The distance from Yanjing to Tianjin Wei is very short, only more than 200 miles in total, which is also an important reason why Xie Hong can make up his mind to build the first inter-city railway in the Ming Dynasty. 【Reading.com】

The distance is short, and there is an official road to go, so Yang Shen only spent less than three days on the road, just in time to arrive at the Tianjin Acropolis on the first day of the Lunar New Year.

In fact, it was not the first time he came here, when he set off from his hometown in Chengdu to Beijing, he did not choose the Shu road that was difficult to climb to the sky, but went down the river and traveled in the south of the Yangtze River, and then rushed from the canal to Beijing by boat.

As an important transit station and the only way for Caoyun, Tianjin Wei naturally passed by, and stayed for half a day, but in addition to the location, Yang Shen did not find any difference between Tianjin and the cities along the way.

The dilapidated city walls, the busy rivers, and the flattering smiling faces of the officials and soldiers, he has seen a lot of these things along the way, so he did not leave any impression on Tianjin, and when he heard his father Yang Tinghe mention the changes in Tianjin, he was really taken aback, no matter how he thought about it, he couldn't remember any special place here that could provide a livelihood for hundreds of thousands of people.

Although Yang Shen is not yet twenty, he has the name of a prodigy, and he is also a disciple of a scholar of the dynasty. If he can't see the changes here with his own eyes and find out what he should have missed, he will always feel uneasy.

Yang Tinghe was very concerned about Tianjin, but due to the lack of cooperation from Tianjin officials, he could not get enough information from here, and his reaction to Yan Song's new measures was a beat slower. Therefore, although Yang Shen came from the light car, when he arrived in Tianjin, he found that many people had already arrived here.

There are a lot of people, this is Yang Shen's first impression when he saw Tianjin for the second time.

Of course, ordinary people do not have the qualifications to take the boat, the canal connects the north and the south, and the position on the boat can be said to be every inch of land, without a certain status, where will there be the qualification to get on the ship?

And the official road is not something that can be walked casually, although there is no explicit prohibition, but if the luck is too bad, when walking on it, there are stagecoaches or officials' carriages and horses passing by, and they have not avoided it in time, it will be bad.

The old man's carriages and horses will definitely not avoid the people, and it is okay to be knocked to death, and if they are half dead, they will have to bear the charge of colliding with the honor guard, then life is better than death.

Therefore, the common people either along the edge of the official road, with little belongings and luggage, simply help the old and the young to pick up the road in good condition on the small road.

So, what Yang Gongzi saw was several long dragons that could not see the edge, winding from the west and south, and finally gathered together in the suburbs of Tianjin.

"Isn't it the first day of the Lunar New Year? Aren't these people planning to celebrate the New Year? Yang Shen was very surprised, the conditions offered in Tianjin are good, but according to the tradition of the Ming Dynasty, you have to wait until the first month, no, you have to go out after fifteen at the very least, right?

I set off before the year because I didn't want to delay the spring festival, which is a special circumstance, but these people left their hometowns in the first month, what are they trying to do? Is it just for the two taels of silver in January?

"Young Master......" Yang Shen is not talking to himself, as the son of the alternate first assistant, how can there be no one around him when he goes out? Yang He, the accompanying housekeeper, was well versed in the world, he cleared his throat, tried to calm his tone, and said, "They should be planning to come to Tianjin for the New Year." ”

"Young master, this is what you often say that the hustle and bustle of the world is all for profit, right?" The housekeeper came with Yang Tinghe after specially ordered it, and the scholar was always carried by Yang Shen.

In addition to carrying bags and suitcases, the scholars of the Ming Dynasty had many uses, so the scholars of the Ming Dynasty went out with scholars, just like the second generation of officials and the rich second generation of later generations, which belonged to the trend.

Yang Shen's scholar is very pure, he is just a scholar in the literal sense, and when he usually accompanies his master to read, he also wrote down a lot of allusions, and at this time Leng Ding jumped out and interjected.

"Nonsense!"

The housekeeper has been bitter, of course he can't listen to this kind of words, without waiting for Yang Shen to speak, he turned his face and reprimanded: "My Ming people value tradition and countryside the most, how can they leave their hometown just because of small profits, you are with the young master, but always do not distinguish between the importance and the serious, if this kind of nonsense is heard to outsiders, won't it make people laugh at my Yang family's unsophisticated style?" ”

"I said it wrong, Uncle He, then tell me, why do they want to come to Tianjin for the New Year?" Mingyan stuck out her tongue, first lowered her head to admit her mistake, and then asked the housekeeper with a smile, only showing closeness in her attitude, and there was no fear at all.

