1635 Han style rises again

Chapter 793 Nation and Country

On December 1663, 12, Guizhou Prefecture (now Perth, Australia), Linjiang County (now Fremantle, Australia).

Linjiang is located about 17 kilometers southwest of Guizhou. The mouth of the River Kwai (now the Swan River in Perth, Australia) was built 1646 years ago ([-]). It is the gateway of Guizhou and an important port.

In the school on the north side of the county seat, Jin Xingchun walked around with his hands behind his back, slowly inspecting the whole school.Passing through classrooms, there can be heard from time to time the sound of children reading and gentlemen's explanations. For a scholar over fifty years old, he feels that there is no sound in this world that is more pleasant than this.

"zh, ch, sh, ... z, c, s ..."

"Wrong, wrong! I taught you several times, why did you read it wrong again? When you read zh, ch, sh, you have to roll your tongue! Tell me, it's been half a month, why can't you read correctly? ...Didn't you practice more at home? ...Put your hand out!"

Walking to a classroom on the east side of the school, the roar of the teacher came from inside, followed by the sound of hand-banging and the faint sobbing of children.

Jin Xingchun didn't mean to go in and interfere, but just stopped to look at the classroom window for a while, then shook his head and left the classroom of the children's enlightenment class with a wry smile.

Since more than 20 years ago, the then Hanzhou People's Government launched the Chinese Pinyin, and gathered the strength of Song Yingxing, Wang Zheng, Bi Maokang and many other literati and scholars to compile a "Chinese Dictionary", and Qi State immediately carried out domestic language standardization and unity.

You must know that almost all the people in Qi State are immigrants from various places in Ming Dynasty, and they all speak the dialects of their respective places.In order to avoid cliques due to clans and local forces, and to reduce administrative resistance, Qi State deliberately mixed immigrants from different regions.

As a result, it is very necessary to standardize and standardize the language.In addition, a unified language is also the core basic feature of forming a unified nation and a unified country.

Unlike modern nation-states, ancient rulers did not pursue language unification and standardization.After all, there was neither linguistics nor radio in ancient times. The idea of ​​language unification is obviously beyond the scope of people's cognition, and it is not technically feasible.

For ancient rulers, a common written language was sufficient for the elite to function.However, the headache that ancient rulers often encountered was that they could not understand the official dialect in the court.Even when both parties make an effort to speak a language, difficulties sometimes arise.

Therefore, Chinese dynasties have always emphasized "elegant language", which is the ancient "Mandarin", and required important officials to master it.However, even so, the emperors of successive dynasties often had to rely on translators to communicate smoothly with officials.In later generations, during the Reform Movement of [-] in the late Qing Dynasty, Emperor Guangxu and Kang Youwei, a Cantonese, could hardly communicate face to face.

At the beginning of the 4th century AD, in order to escape the war in the north, the Jin royal family and a group of gentry fled to the south of the Yangtze River and established the Eastern Jin Dynasty.At this time, these people who left their hometowns found sadly that they were surrounded by a large number of subjects who did not understand the language, and everything was so strange.As recorded in the "Book of Wei", the south controlled by the Eastern Jin Dynasty is full of ethnic groups such as Ba, Shu, Man, Liao, Chu, and Yue.The development of the South in the Central Plains began as early as 1000 years ago, and the conquest of Baiyue has been going on for nearly [-] years.However, until this time, Chinese was still like a string of isolated islands among the various "barbarian" languages.

As for North Korea and Vietnam, although the local people have used Chinese for thousands of years, they still do not generally accept Chinese in their daily life.Most of the local written records are also written in Chinese, but ordinary people in the two places cannot speak Chinese.The intellectuals who used Chinese were often only able to read and write, and could not communicate in spoken language. This phenomenon of separation of written and spoken language was common at that time.

For a new country like Qiguo, which is full of immigrants, the unification and standardization of language is even more important.What's more, Qi State has been trying to build a modern country with one nation, one language, and one language in Hanzhou.Language, of course, has received unprecedented attention and quickly became one of the core symbols of the nation.

During the initial three-year service period of the many immigrants from Ming Dynasty, most of them will be concentrated in the settlements established by various prefectures and counties for unified management, unified living and unified farming.During this period, officials and scribes of the Ministry of Immigration and the Ministry of Culture and Education will try their best to teach them the standardized language.Although it is not expected to correct all their language and habits, it can somewhat regulate their language communication methods and lay a certain foundation for adapting to a new life in the future.

And those children and teenagers from Ming Dynasty, as well as the second generation born in Hanzhou and overseas territories, are the "new citizens" that Qi State strives to cultivate and shape. They not only have a stronger sense of belonging to Qi State, but also After three to six years of basic education, they will gradually form a strong national identity and national identity, and eventually become the backbone of Qi in the future.

