As the day of the Emperor's southern tour approaches, the atmosphere in the imperial capital becomes restless. The court's propaganda can indeed deceive many people, making them think that the heavenly calamity will not really come. However, such propaganda has a diminishing effect on those within the court system. The higher the position, the more powerful, and the wealthier they are, the more they understand the court's intention to cover up the arrival of the heavenly calamity. They themselves are even the promoters and vested interests of this lie. Naturally, such a lie cannot deceive them.
The wealthy and powerful families and high-ranking officials began to leave the Imperial Capital one after another last year. It was after these people left that the court began to issue travel permits to the common people who wanted to leave, and began to say that the heavenly calamity was fake. If His Majesty the Emperor did not take the entire court with him on a hunting tour to the south, the people who stayed in the Imperial Capital would have some confidence with His Majesty the Emperor around. But soon His Majesty the Emperor would be leaving, and those who stayed in the Imperial Capital, especially the middle and low-level officials, had something wrong with their brains if they said they were not afraid or anxious.
Early in the morning, when it was just daybreak, the official road outside the Deer Park was exceptionally deserted, with almost no people.
Yan Liqiang was walking on the official road, thinking about this. Even the officers in Luyuan began to get restless and afraid. It goes without saying what the other officials who were left in the Imperial Capital were like. The emperor and the ministers had left, but people were still left to guard the stall in the capital. What was the mood of the guards? Last month, the middle and low-level officers in Luyuan were still able to keep their composure, and no one came to ask for a pass. But this month, as the date of the emperor's southern tour was getting closer, those people couldn't hold back and began to show their magical powers to leave the capital, especially those who had families. Who could bear to let their family members stay in the Imperial Capital and use the lives of the whole family to test whether the heavenly calamity would come
Although the news of the Ganzhou earthquake was not reported in the court's gazette, as time went by, what happened in Ganzhou in January was known to the Imperial Capital in February. The court did not say it, but the merchants who came and went and various rumors would have also known it. The prophecy on the back of the stone turtle was once again confirmed. Who would not be panicked
They were all officials of the imperial court and all soldiers of the imperial court. Some left and some stayed. Didn’t those who were left behind feel resentful
Everything is changing quietly!
For Yan Liqiang, such changes are a good thing and are also within his expectations. At this time, more and more people begin to panic, become afraid, become dissatisfied, and start to look for a way out for themselves and their families. This means that the loopholes in the net woven by the court are getting bigger and bigger, and it is becoming more and more fragile and unreliable. Facing such a net, the hole he can poke will be bigger. Now there are more than half a year away from the heavenly catastrophe. As long as the hole he pokes is big enough, big enough to make the net fall apart, then before the heavenly catastrophe really comes, the people in the capital area still have time to escape. As long as these people escape, they can naturally find a way to survive.
Yan Liqiang walked along the official road, and it didn't take long before he arrived at a town near Baijiapu outside the west gate of Dijing City. On the edge of the town, there was a courtyard of a wealthy family with red doors and high walls, surrounded by green trees, small bridges and flowing water. It was quite quiet. The owner of this courtyard had moved out of Dijing City last year and put the courtyard up for sale. Fang Beidou and his men secretly bought this courtyard at a low price some time ago and used it as a secret base for activities.
Baijiapu is the labor market of the Imperial Capital City, with a large number of people. People coming and going every day are like crucian carp crossing the river, and there is all kinds of people. There is also a parking lot near Baijiapu. Putting the yard nearby seems to be easy to be found, but in fact it is the least noticeable and the safest. At dawn, Baijiapu is already crowded with people, just like a train station.
“Knock knock knock…Knock knock knock…” Yan Liqiang, wearing a bamboo hat that covered half of his face, came to the side door of the yard and knocked on the door with the door knocker, three long and one short, twice in a row.
After a few seconds, the side door opened, revealing a gap. Xu Enda, with a hairy beard, showed a pair of vigilant eyes through the gap, looked out, and found that it was Yan Liqiang. Then he opened the door and let Yan Liqiang enter the yard.
"Sir, you are here..."
Xu Enda, Xiao Wu, and a few familiar faces all gathered around at once, looking quite excited.
Yan Liqiang took off his bamboo hat and nodded to everyone with a smile, "Enda, with your beard, I almost couldn't recognize you..."
Xu Enda smiled innocently, looking a little embarrassed. "Manager Fang said this is a good idea. I was a nobody in Imperial Capital before, and nobody noticed me. Now, even if I come back, no one will notice me!"
Looking at these simple and honest faces, Yan Liqiang felt a little moved. These people knew what he was doing, but they still followed him without hesitation, risking their heads to work with him. There were no lofty words, no passionate speeches, and no big truths to say. Everything was just as it should be. This was truly commendable.
