Demoness, Where Are You Fleeing To?

In Beizhili, outside Hejian City, a four-wheeled carriage slowly stopped beside the official road.

Then Chen Xun, the Grand Tutor of the dynasty, stepped out of the carriage wearing a white robe.

Then his eyes were deeply attracted by the straight avenue in front of him, which was about four feet wide and paved with asphalt, cement and gravel, as well as the four-wheeled carriages that kept going back and forth.

In the early years of the Restoration, the imperial court reorganized the etiquette related to chariots and made it clear that people could also use four-wheeled chariots.

Therefore, this kind of four-wheeled carriage equipped with bearings and shock-absorbing devices, which was originally only used in the military, quickly spread among the people and became the favorite means of transportation for the court gentry and wealthy private businessmen.

This low-cost four-wheel carriage soon became popular in the streets, alleys, and countryside.

Even those who are really wealthy cannot bear the huge consumption of horse-drawn carriages, and usually use four-wheel carriages for transportation. .

However, these four-wheeled carriages are mostly used for transportation, and their carrying capacity is ten times that of two-wheeled carriages.

At the same time, attention was also paid to the official roads in various places suitable for four-wheeled carriages.

Gentlemen and businessmen from all over the country put tremendous pressure on the government, asking the government to spend money to repair roads, and even donate money to raise money.

The official road in front of Chen Xun from Hejian to Baoding and connected to the capital was a road built half a year ago with funds raised by the local government and half of the funds subsidized by the imperial court.

For this reason, Tongzhou also hired nine thousand powerful Taihang demons with food and money to help them build roads.

——As for its effect, Chen Wei has already experienced it.

Under the influence of the "traffic rules" established by King Fenyang, the carriage traveled as fast as the wind and lightning, no less than the speeding carriages he used in the past.

Although the ride was a little bumpy, the flying cars hanging in the air and shaking up and down were actually not much better.

"master!"

At this time, an old man over fifty years old with a gray beard and a strong body jumped out of the carriage.

He put his hands in his sleeves and walked behind Taifu Chen Xun: "It's getting late today and there may be heavy snow at night. Can we find an inn outside the city to stay?"

The person in front of him resigned from his position as chief assistant due to his mother's death.

But this person was still the most respected Taifu in the imperial court, one of the three princes in the dynasty, and his status was only inferior to that of King Fenyang, the Taishi.

Therefore, theoretically speaking, when this person is on his way home to be raised in honor, not only do the stations in various places need to receive him according to the standards second only to the king, but also the officials from various places have to go to the city gate to welcome him.

But on the one hand, Chen Xun didn't like the current trend of welcomes and send-offs in the officialdom; on the other hand, he wanted to see the folk customs of various places on his way back home, so he didn't want to alarm the local officials and stopped at inns along the way.

Chen Xun also raised his head and glanced at the sky, and found that the sky was already covered with clouds, and there was a drawer wind blowing all around him.

Chen Xun has lived in Bj City for decades and knows that this is a sign of heavy snow.

The official roads built by the imperial court in the north this year are all extremely smooth, and the asphalt and cement are simply magical.

So even at night, the official road from Bj City to Yangzhou is busy with traffic.

But if it's going to snow, then the situation is different. The roads are icy and slippery, and there is always the risk of a vehicle overturning or even crashing.

However, at the strong suggestion of King Fenyang, the imperial court established a road protection department and hired a large number of magicians and monsters, as well as a large number of cavalry soldiers diverted from the water transport, which were supported by taxes and fees from official roads.

After the snow stops, at most two hours, the official road can resume normal traffic.

In the past, Chen Xun was worried that the road protection department and official roads collecting tolls would disturb and harm the people, compete with the people for profit, and even exploit the people, so he took a more conservative stance.

But at this time, he had another idea while walking all the way from bj.

Although there are some shortcomings in the relationship of this road guard, the flaws cannot outweigh the advantages.

Along the way, he saw many overweight carriages, which were not only dangerous, but also put great pressure on the roads along the way.

If the roads are left unmaintained and unattended, the official roads will probably be abandoned in a few years.

He thought that even if the road protection department was corrupted and committed fraud, the disaster would be relatively minor. If businessmen feel that it is not cost-effective to take the official route, they will turn to other ways. Or take sea transportation or water transportation.

And now King Fenyang is suppressing the court. Not only did he abolish the worthless banknotes in the middle of the year, he also raised the salary of all court officials to seven times what it was in the early years of Jingtai. He also planned to establish the Integrity Council, parallel to the Metropolitan Procuratorate, to investigate corruption and bribery. Waiting for something.

