"Thank you for your concern, sir. I think I'm doing well now." The handyman replied in a low voice. Seeing Han Du's puzzled face, he continued: "You don't know something, I am from a poor family. I couldn't survive at home, so I I had to send the little one to the Jiaofang Department. In fact, after the adults came, the little one's life became much easier, and he still had money. The little one thought about saving some money for himself..."
The handyman didn't say what he was doing to save money, and Han Du didn't ask either.
Instead, he asked about his family situation, "Why, are the lives of the people still difficult now?"
The handyman smiled and said, "How should I put it? Some are easy and some are not. For small hometowns, it's about 50% each. But situations like this are not uncommon in small homes."
After hearing the silence, Han Du felt for the first time the power of the people consumed by successive campaigns. No wonder the officials criticized Lao Zhu's continuous northern expedition. After the wars in the late Yuan Dynasty, the world's population decreased significantly, and Lao Zhu once again worked with the people to encourage reclamation of wasteland. Under such circumstances, there should be no shortage of land.
But even so, after more than ten years of cultivation, some people's lives are still so difficult that they have to send their sons to Jiaofangsi. This shows the hardship of people's lives.
No wonder Lao Zhu worked hard all his life but never created a prosperous era in history. The financial and material resources consumed by the conquest of Beiyuan were too great.
But it would not work without conquering the Northern Yuan Dynasty. If they regain their strength and march south, the Ming Dynasty will be in danger of overthrowing. But it is not easy to completely wipe out Bei Yuan. Now Bei Yuan knows that they are no match for the Ming Dynasty. As soon as the Ming Dynasty attacks, they flee to the Northern Desert.
As soon as the Ming Dynasty's transportation lines were stretched, I couldn't bear it first. Therefore, every time the Northern Expedition started but ended in failure, ambitious troops were sent out, and ended hastily in the end.
Han Du thought too much for a moment. When he came to his senses and saw that the handyman was still waiting in front of him, he waved him out.
Han Du was continuing to think about how to completely solve Bei Yuan's problem, when he suddenly heard another set of footsteps walking in.
"Didn't I ask you to go out? Why are you coming back?"
He raised his head and saw that the person coming was Fang Xiaoru.
He asked in surprise: "Brother Fang, the New Year is approaching and everything is complicated. If you are not busy in your house, why do you come to me?"
The person who came was none other than Fang Xiaoru. Fang Xiaoru came to Han Du with an anxious look on his face and asked in surprise: "You really don't know?"
"What should I know? What happened?" Han Du asked in confusion.
...
Outside the Jiaofangsi, Ouyang Lun was dressed in brocade clothes and walked straight towards the Jiaofangsi. And when he came to the door of Jiaofangsi, he had no intention of stopping and wanted to rush inside.
"My guest, please stay." The guard from the Jiaofang Division naturally stepped in and stopped Ouyang Lun.
"Isn't it just to join the Jiaofang Division? I understand the rules, sir, and I will just give you the money." Ouyang Lun said with a proud wave of his hand.
In the past, Ouyang Lun would not come to Jiaofangsi. Although his family was also in business and had money. But after all, he is not in charge of the family, so the amount of money he spends every month is fixed, which is only ten or twenty guan. If he had this little money to enter Jiaofangsi once, he would have to drink the northwest wind for a month. After all, Jiaofangsi does not only spend money when entering the house. There is only one word in it every time, money.
Moreover, he and Han Du were enemies to begin with. He wished that Han Du would be unlucky, so why would he spend money to cheer Han Du up?
But today is different from the past. Ouyang Lun is very proud today. Now he wants to go to Jiaofangsi to find Han Du, and he doesn't even care about spending money.
Although the guard didn't know Ouyang Lun, let alone his conflict with Han Du, he wouldn't let him in.
"My guest misunderstood, this is not a matter of money. The Jiaofang Division will be closed starting today. If your guest wants to come, you should wait until after the new year."
Closed again? This was the time when business was booming, but Han Du closed down. Could it be that his brain was broken?
Ouyang Lun didn't care whether Han Du's brain was broken or not. Since he couldn't get into the Jiaofang Division, Ouyang Lun didn't give up. Standing outside the gate, he shouted loudly: "Handu, Handu, get out of here."
...
Fang Xiaoru looked at Han Du in surprise and asked, "You really don't know anything?"
"What should I know?" Han Du looked at Fang Xiaoru doubtfully.
Fang Xiaoru slowed down, took a deep breath, and then said in a deep voice: "The Emperor has given an oral decree that Princess Anqing will marry Ouyang Lun in the next year!"
A bolt from the blue is not enough to describe Han Du's shock. Now Han Du only felt as if his head was split in two in an instant, and he gritted his teeth in pain.
But no matter how painful it was, Han Du could only hold back now. He asked with difficulty: "When did it happen?"
Fang Xiaoru couldn't help but breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that Han Du could still hold on, his mind was still clear and he was not confused. He quickly said: "Just this morning, news came out of the palace. As soon as I got the news, I quickly found a reason to come to you."
Han Du originally had a glimmer of hope in his heart, thinking that it might be false news spread through false rumors. But since the news came from the palace, there was no possibility of misinformation.
Lao Zhu's heart is really cruel and cold.
Han Du thought that he had been conscientious and accomplished many extraordinary feats, and his achievements were as high as those of Ouyang Lun. But just for a marriage contract, Lao Zhu insisted on marrying Han Du to Ouyang Lun even though he knew that Han Du loved Anqing.
This really chilled Han Du!
Lao Zhu, what you did was so ruthless!
Han Du slowly closed his eyes in pain.
Seeing Han Du's appearance, Fang Xiaoru couldn't help but change her expression, and asked cautiously: "Han Du, are you okay?"
When Han Du heard Fang Xiaoru's voice, he slowly opened his eyes, took a long breath and said, "I'm fine."
The moment Fang Xiaoru saw Han Du, his eyes turned blood red. How could he look like nothing was wrong? However, Fang Xiaoru hesitated for a few times and finally remained silent. He really didn't know what to say, and no matter what he said, he was afraid of irritating Han Du.
Han Du frantically forced himself to calm down in his heart. Only when he calmed down could he think of a way to break the situation.
At this moment, Ouyang Lun's voice came up.
After hearing this, Han Du couldn't help but turn around suddenly and glanced in the direction of the sound with cold eyes.
Although Fang Xiaoru didn't know who was calling Han Du below, at this moment, as the saying goes, if a good person doesn't come, he who comes will be unkind. No matter who is below, it will not be a good thing for Han Du.
"Han Du, calm down." Fang Xiaoru had no choice but to speak out, trying to persuade Han Du.
Han Du suddenly smiled, raised his head and said, "I'm very calm, but since people are coming to the door, wouldn't I be letting them down if I don't go down?"
