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It was raining, a light rain, dripping. Li Ke got up early, carrying a school bag and holding an oil-paper umbrella, and rushed to the asphalt road in front of his house, jumping and skipping happily, calling happily to his friends next door: "Li Le, Wu Tong, come out quickly, come out and see."
The loving mother stood at the door and saw that her son was just having fun. His oil-paper umbrella tilted to one side and the rain fell on his shoulders. She shouted quickly, "Ke'er, open the umbrella quickly, don't get your clothes wet."
Hearing his loving mother's call, Li Ke quickly opened his umbrella, stopped playing, turned around in the rain and said, "Mom, go back and rest. The children have gone to school."
Seeing her son was sensible and polite, the loving mother at the door showed a gratified smile, but she couldn't help but remind him a few words: "Ke'er, don't just play. When you walk, remember to walk to the right. The road ahead is still under construction, and there are many cars and horses coming and going. Be careful along the way."
"Yes, mother, the child knows."
When the little friend from the next door heard Li Ke's call, he quickly ran out with his school bags on his back. After running onto the clean asphalt road, he couldn't help but play happily and excitedly like Li Ke.
All three of them were less than ten years old. In previous years, due to famine and war, Li Ke's family was poor and he almost starved to death. Now that the country was peaceful and the people were at peace, the court distributed land to each family and allowed them to attend elementary school for free. Their lives had changed dramatically.
Li Ke didn't know what the current emperor's name was, but he knew that sooner or later his parents would burn incense in front of the longevity tablet and pray for the emperor.
Just two months ago, the court began to build an asphalt road that passed by his house. Li Ke's father was very strong and it happened to be the slack season for farming, so he went to quarry stones nearby and sent them to the construction site. He can now earn about thirty cents a day, and one dragon coin in three days.
At this rate, the road nearby can earn about 20 dragon coins. This is a very generous income for an ordinary family. This was something that was unthinkable before.
"Li Ke, look at my new shoes, do they look good?" Li Le, a friend from a wealthy family, proudly showed off his new shoes to Li Ke.
"nice."
Li Ke was wearing the "thousand-layer soles" woven by his mother. They were very warm, but he couldn't help but envy Li Le's new shoes.
They had to walk three or four miles to go to school. In the past, when it rained, the mud on the road was up to their feet, and they couldn't wear shoes. They could only take off their shoes and put them in their school bags.
Now the newly paved asphalt road has been washed by the rain and is shiny and bright without a trace of mud. They can finally go to school wearing shoes.
Li Le is just like his name, lively and talkative. "Li Ke, your father has made money now. Why don't you ask your mother to buy you a new pair of shoes?"
Li Ke scratched his head and replied, "I like to wear shoes made by my mother. They are very comfortable. Besides, my mother said that we should save the money at home to marry me a wife in the future."
"How old are you? You're already thinking about getting married. You have no shame..."
Being teased by his two friends, Li Ke embarrassedly said, "No... No, it's not me who said that. My mom said that."
Wu Tong was naughty and slapped. He stepped on a small puddle on the side of the road, splashing water everywhere, and laughed, "I don't care. My father said that when I turn 15, he will ask the government to find me a wife. It doesn't cost money anyway."
"Ah, Wu Tong, are you going to marry a Nanyang woman?"
"No, no... My father said that there are also women from our Great Qin."
At this time, several carts carrying sand and gravel passed by. The adults on the carts couldn't help laughing after hearing what the boys said. Someone said while laughing, "Little kids, hurry up and study. Why are you worrying about getting married at such a young age? I, your uncle, didn't even have the chance to study. You guys are lucky to have caught up with a good life."
The naughty Wu Tong replied: "Uncle, you can't study, but you can get married. Didn't the government match you with one?"
The old man with a big beard didn't expect that the kid was so smart and choked. Others in the car laughed again.
As soon as the carriage passed, another team of ten cavalrymen came over. Because most of the prisoners were used to build the road now, the military sent people to strengthen patrols nearby to prevent the prisoners from escaping.
"Kid, did you see anything unusual?" The soldier riding on a tall horse shouted in a hoarse voice.
The Qin army now has a very good image in the eyes of the people. They always win battles and there are many moving stories about them. They are also very kind to the people. Li Ke and his men are not afraid of these soldiers. Instead, they are very friendly to them.