Yang Shen was about to reprimand the scholar twice, but after hearing this, he also forgot about this stubble, and turned his head to look at the housekeeper, wanting to get an answer from the other party.

"What else, of course, it's like this when you can't get by." The housekeeper sighed deeply, raised his hand and pointed to the crowd not far away, and said: "You see the way they help the old and the young, obviously the family has moved, but if you look at the salute on their bodies, hey, the more ones are just a few packages, and the few ones are even more ......" He shook his head, as if he couldn't bear to say more, but stopped.

But needless to say, Yang Shen and Mingyan are both teenagers, and they have not experienced folk suffering, so they will not pay attention to these details. The fact that they moved with their families and carried so little luggage can only mean one thing, that is, these are people who are destitute and have nothing to grow, so they can come lightly.

"But......" Yang Shenyu frowned, puzzled, "According to the newspaper of the imperial palace, the past few years have clearly been a good year, how can there be so many poor people?" Even if the emperor was deceived by the villain, resulting in the untruthfulness of the imperial court's report, but I went all the way from Chengdu to Beijing, what I heard and saw, I remember it vividly, and I don't think the people will be so miserable? ”

"Young master, our Chengdu is known as the country of abundance, and it is the richest place in the whole of Sichuan. Wait until you get to Jiangnan ......" The butler smiled, and there was some bitterness in his expression.

"Hehe, Jiangnan is a first-class and richest place in the world, the land can produce two seasons a year, and there is no land to work, even if it is a cold family, it can always be mixed with food and clothing. After leaving the south of the Yangtze River, this canal needs to be repaired every year, and the ships cannot rely on sails alone, and the imperial court has allocated a large amount of silver every year. ”

"Then these people are ......," Yang Shen hesitated.

"Those from the south are from Shandong, and those from the west are from Hebei." The housekeeper nodded, and shook his head again, "There are many families in Hebei, many of which can even be traced back to the Tang and Song dynasties, and although there have been many wars in the middle, they can still stand; It is not surprising that Shandong has many mountains and few lands, and has experienced many major wars in the founding season, so people's livelihood naturally withered. ”

"Uncle He, according to what you say, the plague god is doing good deeds...... "Before he could say anything, Mingyan was covered by the housekeeper's mouth.

"You don't want this mouth anymore, you dare to talk nonsense, and you don't look at what kind of place this is! I tell you, after entering the city, you keep your mouth shut for me, otherwise when I return to the capital, I will definitely tell my lord these words," the butler reprimanded in a low voice while looking around.

"Uncle He, Mingyan is a surname with no heart, you don't have to be like him." Seeing the scholar's eyes asking for help, Yang Shen smiled and waved his hand to relieve his partner, and then when he turned his head to look at the long dragons again, his eyes showed a trace of comfort.

"In this way, there are 100,000 living people, and that person can be regarded as an unrighteous person who has done great benevolence, but he is a local official in the two provinces, so he is inevitably a bit of a corpse, right?"

"Young master, you can't say this casually, the lord shoulders the hope of the world's corporals, and it is the critical moment to enter the cabinet, if you listen to your words to those who have a heart, and spread them to the scholars, it will inevitably chill the hearts of the corporals in the world."

Speaking straightforwardly, the young master and servant are both in the same temper, but the housekeeper can't deal with it equally, his young master's words involve not only the magistrates of the two provinces, you know, those officials are all in the same vein as the scholars, and they are also closely related to the Yang family.

"Okay, I got it." Yang Shen knew that he was speechless, and he no longer dwelled on this topic, raised his hand and pointed to the city gate, and said with a smile: "Let's go into the city and see what kind of mystery this Tianjin Wei is making trouble?" ”

"Yes, young master."

