Standing on the deck, watching the canal dock gradually drifting away, Shen Rui felt quite excited in his heart.
Shen Rui will be able to arrive in the capital in one month. What is the capital like now? Shen Rui feels a little hopeful, but also a little hesitant, and inexplicably feels like "cowardly in the countryside".
If I went to the capital and buried a wooden celestial body in places like Baita Temple and Tanzhe Temple that have been passed down to later generations, and it was discovered five hundred years later, would any scientists attribute this to the "extraterrestrial visitors" five hundred years ago? "Alien civilization brought by?
If you leave a parchment scroll and name it to your relatives five hundred years from now, will your wish come true?
Shen Rui's mind was full of wild ideas, and finally fell into silence.
Five hundred years is not fifty years, it is too far away. Will the world in five hundred years be still the same as it was in five hundred years?
Next to them, Shen Jue and He Taizhi gathered together and were looking at the Yellow Horse Clippers in front of the fleet.
It is now the shallow water period and it is winter. There are very few ships going south, and most of the ships on the canal are going north. Except for the fleet formed by the children of the Shen family, other ships are traveling on the right side, leaving the middle waterway.
Sail along the current, and there are no ships blocking the way, so the fleet travels very fast.
"This boat is traveling so fast," Shen Jue exclaimed, "How many miles can it travel in one hour?"
He Taizhi took a boat when he went south, and he knew the speed of the boat. He replied: "If the wind is strong enough, it can reach five or sixty miles an hour."
"Wind strength?" Shen Jue raised his head and looked at the sail. Although the wind was bright and sunny today, he could still see a slight northerly wind.
"The current is with the current and the wind, but the ship is also very fast." Shen Jue took a look and said: "There are more than 2,000 miles of waterway from Suzhou to the capital. If everything goes smoothly, wouldn't it take more than ten days? Why is Auntie on the road in such a hurry? , and don’t take a day off?”
He Taizhi rolled his eyes at him and pointed at the six or seven escort ships in front of the team with their bows and cast-iron hoops: "Cousin Jue, what are those?"
Shen Jue looked over: "Isn't it a escort ship? It's the one leading the way."
However, He Taizhi kept his secrets and refused to speak immediately.
Shen Rui nodded and said: "That's an icebreaker. When we get to Shandong, there will be ice floes in the canal, and we need to use this to clear the ice. But even if the icebreaker follows, the waterway can only go as far as Shandong. After Shandong, the North Canal should Frozen.”
I wonder how different the climate of the capital today is from that of the capital in later generations.
In the capital city of later generations, the river water would freeze every year at the end of November in the Gregorian calendar. According to the lunar calendar, it would be after mid-October. Now it is already late November, so the water must be solidly frozen.
Shen Jue smiled and said: "I forgot, it's cold in the north. No wonder my aunt once said that Shandong should be replaced by land routes. It turns out that's the reason."
The water was already damp and cold, and at this time of year, the boat was also windy. The three of them stood on the deck, and then they were called back to the house by Mrs. Xu.
The fleet they boarded this time had a total of fourteen or five ships. In addition to three tribute ships, there were six or seven escort ships, and the remaining five or six official ships, large and small, were all following them. The tribute boat was rubbing the waterway behind it.
On the canal, ships sail in order, with tribute ships coming first, tank ships next, official ships next, and civilian ships last.
In order to prevent anyone from using tribute ships for profit, the imperial court issued a decree that tribute ships carrying imperial tribute from the south of the Yangtze River to the capital "are not allowed to carry anyone or anything." Tribute ships were also searched very strictly at the sluices along the way.
But there are policies upstream and countermeasures downstream.
Nanjing is originally a cold yamen, with few places to make money, so these 998 tribute ships belonging to various yamen in Nanjing have become a money tree.
If the tribute ship is not allowed to carry people, then it will not be carried; if it is not allowed to carry cargo, then it will not be loaded. However, the tribute ship fleet can be filled with official ships and the like.
The tax eunuchs and others along the way, for the sake of Nanjing's ceremonial supervisor, "turned a blind eye" to these ships and let them go.
Over and over again, this became the unspoken rule of the tribute ship team. The prices of people and goods coming and going were almost clearly marked.
In order to match the speed of the tribute ship, the accompanying ships were not too big, but they were not too small either.
Shen Rui and others took this official ship, which was twenty-seven feet long and eight feet wide.
On board the ship, in addition to the nephews, nieces and younger generations of the Shen clan led by Mrs. Xu, there were also the family of the Minister of the Ministry of Industry of Nanjing who had returned to his hometown after serving as official officials, and three officials of the Sixth Ministry of Nanjing who had been promoted to the capital. There are also the imperial guards who came to Suzhou and returned to Beijing after completing their duties, and the 1,000 and 100 households of Nanjing Jinyiwei who were ordered to come to Beijing.
The imperial eunuch Shao Jian is from the fourth rank, the Jinyiwei Qianhu is from the fifth rank, and the Jinyiwei Hundreds from the sixth rank.
The center of power of the Ming Dynasty was nominally in the hands of the emperor and his cabinet ministers, but in fact it was the emperor who exercised arbitrary power through the factory guards.
Because of the existence of the factory guards, the internal officials and the Jin Yiwei were so arrogant that the officials and the common people changed their minds.
On this official ship, there are three floors of cabins on the deck. The top cabin is used by the young eunuch and the two royal guards. The second floor is where the Xu family and the Shen family are, and the first floor is where the imperial minister is. One family and several officers were on the lower deck.
Because the factory guards were upstairs and there were officials and women downstairs, Mrs. Xu restrained her juniors. Except for going to the deck to relax when the ship was docked, the rest of the time was carried on the second floor, so as to avoid bumping into others and causing unnecessary trouble.
