Xinshun 1730

Chapter 247 Vladivostok

Two months before the 40th birthday of Dashun Emperor Li Gan, the wind direction finally changed, and the sea ice in the north was melting again.

Two refitted expedition ships, two passenger ships transporting "long-term workers" and "contract long-term workers", and a cargo ship full of cloth and ironware, a total of five ships formed a fleet and left Weihai Port.

Many people on board have traveled this route more than once.Skillfully bypassed the Busan Strait, taking advantage of the wind direction, arrived at the first stop of the expedition, Vladivostok.

A few years ago, this was a village with less than 2000 people, about half of the fleeing North Koreans and about half of the Han Chinese stationed here.

Now, the village has expanded into a small town with a population of nearly 1.North Korea's drought-tolerant rice; Russia's rye and buckwheat, and Dashun's potato sorghum happily take root here.

As soon as the ship docked, dozens of vendors flocked to the beach.

North Koreans with pots on their heads yelled loudly in Chinese to sell their goods; Han hawkers carried some goods on poles and yelled loudly.

There is very little money here, and the purchase station keeps the price of grain very low, but there are many places where the money is spent.The cargo ships from Weihai to here are nothing more than military ships flying blue and white flags, and the sailors on them are rich and willing to spend money.

As the first batch of immigrants here, Zhang Dabiao is already familiar with the scene. On both sides of the pole on his shoulders, he carried the honey he dug out of the honeycomb last year, and some privately brewed rye that he learned from the Raksha people. Beer, and even a few daikon radishes, which had been kept in the vegetable cellar until the season, were sailors' favourites.

The immigrants here call this kind of thing "catch the sea". Although as Jiaodong people, they know that this is not the meaning of "catch the sea", but the fish and shrimp here are not valuable at all, but these crew members are the source of wealth for them to go to the sea.

Zhang Dabiao, who was forced to immigrate here after the catastrophe, did not have to worry about filling his stomach for the first time.

At the estuary of Suifenhe River, there are almost groups of salmon that parade and lay eggs every year.This young man from Jiaodong, who was almost starving to death, was already tired of eating salmon as tall as a person.

The specially trained rye and potato planting and storage techniques prevented them from experiencing two-thirds of the tragedy of starving to death in one winter like the Mayflower, and the groups that are best at farming have firmly established a foothold here.

The daughter-in-law who was "allocated" at the beginning is already pregnant with her second child.Now, three or five families have set up a mutual aid group together, and there is no shortage of food, but no money.The price of grain at the buying station is so low that it makes people want to cry, but cotton cloth and the like are extremely expensive. He has a brighter mind, and he has set his sights on the business of "catch the sea" early on, looking forward to the arrival of the ships that come here every spring. They have money and are willing to spend it, so he sells everything.

"Look! A big radish without a bran heart! The best thing of this season, radish and pear!"

A Korean next to him carried a big basket, which contained some sorghum fruits picked from nearby mountains, that is, wild strawberries, and some red tree berries, and he also yelled there in Jiaoliao Mandarin.

The sailors got off the boat, asked the prices of radishes and sorghum nuts, and turned to the nearby tavern.And the cadets in woolen uniforms got off the expedition ship, casually asked the price, threw out copper coins and bought all the things of the old Goryeo next to Zhang Dabiao.

Rubbing the money in his hand, Zhang Dabiao thought it was weird today, there was only one boat in previous years, why are there so many boats this year?It's still those rich military masters in woolen uniforms, and sailors in sailor shirts, who would rather buy wine and drink.

I asked the person who was sailing with him.

"What happened this year? Why are there so many ships?"

Those who were driving together shook their heads and said, "How do you know? Who knows what they are going to do? If I had known that there were so many boats coming today, I should have prepared more. Those who wear woolen military uniforms are the ones who are most willing to spend money."

Zhang Dabiao was also quite regretful, thinking that there must be people selling things on the pier tomorrow.The buying station kept the price of grain too low. Thinking about the grain stockpiled in the grain store at home, I thought that if it was still in Renzhao, I would be considered a landlord, but this place could not be sold for much money.

Holding the money he just sold, he walked around the pier, thinking that his daughter-in-law was about to give birth to a second baby, so he just sold the money and went to buy some cotton cloth.

But you can't go to the supply and marketing cooperatives to buy them, because they are expensive there.The sailors who come with the ship will bring some private goods, which are cheaper than those sold by the supply and marketing cooperatives, and they may have some left over to buy two packs of cigarettes.

People who often go to sea know where the black market is, and they also know that there will be a black market only in the few days when the cargo ship arrives, and there are not many goods. Whoever buys it first will get it.

