At this time, the weather in the north was already extremely cold, and with the New Year approaching, many people stayed at home and rarely went out.

However, the royal transport team never stopped, carrying cart after cart of coal from western Liaoning to Liaozhou, transporting large quantities of winter supplies for the people migrating to Liaozhou.

At the same time, Liu Hong also issued a special decree allowing the people of Liaozhou to go up the mountain to cut down trees for winter heating. As a result, none of the newly relocated people in the cold Northeast froze to death or suffered frostbite.

The envoys from the Honglu Temple and the caravan from the Royal Trading Company also arrived in Donglai.

At this time, with the support of the imperial court, various families, and merchants, the Donglai Shipyard had already grown to a considerable size.

To adapt to the wind and waves at sea, the shipyard craftsmen modified the original multi-story ship according to the blueprints provided by the engineering college. The bottom of the ship was changed to a keel structure and its shape was changed from a flat bottom to a V bottom. Overall, it has a deeper draft, is more sturdy and stable, and is more conducive to sailing through the waves at sea.

At the same time, the sails were enlarged and a combination of sails and oars was adopted, so that the overall carrying capacity of the ship was balanced with the long-distance sailing capability of the sailboat.

This new type of seagoing vessel is 35 meters long, 10 meters wide, and 4 meters deep. It has two masts, one large and one small, and retains the wooden canopy of a multi-story ship. Similar to the Guangzhou ships, each ship can carry more than 300 people and transport 100 tons of cargo at the same time.

In this era, it is undoubtedly a maritime behemoth.

After sea trials in the Bohai Bay, Donglai Shipyard has built more than 20 of these new-type seagoing vessels and trained a group of sailors skilled in coastal navigation.

Soon, the delegation from the Court of State Ceremonial, along with various families and merchants, boarded these new-style ships, left Donglai, and headed towards the four archipelagos rich in silver mines.

Not long after the mission left, the maritime craze in Luoyang had already reached Qingzhou.

Zhuge Gui, as the governor of Langya, also began to gather a large number of craftsmen and accelerated the construction of the Langya Shipyard.

Meanwhile, Huang Zhong, along with Li Jue, Guo Si, and others, led 5,000 Imperial Guards to Xiapi and began to garrison the city, providing security for the road-building teams in the rear.

When the news reached Wu County, Jiujiang and other places, the scholars and powerful families who had tried every means to obstruct the road construction were also quite frightened. They did not expect the court to take such a tough stance and send the Imperial Guards directly.

For a time, many timid and cowardly scholars and powerful figures also stayed quietly at home, no longer daring to cause trouble.

Of course, some people who were unwilling to accept this situation secretly formed an alliance to continue to resist the imperial court's plan to develop Jiangnan, and they were actively making preparations in secret.

On December 20th, Chu Qian, who had been sent as an envoy to the Western Regions, returned to Luoyang with the Treaty of Shanshan, Zhang Zhong, and the merchant caravans that had purchased cotton.

Immediately afterwards, the Great Han Daily published the contents of the Treaty of Shanshan in its newspaper, and the Ministry of Personnel also issued several imperial edicts.

The first imperial edict was to call upon the common people of the Han Dynasty and the sons of noble families to go to the Western Regions to cultivate land and build manors.

The second imperial edict called on students to go to the Western Regions to build schools and carry out educational work. As long as they could stay in the Western Regions for two years, they could become officials without taking any examinations.

The third imperial edict encouraged merchants and workshop owners to travel to the Western Regions and build factories.

As soon as the imperial edicts were issued, the people were in an uproar. Countless illegitimate sons from noble families began to prepare to go to the Western Regions to grow grapes and cotton.

These illegitimate children already had a difficult life at home and rarely had the chance to rise above others. Now that they had this opportunity, they might as well go out and try their luck. Maybe they could even become the head of a family.

The merchants also began to purchase various goods in preparation for traveling to the Western Regions to do business.

For a time, following the craze for seafaring, a new wave of interest in Western Region manors swept across the Han Dynasty.

Cotton has now become one of the necessities for the people of the Han Dynasty, especially cotton from the Western Regions, which is highly sought after by the powerful and wealthy.

The imperial court's manor policy can be said to have taken care of all social classes in the Han Dynasty, and was especially beneficial to small and medium-sized landowners who still owned a lot of land.

These small and medium-sized landowners were not good at business, had no connections in trade, and their staple food was under strict control by the imperial court, so they could not make much money at all.

Once the manor policy was clear, these small and medium-sized landowners were arguably the most excited group.

In their view, this manor policy was clearly an encouragement from the imperial court to annex land there, which was their specialty. So they all began to hire people and prepare to go to the Western Regions to farm.

December 27th.

It was nearing the end of the fourth year of Jianning. After confirming that all regions were stable, Liu Hong ordered all government offices to take a break and prepare for the New Year.

Inside the Imperial Guard, the Xiahou brothers and Xu Chu, who had already been promoted to senior trainees, had packed their bags in advance.

After the instructor announced the day off, the three rushed back to their dormitory, grabbed their bags, and ran out of the camp, ready to have a good time before going home.

While running, the three of them didn't forget to play and joke around. When they passed the new student dormitory, the door suddenly opened.

Xiahou Yuan, who was running in the lead, didn't notice and crashed into it.

With a loud bang, Xiahou Yuan's forehead made intimate contact with the door.

"Ouch!"

Xiahou Yuan cried out in pain, then saw stars and fell backward. Fortunately, Xu Chu reacted in time and caught him, preventing him from falling.

Xiahou Dun turned his head and saw that Xiahou Yuan's forehead was instantly red and swollen, with a large bump.

Xiahou Dun immediately shouted angrily, "Which blind bastard opened the door like that? Don't they know someone is passing by?"

This chapter is not finished yet. Please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content!