The Han culture is spreading strongly in Southeast Asia

Chapter 598 General Hu Takes Office in Gwangju

Southern part of the peninsula, Silla Province, Incheon Port.

The entire port area was packed with people, stretching as far as the eye could see.

In the whistling cold wind, a large number of Koreans wearing only calf shorts were driven together according to their hometowns by a group of warriors wearing black warrior uniforms and Korean-style hats.

However, the Yangban that the Goryeo people thought of were actually the feudal soldiers under the command of the Nanbu Zhenhan.

In the entire Silla province, the imperial court only directly governed the area near Seoul at the mouth of the Han River and the Dongnae Protectorate at the mouth of the Nakdong River, which is the area around Busan in later generations.

In addition to these two places, four counties were set aside to house more than a dozen retired military officers, and the rest were handed over to the illegitimate sons of the Yangzi and Yangzhou groups who followed Zhonghua in causing trouble.

And it was divided into very small pieces. Silla Province, a place about the same size as Zhejiang Province, had more than 60 vassal states.

The larger counties have one or two populations of over 100,000, while the smaller ones only have one town or even one or two villages, with a total of one or two thousand people.

Hu Quan stood on a high place, watching all this with satisfaction. This great uncle of Hu Yihuang, the King of Yu of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom in history, could no longer fight.

Seven years ago, he traveled south from his hometown of Guiping, Guangxi, first fighting the indigenous people of Nanji Island (Java Island), and then followed the leader of northern Guangxi, Liu Dingjue, to destroy dozens of indigenous tribes.

He then followed the Duke of Viet, Army General, and Right General Chen Lian to suppress the rebellion of Chao Phraya Chakri in Thai Binh (Siam).

Finally, because of his heroic performance, he was selected into the Indian Expedition Army and participated in the Battle of Trincomalee in India, the Siege of Fort St. George in Madras, the Battle of Calcutta and the Siege of Fort William and Fort New.

Along the way, he also grew from a soldier to an officer, and his rank was promoted to colonel. But his upward path basically ended there.

Because there is a world of difference between a colonel and a brigadier general.

Hu Quan started as a cannon fodder soldier and became a colonel in seven years, which is basically the ceiling for ordinary people with no power or influence.

In their small team at that time, four out of ten people died. These people who really became cannon fodder received nothing except a few to ten silver dollars in compensation.

Among those who survived, Wei Da stayed in Nanji Island (Java Island), was allocated 50 acres of cultivated land and 500 acres of virgin land, and married three indigenous women.

Qin Da's left hand below the wrist was completely broken, so he stayed in Hanchuan Province (Lower Burma) and got 200 acres of cultivated land. The rest of the virgin land, swamps, forests and a section of river totaled more than 2,000 acres. He married four Mon sisters, and people robbed him of five Thai slaves.

Qin San went to the Ahom Kingdom and no news has been received so far, but his future prospects should be good because they went to the local area as heavenly soldiers to guard the area, and at least they were treated as nobles.

Luo Asheng went to Fuxing Company because he was a Hakka and his ancestors had some relationship with the Ye family of Jingtangzhai, that is, the family of Concubine De Ye Yizheng.

He is the only one among these poor people who has some background. It is said that he may join the Jinyiwei in the future and become the emperor's minion.

The only one who may continue to move up is Huang Renyong.

Although Chaoshan people are not in the first echelon in Dayu, with the support of the Zheng family and Chen Lian, the situation is still acceptable.

The key is that Huang Renyong is both civil and military, brave and resourceful. In terms of culture, he has taught himself to the level of a graduate of the Imperial College. In terms of martial arts, he has few rivals in the army. He is always among the top few in every major competition and is also well-versed in military tactics.

Such abilities were noticed by the Zheng family, to which the Queen belonged, and he was recommended to study in the officer class of the Guazhou Army Infantry and Cavalry School in Yingtian Prefecture, where he had a great chance of becoming a general.

Hu Quan sighed. He felt that although his ability was slightly lower than Huang Renyong's, he still had the level to be a brigadier general or even a major general in the army.

But unfortunately, although he is a Hakka, he is a Hakka from northern Guangxi. His language is not very similar to that of the Meizhou Hakka, the mainstream of the Hakka clan in the court today, and they have no relatives.

