On the official road leading to the capital, on the neat and wide cement road, more than a hundred four-wheeled carriages were moving forward rapidly. Although the speed was far less than that of a person riding a horse, they were as fast as the wind and lightning.
But because the cement road is very smooth, the speed of the four-wheeled carriage can reach fifty kilometers per hour.
Calculated, that's 25 kilometers in one hour. It sounds like this speed is very slow, especially compared to the various advanced means of transportation in later generations. This speed is almost the same as riding a bicycle.
But this is ancient times, this is the Ming Dynasty. It can pull more than two thousand kilograms of cargo and still maintain a speed of fifty kilometers per hour. This is an extremely terrifying speed.
This means that it only takes half a day to get from Tianjin to Beijing. Of course, the premise is that this speed can be maintained and the cement road between Beijing and Tianjin is completely repaired.
"This cement is truly a sacred weapon of the country!"
"If all the official roads in our Ming Dynasty could be built with cement, it would be very simple and easy for our Ming Dynasty to gather the strength of the whole country."
On one of the four-wheeled carriages, Li Dongyang opened the curtains of the carriage and looked at the rapidly retreating scenery around him. Sitting in the carriage, he could hardly feel any bumps. It was very comfortable. This was the first time he had done this during this long journey.
Relaxed and comfortable.
This made him couldn't help but sigh again about the magical thing like cement. The cement road was so smooth that he couldn't feel any bumps.
However, this kind of relaxation and comfort did not last long. When the team left Tianjin for almost fifty kilometers, the cement road was over and they had to walk towards the original official road again.
Li Dongyang looked at the bustling construction team, and at the same time silently calculated the distance in his heart, and then tried to determine his position by using some common landmarks.
"It's unbelievable that in just a few days, almost fifty kilometers have been built. Calculating at this speed, otherwise, this cement road could be built to the capital in a few days."
"The sacred weapon of the country~"
Li Dongyang made some calculations and was immediately shocked by the speed of road construction. The speed was really too fast.
"Ouch~"
However, before I could express too much emotion, the speed of the convoy driving on the old official road not only dropped a lot, but also began to become bumpy. Even though the carriage was padded with a lot of cotton wool and quilts, it was still shaking.
It was so powerful that Li Dongyang was knocked on the head.
This made him no longer in the mood to appreciate the scenery outside the window. He firmly held the handrails inside the carriage with both hands, constantly feeling the bumps of the carriage and trying hard not to get knocked again.
By the time Li Dongyang, Zhou Jing and others arrived in the capital, it was already the morning of the next day. Because it was too late, they had to rest all night on the road.
Excluding the rest time, the actual time spent on the road was almost four hours. The first half of the journey took only one hour, but the second half of the journey took more than three hours.
"We finally arrived in the capital. The old official roads are really bumpy."
Opening the curtains on the car, Li Dongyang couldn't help but rub his lower back. Although this four-wheeled carriage has amazing transportation capacity, the comfort level is really poor when walking on the old official road. He is an old man.
They were all shaken to pieces.
"There are more and more victims here in the capital, and they are all skinny and hungry. If this continues, something big will happen."
Soon, Li Dongyang's attention was focused on the victims who could be seen everywhere on both sides of the official road. Different from the bustling scene here in Tianjin, here it was a different scene.
The victims gathered together, their eyes gleaming, like wild beasts, as if they wanted to eat people. They were so hungry. All the trees that could be seen had their bark stripped off and had just grown back in the spring.
All the young grass was eaten up.
Many children have distended stomachs. This is not because they are full, but because they have eaten too much, too much food that is difficult to digest.
"Those grain dealers should all die~"
Li Dongyang couldn't help but cursed in his heart. Only by witnessing all this could he truly understand the horror of famine. He hated those who joined forces to raise food prices and squander the country's hard-earned wealth.
The convoy encountered some troubles when entering the city, because there were too many victims gathered in the capital, so the capital was under martial law, and random entry and exit were strictly prohibited to prevent victims from rushing into the capital and causing trouble.
A large number of victims gathered at every gate of the capital. At the same time, there were large pots cooking porridge. The victims lined up one by one with large bowls, waiting for porridge.
This is the food promised and donated to Emperor Hongzhi by the large families in the capital, as well as many ministers in the court at that time. This food was gathered together by Emperor Hongzhi, and was used to provide porridge and disaster relief at the major gates of the capital. Otherwise,
If so, the capital would have already been in chaos.
The carriages of Li Dongyang and Zhou Jing entered the capital very smoothly. Although the situation inside the capital was much worse than outside the capital, after all, those who could live in the capital were considered to be wealthy families. Everyone had some savings. Even though
The food has already reached the sky. In this short period of time, everyone can still persevere.
However, the careful Li Dongyang still found that the business of the pawn shop suddenly became extremely prosperous. There were long queues at the entrance of every pawn shop. A large number of people were queuing up to prepare to pawn things in exchange for money to buy food.
As for a grain store, a large number of people gathered at the door. Everyone looked at the grain prices hanging at the door of the grain store, and while gnashing their teeth and cursing at these black-hearted grain merchants, they couldn't help but touch their withered flesh.
Pocket can only look at the waiter, shopkeeper and the like in the store with a pair of angry eyes.
As for the waiters and shopkeepers in the grain store, although the business was not good and there were not many people buying grain, they were not worried at all. Instead, they laughed lightly at the angry crowd outside.
This grain store is like a huge tinderbox, which can explode in an instant with the slightest spark. On the one hand, there are hungry people waiting for the food to be cooked, and on the other hand, there are grain merchants sitting on the Diaoyutai, raising prices every day.
Water and fire will ignite at the slightest touch, and explode at the first touch.