Back to the end of Ming Dynasty to be a warlord

Chapter 54
Lao Zhang was an old coachman who used to drive a cart for a wealthy family. Because he was getting old and afraid that this job would not last long, he recruited the housekeeper and asked his son to replace him.

But Lao Zhang can't stay idle, and helps people drive cars and goods from time to time.

Because Lao Zhang is also a native of Xiaolingwei. When he was young, he raised horses in Xiaolingwei. Later, he found a job as a driver, and then he entered the city and lived in the nearby Zhulu Lane.

It was precisely because he was from Xiaolingwei that my mother hired Lao Zhang to take care of the fellow.

But even if he was a fellow villager, his mother scolded him a lot, so when Lao Zhang saw his mother, he wished he could shrink his head into his neck.

"Old Zhang, hurry up, the time is late, and the old lady will expose your skin."

You can't go back to your natal family after noon, otherwise it will be unlucky.

Lao Zhang sighed, snapped, and whipped the poor horse.

The mother was not happy again: "I tell you to hurry up, you will know how to beat a horse. This horse is very precious. My old lady is not willing to beat it."

Lao Zhang groaned again, shouted 'frame', and shook the reins.

The family was sitting in the carriage, and the mother lifted the curtain from time to time to look around, trying to make trouble for Lao Zhang.

The father sat on the seat, next to the mother, and adjusted his hat and clothes from time to time.

Father was wearing a muslin gown, a square scarf on his head, and a pair of newly bought official boots on his feet, looking like a local rich man.

The younger sister was sitting next to Yang Chao, carefully holding the skirt with one hand, so as not to let the hem of the skirt rub against the carriage, lest it would catch the dust.Holding the bun on his head with one hand, the necklace of the copper hairpin on it is swinging back and forth.

Yang Chao was resting with his eyes closed, silently calculating the distance in his heart.

At this time, they had already left the city, the speed of the carriage was faster, and there was an official road along the city wall passing through Xiaolingwei.

Although he left Jubao Gate, to be precise, he hadn't left Nanjing City yet.

There are four city walls in Nanjing city, the first is the palace city, the second is the imperial city, and the third is Yingtianfu city. What is commonly referred to as Nanjing city is actually Yingtianfu city. Outside of Fucheng, there is another outer city. .

When Zhu Yuanzhang was the emperor, Nanjing was the capital. At that time, when he inspected the city defense, he felt that it was not safe to leave the Zhongshan, Yuhuatai, and Mufu Mountains outside the city. If the enemy set up artillery on the mountains, Nanjing City would be bombarded. Danger.

So Zhu Yuanzhang organized civil service, built this circle of outer walls, surrounded these highlands, and formed the fourth city wall of Nanjing City.

But this outer wall is too big, 180 miles long, and even the Xiaoling Guard is covered in it, so it is impossible to build a strong city wall. Most of the places are earthen cities rammed with loess, and only built in weak places. Brick walls and open city gates.

Also because the area enclosed by the outer gate is too large, it is impossible to form a bustling market like in Nanjing City, but to form villages and towns, and the people continue to cultivate the fields.

However, some villages and towns close to Yingtianfu City have also developed extremely prosperous because they rely on the prosperous Nanjing City, and even merged with Nanjing City to form prosperous towns such as Changganli and Qingxili, which are similar to the villages in the city of later generations. .

From the window with the 'glass' of bright tiles, Yang Chao saw villages one by one, far away from Nanjing City.

After walking for about half an hour, Yang Chao saw that it was becoming prosperous again, and entered a town with brick shops on both sides.

"Old Zhang, where are you?"

Yang Chao asked.

Old Zhang's voice sounded: "Go back to the young master, we have arrived at the blacksmith camp."

The blacksmith camp is only to the west of Xiaolingwei, and beyond the blacksmith camp is the boundary of Xiaolingwei.

The blacksmith camp is the same as the iron workshop. It used to be a place for blacksmiths, but it is different from the iron workshop. level, but not comparable to the iron workshop located in the city.

It is equivalent to the central government-run workshops and the workshops of local garrisons. The blacksmiths in the blacksmith camp used to be looked down upon by the blacksmiths. It's just that some blacksmiths who are not skilled enough can only repair the army's damaged weapons and armor, and the regular weapons are still made by large factories in the city.

The carriage quickly passed the blacksmith camp, and the mother who had been anxious began to get nervous.

"Master, can you see if my bun is messed up?"

Mother turned her head back and forth, pulling father to help him watch.

Father moved his feet back and forth, and said, "It's okay. Well, this side is a little crooked."

Mother said: "Then give me the whole thing quickly."

Inadvertently, the mother caught a glimpse of an intersection, immediately opened the curtains and shouted: "Old Zhang, where are you going!"

Old Zhang let out a cry.

Mother hummed: "We are going to Zhoubaihu, not your Sanliying!"

Old Zhang’s family lives in the Sanliying Qianhusuo, which is three miles away from the Weicheng Wall of Xiaoling, while his mother’s hometown is in Xubaishuo, which is about five miles away, but Lao Zhang habitually walked to Sanliying and almost missed the intersection. .

Lao Zhang turned his horse's head in a panic, and slowly turned back to the right path.

The mother kept complaining, not letting her worry about each one, while she kept arranging her hair bun.

After a while, the carriage drove into a low earthen city. The streets in the city were very narrow, and the houses on both sides were long.

Mother became more careful, laying her head on the window, directing Lao Zhang, and worried about messing up her bun.

"Stop, stop, where are you going?"

He stopped in front of a door that was neither good nor bad. In front of the dilapidated wooden door was a bumpy dirt road.

There was a boy in the middle of the road, looking up and down. The boy looked about thirteen or fourteen years old, and he was wearing clean old clothes.

The cloth shoes on his feet were also very clean, except that there was a hole at the position of the thumb, and the boy wore a turban on his head.

The mother stepped out of the carriage first, and saw the boy when she turned her head, but the boy was facing in another direction, with his back to his mother.

When the mother saw the boy's back, she couldn't help laughing, smoothed her hair, and began to curse.

"Stinky boy, where are you looking!"

Father and sister got out of the car one by one.

Yang Chao also got out of the car last, and the first thing he saw was the stunned boy who turned his head.

The boy's eyes rolled around. He saw his mother, his father, his sister, and the carriage. It seemed that he had received too much information all at once, and his eyes couldn't focus.

It wasn't until he saw Yang Chao jumping off the carriage that he recognized the person and cried out in surprise.

"Gu!"

The boy called out to his mother.

"uncle!"

He yelled timidly at his father again.

"elder brother!"

This time it was aimed at Yang Chao.

In the end, he scratched his head and greeted Yang Yue with a smile: "Sister!"

Mother carefully arranged her clothes, headgear, and hair bun, and found a clean surface on the ground as if she thought it was dirty.

Then he said to the boy: "Stinky boy, come here quickly and take the things down."

(End of this chapter)