In July of the forty-eighth year of Wanli, the northernmost end of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal was in Tongzhou.
The pier closest to the capital of the empire is mainly used for grain and troop transport ships coming from the south.
Ordinary passenger ships and merchant ships must disembark passengers and cargo at Zhangjiawan Wharf, which is dozens of miles away. People and cargo then enter Beijing city by carriage and horse.
The boat hired by Dong Qichang and Zheng Haizhu had the privilege of being a water tanker due to its high status and was approved by the imperial court. It sailed directly to Tongzhou Ran Lighthouse and docked, so that everyone could avoid the dust and bumps of fifty miles.
It was noon when we disembarked. Everyone had a good night's sleep and was in good spirits.
Dong Qichang took the initiative and asked: "Miss Zheng, this burning lighthouse in Tongzhou, together with the Liuhe Pagoda in Hangzhou, the Wenfeng Pagoda in Yangzhou, and the Linqing Relic Pagoda, are collectively known as the Four Canal Towers. Miss Zheng, do you want to go and see it?"
Zheng Haizhu knew that Dong Qichang believed in Buddhism, so he donated a lot of money to buy a wind chime and hang it on the pagoda.
If she goes with him, as a junior, it would be impolite not to contribute to the fun. But with her temperament, she doesn't want to worship any gods, but only loves the sages and ordinary people in the world.
Exchange the silver for a broken copper bell, hang it on the top of the tower and listen for a ring.
I don't want to waste time looking at the temple. This place is at least fifty miles away from the Tiananmen area in later generations. It will be troublesome to get out after entering the city. It is better to take this opportunity to understand the public sentiment and weather outside the capital.
Zheng Haizhu then declined and said: "Dong Gong and Young Master Ting go to worship the Buddha. I'll take a look around. The waterwheel in the field looks very powerful. Let's go and learn from it."
Dong Qichang's grandson Dong Ting was attentive and had already heard about the serious disturbances caused by the refugees in the north. He still had fresh memories of the time when green-skinned gangsters besieged Dong's house, so he hurriedly said: "I will send one of my servants out to protect Mrs. Zheng."
Zheng Haizhu nodded to him and thanked him: "Young Master Duo Chengting is concerned. Li Daniu is very skilled. Hua Er also learned some kung fu in Chongming. With the two of them following us, we won't do anything weird. It doesn't matter. An hour later, it's still
Meet here."
After Zheng Haizhu experienced being kidnapped by the Jurchens, she did not dare to be too trusting. When she returned to Beijing, she took Li Daniu with her as a bodyguard. At the same time, she also asked him to have a look around and set up two points in Beijing. One was to use her
Mrs. Anyuan showed up as Mrs. Anyuan and set up a small house, similar to the Zheng family's office in Beijing. The second was to find a shop, which would serve as the collection and delivery agency of Haoming Trading Company in the capital. It was secretly an intelligence station and the gateway to the Yanzhou Intelligence Headquarters.
North extension.
Also coming to Beijing was Hua Er, a girl from the Liao ethnic group. Hua Er originally followed Song Yingxing on a business trip and went from Chongming to the Yanzhou coal mine to study the manufacture of water pumps.
This little girl has now seen more of the world than her brother, and her mind has matured quickly. When she heard that Mrs. Zheng was going to the capital, she insisted on being a follower to protect her safety and make it easier to take care of her daily life.
At that moment, Dong and Zheng said goodbye for the time being and went their separate ways.
This was not the first time Zheng Haizhu visited Beijing after traveling through time.
After the Battle of Fushun and the Battle of Minghe, the imperial court announced that she was here to receive the sixth-grade imperial order. She was anxious to return to the south of the Yangtze River to handle the matter of immigrating to Chongming Island. She met with Zhang Quan, who had been promoted to a court official, at the Ministry of War. After receiving the petition, she hurriedly
Leaving Beijing.
Although her stay was short, Zheng Haizhu remembered that a large amount of land in the Gyeonggi area, except Huangzhuang, was abandoned. After she returned to Songjiang, she specifically asked Huang Zunsu for advice.
At that time, Huang Zunsu told her quite angrily that when the southern capital of Yongle moved north, a large number of people were recruited to come to Beijing to grow food. There was no shortage of water near Beijing. With the encouragement of the imperial court, many paddy fields were opened in the suburbs of Beijing.
, Haidian, Tongxian, Liangxiang, and even Jishuitan in the city, there are large rice fields. Among dry crops, wheat, sorghum, and soybeans are also abundant, and there is no shortage of vegetables, melons, and fruits.
