Zhu Yuanzhang in the cellar

Chapter 15 Small Town Scenery
The mountains and forests were shrouded in mist and rain, and the car was driving slowly on the old country road.

The road is rugged and difficult to travel, with countless undulating steep slopes and dense jungles on both sides. Sometimes there are lonely houses, some terraces, and a few vegetable plots. The villagers seem to live in deep mountains and forests.

Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Di looked around like two curious babies, looking out the window, looking inside the car, looking out the window again, and looking inside the car again.

The rain outside the car window was much lighter, not as violent as last night, and it had turned from a heavy rain to a moderate rain. The sound of raindrops hitting leaves in the forest could be heard, and occasionally there were a few wisps of green smoke from the houses, giving people a sense of fireworks.

There was another change inside the car. The old township police car was a Volkswagen Jetta that was more than ten years old, but it had many necessary instruments and equipment. Xie Minghui turned the steering wheel back and forth like a spinning top, switching between first, second and third gears from time to time, which dazzled Zhu Yuanzhang and his son.

Although the mountain roads in Hunan are not as exaggerated as those in Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan, they are also complicated and narrow. Especially for rugged mountain roads like this one, there are many 90-degree turns, and sometimes you have to climb a very steep slope when going down the mountain.

The car was not going very fast along the way, only about 30 mph. But the winding road, with a cliff 20 to 30 meters high on the left side and dense and deep jungle, was very thrilling.

Xie Minghui noticed the two people's gazes in the rearview mirror. He felt that they were shifty, so he said: "What are you looking at? You are not young anymore, but you steal someone else's dog. Aren't you ashamed? And that one, you are so young and have taken the wrong path. Can't you do something more serious?"

"Father, he really thinks we are dog thieves."

Zhu Di's nose had been blocked by Xie Minghui with a napkin, but his mouth was covered in blood, which was almost dry now. He muttered, "That shrimp was such a jerk. He punched me so hard that it looked like my nose was broken."

"That kid is a talented person who can be of great use. The arrangements just now were very well organized. It seems that your grandfather in heaven has blessed me with such a brave and careful descendant."

Zhu Yuanzhang looked at his son's miserable appearance but laughed instead, because he was much more miserable than Zhu Di and had even been kicked in the crotch.

"Is Xia Ren a descendant of our Zhu family? Which lineage is he from?"

Zhu Di asked curiously.

Zhu Yuanzhang looked him up and down and said with a strange look: "It seems that he is a descendant of your lineage."

"what?"

Zhu Di showed surprise on his face, and then his change of expression moved his wound, causing him to groan: "Oh, this fellow is really not a human being. It hurts me so much. I will enforce the family law of my ancestors later."

"Okay, Xia Ren is a great talent. If we want the Ming Dynasty to be strong in the future, we have to rely on him."

Zhu Yuanzhang warned: "This time when you go back, you must let him recognize his ancestors and return to his roots. You must get close to him and never alienate him."

“Why do you have to have this shrimp?”

Zhu Di didn't understand.

Zhu Yuanzhang said calmly: "Because he is my descendant, he is one of ours. I don't trust outsiders."

He knew very well that after recognizing this new world, he needed to understand why this world had become so powerful and whether their Ming Dynasty had the opportunity to become so powerful as well.

In addition to the strength of the country, the most important thing is whether his Zhu family can continue to maintain its rule.

Later generations thought that Zhu Yuanzhang was a peasant army, so he treated the people well. In fact, during the Hongwu Dynasty, officials were indeed at the bottom of society and could be killed at will, but the people were not much better off.

His sons slaughtered the people in their fiefdoms and bullied them at will. The four major cases in the early Ming Dynasty involved more than 100,000 people, more than 90% of whom were innocent civilians.

Many of the policies introduced later were also high-pressure ruling policies, exercising high-intensity control over the people and officials, almost to the point of pathological overcorrection.

Therefore, it can be seen that what Zhu Yuanzhang really cared about was never the people.

In other words, in terms of ranking in his heart, Zhu Yuanzhang cared about the Zhu family's kingdom first, followed by Empress Ma, Zhu Biao and other family members, and third was the people.

As for those officials, nobles, landlords and the like, they were treated no different from pigs and dogs and could be slaughtered at will.

Zhu Yunfeng, who was a writer of historical novels and a descendant of the Zhu family, knew too well what Zhu Yuanzhang was like. He realized that once he chose to hand over the stone tablet to the country, he and Ji He would be doomed, so he had no choice but to take advantage of the situation.

Zhu Yuanzhang’s demands now are very simple. He needs a modern spokesperson who can help him make the Ming Dynasty strong and maintain the rule of the Zhu family and stabilize the Ming Dynasty.

It just so happens that Zhu Yunfeng is a descendant of the Zhu family, and from the way he handled the dog thief, we can see that he is very smart and resourceful.

Although I have beaten myself, I was a bit harsh...

Thinking of this, Zhu Yuanzhang felt a dull pain in his crotch.

But it is undeniable that Zhu Yuanzhang must have such a smart person, and he must be his direct descendant, to achieve his own interests.

Therefore, he had to make sure that Zhu Di and Zhu Yunfeng had a good relationship. After all, Zhu Yunfeng was a descendant of Zhu Di's lineage. In the future, he might need Zhu Di to come to this world more often and build a good relationship with Zhu Yunfeng, which would be beneficial to his Zhu family in every way.

"This thing runs much faster than a horse. On this rugged mountain road, a horse can't run at all, but inside this thing, not only is it comfortable, but the speed is also incredibly fast. It's amazing."

Zhu Di looked at the car and sighed sincerely. Compared with the car, his precious horses were not even as good as a piece of paint.

