The Han culture is spreading strongly in Southeast Asia

Chapter 648: The Prince's Journey to the West - The Restoration of the Central Plains
The people of Northern Zhili (Hebei) were indeed suffering, because after Asen passed through Zhangde Prefecture (Anyang), Weihui Prefecture (Jixian, Xinxiang), crossed the Yellow River and arrived at Liuyuankou, Kaifeng, what he saw and heard was completely different from what he had seen in Hebei, and the market was unexpectedly completely new.

When the imperial carriage entered the city first, Asen brought dozens of people with him, pretending to be merchants from Beijing, and discovered this while wandering around.

Even in a small place like Liuyuankou, there are four steam engine flour mills, two large textile mills, a hardware factory, a gunpowder factory, and even a small steam engine repair factory.

The clean coal from Yongcheng, Guide Prefecture (Shangqiu) came up the Yellow River on steam-powered ships of about 50 tons, supporting thousands of dock workers, a dozen coal sales companies, and five or six small honeycomb coal factories that relied on coal for their survival.

"That's nothing. Most of the coal from Guide Prefecture flows down the Yellow River and is transported to the south of the Yangtze River at Huai'an Prefecture. There isn't much going up the river to our Liuyuankou.

In Henan, if we talk about the most coal plants, they are in Xingze and Mengjin.

There is a lot of coal in Huaiqing Prefecture (Jiaozuo area) and Zezhou Prefecture (Jincheng) in the north, and the quality is also good. More than 60% of the coal in Henan Province comes from these two places.

Huaiqing Prefecture and Zezhou Prefecture produced many wealthy businessmen who made their fortunes from coal, and their pomp was even greater than that of the governor.

A few days ago, they were making a fuss in Kaifeng, threatening to become republican representatives, but the military governor mobilized the garrison troops to disperse them.

A young fellow who really regarded Arsen as a businessman spoke incessantly.

Dong Jiaozeng, the Left Minister of the Left Spring Office, who was beside Asen, suddenly widened his eyes. "There are businessmen in Henan who want to be members of the Republican Party. Do they still dare to gather together to cause trouble?"

Mr. Dong was recalling the scene he saw when he returned to his hometown in Nanjing during his vacation. It was so lively!
Big businessmen gathered together to form a chamber of commerce, and tried every possible way to delay and reduce the amount of taxes paid to cause trouble for the government.

At the same time, he dared to make a big fuss in front of the Yingtian Prefecture Yamen and the Jiangnan Provincial Governor's Yamen, finding fault with the administration of officials at all levels in Jiangnan Province.

The reason why they were so enthusiastic was that they wanted the imperial court to establish a republican parliament like in Southeast Asia.

They want to be republican members of parliament to protect their astonishing wealth so that they won't be slaughtered like fat pigs by the government when they are old and frail.

Unexpectedly, in Henan, a place deep in the inland that seems to be in a completely different world from Jiangnan and Lingnan, so many big businessmen have smelled the scent and started to make a fuss.

Asen did not pay attention to the merchant's behavior, because he was the crown prince and the future emperor, according to his father Mo Zibu's principles.

If the officials and gentry cannot suppress the merchants, then we should convene a republican parliament to break the golden body of the officials and let them be supervised.

If the officials and gentry could suppress it, it would definitely not be opened, which proves that the power of businessmen is not enough to allow them to become republican members of parliament.

Anyway, the emperor would never intervene and give direct orders. In these aspects, he would only be the judge and would never rush to the front line. It doesn't matter who you share the world with, right?

"It's not a good idea to ask the military to mobilize the garrison troops. The merchants are petitioning, but do we really need to resort to violence?"

The Right Shuzi of Youchunfang was Wang Guoyuan, a native of Guiyang, Guizhou, who ranked 1787th among the third class in the imperial examination in the th year of Guangzhong ().

Guizhou was still relatively remote at that time, and it was not easy to enter or leave Guizhou. They knew far less about the outside world than scholars from other provinces, but because of this, they were more receptive to new things from the outside world.

Because after leaving Guizhou, there are strange and bizarre things everywhere. I have seen so much that I have become numb to it, and it doesn't matter if it's just one or two things.

So for Wang Guoyuan, he was more accepting of the rise of merchant power.

