Although it was only the end of October, starting from Huizhou and crossing the Yellow River, Wang Fulin learned the news that the canal was frozen. For him, who has been living in the south for the past few years, although the winter is cold, as long as the silk jacket and leather robe are tightly covered and the brazier is burned at home, he can still survive, and it is not to the point where it is cold to the bone when he goes out. But with the northward journey, after passing Xuzhou to Shandong, he encountered two light snows in a row, and he felt that this trip was a bit miscalculated.

Because Xiaobei was dizzy by boat, and the Huaiyang section of the canal had to transport a large number of materials to the north before it was frozen, the shipping was busy for more than a month to the point of some blockage, so he chose to travel by land this time. And Cheng Naixuan was going to participate in next year's examination, so he was not allowed to follow him, and even Miss Xu, because she had not seen her father Xu Guo for many years, went to Beijing with her. In addition, Mr. Ke and Mr. Fang must be added, although they have never done the feat of being able to test questions before, but this time they both made up their minds to go and watch the fun. And it doesn't matter if the two gentlemen leave, they brought the other three students with them by the way.

After all, going to Beijing once is also a valuable experience for teenagers. Didn't you see that Wang Erniang and Wang Xiaomei didn't get a chance, and they cried several times in anger at home? On the contrary, the second master Wang really only stayed for one day after he came back, and then went to Beijing again without stopping.

And also in the team, there is also Zhu Zongji, who got the news when he was in Nanjing, and was just recommended by Li Tingzhu, the Marquis of Linhuai, to be called to serve in Jingshitai Hospital.

So, the group of people wandered and began to taste the taste of freezing when they entered Shandong. Even Wang Fulin and Xiaobei, who didn't like to take the car, had to shrink into the carriage. The three mule carts hired from the carriage and horse dealer were all made of the thickest wood, with a layer of cotton enclosure on the outside, but when the windows were opened every once in a while to ventilate, the cold wind that came in from outside could still make people shrink their hands and feet. It is essential to have a hand stove for each person. It's just that the three layers of inner and outer three layers of leather boots on the feet are pitiful, but they still can't withstand the cold invasion of this winter rush. The only thing to be thankful for is that no one got sick in this snail-like rush.

Of course, if you are sick, there is a future doctor, which is a great guarantee.

Since next year is the year of the triennial examination, there are naturally not a few people who will rush to the capital. The night when everyone stayed at the inn in Jinan City. In the entire inn, in addition to Wang Fulin and Cheng Naixuan, there were four other lifters. Only none of them are the title of the current University of Science and Technology, they are already very experienced scholars who have been to Beijing several times, and one of them is over fifty years old, and he can almost be the grandfather of Wang Cheng and the others, and he is also quite talkative. When everyone got together and Cheng Naixuan complained about the nasty weather, he sighed and said: "In the past few years, the north has been getting colder and colder every year. If I don't pass the exam again this year, I won't take the exam. ”

Hearing this old man say this, some of the other people comforted him, and some were silent, but Wang Fulin paid more attention to another message revealed by the old man: "The old man said that the capital has become colder and colder in recent years? ”

"Yes, it's not just me, an old guy who has participated in the six-time exam, who thinks so, but also several old friends I've met before. Some natives of Beijing gossip about it, starting from the late Jiajing period. The weather is getting colder and colder, and the canal is freezing for longer. I'm afraid you don't believe it. Just two years ago, there was a time when the canals in Suzhou were frozen after a heavy snowfall, and although the climate suddenly warmed up in a few days, it was a shock after all. Speaking of which, I'm old, and I've read a lot of miscellaneous books, and I remember that Arino Shiji said. There was a sudden cold at the end of the Yin Shang Dynasty, the Three Kingdoms at the end of the Han Dynasty, and the five dynasties at the end of the Tang Dynasty......"

Although the old lifter's words stopped abruptly, the other lifters saw that his face was flushed from drinking, and it was clear that he was already a little drunk. didn't take it to heart, but Wang Fulin didn't dare to treat this as nonsense from an old man who had tried and failed. He vaguely remembered that later generations had said that the end of the Ming Dynasty was in the Xiaoice period, so there would be continuous disasters, and even the country was cut off by the peasant uprising and the rising Houjin, but is it beginning to show signs from now on? He was distracted while thinking about it, and when he finished eating a tasteless meal, he directly dragged Cheng Naixuan aside.

"The things I asked you to help find in the past, except for the chili peppers, nothing else came of it? It's been almost four years! ”

Cheng Naixuan didn't expect Wang Fulin to suddenly mention this stubble, he was going to laugh at him for being a foodie, it can be seen how serious Wang Fulin's face is, and he immediately became serious as a brother. But his answer was really a little helpless: "It's really not that I don't care, you also know, although Longqing opens the sea, there is only one place to really open the sea, Yuegang, Zhangzhou, Fujian, those ships that go overseas, bring back spices or gems, and there are very few piggybacking seeds or plants, and that basket of chili peppers is an unexpected joy, and then there is really no more." ”

Do you really want to go back to Macao and deal with those Francis people, that is, the Portuguese? If it is true that the next few decades or even a hundred years will encounter the Xiaoice period, then typical famine-saving plants such as potatoes and sweet potatoes from the Americas will save countless lives under natural disasters!

"Forget it, in short, please continue to help me inquire, and when this trip to Beijing is over, I will go to Fujian in person."

