Early Ming Dynasty: Turning Clouds and Rains into New Learning Saints

Chapter 136 It turns out that women are doing the work

"Brother Fan, I heard that it gets hotter as we go south. I didn't expect it to be hotter than I thought!"

Waking up early in the morning, Zhang Yifan heard Zhu Jingjing, who got up earlier than him, talking, and felt strange, so he went to the yard to have a look.

Cicada was screaming, so noisy!
There was no wind at all, it was muggy and hot!

It wasn't like this the other day!This weather is a bit abnormal!

Zhang Yifan looked at it and suddenly felt a thump in his heart.

In later generations, he came to Guangdong, worked and lived there, and of course had some experience.

The weather in the south is indeed much hotter than in the north, but windless days that are muggy and hot are relatively rare.Under abnormal weather, unusual things often happen.

For example, before the typhoon made landfall, the weather was very abnormal.

Of course, this kind of abnormality also depends on what kind of typhoon it is, and there are different abnormal manifestations.

Before some typhoons come, it is so muggy and hot, and before some typhoons come, it is violently stormy.Zhang Yifan is not a meteorologist, so he can't tell which typhoon behaves in that way?

Here in Guangdong, there are several typhoons a year, which is a normal thing.

Zhang Yifan was thinking about these things, but it was not a good idea to conclude that there must be a typhoon or something.

Anyway, it was much faster than the original schedule, so Zhang Yifan and Zhu Jingjing discussed that the weather was too hot and they should wait until the weather cooled down before rushing on.

Unexpectedly, by noon, the weather suddenly changed, with strong winds and heavy rain.

It's hard to travel in this kind of weather.

However, it still rained for three days in a row.Zhang Yifan asked the innkeeper to ask, and they all said that it would probably rain for several days, and that there might be a hurricane coming from the sea.

After waiting for another two days, there was still no sign of stopping the rain. Zhang Yifan and his party could make their own itinerary, but Qi Xiang was a soldier and had to report to Dusi, Guangdong, so he could not waste time. Finally, Zhang Yifan decided to take advantage of the rain to rush on their way. .

In this case, it will be hard.

At this time, the official road had no cement pavement.After several days of rain, the official road became muddy.

After driving for a while, God was unhappy and it started to rain again.

When Zhu Wu saw it, he quickly said: "Consort, princess, get in the carriage quickly, don't get wet!"

Everyone in the group wears raincoats, but under heavy rain, wearing raincoats has more of a comforting effect.

Zhang Yifan looked at Zhu Jingjing, but didn't insist, so he got into the carriage with his wife and Qiu Ju.

Soon, the rain began to fall heavily, accompanied by strong winds.Rain and wind poured in through the car windows.

Zhu Wu himself was guarding the side of the vehicle. When he saw it, he immediately took off his coir raincoat and covered the window. At the same time, he called for others to also protect the window and the curtain on the other side.

The wind was howling, the rain was falling, and communication between people required shouting.

What was even more difficult was that the carriage had the weight of three extra people, and it got stuck in the mud from time to time. Neither horse could pull it, and then the other guards and sergeants had to dismount and push the cart.

I originally expected to arrive at the next town in two hours, but it ended up taking a whole day.

And after arriving, Zhang Yifan and Zhu Jingjing were not wet, and even Qiu Ju got some of her clothes wet.

Fortunately, the temperature was high and he was a young and strong man. Although he got caught in the rain, he was fine.

However, if you want to say embarrassed, it is definitely a bit embarrassing.

At night, after washing and sleeping, Zhang Yifan listened to the sound of wind and rain outside, and discussed with Zhu Jingjing: "Why don't we abandon the carriage, it's too cumbersome to travel in this weather, divide the things, and everyone will share immediately." If you have some, you can go straight away."

Having said this, he paused and then added: "I'm just afraid that if there's too much rain on the road, I might get wet."

When Zhu Jingjing heard him asking her, she smiled and said, "Brother Fan, I'm not a spoiled brat. You don't have to worry about me."

Zhang Yifan was very pleased after hearing this.

Although everyone's ladies are like little birds and they do please men, but they really can't be taken out.My daughter-in-law is very good, the daughter of the founding emperor, heroic and heroic, not pretentious or weak at all!

So, the next day, Zhang Yifan expressed his thoughts.

"Consort, princess, no, absolutely no!" Upon hearing this, Zhu Wu immediately vetoed, "You two have bodies of ten thousand gold, you can't get wet in the rain..."

He still wanted to speak, but was interrupted by Zhu Jingjing, who said categorically: "Brother Fan said it, you have to listen!"

