There's no need to be in such a hurry," Zhu Shisan said, "Let's wait until we enter the front door." ”

"No need," Shen Mo smiled, "just now." Then he turned and walked to a carriage behind him. The road was bumpy and bumpy, and the original carriage had already fallen apart, and this one was only bought in Tongzhou.

He knocked lightly on the car door, Rou Niang opened it from the inside, and the north wind poured in at once, and he didn't want a stool for silence, so he quickly grabbed the wall of the car and closed the car door hard. Looking inside, I saw Ruohan hugging the thick quilt and sleeping deeply.

Shen Mo slowed down his hands and feet, and said in a low voice, "Are you better?" "But it's Rou Niang who asked.

Rou Niang whispered: "I took the medicine and just fell asleep." "When he was in Tianjin, Ruohan suffered from some wind and cold, coupled with the fatigue of running all the way, and finally fell ill.

Shen Mo walked to Ruohan and sat down, looking at the emaciated and sickly face, he was very sad, he reached out and gently pulled her back, and the hair stuck to his forehead woke Ruohan up, and after seeing his sad face, he smiled and said: "It's okay, I feel much more relaxed, and I've seen it." ”

Shen Mo saw that she was sick like this, and she didn't forget to comfort herself, she couldn't help but be even more bitter, holding Ruohan's little hand tightly, and said distressedly: "If I knew that the journey of a thousand miles was so difficult, I wouldn't have let you come with me." ”

Ruohan leaned his little face against his hand and whispered, "It's all my fault, it's really useless......"

Shen Mo shook his head, and said with a turbid breath: "I should say this." ”

The separation was imminent, Ruohan didn't want him to be entangled, cheered up, got up and smiled: "What are we doing here?" Isn't it just a little chill, even if you don't take medicine, two days will pass. ”

Shen Mo put her back again, wrapped her tightly in the quilt, and whispered: "When you enter the capital, go to Zhengyangmen to find the best guest room, and wait for me there obediently." ”

"You...... Is this leaving? Ruohan couldn't laugh anymore: "Nothing will happen, right?" ”

"Don't worry." Shen Mo smiled: "Zhu Shisan has already confessed to me, saying that this matter has been dredged, and I will come back mostly to go through the motions, and there will be no big problem." He said with a smile: "Maybe after three or five or seven days, we will see each other again." ”

Ruohan bit his lower lip tightly and said, "I hope so......"

Shen Mo looked at Rou Niang again and said, "Let Tiezhu go and invite the most famous doctor in the capital to buy the best medicine, regardless of the price, so as to be foolproof." He was really not at ease with the medical level of this era, for fear that those quacks would cure the deaf into mute.

Rou Niang nodded obediently and said, "The slave knows, don't worry, my lord." ”

"So, I'm leaving." Shen Mo glanced at his fiancée deeply, and turned his worry and reluctance into a deep kiss.

Regardless of Rou Niang's side, Ruohan responded to him warmly, and the two kissed passionately, just wanting to be forever.

Disappointed, the convoy that went into the city silently touched the sachet in his arms, which Ruohan had been carrying closely, and it was said that it was opened by a real monk, and he was originally prepared to give it to him at night in the cave room, but now that he was going to accept the unknown trial, he couldn't care so much.

Zhu Shisan leaned over and said: "Brother Shen, to be honest, brother, I really envy you, there are Shinong businessmen and businessmen to send you off when you go out of the city, and you are accompanied by beautiful women and martyrs on the road, if I can live to this point, it will be worth dying immediately." ”

Shen Mo smiled and said: "If you can't pass this level, everything is vain." Zhu Shisan hurriedly comforted him a few words, patted him on the shoulder silently and said, "Thirteenth Master, they have gone far, let's go too." ”

"Yes, let's go." As soon as Zhu Shisan waved his hand, the four of them protected Shen Mo in the middle...... Or rather, it was sandwiched in the middle and entered the city through the Yongding Gate.

Through the deep city gate hole, everything in front of me stunned the silence, only to see that on both sides of the avenue, the root of the city wall set up a piece, a nest of broken nunnery, thatched sheds, even at a glance, can not see the edge, almost submerged the buildings in the outer city.

As far as the eye can see, the devastation is full of numb, dirty faces, as if you have arrived in the largest refugee camp in the world. God also specifically opposed these refugees, starting from the third day of the new year, one after another, it snowed heavily for three days, until the snow on the road was three feet, dripping into ice...... Those soldiers patrolling the city were putting the bodies of dozens or hundreds of refugees who were frozen and starving and lying in the snow on carts and were about to be burned in the human settlements outside the city.

Is this the capital of my Ming Dynasty? Isn't this the slum of New Delhi? Silent for a while, he was dizzy, and in his impression, even if Zhejiang had been devastated by the war in the past two years, there had never been such a terrifying scene. However, he saw it in this Yanjing City.

Just when he was immersed in a deep shock, he heard a gong behind him, chickens flying and dogs jumping, obviously a big man had entered Beijing.

(To be continued)