Daming Town Haiwang

Chapter 997, Why is it called Hong Kong?
Falmouth Fishing Port in Cornwall, British Isle. At this time, Falmouth Port was still a very small fishing village. Relying on its superior geographical location, people here were mainly engaged in fishing.

Tom is a very ordinary fisherman in the Falmouth fishing port. He drives his own boat to go fishing every day and earns a little income from Weibo to support his family.

"Damn the strong wind, there is no way to go fishing today."

Inside the harbor, Tom looked at the strong wind outside and the waves on the sea, and couldn't help cursing immediately.

His boat was small, and he couldn't go out to sea in strong wind and waves, and it was still winter. If the wind and waves were too strong, it would be easy to get sick if the cold sea water fell on him.

Tom dared not take the risk, thinking that his wife had just borne him a beautiful daughter, and that he was still responsible for supporting the family, which he would not have cared about when he was a bachelor.

He likes the feeling of fighting the waves on the sea, and even dreams of becoming a pirate, mastering the wind and clouds at sea.

But now, he is a husband and a father, and he can no longer be the same as before.

"Hey Tom~"

"Aren't you going to sea today?"

Tom's friend Jack just saw Tom and asked with a smile.

"Don't go out, it's too dangerous."

Tom shook his head helplessly.

"Let's go to sea together. This way, there is also a care. You just became a father. When the family needs money, I can give you more fish."

Jack thought for a while and said, they are good friends, but Jack is still a bachelor, not yet married, every day he thinks about going fishing at sea, and then exchange some money to go to the tavern to be cool.

"Thank you Jack~"

When Tom heard this, he hesitated for a while, nodded after thinking about it, and agreed. He really needs money now, and his wife and daughter are all waiting for him to earn money to buy bread to go home.

Just when the two of them packed up their things and were about to go out to sea, several huge warships appeared on the sea. These ships were huge in size, like giant warships, sailing towards the fishing port of Falmouth, chopping the waves on the sea. Compared with these huge ships, these fishing boats moored in the fishing port are like toys.

"What ships are these?"

Both Tom and Jack's eyes widened.

"I don't know~"

Jack shook his head slightly.

"Clang~clang~"

The news that a large ship had arrived at the Falmouth fishing port quickly spread throughout the small fishing port. People in the entire fishing port came out and hurried to the pier, looking at the huge ship that was slowly mooring.

"This is not our England ship~"

"These people seem to be Europeans~"

Tom looked at the big ship that was mooring slowly in the port. It had a flag that he had never seen before. At the same time, the people on the ship had black hair, black eyes, gorgeous clothes, and very clean bodies. At first glance, they are not Europeans. European sailors are definitely not so clean, and there is a big difference between these ships and European ships, especially the auspicious cloud pattern carved on the ship, which is a pattern that has never been seen before.

"Who are they?"

"I don't know~"

"It seems that there are us Englishmen on board~"

In the port, everyone was discussing.

On one of the big ships, Tian Erniu was carefully observing the small fishing port in front of him.

The fishing port is very small, only the size of a small town, with about a thousand people. The houses are very old and dilapidated, and the roads are very muddy. Everything looks very bad.

In the fishing port, many people gathered together, all of them were dressed in rags, with long hair and beards, and they looked very dirty, as if they hadn't bathed for a long time. A disgusting smell.

"I don't understand why Mr. Liu named this place Hong Kong?"

Tian Erniu and Jiang Liang beside him said.

It was Liu Jin's request that England cede Cornwall. Liu Jinlai's letter also said that if England ceded Cornwall, it would be renamed Hong Kong.

But Tian Erniu held his nose, and couldn't help complaining. It seems that the word "Xiang" here doesn't seem to be linked at all, and the name "Smelly Hong Kong" seems to really fit.

"How do I know, maybe it's because people here don't like to take a bath and it smells bad, so it's more appropriate to call it Hong Kong."

Jiang Liang shrugged slightly and said.

Of course, the two of them didn't know that Liu Jin was a future traveler, and naturally they didn't know what kind of stalk Hong Kong was like.

The boats moored slowly at the wharf of the Falmouth fishing port. Compared with the huge Ming warships, the many fishing boats around them suddenly looked very small, like toys.

Everyone in the port of Falmouth looked at everything on the big ship together, looking very curious and at the same time very frightened, because everyone saw the black-painted cannons on the battleship, and they also looked at it. When we arrived on the warship, there were soldiers lined up neatly, carrying muskets and holding swords.

Pirates are very prevalent in Europe. From the Viking pirates that began to rampant in the Middle Ages until now, the pirates have not stopped. Even though the English are famous for being pirates, they themselves will inevitably be looted by pirates.

