A rare snowstorm in the past decade also hit Zhongdu, and when the blizzard that raged for three days and three nights stopped, the whole of Hebei became a vast world of ice and snow, and the fluffy and thick snow covered the fields, wheat fields, official roads, mountains and cities like white brocade. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

The road has completely disappeared, and the frozen riverbed still has a little outline, and it has become the best road, horse-drawn sleigh galloping on the riverbed, and on both sides of the bank are crystal clear jade trees and branches, the world is vast, extraordinarily magnificent and colorful.

Although the Great Zhou Empire has been founded for nearly half a year, but the people of the capital are still immersed in the joy of the establishment of the empire, the New Year is approaching, but also to this joy smeared with a heavy celebratory color, the people of the capital have got too much good news, and even after the news of the seizure of the state, it did not stir up too much waves in the capital, until the price of rice fell to 70 Wen of rice, and the wine shops have launched a celebration banquet as long as half price, the people of the capital began to celebrate the return of the state, and the sound of firecrackers sounded everywhere in the city, It was as if the New Year came a month earlier.

The snow on Xinye Avenue in Zhongdu has been cleared clean, although there is still thick white snow on the street trees on both sides, but the snow is no longer visible on the ground paved with green bricks, and the black snow accumulates in the corners of the buildings on both sides, and people and cars come and go, making the ground wet.

On the middle road, which was blocked by street trees, hundreds of cavalry guards were escorting a jade chariot pulled by twelve gold-saddled white horses in the direction of the south city gate, and a yellow Luo umbrella cover stood on the roof of the car, marking that this was the car of the Son of Heaven.

Zhang Xuan has been on the throne for half a year, he has gradually become accustomed to the identity of the emperor, and the officials and people in the central capital are also accustomed to the low-key and simple travel of the Son of Heaven.

Jang Hyun watched the bustle on the street with a calm gaze, and today he went out of the palace to inspect the traffic outside the city, and this blizzard really made him worry about whether the grass huts of poor families could withstand the heavy snowfall.

Especially when the lotus picking pavilion in the palace was crushed by heavy snow yesterday, he was even more worried about the disaster caused by this blizzard.

The heavy snowfall came too early and too suddenly, the continuous rain in late autumn had just ended, and the sky had not cleared for a few days, and the blizzard hit overwhelmingly, half a month earlier than the first snow of previous years, and it was a violent blizzard.

"Your Majesty!"

The guard's report interrupted Jaang Xuan's train of thought, "What's the matter?" Jang Hyun asked.

"Liu Yuanjun, they are here."

"Let's stop!"

The carriage slowly stopped, several officials turned over and dismounted, and walked forward quickly, the leader of the official was called Wang Jinyuan, he was originally the Taishou of Shangdang County, and he was transferred to Zhongdu at the beginning of the year to serve as Jing Zhaoyin, followed by several officials, including the county magistrate of Wei County and the county magistrate of Ye County, where the central capital is located.

Wang Jinyuan walked to the carriage and bowed, "Weichen see Your Majesty!" ”

Jang Hyun asked in the carriage, "How many houses have collapsed in the city?" What are the casualties? ”

"Your Majesty, as of this morning, eighty-seven houses in the city have collapsed, thirteen people have died, forty-five people have been injured, the dead have been buried, the injured are being treated, the collapsed people are temporarily placed in the post house, and there is basically no panic in the snow disaster in Zhongdu at present."

Zhang Xuan felt a little relieved, this loss was not big, it was much better than what he was worried about, so he nodded and said, "I want to go to the South City Gate to have a look, let's go together!" ”

The crowd saluted, mounted their horses, and followed behind the chariot toward the south gate.

The south city gate is the main city gate of the middle capital, also called the Baoding gate, the city tower is tall, magnificent, the main gate is facing the middle road, usually does not open, only the Son of Heaven or the army will open when entering and leaving the city, and the ordinary officials of the pedestrians are entering and exiting from the side doors on both sides.

At this time, the inside and outside of the south city gate are very lively, selling vegetables and fruits, selling charcoal and firewood, selling mutton and venison stalls are full of long strings along the city wall, there are hundreds of large and small vendors, tens of thousands of people come from all over the middle capital, each vendor is surrounded by water, scolding, bargaining, both sides of the south gate become extraordinarily noisy and lively.