"Come on, this is not the place to talk, let's go inside and talk..." Yan Liqiang looked at the yard, waved his hand, and came to a living room with everyone. Yan Liqiang sat in the main seat, and the others sat on both sides.
"Did your trip to Imperial Capital go smoothly this time? Did you encounter any troubles on the way?" Yan Liqiang asked.
"It went smoothly, of course it went smoothly. Now in the capital area, people are not allowed to run out casually. We came to the Imperial Capital City and had a smooth journey. No one caused trouble at all!" Xu Enda spoke.
"Well, have all your family members been sent out?"
This question made everyone laugh. Xu Enda's mouth suddenly opened wide, looking very happy. "Don't worry, sir. They are all out. I received a message two days ago saying that they have arrived in Kangzhou. They had a smooth journey. I met the people sent by sir to pick them up. It is estimated that they will reach Ganzhou in a few days. This is the first time for my little sister to go to such a far place. I also heard that sir has many interesting things in Qiyun County. She is very excited and does not look like a refugee at all!"
Yan Liqiang smiled and looked at these honest and loyal men. "That's good. I have already had houses prepared in Qiyun County. As soon as you go back, each family will have a newly built yard and can settle down directly!"
"Sir, do you mean that when we arrive in Qiyun County, our family can still live together?" Xiao Wu asked excitedly.
"Of course, you will live in Qiyun City. There is a large area in Qiyun City. It used to be the gathering area of the Shatu people. Now those Shatu people have been driven away by us. That area in the city is being rebuilt and it is better than before. When you go back in the future, you will all be neighbors!"
"That's great, thank you very much, sir..." Xu Enda and others looked at each other and became happy.
"Haha, you're welcome. It's my honor!"
"Then can we still publish a newspaper when we arrive in Qiyun County in the future?" Xiao Wu asked again. Hearing Xiao Wu's question, the other people's eyes suddenly lit up, and the expressions on their faces were a little complicated, and they seemed a little nostalgic. Although they no longer publish newspapers, it is undeniable that it was the "Han Empire Times" that made their originally ordinary lives become exciting and fulfilling in the past two years.
Yan Liqiang glanced at everyone and nodded affirmatively, "Of course we can do it. Why not? Then we will have the final say on the newspaper and we won't have to rely on others. Our newspaper will not only be sold in Qiyun County, but also in the entire northwest. We have to do better than the Han Empire Times!"
"Ah, what's the name of our new paper?"
Yan Liqiang spoke without thinking, "Let's call it "Xin Bao". Everything will be new. Let's start from scratch..."
"Okay, as long as you don't mind, we will work with you in the future!" Xu Enda clapped his hands heavily and said crisply, then glanced at the people around him and signaled with his eyes, "Bring the things out, let the adults see..."
Xiaowu and several people nearby stood up and walked out through the side door. Within two minutes, several people carried a large wooden box into the living room and placed the box on the table next to Yan Liqiang.
There were no outsiders here, so Yan Liqiang didn't shy away from anything. He just stood up, walked over, and opened the box.
Inside the box, neatly stacked in layers, were government travel passes, wrapped up like bundles of banknotes.
Yan Liqiang picked up a small bundle of road passes, pulled out one of them at random, and looked at it carefully. The road pass was still the same road pass. Even from Yan Liqiang's perspective, no matter the material of the road pass or the things engraved on it, compared with the real road pass, there was absolutely no difference. They were exactly the same. Compared with the one Fang Beidou showed him last time, the quality had not decreased at all, but was even more real.
"How many photos are there in this big box?" Yan Liqiang asked.
"There are 50,000 copies. This time, we followed the adults' instructions and shipped 400,000 copies at a time. There are a total of eight such large boxes. Manager Fang bought a large printing workshop in Huizhou and moved the things underground. We found our old brothers and reliable men, and after modifying the tools, we are now working hard on it. We are working on it for twelve hours a day. It's faster than we used to print newspapers. We can print 70,000 to 80,000 copies a day..." Xu Enda licked his lips and said.
"Good, good, Manager Fang's work is trustworthy..." After checking a few more passes, Yan Liqiang nodded with satisfaction, his eyes flashing. These passes will soon turn into cannonballs and bullets, all shot towards the net set up by the court.
"Sir, I heard that many troops from the Imperial Horse and Infantry Division have left the capital to prepare for the emperor's southern tour..." Xiao Wu asked carefully.
"A lot of people have left, a total of about ten camps, but there are still many people in the Imperial Capital and the capital's surrounding areas. When the emperor leaves the Imperial Capital with all the civil and military officials, and all the members of the Imperial Capital accompany him, it will be the best time for us to do something big..."
(End of this chapter)