The three little guys immediately stood in a row, straightened their chests and pulled in their stomachs, and saluted in a pretentious manner: "Report to the general, we didn't see anything."
"No." Wu Tong added with certainty.
The ten Qin soldiers were amused by them again. Just as they were patrolling here, they could turn around. The leading sergeant said, "Boy, do you want to ride a horse?"
Li Ke and the other two's eyes suddenly sparkled and they nodded their heads like chickens pecking at rice.
"Come on up!" The sergeant stretched out his big hand like a ball of Putian, and lifted Li Ke onto the horse's back like an eagle lifting a chicken. Li Ke was so scared that he didn't even dare to open his eyes.
Li Le and Wu Tong, who were at the back, were also carried onto the horses by other soldiers. They shouted with joy, "Gee! The horses are running!"
"General, when I grow up, can I be your soldier?"
"General, how many times have you won a battle? Have you won a hundred times?"
A series of questions made the ten Qin soldiers laugh uncontrollably. Of course, they also had to brag about their glorious deeds, such as how they defeated the enemy and made the enemy flee in terror. Li Ke and the other two almost shed tears after hearing this.
"Boy, now that you are here, study hard, or I won't let you be my soldier in the future."
"General, we must study hard. Remember what you said."
It was only three or four miles, but we arrived there quickly because we were riding horses. This was the elementary school run by Anding Prefecture. There were thousands of students in the school. Children from middle and upper-middle families needed to pay some tuition, but children from lower-middle families could attend school for free.
However, children from wealthy families usually hired teachers to run their own private schools and rarely attended government-run elementary schools.
Those students whose homes are far away live in the school dormitory, so even though Li Ke and his friends arrived early today, the school was already filled with the noise and laughter of children.
Anding Prefecture is located in the central and western part of Guizhou Province. It is a must-pass place from Guiyang to Kunming. However, due to the many mountains and little land and poor transportation, the people of Anding Prefecture were very poor.
Now everything is different. Not only is every family given land, but the imperial court's taxes are very light. In addition, asphalt roads have been built, so as long as you are willing to work, you can always make money. After the road was opened, the number of merchants and travelers increased dramatically, and those with some economic acumen could make a lot of money.
Not only Li Ke's family, but the entire Anding Prefecture has undergone great changes. No matter how poor the people are, at least they can have enough food and clothing. It's not like before when they had to chew on tree bark and eat grass roots and had to go without meals.
The Shuixi chieftains in the north wanted to rebel when the system was first changed. But now that they have moved to the flat land and are living a good life, not many of them are causing trouble anymore.
I heard that there was still a war between Dongwu and Jiaozhi, and the prisoners who were used to build the road were all prisoners of war brought from there. Now, not only the Changsha-Kunming asphalt road, but also the asphalt roads from Chengdu to Chang'an, Changsha to Nanning and then to Jiaozhi, and Kunming to Dongwu.
The entire southwest was undergoing earth-shaking changes. Tian Yimu, the governor of the southwest who was in charge of the transformation of the chieftains into officials, was in Guangxi, taking advantage of suppressing the rebellion of the chieftains in Sien Prefecture, to transform the chieftains in Guangxi into officials.
A while ago, the chieftain of Guishun Prefecture in Guangxi was dissatisfied with the imperial court's policy of changing chieftains into officials, and rebelled again. Sure enough, after just 20 days, he was wiped out by Ai Nengqi who was stationed in Guangxi.
Now that the might of the Great Qin is at its peak, those chieftains have been conscripted in large numbers to go to Jiaozhi and Dongwu to subdue the indigenous people. Few of them dare to rebel.
The current emperor is really amazing. Back then, Qin Shihuang mobilized hundreds of thousands of people to build the Great Wall, making life miserable for the people. The current emperor also mobilized hundreds of thousands of prisoners to build roads. As a result, not only do the local people not have to pay more taxes or perform more labor service, but they make a lot of money from these huge projects.
There are many families like Li Kejia who set up longevity tablets for the emperor. Outside, it is heard that the army is constantly reporting back victories. Under such circumstances, those who want to rebel should think carefully.
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ps: It’s the third update, brothers and sisters, the promise will be fulfilled on time, please support us, those who have monthly tickets don’t hide them, vote for them, vote for them, please give me monthly tickets!
.(To be continued..)
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