The heavy snow came and went quickly. After falling for a whole day and night, the heavy snow finally stopped temporarily.
At this time, the ground was covered with a thick layer, directly submerging people's calves.
Early in the morning, as soon as it dawned, the snow clearing teams from various streets began to clean up the snow in the city in an orderly manner under the organization of the yamen.
Everywhere you look, hard-working people push carts to transport snow to designated locations outside the city.
However, in one morning, the snow on the streets of Yunzhou City, which was already covered with snow and was covered with white everywhere, had been cleared away by the people.
Only the white "thick quilt" on the roof and branches still proved that it had snowed not long ago.
At the last inn less than ten miles away from Yunzhou City, Zhao Duan and his party, who had slept for a day and a night, saw that it finally stopped snowing and immediately set out on the road.
No one knows when the next snow will come, so it is wise to leave as soon as the snow stops. They are not far from Yunzhou City now. Maybe they can reach Yunzhou City in time for the next snow.
Perhaps it was God's blessing that it didn't snow again for the whole day.
This made Zhao Duan and his party heave a heavy sigh of relief.
They have already experienced the difficulty of moving forward in the wind and snow, and they don't want to do it again.
Even so, they did not dare to delay.
We were on our way just after lunch, and at four o'clock in the afternoon, the group finally arrived at Yunzhou City!
Looking at the towering city in front of me, its height and thickness are no worse than Bianjing City.
Zhao Duan and others finally understood what the merchant meant when he said that the prosperity here was no worse than Bianjing.
In a place like Yunzhou County, a huge city no less than Bianjing City has been built. The difficulty and the amount of materials and money required are huge. Just thinking about it is enough to make one's head spin. numb.
But now, he has indeed appeared again.
This huge city is breathtaking. The city wall is nearly ten feet high!
Ten feet! What is this concept?
Bianjing City is not that high, and it cannot be built that high at all. It is not a problem of consumables, but a technical problem of construction.
I don’t know how Yunzhou City solves this problem.
Little did Zhao Duan know that since cement appeared in Yunzhou County, the emergence of reinforced concrete buildings was also a matter of course.
With this technology, Zhao Jun can build it with confidence, let alone ten feet, twenty feet, and thirty feet.
It's just not necessary.
After recovering from the shock of the city wall, Zhao Duan and his party began to enter the city one after another along with the crowd.
That's right, the crowd.
There were so many people around that Zhao Duan felt as if he had returned to Bianjing City. There were Tatars and Song people going in and out of the city gate. What surprised him even more was that there were some swarthy people with turbans on their heads. Enter the city.
At a glance, he knew that these swarthy people were the servants of the man in front of him. Zhao Duan had never seen such people before, so he couldn't help but look at them more curiously.
At this time, a merchant behind him saw his appearance and immediately laughed: "Brother, what? Are you interested in these savages?"
"Savage?"
Zhao Duan turned his head in confusion.
The man nodded and explained: "According to the Yunzhou County Government, these are savages from the Yunling Mountains. The Yunzhou County Government will regularly go to the mountains to capture them, and then bring them out and sell them to people in the city who are willing to buy them. It is said that these people are from the Yunling Mountains." It is still a source of income for the Yunzhou County Yamen."
The businessman was talking eloquently, but he himself was just hearing about it. He only came half a month earlier than Zhao Duan, and he spoke out at this moment out of his nature of being a teacher.
All that is known is what the Yunzhou County government wants people to know.
"Are these slaves?"
Zhao Duan was shocked. He had known that slaves were prohibited in the Song Dynasty.
But the merchant didn't care and said: "They are not Song people, they are just a group of savages. Giving them the opportunity to be slaves is to educate them and it is for their own good!"
It can also be seen from his attitude that he is not disgusted at all with the use of savages as slaves, but thinks it is normal.
"Savage?"
Zhao Duan looked thoughtfully at the so-called savages who were talking incomprehensible words.
They don't dress like savages. They have an obvious exotic style, but they are said to be savages.
It seems that the sixth child in my family still has many things that he is hiding from himself.
But as long as you are not from the Song Dynasty, it doesn't matter if you are a slave.
Thinking like this, it was finally their turn for the team to enter the city.
Cao Shuang was prepared early and took out one ingot or one tael of silver.
In his opinion, this amount of money should be enough for their party to enter the city.
But what surprised him was that when he saw him taking out the silver, the soldiers guarding the city actually started to look at him with vigilant eyes. With a wave of his hand, several people immediately stepped forward and pointed their weapons at them.
At this moment, Cao Shuang's claws suddenly became numb, and Zhao Duan also frowned behind him, not knowing what he was thinking when looking at the situation in front of him.
At this time, the first city defender pointed a repeating crossbow at Cao Shuang and shouted: "Want to bribe me? Tell me! Did you bring any contraband to enter the city?"
"Contraband?"
Now Cao Shuang was even more confused. He originally thought that the other party thought that the money he gave was not enough and wanted to blackmail them, but he did not expect that it was actually regarded as a bribe.
He quickly explained: "There is no contraband, I am paying the city entry tax!"
"Town tax?"
I saw the soldiers on the opposite side were stunned, and their serious expressions had softened a lot, but they did not put down the weapons in their hands, but gestured to the side.
Immediately, someone stepped forward with a vigilant look on his face to check on the carriages and horses of Zhao Duan's group.
After a long time, the man's expression relaxed. He turned back and nodded to the first guard. The guard then waved his hand and everyone put down their weapons.
Just listen to the guard saying to Cao Shuang: "Okay, this must be your first time coming to our Yunzhou City. We don't collect city taxes here, and no one dares to collect your money.
All you have to do when entering the city is to do your duty honestly. In addition, private weapons are strictly prohibited in the city.
It's best to be honest after entering the city. If you encounter problems, you can go to Wuhou, who is patrolling the streets, to solve them. If you dare to fight privately, no matter who starts the fight, as long as you and him fight each other, you will have to eat prison food in the yamen for several days. . "
After speaking, the guard waved his hand, and the guard behind him immediately cleared the way into the city.
Cao Shuang then returned to the car, looked at Zhao Duan and Zhao Duan nodded, and the carriage slowly drove into the city.
When the carriage passed by the guard, Zhao Duan opened the curtain and looked intently at the guards who were carefully inspecting the people entering the city for a long time, and finally let out a long sigh.
Once upon a time...at the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China, those soldiers of the Song Dynasty who were full of yearning for peace also performed their duties so meticulously.
Nowadays, such soldiers have become legends in the Song Dynasty.
Unexpectedly, he actually saw it here at Lao Liu.
How did he do that?
Zhao Duan was very curious about this.
At the same time, for some reason, a trace of pride arose in my heart.
…
(End of chapter)