The same is true for the Falmouth fishing port, which has been frequented by pirates in the past. For this reason, the people in the fishing port have taken up weapons to guard against pirates.

But it was obvious that the ships in front of them didn't look like pirates anyway. These people in gorgeous, clean, and neat clothes looked more like nobles and gentlemen than those dirty pirates.

"They are from the Ming Dynasty~"

Someone seemed to recognize it and couldn't help shouting.

"Ming people?"

"The legendary Ming people from the far and rich east?"

When the people around heard it, they couldn't help but yelled out.

"Yes, they are from the Ming Dynasty~"

"From the far east, it is said that the Ming people are very rich. They are full of gold everywhere. Everyone wears silk that only nobles can afford, and porcelain that only nobles can use."

"I heard that the Ming people eat sugar every day. Those sugars are as white as snow. Only our European royal families and nobles are eligible to enjoy this kind of sugar."

Tom and Jack listened to the discussions of the people around them, and even looked at the Daming man who was getting off the boat with curious eyes.

Tian Erniu, Jiang Liang and others got off the boat, looked at these people in front of them, and could feel their curiosity about themselves.

"Everyone!"

"I am William, the attendant to Prince Henry, the Duke of Cornwall. Today I officially announce to everyone that Cornwall has been ceded to the Ming Empire. From now on, you will be under the jurisdiction of the Ming Empire and no longer belong to the Kingdom of England. Jurisdiction."

Tian Erniu nodded to the Englishmen around him, and William, the leader, stood up helplessly, holding a tin horn and began to announce to everyone present that Cornwall would belong to Daming from now on.

"what?"

"Cornwall was ceded to the Ming Empire?"

"We will all be under the jurisdiction of Daming in the future?"

"This…"

When the people present heard William's words, they immediately exploded, and everyone couldn't help talking about it.

Who would have thought that after this, they were no longer English, but were ceded to the Ming Empire, and they have been under the jurisdiction of the Ming Empire since then.

"why?"

"Why abandon us Cornwall?"

"We have always paid taxes, why should we be ceded to the Ming Empire?"

Someone found it difficult to accept this and asked excitedly.

"Because England has already lost to the coalition forces of Spain and the Ming Empire, as losers, we had to sign a peace agreement. According to the agreement, Cornwall will belong to the Ming Empire from now on."

William said helplessly.

"No, no, even if we die, we are still English and will never submit to the jurisdiction of the Ming Empire."

Someone said very firmly.

But such people are a minority after all, even the King of England was defeated and had to cede Cornwall to the Ming Empire, so what can ordinary people like them do?
Moreover, the rule of the King of England and the rule of the Ming Empire, to them, is just a change of ruler, and there is not much change or difference in itself.

Although the Ming people in front of them seemed out of tune with them, with black eyes and black hair, they looked very proud, but since this had become a fact, most of them still bowed their heads helplessly and acquiesced to this point.

"I don't know how much the Ming Empire will tax. If the tax is too heavy, I won't obey them."

Jack and Tom beside him said.

"Me too~"

Tom also nodded solemnly.

At this time, taxes in England, and even Europe as a whole, were very heavy. Regardless of the fact that the king of England did not tax ordinary people much, but because of the enfeoffment system in the prosperous age of Western Europe, the king himself was only one of the lords in the country. What he can fully control is only the immediate territory under his jurisdiction.

After the king entrusts the land to the lord, when the king wants to fight and issues a summoning order, the lord must be fully armed and recruit an army of the same number as his title to help. In exchange, the military, administrative, legislative and taxation of the territory The rights belong to the lord.

From a legal point of view, the output and taxes of the territory belong to the lord, and other lords have no right to interfere.However, the people who are not directly controlled by the king also have to pay taxes. The taxes they have to pay are divided into two categories, one is paid to the lord of the territory, and the other is paid to the Catholic Church.

The taxes handed over to the lord include: real currency rent, labor rent, land rent in kind, poll tax, grassland fee, firewood fee, court income and arbitrary tax, etc. There are many types of taxes.

The same is true for the church, there are many types, the most famous of which is the tithe, which was established by the church from the 6th century according to the so-called one-tenth of the so-called agricultural and sideline products in the Bible. Taxes have now become prevalent in Western European countries.

The sum of various taxes is very heavy, almost accounting for more than half of the income of ordinary people. This is why there is a popular saying in the West that taxes and death are inevitable in a person's life.

The same is true for England. Although the king and the country do not have much tax revenue, the common people below are still very heavily taxed.

(End of this chapter)