At this time, Zhang Xuan has already gone up to the city wall from the urn city, he stood by the female wall to look down, Wang Jinyuan introduced with a smile on the side: "We thought that the traffic was cut off, and the people in the capital would have difficulties in buying vegetables, but we didn't think that the sleigh had become a convenient means of transportation, and thousands of sleds came from all directions every morning, bringing a large number of vegetables, fruits and meat and game, which greatly relieved the food tension in the middle capital, but thanks to the New Year, every household stored a lot of items in advance, so as not to cause panic." ”

After a pause, Wang Jinyuan added: "The main reason is that this snowstorm came too suddenly, there was no warning in advance, and everyone was caught off guard." ”

At this time, Zhang Xuan asked again: "You just said that it was the sled as a means of transportation, can you distinguish the road now?" ”

Wang Jinyuan hurriedly shook his head, "Back to Your Majesty, the road is not good, the main thing is to use the river, and the river can be distinguished." ”

Zhang Xuan left the female wall, came to the battlement of the outer wall, leaned out and looked out, only to see that the outside of the city was completely white, and the endless snow covered the earth, and even the trees turned silvery-white, blending with the earth.

However, Zhang Xuan still saw the riverbed lane, and saw more than a dozen horses running in the snow with sleds, dragging out a long black track, which was the riverbed of the Anhe River outside Nancheng, which was clearly concave on the ground.

At this time, Zhang Xuan saw a small village more than ten miles away in the distance, his eyesight was excellent, and he could faintly see a few black spots walking on the snow, the village should be close to the official road, and these villagers could still distinguish the roadbed of the official road.

Zhang Xuan immediately ordered: "Go and find Luo Shixin to see me!" ”

Not long after, Luo Shixin, who was wearing a suit of armor, hurriedly ran to the head of the city, he happened to be on duty today, and was leading the soldiers to patrol the security of the capital, and when he heard the call of the Son of Heaven, he hurried over.

"Wechen Luo Shixin see His Majesty the Emperor!" Luo Shixin knelt down on one knee and saluted.

Zhang Xuan smiled slightly: "I heard that you complained about my partiality in the military camp and didn't let you go to fight in the state, is there such a thing?" ”

Luo Shixin was taken aback, and scolded his subordinates for betraying him, and he said in panic: "Weichen doesn't dare to complain about Your Majesty, but he is bored in Zhongdu, and his heart is really eager to go on the expedition." ”

"Of course you have to have a chance to fight, when your army attacked Jingzhou and Nanxiang before, Wei Chigong could only stay quietly in Shangdang County, and now it's their turn, isn't it normal?"

"Weichen knows his mistake!" Luo Shixin said with shame on his face.

Zhang Xuan stopped mentioning this matter, smiled and said, "Don't you have nothing to do?" Now I'll find something for you to do. ”

Speaking of this, Zhang Xuan pointed to a few small black dots in the distance outside the city, and at this time several small black dots had approached, and it could be seen that they were a few peasants riding mules and donkeys.

"Do you see the farmers on the mules?"

Luo Shixin nodded, "Weichen saw it." ”

"A few peasants can also come along the official road, which means that the official road can still be distinguished, you can lead the army out of the city, and distinguish all the official roads, the method is very simple, use a wooden stick to paint with vermilion lacquer, sharpen one end and insert it on both sides of the official road, insert one every thirty steps, you can discuss the specific plan with the officials of the Ministry of Industry and Jingzhao Mansion, I have already told Li Shangshu, in short, use the fastest speed, in the shortest possible time to restore traffic."

"Wechen understands, but I don't know what the scope of the logo needs to be?"

Zhang Xuan thought for a while and said, "Do a good job of Jingzhao Mansion first, and then promote it to all counties after success." ”

Jingzhao Mansion is the former Wei County, and Zhang Xuan said to Wang Jinyuan: "You should also cooperate with General Luo!" I hope to restore traffic in the Jingzhao area within two days. ”

"Wechen obeys!"

Luo Shi next to him confidently calculated, if it was only Jingzhao Mansion, the amount of work would be much smaller, and it would take about 10,000 troops to be mobilized, and it would be completed in two days, so he immediately bowed down and said, "Weichen will do it immediately." ”

Luo Shixin bowed and retreated, and Wang Jinyuan also hurriedly saluted and said goodbye, and took the officials and Luo Shixin down to the city together.

Zhang Xuan had already seen that a guard seemed to have something to report to him, and when Luo Shixin and the others left, he asked, "What's the matter?" ”

The guards had been waiting for a long time, and he hurriedly stepped forward and whispered a few words to Zhang Xuan, who nodded and ordered left and right, "Go back to the palace!" ”

(To be continued.) )