In Liaodong, the first lunar month has just passed, and the temperature is still very cold. The land is completely white, with only a long road cutting through this snow-white world, extending from Shanhaiguan to Liaodong.
On this long road, a large number of carriages and ox-carts creaked and creaked on the slightly muddy road. Women and children sat in the carriages, while young and middle-aged men followed the large troops towards the unknown world.
The unknown life keeps moving forward.
This year, the imperial court plans to immigrate 300,000 people to Liaodong and develop Liaodong.
These people who were drawn from Shanxi, Shaanxi and Henan had to embark on the road of migration just after the Lantern Festival.
In this era, the emperor's imperial edict cannot be violated, even if he doesn't go.
Even though these people are the poorest farmers, who don’t even have an acre of land in their hometown, even the brand-new woolen coats they wear are handed down from the imperial court, and the warm shoes they wear are also from the imperial court.
It was issued by the imperial court.
Although the imperial court has promised that as long as they immigrate to the Liaodong area, they will have a large amount of land of their own. As long as they work hard and cultivate it, they will definitely be richer than they were originally.
But still no one wants to immigrate to Liaodong.
It’s hard to leave your homeland, even if you die, you will die in your hometown.
A golden nest and a silver nest are not as good as a doghouse at home. No matter how nice a foreign country is, no one will envy it.
This plot is deeply ingrained.
What's more, what kind of place is Liaodong?
Since ancient times, everywhere has been a bitter cold place, a place where prisoners are exiled. Who would want to go?
But there is no other way. With an order from the court, even if you don't want to go, you have to go.
Draw lots, and whatever you draw is your life. If you don't go, you have to go.
But fortunately, the current court is better than before.
If you don’t have winter clothes and shoes, the court will give them to you, two sets per person, for both adults and children.
Everywhere along the way, the government also prepared meals. Although the journey was hard, the food and clothing were not worrying, and the resentment of many people was reduced a lot.
For poor people like them, winter is an extremely difficult time, otherwise there would not have been such a thing as "overwintering" or "escape from winter" before.
What should I do if my family is so poor that I can’t take the blame?
Escape to other places, steal, beg, and rob, as long as you can survive. Then come back after the winter, and continue to farm the land for the landlord.
This phenomenon is particularly common in Henan, which has a dense population and sharp conflicts between man and land. Even in good weather, in winter, people go out to beg in groups.
If there is a famine or something like this, the fields will really be starved to death, and the bark of the trees will be eaten clean.
Shanxi and Shaanxi are also similar.
The long history has made the ecological environment here extremely bad, and it is no longer enough to support the increasingly large population. Even if the weather is good, it can barely survive, and there is no way to have enough food and clothing.
Now, even though the Beijing-Tianjin area is developing rapidly, Nanjing and Songhu in the south of the Yangtze River are also developing rapidly. For these inland provinces, the changes are still not big.
The people here are still poor, but they are reluctant to leave.
Although many people go to Ryukyu and live a good life in Nanyang, there are still relatively few people who believe in it, and even fewer are willing to leave. It is often family members who have gone there first, and only relatives and friends are willing to immigrate with them.
It's still the emperor's order that matters. With the imperial edict, you have to go even if you don't want to.
"Gouzi, have you heard that you can earn three taels of silver a month by working here in Tianjin? It turns out that this is all true. The monkeys in my village are not lying~"
As Li Damao walked forward, he was also chatting with a person from the same village next to him.
"Who knows if it's true or false?"
"We just passed through the outermost part of Tianjin, and we were not allowed to go to Tianjin to have a good look. Anyway, I don't believe it."
"With three taels of silver a month, if you work here for a year, you can become a landlord when you go home."
Wang Dagou curled his hands together and said with a look of disbelief: "It's useless to think about this. We are all transferred by the imperial court to go to Liaodong. From now on, we will all have household registration in Liaodong. Let's stay in Liaodong honestly."
"Oh~ that's the case~"
"The weather is really cold. It's already February and it's still freezing and snowy."
"Besides, this road is really difficult to walk. The section of road in Tianjin is easier to walk. They are all cement roads, clean and comfortable."
After hearing this, Li Damao nodded in frustration.
He was transferred to Liaodong by the emperor, and it would be difficult to come back after that.
Look at the end of the road ahead, God knows how long we have to go.
"Big Dog, how long do you think we have to go?"
"How do I know? I heard that I just passed that Shanhaiguan Pass not long ago. It is said that it is not far from Liaodong. I estimate that we can reach Liaodong in another ten days and a half."