However, with the establishment of the capital, a large number of officials and nobles who had gained political capital during the Jingnan Campaign poured into the capital, and the number of members of the Zhu family clan increased astonishingly. These privileged groups occupied a large amount of land and turned civilian farmland into village farmland.
Growing cotton, and now tobacco, has made huge profits. As for grain, these nobles and officials have huge fortunes, and can buy southern grain at high prices. At the same time, heavy taxes are concentrated on the gradually shrinking number of private farmers, forcing them to have no choice but to
Abandon the land and become a refugee.
Unexpectedly, what I saw today was different from what it used to be. Standing on the bridge in Tongzhou and looking into the distance, the fields on all sides were covered with golden fields, reflecting the clear blue sky. The rich scenery made people happy.
In just two years, there has been such a big change. Zheng Haizhu speculated that the officials in charge of agricultural affairs in Gyeonggi Province should have changed based on the principles that have remained unchanged since ancient times.
She turned her head and saw Hua Er licking his dry and flaky lips.
"Let's go and have a bowl of tea soup first. Whether it's Liaodong, Shandong, or our Jiangnan, you can't find dim sum here."
Tongzhou is a large wharf, and the taverns and dining tents along the river are crowded and very lively.
Zheng Haizhu found a house with a large copper pot at the door and a storytelling desk inside, and took Hua Er and Li Daniu in to sit down.
When Hua Ertou came back to Beijing, he stared with a pair of big eyes and saw everything new. He saw the waiter in the shop squatting in a strong horse stance with his legs spread apart. He was holding a big bowl steady with his left hand and a copper pot with his right hand.
With a shake, a trickle of water rushed straight into the bowl. After a few breaths, the waiter had to turn the bowl in a circle to allow the sorghum noodles inside to soak up the water evenly and be completely cooked in an instant.
This method of preparing sorghum millet and brown sugar candied candied pine nuts and walnuts in a bowl in advance is like making tea, so it is called "tea soup".
Hua Erxin said, "Hey, dear, we all rely on our skills to make a living. Whether it's driving a mule cart or making wooden machines with Mr. Song, there's nothing more difficult than making tea. If the scalding water column were even an inch away, it would burn your hands."
Already?
Opposite her and Li Daniu, Zheng Haizhu focused on the storyteller.
In fact, the pronunciation of the Beijing dialect of the Ming Dynasty is relatively close to the narration of modern Peking Opera. Zheng Haizhu, who was familiar with the speech of Huizhou merchants and the pronunciation of Kunqu Opera in Songjiang, went to the Ministry of War to receive orders and had no difficulty listening to Zhang Quan's subordinates.
But storytellers are different. People in the market mix in many northern slang words, so it is naturally more difficult for outsiders to distinguish them.
After Zheng Haizhu heard the clue, he couldn't help but be a little surprised. He asked the table next to him: "Brother, are you talking about the national jade seal?"
The diner in question had a neat gown and a brand with his last name engraved on his waist. He should be from the wharf store.
In the words of later generations, everyone in this profession is a good social person. When he meets a young woman who asks questions politely, he immediately starts talking and talks harder than the storyteller.
He was recaptured from here, took Yuan Escape with him during Emperor Jianwen's battle to suppress Jingnan, and now appears in the Central Plains again, telling the story in a straight line.
Zheng Haizhu had no interest in such nonsense as the appearance of the jade seal or the retreat of the locusts. He just wondered how many years had passed since the Battle of Jingnan, and why it suddenly became the subject of storytelling again.
In Songjiang, although the scholars would also discuss the rights and wrongs of Emperor Jianwen's elimination of vassals, they did not involve the embarrassing news of the reappearance of the jade seal.
The spread of news about god creation among the people, such as the public opinion of later generations, is mostly under the instruction of others.
The storyteller in front of him finished his work and hurriedly went to the next venue. Zheng Haizhu raised another question and asked the Yaman why there was a sudden rice harvest in southern Jingnan.
Ya Ren had a bright idea and smiled when he heard it: "It was two years ago when my eldest sister came back, right? At the beginning of last year, the imperial court asked Zuo Yushi to take charge of our farming affairs in the suburbs of Beijing. He is from the south, knows rice, and manages this canal and that pond.
When the gates and dams were built, the two taxes were exempted, cattle were distributed, and people from Hebei were recruited to farm the land."
"Zuo Yushi?" Zheng Haizhu thought to himself, it should be Zuo Guangdou.
