I am the prince of the Ming Dynasty, I don't give up

Chapter 121 Qizhou Experience (Part )

Zhu Houzhao was walking on the streets of Qizhou city in the evening, with only Jiang Bin and two guards following behind him. He felt very comfortable because the road surface of the streets outside Qizhou city was not paved with loess like in other cities, which would turn into a pile of yellow mud paste after rain. Although it was not known how these gray roads were built, it could be seen that the people of Qizhou were very careful to clean the roads, and there was no garbage on the roads at all.

He found that there were indeed no beggars in Qizhou City as the legend said, and he didn't even see any ragged people.

Moreover, the styles and colors of clothes worn by the people of Qizhou are similar. There are no wide robes with big sleeves, and no fluttering sleeves. The styles of the clothes are extremely simple, saving a lot of fabric, and they look very neat. The colors are mostly blue, but the degree of blue varies.

Then there were words written on the clothes. After observing for a while, Zhu Houzhao saw words such as fertilizer plant, cement plant, glass factory, foundry, machinery plant, textile plant, coke plant, steel plant, railway engineering team, etc.

Zhu Houzhao felt that these factories should be different from the East Factory and West Factory he was familiar with.

I asked some passers-by and they all called this work clothes.

What surprised him most was the mental outlook of the people of Qizhou.

When he was in the capital, he traveled everywhere and met many ordinary people of the Ming Dynasty. Along the way from the capital to Qizhou, he met ordinary people from many provinces, but this was the first time he had seen people like the people of Qizhou.

The skin of most Qizhou people has a healthy glow, and you can tell they have never been hungry. Although most of them have fatigue on their faces, their eyes sparkle with confidence and hope.

This kind of light is rarely seen in the eyes of ordinary people. Most of the Ming people that Zhu Houzhao had seen in other places had numbness, sorrow and submissiveness in their eyes.

Zhu Houzhao heard several Qizhou people passing by excitedly discussing the Cuju League, the factory Cuju team, and which factory canteen had what delicious food. They were full of energy, and Zhu Houzhao had only seen this kind of energy in some young officials.

Zhu Houzhao stood there thinking for a long time but couldn't figure out why, but he vaguely felt that all this was related to his younger brother, the Prince of Jing.

Zhu Houzhao’s fourth impression of Qizhou: the people of Qizhou have a good mental outlook.

"Young Master, look!" Jiang Bin pulled Zhu Houzhao and pointed in a direction.

Zhu Houzhao looked in the direction Jiang Bin pointed and found that it was actually a group of children. They were wearing uniform clothes and walking in an orderly line according to their height on the road. They were led by two adults, one in front and one behind. Pedestrians and carriages on the road made way for them and watched them cross the road with smiles on their faces.

The children in the team were chattering non-stop, and some of them kept leaving the team, but with the teacher's reminder, the team was always able to stay in order, and there were even girls forming a separate team.

"After walking such a long distance, the troops are still in formation. We look like a strong army." Jiang Bin sighed softly. He had actually led troops before, so he naturally knew the current training level of the Ming army.

Needless to say, the Ming Dynasty's garrison troops had gradually become tenants of the garrison officers, and they might not even have training once a month.

Border troops had to face the Mongols frequently, so they had to train more frequently, but they only trained once every fifteen days.

The reason is very simple, it is still because of the lack of pay and food. Training requires a large amount of food. With the current supply level of the Ming Dynasty and the integrity of its officials, it can only afford this level of training.

Therefore, there are not many Ming army troops that can form a formation of this level, and it is no wonder that Jiang Bin felt sad.

Zhu Houzhao also stared at the group of children in a trance and said in confusion: "I wonder what these children are doing?" Jiang Bin had thousands of thoughts in his mind and didn't know what to say for a moment.

While they were talking, several more groups of children appeared. They were also in neat rows, and people in work clothes kept picking up the children.
If one group of children gave them surprise, then several groups of children gave them a shocking feeling.

Zhu Houzhao finally couldn't help but stop a middle-aged man in blue work clothes and asked, "Brother, may I ask what are these children doing?"

The middle-aged man was stunned, looked at them and said, "This is your first time in Qizhou, right? It's just that the children are out of school!"

"After school?" This answer was beyond Zhu Houzhao's expectation. "So they went to school?"

"Yes, it's great to go to school. Parents can't take care of their children when they go to work. If you send your children to school, there will be teachers to take care of them, so they can learn things and have lunch and dinner."

"The people of Qizhou are really wealthy. There are so many families who can afford to send their children to private schools." Jiang Bin couldn't help but interrupt.

"What private school? It's a school built by His Royal Highness Prince Jing. It doesn't cost money for children to go to school, which can save a lot of food. Moreover, if they study well, they can get scholarships. If you have children of school age at home and don't send them to school, the factory won't accept them as workers." The middle-aged man explained patiently.

Jiang Bin was so surprised when he heard this, "From what you said, every household in Qizhou sends their children to school?"

"That's right, isn't it? Who's stupid enough not to send the children to school?" the middle-aged man said with a sneer.

"The King of Jing is indeed very rich! How much money does it cost every year to support so many children in school and feed them?" Jiang Bin exclaimed.

"Prince Jing is kind-hearted. Many families in Qizhou worship Prince Jing." The middle-aged man bowed in the direction of Prince Jing's mansion.

Many thoughts flashed through Zhu Houzhao's mind. Due to the sensitivity brought about by his profession, he also had some bad thoughts, but his trust in Zhu Houxuan overwhelmed these bad thoughts.

After the middle-aged man left, Zhu Houzhao lost interest in the children on the street. He saw a shop with many people and his attention was immediately attracted.

Because there was a sign hanging at the door of the store that read: Today's Storytelling - The First and Second Chapters of the New Version of "Robinson Crusoe".

"It's not Romance of the Three Kingdoms or Water Margin, and the name is really fresh. Let's go and listen!" Zhu Houzhao said excitedly. He liked listening to new stories in the first place, and he certainly couldn't miss it this time, not to mention that this was the first chapter.

They quickly occupied a table, ordered the best tea and snacks, and waited for the show to begin.

The store was crowded with people at this time, including many wearing blue work clothes. Zhu Houzhao sat at the table next to them.

Finally, the time for the show to begin came. A thin storyteller walked out from behind the scenes, slammed the gavel, and began to tell the story.

However, he did not get to the point at the beginning, but talked about something else.

(End of this chapter)