Seeing that Wang Fulin went back to the room after saying this, Cheng Naixuan only felt that the second monk was confused. But Wang Fulin's thinking has always jumped so much, he couldn't figure it out after thinking about it for a while, so he didn't take it to heart.

That night, the cold wind was howling outside, and the snow was drifting, and when the next morning, together with the people who had stayed before, were about to leave, the innkeeper suddenly ran in from outside.

"This snow has frozen in many places on the road, and I have instructed the stables to wrap your mounts and carts with non-slip wheat straw, but even so, please walk slowly."

Everyone present has experienced several light snowfalls, so I can't thank this guy for reminding me. Sure enough, the next road became more and more difficult to walk, even if it was an official road, but the cold weather and the snow from time to time made several older and younger people a little unbearable, coughing and fever one after another. At this moment, Zhu Zongji's medical skills have come into use, and I don't know how much gratitude and gratitude he has received.

Especially the old people who are old but have relapsed old diseases. After resting overnight, he immediately insisted on hurrying, in his words, it was not that he would try to be really worse than his life, but for fear that he would run out of money and no one would see a doctor when he lived in the inn, so he could only stretch his legs there and wait for death, so he thanked Zhu Zongji even more.

It's a tough trek all the way. When they finally saw the gates of Jingshi, even the scholars had always been the most reserved, and they couldn't help but let out a cheer in unison at this moment. Wang Fulin glanced at it, quickly closed the window tightly, and then sealed the gaps on all sides. He stomped on his feet, which were already a little frozen, and said with a long sigh of relief: "Fortunately, whether it is Wang Mansion or Xin'an Guild Hall, there is a place to live in the capital, otherwise you will have to find a hostel and inn one by one in the cold weather, it will really be enough!" ”

"I heard that there are inner and outer cities in the capital. The outer city was built by too many people later, so there were more people in Beijing than in Nanjing. Xiaobei leaned on Wang Fulin to keep warm, and then said in a low voice, "I heard my father say that when the capital was moved, there were ten rooms and nine empty rooms in Nanjing, and all the wealthy families were forcibly moved to Beijing, so others said that Nanjing was rich. In fact, it was not until after Zhengde that the emperor toured the south that he really regained his vitality. It's just that there are so many people in the whole north. Relying on all the transportation, the canal is frozen, the grain ships are all blocked in the middle of the road, and those bosses in the DPRK and China really stop shipping forever? ”

"I'm also here for the first time, you ask me, who am I going to ask? The suspension of shipping is said to be for the sake of cherishing the people's strength and the lives of the troops. In fact, it is also because a Cao River is related to the interests of all parties, since it can be stable and not hurt people's lives, who else is willing to carry their heads to the sea? Wang Fulin didn't want to continue the topic, so he diverted and said, "Speaking of the most prosperous city in the world." Hangzhou, Yangzhou, Nanjing, we have been there, Suzhou is not a chance, we must go to see in the future, this time to the capital, appreciate the imperial capital Xiongqi, and then talk about others. Having said that, this time Cheng Naixuan's guy should be staying at his father-in-law's house, I'm afraid he will be honest for a while. ”

The outer city of Jingshi opens three gates to the south, in addition to the right and left gates on the east and west sides, and the Yongding gate in the center. However, because the vicinity of Yongding Gate is the Temple of Heaven and other places to worship the heavens, most of the officials and people who enter Beijing only walk from the left and right gates, and Wang Fulin and others walk through Zuo'an Gate. The outer city is the city wall that was built only after the Jiajing period, the inner buildings are a hammer in the east and a mallet in the west, and the pieces were built on the spot after being bought from the land, far less than the inner city in the beginning of the relocation and expansion of the capital has gone through the overall planning, the more chaotic the more south side is, the more impermanent the inner city in the north, the horizontal alleys, the more neat the vertical streets.

Several people who met their peers on the road were well aware of the consumption market in Beijing, so they did not plan to enter the inner city, but planned to live in those time-honored inns or guilds run by merchants in the outer city. After parting ways, he paid taxes out of his pocket and entered Chongwenmen, and Cheng Naixuan, who had never seen his father-in-law since he got married, also took Miss Xu away, and Zhu Zongji also had a place to go, so he had to say goodbye.

In this parting, Wang Fulin didn't care about the cold, got out of the carriage and rode on horseback, raising his eyes to look at the capital of the Ming Dynasty.

For the convenience of the upper court, most of the officials of the Chang Dynasty will live in Yongfang, Nanxunfang, Qingfang, etc., as for the nobles, because most of them are exempt from the court or escape from the court, they will build gardens and mansions a little far away from the Chang'an Gate around the imperial city. Wang Daokun because of his rich family background, in the early years after the Yiwu County Order was transferred to the sixth department of the capital, he bought a three-entry courtyard, and now he has entered Beijing again, and his status is not the same as at that time, but the house is still the original one. There is only one reason, not ostentatious.

Wang Fulin had already heard Wang Daoguan say these words, however, when he was looking for someone to ask for directions while following the map, and finally turned to the alley where Wang's mansion was located, he found that there was an eight-person sedan chair parked at the gate, and there were dozens of entourages and guards. When he was thinking about which big man it was, there was already a guard who stepped forward to stop him, and his tone was extremely arrogant.

"Who are you and what are you doing here?" (To be continued......)