Because of Xu's imperial status, the female family members of the Minister of Rites' family sent messages of greeting, and several officials from Nanjing sent messages of greetings.
Among the juniors, the elders like Shen Quan and Shen Zhu, who were already seventeen years old, were sneaked out by Mrs. Xu and followed the housekeeper of the second room to take care of the general affairs and social interactions; the remaining younger ones were taken by Mrs. Xu. , or reading, or playing card games, I spend half a day getting along with each other.
Hearing with the ears is false, seeing with the eyes is true.
After two or three days, Mrs. Xu gained a better understanding of the qualifications and conduct of the children of the Shen family.
In terms of study diligence, Shen Lin is the most diligent, followed by Shen Rui, Shen Bao, and Shen Qin and Shen Jue, who are the most lazy.
Unfortunately, Shen Lin, the most diligent student, has the worst qualifications. She is the kind of dull-minded person who can memorize books for a long time, but even if you ask him, he doesn't know what he means.
At the card table, Shen Jue was the most active, followed by Shen Qin, Shen Bao, and Shen Lin and Shen Rui who were the quietest.
When it comes to winning or losing money, Shen Lin is the most concerned, followed by Shen Qin, Shen Bao, and Shen Rui and Shen Jue who are the most indifferent.
When it comes to dealing with people and things, Shen Rui is the most stable, followed by Shen Lin, Shen Bao, and Shen Qin and Shen Jue who are the liveliest.
Shen Rui doesn't compete with his clan brothers, he is as sensible as a little adult.
Seeing such a taciturn and steady Shen Rui, Xu felt sour and weak in her heart.
When Mrs. Sun first entered the second house, she was younger than Shen Rui now, just in her early ten years.
Mrs. Xu herself was just a newly married bride. She was the eldest daughter-in-law. She respected her parents-in-law, served her husband, and took care of her two brothers-in-law. She was already very careful. At that time, the Xu family had returned to their hometown, and she was in the capital. There were only a few sisters who were very different in age and not close to each other, so I felt a little panicked in my heart.
Xu, who was born in a university, was raised well even though his father was dismissed as prime minister, sent to jail, removed from office and exiled.
Originally, Mrs. Xu was worried about Mrs. Sun's arrival.
Firstly, Mrs. Sun was born in a merchant family, and the upbringing of a merchant family was different from that of an official family. There was a several-year age difference between the two, so they were afraid of friction; secondly, Mrs. Sun was the daughter-in-law personally chosen by the Third Grand Master, and she was brought in to educate her.
, under such pampering, if someone is willful, Mrs. Xu should be careful when getting along with him.
As soon as she came into contact with Mrs. Sun, Mrs. Xu found that she was a quiet and well-behaved little lady. She was not overbearing, nor was she shabby and stingy like someone from a small family.
Although Mrs. Xu is not the eldest sister at home, she does have a younger sister. Seeing that Ms. Sun is so well-behaved, she goes out of her way to carefully test her and treat her like a younger sister.
For this reason, when the third old lady asked Mrs. Xu to educate Mrs. Sun, Mrs. Xu was happy to do so and did her best.
Sun is just like Shen Rui. He is very diligent in learning, has good aptitude, and can learn everything quickly. He is not as arrogant as other children.
The third old lady often said behind her back that "merchants are vulgar and value profits but lack affection", but Sun never had the bad habits of merchants, and she didn't care much about money and other things.
Mrs. Xu thought she was naive and romantic and didn't know the world, so she didn't care about gold and silver. It wasn't until she bought a marriage property for Mrs. Sun and took over many of Taiye Sun's properties that Mrs. Xu realized that Mrs. Sun was innocent at the moment and didn't know anything about money.
The important thing is that I have been rich since I was a child and have never lacked this, so I don't take this seriously.
With Sun around, Si Fang's life was smooth in the early years. Although it has been somewhat unsatisfactory in recent years, Shen Rui will not have much impact for a while.
Thinking of this, Mrs. Xu was not worried that Shen Rui would be squinted by the prosperity of the capital, but she was a little worried that he didn't realize the difficulty of making a living.
Although the property left by Mr. Sun is enough for Shen Rui to enjoy for a lifetime, no one can predict the situation in life, and it is difficult to guarantee that there will be ups and downs.
Although Shen Rui suffered hardships in the past few years, it was only a temporary harsh treatment from his elders, and he was still far from the people's livelihood and economy. Now that he has plenty of money, he is so calm. What if the money is gone? What will happen to him?
When times are good, people will show their good side; only when times are difficult, they are more likely to expose their shortcomings.
Mrs. Xu was secretly observing the young men of the Shen family, and Shen Zhu was also secretly paying attention to Mr. Xu.
When Mrs. Xu first proposed to accompany Shen Quan to socialize with the housekeeper, Shen Zhu secretly rejoiced in her heart and followed the housekeeper's actions conscientiously. But he has always been smart, and he realized something was wrong within two days.
Mrs. Xu paid attention to testing the younger ones, but completely ignored the two older ones.
Are they abandoning them as candidates for heirs without even investigating them? Thinking about it, it seems reasonable. After all, they are the oldest, and their parents will not be able to raise them in two years.
It is better to have a few young children who are well educated by their parents for a few years, and then they are released to study and become officials, and the relationship between the parents and their children will be deeper.
Shen Zhu felt sour in her heart and felt uncomfortable for a long time.
However, thinking about the greedy faces of her parents and elders, Shen Zhu still refused to give up. She wanted to break through the predicament, but she was unwilling to be humble and flatter the Xu family.
What should we do?
In the chaos, Shen Zhu saw He Taizhi and thought that he almost became Shen Luo's brother-in-law. Then he thought about the young lady of the Xu family who had been shutting up in the inner cabin, and she was immediately enlightened...