"Woo-"

When the train whistle sounded, two figures stepped down from the train door one after the other, and what appeared in front of the two of them was an empty train station.

"Xuanzhu, Brother Ruan, this Xijing City is not as prosperous as you said? The train station was empty, and there were no people. ”

With the sound of a young voice, the people who got off the train were not the two brothers Zhu Youzhen and Zhu Youxiao, but a team of Qi soldiers who were thousands of miles away, but got off the train with them at the same time.

Hearing the words of his brother behind him, Zhang Huangyan turned around with a smile, and behind him was a comrade-in-arms he had made in the army.

After this comrade-in-arms said this, without waiting for Zhang Huangyan to speak, a young man in his early twenties who walked out later laughed and scolded:

"Xijing City lives and works in peace and contentment, the people are either farming or doing business, only people who come here, how can there be people who will leave when they come?"

"Brother Liu, Brother Ruan is right, that's right." Zhang Huangyan echoed and asked the young man surnamed Ruan:

"Is Brother Ruan going home first or ......?"

"What, where am I going? It should be that you all go home with me, first go home and try my father's handiwork, and then go back to your own house, and if you don't have a place to live, you will live in my house! ”

Ruan Jin patted his chest, and greeted the dozen or so brothers who got off the car in the follow-up, and everyone who heard the words also laughed: "Brother Ruan is bold!" ”

Zhang Huangyan smiled, carried his luggage and followed everyone out of the train station, talking and laughing along the way.

Since they were all wearing mandarin duck battle jackets, others also knew that they were soldiers who had just returned from the southern battlefield, and they also had three points of respect for them.

Outside the Xijing City Railway Station, like the Ming Dynasty Railway Station, there is a large square, on which many horse-drawn carriages are parked waiting to solicit customers.

In the past, as soon as these carriages saw people coming out, they would rush up one by one, robbing customers very much.

It's just that after returning from the expedition for more than two years, Zhang Huangyan and Ruan Jin found that these carriages were not robbing customers at all, but orderly stepped forward to a four-wheeled carriage, and the coachman looked at them from the carriage and asked:

"Brother in the army, do you want to take the car?"

The coachman was in his forties, and the carriage he drove was a four-wheeled carriage drawn by a large horse, which was similar in shape to the carriage of the Ming Dynasty, but because of the rubber wheels made of iron and hoops, the weight of the carriage was much lighter.

Such a carriage could seat six people, and Zhang Huangyan and his group were seventeen people.

Seeing Zhang Huangyan and his group coming out, the coachman asked honestly, obviously he had just done this business for a long time.

Regarding the sudden "gentle" change of the coachmen, Zhang Huangyan, who lives in Xijing City, said that they were a little uncomfortable, but they did want to take the car.

From Xijing Railway Station to Xijing City, the journey is still ten miles, and it is not possible to take a carriage.

"How much money does it cost to get to the Tiger Benfang in Xijing City from here?"

Zhang Huangyan, as the person with the highest official position in the team, naturally asked him for the price and paid the bill, which is a tradition that does not become a question.

"Ten cents in one car." The coachman replied with a smile, this price has always been like this, so Zhang Huangyan also looked at the rear when he heard this, and then said to the coachman:

"Call two more cars."

"Gotcha!" When the coachman heard this, he picked up the wooden whistle and blew it twice, but saw the carriages waiting in line for passengers in the square drive out of two carriages.

They are like a phalanx, one leaves and the other makes up, this neat appearance is not spontaneously organized by the coachman, so after Zhang Huangyan and Ruan Jin and the other four people got into the car, Zhang Huangyan asked curiously:

"When did the rules for queuing for carriages at this station exist?"

"After the Lantern Festival at the beginning of the year, the new law promulgated by Xia Changshi can be regarded as regulating the carriages at the railway station, so that those thin-skinned people have something to eat."

The driver shook the reins and chatted with Zhang Huangyan through the window of the carriage.

"With this arrangement now, is there still more money to be earned than before?" Zhang Huangyan asked.

"That's no, of course, but at least it's fair." The driver responded, explaining:

"Before, a lot of cars occupied the position, and they could make a dozen trips a day, while others could only make one or two trips."

