Ming Dynasty: Evolution from snake to national guardian beast

Chapter 12 Shanty Town

But although he didn't understand the incense thing, he had heard about it.

However, if you want to get these believers, you really need to plan carefully.

"Mr. Bai, what are we going to do now? Do we want to go to the temple?"

Zhu Gaochi crossed his arms, trembling, and the fat on his body trembled, looking very funny.

This year, it was indeed a lot colder.

Although Zhu Gaochi was wearing thin clothes, the sight of Beiping City in the early morning still made him shiver.

Facing Zhu Gaochi's question, Bai Chu shook his head slightly and said:
  "No."

Zhu Gaochi was startled. Zhu Gaochi heard the rumors about Mr. Bai and thought that he would be interested in Buddhism, Taoism and immortals, so he planned to take him to the largest temple in Peiping.

In the end, Bai Chu actually wanted to go to the slums.

Shantou, just from these two words, it can be seen that it is a very famous slum area in Peiping.

Since they didn't have enough money to build a house, they built a simple shed here.

Zhu Gaochi didn't know where Bai Chu was going. Where was he going?
  Seeing Zhu Gaochi's puzzled look, Bai Chu said nothing more and repeated:
  "Shanty towns, the hope for the future of Ming Dynasty, is here."

Zhu Gaochi had a thoughtful look on his face, and then, he took Bai Chu and slowly walked towards the slums in the West City.

There was a reason why Bai Chu moved to the shantytown.

In this era, if you want to gain followers, the most important thing is the people at the bottom.

They live the most difficult days, but they are also the ones who need help the most.

But they are also the least valued group.

However, as Bai Chu said, they are the location of the Ming Dynasty's destiny and the symbol of the Ming Dynasty's destiny.

The fact that rich people have more money does not indicate the strength of this country.

Whether a country is strong or not depends on whether the poor are poor. If there are no more refugees, no beggars, and no hungry people in the Ming Dynasty, then the strength of the Ming Dynasty will be evident.

Throughout the ages, countless dynasties have praised the emperors who established peace.

But no matter which dynasty it is, there are always some people who are hungry.

Throughout the five thousand years of China's history, only in later generations, that period of glorious history was the time when China was at its most prosperous.

What Bai Chu has to do is to first grab a fire of faith from the bottom, and then ignite it, letting it burn blazingly across the country!
  The commercial districts in the East City are like the prosperity of the Hongwu era, while the slums in the West City are the shadows hidden behind the prosperity.

Bai Chu was led by Zhu Gaochi to the place called the "slums" with a look of disbelief on his face.

There are no sheds or tents in the slum.

In the cold wind of late autumn, people can only huddle up in a ball to keep each other warm.

On the streets of Xicheng, people shivered, avoiding the increasingly cold wind.

On Xicheng Street, in addition to these people who were half-frozen to death, there were many corpses that were frozen into ice cubes.

The body lay stiff on the ground, and no one paid attention to it.

The howling wind carried the screams of children and old men, carried far away by the wind.

"Could this be the legendary Hongwu era?"

Bai Chu couldn't believe his eyes.

"It's a prosperous age, but there's no reason why people would freeze to death."

"In this prosperous age, why are there still people who don't have enough to eat or clothes to keep warm?" Zhu Gaochi also looked sympathetic, but he obviously knew the truth, so he said:

"This year, there was a drought in the north, and most of the crops in Gansu, Shanxi, Shaanxi and other places were gone."

"The people there lived a life of poverty and had to flee in all directions, begging for food along the way. Countless people died of hunger and freezing."

"Not even one out of ten people go to Peking."

"Those gathered in West City are refugees from other places."

"It has been three months now, and my father has helped him, but the money in Beiping Mansion is still a little short."

"Moreover, the emperor also asked my father to conquer Mongolia, so our food and grass are almost exhausted."

"Father is helpless about this."

After Bai Chu listened to Zhu Gaochi's words, he did not speak, but walked slowly on the streets of Xicheng with a gloomy face, his eyes scanning the expressionless refugees.

They fled all the way from Gansu, Shaanxi, and Shanxi to Peiping. The younger members of the family were starving to death, the elders were exhausted, and only a group of people were left who were suffering from hunger and cold, and still wanted to have a good meal.

I thought I could make ends meet with Peking's assistance.

However, the ending now is that after going through all kinds of hardships, he will die, and he will die in Peiping, thousands of miles away from his hometown.

What they may be worried about now is whether they can find their way home after death.

If they had known this, they might not have come all the way here. They might as well have dug a hole earlier. In this way, even if they died, they could still be with their families.

Unfortunately, there is no turning back.

Bai Chu felt a heavy emotion. At this moment, he seemed to be able to hear the voices of those people and feel their sadness and despair.

They are like sheep trapped in the dark, unable to escape.

Longing for the light of hope to break through the sky, I came here. Perhaps it is precisely because of this that I came here.

Bai Chu walked towards the crowd with a gloomy expression.

At this moment, a crying voice came from afar.

"Doctor, please help my mother, okay? My mother is dying. I...she is my only relative."

Bai Chu and Zhu Gaochi quickly turned their heads and saw a child lying on the lap of a middle-aged doctor at the corner of the street, begging for mercy.

However, the middle-aged doctor had an impatient look on his face and kept pushing the young man, without any intention of showing mercy.

Bai Chu suddenly became furious and immediately stepped forward, wanting to reprimand this miracle doctor for refusing to save him.

But Zhu Gaochi was faster than him, rushed directly in front of the two of them, and shouted loudly:
  "As a doctor, how can you just watch yourself die?"

"As the saying goes, saving a life is better than a seven-level pagoda. Is a cold-blooded and ruthless person like you worthy of being a doctor?"

The middle-aged doctor was already very annoyed by the young man. When he heard this, he became even more angry and turned around to argue with the young man.

However, when he saw Zhu Gaochi in fine clothes, he did not dare to cause trouble again.

Seeing Zhu Gaochi's angry look, the middle-aged doctor had no choice but to swallow his words and said with a forced smile:

"Sir, it's not that the child doesn't want to save people. In fact, the child's mother has died of illness a long time ago."

"He just didn't believe it, so he kept pestering me."

"Although I'm a bit snobbish, I won't just watch you die. There's nothing I can do about it."

(End of this chapter)