I - Chapter 1062

   Chapter 1062 1508 [Recalling the past]

  In the south of Liaohetao, there is a Xining Fort.

  The fort is adjacent to the Sancha River and the Great Wall of Liao Dynasty. It is a small water and land hub.

  In the vicinity of Xiningbao, there were many military households living in the Ming Dynasty, but now they have changed. The fort is still there, the water and soil will last forever, and the residents living in this land have completely changed into a new look.

  The Liao State Mansion was built next to Baozi, which used to be the house of the Pang family.

  Pang Chunlai has been looking for relatives and fellow villagers since he retired from his old age and returned to his hometown. I really couldn’t find my relatives, but my fellow countrymen found a few, and I felt a little relieved.

  In early summer, the weather is just right.

  There was a reclining chair in the yard. The guard carried Pang Chunlai to the courtyard, and with the help of several servants, he carefully put him on the reclining chair to bask in the sun.

  Duke Liao, hemiplegia, even unconsciousness in severe cases.

  The spirit seemed to be better this day, Pang Chunlai grinned, and his words were slightly blurred: “Qingya, do you still remember that we went to Shandong together to catch the exam?”

  Li Mengsi, courtesy name Qingya, like Pang Chunlai, is a descendant of a hereditary military officer of the Ming Dynasty.

   When the Tartars came, Li Mengsi fled to Guannei, and then to Shaanxi, where he defected to his father’s old robe. At that time, Li Mengsi was also in the army, and Li Mengsi was also in the army. Later, he returned to Shaanxi and went south to avoid Li Zicheng.

   Going around, Li Mengsi became a citizen of the new dynasty, returned to Liaodong in response to the immigration policy, divided the land and settled down, and worked hard to study.

  Due to the lack of educated people, it was learned that Li Mengsi had been a juren, and the local officials even hired him as a teacher.

  From the newspaper, Li Mengsi knew that his former classmate had become the Duke of the state, but he was still teaching in a country primary school. The county opened a middle school, and Li Mengsi was transferred to teach in the middle school. When he retired, he was already the principal of the county middle school.

Li Mengsi’s body is still in good health. He took the tea from the maid, looked at the blue sky and fell into memory: “At that time, other scholars all went by sea, and we went by land together. We traveled all the way to the rivers and mountains of Daming. Shanhaiguan, visit North Zhili, take the canal from Tianjin to Shandong.”

  Pang Chunlai had a smile on his face. Due to hemiplegia, the smile was rather stiff: “Do you still remember the daughter-in-law of the conductor Ping Shanwei Deng?”

“Why don’t you remember?” Li Mengsi also laughed, “Your father and Commander Deng are old acquaintances. When you passed through Dongchang Mansion, you went to pay a visit with a famous badge, and Commander Deng stayed with us for a few days. The daughter of the Deng family, young Fang Shiwu is not yet married. When we met for the first time, your eyes were straight.”

  Pang Chunlai wanted to laugh, but he didn’t open his mouth wide: “Your eyeballs almost fell to the ground.”

  Li Mengsi shook his head amusedly: “You and I fought jealously. I didn’t have a marriage contract at the time, and it was time for me to pursue a beautiful woman. You have a marriage contract, but you still want to rob me. It’s really shameless.”

Pang Chunlai recalled: “I still remember that she was wearing a green lake silk blouse, which was a new style popular in Yangzhou. The sleeves were narrower, fresh and neat. The hair accessories were not cumbersome, only a jade hairpin was inserted, and the pendant was It is a lake pearl, swaying with the wind when we walk. We rushed in the door recklessly, and almost bumped into her…”

Li Mengsi said: “It seems that you are sincere. Decades have passed, and you can still remember it so clearly. I have forgotten the appearance of Younger Brother Deng, and I can’t remember what clothes she was wearing. I can only vaguely remember her rolling her eyes. That pretty appearance, cute and cute, hahahaha!”

   “Oh, I don’t know if she is still alive now.” Pang Chunlai sighed.

  Li Mengsi said: “I hope the old man is well.”

  Pang Chunlai asked someone to inquire, only to know that his first love married and went to Yanzhou, and fled to Jiangsu with his husband’s family. At that time, the soldiers were in turmoil, and the plague was still prevalent, so it was unknown if he died on the way.

  The two were silent and no longer spoke.

