[Comprehensive History] Clothes are all over the world

After leaving Kaifeng, Henan, the prince's convoy went all the way south and arrived at Fengyang, the central capital.

Fengyang was not called this name originally.

A few years ago, this was a small town in northern Anhui called Haozhoufu, but this land gave birth to a remarkable person, which changed its destiny ever since.

That person was the founding emperor of Ming Dynasty——Zhu Yuanzhang.

After defeating Zhang Shicheng at the end of the Yuan Dynasty and taking back his hometown, Zhu Yuanzhang changed Haozhou Mansion to Linhao Mansion and named it Zhongdu.In the sixth year of Hongwu, Lao Zhu renamed it Zhongli Mansion. In the second year, he moved the capital to the south of Fenghuang Mountain and renamed it Fengyang.

But Fengyang County did not usher in the landing of the phoenix in the end.

Although Zhu Yuanzhang spent a lot of manpower and material resources to build the capital in Fengyang before, and sent his confidant Li Shanchang to supervise the construction in person.However, the reason why Fengyang, a small city located in the south of the Wei River, tends to be small and transparent for a long time in the development of history has its own reasons.

A city can stand out as a super-large city, or it has rich products, such as salt iron ore or gold and silver mines. Having minerals means that the government needs a lot of labor. After the population naturally gathers, it will form a town.

Either it is a transportation hub, like Chengdu. As the center point connecting the east, west, north, and south in the southwest region, Chengdu relies on its geographical advantages to become a large town.

Then there is the political factor. The identity of a country's capital is destined to be a city that focuses on business and politics.In order to feed the political talents who are not engaged in production, a large amount of agricultural products and living materials are bound to be needed, which have promoted the development of local transportation and transportation.

This point is particularly prominent in the dynasties whose salaries were mainly based on food, and the main representatives were the Jin and Yuan dynasties.

Both dynasties established their capitals in Beiping, and Beiping does not have the advantage of becoming the capital in terms of climate or geographical location, but it is backed by grasslands and faces the Central Plains, and the terrain is relatively flat, which can give the nomads the greatest security feel.

In order to supply supplies to Beiping, the Yuan government had to spend a lot of effort to dredge the former Sui and Tang Grand Canals, changing the original horizontal canal centered on Luoyang into a vertical one ending in Beiping.

Only in this way can there be the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal in later generations.

But Fengyang has none of these.In other words, it had a chance to have it, but it appeared at the wrong time.

Here I have to mention Fengyang's old neighbor - Huaihe.

This river sandwiched between the Yellow River and the Yangtze River used to be the mother river that nurtured the soil and water. However, in the Southern Song Dynasty, the officials of the Jin Dynasty, which governed the north, were corrupt. As for 1194 A.D., a major embankment breach occurred in the Henan section of the Yellow River Basin, and the surging flood rushed southward and directly poured into the Huaihe River system.

Since then, the Yellow River has invaded the waterway of the Huaihe River many times, and a large amount of sediment has blocked the mouth of the Huaihe River.

This drastic geographical change also directly caused the originally fertile Huaihe River Basin to start a pattern of "heavy rain and severe disaster, light rain and minor disaster, and no rain and drought".

Modern people may not be able to imagine what it was like when the Huaihe River flooded. Let’s put it this way, Hongze Lake, the fourth largest freshwater lake in later generations, was formed because of the flooding of the Huaihe River. This can be seen from its name. resentment.

Since the first time the Yellow River seized the Huaihe River, for more than a hundred years, the overflowing Huaihe River has submerged several small lakes in the basin again and again. These small lakes gradually connected together, and finally formed this huge freshwater lake. .

The good helpers of fishermen who produced gorgon seeds, green shrimps, and Hongze crabs in later generations are like beasts that swallowed the living space and farmland of nearby residents one by one.

Although Fengyang County will not be swallowed by the Huaihe River like countless counties submerged in history, it has also brought irreversible damage to it.

It is precisely because the Huaihe River that often floods takes away the nutrients in the soil and makes the farmland salinized.

The long-standing flood is like a rammed earth machine that compacts the farmland, and only the power of oxen can plow the land loose.

As we all know, in a poor village, a group of poor farmers cannot afford to buy cattle.

Therefore, farmers in Fengyang County can only struggle on the poverty line for a long time. Except for landlords who own cattle, it is basically impossible for ordinary farmers to obtain enough food from this barren land.