Whether it is a purchasing station or a supply and marketing cooperative, they are all new things here, and there are no places where previous generations lived.

It's just that this kind of change didn't make people feel uncomfortable, but they quickly accepted it.

For example, the post office that can receive remittances and letters from relatives who are soldiers, only needs to hand in the money in Weihai, and use the receipt to withdraw the money here.Zhang Dabiao has already received a remittance from his younger brother, as well as a few letters stating that he is safe.

For example, the construction has just been completed, but there is no Mr.'s school yet.It is said that children born here in the future will be forced to go to school when they are six or seven years old.There is a certain amount of education money to be paid every year, which is not much.When the child grows up, he can become an officer or go to sea, or he can go to the Jinghai Palace University in Weihai.

For example, there are no taxes here, at least not in name.The grain paid every year is the redemption money for the land; for example, buying cotton cloth is so expensive, it is a kind of freedom, you don’t need to wear pants.

All kinds of changes of one kind or another seem a bit new at first glance, but this kind of novelty is now a very common life after a few years.

The only corvee to be served is to fight tigers.All registered males will organize a roundup in summer to kill the man-eating tigers.Even this corvee is gone now. Some tribesmen who can hunt live around the town and exchange tiger skins for food and daily necessities. Tigers have become a legend in recent years.

Squeezing away the crowded crowd on the pier, a few soldiers from the Mudanjiang River, driving cattle and horses, were selecting the people on the people transport ship.

They don't need money to buy it, they directly exchange it with cattle and horses.There are a lot of bachelors in Fubing, and most of them use cattle and horses to exchange wives here.The rest are selected as contract long-term workers, the price is very cheap, and human life is worthless, almost like cattle and horses.

Looking at the victims who were bought and sold here, Zhang Dabiao swallowed.

Everyone here has such a dream: to save money for a few years, and when the money is enough, they will pay money from the village and town, buy people to open up wasteland, and become landlords themselves.

Being a landlord is still the dream of most people.

It's just that the purchasing station has kept the price of grain extremely low. Apart from the purchasing station, almost no one else will buy food here.

But most people will do such an arithmetic.

If you save money and buy a person, the land cultivated and the grain harvested within ten years will definitely be more expensive than this person.Then buy the second one, the third one, the fourth one... Even if the purchase station keeps the price of grain so low, you can still be the owner.

It has always been said that men farming and women weaving are the best days.

Not here.

It is right for men to farm, but women have nothing to weave.There is no cotton produced here, the cotton is only bought to make cotton trousers, if it is spun, it will lose money.

Women are either busy with giving birth, and when they are free, they go to the fields to do some farm work.There is a dream here that many people who almost starved to death in the past have endless reverie, a cow on [-] mu of land, wives and children on the kang.

For now, this dream has basically been achieved.

The cattle and horses here are very cheap, and the land is so abundant that as far as the eye can see, there are stretches of dry grassland in the river valley. If such dry grassland has not been cultivated in Jiaodong, people will think that a village is full of lazy people.And here, along the river valley, there are countless dry grasslands.

Dry grasslands are different from wet swamps. Those wet grasslands with grass roots as tall as a person are very fertile, but they cannot be cultivated, and will exhaust cattle and horses to death unless people dig them with hoes. These dry grasslands have no tree roots, and they have not caused people to collapse. There are mosquitoes and small biting bugs, only the gadfly, which is bigger than the blowfly, which breaks down cows but has a hard time biting people.

After several years of collective cultivation, the policy here has changed.At the beginning, everyone was just for the sake of stuttering and collective reclamation, because the power of a person compared to nature is too small.

Now, the first settlers here have redistributed the land.

Zhang Dabiao has to pay [-] catties of grain every year. After five years of continuous payment, these lands will be his forever.The land here is very fertile, especially the newly opened land after burning wasteland. It may be cold in the first year and the yield is not high, but from the second year onwards, the land that has never been cultivated has released the vegetation accumulated over thousands of years Fertility after decay, it seems that every year is a harvest year.

There is a lot of wasteland, but what is lacking is people.

Thinking of such a dream, Zhang Dabiao squeezed a few copper coins in his hand, scolded the grain price at the buying station, and left the mule market where people and cattle and horses were traded angrily.

After going around a few circles, I came to the black market.The merchant sailors displayed their private goods and quoted prices in the Jiaoliao dialect that Zhang Dabiao was very familiar with.

"Cotton, look at this cotton."

"Cigarettes and matches! It's definitely cheaper than the supply and marketing cooperatives. That's all. You can earn money if you buy them."

"Candy cane!"

