the next day.

"Your father is so stingy!"

Yang Xin looked back with dissatisfaction while riding the boat.

He was on the river of Empress Dowager Xiao at this time.

This ancient canal is still playing a role in the capital. Although the real navigation no longer exists, it is still no problem to just support a small sampan to Shilihe. Whether you can reach Zuoanmen depends on your luck.

But this is summer, it should be almost the same.

After all, small sampans like them are nothing more than a few hundred kilograms of goods, and they can even walk in the moat.

"Shut up!"

Huang Ying glared at him and said.

They were delivering the batch of groceries to the capital. It was obvious that this batch of goods was more valuable, but in order to save money, Huangzhen hired two small boats to transport goods, and the rest were piled on this small sampan. Since Yang Xin could row from Triangle Lake to Zhangjiawan, he would continue to do it. By the way, this cheap labor was still very satisfying to Huangzhen, comparable to a large animal. At this moment, the three ships sailed smoothly in this small river, accompanied by the rise and fall of bamboo poles, and kept moving silently towards the destination ahead. Of course, there were not only these two ships on the river, but in fact, they were described in literati notes, with boats passing by on the river and pedestrians on the river bank, like a water town in the south of the Yangtze River.

Obviously this description is still true.

The same boats on the river surface are occasionally seen by people walking on the river bank, walking leisurely under the shade of trees, and even seeing sedan chairs...

"Where is Fangjiazhuang?"

Yang Xin asked.

"It's not enough to touch someone once?"

Huang Ying said in a cold air.

"Don't talk nonsense, I'm just afraid of being embarrassed again!"

Yang Xinyi said righteously.

He was really wronged. He was wearing a small shirt inside, and there was also a very short petticoat. Speaking of women of this era, the internal protection of women is very modern. Not only are there such as Xiao shirts, but also the second-layer defense line similar to safety pants, but also the petticoats.

Even if he really touched it...

What can he touch?

"Fangjiazhuang is in the west. The ancestors of the Fang family moved north with Yongle Master Yongle. They also served as a commander. The ancestral tomb is in Fangjiazhuang. Mr. Fang is guarding the ancestral tomb in the countryside to teach. As for the youngest daughter, he should be his youngest daughter. Both his sons and two daughters are already adults, but it is said that Miss Fang is still in the boudoir, but she is very good at managing many of the Fang family's businesses."

Huang Ying said meaningfully.

It is obvious that she also conducted an investigation into this in Zhangjiawan.

"I don't like this strong woman, but the lively and cute type is suitable for me!"

Yang Xinyi said righteously.

"Like Miss Wang?"

Huang Ying said.

"That's not called lively and cute, it's called being willful and willful, and you will throw people into the river at any time!"

...

While talking, Shilihe arrived.

It looks more like a water town. Not only are there rice fields everywhere on the shore, but there are also people cast nets on the river to catch fish. There are flocks of geese and ducks on the shore, and children with bare butts are playing happily in the water. They can't feel the breath of Kinki at all, and it looks more like a quiet small village in Jiangnan.

There is also an official road with few pedestrians.

But if you move up, you really can't walk anymore.

The Queen Mother of Xiao River has long been different from the past. This grain transport river from the Liao Kingdom was reduced after the completion of Tonghui River. The latter took away most of its water sources. At present, this river is basically equivalent to the drainage ditch of the outer city of Beijing. However, there are wetlands and swamps everywhere in the south and east of Beijing, and there are many springs, so when there are a lot of rain in summer, small sampans can still be used. If there is no cargo, these small sampans can probably keep entering the moat like this, but after carrying hundreds of kilograms of cargo, they can't move.

Fortunately, Huang Zhen originally planned to come here.

Then the boat landed. He went to find five trolleys in a familiar way, quickly loaded the goods onto the car, and then handed his small sampan to familiar families to take care of them. He gave the wages of the two sampans, and took the five sampans forward along the official road.

Soon a city tower appeared among the blue sky and white clouds, and even the city walls appeared...

"Is this the capital?"

Yang Xin looked at the low city walls and the same low city tower with a speechless look.

"This is not as good as Tianjin Acropolis!"

He continued.

"This is an outer city. It was built fifty years ago to prevent the attacks of the Tartars. The court lacked money to build it a little simpler. This southern wall is particularly simple. The east and west walls are higher and higher than the inner city, but they are still much shorter than the inner city. After all, the defense of this capital depends on the inner city."

Huang Zhen said.

Well, this outer city has not been many years.