In the evening, a group of cheerful children left the school, playing with each other, laughing and running towards their respective homes in the city.When passing through the square, I saw many residents standing there, looking up at the daily flag-lowering ceremony with awe-inspiring expressions.The children immediately stopped playing, and followed the code of conduct taught in the school, and stood in silence at the scene, paying attention.

The raising and lowering of the national flag has been a common practice in prefectural and county government agencies in Qi State more than ten years ago, and the military police, army officers and soldiers stationed in various places, or armed police and township soldiers hold certain flag raising and lowering ceremonies to strengthen the domestic people's morality. Cohesion and a sense of national and ethnic identity.

As for the national anthem played when the national flag is raised, it is a plagiarism of a certain march of courage from later generations. However, for a while, there is no lyrics suitable for this era, so there is only music.

The flag-lowering ceremony held on the square, because the national anthem was not played, did not have the solemn and solemn atmosphere when the flag was raised, and it seemed a little quiet.However, the guard of honor composed of more than a dozen armed policemen, no matter in terms of pace or momentum, still shocked the people watching, and also captured everyone's minds, and an inexplicable emotion emerged spontaneously.

"In the future, when I grow up, I want to be a policeman!" A six-year-old child watched the police honor guard arrange the lowered red and yellow dragon flags, and then walked towards the county government building with neat steps. Can't help but look extremely envious.

"What's the point of being a policeman?" Another strong boy said, "I want to be a soldier in the future, carrying a musket and a knife, to fight for our country of Qi, and I will be a general in the future!"

"I also want to be a soldier." A skinny child said unwillingly, "I want to join the navy, drive a big ship, and wipe out all the native and barbarian countries in the world."

"...Why are you looking at me like that?" A child with an obvious European face saw several companions suddenly aiming at him, and stammered, "I..., I'm not a barbarian....I'm here I was born and grew up here, I... I am from Qi!"

"...I am not... a barbarian." Another child with the face of a native of Hanzhou said timidly, "I... am also from Qi."

"Hmph, Lin Gou'er, you can't even write twenty characters now. Besides, it's been two months, and you haven't even learned pinyin. You're a barbarian!"

"I'm not... a barbarian..." The Hanzhou native boy named Lin Gou'er timidly argued, "Sir, we are all from Qi. Those foreigners are... barbarians."

"But, you and Zha Haigui look different from us."

"My father is a naval officer of the kingdom, and he has been fighting for our country." The child with a European face raised his neck and said, "Although I look different from you, I will also join the navy in the future and serve the country. Dedication. Why do you call me a barbarian?"

When the children heard the words, they immediately showed a look of admiration.

"Your father is in the navy. Do you have a military cap at home? When the time comes, bring it out and play with us."

"Your father is an officer, so he must have a command knife. Can you steal it and let us see?"

"..."

"These...of course I have them at home." The European-faced child said proudly: "When the school is on vacation, I will bring a military cap from home for you to see!"

"I also have a military cap at home!" The sturdy boy said a little disconvinced when he saw that his friends were all gathered around the European-faced boy, "I also have muskets and several command knives at home!"

As soon as this remark came out, the child's attention was immediately attracted, and they all gathered around the child, clamoring and begging him to sneak out the muskets and sabers at home to play with.

"My family has...a boomerang that can fly back by itself, do you want to play with it?" The native Hanzhou child who had been left out in the cold asked weakly.

"Oh?" Several children showed some interest, "Then next time you bring us a boomerang that will fly back from home... If it's fun, we won't call you a barbarian in the future Already!"
-
On December 12, Tongde County (now Cannington District, Perth, Australia).

A sudden violent storm suddenly hit the surrounding areas of Guizhou Prefecture, and it continued to rain from midnight last night to early morning, and it still didn't stop.

In Banqiao Fort, five kilometers northeast of Tongde County, more than 100 immigrants settled here, but they secretly rejoiced at the coming rainstorm for no reason.Because of this bad weather, they can't go out to work at all, which means they can have a rare rest day.

According to the regulations of the Ministry of Immigration of Qi State, as immigrants who migrated from government organizations, they must serve in the settlement area for three years before they are eligible to obtain the free land and residence granted by the Qi State government.The so-called colonization areas are generally new settlements for immigrants in various prefectures and counties. Not only do they need to open up wasteland and build up water conservancy, but also, even the homes and residences they will allocate in the future must be built by them.

Therefore, during the three-year service period, the work performed by these newly arrived immigrants is quite arduous, and there is hardly a day when they can get a moment of leisure.Cut down trees, level the land, dig ditches, build houses, and build various public facilities...