"Although I am also tall and strong, I can't beat four hands with two fists, and I often do it five or six times a day."

"Five or six trips can make a lot of money, right?" Ruan Jin couldn't help but interrupt: "You can also have one or two or five or six coins of silver in a month." ”

"Don't just look at the receipts...... "The coachman laughed and cried:

"If you look at the size of this big horse, it alone has to eat 50 catties of forage and 10 catties of beans every day."

"For this horse fodder, I have to take out thirty wen a day, in addition to three wen for carriage and horse tax."

"If I run less than five times a day, my family will have to rely on my parents, wife and children to make up for it."

"Although the people of our Qi country are not hungry, but oil, salt, sauce, vinegar and tea are all expenses, I have been immigrating for three years, and only two families of seven in my family have been given 20 acres of cooked land."

"If you produce rice and wheat, you have to eat ten acres of land first, and the grain sold on the remaining ten acres of land is only about eight taels of silver."

"Although this silver is enough for the oil, salt, sauce, vinegar and tea at home, and enough for the family to buy two new clothes every year, there is no silver saved."

"I have no choice but to do this coachman's business except for farming."

"This big horse was bought by borrowing twenty taels of silver from the bank, and the carriage was purchased after spending all the money in the house."

"Although the bank says that there is no interest, we have to pay back the silver, and now I have repaid half of it, and I have ten taels of silver left, and it is estimated that it will be paid off next year."

"That's why I said that if I don't have five trips a day, I'm afraid I'll have to borrow some from my friends."

The coachman's words clarified the situation of his family, and Zhang Huangyan, who heard the words, also smiled:

"It's okay, I heard that tens of thousands of tractors will be imported in the second half of the year, and it is estimated that each household in my Qi country will be able to get five or six acres of land, and the pressure on your shoulders will be less."

"That's right!" Speaking of land division, the coachman immediately laughed:

"Every year, I look forward to the division of land before the beginning of spring, and at the beginning of spring this year, my family only divided seven acres of land, so that there are 20 acres of cooked land."

"By next year, if I can divide another seven acres of land, then the money I owe to the bank will be paid off as soon as possible."

"By the way, you are sergeants in the army, so you should divide more land, right?"

The coachman was curious about the number of land divisions of the Qi soldiers, and the reason why he dared to ask boldly was because there was no rule in Qi that the number of land divisions should not be revealed.

"How can it...... Ruan Jin said with a smile: "When we enlist in the army, we can share twenty acres more enlistment land than you, and the land distribution after that will be the same." ”

"My family of three families and twelve people, this year's spring is also divided into twelve acres, one mu per person, all the same."

Speaking of this, Ruan Jin asked Zhang Huangyan next to him: "By the way, Xuan, have you thought about staying in Qi State?" ”

"My dad hasn't replied yet, I'll have to think again." Zhang Huangyan shook his head, the coachman didn't know what Zhang Huangyan's father did, he only thought that he was also an ordinary person, so he also persuaded:

"The guest officer has not yet become a naturalized citizen? Then you have to hurry, there are more and more immigrants now, and if you enter late, I'm afraid that you don't even have the first familiar land, so you can only wait for the government to reclaim it. ”

"yes, mysterious!" Ruan Jin listened to the coachman's words, and also persuaded Zhang Huangyan:

"Anyway, if you join the army, first get twenty acres of enlistment fields, Qi Country fields can't be bought and sold, if you don't take advantage of it now, you won't be able to buy it with silver later."

"There are only so many fields in Xijing City, if you become a naturalized later, maybe the land will be divided into other prefectures."

Ruan Jin's words are very reasonable, after all, although the number of fields in Jingzhao Mansion in Xijing City is tens of millions of mu, judging from the current number of hundreds of thousands of immigrants every year, I am afraid that in another two years, the fields in Xijing City will be almost divided.

"Let me think again......"

Zhang Huangyan was a little undecided, and seeing this, Ruan Jin and the coachman no longer talked about him, but talked about the changes in Xijingcheng.

"Has there been any change in this Xijing City compared to two years ago?"