Zhang Dabiao looked at the small bag of cane sugar, and listening to the familiar Pingdu accent, he knew it was a fellow villager, and said with a smile: "Brother, don't bring sugar here from now on. Beet bumps are starting to grow here, you Don’t know? There’s a beet sugar workshop over there.”

I didn't care to say another word, and kindly persuaded me, squeezed to the group of sailors selling cotton cloth, drained the money, pulled a few feet of cloth, bought two red-headed ropes, and exchanged the remaining money for a few bags of the most Cheap cigarettes.

Carrying the cloth, I ran to the post office. A group of people would gather here at this time of year, and the day when the ship came was almost the same every year.

The post office does not deliver to your home, but ask yourself if you have your letter.

There was already a long queue of people at the gate of the post office.

There are not many relatives of the people here, and relatives who survived the catastrophe like them are either serving as soldiers on land or on ships, and the postal letters for these soldiers are free of charge.

A group of big men from the sawmill lined up at the front. These people are very arrogant, each of them has a big arm and a round waist, and ordinary people dare not compete with them.

These people squatted in the woods all winter, felled the best oak, and put it here along the water.In summer, these large oaks, which are as thick as one person, are dried in the sun and used as raw materials for shipbuilding.

When you have accumulated enough money, you save it and exchange it for a ferry ticket for your wife and children to come here.

The food here is very cheap, and those who don't farm the land live a very nourishing life.If you want to eat rice, you can eat rice, if you want noodles, you can eat noodles, fish can be eaten when it is in season, and pork is not expensive, which is much better than life in Weihai.

Zhang Dabiao waited for a long time, and finally it was his turn.He took out a wooden sign from his arms, on which was his national registration number, and asked after giving his name, "Is there any letter from me?"

The people inside, like the people in the supply and marketing cooperatives and purchasing stations, all had dead faces, muttered twice, and asked, "Do you have faith?"

Zhang Dabiao nodded, and handed over a copper coin, he understood the rules.

"Brother, I made meritorious service in the Western Regions, and I killed Cering Dunduobu, a great Mongolian general. His Majesty rewarded me with some silver, and I sent you 15 taels. Er Biao and Si Mei are very good. Yes. Brother, you use the money to buy a long-term worker and work hard on the land.”

He finished reading the letter expressionlessly, even if it was said that he was awarded the honor, it has nothing to do with the people in the post office. In the past few years, he has more beliefs in the award of the honor, and he has no respect for the emperor. Emperor Tiangao Far, far less useful than reading a letter to earn a few pennies.

Handing out a piece of paper, Zhang Dabiao still learned to recognize numbers. Seeing a red stamp with a 15 written on it, he dipped some ink pad on his wooden sign and stuck it on it.He stretched out his hand to take 15 taels of silver, and only woke up when the heavy silver arrived.

"Let's go when it's over, didn't you see that there is still a line behind? Next!"

There was another yell from inside, Zhang Dabiao didn't know what this little Celing Dunduobu was, but he knew that his younger brother was actually rich!

Excited and screaming a few times, he rushed home and took out all the money he had saved from selling grain.The pregnant wife was cooking there, and she didn't know what he was looking at there, so she just scolded: "It's time to eat, why are you going out?"

Zhang Dabiao shouted without turning his head: "Buyer!"

He had never run so fast in his life, not only because he was excited, but also because he was late, the good guys must have been picked away by others.

When I went to Luoma City, fortunately, a lot of people were transported this time, some of them were for official reclamation, they were all young and strong, and the prices were clearly marked.

I picked one that looked stronger, and asked someone who knew it was from Lacey's side.

The person who bought and sold people took out a contract and read the rules.

"The Law of the Great Shun abolishes lowly status, and hired workers must not be treated like slaves. After seven years of employment, the term will expire after seven years. After the term expires, four acres of cultivated land, four hundred catties of potatoes, and two hundred catties of grain will be brought here. A set of farming tools."

"Escape midway, and the term will be extended for two years."

"If it dies, the master's family will report it, and you will conduct an autopsy."

"These people are not slaves, just laborers who have to pay off their debts for seven years."

"If there is no objection on both sides, press the handprint and ID card."

The contract was placed in front of the two, and after the fingerprints were pressed, the seller took the money and asked, "Did your family serve as a soldier in Weihai and make meritorious service?"

Zhang Dabiao wondered, "How do you know?"

"Tch... how can the locals save enough money so quickly? Either it's a piece of shit luck that picked up the dog's head gold, or someone in the family served as a soldier and made meritorious service. Most of them were bought by those soldiers. , they can trade cows and horses, how many years have you been here?"

The person who spoke said: The price of grain at the purchasing station, if you save money so quickly to buy long-term workers, it would be strange.There is nowhere to sell your food except at the purchasing station.

(End of this chapter)