Fengyang is only 300 miles away from Yingtian Mansion. It takes only one day to ride alone. However, Zhu Qi and Zhu Di went to inspect around Fengyang, so it was naturally impossible to go straight from Yingtian Mansion to Fengyang, Zhongdu. Instead, they made a big circle from the east, took a detour to the north of the Huai River, and patrolled along the way for five days.

No matter how simple the prince traveled, including the ceremonial guards and accompanying guards, Zhu Qi and Zhu Di followed only 400 or 500 people. This was mainly because the bandits were still quite serious during the Hongwu period, with robbers on the plains, bandits on the mountain, and water thieves on the lake.

This was something that could never be avoided in ancient times. Even in the 1970s and 1980s, there were still people who openly pulled nails on the roads on the roads, specifically piercing the tires of passing cars, and then robbing them, not to mention the early Ming Dynasty, which had just experienced the chaotic times of the end of the Yuan Dynasty.

But even if the bandits are rampant, no one dares to come up to die when they see this army of about 500 people carrying the Ming Dynasty flag.

This is the first time that Zhu Qi has been riding a carriage. It is more exciting than riding a jump carriage. Zhu Di is watching the third episode of "Mingshanhe" in the carriage. Zhu Qi kindly reminds him to be careful of motion sickness, and Zhu Di smiled and said:

"Don't worry, third brother, I've never fainted."

Then he became motion sick, vomiting so much that the team stopped to rest for a while.

The place where the team stopped was a wasteland, and there was no village around. Zhu Qi couldn't help but ask:

"There are so many wildernesses here, why haven't you seen anyone come to reclaim wasteland?"

Just like most dynasties, when the dynasty was first established, there were few people and more land. Because there were many war-torn wastelands, the country would always introduce some policies to encourage reclamation. The same was true in the early Ming Dynasty, which stipulated that anyone who reclaimed the wasteland would be reclaimed. If the owner of the land was retrieved, he would resettle a piece of land to him, so as to encourage the development of agriculture.

This place is close to Fengyang. Logically, after Zhu Yuanzhang's move to migrate to wealthy families in Jiangnan, there should be plenty of fertile land here, but looking at the desolate scene in front of him, it is obviously different from what I imagined.

Gao Jin was just an escort, and he was not from Fengyang. He didn't know these things. He hesitated for a while and said:

"Maybe I'm too busy to get busy."

Zhu Qi didn't think much about it, just thought that the population was sharply reduced due to the war at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, which was really because he couldn't get busy. However, Xu Da happened to pass by at this time and said to Zhu Qi:

"Boy, this is not a barrenness caused by being too busy. From here to the south bank of the Yellow River, this is basically the case."

Zhu Qi was shocked when he heard this. This place is close to Fengyang, which is the north bank of the Huai River. From the north bank of the Huai River to the south bank of the Yellow River, is it all such a large area of ​​desolation?

Xu Da raised the whip and pointed to the east and continued:

"Walking eastward, you have to walk through Hongze Lake, which is the big lake we walked past. Only then can you see the scene of thousands of hectares of fertile fields when we go eastward."

Zhu Di was vomiting all the time, and raised his head and asked with a pale face:

"Uncle Xu, why are no one here to farm in this area?"

Xu Da looked at Beifang and said:

"It was not caused by the Southern Defeat of the Yellow River. During the Southern Song Dynasty, Du Chong broke the Yellow River channel and replaced the soldiers with water. The Jin people did not block it, but his family members suffered heavy casualties. Since then, the Yellow River broke its dam every year. Later, the Yellow River seized the Huai River and changed the river channel. The water of the Huai River blocked the current Hongze Lake. Although the wind is calm now, if there is a lot of rain this year, the Yellow River will rush from the north, and it will be flooded from this to the north. To the north of the Changhuai River, Ju is a maogra."

Xu Da waved his hand and drew a big circle. Just listening to Xu Da’s description, Zhu Qi could imagine what a hellish scene it was.

The Yellow River channel in the Ming Dynasty was very different from the modern Yellow River channel. Moreover, in the more than 200 years of the Ming Dynasty, the Yellow River had to undergo multiple diverted floods, and as time goes by, the serious intensification of soil erosion in the upper reaches will become more and more serious.

But Xu Da smiled and said:

"But the situation has improved a lot over the years. Since Jialu governed the river and cleared the old Yellow River path in Cao County, this generation has been able to live a little more peacefully, otherwise, let alone wasteland, there would be no place to stop."

