Winter, "end" also, the end of the year. "Little cold to the snow", it is not false at all, there is still a month and a half before Chinese New Year's Eve, and this capital is already goose snow flying, white and white.

At the beginning of the hour, a team of men and horses on the outskirts of the capital city was slowly moving in the snow, and in front of the team were two jujube red plantation horses. Plantation horses are named after the plantation county in the far north of Dahua and are known for their hardiness. On horseback were two young men, the older one about twenty-eight or nineteen, and the younger one about twenty-three or fourteen years old. In the middle, there are two horses and a domed sedan chair, each pulled by two black horses, but there is no driver in charge of the chariot and the sedan chair. At the end of the group were three men on gray-maned horses, all wrapped in coats, with only their faces exposed, indescribable.

Dahua has nine rank officials, for cheap officials and their families to travel, the Ministry of Industry has established several kinds of official sedan chairs, official chariots. The first rank of the court official rides, it is the three-horse unicorn chariot; from the second rank to the first rank of the court official, it is the three-horse gossip chariot; these two horses are the official chariot of the third to the sixth grade of the court official. As for the court officials below the sixth grade, they are not allowed to ride, and they are placed in a four-sided sedan chair. If you don't follow the rank, it is a big crime.

The group walked slowly on the snowy road, and from time to time words came from it.

"Mother, may I see my father today? Last night at the inn, the child dreamed of his father. A slightly hoarse voice came from the chariot in front of him.

"Didn't your Third Uncle Fu say that he had already passed through the city pass of the capital. According to our current itinerary, we will be able to reach this inner city when Shen Shi, but I don't know how far the Jaw King's Mansion is from the inner city pass," a friendly voice replied.

The two horses are seven feet five inches long, and the width and inner height are five feet three, and there are two sets of three-foot-high impellers in front and back, which are connected by tungsten iron cast shafts. There are two wheels, which are made of more than 30 years of Nanmu soaked in tung oil, eight zhang long, five inches wide, three inches thick, and straight through the body. There are two masts two feet five inches in front of the carriage, standing on the left and right, connected with the wheel, five feet five inches high, two inches eight straight. Forty-nine cables are connected between the two masts, which are made by the whiskers of adult red whales, which are tough and solid. The two masts are connected to the cable line called the car Xuan, and its use is to separate the coachman and the carriage. The front end of the carriage is equipped with a double-leaf sliding door, and the passenger can move the one-leaf sliding door to the other side, and then you can get out of it. There is a way to make a decision: men go out on the right and women go out on the left. However, this is only a small gift, and the wind can't help it. There is a driver's seat in front of the chariot, and there is a canopy on the seat, which is covered with two feet five in front and behind the chariot, so that the subordinate officers and grooms are protected from the rain and sun. There are two sliding windows inlaid with sand glaze on the left and right of the carriage, which are 1 foot 2 inches wide and 8 inches high, which are used for ventilation and light. The back end of the compartment is divided into three feet to make a toilet, and there is a potty in the toilet, one on the left and one on the left, and men and women are separated. There are two brocade seats on the left and right sides of the compartment, and a hanging table. The hanging table extends from the toilet board, one foot eight inches long, two feet one inch from the bottom, and can be used for tea and food.

Sitting in the compartment were a middle-aged woman and a boy of fourteen or fifteen years old.

"Chen'er, I saw your father this time, aren't you afraid that he will test your homework?"

When the young man heard this, his face was embarrassed, he turned red, and he shrank his head and replied, "I am not afraid of this literary school, the child reads for three hours a day, and the books at home have been read. Although it is not familiar with the chest, it is probably not bad to cope with my father's school examination. It's just that...... It's just that this martial arts school, mother, you have to help the child! You also know, the child is really not talented in that boxer shooter, although ..... Although I practice for more than half an hour every day, I have no ..... Quite unproductive. I'm afraid I'll make my dad angry. After the young man finished speaking, his expression flickered a little, his face was flushed, and he glanced at his mother a few times, and saw that his mother was looking at him, and he was really uncomfortable.

The woman leaned over slightly, stretched out her left hand to rub the young man's ear and face, and after a few breaths, she sighed, "Alas, you are very much like your uncle when he was young. They are all ordinary people who don't like to practice martial arts, and only read some books and ambitions. Daddy and mother are by your side, and you will not suffer a loss, if you leave us alone, how can you take care of yourself and protect ...... Protect yourself?" the woman, who had wept slightly at the end of those words, looked at the young man, and her face became more and more full of pity.

"The child shouldn't make the mother sad!" the young man named Chen'er raised his hand to hold his mother's left hand, and said with a look of shame.

The woman burst into tears and laughed, and said lovingly, "Silly, it's my mother who thinks of your uncle, and it's none of your business, what is wrong with you? You are very good, and your father naturally knows it, and your father and mother love you in general." Even if you really take the school exam, your father will also criticize you for a few words, how can he really punish you!"