"Yes! That's too much! The coachman drove the four-wheeled carriage down the concrete road and nodded in response.

Since the Qi State was mainly composed of immigrants from the three provinces south of the Yangtze River, the ten-zhang-wide road was flanked by patches of rice fields, and in a month or two it would be time for them to be harvested.

"There are more immigrants, and Xijing City will be lively, and the rules will be stricter."

"But those rules are normal, you will know when you go back to Xijing City, the current Xijing City is lively, the inner and outer cities are built, and they are full of people."

"Especially in the outer city, the city wall is at least ten zhang high, the city gate is twenty zhang wide and six zhang high, and there is a three-zhang open space reserved in the middle of the road, and I don't know what it is for, it looks like the rails of a train."

"There are rice fields for dozens of miles outside the city of Xijing, and there are so many people coming and going that they are dying."

"But you said that there should be more expensive prices when there are more people, but the prices are falling every day."

"In addition to the beef price has risen to Liuwen, the prices of other firewood, rice, oil, salt, sauce, vinegar and tea have dropped."

"The factories in Anling Mansion in the north and Pingling Mansion in the south also come to Xijing City every day to recruit workers, and the wages have been opened to fifteen wen."

"In addition, some time ago, the faucet of every household came out of water, although it was not as sweet as well water, but it was easy to use in general, and the water came out with a twist."

"Anyway...... Our Qi country is getting better and better, and I think it will be able to surpass Nanjing City in two years. ”

Speaking of the changes around him, the smile on the driver's face couldn't stop at all, and he kept talking:

"When my cub grows up, in another ten years or so, it is estimated that the family will have more than 100 acres of land, and then spend some money to buy a tractor, and three people will be able to plant this 100 acres of land, and the money from selling grain will be enough to eat for a year."

The coachman said, and as time went on, they began to see the tall outer walls of the western capital city.

This city wall is ten zhang high, eight zhang thick, and has a circumference of one hundred and twenty miles, which is probably the largest and most majestic section of the city wall in ancient and modern times.

Looking at the city wall, Zhang Huangyan and they all felt small.

"It's a pity, three days ago, Xia Changshi announced that Qi would no longer build cities, I'm afraid it will be difficult for such a majestic city as Xijing City to appear in the future."

Zhang Huangyan couldn't help but sigh, after all, for the people of this era, the city wall is not only able to protect their existence, but also exists as a local scenery to a certain extent.

"It's so big......"

When the Suzaku Gate, which was the south gate of the outer city and the first gate of the central axis, appeared, Ruan Jin and the others sighed one after another.

As the coachman said, the 20 zhang wide and 6 zhang high Suzaku Gate was daunting.

The moat bridge at the gate of the city was full of people, and the number was no less than a thousand.

But even so, these people still seemed incomparably small under the Suzaku City Gate.

The carriage drove into the city from the road, and the eight-zhang deep road made people feel extremely long.

When the carriage drove into the city, Xijing City, as an outer city, did not show a barren scene, but was already very prosperous.

The small courtyards built by the Ministry of Industry of Qi are densely arranged on both sides of the street, without high or low, showing a neat and uniform beauty.

Driving out of Yongdao, what appears in front of Yongdao is a wide avenue with a width of 40 zhang, also known as Suzaku Avenue.

Suzaku Avenue is 40 zhang of the road, and the left and right of the road are 10 zhang of the sidewalk.

On the sidewalk, Qi continued the atmosphere of the people's love for flowers, and men and women came and went with flowers pinned to their heads, or holding flower baskets.

"There were so many people, there weren't that many when we went out."

"That's a lot."

"In the past, even the inner city was sparse, but now there are so many people."

After two years of expedition, Zhang Huangyan and Ruan Jin couldn't help but sigh at the large population of Xijing City.

At present, there are 60 gardens, 60 squares, and 100,000 small courtyards in the outer city, and most of the areas in each square market are empty.

If all of them are utilized, there will be no less than 2 million people living in the outer city of Xijing City, and no less than 2.6 million people in the inner city.

Even though it is so vast, Suzaku Street, which is the first avenue in Xijing, is still lively, and the twenty miles of road leading to the palace are full of people.