This land has taken the lives of countless farmers during the long two to three hundred years. The most famous ones are Zhu Yuanzhang's parents, brothers and sisters-in-law. It can be said that if they hadn't passed away one after another, Zhu Yuanzhang, who was still young back then, might not have made any changes. decisions in life.

Therefore, after becoming famous, Zhu Yuanzhang finally chose to move the tombs of his parents, brothers and sister-in-law back to his hometown in Fengyang, and built the Ming Emperor's Mausoleum here.

It is difficult to develop water transportation, the farmland is not productive, and there are no expensive valuable metal mines in the local area. The only iron ore is poor-quality lean ore.If it hadn't been for the birth of a Hongwu Emperor, this small town might continue to be unknown.

But things turned around. As a farmer's child, Zhu Yuanzhang immediately thought about building his hometown after he developed. He knows the situation of his hometown better than anyone else.

And he thought very simply - is the land rich?The more you cultivate and the more you raise, the richer you will be.Not many people?Then move people from the surrounding areas.

As long as there are people and the support of the whole country, is it not easy to build a place?Taking Beiping as an example, it is not impossible to turn Fengyang into a second Beiping.

But if it is that simple to change the natural environment of a place, there will be no such saying that "manpower will eventually be poor".

After fighting against the sky for several years, Zhu Yuanzhang, who had consumed a large amount of national treasury deposits that were not abundant at the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China but saw only minor changes, had to give up the big plan to renovate his hometown and set up his capital Yingtian instead.

The only thing left to this county by this turbulent emperor is the capital city which was abandoned halfway through construction and a majestic and majestic mausoleum of the Ming emperor.

Most of the ground buildings in Mingzhong Capital, which was half-constructed but temporarily suspended, have been demolished and replaced to build the cemetery of Emperor Hongwu's parents, brothers and sisters-in-law. Only a few scattered palaces without plaques and [-] are left in everyone's sight. Falling foundations.

Zhu Yuanzhang's slogan for the founding of the country was "restore the rituals of the Zhou Dynasty and restore the legacy of the Han and Tang Dynasties." As the prince of the grandson of the elder Zhu's parents, Zhu Biao naturally went to worship after passing through the tomb of his grandparents.

As a role model for a country, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince's every move represents the image and dignity of the Ming royal family. Therefore, even this kind of passing-by worship cannot avoid all kinds of grand preparations and complicated etiquette. Stay here and fast for a few days to show your sincerity.

Calculated in this way, the whole ceremony may take less than half a month.Businessmen expressed that they could not afford to wait.

Fengyang is only three to five days away from the imperial capital. This is already the center of the Ming Dynasty, and it is safe and sound. Naturally, merchants do not need the protection of the crown prince.

Originally, they wanted to take advantage of the crown prince's honor and enter the city together, but now such a delay of half a month is not in the scope of the merchants' preparations.

"Now is the best time to sell new year's goods. If I don't sell these silks and satins before the New Year's Eve, the colors will be old when I stock up next year, so I can only go one step ahead." A person who is already familiar with Mu Bai and others The merchant patted the goods wrapped in layers of oil paper on his mule cart, then cupped his hands at Mu Bai and the others, regretting, "It's a pity that I can't hear the story behind it, I really want to know about the Battle of Chibi Who wins."

After all, he took a special look at Mr. Luo, and Robben smiled at him, not intending to take his hint.

The Battle of Chibi is the most important and important scene Mr. Luo carefully crafted. Even Mu Bai, who paid people to tell stories, could not get a glimpse of the whole picture. Of course, there is no need to mention these merchants who listen to stories for free.

Seeing this, the merchant stopped asking questions, and instead said that the book would be a hit with Robben's talent, and sincerely expressed that if Robben published a book in the future, he would definitely buy a copy as support.

Coincidentally, the merchants who came to bid farewell all held similar attitudes, and Robben leaned forward to thank them one by one.

This is really not his politeness, although at the beginning it was agreed to tell stories to Mu Bai and the others in exchange for travel expenses, but at this time people have few entertainment items, and when they saw there were stories to listen to here, a group of people gathered around the pony carriage to talk about the stories, That posture was exactly the same as that of the visitors to Kong Ming's tomb who were the tour guides.

Later, Mu Bai and others simply set up a simple performance stage for the old man, so that the old man can play freely and make friends through literature.

However, they refused all rewards. The old man said that he was using stories to exchange thoughts with the audience, and then revising the articles to improve each other. This is an elegant thing.

