In the first month of the third year of Xinggan, just after the sixth day of the lunar month, the heavy snow fell again in the north. The snow covered the mountains, rivers and lands of the Ming Dynasty. Between the undulating mountains, the wind blew the snow, and the snow wrapped the wind.

In recent years, the winter has become more and more strange and colder, and the heavy snow has fallen all of a whole winter. It can often fall from September to February of the following year, and sometimes it will fall a few snow in March.

From Changchun to Changchun in the north, cross the Great Wall, enter the pass, from Zhili in the north to Shandong, Henan, and even the south of the Yangtze River, there was snow everywhere. In winter, the whole country was surprisingly cold and the snow fell very heavily. Even in Lingnan, the snow was not scattered snowflakes, but large geese feathers falling all over the sky. As for the north, it was even more overwhelming.

After one winter, the mountains, rivers, roads, towns and towns become one with heavy snow, and there is a world full of silver everywhere. So much so that no matter whether it is the city or the countryside, all ordinary people will get into the house one by one in winter. Cats are on the kang. If there is no problem, no one will go out. And in the summer and autumn of the next year, I don’t know how many more children will be added.

The heavy snow cannot stop people's enthusiasm, and of course, it cannot stop the pace of going home. Even when it was cold and snowing, on the official road from Beijing to Zhongdu, there was still a large four-wheeled carriage walking along the frozen official road, struggling in the snow.

This is a large four-wheeled carriage. It first appeared in Qinghe. There are fixed carriage routes in Qinghe City. The carriages and horses drive vehicles to and from a fixed location several times a day. Passengers at the stations can get on and off the car freely. Later, they were introduced to the official road. They only need to customize a large carriage and buy a few strong horses as tractors to carry people and passengers.

At the beginning, this kind of public carriage only passed through the city. Later, some people threw it between cities and towns and even between cities. At first, people thought it would lose money, but unexpectedly, bus carriages developed extremely rapidly, and even a large number of "coach drivers" who made a living by relying on it. The emergence of a large number of bus carriages disrupted the market order, which forced the government to issue relevant policies to manage through issuing licenses.

Of course, one of the consequences of the prosperity of the public carriage industry is that in the past two years, the number of heavy horses introduced from the West has been increasingly entering China. Of course, the number is very limited, but in the horse farms in the Northeast and Jiangbei, large-scale cultivation of heavy horses has long begun, and finally replacing these Mongolian horses is only a matter of time.

For passengers on the bus, they naturally don’t know the difference between heavy-lifting horses and ordinary horses. The reason why they choose public carriages when traveling is because there are carriages that can shield the wind and rain, and in this winter, people can be more protected from the biting pain of cold wind.

But even so, the carriage is often dirty and smoky. Some people smoke inside, the children crying, and all the other things. If the rich are like this, they will naturally not choose public carriages, but for ordinary people, they do not have many choices.

The reason why Pan Renyuan did not choose a shorter sea boat was just to see the long-lost pass. He had long been accustomed to everything in the carriage along the way. Even so, when the old man around him was smoking a cigarette pipe, he had to endure the choking smell of smoke.

"Young master is a scholar."

The old man looked at Pan Renyuan who seemed to be unable to stand the smell of smoke, so he casually pressed the Shou Shun Pipe pot and asked.

"I have studied in the social science for two years."

"That's also a scholar. Do you think this car is comfortable?"

The old man's rhetoric asked Pan Renyuan in confusion.

“It’s quite comfortable.”

"If you put it over, you can't enjoy this blessing. In the past, ordinary people can get into this car when they go out in winter."

Pan Renyuan didn't know how to answer the old man's words, and then he sold his ears and listened to the old man's words.

"Look at this road, it is a flat road. When I was repairing the official road from Beijing to Zhongdu, my family had three children. They worked for 60 days a year, and two years were 120 days. The official road was called the national highway. Yes, it is the national highway, three meters wide, and lime mixed with soil and rolled back and forth with five thousand kilograms of stones dozens of times, and then two layers of stone were laid. This road was built, and it was a solid..."

National Highway!