For example, the big textile factory owners in Songjiang Prefecture paid more than 100,000 silver dollars in taxes a year. Why shouldn't they have some say in local affairs?

When the young man heard Wang Guoyuan's question, he laughed.

"Those merchants were so stupid. When they came from Huaiqing Prefecture, there were not many of them, so they brought merchants from Zezhou Prefecture in Shanxi with them to show off their strength.

They thought they could do it without anyone noticing, but the government had already been keeping an eye on them, waiting for them to make a fuss in the governor's office, and then they would show the evidence and beat them with sticks, making them scream in pain.

The governor even specifically ordered that each of them be put in a 20-jin shackle, saying they were being escorted to Mengjin and then back to Shanxi, but in reality, they were being paraded through the streets.

As the young man spoke, an expression of uncontrollable excitement appeared on his face, and his eyes narrowed with laughter.

"That scene, damn, was really exciting. Those were the top people who made hundreds of thousands of silver dollars a year, and in the end they were treated like idiots."

"Hiss!" After hearing this, several officials around him collectively took a deep breath. Dong Jiaozeng, who had always disliked merchants from the lower classes of the scholar-farmer class climbing to the top, couldn't help but clap his hands and laugh:

"Yi Moqing (Henan Governor Yi Bingshou) has a good trick up his sleeve. Now the big merchants in Henan are completely humiliated and won't be able to make trouble again for at least five years!"

After listening to this, Asen nodded. He didn't care. It seemed that the businessmen in Henan were still not big enough, so they were not qualified to be Republican members of parliament. So he turned to ask the boy beside him.

"So how's your salary? Can you still make ends meet? Are there any unscrupulous factory owners who treat people like non-human beings?"

The young man didn't react even at this point. He looked at the tall guy who was probably smaller than him with a strange look.

I was a little confused, "You are a businessman, why are you asking these questions?"

But this was just a moment of confusion in his mind, he still answered verbally, but he didn't have the excitement he had just had when talking about the big businessman eating the leftovers.

“There are some people who don’t treat people as human beings and make children work in coal mines, but I haven’t seen that. The work here in Liuyuankou is all brute force work, and it’s not hard at all.

This is what life is like. If you want to survive, you have to work as hard as an ox or a horse.

My father said that their generation had the strength but no work to do, and the whole family drank porridge made of mixed grains and wild vegetables every day, and they were so hungry that their eyes turned green.

Now that Master Guangzhong has driven away the Tartars, there is plenty of work for you as long as you are willing to work. You can earn eight cents and one cent a day. If you are willing to work hard, you can basically earn more than three yuan a month. If you don't support your family, you can still have a meal of wine and meat every day.

Even if you're reluctant to spend money to support your family, at least two meals of whole-grain bread with some stewed vegetables with sesame oil are still affordable."

After saying that, the young man smacked his lips twice and said, "It has to be Master Guangzhong. Our Han emperor is different. He treats his own people well."

After listening to this, Asen was silent for a while, and then he quickly identified the basic situation of the people in Henan.

Working definitely makes more money than farming, but farming is not as tiring as working except during the busy farming season.

The problem of eating has basically been solved, but it is not easy to eat better.

The lives of the lower-class people are still very hard. They have to do heavy physical work all year round. If they want to save some money, they have to be frugal on food, clothing and other daily expenses. If they can't control their mouths and indulge in food and wine, they won't be able to save any money.

He Daosheng, the Right Minister of the Right Spring Office of the Eastern Palace, was from Zezhou Prefecture (Jinzhong) in Shanxi Province. Among the coal merchants who were beaten was his cousin, so he was more familiar with the situation of the people in Shanxi and Henan.

He Dao was afraid that the prince would think that ordinary people in Shanxi and Henan could live this kind of life, so he quickly said:

"Brother Chen, Liuyuankou is located on the outskirts of Kaifeng Prefecture. It's a pretty good place in Henan Province. Their life here is not the same as the life of the entire province.

Among them, the more difficult places such as Shanzhou Prefecture, Nanyang Prefecture, Runing Prefecture, Ruzhou, Xuzhou, etc. cannot reach this level.

In those places, without considering the quality of life, we can only say that the problem of having enough to eat and not freezing to death in winter has been solved. It is said that it is much better than the south, but there is still a big gap! "

"Thank you sir for the reminder. I understand." Asen quickly expressed his gratitude.