"Hehe, you don't have to worry!" Zhang Yifan listened and said, "The princess and I are not weak people with no power to restrain a chicken, so don't worry about us. As long as the rain is not heavy, you can deal with it with coir raincoats. If the rain is heavy Now, just find a place to hide from the rain, no matter how serious it is, you can get to the inn early, and rest early, right!"

After hearing this, Zhu Wu knew that he could not persuade him, so he turned to look at Qi Xiang.

He found that the prince-in-law had a good impression of Qi Xiang, so he wanted Qi Xiang to persuade him.

But who knows, Qi Xiang cupped his fists and saluted Zhang Yifan with a hint of admiration: "Obey!"

Zhu Wu: "..."

Finally, it was decided and we rode on horseback.

The weather these days, sometimes it rains heavily all day long, making it impossible to go out.

However, often after a whole day of heavy rain, the next day will be cloudy, at least not a heavy rain.

So, Zhang Yifan and his party took advantage of this opportunity to ride on horseback.A few days later, I discovered that not only was it twice as fast as when I had a horse-drawn carriage, but I also didn’t suffer any consequences.

Entering Guangdong, follow the official road to Guangzhou Prefecture first, and then to Xiangshan County.

After walking for seven or eight days, we were not far from Guangzhou.The original frequent heavy rains have also reduced, but there are still cloudy and rainy days.The next two days, the kind that stops for two days.

Zhang Yifan was already sure that he was unlucky. It was probably a typhoon that had landed in Guangdong, and it was a relatively large one.

Along the way, downed trees and houses could be seen everywhere, and rivers surged and flooded many fields.

Sometimes, they have to take a detour to do so.Zhu Jingjing was speechless. This was the first time in her life that she had seen such a destructive hurricane.

But for Zhang Yifan, of course not.When he was in Guangdong before, he encountered a typhoon of level [-] or above, and that was really big.

As for the typhoon he encountered this time, he estimated that it would not exceed Category [-].Because he saw that the trees that were blown down were not very big or had thick branches and leaves, and they were the kind that were easily blown down.

In the villages and towns along the way, if they were brick houses or the like, they were basically fine, but if they were thatched houses, they were blown a lot.

Qi Xiang, who was by Zhang Yifan's side, smiled and said to Zhang Yifan after receiving the report from the fast horse in front, "My son-in-law, it's only one day's journey away from Guangzhou Mansion!"

Guangzhou is the most prosperous place in Guangdong. You can take a good rest before going to Xiangshan County.

From Nanjing to Guangzhou, it is about more than 600 kilometers. Of course, this is the calculation of later generations.In the early Ming Dynasty, it was at least about two thousand kilometers away.

But no matter what, for later generations, driving only took a day or two, but in ancient times, it took more than a month.The conditions are still good, the whole journey is by horse carriage and horseback.If you have no money, if you walk...

Zhang Yifan didn't dare to think any further when he thought of this.It was so difficult for people in ancient times to go out!
Fortunately, he was about to arrive in Guangzhou. Feeling relaxed, he pointed to a village about two miles away on the side of the official road and said, "Come on, let's go there to have a rest! Maybe we can get something to eat." delicious."

Here in Guangdong, there are a lot of fruits, available all year round.Passion fruit, apple, grapefruit, pomegranate, grape, sugar cane, etc., of course, some of them originate in North America and South America, but they are not available at this time.

However, this did not affect Zhang Yifan's mood at all.The most important thing is to finally reach the destination.

As for Zhu Jingjing, her tired look disappeared as soon as she heard that there might be something delicious to eat, and she was just in time to replenish herself.

Qi Xiang is responsible for security. Although the village Zhang Yifan mentioned is not on the official road, it is only about two miles away, not too far.Moreover, it is also close to Guangzhou, so there is no objection.

Galloping on a horse, it's only two miles away, and it will be there in a blink of an eye.

However, when they were about to reach the village, a figure moved, and Qi Xiang's soldiers immediately increased their horse speed to meet them first.Qi Xiang himself stopped Zhang Yifan and said: "Princess, Prince Consort, walk slowly!"

"What's wrong?" Zhang Yifan asked strangely after hearing this.

After hearing this, Qi Xiang explained to him: "General, I found that the people in this village seemed to be a little panicked when they saw us coming. Let them check the reason first, just in case!"

Zhang Yifan didn't notice it himself, but he believed in the professionals, so he slowed down his horse and walked slowly.As he walked, he also curiously looked at the village in front of him.

This village is similar to Liujia Village, most of which are thatched houses.It can be seen that there are many houses whose roofs were blown off by the typhoon. The typhoon has passed for several days, and the roofs of some houses have not been repaired.

