Jiangmi Lane between Daming Gate and Qianmen is still busy and crowded. As the largest grain trading market in the capital, it is always noisy.
But there is something less than before.
There are fewer beggars and refugees.
In order to deal with the plague, under Chang Yu's suggestion, the imperial court began large-scale environmental control and isolation of people. That is, refugees and beggars were not allowed to enter the inner city. There were officers and soldiers guarding the three gates of Xuanwumen, Zhengyangmen and Chongwenmen. Diversion.
Some people may ask how to distinguish between the people in the city and the refugees outside the city?
It's very simple. You can tell the temperament and dress of refugees, diaosi and ordinary people at a glance.
More importantly, begging is strictly prohibited in the city. Once the soldiers and horses find someone begging, they will either beat you up and drive you out or lock you up.
So there were still people who sneaked in at the beginning, but later on no one found themselves uncomfortable.
Although there are many wealthy gentry and wealthy families in the city, the outer city has the most prosperous entertainment street in the capital. Every day, countless wealthy people hang out here and spend a lot of money. If you are lucky, you can get rewards, and there are many shops in the outer city. Some leftovers to fill my stomach.
In addition, the imperial court and some well-meaning wealthy families also set up porridge shacks in the outer city. Although the porridge shacks now only serve one meal a day due to food shortages, and it is becoming more and more scarce, they can still reassure themselves that they will not starve to death.
The money-spending pleasure seekers, the dazzling array of shops and the daily porridge shacks, coupled with the strict law enforcement in the inner city, have successfully isolated the refugees in the outer city. No one can say whether it will help prevent and control the epidemic, but at least it has reduced the number of people inside the city. city risk.
Chang Yu and Song Luoyu passed through Zhengyang Gate and arrived at the outer city. When they looked around, they immediately felt something strange. There were a lot less people!
In the past few months, there have been constant wars and natural disasters in the Gyeonggi area. People have lost their snacks and have lost their homes. People in the surrounding areas such as Yanqing, Changping, and Shunyi have no choice but to come to Jingcheng to escape. It is said that even people from Baoding Prefecture have fled. Here it comes...
Thousands of people crowded the outer city, and the shacks built outside the city stretched for miles.
The capital has long since become a refugee camp.
When Tian Yu returned to Beijing yesterday, he was surrounded by a large number of refugees begging before he even entered the city. He almost couldn't enter the city for a while. Once he entered the city, he was not much better. If he didn't have personal guards accompanying him, he even thought he might be robbed. .
But now, at a glance, there are only a handful of the former beggar army left, and most of them are old, weak, sick, and disabled, and even women are rarely seen...
Hey, Song Luoyu is confused.
But Chang Yu knew where the person had gone.
At present, the imperial court needs a large number of laborers to cultivate sweet potatoes and potatoes, plow the land, turn the soil, plant, water, and fertilize. Hundreds of thousands of kilograms of seeds must be sown on thousands of acres of land in a short period of time. The amount of work is huge and the demand for labor is huge. The quantity is also large.
However, the most indispensable thing in the capital is labor force, and it is very cheap.
So cheap that you only need to take care of the food.
So early in the morning, people from the Jinyiwei Yamen went to the outer city to shout. They spread the word to tens and hundreds, and then a large number of men and women labored along the Tonghui River to Tongzhou.
The land in Tongzhou is close to the Grand Canal and is fertile and easy to irrigate. Huangzhuang also owns a large area of land there, which is enough to consume one-third of the seeds. The rest can be planted in the Tonghui River and the Wenyu and Qinghe rivers in the north of the city.
Generally, fertile fields along rivers and water are in the hands of nobles, but this time Chang Yu will plant them no matter whose land it is, as long as it is empty, and he does not need to come forward for this kind of thing. Emperor Chongzhen has summoned the capital this morning When you discuss this matter, I believe no one will object. Anyway, it is empty. It is worth letting him plant some seeds for a season. Besides, if anyone objects at this time of great famine, it will be unethical and will be scolded by public opinion.