Because for a moment, he really thought that this was the general living situation of the people in Henan, and he didn't consider that even at the most ordinary level, there are still differences.

"I have only traveled a little over a thousand miles with you all, but I feel I have gained a lot. Now that I think about it, the fall of the Ming Dynasty was not unjust.

Because the emperors of the Ming Dynasty were born in the deep palace, they probably never really saw what life was like for the common people. Without understanding the real situation, how could they govern the country well?

It wasn't until Arsen even used Gu that he realized something was wrong. He was a naturally carefree guy who liked to show off more as the number of people around him increased.

At this time, a police captain wearing a white robe who had been standing outside on another street finally recognized the man.

He walked over slowly, and when he was halfway there, he took the initiative to put the sword, pistol and iron ruler on the ground.

Seeing him like this, the guard from the Jinyiwei Palace Front Division who was on the outermost alert searched him briefly and let him in.

The captain walked over, knelt on the ground, tears streaming down his face, and kowtowed to Asen.

"He Yang, former lieutenant of the 3rd Company of the 17th Regiment of the Xing Tang Army, Jinshan Town, and bestowed by the Emperor, pays his respects to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince. May His Royal Highness be blessed with good health!"

Hearing that this captain of the police came from Jinshan Town, Asen couldn't help but raise his eyebrows, because the organization of Jinshan Town was cancelled in the second year after it entered Guangzhou.

When my father, Emperor Mo Zhao, started his career, his military forces were divided into three camps: the Imperial Guard, Qilian, and Yanzhi.

Later, its power gradually expanded and it was given the title of Xing Tang Army. The Royal Guard Battalion became the Imperial Guard Regiment, and the Qilian and Yanzhi Battalions formed the Jinshan Town, the main force of the Zhenjun Army outside the Imperial Guard Regiment.

In other words, although this person was not a Yuancong who followed the emperor from the beginning, he at least joined after entering Hue and seizing the Nguyen family's foundation in Guangnan.

Sure enough, when Captain He got up, he was still very excited and said, "I was originally a pirate under the command of the big boss Li Aji. I surrendered after the emperor entered Hue.

Unfortunately, he did not achieve much in the war, as he lost his eyes in the battle with the Qing Dynasty in Beihe.

After recovering from my injuries, I had to retire. The Emperor showed me mercy and rewarded me with a position as a police captain, and assigned me to Kaifeng Prefecture in Henan Province."

Even Asen is not very familiar with Li Aji.

This man was from Huizhou and had been living on the edge of danger in the South China Sea for many years. When the Nguyen brothers of the Tây Sơn Army rebelled, he joined them.

Later he was assassinated by the brothers Nguyen Hue and Nguyen Hue, his troops were scattered, and he himself was caught and beheaded by the Qing Dynasty. Some of his remaining troops were taken in by the Ming Xiang people in Hoi An, and later most of them followed Mo Zi Bu.

"So you're the hero of the Battle of Beihe. I remember that in the sixth year of Guangzhong (1781), my father ordered the Five Military Commandery to hold a banquet to reward retired heroes. I met you at that time."

Asen's memory was quite good, and so was Captain He. He had seen Asen from afar before, and today, remembering the emperor's arrival in Kaifeng Prefecture, he took a quick look and recognized Asen, whose appearance had changed considerably. "From Huizhou to Henan, it's thousands of miles away, and the customs are very different. Are you acclimating well? How many children do you have?"

Although Captain He was not considered a core member of the Yuan army that started the rebellion, Asen was still very grateful for his bravery.

Of course, if the core of the Yuan army was injured and retreated in the battle of Beihe with the Qing Dynasty, it would be impossible for him to be given the title of captain of a small port town.

"I'm used to it, I'm used to it. I was originally just the son of a fisherman from Daxing'ao. My parents died in a storm, and I had no way to make a living, so I became a pirate.

Now that I have both a son and a daughter and am in charge of the public security of a town, what else could I be dissatisfied with?

Without Your Majesty, I would have died in the South China Sea as a shark, and would not have had the good life I have now."

This may be the greatest benefit brought to the people of Guangdong and southern Fujian after the rise of Mo Zibu.

Although the Lingnan noble group was on the defensive in the competition with the Jiangnan gentry and wealthy merchant group due to its background, the lower-class people in Fujian and Guangdong like Captain He benefited greatly.

