A small soldier of the frontier army in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 190
Changping is not far from the capital. On the afternoon of the second day after starting from Changping, the group can already see the majestic figure of the capital.

As the capital city of the Ming Dynasty, the capital deserves to be the number one city in the world, even the largest city in the world at this time, the Forbidden City on Saturdays, the imperial city on eighteen miles on weekdays, and the inner city on the outside surrounded by 45 miles a week.In the Jiajing period, due to the expansion of the population, a heavy city was built in the south of the capital, with a circumference of 28 miles.

It covers an area of ​​nearly 50 square kilometers and has a population of more than one million. In the West at the same time, by the beginning of the eighteenth century, the population of London and Paris was less than [-].The capital of the Ming Dynasty was once the most prosperous place in the world, attracting countless people yearning for it. After a period of prosperity, the capital at this time has already shown the decline of the last days.

As soon as you approach the capital, you can see the overwhelming number of refugees and disaster victims, with quail clothes and knots on their bodies. They are trembling in the cold wind, just waiting for the relief from the government.There are also children crying from hunger and cold, or their voices are mournful, or they are weak.

Wang Dou saw that there were officers and soldiers releasing relief outside the city, but there were too many people and not enough food, so the relief might not be enough.Moreover, there is a lack of winter clothes, and it is the twelfth lunar month. Looking at many of them, I am afraid that they will not be able to support this winter.

Xie Yike next to Wang Dou was stunned by the majesty of the capital. Seeing so many refugees, he opened his eyes wide and said, "There are so many victims under the feet of the emperor? At least there are not so many hungry people in Baoan Prefecture. Those refugees at least have Let's eat a bowl of porridge."

The guards beside him also nodded. Seeing so many people suffering from hunger, even though the capital is big, after thinking about it, Baoan Prefecture is better.

Wang Dou glared at Xie Yike: "Lots of nonsense."

He glanced at Chen An beside him calmly, seeing that he was frowning, but he didn't hear what Xie Yike and others said, only Wang Dou seemed to hear a heavy sigh from Lu Xiangsheng in the carriage.

A group of people entered the city from Deshengmen. 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 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, etc.The residential area in Neizhong is called a square, and the bottom of the square is called a shop. There are 33 squares in the whole city, more than one hundred and six tiles, and more than seven hundred and five shops.

Wang Dou saw that the streets and alleys in the city were densely packed, and many streets were not straight. He was especially concerned about the sanitation situation, which was indeed very problematic.The streets in the city are full of dust, garbage and excrement, especially the ditches are seriously congested, and many streets are collapsed and potholed, which is obviously in disrepair.

Wang Dou has read relevant historical materials. Since the capital of the Ming Dynasty built the city, various road repairs, ditches were dredged, and even various sanitation conditions were specially managed by six officials and five city soldiers and horses. They even stipulated that filth and litter along the streets , It takes a month to issue the shackles. At least during the Wanli period, the capital was still famous for its cleanliness.

Since the year of Tianqi, all this has changed, and 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, the dust will fly and flies will fly.With such a hygienic environment, it is no wonder that the plague broke out again and again, and the soldiers and civilians suffered heavy casualties.

After entering the city from Deshengmen Street, the streets in the city are full of refugees and beggars. Because there is no one to take them in, they can only sleep under the eaves on both sides.The Ming Dynasty once set up various nursing homes, canteens, and porridge factories to distribute money and rice to the hungry, aid in medicine, bury dead bodies, etc. However, it is obvious that the relief capacity is seriously insufficient, and the relief is only a drop in the bucket.

Wang Dou sighed deeply, Lu Xiangsheng looked at the situation on the street from the curtain of the car, he frowned and said nothing, his face was full of pain.

Compared with the refugees all over the street, there is another different situation, that is, the rich and powerful merchants and rich family slaves on the street, they go in and out, hugging each other, and what they wear and what they use are all Luxurious and extravagant, looking at these people, some refugees on the street are numb, some are envious, and some have hatred in their eyes.

This situation fell into Wang Dou's eyes, and he couldn't help but ponder, one side's wine and meat stinks, and the other side's bones are frozen to death, it's no wonder that the people of Ming Dynasty are upset.

The chariots and horses moved forward and entered the capital city. After all, it is the land of the emperor, the most benevolent land. Although the place is full of refugees, the business in this city is too prosperous. The streets and alleys are densely packed with shops and trucks The horses kept running, and they also dropped countless feces on the street, but no one came to take care of them.

