It snowed heavily in the middle of winter, and Gao Qiu returned to Kaifeng with two thousand forbidden troops.
These two thousand Imperial Guard soldiers had been stripped of their armor by Zhang Bor, and each of them was given a set of paper clothes to keep out the cold.
Every time he passed through a county, he could collect a small amount of food. If any looting was discovered along the way, Gao Qiu would just become a bandit where he was. He would definitely not get anything good when he returned to Kaifeng.
Every one of Gao Qiu's Imperial Guardsmen were from good families in Tokyo. Their parents, wives, and children were all in Kaifeng. They were eager to go back to reunite with their families. As long as they were not starving and crazy, Gao Qiu was still very easy to control.
Walking in the snow did not disturb the people.
From Xuzhou to Kaifeng, order has been restored along the canal, and various commercial supplies are being shipped to Kaifeng.
State and county officials organized refugees to dredge rivers and ordered wealthy households to provide food in exchange for work relief.
There are no bonds that are currently only issued in Sichuan Gorge. It is difficult to effectively control other places. Rich households cannot trust the government, and the Zhu family cannot trust the officials. They can only use the previous apportionment method to tide over the crisis.
When we reach Dongming County, the canal is completely frozen, and inland river trade is temporarily suspended this year.
Gao Qiu and his soldiers were still on their way, stepping on the snow and approaching Tokyo.
There are a large number of warehouses along the Guangji River. Most of the grain, cloth and other items in the warehouses were transferred to defend the city by Zhao Huan. Those who had not had time to move were robbed by the Jin soldiers. Especially the private warehouses, some merchants were lucky enough to wait and see.
They were all snatched away by Wanyan Zongwang.
Now that order has been restored, the private warehouses have begun to restock, but the official warehouses are still empty.
The streets and houses along the river are all dilapidated, and the residents along the river can be said to be surviving. Because the Jin soldiers camped nearby for a month, in order to cover the battlefield, they deliberately created an uninhabited area, and many houses were burned to the ground.
Countless people died of starvation and illness while fleeing, and some craftsmen and women were captured by the Jin.
"It's getting dark soon. There should be a curfew in Tokyo. Let's stay here tonight." Gao Qiu sighed.
A large number of dilapidated houses were empty and unclaimed. Gao Qiu and his two thousand imperial troops looked for houses to live in.
Feeling the tragic situation after the war, the Imperial Guards soldiers were even more worried about their families and wanted to return to the city overnight to inquire about the situation.
The eldest son Gao Yaokang worriedly said: "When we return to Beijing this time, our father and son really won't be punished, right?"
"Don't worry, brother, Marshal Zhu is very benevolent and righteous. I didn't suffer any punishment when I was captured last time." The second son, Gao Yaofu, was quite experienced. He was captured by the rebels in Fengxiang Mansion and released after peace talks.
Gao Qiu looked at the wind and snow outside from the gap in the broken house, tightened his clothes and said: "Beheading is not enough, I am not one of the six thieves. Even if I invade the land, I will only invade the barracks and the school grounds of the Forbidden Army, never occupy them."
People’s houses and houses will not be occupied by farmland outside the city. This time, we have made a great contribution to Xuzhou. How can we not reward the merits but severely punish them? But I don’t know if our family’s wealth can be preserved.”
"It's good if you can survive," Gao Yaokang pointed outside and said, "At least tens of thousands of people have died in the suburbs of Beijing by the Guangji River. There are empty houses everywhere and no one lives in them."
I don’t know how many died, but there must be more than 10,000 missing.
According to recent government statistics, the number of residential areas within ten miles on both sides of the Guangji River outside the city has decreased by at least 20,000 people compared with before the war. Those who can come back have all come back, and most of those who cannot come back have died of illness and starvation, or have been killed.
The Jin soldiers captured him and took him to the north.
The inner city, the outer city and the surrounding suburbs were all organized into small houses for unified management. Half a year of war resulted in a sharp decline in the population of nearly 100,000.
Especially in the city, many people did not die of direct starvation, but died of complications caused by long-term malnutrition.
After spending a night freezing in a dilapidated house, Gao Qiu led his troops to the outside of the city. The place was slightly more prosperous, but still relatively depressed, mainly due to the lack of commercial and entertainment activities.
There are not even many vendors selling snacks, because the government strictly controls food.
"Popcorn pops, selling corn pops..."
There are quite a few people selling popcorn, but in Kaifeng this winter, the regulations on corn are slightly looser.
Unfortunately, this kind of popcorn has neither sugar nor salt added and can only be eaten plain.
There was a war going on in the Huainan Salt Zone, and Fang Mengqing was appointed as the general manager of Huainan. He fought back and forth with the salt lords and rebels who had accepted Song Huizong's invitation. This resulted in a shortage of salt supply, and Sichuan salt had to be transported to Beijing to fill the gap.
"Stop, who are you?" The city guards stopped Gao Qiu.
Gao Qiu took out the official document signed by Zhang Bor: "We used to be the imperial army of the old Song Dynasty. After conquering Xuzhou, we took refuge with Marshal Zhu. Now we have resigned ourselves to the people and come back to reunite with our families. Please allow us to enter the city."
The guards at the city gate did not dare to neglect and hurriedly went in to report. Soon, officers and civil servants arrived one after another.
Gao Qiu and others had to first go to the Wucheng Military and Horse Department to report, and then go to Kaifeng Mansion to register, confirm their identities, and then disperse and go home.
Gao Qiu had several houses, one of which was south of the inner city wall, which was given by Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty. The remaining houses were all north of the outer city wall, which were real estate developed by him.