Zhu Yuanzhang said: "You only saw the extremely fast thing, but did not notice the road. Even the road in the deep mountains and old forests was built so smoothly. The power of the country in the future is truly amazing."

"Yeah, when will we have something like this in the Ming Dynasty?"

"So now you understand why I want you to get close to Shrimp."

"I see."

"Hey Hey hey."

The two were talking when they were suddenly interrupted.

Seeing them talking in private about something he couldn't understand, Xie Minghui said in dissatisfaction, "What are you whispering about? Are you colluding with others to give false testimony?"

Zhu Yuanzhang and his son did not communicate in Hongwu Zhengyun, but in their hometown Fengyang dialect. In addition, it was the Fengyang dialect of Anhui in the Ming Dynasty, which was quite different from the Fengyang dialect of later generations. Therefore, it was like an encrypted conversation and was completely incomprehensible. This made Xie Minghui suspicious.

Generally speaking, criminal suspects must be detained in separate cells and guarded by multiple police officers.

But that refers to criminal cases.

The handcuffs used in this kind of public security case were because Zhu Yunfeng's father was Xie Minghui's elementary school classmate, otherwise he might not even be brought back for trial and would just be criticized and educated on the spot.

However, these two guys didn't treat Xie Minghui as a policeman, which made him a little angry.

Zhu Yuanzhang knew that the country was now strong, and even the grassroots police stations were equipped with guns, so he could not act too arrogant, so he used the common saying of the Ming Dynasty: "Headache."

"Headache?"

Seeing Zhu Yuanzhang's bruised face, Xie Minghui felt a little nervous and said with a wry smile, "It's just a minor skin injury, he should be fine."

This is hard to respond to.

He had heard from his colleagues before that there was a case in the county where a thief broke into a house and was discovered by the owner and beaten up severely. As a result, the thief was seriously injured, his family made a fuss, and the owner lost all his property in compensation.

Although Zhu Yuanzhang seemed to have only suffered superficial injuries, the situation was different if he was hit on the head. If he had caused intracranial hemorrhage, it would have been a big trouble.

Besides, concussion is no small matter.

Therefore, if such a situation really occurs, it is not easy for him to intervene, and he needs to go through legal procedures to see if it constitutes legitimate defense. Otherwise, he will easily get into trouble and remain silent all the way.

Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Di kept whispering to each other, which made Xie Minghui more and more frightened.

I guess these two guys are planning how to blackmail someone.

If that was the case, he could only worry about his old classmates.

Think about it carefully.

There's really no other way these days.

It is unfair that a thief who was beaten up still asks the victim for compensation.

Soon the car drove down Shangfeng Mountain and entered Lansha Town.

Shangfeng Mountain is on the north side of the town, and the police station is on the south side of the town. After coming down from the mountain, you have to cross the entire town.

The entire town is run through by the Lansha River. As a tributary of the Zishui River, the Lansha River does not actually originate from the Zijiang River, but from the Xuefeng Mountain and finally flows into the Zishui River.

The river flow is definitely not large compared to that of Zishui River, but it can barely be considered a medium-sized river and has nurtured many people in the area.

There are three bridges over the river.

One is an old wooden bridge that is located upstream of the river and is built many years ago.

One is an old bridge built in the 1970s and 1980s, located in the center of the town. Although it is made of reinforced concrete, it has long been full of potholes.

The last one is the new bridge, located in the southern part of the town, which is the entrance from the county seat to the town. It is spacious and sturdy, and the police station happens to be located there.

When Zhu Yuanzhang and his son came down from Shangfeng Mountain, they first saw the old wooden bridge and could not help but feel a little surprised. They say that modern countries are strong, so why are the bridges so old and dilapidated?

However, the houses along the way are all peculiarly shaped rectangular buildings, generally three or four stories high, and some are five or six stories high, which are much better than those of the Ming Dynasty.

After a while we arrived at the old bridge and saw the steel bars and concrete with cars coming and going on it. This was the town center, a crossroads, with the largest number of houses and shops and people nearby, and the police car was also moving slowly.

The father and son were so curious about what they saw that they looked around like Granny Liu visiting the Grand View Garden.

Strictly speaking, it is just a small town, and it is definitely not as spectacular as the Ming Dynasty capital Yingtianfu. But even though it is just a small town, the town center is full of five- or six-story staircase buildings, and the height is shocking enough.

Although it was possible to build such tall buildings in the Ming Dynasty, tall buildings were not common in the Ming Dynasty. Wooden buildings are prone to collapse, and ordinary residential buildings are already three or four stories high, which is not comparable to modern ones.

It was even more shocking when we arrived at the entrance of the town.

Because the town entrance was newly built, there is a new street on the other side of the new bridge. Unlike the old street in the town center, the street is also full of high-rise buildings, lined up one after another, and each building is as new as new, standing by the river.

A large number of cars, buses and motorcycles were shuttling around inside. The spiral lights at the door of the barber shop were flashing brightly. The shops along the street were bustling with people. Outside the supermarket, old men and women carrying bags were holding the goods they had bought in their hands and getting on electric bikes with umbrellas.

Electric poles, street lights, clean and tidy streets, and the vehicles and people coming and going together create a bustling small town scene.

For people like Zhu Yuanzhang and his son who had never seen modern life, even a small town in a remote area of ​​the south was enough to make them feel surprised and full of new ideas everywhere.

This is a scene that will never be seen in the Ming Dynasty.

It’s not that there are few people.

Rather, it’s about buildings, vehicles, bridges, and the way people live and travel.

Zhu Yuanzhang is not a fool.

He knew very well that when even the people in a town in a country had vehicles to travel on their own instead of having to rely on their legs, the strength of that country would far exceed his imagination.

A single example can reveal the whole picture. If even the towns are like this, what is the situation like in counties and even in the national capital?
(End of this chapter)