Guide to Traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty.

Chapter 1149 Epilogue VI: This Ming Dynasty is a bit chaotic
There were four officials in Huangzhou Prefecture who were allowed to live in the backyard of the yamen, namely the prefect, the assistant prefect, the commander-in-chief and the county magistrate.

The rest of the officials either live in official dormitories or buy or rent their own houses.

At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, local officials were not allowed to purchase real estate within their jurisdiction, but this rule has long been ignored.

However, the relevant laws have not been repealed and can play a role at critical moments.

Xie Yan lived in the backyard of the Tongpan Hall of Huangzhou Prefecture, and the front yard was the main office of the Tongpan Hall. As a family member, it was inconvenient for him to wander around, so he went out directly from the side door of the backyard of the hall.

After walking half a circle along the brick wall, Xie Yan came to the front of the hall and stared at the eaves outside the hall for a while: "The house in the front yard of the hall has been rebuilt, right?"

Wang Sheng said, “I’m not sure. It seems to have been rebuilt after a fire. I heard someone mention it before.”

During the epidemic, Xie Yan stayed at home and did nothing but read novels.

He originally wanted to take the postgraduate entrance examination and major in ancient building maintenance and restoration. While reviewing various postgraduate entrance examination subjects, he also taught himself a lot of knowledge about ancient buildings.

The backyard of the hall where he lived was a typical Song Dynasty building.

The front yard office area of ​​the hall is a typical Ming and Qing dynasty building.

This can be easily seen from the style of bracket sets. Because the bracket sets of Ming and Qing Dynasty buildings are smaller, the structure of the roof frame is simplified, which can save wood and increase building space.

It seems that in the Ming Dynasty of this time and space, not only has natural science made great progress, but even architectural technology has also been improving.

As a civil engineer, Xie Yan was not familiar with other fields, so the first thing he observed was naturally various buildings.

After strolling around the city for a while, Xie Yan discovered that most of the buildings were two-story brick and wood structures, with some three-story, four-story, and five-story buildings. There were not many one-story bungalows.

These folk buildings are basically of the Ming and Qing styles, as a large number of bricks are used to build the walls.

In the Qin Dynasty, bricks were used to pave the ground and build steps; in the Han Dynasty, bricks were used to build tombs; in the Northern and Southern Dynasties, brick pagodas and city walls appeared... In the Song Dynasty, bricks were used to build houses, but only in the lower half of the walls.

Dwellings with all-brick walls appeared in the Yuan Dynasty and became common practice in the Ming Dynasty.

As Xie Yan wandered around, he discovered that most of the houses and shops in Huangzhou City were built with brick walls.

Xie Yan walked to the bottom of a brick wall, dug out a small piece of ash from the cracks in the bricks, twisted it with his fingers, and muttered, "It's made of cement, and the strength is not high. Maybe I can make money by improving cement... Uh, how is cement made?"

In the current Ming Dynasty, there are many types of cement.

Ordinary houses in the folk use an early type of cement with artificial ingredients, similar to the "British cement" invented in the 1820s. Its advantages are low cost, no fuss about the production site, and a certain strength.

Official buildings or folk buildings with special needs are made of limestone with a high clay content, similar to the "Roman cement" and "natural cement" invented in the 1790s. It is stronger, but picky about where it is produced and difficult to roll out nationwide.

Nowadays, many scholars and craftsmen are trying to improve cement and combine the advantages of the previous two types of cement.

"What is that place?" Xie Yan pointed to a five-story building.

Wang Sheng pulled Xie Yan's sleeve, pulled him a few steps away and said, "Zuichunlou. My husband and wife won't let us go in, at least not before we pass the imperial examination."

Xie Yan understood instantly that it was an ancient club.

"The people here are not poor. I don't even see a beggar." Xie Yan said.

Wang Sheng said, "Two years ago, I don't know who spread the rumor that Zhou's shop was giving away rice, which led to beggars robbing rice shops in the city. More than 20 people were killed or injured, and the prefect was furious and did not allow beggars to enter the city."

"Let's go out of the city and take a look." Xie Yan said.

Wang Sheng advised: "The security outside the city is getting worse and worse. It is better for Liu Lang not to leave the city."

Xie Yan did not comment and continued walking forward.

He had been observing the buildings, but now he turned to observing the passers-by.

The clothes worn by the common people were more fragmented than the buildings. However, Xie Yan did not understand this and did not feel it deeply.

A few women still wear the Tang Dynasty short jacket and long skirt. This thing was worn from the Tang Dynasty to the Song Dynasty. It was in "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" and was slightly modified and worn in the Ming Dynasty today.

More women wore Song-style skirts, revealing a large area of ​​their breasts. Some women didn’t mind the heat and put on a jacket outside, but their white breasts were still visible.

Xie Yan thought: The atmosphere is quite open, but it’s a pity that no legs are shown.

As soon as this thought came to his mind, he saw the legs.

A woman came over with a basket on her shoulder. She wore a tube top with a short-sleeved shirt on top, and a skirt so short that it didn't even cover her thighs. She also wore a pair of loose pants under the skirt, exposing half of her calves.

No matter how exposed she is, it's not pleasing to the eyes because she is a fat middle-aged lady.

The streets were filled with horse-drawn carriages, donkey-drawn carts, and mule-drawn carts.

Xie Yan asked: "Hasn't there been trains for a long time? Aren't there any cars for transportation in the city?"

“Never seen it.” Wang Sheng said.

In fact, it has existed for a long time.

After the steam train came the steam river vessels.

