Warring States Eagle

The fence around the small yard was already covered with vines covered with green leaves, and a few ignorant birds were chasing happily on the roof of a house.

Under the exaggeration of a nation's culture, it determines a nation's temperament, appearance, and even words and deeds.Zheng Liang had been to places such as Ningbo Mansion in the Ming Dynasty, and he was deeply impressed by the demeanor and behavior of the people there.The young man in front of him gave Zheng Liang such a familiar feeling, so Zheng Liang asked if this young man was from the Ming Dynasty.

And the answer was in line with Zheng Liang's expectations. This person was indeed an immigrant from the Ming Dynasty.This surprised Zheng Liang quite a bit.A man from the Ming Dynasty married a woman from a local people, and settled down in the village of the local people.Is this the legendary marriage?

"My lord, there is a village called Daping Village near this village. It is a village of Ming people." Seemingly seeing Zheng Liang's doubts, the person who had been leading the way for Zheng Liang reported to Zheng Liang in a low voice.

"Oh? There is actually a settlement of Ming people near here?" Zheng Liang was surprised again after hearing this.It's no wonder that there are Ming people here.

"The villain thank you for your life-saving grace." Just when Zheng Liang was surprised, the young man who had been a little bit frightened suddenly knelt down in front of Zheng Liang.

"You? This is?" The sudden action of the young man made everyone present feel puzzled.

"Have you forgotten, my lord? Eight years ago, it was my lord who helped my father, my mother, and the next two siblings outside a tea stall, and even brought us here to settle here later, so that we were saved Starve to death while wandering!" Speaking of this.Tears welled up in the young man's eyes.

"It's you?" was mentioned by the young man.Zheng Liang remembered it.Eight or nine years ago.At that time, he went to the Ming country to look for business routes, and that time he was on his way to Ningbo Mansion, and when he was resting at the tea stall, he happened to see a man and a woman, two couples walking with two children, so for a moment With good intentions, he gave them some food, and later arranged for Wang Hai to send them from Daming, which is far away from the sea, to settle here, but he did not expect to meet them here today.Judging from the situation, this young man is exactly the little boy back then.

But when you feel fate is magical.Zheng Liang also couldn't help being puzzled, today Zheng Liang came out after undergoing a disguise, and after so many years, Zheng Liang's appearance has undergone many changes, how did this young man recognize him?So Zhengliang couldn't help asking:

"How did you recognize me?"

"My lord, the villain recognized you when I saw the scar on the back of your hand. Back then, the villain was so hungry that his hands and feet were almost weak. It was the adult who delivered a small piece of dry biscuit to the villain himself. , At that time, the villain will completely remember the scar on the adult's hand." The young man quickly explained.

"So that's the case." Zheng Liang rolled up the sleeve of his right hand, where there was indeed a scar between the back of the hand and the palm.This scar was left when Zhengliang led the people to fight fiercely with the bandits on Yegao Mountain.Due to the deep wound, the scar has not completely disappeared until today.

Now that the doubts are gone.Zheng Liang naturally wanted to take the opportunity to ask about the living conditions of these Ming immigrants, so he continued to ask:

"How are your parents and sister?"

"Thanks to my lord, my parents are still alive, and my father is now the head of a small village. My younger sister is living with her parents. I would like to thank you again for your kindness to my brother." The young man said He replied with joy.

"Oh?" When the young man said this, Zheng Liang felt a little surprised.When he met them at the foot of the mountain, Zheng Liang clearly remembered that the couple had only two children, a boy and a girl.

"It was the adults who gathered us and these refugees together so that we could reunite with our brothers who were separated when we were hunted down by the local government." The young man said gratefully.

After Zheng Liang heard the words, he immediately understood.When I saw so many refugees on the way to Ningbo Mansion, the local government not only ignored them, but even sent people to drive them away. Therefore, Zheng Liang temporarily entrusted Wang Hai, a businessman from the Ming Dynasty, to gather these refugees and arrange them to the cottage they occupied at the beginning. Among them, when there are enough people, they will be sent to the territory of Luo's family in batches. It is estimated that this family met in the cottage.

"My parents, my siblings and I always miss the great kindness of the adults. In order to thank the adults for the great kindness, we even enshrined the statues of the adults in the lobby of our house to pray for the adults." The young man continued to tell.This kind of practice by the young family is already very common in the territory of the Luo family. Many local residents put a wooden statue of Zhengliang or hang a portrait in their homes for various reasons such as worship and gratitude.

"Then why is this here?" Zheng Liang continued to ask.Now that the young man's family members are nearby, but looking at the current situation, it seems that the young man has already settled here.But according to the Chinese tradition, they basically like to live together, but this young man is here, which is a bit strange.

"The family business has been inherited by my brother, and the villain intends to come out alone to build a family business. In addition, the villain's wife has just lost her only father and is in need of the villain's care, so he came here to settle down. "The young man reported immediately.