"Brother Fan, look at these houses. They are really lazy. It has been several days and they still haven't repaired it. What if it rains again?" Zhu Jingjing said, pointing to several houses with her hand.

After hearing this, Zhang Yifan smiled and said, "Maybe it's a bachelor's house. Anyway, I live alone, so I can just muddle along!"

He has seen many examples. The bachelor's room was a mess, full of garbage, and he would only clean it all at once when it was really no longer easy to pile up.

After finishing speaking, Zhang Yifan realized that something seemed wrong, so he said again: "Hey, why don't you look young and strong?"

As far as the eye can see, some women and children are busy, either in the fields, or outside the house.

At this time, seeing so many of them arriving on horseback, they were all looking at them.

Zhu Wu looked around and said strangely: "Where are the big men in this village? Why are they all women and children? It's impossible to kill them all, right?"

For those of them who have experienced troubled times, the phenomenon of widow villages during military disasters is not very uncommon.Therefore, he naturally thought of this.

After hearing this, Qi Xiang shook his head and said, "Guangdong has not experienced too many wars. When the imperial officers and troops went south, there was no war."

"Then where have the men here gone?" Qiu Ju heard this strangely, "It's actually women who are working?"

While they were talking, the sergeant who had rushed into the village came back and brought an old man with him.

One of the sergeants came back first and reported: "A few men hid in the house, saying they were afraid of the strangers. The subordinates saw that there seemed to be fraud, so they brought over the people who were in charge of the village!"

After hearing this, Qi Xiang cupped his fists and bowed to Zhang Yifan, "My son-in-law, I will go over and ask about the situation."

Zhang Yifan listened and nodded.

So, Qi Xiang went over to greet the old man without letting the old man get close to the princess consort, and began to interrogate her.

Occasionally, a voice came over, which seemed to be a scolding, which scared the old man to the point where he knelt down and kowtowed repeatedly.

After a while, Qi Xiang came back and reported to Zhang Yifan: "The Guangzhou Prefecture recruited [-] soldiers and civilians to expand the northern city of Guangdong. The people of the counties under the jurisdiction of the Guangzhou Prefecture were all included in the recruitment. However, Just after the hurricane, Minzhuang in this village fled back because he was worried about his family's situation. Seeing that we were all on horseback, he thought it was the army coming to arrest us, so he hid quickly."

Upon hearing this, Zhang Yifan knew that he was not a gangster, so he drove his horse forward and came to the old man.

This old man is the elder of the village. He is the kind who is old and highly respected, so he is somewhat similar to the village chief.

As soon as the old man saw the leader approaching, he quickly knelt down again. His trembling look made Zhang Yifan a little unbearable, and he quickly said: "Master, please stand, I will ask you a few words!"

The old man didn't expect that the leader of the noble man would call him uncle. He was immediately flattered and said timidly that he could just ask.

"How is the situation in your village after this hurricane?"

When the old man heard this, he couldn't help but be stunned. He was actually concerned about the situation in the village?

With this thought in his mind, he quickly replied: "When the wind was strong, a child was killed by a tree and another was drowned. More than half of the houses in the village had water leaks, and some houses were blown away. Yes, the grain fields have also been flooded a lot."

After hearing this, Zhang Yifan raised his head and scanned the village, then turned to the old man and asked, "Does the government care?"

"Government management?" The old man may feel that Zhang Yifan is very kind, so he became more courageous. He probably thought of the tragic situation in the village, so he said with a little anger, "If the government releases the men in the village back for a few days, the village says Maybe it won’t be so miserable. The next-door Panyu County is better, the county magistrate over there is a good official, I heard that the county magistrate started to provide disaster relief right after the hurricane passed!”

After Zhang Yifan heard this, his heart suddenly moved. Panyu County seemed to be adjacent to Xiangshan County.If the county magistrate is good, it will be worth dealing with.

After asking about the situation again, he did not go to the village, and he was not interested in catching the few strong men who had escaped for the Guangzhou government, so he returned to the official road and continued on his way.

The closer you get to Guangzhou City, the most prosperous place in Guangdong, the denser the villages are. There is often one a few miles away, a bit like outside Nanjing, but a little sparser.

Looking along the way, the villages here are basically the same as the villages we saw before. They were all severely affected by the disaster, but the government ignored them and even sent people to arrest the young people who fled back.

Zhang Yifan couldn't handle these things, so he rushed directly to Guangzhou City.

As a result, when Guangzhou City was in sight, the situation ahead surprised him.

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(End of this chapter)