weaving

Chapter 294 Tongchun Building

In the 12th year of Chongzhen, on the first day of June, outside Fucheng Gate on the west side of the capital.

Chen Zhong, who was beside Zhang Cheng, saw so many hungry people, he opened his eyes wide and said, "The Tartars have all been repelled, why are there still so many victims? Even if our Shangbei Road is dilapidated, it's not that bad." what!"

The guards beside him also nodded. Seeing so many starving people, although the capital is prosperous, after thinking about it, Xuan Mansion is better.

Zhang Cheng turned his head to look at Chen Zhong, and said, "Zhongzi, an important place in the capital is no better than Xuanfu. You talk too much today."

In a blink of an eye, Niu Sheng had already handed over the official document to arrange the city gate and army head, and came back to greet Zhang Cheng and others to enter the city.

The group of them entered from Fucheng Gate. The street pattern of the inner and outer cities of the capital is that the streets leading to each city gate are the widest and are the main roads of the whole city.

These streets leading to various city gates are also mostly named after the city gates, such as Chongwenmen Street, Chang'an Street, Xuanwumen Street, West Chang'an Street, Fuchengmen Street, Andingmen Street, Deshengmen Street and so on.

The residential area in the middle of the capital is commensurate with squares, and there are several shops under the squares according to the number of Dingkou. Each shop has three or five firemen, who belong to Zongjia and are in charge of local robbery and other things. There are 36 shops in the whole city. , more than one hundred and six cards, and more than seven hundred and five shops.

Zhang Cheng rode his horse on Fuchengmen Street. He saw that the streets and alleys were straight, and the alleys and alleys in the city were densely packed. Only the streets were paved with stones and supplemented by gravel. Most of the alleys and alleys along the streets were dirt roads. There is gravel paving.

There was a strong smell coming from some alleys, dust was flying, and garbage was everywhere. He saw that some drainage ditches were seriously congested, and many streets were collapsed and potholed, obviously in disrepair.

Zhang Cheng has read some historical materials before. Since the capital of the Ming Dynasty built the city, various road repairs, ditches were dredged, and even various sanitary conditions were managed by six officials and five city soldiers and horses. It takes a month to throw out the garbage. At least during the Wanli period, the capital was still famous for its cleanliness.

But since the reign of Tianqi, all this seems to have changed. The environment has deteriorated day by day. Whenever there is heavy rain, the whole city will be flooded and muddy.

Whenever the weather is sunny and dry, there will be dust and flies flying around. In such a hygienic environment, it is no wonder that plague has repeatedly broken out in recent years, causing heavy casualties to soldiers and civilians.

At this time, Fuchengmen Street was also full of hungry people and beggars. Because they were homeless and had nowhere to take them in, they could only sleep under the eaves on both sides and live in the corners of the street.

Daming also set up various nursing homes, dining halls, and porridge factories to distribute money and rice to the hungry, aid in medicine, bury dead bodies, etc. However, it is obvious that the current relief capacity is seriously insufficient, and relief is only limited A drop in the bucket.

Zhang Cheng sighed deeply in his heart, he frowned and said nothing, his face was full of pain.

Compared with the hungry people and beggars on the street, there is another different situation, that is, there are rich and powerful merchants and rich family slaves on the street.

When they go in and out, they hug each other, and the clothes they wear are all luxurious and extravagant. Looking at these people, some of the hungry and beggars on the street look numb, some are full of envy, and some are full of hatred .

This situation fell into Zhang Cheng's eyes, and he couldn't help thinking, one side smelled of wine and meat, the other side was frozen to death, not suffering from scarcity but inequality, no wonder the people of Ming Dynasty were upset.

He rode his horse and continued to move forward. After all, it was at the foot of the emperor, the most benevolent place in the Ming Dynasty. Although there were hungry people and beggars everywhere, the business in this capital city was still too prosperous. The streets and alleys he passed were densely packed with shops. The trucks are endless.

However, in Zhang Cheng's view, such a well-developed business has become deformed. If it does not pay taxes, it will be of no benefit to the country. The closer to the end of the dynasty, the more developed the business.

Going further in, the closer you get to the Imperial City and the Forbidden City, the denser the streets and alleys. The Qipan Street on the edge of the Imperial City is not far from the Ministry of War, the Ministry of Officials, the Ministry of Households, the Ministry of Rites and other Ming government offices. It is even more lively here. Chen Zhong, Liu Jinhai and others were dumbfounded.

Zhang Cheng and his group turned south on Xuanwumen Street, then went through East and West Chang'an Streets to the East City of the capital, arrived at Nanxunfang and turned north again, and finally came to Xila Hutong.

If Wei Zhice and Niu Sheng hadn't been leading the way for them, Zhang Cheng and others would have lost their way long ago. Their Tongchun Building was opened at the side of Xila Hutong, with a restaurant in front and accommodation in the back.

This place is just outside the Dong'an Gate. After entering the Dong'an Gate and going straight, there is the Donghua Gate. Many officials who come to the capital for business will choose to live here, because it is convenient to enter the imperial city and the palace.

As early as the early Ming Dynasty, officials who came to Beijing with a high level lived in post houses, and those who did not live in post posts mostly chose to live in some temples outside the imperial city. Few of them dared to live in inns or It's in the hall.

This is their helpless move to avoid suspicion. After all, the salaries set by the great grandfather for officials are really too low. If they live in a hotel for a long time, it will be difficult to sustain them. Although some officials are not short of money, they still have to work hard to save face.

At this time, the guild halls were also private institutions funded by merchants from various provinces. If they lived here, they were afraid of being impeached and suspected of linking merchants, so they mostly chose to live in temples near the imperial city, which were clean and upright.

But at this time, it was not as strict as it was at the beginning of the country. Many officials who came to Beijing chose an inn to live here. Zhang Cheng dismounted in front of Tongchun Tower and watched.

A young man was very excited. He saw Niu Sheng holding two war horses from a distance, hurriedly trotting forward to take the reins, and leading several guards to lead the horses to a side door next to the Tongchun Tower. go.

"General, there are two floors in the front where you can eat, drink and chat. There are several small courtyards for accommodation in the back. There are stables next to it, where you can take care of the horses of officials and people. There is also space for carriages and official sedan chairs." Niu Sheng enthusiastically introduced.

Zhang Cheng left most of the guards at the chariot and horse shop outside Fucheng Gate, and gave them a few days off to wander around the capital. He only brought Chen Zhong, Liu Jinhai, Li Changsheng and five guards into the palace. city.

He looked at Dong'an Gate not far to the west, and said: "Last year, when I went to Beijing to offer prisoners, I walked through this Dong'an Gate."

"That's right, what the general was wearing at that time was the armor bestowed by the emperor, what an air!" Chen Zhong said.

Wei Zhice said with some embarrassment: "Oh, it's a pity that Zhice didn't know the general at that time, and he didn't have the chance to see the general's tiger power that day!"

"Ha ha……"

Zhang Cheng smiled and said, "It's useless not to mention these things, brother Zhice, won't you show us around this Tongchunlou?"

Amidst the chatter and laughter, everyone walked towards the Tongchun building, and a slightly plump face greeted him. Before he arrived, his voice came, and he smiled and said: "Hehe, Wei Brother, this is General Zhang, he really is a generation of heroes, General Huwei!"

(End of this chapter)