The smoke and rain in the south of the Yangtze River were like silky mist, and there were hardly any raindrops to be seen, but for a while, the whole body was wet. The rubber raincoat looks a little less emotional when worn on the body, and the ancient coat with the hat is very suitable for the occasion.

Li Xiao always believes that the so-called smoke and rain in the south of the Yangtze River is actually the result of air humidity saturation. With the blessing of the spring breeze, it has a silky and misty effect.

As for the hat and the ...... of the cloth, Li Xiao wears these two things purely to keep warm.

Those who really appreciate the spring in Jiangnan know how important it is to keep warm in spring. Anyway, Li Xiao remembered that severe cold, and he was a little scared.

Li Lin's little hands are warm, and holding them in his hands can have the effect of warming his hands.

Take a deep breath, the moist air dips into the lungs, cool and indescribably comfortable. In Li Xiao's eyes, this is the only benefit of Jiangnan Yanyu.

At the mouth of the Yangtze River, the surging Huangpu River flows into the sea in Huating City. Relying on geographical advantages, Huating has developed very rapidly in recent years. The flat-bottomed boats that are rampant in the Yangtze River need to be transferred to the culet-bottomed sea boats when you get here. Then you can go all the way south, and the big ship can directly cross the vast South China Sea to Xinjiapo. Small boats must be re-exported to Quanzhou, or Guangzhou to transfer to a larger ship.

After ten years of development, Daming's shipping industry has made great progress. In particular, after several large shipyards in the north were opened to private capital, ships as big as mountains could already be seen on the sea braving thick smoke and heading towards the wind.

Unlike Yangzhou, where the population is shrinking, Huating is now crowded. Especially around the port, the port drives employment, and with employment, there will be crowds gathering, which is an eternal truth. Huating has grown from a small county town to a large town with a population of more than 800,000.

From the distance of the 16 Pu Wharf, the entire Suzhou Creek is full of dense wooden houses. The scattered wooden houses are crowded with eyes, which is in stark contrast to the tall Huating county town on the other side.

Li Xiao didn't know when Huating would be renamed Shanghai, but now this place is called Huating, and Li Xiao didn't mean to change this place to the magic capital.

The Huating County Order has been written eight times, and it is necessary to expand the city outside Huating County. This is an elm papaya seed head, the war situation has changed dramatically, and the defensive method of the city wall has become seriously outdated. Not to mention the soft egg-like city wall of Huating County, even if it is the city wall of the capital with four carriages driving side by side, it can be blown down by cannons.

Instead of being extended, the walls should be demolished.

Li Xiao couldn't tell the stupid Huating County Commander that this place would develop into a giant city with a population of more than 20 million in a few hundred years. There's no way to tell him how magical the magic capital is.

"Daddy! It stinks! "The wooden houses on both sides of the Suzhou Creek are very close to each other, and the windows are only an arm's length between them, so the neighbors will be there when they fart.

No matter how enlightened a society may be, slums are the epitome of dirty mess. Mosquitoes and sewage are the most basic state in this, and of course there are worse, Li Xiao has only seen the text, and has never had the opportunity to see it with his own eyes.

Now that he has seen it with his own eyes, only two people are allowed to walk side by side on a one-meter-wide road. As long as there is a person on the other side, you have to turn sideways, especially Li Xiao with a child, and you have to protect Li Lin with both hands while leaning sideways. There were already several pairs of ill-intentioned eyes staring at Li Lin, and the longevity golden lock around his neck exposed the fact that he was the son of a large family.

In such a narrow place, there are children in ragged and thin clothes squatting on the ground and grabbing food with a flock of chickens. Li Xiao and Li Lin had to stick to the wooden house and let them go sideways. Instead of going directly to the top of the children's heads and crotches like the big man who came from the opposite side.

Turning a corner, it seems to be a main street. It is about three or four meters wide, and there are drainage ditches on both sides of the road. In this hazy rain, the drains flow very slowly, and in some places they do not flow at all.

The dark green water bubbles and gives off a pungent smell. Not to mention Li Lin, even Li Xiao has a headache.

Li Xiao had no doubt that if there was a plague, this would be the hardest hit area. Of course, if there is a fire, it must be a hell on earth. The children who squatted on the ground and grabbed chicken food just now will definitely be trampled into meat by the fleeing people before they are burned or smoked to death.

The poorest families of dock workers live here, some of them are scattered Cao Gang, some are landless farmers, and some are people whose hometowns have been affected by disasters and come to Huating to beg for a living. Anyway, there are all kinds of people!