The national highway from Beijing to Jiangkou is the first national highway in the Ming Dynasty. It was built to relocate the capital and the national highway with the most labor and materials. Although the labor force of millions of people along the way and more than 300,000 southwest surrendered troops were built, the national highway of 2,000 miles still cost hundreds of thousands of taels of silver. Even when he was outside the pass, when he saw the completion of this national highway, which was completely paved with stones in the newspaper, Pan Renyuan was also surprised at the financial resources of the Xin Dynasty.

However, he did not know that after the road was completed, the court could bring hundreds of thousands of taels of income to the court every year by collecting tolls and tax tariffs. This income was continuous, and more importantly, the construction of the roads made the economy along the route prosperous.

"Hey, I really have the blessing of the emperor. In the past two years, the scenery has been getting better and better. This is the reign of the Holy Emperor."

The old man's words made Pan Renyuan's eyes full of doubts.

Along the way, through contact with old friends and ordinary people, Pan Renyuan found that his evaluation of today showed almost two completely different trends. On the one hand, his old friends mocked him for today, while on the other hand, ordinary people regarded the emperor as the holy emperor and the wise king.

Originally, for Pan Renyuan, who suffered from two years of exile, he often chose to remain silent and even open his eyes for the court, because he learned more about the lessons, but now he is confused.

Is it just because of interests?

Is it because the emperor violated the interests of some people and allowed the people to benefit from it?

Have the people benefited from it?

Along the way, Pan Renyuan was thinking about this issue. Even when he came to the service station, he seemed a little absent-minded. Although the service station next to the national highway was not much different from the old post station, there was absolutely no extortion from the post station. Because the service station was relatively safe, guests from south to north often had meals and accommodations here, and the drivers of the public carriage also changed horses or fed horses. At this time, the passengers on the bus also ate and stayed at the service station.

Because it was getting late, all the passengers on the bus stayed. Most of the passengers stayed in the big shop that cost ten cents a night, while Pan Renyuan lived in a single room with a silver coin, which was not expensive, and he also gave him a breakfast.

After entering the dining room, the rice is mashed potatoes, which is the most common meal in the service station in winter. Ordinary people do not often eat mashed potatoes because the taste is average, but farmers often use them to satisfy their hunger in winter, because this yellow potato is only 60 days from planting to harvest. Before the winter snow falls, they can harvest potatoes from the previous season. Because they are not resistant to storage, they are often eaten in winter. When the staple food is eaten until spring, they can save several months of food. In the service station, this is the cheapest food, of course there are steamed buns, corn rice and even rice, and of course the prices vary.

He ordered two dishes with meat and vegetables, and ordered a mashed potato. Pan Renyuan took the rice and looked for a seat. While looking for a seat, he saw a young man of eighteen or nineteen years old sitting upright eating noodles on a table in the corner. He was just a meal. There were four dishes in front of him, two large and two small, black fungus meat slices, cabbage and tofu, stir-fried eggs and pickled cucumbers, and a bowl of rice in the bowl.

The young man looked like a rich man. Although the food was average, his meals were very elegant, but there seemed to be a bit of worry between his eyebrows. This made Pan Renyuan a little curious. When he looked at the young man, he noticed that at the table next to the young man, there were several quite strong men sitting. They were not wearing cotton coats and fur coats, but gray wool coats. In the Ming Dynasty, only those who had served as soldiers liked to wear such hard and loose clothes. Pan Renyuan's eyes couldn't help but move to their feet.

Yellow long bucket leather boots.

They are soldiers!

What is this young man's identity? Why are there soldiers following him? Just then, the young man seemed to see Pan Renyuan, smiled at him and then took the initiative to invite him.

"If this young master doesn't dislike it, you might as well come and have a meal together."

The invitation from the boy made Pan Renyuan stunned, and the people at the next table were also stunned. When one of them was about to stand up, he was pressed down by the person next to him. The man shook his head at him.

"I thank you so much for the young master."

Because of curiosity, Pan Renyuan did not refuse and sat opposite him. Of course, his curiosity was curiosity about the identity of this young man. But what disappointed him was that although the young man called him to sit with him, he did not mean to talk to him. Instead, he continued to eat slowly, and even his attention was on the newspaper.

“Begging for food is forbidden…”

Seeing the words on the newspaper, Pan Renyuan said casually.