Don't underestimate local military officers like inspectors or even petty officials like constables. To the bigwigs, they are naturally not worth mentioning, but to ordinary people, they are also masters and members of the ruling class.

‘Poof! ’

Hearing the sound of someone falling beside him, the young man from Sheniu finally realized something was wrong.

He wanted to kneel down, but when he bent down slightly, he found that his whole body was limp, and he fell to the ground with a thud.

"Madam..." His mouth trembled for a long time, and he couldn't even utter the six words "Live a Thousand Years, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince".

Ah Sen laughed heartily and said to the surrounding officials of the Eastern Palace, "A teacher is someone who imparts knowledge and resolves doubts. Now that I have been given this brother's introduction to the situation, it can be considered as resolving my doubts. He is like a teacher to me."

As he said that, Asen personally helped the boy up and carefully patted the black dust off his body. This was a coal distribution center, and there was a thick layer of coal dust on the ground.

"Since I'm a half-teacher, I should at least give you some tuition. So, go home and make some arrangements, inform your parents, and I'll be waiting for you in Zhengzhou City in five days. If you can come, you can be my attendant."

Mist grass!

The young man jumped up, his legs and knees were no longer weak, and his whole body became strong.

He only felt a clanging sound in his ears, his body quickly became hot, and soon his face turned red, and his thoughts were in a mess.

"Why, you don't want to?" Asen asked deliberately.

At this moment, the boy finally came back to his senses from the huge surprise. He knelt down again with tears of happiness streaming down his face.

"I, wuwuwu...I, thank you, Your Majesty. I, wuwuwu, will definitely rush to Zhengzhou."

Arsen figured out this trick on the road.

Because he suddenly realized that if he continued on this path, the royal image he, the crown prince, presented to several inland provinces would not be very impressive and might even cause dissatisfaction.

There are all kinds of people in this world. I guess there is no one who would say "He can replace him" when seeing his carriage now.

But he secretly complained in his heart, wondering what the royal family had to do with him, and even thought that the prince's tour was definitely a waste of money and time.

Then Asen decided to make some changes. Every time he went to a place, in addition to paying homage to local celebrities as usual and selecting some useful talents, he also planned to recruit some ordinary people like this young man from the community.

For these ordinary people, even if Arsen is just putting on a show, it is very likely the only chance for them, or even their families, to change their appearance.

For example, this young man from the village is not young anymore and has not received much education, so it is definitely impossible for him to become an official.

Asen's arrangement was that if he really had no talent, he would be an attendant of the Eastern Palace for a year or two, and then be thrown into the Fuxing Company to be a grassroots team leader.

However, the position of team leader of Fuxing Company, which was insignificant in Arsen's eyes, was also a high position that could be called a master in the eyes of the general public.

In the future, an ordinary person would have to be a good test-taker. After working hard for twenty or thirty years, he would be admitted to one of the two oil or tobacco companies and become a grassroots leader. That would be a matter of honor for the family!

In this way, every time the crown prince visited a prefecture, he would promote and reward one or two people, and the royal grace would immediately become the topic of conversation for everyone.

Everyone will realize how magical it is to be a farmer in the morning and ascend to the emperor's throne in the evening, and how beneficial it is to be loyal to the emperor.

It is estimated that decades later, the stories of people who have been greatly shocked by watching others achieve success overnight will still be circulated in these lands.

. . . .

In Kaifeng Prefecture, since his identity was revealed, there was no need to hide it, and Asen entered Kaifeng with great fanfare.

Henan Governor Yi Bingshou had been waiting for a long time and held a welcome banquet for Asen.

Before the banquet began, Yi Bingshou also gave Asen a detailed report on the situation in Henan.

The atmosphere was very harmonious, because although Yin Bingshou was not a meritorious official, he was a Hakka and could be considered one of the core members of the royal family.

Especially after Asen took Hakka Consort Ye Yizhen as his godmother, his relationship with the Hakka people became even closer.

“The situation in Henan is indeed much better than that in Northern Zhili. This is because Northern Zhili was conquered almost by a single order, but Henan fought many fierce battles.

These battles did not cause much trouble to the imperial army, but they almost eliminated the local tyrants and evil gentry in Henan province.