A large number of refugees went to Tongzhou to farm, which greatly reduced the pressure on Beijing. First of all, the city was not so crowded and noisy. Secondly, Chang Yu also deliberately took this opportunity to divert the refugees to Tongzhou.
Tongzhou City was massacred by the Tatars a few months ago and the city was almost in ruins. Now we are taking the opportunity to resettle the refugees. As long as appropriate policy care is given, Chang Yu believes that many people will be willing to take root and multiply here. It won’t take long for this The dock town will prosper again.
With Chang Yu's current identity and status, many things no longer need to be done personally. For example, this time he promoted the planting of sweet potatoes and potatoes to cope with the famine. He discussed it with Emperor Chongzhen and then handed it over to Jin Yiwei to execute the order. At the same time, he appointed Song Yingxing, an agricultural professional, to have full authority. Responsible.
"Master, give me some money." Chang Yu was walking west along the street with his hands behind his back when he was surrounded by a dozen ragged children. Song Luoyu behind him frowned and tried to drive forward. Chang Yu shook his head gently, They took out all the broken silver they had on their bodies and rewarded them. The children were so happy that they kept saying words of thanks.
"Begging is not a long-term solution. Why don't you find something to do?" Chang Yu asked the leading child, who looked to be about seven or eight years old.
"We also want to find something to earn a living, but the workers think we are too small and useless, not to mention the government's waste of food...".
Chang Yu sighed slightly, thinking that there were at least thousands of children in the city, and it was not possible to continue wandering like this. He had to find a way to resettle them, but he had no idea at the moment.
After all, you can't keep it in vain, there are thousands of mouths.
"What kind of work can a child do?" Chang Yu frowned and muttered, and Song Luoyu sighed: "Pull the garlic seedlings secretly. If they are older, they will probably rob them." But her casual words made Chang Yu fall into deep thought. .
In later generations, children of this age are the treasures of two generations, and they can grow up freely in schools, classrooms and playgrounds. However, in this era, except for children of this age group who come from rich and wealthy families, few have the opportunity to go to school. Most of them are born on their own. He has been proficient in various household and agricultural tasks since he was a child.
Children are the flowers and future of the motherland. This statement may make people feel tacky and ridiculous, but if you think about it carefully, isn’t it? The future of a country is closely related to the education received by the next generation.
Just like the generation of children in front of us, they are illiterate and have no skills. Even if they survive this famine and survive, what will the future hold? They will either become habitual thieves or robbers, or they will inherit the legacy of their fathers and face the earth with their backs to the sky!
This is their future, and it is also the future of the country!
But if they can go to school to study and become literate, and then broaden their horizons and shine in all walks of life, then the country will also shine.
Therefore, Chang Yu decided to set up a school. In fact, he had this plan and preparation early on, but it was disrupted by several military disasters. It is rare that he does not have to go out to fight at the moment, so he should engage in education over there.
But it costs money to build a school, it costs money to hire teachers, and it also costs money to raise these children.
Money, money……
It would be a big deal if this kind of thing happened to others.
But Chang Yu already had a plan in mind. Money was really not a problem for him. It wasn't that he had money, but that he could get it. If he didn't have more money, it would be more than enough to run a school.
And he also made up his mind to build a new school. Reading and literacy are the basis but not the only one. Although it cannot be said that scholars are completely useless, if you only read those four books and five classics, you will be able to study more thoroughly and analyze more clearly. It has a purpose and what contribution it can make to the development of the country!
The so-called rejuvenation of the country through science and education means that it is time to put mathematics, physics and chemistry at the top of the list. Although we do not expect to achieve success in one fell swoop, we should at least popularize some basic knowledge. Whether they can do what they want depends on their own destiny.
Chang Yu also knew that once his plan was brought out, it would arouse a lot of discussion. After all, in ancient times, chemistry and physics were generally called heretical and not mainstream academics. At this time, it still depended on who was studying literary thought. The boss is the one who is good at mathematics, and mathematics is only just approaching the mainstream.
