My Daming New Empire

So these people are going to go directly to Zhucheng, pass through Yiyuan, arrive at Laiwu, and pass through Tai'an, which can save half the time.

Other places are easy to say, but Yiyuan is the place with the largest and most mountains in Shandong, and there are also the most bandits.

Jin Yiwei walked from there this time, in addition to investigating the case, he also shouldered the task of surveying the terrain.

Shandong has now built cement roads, but the line from Jiaozhou to Laiwu has not been repaired. Only Anqiu County has a section of cement roads.

Before noon, a group of 25 people arrived at Jingzhi, an ancient town in Shandong, which is also the birthplace of Shandong sorghum burn.

Since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, the imperial court has vigorously seized rice to make wine, but because Jingzhi mainly uses sorghum as the main raw material for wine making, it has become more and more prosperous.

The baijiu here sells well all over the country, even in Beijing.

However, thanks to the large amount of rice brought back from Nanyang in recent years, part of the rice wine making has been liberalized. As long as Daming is willing to spend money, he still has wine to drink.

"Ma Ba Zong, Jingzhi also has a post station, why don't we take a rest here, and buy a few catties of sorghum here to burn, the horses are cold, and they can also keep out the cold."

Ma Dezhong said with a generous smile: "General Tang is familiar with this area, so he took us to an authentic workshop. Don't argue with me about the money to buy wine."

They don't need to rest, but horses can't.It is impossible for the post station here to have more than 20 horses for them to replace. The horses cannot be replaced until Laiwu, so some horsepower must be saved.

What's more, it was freezing cold, although they brought dry food, they would feel much more comfortable if they could drink a bowl of hot soup at the post station.

After resting in Jingzhi, all the water bags carried by everyone were emptied, and they changed to fine wine, and then they continued their journey.

Before dark, everyone arrived at Jiangyu, which is located in the northeast of Yishan Mountain. This is the gateway to Yishan Mountain. It was getting late, and everyone rested here for one night.

A group of them wore military uniforms and came to this remote town, which naturally caused a lot of excitement.

The local postmen warmly entertained them, and even the head of the village and the inspection department visited him personally.

Ma Dezhong and the others did not show up, and let Tang Chun, the general banner of Jinyiwei, communicate with them in the name of visiting relatives and sailors.

When asked about Nanyang rice, I haven't seen it here for more than half a year, which made everyone's hearts sink.

In Jiaozhou, everything is still as usual, but after entering the inland area, I have not seen Nanyang rice for several months.

However, because there was no disaster here, and because they depended on mountains to eat mountains, although the lives of the people here were a little bit bitter, they were not too difficult to live on.

The road on the second day was the most dangerous. Although there was only one person and one horse, they were easy to drive, but because they were all mountain roads, they only traveled a hundred miles in one day and arrived in Yiyuan in the evening.

After two days of tossing on the road, everyone was a little tired.However, the personnel of the four Jinyiwei still did not rest, and contacted the local personnel overnight to check the people's situation.

The county seat here is not as good as a small town outside the mountain, but after all, there are imperial officials, and there is also a hundred households in the west of the city.

Tang Chun contacted the local Jinyiwei Xiaoqi, but found that the situation here was more serious than he thought.

Because in the past few years, except for a batch of disaster relief food shipped by the imperial court in Yongle 15 years, no food has been shipped at all since then.

As for the official documents of the imperial court, although there is an immigration letter issued, it is consistent with what Lin San and the others said, and they only allow the people to emigrate to the northwest.

This situation made Tang Chun very worried. This was not a state or a county, but most of the entire Shandong Province, which did not follow the imperial court's will.

Besides the transformation of mountains and wilds here, many outsiders don't know much about the situation, let alone know that the imperial court has transported grain to Shandong for three consecutive years.

As for the promise that the people will replace taxes with work, most people don't know it at all.

I don't know if the situation will be better in a big city like Laiwu or Tai'an.

But the subsequent journey let him down, whether it is Laiwu or Tai'an, the situation is similar.

There seems to be a shady curtain in the whole Shandong, which blocks the light of the imperial court, so that the people still live in darkness.