Therefore, when the land was distributed equally, the people of Henan received much more land than the people of northern Zhili.

In addition, when the White Lotus Sect went west, due to the strict supervision of the imperial court, at least more than three million people left, plus nearly two million people who voluntarily went to Shaanxi and Gansu to fill the void.

Henan Province lost almost six million people in the past ten years, and a lot of land became available.

Yi Bingshou showed a playful look on his face, "Henan Province has attracted a lot of investment from Fujian and Guangdong, and its economy is relatively active.

At the same time, 200,000 to 300,000 people from Henan went south to Southeast Asia because they could gain recognition from the people of Fujian and Guangdong."

"Oh, hahahaha!" Arsen laughed out loud after hearing this, with a playful expression on his face.

At present, there is a very strange phenomenon in Dayu. That is, the Fujian and Guangdong people, who are relatively xenophobic and only recognize fellow villagers, are quite flattering to Henan people, so much so that they basically regard them as half fellow villagers.

This is because most of the family trees of the Fujian and Guangdong people are traced back to Henan.

When we talk about our ancestors, we must think that they followed someone from Henan to a certain place in the south, and then migrated here.

For example, Asen’s maternal grandfather’s family is recorded in the genealogy as being from the Yingchuan Chen family, and their direct ancestor is Chen Shi, a famous official and great writer of the Eastern Han Dynasty.

The ancestor who migrated south was originally from Gushi County, Henan Province. At the end of the Tang Dynasty, he followed Wang Shenzhi, a wealthy man in Gushi County and the founder of the Fujian Kingdom during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period, to move south. After the establishment of Fujian, he stayed in Putian, Fujian. At the end of the Southern Song Dynasty, he followed the anti-Yuan army and retreated to his home in Xi'an, Guangdong Province.

From a temporal perspective, it actually stands up to scrutiny.

But there is a problem, that is, people from Guangdong and Fujian basically claim to be like this, and everyone admits that there is some water in it.

Because this area was the territory of the royal family of the Yue State in the Spring and Autumn Period, as well as the ancient Yue people such as Fujian, Yue, Ouyue, Nanyue, and Shanyue.

There are definitely some family genealogies that are forged. Since most of the Fujian and Guangdong genealogies were continued during the Ming and Qing dynasties, later generations are not sure whether their own genealogies are reliable.

Then, there is only one way, which is to let the people from Henan and the old family endorse you.

Therefore, in recent years, a large number of people from Fujian and Guangdong have gone north to trace their roots and hit it off with their fellow villagers who have been poor for hundreds of years.

Since they have come to recognize their relatives, they naturally have to accept some of the people from Henan.

Asen understood that in Henan Province, first a large number of local tyrants and evil gentry were eliminated in the battle, and then several million people were taken away by the White Lotus Sect. In addition, the people from Fujian and Guangdong shared some benefits in order to recognize their relatives, so life was actually quite good.

Of course, this is a pretty good standard compared to the Qing Dynasty.

In other words, throughout Chinese history, if the lowest class of people could eat two meals of whole-grain bread a day and have a minimum intake of salt, sesame oil, and tofu, then they would have a really good life.

"So currently, in Henan Province, about 30% of the people, a household of five, own more than 100 mu of land, and about 10% have reached the upper limit of 200 mu.

For the sake of farming efficiency, various places have begun to implement a rotation system. I believe that in ten years, the lives of the people in Henan will definitely be better, and your majesty's vision of the Central Plains landlords will be initially achieved."

Asen also looked happy. The land in Henan is actually not barren. The reason why it gives people a barren feeling is because it is over-cultivated.

Since ancient times, this place has been the main production area of Chinese agriculture. After thousands of years, the fertility of the land has long been unbearable.

During the Qing Dynasty, the population was large and all areas had been developed to the fullest. In order to feed such a large population, the only option was to continue to increase the intensity of farming, leaving the land with no rest at all.

This resulted in extremely low per-acre yields, and without intensive farming, it was impossible to feed people, and the people became extremely poor.

As for Dayu, if the model of small landlords with 200 acres of land can continue, and the land gets a rest and its fertility recovers, the lives of the people in Henan will definitely get better.

　I will probably have to take a day off tomorrow. Lao Hu has to take his son out for a walk, otherwise he will get angry.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)