In Wang Dou's view, such a developed business has become deformed and is not beneficial to the country.The closer the dynasty is to the end of the world, the more developed and excessive the commerce is.

Arriving at the Zhongcheng District of the capital, which is close to the Imperial City and the Forbidden City, the streets and alleys are the densest.Qipan Street on the edge of the imperial city is not far from the Ministry of War, Ministry of Officials, Ministry of Households, Ministry of Rites and other yamen of the Ming Dynasty.

A group of people from Xuanda Sanzhen arrived in front of the Honglu Hall, where officials from the Honglu Temple specially welcomed Lu Xiangsheng and his group and arranged for them to take their pilgrimage and exams. Have a place to live?"

Wang Doudao: "Don't bother the governor, I will find an inn to live in, and I will return to Baoanzhou City after receiving the letter of complaint and other things."

Lu Xiangsheng said: "Forget it, you will go back after you take over the post and report. Don't be greedy for the prosperity of the capital. The state's business is important."

As he spoke, he glanced at Wang Dou expectantly, nodded to him, and then led the officials into the Honglu Hall.

Seeing Lu Xiangsheng and the others leave, Wang Dou also felt relaxed. Although Lu Xiangsheng admired him, he was still uncomfortable with these civil servants, especially Wu Zhi, the magistrate of Yanqing Prefecture, who had a bad mood when he saw Wang Dou. It seems that I owe him 1 taels of silver and don't pay it back.

……

Wang Dou, Xie Yike and others found an inn near Zhengyangmen to stay. In the next two days, Wang Dou led Xie Yike and others to observe the people's conditions in various parts of the capital, and visited all the streets and alleys of the capital. On the third day, Wang Dou Go to the Yamen of the Ministry of War to go through the procedures for taking over.

The yamen of the Ministry of War is not far from Honglu Temple. It is just past the yamen of the Ministry of Industry. As soon as you arrive at the yamen gate, you will see a group of capable men in twos and threes gathered by the gate. Whenever they see officials coming, they will gather around , keep selling something around that person.

When Wang Dou passed by, he also surrounded a group of people, and one of them said in a low voice: "Your Majesty, do you want to borrow money at interest? Today, my master is very happy, and he specially favors principal and interest. This opportunity is rare, don't miss it..."

Wang Dou ignored it, Xie Yike glared, and shouted: "Your uncle is the one who wants to borrow money."

A few of them walked forward, the man was still not discouraged, he followed behind and shouted: "It's really a rare opportunity, the official should not miss it."

When Wang Dou arrived at the gate, he was stopped by a gate officer and several guards. He frowned and looked at Wang Dou's military registration for a long time. After passing this gate officer, the other gate officer let it go with satisfaction.

After Wang Dou and others went in, the man followed in just now, but the gate official smiled and ignored him. The man followed Wang Dou for a long time, like Wang Dou's guard, but Wang Dou didn't respond, so he was cursing away.

In addition to the Shangshu and the left and right servants, the yamen of the Ministry of War in the Ming Dynasty also had several divisions such as the Wuxuan Qingli Division, the Zhifang Qingli Division, the Chejia Qingli Division, and the Arsenal Qingli Division. , promotion and promotion of grades, transfer of personnel, evaluation and awarding of honors, etc., although the doctor in charge, Yuanwai Lang, only has the official rank of fifth rank and subordinate fifth rank, but he has great power.

At this time, a Yuanwailang surnamed Liu was in charge of guarding the duty room of the Wuxuan Cleaning Department. He was furious at Wang Dou: "Why don't you kneel when you see me?"

He pointed his hand directly in front of Wang Dou: "If you are so domineering and rude, how can you, Wang Dou, defend the country?"

The matter was very simple, Wang Dou had no problem with all the formalities, but when Wang Dou saw this Yuanwailang surnamed Liu, he just bowed and didn't kneel down, which immediately made this Yuanwailang furious and accused Wang Dou of being rude.

Seeing this Yuanwailang surnamed Liu getting angry, the officials next to him all looked happy.

In the end, it goes without saying that Wang Dou needs to handle the matter of Wang Dou's seal of approval for a few more days.

When he came out of the Yamen of the Ministry of War, Xie Yike's face was distorted with anger, and Wang Dou didn't expect that things would be so twists and turns, but his expression was calm.After returning to the inn, he was concentrating on contemplating, when suddenly there was a commotion in the inn, and then an eunuch came in boldly with several guards in brocade clothes.

(End of this chapter)