The people of northern Guangxi had even fewer backers in the imperial court, and the highest-ranking official was only Liu Dingjue, the governor-general of Nanji.

Well, if you are willing to go to Nanji Island, which was originally Java Island, to reclaim land, you will definitely be treated preferentially, but Hu Quan doesn't want to go.

He is already 32 years old. If he continues to open up wasteland in Southeast Asia, he can at most be made a baron. Don't risk his life by being a small vassal.

So, he decisively chose to retire from the army as a colonel, received a resettlement fee of one thousand silver dollars, and refused to return to his hometown, Guiping County, to serve as a deputy chief constable.

He chose to join Ye Mingyue's pioneering fleet, which he had always thought was the right place to go, and was immediately deployed to the southern part of the peninsula.

When the peninsula was pacified, he quickly seized the opportunity to be selected to stay in Silla Province and became a vassal state in charge of the court's surveillance and guarding of the southern part of the peninsula.

Thanks to his rank of colonel when he retired, his rich overseas combat experience, and of course his outstanding personal abilities, Hu Quan was extremely lucky this time.

He came directly into the emperor's sight and was arranged to Gwangju, Jeolla Prefecture, which was originally Gwangju, Jeolla Left Province. The emperor also gave him a name with a very bad taste, changing it from Hu Quan to Hu Quanhuan.

Hu Quan had no idea why the word "change" was added, but since it was the emperor who changed it, he still felt extremely honored.

Change everything, do you want to change the sky above the heads of the Hu (Korean) people?

Uh, Chun Doo-hwan, Hu Quanhuan, this is such a bad taste.

Loyal! Sincerity!
The people of Guangzhou are blessed. It seems that the word "quan" is destined to be with them. "My name is Hu Quanhuan, and I beat the people until they scream!"

So Hu Quan was granted the title of King Shunzhi, the third rank of the vassal state of Guangzhou, and was in charge of Guangzhou and half of the neighboring Tanyang County. He had 110,000 people and recruited 600 Guangzhou garrison soldiers. Anyone who dared to disobey the court's orders would be severely beaten!
"You must calculate carefully. The financial situation of our Gwangju Domain is not optimistic. We must sell at least 20,000 people to Southeast Asia to ensure normal operations.

And from now on, you must remember that these people, regardless of gender, are worth silver dollars and are the best resources.

From now on, no one in Gwangju will be allowed to starve to death. Every young person must be carefully raised and sent to Southeast Asia. If any man or woman over sixteen is still unmarried, their parents will be severely punished. I may even sell their entire family to Southeast Asia!

"We will obey the order of our lord and carry it out immediately." Hu Quan, the King Shunzhi of Gwangju, issued the order, and a group of Goryeo vassal warriors, who were illegitimate sons of Goryeo, immediately knelt down and agreed.

Afterwards, Hu Quan waved his hand and let them go, and then an uncontrollable joy appeared on his face.

Although Gwangju is a bit poor and is only equivalent to a county in my hometown, a king with 110,000 people is still a king. It is time to bring some relatives from my hometown to Gwangju and start a family here in the future.

. . . .

In the crowd, Xiuzhen, a little girl with a round face, looked around. Not only was she not dead, but her father who fell to the ground was also not dead.

These two were really lucky. They managed to reach Hong Wanda's territory and eat enough food to survive.

The sun gradually rose and the temperature gradually increased. Everyone couldn't help but stand up and look around, because noon was time for lunch.

The people on the peninsula had a hard life. They had nothing to eat in the past. Even for the yangban class, a meal could include buckwheat or mung bean noodles, two plates of tofu, two plates of mung bean jelly, and a small dish of fried rice cakes, which was considered quite a sumptuous meal.

What, you asked where the kimchi for the state banquet went?
What a joke, kimchi with rich flavors, sweet, sour, salty and fresh, how can these low-level people afford to eat it?

Cabbage is not particularly expensive, but chili peppers, sugar, salt, shallots, fish sauce, and shrimp paste are all beyond the reach of the lower class of people. At least they require self-cultivating farming families to afford.

However, with the yangban class accounting for nearly 40% of the population on the entire Korean Peninsula, how many self-employed farmers are there?

This is also the real reason why, as conditions on the peninsula improved in later generations, a large number of Korean people regarded kimchi as a treasure and even elevated it to the status of a national treasure.

