The Red Mansions Across the Four Seas

Chapter 298

These two Westerners are the Cervantes couple from France.

The current identity is the deputy director and technical staff of the experimental farm.His previous identity was Bu Kui's exile.Going further, they are missionaries.

They were originally preaching in the south, but because the local missionary activities developed too fast, they were falsely accused of being a cult, so the government muddle-headedly exiled them to Bukui.

Now, they have been in Bukui for more than three years.

After Jia Min arrived here, he heard about the couple.Although he is not interested in religion, he still admires the spirit of missionaries.

Sometimes, he even felt like a missionary, so he was very sympathetic to the Servantes couple.

Apart from the identities of the Servantes and his wife, another factor that caught Jia Min's attention was that they grew tobacco here.

This Servante is a very experienced person.Before going to Middle-earth, he went to Brazil in South America to preach.Among the indigenous people in Brazil, it was found that these indigenous people have the habit of smoking.So he brought tobacco seeds and smoking methods back to France, and wrote a book to promote tobacco.

Prior to this, the French ambassador to Portugal, Nigut, was also vigorously promoting tobacco and boasting that tobacco can cure diseases.

Since then, tobacco has spread to all parts of the world with European merchants and seafarers.

In the era of Red Mansions, the coastal areas of Guangdong and Fujian in the south had already begun to grow tobacco, which was passed down from Luzon.

However, there were no cigarettes in this era, and people still mainly smoked snuff, hookah and hand-rolled tobacco.

After Jia Min learned that Servante had succeeded in planting tobacco here, he transferred him to the experimental farm and asked him to be responsible for summarizing the experience of planting tobacco in a large area, as well as the method of tobacco curing and seed multiplication, and to prepare for large-scale tobacco planting next year. promote.

At the same time, the domestication of reindeer and mink was also entrusted to them.

The reason for choosing these projects is because they are all projects with high added value.

Compared with bulk goods such as grain, the advantages of tobacco are not only high price, but also because of its relatively light weight, small size, long shelf life, and low loss. These characteristics have huge advantages in product quality and price.It makes its long-distance transportation both feasible and economical.

Deer antler and mink fur are originally listed as valuable products among the three treasures of the Kanto. Every year, they occupy an important place in Bukui's foreign trade and have a broad market in the outside world.

If these technologies are promoted in Bukui, in addition to increasing the income of Bukui Guanzhuang, the technology can also be spread to the outside world, so that the local people can also benefit.

Previously, the Bukui yamen was located in the local area, and there were almost no sources of tax revenue.

The so-called tax collection is just a group of soldiers, setting up cards on the road, and collecting some money from merchants.

Rather than collecting taxes, it is better to say that it is buying road money.It's no different than highway robbery.

So far, the military expenditures of Bukui's army and the expenditure of Bukui's yamen have come from the military expenditures given by the imperial court and the production income of exiles.

However, the current cost is far from enough for the army, so the money spent now is his own private money, except for what he got back from the Qian family.

Such sources are bound to be unsustainable.Besides, I am guarding the border for the imperial court, so why should I pay for it out of my own pocket?

If you don't want to put money in it, you can only spend that little military expenditure.But that little military expenditure is only enough for the most basic expenditure of the army. If you want to conduct training and improve equipment, you will have no money.

Therefore, if you want to maintain an elite army, you need more money to support it.At this time, stable financial resources like taxes are very important.

Seeing Jia Min coming, the Servantes and his wife stopped what they were doing.

"Jia Dusi, you are welcome here."

After meeting Li, Jia Min followed the Servantes couple into their house.

Now, the couple have two rooms of their own, painted the statue by themselves, and can worship.

There is a fireplace in the house, you can bake bread, cook for yourself, and cook according to your own eating habits.Here, they don't have to be under the control of the head of the village like they used to be in Guanzhuang, and even go to Bukui and other places outside, they can move freely without anyone guarding them.

Therefore, what they are living now is already a relatively free, relatively dignified and decent life.

This made them full of gratitude to Jia Min.

"Mr. Servante, I have asked someone to help you inquire about your case. However, it may take a long time. I hope you will give me some time. If it is true that someone else framed you, I will I will try my best to help you clear up your grievances.”

"Then thank you Jia Dusi. In fact, I am already very grateful to you for treating us so favorably now."

"What you are doing now is very meaningful to Bu Kui's future, and it is right to give you some preferential treatment. Du Qingshan, if Mr. Servante has any difficulties, you must help solve them in time. If you can't solve them, you can go directly to Find me."

"Yes, Chief Min."

A few people were chatting, when they heard a howl outside, and then another loud curse.Then, there was another knock on the door.

Someone probably went over and reprimanded her, so the voice became quieter.

"Is that Hua Juren still closed?"

"Yeah, it was released a few days ago, and I wanted to run away again, but I had no choice but to lock it up again."

"Still calling yourself wronged all day long, cursing Cong Xiucai?"