Although colonization was difficult, fortunately, the officials of Qi State provided sufficient food for each immigrant, so that everyone could eat their stomachs full after working.Steamed buns, pancakes, corn paste, porridge, sweet potatoes, potatoes...the amount is absolutely sufficient, and there are also whale meat and dried salted fish from time to time, so that the immigrants can have some meat in their mouths.

These days, there is really nothing to say, compared to Daming's precarious and miserable life, it is a hundred times and a thousand times better.You know, in Daming, people are still as tired as a cow all year round, but their lives are not as good as a dog.The sailors and soldiers on those ships really did not lie. When they arrived in Hanzhou, they would never starve to death!
Although the weather was bad and they couldn't go out to farm, the officials and chiefs in the settlement fortress would not let these immigrants do nothing.They will organize these immigrants to conduct some simple training, such as learning Hanzhou Mandarin, popularizing domestic laws and regulations, interpreting official policies, and publicizing major events at home and abroad.

"On June 6, the Cabinet Ministry issued an order to the Hanzhou Bank, the Agricultural Mutual Aid Bank, the Industrial and Commercial Bank, and the financial lending banks set up in various prefectures and counties, requiring that all kinds of loan funds for production and life issued to farmers , the interest rate shall not exceed five cents.... This regulation will be officially adopted on January 20 next year."

"What do you mean? It means that after you get the fields and houses, and you set up a household, if you want to borrow farm tools, cattle and horses and other animal power from the government, the interest paid to those banks will be much less. Anyone with more than five cents The government will not recognize and protect any profitable agricultural loan funds.”

Chang Zhengxi, the clerk of Banqiao Fort, was holding a copy of "Ta Kung Pao" in both hands, and was explaining the latest domestic policies and various recent major events to the immigrants in Tun Zhu Fort.

"On July 7th, Sulu Kingdom Sultan sent his envoy Jianye to formally declare to Qi State that he was a vassal, and asked Qi State to send troops to Hele Island to protect the safety of the vassal state.

On August 8, the Kingdom of Kochin Sultan sent envoys to Jianye, and also declared to Qi State that it was a vassal, and requested Qi State to give the country political, military and economic aspects, and provide comprehensive guidance, and at the same time provide the national defense Wei's responsibility. ...Look, our country of Qi is growing in power and power, and one after another small countries have offered to join us. "

"...Since May, major rivers such as the Yangtze River, Han River, and Gan River in the Ming Dynasty have been flooded. More than 200 prefectures and counties have been affected, destroying millions of mu of fertile land, and causing nearly 15 million people to be affected. Tsk tsk... ..., such a major flood, why didn't the Ming government take an active role in disaster relief?... In July, our Annan and Ryukyu general districts handed over [-] shi of grain to Daming successively to help the victims along the Yangtze River."

"In May, a fire broke out in Nagasaki, Japan. Nearly 5% of the urban area of ​​the city was burned. Thousands of people were killed and more than [-] people were left homeless. Poor, it should be winter in Japan. They all The house was burned, and all property was destroyed, how should we live in this cold weather!"

"In April, the Ottoman Empire invaded Austria, and the entire European region fell into crisis again....The barbarians in the far west have started fighting again, and it is estimated that tens of thousands of war refugees will be caused. Poor!"

"Oh, it was still April. The Kingdom of England in Europe formed the "Royal African Company" and began to attack the colonial strongholds of the United Provinces on the west coast of Africa. ... The United Provinces, which is what we call the Netherlands in our country, followed We have a good relationship, and their territory in Africa was attacked by the British. You know, a few years ago, our Indian trading company in Qi State was in India, beat the British black and blue, and kowtowed to us for mercy .Hey, unexpectedly, they turned around and went to bully the Lulan people..."

"..."

In the huge barn, the immigrants listened and chatted happily.In this world, not only Daming is the only place where disasters and wars occur frequently, even the remote western borders are not very peaceful, full of wars, disasters and famines.

Hanzhou, on the other hand, seems to be a paradise, far away from worldly disputes. There is no war, no disaster, and no famine in the territory. Everyone can eat and wear warm.What's even more rare is that with the passage of time, the Qi State has become more and more powerful. It not only dominates Nanyang, but also continues to open up to the outside world. Isn't this the reappearance of the Tang Dynasty.

With this in mind, all the immigrants who arrived in Hanzhou felt a kind of inner stability, as well as a bit of pride and self-satisfaction.

To be a person of Qi country not only has a stable life, but also can live with that kind of thing... By the way, it is to live with dignity.

(End of this chapter)