"There is no point in arguing about this matter. The saint's will has been settled. Even if they oppose it, what can we do? Although the emperor does not scepter, he never has any concerns about exile overseas. If the stalemate is not in a position, he can naturally deal with the opposition ministers with abductees. When all those who oppose are exiled, he will naturally be passed."

"oh?"

The young man raised his head and looked at Pan Renyuan and asked.

"Why is the young master sure that His Majesty will definitely pass this proposal? And he will exile all the ministers at will?"

When he was speaking, the young man had already put down the chopsticks in his hand and looked at Pan Renyuan in confusion.

"Because overseas colonies need people."

Pan Renyuan replied with a smile.

"When the Ming Dynasty Law was re-revised, why did the emperor recommend that abdics replace punishment? How vast is the Northeast? The population is only tens of thousands, and how vast is the overseas. From Taiwan to Pingnan, the government and civilian army is only tens of thousands. The northeast is bitter and cold, and overseas is also exiled. Who would have been willing to go there? In order to enrich the population there, military merits were granted fields, prisoners were military farms, and prisoners were exiled to prisoners. In recent years, the prisons in the Ming Dynasty have long been empty. Even if there are occasional perpetrators, only a few thousand people every year. This is not enough for a place in the northeast, let alone nineteen cities overseas?"

The so-called "Nineteen Cities" refer to the 19 ports along the Nanyang line from Chameng to Dingnan. Those ports are not large in size, with only two thousand people at most, and the small towns are only a few hundred Han people. How to enrich the population of those cities is naturally a problem that the court needs to consider.

But this is not the case, now, there are not so many people who can enrich themselves in those places.

"Well, it is true. In Your Majesty's opinion, Nanyang is a land of fish and rice. If Emperor Lie could immigrate millions of people to the South China Sea, despite the influence of malaria and evil diseases, it could still survive millions of people. Our Ming Dynasty would not have been destroyed by bandits, and even the people in the world were invaded by the Qing army, so that no ten people in the world would have survived."

The young man's sigh made Pan Renyuan nod and said.

"So, Your Majesty will do everything possible to move the people there, and this beggar... is also a human being."

A beggar is also a human being. It makes the young man silent for a moment, then pick up the chopsticks, first took a few bites, then put down the chopsticks and said.

"But is it too hasty to prohibit begging for food so banned? How many beggars and refugees in the world? If there is no certificate of registration, you can be arrested and exiled overseas. Wouldn't this force against the people?"

Pan Renyuan didn't even look at it again and replied casually.

"The Emperor Lie died at the hands of bandits. Since bandits were changed by refugees, today's refugees will be vulnerable to another day. When they are in trouble in another year, they will not be able to exile them to foreign lands when they are weak and force them to farm. In this way, the world can naturally be peaceful. As forcing the rebellion... The world is in chaos, how can the people put a peaceful life on their own and open their eyes to a few beggars?"

"This... maybe."

The young man who knew that what the person in front of him made sense finally had to nod and said.

"So it seems that this proposal must be passed?"

"The ministers in the court cannot last long. This discussion can be said to be justified by Your Majesty's heart. Your Majesty will naturally pass this matter with all his might. As for the officials who proposed this discussion, they will definitely be valued by Your Majesty."

"Zhao Guobin once served as a robber of the Qing Dynasty, and later was Li Ni's confidant. He surrendered with Wuchang and other places, and has been unimportant in the court in recent years. This time, it should... be valued by His Majesty."

"It's ridiculous, but it's really ridiculous. A second-rank official actually takes beggars as the way to become an eunuch. Is there anything more ridiculous in the world than this?"

Pan Renyuan smiled and shook his head, but the young man was silent. He did not express any opinions or feelings. Even before, he was just talking about things, not people.

"I heard that the young master has a native of Nanzhili. He went out alone before he left this year. I wonder where the young master was going?"

Seeing that the young man didn't say anything, Pan Renyuan knew that he might be a little inconvenient, so he asked back.

"Zhongdu."

"oh?"

Looking at the young man, Pan Renyuan turned his gaze aside again and looked at the followers who looked like soldiers. Perhaps because he saw his gaze, the young man said casually.

"My surname is Zhu and my name is Cixuan."

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Chapter completed!