Yuan Yao finally arrived at his destination. Yangzhou had too many novelties for him, both in terms of clothing and accent, which made Yuan Yao feel fresh. Before arriving in Yangzhou, he even heard that Yangzhou people
They all don't wear shoes. Now it seems that this statement is obviously wrong. They also wear shoes. However, the difference can still be vaguely seen in their clothing.
What Yuan Yao admires the most is the mulberry farming in Yangzhou. The scale of cultivated land in the Central Plains is different from that in Yangzhou. How can I put it? Maybe it is because there are more people in the Central Plains, so the cultivated land is not very coherent. In Yangzhou, the cultivated land is everywhere.
They are all continuous cultivated land, all connected together, and occasionally you can see a few houses among them. Of course, the crops cultivated are also different.
Most places require boats to reach, and the boats in Yangzhou also completely changed Yuan Yao's thoughts about boats. He couldn't believe it, he actually saw a boat as big as a second-story attic, and it was densely packed with people.
Ordnance such as crossbow beds were also placed. Just watching the giant ship sailing slowly on the canal made Yuan Yao's blood boil.
In this era, people were not allowed to move around at will. Even scholars and the like needed to prove their identity before they could go to various places to study. However, Yuan Yao was kept for questioning in various places along the way. He was only lucky that the officials here were
He could speak elegant language, otherwise, he wouldn't even be able to tell his identity clearly, so he lingered in Yangzhou, and it took seventeen days before he arrived in Qiantang County.
Qiantang County was originally a not very wealthy county with not many people. It was just a small county. However, after the original Overseas Division and now the Overseas Prefecture settled here, earth-shaking changes took place here. The city walls were demolished.
Roads extend in all directions, connecting the entire Yangzhou, and there are countless carriages coming and going. When Yuan Yao and others rushed here, they were stuck in traffic for more than four hours just on the road.
Yuan Yao, who couldn't stand the boring situation, left behind a few close friends, but he rode on a horse and left first. Even though he was riding a horse, the situation did not improve much. He could see clearly that many people walked out of it.
With a fierce look, there are some poor people behind him. Those people are in ragged clothes, being dragged like animals, and walking with numb expressions.
The knights waved the long whips in their hands high, and the long whips fell hard on these people.
Yuan Yao frowned, rode on his horse, and stood aside, watching these people dragging thousands of people and scolding them loudly. He couldn't help but ask: "Who are these people?" said a personal attendant on the side.
: "It should be the overseas prisoners..." Yuan Yao nodded and continued to walk forward. When the knights driving the prisoners saw Yuan Yao and his group, they all nodded to show their expression.
Out of goodwill.
Along the way, we finally arrived at the prosperous Fangshi. It can be said that the Fangshi here is second only to Luoyang. There are various merchants. However, Yuan Yao, who has lived in Luoyang for a long time, is curious about Fangshi.
There wasn't much left. After looking for a few patrolling guards along the way, I finally found out where the Overseas Mansion was. The Overseas Mansion was just an ordinary house. There weren't even any soldiers guarding the gate. People came in and out all the time.
Yuan Yao dismounted his horse and let his entourage hold him, while he walked into the Overseas Mansion in a swaggering manner.
As soon as he entered the mansion, he saw a young official sitting on the side. He was sitting in front of the desk at the door with pens and ink in front of him. When he saw Yuan Yao coming in, he asked directly: "Name?"
"
"Yuan...Yuan Yao."
"Along with the voyage or here to buy slaves?"
"Come to meet someone."
"Oh?" The clerk was stunned, put down the pen in his hand, and looked at Yuan Yao in front of him. He was well-dressed and imposing, such a energetic young man. The clerk quickly squeezed out a smile and asked: "How dare you
I want to ask you, who are you going to visit?"
"I'm looking for Zhou Pushe."
"Zhou Pushe...Pushe is not in the mansion..."
"Then where is he?"
"I don't know if he is here..." The clerk stood up hurriedly and said, "I wonder when Mr. Yuan will come to visit?"
"He is my brother, and I plan to stay with him for a long time..."
"Then please Yuan Jun, please rest in the mansion for a while. I will send someone to find Pu She."
"Okay, thank you."
The little official quickly walked to the side of another official. I don't know what he said. The little official left the place quickly, but the previous one took Yuan Yao and walked into a house. It seemed that,
This is the place where distinguished guests are received. After Yuan Yao sat down, tea was served again. The clerk left, and Yuan Yao sat here alone, looking around seriously.
Not far away was a bookshelf, and Yuan Yao took a book from it and read it while waiting.
About half an hour later, he suddenly heard the sound of rapid footsteps. As soon as Yuan Yao raised his head, he saw a handsome middle-aged man walking in with a smile. Yuan Yao recognized him and stood up hurriedly.
He bowed: "Greetings to Zhou Pushe!" The person who came was none other than Zhou Yu. Zhou Yu looked at Yuan Yao in front of him. He hadn't seen him for a long time. The little guy back then has now become a young man in his prime.