The first listen is free, and the instinct of taking advantage of the businessmen's DNA at that moment is precisely triggered.As long as the stall is set up, it will definitely be the brightest star in the night.

Along the way, Mr. Luo and his "Three Kingdoms" story accompanied these businessmen throughout the journey.Reciprocated, although the old man said that he would not accept money, the merchants still gave some charcoal fire to eat, and Mu Bai and others got a lot of credit for this.

After a rough calculation, since they left Chang'an, they basically didn't spend any money on daily necessities. Therefore, the few people who have a little more money now decided to spend their time extravagantly instead of staying in a hotel and renting a short-term house.

But what shocked them was that the price of short-term rental housing in Fengyang was actually cheaper than hotel accommodation.

For a house less than ten years old, [-]% of them are new and two people enter a small courtyard. The price of renting for the first half of the year is actually [-]% cheaper than the cost of staying in a hotel.

Simply incredible!Nothing wrong with this house?

Seeing the expressions of a few children from other places turned from surprise to suspicion, Mr. Luo, who has much more life experience than them, explained: "Do you think the price is cheaper than the hotel? Actually, if you don't write those things on paper Taking into account the expenses, short-term rentals are not much cheaper.”

He casually calculated the accounts for several people: "Renting a house is generally borrowing a frame, and most of the items in it have to be rented by yourself, but the hotel is fully prepared, so there is no need to add extra money."

"Also, it's winter now, so we have to burn charcoal for heating. The house here is big, and the amount of charcoal used is also large. There are also meals and cleaning. You have to come by yourself. If you hire a helper, it will be an expense. Keep these things out of the open Including the odds and ends of the expenses, the price is not bad.”

Seeing a few people with surprised faces, I was afraid that these customers would turn their heads and go to the hotel. The toothpaste hurriedly said: "Looking at the appearance of a few people, they should all be taking the scientific examination? Then there must be a good review environment, the hotel The noisy environment with people coming and going inside is very disturbing, isn't it?"

"The main purpose of living in our house is to keep it quiet, and the original owner of this house is an official in the capital, and it is a new house, so it can be somewhat lucky." Yaren swept his eyes, and immediately poked the wood with precision. Bai and the others felt relieved, "Aren't you tired from the long journey? To be honest, if you don't take advantage of this time to take a good rest, you won't be able to rest well after entering Yingtian Mansion."

Mu Bai and others, who participated in the scientific examination for the first time, were at a loss when they heard the words, "Why can't I rest well after entering Yingtian Mansion?"

"You have to walk around each other, right? You have to visit local celebrities and famous teachers? Maybe you have to compete with students from other places in knowledge, so don't you have to toss and turn?"

Yaren was very convincing: "Besides, the price of Yingtian Mansion is more than three to five times that of ours. Especially during the scientific research period, the rent price is even higher. You can borrow the price of a single family here to go to After entering Yingtian Mansion, I'm afraid we can only share a courtyard with other people. It depends on luck, and if you meet a neighbor with bad living habits, you will not be able to rest well."

It makes sense!

The three young men from Yunnan, who came to the Central Plains for the first time, all showed expressions of enlightenment.Yaren struck while the iron was hot, saying that he could provide door-to-door water delivery service. If you want to drink water, you don't need to find someone to buy it yourself, and they coaxed them to sign a contract immediately.

Now that the lease has been signed, Yaren speaks a little more casually. Although he refuses to reveal who the owner of the house is, he doesn't mind revealing more corners and corners of information.

After chatting for a while, Mu Bai knew why the housing price in Fengyang Mansion was so low, and it was caused by real estate speculators.

At the beginning, Emperor Hongwu made rumors that Fengyang would be designated as the capital of the country. At that time, the Chinese and military officials of the Han Dynasty naturally had to find a way to buy real estate here in advance, otherwise it would be difficult to go to work when the time came.

Some people who are fast-moving and quick-sighted have already come here to invest when the general trend is set.The owner of Mubai's rented house was one of them, and that person moved faster. At that time, he even built the house directly, in one step.

But God's will tricks people, who would have thought that Emperor Hongwu would repent halfway, and a group of people were dumbfounded, and the house and land were naturally thrown into his hands.At that time, many people bought houses at a high price, but now they can't sell them, so they can only hang on to the dentist to earn money for repairs.

