As soon as the Japanese left, the imperial court strictly guarded Caoyun.

With the escort of the Caoyun General Army's boat, Xu He and the others had a smooth journey along the way.

Along the way, I stopped and stopped, and finally arrived in Tongzhou after more than 20 days.

As soon as he got off the boat, Xu He was taken aback, and the eyes of the regimental battalion generals stationed in Tongzhou were red, waiting at the canal ferry, and after Xu He and others got off the boat, they made a big move, and more than 500 people poured out of Hulala at once.

The men moved the ship's contents out of the ship and loaded them into the wagons that had been prepared long ago.

"Xu Gongzi, our Mao Junmen said, you estimate that it is not very convenient to enter the city and follow the carriage, so the military gate ordered us to postpone our departure a day later, and all these things will be sent to your house at that time!"

The so-called Xu He's mansion naturally does not exist.

The meaning of the wool jacket should be sent directly to Xu Song!

But there were too many things, too eye-catching, so the caring big brother asked someone to send them quietly the next day.

“……”

Looking at it this way, the Mao family has sent a lot of things to Beijing, which is all out of experience.

……

In the afternoon of the next day, Xu He and his party finally arrived at this world, the political center of China...... Beijing.

Looking at the majestic city wall close at hand, Wu Decao raised his head and sighed: "Although I didn't come to participate in the examination, I have come to Beijing once in my life, and it is worth dying!" ”

After speaking, he pointed to the city gate and said, "Gongzi Xie, after we enter through this gate, will we reach the feet of the Son of Heaven?" ”

Xie Liangcai had lived with Xie Daozhi in Beijing for two years, so he was very familiar with Beijing, he laughed and said: "Where is this, this is Luocheng?" ”

Xu He was puzzled: "Luo Cheng? ”

I've never heard of it!

Xie Liangcai said: "Just while entering the city, I'll tell you about it." ”

It turns out that the ancients built the city, all of which were made of rammed earth, narrow at the top and wide at the bottom, but there is a problem, once it rains, the rain washes the city wall, which is easy to cause collapse.

In the former Yuan, Wang Qingrui suggested that "reeds should be arranged from the bottom to the top".

To put it bluntly, it is to cover the city wall with a reed curtain from the bottom of the net, and put a layer of robes on the city wall.

Because a large number of reeds were needed, a yin field was set up outside the city, and every year the reeds were collected to cover the city, reaching as many as a million! ”

Later, in the Great Wei Dynasty, although the city wall was covered with a robe, it would still be washed away by the rain and cause the city to collapse.

But the underworld outside the city remained.

"A few years ago, in order to guard against the captives, His Majesty planned to build another outer city outside the entire city of Beijing, and the result was ...... No money"

"In the end, only a narrow east-west city wall was built outside the southern city, and the yin field was collected and renamed Luocheng!"

When a few people finally entered the city, they found that behind the towering and tall city walls, there were patches of low shantytowns.

"Rich people don't live here!" Xie Liangcai said, "Go forward and enter Chongwenmen, rich people live in the inner city!" ”

Xu He looked around and saw that the shops on both sides of the street were still neat, but the houses in the alleys were much more dilapidated.

And unlike the south, the ground here is full of livestock dung, and the air is extremely dry, after a carriage passes, the smoke and dust rise, and the smell of this dung makes Xu He very unaccustomed!

When I arrived at Chongwenmen, there were small officials who collected taxes from the household department and checked passers-by.

Like Xu He, riding a horse, it was not an ordinary family at first glance, and the little official just glanced at the package they were packing, and let them go into the city.

Xu He found that in addition to luggage, if you bring a piece of grass into the inner city, you will also be taxed.

As soon as he entered the city, he found that under the root of the city wall, there were more than 100 people in a wooden flail!

These people could only stand, it is estimated that they have not eaten or drunk for a long time, and they are sleepy, tired and hungry, and they fell down two or three in front of Xu He.

Xie Liangcai sighed and said, "Don't look at it, tax evaders." ”

"Tax evasion? And a wooden flail? That wooden flail weighs at least more than 20 pounds! Ding Ze was surprised.

"This is not unusual, no pots are allowed in the city!" Speaking of this, he was afraid that everyone would not understand, so he explained: "Burning a pot is making wine!" ”

It turned out that not everyone could do wine in Beijing, and the imperial court designated eighteen wine merchants to sell alcoholic beverages to the outside world, pay taxes uniformly, and finally entered the pocket of the wine and vinegar noodle bureau, which was naturally a small project for the emperor to make money.

The liquor tax is very heavy, and the average small brewing workshop wants to make money and make a living, so it often takes the night to hang a full pig urine bubble on its chest, and secretly climb over the city wall to avoid taxes.

This is called "moonshine".

This line of work was very hard and dangerous, they pressed their backs against the city wall, and their hands and feet were like climbing rocks in the future, just pedaling and grabbing every protrusion of the city wall, and climbing up little by little.

When he arrived in the city, he met the shopkeeper who bought the defenders at a high price, left the wine, and finally put himself down with a rope.

"These are all moonshiners?" Xu He asked.

Xie Liangcai nodded and said, "It's almost, nine times out of ten!" ”

When Ding Ze saw those people, he thought of the villagers in Zhangcha, and he said with a dark face: "The imperial court really has to earn any kind of silver!" ”

When Xie Liangcai heard this, he turned his head and said solemnly: "Ding Ze, this is not Hailing, you must be measured in what you say and do, don't make trouble for your son-in-law!" ”

When Ding Ze heard this, he shut up and stopped talking.

Fortunately, at this time, there are no unscrupulous tax officials in bloody film and television dramas.

Xie Liangcai sent Xu He and others all the way to Xu Song's garden alley in Nancheng, and after approaching the garden alley of the Criminal Department and the Metropolitan Procuratorate, he took his servant to the Biandan alley under the root of the south wall.

It is very convenient to go to the court on the garden alley, and turn left after entering the Zhengyang Gate and bypass the official office of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, so many bigwigs in the court live here.

Nanchenggen's proximity to the Xuanwumen area is also convenient, but compared with the Garden Hutong, it is more than a step behind, but it is not just any Beijing official who can live here, and the Dajiuqing generally live here.

Xu He and the others arrived at the Garden Hutong, and a group of twenty or thirty people, who were carrying boxes and cages, and were leading horses in front of their heads, had already attracted the attention of the doormen of the surrounding mansions and the officials who came to visit the bigwigs for a long time.

"Who? Come to Garden Hutong and hug back and forth! That's not a small score! ”

"Don't you see? What about carrying household goods? I guess it's a relative of one of them! ”

"Yo, look and go up to Xu Ge's old mansion!"

At this time, Wu Decao stepped forward and pulled the door knocker.

After a while, the small door next to him opened, poking his head out from inside, and when the man saw Wu Decao, he was immediately surprised: "Brother Yaochen!" Little Crane ......"

Xu Peng ran out of the courtyard in surprise and hugged Xu He firmly!

The officials who spoke just now were all dumbfounded when they saw this scene: "Isn't that the ...... of Xu Ge's hometown?" ”

"Not really! The last time I visited, I was stunned and the door didn't even open! ”

"Who is this from Xu Ge's hometown? It can't be Xu Ge's sister-in-law Xu Feng, right? ”

"Maybe!"