serious man in the red chamber

Chapter 491

The Huitong River, excavated under the leadership of Emperor Shizu of the Yuan Dynasty, connected the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, which ran across the north and south. Grain-carrying ships were parked directly along the way, thus forming an alley dedicated to selling glutinous rice from east to west.

Jiangmi is a glutinous rice from the south, and the locals call it "Jiangmi". Later, this alley was called "Jiangmi Alley".

In the [-]th year of Yongle's reign, the emperor ordered the city of Beijing to be renovated. The capital was expanded southward to the first three gates, and Jiangmi Lane was also included in the inner city.

Later, Jiangmi Lane was cut off by Qipan Street and became Dongjiangmi Lane and Xijiangmi Lane.

Since the important yamen of the former Ming Dynasty, such as the Zongren Mansion, the Civil Service Department, the Hubu Department, Honglu Temple, Shanglin Yuanjian, and Zhanshi Mansion, were all located in Dongjiangmi Lane, Dongjiangmi Lane also enjoys the title of "Five Prefectures and Six Ministries".

Compared with the fame of Dongjiang Rice Lane, Xijiang Rice Lane is somewhat unknown.

However, Xijiang Mixiang became famous because of an imperial edict issued by Jia Hu, and became a street of all nations that everyone in the empire knew about.

There is an archway at the entrance of East and West Jiangmi Lane, with the east name "Wende" and the west name "Martial Arts".

Because the emperor is in Beijing, the people who were born in the capital also feel that they are blessed by the emperor. They are born with a kind of arrogance and glory, are bold, and love to join in the fun.

Under the "Martial Arts" arch, soldiers from the Infantry Command Yamen lined up in two rows, standing there with swords in hand, blocking the street entrance.

There were many people squatting on the walls and at the intersections on both sides of the street. The sound of drum music could be heard, and there were also faint roars that were incomprehensible.
  Most of the time, Jia Hu was very generous and gave very generous treatment to the royal families of various countries without any discrimination. Each royal family had two entrances to the quadrangle, and the infantry commanded the Yamen to patrol continuously for twelve hours, so safety was guaranteed. .

On the fifth, fifteenth and twenty-fifth day of every month, they are also allowed to go shopping in the east and west cities to appreciate the "fireworks" of the capital.

Jinxiang Bohanqi, the commander of the Infantry Army Yamen, led William and others out of a courtyard house, which was the residence of a small royal family in Central Asia.

In addition to William, the envoys from Rakshasa, the Netherlands and Great Britain quickly exchanged anxious looks. They did not expect that Jia Hu really did not abuse these prisoners of war, and these former kings were rehearsing dances and preparing to perform at the Longevity Ceremony two days later. Dance to celebrate birthday.

There was nothing forced about that cheerful look.

This completely subverted their understanding. Shouldn't prisoners of war be kept in dark dungeons? Shouldn't their property be plundered? Their wives and daughters should not be... well, they should live a very miserable life!

A group of people were walking forward. Suddenly, a burst of cheers and joy came over, mixed with the indescribable voices of many people.
  Everyone was startled at first, then the envoys from Rakshasa, Holland, and Great Britain quickly exchanged knowing glances and hurried forward.

There was a sneer in Han Qi's eyes. An hour ago, he received a letter from Jia Hu and brought the Xiyi people to Xijiangmi Lane to see the living conditions of the prisoners of war, so that they could experience the treatment of prisoners of war in advance. Of course, this is a treatment only available to the royal family.

Soon, a group of Xiyi people rushed to the door of the courtyard where a lantern with the word "Japanese" was hung at the door and stood still.

The Dutch envoy reached out to push the door open, but was stopped by the British envoy.

A glimmer of coldness quickly flashed in Han Qi's eyes. In an instant, his smile returned and he slowly walked to the door of the courtyard.

According to the rules of the empire, doors are not allowed to be locked during the day and can only be left ajar.

Some harsh music could be heard clearly from the courtyard inside the door. Han Qi stood there, listening to the music. After a while, he gently pushed the ajar door open with both hands.

The door was pushed so lightly that the person inside did not notice it for a moment.

Everyone stood by the door and looked inside.

In the distance, the several infantry yamen soldiers responsible for guarding the Japanese were standing outside the moon gate, looking at the front yard, as if they were watching the excitement.

Han Qi frowned, raised his hand to signal the people behind him to be silent, and then quietly walked over.

The soldiers watching the excitement did not even notice Han Qi and his party, and still stood by the moon gate and watched with interest.

In the front yard, the king and queen of the Japanese kingdom were leading a group of Japanese royal family members to dance to the rhythm of musical instruments.