"Anyway, as long as you have something to eat, just think of it as begging for food. If you eat three meals a day, I will be full until the Chinese New Year."
Wang Dagou thought for a while and said.
The family was so poor that they didn't even have the money to bribe the clan elders, so they were drawn and had to move the family to Liaodong.
But for Wang Dagou, it doesn't matter. Anyway, there is no way to open the pot at home. Along the way, at least he has food and drink, and he is not hungry to death. His two little cubs have also gained weight, which is enough.
"Yes, we are all poor people, let's go slowly."
Li Damao also nodded.
Keep walking, keep walking, day after day, after passing Shanhaiguan, the view gradually becomes flat, and slowly turns into an endless plain.
On the official road, there were not only immigrants like them heading to Liaodong, but also a large number of carriages and merchants coming and going.
The imperial court kept all the Jurchen tribes in Liaodong clean and docile. Liaodong was extremely safe. In addition, the grassland was included in the territory of the Ming Dynasty, so the grassland was also very safe.
Therefore, many people went to Liaodong and the grasslands to do business.
During this Chinese New Year period, everyone is accustomed to staying at home. As soon as the Lantern Festival is over, businessmen begin to get busy again.
At the same time, with the migration of such a large population, many inns were set up along the government side. The purpose of the inns was to provide meals and accommodation for these migrating people.
Group after group of people moved to Liaodong in strict accordance with the government's requirements and strictly according to the date. There were people every day, and this road was endless.
After walking for more than ten days, Li Damao and Wang Dagou finally arrived in Liaodong.
After arriving in Liaodong with the large moving troops, according to the requirements of the imperial court, all the people from Shanxi, Shaanxi, and Henan were to be disrupted, and people from the same place were not allowed to be assigned to the same area.
Therefore, Li Damao and Wang Dagou were also separated, but they were also assigned to the same guard station, two newly built villages below Tieling Guard Station.
"This will be your home from now on~"
"These rooms belong to your house. It's very cold here in Liaodong, so we have prepared some wood for you. Remember to burn the kang. If the wood is not enough, go to the forest and chop it yourself."
"In addition, every household has prepared two hundred kilograms of rice and two hundred kilograms of noodles, which is enough for you to eat until spring. If you want to eat meat, go hunting or scoop fish from the river. These things are abundant in Liaodong.
Yes."
Led by several officials, Li Damao came to a village that was clearly newly built.
The village is built on an open flat land. The back mountain is a dense primitive jungle. Directly in front is an open and endless wilderness covered with white snow. If you peel back the thick snow, you can see thick meadows. It is obvious that
These are wastelands.
The village is very large, with hundreds of households in each village. The houses are all newly built and made of wood. You can also clearly see that there is a large area of deforestation in the forest behind, with only bare tree stumps left.
The roads in the village are paved with cement roads, but they are only limited to the village. The cement roads connect all the households together, making the entire newly built village look very neat and unified.
This time, in order to develop Liaodong, the imperial court indeed invested a lot, and everything from food, clothing and housing to these immigrants was properly arranged.
Of course, this is also because the current court has money and can afford to do so. Otherwise, if it were in the past, the court would not be able to organize such a large-scale immigration to Liaodong.
It's very cold here in Liaodong. If you don't arrange housing, keep warm and have food, then you're not immigrating to Liaodong, you're asking people to come and die.
Regarding this point, all the princes in the court were also very clear about it.
Liaodong is also very important. If you don’t invest in it, you still need to invest in it on a large scale.
Fortunately, transportation here in Liaodong is still very convenient. You can directly pass through the Bohai Sea and Liaohe River by boat, transporting large quantities of supplies there, and it is also very convenient on land.
Cement roads have been built from Tianjin to Shanhaiguan, that is, the cement roads to Liaodong have not yet been built, but this section of the road is also plain, so it is not difficult to walk.
It is also very painstaking to move the first batch of immigrants here before spring.
The plan for this year is spring. Before spring begins, people will be immigrated here. Once spring begins, these people can reclaim wasteland and plant potatoes and wheat in Liaodong. In autumn and winter, this group of immigrants can be regarded as able to settle in Liaodong.
Become independent.
If you want to wait for summer to immigrate when the weather is hot, it will be more convenient and less cold at that time, but you will miss this year's farming season.
“What a beautiful house~”
"I like it~"
Li Damao's family walked around in their new house. Although it was a wooden house, it was built quite well. More importantly, compared with the shabby earth house in his hometown in Henan, this house was much better.
Much, too much.
Looking at generations of rice and flour, Li Damao suddenly felt that immigrating to Liaodong seemed to be a good choice.