"Yeah." Zheng Liang nodded.From the young man's words, Zheng Liang felt that this young man really had the idea of ​​building a family business on his own, but he still kept in touch with his family.It feels like he was influenced by the local cultural habits (the eldest son inherits the family business, and the other sons find another way out), which can be regarded as a fusion of Ming culture and local culture.

"Are there many cases where you marry a woman like you?" Zheng Liang continued to ask.It was rare to meet a Ming immigrant from the lowest level, so Zheng Liang naturally wanted to take the opportunity to learn about their living conditions.After all, the usual reports from the retainers are nothing more than a few words, which is not enough for him to understand the situation at the bottom.

"There are indeed many, but there are not many female relatives in the village." The young man reported truthfully.

Zheng Liang thought about it for a while after hearing the words, and it was true.in the midst of fleeing.Women and children with weaker constitutions are often the most vulnerable to illness and death.So among the refugees who were lucky enough to be rescued by the Luo family.The proportion of men has always been the largest, which has also caused the proportion of men to be too large in some villages settled by immigrants from the Ming Dynasty.As a result, the men in the village went out to marry local women one after another.This can be regarded as a good phenomenon, after all, this is also a process of mutual integration of two nations.

Then Zheng Liang asked the young people about the living conditions of some immigrants from the Ming Dynasty. From the information of the young people, Zheng Liang even heard news about the current situation in the Ming country.In the past few years, natural disasters have occurred frequently in the northern regions of the Ming Dynasty, and there is even a tendency to spread to the south.The Ming Dynasty has already begun its decline.

in retrospect.Why did the Ming Dynasty eventually perish?In Zhengliang's view, it is nothing more than the following reasons.The country's financial difficulties lead to famines, and there is no money to provide relief; wars occur, and there is no money to pay military salaries.If there is no money to relieve the disaster victims, the hungry people will rebel; if there is no money to pay the army, the hungry soldiers will rebel.The combination of hungry people and hungry soldiers led to a large-scale domestic rebellion.The lack of combat effectiveness of the government forces has resulted in the country being unable to eliminate foreign invasions or internal rebellions.Financial crisis.Leads to a military crisis; a military crisis leads to a greater financial crisis.Such a vicious circle.The Ming Dynasty eventually came to an end.

Some people may ask?Isn't the Ming Dynasty known as the dynasty with the lowest taxation?How come there is no money?

This can be seen from the willingness of the local refugees to cross the sea to settle in the territory of the Luo family.Since the tax is so low, why do these immigrants from the Ming Dynasty prefer to abandon their homeland and come here?

During this period of the Ming Dynasty, social contradictions had intensified day by day, and national politics became increasingly dark.During this period, land annexation became more and more intense, land was concentrated sharply, the emperor's estate increased rapidly, and the estates of princes, relatives, and eunuchs far exceeded those of previous generations.The phenomenon of annexation of land by powerful and powerful landlords is also very serious.They are connected by rice fields, and one family owns the property of ten families.Most of the villages were annexed by eunuchs, which were severely damaged.The people lost their land and went into exile.Within the ruling group, contradictions have also become increasingly acute.Eunuchs monopolize power, cruel to the people.Later, there were disputes among cabinet ministers, bureaucrats united with cliques and fought against each other, and the court was in chaos.

Moreover, in addition to taxes, the people of the Ming Dynasty also had to pay corvee.The corvee borne by farmers is assigned by the local government, and there are too many places where government officials can help.This phenomenon is unavoidable even in the era of such strict supervision in later generations, let alone the era of limited supervision methods, underdeveloped transportation, and information congestion in ancient times?

Servitude is free labor to be driven.The existence of slavery confirms the hypocrisy of low taxes.Service is the management expenditure of the state administrative organs, and it is generally post station, guard service, military service and so on.The government only provides them with basic food supplies, and the labor and technology of the common people are free for the country to use.There is no doubt that this additional, personal corvee has many disadvantages, and it is often imposed on the poor and the responsible.Additional levies, irregular and irresistible, are far more harmful than normal taxes.

With the land gone, all kinds of corvee burdens have been increased in disguise (actually tantamount to increased taxes in disguise), and in the event of natural disasters, how can the people with nothing resist it?Therefore, the so-called "low taxes" in the Ming Dynasty is completely illusory.

Judging from the news that the Ming Kingdom has been suffering from natural disasters year after year, Zheng Liang suddenly became vigilant.Last year, there were also abnormal weather conditions in Wa country (such as thunderstorms in autumn; too long winter, etc.).Some abnormal climates will basically have all kinds of strange weather before their appearance.So Zhengliang couldn't help thinking of the Little Ice Age.

Regardless of whether the Little Ice Age has begun to affect the local climate, Zhengliang must be prepared.The so-called preparedness.After returning, we must organize the cabinet to prepare well.

Now it seems that it is also good to go down from time to time to understand the situation at the bottom. At least it can make you realize the negligence in decision-making, and then quickly make up for it.

(Thanks to "Bai Shi Jing Lun" for the monthly ticket; thanks to "Seven Cups of Tea, Green Mia" for the reward. Thank you for your subscription and recommendation tickets.) (To be continued...)