Zhu Qi couldn't help but sigh, but controlling the Yellow River was not a matter of overnight, but there was never a shortage of warriors who went on one after another. In ancient times, Dayu controlled the flood, and when the Chinese nation faced disasters, it never shook back.

The team quickly continued to set off. As Fengyang got closer, they finally saw some cultivated acres, which made them look popular.

The further you go south, the more you can feel a prosperous scene. After seeing a row of towering city walls from afar, Zhu Qi knew that he and others had arrived at their destination.

Zhongdu Fengyang, the place where the dragon rises in the Ming Dynasty!

Fengyang originally had no city walls. Starting from the third year of Hongwu, Zhu Yuanzhang planned to move the capital to Fengyang, so he began to build a large area of ​​buildings including the outer city wall, the inner city wall and the imperial palace. By the seventh year of Hongwu, it had been built. Just looking at the city wall, it was still very oppressive, no worse than the one from the outer city of Yingtian Prefecture.

In addition, Zhu Yuanzhang migrated 200,000 people to fill Fengyang, and the original remote village was forcibly raised to become the central city in the Huaixi region.

Just looking at the carriages and horses passing by on the official road, you can feel the prosperity and hustle and bustle of Fengyang.

After leaving Yingtian Palace and arrived in Fengyang, Zhu Di was like a wild horse that broke away from the reins. He immediately planned to have some fun. As his brother, Zhu Qi naturally couldn't let his younger brother run around and was ready to go together.

But before the two of them had time to enter the city, Xu Da took one with him and said:

"Don't bother to run around. The emperor said, bringing you to Fengyang is not a fun thing. Let me go to the military camp. Let's start with the training of troops!"

In this way, Zhu Qi and Zhu Di's journey to Fengyang was strangled in the cradle before it even began.

Zhu Qi finally experienced the first military life in his life. He thought that as a prince, he could have some privileges and just do things like training, but under Xu Da, it does not exist.

Before dawn, I had to wash up, put on thick armor, wear swords, and follow Xu Da to inspect the army. At this time, the training of troops was to hold armies, form military formations, and then look at the flag bearer's military flag, either sprinting, raising shields to defend, or retreat in an orderly manner.

At this time, the training of soldiers is the degree of advancement and retreat. To put it bluntly, soldiers must understand the meaning of waving the flag. If you let you go, you will advance, and if you let you go, you will retreat. Secondly, the personal fighting skills are the skills.

In addition to observing and learning these methods of training and military flag-telling, Zhu Qi also needs to learn military tactics with Xu Da, such as "The Art of War" and "The Chronicles of Military", etc., which are the most basic teachings. Fortunately, the original owner could recite them a long time ago, and Zhu Qi could recite them after a moment of thinking. Zhu Di was still thinking for a while, but Zhu Qi was having a good answer.

Xu Da nodded straight after seeing it, praising Zhu Qi for his cleverness and talent as a general.

Zhu Qi was ashamed, so he could only recite it. What exactly means and how to use it, he knew very well that he didn't understand it. To put it bluntly, it was just a talk on paper. In fact, it was worse than Zhao Kuo in actual combat.

But it doesn't matter, just pass the test with Xu Da.

But this is not the hardest, the hardest one is still in the afternoon training. Yes, as a prince, you also need to train!

Horse riding and archery are indispensable. This is Zhu Qi's weakness. The original owner was in poor health. Zhu Qi himself was born as a cartoonist and had basically zero athletic talent. Otherwise, he would not have given up in three minutes if he wanted to learn martial arts before.

But Zhu Di is a natural sports embryo. Compared to the weak recitation of military laws, riding horses and shooting archery is easy for Zhu Di.

In Xu Da’s view, the two brothers are also complementary to each other.

After a day of training, it was already dark. After eating, Zhu Qi went to bed and fell asleep. He had no extra energy at all!

Such a day, ten days passed, and Zhu Qi felt like he had experienced another military training. Of course, he was much more tired than military training. There was no need to wear armor for military training!

The armor in the Ming Dynasty was so terrible. Of course, it was really handsome.

The day ended another day of training. Zhu Qi dragged his tired body back to Fengyang Palace, and was still muttering the meaning of the military flag in his mouth. He was about to fall asleep next to the pillow.

But suddenly he heard footsteps. As soon as he opened his eyes, he saw Zhu Di lying sneakily on the edge of his bed and whispered:

"Brother Third, I'll do some things inside and out, and I'll find out the venue. Let's go out and have fun!"

Ah? You Zhu Di, it really...it's so good to my heart!

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Chapter completed!