In the city, there are not a few horse-drawn carriages like Zhang Huangyan, which pull guests back and forth.

The path of the Qi State has been differentiated by the path of later generations.

Roads for horse-drawn carriages, horse lanes for horses, and bicycle lanes for bicycles.

The three roads are divided by flowerbeds full of flowers, and the road is 12 zhang wide, the horse road is 5 zhang wide, and the bicycle path is 3 zhang wide.

With such a wide road and a resident and floating population of less than 600,000, there is no traffic jam in Xijing.

On the prosperity of the main road, Xijing City has not lost to the Ming Dynasty.

Coachmen drove horse-drawn carriages through the roads of Xijing City, and with the advent of the watch factory, the officials who were responsible for guarding the intersection basically relied on the pendulum clock at the intersection to raise and lower the wooden signs.

There are two pendulum clocks, which are one person high, standing in the middle of the intersection, and once the time comes, the pendulum clock will ring, and the officials will lower the barricades to allow the carriages and horses on the road to pass.

"Huh! What are the red stakes on both sides of the sidewalk? ”

Ruan Jin saw something that had not appeared before he left, and the coachman who heard the sound glanced at it and explained:

"It was a fire hydrant, and in October last year, a family in Xijing City was hit by a fire, burning several families, but fortunately no one was injured."

"However, because the well water could not be rescued in time, the row of houses was burned down."

After the incident, Xia Changshi stripped the officials of their original firefighting responsibilities and set up a ...... Forehead...... The yamen of the fire department. ”

"Anyway, every city now has a team of fire guards, and they use horse-drawn carts to pull pumps to fight fires, and under these red piles is an artificial river, from which water can be pumped to extinguish fires."

"Does it work?" Zhang Huangyan was curious, but the coachman shook his head:

"I haven't seen it, but some of them have seen it, saying that the water sprayed by the pumping machine is one or two feet high, and a car can pull thousands of catties of water."

"A few thousand catties of water can basically ...... Look! That's the fire truck. ”

The coachman suddenly pointed to a passing carriage in front of him, which was being dragged by four large horses, and the carriage behind it was more like a water tank, one zhang long, four feet high, and seven feet wide.

Above the carriage was a machine smaller than a tractor, about three feet long, wide and high, and beside it were many tubes made of rubber and the thickness of the wrist.

The car was not moving fast, and the four big horses were walking slowly, so Zhang Huangyan let them see it clearly.

When the car crossed the intersection, the roadblock in front of Zhang Huangyan's three carriages was also lowered, and they continued to march towards Huben Fang.

Since the defensive pressure of Xijing City came mainly from the sea, the Huben Fang was located in the southwest corner of the outer city, so the carriage drove for a quarter of an hour on Suzaku Avenue before turning into a street eight zhang wide in both directions.

When I came to the street, although there were still houses, there were a lot fewer pedestrians on the road.

If it weren't for the tall plane trees on both sides of the road, I'm afraid Zhang Huangyan would have thought that everything they saw just now was an illusion.

"There are so many empty houses."

When the carriage came to the street in the southwest corner, looking at the vacant houses and shops on the side of the road, Ruan Jin couldn't help but speak.

In the face of his exclamation, the coachman also said:

"These houses were built at the beginning of the year, and they are empty now, and it is estimated that they will be full in a few months."

While talking, the coachman also drove the carriage and led them to the door of the tiger camp.

Because the Tiger Benfang is a military square, the gates of the sixteen square cities around it are guarded by soldiers, and the carriage without a waist plate cannot enter, so the coachman can only stop.

"Guest, look ......"

The coachman looked embarrassed, and Zhang Huangyan and the others also knew that he was in trouble, so they took out the waist card from his arms and showed it to the soldier at the door.

After the Eastward Expansion Movement, Zhang Huangyan was promoted and became a garrison officer at a young age.

This time they came back, also because at the end of April, Huang Long, Man Gui, Sun Yingyuan and others arrived in Xijing, and the three of them expanded their troops according to Zhu Youzhen's instructions, so they recalled many generals from the front.