The young man smiled "hehe", answered with an "um", got up from the brocade seat, sat down beside the woman, took her arm, and leaned his head on the general. The woman followed him, and reprimanded, "You are still a baby," and said no more, and for a while there was silence in the room.

About a time of tea in the past, the woman suddenly raised her shoulders, touched the young man and said, "But you have already remembered? When you arrive at the palace, you must not be presumptuous, and you must not behave in a way that is rude! We say that we are guests, but we are actually servants, and everything must be done according to the rules of the palace, and we must not let our own temperament be! If you make a fuss, your father will punish you severely!" I saw that the woman looked solemn and did not joke.

The young man immediately said solemnly, "The child must be self-disciplined and self-controlled, and dare not lose the style of the Mei family! ”

It turned out that this group of people was the relatives of Mei Siyuan, who drank with Xia Muchao in Ruiyun Tower that day. The person who talked about it was his wife Bailisi and his son Mei Yuanchen. After drinking that day, Xia Muchao asked Mei Siyuan to write a letter to the family, to the effect that the prince invited the family members of Meifu to come to the capital as guests, and asked his wife and children to leave as soon as possible to meet the invitation. Mei Siyuan said in the letter: When the family came, Bailisi roughly expected the husband's intentions, so he dismissed the servants and took his son and a few domestic slaves to open a customs clearance guide in the county government office. After a short rest, he came north.

There are four types of nationality in the Dahua Dynasty, which are divided into slave status, civil registration, official registration, and imperial registration.

The three generations of the emperors of this dynasty have all entered the imperial family, passed to the Yonghua Emperor, and nearly 1,000 people have entered the imperial family. Those who enter the imperial nationality will be rewarded with the imperial field, and they can travel with the official post, and all the expenses will be borne by the government secretary's office.

Three generations of foreign emperors' relatives and concubines, officials and direct family members can be admitted to the official register. Those who become official citizens will be rewarded with uncertain official fields, and taxes will not be paid, and they can pass through Dahua by virtue of their nationality, and the cities must not be hindered, and they can live in official posts by virtue of their official duties. More than 60,000 people have been admitted to the official status of this dynasty. Mei Siyuan is the magistrate of Qingxi County, and he is a civil official of the third grade, and his wife can enter the official position and travel freely.

However, more than ninety percent of the people of Dahua are registered as citizens. Those who have become a citizen can divide the people's land by virtue of their nationality, and pay 50 yuan to the political secretary's yamen where their household registration is located to obtain customs clearance. With the customs clearance guide, you can probably walk through the states and counties, and you only need to pay the customs clearance money when you enter the city. Dahua does not make the people walk too often, and the money for customs clearance is quite heavy: the general state capital city pass is 30 wen, the county capital city pass is 80 wen, and the capital city pass is full 200 wen! Therefore, ordinary people have never left the state capital in their lives, let alone the capital.

A person who has become a slave is a criminal servant, or a person who has made an offer to buy and sell himself with others. Those who are slaves are not allowed to get land, they are not allowed to walk the city on their own, they are not allowed to buy property, and they are not allowed to do business through the port, but they are a first-class lowly status.

At the beginning of Shen Shi, Bai Lisi, Mei Yuanchen and his entourage were already in the inner pass of the capital. The two of them only felt that the chariot gradually stopped, and the two of them flicked their fingers when they heard a man's voice coming, "Madam, the inner city pass has arrived, please Madame take the ultimatum to me, and hand it over to the guard for inspection!"

Baili Sixi said, "Yes, Second Brother Fu will wait for a while." Then he turned and went to the box to get it. Suddenly, I heard the sound of horses' hooves outside, and then there was a stumbling, as if a man on the horse had descended.

I heard an unfamiliar voice ask, "I'm sorry." But Lord Mei has arrived?"

The twenty-eight or nineteen-year-old young man who had been riding the plantation horse stepped forward and replied, "Your Excellency, we are slaves of the Mei family, and there are indeed relatives of my family Mei in the chariot. I don't know ...... Your Excellency?"

The strange man clenched his fists and laughed, "It's reckless down there." Below is the jaw palace guard Baifu Lu Jianting, I have been waiting here for three days on the order of the prince to take over the thrones. As he spoke, Yang pointed to the clearance platform not far away, and there were twelve samurai with swords wearing fox furs, each leading a horse to stand in two columns.

Bai Li Si and Mei Yuanchen walked out from the left and right from the chariot, Bai Li Si approached the palace Baifu, bowed, and said, "My grandson is Mei Siyuan, the magistrate of Qingxi County." It has been eleven days since the concubine and her party set off, because of the heavy snow on the road, the journey was very slow, and it took a lot of time.

Lu Jianting returned the salute and replied, "Madame is polite, torture me." The prince and Lord Mei thought that they were in a hurry, and if there was nothing else to do here, it would be better to lead you to the palace here?

Bailisi glanced at Mei Yuanchen, and when he saw that his young son's eyes were shining, he couldn't help but say, "What Lord Lu said is very true, please lead the way!"