Gou was a member of the imperial family in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 1238 New Yongzhou

Sun Hao and his fleet's final destination was Xinjing; Xinyongzhou was merely the first stop on their journey to the New World.

The fleet would stay here for five days, mainly to unload cargo from the accompanying merchant ships and settle the passengers and crew, who would then be handed over to the officials of Xinyongzhou.

In addition, there was the replenishment of fresh water and food, as well as basic maintenance of the ships. Since the voyage ahead wouldn't take long, and conditions in Xinjing were better than in Xinyongzhou, the fleet wouldn't stay there for too long.

During the break, Sun Hao disembarked and planned to look around New Yongzhou to learn about the situation of this first stop on the New World.

"My lord, why are there so few people?" At one point on the dock, officials from the Prince Yong's mansion were handing over supplies to the fleet. The supplies brought by the Ming Dynasty were limited and not given away for free. Currently, trade between the Ming Dynasty and the New World was basically monopolized by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and all supplies had to be purchased by the princes of the New World themselves.

Compared to Zhu Mincheng, Prince Yong, Zhu Cizhao, was not as fortunate. Although Xin Yongzhou had a good geographical location, with dense forests, mountains, and rivers inland, and relatively fertile land, it was located in the north at a higher latitude, so its climate was naturally not as good as that of Xinjing in the south. In addition, Zhu Mincheng discovered gold mines near Xinjing and made huge profits by mining them, but there were no gold mines in Xin Yongzhou. To develop, he could only rely on farming, hunting, or fishing to gradually accumulate wealth. Given the conditions of Xin Yongzhou, how could it possibly develop rapidly in less than three years?
Moreover, while agriculture is fundamental, it requires a sufficient workforce. New Yongzhou already had a limited population, and unlike the south, the north lacked numerous local tribes that could freely capture indigenous people for cultivation. Therefore, New Yongzhou's development was slow, particularly due to a lack of necessary manpower.

To address this issue, the Ming Dynasty has already enacted a policy to encourage immigration to the New World. As long as Ming citizens are willing to immigrate, the government can arrange for their settlement in the New World. Moreover, this policy offers considerable benefits: each immigrant household of four to five people receives a settlement allowance of three silver dollars, equivalent to three taels of silver in value.

In addition, all expenses for immigrants to travel from the Ming Dynasty to the New World were borne by the government. Upon arrival in the New World, whether in Xin Yongzhou or Xin Jing, each household would be allocated 30 mu of land. The ownership of this land belonged to the immigrants, but there were restrictions on buying and selling it, and it could not be traded within 50 years. Furthermore, for each additional person in the household, 10 mu of land would be allocated for males and 5 mu for females. The government would provide farming tools and seeds in the first year, and taxes would be waived for the first three years. Taxes would be halved for the next two years, and normal taxes would be levied again after five years. Such generous conditions were a dream come true for the people of the Ming Dynasty who had lost their land.

Although it was a good thing, the New World was far away from the Ming Dynasty. The people of the Ming Dynasty had always had the custom of being reluctant to leave their homeland. Leaving their hometown for the New World, which was more than ten thousand miles away, they might never be able to return to their hometown in this lifetime.

Therefore, the number of people who were truly willing to risk immigrating to the New World was actually quite small, and even those who were willing preferred to live in Liaodong. It's important to understand that after the Liaodong campaign ended and the Ming Dynasty completely recovered Liaodong, the imperial court opened up Liaodong to a series of policies, encouraging displaced people and artisans to immigrate. While the incentives offered were not as generous as those in the New World, they were still quite good. Moreover, Liaodong was located within the Ming Dynasty's territory, much closer than the New World, which is why many people preferred to go to Liaodong rather than the New World.

However, there were also people willing to come to the New World, such as those who were really struggling financially. After all, they would receive a settlement allowance of three silver dollars upon arrival in the New World, which was not a small amount for ordinary families. In particular, some large families with many children would split up and send two households to the New World, leaving the settlement allowance for their families back home. With this allowance, the families could get through their immediate needs and even acquire some property, allowing their families back home to live a better life.

In addition, there were some daring and adventurous people. In their eyes, the New World was more attractive than Liaodong. In addition, the imperial court kept promoting the New World as a vast and sparsely populated land, and that the king there was in urgent need of manpower. These people felt that perhaps they could have a better future in the New World. So they registered, gathered with the government, and boarded ships to arrive in the New World.

However, compared to Xinjing, where gold mines were discovered, Xinyongzhou held far less appeal for these people. Especially for those with an adventurous spirit, they preferred Xinjing to Xinyongzhou. After all, in their eyes, Xinjing had gold mines, and gold was incredibly tempting. Going to Xinjing meant not only receiving land but also the possibility of finding gold. Even if two-thirds of the found gold had to be given to the King of Song as Song's revenue, they could still keep a third for themselves!
One-third is no small amount. Don't forget that among the gold Zhu Mincheng sent to the Ming Dynasty were several heavy nuggets. According to rumors, the largest of these nuggets weighed several hundred taels. Even if such a heavy nugget seems unrealistic, it should still weigh at least several tens of taels, or even a dozen or nearly ten taels. Just finding one of these nuggets would be enough to make an ordinary person rich overnight, even if they only took one-third of it.