Now that the atmosphere in the officialdom is getting better day by day, I believe that the officials in the Road Protection Department would not dare to go against the knife edge of the Integrity Council.

Chen Xuning looked at the endless motorcades on the road and found that there were not only a large number of caravans, but also many carriages from the warehousing departments of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development.

He couldn't help but secretly think about it, thinking that not only was this 'Road Protection Department' necessary, but the 'Road Department' proposed by Li Xuan was also imperative, with jurisdiction over the world's transportation planning, as well as the construction and maintenance of roads.

If these matters are under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Works, then the authority of the Ministry of Works will be even heavier.

"Don't look outside the city, just look for an inn inside the city. Hejian Mansion has a north-south government office, and I also want to take a look inside the city."

After he finished speaking, he walked towards another inn next to the road.

Chen Xun just saw more than a dozen carriages waiting at the door of the inn.

This should be the base of a carriage and horse racing company. The carriage drivers were all gathered in a thatched shed next to the inn, laughing and chatting.

Chen Xun didn't mind the smell of the hut, so he walked directly in and sat down next to an old man holding a big smoking gun in the corner.

"Old man!"

Chen Xun smiled and looked at the old man with a weathered face and wrinkles like knife cuts: "It's freezing cold and it's about to snow. My father-in-law is not enjoying himself at home in such a cold weather. Why are he still waiting for work outside?" ?”

The old man thought that there was business coming, so he put away his cigarette with a smile on his face and said enthusiastically: "It's going to snow, but the tires of my carriage are specially engraved with runes to prevent slipping. It won't snow too much tonight." Big, you can still take a shot. Where are you going, sir?"

Chen Xun laughed dumbly: "I won't be driving the car at night. I brought my own carriage and will stay in the city tonight."

The old man's face suddenly stiffened, and just as he was thinking that this guy was entertaining me, he saw Chen Xun pull out two cigarettes from a big red cigarette box and hand them over.

The old man recognized that there were flying fish patterns on the cigarette box.

He was immediately in awe and took the two cigarettes into his arms with great care.

There was a smile on the old man's face again: "This is an imperial cigarette made in the palace under the supervision of His Highness King Fenyang, right? It is said that if you smoke one, you will be like a god. I have only heard of it before, but I have never seen it. .

Mr. Jean, you are laughing. I have never seen this kind of cigarette before. When I go home tomorrow, I will show some of my boys. "

The servants following Chen Xun couldn't help but raise their lips slightly, showing disdain.

They all thought how could it be such an exaggeration? Although cigarettes were originally produced by Uncle Chengcheng's family, which was a good industry, how could King Fenyang have the time to supervise the production of such a thing?

This imperial cigarette was made under the supervision of an in-house factory. The tobacco leaves and sesame oil are more refined and are of the highest quality.

Chen Xun didn't take it seriously. He simply handed over the cigarette case in his hand: "Listen to what my father-in-law said, there are so many children at home. What a blessing! But at your age, you shouldn't have children to support you at home. Some blessings?"

The old man couldn't help but smile widely when he thought of his children at home, but then he sighed slightly: "In this cold day, who doesn't want to stay at home and lie on the hot bed? The hot bed that King Fenyang tinkered with is extremely warm.

But there is no other way. Our family has to make a living, fill our stomachs, and pay off the government's debts. If you want to make money, you can't be lazy. So not only me, but also the eldest and second eldest brother in the family also work in shops in the city. "

"Debt?" Chen Xun looked at the old man's rough hands and asked thoughtfully: "My father-in-law's family seems to be still engaged in farming? It should be due to the debt purchased from the government, right? Is it difficult to pay off the debt?"

At this time, the land tax reform in the northern and southern Zhili provinces had basically entered the final stage.

In order to avoid heavy taxes, powerful landlords in Northern Zhili sold a large amount of their land to the imperial court.

After the imperial court purchased these fields, they distributed them to the local people in the form of installment loans.

"It's not difficult! It's not difficult!"

The old man shook his head quickly: "My family is very big-hearted. Each of the several children in the family has purchased twenty acres of land. Old man, I not only bought the land, but also bought a four-wheel truck.

But in fact, the harvest in the fields alone is enough to repay the loan. This year, my family's 70 acres of wheat fields have harvested 670 shi of wheat. Adding potatoes, corn and sweet potatoes, the several granaries at home are piled up. Almost overflowing. In the past, I would never have dared to think about such a day. "

A happy smile appeared on his face: "It's all thanks to King Fenyang. Since the New Year, our family's life has become better and better. I still remember more than ten years ago, in the early years of Jingtai, In order to fight against the Mongols, the imperial court confiscated the last bit of food from my family. All the young and old in my family wanted to eat Guanyin soil. But now, we can't finish all the food in several years."