"Hahaha, Yao'er, you're so old now, okay, okay, I've finally waited for you to come!" Zhou Yu was particularly happy. He walked up to Yuan Yao, looked at his vaguely familiar face, and pulled him
He sat down. Yuan Yao, who had always been casual, was a little restrained at the moment. He lowered his head. Zhou Yu asked with a smile: "How is it? Is Master's wife okay?"
"Everyone is fine, thank you...brother."
"Well, that's good. Since Master Jun passed away, I wanted to take you by my side and teach you personally. However, unexpectedly, someone got there first and took you to Yuzhou. You are coming back from Yuzhou this time.
? Or did you come back from Luoyang?" Zhou Yu asked. Yuan Yao then remembered the letter, took it out from his sleeve and said, "I came back from Yanzhou. This is from Yanzhou Mu Sima Shijun.
letter..."
Zhou Yu nodded, picked up the letter, put it away without reading it, and continued to ask: "It's okay to come to Yangzhou. Have you eaten?" Yuan Yao heard all the rumors about Zhou Yu along the way.
Yuan Yao was prepared for being cold and forceful, but he didn't expect that Zhou Yu would be so kind to him, just like he would treat his own descendants.
After chatting for a long time, Zhou Yu learned that Yuan Yao had not eaten yet, so he quickly called the officials, first arranged for people to prepare meals, and then asked them to entertain Yuan Yao's personal entourage.
During the dinner, Zhou Yu still smiled and asked Yuan Yao if the food was delicious. Zhou Yu's friendly attitude relieved Yuan Yao's inner restraint, and he nodded with a smile.
"Have you read those books?"
"Which book do you think is the best?"
During this period, Zhou Yu also learned about Yuan Yao's knowledge during the school examination. It has to be said that those examination papers were not in vain. Yuan Yao answered Zhou Yu's various questions fluently, and even when Zhou Yu asked him what he thought of Yangzhou
When he was there, he could talk a lot, talking about how farming and water conservancy complement each other, which made Zhou Yu even happier. It seemed that the villager was not unlearned, and his teaching was pretty good.
When Zhou Yu had finished asking, Yuan Yao also asked curiously: "When I came here just now, I saw a large number of people escorting the prisoners. Who are they? They don't look like official servants...
"
"They are official servants."
"Then who are they escorting?"
"They are farmers."
"I do not understand."
"It's like this. The temple gave me an order. It needs some manpower and sends them to various places. Well, they need to farm on public fields." Zhou Yu didn't reveal too much, but he still gave a general idea. Yuan Yao frowned.
, asked: "What is public land?"
"It is the cultivated land given to officials, such as prefects, state shepherds, and servants. The cultivated land given is relatively large and requires manpower to work. Therefore, I need to bring these slaves from overseas and let them cultivate in the public fields. Of course,
Sometimes, they are also needed to dig canals and the like."
It turned out that they were slaves brought from overseas. Yuan Yao nodded. It was not like he had never seen slaves before. Slaving was a common practice in the Han Dynasty. During the reign of Emperor Xiaokang, slaves gradually began to keep slaves and made certain changes. He investigated the number of slaves and protected them.
It was safe and no killing was allowed, so the situation got a little better. However, Yuan Yao had never seen such a pitiful slave.
"Is the Overseas Government here to capture slaves?" Yuan Yao frowned, seeming to feel compassion for those slaves.
Zhou Yu said with a smile: "No, the Overseas Government is responsible for all overseas affairs, including overseas farming, overseas commerce, and even overseas wars. The slaves you see today are all bought from overseas. There are overseas
Many of the rich and powerful people in the country use these slaves to trade with the Han Dynasty, but we ourselves will not catch them..."
Yuan Yao then nodded and said: "Then there must be many ships in the overseas government?"
"Hahaha, of course, the scale of the Overseas Government is beyond your imagination. We now have sixty strongholds overseas, six thousand hectares of cultivated land, and thousands of hectares of minerals. We have over 10,000 large and small ships.
When we sail on weekdays, merchants from Yangzhou will also accompany us to seek protection and fly the flag of the Overseas Government, and no one will bother them. When we sail together, it is so majestic..."
Yuan Yao's eyes widened and he said excitedly: "Then next time you go to sea, can I follow you?"
"Of course, Yao'er, follow me and learn from me. The future of this big man must be in this overseas country. There is endless wealth overseas. Until now, we have not been able to explore this overseas world... We have recently
It was discovered that along the sea route to the west, you can even find Parthian ships..."
Yuan Yao nodded as if he understood. Seeing his appearance, Zhou Yu didn't say anything more and said: "Don't be idle these days. Come and live with me on the shore. There is also an overseas mansion there."
You can board the ship at any time on weekdays, so you can get familiar with it in advance, so you won't feel too uncomfortable when the time comes."