Zhang Huangyan said that their group was either a garrison officer, or a flag officer, and at the very least, they were also the team leader who managed the first team.

Ordinary soldiers can ride a carriage in and out of the Tiger Fang, not to mention them.

Seeing the waist card, a soldier at the door immediately made a move, and then handed the waist card back.

The carriage entered the Huben Fang without accident, and the Huben Workshop can be said to be much more lively than other markets in the southwest corner of the outer city.

The people who can live here are basically ordinary people whose families have joined the army.

The five squares of Huben Fang, Yulin Fang, Tiance Fang, Xiaoqi Fang, and Longxiang Fang are stationed in the four corners of the outer city of Xijing and the inner city respectively, each square has 6,000 small courtyards, and the five squares have a total of 30,000 small courtyards.

These 30,000 small courtyards represent 30,000 military families and 30,000 soldiers.

At present, there are more than 50,000 soldiers in the Qi State, and Zhu Youzhen has undergone many revisions, and the current establishment is 30 battalions and 90,000 soldiers and horses, including 10 battalions of the navy and 20 battalions of the army.

At present, the navy has been fully recruited and trained early, and Zhang Huang said that they are in charge of the army, and the army's expanded establishment this time is only six battalions.

Although it is not a lot, it is necessary to draw the backbone from the battalions to form a new battalion.

Thirty battalions of 90,000 soldiers and horses, which can basically meet the national defense situation of Qi in the next few decades.

"That's right! That's it, you can stop the master! ”

Ruan Jin suddenly shouted, startling the coachman.

He hurriedly stopped, and Ruan Jin also opened the car door and jumped down:

"Xuan, you have a high official position, you pay the silver, I will go and let my father and mother prepare for it."

After Ruan Jin finished speaking, he directly pushed open the door of his house.

There was a noise inside, apparently the surprise of a loved one's reunion after a long absence.

"This guy...... It's really ......."

Zhang Huangyan scolded with a smile, and then got out of the car and paid for the three cars.

Although the car money of 30 Wen is a lot, compared to the current annual salary of 500 taels per year for Zhang Huangyan's six-grade garrison officer, it is only Zhang Huangyan's income of one circle.

On paid leave in the army, even if he doesn't do anything every day, he can earn one, two, three or four dollars of silver.

However, not everyone is Zhang Huangyan.

Many of the people who enlisted in the army with him for three years are still only in the seventh rank and from the rank of seventh rank, earning 200 taels and 160 taels a year.

Even so, these taels of silver are enough to make many people envious.

The official salary is too high, which is the status quo under the system of the Great Ming Dynasty.

It's just that even if the price is high, it can't be lowered.

The high salaries of officials have increased the cost of bribery and corruption to a certain extent.

For many officials who are content with the status quo, it is difficult for them to take risks for corruption for a few hundred or a few thousand taels of silver.

However, such anti-corruption measures cannot keep everyone clean, even in the Qi country, the number of corrupt officials can be caught from dozens to hundreds every year.

The punishment for them is basically deportation, and together with the Daming Criminal Department, they are exiled to the north of the Daming Mountains.

"Xuanzhi! Let's go! Don't stand, go grocery shopping with me! ”

Ruan Jin's loud voice sounded again, and he walked out of it, obviously preparing to pick up a handful of Zhang Huangyan's "wool" and call him and the other two next to him to go grocery shopping.

"What about us?"

The people who stayed behind shouted embarrassedly, but Ruan Jin pulled Zhang Huangyan to the streets, turned around and said loudly to them: "You go in and wash the dishes and wipe the table, and prepare a hemp point." ”

"I'll go to the neighborhood to find Liu Gangtou to take charge of the spoon!" Ruan Jin shouted, Zhang Huangyan's ears hurt with his loud voice, and he couldn't help laughing and scolding:

"You guy, you're all sitting on the deputy garrison, why do you want to pick up my wool?"

"It's all squatting in a trench, what's wrong with you giving some silver, and you can't spend too much!"

Ruan Jin hugged Zhang Huangyan with a smile, and walked to the entrance of the vegetable market in the fang.

Amid the laughter of several people, they gradually disappeared into the alley......