I saw these people lined up in four rows wearing yukata, and their dancing postures were very strange, even a little ugly. Each of them was slumped, but their upper body was straight, and their right hand, right foot, left hand and left foot were alternately stretched forward at the same time. .

Han Qi frowned. Is this a stunt? No, this fucking thing looks like a sacrificial dance!
  "Stop!" "Commander Han?!" The King of Japan's legs stopped in mid-air, and then he stood up hurriedly.

The infantry yamen soldiers who were watching the excitement woke up with a start. They turned around and saw Han Qi kneeling down one after another: "See you, Lord Commander!"

Han Qi ignored them and walked towards the king of Japan.
  "Long live" cheers echoed over Guang'anmen
  Lin Sanyang took the lead and led the imperial cavalry to clear the way ahead. Although he was not making any show of publicity, the cavalry that could not be seen was still rolling with great momentum and momentum!
  After the groups of cavalry passed by, behind them were rows of sword-carrying Imperial Guards marching neatly and vigorously, as well as the tall chariot that Jia Hu rode, slowly approaching.

In the carriage, Jia Hu is holding her youngest daughter, Princess Changle. This girl is lively and laughing like her mother Xiangyun. In two years, she will be Jia Jinxuan again.

On the couch of the chariot, Jia Jinxuan fell asleep in Lin Daiyu's arms.

Lin Daiyu gently placed her daughter on the pillow, pulled the thin quilt from the couch over, and gently covered Jia Jinxuan's body.

"Fell asleep?"

Lin Daiyu sat down next to Jia Hu and looked at Chang Le in his arms.

Princess Changle was leaning in Jia Hu's arms with her eyes closed. After hearing these words, her eyes widened and she looked at Lin Daiyu. Seeing the smile on Lin Daiyu's face, she also giggled.

Lin Daiyu: "Be good, Changle. Let the queen hold her. Father, it's time to rest." As she said that, she stretched out her hands and slowly took Princess Changle from Jia Hu's hand.

Jia Hu looked at Lin Daiyu with a look of relief: "Thank you for your hard work."

Lin Daiyu was too lazy to pay attention to him, and sat there teasing Princess Changle, asking her to call her "Queen Mother".

At this time, the knocking sound of "dong, dong, dong" came from the baffle at the front of the chariot, and then the voice of the little fat man came: "Your Majesty, the commander of the infantry yamen, Han Qi, is this chapter."

Jia Hu: "Bring it in."

The carriage door on the right opened, and the little fat man came in holding a book of chapters and presented it to Jia Hu with both hands.

Jia Hu took this chapter, tore open the seal and read it. As he looked at it, his face darkened and he was about to get angry.

Two words burst out of Chang Le's mouth: "Mother."

This made Lin Daiyu extremely happy. She kissed Chang Le hard on the forehead and said to Jia Hu, "Girl Yun should be anxious now!"

Jia Hu looked at Changle and was also very happy.

Lin Daiyu looked at the chapter in his hand and asked, "What's wrong?"

Jia Hu heard this and snorted coldly. These bastards actually wanted to perform a spiritual dance for him at the Longevity Ceremony. He really didn't dare to kill them!

Thinking of this, Jia Hu spread out this chapter of Han Qi's book, picked up his ink pen and began to criticize it quickly.
  Lin Daiyu looked around, her heart skipping a beat, and she looked at Jia Hu in surprise.

Seeing Jia Hu put down his pen, Lin Daiyu asked: "Do you really want to hang the Japanese royal family?"

Jia Hu said "hmm", picked up the chapter, blew on the handwriting on it, and then handed it to the little fat man.

Lin Daiyu hesitated for a moment and said, "There are many Japanese slaves and geishas in the capital."

One sentence reminded Jia Hu, so he picked up the blank imperial paper on his desk and started writing on it.
  Lin Daiyu was shocked again. Jia Hu actually wanted to execute all Japanese people in the capital. Even the mining slaves in Siberia would be consumed within two years and replaced by Xiyi people.
  Instead of using Xiyi people? !

Jia Hu put down his pen and asked, without looking at Lin Daiyu, "Do you think I'm cruel?"

Lin Daiyu shook her head: "The war between races is always the most cruel! There is no right or wrong. I'm just curious as to why you have so much confidence that you can defeat the Xiyi people in two or three years."

Jia Hu smiled: "The Imperial Army will be equipped with new weapons on a large scale within two years."

Speaking of this, Jia Hu sighed in his heart. The craftsmen of the Ordnance Bureau had already drawn a breech-loading gun with a firing pin. Unfortunately, the strength of the steel was not up to standard, and the accuracy of the lathe was also not up to standard. The steam machine tools manufactured by the Imperial Academy are not yet capable of processing precision parts.
  (End of this chapter)