It was not until the 43rd year of Jiajing, that is, the third year to the end, that the outer city was actually built. This was the 47th year of Wanli. Longqing was added in the middle, but it was not only fifty years. However, the low outer city of Beijing still refreshed Yang Xin’s understanding of the imperial capital. Unfortunately, the city wall is only six or seven meters long. Even a slightly larger city is not as good as a nine-meter-high city wall. It is embarrassing to build this height in the capital. Moreover, even if the Zuoanmen Tower is only one floor, it is more perfect at most, such as the urn city, horse face, and moat, but the iconic arrow tower is not yet, and the defense level is even worse than Tianjin Acropolis, let alone a top fortress like Shanhaiguan.

He walked speechlessly and followed the convoy across the stone bridge on the moat.

After entering the urn city, Huang Zhen took out a sealed Lu Zhi, walked to the gatekeeper's soldiers and handed it over. While the latter took it, his hand shook, and a piece of broken silver fell into his hands. The latter glanced at Lu Zhi casually and waved his hand to pass.

Yang Xin and his party hurriedly walked by.

An official behind the soldier sat lazily on a chair holding a teacup, and the soldier next to him was fanned and looked like the years were quiet.

“No tax payment?”

Yang Xin asked in confusion.

"Businessmen who enter the outer city pay taxes at Chongwenmen. All the city gates have fixed responsibilities. Business travelers like us can only go to Chongwenmen to enter the inner city. However, if we don't enter the inner city, the shops that collect these goods are in the outer city, and their taxes are also collected by Chongwenmen's tax customs, and those are not our business."

Huang Zhen said.

"Where are these soldiers?"

Yang Xin asked.

"The Nancheng Military Office, they are in charge of the access controls of each gate in the outer city and the public security in the city."

Huang Zhen said.

"They have the final say in the outer city?"

Yang Xin asked.

"They don't have the final say. They are just dogs. There are the censors of the city patrol, the Jinyiwei, and the middle-level officials on it. The censors of the city patrol directly manage them. Among the officials in the capital, there is also a police battalion with lower status than them. The rest are all their masters, and they even have to go to sweep the Taichang Temple."

They just whispered and passed Zuoanmen.

The officials behind continued to live a peaceful life.

The city made Yang Xin feel even more devastating...

"Is this a capital or a wilderness?"

Yang Xin looked like he had his chin smashed to the ground, and looked at the swamp wetlands in front of him, and the dense reeds swaying among the ponds of all sizes. There were even farmland, with scattered temples and houses scattered among them.

There is actually a cemetery!

"This is just a wilderness. It was originally a wasteland when building the outer city wall. In order to build a large area of ​​wilderness, it was not a place where major transportation routes and business travelers gathered. Yongding Gate is the main road, You'anmen and Guang'anmen all go to Lugou Bridge Road. Guangqumen is a timber market. The salt transported from Zhangjiawan also goes to Guangqumen. Needless to say, the goods coming from Tonghui River have to enter the city at Dongbianmen. Zuo'anmen is a decoration. Except for occasional vendors passing by, no one will walk here. As for those who come from the main road in the south, you have to go to Yongding Gate after crossing Maju Bridge."

Huang Zhen said.

"This is not the city gate, this is the village gate!"

Yang Xin sighed.

Looking around the city of Beijing, there are at least two kilometers of rich pastoral pastoral songs. However, you can still see the Temple of Heaven when you look west, but there must also be more than one kilometer of pastoral songs.

In this way, they continued to move forward in the countryside protected by the city walls.

Suddenly, a dog barked.

Immediately afterwards a hare rushed out of the reed marsh on the roadside, chasing two tiny dogs behind them. The hare was panicked and just hit Huang Ying's feet. The two tiny dogs suddenly pierced with their fangs. Huang Ying raised one, and Yang Xin grabbed the back of the head with his right hand, grabbed the skin on his neck, and threw it to the side. Almost at the same time, a horse rushed out, and the person on the horse screamed in shock. The tiny dog ​​was hitting the horse's face. The horse was so scared that it neighed and stood up...

Yang Xin suddenly jumped out.

He instantly arrived in front of the horse, grabbed his legs and roared downwards, and then the horse's hooves were pulled back to the ground by him.

"Fortunately, otherwise I would have broken my legs again. Those who ride horses these days are calcium-deficient!"

Yang Xin said with relief.

The man on the horse was looking at him in confusion.

I guess he hadn't woken up yet. In this short moment, he experienced the ups and downs of his life and was a little confused for a moment. However, four slaves from behind him flocked out, one of them reached out to grab Yang Xin, and Yang Xin took a step back...

"Where did the stuff come from? I scared my young master!"

Another slave shouted.

"It was your dog who almost bit me!"

Huang Ying said angrily.

The man on the horse was awake at this time.

"This little lady, where have you bitten? Let the young master open it and let me see it?"

He said with a smile.
To be continued...