Two people share a room with a table, chairs and a single bed; meals consist of four dishes and one soup, including both meat and vegetables; the preferential policies for students can be converted into silver and they can still enjoy them.
Lu Qinghou thought all of this was great! There were no study time restrictions for the new school, and there were assessments every three months. Once you met the graduation standards, you could be selected for the civil service examination and become an official!
Oh, living in a big house, being served by maids and servants, and being respected by others are the blessings that scholars should enjoy?
Having truly experienced the hardships of life and the difficulty of making a living, Lu Qinghou's views were naturally different from this man's. He also realized that this guy was just unwilling to give up the preferential treatment of being a student and came here to make a living.
If you don't share the same ideals, you can't work together; if you don't agree, there's no need to talk too much.
Although Lü Qinghou disliked this man, he had spent so much time in the restaurant that he had learned to be tactful. After casually agreeing with him, he left the new school under the pretext of strolling around the capital and stood on the roadside, somewhat hesitant.
Having asked around along the way, Lu Qinghou was not familiar with other places in the capital. There were no tourist maps or navigation at the time, so he didn't know which way to go.
"Dear brother..." A greeting came from behind, attracting Lu Qinghou's attention.
The scholar in blue was also a recent learner. He smiled, bowed, and said, "My name is Lü Xiaobu. I see you seem new here and don't know the way around. Please forgive me for asking such a question."
Lü Qinghou hurriedly returned the greeting and said, "I am Lü Qinghou, and I have indeed arrived in the capital for the first time. I wanted to see the capital's scenery, but I don't know the way around, which is quite a dilemma."
Lu Xiaobu smiled even more enthusiastically and said, "What a coincidence! Brother Lu and I were from the same family five hundred years ago. I'd like to take a stroll too. If Brother Lu doesn't mind, would you like to come with me?"
"Thank you, Brother Lu. This is what I've been looking for." Lu Qinghou bowed to express his gratitude and walked slowly along the street with Lu Xiaobu.
As they walked and talked, Lü Qinghou learned that Lü Xiaobu had also recently arrived in Xinxue. However, he was from northern Zhili and had been to the capital before. Although he was not a walking map, he was not likely to get lost.
"Is this a large-scale construction project?" Lü Qinghou pointed to a group of people working on the roadside and asked in confusion. "I saw quite a few when I first arrived in the capital, but I didn't have time to ask in detail."
Lü Xiaobu smiled and said, "Brother Lu, you may not know that we are building toilets for the convenience of travelers and pedestrians."
Lu Qinghou blinked and laughed, "I see. Judging from the materials and construction, they are very attentive."
"This is the Emperor's order." Lü Xiaobu bowed toward the Forbidden City and said, "In addition to building toilets, we also need to dig drainage ditches and fill in the dirty water bubbles."
After a pause, Lu Xiaobu pointed and said, "See? There's a trash can every few steps on the street. There are also people supervising the cleaning in front of the shops."
Lu Qinghou showed a surprised expression and asked, "Could it be that His Majesty thinks the capital is not clean enough?"
"Brother Lu, you haven't read the last two issues of the newspaper yet, have you?" Lu Xiaobu glanced at Lu Qinghou and said, "Your Majesty says this is to rectify the dirty and messy environment in the capital and eliminate the source of the epidemic."
How could this be related to the epidemic? Lu Qinghou was a little confused, but he didn't ask any more questions, waiting to read the newspaper first.
No one knew the emperor's true intentions, except to make the capital clean and tidy. But Zhu Youxiao knew that in addition to wars and famines, the late Ming Dynasty also saw a major plague that affected several provinces and killed tens of millions.
Since the Little Ice Age cannot be prevented, if preventive measures are not taken, the outbreak of plague will be highly likely.
Because frequent abnormally cold weather will cause floods, droughts, locust plagues, etc., which will form a vicious cycle of "floods and droughts - famine - plague", which is a scientifically proven law.
There were two main ways of transmission of the great plague in the late Ming Dynasty. One was that famine forced people to dig food from rat holes to eat, or even eat rat meat to survive; the other was that the fleas on rats spread among the human population by sucking blood.
Therefore, even if food is stored in advance, and immigration relief is provided when a disaster occurs, and disaster relief measures are in place, it cannot prevent the second mode of transmission.
Ultimately, good personal hygiene habits and personal immunity are the key to solving the problem. Of course, it is also crucial to plan ahead, launch a "rat eradication" campaign, and popularize epidemic prevention knowledge.
However, according to the conditions at that time and people's living standards, it was very difficult to do these things. For example, washing hair and taking a bath frequently, I am afraid that not many people can do it.
Zhu Youxiao could only advance it step by step as a five-year or even ten-year plan. Environmental sanitation is relatively easy to achieve, and cleaning up the mess and reducing the breeding ground for mosquitoes and flies is only the first step.
Lü Qinghou and Lü Xiaobu didn't quite understand. Although a clean environment was indeed what the capital should have, the emperor was making a fuss over nothing by issuing an edict to implement it.
As they were walking and chatting, they smelled the aroma of meat, which made them salivate and their stomachs immediately start to rumble.
"This is also a specialty of the capital." Lu Xiaobu laughed heartily and looked at Lu Qinghou inquiringly. "The grilled lamb skewers are said to have a seasoning recipe that came from the palace. It is indeed a rare delicacy. Shall we sit down and try it?"
Lu Qinghou bowed and said, "It is a great honor to meet Brother Lu today. How about I be the host?"
"When hosting, there should be a first-come, first-served principle. If Brother Lu is stingy next time, I will definitely not agree." Lu Xiaobu decided to pay the bill with just one sentence, extended his hand to greet Lu Qinghou, and walked towards a barbecue restaurant.
Nowadays, barbecue has become popular in the capital. There are many varieties, most of which originated from the palace. There is even teppanyaki, but each restaurant has its own unique style.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