After both of these were allowed for civilian use, someone soon developed a steam-powered vehicle. Since it was difficult to miniaturize a steam engine at the time, a huge car was created - in fact, it was just a slightly smaller locomotive.

It was totally impractical, so I gradually gave up on it.

A few decades later, with technological breakthroughs, steam engines could be made smaller, and a decent car was finally made. But it was still very large, spewed smoke all the way, and easily damaged the road, so it was not allowed to enter the city at all.

The imperial court had been secretly developing a gasoline engine. The principle was simple, but the process technology was insufficient and required a breakthrough in supporting technology.

As I said before, Daming Technology is lame! "Get out of the way! Get out of the way! Go!"

Suddenly, a group of young men and women came riding horses in the street, and many servants were running after them.

Xie Yan and Wang Sheng quickly made way for them, and the people along the street dared not speak out in anger.

Xie Yan asked: "Are these all children from noble families?"

Wang Sheng said, "The leader is called Zhong Wanli. His ancestors were refugees who moved from Guanzhong to Daming Town. They became rich by following Taizu and Taizong in the uprising. At that time, he was not an official, and he didn't even get a title. But the daughter of the Zhong family married into the Deng family before the uprising. The Deng family has two lords, and the Deng family prospered, so the Zhong family naturally followed suit. In Huangzhou Prefecture, the Zhong family has accumulated tens of thousands of acres of land!"

"That's really a big landlord." Xie Yan was quite envious.

Wang Sheng sneered, "Who can blame them for having ancestors who followed the emperor? There are many such families. During the Luoyang Incident three years ago, the new emperor and the prime minister killed a lot of them for treason."

The two walked along the main street to the city gate. Xie Yan quickened his pace and walked out. Wang Sheng thought about it and did not try to dissuade him.

Not far out of the city, Xie Yan saw a large number of beggars.

The suburban neighborhoods here are like two different worlds from the neighborhoods in the city.

"Good kill!"

A cheer attracted Xie Yan's attention, and he found that there were many people watching there.

Xie Yan walked over curiously, only to find that there were more than a dozen wanted posters posted there.

The wanted criminal's portrait is drawn in a similar way to a sketch, and it is quite realistic.

These wanted criminals were a gang of robbers who broke into the Dai family mansion in the suburbs of Luzhou two months ago. They first set fire to create chaos, then attacked and killed the guards, killing and injuring more than 40 people including the owner and servants, and robbed hundreds of thousands of banknotes and gold and silver.

"Who was cheering for such a notorious bandit just now?" the officer in charge of posting notices asked.

No one answered.

No one pointed out.

The officer cursed for a while and then left.

Then the people who were watching the notice started talking again.

"I know this group of people. The leader is Yao Qi, known as the Great Hero of East Sichuan. But I didn't expect him to escape to Luzhou."

"He is the great hero from East Sichuan? I heard he often robs the rich and helps the poor."

"Isn't it? Every time Master Yao robbed money, he would quietly share some with the poor."

"It's a pity that they didn't come to Huangzhou Prefecture. If they came, they would have killed the entire Zhong and Cai families. I might have found a banknote stuffed in my window the next day!"

"The hero from East Sichuan is nothing. The hero from Zhongzhou, Tie San, is really powerful. Yao Qi only dares to kill rich people, but Tie San dares to kill even officials."

“So triathlons die quickly.”

"Even if he's dead, Iron Knight is still the most powerful! The book 'Zhongzhou Heroes' from a few years ago was written about Iron Knight."

"That's a banned book, how could you have read it?"

"Hey, I found a novel. I found a novel. I didn't copy it."

"..."

Xie Yan stood by and listened for a while, and finally gained a new understanding of today's social atmosphere.

Ordinary people actually praised the bandits who killed people in the streets, and some scholars even wrote novels about these bandits.

The conflict between the rich and the poor, and between officials and the people, has reached a very serious level.

Xie Yan asked: "Do you know this Yao Qi?"

Wang Sheng said, "I've heard of him. He first committed crimes in eastern Sichuan. He committed six crimes in half a year, which made the gentry and merchants in eastern Sichuan panic. Later, he fled to Guizhou, Yunnan, and Hunan. I didn't expect him to appear again in Luzhou."

"Do they really rob the rich to help the poor?" Xie Yan asked.

Wang Sheng said, "It sounds good. He just took out a tiny bit of what he robbed and quietly distributed it to the poor, earning a good reputation in the martial arts world. The great hero Tie San from Zhongzhou was the real hero, but his final fate was also very tragic. After the death of the great hero Tie San, many scholars felt sorry for him, so some scholars collected his deeds and wrote novels about him."

The two of them continued walking forward.

Xie Yan observed the streets outside the city and asked, "Where is the factory that caused the commotion today?"

Wang Sheng said: "Factories are all in the suburbs and are not allowed to be too close to the city."

Xie Yan turned a street and headed north. After walking for a while, he was stopped by Wang Sheng.

Wang Sheng warned him, "Liu Lang, don't go any further. That's where the poor live. There are shacks everywhere, and there are all kinds of people, including criminals. If a woman or a child goes there, they will disappear before they get far."

Xie Yan laughed and said, "Are there no women and children there?"

"Of course there are women and children there. I mean if women and children from outside go in, something bad will happen," Wang Sheng explained. "You are wearing nice clothes and you are handsome. Who knows, you might be targeted by bad guys."

After hearing this, Xie Yan really didn't dare to leave.

This Ming Dynasty is a bit chaotic.

(End of this chapter)