The first year of Chongzhen.
Early twelfth lunar month.
The cold wind was biting, and the officials and people in the capital were too cold to leave their homes early in the morning. Outside the city, there were very few people around. Only a small teahouse on the official road still had wisps of smoke rising from the kitchen.
"Hey, natural disasters and man-made disasters are causing trouble. I have to run away."
The boy cursed as he shoveled the frost into the boiler.
He looks to be sixteen or seventeen years old, handsome in appearance and outstanding in temperament.
Even though he is wrapped in a thick winter coat, he is still handsome and elegant.
His name is Hu Yunqing, and he is a modern time traveler. He has traveled to the Ming Dynasty for almost two years.
Now, after his father died, he became the owner of this teahouse.
Apart from him, there was only one big yellow dog accompanying him in the teahouse. He ran out before dawn, and he didn't know if he would ever come back.
In this weather, even people might freeze to death on the streets if they go out, let alone dogs?
Thanks to Hu Yunqing's previous life, he studied traditional Chinese medicine with his grandfather for several years when he was a child. After his grandfather died, he went out to study with his parents when he grew up. During his vacation, he helped his father do decoration work for others.
I majored in design in college, which is not a bad major, so for more than a year, relying on the knowledge from my previous life and my meager medical skills, I have been treating diseases, repairing sheds, and nailing cow and horse hooves for the folks in the nearby villages. I just muddle along in my childhood and save a little money.
However, Hu Yunqing was always worried in his heart.
Because, counting the days, Chongzhen will cut off his arms and start killing people in a few days.
The person who killed was none other than Wei Zhongxian.
Without the pressure of Wei Zhongxian, Chongzhen was fooled by the Donglin Party civil servants inside and harassed by the slaves outside.
In the following sixteen years, plague broke out, droughts occurred frequently, the people were in dire straits, the country was weak, and uprisings occurred everywhere. In the end, Jian slaves were allowed to enter the customs, Jiading was massacred three times, and Yangzhou was ten days!
The Han nation is about to usher in the most tragic dark age.
In the next three hundred years of humiliation, the country was divided up and humiliated by Western powers again!
As a time traveler, Hu Yunqing naturally had a passion to serve the country and change everything. However, he had never studied and his body was weak. The only way out was to become a eunuch in Dongchang.
But even if he was willing to give up being a man for the country, the first thing Chongzhen did in his reign was to get rid of the eunuchs.
Therefore, if Chongzhen wanted to bring evil upon himself, he could only shake his head helplessly.
Since he couldn't change, Hu Yunqing had no choice but to stay away. After spring, he would prepare to go south, and then wait for an opportunity to flee overseas and leave the Ming Dynasty.
But he never thought that a business traveler would bring him a message a few days ago.
It was sent by the original cousin Li Nian, saying that he had made a lot of money outside and was planning to come back before New Year's Eve to pick up his brother for the New Year and let him be prepared.
According to the estimated days in the letter, I estimate that I should arrive home within these two days.
Thinking of the close relationship he had with his cousin Li Nian since he was a child, and thinking that the other person still thought about his actions even after he got rich, Hu Yunqing decided to persuade him to go overseas with him to find another career no matter what.
After all, that was his only relative in this world, and he couldn't bear to let him wait for death in this dying Ming Dynasty.
Tanyu Ridge, Deling, Ming Sizong, Zhu Youxiao's tomb.
After paying homage to Chongzhen Emperor Zhu Youjian, who was dressed in plain clothes, he led two people and a group of guards down the mountain from Deling.
After reaching the foot of the mountain, he looked at the snow-capped Deling, then looked at the middle-aged eunuch following at the end, and sighed.
"Before his death, the emperor held my hand and asked me to work diligently and treat the loyal and virtuous in the future."
"I have always kept this in mind and asked you to guard the mausoleum and stay away from the court to prevent them from attacking you. However, Manchao Cultural Relics hates you to death and I will count you ten crimes!"
"Now, my Ming Dynasty is suffering from internal and external troubles. In order to appease the ministers, what do you think I should do to you?"