Li Xiao had no doubt that there was likely to be a fugitive to be arrested by the imperial court.

The probe looked inside, and the room was as small as a pigeon cage. An old woman, covered with a bed of tattered cotton wool, shivered on the bed. Li Xiao can imagine that the bed of broken cotton wool must be so wet that it can wring out water in this weather.

"Daddy! How do they live in such a place, and why do they not live in buildings? Li Lin looked at the surroundings and asked his father puzzled.

Li Xiaozhen didn't know how to answer, how similar this was to the young emperor who didn't eat minced meat. This can't be blamed on Li Lin, who stays in the courtyard of the deep house all day long. It's easy to go out, but it's still the Tongzhou New District in the capital.

What is the place of Tongzhou New District, that is the demonstration area of the entire Ming Empire. There are white marble railings on both sides of the Chaobai River, and there are street lights every ten meters, and the cleaners will sweep the road three times a day. Tin garbage cans are placed on the side of the road, and people regularly remove the garbage every day.

"Because they don't have any money." The child can't understand the overly complicated place, and Li Xiao can only tell Li Lin the simplest reason.

"They don't have any money, so wouldn't it be better for you to send it to them, daddy?"

Li Xiao's eyes were immediately covered with black lines, "There are too many places like this in the world, and my father can't afford it." ”

"Oh!" Li Lin felt a little lost, before that, in his eyes, Li Xiao was an omnipotent existence.

"Let everyone in the world have food, a good house to live in, and good clothes to wear. This is a university question, and no one as powerful as Grandpa Sun can do it, and Dad can't do it now. But Dad is trying to do it, maybe if you come back in a decade or twenty, it will be a different situation. ”

"Oh!" Li Lin didn't quite understand what Li Xiao said, so he just nodded in response.

Li Xiao felt more and more that it was really worth it to come to Huating to take a look. Not only educate the children, but also educate themselves. Looking at the chapter, I always stay in the impression that Daming is thriving. But when he really walked to this kind of place, the illusion of Daming's prosperity was shattered at once.

It turns out that there are also ragged beggars in Daming, and it turns out that there are still people in Daming who are struggling to make ends meet. It turns out that Da Ming is far from being as powerful as he imagined.

No wonder Sun Chengzong always said that the most important thing in the world in this world is the concerto, and the most unbelievable thing is precisely the concerto.

The Ming Empire was divided into two parts with the Qinling Mountains as the boundary, and the traditional northern region north of the Qinling Mountains has now entered the process of industrialization. Although it was only the beginning of industrialization, there was an explosion of huge production energy.

The large-scale cultivation of high-yielding crops such as potatoes, corn, and sweet potatoes has made the north's heavy dependence on grain a thing of the past. For the first time, the north of the Ming Empire could feed itself without relying on grain from the south.

Crops are highly productive, leading to a large number of laborers moving into the cities and into the factories. This further advanced the industrialization process! Book bar

The South is different, because the remnants of the Southern Ming Dynasty have held the local power for a long time. As a result, the industrialization process in the south has not been carried out for a long time, and the Jiangnan is still in the era of agriculture. Not only is the income of the people incomparable with that of the north, but the productivity is even more incomparable with that of the north.

is also helpless for Jiangnan Li Xiao, the Donglin Party zodiac should be a small strong, killing a wave, and another wave will emerge. In the end, it was Ao Canghai who led a division and slaughtered the Donglin Party almost in a bloodbath.

Although local power was regained in this way, the price paid was that almost the entire southern population of scholars was killed.

Almost the entire southern province was in a state of anarchy, and Sun Chengzong issued edicts as far as the county seats. Because generally speaking, only the county order, the county lord and the master are literate in the entire county, and the rest are basically illiterate.

Fighting local tyrants to divide the land has led to another kind of turmoil. The landlords fled their hometowns in droves, and eventually all converged on the coast. Many people went overseas by boat, and in places like Yizhou, Hainan, and Java, they recruited displaced people, and as long as someone went, they would give them land.

Those who are still hesitant are all concentrated in places like Huating. On weekdays, they are all talkative figures in the village, but when they get here, they can only get some wood and thatch to build houses, and live a life where no one is a ghost or a ghost.

Li Xiao can smell the smell of decadence, helplessness, and hopelessness here!

Shiliupu Wharf, a famous transit wharf between Suzhou Creek and Huangpu River.