Tang Chun had been active in Jiaodong and Jiaozhou, and was mainly responsible for monitoring the local generals.He never thought that in the inland area, it would be so dark!

In the end is that part of the problem?Why don't those officials want to let the common people live well?

He didn't dare to guess randomly, so he could only record what he saw and heard.

After four days of running around, Ma Dezhong finally returned to his hometown after a long absence.All the memories of his hometown have long been blurred. He only remembers Majia Village in the east of the city, and his parents were buried in the south of the village south of the Si River, under a hillside.

"Brother Ma, you're back in your hometown. Do you want to live in the county seat today, or go home directly?"

Ma Dezhong smiled wryly and said: "I can't even remember where the village I live in, and I have no relatives in my hometown. I'd better stay in the county town for one night and worry about it tomorrow."

"Do you still remember the name of the village?"

Madeleine nodded. "I can't forget this. Zongqi Tang, you've been on your way for several days, and you're looking for a restaurant today. You and my brothers have a good drink. Why don't you fix it tomorrow."

Tang Chun shook his head and said: "This understanding is shocking. This Shandong does not seem to be the territory of my Ming Dynasty. Governments at all levels are in charge of their own affairs, and they don't care about the court's laws. I have to worry about this situation. Now Qufu is not far from Yanzhou City. , I want to rush to Yanzhou tonight, so I can only go together when I return home."

Although Ma Dezhong didn't know about Jin Yiwei's investigation, he also knew that they shouldered a heavy responsibility, unlike him who just went back to his hometown to visit relatives this time.

Moreover, he also knew something about the situation along the way, knowing that this was a huge case, he didn't dare to delay Tang Chun and the others' itinerary.

He nodded and said: "After three days, I will send my brothers to wait for you at the North Gate Ferry every day, but at most, I can only wait for you for three days, and I must return to Jiaodong within half a month to report."

"Understood, you don't need to send people here to blow the cold wind, you just need to settle down and explain the city gate order, they dare not neglect our Jinyiwei's official duties."

The two sides agreed on a way to meet, Tang Chun and the others did not enter the city, but directly detoured to the official road in the west of the city, and flew towards Yanzhou.

After watching them leave, Ma Dezhong looked back at the city wall of Qufu in the distance, and sighed softly. "Let's find an inn in the advanced city to stay."

"Head, where's the horse?"

"Let's take care of it at your own expense, so you don't have to trouble the station."

He left home when he was eight or nine years old, and Ma Dezhong's impression of his hometown is already very vague.

At the gate of the city gate for inspection and registration, the gatekeeper was very surprised to see that Ma Dezhong was a local, but he also became very enthusiastic.He personally took them to find a large inn and asked Xiaoer to take care of the horse.

It was already evening at this time, and this Xiaoling was not afraid of officials entering the city, leading them to rush around.He was a man with a very sharp tongue, and he got everything done almost without a few words from Ma Dezhong.

Ma Dezhong couldn't help but invite him to have dinner with him to show his gratitude.

This Xiaoling didn't refuse, and ordered a banquet according to the number of people, which was not a big meal, but it didn't lose face, and then he talked about it in detail.

Knowing that Ma Dezhong left home as a child, this time he is returning to his hometown to visit relatives, and he also wants to move his parents' graves to the capital.

He asked Ma Dezhong to take out a fifty copper coin and gave it to Xiao Er, and asked him to go directly to the coffin shop to buy back the incense sticks.

As for the village that has been blurred in Ma Dezhong's memory, he, a local, is very clear, and in a few words he helped Ma Dezhong recall some details and determine the location.

Ma Dezhong is not afraid that he will have evil intentions. This is a county town, and there is a county government to patrol and arrest.This is the hometown of Confucius and Mencius, and there is a thousand households stationed in the north of the city.

Eleven of them were big men, and they carried muskets, and ordinary forces didn't dare to do it at all.

Ma Dezhong suspected that the other party was an inquirer from the county government, and he was upright, so he told the truth, chatted with the other party, and asked clearly what he wanted to know.