Chongzhen's words frightened the middle-aged eunuch behind him to kneel on the ground and cry bitterly: "In order to comfort His Majesty's ministers, I am willing to die!"
Chongzhen didn't answer. He looked at the middle-aged eunuch and thought about it.
Three months ago, he took over the throne from his brother and always wanted to revive the Ming Dynasty.
Since he ascended the throne, he has been working diligently and diligently.
Whether it was self-discipline or life, he imitated the sages, lived frugally, and worked diligently in government affairs.
But the result is that since he took the throne three months ago, there have been constant party disputes in the DPRK, and the capital has been in a state of panic!
It is said that auspicious snow heralds a good harvest, but what if there is frost but no snow?
Along the way, I saw countless pigs and dogs freezing to death.
Today, Chongzhen's hair has turned gray after three months in power, and he no longer has the ambition he had when he took the throne.
Some people just carry a heavy burden and move forward with difficulty.
Another gust of biting cold wind blew through, interrupting Chongzhen's thoughts and blowing through his robes, making him shiver uncontrollably.
Upon seeing this, Wang Chengen immediately advised: "Your Majesty, it's cold and your dragon body is in serious condition. You'd better return to the palace as soon as possible!"
"This damn Da Lin, I don't know how many more of my people will freeze to death... Oh!"
Chongzhen shook his head helplessly, feeling depressed.
To prevent assassination, he took another road back to Beijing while sitting in a carriage and saw abandoned fields and dead villages along the road.
Chongzhen's inner worries became a little more intense.
The convoy traveled another ten miles.
suddenly.
He was stunned by the slowly rising white smoke in a mountain col in the distance.
"Stop!"
"Your Majesty, what's wrong?"
Chongzhen got out of the car and pointed to the mountain col in the distance: "Are those cooking smokes?"
It's a severe frost in winter, and even the people in the city can't even find firewood for cooking. It's even colder in this mountain valley, so how can there be so much smoke rising from cooking stoves.
It's really weird.
"Your Majesty, that's cooking smoke." Wang Chengen also frowned.
"Cheng'en...forget it, Zhongxian, you also come with me to have a look, while the others set up tents and stand by."
Following Chongzhen's order, he took the middle-aged eunuch Wei Zhongxian and the younger eunuch Wang Chengen, who had previously knelt down, and walked towards the smoke.
The group of three people walked closer, and sure enough they saw a village of about twenty households below the mountain col, with smoke floating from every household. This surprised Chongzhen even more.
However, what surprised him even more was that a teenage boy ran out of the house at the end of the village with a casserole in his hand, humming a tune all the time.
"It's freezing and the boiler is burning, and the pipes and bricks are buried for floor heating. The floor heating is installed to make it easier to survive the winter!"
Burn the boiler?
Floor heating?
Chongzhen was stunned.
Wei Zhongxian stepped forward with sharp eyes, stopped the little kid, and said with a smile: "My kid, what do you mean about burning the boiler?"
Xiaowa glanced at the group of them, pointed to the large copper pot at the door of his house with a smile, and said happily: "It's the boiler at the door of my house. Brother Yunqing said, as long as you keep shoveling the frost in and burning it, it will be hot." The heat and hot water flow into the home along the pipes, and the home will be as warm as summer!”
Chongzhen was shocked and approached the big boiler in disbelief.
As I got closer, I discovered that on the side of the boiler near the hut, iron pipes stretched out from it and were buried in the ground. If you get closer, you can feel a scorching warmth.
Seeing the surprised look on Chongzhen's face, the little boy said proudly: "This is nothing. I, Yun Qing, have many abilities. He can cure the plague and cured our village! He also taught us to grow potatoes and corn, which the whole village eats." I haven’t eaten it for several months, do you think my brother Yun Qing is awesome?”
The little baby kept giggling.
Chongzhen's heart was in turmoil.
Can it cure the plague?
Let the villagers grow potatoes and corn. How many months will the whole village be able to eat?
Is there such a capable person in the world?