After a long time, Li Mengsi suddenly said: “I have often dreamed in the past two years. I dreamed that I would return to the last year of Wanli. When the snow melted in spring, we, a classmate of health school, met to go for a horseback ride. We talked about killing Tartars and serving the country with a smile. My brother Li Mengzhou , it seems that he has never turned to Tartar for treason, he is still the hot-blooded boy back then.”

   “Don’t mention… mention him, cough, cough, cough!” Pang Chunlai suddenly became agitated, and the muscles on his face were trembling.

  Pang Chunlai adopted four sons and one daughter. The daughter is married, and the three sons are officials in other places. Only the youngest son is by his side to fulfill his filial piety.

  At this time, the youngest son helped him to sit up, and patted Pang Chunlai on his back.

  Li Mengsi was in tears, as if recalling the unbearable past. Suddenly, Li Mengsi covered his face with his hands, and his whole upper body lay on his lap, sitting there sobbing and crying alone.

   “Dangdang, Dangdang!”

  Someone knocked on the door of the shop outside, and asked, “Who is it?”

  The official outside the gate shouted: “He is from the county. The crown prince is about to visit the Duke’s mansion and has already entered the county’s boundary. The magistrate Chen asked me to report in advance.”

   “Prince?”

  Menzi immediately quickened his pace, opened the door and welcomed the official messenger in.

  The imperial court assigned guards to the Liao government. Pang Chunlai didn’t like crowds, so there were only four guards left, and they didn’t have to stand guard at the gate.

  Hearing that the prince is coming, the servants in the mansion started to work, and the four guards also stood guard around the clock.

   After waiting for several days, the crown prince finally arrived, and instead of going to the county seat, he came directly to the countryside to visit Duke Liao. The county officials waited for a while, and when they learned that the prince was walking around the city, they hurriedly chased after him in groups.

  Pang Chunlai was carried to the gate and lay down. As soon as the prince’s guards who opened the way arrived, the adopted son and the male servant helped him to stand up.

  Zhao Kuanghuan had heard that Pang Chunlai had been paralyzed long ago. Seeing this, he quickly stepped forward, supported him and said, “No way, the old man is inconvenient. Don’t disturb the younger generation.”

   “It’s okay, I can still stand firm.” Pang Chunlai said.

  Zhao Kuanghuan turned around and bent down, forcibly lifted Pang Chunlai on his back, and walked towards the gate with the old man on his back under the surprised eyes of the crowd.

  Pang Chunlai didn’t stick to the rules any more, he lay on Zhao Kuanghuan’s back, and said with a smile, “I didn’t love you in vain when I was young, how is my grandson?”

  Zhao Kuanghuan said as he walked, “It’s very good, and my father is also good.”

  Pang Chunlai asked: “I read the newspapers, last year they were fighting the Western Regions, and they said they had recovered Tang Shishache. Are you still fighting now?”

   Zhao Kuanghuan said: “When my grandson left Beijing, he had already regained Congling, and it seemed that he was going to attack the old land of Dawan.”

   “Okay, okay, Your Majesty’s great career will be accomplished!” Pang Chunlai was very excited.

  Behind the two of them, a large group of people ran after them, but they didn’t dare to disturb them.

   When he came to the courtyard, Pang Chun said, “It’s right here. I don’t like to go into the house. Sitting in the house feels moldy.”

  The reclining chair had already been brought over, Zhao Kuanghuan put Pang Chunlai down, and then the county officials came to see the crown prince and the Duke of Liao.

  Pang Chunlai pointed to Li Mengsi and said, “This is my former Wei Xue classmate, Li Mengsi and Li Qingya.”

   “Meet Your Highness the Crown Prince!” Li Mengsi cupped his hands and bowed.

  Zhao Kuanghuan replied: “Old sir is well.”

  Li Mengsi said: “Don’t dare, the prince is in trouble.”

  Pang Chunlai pointed to another person: “Chen Huanliang, the magistrate of this county, is doing a good job in politics, but he is very annoying. He comes to annoy me several times a year.”

  Zhao Kuanghuan immediately understood what it meant, cupped his hands and said, “Thank you, Magistrate Chen, for taking care of me.”

   “What’s in your job, what’s in your job.” Chen Huanliang said quickly.

  Pang Chunlai fainted several times. As the county magistrate, Chen Huanliang dared not come to visit the Duke, and even brought Korean ginseng to the door every time.

  Pang Chunlai asked: “How many children does Your Highness have?”