"This is quite a lot of people," the official in charge of the handover said with a smile. "Compared to the last batch, there are five more people in this batch who are willing to stay in the new Yongzhou."

“Five…” The official from Xinyongzhou shook his head with a wry smile. It sounded good, but this group of people totaled less than a hundred! Although there were always ships traveling between the Ming Dynasty and the New World, due to the long distance, it usually took one and a half to two months to make a trip. This did not even take into account the period when the northern route had to be suspended in winter. As a result, there were only four to five trips a year. Since the Ming Dynasty officially began to immigrate to the New World, Xinyongzhou had only accepted four batches of immigrants so far.

These four groups of immigrants, plus this one, make a total of five groups, with a total estimated number of just over four hundred people. This is far too few.

The population of Xinyongzhou was already small, and now all the people combined don't even exceed three thousand. Such a small number of people for such a large area is simply not enough! "Sir, please help us! Our Prince has personally gone ashore, and we are really short of manpower! I see there are still over a thousand people on this ship. I don't need more, just give me another three hundred... no! Two hundred people, how about that?" The official pleaded with a smile, secretly slipping a few silver dollars into the other person's hand while they were holding hands.

The other party quickly declined, refusing to accept these benefits. Silver dollars were valuable, and he wanted them too, but the problem was he dared not take them! Rules were rules; the destinations of the immigrants and where these people were going were all known, and they had been registered long before departure. He was only responsible for transportation, delivering the people to their destinations, and then handing them over according to the roster.

Even if someone on the roster died due to illness or accident while on a long voyage, it would be recorded in the roster, and the captain, first mate, and other personnel of the ship would sign and affix their fingerprints as proof. This was a meticulously planned process, leaving no possibility of forgery. In particular, changing the destination without authorization, such as handing over someone originally destined for Xinjing directly to Prince Yong in Xinyongzhou, would be a capital offense.

Taking such a risk for a mere few silver dollars? Only a fool would do that! Besides, who doesn't know the difference between Prince Yong and Prince Song? This Prince Yong was a prince of the Chongzhen Emperor, who is now the retired emperor. To put it bluntly, he was a prince without any power or influence. The current emperor has bestowed this fiefdom upon him with boundless grace, which is an unprecedented favor.

But the Prince of Song is different. He is the second son of the current emperor, the younger brother of the crown prince, and a veritable vassal king of the Ming Dynasty. Their status and position are vastly different. Who would be foolish enough to risk offending the Prince of Song to curry favor with the Prince of Yong? That would be utterly insane!

"No, absolutely not! I'm busy with official duties and can't handle this at all. You've seen the roster, and everyone's here. Sir, please just sign and stamp it to settle this matter. As for the rest, that's beyond my control..." The man firmly stuffed the silver coins back, adopting an attitude of absolute refusal.

The officials on Prince Yong's side shook their heads helplessly. They knew the chances of success were slim, but they decided to give it a try, just in case. Seeing the other party's attitude, they didn't press the matter further. They took the roster, signed and stamped it, and completed the handover procedures.

Once the formalities were completed, perhaps fearing that the other party would continue to pester him for the people, the official in charge of transporting the immigrants made up an excuse and left in a hurry, leaving all the people he had brought with him to the other party.

“Sigh…” Yongwang’s official sighed as he looked at the ordinary-looking immigrants in front of him, who were very reserved in their movements. Not only were there few people, but the immigrants were also mostly old and young, and when you add women, the number of able-bodied people was less than a third.

Moreover, most of these people were pale and thin, clearly indicating that they had lived a poor life and were not well-fed. They were also in poor spirits after traveling a long distance. Even if they arrived in Xinyongzhou, they would not be able to work and would need to recuperate for some time. It was unknown when they would be able to be of any use.

However, people are still people, and what the new Yongzhou lacks now is people. It's better for someone to come than for no one to come, right? Thinking of this, the official forced a smile and called his subordinates to help settle the immigrants. They took them back to the city, changed their tattered clothes, washed them thoroughly to avoid any diseases or infections, and then let them rest for a while to recover before making arrangements for them one by one.

Although Xin Yongzhou cannot compare with Xinjing in the south, its smaller population has its advantages. There is no shortage of land or houses. In any case, there are primeval forests everywhere, with fir trees that are dozens of meters tall and too big for several people to hug. With these trees, building houses is not a difficult task at all. Not to mention this small number of people, even if several times more people came, Xin Yongzhou could easily accommodate them with its current conditions.

"Greetings, sir..." Just as the official had finished arranging for his men to lead the immigrants away from the dock and head towards the city, Sun Hao approached him, bowed, and greeted him.

The official, who was deep in thought, looked up at the sound and saw a man bowing and greeting him. When his gaze fell on the man, the official quickly returned the bow, because Sun Hao was wearing a traveling robe, which was similar to a Taoist robe, but slightly different. Taoist robes could be worn by ordinary gentry and merchants, but traveling robes were different. This kind of clothing could only be worn by two kinds of people: officials and scholars with official titles.

When the official saw that Sun Hao was dressed in his official robes, he naturally treated him with courtesy. In any case, the other party's identity must be extraordinary. Although he was a subordinate of Prince Yong, Prince Yong's identity was special, so he dared not be careless.

(End of this chapter)