The sky is blue, the fields are vast, the grass is blown by the wind and cattle and sheep are low!
On the vast fertile grassland and on a north-south cement road, four-wheeled carriages were moving slowly. It was the season when water plants were abundant.
The sky in the grassland is very blue, as if it has been washed. On the endless grassland, the grass grows very high. From time to time, a gust of wind blows, bending the grass, revealing groups of cattle, sheep and horses grazing leisurely.
Occasionally, you can hear the sound of the morinouqin played with a hint of sadness, the desolate sound of the piano, and the high-pitched singing of the grassland herdsmen.
Since the Ming Dynasty completely defeated the little Tatar prince, conquered the grassland, and brought the grassland under the rule of the Ming Dynasty, the nobles and leaders of the grassland tribes have basically moved to the Beijing and Tianjin areas.
The factors that affected the stability of the grasslands were basically eliminated. In addition, the imperial court built a large number of grassland towns across the grasslands. On the one hand, it was convenient for grassland herdsmen to purchase the necessary living materials and sell their cattle, sheep, and horses. On the other hand, it also strengthened the stability of the grasslands.
The imperial court's rule over the grassland.
After a series of policies, the grassland completely lost the threat to the Daming Pass, but the herdsmen on the grassland lived a prosperous life that they had never had before.
The imperial court vigorously immigrated, including moving grassland herdsmen to other high-quality pastoral areas in the world. Australia and Golden Continent both have large areas of high-quality pastoral areas, and they have become key areas for the immigration of grassland herders.
Over the years, the imperial court insisted on immigrating from the grasslands to Australia and Golden Continent every year, which greatly reduced the population density on the grasslands. Originally, the population of grassland herders in the entire northern grasslands was only about one million.
After years of immigration, the population on the grasslands has been reduced to less than half of its original size.
For the remaining herdsmen, this means that there are more pastures for grazing, more cattle and sheep can be grazed, and life will naturally be better.
After all, the prices of cattle, sheep and horses are now quite affordable, and the income of grassland herdsmen is much higher than the income of ordinary people in the pass.
The salt, tea, iron pots and other daily necessities needed by the herdsmen are very cheap, no different from those in Guan.
You must know that during the reign of the little Tatar prince, the Ming court prohibited trade with the grassland people because the little Tatar prince often violated borders.
It is often very difficult to obtain a pot, a pound of salt, and a pound of tea. The life of the herdsmen on the grassland becomes very poor. In addition, they have to pay a large number of cattle, sheep, and horses to the nobles and leaders of the tribe.
To respond to the leader's so-called war and so on, one can imagine the life of this grassland herdsman.
There is absolutely no comparison with the present. This is one of the important reasons why the grasslands are very stable now. No one wants to live in a difficult time.
"We have to go faster~ Otherwise we won't be able to reach Horqin Town before sunset."
"Drive~"
Luo Ming is an official in Huairou County. This time, he and three colleagues were responsible for escorting dozens of prisoners to Beihai.
Regarding this errand, Luo Ming honestly didn't want to take it, but there was no way. The official said, these errands below will have their legs broken, even if they don't want to go, they will go.
"It's time to speed up~"
"Drive~"
Next to Luo Ming, his colleague Peng Chao also urged the horses.
"The world is so good now. The exiled prisoners have carriages to ride on."
"In the past, people would have walked on two legs. If they were exiled for three thousand miles, many people would have died of exhaustion on the road before they even reached the place of exile."
While driving, Luo Ming also chatted with his colleagues.
"Isn't that right~"
"I went to the capital before I came here. My uncle worked in the government office in the capital. When he was young, he once escorted prisoners to Yunnan and Guizhou."
"Oh, I have been walking for several months, and I have worn out several pairs of shoes. This trip back and forth is really not something human beings do."
Colleagues around him also nodded and said.
"So, the world is better now. Prisoners like them don't have to walk, and we, the officials, don't have to walk either."
Luo Ming smiled and nodded, then looked back at the people in the carriage.
This time the Sun family in Huairou County was completely overthrown by the trustworthy magistrate and beheaded, and most of the remaining ones were sentenced to exile in Beihai.
Originally, the emperor's amnesty was just in time for the world. Logically speaking, there should be no need to exile to Beihai. However, the development towns established by the imperial court in Beihai, Congling, and the north of the Altai Mountains are in need of population, so as long as they betray the sentence and exile
All of them will continue to be exiled, but after arriving at the place of exile, they are all free and no longer prisoners. Apart from being unable to leave the place of exile, there is nothing else.
Hearing Luo Ming's words, Sun Xue's expression in the carriage couldn't help but change slightly.