Countless ragged laborers worked on the docks, and Li Xiao saw the gray-haired old man and the thirteen or fourteen-year-old boy. Many people are skinny, and the ribs and bones are prominent, and they know at a glance that they are suffering from long-term malnutrition.

"Get out!"

A burst of shouts attracted Li Xiao's attention!

More than ten meters away, there was a table, and behind the table sat a bearded man. The guy who looked like a thug next to him, a young man lying on the ground with a whip and a brainless whip.

"Fuck! Look at your bones, you can't do much work, and you still want to advance your salary. Your kid ran away, where will Lao Tzu look for you? Go to work honestly, and your wages will be paid every day. The thug kicked the young man on the ground, put away the whip, and sat down on the chair to drink tea.

Li Xiao shook his head helplessly, he was already a good person who was able to settle his salary every day without arrears in these years.

"Cheng Ye! You can do it, my dad injured his lungs while working in the cement kiln. The doctor said that the medicine can't be stopped, and if it stops, my father will die......! The young man knelt on the ground, grabbing the bearded man's legs with both hands.

"Your father is sick, it's time for Lao Tzu to do the bird business. Brat! You inquire, I Lao Cheng doesn't bully people, but it doesn't mean that Lao Tzu is a fool. Just like you, how can you pay back the borrowed money? Don't tell me to be a cow and a horse, there are so many strong laborers here, Lao Tzu is rare, you do cows and horses?

What Lao Tzu can do is to pay you every day, so that you rotten people can support your family. Work faster, and get out of the way if you don't work. Disturb Lao Tzu to drink tea again, and throw you into the Huangpu River to feed the fish. Cheng Ye kicked his feet and kicked the young man out of the distance.

"Big ......!" The boy got up and wanted to beg again, but his clothes were suddenly pulled by a pair of hands.

"Take it, get some medicine for your father." Li Xiao held two silver coins in his hand and stuffed them into the young man's hand.

"Uncle! You......! Thank you, uncle! Thank you, uncle! You leave a font number, and in the future, my father will be cured and will definitely return the money to you. The young man lay on the ground and kowtowed.

"Forget it, hurry up and take the money and leave. Your father's illness can't be delayed! Li Xiao patted the young man's shoulder and sighed helplessly. The burden of life is prematurely pressed on these immature shoulders.

"Thank you, uncle! Thank you, uncle! The young man knelt on the ground and kowtowed twice, and ran away without looking back with two silver coins.

"Humph! It's very generous, there are not five hundred but three hundred tuberculosis living next to the cement kiln, but I want to see how much you can save. The guy who looked like a thug looked at Li Xiao coldly and said with a smile.

"How many people have tuberculosis?" Li Xiao frowned, tuberculosis is tuberculosis in later generations, and this disease is an infectious disease. Once infected, the person will quickly lose the ability to work.

"From the north? Liao Jun brothers? Cheng Ye glanced at Li Xiao.

"Well, my ancestral home is Liaodong."

"Just look at your hairstyle, it's our Liao army brothers. I Lao Cheng used to be under the commander of the second division, Yuan, and I don't know which unit my brother belonged to. ”

"First division, Ao Ye's subordinates!"

"Yo! First Division, please sit down and have a cup of tea. It's cold and warm! Hearing the name of the first division, Cheng Ye immediately stood up and invited Li Xiao to sit down and drink tea.

Li Xiao pulled Li Lin to sit down, and sure enough, the name of the first division was easy to use.

"I know that you are kind-hearted, but since you are our brother of the Liao Army, you can't help but nag a few words when you are a few years old. There are too many people like this in the cement kiln, even if you have a lot of money, you can't fill this poor pit. ”

"How so?"

"It's not that the amount of cement is too large, and the people over there really don't look at people well. Our cement kilns in Liaodong and Shandong and Hebei are all wearing pig's mouths, so as not to get sick of the lungs.

The cement kiln here doesn't even wear a mask. You......! The guy who looked like a thug said a few words, but Cheng Ye stretched out his hand to stop him.

"Don't gossip, your mouth is not pumping." Cheng Ye glanced at the thug with disgust.

"Don't even wear a mask?" Li Xiao suddenly realized that he had worked in the cement kiln all the year round, and he didn't even wear a mask, so he had no pneumoconiosis. God, the alveoli of the lungs are gradually squeezed, and finally they are suffocated to death. The death is terrible!

"Your local government doesn't care?"

"Tube? Who dares to care about the business of the handsome family. ”

"What nonsense!" Cheng Ye gave the thug a slap.