Feng County, at the southern foot of the Qinling Mountains in northern Huguang Province, is almost entirely within the Qinling Mountains. The Qinling area stretches from east to west, with undulating mountains and rivers, majestic and precipitous mountains, and countless branched mountain ranges.
The transportation here is extremely inconvenient, and the news is very secluded. Logically speaking, no one should survive here, but on the contrary, it is precisely because the transportation here is extremely inconvenient, and it is relatively secluded. It is like a paradise, free from the world.
Therefore, it has been the best choice for people to escape war, famine and the like since ancient times.
Climb into the rugged mountains, settle down in the mountains, and live a life like a paradise. Even the government has no control over these places.
Open up some fields in the mountains and forests, and you don’t need to pay taxes to the government for farming. If you have the ability to hunt, you can jump on some mountain goods and go out to the mountains to exchange for the living materials you need when needed. Here, you are isolated from the rest of the world.
In this world, he lives a life that is envied by countless people.
In a sense, such a paradise is one of the most sought-after lives for the ancient people. They have their own fields and mountains, no need to pay taxes, no need to do corvee, no worries, and they can work every day when the sun rises.
And Xi, let alone how comfortable my little life was.
In contrast, the people in the plain areas have no fields or mountains of their own, so they only farm a little bit of land. They work so hard that they have little food left to fill their stomachs, and they still have to do corvee labor. When war breaks out,
Human life is like grass and grass. When a famine comes, the ground will be filled with hungry people, people will exchange their children for food, etc.
But the people hiding in these steep mountains and rivers can be carefree, at least they don't have to worry about what to eat. They can cultivate some fields in the mountains and rivers, and the food they grow is their own.
Although the yield may not be high, it is at least enough to eat.
You also have your own mountain forest, where you can go hunting. All kinds of mountain flavors are always indispensable. No matter how bad it is, you won't starve to death, at least you can't eat all the bark.
It is precisely because of the closed environment brought about by the steep mountain villages that a large number of people in the past dynasties continued to migrate to these mountainous areas and became mountain residents.
The mountain people live in the mountains, living a life of peace and tranquility in the mountains. As time goes by, the number of mountain people gradually increases, forming small mountain villages dotted throughout the mountains.
among.
Shangping Village is such a village. It is located halfway up a mountain with a peak several hundred meters high. The only road to communicate with the outside world is a narrow winding path. Coupled with the dense vegetation around it, outsiders would be surprised if
If you are not familiar with the road, you may not even have the courage to walk in.
The village is not big, with dozens of households and hundreds of people, but even these dozens of households are not all gathered together, because the mountains here are steep, and the slightly flat and open areas are used to build terraces and houses.
It can only be built in barren and narrow places.
It is obviously impossible to gather together in such a place like a plain, so dozens of families are scattered scattered throughout the mountainside. There is only one slightly open place where more than a dozen families gather.
At this time, the adults in Shangping Village were working in the fields, and the children were playing carefree and unconcerned with the world. Although their paradise-like life freed them from the oppression of officials, they did not have to pay taxes or perform corvee labor.
etc.
But it also makes their lives relatively more difficult.
Here, fields are very scarce, and it is extremely difficult to open up a terrace. Moreover, the land here is not fertile, and the harvest from farming is very limited.
In addition, the transportation here with the outside world is extremely inconvenient, materials are expensive and scarce, and life is not really as relaxed and comfortable as in a paradise. Tiredness is still the norm. Only hard-working people can survive here.
"Ouch~ There are actually people living in this damn place, my legs are really broken."
The official officer Ge Ming looked at the faintly visible mountain village in front of him and couldn't help but take a deep breath. This mountain road was simply not for people to walk on. It was really tiring.
It doesn't matter if it's extremely steep, it's acceptable to have twists and turns. The key is that the mountain road is right next to the Baizhang Mountain Stream. If you accidentally fall down, you don't know how you will die.
It took three hours of walking before we reached the first village. Thinking about how he would have to visit every village in the mountainous area, Ge Ming wanted to die.
"Brother Ge, let's take a break first. I really can't stand it anymore."
Tao Ping sat down on the big rock nearby and took off his boots. His feet were already covered in blisters. He was also a person who had been trained in the army. He had been very hard in training before, but this kind of
The mountain road is really something you are afraid of every time you walk it.