The father and son first went to the south of the city to check and found that their mansion had been sealed up.
After carefully asking the nearby neighbors, I found out that every part of the mansion given by Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty had been confiscated, and the original owner was only allowed to take away a small amount of frivolous wealth.
As for the Gao family, no one was arrested and they all moved outside Beicheng.
So the father and son went out of the city to the north again. The concubine Gao Bing cried when he saw them: "Father, brother, all the belongings of our Gao family have been confiscated, and all the antiques and antiques collected by my father are gone."
"How much money is left?" Gao Qiu asked.
Gao Bing replied: "The imperial court said that my father's contribution to Xuzhou allowed him to take away 200,000 yuan, and he could keep one of his mansions in the north of the city."
"It's okay, it's okay." Gao Qiu murmured to himself.
With two hundred thousand dollars in free money and a mansion outside the city, not to mention continuing to enjoy wealth, at least two or three generations can live a good life.
Gao Bing added: "The houses my father built before, whether they were sold or not, were all confiscated by the imperial court. Some were demolished and rebuilt as school grounds, and some were left for the soldiers to live in. I live here, and I am in constant fear all day long. I live next door.
Those are all Sichuan soldiers."
In the north of Tokyo, there is a large military camp and school ground area, most of which was occupied by Gao Qiu for real estate development, and more than a dozen various companies were opened.
Nowadays, even the properties that have been sold have to be relocated, and the mansions have become large courtyards where soldiers live together.
As for the wealthy households who are forced to move out, they can live wherever they like.
There is really no place to live, and there are still a large number of empty houses on both sides of the Guangji River and Bianhe River. As long as it is an ownerless house confirmed by the government, anyone can apply to live in it, and only needs to pay a low subscription fee - every
Households are only allowed to subscribe for one property, and must transfer their household registration there to prevent wealthy people from taking the opportunity to seize the property.
These days, some wealthy households are frantically dividing their families and letting their children and grandchildren go out of town to subscribe for ownerless houses.
Zhao Ding responded quickly and stipulated that during this special period, each household could be divided into three at most, and any additional household accounts would be declared invalid.
Wealthy households also have countermeasures, mobilizing relatives, friends, and even servants to ask these people to subscribe for real estate at low prices, especially in prime locations outside the city.
The government is too lazy to take care of this anymore. The wealth is so exciting that there will probably be many lawsuits in the future. Will the relatives, friends, and servants of the wealthy family be willing to only have the name of a homeowner? Some of them must choose to report it to the government, trying to get "their own"
” real estate.
Gao Qiu asked about the situation at home, and then asked about the trends in the court.
Gao Bing said: "I heard that Zhu Jinglue is going to proclaim himself emperor. Not only the officials, but also the scholars are discussing the name of the country. The new dynasty is neither Han nor Qi, but the Ming Dynasty. Many people don't know.
I agree, some people say that this country’s name is related to Manichaeism.”
"Manichaeism?" Gao Qiu didn't understand.
Gao Bing explained: "Some officials from the south said that Manichaeism is called Mingjiao in some places, and those who believe in it are Daming Zun and Ming Wang. So some people speculate that Zhu Xianggong may be a Manichae."
"Who is responsible for preparing for the ascension ceremony?" Gao Qiu asked again.
Gao Bing said: "The great scholar Huan came from the south."
Gao Qiu had never heard of this name and had no impression of the country of Hu.
This is because Huan Guo died first of his own mother and then his biological father, leaving Ding You at home for six full years. It was the darkest period of Huizong's reign in the Song Dynasty. Hu Guo Ding You did not want to be an official anymore after his term expired, and lived in seclusion in Jiangsu and Zhejiang until
At the beginning of the year, he was repeatedly recruited by the imperial court to serve as an official in Beijing.
Continuing to inquire about the situation, Gao Qiu wanted to find an acquaintance to lead the way.
However, he discovered that most of his former acquaintances did not achieve high positions, and some even had their homes confiscated and were exiled. On the contrary, a few political opponents were re-employed.
The next day, Gao Qiu took his two sons and went to the Ministry of Officials to report.
The officials could not handle his situation at all, so they had to ask the court for instructions, and in the end it was the Zhu family and his son who made the final decision.
When the new emperor ascended the throne, he would definitely receive official titles and rewards. Gao Qiu could not sit still anymore. He could not wait at home, he had to rely on connections as soon as possible to catch up with the rewards.
He packed all the gold and silver in his family's wealth into a car, worth nearly 10,000 guan, and dragged it directly to Li Bangyan's house.
When delivering the assassination, he was even more humble. He only delivered it to a side door of the Li family. He signed the signature and called himself "a late scholar" and called Li Bangyan "Master Gongxiang".
Even so, you still have to queue!
The two side doors of Li Bangyan's residence were full of people giving gifts, some of whom were not allowed in from morning until noon.
"Father," Gao Yaofu whispered, "Li Bangyan is very popular. Our gift is less than 10,000 yuan. I'm afraid he won't do his best when helping."
"We can only wait," Gao Qiu comforted himself, "We have made great contributions to Xuzhou. Li Bangyan doesn't have to work too hard. He can just accept the money and help. It's easy to make money, and he can still sell face. Isn't he
Will refuse."
The two of them didn't have much of a friendship, but they didn't have any issues either.
Gao Qiu doesn't know how to play football at all. He only knows poetry, calligraphy, and business and real estate.
The one with truly superb skills was Li Bangyan, who was proficient in all kinds of entertainment projects and had a great time playing with Song Huizong all day long. Gao Qiu was regarded as taking the blame for Li Bangyan for a thousand years.