Because this thing can only be afforded by self-cultivating farmers on the peninsula, and for the lowest class of people, self-cultivating farmers are the ceiling they can reach after a lifetime of hard work.

This is not kimchi, this is the Korean dream!
In this era where even kimchi is a luxury, it is foreseeable what ordinary people can eat.

Green porridge made with wild vegetables and sorghum, dried sweet potatoes, sweet potato and wild vegetable cakes. It was a good time if you could have a bite of cornmeal cakes and mung bean noodles. The seasoning was no different from more than a thousand years ago, black fermented pickles.

"The meal is here!" Xiuzhen's father jumped up with a somersault. When the Goryeo people around him saw him stand up, they immediately began to swallow their saliva.

Well, it’s not that Xiuzhen’s father can eat, but this guy has a very sensitive nose. He can smell the food even if it’s half a mile away.

"Xiuzhen's father, what are we eating today? Are we going to have the corn steamed buns made in Shangguo?" A fellow villager who was about the same age as him asked Xiuzhen's father while swallowing his saliva, his eyes full of desire.

Damn, these Koreans have such a hard life. Ye Mingyue, who is responsible for setting the food standards, has tried his best to lower them.

Adult men are given six fist-sized corn steamed buns and a fist-sized pickle a day, women are given four, and the elderly and children are only given three.

But by this standard, it was still a rare and good meal for the people of Goryeo. In the words of Xiuzhen's father, one should not eat dry food unless it is a festival or a busy farming season, as doing so will shorten one's lifespan.

"No, no, this is not going to be his last meal, is it?" Xiuzhen's father suddenly burst into tears, scaring everyone around him.

"I smell fried rice cakes, kimchi, and fish soup. Are you going to chop off our heads after eating this?"

When the Korean people around heard him say this, they were all shocked. Some of them asked tremblingly, their legs trembling:

"Didn't they say they were going to send us to Southeast Asia to farm for the Chinese masters? Wouldn't the masters be so deceiving as to deceive us?"

After waiting for a while, I saw that the ox cart was filled with bowls of delicious fried rice cakes, cans of kimchi, and even buckets of brown rice as the staple food.

Looking at the white rice and fried rice cakes that were hard to eat even during the New Year and other festivals, the people burst into tears.

As expected, they are going to be beheaded. As expected, they are going to be beheaded. Otherwise, who would give these bitches such good food to eat!
"What's going on? Why are these bastards crying?" Hu Quan looked puzzled. I gave you something good to eat, but you acted like you were going to be beheaded.

After a while, the soldiers below came to report, and Hu Quan was even more confused. "Find out who spread this rumor, old man."

Hu Quan was about to say, "I'm going to chop off his head," but he suddenly remembered that one head was five silver dollars, and it would be a waste to kill him, so he had to change his words.

"Hurry up and go down to comfort them. Today is the Empress Dowager's Christmas Day. This is the reward from the Empress Dowager to these lowly people. Tell them to stop crying!"

"My lord, appeasement is useless. Let's see what we can do." A group of Goryeo soldiers shook their heads, and then with Hu Quan's permission, they took water and fire sticks and whips and started beating them violently. Finally, they randomly picked out a few culprits, tied them up, and whipped them again.

These crying poor Koreans who thought they were going to be beheaded screamed in pain after being slapped and beaten, but they felt at ease in their hearts because they knew they were not going to be beheaded.

After a while, Xiuzhen's father, whose face was swollen after being slapped more than a dozen times, ate the soft, sweet and sweet fried rice cake that seemed to be coated with a layer of honey, and tears of happiness flowed down his face.

"May the Empress Dowager live a long and healthy life, and may His Majesty the Emperor live long and long!" Xiuzhen's father couldn't help but burst into tears.

Afterwards, a large number of Goryeo people knelt down one after another towards the mainland across the sea, and the Incheon Port suddenly became a sea of joy.

At the same time, a large number of people gathered on the beach in Nagasaki Port, Hiroshima Port, Osaka Port, Nagoya and Edo in Japan, waiting to be loaded on ships.

This time, it is estimated that a total of 150,000 people will go to Southeast Asia.

These 150,000 are just a test. Once the scale is reached, 5 million people can be mobilized.

(End of this chapter)