"Isn't it just that, as soon as he is released, he will run away, or he will pretend to be crazy, eat shit, scold anyone he sees, and go find Cong Xiucai desperately."

"Just lock him up, just like him, even if we let him go, he will have to be caught if he can't pass two checkpoints. Here, he can still survive."

This Hua Juren is also a character.

Hua Juren's name is Hua Yusheng, who was exiled here 16 years ago because of his involvement in the Xinyou scientific research case.

In the year of Xinyou, after the Jinling Examination, someone reported that there was collective fraud in that scientific examination.The first emperor ordered the Ministry of Punishment and the prefect of Jinling to conduct a thorough investigation, but the result was that there was no evidence.

After the conclusion came out, more than a dozen people jointly reported, saying that the Ministry of Punishment and the prefect of Jinling were engaging in malpractice for personal gain.

The first emperor was furious, so he decreed that all the three hundred candidates who participated in the imperial examination should be locked up in the imperial capital.In the Hall of Supreme Harmony, the emperor himself proctored the exams.

Those who failed the exam were all deprived of their honors. There were more than a dozen people who had relatively high grades before, but this time their grades were low. They were considered to have cheated before, so they were exiled to Bukui.

Cong Xiucai was also one of the victims of the imperial examination case.

Cong Xiucai was originally from the imperial capital. At that time, his father was a magistrate in Jinling, so he participated in the Xinyou scientific examination in Jinling.In the emperor's re-examination, his grades were better than before, and he could have participated in the general examination, but in the end he gave up.

According to his own statement, because he was locked up by the emperor and taken to the imperial capital for a reexamination, he felt insulted, so he was disappointed in his official career.

According to Cong Xiucai, the accusation of cheating was purely false.It is not even ruled out that someone deliberately framed it.

As for who framed it, no one knows yet.

This Hua Juren was among the 300 people at that time.This person is arrogant, informal, and thinks he has some talent, so he doesn't look down on the scholars of the world.

He was accused of cheating in the examination room and locked up the imperial capital, thinking that he had suffered a great humiliation, so in the second emperor's re-examination, he was angry and refused to answer, and handed in a blank paper in protest.

How could the first emperor get used to his faults, so he was exiled to Bukui.

Before that re-examination, Hua Yusheng encouraged everyone to hand in blank papers collectively.Naturally, few people listened to him.Cong Xiucai was his only friend at that time, and he also participated in the answer sheet.He thought that Cong Xiucai had betrayed him.

So, after arriving in Bukui, he didn't dare to scold the late emperor, so he took his anger out on Cong Xiucai and the others who had answered the paper.

So he cursed every day, especially Cong Xiucai.

Over the years, Cong Xiucai also felt a little guilty, and often brought him some silver taels.He accepted the money, but he should still scold Cong Xiucai.

Cong Xiucai brought craftsmen and farmers here this time, just to take the opportunity to visit friends, stay to run a school, and also to accompany friends.

When Cong Xiucai saw Hua Yusheng, he still scolded Cong Xiucai. After Cong Xiucai came to see him again, he never saw him again, and broke up with Cong Xiucai.

Cong Xiucai came here for another purpose, which is to ask Jia Min to help Hua Yusheng reverse the case.For this reason, Cong Xiucai knelt down for Jia Min for an hour in Jia Min's office.

Although Jia Min was willing to help Cong Xiucai, Hua Yusheng's original sentence was exile without death.In other words, he was originally a capital crime, and the first emperor spared his life.

Although he saved his life, in this life, he can only be exiled for life.

To reverse the case for him is an impossible task for Jia Min.

It has been 16 years since the case, and the people involved in the case have long since disappeared.Even if it is a false accusation, things are different, and no witnesses can be found.

Besides, this case was decided by the late emperor, even if there is some evidence, who would dare to review it?Even the current emperor will not easily overturn the case appointed by the former emperor.

Because he is a scholar, even if he is an exile, he is very respected in Bukui.Not to mention the exiles, even the village heads, when they saw the exiles who were scholars, they would all dismount and pay their respects.

When distributing labor, also take care of them as far as possible, give them light work, clever work.Some scholars were exiled, and officials invited them to their homes to teach their children and treat them with respect as teachers.

Only Hua Yusheng is rebellious, dislikes everyone, and scolds everyone, so everyone respects him at a distance.

It is also because he is a scholar, so people generally don't embarrass him.If it were someone else, he would have been tortured to death long ago.

Although Jia Min sympathized with Hua Yusheng, all he could do was to treat him better, not to do any work for him, but to let him eat well and live comfortably.

Thinking about it again, the Servantes couple may have been wronged, but they have adopted another attitude towards life.Compared with the sound of Hua Yu, Jia Min could only shake his head secretly.

　Thanks to Maozhaoteng, Jiangxi Porcelain People, New Year’s Eating Rice Cakes, woaishe, longhuishou, Floraqy, lilycx and other book friends for their support.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)