She is the eldest granddaughter of Sun Qingjiang, the eldest lady of the Sun family. She has always been well-dressed and well-fed, but now she is crowded in a small four-wheeled carriage with more than a dozen people wearing handcuffs and leg irons, which is already very uncomfortable.
But when she heard that she had been exiled and walked on foot, her face turned pale. She couldn't even imagine walking all the way to Beihai on foot.
Looking at this four-wheeled carriage again, I immediately felt that it was very comfortable to sit in this four-wheeled carriage. Although it was very crowded, at least I didn't have to walk.
"Although we don't have to walk anymore, once we reach Beihai, we will definitely not have a good life in the future."
"I heard people say that Beihai is a place to the north of the grassland. Historically, it was a place where Su Wu herded sheep. It was better in the summer. But in the winter, it is extremely cold. As soon as the boiling water is poured out, it will freeze immediately.
It’s frozen.”
"Isn't that right~"
"When I went to the capital this time, my uncle told me that it would be best for us to go to Beihai in the summer. If we go there in the winter, anyone who poops will be frozen into a stick by the cold."
"In fact, there is nothing terrible about the cold. The most terrifying thing is that here in Beihai, prisoners from all over the world are gathered. There are all kinds of prisoners among these prisoners."
"The most vicious people, murderers and arsonists, flower pickers and so on."
Several officials chatted unscrupulously, but their words made the Sun family members in the carriage turn pale with fear.
They had been living on tenterhooks these days, but now listening to the official description of the bitter cold in Beihai made the Sun family members feel even more desperate.
At this moment, in the minds of the Sun family, Beihai is no different from hell on earth. Not only is it very cold, but there are also many extremely vicious people who will torture you.
Sun Xue curled herself up, her hair was messy, and she completely lost the charm of the eldest lady in the past. The words of the official were echoing in her mind, and she was thinking about the miserable life in the future.
She couldn't help crying immediately. As soon as she cried, other people around her started crying too. Suddenly, the four-wheeled carriage was filled with the cries of women and children.
"Cry, cry, why are you crying?"
When Luo Ming heard this, he immediately scolded him.
"Those who were persecuted by your Sun family should cry~"
"You can still be exiled to Beihai. Those who were exterminated by your Sun family will not even have a place to cry."
"Why do you Sun family have the right to cry?"
Luo Ming scolded him harshly.
The Sun family was overthrown, and everything they had done over the years was revealed, which shocked almost the entire Ming Dynasty, triggering the emperor's anger and ordering a new round of anti-gang and anti-evil operations across the Ming Dynasty.
For Huairou County, the Sun family has naturally become a street rat that everyone wants to beat up. Even those who are related to the Sun family are hostile and discriminated against by the people of Huairou County.
After hearing Luo Ming's reprimand, the Sun family immediately stopped crying. Even the children were holding back at this moment.
Because they all know very well that if they go north to Beihai, they will still be under the control of these officials. Not to mention a few reprimands, they may be beaten by them, and they won't even have a place to complain.
And most of them are female relatives. If these officials take advantage of sex, they will inevitably suffer again. They are prisoners, prisoners exiled in Beihai, and no one will have sympathy for them.
The convoy kept moving forward. The concrete road was equipped with four-wheeled carriages, and there were not even many bumps. It arrived at Horqin Town before sunset very smoothly.
"Come down, come down, we'll spend the night here tonight."
Arriving at Horqin Town before sunset, Luo Ming was slightly relieved. He could finally find an inn and have a good sleep. If they had not arrived at the town, they would have spent the night on the grassland.
Sun Xue got off the four-wheeled carriage and looked curiously at the town in front of her.
This is a typical prairie town. It is small in scale and the city walls are not high. There are also a large number of herdsmen gathered around the town. These herdsmen drive their cattle, sheep and horses here to sell, so that the air is full of odor.
Smells like livestock.
From time to time, you can see herdsmen coming in and out of the town in small groups, with smiles on their faces, either purchasing supplies, or going to restaurants run by Han people to have a good meal, drink, etc.
In the town, you can see a series of small high-rise buildings made of reinforced concrete. As night falls, some of them have already started to light up. Various glass lamps and glass windows give them a unique look.
Soon, people in the town also noticed Sun Xue and others, and looked over curiously.
"He must be another prisoner exiled to Beihai."
"Yes, that's right. Last time I saw a group of people wearing the same white clothes heading to Beihai under the escort of a few officials."
"I heard that the imperial court wanted to develop the Beihai area, but no one was willing to go, so they had no choice but to exile these prisoners to Beihai."
"I don't know what they did. They are all old people, women and children. They look very pitiful."
"He must have committed something big, otherwise the world would be pardoned under this general amnesty, and women and children would not be affected."