C3659 (2/2)
”Ten years? You can't wait ten years? This Fu Qing is also a foreign devil and has drunk too much yellow soup! ”
Yi Cong stood at the side of the ship, deep in thought as he watched the young eunuchs use iron rods to knock on the ice floating in the middle of the river. This year was a rare warm winter, it was as if the cold air of the Great Qing had blown all the way to the North Atlantic.
Expedition's side had frozen to death, but the capital's side could even survive through the winter with a cotton-padded jacket! The ice layer that had frozen the river during the warm winter was not that thick either. Previously, in order to get the emperor to control the boat, the authorities had specially arranged for people to break through the ice along the way.
The ice in the middle of the river was sprinkled with fine black cinder, making a path through the boat. Every morning, people would break through the ice.
In order for the Tongzhi Emperor to return to the capital, he had mobilized more than 400,000 citizens from Tianjin to Beijing to send them out to work.
Before the His Majesty's boat had passed, it was not allowed to freeze in the middle of the canal. This was a death command along the way!
If that village didn't listen to him, then he would use the 70 jin flail to chain the village chief, Retention and everything else! If the commoner below dared to cause trouble, he would be convicted for rebelling.
The poor riverside residents had suffered an unexpected disaster. In the middle of winter, they had to prepare their own rations and go to the river to break through the ice every day.
Although winter was a fallow season, people still had to go through the new year. They had to eat all the food they had accumulated in the autumn, and now that they were doing so much hard work, even the government wouldn't give them any subsidies if they lost the food.
The commoners dared not to speak out of anger. They all swallowed the bitter water in their stomachs!
So many people had to pay for it, and this was the only way to have the wonderful winter scenery of sailing!
The big shots at the top would not think about such a small thing, the His Majesty was thinking about the reform while the Fifth Master and the others were thinking about how to let the His Majesty govern personally.
Meanwhile, the eunuchs on the boat were carefully cleaning the floating ice while the guards vigilantly looked at the riverbanks on both sides of the river.
No one knew that on the other side of the dike, where their line of sight was blocked, the wolf-like yamen runners would whip their waists and force the ice-breaking civilians to crawl on the ground, not allowing them to move.
”All of you, behave yourself... Whoever dares to peek at the Emperor will be punished by the law of rebellion! ”
”You all don't want to live anymore? Don't move, just lie on the ground... ”Everyone, get down, get down on the ground …”
These people, who risked their lives day and night, did not even have the right to see a saint!
It was precisely under the control of these local officials that the scenery in front of Prince Yi Cong was as beautiful as a painting made of ink.
The village and farmland were arranged in the distance. The white snow was the whiteness of the ink paintings, the dead trees propped up on the paper, the jackdaws flying over the desolate land.
”Ah …” Seeing such a beautiful scene, Yi Cong let out a long breath, ”This is more like it! The Great Qing has this kind of idyllic scenery, there are no rowdy commoner, and also no pitch black smoke pipe or factory! ”
”Look at how the Tanggu has been fouled, they are all scum, filthy!”
”What kind of industry is this!?” If we destroy this beautiful painting, our children and grandchildren will curse us! ”
”That's right! The lowly commoner called Xin Jian in the industrial area who dared to go against His Majesty must be the one who caused the His Majesty to be in a bad mood, this damned fellow! ”
”Someone …” Yi Cong growled, following that, a few guards ran over from the corner.