"Don't they live by themselves?" Ah Tu touched the flower window with some regret, "It's a pity that such a beautiful house can't live here."

The Yaman was amused when he heard the words, and laughed at himself: "Most of the people who buy properties here also have houses in Suzhou and Hangzhou. There is nothing special about our place except that the houses are good. There are no mountains, no rivers, no good scenery, and food and drink are expensive. Why do people come here?" Where are we?"

"Now these people just don't want the house to fall into their hands, so they are holding on. If you want me to say, it's really meaningless. Good luck if you sell it earlier, and you can save some losses." The toothman handed the key to the lottery Mu Bai, who made the contract, gave them advice on what kind of food the neighbors had, where they could hire people to work, and many other things, and then left.

Those who can be dentists must be locals. As locals, they are so pessimistic about the future of their hometown, which shocked everyone.

As foreigners from the remote and backward Yunnan, in their eyes, Fengyang's configuration is already the top configuration of the city.

Not to mention the solid city walls here, the bluestone bricks and gravel paths that can be seen everywhere are very enviable.Along the way from Dali and Kunming, the most developed areas in Yunnan, except for a few road sections in Kaifeng and Chang'an, most of the roads that Mu Bai and others saw were made of rammed earth, but this small county has wide and flat gravel roads , There are even such large blocks of bluestone roads, which are already very high-end.

Moreover, the emperors of the Ming Dynasty have placed their ancestral graves here, so even if the capital hadn't been moved, this place wouldn't be too bad, right?Why are people in Fengyang so pessimistic when conditions are so good?

Curiosity bubbled in everyone's hearts like boiling water bubbles.After putting down the things, Mu Bai poked Atu and Halati, and said, "It's still early, I want to go around and find out the news."

Faced with his friend's puzzled look, Mu Xiaobai smiled and turned his hands away: "I think that as locals, they must have their own reasons for being dissatisfied with this place. And it's something that the Emperor Ming can't solve with all his efforts." The question is definitely more representative, so I want to inquire about it and get a lot of reference opinions."

"What reference?" Halati asked blankly.

"Stupid, of course it's about governing Yunnan!" Ah Tu patted him, and saw the young man casually picked up the travel accessories purchased at Kong Ming's tomb, fanned Kong Ming a few times, and said slyly, "You can only find out about the limited information. Let me help you, but looking for it is meaningless, why not..."

"A comparison?" The two said in unison, then looked at each other and smiled.

Mu Bai asked, "How do you compare?"

"Your younger brother is young, and Halati's Chinese is not good. In this way, you and your younger brother will be in a group, and I will be with Halati. The time is limited to tonight at the beginning of the unitary hour, and we will be in the Linjiang Tower by the Huaihe River. Talk less The group treat."

Atu turned his feather fan and looked at Robben: "How about letting Mr. Luo come to arbitrate for us?"

Mr. Luo responded with a smile.

Mu Baizi would not avoid fighting.After the two clapped their hands together as an oath, the Atu boy dragged the still bewildered Halati away in a hurry.Compared with the back view of the two of them rushing to ride the horse Juechen, Mu Bai is much calmer.

He first led his younger brother to pack his rucksack, and then he went out unhurriedly and turned into a pawn shop. When he came out again, the two of them had changed their clothes with one click, and turned into two ordinary Han children with dark skin.

The clothes I bought at the pawn shop didn’t fit well enough. Fortunately, it’s winter, and the loose outer shirt can be supported by the original clothes inside, but the pants can’t be helped, and the two brothers had to spare one hand to hold them Walk in pant legs.

Although the comfort level is not enough, fortunately, it is fresh enough. Mu Wen, who is wearing this kind of clothes for the first time, seems to be in high spirits.

After putting the exotic clothes back into the small rented courtyard, the two brothers walked towards the residence hand in hand.

Hey, Ah Tu is still naive, how could he ask the news in clothes that are obviously from outsiders?

"To find out the news, the first thing is to blend in with them." Mu Bai took advantage of the situation to guide his younger brother.Mu Xiaowen nodded vigorously, and the two small round eyes shot out a small look of admiration.

"Brother, where are we going now?"

Mu Bai shook the little hands they were holding together, and asked with a smile: "Wen'er guess, brother, I will give you a hint, what is the most important thing to the common people?"

"Food!" Mu Xiaowen replied crisply, "Shall we go for dinner?"

"No!" Mu Bai shook his finger, "We're going to the place where we can buy the cheapest food."