Chen Xun was thoughtful: "Since my father-in-law's family has no worries about food and clothing, and repaying debts is no problem, why do we have to work so hard and go out to work in the cold weather?"

After hearing this, the old man couldn't help but smile bitterly; "There is too much food to eat, but the problem is that the food is not valuable anymore. Now the government purchases food for 700 pence a stone. But they refuse to charge more. Every family Each household can only receive fifty dan at most.

If I want to sell the remaining grain to those grain merchants, they will only pay a price of one hundred and fifty cents per stone. My family would rather the grain rot and be used to raise pigs and chickens than sell it to them. But now, oil, salt, sugar, cotton cloth, towels, leather clothes, glass mirrors, matches, cigarettes, bicycles, carriages, etc., which of these expenses are free?

Especially since the young and old in my family have not yet gotten married, they want to renovate several of their houses, replace them with cement bricks and tiles, and also want to buy some armor, which also requires real silver dollars. By the way, my family has recently gained three grandchildren, and we also have to spend money on them. "

But when the old man talked about his grandson, he couldn't stop smiling.

Chen Xun couldn't help but think of the recent cabinet meetings.

Due to the devaluation of food prices and inflation, the princes in the court were worried about it every day.

A few months ago, the imperial court printed silver coins on a large scale to purchase fields from powerful officials and gentry. At least one hundred million silver dollars were invested in the market, which caused the prices of various commodities to expand rapidly.

The King of Fenyang's response was to be guided and encouraged by the court, so that the powerful officials and gentry who sold the land would invest their money in factories to increase the production of various daily necessities on a large scale.

As long as more goods are produced, prices will naturally fall.

The next step is to increase the quantity of goods. If people have more things to buy, the price of a certain commodity will not be pushed up.

Then there is the preparation of banks to attract officials and gentry to deposit their excess money in banks to earn interest.

But even so, prices of various commodities are still rising like a rocket.

Chen Xun was deeply worried about this, but he knew that there was nothing he could do about it.

The imperial court had to print more silver coins and acquire fields in the north and south.

It's just that although the land reform of Zhili in the north and south has been settled at this time, the powerful officials and gentry in other places are also watching eagerly.

The output of this field is no longer profitable, and the court has to impose heavy taxes on them.

The only way out was to sell the land to the court.

The court had no choice but to buy it. This was the best time for land equalization, and these gentry could not be left without a way out.

But in this way, so much silver dollars flowing into the private sector will only further push up prices and cause inflation.

Chen Xun then gave a wry smile, thinking that this was no longer an issue he should consider.

A few days ago, King Fenyang wanted to implement the reform of the official system in the court. The first thing to be done was the cabinet. It was agreed that the cabinet ministers would have a six-year term and no more than two terms.

Chen Xun thought that he had been assisting the government for seventeen years, so he simply resigned during his mother's death so as not to block the way of His Highness.

Chen Xun shook his head, put away his thoughts, and asked with a smile: "Listening to what my father-in-law said, it seems that your family's life is harder than before."

"Isn't it? It's much harder than previous years!"

The old man sighed heavily, but his eyes were shining: "But there is hope for these days! In the past, if I had a bowl of rice to eat one day, I could get by with UU reading www.uukanshu.net. But now my family eats it every day. They are all white flour steamed buns, and you can still see meat every once in a while. And these clothes, I could only wear linen clothes before, and it was as cold as a dog in winter, but look at me now-"

He tugged on his cotton-padded clothes, with a smile on his face: "So I also invited the Buddha statue of Emperor Tathagata at home. Now many people say that His Highness King Fenyang is a contemporary saint, the Xuanhuang Emperor in heaven who cannot be seen in the world. Despite the sufferings of this world, we deliberately reincarnated into this world so that we can have food and clothing without worries from now on.

However, my mother-in-law believes in Buddhism. She said that the monks in the temple are warning the believers that His Royal Highness King Fenyang is the reincarnation of the Tathagata Emperor to save all living beings from suffering. Don't tell me, ever since this Buddha statue came to my house. The negative energy in my family has dissipated a lot. "

When Chen Xun heard this, he couldn't help but smile bitterly.

This was another thing that troubled him. Various beliefs about King Fenyang were spreading across the Central Plains like a flood.

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