Mingyan was reprimanded, and he originally planned to keep silent for the rest of the year, but as the carriage gradually approached the Acropolis, after looking around for a while, he still couldn't stop exclaiming: "Young master, look, there are so many more houses here, we haven't seen them when we passed by here in the summer, it's only a few months, and so many have been built, it's amazing." ”

"Ha, what a rare and strange baby, what a few months, you know, these houses only started to break ground in October, and more than half of them were built in more than a month, if it weren't for this arrangement, so many people came, where would they live? Don't look at our Hou Ye is also a weak crown, but unlike you who can only make two crooked poems, he is a star in the sky and descended to earth, specifically for the benefit of our Ming people. ”

The closer to the city gate, the more people came in and out, and the bustling official road was crowded, and Yang Shen and his entourage could only slowly rub in the traffic and crowds, and Mingyan's words were also heard, and they laughed at it.

"But isn't it, Hou Ye has no last resort, he has great ability, what is the value of a mere house, don't you know? Next, Tianjin will build a lot of workshops, well, no, the notice posted in the yamen said that this is called a factory. "It was a fat man who answered, and looking at the tired appearance of the horse pulling the cart, he knew that he was not fat, but really full of weight.

The tone of the person who spoke before was very polite, Mingyan blushed at that time, and the old housekeeper also showed hesitation, but Yang Shen ignored this, and instead observed these people around him.

Just looking at the clothes, Yang Shen knew that these people waiting to enter the city were definitely not here to apply, although they were all dusty, they were all dressed quite decently, and most of them came by chariots and horses, either servants of large families, or merchants.

In addition, Yang Shen also noticed that the fat man who answered the call behind was a little kind-hearted, and it seemed that he had come from the same road as him, that is, he was a businessman from the capital.

"Factory? How is it different from a workshop? "Seeing that the fat man looked very knowledgeable, someone inquired about him.

"In the workshop, everything is made by hand, and there are relatively few people working in it......" The fat man really didn't brag, and his eloquent appearance attracted more people to come around.

He raised his fat hand, pointed to a building in the distance, and said: "The factory is different, first of all, the scale of the factory is very large, you see that there is no over there, yes, it is the place like a big shed, there is a factory under construction." ”

"Drink, it's really not small, although it can't be really, but I estimate that there is always a radius of three or five acres, right? Hundreds of people can fit it, so what is there to do? ”

"Do something?" The fat man glanced at the person who asked the question, and said with disdain: "What can't you do?" Textile, assembly, food processing, you can do it all! ”

"Textile? It's a hypocrisy, but isn't that needlework? What is the purpose of such a big place? "Someone posted it.

"You know what? The sewing machines and looms designed by Hou Ye in the textile factory are all used, spinning, weaving and tailoring are fast, or make a larger place to put the materials, and pass on the processes one by one, how can the efficiency be high? The fat man replied fluently, and immediately dismissed the questioner into speechlessness.

"What do you mean by assembling?" Someone else asked.

"The assembly is also simple, I see that you are also from near the capital, I must have heard of the name of Zhenbao Zhai, right?"

Seeing that everyone nodded, the fat man continued to explain: "The treasures of clocks and music boxes are actually assembled with many parts, and although it is very technical to build parts, it takes a lot of work to assemble the parts, so they are separated now, and there is no need to refine the furnace or anything to assemble the parts anyway." ”

"Oh!" Everyone was amazed again, "Brother, where are you from, how do you know so clearly?" ”

The fat man smiled proudly: "My old bag is a native of Beijing, as for why I know so clearly, of course, because I have a righteous card, take this, and go to the Ordnance Department to inquire." ”

"What factory are you going to contract, brother? Can you tell us outsiders? Seeing an insightful person, many people had the idea of following the trend, so someone asked tentatively.

"I used to run a restaurant, but now of course I still do my job, and what I want to contract is a food processing factory."

"Food processing? Isn't it also a restaurant? ”

"Hehe, I can't tell you about the doorway here, lest you rob me, anyway, after entering the city, I'll know it, I won't say more, I'll see you back." The fat man smiled mysteriously, and then led the carriage to the city gate, and it turned out that there was a vacant piece in front of him when he spoke, so that the fat man picked up a cheap and took the lead.

"This fat guy is cunning, are you waiting for us?" Everyone rushed after them, leaving only Yang Shen's master and servant standing still.

"There are so many doorways that factories can come up with, and I'm really getting more and more curious." The housekeeper and the scholar were both frightened by the crowd swarming up, but Yang Shen was muttering to himself, and when he looked up again, there was already a smile in his eyes.

(To be continued)