"Have a rest, have a rest~"
Ge Ming nodded, then took out the iron kettle to drink some water, and then looked at the steep mountainous area in front of him. The clouds and mist were shrouded in undulations. A gust of mountain wind blew through the layers of clouds and mist, revealing small villages in the mountains. But
Soon, mountain fog clouds began to cover everything.
The scenery is extremely beautiful!
But the road here is really difficult.
After resting for a while, Ge Ming and Tao Ping continued to move forward. The mountain village that seemed to be very close had to walk for another half an hour before arriving at Shangping Village.
The arrival of the two people also caused a commotion in this peaceful small mountain village. It is isolated from the world. Usually no one comes here throughout the year. Even if there are, it is other mountain residents from the surrounding areas.
Ge Ming and Tao Ping were dressed in official uniforms, and they looked like they were not mountain people. Naturally, this made the villagers of Shangping Village extremely nervous, fearing that the government would send them here to collect taxes or require them to perform corvee labor or something.
The children looked at the two of them curiously. There were very few outsiders here. Whenever outsiders arrived, everyone couldn't help but come over and take a look.
As for the adults, they put down their work one after another and gathered over.
"You two officers, why are you here with us?"
Old Chen, the elder of Shangping Village, looked at the two officials in front of him. He warmly greeted them to sit down and asked someone to make tea. At the same time, he also ordered to inform the villagers in the village.
"Old man, the main reason we are here this time is to promote to you the new policies of our court."
Ge Ming looked at the mountain people in front of him. Although each of these mountain people were not sallow and thin, their clothes were relatively ragged. Looking at the houses here, they were all brick and wood houses, and there were even quite a few thatched houses.
Many of the surrounding walled courtyards are surrounded by stones.
It can be seen from this that life here is not really a paradise. In fact, it is still very miserable and poor.
The transportation is inconvenient and the fields are scarce, which fundamentally determines the quality of life here. Although they will not starve to death, and they do not have to perform corvee labor, pay taxes, etc., it is impossible for the people here to live a prosperous life.
Especially as the population increases and the fields become less and less, people become poorer and can only continue to migrate to higher mountains and more dangerous places, all the way to deep mountains and old forests.
Looking at the village in front of us, it is obvious that it has lagged behind the outside world.
Today's Ming Dynasty is extremely prosperous and prosperous. Even ordinary rural areas or ordinary people's living standards have been greatly improved.
In rural areas, houses and so on have often been renovated, and people's incomes have also greatly increased. While they are rich in food and clothing, new primary schools, middle schools, etc. have now been slowly opened to remote areas, and children can still go to school.
Already.
However, the mountainous village in front of us is still simple and poor. Even because it is so isolated from the outside world, even crops such as sweet potatoes, corn, and potatoes have not been introduced here. This is really unbelievable.
You must know that the Ming government, in order to promote these high-yielding crops, vigorously promoted these high-yielding crops in various parts of the Ming Dynasty, and they have basically been planted all over the north and south of the Ming Dynasty.
But here, more than ten years have passed, and there are still no traces of these high-yielding crops. They seem to be completely out of touch with this era of rapid development. They are still the same as they were decades ago, or even hundreds of years ago.
It looks like there is no progress or change.
"The imperial court's new policy?"
When many villagers heard this, they immediately became nervous, fearing that the government would tax them, perform corvee service, etc.
After all, their ancestors hid in the mountains and forests and lived in isolation because they were afraid of these things.
"Yes~"
"Now, our Ming Dynasty has acquired a large area of land in Europe. These lands are very vast, and they are all fertile black soil and wide plains."
"In order to consolidate the development of these border areas, the imperial court also formulated preferential immigration policies. As long as they are willing to immigrate to Black Earth Province, each person can receive 200 acres of land, a settlement allowance of 20 taels of silver, a horse, and a cow.
Five sheep, and the imperial court will also provide you with unified housing."
"If you are willing to immigrate as a family, the imperial court will reward you with an additional settlement allowance of 20 taels. In addition, all expenses, food and accommodation, etc. along the way to Black Earth Province will be paid for by the imperial court."
Ge Ming took out a document stamped by the government and promoted the court's latest immigration policy to all the mountain people in front of him.
The mountain people in front of them are actually refugees now. They do not have Ming Dynasty ID cards. The court now needs to immigrate, and it also wants to move these mountain people out of the mountainous area and move them to Black Earth Province.
The mountainous areas here are actually not suitable for human survival. It is difficult for development and progress to survive here.