   Zhao Kuanghuan replied: “Three sons and two daughters, and one son died young.”

  Pang Chunlai said: “The prince has been married for many years and has only five children. He still needs to work hard.” He also said, “It’s good if you don’t **** for women, and you can be a good emperor in the future.”

   “I didn’t think too far ahead when my father was in his prime.” Zhao Kuanghuan said.

  Pang Chunlai asked: “You said in your letter that you have started writing chapters?”

Zhao Kuanghuan said: “Some minor matters need to be reported to the cabinet, and my father felt that it was cumbersome, so I asked me to approve and deal with them, and then handed them over to my father for review. My grandson is dull and did not do well. Father has reprimanded you several times.”

   “You have been scolded, are you convinced? Tell the truth.” Pang Chunlai laughed.

   Zhao Kuanghuan said: “Convinced.”

  Pang Chunlai said: “Don’t be convinced. You have been like your father since you were a child. You always have ideas in your heart. You are obedient on the surface, but you must be dissatisfied in your heart.”

   “Don’t dare, the father is a sage in the world, and he must be right in handling government affairs.” Of course Zhao Kuanghuan would not admit it.

  Pang Chunlai estimated that his sanity was affected by the illness, and he was not as cautious as before. The more he said, the more outrageous he said: “My tomb has been repaired, why hasn’t the emperor’s mausoleum been built yet?”

  Zhao Kuanghuan sighed: “My father has deep meanings.”

  Pang Chunlai said: “If it’s not convenient, you can tell me alone at night.” Suddenly, he pointed to Chen Zhixian again, “I won’t let you run for nothing, come and report your achievements.”

  Chen Huanliang looked a little embarrassed, because his thoughts had been exposed.

  Zhao Kuanghuan said: “If you tell me, you can say it.”

Chen Huanliang said sincerely and tremblingly: “His Royal Highness, there are more than 103,000 registered residents in this county. The next official has been in office for more than two years, and more than 6,000 acres of wasteland have been opened up. In addition, it is important to organize the people to dredge the river and build embankments. The county’s long and wide roads have been reopened.”

   “What is Changguang Dao?” Zhao Kuanghuan asked.

Chen Huanliang said: “Reporting to Your Highness, the Liao River and the Daliao River were still one in the Yuan Dynasty. In the fifth year of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty, the river course was divided into two, namely the Liao River and the Daliao River. The Daliao River was newly separated, and the surrounding water network was complicated. Due to sedimentation, the river bed is gradually raised and the river course is constantly changing. The area in the middle of Liao is mostly swamps, also known as Liaoze.”

“During the Ming Dynasty, the roads and rivers were dredged, and the Changguang Road was built, starting from Haizhou in the east and reaching the county in the west. If the goods in the pass were to go by land, they had to take the Changguang Road in this county before they could be transported to Haizhou and Shenyang. Ming Dynasty At the end of the day, due to the siltation of the river and the flooding of the river, the Changguang Road was abandoned, and Chongzhen and the Tatars were unable to repair it.”

“I am going to recover Liaodong, and most of the materials will be taken by sea, so there is no rush to restore the Changguang Road. In recent years, the population of Liaodong has increased day by day, and the restoration of land transportation is imminent. Therefore, the province issued a decree to restore the Changguang Road. Yu Zhifu let Our two counties worked together to dredge and restore traffic.”

   “The restoration of Changguang Road in this county is half a year faster than the construction period in neighboring counties, and it does not disturb the residents too much.”

  Zhao Kuanghuan nodded in approval: “Good!”

  Like the Yellow River, the Daliao River has a lot of sediment and often diverts its course. Even in New China hundreds of years later, the Daliao River has been diverted three times.

  At this time, the Daliao River and the nearby water network are full of swamps.

  The Ming Dynasty has been draining the swamp water to turn the swamp into arable land. At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the war was busy, and the river course was in a mess. The Ming Dynasty and the Manchu Qing Dynasty did not dredge, and the river overflowed and dumped, and the swamp area gradually increased.

   Today’s Datong New Dynasty is busy clearing wasteland, dredging rivers, and cleaning up water networks.

   Don’t talk about protecting wetlands, productivity has not yet developed to that point.

  Chen Huanliang said proudly: “This county is the county that grows the most rice in the entire Northeast. Most of the reclaimed swamps have become fertile fields, which can feed countless people.”

  (end of this chapter)